It was one of those perfect nights for Halloween, a Saturday with a nice temperature and no rain or snow.  I remember as a kid my Mother sewing us costumes that would be able to fit over slickers or snow attire, and they usually were biblical in appearance, so that the church had costumes for the Christmas pageant, even if we weren’t performing in it.  For the last twenty-five years we watched the attendees for the Trick or Treaters slowly dwindle down in numbers.  My Bride always wanted to give out candy and she liked to talk to the children about their costumes, I guess Moms never get tired of Halloween.  She also had to get good candy, so if there was any left overs, I wouldn’t complain about the caliber of the candy that she bought.  This year our Son and his wife wanted to take both of us out for dinner for our birthdays and he wanted to do it on Halloween night as his children are all grown and the numbers of children in his area had dwindled as well.  Also, who wanted to decide if the state or the community standards approved of children having fun this year and if there was going to fallout, because of it.  It also worked out that our next-door neighbors were having their annual bonfire and Halloween night party on their driveway, they had a real neat portable bonfire contraption, and in case my Bride reads this, we don’t need one.  Since, they were going to give candy out to any participants, we gave them our bags of candy that we had bought in anticipation that we would have be at home making the trick or treaters happy.

I had thought of a neat restaurant that was a little out of our way, but rather convenient for our hosts, a perfect combination of good food, good wine selection and reasonable pricing.  It turns out that they were going to be closed on Halloween night.  We had a discussion and then decided on Cucina Bigalora, an excellent more casual restaurant, but quality food, and a tight good wine list; it was also equidistance for all of us.  If my Bride and I go out for dinner, we usually don’t have appetizers or desserts, we usually order dinner and take off, but this was a leisurely dinner, so we enjoyed.  Everyone had appetizers and my Bride had Prosciutto e Grana, a platter of Prosciutto di Parma, Gran Padano, arugula and focaccia; while I ordered Fried Shishito Peppers with Sea Salt and there was enough that everybody could try the other dishes as well. My Bride ordered one of the house specialties, a personal size pizza called the Capricciosa which was the House-blend Mozzarella, Italian Ham, fresh mushrooms and artichokes.  While I went with an order of Rigatoni Bolognese with grass-fed beef, Pancetta and Grana Padano (it wasn’t my sauce, but it was very tasty).  For dessert my Bride had Sorbet with a lit candle and I went old-school with a Cannoli. 

Well the birthday recipients had a slight thirst that evening.  We had a bottle of Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio delle Dolomiti 2018, from the South Tyrol of Italy, and I had ordered it, because I know that my Bride likes this grape and you should have seen her, when she thought I had ordered a Pinot Noir for the dinner, but she calmed down quick enough.  Christof and Sabine Tiefenbrunner represent the fifth generation running the Tiefenbrunner Castel Turmhof Wine Estate which was registered in 1848 and making it one of the oldest wine estates in the South Tyrol.  The terrain for the vineyard is hillsides on chalky-gravelly soil.  The wine is pure Pinot Grigio and it is fermented in Stainless Steel and then aged for four months in concrete vats on the lees until the time of bottling.  A very refreshing wine with just a touch of terroir to make it fun.  It was a very interesting and very different Halloween evening.