Larry made dinner for us tonight. He did most of the prep last night, and threw everything in the Crock Pot at lunchtime. We had a discussion about the chorizo. The recipe doesn’t specify what kind of chorizo. He picked up chicken chorizo at Trader Joe’s, which worked fine and is less greasy than standard Mexican chorizo. But I wondered if Spanish chorizo would work also – I think the spices would be really nice in this stew. The recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which are added whole to the mix but stay moist and kind of fall apart during the cooking.

• Spicy Slow-Cooker Chicken & Chorizo Stew (Cook’s Illustrated Best Make-Ahead Recipes, p. 150)

Wine: Roshambo 2000 Syrah (Dry Creek Valley, California). From a now-defunct winery. Not bad.