Sue and I had a wonderful stormy Sunday dinner party for 2 02/21/21. It had been a rough few days with bitter cold, and then a heavy sleet storm left a half inch of ice everywhere. And then it snowed again!

I had in mind a very special Italian classic 'Tuscan Meat Roll With White Wine and Mushrooms'. We had some of the ingredients, and I wanted to change up the meat just a little, so I headed off to the store early Sunday morning to collect what I needed.

Because I was changed the meat from a ground beef to ground Italian sausage, I thought a nice Zinfandel would be a great complement to the meal. Though the recipe called for about a half cup of white wine to reduce into the garlic and onion base, I thought the inexpensive bottle of Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin that we've enjoyed in the past would be a great selection. The richness of the meal as expressed in the recipe suggested a zin would be great.

That is a nice sipping wine for $9. The meal itself consisted of ground Italian sausage rolled in onion, oregano, and garlic, which was then cooked with San Marzano tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and onions, oh, and white wine.... Whew! I served it over a bed of parsley and oregano steamed rice with a side of Alfredo noodles. Just a spectacular recipe.

The storm had thrown a chilling sleeting haze over us.

Last few storms on top of an existing base accumulated depth as displayed by our famous 'Snow Depth Chair' registered around 10 inches.

But that didn't interfere with getting our meal going!

Just a really nice, inexpensive Zinfandel that really complemented the meal.

Sue caught this spectacular picture of the back yard out to the woods around 2:30am. She just can't pass up opportunities like this....