Recession Romance……..

Yesterday was an interesting lesson for me. In the simple things-and how they can be nice.

I had been instructed by the S.O. not to get flowers for Valentine’s day. ” Flowers are too expensive at Valentines Day-wait till later and get them when they are cheaper.”

Yes! I’m off the hook!

We had talked about going to look for something shiny for her-after we went to play golf. Both of us had wanted to go-its been over 4 months since we played. The morning rains though, pitter pattering on our downspout, put an end to that idea.

So after breakfast, we decided that having dinner at home was probably a better option-than going out to a nice restaurant. Some nice pasta ( I have some pretty good recipes that I have made before) and some wine would be nice we thought.

Now we have been trying to find a particular wine brand that had been given to us, Talus Pinot Noir-2006.  We liked the wine when we drank it-both of us thought it was a pretty smooth taste-and hoped to have some more. Obviously we had some learning yet to do about savoring wine, because as I researched the Talus brand, almost to a man the wine critics hated it.

But its under 10 bucks-which has to count for something.

Package store on the Arsenal?- Stopped selling it when they re-organized all their wine shelves this week.

Undeterred, the S.O. and I set off for the local,  snooty wine store. You know the kind- that caters to the real wine aficionado.  Couldn’t help. Have not carried such a brand for a while-“but I do have a good Argentinan Pinot, 10.95”. We bought a bottle and a French Cabernet that I had heard about and out we went. To hell with this, we’ll just get the rest of the ingredients for  dinner. As we shopped-found a flower stand selling roses, nothing fancy, but they were in a hurry to get rid of what was left. Bought a bunch, since the S.O. had looked at them more than a couple of times. Came across another Pinot, Castle Rock-which unlike the Talus, did not offend the Wine Spectators tastes. “Nonde mitai?” (Try it?)-why not.

Heading for the checkout, past the DVD section. Madagascar 2 Two Disk Set.  “Shall we watch it?” , she asks.  ( A cartoon-On Valentines day?) “Sure”.

Rigatoni with Sausage and tomatoes?-4-5 dollars or so, depending upon  how you cost the ingredients.

Castle Rock Pinot Noir? $9.95

DVD set? Over priced at $23 ( Especially since there are only two Penguin cartoons-I was hoping for more).

But walking into the bedroom to find Pooh-san propped up with a Valentines card and a note from the S.O. that brought a tear to my eyes?-Priceless.

It was a really nice note and completely unexpected. Especially given her grumpy mood of late and impatience with the rigors of Stateside living. Sure took me by surprise. My card was just the usual pap.

It was a nice way to spend the day though. Nothing fancy, or record setting to be sure. Just a nice day-that I think we both appreciated more than I thought we would.

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Since we were not going out-the S.O. and I had kind of a wine tasting around our dinner.

WINE SCORES:

Castle Rock- I thought it was good, smooth and quite tasty.  I have a hard time smelling anything other than the alcohol to tell you the truth, but it seemed OK. Whatever that proves.

Argentinian Pinot-Alfredo Roca? Sucked with a capital “S”.  It was way too sharp for my tastes-it just bit you. S.O. had a much more unkind term for it…………….

The French wine will have to wait for another day. However I agree with the wine critic about the snooty wines store recommendation, “However, after trying it, I was disappointed and won’t be buying it again—nor will I be taking recommendations from the same person.”

Vermonte Savuignon Blanc 2008 ( another “free” wine from Christmas).-I liked it for an “after dinner, sit around and talk kind of wine”.