Not TV dinners and ginger ale

(Apologies to Chuck Berry.)

The manufacturer of these cooling units is fast, at least . . . so that's where the money goes! We ordered a replacement unit for our wine cabinet on Thursday, received it on Friday (the Visa charge went through even faster, but the extended warranty did indeed knock $170 off the price tag), and installed it this weekend. I'm getting pretty good with the necessary tools and insulation; a few more breakdowns and I think I'll start servicing these things for a buck on the side.

Thus, I am pleased to say that our wine will be safe come the warmer months. Right now, we could unplug the thing and leave a window open – at -5°C, it's a heater we need. So that's done. Yay!

It was a good weekend, all told. We took care of the cabinet nonsense and I got over the bug I had all week. On Saturday, we saw an out-of-town friend whom we hadn't seen for about five years. Tonight, Bonnie and I felt like cooking, so we had friends to dinner. We started with vichyssoise; moved on to a Moroccan stew (customarily made with lamb but this time with beef, seasoned with cinnamon, coriander, ginger, and lemon, and sweetened with apricots and honey), spiced rice with fruits and nuts, and caramelized fennel with onions; and finished with some of Bonnie's cookies and a cheesecake made by one of our guests, Yoshie. Now that's a good way to end a weekend!

Of course, I have to eat like a champion this week, because I have hurty dental surgery this coming weekend, after which I will be reduced to cool liquids for a while. Ugh. Well, that vichyssoise was pretty good . . . oh, and hey, wine from our repaired fridge is a cool liquid, and even a fair antiseptic.