For Ken's birthday, we drove to Indian Lake, New York, to have dinner at Chili Nights, supposedly the best Mexican restaurant in the Adirondacks. I'm sure it's called the best because it's the only one. I have never been impressed with the food there, but Ken loves the shrimp fajitas, and that's where we go on September 16th every year. I had beef fajitas, and was not happy with the overly salty, overcooked, not fresh, sizzling platter they presented me with. But I said nothing, because on one's birthday, one should not hear complaints from one's spouse about one's favorite Adirondack restaurant. It's not cheap either, which makes me mad, in a way, because they don't use the choicest ingredients, not by any means. So there's my review.

I should try making fajitas at home. For that I'd need to buy skirt steak. That's what fajitas are supposed to be made of, but many restaurants use cheaper cuts of meat, I've noticed.

On the wine front, we opened a bottle of Excelsior Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa (2004) during the past week and it was so fruity and smooth. Near perfect. I recently bought a bottle of a New York red wine called Bobcat. I'm sorry to say I'm making this post from Cafe Sarah in North Creek and don't have access to the label or I'd be able to give more information. But this I know, it's not sold in any wine store I've been to in the Boston area.

If you are ever in the tiny farming hamlet of Wadhams, New York, in the Lake Champlain Valley of the Adirondacks, don't miss Merrick's Bread and Coffee, a bakery and cafe. The coffee is terrific, the tea amazing (and I am a lover of fine teas--they may be the only people in the U.S. who know how to brew tea), the scones delicious. We also bought a loaf of olive bread which was chewy and good.