Suburban Saturday Night

We invited #1 and his family over for dinner last night. It was Madonna’s 50th birthday so we decided to celebrate. Martinis and Moet kicked it off. The older boys are heading off to college very soon so we forced them to sit with us for a while. I grilled some steaks to perfection, regardless of the fact that they were briefly ablaze. I need to clean out that BBQ.

For dinner, #1 provided a fine ’99 BV Cab. I pulled out an ’85 Stratford Cab that my wife had recently discovered as she was cleaning the house. It must have come from my crony 4M. He’d be appalled that we came across it by accident but he probably gave it to us 20 years ago, so he’ll have to forgive me. He never reads the blog so he won’t find out. Unfortunately, like Madonna’s career, the wine had gone bad a long time ago.

To be honest, I was a little concerned about having the #1s over. My neighborhood is going through a bit of transition and its freaking me out a tad. I was driving to the gym the other evening and I see this couple walking their dog. One of them had it on a leash and the other one was pushing a doggie stroller. It was a little red canvas number with a mesh screen so Fifi could see out. Then on the way home there were more dog walkers out. One of them was carrying the dog as they walked. And this was no Paris Hilton type glorified rat. It was about the size of a basset hound. Fido is unfortunately likely on his last legs. Otherwise I can’t figure it out. I think I might need to pounce on the next real estate market upswing.

Earlier yesterday, I was cleaning up the house, including the fridge. As I tossed out some rotting vegetables, I pondered the yin and yang of marriage. It brought me back to our early dating days, when our love was new but a lot of crap in her refrigerator wasn’t. She probably blamed it on her roommate. Now that she’s married to me, she can no longer manufacture penicillin in the refrigerator. But I clearly got the better part of the deal. I recall a quote from Paul Newman decades ago, stating that if he hadn’t met Joanne Woodward, he’d be in a drunk tank in Mexico. Likewise.

My wife’s been doing a lot of the cooking lately as well. She’s tired of my tried and true favorites and has been making some delectable dinners. However, she has to head back to work this week so it’ll probably be back to mac and cheese soon. Of course that’s mac and cheese made with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. I’m dull but I don’t skimp on ingredients. We’ve managed to work out the weekly menus well together but we don’t always agree. A few months back, my wife claimed she made us a carnitas dinner. I said she boiled a piece of pork butt for a few hours.