November 29, 2017 Lunch –Polish Dog at Costco. Dinner – Turkey Lentil soup

November 29, 2017 Lunch –Polish Dog at Costco. Dinner – Turkey Lentil soup

The best meal today was definitely breakfast, ½ of an everything bagel toasted, smeared with cream cheese, garnished with slices of thinly sliced red onion and Lax topped with Swedish Lax Sauce.  Here is a recipe for Lax Sauce, although this Lax sauce was made commercially and purchased at IKEA.

I came up with a menu for book club tomorrow night.  Besides the usual cheeses, bread crackers, nuts and candy, I decided upon a Japanese menu, since the major theme of Dharma Bums is Jack Kerouac’s awakening to Zen Buddhism and Gary Snyder’s immersion in Zen.  The climax of the book is Gary’s leaving for Japan to enter a Zen monastery.  I decided upon three dishes and a dessert course. I will  1. marinate and grill a salmon filet (when I told Suzette I was going to marinate salmon in teriyaki sauce, she insisted on grilling it on a cedar board on the propane grill), 2.  steam asparagus and dress with a sesame seed sauce, and 3. Thaw and sauté some prepared pot stickers with a dipping sauce.  Dessert will be poached Quince and raisins and/or chocolate fudge pecan pie with whipped cream.

I worked until noon and then took a check to the bank and then drove to Fano’s Bakery and bought two baguettes.  Then I went to Sprouts where I purchased sesame seeds, asparagus on sale for $1.48/lb., a Japanese rice cracker mix, and green onions.  I then drove to Costco, arriving at 1:00.  After picking up a prescription, I ate a Polish Dog for lunch.  Here is a picture of how I garnish a Polish Dog and eat it open face after removing the excess bread.

I then did some major shopping.  I bought mixed nuts, Hershey nuggets, romaine lettuce, a salmon filet, a Dungeness crab, chocolate covered raisins, a 3 lb. bag of pistachios, a 1 kilo wheel of Brie cheese, multi grain crackers, and eight bottles of wine, including a Bogle red blend, a New Zealand Mohua Sauvignon Blanc, a Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc, a Gruet Rose Brut, a French Rose’, a Marques de Caceres Reserva Rioja red, a couple other Rioja reds, and a Kirkland Premier Cru Chablis.

I then drove home, arriving at 2:30.  It took me a while to unload and store everything.

After catching my breath and checking the result for the day in the market and my e mail at 3:30 I drove to El Super for the weekly produce specials.  Avocados were 4 for $.99, yellow onions were 4 lb./$.99.  I bought 1 bunch each of radishes, Green onions, and cilantro for $.25 each. ½ lb. of mushrooms was $1.50, Mexican squash and bananas  were 3 lb. for $.99.  I also bought another 32 oz. container of yogurt for $2.69.

I made it home by 4:15 I fetched the turkey soup and listened to most of Mad Money and made a peanut butter and honey sandwich on a slice of toasted whole wheat bread.  Suzette arrived around 5:00.  We decided to heat the turkey soup.  Suzette wanted to add chard leaves to the soup, so she went outside to pick a basket full f leaves.  I de-stemmed the chard leaves and cut them into bite sized pieces.  We heated the soup and each ate a bowl full.

 Then I made the teriyaki sauce with 1/3 cup each of Aja Mirin, soy sauce, and sake and 1 T. of sugar and left Suzette with the task of bagging the salmon filet as I left for meditation at 5:45.

When I returned at 7:00  I ate some nuts and then went to bed at around 7:45 and blogged until 9:30.

Bon Appetit
ovember 29, 2017 Lunch –Polish Dog at Costco. Dinner – Turkey Lentil soup

The best meal today was definitely breakfast, ½ of an everything bagel toasted, smeared with cream cheese, garnished with slices of thinly sliced red onion and Lax topped with Swedish Lax Sauce.  Here is a recipe for Lax Sauce, although this Lax sauce was made commercially and purchased at IKEA.

I came up with a menu for book club tomorrow night.  Besides the usual cheeses, bread crackers, nuts and candy, I decided upon a Japanese menu, since the major theme of Dharma Bums is Jack Kerouac’s awakening to Zen Buddhism and Gary Snyder’s immersion in Zen.  The climax of the book is Gary’s leaving for Japan to enter a Zen monastery.  I decided upon three dishes and a dessert course. I will  1. marinate and grill a salmon filet (when I told Suzette I was going to marinate salmon in teriyaki sauce, she insisted on grilling it on a cedar board on the propane grill), 2.  steam asparagus and dress with a sesame seed sauce, and 3. Thaw and sauté some prepared pot stickers with a dipping sauce.  Dessert will be poached Quince and raisins and/or chocolate fudge pecan pie with whipped cream.

I worked until noon and then took a check to the bank and then drove to Fano’s Bakery and bought two baguettes.  Then I went to Sprouts where I purchased sesame seeds, asparagus on sale for $1.48/lb., a Japanese rice cracker mix, and green onions.  I then drove to Costco, arriving at 1:00.  After picking up a prescription, I ate a Polish Dog for lunch.  Here is a picture of how I garnish a Polish Dog and eat it open face.  I then did some major shopping.  I bought mixed nuts, Hershey nuggets, romaine lettuce, a salmon filet, a Dungeness crab, chocolate covered raisins, a 3 lb. bag of pistachios, a 1 kilo wheel of Brie cheese, multi grain crackers, and eight bottles of wine, including a Bogle red blend, a New Zealand Mohua Sauvignon Blanc, a Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc, a Gruet Rose Brut, a French Rose’, a Marques de Caceres Reserva Rioja red, a couple other Rioja reds, and a Kirkland Premier Cru Chablis.



I then drove home, arriving at 2:30.  It took me a while to unload and store everything.

After catching my breath and checking the result for the day in the market and my e mail at 3:30 I drove to El Super for the weekly produce specials.  Avocados were 4 for $.99, yellow onions were 4 lb./$.99.  I bought 1 bunch each of radishes, Green onions, and cilantro for $.25 each. ½ lb. of mushrooms was $1.50, Mexican squash and bananas  were 3 lb. for $.99.  I also bought another 32 oz. container of yogurt for $2.69.

I made it home by 4:15 I fetched the turkey soup and listened to most of Mad Money and made a peanut butter and honey sandwich on a slice of toasted whole wheat bread.  Suzette arrived around 5:00.  We decided to heat the turkey soup.  Suzette wanted to add chard leaves to the soup, so she went outside to pick a basket full f leaves.  I de-stemmed the chard leaves and cut them into bite sized pieces.  We heated the soup and each ate a bowl full.

 Then I made the teriyaki sauce with 1/3 cup each of Aja Mirin, soy sauce, and sake and 1 T. of sugar and left Suzette with the task of bagging the salmon filet as I left for meditation at 5:45.

When I returned at 7:00  I ate some nuts and then went to bed at around 7:45 and blogged until 9:30.

Bon Appetit

November 28, 2017 Lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup, Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew with sautéed broccoli, cauliflower, and onions

November 28, 2017 Lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup,  Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew with sautéed broccoli,  cauliflower, and onions

I ate granola, yogurt, blueberries, and milk for breakfast.

Then for I made a Vietnamese Pho, Miso, chicken noodle soup with two stalks of sliced bok choy, a handful of snow peas, red onion, chicken, three sliced portobello mushrooms, one heaping T. of red miso, seaweed, chicken stock, dehydrated dashi, and two types of noodles one wheat and one rice garnished with three finely sliced green onions.

I ate all three bowls of it.

Then I drove to the Court of Appeals and filed the appeal fee.

I called Suzette and discussed dinner and riding bike.  She said , “We need to eat the PPI lamb stew with vegetables and I am just now going to Los Lunas and will not be home until 6:00 so can not ride today.

It was 3:30 and I sent a letter out and hit the rode for Montano a bit before 4:00 and returned at 4:55, just in time to see the Business show at 5:00 on PBS and discovered that passage of the tax bill out of the Senate committee and Jerome Powell sounding like a reasonable replacement for Janet Yellen has sent the Dow up 255 points and my portfolio and the Dow to a new all time high.  Hooray!

At 5:30 I began prepping dinner by cutting and filling the steamer basket with flowerets of broccoli and cauliflower cut from from their stalks.  I brought in the lamb stew and Suzette, who arrived shortly before 6:00 spooned into the sauce pan I had used to prepare my soup at lunch, while I sliced and diced a large onion and sautéed it in a large skillet with melted butter and olive oil until the onion softened and began to take on color.  I then transferred the steamed broccoli and cauliflower flowerets to the skillet and added salt and white pepper and a liberal dusting of dried marjoram, while Suzette heated the PPI oyster dressing from Thanksgiving in the microwave. Suzette took over stirring the sautéing vegetables and the pot of simmering lamb stew and I fetched a bottle of 2012 Chateau Roudier from Montagne-Saint Emilion.  This the first Montagne-Saint Emilion I have ever bought (Trader Joe’s $12.99) and it marks the beginning of Trader Joe’s to add more expensive wine to its inventory, which is a very good thing for serious wine drinkers.  One rating service rated the wine 86/100 or a good bottle.  The wine is a red Bordeaux blend of 65% merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc.  It had a rich jammy flavor and lasted long on the pallet and open in the bottle without changing its character.  In fact Suzette thought it got better as it opened up over the hour we drank it. The label revealed that it was grown in Appellation Montagne -Saint Emilion Controlee and mis en bouteille au chateau (bottled at the Chateau).

We filled pasta bowls with dressing, sautéed vegetables, and lamb stew and watched TV and ate dinner by the fire.  Suzette said she had spoken to her mother shortly before 6:00 and her mother said she was sitting by her fireplace sipping a glass of wine.  So we toasted to sitting by the fireplace sipping wine.  Then we toasted the wine and I promised to buy more of it.  A solid Chateau produced Bordeaux wine.

Bon Appetit

November 27, 2017 Lunch – Taj Mahal. Dinner – Composed Avocado filled with Chicken Salad Salads

November 27, 2017 Lunch – Taj Mahal. Dinner – Composed Avocado filled with Chicken Salad Salads

Today was a big food day.  It started at breakfast with a bowl of granola, with blueberries, yogurt, and milk while working o; the final edit of the Docketing Statement.  Then at 10:00 I drank a glass of Clamato juice with the juice of 1/2 lime squeezed into it.  Luke came home at 11:00 and was not hungry, so at noon I finished my edit and sent it to Sally for final editing.  Then I ate the PPI chicken, green bean, mushroom, and cheese frttata from Yesterday’s breakfast while I read a case that had a statement that needed to be inserted, so I sent that to Sally at around 12:30 and lay down for a short nap.

I was awakened at 1:30 by Luke or the phone or both.  Luke was ready to go to lunch, so he drove us to the Taj Mahal at 2:20 and we each ate a plate of Indian food.  I was not overwhelmingly hungry so I limited my choices to tandoori chicken, chicken curry, saag paneer, and a dab of dhal.  We talked to Shamiz and our favorite waiter.  It was like being with your family after a long absence; very friendly and loving.

After lunch Luke wanted to go to a clothing store I had never been to named Savers Thrift Store,  which it turned out was in the location that used to be the Smith’s at the corner of Carlisle and Menaul.  I have never been in such a large thrift store.  I soon found exactly what I wanted, a cotton flannel shirt for $7.49.  Luke was more discerning and did not buy anything.  Luke then drove us to Willy’s office and they walked to the house from the MRCOG offices at 8th and Tijeras.  After I mentioned to Wily that he was invited for chicken salad filled avocado salad for dinner, Willy left and Luke packed up and I drove him to the train station and then went to Bill Turner’s office and reviewed Sally’s final edit of the Docketing Statement and we were in the process of e filing the Docketing Statement when I got a call from Luke saying he had forgotten his back pack and could I fetch it for him.  So I drove home at 4:15 and fetched his back pack from his bedroom and drove it to him at the train station.  We said our goodbyes again and he told me he loved his private Pullman compartment.  I was happy to have gotten it for him.

I then went back to the house and sent service copies of the Docketing Statement to all parties entitled to notice of its filing and then turned on the TV at 5:00 for the business news, when Suzette arrived home.  She agreed with my idea of making composed chicken salad salads with the chicken salad she made last week.  Willy arrived a little after 5:30 and told us the latest news about how A female member of Veritas, a right wing fake news organization, tried to target the Washington Post with a fake news story by a woman claiming to having a child out of wedlock from a sexual relationship with Roy Moore when she was 15 in 1992 and how The Post through due diligence found out the story was a fraud created to discredit the Post because it had broken the story about Roy Moore’s alleged targeting a 14 year old girl for inappropriate sexual behavior and how the Post exposed the fraudulent story and the woman’s connection to Veritas, whose leader O’Keefe posed as a pimp at Akorn and recorded it and destroyed Akorn, with the help of a de-funding drive by the outraged Republicans in Congress.

Willy said that the Post even found out that Donald Trump had donated money to Veritas.  My take on this sorted mess is that the Post should submit this story and Donald Trump’s support for Veritas as a candidate for the new contest Donald Trump tweeted out this last weekend about giving a prize to the best fake news story, nominating Donald Trump and Veritas for the award.

We watched the news and Robin called Willy to go to the gym and Willy invited him for dinner.  I made four plates of salad by laying a ring of leaves of Romaine lettuce on each plate, then cutting an avocado in half and laying the two halves in the middle of the leaves.  Then I and Suzette filled the avocados with the chicken salad.  I then sliced two tomatoes and a cucumber into slices and lay them on the radiating leaves of lettuce.  Then we cross cut a radish and put it on top for garnish and Suzette drizzled Cesar dressing around the leaves of each salad and I sliced and finely diced red onion and sprinkled the salads with bits of red onion.  Finally I opened the package of hard bread rounds and buttered three with butter and fetched the new Gruet rose’ wine Suzette had bought at Sam’s Club for $7.98 yesterday from the garage and opened it and poured a glass for each person.

We had another lovely low carb meal and enjoyed watching Rachel Maddox’s news show.  After Willy and Robin went to the gym, at 8:00 we watched TV until 8:30 and then went to bed.  We were both a little sore from our bike ride yesterday.

Bon Appetit

November 26, 2017 Brunch – Chicken and Mushroom Frittata. Dinner – Brats with Apple and Pear Cabbage and Green Beans

November 26, 2017 Brunch – Chicken and Mushroom Frittata. Dinner – Brats with Apple and Pear Cabbage and Green Beans

This was a lovely restful day with few carbs.

I woke at 5:00 and began working at my desk on the docketing statement.  At 7:00 I started looking at the news programs, which today were mostly about sexual harassment.

At 9:30 I began cooking breakfast.  I diced ½ chicken breast, three oz. of red onion, 2 oz. of green bell pepper, ½ avocado, four small cloves of garlic, four portobello mushrooms, and five or six slices of Swiss Gruyere cheese.  I sautéed the vegetables in butter and olive oil and when the had softened, added the chicken and five small whisked eggs eggs with a dash of salt and pepper.  After a few minutes we added the Swiss cheese and the Suzette suggested we make a frittata, so we added a handful each of grated Cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese and the baked the top of the frittata under the broiler in the oven.

Suzette made a Bloody Mary and I drank chamomile red lotus root tea.

After breakfast I went back to bed and slept until Suzette awakened me at 12:30, so we could ride bike to Rio Bravo.

When we returned from our bike ride at around 2:00 we decided to go shopping.  We drove to Goodwill where I found a pair of Italian dress pants for $5.49.  We then drove to Sprouts so Suzette could buy her favorite turmeric and black pepper capsules for her joint pain.

After Sprouts Suzette was looking for trash cans for her mom and suggested we go to Sam’s Club, so we drove to Sam’s Club in Renaissance, where she found a set of trash cans on sale and Gruet still Rose for $7.98 per bottle.  We bought two bottles.

We then drove home and snacked on Jarlsberg cheese.  I toasted a slice of rye bread and covered it with slices of cheese.  Suzette ate slices without bread.

We had not seen any fish we liked so we had decided to cook the Brats I had bought at Sprouts last week and braise Cabbage with Apple and pear and steam some green beans.  Suzette sliced the small head of cabbage and started sautéing it in olive oil while I cored and diced an apple and a pear.

She then boiled the Brats in Negra Modelo beer and then sautéed them with the apples and pears.  We snapped the green beans and sautéed them with the cabbage.  I fetched the mayo, mustard, catsup, and horseradish and put them on the table and opened a Negra for Suzette and an Especial for me.  Suzette plated two plates with cabbage and green beans on the bottom then piled a brat and sautéed apple and pear on top.

Here is a picture.

We found the food to lack a lot of flavor but began feeling better as we realized that was just our bodies responding to the lack of carbs.

After dinner we soaked in the hot tub for a long time and then went to bed around 9:39 after watching a really good Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh football game.  We slept really well.

Bon Appetit

November 25, 2017 Lunch – Indian buffet Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew with Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes

November 25, 2017 Lunch – Indian buffet  Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew with Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes

Today was a great day without great food.

I ate a ½ bagel with Lax, cream cheese, red onion slices and capers with red lotus root tea for breakfast.

At 9:30 we drove to Los Lunas and attended Luke’s breath workshop at 10:30 to 11:30. Luke’s workshop was amazing. We all felt the beneficial effects of deep rapid breathing.

We then drove back home and ate the Indian food Tahir brought us last Thursday; tandoori chicken, saag paneer, and beef meatballs with naan.  I heated PPI bulgar and the remaining piece of green Chile casserole and we ate a multicultural lunch.

Suzette and I then drove to Santa Fe arriving at 2:00 for the 100th anniversary celebration of the newly remodeled building.  After we toured the exhibition we walked to Sena Plaza and shared a margarita at Casa Sena.

We then walked to Aaron Payne Gallery and talked to Aaron and showed him the picture of the Bisstram I bought at the auction.  Aaron was very complimentary and said I made some good purchases.   We saw a small Earl Stroh print that we both liked and I bought it from Aaron.

We then drove t9 Steve’s house in Eldorado for the real purpose of our trip; to buy an Anna Keener painting.

Here are the two new works of art.  They are both upside down.

                                          The Anna Keener
We then drove back home and arrived at 7:00.

Suzette said she wanted to mix some of the PPI pumpkin purée with the PPI mashed potatoes and serve it with reheated PPI lamb stew.  I wanted to try the new bottle on Don President Cotes Du Rhone red that I bought Wednesday at Total Wine for $8.99 less 15%because the label recommended it with lamb stew.  Rarely does a label ever get that specific.

Suzette heated some of the PPI lamb stew in a sauce pan and mixed the pumpkin purée with the mashed potatoes and a little milk to emulsify the potatoes.  She then filled the bottom of a pasta bowl with fresh spinach, then spooned ½ of the heated potato/pumpkin mixture on the spinach in each
bowl and finally topped the potato/pumpkin mixture with lamb stew.  I poured the red wine.  It was amazingly complementary to the stew.  It was as if each was made for the other.

We enjoyed dinner.  After dinner Suzette cut a slice of chocolate pecan pie and I heated a cup of the red lotus root and camomile tea and ate a piece of pie also.

An amazingly interesting day.

Bon Appetit

November 24, 2017 Lunch - Chicken Salad. Dinner – Oyster Chowder

November 24, 2017 Lunch - Chicken Salad. Dinner – Oyster Chowder

A long lazy day.  I did not discover the markets were open until after 8:00.  I ate Lax and onion on toasted rye bread with a smear of cream cheese for breakfast.

I watched TCU beat Baylor and at noon I made a salad with a head of heart of romaine lettuce, two radishes and two green onions and ½ cucumber and ½ avocado and ½ chicken breast and two small Roma tomatoes sliced doused with Cesar Salad dressing plus ½ slice of German Landbrot  with melted slices of Swiss Gruyere cheese.

After eating and watching the Leicester City vs. West Ham United soccer match I too a nap, waking at 5:00.  Suzette wanted to make oyster chowder, so I diced two stalks of celery and two Yukon Gold potatoes she peeled, and 4 oz. of onion and went to the garden and picked seven or eight stalks of thyme from which I removed the leaves.  I suggested that we add some fresh steamed broccoli, so I fetched a small head from the garage and cut of four or five flowerets, which Suzette steamed in the microwave and the chopped into small bite sized pieces.  Suzette took the ingredients and sautéed them until tender and then added some turkey broth and half and half and simmered the ingredients with five or six PPI chopped oysters until tender (about fifteen minutes) to make an oyster stew.

I opened and poured the 2015 Albrecht Pinot Blanc I had bought at Total Wine on Wednesday and poured us glasses.

We really liked the Pinot Blanc. It was not as fruity as Pinot Gris, but seemed to have more character.  Now I want to try a Trimbach Pinot Blanc to see how the two compare.

After we finished dinner we finished the bottle of Pinot Blanc while watching the news.

A little later Luke and Willy returned from the gym and Luke ate Thanksgiving dinner leftovers and Willy ate lamb stew.  We sat in the dining room and talked and then nibbled pieces of pumpkin and pecan pie.  I poured out the Lemelson 2012 Pinot Noir, which was still very clean tasting after sitting for a day.

After dinner and dessert we watched the recent J. K. Rowling movie, “Fantastic Beasts and where to find them” set in New York in the 20s.

I made a pot of chamomile and red lotus root tea and poured cups for all during the movie.  I had eaten the remaining rather large piece of chocolate fudge pecan pie and was feeling uncomfortably stuffed, so I had a second cup of tea.

At 11:30 when the movie ended we said goodnight and went to bed.

Bon Appetit

November 23, 2017 Brunch – Green Chile Casserole. Thanksgiving Dinner

November 23, 2017 Brunch – Green Chile Casserole.  Thanksgiving Dinner

We started cooking early this morning.  Suzette prepped the oyster dressing and then a green Chile casserole to the point of needing Monterrey Jack cheese and eggs I, so I volunteered to go to El Super to buy some.  I wanted to go anyway because today was a second day of the weekly discounts on produce.

When I arrived at 8:30 there were lots of families shopping and the atmosphere became even more joyous as more people arrived during the 45 minutes I was shopping, perhaps because the prices and quality of the produce was so good.

I started by buying sweet limes and Persian limes for $.50/lb., then I saw a large gondola covered with iced vegetables including broccoli crowns, and cauliflower for $.50/lb. and bought large bags of each and a huge head of celery for $.50 and a bunch of radishes for $.20.

I then saw a gondola filled with the freshest most beautiful green beans I have seen this year and picked a bag of haricot vert for $.99/lb.  The prices were so good I could not stop.  I bought 4 huge chayote and 8 small avocados for four for $.99.  Then I bought Fuji apples for $.69/lb. and red onions for $.50/lb.

I finally decided it was time to get the Cheese and eggs.  I went to the deli counter an$ bought a 1 ½ lb. block of Monterrey jack cheese for $2.89/lb. and then picked up two dozen medium eggs for $.99 each.

Everything cost $27.00.

When I returned Suzette finished making the casserole by laying alternating layers of green Chile and Monterrey jack in a Pyrex baking dish then filling the dish with a milk and egg mixture and finally sprinkling the top with a heavy layer of grated cheddar cheese and baking the dish until the casserole became firm, which took 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Before I left for shopping we put the pumpkin Luke had bought last night on a baking sheet and roasted it in the oven, so when I returned it was baked.  While the casserole was baking I cut the baked pumpkin in half and de-seeded and skinned it.  Suzette then blended the pumpkin pulp in the warming blender with some half and half to purée it.

                                                 The Pumpkin Purée

                                                 The baked Green Chile Casserole

I went to the garage and fetched Modelo beers and poured two of them when the casserole was cooked and we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.  We particularly liked the casserole because the green chili’s were not picante.  They were from Limitar, which is our favorite for their mildness.

After breakfast Luke joined us and at 11:00 Willy joined us.  After eating Luke made the pumpkin pie with Suzette while I took a nap.

Then at 12:30 Suzette awakened me and I dressed and went back to the kitchen.  I prepped the sweet potatoes and pineapple dish by caramelizing the nine slices of fresh pineapple in butter and brown sugar.  I then sautéed the sweet potato slices Suzette had roasted, peeled and sliced yesterday in the skillet with a bit more butter and brown sugar to give them a caramelized crust.  Suzette and I then lay the pineapple slices on the bottom of a Pyrex baking dish and lay the sweet potato slices on top and baked them in the oven with the dressing.

Vahl and Amy and D’Ayn arrived at about 1:30 with the turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry compote, a bottle of King’ Estate 2015 Pinot Gris and  a Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc).  We poured the King Estates Pinot Gris, which was not completely chilled and after we finished that I
poured a chilled Elk Cove 2016 Pinot Gris.  The King’s Estate garnered a 91 rating and the Elk Cove
garnered a 92 rating by Wine Enthusiast.  Everyone agreed the the Elk Cove tasted better, more complex and fruitier.


We roasted the turkey for an hour, while we prepped the green beans, Suzette made a Brussels sprout, piñon nut, and Parmesan cheese casserole.   When the turkey
was ready we laid it on the carving board Va had brought and carved it and were ready to eat.

Vahl wanted a glass of Pinot Noir, so I grabbed the bottle of 2012 Lemelson Pinot he had given us several years ago from the cooler and opened it.  He was thrilled and said it was his favorite.

It was a warm sunny afternoon with no wind, so Suzette decided that we should eat outside so she
and Amy set the table under the gazebo for seven and set all the food on the kitchen counter and everyone filled their plates and carried them to the gazebo.

I opened the bottle of chablis and we took it and the Fume Blanc out to the gazebo and filled glasses with them.  Of all the wines, my favorite was the Elk Cove Pinot Gris.

Johnny Gillespie came over to say hello just before we served dinner so we talked her into joining us for dinner.  I had had a dream of someone coming but could not see who, so I felt like my dream was
validated.

Here is a picture of us eating in the gazebo.

After folks finished dinner I opened the bottle of Campelou sparkling Vouvray Pierre gave us and served it as a pleasant end to the meal.

The sparkling Vouvray

It was around 4:30. Johnnie left for her third dinner invitation and we decided to take a walk in the Bosque.  We drove to Tingley Beach and Willy led us to the new pavilion beside the duck pond in the woods and after I went back to the parking lot to wait they walked further along the new paths in the Bosque, returning at 5:30 just as the attendant was getting ready to lock the gates.

We went back home and Luke and Suzette whipped cream and Suzette served a bowl of Quince and raisin compote, one of the pecan pies, and Luke’s pumpkin pie.

D’Ayn said she would drink some more wine so I opened a small bottle of Londer Late Harvest Gerwurtraminer wine.  The wine had a light crisp flavor.  Someone read the label that said the grapes had been frozen and the water crystals removed, which explained its clean light fruity flavor.

All the desserts were superb.  I loved the Stagecoach Inn chocolate pecan pie, but Luke’s pumpkin pie was the most interesting pie, because it was made from scratch.

Finally at 6:30 Amy, Vahl, and D’Ayn wrapped everything up and carried out to the car and we hugged and said goodnight.

Soon after the Santa Fe part of the family departed we watched the Disney animated movie, M’oana.  Then Luke’s friend Montana came by to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving.  I was exhausted so after saying hello I went to bed.

Today seemed more like French dining than most days; a late breakfast and a leisurely late lunch with lots of wine and then a break and a dessert course instead of a light dinner.

Bon Appetit

November 22, 2017 Breakfast – Salmon and goat cheese omelet with spinach. Lunch – Asian Pear chicken plate with noodles. Dinner – stir fried chicken with mixed vegetables

November 22, 2017 Breakfast – Salmon and goat cheese omelet with spinach.  Lunch – Asian Pear chicken plate with noodles. Dinner – stir fried chicken with mixed vegetables

Suzette got up at 5:00 and made two beautiful Salado Stagecoach Inn chocolate fudge pecan pies that were baked by the tine I got up at 7:15.

I had to go to work today, but wanted to eat something before leaving home.  Suzette suggested using the PPI poached to make an omelet.  When I agreed Suzette started cooking.  I diced three green onions and three or four thin slices of red onion while Suzette stirred three eggs and cut a 3 oz. piece of goat cheese off the log.  While she cooked the onion and then added the eggs and goat cheese, I diced the last small tomato from our garden and when Suzette flipped ½ of the baked eggs onto itself to make the omelet I added the cubes of tomato to the open area of the skillet to sauté with the omelet.

I also toasted ½ of a bagel and smeared it with cream cheese and garnished it with thin slices of red onion.

When the omelet was cooked Suzette cut it into two wedges and plated each on a plate and garnished each wedge with some of the sautéed tomato cubes.

Salmon omelet and onion bagel

I then went to Bill Turner’s office to work with him and Sally to edit our latest appeal docketing statement.

At noon we took a short break to get lunch.  I walked to Asian Pear, which is two blocks from Bill’s office and Sally and I each ate a Korean sautéed BBQ chicken plate with noodles and salad.  Asian Pear is my favorite restaurant in downtown Albuquerque.  Their cellophane noodles doused with a soy based sauce are amazing.

When we finished a bit after 2:00 I went home and rested for a few minutes and then checked the market closing and was pleasantly surprised that my goal for the year of a 10% gain had been exceeded and that my portfolio has grown 15% so far with only 90% of my money invested and another month to go.  This could be a great year.

At 3:00 I drove to Talin and said hello to .Nizar, Mary, and Karim Kassam in the parking lot and wished them a happy Thanksgiving.

Talin was out of oysters so I called Suzette and told her and she said, “No problem, I will bring some home from work.”  I then bought brown beech mushrooms, and cans of baby corn, bamboo shoots, and sliced water chestnuts and fresh snow peas for stir fried mixed vegetables.

I then drove to Total Wine.  The parking lot was a total mass of cars and trucks going every which way.  I found a space and went in and when I was shown to the section where the Elk Cove Pinot Gris was I ran into Roland and Aaron, my partners in our VinDacia wine import company. We wished each other a happy Thanksgiving and I bought two bottles of Elk Cove 2016 Pinot Gris (92 points by Wine Spectator) for $19 each, 2 bottles of Vouvray for $12 each, a bottle of Chablis for $20.00, a bottle of Albrecht Pinot Blanc for $15, and a bottle of Dom Presidente Cotes du Rhone for $9.  The goal was to use the $15.00 discount coupon on a purchase of $100.00 of wine, which I achieved brilliantly.  The goal before discount wax $102.?? And the total after 7.5% tax was $97.75.

I drove home a little before 5:00 and Luke arrived shortly after me.  Suzette was making chicken saladWe each ate a peanut butter sandwich with a cup of tea and went meditate at 5:45 and returned at 6:50.

I made stir fried chicken with mixed vegetables for dinner.  I sliced and julienned about ¾ of a chicken breast. Then I did the same with two stalks of bok choy, ½ of an onion, a carrot, four cloves of garlic, six slices of fresh ginger root.  I removed the outer threads from a handful of snow peas, cleaned and separated 3 oz. of the brown beech mushrooms.

Then I heated about 1 ½ T. of peanut oil in my wok and stir fried the garlic and ginger and then added the white portion of the bok choy, the strips of onion, and the carrot slices and stir fried them for about ten minutes and added a few dashes of sesame oil, ½ tsp. each of sugar and salt.  Then I added the green portions of the bok choy, the snow peas, the water chestnuts, and the mushrooms. I made a thickening sauce by adding 1 T. of corn starch to 2/3 cup of chicken broth Suzette made when she cooked the chicken breasts, plus a T. of soy sauce.  The mixture thickened quickly so I added another few T. of chicken stock to create a slightly less thick sauce.  I re-heated the PPI basmati rice and made green tea and we were ready to eat.

We were all together. Willy, Luke, Suzette, and me.  It was the beginning of a great Thanksgiving weekend.

After dinner we all decided to try the Chocolate fudge pecan pie, so Willy sliced us a slice and fetched small dessert forks.  It was delicious.

Here is the recipe.

Suzette said it is sweet but we all liked it.  She used 72% dark chocolate, so it was less sweet than it could have been.

Thanksgiving really started today, when I met and was with so many people I am friends with and love.

Bon Appetit

November 20, 2017 Lunch – Cesar Salad. Dinner – New Recipe – Suzette’s Chili Rellenos Nogados

November 20, 2017  Lunch – Cesar Salad. Dinner – New Recipe – Suzette’s Chili Rellenos Nogados

I ate yogurt, granola, milk, and blueberries and poached Quince for breakfast.

Then at 12:30 I made a large salad with romaine lettuce, a diced tomato, ½ cucumber diced, a handful of grated cheese, three green onions sliced, and four Spanish anchovies with a piece of toasted Cloud Cliff whole wheat bread smeared with fresh Mexican cream without salt and garnished with pieces of Summer herring from Sweden and a glass of water.  I finished most of the document I worked on all day by 3:45 and rode to Rio Bravo and back.

When I arrived home Suzette was at home and active in the kitchen.  She was trying to invent a cocktail for our Christmas party by combining bourbon, maple syrup, and blueberry bitters (bought at Sweetwater Winery about five years or six years ago.  The result was a little like a Manhattan without the Maraschino cherry, but pleasant.

Then Suzette made dinner, Chili Rellenos Nogado with the three poblano chilis we roasted, skinned and seeded on Saturday with a recipe she created.

Suzette sautéed 1/3 lb. Jimmy Dean sausage, 1/3 lb. of ground beef, a peeled and diced Pear, 1/3 cup of raisins, ½ apple diced, 1/3 cup of pine nuts, ¼ on an onion diced, and three diced cloves of garlic in 1 T. of o”I've oil and 2 T. of butter together until cooked.

Then she stuffed the chilis with the mixture and baked them for 30 minutes at 325 degrees for thirty minutes.

                                            The baked chili rellenos nogados

Sauce while the chili rellenos baked suzette made the  sauce with 1/3 cup of pecans, ½ cup of milk, proceeded in a blender.  Then Suzette added ¼ goat cheese, ½ cup of cream without salt, 1 tsp. of  cinnamon, ½ tsp of salt and ½ tsp of sugar and processed all ingredients in the blender until smooth.

Serving – when the chilis were baked for 30 minutes, Suzette served them on a bed of fresh spinach and smothered each chili with the cream sauce.

I opened a bottle of Montebueno red wine and Willy joined us for a delicious dinner.

Bon Appetit

November 21, 2017 Lunch – Salmon Cesar Salad. Dinner – Lamb Stew with mashed Potatoes and Parsnips and spinach

November 21, 2017 Lunch – Salmon Cesar Salad. Dinner – Lamb Stew with mashed Potatoes and Parsnips and spinach

I had a cocoa coffee for breakfast.

At 11:00 Luke arrived on the train from L.A..  I drove us home and he left for a yoga class and I made a salmon Cesar salad made with a tomato, 1/3 of a cucumber seeded and sliced, 3 oz. of salmon, four anchovies, and three green onions sliced thinly and toasted two slices of whole wheat bread with one smeared with cod fish roe and the other with three pieces of Summer Swedish Herring bought at IKEA in Dallas two weeks ago.

This morning I butchered the leg of lamb and then diced the eggplant, a large onion, a head of garlic, two tomatoes, and 2/3 of a large green bell pepper.  Suzette sautéed the lamb and vegetables and then put them into a crock pot with sumac and Middle East spices with ½ of water.  We cooked the crock pot for the entire day.

Here is the Internet address for recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/69286/eggplant-and-lamb-stew/

When I returned from my ten mile bike ride at 5:15 Suzette had arrived.  We decided to make mashed potatoes and parsnips.  I diced four Yukon gold potatoes and two parsnips and put them into the large casserole with water and boiled them until tender.

Luke returned at 6:30 and Willy soon after.   Suzette finished whipping the potatoes and parsnips with butter and half and half and we each served ourselves.  Then in a few minutes we added spinach and reheated the stew and potatoes.

I poured out the rest of the open Monte Bueno 2014 Rioja red Crianza and we ate dinner.

After dinner Luke made nettle tea and served several desserts made by his juice bar in LA.  One was an orange, strawberry and geranium, cookie and the other a hazelnut trail mix with herbs and cacao.

Bon Appetit

November 19, 2017 Brunch – Poached Salmon with Spinach and Cream Sauce with Bulgar. Dinner at Cynthia and Ricardo’s Antipasto and Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

November 19, 2017 Brunch – Poached Salmon with Spinach and Cream Sauce with Bulgar. Dinner at Cynthia and Ricardo’s Antipasto and Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

I had a cup of coffee cocoa in the morning as I watched the news programs.  At around 10:00 we decided to poach the salmon filet I bought two days ago at Sprouts for $8.99/lb.  we decided to make a cream sauce with the poaching liquid.  Suzette made the poaching liquid with equal parts water and white wine, butter, garlic, and fresh thyme.  She salted and peppered the salmon filet and then poached it while I made a roux with 2 T. of butter, minced garlic, ¼ tsp. of freshly ground nutmeg, a dash of white pepper and salt, and a heaping T. of flour.  When the salmon filet was cooked Suzette removed it from the skillet in which she was poaching it and added the roux to the skillet with the poaching liquid and whisked it into the liquid to make a sauce.  As the sauce thickened Suzette added half and half and then filled the skillet with spinach and covered the skillet with a wok cover to let the spinach steam.  She put a couple of scoops of Bulgar in my pasta bowl and covered it with Saran and heated it in the microwave.  When the spinach was cooked I opened and poured glasses of Santiago Station Sauvignon Blanc and Suzette removed the skin and put pieces of poached salmon and spinach with cream sauce into pasta bowls.  I enjoyed the combination of salmon, spinach, and Bulgar all mixed together in a cream sauce.  The wine was a little over the hill and not very drinkable.

We then decided to inventory our wine refrigerator and then made an inventory of art in two rooms until the charge of the battery on the I Pad went down to about ten.

We rode to the nature center and back.  Then we showered and dressed and went to the Kimo for the past NM Jazz Worksop’s Calypso Christmas program at 3:00.

I had never heard of Frank Leto or Kirk Carter, but Cynthia and Ricardo had.  They were accomplished local steel drum players. Frank was the leader and M.C.  It was a lovely family oriented program with kid participation and his wife’s dance group dancing along to the vibrant calypso and a different Caribbean regional forms of music that were played.  It was a joy filled program of enjoyable music.  For example during several songs the dancers danced through the Kimo auditorium dispensing small plastic  bags with Christmas candy canes to the children.

When the show ended we drove to Cynthia and Ricardo’s and got a tour of their back yard with all the new plants and additions and improvements, such as an old wooden wine barrel sauna and wooden pathways and newly made doors and shelves in the newly constructed outdoor kitchen.

We then settled at the kitchen table and read cocktail recipes for a possible cocktail for our Christmas Eve buffet utilizing maple syrup and bourbon.  Ricardo, who is a rather good mixologist, made us a Manhattan with maple syrup instead of sweet vermouth to try out the concept.  It was tasty, but in this case I think he put to much Angostura bitters, which hid the maple syrup flavor.

While Suzette, Ricardo, and I were researching cocktail recipes, Cynthia was assembling a platter with black kalamata and green olives, salami, and Beverly’s garlic dip, a bowl of mushrooms Cynthia had marinated and a board with a Bosque Bakery baguette and a wedge of Greek fresh white farmhouse cheese.

After we drank the maple Manhattan, I poured the bottle of 2014 Aquino Chianti Riserva as we nibbled appetizers and talked.

Appetizers 

Then Cynthia began preparing dinner.  First she assembled a lovely bowl of salad of arugula, raddichio, Belgium endive, thin slices of red onion  and lettuce.  Then she boiled linguine and Ricardo squeezed ½ cup of lemon and zested the peel of one of the lemons for the shrimp scampi while Cynthia chopped a ½ cup of parsley and couple of cloves of garlic.

Cynthia then sautéed the shrimp in olive oil and added the lemon juice, garlic, and parsley for a quick finish to the dish.  After a Suzette took her portion of shrimp Cynthia added the linguine to the skillet and tossed with the shrimp and linguine to mix everything together and then served us plates of scampi with linguine.  We then moved to the dining room table.  I poured the bottle of Oregon Acrobat Pinot Gris and we passed the salad and had a lovely meal.

The Acrobat Pinot Gris was good but not great.  It like the Sainte Celine Chablis I also bought at Trader Joe’s last week.  It was representative of the grape, but lacked the extreme flinty, tannic flavor we really like in these two wines.  The unavoidable truth is that most serious wine drinkers prefer a balance of tannic minerality with soft fruitiness in their Chablis and Pinot Gris and Riesling and that is more reliably found in the more highly graded and priced bottles, such as Premier Cru in French wines. My favorite Oregon Pinot Gris is Elk Cove ( https://elkcove.com) with MacMurray Ranch second.

After dinner Cynthia put out a plate with 8 of the napoleons I had bought at Costco, bowl of vanilla ice cream and some Quince compote Ricardo had made with the Quinces Suzette gave them that he flavored with honey and raisins, which was quite nice.

Ricardo retired at 7:30 and we left shortly after, arriving home at 7:45.

I had a cup of tea with a sip of the Rusticator rum we bought at Bartlett’s Winery and Distillery in Maine this summer with a punch roller and Suzette had a cognac as we watched he season finally of Poldark.

Bon Appetit

November 18, 2017 Chicken Breasts with Poblanos, Mushrooms and Cream and sautéed zucchini, onion, avocado, and tomato Dinner – Music at Glen and Beverly’s house

November 18, 2017 Chicken Breasts with Poblanos, Mushrooms and Cream and sautéed zucchini, onion, avocado, and tomato   Dinner – Music at Glen and Beverly’s house

I drank a cup of hot chocolate coffee for breakfast.

Then at 11:00 we began preparing lunch, Suzette has brought home Six Padilla (poblano) chiles, so she found a recipe for Chicken Breasts with Poblanos, Mushrooms, and Cream (p. 324) in Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen Cookbook. Here is the recipe:

We halved the recipe.

Suzette grilled the Poblanos to scorch their skin and I removed the skins.  A sharp knife worked the best to peel back the skin so I could grab it and remove it.   Then cut slits in the skin and removed the seeds and then Suzette ran the chilis under the faucet to wash out the rest of the seeds.

I then sliced three chilis and ½ onion into ¼ inch wide strips and then three cloves of garlic and 1 ½ cups of portobello mushrooms.  Then Suzette took over and sautéed the chicken and the mushrooms and made the sauce and sauced the chicken and put it into the oven to bake for twenty minutes.

I then started creating a vegetable dish to go with the chicken.  I quartered and sliced two zucchini squashes into slices.  Then I sliced and minced 1/3 of a medium onion and four cloves of garlic.  While I sautéed the onion and zucchini in 1 T. of olive oil, I diced an avocado and a tomato and added them to the skillet with the minced garlic and about 2 tsp. of oregano and the juice of one sweet lime.  I reduced the heat and covered the skillet to steam the ingredients and prevent scorching.

When the chicken was ready I went the garage and grabbed two Marble double white beers and I scooped a pile of vegetables onto each plate and then slid a chicken breast onto the vegetables and scooped some sauce onto the chicken breasts.

We enjoyed our lunch and watched the end of the TCU v. Texas Tech football game while we made a list of items we needed for next week..  Then we drove to Costco and bought turkeys, cream, half and half, Yukon Gold potatoes, beer, a frozen tray of napoleons, cream puffs filled with mocha cream and éclairs for the music party we were going to this evening and a boneless leg of lamb.  We then drove to Sprouts and bought green beans, Brussels sprouts, an Eggplant and parsnips for lamb stew, and green beans and Brussels Sprouts for Thanksgiving dinner.

We then drove home and watched the news and then I took a nap until 6:30, when we drove to Beverly and Glen’s house for one of their musical evenings.  We put the desserts on a tray and uncorked the Sheehan Winery 2015 Merlot.  Soon Cynthia and Ricardo arrived and then a couple dozen more folks. The appetizers were not very creative but the desserts were nice.  Besides our store bought pastries, there was a chocolate cake and a platter of chocolate chip cookies.

Two young ladies played songs they had written.  Their voices were lovely and they harmonized beautifully, but their instrumental ability was limited.

We shared several desserts for dinner and were happy we had eaten such a large lunch.

We went home at around 10:00 and watched some of Saturday Night Live and then went to bed.  I lasted longer than a Suzette because I had a nap.

Bon Appetit

November 17, 2017 Lunch – East Ocean Dinner – PPI Lamb Riblets with Bobby Flay Mint Sauce, Wild Rice, Tzatziki, Steamed Green Beans, and Fried Avocados

November 17, 2017 Lunch – East Ocean  Dinner – PPI Lamb Riblets with Bobby Flay Mint Sauce, Wild Rice, Tzatziki, Steamed Green Beans, and Fried Avocados

I ate granola, raisins, Quince compote, yogurt, and milk for breakfast?

Then at 12:30 I drove to East Ocean for lunch.  The menu was changed and prices increased.  I ordered Beef and mixed vegetables for $7.50, which was the same as Moo Goo Gai Pan, but with beef instead of chicken and $1.50 more expensive.  All lunches are now served with an egg roll.

It is still a good value, but I will be less inclined to come as often.

After lunch I drove to Sprouts and bought a salmon filet, three bratwurst, Brussels Sprouts, green beans, blueberries, and milk.

There were lots of folks shopping for Thanksgiving and the store was out of cranberries.

I then went home and worked until 5:00 when Karim came by to go to the bank.  When I returned home Suzette had arrived and she wanted to stay home.  She went through the fridge and cleaned it out and came up with a menu. I had bought 6 avocados at El Super on Wednesday that were ready to eat, sobSuzette decided to coat them with panko and ground pecans and fry them.  We decided to smear the lamb with a PPI mint sauce had made for the Bobby Flay chicken dish that is essentially mint and poblano chili.  We heated the four PPI lamb riblets and wild rice in the microwave and steamed the fresh green beans and Suzette coated the avocado halves with the panko and pecan coating and then dipped them in a beaten egg wash and then dipped them again in the coating and fried them in about 1/3 inch of hot canola oil.  While Suzette was cooking, I opened another new bottle of Spanish red wine named Paton-Clemente, a 2014 Crianza from La Mancha I bought at a Trader Joe’s for $4.99 on Tuesday.  I poured glasses of wine and Suzette plated dinner and I put the Tzatziki sauce on the table and we enjoyed dinner.  Something was not right because we both got slight stomach aches later.  Perhaps we were reacting to the rather heavy, greasy, delicious fried avocados.

The wine was really tasty.  It was full bodied and not too sweet or fruity, but well balanced and it got better during the hour or so it took us to drink the bottle.  I will buy more.

                                                        The fried avocados

                                                  The Tzatziki sauce

After dinner I ate the rest of the Tzatziki and had a sip of grappa and a square of chocolate, but those did not help much.

Bon Appetit

November 16, 2017 Lunch – Salad. Dinner – Poached Scallops with Spinach in an Herb and garlic Cream sauce over steamed squash noodles

November 16, 2017 Lunch – Salad. Dinner – Poached Scallops with Spinach in an Herb and garlic Cream sauce over steamed squash noodles

Today I got back on the healthy food wagon.

I started with granola, poached Quince, yogurt, and milk.

Aaron came over and I made us a simple salad of romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and green onions dressed with a Cesar dressing.

I toasted several small pieces of Cloud Cliff Whole wheat bread and smeared several with Kalles smoked fish roe paste that I bought at IKEA in Dallas two weekends ago.

Suzette came home around 2:30 and we decided to cook scallops, so we took them out of the freezer and the rode to Rio Bravo.

Then at 6:00 we started to make dinner. I went to the garden and picked tarragon, Sage, and basil, which I de-stemmed and chopped.  I also fetched the bag of spinach and the bottle of Chablis from the garage refrigerator.

Suzette thawed out the scallops and minced five of six cloves of garlic.

Then we sliced thin slices of several squashes until we had accumulated about 2 cups of long flat noodle like strips of squash that Suzette put in a pyrex loaf pan with a bit of water and covered the pan with Saran.  She cooked the squash noodles in the microwave and then began cooking the

Poached Scallops with Spinach In a cream sauce

Suzette washed the scallops under hot waiter to thaw them.
Then she Poached them in an about ¼ inch deep poaching mixture of butter, white wine, the chopped herbs, plus five or six cloves of garlic chopped, and a bit of water in our large deep walled skillet on the stove top burner, flipping them to poach both sides evenly.

I need to explain that we use previously frozen garlic that we grew in our garden this year and then froze in all of our recipes.  The previously frozen garlic does not have the potency that fresh garlic has, nor are the cloves as large as those of most commercial garlic, so if you are using fresh commercial garlic you can cut the amount of garlic by 1/2 or 2/3.  Also, because of its lack of potency, our garlic gives dishes a less potently garlic flavor, which is a subtle difference that sometimes I like and other times, when I hanker for a strong garlic flavor, I find missing.
The previously frozen garlic does seem to work well in a cream sauce with herbs and other ingredients, such as tonight’s cream sauce, because the garlic flavor blends rather than dominates the sauce.

When the scallops were cooked in a couple of minutes, I made a roux with 1 ½ T. of butter and 1 ½ T. of flour.  Suzette stirred the roux for a couple of minutes to cook the flour and then I poured about ¾ cup of whole milk into the roux.  Suzette stirred the sauce until it thickened and then poured the cream sauce into  the skillet with the scallops and poaching mixture and I filled the skillet with fresh spinach and Suzette covered the skillet to cook the spinach four a minute or two.  I sliced a small mound of Pecorino Romano cheese and we garnished each of our dishes with slices of the slightly tangy salty cheese.

 

The back label is very informative.  It reads "from single Vineyard 30 year old vines on Kimmeridgan limestone fermented with indigenous yeast"

I opened the chilled bottle of 2014 Sainte Celine Chablis ($12.99 at Trader Joe’s).  Chablis is produced in the Chablis Appellation d’origene Controllee in the most northerly part of Burgundy.

Here is the Wikipedia description:

“The Chablis (pronounced [ʃa.bli]) region is the northernmost wine district of the Burgundy region in France. The cool climate of this region produces wines with more acidity and flavors less fruity than Chardonnay wines grown in warmer climates. These wines often have a "flinty" note, sometimesdescribed as "goût de pierre à fusil" ("tasting of gunflint"), and sometimes as "steely". The Chablis Appellation d'origine contrôlée is required to use Chardonnay grapes solely.

Chablis
Wine region
Chablis and Premier Cru Vaulorent.jpg
View of Chablis, Burgundy, from the north, vineyard of Vaulorent in the foreground
Type Appellation d'origine contrôlée
Year established 1938
Country France
Part of Burgundy
Total area 6834 hectares
Size of planted vineyards 4820 hectares
Varietals produced Chardonnay (Beaunois)
The grapevines around the town of Chablis make a dry white wine renowned for the purity of its aroma and taste. In comparison with the white wines from the rest of Burgundy, Chablis wine has typically much less influence of oak. Most basic Chablis is unoaked, and vinified in stainless steel tanks.

The amount of barrel maturation, if any, is a stylistic choice which varies widely among Chablis producers. Many Grand Cru and Premier Cru wines receive some maturation in oak barrels, but typically the time in barrel and the proportion of new barrels is much smaller than for white wines of Côte de Beaune.[1]”

A good Chablis, such as a Premier Cru have an arresting flintiness matched by a restrained but
peasant fruitiness, which makes it an amazing wine.  The 2014 Sainte Celine did not have as much acidity and thus lacked some of the flintiness we were expecting.  Its flavor was dominated by fruitiness, so it was just a pleasant glass of wine that complemented the scallops and cream sauce nicely, but not magnificently.  To be fair a premier cru Chablis would cost three or four times more
than the $13. I paid for this bottle.  The Chablis we liked that we bought at Total Wine recently cost $19.99 before the 20% discount, so that seems to be the entry level price for good Chablis.  It makes me want to explore ordering Chablis on line to see what is available.

Today is a low food day for me so I did not crave and eat pistachios after I finished my lovely plate of food, perhaps because Suzette prepared and served us each a small plate of poached Quince, sultana, and cranberry compote garnished with a mound of yogurt as a pleasant dessert.  This yogurt was Trader Joe’s French Village label, the least expensive yogurt at $2.79, which I like best because it tastes most like the original European  yogurt I grew up on.  Here is a short description of the enzymes in standard yogurt published by Livestrong.


“Yogurt is one of the simplest, tastiest digestive aids you can add to your diet, but not all yogurts are created equal. With so many yogurt brands and products on the market, the choices go far beyond blueberry or strawberry. Once you've found your favorite fruit flavor, then look for a yogurt high in probiotics, such as the lactic acid bacteria known as acidophilus and other live and active cultures.”

“When selecting a yogurt rich in digestive enzymes, the amount of lactic acid bacteria such as acidophilus is the most important criterion. According to the National Institutes of Health, "'Friendly' bacteria such as lactobacillus can help us break down food, absorb nutrients and fight off "unfriendly" organisms that might cause diseases such as diarrhea." The American Cancer Society recommends a daily dose of between 1 and 10 billion bacteria, so make sure your yogurt contains the National Yogurt Association's Live & Active Cultures Seal, ensuring the yogurt contains at least 100 million bacteria.”

Willy had called at around 5:30 after we returned from our bike ride and I told him what we were cooking for dinner, so he came by at 7:15 and Suzette plated him the same lovely dish of food we were eating and I poured him a glass of the Gran Lopez Spanish red wine.

I then went to my desk to work on the docketing statement for an appeal to the Court of Appeals for my new client until Willy left and I said goodnight to him around 8:30 and worked until about 9:30.

When I went to bed Suzette was already asleep, which is wonderful because she is trying to get over a cold.

Bon Appetit