September 16, 2012 Suzette’s 25th Business Anniversary Celebration: Breakfast – Poached egg and smoked salmon in a squash cup, Dinner – ham and green chili and cheese Quesadilla

September 16, 2012 Suzette’s 25^th Business Anniversary Celebration:  Breakfast – Poached egg and smoked salmon in a squash cup, Dinner – ham and green chili and cheese Quesadilla

We got up and at 10:30 a.m. rode ten miles. Then came home and Suzette filled the PPI squash cups we had roasted the night before with a slice of smoked salmon (gravad lax) and an egg and baked it in the microwave for a few minutes until the egg firmed.  We ate the baked squash cups with champagne.

While Suzette wrote her speech or the 25^th Anniversary celebration, I watched the T.V. coverage of the Tour of Spain and a great NFL football game between Baltimore and Philadelphia that ended in a Michael Vick scoring drive with a score on his run into the end zone with 50 seconds left on the clock.

We went down to the Center for Ageless Living at around 4:00 p.m. so Suzette could get things ready for the Big 25^th Anniversary of her being in business.  While I watched football and napped they set up tables and chairs and a wine tent and prepared food and flower arrangements.  Then at 5:30 p.m., I went over to set up the wine and manned the spa wine station starting around 6:15.  The kitchen had made up platters of antipasto with a wonderful artichoke and dried tomato and pepper spread, kalamata olives, two kinds of salami and cheese and a platter of focaccia bread slices and a tray of small cups of tiramisu, made the correct way with marsacapone dulce.  I tried everything and loved it.  Suzette had selected four wines to pour: a Soave, a Moscato, a Primativo and an El Bastardo Tuscan sangiovoise.  

There were not as many people as we had anticipated; so after a few minutes they moved the food and wine that had been placed at the pool area in the spa to the open filed where the tent and stage were.  There was live music provided by a Western swing band and there was also an additional dish on the table; penna tossed in a Chimayo red chile pesto made fresh with the Center’s garden basil.

Although there was not a large group, Rose Petrakis and Barry and Kylene Wing from the neighborhood showed up.  Rose had ridden 100 miles in a century event that day, so I thought of it as a celebration for her also. 

Suzette has developed an intensely loyal group of families whose mothers and fathers have been clients at the center.  One lady spoke of how her aunt, who had been a client for 19 years as she slowly suffered the ravages of Alzheimers’.    Then Suzette introduced all of the staff and gave out gifts to them and the music began again and we danced one dance and then sat and sipped wine and listened to the band until 9:00.  After a short cleanup we went home around at around 9:15 p.m.

When we got home around 9:45 P.m. Suzette said she had not eaten anything all day, I suggested that  we make quesadillas, so I got out ham and the Pecorino cheese and he bag of green chili and flour tortillas.  We constructed the quesadillas and Suzette fried them up in a skillet with a bit of butter.

Willy had arrived from his camping trip to Colorado with a can of Santa Fe Brewery’s Imperial Stout.  When we tasted it it was too heavy, so I opened a bottle of Kirtland’s Pale Ale and made a black and tan.  Suzette and I drank beers and ate the quesadillas with Willy around 10:00 p.m. and then Suzette and I went to bed tired and happy after a full day of activity.

Bon Appétit