Vino,vino,vino
With a prospect of a night of not having dinner in a restaurant, the delightful one decided that it was time to shop last night. Andronico's is a local chain restaurant with expensive selections of food. However, with the expense comes quality. If you don't mind paying for it, the supermarket is fantastique! I spent some time looking for a nice bottle of wine that would not bust the wallet. I checked out the chardonnays, but decided that the menu will feature longanisa with spaghetti and Ragu meat sauce. So, with the menu settled, off to the red wines we went. Besides, red wine is supposed to be excellent for you if you imbibe only one glass a day. I suppose you could say that red wine is like an apple.

Merlot, zinfandels, cabernets, tons of wineries that I have never heard of were laid out like a virgin in front of a sacrificial altar. Where to begin? Where to drink? I absolutely had to pass on the boxed wines, although the SF Chronicle had an article in its wine section about how there are now high class wines in boxes. Apparently, the collapsing plastic bladder which contains the wine allows for the preservation of the vino. Oxygen does not enter the container and does not oxidize the little organics.

I figured though that I really had to have a bottle that was good. Well, off to the higher end of the aisle did the little hummingbird fly. Now, 1999 was supposed to be an excellent year for wine in the Napa Valley. The question is why it was so. My guess is that it was the El Nino year. The dry year essentially caused the grapes to be smaller which produces a more concentrated taste. If anyone out there knows why this is so, please, enlighten the glowing one.

At any rate, the one with an upturned face noticed that by golly, those bottles were outrageously priced, the 99 ones. So off to the side did the one with a mole go to. Searching...searching... searching for a bottle is like searching for a woman. It takes you a while before you find one worthy of pouring oneself. Finally, one settled for a nice cabernet from Five Rivers. The idea of a pentagram on a glass of wine settled on one's mind.

The wine was very nice indeed. Beauty found it necessary to obtain a fine glass with which to drink the wine because simply put, a mug does not do justice to sucking a wine. The mug is too thick and interrupts the beauteous one from sucking in air with which to mix the nectar.

Sucking air.... or sucking the air out of something. Lately, there has been trouble in the golfing world over the idea of Anika Sorenstram playing in the Colonial golf tournament. Apparently, Anika was given a freebe to enter the tournament. The tournament is for male golfers. As the date comes closer and closer, people keep getting into a snit over the whole thing.

What is wrong with her entering? I don't see any. I see many pluses. First, she will definitely improve the beauty of the event. Let's face it, some of those players are pretty ugly. Except for Tiger and some others, many of them are not an example of beauty. Second, we can really see how women directly compete with men in sports. It is known that men are stronger than us, but how far have we come? As an example of the fairer sex, I would certainly love to know. Third, it's about time that we beat the living crap out of some male chauvinistic players. Really, Bobby Riggins got his ass whooped by Billy Jean. Let's have another whooping. I'll bring snacks and the wine.

The spaghetti last night was pretty good. Of course, how can you go wrong when you have longanisa as a side dish supporting the pasta? Ragu makes a pretty tasty dish of a sauce. You would not know it, but the meat was pretty good. The sauce/tomato was quite tasty. I could not pick out the garlic and the onions, but I'm quite sure they were there. Hmm, maybe it's time for me to cook some spaghetti and bring that sucker into the potluck tomorrow.

redux redo
The whole event last night was topped off with some bread and cheese. Tonight, I trek into the underbelly of San Francisco. I must return some rental tapes so I'll have to go traipsing through the Mission and the Japantown areas. It would not be so bad, if the weather would only cooperate. Right now it is sunny on this side of the bridge. Watch out though because it can just just like that. I wonder if I will meet a prancing Romeo in the underbelly of San Francisco. Hmm, maybe I can go for some pancakes in the Denny's. You know, I have never gone to that Denny's because of the way it looks. Could this princess be bothered with going to a store that looks like it has not been cleaned in a while? Most likely not. How to find interesting vcds in japantown is going to be a hoot.