Turned out to be a beautiful day. We were saving up all of the yard work and other necessary maintenance tasks for today; Rhonda mowed the lawn, I did some weed whacking, changed to oil in Joey’s car (I’m too cheap to go somewhere for an oil change), and in filling up Aaron’s Mini’s tires with air, I broke the rear passenger-side valve stem. So the Mini is jacked up in the driveway, and the wheel is in the trunk of the Mustang so I can drop if off for repair. No good deed indeed.

Stokelan Estates 2025 Myra

Rhonda and I took off on Friday and journeyed north to replenish our salami supply at Bagliani’s, and then lunch and a sip at Stokelan Estates Winery, (which was just reviewed on New Jersey Uncorked). We were disappointed to learn that their stock of the 2024 Myra dry rosé was exhausted, but the cheerful server mentioned that the 2025 was cellaring after being bottled. She snuck down to the cellar and gave us a bottle with a gentle reminder not to open it for a couple of weeks due to bottle shock, a phrase I had not encountered yet (Jimmy at Bellview did say once that a new stock of a varietal was “settling” and not yet for sale though).

So we have one in waiting and are very excited to try it when the time is right! We enjoyed both of their Chardonnays (the Catspaw, which is unoaked, and our favorite, as well as the Crossroads, which is lightly oaked version). We had their excellent sausage and fennel flatbread again, too.

Sweet Amalia Oysters

One of the two local seafood shops (fishmongers, if you’re a market romantic) has been posting that they have Sweet Amalia oysters in stock. Rhonda and I were out in the vicinity of Dad’s Seafood, and she suggested we take a peek. They had crabs, but they were from Virginia and North Carolina and selling for 60 bucks a dozen. It’s early in the season, and that’s pretty typical.

Anyway, we decided to just get a dozen of the oysters (they were 20 bucks a dozen) and have them with spritzes and cheese + salami yesterday afternoon. They are always excellent, and this batch was no different: small to medium in size, soft and assertively briny.

Lane Keep Assist

I was talking to one of the school psychologists at work (and a friend from grad school to boot) and she mentioned a button on her Subaru Ascent’s steering wheel that steers the car for you on the highway or turnpike or freeway or expressway or… you get it. I declined the overview at the dealership, and I’m not good about reading the manual until I have a question, so I never knew what it was. I figured the new WRX had cruise control just like the last one, and it worked the same way: it’s on and you have to adjust as you encounter traffic.

This shouldn’t surprise me considering all of the safety goodies even Joe’s base Impreza has (lane assist and crash detection). I tried it out on the ride up to Stokelan on Friday, and while it didn’t do anything on an earlier stretch of Route 206, once we got a little farther north and the pace of traffic picked up, I noticed how the car was using the lane markers to keep me centered. As my colleague had mentioned, it took curves and bends in the road on my behalf. It was wonderful. I sent her a text with a picture of the button on the wheel and sung the feature’s praises.

Even the cruise control has come a long way. The cameras in the car watch the car before me, and the system moderates my speed to keep a safe distance between me and the car ahead. I’m looking forward to trying this out when we go up to help Aaron move out of his dorm in a couple of weeks.