Life's Luxuries, Good Food, Great Wine and Better conversation.

It’s amazing how much you see, but don’t see. You know what I mean. You notice something different. Be it in your house, at the office, with a friend, the kids or around town. You file it away for later reference and investigation, because invariably, at the time you notice it you are too busy rushing between the events in your life.

Today is one of those days that follows after one of those days where you noticed something, which got filed for later investigation - for me, it’s the appearance of a wine cooler in the house.

I noticed the little rectangular box with the blue light display some weeks ago. Filed it in the ‘to find out what it is, whose it is and why it’s here’ file and summarily forgot about it. Till a few minutes ago when I wanted to open some red wine. I buy wine from a merchant and have developed a taste for certain makers wines. An appreciation of the fine art that is wine making and the incredible bliss of paring good wine, with good food and great conversation.

I was about to cut through the packing tape on a box of Kaapzicht Pinnate 2001 when I suddenly got scolded for opening more wine when the house is too warm to store wine out side of the cooler. Now, I never, ever thought that my sister, or mother would ever absorb the wine know how I passed along when I learned something new, or had to impart the reason why the rule ‘red meat with red wine, white meat with white wine’ isn't a hard and fast rule, but there is was. I got crapped on by both for opening a new box of wine when they had placed wine in the cooler for our enjoyment.

I then found out that the cooler is my sisters. Got it as a Christmas gift from her work colleagues and Mom has taken ownership of it and the loose bottles of wine that has been standing in cupboards around the house. Now understand this clearly. My mother only enjoys desert wine. Very sweat wine. That’s her taste. Don’t even suggest pairing a Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc with a salad. In the cooler is currently not only light white wine, but some truly aged reds. Quite an eclectic collection of wine.

So in a very short time I got to know what the rectangular black box with blue lighting is. Whose it is, how it got to be here and that it’s now acceptable to enjoy a early pinnate with pizza. There’s hope for the house hold yet. Now if only I can break the red-with-red and white-with-white thing we might stand a chance of stepping onto the ladder of refined dining.