Occasionally we switch it up with our best friends and we go over there for dinner and wine. G makes a mean steak, marinated in his secret sauce and always cooked to perfect, rare of course. He also made bruschetta with roasted tomatoes from his garden. Oh my god these were so good, I could have eaten the whole pan all by myself. But at the last minute I remembered my manners and forced myself to not be a glutton. He roasted ears of corn in their husks on the grill which gave me the opportunity to try something I saw on Facebook on how to de-husk corn on the cob effortlessly.

After the corn is cooked, you take it off the grill and place the ear on a cutting board and with a sharp knife, cut the base of the ear of corn off. Then pull the ends of the husks slightly away from the corn. Grab the tip of the husk at the opposite end of the corn and pull off. The husks and almost all of the silk come cleanly off the cob. So simple and easy I wish I would have known this a long time ago.

The first bottle of wine we had to go with the bruschetta was a New Zealand Pinot Noir called ARA Single Estate from Marlborough, 2009. You can find them at http://www.arawines.co.nz. It had a light fruit nose, dry and soft, with a medium finish. It was very drinkable. Needless to say, the bottle didn’t last long.

To go with the steaks for dinner we had a bottle of Louis M. Martini, a California Cabernet Sauvignon, 2012. Their website is http://www.louismartini.com. This was a super smooth buttery tasting wine. It smelled of soft fruit without the high alcohol smell of some Cabernets. It had a full finish that filled my mouth with a wonderful softness and went down with no burn or bite at all. I will definitely add this one to my must buy list.

Steaks on the grill, bruschetta made with tomatoes from the garden, great wine and better friends, you can’t ask for much more than that.