Arches and Weddings

I just returned from the beautiful wedding of my niece and new nephew in St. Louis where I hope the wild night of dancing balanced out the nonstop intake of delicious food and adult beverages, but I'm not stepping on the scale to find out.

We also ventured into space, or at least it felt like it, by ascending the St. Louis arch. What an engineering marvel, but definitely not for the phobics of the world. The little windowless round pod that seats five urchins comfortably or five humans uncomfortably whisks you to the top in four minutes, so you can peer out the angled windows at the vista below. The sight out the windows is beautiful; the sight of seventy rear ends leaning in an arched row is less so, but rather funny.

And we followed that up with a Cardinals baseball game where they showed off for us West Coasters by hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning. All in all an enjoyable trip.

Green, Yellow and White

I walked through a typical grocery store produce aisle the other day and realized that I had tried almost all of them. That is either a pretty good feat or an indication that our grocery store has a limited selection. I choose to believe the former.

So I decided to peek at the cheese counter although I am on what I refer to as a dairy light diet. I would probably do better to be on a dairy free diet, but what can I say? I love cheese. So I try to be judicious about amounts and frequency and then listen to my body.

I chose something called Asadero, which was milky colored and mild and --I'm sorry Asadero makers--rather boring. I also picked a French Mimolette which was much more interesting. A medium sharp flavor that went well with one of my all time favorite red wines, Menage a Trois. Don't be fooled by the risque name, this is a wine you can drink in public.

Tonight I will experiment with mustard greens. I'm thinking of caramelizing some onion, then wilting or sauteing the greens. And a dash of kosher salt, then taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.