Monday, December 31, 2018

December 30, 2018 Lunch – Little Anita’s Calabacitas Burrito. Dinner – Bobby Flay Chicken, Potato Casserole, and Sautéed Snow Peas and baby garbanzo Beans

December 30, 2018 Lunch – Little Anita’s Calabacitas Burrito. Dinner – Bobby Flay Chicken, Potato Casserole, and Sautéed Snow Peas and baby garbanzo Beans

This morning I made oatmeal for the first time to go into the kitchen and cook.

Then we received a call from Steven, the contractor for the remodel of the property next door.  He told us water was running out of our building.  We got dressed and went over and found the burst pipe, which was an external plastic pipe installed by the prior tenants. Suzette and Steven stopped the leak by clamping off the leak with wire and we called the City to request a shut off of the water.  While we waited for the City truck to come Suzette walked across the street to Little Anita’s restaurant and brought back a Calabacitas and egg filled burrito, a coffee for her, and a hot tea for me.  We sat in the Highlander and ate the burrito and sipped coffee and tea for a while.  I was amazed by how flavorful the Calabacitas were. They were cooked in a thickened vegetable broth and the tortilla was soft, as if freshly made.

After we finished eating the burrito we decided to go to shop for groceries at El Super.  It was full of Sunday shoppers, but we were able to maneuver through the crowds and producer-stockers.  Suzette bought papayas, pineapples, spaghetti squashes, and red onions for the Center.  For our house, we bought a small papaya, avocados, red onions, a Napa cabbage, cilantro, crema, chicken thighs, fresh garbanzo beans, two bags of chips, several types of Chile, tomatoes, a spaghetti squash, and eggs.

We got home at 1:45, just in time to see the Dallas Cowboys win.

Willy and Suzette went back to the Candy store to drain the water lines and put antifreeze into the toilet.

At 3:30 I decided to try Jill’s beef pate.  I sliced a 2 inch piece of baguette in half and toasted both halves and smeared them with butter and then some pate.  It was delicious, heavy, beefy and yet pink in the middle.  I loved it.

At around 5:00 we started cooking.  We shelled the garbanzos, which were very young, so many held only a small green garbanzo bean.  Suzette also found the snow peas I had bought at El Super several weeks ago so she decided to sauté them with the fresh garbanzo beans.

Suzette also made Bobby Flay chicken. She dusted the six chicken thighs in a mixture of ground Paprika, fennel, salt and oregano.  Then she sautéed the thighs in olive oil weighted down by a water filled skillet for fifteen minutes turning once.  The she transferred a 350 degree oven where the thighs are cooked 30 minutes (this prep is what we refer to as the Bobby Flay method of cooking).  We like this method because sautéing the herb encrusted thighs produces a crisp flavorful surface on the thighs.

Fresh garbanzo beans are a new taste treat we have discovered.  They taste like  cooked dried garbanzo beans, while at the same time tasting like a fresh green pea. This was really a fresh warm green pea salad and very nutritious.q

I poured glasses of La Granja white blend of viura and Verdejo grapes (Trader Joe’s for $5.99).

The dinner was lovely, light clean food that my body willingly accepted.



After dinner we watched “Good Morning Vietnam” until 8:30, when we went to bed.

Bon Appetit


Sunday, December 30, 2018

December 29, 2018 Breakfast – Chopped Liver Omelet Lunch – Posole and tamales. Dinner – Duck breast in Orange Sauce with Sweet And Russet Potato Casserole and Steamed Asparagus

December 29, 2018 Breakfast – Chopped Liver Omelet  Lunch – Posole and tamales. Dinner – Duck breast in Orange Sauce with Sweet And Russet Potato Casserole and Steamed Asparagus

It is probably appropriate that I reach the threshold of returning to solid food by eating two of my favorite dishes.  My favorite New Mexican Cuisine dish and my all time favorite dish.

Jill Duval brought my a beef pate for Christmas and Carole Levitt made me a Jewish Chopped Liver Pate for a Christmas, both of which I have been dying to try, but have not been able to due to my lack of bowel capacity.  I decided today to at least taste the Chicken Liver pate.

I asked Suzette to cook a little bit into an omelet.  Obviously, eating a few grains of chopped liver in an omelet is not the same as eating it directly on a piece of bread.  But cooking the chopped chicken liver today presented a new taste treat, namely integrating the flavor of the chicken liver and smaltz (chicken fat) into the eggs.  It is probably a poor analogy, but the idea is that you use eggs to convey the flavor of the chicken fat, which creates a new and better flavor than a direct taste; like soaking black truffles in water and then cooking them into eggs.

I loved the Chicken Liver Omelet and the three small rounds of toasted Costco baguette smeared with IKEA orange and elderberry marmalade.


After breakfast I dressed and we drove to MVD Express and transferred the title of the Toyota Highlander that Luke had bought with money I loaned him to SC, Inc., the non-profit corporation, affiliated with the Center for Ageless Living, which will provide me a charitable donation.

After going by the bank to make a deposit, we drove tonCynthia and Ricardo’s to return their casserole in which she had brought us the lovely turkey and vegetable soup.  We sat with them in their back yard in the sun light and Suzette and Ricardo discussed mostly apartment design ideas. When we arrived home around noon we found Willy watching the end of Liverpool v. Arsenal match that Liverpool won by 5 to 1 and nibbling Boursin processed cheese spread. Suzette and I were hungry. So Suzette de-molded the second Van Cliburn Shrimp mold and we ate almost ½ of it on French multi-grain crackers and pita chips, after which Willy left and Suzette went shopping for coffee bar accessories.

I seem to have regained my appetite because a little bit latter I decided to eat a bowl of Posole and two tamales, one chicken bought at Costco  and the other beef made by Jody and Loyda.

I shucked the tamales and heated them in a pasta bowl filled with Posole in the microwave.  It was delicious and very filling.  My favorite  New Mexican Cuisine Christmas dish.

I read a chilling report in the current New Yorker during the afternoon on Trump’s diplomatic relations with the EU, Germany, and, particularly, Angela Merkel.  It appears that rather than embracing his German heritage Trump rejects it. The most telling comment was that Donald’s dad, Fred, falsely claimed to be of Swedish descent rather than German. Perhaps that is how lying became inbred into Donald.  Perhaps that kind of a fundamental lie somehow required Donald to oppose a working relationship with Germany, which surely knew the truth about Trump’s family lineage.  I learned early in life that one small lie begets more and larger lies.  President Trump does not seem to stop lying.  Fascinating, that it might be a trait inherited from his father.

Later in the afternoon after Suzette returned and went online tipoffs find coffee related accessories for her Wake Up theme at the Spa for the New Year, I made a cup of hot chocolate and watched the Notre Dame v. Clemson Bowl game to determine one of the teams that will meet on January 7 to play for the NCAA National Championship.

Around 5:00 we discussed dinner and decided to sauté the duck breast Cynthia had brought us when she brought the lovely turkey and vegetable soup and chocolate chip cookies and to make a sweet and russet potato casserole using the rich salmon stock Suzette made at Christmas with the unused pieces of salmon and bones.

We felt the salmon broth was too rich for me to eat directly but could be used as the binder in the
casserole. So, Suzette sliced sweet and russet potatoes in the Cuisinart and layered them in a ceramic baking dish, seasoned them with salt and pepper from our new salt and pepper mills, and filled the baking dish with salmon broth and gratined the top with grated Swiss Gruyere cheese and baked it in the oven until the cheese browned, about 45 to 60 minutes at a moderate heat.

We had an open bottle of my new favorite red wine the 2011 Vega de Origen Grann Reserva from the terra Alta region of Spain.  It’s 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah blend of grapes is similar to a Cotes Du Rhone, which is my favorite red wine with duck. Suzette poured us small glasses of it

I fetched the PPI orange sauce saved from the duck dinner I made before Christmas and added some Amontillado sherry to it to reconstitute it as a sauce and then sautéed the slices of duck breast in the sauce.  Suzette also steamed the remaining fresh asparagus.

Duck L’Orange is my all time favorite dish.  My mother would make me anything I wanted for my birthday from the  time I was young and I always chose Duck L’Orange. The sauce can be made any where between sweet and bitter. As I age I prefer it to express both bitter and sweet notes.

Needless to say I loved dinner. The Potato casserole was absolutely fabulous and the duck was lovely in its orange sauce.





My first solid meal was a great success.

Bon Appetit





Saturday, December 29, 2018

December 28, 2018 Lunch – Soup. Dinner – Posole and a tamale and making Chocolate Chip Cookies

I ate cheese sandwiches on bagel toast for an early breakfast.  Then when Suzette got up she made us an omelet with the last of the salmon tartare and eggs and melted Jarlsberg cheese garnished with avocado slices that I ate with a glass of Clamato juice.


Then we went to meet the doctor about my CPD condition.  She set up appointments and did follow up labs.  On our way to the doctor’s appointment we stopped to pick up another case of 2011 Vega de Origen Grand Reserva, a gallon of milk, a bottle of Cognac and dozen eggs at Trader Joe’s.

At noon after our appointment, Suzette dropped me off before driving to the Center for Ageless Living in Los Lunas to pick up a water sample.  I heated up the PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup that I combined with Cynthia’s PPI Turkey Vegetable Soup plus added fried Fish cake balls at 1:00 for lunch and watched the Market finish mixed for the day.


Suzette returned at 4:00 and we made a couple of appointments.

Around 5:00 we decided to eat Posole and a tamale for dinner and I Allred Willy to see if he wanted
to join us.  He arrived about ½ hour later.

The dietician confirmed that my condition is best served by a high carbohydrate, low fat diet.

I decided to initiate my new diet regime with a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Suzette soon found a recipe on the Internet that reduced the ratio of butter to flour.  It called for ½ lb. of butter creamed.  Then 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup of light brown sugar plus 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and three eggs mixed in.

The dry ingredients were 3 ½ cups of flour, 1 tsp. of baking soda, and a pinch of salt.  Willy ran the mixer while Suzette and I fetched the ingredients.  Suzette pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees and buttered two baking pans.

After creaming the butter, Vanilla, eggs, and sugar, Willy mixed in the dry ingredients and added two cups of chocolate chips to complete the batter.

He then dropped small mounds of batter onto the trays and baked the cookies for 9 to ten minutes.  They formed small mounds of tender cookie.

The reason why the cookies baked into mounds is due to the increased amount of flour in the dough.  It did two things, it made the density of the dough greater which combined with the higher percentage of flour to grease held the baking soda (leveling agent) in solution rather than allowing it to effervesce, which













ecember 28, 2018 Lunch – Soup. Dinner – Posole and a tamale and making Chocolate Chip Cookies

I ate cheese sandwiches on bagel toast for an early breakfast.  Then when Suzette got up she made us an omelet with the last of the salmon tartare and eggs and melted Jarlsberg cheese that I ate with a glass of Clamato juice.



hen we went to meet the doctor about my CPD condition.  She set up appointments and did follow up labs.  On our way to the doctor’s appointment we stopped to pick up another case of 2011 Vega de Origen Grand Reserva, a gallon of milk, a bottle of Cognac and dozen eggs at Trader Joe’s.

At noon after our appointment, Suzette dropped me off before driving to the Center for Ageless Living in Los Lunas to pick up a water sample.  I heated up the PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup that I combined with Cynthia’s PPI Turkey Vegetable Soup plus added fried Fish cake balls at 1:00 for lunch and watched the Market finish mixed for the day.

Suzette returned at 4:00 and we made a couple of appointments.

Around 5:00 we decided to eat Posole and a tamale for dinner and I called Willy to see if he wanted
to join us.  He arrived about ½ hour later.

The dietician confirmed that my condition is best served by a high carbohydrate, low fat diet.

I decided to initiate my new diet regime with a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Suzette soon found a recipe on the Internet that reduced the ratio of butter to flour.  It called for ½ lb. of butter creamed.  Then 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup of light brown sugar plus 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and three eggs mixed in.

The dry ingredients were 3 ½ cups of flour, 1 tsp. of baking soda, and a pinch of salt.  Willy ran the mixer while Suzette and I fetched the ingredients.  Suzette pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees and buttered two baking pans.


After creaming the butter, Vanilla, eggs, and sugar, Willy mixed the dry ingredients and added two cups of chocolate chips to complete the batter.

He then dropped small mounds of batter onto the trays and baked the cookies for 9 to ten minutes.  They formed small mounds of tender cookie.

I liked this recipe because the greater amount of flour to fat and greater amount of flour in the batter holds the baking soda and eggs (leavening agent) in solution which means the cookies rise rather than collapsing due to the escape of the leavening from the batter.  This was a much better high altitude recipe than the standard Toll House recipe, which contains only two cups of flour and two eggs.


Willy was meeting friends at his apartment at 8:00, so he wrapped up a dozen cookies and left.

We watched “Indestructibles and the Alamo Bowl until 10:00.  The Washington State quarterback was great and Washington State beat Iowa State in a highly competitive game 28 to 26.  I ate two cookies with a cup of peppermint tea.

Bon Appetit











illy was meet




 friends at his apartment at 8:00, so he wrapped up a dozen cookies and left.

We watched “Indestructibles and the Alamo Bowl until 10:00.  The Washington State quarterback was great and Washington State beat Iowa State in a highly competitive game 28 to 26.  I ate two cookies with a cup of peppermint tea.

Bon Appetit

Friday, December 28, 2018

December 27, 2018 Lunch – Van Cliburn Shrimp Mold on Pita chips Dinner – Cynthia’s Turkey Soup

December 27, 2018 Lunch – Van Cliburn Shrimp Mold on Pita chips Dinner – Cynthia’s Turkey Soup









Today was another recovery day. Here is a picture of me eating Cynthia’s Turkey Soup for dinner.

Suzette made me oatmeal for breakfast.  I have a new appreciation for oatmeal, especially the way Suzette makes it with cranraisins, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt.

Cynthia came by to visit at noon and as we sat and talked I ate the rest of the Van Cliburn Shrimp Mold Suzette had made for Christmas Eve with Pita chips.

After Cynthia left at 1:40 I bought 40 shares of Google and 50 shares of Nividia as the market surged from a 600 point lost to a 260 point gain and worked until Suzette arrived about 4:00.  Let’s hope the last two days are a sign of better days ahead.

Soon after that Cynthia delivered a container of turkey soup and a small bag of chocolate chip cookies.

At 5:00 Suzette heated the turkey soup and we each ate bowls of it. It was phenomenal, a clear flavorful broth with chunks of zucchini, yellow squash, parsley, Yukon gold potatoes, tomato, turkey, celery, and perhaps some parsnips.  It was the cleanest soup I have ever tasted.  Cynthia is a terrific cook.  She had assessed my condition and made the cleanest soup possible. I loved it.

Then for dessert Suzette made us mugs of hot chocolate and we sipped hot Chocolate and nibbled a chocolate chip cookie for dessert while we spoke to Dee Simpson, my best friend, who lives in Austin, about a menu he is planning.

We went to bed at 8:30.

Bon Appetit



December 26, 2018 Lots of lax

The theme of our Christmas Open House on December 24 was Salmon Three Ways, which is a dish we originally ate in Brussels.  It includes on one plate, cured (Gravad), tartare, and grilled salmon.  I was unavailable this year to help cook during the last two days, but, miraculously, I had already cooked a pot each of red chili and duck Posole that we froze and there was an entire filet of cured (Gravad) salmon prepared about one month ago in the meat department.  I had also bought all the cheeses I wanted to serve this year and the fruits for the tropical fruit salad (pineapple, papaya, and two types of mangos).

We decided that for the grilled salmon portion we would make Teriyaki Marinated Salmon Grilled on a cedar plank, so Instead of mulled wine, we had Decided to serve warm sake.  Willy had picked up three magnum bottles of Sake at Talin, which were simply immersed in a pot of hot water on the stove to heat.

The two dishes we had selected to make that had yet to be prepared were the Salmon Tartare and a Japanese style rice salad.

Here are the recipes.

On Christmas Eve, while I was still in the hospital, Suzette made these two dishes and organized the house and table and Willy put out and lit the 200 luminarias. Then at 4:00 when I was discharged Willy came to pick me up at the hospital.

I rested in bed until around 6:30 and then joined the party, by being propped up in an easy chair, while Suzette took care of everything.

Here are photos of the food table.


The fruit salad and salmon tartare

                                                     The Van Cliburn Shrimp mood

The rice salad

                      The Teriyaki Salmon Grilled on a Cedar board sitting on the cedar board

The Posole, red chili, tamales and sake were sitting on the stove in the kitchen, as usual.

Lots of folks came to the party, all the Kassam’s, Marty and Jill, Carole and Mark, Lynn Atkins, Reg and Bill Turner, Will Phipps and his girlfriend, Doug and Crystal, and lots of others who may not have said hello to me sitting by the fireplace, choosing to not disturb me.

Without the pain of the infected gall bladder or the muscle pain of my condition, I found it easy to sit and talk for three hours.

I returned to bed around 9:40 and Suzette shut down the party around 10:30, put up uneaten food, and came to bed around 11:30.

I was still not wanting a solid diet, so on Christmas Day.  Suzette made us oatmeal with maple syrup for breakfast and hew ate Posole for dinner, except she puréed it in the blender into a lumpy homogenized stew.  I watched two of my favorite Christmas movies, “A Christmas Story” by Jean Shepard and “Elf” with Will Ferrell.

Today, Suzette made us scrambled eggs with Salmon Tartare for breakfast.

I made a Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup for lunch with three kinds of noodles while Willy cleared the yard of luminarias.

Here is a picture.

Today was Boxing Day in England, during which there are many Premier League matches.  The two I particularly enjoyed were Tottenham’s 5 goal victory and Leicester’s victory over Man City.

TCU was playing in the Cheeze-it Bowl at 6:00, so Suzette made a simple stir fry of PPI Rice Salad, Teriyaki Salmon, and Salmon Tartare and we watched TCU play a terrific game against Cal.  Both teams had outstanding defenses but mediocre offenses, so it was tied 7 to 7 at the end of regulation and TCU secured the victory in overtime by intercepting a Cal pass and kicking a field goal.  It was one of the most impressive wins of Gary Patterson’s career in my opinion, because he did not have all his usual weapons like an effective aerial attack.  I think it showed his true skill.

We watched the game from bed after dinner and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit


Wednesday, December 19, 2018

December 18, 2018 Lunch – Vietnam 2000. Dinner – Bacon and Potato Scrambled Eggs.

December 18, 2018 Lunch – Vietnam 2000. Dinner – Bacon and Potato Scrambled Eggs.


I felt ill today and lackluster.  I finished editing the water case document again.  Then I received a message from Peter Eller regarding stolen art and recommended we discuss it over lunch.  Peter came by around 11:30 and I drove us to Vietnam 2000, because I did not want to eat an entire meal. I ordered the appetizer sized small bowl of pho with a sliced beef meatball floating in it.  Here is the picture.



Peter ordered stir fried egg noodles with chicken.  He loved the dish and I ate a couple of bites of vegetable and noodles.  Peter put soy, sriracha, hoisin and fish sauce on his noodles, ate about ½ and boxed the rest for his dinner.  Here is his dish.


We  also shared a pot of tea.



We discussed briefly the investigation of the allegedly stolen art and I promised to look into the bona fide purchaser for value question.

When I returned home I looked briefly at that issue but felt ill, so lay down and napped until 4:00.

At 4:15 I forced myself to walk around the block.  When I returned home I collapsed into a chair by the fireplace and watched the news.  The big news of the day was the judge in Michael Flynn’s plea portion of his case questioning the no jail time deal Mueller offered Flynn.

Also, today a scathing complaint was filed by the Atty. General of New York against the Trump Foundation to force it into liquidation.

Perhaps also important was the discovery of the Letter of Intent signed personally by Trump for the Moscow Trump Tower.  It will be interesting to see if it mentions anything about relief from sanctions as a condition for financing.

I could not cook, but had to eat to keep up my energy, so when Suzette arrived after shopping at Costco, she made scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, and potatoes.  I ate a small plate with glasses of Clamato juice to get some protein into my body.

Even though I sat in front of the fireplace, I was chilled, so we decided that I would sleep in the back bedroom that is heated with an electric baseboard heater to a temperature of about 70 degrees.

Suzette moved some of my pillows and at 8:30 I lay down and read a bit and then went to bed.  It is so much more comfortable to be warm. I can not describe how pleasant it is to be away from the bone chilling cold in the rest of the house.

Suzette said she may join me if she gets cold.

At 2:00 a.m. oI am lying in bed blogging without any ill effect of the cold. Heaven.

Bon Appetit.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

December 17, 2018 Lunch – The Range. Dinner – Fish Soup

December 17, 2018 Lunch – The Range. Dinner – Fish Soup

Today was a awful reminder of cross-cultural food combinations.

It is2:30 in the morning of Dec. 18 and I am having stomach pains from the food at different ends of the spectrum I ate today.

For lunch I took Aaron and I went to eat at The Range after our first choice AmerAsia was closed for kitchen renovation.

I ordered Country Fried Steak, a throw back to the less sophisticated culinary habits of my youth.  I love the fried battered pounded cube with white gravy and mashed potatoes served with a lovely brown mushroom gravy at the Range, but it must have been overly filling, especially when combined with dinner.



I decided to make a Seafood Soup for dinner.  I invited Mike and Wily for dinner at 6:30.  In the afternoon I thawed a haddock filet.  Suzette and I started cooking at 5:00.  I diced 1 cup of onion and ½ cup of shallots and about seven or eight cloves of garlic that Suzette sautéed in a large Le Creuset casserole. I then diced ½ yellow bell pepper and ten stalks of asparagus, which she added to the casserole and sautéed. We then shelled about a dozen shrimp and Suzette went to the garden and picked a handful of thyme and several garlic chives and added them the soup.  She cooked the shrimp shells in a skillet with wine and water to make a stock and added the thyme stalks.  We added a bay leaf, a pinch of saffron, and 1 tsp. of herbs Provence to the soup.

I then diced about 1 ½ cups of tomatoes and two zucchini that I added to the casserole.  Suzette diced the haddock and several scallops. She added wine and water and the stock to the casserole to create the soup.  At 6:30 after a bit of cooking Suzette added the diced fish and scallops and peeled shrimp and diced scallops and mussels in their shells to the soup.

Willy had gone with a Suzette to select items for the new apartment at Pro Source in the afternoon and took a walk in the Bosque and returned for dinner at around 6:00.  He helped move the dining table near the fireplace, so we would be warmed by the fire as we ate and helped set the table.  I fetched a bottle of Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve 2017 Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc (Trader Joe’s $7.99) and out it into the fridge to chill.

When Willy returned from his walk, I poured small glasses of the wine we poured last night, a 2011
Vega de Origon Gran Reserva from the Terra Alta region of Spain.  It still tasted wonderful.  I called Trader Joe’s and requested a case of it.


When Mike came a little after 6:30 I gave him a glass of the Vega de Origon and he liked it also, which I count as a sign of its quality, since Mike drinks lots of good red wine.

Mike brought a La Brea baguette and bunch of parsley from Smith’s.

I grated some Pecorino Romano cheese and Suzette sliced slices of the baguette and piled cheese on them and baked them in a hot oven to melt the cheese and make cheese covered croutons.  I minced a handful of parsley leaves.

Suzette then served the soup and garnished each bowl with several croutons and a generous pinch of minced parsley.




I poured glasses of Sauvignon Blanc.  The wine had a nice balance of tannins and fruit that complemented the robust vegetable and seafood soup.


Suzette made more cheesy croutons and each of us guys ate another bowl of soup garnished with croutons.

After dinner I fetched the chocolate covered almonds and liquor and cherry filled chocolates and bottles of cognac and Calvados and we sat and ate chocolates as we sipped cognac and calvados.

Willy left at around 8:30.  Suzette went to bed around 9:20 and Mike and I talked until 10:20.  We mentioned our plans to attend the Taos Winter Wine Festival this year and both Willy and Mike expressed an interest in going.

I woke up around 1:30 with a stomach ache.  Suzette passed by around 2:45. When I asked her if she suffered any ill effects from the bouillabaisse and she said she had not, so I blame my stomach ache on the chicken fried steak or perhaps more appropriately shifting from Texas fried food to French seafood soup was too much for my stomach.

I still do not know if the fried food put my stomach off of the radical shift from a Texas Fried Steak to French Provençal Bouillabaisse.

I shall try in the future to mix such radically different cuisines.

Bon Appetit



Monday, December 17, 2018

December 16, 2018 Breakfast – Lax and bagels. Lunch – Pork and sauerkraut on mashed Baked Vegetables. Dinner – Sautéed Ribeye Steak, Mushrooms and Onions, New Recipe - Baked artichoke hearts, with baked Potato, and Sautéed Spinach Tapa

December 16, 2018 Breakfast – Lax and bagels. Lunch –
Pork and sauerkraut on mashed Baked Vegetables.  Dinner – Sautéed Ribeye Steak, Mushrooms and Onions, New Recipe - Baked artichoke hearts, with baked Potato, and Sautéed Spinach Tapa

Today was both restful and a great wine and food day.

I started watching TV news and switching to soccer at 7:00.  Fareed Zacharia was particularly good today.  It focused on the increased level of anger in the world, with segments about the yellow shirt movement in France, the lack of any majority for Brexit in England, the increased poverty in England, and an Author of a recent article in Atlantic named Updike on good and bad anger and how political consultants manipulate your anger to get you to donate money to campaigns and motivate you to vote.  Everyone agreed President Trump uses bad anger to hold on to his base, which is an effort by populist to exploit the anger caused by dissatisfaction and large segments of less well educated working class people’s loss of status and income in society as their traditional jobs are taken over by machines.

There is no answer to this problem currently but its effect on politics and society were noted.

Zacharia also mentioned Harari’s newest book, 21 questions for the 21st Century, which I shall read soon.

Here is a review of it.

Book Review: 21 Questions for the 21St Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Posted on August 18, 2018
by Elise "Ronan"
The Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, who vaulted to international fame with his highly acclaimed best seller, Sapiens, has written a new and interesting book that instead of looking towards the past to understand who we are today, looks at who we are today to try to see where the world is headed tomorrow. 21 Questions for the 21st Century, is a challenge to the failures of the political world, a celebration of the technological future, and a discourse on the nature of human society. Of course being a historian Harari does indulge in a brief discussion of the “isms” of the 20th century: liberalism, communism, and fascism.

He explains how each political doctrine came about, and why they all have disappeared, or as in the case of liberalism, is on the verge of disappearing. His analysis of why these historical events took place  are more than a simply recitation of events. He analyzes each with unique frankness. Of course, he is without a doubt biased towards liberalism, and is rather unnerved to see it waning. Communism and fascism, on the other hand, don’t receive even the slightest note of a mournful dirge.
He explains why in a world where liberalism, the idea of free expression conjoined with an open economy, has freed and educated more people than in any time during human history, the world is seeing the advent of populism, nativism, xenophobia, and a slide towards authoritarianism. There is no political correctness in this discussion. He is unfettered in his exultation of a free society. How many people are trying to get into Russia, and comparatively, how many people are truly trying to seek refuge in the Moslem Middle East he asks? There is no comparison with those who brave trials and travails to find a future in the western world.
The world wants liberalism, but then he asks, why do we end up with the likes of Trump? In other words RUFKM? (and for anyone that doesn’t speak text speak, that means Are.You. Fucking.Kidding.Me?) The interesting aspect of the book is that he explains it. It is of course all




about fear. But not the fear that we think of as being exploited by the 1 percent, or wanting equality of purpose and the equality of a future. It is in fact, the fear of being forgotten, of becoming irrelevant. As Elie Wiesel said, “the opposite of love is not hate it is indifference.” And being indifferent to a large part of humanity, as we see through out history, can lead to a lot, a lot of anger.
Society has reached a new age. It is an exciting age full of immense possibilities in technology. Artificial intelligence is going to create a future that we cannot even imagine. Nothing like this has ever happened before in human history. As Harari explains, we have lived through the industrial revolution. Society went  through enormous upheavals. But at least everyone had a place. Everyone knew that they had a future, of some kind. Everyone knew that in the end they were needed on some level. Not so anymore.
The issue with the future, is that there are possibly billions of people who will have no place in society. Technology will not only take jobs, but it will make most jobs obsolete. It’s interesting to think about that in a world today that is short on workers, and seems to have low unemployment, where the question of who will be tomorrow’s workers is the topic of the day, there will be no need for human workers.
Moreover, he discusses what will globalization look like, what in fact would that even mean? How will that even shape our view of universalism and how do we, with so many people in the world actually understand each other? He asks interesting questions: Can people from extremely diverse parts of the world, with different cultural realities, with different social expectations, with completely different life experiences, really truly understand each other? How will that shape for the future?  How will this shape the world’s expectations?
Harari also discusses that the issue facing planners is about human usefulness, or what we call jobs.
What will happen to the average person when Article Intelligence comes full throttle? Will humans
be expendable? And with that comes another kind of issue. More than mere disdain for those who do

not give anything of value to human society. But what if there is nothing of potential for them to do?
What if people are going to have to change, grow and develop at such a rapid pace that for some it is
impossible to keep up? Or for those that could keep up, how will they live as they transition into our new world?
Society is going to face enormous questions in the next several decades ranging from economic, medical, educational, social and political. Luckily some of these questions are already actually being asked, which is a good thing. Discussions of a universal basic income, or universal basic services and what exactly do these mean and are they realistic or viable? Real national education geared towards not simply stuffing your head full of facts that you could find easily on google, but learning how to evaluate, understand and analyze these facts. Does that mean education for everyone who wants a Phd, or is it simply to  make sure that every person can write basic code?
But more importantly, and especially in the era of the rise of authoritarianism , oligarchies and  conspiracy theorists, people need to be taught how to figure out what is a post truth mythical nonsensical story, as opposed to what is reality. On this front, Harari does something completely unexpected. He explains that myths, fantastical stories and what we see as disinformatzia has always been with us as humans, only we called it religion. For this part of the book, no religion leaves unscathed.
Humanity has always relied on lies, Harari says. Fake news is nothing new. We made up stories for things we never understood and we passed these stories down through the generations. Now many would disagree with the author on his analysis of religion and mystical views of the universe, but in truth political lies and prevarications are not new in human history either. The Romans called it “Bread and Circuses.”  In fact, one major backtracking from liberalism is that so many people actually are deciding that truth only comes in one forum. That if you don’t believe as instructed, then
your reality is false, heretical and either its the gulag for you, or Torquemada’s pyres. It’s as if the
absolutism of the Middle Ages has come full circle.

Unfortunately, while we want to think of ourselves as too sophisticated to attach society to such medieval thought patterns, it is interesting to witness just how humans do tend to fall back on age old
 tried and true tribalism, ethnic alacrity, and out and out hatred of the other. The more interesting
question that has to be asked however, is why is this so comfortable, and why instead of fighting for the liberal world order, are we so easily swayed toward demagoguery and despotism.
And despotism does not need to come in the guise of a government or politician. It can come in the guise of an algorithm, of cryptocurrency, of an AI that thinks faster, more methodically and with out the baggage that humans carry.  And we have happily given over our world to these technological wizards. They are unregulated. They are free to do as they please with our data and information. But more so, and even more frightening is that these unseen goblins have the power to decide who can and cannot be heard without us even knowing about it. Anyone who has spent any time on social media knows that there are just some opinions that are algorithmed out of existence. The question is what do you want to do about it, and is it already too late?
So what do you want the world of 2050 to look like?
Harari asks 21 Questions for the 21st Century, These issues are thought provoking. They are good questions. They make you uncomfortable. They make you think.

At 9:00 I toasted two slices of whole wheat bagel, smeared them with a bit of cream cheese and laid slices of Lax and red onion on them and drizzled a few capers on them that I ate with a cup of sweet lime juice in hot water.

I switched back and forth from the news programs and the MU v. Liverpool match, mostly watching the match when Willy came at around 10:00 and fixed his breakfast of bacon and eggs.



At 11:00 I switched between Fareed Zacharia and the Cowboys humiliating defeat by the
Indianapolis Colts, similar to MU’s humiliating defeat by Liverpool.

At 1:30 Willy left  to ride his new motorcycle in the Pahjarito grant and Suzette and I discussed lunch and dinner.  Her original idea was to eat the PPI Pork and sauerkraut with the PPI mashed baked vegetables (parsnips, carrots, and potatoes) for dinner, but we decided to thaw a steak and eat the pork and sauerkraut for lunch.


After eating a lovely lunch of pork and sauerkraut on a pile of baked mashed vegetables, we drove to the Bosque and walked for thirty minutes.  It was a lovely warm 54 degree afternoon.

After walking thirty minutes I suggested going to Total Wine to replenish our rum and Suzette’s whiskey.

We first drove to Trader Joe’s where I bought 20 bottles of wine.  We decided to serve white wines and perhaps sake with the salmon dishes instead of mulled wine this year.

The big surprise at Trader Joe’s was a Spanish Gran Reserva for $5.99. It was a blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah and not from Rioja, but I have never seen a Gran Reserva for under $15.00, so I bought 7 bottles of it, along with 13 bottles of
the usual suspects.

We then drove to Total Wine, where Suzette bought two bottles of her favorite scotch and a bottle of Black rum and I bought a bottle of my favorite XO Bernaroy Calvados .

We went home around 3:30.  Suzette watched TV while I read and rested my eyes until around 6:00. I called Willy and told him we were cooking dinner and invited him.  He was not feeling well because he had hurt his back lifting his new bike when it fell over this afternoon.

Suzette had found a new recipe for baked artichoke hearts that she wanted to try because we have lots of artichoke hearts left from Friday night’s tapa.  Essentially the recipe calls for dredging the hearts in
liquified butter and then a mixture of grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs to coat them, laying them on a cookie sheet, and then baking them in the oven.


At 6:00 I put five russet potatoes into the oven to bake at 375 degrees.

Then Suzette prepared the artichokes and placed them in the oven to bake with the potatoes. Suzette sliced two mushrooms and a few slices of yellow onion and sautéed them in a large skillet with the ribeye steak, while I de-stemmed a colander full of spinach leaves.

Willy came at 7:00 and finely diced an apple for the spinach dish.

When everything else was close to ready, Suzette toasted a handful of piñon nuts in a skillet with the diced apple pieces and then added the spinach and quickly cooked the spinach until wilted, while I opened a bottle of the Spanish Gran Reserva red and Willy set the table for dinner.

I sliced the steak and a Suzette plated each plate with baked artichokes, a baked potato and sautéed
spinach.  We each served ourselves steak slices and garnished them with a spoonful of sautéed mushroom and onion.  I fetched butter and sour cream for the baked potatoes and poured the wine.





The wine was interesting.  It was essentially a Southern Rhone blend of Grenache and Syrah, but much smoother with an elegant finish than Southern Rhone blends I buy for twice the price, due to the greater care in production and longer aging.

Wikipedia states,
 
Spanish wines are often labeled according to the amount of aging the wine has received. When the label says vino joven ("young wine") or Sin crianza, technically the wines have not been aged at all,
but some will have undergone up to a few months oak wood aging. Depending on the producer, some of these wines will be meant to be consumed very young - often within a year of their release. Others will benefit from some time aging in the bottle. For the vintage year (vendimia or cosecha) to appear on the label, a minimum of 85% of the grapes must be from that year's harvest. The three most common aging designations on Spanish wine labels are Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.
Crianza For Rioja red wines these are aged for 1 year in oak barrels. Crianza whites and rosés must be aged for at least 6 months in oak barrels.
Reserva red wines are aged for at least 3 years with at least 1 year in oak barrels. Reserva whites and rosés must be aged for at least 2 years with at least 6 months in oak.[citation needed]
Gran Reserva wines typically appear in above average vintages with the red wines requiring at least 5 years aging, a minimum of 2 years in oak and a minimum of 3 years in the bottle. Gran Reserva whites and rosés must be aged for at least 4 years with at least 6 months in oak.

I am always amazed when we spontaneously create a lovely meal.  This was one such meal. Suzette’s desire to utilize the PPI artichoke hearts led her to an interesting new recipe for baked artichoke hearts.  Willy’s love of the Spanish tapa with apples and roasted piñon nuts lead us to use up the last of our spinach to prepare that dish and my love of steak with mushrooms and Willy’s love of sautéed
 onions led to the meat entrée.  With a baked potato, we had four dishes combined into a great meal that was complemented by a very good wine for the money.  The longer the 2011 Vega de Origon Gran Reserva sat the more it opened up, finally reaching a robust dark fruity richness.  Terra Alta is a a domaine de Origen located in Southern Catalonia in the mountains just west of Tarragona.

This wine is seasonal, which means it is not a large production wine.  It is a special wine at a special price.  Buy it while you can and put it down and enjoy it over time.

Bon Appetit




Sunday, December 16, 2018

December 15, 2018 Lunch – Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup with Pork. Dinner – Bernardo and Lorraine’s Christmas Party

December 15, 2018 Lunch – Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup with Pork. Dinner – Bernardo and Lorraine’s Christmas Party

Suzette made a Sausage and PPI Artichoke Tapa egg dish for breakfast.


That held me until almost 3:00 when I made a pot of Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup with dashi, a pho seasoning cube, rice, wheat, and mung bean noodles, roast pork, spinach, green beans, and red miso.



I enjoyed three bowls of it.

Then a 5:45 we drove to Los Lunas with the treasure chest Suzette had filled with jewelry and cash for the person who held the lucky key that opened the chest among her employees, each of whom had received a key with their last pay check.

There was an open bar and Bernardo’s family members had prepared albondigas, tamales, desserts, like chocolate fudge and Christmas cookies and a neighbor prepared a red chili casserole, a green chili casserole, delicious Mexican rice, and beans.  Bernardo and I went through the line first to let folks know the food was ready to eat.  I chose the red chili casserole, albondigas (beef meatballs), a pork tamale, rice, and beans, chopped lettuce and tomato garnish.  This is the standard celebratory meal in rural New Mexico, except for the meatballs, which are special.








The key that opened the treasure chest


Bernardo our host eating dinner 


The Christmas Party was held in a Hall next to the Village Hall that was decorated lavishly for the party with lights and streamers. The atmosphere was very gay with cowboy music .  Towards the end Santa showed up and everyone sat on his lap for a picture.  I was great to see a 300 lb. man squatting on Santa’s knee.

Tickets were distributed for drawings for gifts.  Suzette got a spa set and I won a large tent.  I now must get my hip fixed so I can go camping.

We left around 10:00.

It was very gracious of Bernardo and Lorraine to host a Christmas party and invite all the staff of the Center.

I loved the real New Mexican food.

Bon Appetit




Saturday, December 15, 2018

December 14, 2018 Lunch – Hot Dog at Costco Neighborhood Christmas Party

December 14, 2018 Lunch – Hot Dog at Costco   Neighborhood Christmas Party

I ate yogurt, milk, blueberries, and granola plus 1/2 bagel smeared with cream cheese for breakfast.

I had a busy and full day today. In the morning I completed the lease Termination Agreement for one client and a Mechanic’s Lien for another client and agreed to go to the second
client’s office at 2:00 to sign the ML.

So at 12:15 I drove to Costco to eat lunch and shop for cheese.  The food court was rather full but I found a table after purchasing a hot dog. I garnished it with the usual: relish, onions, catsup, and mustard and ate it open faced with a knife and fork.

After a quick lunch, the effects of which I felt for a while. I went to the cheese section, where there was a tasting of a cave aged cheddar cheese made by Cabot Creamery, which I bought a block of.  I then found all my favorites, Norwegian Jarlsberg, English Stilton, California Humboldt Fog, Spanish Manchego, French Beaufort, and Boursin, a French cheese spread. The cheese board is now complete with the addition of the Spanish Capriche de Cabra goat cheese and Dutch Arikas raw milk truffles Gouda I bought at Whole Foods on Wednesday, the California Goat cheese from Costco, the Spanish Iberico three milk cheese I bought at Trader Joe’s on Tuesday, and a well aged wheel of French Brie from Costco .  Here is a picture of all of the cheeses.




Almost every year I find a new cheese to me or Albuquerque.  This year there were two. The Spanish Capiche goat cheese is new to me, but the Beaufort is an old friend that I love above most other cheeses and am thrilled to find for the first time in Albuquerque.

Here is some info from Wilepedia:
 Beaufort (French pronunciation:  [bo.fɔʁ]) is a firm, raw cow's milk cheese associated with the gruyère family. An Alpine cheese, it is produced in Beaufortain, Tarentaise valley and Maurienne, which are located in the Savoie region of the French Alps.[1]

Let me describe how I fell in love with Beaufort.  I lived in Fort Worth until I was 37.  I loved going for lunch to a restaurant owned by a Swiss couple in Ridglea named The Balcony.  It was frequented by the society matron lunch set and served superb light French bistro dishes like quiche and crepes, as well as heartier stews in season.  But I usually, ordered the cheapest the item on the menu, which was a $5.00 bowl of soup, because there was always a large buffet of cheeses and specialty

homemade breads available to all customers.  I sometimes felt a bit guilty that I frequented that lovely table of cheeses and breads too often, but I could not resist and think the ever watchful Swiss Owner said nothing because she knew I was Florence Simon’s son.  And of course, that in large measure was why I went to The Balcony, because it served the best lunch in Fort Worth.

So, The Balcony is where I first met and fell in love with Beaufort and the large rounds of bright orange Mimolet.

On a trip to Europe about fifteen years ago, we planned to drive from Annecy through the Piedmont region of Italy to Stresa on Lake Maggiore, but the route we planned to take, through the Simplon Tunnel, was blocked due to a lorry fire and cave-in, so we had to drive over the Alps.  The closest route to Annecy was south of Grenoble and was the same route taken by Hannibal when he invaded The Roman Empire.  It was a deep narrow gorge high up in the Alps just East of Beaufort. Although excited to retrace Hannibal’s historic route through the Alps and see Torino,  the day’s high point for me was visiting my favorite cheese area of France in my favorite region, the Haute Savoie.

After picking up and filing the Mechanic’s Lien, I went home and found that today was another 500 point cataclysmic fall of the DOW.  I am afraid to check my portfolio but it was bad, I am sure.

At 3:00 I rode the four mile route south to Marquez, then north to
Central, and then back home.  I am definitely getting stronger.

Willy came by at 5:45 and Suzette arrived shortly thereafter.  They reviewed the plans for the candy store remodel and I started cubing the two ¼ lb. slabs of Serrano ham and the two 15 oz cans of Spanish pimiento peppers and I opened and drained the large can of quartered artichoke hearts in
water.

When Willy left around 6:15 we searched for and found the small bag of saffron, John Cacciatore gave means she fetched the frozen green peas and sautéed all the ingredients in olive oil.  She then filled a yellow covered dish with the artichoke, pimiento, Serrano ham, green pea, and saffron tapa and I grabbed a bottle of Plaza Pueblo Spanish Reserva and we carried the casserole and wine the one block to Crystal and Doug Baker’s home at 7:00.

Here is a photo; notice the orange yellow color due to the saffron.


Soon many others arrived with lots of food, desserts and wine.





I said hello to lots of neighbors, but the most interesting discovery was that Alice and John Myers recently bought a house and moved to the neighborhood.  John is one of the best real estate lawyers in town, so we had a lot to talk about.

At 9:15 I was getting tired of standing and Suzette and I said goodnight and walked home.

We watched the news for a bit and went to bed.

Bon Appetit


Thursday, December 13, 2018

December 13, 2018 Lunch – Duck Salad. Dinner – PPI Sautéed Duck Breast, Red Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts, Provençal Scallops and steamed Green Beans and Rice

December 13, 2018 Lunch – Duck Salad. Dinner – PPI Sautéed Duck Breast, Red Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts, Provençal Scallops and steamed Green Beans and Rice










I fried two pieces of sausage and two eggs and ate them with a piece of toast smeared with orange marmalade with a cup of chai.

That held me until 1:30 when I made a duck salad with the rest of the red leaf lettuce, a diced vine ripened tomato, 1/3 of a cucumber, a couple of slices of Gruyere cheese, two green onions sliced thinly, and dressed with Caesar dressing.  I toasted a slice of nine grain bread and melted slices of Gruyere cheese onto it.

I made a snack of an open face sandwich with butter, onion, cheese, and a slice of liverwurst at 6:00 with a cup of chai.

Suzette arrived at 7:25 hungry.  We decided to eat PPIs.  We heated the Provençal Scallops with rice in the microwave, Suzette sautéed the slices of duck breast I sliced with the PPI red cabbage and Brussels sprouts, and I steamed the green beans I snapped yesterday.

We drank the rest of the White Famille Perrin Reserve Cotes Du Rhone (Trader Joe’s $8.99)  with the scallops and I then opened a bottle of Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir (Trader Joe’s $4.99) to drink with the duck breast and cabbage.

After our small dinner we went crazy eating desserts.  I ate Brie cheese on buttered toast with sips of Pinot Noir, then Suzette heated some pistachios. Then Suzette made bananas foster with crushed ginger snaps instead of brown sugar and flambeed it with rum and served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a ginger snap cookie.

Then I opened the bar of chocolate with orange peel, Luke gave me for Christmas and we ate that.

Finally I got in bed at 8:35 and started blogging.

Bon Appetit

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

December 12, 2018 An All New Mexican Food Day. Lunch – PPI Posole , Red Chili, and a Cheese and Onion Quesadilla. Dinner – Posole, Red Chili and Enchilada Casserole

December 12, 2018 An All New Mexican Food Day. Lunch – PPI Posole , Red Chili, and a Cheese and Onion Quesadilla. Dinner – Posole, Red Chili and Enchilada Casserole

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

I went with Luke to MVD Express to transfer title for the Highlander from Luke to me as a gift.

He wanted to shop at Whole Foods for a few items for his road trip to LA, I wandered as Luke shopped and made my way to the cheese department.  There was no Leyden, but the first offering for the 12 days of cheese to celebrate Christmas today was a truffled Gouda.  It tasted delicious and I bought a ½ lb. wedge.  I also bought an herbed Spanish goat cheese, and 1/2 lb. of Real Serrano ham for the tapa we will make for the Neighborhood Christmas Party Friday night.

When we returned home, we heated the Posole and red chili.  Luke seemed to particularly like the red chili because he participated in making it.  I also made a quesadilla by frying slices of potato, and onion and then two blue corn tortillas and placing the slices of cheddar cheese, onion, and potato between the two tortillas and sautéing the tortillas until the cheese melted.


After lunch, I said goodbye to Luke at noon and worked until 2:30, when I decided to ride due to wind warnings for later in the afternoon and evening.  I rode south  to Marquez and turned around and rode to Central and back home, a distance of about 4 miles.  After my cortisone shot in my hip yesterday I was feeling much better and actually could push on the pedals a bit more firmly.

I then watched the news until 5:45, when Willy  arrived to work on the Apilla and I drove to the Friends Meeting House to meditate with Todd.

At 7:00 I returned home and found Willy and Suzette waiting to heat and eat dinner.  Suzette had filled four32 oz. containers with Posole for the Christmas party and the rest of the Posole was simmering on the stove.  I fetched the red chili from the garage and heated it and fetched the enchilada casserole from the fridge in the kitchen.  Suzette heated the enchiladas in the microwave and we fetched sour cream and served ourselves Posole and enchiladas doused with red chili sauce.



I split a beer with Suzette.

We then opened a box of cherry and liquor filled chocolates, Suzette poured some cognac and I made a cup of chai and we ate a couple of chocolate covered cherries each as we sipped tea and cognac.

We watched Rachel and then at 8:30 I went to bed to rest, blog, read.

Michael,Cohen’s attorney was sentenced to 36 months in jail for a variety of crimes, including lying to Congress about paying hush money to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougle.

Bon Appetit



Tuesday, December 11, 2018

December 11, 2018. Lunch – Duck Salad German Mexican Dinner – Posole, Kale and Sweet Potato Enchiladas with Red Chile, and Pork and Sauerkraut with Baked Mashed Vegetable casserole

December 11, 2018. Lunch – Duck Salad  German Mexican Dinner – Posole, Kale and Sweet Potato Enchiladas with Red Chile, and Pork and Sauerkraut with Baked Mashed Vegetable casserole

I ate granola, yogurt, milk, blueberries, and banana slices for breakfast and then went to a doctor appointment.

After the appointment I drove to Trader Joe’s and bought 14 bottles of wine, a gallon of milk, a wedge of Iberico cheese, two 14 oz. boxes of chocolate covered cherries, and a 17 oz. bar of milk chocolate and almonds for $141.00 (3 bottles of Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir for $4.99 each, 2bottles of Paton-Clemente Crianza Tempranillo, a bottle of Trader Joe’s Russian River Sauvignon Blanc, 2 bottles of Plaza Real Reserva for $7.99, a bottle of Famille Perrin Reserve Cotes Du Rhone White , a bottle of Moos New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for $7.99, a bottle of Portuguese red for $6.99.m and 2 bottles of Charles Shaw organic Pinot Noir.

I then went home and made a salad with red leaf lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green cracked olives, duck meat, and green onion with Cesar dressing.  I toasted and buttered two slices of nine grain bread.  I put slices of red onion on each and cooked them.  Then I lay a slice of liverwurst on one and slices of Iberico Cheese on the other that I heated for 23 seconds to melt the cheese.

I drank a cup of green tea.

After lunch I put the 4 lb. pork shoulder into a Le Creuset casserole with about 20 oz. of organic sauerkraut from Costco and put the covered casserole into a 300 degree oven to bake for 4 hours (this the easiest dish I have ever made). I then worked until 4:00, when Luke and I made red chili with Luke.  I simmered about 10 oz. of mild dried New Mexico Red chili pods that we had de-seeded until they softened. Then we puréed them in a Waring Blender.  We then pushed the chili purée through a sieve with a wooden spoon and threw away the remaining skins.

Then we made kale and sweet potato enchiladas with blue corn sautéed tortillas.  Luke sautéed chopped kale, and then layered slices of baked sweet potatoes, kale, red chili, and slices of sharp cheddar cheese in a Pyrex baking dish.

Suzette went to Costco at 4:30 and returned at 6:00. I heated the Posole, while Luke was baking the enchilada casserole in a 350/degree oven.  We took the pork and sauerkraut out of the oven when Luke put the enchiladas in.

Willy arrived at 6:00 and we ate some pork and sauerkraut piled on the heated mashed vegetable casserole we made for our Sunday Christmas dinner.

After a few more minutes the enchiladas were ready and we ate enchiladas with Posole and red chili.

We loved both the German and Mexican dishes for dinner.

We soaked in the hot tub later and went to bed at 9:00.

Bon Appetit


Monday, December 10, 2018

December 10, 2018 Lunch – PPI Miso Chicken Noodle Soup. Dinner – Provencal Scallops with Baked Vegetables and Steamed Asparagus

I made a Mushroom, Potato and Green Onion Omelet with Fried Sausage for breakfast.



At lunch I heated the PPI Miso Chicken Soup to which I added water, chicken stock, and chicken dumplings.

A hearty breakfast and lunch.

Before dinner I made a coffee hot chocolate with rum in my new mug and enjoyed drinking it leisurely by the fire because it held its 140 degree temperature.  Suzette tasted it and made one for herself.

At lunch I brought the Posole in to simmer.  By 5:00 it was ready to eat but I cooked it until 8:30 to soften all the corn kernels.

Tonight I thawed 12 scallops for dinner and made my favorite scallop dish from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Here is the recipe.








I diced ½ cup of yellow onion, 3 T. of shallot, and 1 clove of garlic.

Then I sliced the scallops in half horizontally and tossed them in a freezer bag in which I placed enough salt and pepper seasoned flour to coat the scallops with flour.

I snapped about 14 stalks of asparagus and fetched the baked potatoes, carrots, and parsnips from the garage.

Suzette spooned some baked vegetables into a microwaveable container into the microwave and I put water and the asparagus into the steamer and started it steaming on the stove.

I then heated butter in a large pan and sautéed the onions.  Suzette took over the stove duties at this point as I added the shallots and garlic to the large skillet.  After sautéing the shallots for a minute or two she added the scallops and sautéed them on both sides as I poured 2/3 cup of white wine into a measuring cup with 1/3 cup of water.

After the scallops were cooked Suzette added the cup of wine and water and covered the skillet with the wok cover and let the dish simmer for 4 or 5 minutes.  She then stirred the skillet to thicken the sauce.






She plated the dish in pasta dishes, first spooning a pile of baked vegetables into the bowl and then covering it with the sautéed scallops and finally laying six or seven steamed stalks of asparagus beside the pile.

I opened a bottle of Famille Perrin Reserve Cotes Du Rhone White wine (Trader Joe’s $7.99). This is one of my favorite under $10.00 white wines.  It is a blend made from Roussanne and Marsanne grapes.  I like its assertiveness and character.

After dinner I drank a couple cups of chai with three ginger snaps that Luke gave me for Christmas.

At 10:00 after watching two Albuquerque episodes of Antique Roadshow and an hour of news, we went to bed or in my case to blog.

Bon Appetit




December 9, 2018 Breakfast – Eggs and Sausage on Sautéed Sweet Potato Slices. Christmas Dinner – Duck l’Orange, Sautéed Shreadded red cabbage and Brussels Sprouts, and Baked Whipped Potatoes, Parsnips, and Carrots

December 9, 2018 Breakfast – Eggs and Sausage on Sautéed Sweet Potato Slices. Christmas Dinner – Duck l’Orange, Sautéed Shreadded red cabbage and Brussels Sprouts, and Baked Whipped Potatoes, Parsnips, and Carrots

We were hungry for breakfast today.  We fried slices of the sausage I bought yesterday at Sprouts ant eggs and lay them on Sautéed slices of sweet potato.  Suzette created this preparation to avoid eating any bread.  I toasted a slice of bread and spread butter and Swedish orange and elderberry marmalade on it.


Luke is leaving this week to return to L.A. to work through the end of the year, so we decided to have our Christmas meal and gift exchange.

At 10:00 we started cooking for our special family Christmas Dinner.  Suzette put the duck onto a Spandex Vertical cooking rack in a Pyrex 9 x 9 baking dish filled to ¼ inch with water and roasted the duck at 425 degrees for twenty minutes and then reduced the temperature to 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.

Suzette boiled the giblets and neck in water to make a broth and then I started making the sauce.

Sauce L’orange. From Epicurious

For sauce
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice (from 1 to 2 oranges)
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 to 4 tablespoons duck or chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fine julienne of fresh orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler

Make sauce:
While duck roasts, cook sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed,



until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar melts into a
deep golden caramel. Add orange juice, vinegar, and salt (use caution; mixture will bubble and steam
vigorously) and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel is dissolved. Remove syrup from heat.
Discard vegetables from roasting pan and pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-quart glass measure or bowl, then skim off and discard fat. Add enough stock to pan juices to total 1 cup liquid.

Stir together butter and flour to form a beurre manié. Bring pan juices to a simmer in a 1- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, then add beurre manié, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Add orange syrup and zest and simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce is thickened slightly and zest is tender, about 5 minutes. Serve with duck.

I used dark brown sugar so the sauce was rather dark.  Here is a picture.




While I was making the sauce, Suzette shredded Brussels Sprouts and red cabbage in the Cuisinart and then sautéed them in olive oil.  We decided to add pecans, so I chopped 2/3 of a cup and Suzette sautéed the pecans in butter until browned and added them to the cabbage and Brussels sprouts.





The final dish we prepared was Baked Mashed Potatoes, Parsnips, and Carrots.

I sliced two onions into thin half circles that Suzette then caramelized and softened.

She then peeled 4 potatoes, 2 carrots, and 6 parsnips and  I diced them.  Suzette then boiled the vegetables and then whipped them and put the mashed vegetables into a 9x14 Pyrex baking dish.  She then put the caramelized onions on top of the mashed vegetables and baked the mashed vegetables until the onions browned.

The duck was ready by 11:45 and Luke called to say he would not arrived until 12:15, so I carved the duck into pieces and Suzette put them in the oven to keep warm with the mashed vegetables.











I removed about 1 lb. of meat left on the duck carcass and after a bit more TV we went to bed.broke up the duck bones and put them into a pot, covered them with water and cooked them to create a duck stock.

We set the table and I opened another bottle of 2016 Laurent Dublanc Cotes Du Rhone (Trader Joe’s $5.99), which was a pleasant wine, especially for the price.



After lunch, we moved into the living room and opened our gifts.  I was thrilled that everyone loved their Ember mugs that hold the temperature at a selected temperature.


We then heated water in the cups and drank tea with the a Danish cookies Luke gave me.  The temperature held.

Luke cleaned the Highlander because I am giving it to Suzette for Christmas.  She drove us to Tingley Beach parking lot and we walked through the Bosque for about twenty minutes.  I am gaining strength, but the right hip is still a problem.

I am going to a doctor’s appointment Tuesday.  Hopefully I will get a referral to an orthopedist and another MRI, as a Suzette suggests.

Luke and Willy left after we returned from our walk and we began watching TV until the evening. I made Posole, combining in a large pot, 3 lb. of fresh Posole, the duck stock, 2 T. of oregano, 2 T. of Chimayo Mild red chili powder, about 2 lb. of diced pork shoulder, 1 T. each of cumin and coriander
and ½ T. of cumin seed plus about 2 tsp. of salt and simmered the pot of Posole.
 I have also added some more water after the initial start to allow room for the Posole to expand.

     I decided to eat the PPI BBQ Chicken with PPI rice and Green Beans with a beer for dinner and Suzette made a chicken, guacamole, and cheese quesadilla with the fresh blue corn tortillas.



After watching a bit more TV, Including Sunday Night Football, we went to bed.

Bon Appetit