I ate a whole bagel this morning smeared with goat cheese and garnished with capers and slices of onion and Lax. As we watched the Tour de France. We then rode to Montano and back and watched the end of the individual time trials in Marseilles, which resulted in the leader, Chris Fromme, extending his lead to 1 minutes from 23 seconds but left a one second gap between 3rd and 4th place, which could create the possibility of a race on the Champs Ellysse on Sunday, the final day of the Tour.
Clafoutis
I then made Clafoutis with the three to four cups of pitted and halved
Bing cherries I had been soaking with a drizzle of 1 to 2 T. of cognac for two days. I started by scalding 2 ½ cups of whole milk combined with ½ cup of heavy cream to make an enriched milk and buttering the inside of a ceramic baking dish and then coating the butter with granulated sugar. I then combined 7 T. of flour, 10 T. of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. of salt in a mixing bowl and then combining three eggs with a wooden spoon. I then added the three cups of scalded milk that I had allowed to cool for about ten minutes through a strainer so the solidified skin that formed on top of the mole did not mix with the other ingredients.
I then stirred the mixture to integrate all of the ingredients and poured the mixture into the coated ceramic baking dish. I then poured the bowl of marinated cherries into the ceramic baking dish and about 1 cup of fresh blueberries ($1.98 for 16 oz. at Sprouts on Tuesday).
We then baked the Clafoutis with over and under heat in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees until the top began to brown and the custard became firm in the middle. The two ways I tell that the custard is cooked is I touch the middle to see if it is firm and observe whether bubbles are coming out of the top, which occurs when it is firmly cooked.
When we took the Clafoutis out of the oven at around 11:30, Suzette said, “The Clafoutis is too hot to carry to Santa Fe. We need to put in the fridge for an hour, so it will cool and then we can put it into the ice chest with ice.” We had been trying to figure out when and where we would eat lunch, so we agreed to go to out neighborhood Vinaigrette Restaurant that is only six blocks from our house for a salad for lunch while the Clafoutis was cooling.
When we arrived at Vibaigrette at 11:45 there was only two divers instead of being filled to overflowing as it is on most weekdays. We were able to have a leisurely lunch starting by perusing
the entire menu offerings. Suzette ordered the Daily Special Salad Nicole's with seared ahi tuna,
sliced olives, capers, diced potatoes, string beans, and romaine lettuce with an interesting drink of apple cider mixed with prosseco and ginger extract. I ordered my favorite Frisée Salad with bacon lardons and a poached egg on top. I noticed on the wine list a wine I had not ever had for $8.00 per glass, a Spanish Rueda made with Albariño grapes by a producer named Baso, so I asked the waitress to please show me the bottle because I wanted to make sure the menu was correct, since I had never seen an Albariño from Rueda. When I confirmed that the wine was Albariño I ordered a glass. It was served very chilled and had that wonderful combination of Albariño acidity and fruitiness. I loved it and took a picture of the wine menu for Suzette so she can order it for the Bistro. I enjoyed my Frisée salad. I had specified that the bacon lardons be well cooked and because there were so few customers in the restaurant they were cooked to perfection, crisp and not very greasy. We enjoyedour salads and drinks and not having to clean up. When we returned home we packed a few things to take to T.R. and Linda’s, since they had invited us to spend the night at their house.
I filled two bags with ice put them in the bottom of the ice chest and put the clafoutis on top of the ice. I then went to the basement and found a bottle of 2014 Rueda white wine that was 90% Verdejo and 10% Viura named Senorio de Nava that I had bought at Total Wine for $8.99 less 20% and put into the ice chest to drink for dinner.
We drove to Santa Fe and visited our two favorite consignment stores and our two favorite art galleries and then drove to the water street parking lot and parked and walked across the street to the Gruet tasting room in the St. Francis Hotel, which used to be the De Vargas Hotel. We found a table and couches in the garden and had a complimentary tasting as part of our membership in its wine club. We selected the winemaker tasting which included two of my favorites, the Blanc de Blanc Sauvage and the 2012 Vintage Blanc de Blanc. The server was extremely knowledgeable and when I mentioned that I liked the Sauvage rose’ she poured us not only that, but the Rose’ Brut to taste the difference between the Sauvage’s 0% residual sugar and the Brut’s 1 ½% residual sugar. Then she asked us, “Have you tried this year’s still rose’ that was released just three weeks ago?” When we answered, No.”, she served us glasses of it after serving us tastes of the Vintage Gilbert Blanc de Blanc and the 2012 Vintage Blanc de Blanc. We liked the new rose’s light crisp flavor that reminded us of the really good roses from Bandol in France with their exquisitely dry finish.
It was 6:00 so time to drive to Linda and T.R.’s house.
We arrived at the gate at the same time as Alfredo and Emilia, two Cuban friends of Linda and T.R. In fact they had gone together to see Maqueque on Wednesday evening at St. John’s University.
After each being served a drink we sat at the dining table on the patio and talked and ate appetizers.
Linda had stuffed Italian sweet peppers with a bean and avocado stuffing and served olives and slices of cheese.
When dinner was ready we went into the formal dining room and were served plates of sautéed chicken breasts, sliced yellow squash sautéed in onion and bacon, and rice. There was Chardonnay, but Linda had remembered that we like Rose’, so had bought a bottle of Duchman’s Rose from Texas that was made with 100% Texas grapes. It was musty heavy wine without elegance or definition, but drinkable and fun to try a Texas wine. The meal was right in the groove of our diet sans the rice, which neither Suzette or I ate.
After dinner I whipped about ½ cup of whipping cream into whipped cream and added a dash of Mexican Vanilla. Then Suzette served bowls of clafoutis with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and I poured glasses of Graham’s six grapes port for Suzette and me. T.R. And Linda had remembered that we liked port from our last visit and bought a bottle of portfolio us to drink after the meal.
I should mention that T.R. drinks only beer and Linda drinks very little so they buy wine for guests, which I think is very sweet of them.
They live on a large lots with lots of trees, so there was a large box of kindling and cut fire wood and a fire set in the outdoor patio. Every meal we have had at the Phillips has ended around a blazing fire in the fire pit on the patio and tonight’s was no exception. We sat, felt that primordial sense of community among a group of humans gathered around a fire after a good meal, and talked until 11:00 when we collectively sighed a huge yawn and went to bed.
We enjoyed talking with T.R., Linda, Alfredo, and Amelia before, during and around the fire pit warmed in the lovely cool evening.
Bon Appeti
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