January 21, 2026 Breakfast - Granola and fruit salad Lunch - Salad Diner - roasted Pork, apple, and onion Tapa with rice and steamed asparagus

January 21, 2026 Breakfast - Granola and fruit salad Lunch - Salad Diner - roasted Pork, apple, and onion Tapa with rice and steamed asparagus 

In the morning I ate granola with fruit salad, milk, and Lala plain yogurt at my desk as I revised Bill’s affidavit.

Then at noon I ate a blueberry Newton and a Romanian Cheese turnover and walked to Bill’s office from 8th St., a distance of two blocks and secured his signature.

When I arrived home I checked the market and it had turned positive when Trump said he had made a deal on Greenland. The Dow closed up 588 points and the NASDAQ was up 270. My portfolio regained 2/3 of the amount it lost yesterday. So, a big improvement.

More interestingly, Billy wired me $53,000 which represented my half of the sale price of our family’s silver hoard. I collected coins when I was in high school and I typically would buy them from the bourse at R. E.  Wallace’s coin store downtown. Around 1962 my dad purchased several bags of junk silver coins from  Mr.  Elliott Cashion. The bags of silver have been lying around ever since until yesterday when Billy sold them and a box with five 100 ounce bars of silver Mother had bought for over $106,000.

I was thrilled that Billy sold the coins on a day when silver hit an all time high of $95.00 per ounce.

I then walked around the short block, which allowed me to reach 4000 steps for the day.

When I returned around 4:00 I made a salad containing gourmet lettuce, a diced tomato, 1/4 of a cucumber sliced, a slice of Gravad lax diced, onion slices diced, 1/2 of an avocado, five cubes of pickled beets with pickled red onion, and two slices of goat cheese. I made a simple dressing by whisking 1 tsp. of Grey Poupon mustard, about 1/2 T. of lemon juice, and about 1/3 cup of olive oil.

I had eaten about half when Suzette arrived and told me she was hungry and wanted to make the Jose Andres’ Roasted Pork Tapa, so I stopped eating the salad.

We agreed to serve it with the PPI rice and steamed asparagus and the leftover salad.

Dinner - I went out to the garden in front of the house and picked about ten sprigs of young oregano. Then I sliced two Pink Lady apples and a large brown onion into thin slices and sliced one of the two pork tenderloins into 1 1/2 inch sections.

Suzette then sautéed the apples and onions in olive oil and butter and then added the pork sections in a large French copper sauté pan. After about ten minutes she added about 7 or 8 oregano sprigs and put the pan into the oven to bake until the pork reached 145 degrees.

When she took the roasted pork tapa out of the oven she put in the other pork tender to roast.

She the removed the pieces of pork from the sauté pan and added 1 cup of rich chicken broth and a T. of brandy to the sauté pan that was over medium heat on the stove and reduced the liquid by about 1/2 to make a thin sauce. Then she added the pork pieces back and tossed them in the sauce and then plated our plates with pork, apple and onion slices and sauce plus rice and asparagus.

While the tapa was roasting Suzette steamed a handful of asparagus and re-heated the rice in the microwave.

I opened a bottle of 2016 Finca Los Principes gran Reserva Rioja red that I recently bought at Costco for $9.99, about 1/2 of the price of most gran reservas. It was an infinitely smooth wine, worthy of any meal. I will try to buy more.

After dinner we watched Nova on PBS and Suzette went to bed at 9:00 and I stayed up to watch the PBS episode on selling Nazi stolen art to willing buyers in the US and England and those who sought to recover the works for their prior owners.

During Nova Suzette whipped cream and served it over the last slice of the quince and pear tart she made several weeks ago. I went to bed around 10:30.

Bon Appetit

 

January 20, 2026 Breakfast - Leftover Trout Fritata with bacon Lunch - swordfish Poke Salad Dinner - Cheese and wine

January 20, 2026 Breakfast - Leftover Trout Fritata with bacon Lunch - swordfish Poke Salad Dinner - Cheese and wine 

Today I worked on my motion and Bill’s affidavit again. We are trying to clean out old food from the fridge.  I read my book club book from 6:30 until 7:45. Then I re-heated the leftover wedge of the trout fritata from Sunday and fried four slices of bacon. Suzette ate one and Willy and I ate 1 1/2 each. I with the fritata and Willy with a fried egg.

Willy was working from home today so at noon he wanted to take a walk around the block and I joined him.

Then at 2:30 I made a salad with the fresh gourmet greens, a diced tomato, a diced hard boiled egg, 1/3 of a cucumber, some slices of onion and the 8 cubes of Swordfish Poke left from last night’s dinner.  I refreshed the old tartare sauce dressing by adding olive oil and got rid of another bowl from the fridge.

Then I worked until 4:30 and took a walk around the other block that helped get me to 3773 steps.

When I returned, Suzette and I cleaned the old food from the fridge. It was embarrassing how much food we had cooked and not eaten, chicken curry, bean stew, crab souffle, chicken liver pate, and fish soup got thrown out.

We were probably embarrassed by the waste or pissed off, but in either event we did not wish to cook,

Dinner - we opened a bottle of Cotes du Bourg red that I bought at Costco last week. I fetched the fresh wheel of brie from the garage and open the wedge of Manchego and a piece of goat cheese and Suzette opened a Humboldt Fog goat cheese and I toasted three slices of baguette and we fetched all the crackers and ate cheese and bread and crackers with wine for dinner. The fresh brie was a special treat, firm and creamy, like you dream about the perfect brie.

After dinner I watched Finding your Roots and then made tropical fruit salad with a pineapple, a papaya, a green mango, and three oranges peeled and  sectioned.

Being busy all day helped my avoid fixating on one of the worst days in the market in months. The Dow was down over 870 points and the NASDAQ was down 561 points. My portfolio was not immune, dropping almost 3%. But in the chaos that Trump has we wrought with his latest geopolitical threats, gold and silver have soared to all time highs. Gold hit $4750 today and silver hit $95.00 per ounce.

If fact, Billy called and told me he sold the bags of silver coins our father purchased many years ago that have been lying in a cabinet in Billy’s house for many years for $100,000. Being $50,000 richer today has given me a new appreciation for my small coin collection and softened the blow from today’s losses in the market.

When I finished the fruit salad at 10:00. I went to bed. Suzette was hurting from her exercise class and went to bed lie down and to read at 8:30.

 

Bon Appetit

January 19, 2026 Breakfast - Chocolate Croissant with a Latte Macchiato  Lunch - Mary and Tito’s with Henry.  Dinner - Broiled Poke’ marinated Swordfish with Rice and broiled Asparagus 

I worked on Bill’s affidavit today. I heated a chocolate croissant for 25 seconds in the microwave while I brewed a latte macchiato on the Miele coffee machine and had breakfast at my desk.

Bill’s affidavit was excellent and all I really needed to do was delete a lot of inserted boxes and edit and number it.

A bit after 1:00 Henry picked me up and drove us to Mary and Tito’s for lunch. I got the Monday Special which included a handmade taco with a chili relleno and rice and beans, except I substituted refried beans for rice. Henry ordered a small bowl of red chili and one of chichirones. Both dishes were served with a flour tortilla. I shared my double beans with Henry. We both drank water. The entire bill was $16.67. I firmly believe Mary and Tito’s offers the best value in Mexican food in Albuquerque. I love the food and the prices

After lunch Henry took me on a tour of his family properties. Apparently his wife’s family owned much of the land north of the freeway east of Rio Grande and east of the Indian Pueblo Center, but it has been broken up and bought up by the Garcias over the years.

When I returned home I learned how to number a document and fixed the formatting in much of Bill’s affidavit and sent it to him for his signature.

I then drove to El Super to restock on produce. I bought apples, red onions, brown onions, Snow Peas, celery, avocados, tomatoes, a cucumber, carrots, salt, corn chips, and an acorn Squash, 

When I returned home Suzette helped me carry the groceries in.

It was 4:30 and I was thirsty so I made a gin and tonic and watched a rerun of an Antique Roadshow with Suzette and then some news.

I then made rice with seaweed and dashi and Suzette skewered and broiled the poke marinated swordfish and a handful of asparagus doused with some basil salt.

Willy made a very pleasant hummus by blending a can of garbanzo beans in the cuisinart with tahini, garlic and lemon juice until smooth.

We ate hummus with corn chips as an appetizer and then a plate stacked high with asparagus on cubes of broiled poke swordfish on a pile of rice.

Suzette and I shared a Negra Modelo.

Later we watched the NCAA football National Championship game between Miami U. and Indiana. It was a very competitive game until an Indiana interception while Miami was driving with less than a minute to go. So Indiana won and was undefeated all season.

We went to bed shortly after 9:00 when the game ended.

Bon Appetit

January 18, 2026 Brunch - Smoked Trout, spinach greens, mushrooms and red onion frittata. Snack - Leftover Pasta with Sausage, chicken, mushrooms, and zucchini Dinner - Turkish baked Eggplant with Seasoned Tomato Sauce and Steamed Green Beans

January 18, 2026 Brunch - Smoked Trout, spinach greens, mushrooms and red onion frittata. Snack - Leftover Pasta with Sausage, chicken, mushrooms, and zucchini  Dinner - Turkish baked Eggplant with Seasoned Tomato Sauce and Steamed Green Beans

I woke up at 6:30 after 8 hours of sleep and showered and dressed and then watched Fareed Zacharia and then we fixed brunch and Willy turned on Everton v. Aston Villa

I sliced mushrooms, garlic, beet greens, and red onion. I also sliced seven of eight slices of Gruyère cheese and whisked seven eggs.

Suzette sautéed the ingredients and added the eggs and lay the cheese slices on the egg as it cogesled on the stove top on heat in a copper pan. Then she put the pan in the oven to bake the frittata throughly.

I sliced and toasted slices of baguette and fetched the butter and fruit preserves.

I drank Earl Grey and Willy joined us for brunch.

Then we watched the soccer match.

Afterwards I drove to Smith’s and bought a lb. of swordfish, two avocados, milk, cilantro, an eggplant, shallots, leeks, and two pork tenderloins.

Suzette drove to Costco to buy large plastic storage containers, potato chips, pistachios, and Xerox paper.

When I returned I worked from 1:00 until 2:45 and then watched NFL playoffs. The Patriots beat the Texans handily.

Suzette cleaned some of the basement.

Later I ate leftover pasta with mushrooms, chicken, and zucchini as a snack.

At 4:30 I chopped garlic, three tomatoes, and picked and chopped about 1/2 cup of fresh mint.

Then I walked around the block while Suzette sautéed tomatoes, red onion, Aleppo chili and the other spices for the baked eggplant dish.

At 6:30 Willy joined us and we ate the baked eggplant with steamed green beans and a new Cotes Du Rhône I bought at Costco this week.

Suzette added chopped chicken to what is usually a vegetarian eggplant dish to add some protein.

After dinner we watched Miss Fisher and an incredibly exciting playoff game between L.A. Rams and the Chicago Bears that LA. In overtime.

We drank the rest of the wine with Hawaiian chocolate as we watched the game.

At 8:00 Suzette cleaned the coffee maker and then went to bed.

I blogged and went bed at 9:30.

Bon Appetit

January 17, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Lunch - composed Salad wit Smoked Trout. Dinner - Seared Poke Marinated Salmon filet with Rice and Steamed Broccoli

I started working on my motion at 7:30 and took a break at 8:30 to eat a bowl of granola, milk, blueberries and Greek yogurt

This was a day when both Suzette and I were hungry. At 11:30 Suzette assembled a beautifully composed salad that included thinly sliced cucumber, a whole hard boiled egg sliced into rounds, a pile of chunks of pickled beets, a pile of diced tomato, slices of red onion, a pile of diced avocado, several cold cooked green beans, and in the middle a pile of smoked trout on a bed of gourmet greens.  We drank glasses of Gavi Villa Sparina white.

I love most Gavi wines. This was no exception. I think I paid $15.00 for it at Costco this last week.  Here are some tasting notes.

The Villa Sparina Gavi 2023 is a crisp, refreshing Italian white wine from Piedmont, made from 100% Cortese grapes in the Gavi region, offering bright notes of peach, lemon, white flowers, and minerality, known for its freshness and food-friendly character, often with a clean, vibrant finish, perfect as an aperitif or with light dishes like fritto misto. 

It was delicious with the smoked grilled trout salad.

I watched Arsenal tie Nottingham Forest as I at lunch and sipped a glass of wine and watched the final few minutes.

Then I napped for about 40 minutes until I was awaken by a call from Icici bank in India.

I went back to work and worked until 5:30 when Suzette made dinner. She lightly grilled the salmon fillet she had marinated in the poke marinade she made yesterday. We also heated the last of the Mexican rice and steamed more broccoli. We drank the last of the Gavi Villa Sparina with dinner.

After dinner we were still hungry so Suzette made Bananas Foster and we served it over chocolate Cherry truffle ice cream. Finally we were no hungry.

We watched Denver winner it game against the Buffalo Bills and then we watched the Seattle v. San Francisco until Seattle was up 34 to 6 in the third quarterly

Suzette went to bed and I blogged and then read.

Suzette skplept 11 hours last night and may sleep 10 hours tonight.

She worked hard today cleaning a part of the  basement, hanging the onen properly, taking bottles to recycling and going to an estate sale.

Bon Appetit