Last week I apologized for the light tone of the piece I was writing in the context of ever-rising numbers of COVID infections and the prospect of a mutated strain that would be even more infectious. I was naïve, or as another famous man said recently, “WHAT A SCHMUCK I AM!”
Yesterday was Epiphany, the 9th anniversary of my marriage and the day my father-in-law got his vaccine shot. As is our habit, my wife and I enjoyed a meal from Ancora, which was delicious as always, but this year we spent most of the time in front of the television in our kitchen, watching rednecks make damn fools of themselves and by extension the rest of us.
I have a delicate digestive system, and the scenes I witnessed yesterday were damn near enough to put me off the arancini we ordered. I was able to push through. The arancini were delicious, and the Diavola pizza was also up to snuff. I will admit I added some chopped giardiniera to the salads, but apart from that it I do not regret the tradition we’ve established. We keep going back to Ancora for special occasions because it’s great and not just because we live nearby.
Epiphany, or King’s Day, happens to be the day when it becomes acceptable from a religious-social perspective to consume king cakes. I have some news along those lines, but I believe I will hold that news until I can deliver it to you in a column that does not also have the word “insurrection” in it.
I trust you will all understand; I know the interested parties will.
I hope your New Year’s Eve was pleasant? Did you manage to eat black-eyed peas and cabbage on the first? We did, and though I had plans to cook both using methods from the Indian subcontinent, I ended up going with smoked sausage for the peas and a lot of onions, garlic and chile peppers for the cabbage.
I hope you ate as well as we did; if you ate something you enjoyed, please share in the comments. Recipes are welcome too.