Mutton and a life altering experience

Shane has been after me to make lamb. Unfortunately, I had a few things to get over before I could undertake such a dish. No, it was nothing to with Mary Had Little Lamb or even the fact that Cyril's best friend was a lamb. When we were growing up we had a lovely British neighbor, Helen, who liked to cook lamb stew. And she liked to share entire pots of it with her neighbors. I actually don't remember how it tasted but I definitly remember the smell. Very pungent. And when you opened the refrigerator, no matter how it was contained, you got big wafts of it coming at you. Cold, congealed, lamb stew.


But anyway I tried to get over it and finally dug up a recipe for lamb chops with a rosemary-red wine sauce. ( After Shane gently hinted he'd like some by bringing some home from the store .)And I have to admit it was not that bad. Not a s good as Girardi's, but still tasty. I think my thermometer is broken though and it was a slightly over done. But I it made me brave enough to consider trying it again. maybe rack of lamb this time.
So the mutton was not the life altering experience. Tuesday was.

My fairy god-mother (aka my mother- in -law) called up and suggested we bring the kids over for an overnight. That day. The kids were as ecstatic as I was and quickly packed their suitcases while I made a list of all the possible things we might do. After talking it over with Shane we finally decided to go to Girardi's. We also considered seeing a movie but there was nothing good out. WE already saw Kung Fu Panda- which was really good and funny- and Indiana Jones was just not tempting. How could they let slip the inconsistency that the title mentions a crystal-skull ( i'd half expect to see He-Man in the credits) and then the trailers say a skull made entirely of gold. I guess there must be two skulls? Too much for me. Anyway, I am so glad we just stayed at the restaurant and enjoyed our fabulous dinner.

We brought a bottle of Chateneuf-du-Pape, which for the price was not that great. But it was priceless in that it acted as an intro to get Patrick- the owner- over to our table to at try it. He graciously said it was nice and then he pulled up a chair andd proceeded to open two bottles for us to try, which were tastier than ours. We really enjoyed the wines , maybe just because of the occasion and the company and the free feeling of being able to do whatever we wanted. But I think in a large part those things really can make a wine better. I was surpried because one was a Malbec from Argentina and in the past I have not liked them a whole lot. Its extremely mild and I'd like to try some lighter dishes to go with it. My pistachio chicken was a little strong.

We stayed for coffee and up too late, as Shane had an early meeting he had to be in for the mext morning. But when you have free time its hard to waste it on sleep.



Only $9 and $10 ate QFC
The next morning had time to do whatever so I went down and got a bottle of wines we'd tried and a bottle of Root:1 for Patirck, as he said he hadn't tried it. And then being free to do so I stopped by the restaurant to drop it off, where I found Peter, the best waiter in the world, working on a wine list for a tasting, which they have not done in a long time. He had me try some whites he was deciding between but I am not really a white fan so not much help. But I am very excited about the up-coming event and hopefully we can get a good group to all attend together. And i can't wait to see what the chef come up with as they are going to try a more informal setting with things to nibble on as opposed to a course dinner.
As for the life-altering part I guess it was more of an out of body experience. In the sense that I was me doing what I wanted for 24 hrs and feeling like an adult having adult conversations and a little like Cinderella at the ball. Except the Prince and I were already married and I could stay out past midnight.
However, things are back to real and I've slipped easily back into the cook, clean, wash, change, peace brokering role. But it was definitely dreamy while it lasted and came at a very "need recharging" time. I think its time to make lunch now.