It is great being back in Albuquerque in terms of
having fresh food choices again. We started
by going to the Farmers’ Market on Saturday and buying a loaf of fresh whole
wheat sourdough bread from Bosque Bakery ($6.50). When we returned home, Suzette removed a
frozen lb. package of smoked applewood bacon and left it out to thaw. Then we picked some of the tomatoes from our
garden that were ready to eat.
On Sunday morning I started processing the lavender
by removing the buds from the stalks while watching the morning news shows
while Suzette worked on advertising. We had decided to make a BLT and I wanted to
add an egg and some cheese to it. So
around 10:30 I started four slices of bacon frying and toasted four pieces of
sourdough bread and smeared them with mayonnaise. I then went to the garden and picked lettuce
and washed and spun it to clean it.
Then Suzette selected two lovely ripe yellow
tomatoes and I sliced them while she made a two egg omelet. I then sliced a few slices of Manchego cheese
and she added those to the egg and cut it into fourths and put 1/4 of the open
faced omelet on each slice of bread. She
then garnished the bread slices with the bacon and lettuce and tomato. We decided to drink water and each took a
glass of water and a napkin and the egg BLT to the gazebo in the back of the
old garden for a lovely brunch. 
The garden was in pretty good shape and there was even a water lily in bloom in the pond. After a little work in the garden, mainly adding support for drooping tomato plants, we rode the tandem to Rio Bravo.
We then showered and dressed and around 1:20 filled a small salt bottle with some of the processed lavender and drove to Corrales for Chou Ristau’s 70th BD Party. It was a lovely affair with about twenty-five relatives, friends and neighbors in attendance and lots of food. Bill had bought bottles of four wines from Corrales Winery; Riesling, a Muscat Canelli, a Sangiovese and a Merlot. I tried the two whites and the Sangiovese with fresh fried pork and cabbage egg rolls with a sweet red sauce and liked the Riesling the best. After pictures, a taste of slow cooked chicken and pork ribs and some BD cake, we drove home by way of Pro’s Market, where we bought milk, Gala apples ($.33/lb.) and limes ($.89/lb.). I rested for a few minutes and around 6:00 we made gin and tonics with the new limes ($.89/lb.) and I helped Suzette with a financing package and then around 7:00 p.m., while I watched the Cowboys play the Giants and continued to process lavender, Suzette started dinner.
We decided
that we needed to cook the rest of the salmon, so we decided to make the same
dish she had made Friday evening, with the addition of capers.
Here is a picture of Friday evening's effort.
So I snapped a handful of green beans while
Suzette chopped up about 2 Tbsp. of red onion and a clove or two of garlic.
Suzette then cut the salmon into three individual
pieces and sautéed them in a large skillet with butter and olive oil. I sliced up about ¾ cup of small yellow pear
and grape chocolate tomatoes from the garden and Suzette sliced up the white
part of a scallion she had picked in the garden this morning.
While the tomatoes and onions and garlic and 1 Tbsp.
of capers sautéed, Suzette fetched the plastic container of PPI creamed cauliflower
from the fridge and added some butter to it and heated it in the microwave,
which cooked off some of its moisture, resulting in a thicker puree. After the cauliflower was heated, I opened a
package of Swiss Gruyere from Costco and grated about 1 oz. of cheese onto the
top of the cauliflower. Then Suzette plated up our dishes by spooning
a puddle of cauliflower puree onto each plate and then adding the sautéed salmon
and then garnishing the salmon with the sautéed vegetables. I added a few thinly sliced rounds of
scallion stalk and filled two small wine glasses with the remaining 2011 Alfio Moriconi
Selection Bougrier Chenin Blanc from Total Wine ($8.99). The wine was lovely with the seared salmon that
Suzette had cooked perfectly: crisp on the outside and red on the inside, so
that the flesh was just turning pink, as it sat on the plate and still contained
all of the fresh fish’s juices. The fresh vegetables when combined with the
cauliflower puree and capers made a lovely thick sauce for the fish.
The 2011 Bougrier Chenin Blanc at Total Wine is the
best Chenin Blanc for the money that I have found in Albuquerque. I highly recommend it and will buy more
soon. It has that wonderful balance of
fruitiness and minerality without being too sweet that I find most flavorful in
good Chenin Blancs. This bottle is a blend of chenin
blanc grapes from several different properties located in the Cher River Valley,
a tributary of the Loire in France, and a winning one.
Bon Appétit 
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