We decided on a quick dinner tonight, soup again. This soup is good but I’ve made better tomato soups. At first it was a little bland. Salt helped, but I think I like my tomato soup with a bit more body.

• Tomato Soup with Fennel, Leek & Potato (Fine Cooking #91, March 2008, back cover)
• European Peasant Bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Ridge 2003 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Alexander Valley, California). Tonight was Old Bottle Elimination Night, where we pick out older, suspect bottles of wine to see if there’s anything salvageable. Several bottles into it, we finally settled on this bottle of Ridge, which is on the edge and losing its fruit. Time to drink up the rest of the ’03s!