Salt cod

Eastside Road, January 5, 2011—

LOOK: IT WAS TOO salty; we all know that. The first taste set us on edge. But, I say, it's in the nature of salt cod to be salty. Not too salty, though, I'm sure L. thought. I soaked it a long time, she said. The other piece was nowhere near this salty, the end we had on Christmas Eve. This end must have been a lot thicker.

Doesn't matter, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. It was, of course, that adjective that shows up here almost every day, delicious. I don't know how L. makes this dish, and I'm not about to give a recipe here: it involves salt cod and potatoes, herbs, black olives and hardboiled eggs as you see, a parsley garnish. It's all good. It's one of the Hundred Plates.

Before it we relaxed, with a couple of friends over to dinner, with mixed nuts and a glass or two of white wine. After it we had green salad and cheese: D'affinois; a raw-milk Manchego, rather delicately pungent if that makes sense; and a salty Bleu d'Auvergne, a cheese I like a lot. We'd thought about fruit or such, but the hell with it: we're completely sated. Delicious dinner; delicious.

Sauvignon blanc, Burnside Road (Sonoma county), 2009 (earthy, clean, varietal but not grassy);
Chardonnay, Chalk Hill (Sonoma county), 2000 (absolutely true to varietal, not oaky, beautiful straw-brass color, solid);
Pinot noir, De Loach, Masút Vineyard (Redwood Valley, Mendocino county), 2007 (graceful, true to varietal, beautifully made and balanced)