Gluttony Boys (beta)

Well, it is that time of year again. Boy how the time flies! Every year right before Christmas, my wife goes on a baking bonanza for us to take to work. Snack wise, it is the best time of the year.

Now, you may have noticed a certain lack of gluttonous behavior here. The GBoys have been dieting. Well, it is partially that, and partially we have just been busy doing other stuff.

Ok, back to the baking. Let me tell you, it is great waking up in the morning to the awesome aroma of fresh baked cookies, and bread. Hopefully the house will smell this way all week.

All of this is a small price to pay for having to clean the kitchen! Honestly though, she does a pretty good job of cleaning as she goes, so by the time I have to clean the rest, it isn’t so bad.

The treats being baked today are: Comfort Cookies, which is a new addition this year. Others are chocolate chip pudding cookies, chocolate crinkles cookies, magic cookie bars, fudge, Amish Friendship Bread, and peanut butter kiss cookies, with dark chocolate kisses on top. Did I mention that I love dark chocolate? The. Best. All of them surely to reek havoc on the diet. But I can return when the treats are gone.

Oh yeah, while the cookies will be great for the guys and gals tomorrow at work, sneaking some when they are fresh out of the oven is the best way! Not sure if it is because when warm they taste even better, or if it is because I grabbed them when the wife wasn’t looking…

The house was quiet. The kids were out, one at work and the other shopping (it seems like only 16 years ago that one was in a high chair and the other was complaining that she was hungry). As I sat there staring at my wife while we tried to decide what dinner would entail, she said “I’m having some wine!” and got up.

I followed her into the kitchen and extracted a bottle labeled “Incognito” from the fridge. This was the Viognier that I had purchased at AJ’s about a month ago thinking it might be our entry at the wine tasting party, but the bitch won out that day. “Okay” she said, so I went to work on the cork with Costco, my pet name for our “rabbit” cork screw obtained at some type of warehouse-like shopping club, if memory serves.

She settled on some tamales that were in the fridge while I took out some thin sliced choice bottom round steaks and some left over fries. I poured a couple of glasses while we waited for the microwave and skillet to do their thing.

The first sips were okay, but the wine improved while the bottle warmed up on the kitchen counter. With my meal consumed, I grabbed some sliced cucumbers and cherry tomatoes on a plate with a dab or two of ranch dressing. I filled my glass again and broke out the GB tasting sheet. With Christmas music playing in the background, in an effort to get me into the spirit of the season, I scored this wine.

Sniff, swirl, inspect, sniff again, sneeze, blow my nose, sip, taste, try to remember what I was doing, and then I swallowed the wine. Not bad. Quite good, in point of fact. This California white wine was a pretty pale color, with a fruit fragrance that tasted semi-sweet. The aroma of pears and peaches was good, balanced and the drink was very satisfying. It went well with the salad. I was impressed. I will have to get another bottle some day, with some fried shrimp, perhaps.

My wife started baking Bizcochos (Mexican wedding cookies) as that is what she does this time of year. Very tasty these cookies are (Viognier brings out the Yoda in me). We need more Incognito, too!