Mike is back in town and I had a hankering for Mexican food
so I called him and met him for lunch at La Salita. I now have perfected my order: a Lite Bites (being
one instead of the regular order with two) chili relleno stuffed and topped with
Swiss cheese, dipped in batter and deep fried with double beans, stewed turkey
meat (like ropa vieja),and a lettuce and tomato garnish and onions laid on a
puddle of green chili. Voila.
Mike has a favorite dish also, a turkey meat stuffed
sopapilla with green chili.
La Salita makes great sopapillas that I just love. The combination of the best chili relleno and the best
sopapilla makes La Salita my favorite Mexican restaurant in Albuquerque. The
Shed’s No. 5, blue corn enchiladas with beef and posole is my all-time favorite
New Mexican dish.
Since this was the first time I was out of the house in a
week, after lunch Mike and I went to Costco, where I bought a few basics: spinach,
asparagus, lobster claws, and Brussel sprouts, Pecorino Romano and Goat cheese and olive oil, and
Mike bought 2 DVDs; The Life of Pi and the Hobbit.
On the way home I also stopped at Trader Joe's to buy artichokes, which they did not have, but where I bought a
bottle of cognac ($19.99), three bottles of La Granja ($4.99), a bottle of 2012
La Finca Mendoza Malbec ($3.99), a bottle of chianti reserva ($5.99) and a
bottle of La Ferme Julien Blanc ($5.99) and a fresh locally baked baguette
($2.99). This is part of the basic replenishing of the larder, necessary to have a selection of ingredients.
I returned from meditating at 8:30 p.m. and found the
container of PPIs that Cynthia had sent us home with from Sunday night’s dinner
open on the counter with a lamb chop, two slices of eggplant Provencal and a
small piece of leek kopia Suzette had left me for dinner, beside one of the bottles of La Granja (50%
Tempranillo and 50% Grenache from the Rioja).
I heated up Cynthia’s PPIs and took my first glass of wine while it was heating in the microwave. I loved dinner tonight almost as much as Sunday’s, save for the scintillating presence of friends and conversation. PPI’s are not as good as fresh, perhaps due in part to the lack of communal effort of cooking, but much easier to prepare. After dinner I smeared some Boursin herb and garlic cheese spread on a piece of baguette with a second glass of La Granja., my current favorite inexpensive wine, and then a handful of chocolate coated raisins (Sprouts, $1.99/lb. special).
After a day of favorites, I went to bed very satisfied at
around 9:30 p.m.
Bon Appétit
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