Sunday, April 30, 2017

April 29, 2017 Lunch – O Ramen, Dinner – Sautéed Morcilla and Oaxaca cheese salad and French Onion Soup

April 29, 2017 Lunch – O Ramen, Dinner – Sautéed Morcilla and Oaxaca cheese salad and French Onion Soup

I ate my new favorite breakfast today; yogurt, ½ mango cubed, granola, and milk allowed to sit with the yogurt until the milk is converted into a light yogurt sauce.

I met with a new client today to form a corporation and purchase of a cleaner’s.

Then I went to get an MRI of my right hip area.  As the X-ray machinery whirled around me I kept thinking, this better than exploratory surgery.

They put headphones on you and play a selection of your favorite music loudly so it drowns out most of the noise and give you a suction ball to hold in case you have a panic attack or claustrophobia and want to be pulled out of the machine.  I was inside the machine about 35 to 40 minutes, so I could understand how one could get anxious.  I was able to rub my nose and chin when they itched, so I was okay.

I then called Willy and he told me he and Robin Orsofsky had a plan to go to lunch with the parents.  I went home to wait for Suzette and Willy’s call to tell us when and where to meet for lunch.  Suzette pulled into the driveway seconds before I arrived at 1:15.  Soon after we arrived Willy arrived and told us that we all were meeting at O Ramen on Central between University and Yale.  After a bit of driving around we found the restaurant and said hello to Robin and Willy.  Soon Robin’s Uncle Bill arrived and then his parents, Richard and Anna, arrived. There were several interesting appetizers, including Takoyaki (deep fried balls of mashed potato with pieces of boiled octopus inside) sort of a Japanese take on a Spanish potato fritters, fried Gyoza (fried pork and cabbage stuffed dumplings, deep fried tofu, and seaweed salad.



There were essentially only two choices of entrees, curry with rice or ramen noodle bowls with various ingredients.  The ingredients included shiracha chili sauce (spicy), sheets of toasted nori, boiled pork, soft boiled egg.  The choice of broth was between soy or Miso flavored broth.  I selected a Miso regular large bowl of ramen.  Suzette selected the seaweed salad and a large plate of Takoyaki.  Willy ordered a small bowl of spicy super ramen, which contained sheets of nori and more pork.

We had a pleasant lunch and then went home for a nap.  I awoke at 5:00.  Suzette checked with Cynthia and she and Ricardo were available, so we invited them over for dinner.

  I had bought morcilla sausage and flat pieces of Oaxaca cheese at El Super on Wednesday, with an idea of making Mexican appetizers for Cynthia and Ricardo, so my plan actually worked out.  The only difference, was a good one.  No one wanted to eat extra carbohydrates, so instead of serving tapas of grilled morcilla and Oaxaca cheese we made them the Center piece of a fresh salad.  I sliced 8 slices of morcilla and cut one long strip of cheese into four slices of cheese. I then went to the garden and picked a large basket of lettuce, which was beautiful after the two days of drizzling rain, we have had.  When Cynthia and Ricardo arrived Suzette cleaned the lettuce and sautéed the morcilla and cheese slices while I opened a bottle of 2012 Chateau De Segries Cuvée Reserve red wine from the Lirac Appellation in the Rhone Valley around Avignon (Total Wine $23.99 less 20% to $19.19) and a bottle 2012 Chateau Farrell-Laurens l’ Ardoise from Appellation Faugeres (Costco $7.99 in January 2015).  Both were Southern style wines.  Although the Chateau Fardel was in a Bordeaux style bottle it clearly contained  a Southern Rhone blend of 40% Syrah, 40 % Grenache, and 20% Mourvèdre grapes. Appellation Faugeres is located in the Rousillon-Languedoc wine district east of the Rhone in Southern France and is known locally as Coteaux de Langedoc and is actually not a true Appellation, but is actually an appellation d’ origins protégée because the area became an  established wine district after the 1855 designations were enacted.

Both were stunning wines, but I preferred the soft smoothness of the Lirac.

Suzette plated up salads in pasta bowls and laid the sautéed morcilla and cheese on the salad and I warmed the Cesar dressing. I also put a bottle of salsa from Los Poblanos on the table for those who wanted a little extra kick.

Ricardo said he was watching his weight and had lost ten pounds, so I thought we had picked the perfect dinner for him.

After we finished our salads, Suzette filled French soup crocks with heated French onion Soup, toasted slices of French bread and laid slices of Swiss Gruyere cheese on the toast and baked the crocks in the oven until the cheese melted while I poured the Faugeres wine.  Soon we were eating soup and sipping more red wine.  It was a cold drizzly night, so hot French Onion Soup was the perfect dish for the weather.

After dinner I brought out a new bottle of Calvados and we sipped Calvados and talked until 10:30.

A wonderful evening spent by friends sharing their most intimate thoughts with wonderful food and wine.  What could be better.

Bon Appetit

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