Mediterranean Pizza.

Here are some more crappy pictures.

I had bought these pizza crusts back in September, and they've been sitting at the bottom of my refrigerator where I keep forgetting I have them. Anyway, I finally got around to using one of them since I had a bunch of other random ingredients that I had bought without anything in particular in mind.

Over a bed of spinach: feta, shrimp, chopped up artichoke hearts. I was going to put some kalamata olives on top, but the ones I had weren't pitted. So they just came along on the side.

This was actually a reheating, and I think it was better the second time. When it first came out of the oven, parts of the bottom were a bit soggy. I had cooked it on aluminum foil instead of a slotted sheet or on the rack which was a mistake. I ate it up with some hummus (which seems to be missing something. I might try some cumin.), a yogurt dill sauce that I've acquired a taste for, a bit of chili sauce, and some olives. I've bene eating a lot of olives. I fucking love olives.

Nistri Sangiovese Toscana.

I haven't been able to get a hold of any other sangioveses for a long time, so when I saw them at a liquor store's moving sales, I picked up a few different kinds. I remember liking the first one I ever had a lot.

This is one kind of fell flat. In the first sip, it was immediately berry blastin' like Kool-Aid or something. And then it just sort of disappeared. I had to check whether or not I had actually swallowed it. I just found it very thin. Or light, if I wanted to be optimistic.

It's had a little bit of time to open up, and it's doing better. It's starting to have a little backbone but probably wouldn't stand up to anything heavily spiced.

Manicotti and Cannelloni.

I made half a dozen of each. The cannelloni was hot Italian sausage, bella mushrooms, and onions. The manicotti was just ricotta. I had initially thought to use spinach and ricotta, but I forgot about the spinach until after I had already stuffed the shells. So it just went on top. I figure a bit of green all around wouldn't hurt. It turned out mostly ok, but nothing to write home about either.

Hummus and Baba Ganoush.

Here's my first go at my food processor. I don't have any numbers for these but it's easy enough to figure out the taste. The hummus turned out pretty great. The baba ganoush not so much. I haven't quite figured out what's off.

Dry Creek Petite Sirah.

Hm, this one was awhile ago. I think I remember it being characteristically inky, a bit sweet, and dense but not heavy.

Addendum, 122209: It seems to have lost something. I think it was entering its flabby phase. Virtually no tannin astringency, just juice and not a very interesting one at that.

Meatloaf.

Ok. It might look gross. But I assure you. It was delicious.

About 2.5 lbs of ground beef into two standard loaves (with onions, mushrooms, Worcestershire, seasonings to taste), half a dozen big potatoes, topped with bacon. I would have liked to cooked them in a shallow or slotted pan. I spent about 20 minutes spooning beef and bacon grease. I guess that's what I gt for 80/20 beef. It could have stood a bit more bread crumb but otherwise excellent.

Koshiki Junzukuri.

We saved this one until my birthday. Definitely worth the wait. At room temperature, the palate was super clean and refreshing, medium weight in the mouth and not overly rice-y and slightly fruity. I thought it had a slight apple finish. The first half went down straight and the other half went in screwdrivers. かんぱい！