January 29, 2022 Lunch - Vara Wine Tasting. Dinner - Ratatouille with Red Rice from the Camargue, and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

January 29, 2022 Lunch - Vara Wine Tasting. Dinner - Ratatouille with Red Rice from the Camargue, and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

Today was very peaceful.  I slept until 8:00 and then made a lovely breakfast for Suzette and me.  I toasted two slices of bagel for me, spread them with cream cheese and lay Gravad Lax on them and spread Swedish Mustard sauce on the salmon.  Suzette did not want bread so I lay slices of Gravad lax on lettuce leaf’s and spread Mustard sauce on the the salmon.  I garnished each of our plates with slices of pomelo.

We enjoyed breakfast together and then Suzette went to work and I worked on my brief until 1:00 when I called Vara Winery to update my account and see if today was a delivery party.  It was, so I called Suzette and she said she would drive home to go to the tasting party.  

I showered and dressed, fetched a beer, and heated the remaining Boeuf Bourguignon by the time Suzette arrived.  We shared the beer and the Boeuf and then she drove us to Vara.

When we arrived at Vara we checked in and provided the new credit card information and we were handed glasses and trays.  We went outside where there were bottles of wine in buckets of ice and covered steam trays of food.  There were only two items left, Papas Bravas and steamed asparagus with a lemon Mayo sauce garnished with pickled red onion strips.

There were four wines to taste: a Viura white, a Grenache rose, a Carinena red and a Grenache red.  We did like the Viura. We loved the Grenache rose and the Carinena, and we thought the Grenache was not a very food friendly wine because of its high tannic acid flavor but that softened as it oxidized a bit as we drank it.

The wine we loved was the Grenache Rose. it was fruity and went well with food.

When they stopped serving food and wine at 3:00 I switched the Viura for another rose and took delivery of our four bottle allocation.  Then I drove to Costco and we bought a bag of creamer potatoes, mushrooms, shampoo, lobster bisque, a box with 8 cans of diced organic tomatoes, a box of frozen pork dumplings, and I picked up two prescriptions.

We then returned to home at 4:30 and started cooking.  We have a set division of labor for most dinners with one or two dishes. I sit at the table watching the news and chopping vegetables while Suzette brings me items to chop and is in charge of the stove and cooking and seasoning the dish.  This tends to minimize the time and effort of each person.

Dinner - Tonight’s meal was Ratatouille, Rice, and steamed Sugar Snap Peas.  These are all dishes we have cooked many times and there was no consultation needed, just execution, so each of us could execute our segment of the meal prep independently but in tandem.

Ratatouille - Since Ratatouille is a vegetable stew, it must cook the longest to cook and integrate the flavors.  So we prepped and cooked it first. Suzette fetched the firmest vegetables first: a large onion, a head of garlic we grew in our garden, and 1/2 each of a yellow and red bell pepper and I cut those into my standard 1/2 inch cubes, except for the garlic that I minced.  I like 1/2 inch cubes because I think they are easier to eat because one can get three or four cooked cubes on a fork for a bite. That is especially important with dishes with lots of different ingredients that merge together such as Ratatouille.

Suzette put those ingredients into a large French enameled casserole and sautéed them in 2 T. each of olive oil and butter.

And brought me the less firm ingredients: an Italian and a Chinese eggplant and two zucchini next to dice.

Finally, Suzette brought me four Roma tomatoes that required some surgery to be useable.  We decided to add one can of the organic diced tomatoes and were glad we did because when Suzette opened the can they were beautiful, much nicer in appearance that our Roma tomatoes.

Then we discussed seasonings.  Suzette has become enchanted with grinding some of the basil we grew in our garden and dried this year into a powder because that released its deeply pungent flavor.  Suzette ground about 1 T. of dried basil and I added about 2 T. of finely chopped Mexican oregano and Suzette added some salt.

Rice - While the Ratatouille was cooking we looked for quinoa and could not find it but Suzette came up with an even better idea, to cook red rice raised impressive The Camargue that Rebecca gave us for Christmas.

The Camargue is the Rhone River delta in Southern France where it pours into the Mediterranean Sea, so the dinner became a true French Mediterranean meal.

Suzette followed the instructions for preparing the rice of 2 1/2 cups of water and cooking 45 minutes, but that Cupid not seem correct because although the rice had cooked there was still water left in the bottom of the pan.

Sugar Snap Peas - I tried to de-thread the peas but they were tender enough to not have many threads.  I put them in the steamer and when we were nearly ready to eat Suzette steamed them for six minutes.

Tom and Lynne are seriously athletes and do no drink alcohol, so Suzette and I picked a bottle of 2015 Rivero Reserva from Rioja from the wine rack to keep the Mediterranean theme going.

While dinner was cooking I talked to Lynne about my water case and she discussed several law related subjects such as one of the reasons why she left Minnesota was because the small town politics of impropriety among the lawyers she had to deal with, such as a sexual relationship between a male prosecutor and a female judge.  What rankled Lynne was that the prosecutor was sanctioned but the judge was not and still sits on the bench. Lynne said the a complaint was filed against the judge but it did not result in her being sanctioned.  Those kind of things bother most lawyers, as it did Lynne and me.

While Lynne and I talked law stuff, Todd helped Suzette by buttering pieces of French baguette and wrapping them in aluminum foil and toasting them in the oven and setting the dining room table and lighting a small candelabra.

When the food was ready at around 7:15 We each spooned a pile of rice into a pasta bowls and spooned ratatouille on top of the rice and added a spoonful of sugar snap peas to the bowl.

We all drank water and Suzette and I drank red wine.

After dinner Suzette fetched the chocolate dessert from the garage fridge and cut 1/2 inch thick slices of Mousse cake for each of us.  Todd, Lynne, and I brewed hot tea to drink with dessert.

It was a lovely meal that I really enjoyed because after I prepped all the ingredients I was able to talk law rather than assist in the final prep and serving of dinner thanks to Todd’s assistance.

Todd had an early run in the morning so he and Lynne retired to the guest room at 8:30 and Suzette and I watched a few minutes of Father Brown and a new episode of “Death in Paradise” and Suzette went to bed at 10:00, although I stayed up and watched some of Saturday Night Live.  

Bon Appetit

Bon Appetit