We have an almost perfect marriage.  I keep things; she likes to throw out what we are not using.  As you can imagine, this keeps a healthy tension in the relationship, and it causes us to find the right balance point often.  So today marked an important success on my hoarding meter: I finally sent off a large batch of electronics to a recycling outfit, satisfying a long-standing request from my wife.  Among the discarded items were:

• 4 desktop computers (dating back to at least 1995)
• 1 laptop computer
• a 1995-era color scanner (still working flawlessly) with original instruction book
• 3 ink jet printers
• a film scanner
• 1 LCD monitor
• 2 large CRT monitors, including a very good Sony model, weighing together 80+ lbs.
• 2 UPS devices
• a variety of keyboards, cables, connectors and accessories
• 1 Yamaha stereo tuner, 1 power amplifier
• a Rancilio espresso machine
• my unshakeable belief that I would use any of these again

One of the reasons our marriage has been working for almost 48 years is the strength it gets from our radical differences, and our ability to moderate them to reasonable points of equilibrium most of the time.

Another reason — as I have mentioned before —  is that some of my very best meals are made by Barbara.  She is creative and talented in many ways, some of them in the kitchen.  Tonight’s example was a superb meal of Mostly-Vegan Lentils, and (inspired by an Ina Garten episode she watched on TV this afternoon), a Bread Salad (Panzanella with what you have).

I’d love to tell you that I milked the ewes and made the cheese myself, but the fact is that the Greek Feta from my local MarketBasket is superb.  And much cheaper and quicker.  Wine, on the other hand, is a domain in which I am comfortable.  Having recently received my Spring shipment from Villa Creek Cellars in Paso Robles, CA,  I had a perfect match for these two delicious dishes.  The 2008 Aglianico from Luna Matta Vineyard is outstanding, a lovely example of what can be done with this southern Italian grape in the right hands (namely Cris Cherry’s).  As much as I would wish you could all taste this, the chances are slim — there were only 55 cases produced.  Well worth the search, if you can get it.  Only the Polvanera Aglianico from Puglia is this good.  Thank you, Jan.

Mangia poco, bene e spesso!  (Eat a little, well, and often.)