A "Relatively" Delicious Dinner

Last week, we enjoyed a delightful evening and delicious dinner hosted by my cousin and his wife, who live in Sonoma. My cousin in a superb cooking and is very knowledgeable about wines.

We started with an appetizer plate that included fig jam and crackers, olives, stuffed peppers.

The wine my cousin served with the appetizers was a 2009 Alexandra Gianna Pinot Grigio made by a friends of my cousin and his wife. The wine is produced by Jon and Carol Sebastiani, and is named after their youngest daughter. I rated it as excellent - at the top of my wine grading system.

The first dish was a fantastic mussel dish prepared by my cousin. The ingredients included mussels, pancetta, roma tomato, chicken broth, half a stick of butter, and a half bottle of white wine. I love mussels and pancetta, and this was one of the best mussel dishes I have ever had, and better than a terrific one I had at Bistro Jeanty last night.

The next wine that my cousin opened was a 2004 Kenwood Cabernet Sauvignon, from Kenwood in Sonoma County. It was also excellent.

The second dish was prepared by his wife. It was equally delicious - with a jalapeño vinaigrette that included apple cider vinegar, jalapeño, onions, garlic, and cilantro.

The table where we ate the appetizers and main courses was very interesting. It was made from a massive wooded beam from an old house they had renovated in San Francisco.

We moved to the living room for dessert - pumpkin pie and ice cream. We love pumpkin pie, and ice cream is always high on Linda's list.

The dessert wine my cousin served was a 1994 Carmenet late harvest sauvignon blanc. We enjoyed it, but he thought it was not very good.

Despite all of the wonderful conversation, food and wine, there was one major flaw that may outweigh all of the pleasure of the evening - the colors of the different cloth napkins they used did not match. We suggest that they may wish to attend napkin matching school. (Only joking, of course.)