R and I visited Cora Cora for supper last night. The choritos a la chalaca knocked me out of my chair. It was an amazing experience all around.

We lost power yesterday and were a little leery of the burgers. Story follows.

Yesterday, before the storm, we rounded up some 80 percent meat, mixed in some onion, butter, salt and pepper then cut some generous chunks of bleu cheese and wrapped them in two handmade big burgers, a few others for those in the family who don’t like this kind of cheese. Then we had to toss them out because we lost power and I don’t like to worry about prepped grub that may or may not be quite so fresh. So, we tried again today, rounded up some more meat and opened a crisp bottle of Sauvignon. Same recipe.

I let the grill cool to about 450f and did about 3 minutes per side with the lid closed on each turn. The butter makes for even cooking and provides a medium for the onions to soften. We let them rest a few moments on a covered plate. We split the burgers in the buns and let the molten cheese ooze out for dipping onto the plate.

It was something else.

We had steak salad tonight. Simple, easy, and something else. I seared the steak on a hot griddle (this cast iron griddle has been seasoning for a couple of years so it’s always easy to clean and smells astoundingly).

I sliced up a sweat onion and slid it beside the steak for blackening on the edges then shoved it all in the 425 oven for about 6 minutes. Lots of salt, lots of pepper, ground at about middle size, and olive oil.

Then the vapors filled the kitchen and I took a couple of sips of this Carmenere, introduced to me by Maggie and John. Smoky, dark fruit at the bottom of the mouth and oak box at the top. Thick purple, juicy, but light nonetheless, like eating berries off the vine with a spoonful of cream. Peppery sear, sweet onion and oil, purple fruit: the combination followed me through the meal, along with a luscious Gorgonzola dressing and crusty carpet slipper. Wow.

Susan Gibb writes

Honestly, the grape at this point tastes very dry. The crabapple–omigod the crabapple is going to be the best. The peach just tastes like fizzy peaches at this stage.

How much for a bottle of the crabapple?