Eat a meal, drink some wine, work out.

Menu:

Minestrone Soup

Pasta salad

Baguette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Chocolate chip angel food cake with chocolate sauce and strawberries

 

Wine:

R. Stuart Pinot Noir, 2006 and 2007

Brandborg 2007 Umpqua Valley Gewurztraminer

 

The table was rather full this week at dinner, although not near our record attendance.  Mike, Hannah and Holly were back, and Sam, Holly’s roommate also joined us.  We feasted on soup and pasta salad (made by Caitlin).  The soup was delicious, complete with chopped bacon and many vegetables that I cannot remember (they did not, however, appear to have been canned). 

 

My guess is that this was one of those “healthy” recipes, the kind that the family occasionally attempts in hopes to stave off some of Dad’s cholesterol-heavy cravings.  While I write “healthy” in a way that is seemingly disparaging, I actually prefer the generally fresher tastes that these recipes produce.  When one has glutton tendencies on Sunday nights, the healthy meal is a comfort when regretting an over-filled stomach.     

 

As with most Sunday dinners in which Michael is in attendance, the dinner table conversation quickly digressed from standard pleasantries to talk of bodily functions (a topic of discussion more appropriate for say, a locker room or the depths of a musty bar).

 

But alas, I have made promises to not “incriminate” anyone in these posts, so I will leave the details to memory.  However, I will admit some fault in another conversation at the table involving the repulsive nature of rodent-like animals and their completely unattractive qualities as pets.  While talk of rodents might not be the first thing that comes to mind when listing "dinner time conversations,"  I'll venture to say that anyone who has attended family dinner finds this to be of no surprise.  

To top off a delightfully filling meal, Laura made a "sunken" (a completely intentional culinary move) angel food cake with chocolate chips, covered in chocolate sauce, and then served with strawberries.  Dad generously popped open a bottle of Brandborg Gewurztraminer.  I may or may not have had several helpings.  Oh, I did learn a few more things about wine.  First, every word that I can come up with to describe the wine that I am drinking actually describes the opposite components to those that are featured.   So I guess I didn't learn so much as I continue to realize my naiveté.  

After eating a large meal and drinking some wine, we logically concluded the evening with an hour of breaking in Mom's new WiiFit.  Suiting, considering the way our family loves to humiliate one another with everyone watching (and I suppose by "family" I mean me).  The WiiFit age, by the way, is an unreasonably cruel feature of this so-called video game.  Judging merely by my performance in some balance test I aged 7 years.  For future reference, everyone looks ridiculous hula-hooping.  

The table will be drastically smaller next week as many of us flee the city for Spring Break.  I have a feeling that the dogs will be eating at the table to fill space.