Those beans

Eastside Road, July 8, 2011—

THOSE BEANS, THOSE BEANS, those delicious Corona beans. Like so many things, they only get better during the day after first being served. Now I think about it, that's not to be expected: they were flavored with fresh marjoram, which you might expect to go a little stale — to oxidize a bit, even in a tightly covered refrigerator container.

But they don't. Salt, olive oil, onion, marjoram all simply get to know one another a little better — what else to do in that crowded microclimate? And after a good Martini, those beans, and then a green salad, was really all we wanted.

EXCEPT THAT AFTERWARD we walked down the hill in the twilight for some birthday cake — a nice genoise, dressed with blackberry coulis — and I didn't turn down a couple of teeny glasses of wine:

Chardonnay, Hafner (Healdsburg), 2008 (beautifully focussed, buttery); Syrah, Robert Hall (Paso Robles), 2008 (nicely balanced, a little peppery)