Uno! Uno mas!

Feb 15, 2002

I meant to blog last night, but I passed out on the sofa around 10:45 p.m., which is considerably earlier than my usual 12:30 a.m. bedtime. At Erin’s brilliant suggestion, we celebrated St. Valentine’s Day with lobster and wine: Erin bought two 1.5-pound lobsters just off the plane from Maine, and we uncorked our Huthlee Estates 1998 Hawke’s Bay Merlot. We steamed the lobsters, then cracked the shells and extracted all the meat, which we mixed up into Koran’s island lobster salad (Koran is a program officer for Peace Corps Vanuatu). This salad included carrot, onion, garlic, yellow pepper, lemon and coconut milk, and we put it on steamed basmati rice. Mmmmm, it was delicious, and it took us back to Liro Village, Paama Island, where we made this same fabulous feast using a 3-pound spiny lobster. The Huthlee Merlot, after three years of abuse—being bounced around on airplanes and moving vans, under extreme cold and heat—was thin and a bit tart, not as round and warm as I remember it when I first tasted the vintage in New Zealand. Still, it was good enough to enjoy, which is why I passed out on the sofa so early.

While we were preparing the lobster salad, Kevin Anderson called to announce the birth of Isla Kreutzer Anderson (2/14/02 6 lbs. 14 oz.). Mommy Erika Rundiks finally deliverd Isla (Spanish for island, and appropriate, given that Kevin and Erika were also PC Volunteers in Vanuatu) after seven months of bedrest, many hours of labor and two hard hours of non-medicated pushing. Congratulations Kevin and Erika. Erin and little Anna and I are going to visit them next month; we’ll also drive out to Boulder to visit Uncle Denny and Aunt Elaine and Jenny and Jonathan.

My friend Bridget McGuinness wrote earlier this week to announce that she and her husband, Dennis Schaeffer, are expecting a second child. Their daughter, Fiona, is eagerly anticipating a sibling.

When I was in high school, my family played Uno! for hours and hours many a night. Today I discovered a computer version of this great card game. Visit this site to download the game.

Anton Zuiker ☄