12 and counting

Yesterday was my 12th wedding anniversary, a date of some significance I coincidentally share with the Wife. Saturday night we had dinner at the Huisache Grill, a great restaurant in New Braunfels we'd talked about trying out for years but only got around to trying out. Sunday we went into San Antonio to goof around. We ended up doing a little shopping at Central Market and picking up some wine and exotic cheeses. Of the half dozen bottles we bought (you get a 10 percent discount with 6), I got a bottle of Dry Comal Creek's White Black Spanish, which is close to my all-time favorite wine, along with a 100 percent pomegranate fruit wine (!). The Wife grabbed a bottle of Monchhof Estate Riesling, which she'd had a glass of at the Huisache and really liked (not terribly sweet, with a crispness and well-balanced flavor. If you've ever suffered cheap riesling, you know how significant that balance is) and a peach wine as well. Needing one more bottle to fill out our purchase, the Wife grabbed, on a lark, a bottle of Moxie a so-called "Sparkling Red" on sale for just $10. Identified as Pinot Noir on the advertising, the bottle itself said it was a Shiraz from Australia. Which concerned me, as I don't generally find Shiraz to my taste. But last night we popped the corn anyway. In the glasses, it fizzed aggressively at first, and subsided quickly. Expecting the worst, we tried a sip and were pleasantly surprised. It had great red flavor and mouthfeel without bludgeoning us over the head with tannins. The carbonation gave it a frothy, playful texture. And it packed a wallop. After one glass I felt a distinct buzz, and the Wife agreed it was strong stuff that snuck up on you if you weren't careful. The next time we're at Central Market, we're definitely stocking up on this stuff.

Gifts were also exchanged. I got the Wife a Canon FS10 digital video camera and extra memory cards, since our old camera is pretty much obsolete with a rapidly dying battery. She, in turn, presented me with some undeniably cool presents: Several books--The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography by Joe Farace, Digital Astrophotography: A Guide to Capturing the Cosmos by Stefan Seip and The Chicken Ranch: The True Story of the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas by Jan Hutson. How cool is that? She capped it off with a DVD of Justice League - The New Frontier two-disc special edition. So, I think it's safe to say my evenings are full up for the next week or so...

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