Dinner For One

I got off of work a touch early today, things were kind of slow, I had gotten all my work done, (along with a couple of other peoples….ahem) wrung up some special orders and the vibe in the shop today was just….tense, I hate that. I am one of those uber mellow people, I even avoid driving on the freeway just because I get all tense….I am willing, more than willing because I choose it, to drive longer to avoid that awful tight shouldered, scrunched forehead, feel-like-I’m-about-to-snap feeling…no way no how I was going to sit in the shop, (with no customers) and stew in it! Amy had called to see if I wanted to stop by for a bit so I punched out, said, “Tootles” and headed over to her place. We sat on the back porch and chatted for a bit and that was when she asked, “What are you having for dinner?”


My husband has been in Texas for the past couple days so dinner has been a non issue, like last night I ate a bag of microwave popcorn and a hard-boiled egg a total MacGyver meal…making something from the nothing that is my kitchen at the moment. Once in a while it is nice to not think about it and just eat whatever, the hubby on the other hand needs the big three at dinner, protein, starch and vegetables doesn’t matter the preparation but if those three are not in place, well it aint dinner. I hadn’t given any thought as to what I was going to eat tonight and as I drove home I passed Del Taco…nah…Jack In The Box…God NO, each place I passed on my extra long non freeway drive home sounded wretched.



After a less than great day at work and knowing I was coming home to an empty husband-less apartment I needed something comforting, something simple and something the hubby might deem unworthy of dinner status…I needed ghetto fabulous. I swung into the Vons parking lot, gathered my goods, (along with a lovely roast for dinner tomorrow) and headed home. As I unloaded my wares a smile spread across my face…I seasoned my roast and placed it in a pan with chopped onion, garlic, carrots and celery and popped it in the oven, (working the later shift tomorrow so precooking the roast was a must…not sure but thinking we might be having roast beef Panini with horseradish cream but that is still up in the air) then I began to put together my dinner for tonight.




I first pulled out a salad plate from the cupboard, this would be red flag number one to the hubby, (plate is way too small for dinner) and then a small salad bowl into which a grated a clove of garlic, squeezed a half a lemon, pinch, (good sized pinch) of salt, couple of cracks of pepper and a glug of olive oil, whisked it together and set it aside. When my hand landed on the loaf of bread I was reminded of how we never have bread this soft in the house, just grabbing it changed the shape of the whole damn thing! Three times a year we have fluffy, gummy white bread in the house, (used to be Wonder bread but they have kicked that unhealthy stuff right out of Southern California…we can inject Botox in our faces but Wonder Bread…hells no!) one is Thanksgiving because we all love our day after dry ass turkey sandwich to stick to the back of our teeth, another is when I crave my once a year grilled cheese…yes with those vile plastic wrapped “cheese” slices and pickle chips…slathered in butter and grilled to gooey perfection and the last is for nights like tonight, when only cheap ass white bread will do.



I placed my two slices of Wonder knockoff bread on the plate and slopped on a good smear of Best Foods mayo, topped one slice with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, (they were sliced but not the same as “slices”) and the other with Oscar Meyer Boiled Ham….oh yes…yes I did, that square package of super salty, not really ham tasting ham…uh huh. I then tossed a handful of greens into the lemon olive oil mixture and piled that on top of the ham slice because I knew the already gooey bread would end up looking like a fingerprint sample if I got this oily mixture anywhere near it, the ham and cheese acted as my fortress against the destruction of my ghetto fabulous ham and cheese samminch.


The two pieces properly folded together like a book and ceremoniously smushed with the palm of my hand I was almost ready to eat….needed two things, one was a snack pack of sour cream and onion Pringles, the other….a glass of wine. I was given two open bottles of wine tonight and strangely enough, (for November anyway) they were both Rose. The first was a bottle of 2007 Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet Bourgogne Rose, ($21.99) and the second was 2007 Sylvain Bailly Sancerre Rose, ($21.99) both of which are absolutely wonderful and I was beyond happy to be the recipient of but which to have with my sandwich? I started with the Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet and while it was still super yummy, it just didn’t sing with my food, too much round cherry fruit for this so I switched to the Sancerre Rose…hot damn…winner winner chicken dinner. Something about the super tart fruit, racy acids and tongue tingly lemon rind flavors just slammed against my lemon garlic dressing on the greens in the most magical way…the salty ham was no match and the non-descript cheese just acted as a nice little fatty component that seemed to punch up the nerve in an already nervy wine.


So while I was bummed by a cranky staff day at the store and a touch lonely without my sweet husband I was in full wine geek mode with my silly little pairing, it was so freaking tasty and to top it off when my roast was cooked to a perfect 118 degrees, (internal) I pulled it out, let it rest and shaved off a tiny end piece…dude…poured myself a little taste of the Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet Rose…DUDE!! Got a two-fer….sick, the sweet but salty meat with the cherry rich Bourgogne Rose…guess I know what I am drinking with dinner tomorrow night