July 10, 2012 Lunch - Tabouli Salad; Dinner - Avocado stuffed with Lobster and Smoked Salmon Salad

For lunch I filled a pasta bowl full of organic baby greens and then put the PPI steamed Snow Peas on top with 1 tomato diced and three Tbsp. of diced white onion and 2/3 cup of tabouli and three Tbsp of olive oil and juice of 1/2 lime and about 8 dried Moroccan black olives and one scallion.  I then sliced and laid several slices of Manchego cheese on a slice of toasted German Sourdogh Rye bread and toasted it again in the microwave to melt the cheese into the bread for an interesting and healthy lunch.
 

We had 1/2 cup of PPI lobster and about 1/3 lb. of Smoked Salmon (Gravad Lax).  Last Thursday I bought two large avocados ($.89 each)  and bolillos (4 for $1.00) at Pro’s Market.  Also, last Friday I purchased a 1 lb. container of organic baby greens at Costco ($3.79) and we made PPI basil infused olive oil, finely sliced fresh fennel slices, and an orange juice and mayonnaise dressing for the appetizer for Mike’s BD Party.   So we did not need to do anything to prep for dinner tonight except peel the avocados, dice a tomato and section an orange, to make new orange slices, for our fabulous dinner salad tonight.

Suzette assembled the salad plates by first laying a bed of organic greens on a plate and then a one half and a ¼ wedge of avocado on each plate.  Then she tossed the lobster and salmon in the orange mayonnaise dressing with a few squirts of basil olive oil and laid that on the wedges of avocado and garnished with cubes of diced tomato and slices of fennel and orange.

We ate warm toasted slices of bolillos and drank glasses of 2010 Doña Paula Estate Torrontés from Valle de Cafayate-Salta, Argentina, a clean, slightly sweet and very fruity white wine with the salad.  

After dinner while Suzette watered the garden, I split open 8 green figs we had bought at Trader Joe’s 10 days ago by cutting off their stems at the top to expose their soft white flesh and making two crisscross incisions deep into the flesh and stuffing them with bits of fresh California goat cheese we purchased at Costco ($4.89).

I fetched a chilled 375 cl. bottle of White Port from Wellington Vineyards that we must have purchased at least ten years ago.  After the plants were watered we sat in the garden and ate the goat cheese stuffed fresh figs and sipped glasses of white port.  The port was a little over the hill, which means that some of its overt sweetness had turned into a sherry like nuttiness.  It was interesting but a little bitter on the back of the tongue.   Suzette suggested we use it to cook a fruit, which I agreed was a great idea, although we  drank about half of the bottle of port as we sat and enjoyed the cool evening as darkness fell over the garden.

 Bon Appétit