*bad bad bad

Anytime I make any sort of extra effort in making dinner [as in a real recipe, or risotto, or steak, or anything moderately special] I feel like I have to set the table pretty, light votives and cannot not have wine [unless it's clearly a beer meal]. Tonight it was definitely my fault. I had planned to make empanadas [a beer meal, but I don't much feel like beer lately], but couldn't find my trusty empanada dough recipe. I believe I didn't want to lose it, so I put it somewhere safe - oops. Anyway, so Ben was supposed to get burger fixings and instead got some nice steak and peppers to make kebabs. I guess kebabs aren't the fanciest of meals, but the steak wasn't cheap, and after drizzling some balsamic vinaigrette over them, it looked rather special. In Montana, this wasn't a problem: we lived 3 blocks from Grizzly Grocery and could hop on a bike and be back in 5 minutes with a decently cheap bottle of wine. Not in Utah!!! You can only buy wine at a State-run liquor store which close at 7pm and aren't open Sundays. I often try to buy a couple extra bottles of cheaper wine to have on hand. Problem is, they usually are consumed in a couple days. So all we had in the pantry tonight was a special bottle I bought just this week - the one we had on our ♥ day date [as well as a reeeeally special one saved for like.. the dissertation defense] and were saving for a special occasion. As Ben headed out to the bbq I said, soooo we probably shouldn't have that wine? Knowing full well that we would have it - though I had to put up the pretend "I'm frugal" front. ayayay.

Anyway, it was worth it - just as it usually is. We're both a little frazzled lately: Ben with 150-or-so books to read [or at least know] in the next month and I with a feisty + headstrong little toddler. The kebabs were de-licious and the wine just right. If you're looking for a nicer [this would be a low-budget wine to some, I realize - $18], yummy, quality wine we would both recommend it - Can Blau, Montsant Spain 2006. I can't find the words to describe it and would sound cheesy anyway if I did. We agreed at dinner on cherries and pepper? What do we know?


*Just so you know, I took pictures of my food+wine long long before I had a *blog* :)
**Why do I feel like putting all those thoughts in [brackets] instead of in the clause itself?
***You might be wondering why this is so bad, and the answer is, we cannot afford it!!