As I have written before we get together once a month to celebrate all the birthdays in the families at one time. It is more economical and convenient to just have one big party each month and it has become the norm for this ritual. Needless to say it was rather hectic at the house in preparation, giving the house an extra dose of cleaning and getting a dinner planned to work around all the different food requirements and regimens of the some of the guests. Shall I say with all due modestly that my Bride excels at this type of stress and she survived effortlessly.

We had her wonderful Caesar Salad that I think everyone is addicted to, as well as a couple of other salads that she or some of her sisters brought as well.  One of her sisters had made an appetizer of shrimp that was Mexican in origin with an avacado, lime and cilantro mix. Her one sister from Louisville made all of the vegetables in the kitchen with all of the chaos that was surrounding that area at the moment including sautéed asparagus and Brussels sprouts with bacon. I was busy slicing the meat because we had made whole tenderloins of beef and pork, so they were all sliced into medallions for the dinner. There were an assortment of cakes and puddings and even a scratch-made Key Lime pie by our son and his new wife. In fact when I surveyed the food table after everyone had eaten, there was nary a “doggie-bag” to be made for anyone to take home, so the dinner was a total success, but I really expect that anymore under my Bride’s supervision.

As for the beverages we had started out with an assortment of white wines that I have written about in the past that are a staple in this house, and then there was Sangria that was being enjoyed as well. I was all set to surprise my Brother-in-Law with the new bottle of Meiomi Pinot Noir 2013 that my Bride had just discovered and since I know how much they enjoy that varietal. When they arrived, his wife handed me a three bottle travel bag of wines that they had brought to share with the party and she said that they were concerned that carrier had slid over on the side and they were worried that some sediment in one of the wines would have been disturbed and that I might have to decant the one bottle. I also wanted them to try the Moreson Pinotage 2012 to get there take on the wine, as neither of them had ever had this varietal. When I opened the carrier, imagine my surprise to find that besides another Chardonnay to add to the festivities, there was a bottle of Meiomi Pinot Noir 2013 and I started to laugh and I had to share this fact with my Bride who thought she had found a coup and here they were ahead of the curve. The last bottle in the carrier was the one that my Brother-in-Law was concerned about, it was an Opus One 2000 and he wanted to see how it was maturing as he had some more of it back at his cellar. The Pinotage was a hit, as they were admiring how smooth this wine was, and then we opened the Opus One during our dinner and there was nary a trace of sediment, and I had forgotten how great this wine is, as we had not had some in a while and made me think of the bottles in my own cellar. We finished off the evening enjoying the Meiomi though we should have started off with this wine as it was much more fruit forward then the first two reds that we were drinking, but by this time we were just enjoying the company and this wine was just easy sipping to finish off the night.