Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Why Not?



It's like the title of Miles Davis's "So What" from "Kind of Blue"...

So What? Why Not?

Discipline has been my new mantra this spring/summer. Drink less, exercise more, try to indulge less with everything that might be bad. Yesterday we happened to pass by soft shell crabs. Could it be the season? Watching those cold little buggers in our fishmonger's case foaming at the mouth had me thinking I was looking in the mirror. Well, at least Grandma Burton would think so (As a backnote, Grandma Burton should have been the daughter of a waterman, she adored crabs, loved softshells, and loved everything of shellfish origin). As a whimsical wishlist I said, "I sure would do anything for one of those crabs, mmm, with butter, pan fried"...

Three years of marriage feels like twenty-five...not because of the hard assed labor and bitterness...but because it's like she has known me for twenty-five years and just seems to cater to me at every damned turn. Viola, here I come home to the picture featured above.

Thanks Mario Batali, Sauteed Soft Shell Crabs with Broccoli Rabe, Sundried Tomato Pesto with Capers, and Balsalmic Vinegar.

Discipline slipping out of the door, my wife said, "What should we drink with this, it's a special meal?"

Shield up, focused, head held high, "Sel..zer...(my voice cracked), it's a weekday, gotta get up at 4:30am and I didn't work out to...day(cracking again)"...

"Sigh....Lemme see what's in the cellar"...I trudge (only in my subconscious), okay, I run downstairs and unearth a sweet little bottle of Virginia Viognier from Pollak Vineyards...

Nice balance of acid with peachy apricot and honeysuckle notes...really balance out the buttery crab...

It's Wednesday night, boring night, diet night...

Does it really have to be mundane?

Skip breakfast, do a few sit ups, and no, it doesn't...