April 18, 2024 Lunch - Tasty Noodles and Dumplings. Dinner - PPI Antelope Stew with Couscous

April 18, 2024 Lunch - Tasty Noodles and Dumplings. Dinner - PPI Antelope Stew with Couscous 

I woke up around 6:30 and watched news until 7:30 when I took a shower and dressed.

I ate a bowl of granola, with milk and yogurt at 8:30.

I set up an appointment to meet Chloe at Zia Trust after my doctor’s appointment at 11:00.

Abby came to perform my 1 month progress report and both she and Suzette registered a 160 over 80 and a 150 over 75 respectively for my blood pressure, so I was worried when Suzette drove me to the doctor’s.

But miraculously I registered a 118 over 60 at the doctor’s office.  We forgot to bring our blood pressure cuff, so we could not compare its accuracy to Pres’ and we were left with the confusing situation of monitoring my blood pressure more.

Suzette dropped me off at Zia Trust and I completed the process of opening a self-directed IRA.

When I was finished Aaron picked me up and I suggested eating at Tsai Restaurant around the corner on San Pedro in the Peterson shopping center, but when we arrived we found Tasty Noodle and Dumpling instead and a menu that featured hand made noodles and dumplings. Aaron ordered General Tso chicken, lightly battered chicken deep fried and sauced with a thick sweet orange and chili flake sauce.  I ordered BBQ Filled Baos, steamed buns filled with lightly BBQ flavored pork. These were perhaps the best Bao I have ever tasted.  The steamed bun was incredibly soft and the filling was not overly sauced.

We liked our lunch.  We then went home and did some paperwork to facilitate a proposed transaction between me and Earn.

When Aaron left at 2:30 I checked my portfolio and made a small gain, which was remarkable in the midst of this market meltdown.

I the lay down and watched news until 5:00 when I walked to the next corner and back.  At 6:30 Suzette heated the PPI and couscous.

I drank chai and Suzette opened it bottle of Los Alamos Malbec from Argentina for a glass of wine.

As zsuzette heated the plates of food, I fetched the jars of Mixed Pickle and Suzette’s homemade mango and raisin chutney.

I loved dinner and after dinner after we watched Phil’s New York, we watched Midsomer Mystery and I made cooked chocolate pudding. 

We filled parfait glass and added whipped cream for a delicious dessert.

When Midsomer Mystery ended at 9:30, we wee tired so we went bed.

Bon Appetit

April 17, 2024 Breakfast Granola, milk, and yogurt Snack - Raisin Bread Lunch - PPI Pasta with Steak and Mushrooms Dinner - Vegetarian Sandwiche

April 17, 2024 Breakfast Granola, milk, and yogurt Snack - Raisin Bread Lunch - PPI Pasta with Steak and Mushrooms Dinner - Vegetarian Sandwiches

I woke up at 6:00 and watched the news and then at 8:30 ate granola with milk, and yogurt.

I did one thing at my desk and at 10:30 toasted two slices of raisin bread and spread them with almond butter Luke had bought when he was here and French cherry preserves and drank a cup of chai with them.

Then at 12:30 I ate the rest of the PPI Pasta and sautéed steak, onion, asparagus and mushrooms in clam sauce.  It was delicious and my body felt fully charged but I felt the market had melted down and my portfolio was dough another 1.5% and I felt that I was suffering from high blood pressure so I lay down until 5:00 when Suzette came home.

We decided to walk but there was a delay and instead I meditated at 5:30 and then started to make a salad by cleaning leaf lettuce and peeling and seeding and dicing 1/2 of a cucumber, a Roma tomato, and 4 green onions. Suzette heard boiled four eggs, but then I started to feel bad again and lay down around 6:30.

 Suzette took my blood pressure and it was elevated, so we decided to lighten up obviously dinner.

Suzette made me a baguette sandwich with melted Jarlsberg cheese and filled with the chopped green onions, and diced tomato and cucumbers. It was surprisingly delicious and so I asked for another and Suzette made another vegetarian sandwich for me that I ate lying in bed. I watched A Brief History of the Future and the Making of North America on PBS and went to bed at 10:00

I am writing this blog at 6:30 a.m. on the 18th and my blood pressure is still elevated but I am feeling better. Going to be evaluated but PT at 9:00 and going to see the doctor at 11:00, so hopefully we will deal with the high blood pressure.

Bon Appetit

April 16, 2024 Breakfast - Sautéed Egg, Gravad Lax, Zucchini, asparagus, rice, and Onion Lunch - Bao Sa at Wayne and Elaine’s Office Dinner - Pasta with Sautéed Steak, Mushrooms, onion, and Zucchini

April 16, 2024 Breakfast - Sautéed Egg, Gravad Lax, Zucchini, asparagus, rice, and Onion Lunch - Bao Sa at Wayne and Elaine’s Office Dinner - Pasta with Sautéed Steak, Mushrooms, onion, and Zucchini

I made an egg scramble with Gravad Lax, Zucchini, asparagus, rice, and Onion for breakfast.

Then at 10:00 Steven came four PT and we walked the garden and then to the bank and back. My blood pressure was elevated so I made an appointment with Pres.

Then at 12:30 I drove to Wayne Chew’s office to discuss the new Earn transaction. It was great seeing Wayne and Elaine and they offered me a bao Sa (steamed bum) with a coke for lunch, so I ate lunch with Wayne and got his opinion about my tax issues at the same time.

I got home at 2:30 and found out that the Market was beginning to turn positive and my loss was not as great as the last three days that had evaporated 4.6% of my portfolio value.

I then worked on the loan transaction with Earn until 4:30.

Wayne recommended keeping all the money movement within my IRA’s so there would be no capital gain or loss.  Tom Crow said that it was easy to do the transaction by creating a self directed trust and therefore I initiated a self directed IRA with Zia Trust after discussing the transaction with Chloe at Zia Trust.

Then at 4:30 I watched the news and discovered that 7 jurors had been selected to sit on the jury to decide the Trump hush money criminal charges in NYC. The obvious conclusion from this is that the legal system is working as it should, irrespective of what Donald Trump says or thinks.

I tried to walk at 5:00 but I was interrupted by Suzette’s arrival and the wind, so only walked 1/2 block.

I read the last few chapters of Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker that Amy gave me and discussed dinner with Suzette. Suzette thought we needed to utilize the PPI spaghetti and mushrooms she bought at the farmer’s market last Saturday. We decided to sauté them with PPI steak, onion, and asparagus. Suzette cooked while I watched my favorite show, Finding Your Roots.

Suzette opened a bottle of Kirkland Chianti Classico Reserva and soon we had a hearty meal.

After dinner we watched Lawrence O’Donnell and went to bed at 9:00.

If I will be able to loan Earn some of the money necessary for it to get across the cash crunch to sustained profitability, it was a good day.

I am happy to have good advisors like Wayne Chew and Tom Crow.

If this transaction works and I get the 300,000 shares, I will give them each some shares.  That is the Middle Eastern and Indian business model. We help those who help us.

Bon Appetit

April 15, 2024 Lunch - Menudo at el Super. Dinner - Antelope neck bone stew with Tomato Couscous

April 15, 2024 Lunch - Menudo at el Super. Dinner - Antelope neck bone stew with Tomato Couscous

I woke up at 6:00 and watched the news. Two great themes today. The beginning of the first criminal trial of an exPresident and the melt down of the market in anticipation of Israel’s response to the Iranian rocket attack on Saturday.

The market collapsed and I had another terrible day down 2.1%.

Before Suzette left she filled the new crock pot with onion, fennel, carrots, beef stock, and the antelope neck chops Henry gave me.

I ate granola, milk, yogurt and diced Granny Smith apple for breakfast at 9:00.

I was still hungry at 10:30 so I toasted two slices of rye bread and spread peanut butter and cherry jam on them and ate them with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

I then drove to El Super. This was my first day of driving and it went perfectly because I drove the Prius that only required my good right leg to drive.

I bought an eggplant, limes, lemons, sweet limes, Fuji apples, naval oranges, a cucumber, a ginger root, green beans, two small avocados, cilantro, parsley, green onions, milk, sandwich cookies, Negra Modelo beer, yellow onions, Roma tomatoes, leeks, and celery.

I got hungry again around 12:00 so I wheeled my cart to La Cocina and ordered a large bowl of menudo and a liter bottle of Mexican Coca Cola. The menudo was a thick red chili broth with Posole and tripe mixed in.

After lunch I finished shopping and returned home at 1:00. After I unloaded I lay down and read and napped until 3:30 when I read mail and worked at my desk until 5:45.

I then made tomato couscous by dicing a Roma tomato and sautéing it with a cup of couscous and then adding two cups of boiling water and cooking and steaming it for five or six minutes.

Suzette went to the garage to fetch a bottle of her homemade mango chutney and I fetched the bottle of Swad mixed Pickle and we garnished the dish with those condiments. We finished drinking the 2016 De Ponte Dundee Hills Pinot Nour that tasted better tonight with the antelope stew. We also finished the cucumber salad I made yesterday with dinner.

After dinner we drank a glass of cognac and ate cookies and watched the Antiques Roadshow and went to bed at 9:00.

The antelope stew was wonderful and we have lots it and couscous left for another meal.

Bon Appetit

April 14, 2024 Breakfast - Gravad lax on toasted bagels Lunch - Leftover enchiladas with beans, rice and an egg Dinner - Grilled rib steak with pasta mixed with three types of sautéed mushrooms and cucumber salad

April 14, 2024 Breakfast - Gravad lax on toasted bagels Lunch - Leftover enchiladas with beans, rice and an egg  Dinner - Grilled rib steak with pasta mixed with three types of sautéed mushrooms and cucumber salad

Another day of exceptional food and the defeat of another top ranked PL team.

Today all the favorite top ranked teams lost; Arsenal, Liverpool, and West Ham, leaving Mac City three points clear atop the PL.  they were sad to see, but interesting matches.  

At 8:00. I toasted two slices of a Kaufman’s bagel and laid slices of Gravad lax on the toasted bagels plus cream cheese, sliced onion, and capers.

At 9:30 Suzette went to an auction and returned around noon and heated up our leftovers from lunch at Padilla’s yesterday and added eggs to poach. We drank Negra Modelos with lunch and ate on the patio so we could see and smell the fragrance of the blooming wisteria bush.

After lunch we moved the planter from the driveway to the back yard beside our new Japanese maple.  We intend to plant a Japanese pine tree in the planter.

In the morning Suzette planted herbs in one half of one of the raised beds and the herb plants we bought at the farmers’ market yesterday.

At 3:00 Suzette went to the Museum for the closing reception. I read a review of Retired Justice Baeyer’s new book criticizing the conservative decisions by Supreme Court. It seems they have invented new terms like Originalism and textual is to hide their political agenda, which is to overturn long standing precedents established by the Warren Court.

I then watched Scottie Scheffler win the Masters. I was proud that he was a UT graduate and helped UT win the Big 12 championship three years in a row.  He played an amazing round of golf of Sunday to win.

At 5:00 I walked around the block for the first since the operation on my way to logging 2335 steps today. It was a beautiful walk with many yards in full bloom.

At 6:00 I started making cucumber salad for our steak dinner.  I peeled and seeded a cucumber and sliced it into thin slices. I then added 1 1/2 tsp. each of salt and sugar and minced 1/3 onion and about 1/3 of a shallot and finally stirred in 2 T. of red wine vinegar and chilled the salad.

Suzette chopped and sautéed a medley of blue oyster, portobello, and white mushrooms with 2/3 of a shallot and 3 cloves of garlic minced in olive oil and butter and then tossed the mushrooms with some the PPI spaghetti from last night’s dinner. Suzette salted and peppered the steak and put it on the grill and I pulled the steak from the grill and sliced it. It turned out to be closer to medium than medium rare, but its confirmation and marbling was perfect.

I opened a bottle of 2016 De Ponte Dundee Hills Pinot Noir that was smooth as silk with dinner.

This turned out to be an exceptionally delicious meal.

After dinner in ate yogurt laced with drops of honey As we watched Two Masterpiece Theater episodes on PBS.

We went to bed at 10:30 and Suzette at 10:00.

Bon Appetit