January 16, 2013 Lunch - Ham Sandwiches, Dinner - Meatloaf with blanched carrots

January 16, 2013 Lunch - Ham sandwiches;  Dinner – Meatloaf with blanched carrots

I went to Pro’s Ranch Market at around 12:30 p.m. today to buy a few items, including a papaya (2lb. for $.99), oranges (5lb. for $.99), sliced ham (FUD cooked ham for $1.99/lb.), carrots (3lb. for $.99) and large head off shrimp ($5.99/lb.).  When I got home I made a ham sandwich with the ham on toasted slices of dilled rye bread baked at Suzette’s Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery in Los Lunas and the last of the cucumber relish from last night instead of mayonnaise and fresh Leyden cheese and leaves of butter lettuce and slices of a Roma tomato and drank a glass of Jarritos alcohol free Sangria, “Senorial”.  A short pleasant visit to Mexico, both for shopping and for lunch.

Tonight I had to go to meditation.  Before I went I discussed dinner with Suzette and she said, “The last of the ground meat needs to be cooked and the easiest thing to make is meatloaf.”  I said, “I bought carrots, if you want to make some carrots with the meatloaf.”  Suzette said, “Carrots go really well with meatloaf.  I will cook some carrots.”

So when I got home at 8:15 p.m., the meatloaf was baking in the oven and the carrots chopped and blanching in a saucepan on the stove.

We discussed wine and I suggested a heavier wine like a Syrah and Suzette agreed, so I went to the basement and looked through all of our wine and found only one bottle of Wellington 2005 Syrah, but I did also find several 2002 Australian Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon blends.  When I mentioned that we had the two bottles of 2002 Australian wine, we changed our mind and I went back and got a bottle of 2002 Rosemount Estate Shiraz 75%/Cabernet Sauvignon 25% that was from South Eastern Australia and estate bottled that had garnered a gold medal and opened it.  In about another ten minutes Suzette declared the meatloaf done and we pulled the two large mounds of meatloaf from the oven and turned the heat off of the carrots and Suzette filled our plates with both and we poured glasses of the wine and ate the meal with relish.  The wine had a rich plumy flavor with great depth of color and a pleasant absence of any of the typical zinfandel tannic spiciness.  Found it very drinkable, even though it was slightly sedimented.  I have decided to decant my older wines and let them sit for a bit to clarify and let the sediment settle.  As I write this article about 5 hours after dinner, I am tasting the open glass left by Willy on the table and it is delicious, so allowing an older wine to breath, often helps its flavor or as Suzette says, “It allows it to open up.”  I will try to plan to allow for more time for wines to open up in the future also.

The meatloaf was wonderful.  Suzette said it was easy.  She added eggs and oatmeal to the ground beef and her secret sauce, which she said was some Worcestershire sauce.

Bon Appètit