Some of you must be incredulous that birthdays are celebrated every month either here or at another home. With a large family, no month has been missed out on, so it is just easier to get together once a month, both for cooking and for scheduling. Some of the milestone years get special treatment, otherwise they are just all lumped together. Even though we are one of the farthest homes from everyone, it is easier as far as I am concerned to have everyone here, not that we have such a large home, but because my Bride does most of the cooking, of the main dishes, and otherwise it entails so much more schlepping of pots and pans and other sundry items, not to mention the additional time that she has to be cooking elsewhere.

She always starts out with an assortment of nibbles for those that graciously come at the suggested time, though the nibble time can be extended longer than she really likes, and I have gotten to the point to suggest that she start cooking a little later, so that the dishes don’t dry out in the oven. For this dinner she decided to make two main dishes. She made three pork tenderloins in a marinade of Balsamic, garlic and Olive Oil. She also made Bourbon Salmon and she tries to get the largest filet that she can find. She made her famous Caesar Salad and I just topped it off with the salmon, and I wasn’t paying attention if others did it that way or not. As a nod to me she makes Armenian Pilaf, and actually her family has gotten used to it, as being a staple starch side dish. There were other sides that were brought over as well. Then when all of those dishes were cleared, then the obligatory Birthday cake with all of the names decorated on it, along with plenty of other desserts were set out for everyone to enjoy.

The strange thing that occurred was that I ended up shopping with my Bride for some stuff at Costco. I can’t tell you how long we have had membership there, but we have been married over twenty years and together for even longer; and I have never had my membership card finalized with my picture on the back; usually I just tag along with her. She wanted to get some more of her”house” Chardonnay that we always have chilling in the refrigerator, as her go-to wine. Luckily I can scan read quickly, otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a story to relate.

There was really no family into wines that were coming that day, so the cellar was safe from being raided at the moment. Some of her Sisters feel that the wines we serve are too dry, so someone brought a bottle of Barefoot White Zinfandel NV. I think that I could possibly retire if I received a quarter for every bottle of this popular priced wine that is sold, but this winery has served their niche market admirably. The main thrust of this article is I pitted two Costco white wines head to head. My Bride just enjoys her Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay 2014 and to be truthful it is an easy drinking wine. This wine has been written up by me at numerous gatherings before so there really is not more for me to add to the story. The other wine that I spotted and grabbed a few bottles of sounded interesting; it was the Kirkland Signature Series Chablis Premier Cru 2014. They must have bought the entire production of the two climats in the region to fulfill the requirements that Costco would demand. It would take quite a dissertation to explain all of the quirks of esteemed acreage in the Burgundy region of France. Suffice it to say that there are seven official Grand Cru districts of Chablis and one unofficial district, and then there are forty Premier Crus with a total of eighty-nine vineyards that can carry this designation. The two climats that this wine is blended from are Montmains and Les Beuregard, and they are two of the seventeen largest climats of Chablis Premier Cru. Climat is a named plot of wine producing land in Burgundy. This wine spent twelve months in Stainless Steel and show the common mineral taste that one finds in the white wines of this region. While I enjoyed this wine, my Bride will continue her basic “house” wine and I shall bring it out again, when there are more wine drinkers at another time.