One and Only

Chapter 3 - The Wine Tasting

He chuckled further still, "well, in addition to the meal, we're going to do a little wine pairing. Well, not exclusively wine, there will be some other drinks too."

I surveyed the splendor of the table, admiring the details of the place settings, then sat down and picked up the napkin in front of me and placed it on my lap. I then remembered that I had not yet washed my hands since returning home, so I got up, walked over to the sink in the kitchen and scrubbed them well with soap and water. "Is there anything I can do?" I asked, not wanting to appear completely useless.

"No, I think I got it," he said, "well actually, you could hand me the two plates on the table." I walked over and picked up both empty plates and brought them back into the kitchen. He filled each one with a large helping of vegetables, a smallish amount of couscous and an individual salmon fillet while I held out the plates to receive their bounty. I carried them both back into the kitchenette and placed them on the mats in front of each chair. Just then I got an idea, and I went over to the pantry and found the shelf that contained two pairs of candles, already in decorative candlestick holders, that were left over from last year's Christmas Eve party. I placed them on each corner of the table, and then found my electric lighter in the odds-and-ends drawer in the kitchen. I lit each candle carefully, then dimmed the lights that hung over the table in the kitchenette, so that our meal was now mostly illuminated by the warm glow of the candles, I then turned off the bright fluorescent white light that flooded the kitchen.

During all this, Andy had uncorked all of the wine, but he only placed two of them on the table and left the other five bottles on the counter. The two he had chosen for our dinner, both whites, were wines I had never heard of: a 2018 Tierra Alta Vineyards Viognier and a Matchbook 2017 The Arsonist Chardonnay.

"Aren't we going to taste all of the beverages with dinner?" I asked, indicating the assortment of bottles of various shapes and sizes that remained on the counter.

He looked over at them, them looked back at me and smiled, "No, those are for dessert," he said.

"Ooooh," I said, "what's for dessert?"

"You'll see," he said, coyly.

I smiled and raised my glass of the Viognier, at least I think that's what it was, I hadn't been paying attention when he was pouring. "A toast," I said, "May those who love us, love us; and for those who do not love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He cannot turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping."

Andy smiled and said, "Slàinte!" and we clinked glasses. The wine tasted amazing, but the salmon was absolutely to DIE for. And it paired really well with both wines. We mostly ate in silence because every time we asked the other person a question, they had food in their mouth. Finally, I said, "I think our lack of conversation is likely an indication of how hungry we were and how delicious it was, thank you Andy, that really was incredible."

"It was no problem, really. I am not very skilled in the kitchen, but I know my way around one or two dishes that are sure to be crowd pleasers and this is one of them."

"Well you've certainly pleased this crowd," I said, "the only problem is that I haven't left any room for dessert!"

"That's ok, because, I don't actually have anything for us to eat for dessert," he said, as he took another sip of one of the wines sitting in front of him.

"But I thought that you said that the other drinks were for pairing with dessert?" I said, clearly confused.

"Oh they are, but, you see, there is only dessert for me, I don't have one for you to eat," he said, finishing the last drop of white in his glass.