Chardonnay and a Crunchy Looking Leaf

Yesterday Josh and I decided to go on a short walk around our neighborhood which morphed into a trip to the grocery store. When we moved here, we sold our cars because its just so expensive to own, insure, register, and park them here, so we walk to the Star Market down the street. When its 70 and cloudy out like it was yesterday afternoon, its not that bad of a walk--I would even go so far as to say its enjoyable. When its 90 out and 87% humidity, though, not so much. But since it did happen to be nice (I think we have finally overcome the hottest part of the year), I figured a trip to the store would be a good idea. Anyway, all of that was the background behind that leaf in the picture, which I found on the ground on our walk. This one slightly dead, crunchy looking leaf reminded me of how thoroughly excited I am for fall. I have never experienced a "real" fall. In Phoenix, what few trees we have are almost always green (or some shade of dead, depending on the tree) throughout the year. And palm trees just don't scream fall to me. This leaf, however, does. So I thought I would share.

On the way back from the store I wanted to stop at this cutely named liquor store across the street, but we decided against it since we were carrying a lot already and we have this massive bottle of Chardonnay at home that I am nowhere close to finishing yet. I want to try to avoid collecting bottles of wine until I have a more permanent home, preferably one I own. In the year that I lived with Josh since we married I ended up with a lot of wine that I ended up giving to my mom before we moved for fear they wouldn't make it to Boston in one piece. They probably would have been okay, but it was a potential mess I didn't want to have to clean up. And it was all cheap wine, anyway. I must confess I really like cheap wine, and I don't like it very strong or dry, either. My absolute favorite is Verdi Spumante. I generally don't like alcohol very much, though, and I derive absolutely no satisfaction at being even the slightest bit tipsy, much less completely wasted, so I try to avoid that (the tipsy-ness, I mean, and the wasted). Maybe its because I'm diabetic and it feels like my blood sugar is dropping, which is a highly uncomfortable sensation. But honestly, even apart from that, I greatly value being able to fully utilize my mental faculties, much more than I value a few fleeting hours of dim euphoria.

I haven't cooked much in the last two days, sadly, except for some sweet potato latkes that turned out abysmal (I think my ratios were off, and I should have used my julienne slicer rather than a regular grater), so I didn't want to post pictures of them until I get it right. Josh thought they were good, though. Tomorrow for a snack I'm probably going to make some Parmesan Zucchini Crisps, which I love. And that is a lot to say about a vegetable, coming from me. I hate vegetables. I had no idea I had a secret passion for zucchini until I tried these, and ever since I have been looking for recipes to trick myself into eating them. Most of those recipes have involved more zucchini :)

Well, its almost 3am. Which means its really almost midnight, so its about time for bed. Perhaps one day I will become adjusted to east coast time. Until then, I guess I'll be here!