“From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now… 16 years old!” That is a classic quote of nonsense that I remember from a film, back when I was in school. I am developing a sense of gallows humor as I write this article it has been 26 days that I have been under shelter at home rules and the rules are getting more stringent, while I have heard of others that have endured ten days and are getting back to some form of civility and humanity.  Michigan is the third in the country for the most golf courses and second in the nation for registered boats and the citizens are not allowed to do either, along with dining in, and getting haircuts and manicures.  The rules have since lightened up a bit, you can go on your boat if it doesn’t have a motor, and you can golf on a private course if you carry your own clubs and keep a social distance from your golfing partner. With tuberculosis they ended up building sanitariums out in the country and let the people reside there, until they were cured or died. I realize that we must be safe, but I don’t remember such measures in my lifetime about any other disease, and there have been several terrible diseases that have been seen over the last ten and even to twenty years.

One of the Friday evening meals, my Bride decided that we were going to make a meal of Shrimp Cocktail, because we are still in Lent and she abides by the rules, and hence so do I, by osmosis.  She had a bottle of Cocktail Sauce with fresh horseradish that she wanted to try.  She also had a commercial rice pilaf that she had bought that was with almonds, but she altered their suggested method of preparation and used chicken broth in place of water, and it was a much better alternative, I am sure.  Actually, it was kind of fun to have such a casual dinner and she probably allotted too many shrimps, but she says that she has plenty more for other dishes.  Actually, it has been an interesting experiment, even if I do complain, but I think that those that obey, suffer more harshly compared to ones that are out gallivanting as if the laws don’t apply to them.  I guess that is why there are parts of Michigan that are suffering more recorded ailments, but I feel that our satrap governor may be demanding that every medical incident, be it a hangnail or cancer be listed as the whatever the current politically correct name is for this disease.

We were still making room in the refrigerator in the garage, for storage of dishes waiting to be used as leftovers, trying to be as efficient as possible.  So, I grabbed a bottle of wine that was already chilled.  The Joseph Carr Josh Cellars Pinot Grigio California 2019 is a wine that I felt that I needn’t worry about as we have always had success with his Chardonnay.  Joseph Carr began in 2005 making his line of wines, representing the best of vineyards for a California version of the classic French wines.  In 2007 he created the Josh Cellar line to represent California wines in a more relaxed, and affordable price range and named this collection after his father.  The fruit for this wine comes from all parts of California.  Joseph Carr is part of the much larger Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, and as an interesting side note, Joseph Carr lives in Cape Cod when he is not making wine.  I was also very impressed with an add that I just saw from Joseph Carr and Josh and their pledge to the Restaurant Workers’ Community.  Normally, with shrimp I think I would have gone with a white wine that had more body, but I thought that a chilled Pinot Grigio would be a more low-key pairing with the Cocktail Sauce with fresh Horseradish and it worked quite well.  Onward to more wining and dining at home.