Wine, Food, Friends, and Theater

I've heard of the Rogue Valley, but I didn't realize it was in Oregon until I tried Foris 2005 Pinot Noir Rogue Valley and then looked at the label. I brought the empty bottle home. I'm finding I need to record my wine experiences, so I'm either going to have to start saving all the bottles or saving the labels (Shalane's suggestion) and recording my thoughts about each wine I've tried. If I save the bottles, then it might look like I'm a big wine-O. We can't have that. Shalane has this enormous collection of wine corks. I mean it's like 50-gallon drum size. Maybe I shouldn't worry about a few wine bottles hanging around, because her collection doesn't make her look a wine-O. Anyway, who'd a thunk that there were wineries in Oregon? Have I been living inside of a brown paper bag? (I'm sure a lot of people think California is "the game" when it comes to American wines...I thought that for a long time. Ohio wines get good reviews, too. Did you know that? Mom will have a comment about this...just watch.)

A celebration was in order last night! Shalane survived (passed even) her dissertation proposal defense. We (Shalane, Sherry, and I) met at Bravo! Italian restaurant for dinner.

[Background: Sherry is my dear friend of about more than 10 years now. I met her when I went back to school to finish my bachelor's degree. She and I were in the same study group ("learning team" or whatever you want to call it these days) and graduated together with our B.S. We went on to get our master's together and that's when we met Shalane. Sherry has THE most contagious laugh of anybody I know. Shalane, you remember, is "4.0 GPA Shalane".]

Back to the dinner: I was coerced (heh!) into sharing a whole bottle of wine rather than just ordering one glass at a time (way more economical, by the way). It's a good thing Sherry doesn't mind driving us to the theater after we have dinner. Maybe I should say something responsible here like, "Maybe I should just stop at one glass." I could say it, but I wouldn't mean it. Anyway.......I LOVE (L-O-V-E...love, love, love) eggplant and Bravo! has the best eggplant in town, in my opinion. It comes with an herb pasta and I ordered a few meatballs to go with. The Pinot Noir and the eggplant were lovely together--so lovely that I never even took a drink of my water. (Mom makes the best meatballs on the planet, so I was unimpressed with Bravo!'s. They were barely the size of a "boulder" sized marble.) Shalane's filet mignon topped with gorgonzola might have been better than my eggplant. She was ridiculously excited by what was happening with every bite and every sip. It was fun to watch. I took a bite of her filet...her reaction was appropriate!

The three of us have begun a regular thing of gathering every few months lately to have a nice dinner and then go to a play. We've been doing the Actors Co-op productions at the Blackbox Theater. The first two plays of the season were interesting, fun, and a bit raunchy. Last night's play (Absurd Person Singular) was excellent (despite the fake British accents of each character). This was sort of a character study. I guess if I took away one thing from it, I would say that it's always fascinating to watch a person's evolution (for good or bad) and uplifting to know that you are connected to other human beings in special ways. The play was funny, very well-acted, and holiday-themed, so it was a good way to kick off the month of December.

The evening overall was so enjoyable. We caught up on one another's lives, we had good conversation, and we laughed hard. This sort of thing feeds my soul and makes me happy. The food, wine, and the "extra" entertainment of a play are enjoyable, because the company with whom I've shared it is so much fun! It's safe to say that last night a good time was had by all.

Okay...well, I'm off to the vet. And then maybe I'll do more toilet shopping.