March 26, 2017 Breakfast – Tropical Fruit salad and yogurt, Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup, Dinner- stir Fried Garlic Eggplant with seared Teriyaki Tuna and rice

March 26, 2017 Breakfast – Tropical Fruit salad and yogurt,  Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup, Dinner- stir Fried Garlic Eggplant with seared Teriyaki Tuna and rice

During the morning news shows I peeled and diced a pineapple, a papaya, 6 artualo mangoes, and four oranges and squeezed the juice of a lime on the ingredients to make a fruit salad.  We then ate bowls of fruit salad with a couple of scoops of plain yogurt.

I then worked and Suzette drove to her office in Los Lunas and worked.

At 12:30 I ate a bowl of the PPI Vietnamese Miso noodle soup I made yesterday after showing a fellow named Victor, who rang the bell and introduced himself, the Land cruiser.

After lunch I drove to Sprouts and bought 1 lb. of tuna steaks, 1.3 lb. of 16-20 count shrimp for $6.99/lb., a lb. of asparagus for $.98/lb., milk, and more yogurt, plus 1.3 lb. of milk chocolate covered peanut clusters for $3.99/lb.

When I returned home I made teriyaki sauce by heating 7 T. each of soy sauce, Aji Miren, sake, and 1 tsp. of sugar until the sugar went into solution .  I then put the tuna steaks into the teriyaki sauce in a plastic bowl to marinate in the fridge.

Suzette came home and finished the cabinets and spray painted. three rocker slider chairs she bought at Goodwill.  After returning from the store  I worked on my taxes and then took a nap until almost 6:00.

We decided to cook Suzette’s favorite Chinese Eggplant dish, Garlic Eggplant from Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Fei.

We made 1 cup of rice by bringing two cups of water with ½ tsp of Knorr dehydrated chicken stock to the boil and the adding 1 cup of basmati rice and then reducing the heat level on our smallest burner to it lowest setting and cooking the covered pot of rice for 30 minutes.

While the rice simmered, I peeled and diced an eggplant and 3 oz. of onion, ½ red bell pepper five cloves of garlic, and 1 oz. of ginger.  Suzette then stir fried the eggplant, then added the other ingredients, and finally added the flavoring sauce.  Then she seared the tuna steaks in peanut oil.

I made green tea and Suzette fetched a Shiner Bock beer from the fridge and we ate a lovely dinner.  We could only eat all of the tuna, so perhaps there is a Salad Nicole's in the near future.

Bon Appetit

March 25, 2017 Breakfast – Mushroom and shrimp omelet, Lunch – Vietnamese Miso noodle soup, Dinner – Sautéed Penne Pasta with Sorrel Pesto sauce

March 25, 2017 Breakfast – Mushroom and shrimp omelet,  Lunch – Vietnamese Miso noodle soup,  Dinner – Sautéed Penne Pasta with Sorrel Pesto sauce and shrimp

For breakfast we decided to make one of our favorite omelets.  We had PPI shrimp from last night’s meal.  I cleaned 3 oz. of white beech mushrooms and sliced about 1 oz. of Jarlsberg cheese.  Suzette sautéed the mushrooms and shrimp and then added three whisked eggs. When the egg set she lay the slices of cheese on one side of the egg and folded the exposed egg side over onto the side covered with cheese slices.  It was a good prep for Mexico next week.

I made Vietnamese Miso noodle soup at around 2:30 with 1 finely minced shallot, 9 oz. of medium tofu, 1 Pho seasoning cube (Talin $.59 for four cubes in the lime green box), 1 T. of red Miso, rice stick noodles, wheat noodles and mung bean thread noodles (Talin), 1 T. of wakame seaweed threads, ( a small handful), three sliced white mushrooms, and about four or five diced leaves of Savoy cabbage plus 1 T. Each of soy sauce and a Chinese cooking wine and 1 tsp. of sesame oil.    I love this combination of flavors because it creates a flavorful broth without much cooking.  It takes 15 to 20 minutes for the noodles to soften and that is usually long enough for the other ingredients to cook.  The soup thickens and tastes better the longer you cook it, so I usually take a small bowl after 20 minutes and let the soup continue to cook at low temperature until I am ready for the second bowl.  I usually add some water after the first bowl to create more soup and because the noodles will continue to absorb liquid and the soup will thicken.

We were not very hungry for dinner, so Suzette improvised.  She sautéed about 1 1/2 cups of PPI penne pasta and added about 1/3 cup of sorrel pesto and I sliced ¼ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese slices to garnish the pasta.

A day of light but delicious food.

Bon Appetit

March 24, 2017 Lunch – Vichyssoise and salad. Dinner – Boiled Shrimp, Gazpacho, and Grilled Artichokes

March 24, 2017 Lunch – Vichyssoise and salad. Dinner – Boiled Shrimp, Gazpacho, and Grilled Artichokes

For lunch I finish the Vichyssoise and pick greens from the garden and make a salad garnished with tomato and egg salad.  I eat outside so I can smell the wisteria that is blooming on our patio.  I also pick three tulips that are blooming also.

After work until 5:00 and then doze in front of the TV until Suzette gets home at 5:10.  I make open faced sandwiches of pate and cheese and drink the last of the Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir (Trader Joe’s $4.99). Pleasant but not great.

We decide to eat shrimp and gazpacho with Gruet Rose Champagne, rather pink and red meal.  I fetch the three cucumbers, the bag of ripe Roma tomatoes, and head of celery from the garage fridge.

Suzette’s Gazpacho

Suzette plunges the five or six Roma tomatoes into boiling water to peel them.  She then puréed  bread soaked in Clamato, tomatoes, ½ of a red bell pepper, ½ medium onion, two cucumbers and a few stalks of celery plus a few basil leaves, salt and some Clamato to produce a thick soup.

We garnish the gazpacho with croutons

 

I make a cocktail sauce for the shrimp by mincing a shallot and the juice of ½ lemon and then combining mayonnaise, horseradish, catsup.  In my opinion, the combination of cocktail sauce and my preferred sauce of minonette sauce is a mistake.  Perhaps I tried to combine the two because I felt like the tarragon I usually use was not ready to pick.  Big mistake. Next time I will make two separate sauces as I usually do.

I cut two artichokes and Suzette grilled them.  I refreshed the PPI mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon, and dill sauce by adding more mayonnaise, lemon juice, and a bit of olive oil.  The sour cream was still noticeable, so I was not totally happy with this sauce either.

We enjoyed the fresh gazpacho, shrimp, and artichoke.  We decided to open the new bottle of Gruet Rose champagne.  It was lovely, a full bodied Pinot noir based champagne.

I ate a lot of food for dinner.

Unfortunately, I ate some cake after dinner and suffered some indigestion.

Bon Appetit

March 23, 2017 Vichyssoise and cheesy bread Dinner Reuben Sandwiches and salad with egg salad

March 23, 2017 Vichyssoise and cheesy bread  Dinner Reuben Sandwiches and salad with egg salad

Last night after Willy left Suzette made egg salad with fresh dill from our garden, chopped eggs, mayonnaise and a touch of olive oil.

This morning I boiled the four medium artichokes I bought at Trader Joe’s last week.

I also sold 200 shares of Apple at $142.71, just before the market went into a slight nose dive, which was the high for the week. Bravo.

Today I am filing a docketing statement, so I am at the computer until 2:00, when I take the 118 page docketing statement on a flash memory stick to be copied and file it at the Court of Appeals.  I took a
March 23, 2017 Vichyssoise and cheesy bread  Dinner Reuben Sandwiches and salad with egg salad

Last night after Willy left Suzette made egg salad with fresh dill from our garden, chopped eggs, mayonnaise and a touch of olive oil.

This morning I boiled the four medium artichokes I bought at Trader Joe’s last week.

I also sold 200 shares of Apple at $142.71, just before the market went into a slight nose dive, which was the high for the week. Bravo.

Today I am filing a docketing statement, so I am at the computer until 2:00, when I take the 118 page docketing statement on a flash memory stick to be copied and file it at the Court of Appeals.  I took a break to eat a bowl of Vichyssoise around noon with a piece of rye bread with melted Cypress Grove aged goat cheese.

I am free by 3:00 so I go to Pastian’s and hit pay dirt.  No one has bought the day old breads.  I buy a loaf each of German Kommisarbrod rye, a loaf of whole wheat sandwich, and a loaf of Nine grain sandwich plus a chocolate cake decorated for St. Patrick’s Day.  The loaves of bread were $.75 each and the cake was $6.50.

Then I went to Costco and bought Worcestershire sauce, and a few other items, like conditioner.p and find another super deal, large wedges of fresh Jarlsberg cheese on sale for $5.99/lb. less a coupon discount of $4.30, so I buy a wedge costing $11.74, which ends up making the cost of the cheese less than $4.00/lb. But the real value is that this is a huge promotion including tons of fresh Jarlsberg.  Fresh Jarlsberg is creamy and melts in your mouth.  You can almost imagine being at the factory in Norway where it is made when you eat a slice of fresh Jarlsberg.  So I go home and make a melted cheese sandwich with the fresh Jarlsberg on a slice of fresh nine grain bread and experience a moment of food ecstasy.

I then file my docketing statement with the district court an serve the judge, the court reporter, and opposing counsel, which is done electronically now, so is easy.  Then I rest until Mike arrives around 6:00. We have no special menu except Suzette asked me to get rye bread for Reuben sandwiches, so she is thrilled to see the m heavy German rye bread.  Suzette brings the bucket of corned beef and cabbage in and heats a pot of it for sandwiches.  We decide to V. Fc eat fresh salad with our  Reuben sandwiches garnishes with a bit of egg salad.  Mike does not want Reuben so I offer him a bowl of Vichyssoise plus the PPI shrimp in penne with sorrel sauce.  We open the bottle of 2012 Guigal Cote du Rhone which is a lovely smooth blend.  Average price seems to be from $12.00 to $14.00.  I just discovered that if you insert a known bottle of wine, such as 2012!Guigal Cotes Du Rhone Google will aggregate all the advertised prices for the wine from all over the world on one page, by price in descending order. Pretty cool.

We enjoy a lovely meal made from PPIs and a couple of new items, such as the egg salad.

The German Kommisarbrod is a little irregular in shape. Suzette toasts the slices of rye bread in a skillet with butter, then spreads mayonnaise on the bread, then adds slices of Jarlsberg and shredded corn beef and cabbage and then heats the composed sandwiches in the skillet to melt the cheese and fuse the ingredients into a hot sandwich.  They are small, so she makes two each for her and me. Suzette calls the smaller ill shaped sandwiches “sliders”, which they are.

I thinly slice some chives for Mike’s vichyssoise and we compose salads with diced tomato and egg salad and a drizzle of Cesar salad dressing.

The wine is lovely, very soft and drinkable.  I am thinking about going by Jubilation to see if they have more.

After dinner we drink cognacs and eat fresh St. Patrick’s Day chocolate cake with scoops of chocolate chocolate brownie ice cream I bought yesterday at Lowe’s with a box of double chocolate filled chocolate Duos, which are a cheaper knock off of Oreos.

At 9:00 we say good night.

Bon Appetit

March 22, 2017 Lunch – La Salita. Dinner – New Recipe – Penne Pasta with sautéed shrimp and asparagus in a sorrel pesto sauce and toasted almonds

March 22, 2017  Lunch – La Salita. Dinner – New Recipe – Penne Pasta with sautéed shrimp and asparagus in a sorrel pesto sauce and toasted almonds

I met Mike at Mike at La Salita after an appointment with Dr. Eddie Bennett, who is my favorite doctor.  Smart, compassionate, well informed.  Dr. Benge had reviewed my history of complaints and knew why I was coming to see him and had a strategy selected as soon as I checked me to confirm the problem with my hip from being thrown out of a panga at Yalapa.  He ordered X Rays of the two hips and an MRI.

I really enjoyed returning to La Salita with Mike.  It serves the best Chile Relleno in Albuquerque.  We both ordered our favorite dish.  Mike ordered a sopapilla stuffed with shredded turkey meat with no cheese. I ordered a Chile relleno filled with Swiss Cheese and served with double garnish and onions.




La Salita also makes wonderful sopapillas.  I wait until the end of the meal to order to ordered mine.  Our waitress brought a steaming hot sopapilla.  As I squeezed honey into it, the walls collapsed and it became a soft beignet tart.  I used my knife and fork to eat the soft warm honey laden pastry; a real treat.

After lunch I went back home to edit the docketing statement, which took until 12:30 a.m.

Suzette saw a recipe for sorrel pesto today, so when she came home She immediately went out to the garden and picked a basket full of sorrel and then some lovage that is pushing out new sprouts for the pesto.  I was working, so this is indirect from Suzette.

Sorrel Pesto  (Sunset Magazine)
Suzette toasted 1/3 cup of sliced almonds in a skillet.  She the put ¼ cup of green raisins, three cloves of garlic  and the toasted almonds into the Cuisinart and processed the ingredients until they were a course meal.  Then she added the washed sorrel and a little lovage to the Cuisinart to the ¼ cup of green raisins, three cloves of garlic  and the toasted almond mixture and processed the mixture as she drizzled olive oil until the mixture turned into the consistency she likes for her pesto.

Suzette chilled a bottle of French Sauvignon Blanc and thawed the 1.4 lb.. of medium shrimp I bought at El Super last week and boiled most of them for our planned gazpacho and shrimp dinner later this week and shelled a dozen for dinner.  She then diced about eight stalks of asparagus and boiled a lb. of penne pasta.

When Willy arrived Suzette sautéed the shrimp and asparagus in 3 T. of butter and about 2 T. of olive oil in a large skillet and then added 1/3 cup of pesto to the skillet and tossed those ingredients together to heat them.  Then she added a couple of cups of warm cooked penne and tossed the pasta to coat it with pesto sauce.  It produced a delicious oily mixture.

I poured glasses of 2015 Belles Vignes Collection Sauvignon Blanc.  I think I bought at Trader Joe’s for under $8.00.  I was wonderful, a light citrus flavor with French Sauvignon Blanc elegance, not unlike a Sancerre meets lovely light New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.   There was little information on the label disclosing its origins other than an indication the it was produced by an exporter located Mouzilon, France, which is in the vast Loire Atlantique region near the mouth of the Loire River.

When the penne was cooked Willy came over to eat and we had a lovely meal.  He is attending a national training course being held in Albuquerque, so after dinner he left to meet some friends from the training for drinks.

We watched the unfolding saga of Russian hacking into our election and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit

March 19, 2017. Brunch – BLT sandwiches. Dinner Party at Susan and Charlie’s

March 19, 2017. Brunch – BLT sandwiches.  Dinner Party at Susan and Charlie’s

We watched the news shows and then we made BLT sandwiches with fresh lettuce from the garden and freshly bought bacon from Costco on rye bread with slices of our last Roma tomato.  Then I drove to El Super, where I bought 1.4 lb. of 25-30 count shrimp for $5.99/lb., a pineapple, a 12 oz. bag of chips, a papaya, limes, 3 small avocados for $.99, 2 lemons for $.97/lb., 3 ataulfo mangos for $.99, a bag of super ripe Roma tomatoes for $.50/lb., 18 large eggs for $1.50, and a head of celery for $.50.  The idea is to make a tropical fruit salad and to make a gazpacho and boiled shrimp dinner.

Suzette painted cabinets and planted one of the raised beds with sugar snap pea seeds, while I worked on the eternal docketing statement.

I took a break around 2:30 and ate a bowl of Vichyssoise.

We took showers, dressed, grabbed the Vichyssoise, some salad, the tzatziki and a bottle of Cotes Du Rhone and walked over to Susan Charlie’s house.  Susan and I talked earlier and we agreed on lamb chops.  Susan had also bought a lovely apple and frangipan tart at Whole Foods and steamed asparagus and string beans.  We immediately decided to eliminate the salad .  We nibbled on pistachios and Boursin on crackers and sipped wine and talked as a Susan readied the meal.  Soon we took our wines to the table where bowls of Vichyssoise awaited us .  After we finished our bowls of soup, Susan brought two platters of lamb chops and the bowls filled with steamed asparagus and boiled string beans. Charlie had sous vided several lamb chops and Susan had marinated the rest of the ten or so chops in soy sauce for twenty minutes and then roasted them.  Both methods succeeded magnificently.  We each took scoops of tzatziki and dipped our bites of lamb into it.  The fresh rather fleshy asparagus were also delicious.  I stuffed myself with Susan’s delicately cooked lamb to rare andCharlie’s sous vide lamb cooked to medium rare, which actually was more tender and more red than Susan’s chops.  I suspect from the slow cooking sous vide method.

For dessert Susan served the apple frangipan tart with vanilla gelato and made hot tea.

After a lively discussion we said goodnight at 9:30.

Bon Appetit

March 20, 2017 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner Vichyssoise and Salad

March 20, 2017  Lunch – Azuma. Dinner Vichyssoise and Salad

I had a podiatry appointment at 11:00 after which I went to Azuma on Paseo because I had not eaten breakfast.  They would not make my favorite, the Chirashi Donburi with my favorite 12 pieces of seafood unless I paid extra, so I drove to my off favorite Azuma on San Mateo near Montgomery Plaza and ordered my usual with my favorite pieces of seafood plus a little seaweed salad band squid
March 20, 2017  Lunch – Azuma. Dinner Vichyssoise and Salad

I had a podiatry appointment at 11:00 after which I went to Azuma on Paseo because I had not eaten breakfast.  They would not make my favorite, the Chirashi Donburi with my favorite 12 pieces of seafood unless I paid extra, so I drove to my favorite Azuma on San Mateo near Montgomery Plaza and ordered my usual with my favorite pieces of seafood plus a little seaweed salad and squid salad and got it all just the way I like it and felt like I had made it back home to my family safely.   I ate ½ of my lunch and packed up the other ½ for later and drove home.
I
I finished my first edit of the docketing statement by 4:00.  I brought the corned beef in from the garage and put a shredded head of cabbage into the crock pot and then rode to Rio Bravo and back at 4:30.  I had a head wind riding south and a tail wind riding home, which is perfect.  You push hard on the way out and relax and get pushed back home on the way home.

Suzette was at home when I returned.  She informed me that the corned beef would not be ready for dinner because it took longer than three hours to cook cabbage in a crock pot and that we were missing the carrots and potatoes that needed to be cooked with the corned beef and cabbage.  How did I not know this?  Perhaps because I was not raised in a mostly German community in rural Pennsylvania?

So I peeled and diced three carrots, four medium potatoes, and a medium red onion and Suzette put them into the crock pot.

We decided to eat PPI Vichyssoise and a salad for dinner.  Suzette wanted to make croutons, so I diced and filled a 1 gallon freezer bag full of several day old Fano baguette. Suzette added olive oil and salt to coat the bread cubes, shook the bag to coat and then baked the bread cubes in the oven for about 15 minutes until they turned into golden brown croutons.  Willy called and I told him of the change in the menu and he joined us about 45 minutes later.  This gave us time to go to the garden to pick lettuce, for Suzette to immerse it in a sink full of cool water to wash it thoroughly, for me to cube an avocado and two Roma tomatoes, for Suzette to hard boil a dozen eggs for dill egg salad and to slice two of them and add the sliced eggs to the salad, and for me to slice and add 4 oz. of red onion.  Willy arrived and freshened the salad dressing by adding lemon juice and olive oil.  Suzette went to the garden and snipped a handful of chives, which I thinly sliced and the she went to the garage to fetch the bucket of Vichyssoise and filled soup bowls with the soup and tossed the salad.

We showed Willy the newly framed and hung art and he liked one of Suzette’s Chinese folk art paintings, which Suzette let him take to his apartment.  While we were talking in the living room, Luke called and we had a family chat for about fifteen minutes.

I then opened and poured glasses of white Cotes Du Rhone Famille Perrin 2014 ($6.99 at Trader Joe’s) and we were ready to eat.

We each filled salad bowls with salad and I sprinkled chives on top of the soup and we feasted as we watched Rachel Maddow’s coverage of the first day of the U.S. House’s Intelligence Committee investigation of Russian hacking into the 2016 election.  I had the same feeling I felt during Watergate.  That slow seismic shift of political power caused by the corruption of a Republican President.  I expect this will end the same way; with lots of folks going to jail and Trump being impeached.   It looks like Paul Ryan may be the winner in this re-enactment of the Republicans over zealous effort to win an election.

Willy loved the croutons and took a few extra for his second bowl of salad.

I went to bed at 9:00 after more art discussion. We are in the midst of Suzette examine the art we have stored in the closets and under beds and getting much of it framed.

Bon Appetit

March 15, 2017 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner - Hamburger Patties with string beans and sautéed onion.

March 15, 2017  Lunch – Azuma. Dinner - Hamburger Patties with string beans and sautéed onion.

The best thing that happened today is that the tenants at 524 Romero paid the rest and told me they were moving in to start their restaurant at the end of the month.  I was so thrilled I went to Azuma for a Chirashi Donburi lunch.  At $14.95 with a 10% discount for their VIP club and the ability to select the twelve pieces of seafood, it is the best sashimi value in town.  I requested and the new Chef put seaweed salad on my sushi rice this time.  I loved the cool fresh raw fish with the flavorful slightly sweet and vinegary sushi rice served as part of the dish.

I took home half of my lunch and drove to Fano Bakery on Mcleod and bought a fresh baguette for $3.00.

I rode to Campbell Road at 5:30.  When I returned home I found Suzette tired curled up in her chair watching TV.  I volunteered to cook.  I took two hamburgers out of the freezer and put them into the microwave for 4 minutes at 4 power to thaw and I overcooked them.  Suzette then informed me that the microwave has a defrost setting.  So I sliced an onion and sautéed it as Suzette de-stemmed a handful of haricot vert string beans.  I asked the string beans to the skillet with the onion slices and finally reheated the hamburgers with the other ingredients for a one skillet meal.  I poured the last of the open bottle of Tuella Red from the Douro region of Portugal.



The hamburgers tasted like hockey pucks but the rest of the ingredients were surprisingly tasty, except the edges of the onion slices had burned a bit.  Suzette did not like the wine either.

So we are capable of cooking bad meals.

Bon Appetit

March 14, 2017 Lunch – PPI Salmon Soufflé and Cesar salad. Dinner – Roasted Apple, Onion, and Pork Tenderloin Tapa with Catalan Chard and Mashed Potatoes

March 14, 2017 Lunch – PPI Salmon Soufflé and Cesar salad. Dinner – Roasted Apple, Onion, and Pork Tenderloin Tapa with Catalan Chard and Mashed Potatoes

Ioana came over this morning to work and we finished a little before noon so I invited her to join me for a salad.  At first she declined, so I made one of my Super Cesar salads with a diced tomato, 1/3 of a peeled cucumber diced, some croutons, some diced red onion and a few anchovies dressed with the eternal Cesar salad dressing we keep in the fridge and add olive oil and lemon too to keep it going.

After I made the salad I recalled that there was a small piece of PPI Salmon souffle from last night’s meal.  I heated it and Ioana and I split the salmon souffle and she ate a few bites of salad.  We went to the back yard and picked lettuce and fresh dill after lunch.

March 14, 2017 Lunch – PPI Salmon Soufflé and Cesar salad. Dinner – Roasted Apple, Onion, and Pork Tenderloin Tapa with Catalan Chard and Mashed Potatoes

Ioana came over this morning to work and we finished a little before noon so I invited her to join me for a salad.  At first she declined, so I made one of my Super Cesar salads with a diced tomato, 1/3 of a peeled cucumber diced, some croutons, some diced red onion and a few anchovies dressed with the eternal Cesar salad dressing we keep in the fridge and add olive oil and lemon too to keep it going.

After I made the salad I recalled that there was a small piece of PPI Salmon souffle from last night’s meal.  I heated it and Ioana and I split the salmon souffle and she ate a few bites of salad.  We went to the back yard and picked lettuce and fresh dill after lunch.

After our Brunch Mike called and suggested we go to lunch.  I said I had eaten but would he like to join us for dinner.  In the afternoon I thawed a two pack of Hormel pork tenderloins and called Suzette to let her know we were cooking this evening.

When Suzette arrived we agreed upon an all Jose Andres tapa menu by cooking the Catalan Spinach tapa with the Roasted Pork tapa and serving the PPI mashed Potatoes from last night’s meal with them.  I asked her what wind she preferred and Suzette said, “I like a Rose with this dish, so I chilled a bottle of Lagranja 100% Grenache Rose in the freezer (Trader Joe’s $5.99). This is currently my favorite Rose’ wine at that price and was a perfect complement to the pork dish.

I went to the garden and picked a full basket of chard plus six or seven sprigs of oregano and a garlic plant.

Suzette cleaned and destemmed the chard leaves while I sliced 1 Gala apple, the garlic plant, and one large brown onion into thin slices for the pork tapa and peeled, cored and diced another Gala apple for the Catalan Chard dish.

We started to cook at 6:30.

We started by sautéing the apple slices in olive oil in a long French copper sauté pan.  ThenSuzette added the onions and sautéed them with the apples until both were tender and stopped cooking until Mike arrived.  I butchered and sliced one of the tenders, but I sliced it into thinner slices than usual which meant we would need to cook the pork much more quickly.

When Mike came at 7:00 I poured us glasses of Spanish rose and we resumed cooking.  The Pork dish is a three step recipe.  First the apples and onions are sautéed in olive oil on the stove.  Then the pork and oregano is added to the pan and the pan is placed in the oven to roast the meat. Tonight we only roasted the pork at 300 degrees for ten minutes and it was overcooked a bit.  Then the pan is deglazed with ¼ cup of chicken stock and 2 T. of cognac.  Tonight we used Calvados.

Catalan Chard

This dish is easy.  You sauté ¼ cup of piñon nuts to golden brown. Then you add apple, raisins, and chard and sauté until cooked.

We heated the PPI mashed potatoes, poured more wine, and Suzette plated our plates with the three dishes.

What a lovely meal!  I loved every bite of it.

After I poured small amounts of Calvados into our wine glasses and served the chocolate covered orange peel candies we bought a Chez Mamou several weeks ago.  The candies were wonderful.  Bitter orange peel that had been glaceed (cooked inSyrup until it slightly crystallized) and then dipped into milk chocolate.  The Chef owner of Chez Mamou is a master pastry chef and a darn good chocolatier.

After a lovely meal, we said good night a little after 9:00.

Bon Appetit

March 13, 2017 Lunch – PPI Lamb Stew with Mashed Potatoes. Dinner – Salmon and Crab Souffle with sautéed Caramelized red onion and Kabocha Squash and mashed potatoes

March 13, 2017 Lunch – PPI Lamb Stew with Mashed Potatoes. Dinner – Salmon and Crab Souffle with sautéed Caramelized red onion and Kabocha Squash and mashed potatoes

In the morning Suzette and I were really pleased with how well the crab Souffle cooked in the steam oven yesterday.  We discussed making another souffle tonight with the 4 oz. of PPI crab.  We decided upon a salmon and crab Souffle.  We have struck on soufflés as a wonderful way to diet.  They have very few carbs and lots of protein, so are filling and healthy.

Here is the recipe that a Suzette used for the salmon Souffle.

Salmon Souffle

Prep Time: 15 minsTotal Time: 40 minsServings: 4-6


ABOUT THIS RECIPE
"This is an old stand-by in our house. It is so simple to make and everyone loves it. The glorious end result makes you look like a cooking star. I found the recipe years ago in my SIL's Harrowsmith cookbook."

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
pepper ( to taste)

INGREDIENTS
1 (6 ounce) cans salmon, flaked and bones crushed
3 eggs, separated
DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in small sauce pan.
Add flour, milk, salt and pepper.
Boil until thick and then remove from heat.
Add salmon and slighty beaten egg yolks.
Beat egg whites until stiff and fold inches.
Pour into greased souffle dish or other deep baking dish.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.


NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 1 (106 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving%Calories 244.3 Calories from Fat 14760%Amount Per Serving%Total Fat 16.3g25%Saturated Fat 8.3g41%Cholesterol 190.4mg63%Sugars 0.1 gSodium 772.5mg32%Total Carbohydrate 7.5g2%Dietary Fiber 0.1g0%Sugars 0.1 g0%Protein 16.1g32%

Kabocha and red onion sauté

I I diced ½ of a red onion and I cut the approximately 2 ½ lb. roasted Kabocha squash in half horizontally o expose all the seeds, which Suzette removed.  Then while Suzette sautéed the red onion in a large skillet with butter, olive oil and 1 T. of light brown sugar, I peeled and cubed ½ of the squash and added the cubes to the skillet to sauté.  I bought a large institutional container of marjoram recently and I have been adding a sprinkle to lots of dishes and I dusted the squash and red onion sauté with marjoram.

We also made mashed potatoes.  I peeled six small russet potatoes and Suzette diced them and boiled them until they were cooked to soft.  Then she puts them in the large bowl of the Kitchen Aid and mixes them with butter, cream, and salt and white pepper.

Willy joined us foe dinner just after Suzette took the salmon Soufflé out of the steaming oven.  This soufflé was a little drier than the crab soufflé we cooked yesterday because we cooked it a little longer, while we awaited Willy.  The soufflé’s edges were a little more toasted and darker did and were more stuck to the edge of the soufflé dish.

I had chilled a bottle of 2015 Pouilly- Fume from Appellation Pouilly Fume in the Loire Valley produced at the Les Champs des Plantes property that was an Albion Moriconi selection and carried a label identifying it as a finalist for a silver medal recommended bottle that cost $14.99 at Total Wine less 20%.  When I tasted it, it had a flat taste, neither fruity or any acidity, a very dead wine from any flavor perspective.  It added nothing to the enjoyment of the meal and I will never buy it again.  This is an example of one of Total Wine’s worst habits.  It buys a very ordinary wine and dresses up the wine with a property name and makes it a Moriconi selection and slaps a little silver label on it as if it is an exciting wine, when it is nothing special.  So you can not rely completely on the label at Total Wine especially for Vineyard Direct exclusive wines.  In fairness the really wonderful French wines like Kermit Lynch and Martine selections we drank at the Winter Wine Festival in Taos this year, all sell in the $40.00 to $50.00 price range.  So sometimes a bottle dressed up to look better than it is is still just an ordinary bottle of wine.

We loved our dinner.  I felt like we were having an intimate family dinner in a French Bistro.

Bon Appetit

March 12, 2017 Brunch with Cynthia and Ricardo, Crab Soufflé with garden salad. Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew

March 12, 2017 Brunch with Cynthia and Ricardo, Crab Soufflé with garden salad. Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew

We invited Cynthia and Ricardo for Sunday Brunch and bocce. They arrived at 11:00 with special garlic and basil crackers from NY, bread slices and a cheese spread.  I opened a bag of marinated olives from Trader Joe’s and Ricardo made mimosas.

Crab Soufflé
 After a good game of bocce we retired to the kitchen and Suzette made a double recipe of crab soufflé.  I had thawed out the 1 lb. plastic container of lump crab meat I had bought at Sprouts several months ago for $10.99 yesterday.  She started by separating the whites from the yolks of  six eggs.  I then whipped the whites into stiff peaks while Suzette made a béchamel sauce with 4T. of butter and flour and I am not sure how much milk. I am not sure what recipe she used but there are a number of simple soufflé recipes on the internet. She took the béchamel sauce off the heat and after it cooled a bit Suzette added the 6 egg yolks and stirred them in.  She then folded in 12 oz. of crab meat.  Then she folded that mixture into the whipped egg whites with a large spatula. She then poured the mic tire into a buttered soufflé dish sufficiently large to hold the entire mixture, which nearly filled the dish.  I mentioned collaring the soufflé dish but Suzette rejected that idea.  She then placed the pan on the second level and cooked the soufflé in the new steam oven for 29 minutes. We sipped mimosas as we watched the soufflé rise a bit but not overflow the dish and then settle a bit as it stiffened as it cooked.  I was amazed that it did not overflow.

I made my favorite Cesar salad with fresh greens from the garden.  Suzette made fresh  croutons from some old Fano baguette by curbing them and the shaking them in a one gallon plastic freezer bag with salt, pepper, olive oil, and herbs and then baking them on a baking sheet in the oven with top and bottom heat.  I diced ½ cucumber, two Roma tomatoes, three or four oz. of red onion and shaved several oz. of Pecorino Romano cheese onto the salad.  We steamed about fifteen stalks of asparagus that I diced and put into the salad also. I revived the Cesar salad dressing with the juice of 1/3 lemon and about twice that amount of Sprouts Spanish olive oil.  Finally I rinsed off six or seven Roland salted Spanish anchovies from the 24 oz. can we bought at the Southwest wholesale food market located near Costco in the Renaissance Center across from the Smart car dealership.

Cynthia and Ricardo brought a quart jar full of fresh squeezed orange juice and a bottle of Cupcake Prosecco.  I opened a bottle of Jaume Serra Cristalino Extra dry (Total Wine $7.99 less 20%).  We drank a bottle of Lagranja Cava Brut with a 70% xarel-lo and 30% paradellada blend of grapes.  Both were Cavas from Catalan and both were made in the Traditional Method.  We plated our plates with crab Souffle and Cesar salad and grabbed our flutes of Cava and went to the gazebo in the garden for a warm sunny afternoon brunch.

Ricardo had a rehearsal at 2:00 so we said  goodbyes at 1:45.

We napped until 4:30.

We were not hungry, so we decided to eat the PPI lamb stew with PPI mashed potatoes.  This made an instant meal that we ate with a Tuella Portuguese red from the Duero/Douro.  A nice hot meal.

Bon Appetit

March 11, 2017 Lunch – Ming Dynasty. Dinner – House Party at Beth and Glen’s

March 11, 2017 Lunch – Ming Dynasty. Dinner – House Party at Beth and Glen’s

We worked in the yard until Ioana came and we worked on our Romanian wine project until 12:30.

I suggested that we go to Ming Dynasty for Dim sun.  We ate roasted pork with jalapeño slices, steamed BBQ pork filled buns, deep fried qual, tofu stuffed with shrimp paste and eggplant deep  fried stuffed with eggplant plus tea.  It was her first time at Ming Dynasty and she loved it.

After lunch I drove to Trader Joe’s and bought eight artichokes and four bottles of wine.

We did not  cook. Instead I made a cheese board with an artisanal blue cheese that Jeff and Athens gave us for Christmas, plus goat cheese. Irish Cheddar, Iberico, and camembert, with Carr’s water biscuits.  I took a bottle of Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir I had bought at Trader Joe’s for $4.99 that afternoon.
A husband and wife duo named Gleewood played music all evening.  We left at 9:30 to 10:00 and stayed up until SNL for a change.

Bon Appetit

March 9, 2017. Lunch – PPI Pho Miso Noodle Soup, Dinner – Garlic Eggplant with Pork, water chestnuts and Savoy cabbage and rice

March 9, 2017. Lunch – PPI Pho Miso Noodle Soup,  Dinner – Garlic Eggplant with Pork, water chestnuts and Savoy cabbage and rice

I made a lovely Pho noodle Miso soup on Wednesday with about ½ lb. of PPI grilled rib steak, ½ cup of diced green beans, 4 oz. of tofu, a diced shallot, and a handful of spinach, plus ¼ of a tomato.  I flavored the broth with a cube of Pho seasoning, a large T. of red Miso, and the two steak bones.  The soup was very flavorful and full of protein.

For dinner I wanted to cook one of the eggplants, so I suggested Suzette make her favorite dish, Garlic Eggplant, won which I added a diced pork cutlet, a 5 oz. of sliced water chestnuts, and 2 cups of diced Savoy cabbage.  We heated some PPI rice and served the dark spicy filling dish over rice.  Here is the recipe.

Bon Appetit

March 4, 2017. Breakfast - Banana Bread, Lunch - Lamb Pot Pie, Dinner - Crawfish Etoufee with eggplant

March 4, 2017. Breakfast – Banana Bread,  Lunch – PPI Lamb Pot Pie,  Dinner – Crawfish Etoufee

We discussed whether to make banana pancakes or banana bread this morning.  We decided to make banana bread for breakfast with the bunch of blackened bananas.  Sometimes I think I buy bananas to let them darken so they will be the perfect ingredient for banana bread.

We watered the garden while the banana bread was baking. When it finished baking we cut thick slices of it and smeared Irish butter on them.  I also dabbed the buttered warm bread with lemon curd.

Suzette drank coffee and I drank hot French tea with mine.

Suzette went shopping at Lowe’s and I drafted an agreement until 1:30, when we decided to eat the rest of the Lamb Pot Pie made for Suzette by Chef Kelly at the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery at Suzette’s Center for Ageless Living.

We heated the lamb pot pie, fetched Belgium beers and jellied cranberry sauce from the fridge and ate our first meal of the year at the table in the gazebo in the garden.

 After lunch Suzette painted the cabinet doors in the garage and I worked with Roland to install the new HP printer I bought.

When we finished the installation a little before 5:00 I addressed dinner issues.


I wanted something other than lamb stew for dinner and decided on Crawfish etouffee because we had all the ingredients except a bell pepper, so I took the pound of crawfish I had bought at Nantucket Shoals ($17.95?) out of the freezer and then drove to El Super where I bought a lovely big, ripe red bell pepper for $.89, plus more Lala mango yogurt on sale for $2.50 for 32 oz. and a pound of 31-40 count shrimp for $5.79/lb.

When I returned home Suzette had awaken from a short nap and we began cooking.

We use Paul Prudhomme’ Louisiana Kitchen Cookbook recipe foe Crawfish Ettoufe.  Here it is.

The recipe is easy the way we have adjusted it. Instead of ¼ cup of each vegetable, I just dice 1 cup each of bell pepper, onion, and celery, which are then cooked in a golden brown roux made with canola oil and flour and added to a pot in which the crawfish and 1 cup of thinly sliced green onions are cooked in stock.  Today we had lobster broth from the lobster tail and shells from our meal last Saturday at Chez Mamou.  Today we decided to cook about 1 ½ cups of peeled and diced eggplant with the crawfish, green onions, and stock, which made the cooking time about 40 minutes longer to allow the eggplant to soften, but made the dish infinitely more delicious. I have bought 4 eggplants in the last week at Sprouts because they are on special for $.50 each.

Even slightly undercooked, the eggplant added a wonderful additional dimension to the dish and solidified its vegetable components into a symphony of flavor.  We loved it.  We let the dish continue to cook and in about thirty minutes after we had eaten our first helping piled over reheated PPI basmati rice with a Belgium beer, it tasted even better because the eggplant had released some of its juices into the dish, which made the etoufee smoother and creamier.  This is a dish that only gets better as it sits, although you may need to revive it with a little chicken or fish stock when you reheat it.

After dinner we watched a movie called Joy about a woman who is gifted with creative genius for inventing and selling inventions of others on QVC who perseveres in the face of opposition by a dysfunctional family to make success in her life.  It may be a real story of Joy Magano, the person who created HSN.  The all star cast was superb.  Jennifer Lawrence played the lead, for which she won the Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy/musical for 2016, and the cast included Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, Isabella Rossellini, and Virginia Madsen.

Suzette opened the 1 lb. box of Enstrom almond toffee that Mary Lou Dobbs sent me for helping her with a business matter. I wonder how Mary Lou knew that almond toffee was one of my favorite candies.

We stayed up for SNL and finally went to bed at midnight after a wonderful day of food and activity around the house.  If the new normal is to stay at home I am ready for it.

Bon Appetit

March 7, 2017 Lunch - Da Lat. Dinner - Sautéed Brats with whipped potatoes, Sauerkraut, and sautéed Onios and Chard

March 7, 2017 Lunch –Da Lat.  Dinner – Sautéed Brats and Sauerkraut with sautéed onion and Chard

Today I met Terry at Da Lat for mussels.  About a dozen mussels are sautéed in either a tamarind sauce, which Terry ordered, or a ginger sauce, which I ordered.  The dish is served with a side of rice garnished with a few pieces of julienned fresh carrot and daikon and three slices of cucumber with decoratively scored skin.   Enjoyed the plump green lip mussels, although today they seemed not as succulent as last time.

I called a Suzette and she recommended brats, so at 5:30 I began peeling potatoes.  Weren't they were it on to boil, I went to the garden and plucked a basket full of chard, a few sage leaves and a stalk of garlic.

I sliced 1 ½ large onions and sautéed them over low heat until they softened.  Then I added the garlic, sage and chard and covered the large skillet with a wok cover and let the mixture sweat to cook the chard.  While I was doing this Suzette made whipped potatoes I the Kitchen Aid by adding butter and heavy cream to the boiled potatoes.

She then sautéed 6 brats in a large skillet and added 1 lb. of Sauerkraut bought at Sprouts.

Willy arrived a little before 8:00 just as we were finishing cooking and joined us for dinner.  I drank La Ferme Julien rose’ from Provence, Suzette drank a beer, and Willy drank water.  We all agreed, it was a great dinner.

I really liked the new dish I created;  the combination of slowly sautéed onion to which was added a pile of bite sized pieces of chard, a chopped stalk of young garlic greens, and about ten sliced sage leaves.  I sweated the greens after adding them, which allowed the ingredients to combine without forcing them to collapse in oil, thus retaining some of their freshness.

Bon Appetit

March 2, 2017 Lunch - Taj Mahal. Dinner - Lamb Pot Pie and blanched string beans

March 2, 2017  Lunch – Taj Mahal,  Dinner – Lamb Pot Pie from Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery

Yesterday I ate PPI shrimp Scampi and spaghetti with pesto that we made February 27, 2017 for lunch and dinner and meditated in the evening.

The last few days I have eaten mango yogurt, granola, diced cantaloupe, milk, and mango for breakfast.  Today Mike Verhagen contacted me and we went to lunch at Taj Mahal.  Shamiz greeted us and we compared notes.  He told us his son liked New York and was accepted at Hofstra on Long Island.  We are all getting older.  I congratulated him.

I enjoyed lunch, especially the saag paneer and tandoori chicken.

Mike told me about his trip to Marrakech with Kathryn and that he was issued a global tourist pass by the U.S.  After lunch he was kind enough to send me the link to the website to apply.

I worked until 5:30, while drinking cups of chai.  We had decided this morning to eat the lamb pot pie given to Suzette by the kitchen staff at the Greenhouse Bistro.  We cut it in half and heated it in the microwave and I de-stemmed a handful of string beans I bought at Sprouts on Wednesday along with two more bunches of fresh asparagus that are $.98/lb. this week and four North Atlantic 4 to 5 oz. lobster tails that are on sale for $4.99 each this week, which we also froze along with the six brats we had thawed.

I cooked the string beans in a Pyrex pie dish with a little water and a squeeze of sweet lime for about three minutes to cook them and fetched the two open bottles of red wine, ½ bottle of Famille Perrin Reserve Cotes Du Rhone and ¼ bottle of Recas red wine.

We ate an early dinner and then watched an hour documentary on U.S. Congressman John Lewis, who was a civil rights activist in the 50’s and 60’s with Martin Luther King, Jr. and president of Student Negro Nonviolence Committee.  He is a real American hero.

Bon Appetit

February 28, 2017 Lunch – Que Huong. Dinner –Lamb Stew and Corn bread

February 28, 2017 Lunch – Que Huong. Dinner –Lamb Stew and Corn bread

Aaron came by and we went to his favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Que Houng at the corner of Louisiana and Central.because he wanted a grilled chicken dish.  He ordered grilled chicken in a bowl of bun, but only ate the chicken.  I ordered my usual winter dish, a bowl of pho with slices of meatball and raw beef.  I now like my Vietnamese/Miso soup that I make at home better.  One less reason to go out to lunch for Vietnamese food.

Last night I had diced two onions, four carrots, and five medium russet potatoes and Suzette had put them in the crock pot and covered them with water.  This morning I butchered the 2.5 lb. of lamb meat I bought at El Super and put the bones into the crock pot.  I then sautéed the diced meat in 2 T. of canola oil with six or seven cloves of garlic and then added that to the crockpot.  At 4:00 I diced three or four stalks of celery, five or six mushrooms and an eggplant and added those ingredients to the crockpot plus a bottle of Guinness beer Willy had brought last night.

After Suzette came home we decided to make cornbread to eat with the stew.  We found the Betty Crocker recipe and baked it in a Pyrex 9x9 inch baking dish.

I removed the lamb bones to make room for the celery, mushrooms and eggplant and went to the garden and picked a handful of fresh oregano and chopped it and added the approximately1/3 cup to the stew.

By 7:00 everything was ready and we ate stew with warm cornbread slathered with Irish butter and dabbed with honey.  Willy came by at 8:00 and ate some stew and cornbread and we watched the President and the Democratic response and a bunch of commentary on their speeches.

Bon Appetit