A Nice Night Out In Chester

A friend of ours had to take care of some business over here in our neck of the woods yesterday, so we said, “Hey man, stop on by and we’ll take you out to dinner.” He said, “Can I sleep over too?” We said, “Sure.”

So he came over last night around six. We hugged and complimented each other on our good looks. It’s been a while, so we never know what to expect. People can change rapidly at our age but luckily we pretty much look exactly the way we did the last time we saw each other. Strong and handsome.

We chatted and caught up as she was getting ready, but since time was passing kind of quickly, we had to get in the car and head out for dinner. I made 7:45 reservations at the River Tavern. I was extremely excited to introduce someone to our little town of Chester. Well, ours, from a distance. So we did that. She finished up and we hopped in the car for a cruise to the restaurant and arrived a perfect ten minutes early.

I have to tell you, we had the greatest time. This friend of ours likes to eat well. He likes to really go over the menu and then order a bunch of stuff for all of us to share. He likes to drink the good liquor, order everyone else the good liquor and then pay for it all. It’s been happening since we started as friends, so I generally don’t argue. After he grabs the check as soon as it’s set on the table, I’ll fight over leaving at least the tip. He laughs it off and takes care of that too. When this behavior began years and years ago, I felt a bit weird because he was always taking care of the financial side of things, but now I know that it makes him feel good. Whatever, I just go for the good time with friends…ummm, and the good food and liquor.

It was great to show him the town of Chester near the holidays. The buildings and trees were all lit up and things looked really good. The town was fairly quiet, so that gave us a nice opportunity to stroll around in the dark and look in some shop windows.

About a month ago, I called this friend of mine and asked him what his favorite cheese was. Perhaps I read something or heard something about cheese, I’m not sure, but I do know the question was out of the blue. Without missing a beat, he replied, “Roquefort.” He told me that it was a blue cheese that was easily spread on a good toasted bread and that it tasted divine. I tucked the name Roquefort in the dark recesses of my mind for later use.

Since we had a guest coming over, I had to run out to the store yesterday to get some groceries. I put Roquefort on top of my list. But before I left, I wanted to learn about what I was purchasing, so I found a really great video on the process of how they make the cheese. Check it out.

Roquefort — Making the King of Cheese

How awesome is that?

Luckily, the store I went to had the cheese. I was impressed with the small market, but kind of knew they would have it because they are somewhat boutique. I brought it, along with the rest of my groceries back to the house and put everything away. My plan was to hang out after we got back from dinner – chill out in the living room with the new gas logs, eat the bread and cheese and get drunk off of the bottles of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio wine I purchased as well. We have been drinking that together for years.

Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. While I did get to show off the new gas logs and drink wine, it wasn’t the wine I bought. He suggested quite excitedly that we try one of the two bottles of “7 Deadly Zins” that he brought. He was trying to surprise us just as we were trying to surprise him. His logic was that since we’ve been drinking the Pinot Grigio for so long, we not try this bold new wine that he was raving about. I don’t argue over what type of wine someone is offering. I just drink it. So we did that and it was delicious. Very bold and dark, just the way I like my Red Zinfandel. Rather surprising if I don’t say so.

7 Deadly Zins Wine

Also, everyone was stuffed from the big dinner and dessert we had, so toasting up some Roquefort covered bread didn’t come across as popular as I thought it would. I was surprised. They seemed to like to idea of it and even spoke very highly of the cheese, but were too full to eat any of it. Hmm.

Since I really wanted to try it, I covered two pieces of toast this morning and dove in. One for me and one for her. Wow. What a unique and awesome taste. I was shocked at how good it tasted. It’s just too bad it’s so expensive, because I would really like to buy a really big chunk of it.

Roquefort Blue Cheese Spread On Artisan Bread

We had a very enjoyable time last night and this morning and I was glad to learn some new things about food and wine. It helps to have friends who are into this stuff because I far too often buy the same things over and over in grocery stores and restaurants. Getting out of my routine every so often feels good.