Text 18996, 101 rader
Skriven 2009-01-03 03:08:02 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
Ärende: dinner@Fishers' 17
==========================
I poked my head out of hiding around 2, and my brother
allowed that as the chance of rain was down to 30% we
could go off on a hike after all; so we did. Started off
at the Difficult Run trailhead but went straight overland
rather than following the creekbed, which is washed out
in places and to which my previous pair of walking shoes
was a casualty; we sort of paralleled it to Great Falls,
about a 4 mile round trip. Jonathan gave a loud and
continuous disquisition on the Social Security appeals
process (which apparently is the focus of his new JOB
(yay)), and it was good that except on the flat near the
falls we actually encountered nobody on our route.

It was a pretty good hike - overcast and occasionally
drizzly but close to 60F. If it had been much wetter,
the footing could have been pretty bad, and I don't know
how Jonathan deals in poor conditions.

At Great Falls, we spent close to half an hour at the
various overlooks and saw some interesting stuff, such as
a group of intrepid kayakers playing just south of the
falls, one of whom managed to overturn (but eventually
righted). Jonathan focused on the potentially disastrous
aspects and enchanted all and sundry with his vast knowledge
of the locations of the nearby fire stations and rescue
squads and how the personnel are trained. Not too soon it
was time to head out to the Fishers', and we arrived in
time for a rousing game of charades - boys against girls.
The girls won by something like 8 to 7, none of us males
able to remember the last word of the title of the Thomas
Friedman book Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Jonathan did a great
job with his one chance to act out a movie, which he did by
making bigger and bigger motions with his arms. The guesses:
Big, Giant, Titanic. Took our team maybe ten or twenty
seconds and gave him a sense of accomplishment.

The meal: Carol F. made jambalaya from a recipe that called
for 2 jalapenos, so she put in 2 jalapenos. These turned out
to be the super-peppers that one occasionally gets, and the
dish, though quite nice to taste, was beyond the heat tolerance
of several of the guests, so there was plenty to give away in
peoply bags afterward. I inquired about some bacon grease in a
pan and was told it was for collards, so I sauteed them in it,
added a touch of salt and cumin and garlic, and all was well
with the world. Some people used the stuff to cut the heat of
the rice. A spinach-pecan-pomegranate salad was nice.

John and Vicki (my b-i-l and his wife) had brought a gingerbread
house - thing of beauty it was, obviously the product of hours
of labor. Vicki's son and his buddy decided that art is fine,
but gingerbread is gingerbread, and soon the chimney was down,
and then there was a gaping hole in the roof. I sort of joked
that this was a Katrina gingerbread house (Vicki's family had
been displaced by the hurricane) and got into the spirit of
things by decapitating a sugar-cookie resident of the house.

In addition: assorted cookies made by various guests and
chocolate-covered toffee of several sorts from several sources.

A carbohydrateful time was had by all, and this meal was the
source of my glycosuria.

The bevvies:

Terra Barossa Shiraz 05 - Parker gives this 91; he's an idiot.
It is rich and ripe, brambly, with chocolate and minty notes,
and might have been almost as good as one of Ray Ward's. It's
way too sweet, though, which downrates it severely in my eyes
(Parker celebrates this, calling it "deep blackberry liqueur").

Some no-name Viognier from the Pays d'Oc went nicely with the
spicy food, and in fact the nv Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc was
all right (tropical fruit, just a little herbaceousness, not
much cat pee). 

But I drank mostly Langer's pomegranate juice cocktail,
sweetened with Splenda - sort of a poor and flavorless
relation of cran-* cocktails but with an interesting bite.
I sort of wonder if my glycosuria might have been partially
Splenduria.

After dinner, some of us took a digestive walk; we went past
Bob Kinkead's house again, but none of the other walkers knew
who this gentleman was, as the culinary cognoscenti Benita, John,
and Jon didn't join us, so there was no further talk of peeing
in his car.

The end of the '08 swag:

86% Ghirardelli Midnight Delight chocolate bar
1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die
another plate of cookies (Jonathan ate 16 of 20, apparently
 in one sitting)
a coffeemaker (?!) with a 12-oz pack of Intelligentsia brand
 Direct Trade Quetzal Breakfast Blend (Catual Bourbon grown
 at 1450-1700 M) from Guatemala and Honduras

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