July 31, 2018 Lunch – Garcia’s Dinner – Sautéed Pepper, beef, pineapple, tomatoes, and onion over Cauliflower Couscous

July 31, 2018 Lunch – Garcia’s  Dinner – Sautéed Pepper, beef, pineapple, tomatoes, and onion over Cauliflower Couscous

I ate another 1/3 bagel slice smeared with cream cheese and garnished with Lax, onion slices, and capers with green tea around 7:30.

Max arrived at 8:30 and we called in to the court for our hearing at 9:15 a.m.

After the hearing at 10:00 we decided to go for brunch at Garcia’s at 1736  Central NW near the house.  Garcia’s is a classic neighborhood New Mexican restaurant.  Thankfully it serves breakfast anytime because my favorite dish is on the Breakfast menu; Huevos Locos, which is actually Machaca, but drenched in red or green Chile.  So it important to tell them to leave out the jalapeños if you value your stomach.

Max ordered Huevos Rancheros with green.  All dishes are served with cottage fries and retried beans.  Although you have your choice of a flour tortilla, corn tortillas or a sopapilla, we each ordered corn tortillas, which are served warm from the griddle.

We both drank water.

I loved my dish, but may try to order it Mexican style with some jalapeños and no Chile sauce next time.

I was uncomfortably stuffed from my two breakfasts, so for lunch I drank a Modelo Especial beer.

I worked and napped until 4:00, when I drove to Smith’s at University and Coal.  This was the last day for last week’s specials.  I bought cherries for $.97/lb., a Santa Claus melon for $.99/lb., 10 chicken thighs for $.77/lb., milk for $1.99/gallon, and Land o’ Lakes butter for $2.50/lb.

Soon after I returned home Suzette arrived at 5:00 just as I was starting to watch the Daily Business Report.

We decided to utilize the four small bell peppers Willy brought us from his roof top garden to make a pepper beef.  I also decided to add some fresh pineapple and onion. Suzette wanted to cut the peppers and onion into ultra thin strips, so that is what I did and then sliced 2/3 of the PPI ribeye steak into slices.  I then removed the outer layer of a pineapple and cut ½ of it into wedges.  Suzette diced several cloves of garlic and two tomatoes from our garden and began sautéing the peppers, garlic, and onion in a large skillet.  She also made cauliflower Couscous by chopping cauliflower flowerets in the Cuisinart and put ½ in each of two pasta bowls.

Suzette then added the tomatoes and pineapple to the skillet and cooked them for a couple of minutes before adding the beef strips.  I added about 2 T. of Thai Chile sauce and about 1 T. of chopped pickled ginger threads.  After a couple more minutes everything seemed to go into a homogenous mass and we ladled spoonfuls on the cauliflower Couscous.  We each drank a beer.  The dish was interesting but not great, although we were happy to use so many ingredients

After dinner we ate a few bites of fig Clafoutis and talked to Janis, who had just returned from Washington, where they saw Hamilton at the Kennedy Center.

We went to bed after watching no passport needed, a new cooking show on PBS.

Suzette suggested we make another fresh fig Clafoutis and I agreed, even though I fully intend to make another cherry clafoutis.  I have gone Clafoutis crazy since I found the secret to making a homogenous custard.

Bon Appetit

July 30, 2018 Lunch – PPI Chirashi. Dinner Foil Baked Stuffed Coho Salmon and tomato, cucumber, onion, green bean, and avocado Salad

July 30, 2018 Lunch – PPI Chirashi. Dinner Foil Baked Stuffed Coho Salmon and tomato, cucumber, onion, green bean, and avocado Salad

I sliced a 1/3 thick slice of bagel, toasted it, spread cream cheese, and lay slices of onion and Lax on it and sprinkled it with six or seven capers and ate it with a cup of green tea for breakfast.

Then at noon I dumped the small container with the ½ of the Lunch Chirashi I did not eat at Ichi Ban on Friday onto a plate.  I removed the wasabi and pickled ginger and cut each piece of Sashimi into four or five small pieces.  The seafood included yellowtail, tuna, salmon, Ultra white and octopus.  There was also a large quantity of shredded daikon and some seaweed salad and squid salad. I made a fresh cup of green tea and half filled a dipping bowl with soy sauce and stirred in some still fresh wasabi and ate a delicious lunch.

Today I received several checks so after lunch I went to the bank twice and took a short nap.

When I returned home at 5:00 Suzette had arrived.  She had coordinated dinner with Willy on
Saturday after we bought a whole coho salmon.  Willy had offered to pick produce from his roof garden.  We had agreed to bake the Whole Coho salmon we had purchased at Costco for $5.99/lb..  I checked the Swedish Cookbook Recipe for stuffed fish and discovered it recommended green onion, dill, chive, parsley, butter and lemon juice.  Suzette uses white wine, butter, and lemon juice and slices in her recipe for foil baked fish, so we decided to stuff the salmon and bake it in foil.

I love thyme with fish, so I went to the garden and picked a small handful of Thyme, dill weed, and six or seven chive stalks.  I removed the stems from the thyme and dill and chopped the chives into 1 inch long strips.  I also thinly sliced two green onions.  Suzette went to the front and picked a basket of puselane and de-stemmed the leaves.  I then chopped all the stuffing ingredients.  Suzette then massaged butter into the ingredients to bind them together a bit and stuffed them into the stomach cavity of the salmon.  We removed the tail and wrapped the fish in twine to hold the stuffing in.  Then Suzette placed the fish in a double layer of foil and lightly doused it with white wine and lemon juice and crimped the edges of the foil together to seal the fish and ingredients inside a foil envelope.  She then roasted the fish over moderate heat on the grill for 1 hour.

Willy arrived with fresh tomatoes, a cucumber, okra, green beans and several small ichi ban eggplants. We decided to make a tomato, onion, cucumber, and green bean salad dressed with a balsamic dressing.  We added several tomatoes from our garden.  Willy diced the tomatoes and I diced three oz. of onion and peeled, seeded, and diced the medium cucumber.  Willy diced the cooked green beans and an avocado and Suzette made the balsamic dressing.

When the salmon was ready we plated small bowls with salad and Suzette placed some cooking juices, a piece of salmon and some stuffing on each of three plates.



We discussed wines and Willy suggested red wine.  It just so happened that I had chilled a bottle of 2013 Famille Perrin Reserve Cotes Du Rhone, so I opened that and poured it.  The red wine’s acidity went well with the salmon and slightly sweet salad.  Willy loved it.

Half the salmon was left and Suzette threatens to make salmon croquettes.  I will cheer her on.  I love them.

After dinner we made tea and ate spoonfuls of Fig Clafoutis, my most successful one to date.

Another delicious, healthy, simple but elegant dinner.

At 9:00 we watched the American Masters show on James Beard and went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit

July 29, 2018. Brunch – Dungeness Crab Salad, Dinner – Grilled Ribeye Steak with steamed green beans and baked potatoes.

July 29, 2018. Brunch – Dungeness Crab Salad, Dinner – Grilled Ribeye Steak with steamed green beans and baked potatoes.

I woke up this morning at 6:00.  Suzette slept so I decided to prep our planned Dungeness crab brunch.

I started by finely dicing a large shallot and covering it with the juice of ¾ lemon.  After letting it sit for an hour I fetched three sprigs of tarragon from the garden and stripped the larger leaves and chopped them and added them to the shallots plus about 1 cup of mayonnaise.  After a bit I tasted the sauce and added a tsp. each of olive oil and white wine vinegar.  I chilled the sauce.

I then fetched the 1.65 lb. crab and cleaned it and placed it on a plate in the fridge.

I then chilled a bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rose Champagne from Chouilly, France that was so graciously given to us by Pierre.

 I then assembled the salad plates by laying leaves of baby romaine lettuce on one side of the plate and adding steamed asparagus, sliced tomato wedges, and cucumber fingers on the other.  Suzette got up around 8:30 and sliced a large avocado and added slices of avocado to the plates. At 10:00 she filled one of our new ice buckets with ice and water and placed the chilled bottle of champagne into it.

After the news programs ended at 10:00 we carried everything to the garden table from which we
could watch the fish swimming in the pond and the garden.  Here is a picture of our brunch table.

We spent a pleasant hour liberating crab from its shell and eating lettuce wraps filled with avocado, crab, tomato and sauces we sipped champagne.

  The champagne had a lovely nose and lovely small bubbles.  The most interesting thing about the champagne bottle was the pink wire used to hold the cork in place. Here is a photo of it.

After lunch we walked to our favorite fig tree in the neighborhood and harvested about 30 figs.  When we returned home, Suzette said she wanted a Fig Clafoutis so she sliced the figs in half and drizzled Grand Marnier on them and put them in the fridge to brandy and then I took a nap.

At 4:30 I got out of bed and Roasted 6 russet potatoes at 350 degrees for 46 minutes.

While the potatoes were baking I made the Clafoutis with 2 cups of heavy cream and 1 cup of half and half that I scalded until the milk came to a boil.  I then mixed 10 T. of powdered sugar, 7 T. of flour, and ½ tsp. of salt in a bowl.  I then whipped 4 eggs instead of the usual three eggs and added them to the dry ingredients and then added the cooled scalded milk.

I buttered and sugared a ceramic baking dish and added the batter and then the brandied figs and baked the Clafoutis for about 50 minutes.

The result was even more impressive than the fully integrated Cherry Clafoutis I made last week.  This Clafoutis was richer, more homogenous with a more delicate flavor from the fresh figs and rose higher, probably due in part to the fourth egg.

Then I de-stemmed the rough ends from the green beans I had bought at El Super on Wednesday and Suzette seasoned the two thawed ribeye steaks.  She then grilled the steaks, while I steamed the green beans.

I went to the basement and found a bottle of Wellington Field Blend red wine in the cooled wine cellar and opened it.  I also went to the garden and picked about seven or eight chive stalks and sliced them and put them in a bowl and fetched the crema sin sal (sour cream from El Super for $2.29/lb.) from the garage.  When the steaks were ready and the beans steamed Suzette heated two potatoes and placed one on each plate and we served ourselves beans and slices of steak.

Everything was delicious. The meat and beans did not require any sauce and we put butter, sour cream, and chives on the potato so there was plenty extra flavor in the potato.

After dinner we each ate two portions of Clafoutis and when Endeavour ended at 9:30 we went to bed.

This is the best Clafoutis I have ever made.  I can not believe that after all these years I have discovered the secret of enriching the milk and egg components to create a rich integrated custard.  I should have guessed when the recipe said the richest milk in France was from the Limousin that one needed to enrich the milk with cream, but I didn’t for years.  Finally, the recipe is working the way I want it to.

Bon Appetit

July 27, 2018 Lunch – Ichi ban. Dinner – New Recipe. Tandoori Lamb Kebabs with Grilled Corn and Asparagus and two sauces

July 27, 2018 Lunch – Ichi ban. Dinner – New Recipe. Tandoori Lamb Kebabs with Grilled Corn and Asparagus and two sauces

I watched Stage 19 of the Tour de France and met with clients from 10:00 to noon, so was unable to stop some of the disaster happening in the Tech stocks.

I ate a few bites of clafoutis for a wonderful breakfast.

At 12:15 I called Robert Mueller and we decided to meet at Ichi ban for lunch.  He ordered the dinner chirashi and I ordered the lunch chirashi.  Here is a picture.

Mine came with the fish I specified, salmon, tuna, ultra white and octopus plus squid salad and seaweed salad.  The chef gave me red fish instead of yellowtail, but the red fish melted in my mouth, so I felt good about that substitution.

Robert’s dinner chirashi was 50% more fish and extra daikon, egg omelet, and several other things.  The lunch chirashi is $16.95 and the dinner chirashi was $21.95.  I took about half of mine home.

I stopped at El Super on the way home and bought two lb. of Persian cucumbers to be served with dinner.

Suzette was at home when I returned, so we discussed dinner.  Since I had marinated the lamb yesterday, we agreed to grill the lamb.  Since we were grilling, Suzette suggested also grilling corn and asparagus.  She fetched the two ears of corn from the garage and soaked them in their husks in water.  The recipe called for sprinkling the kebabs with mint, but Suzette decided to make the Bobby Flay mint sauce with honey, mint, a bit of chili, and purslane instead of parsley.  She also left out the chili tonight.  The sauce is easy because you purée all the ingredients.  The lamb recipe called for reserving some of the tandoori marinade for a sauce and loosening it with milk, which I did.  I remember a very famous Swedish breakfast beverage called filmjolk, that was drinkable yogurt.  Also, when I eat granola, I mix the yogurt with milk to make a kind of filmjolk, so I knew thinning the marinade with milk would not impair the flavor, because the milk would be converted to yogurt

or a sort of filmjolk.  I added about ¼ cup of milk and the sauce loosened but did not change flavor.



and the milk became integrated with the sauce.

I called Willy and invited him to join us for dinner and he texted that he would arrive in 30 minutes.  So Suzette fetched skewers and I skewered the chunks of marinated lamb and sliced an onion into four slices.  Then Suzette grilled the lamb, asparagus, onion, and corn.

I fetched a bottle of Famille Perrin Cotes Du Rhone red but did not open it because we had enough PPI Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir to fill three glasses.

Suzette suggested we eat outside, so she set the table under the gazebo while poured the wine and cut slices of French bread.

Suzette brought the grilled items in and plated three plates.  Within five minutes after we sat down and took photos Willy arrived, went to the kitchen to pick up his plate of food and joined us.

There were two interesting developments. Willy told us he chairs a Friday meeting at MRCOG regarding transportation issues that went well today.  The other exciting development is that our pond has cleared and there appear to be two new generations of baby fish.  The pond seems to be healthy finally and we have breeding goldfish.  Voila.

The dinner was amazing.  I loved the lamb with each of the sauces.  There was ¼ tsp. of cayenne in the tandoori marinade, so the absence of chili and parsley in the Bobby Flay mint sauce were pluses,  as the slightly sweet honey  flavored mint sauce complemented the spicy tandoori sauce and marinade.

Willy showed us on his Accuweather app how there was a big thunderstorm approaching Albuquerque.  As we ate we could see it approaching.  We finished dinner at 7:45 and went back inside to watch Washington Week at 8:00.  When it ended Willy left so he could watch the storm from his third floor apartment and we watched The British Baking Show and then went to bed.

During the Baking Show we ate the rest of the Clafoutis.  This was the most successful Clafoutis I have ever made because the milk was thick enough to blend with the flour and sugar instead of the flour separating from the custard.  Here is a picture that shows how it looks with integrated ingredients.

I am still awake at 11:25  and the rain just stopped falling.This appears to be the most rain we have had all year.

Bon Appetit

July 26, 2018 Lunch – Tabouli Salad. Dinner – Book Club

July 26, 2018 Lunch – Tabouli Salad. Dinner – Book Club

I fried some of the hamburger helper and two eggs for breakfast.  It did not seem to agree with my stomach.

For lunch I reconstructed yesterday’s tabouli salad with a diced tomato, more kalamata olives, another labne, and more lettuce.

I also made an open face Jarlsberg cheese and Serrano ham sandwich.

At 3:00 I drove to Fano to buy a loaf of bread , but their retail store was closed.  They directed me to Albertson’s which had no Fano  bread either, but had just baked fresh loaves of French bread.  I bought two loaves for $1.98 each.

When I returned home at 4:45 I started cooking.  I first made the tandoori marinade for the lamb I diced yesterday with 1 ½ cups of Greek yogurt, 2 T. of lime juice, 1 T. of Madras curry powder, 1 tsp each of ground cumin and salt and ¼ tsp. of  cayenne and 1 T. of minced garlic.  Then you remove ¾ cup for sauce for the final dish and add ½ T. more of garlic to the marinade.  The marinade was so thick that I added a couple tsps. of milk to thin the marinade.



I then added the marinade to the lamb in the freezer bag and put it back into the fridge.


Clafoutis


I then made the Clafoutis.  We had lots of out of date heavy cream and Half and half, some made this Clafoutis with 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of half and half..  I scalded the milk and it actually boiled for a few minutes.  I mixed 7 T. of flour with 10 T. of powdered sugar and ½ tsp. of salt in a bowl.  In the added three eggs beater to the dry ingredients.  Then I added three well beaten eggs to the dry mix and stirred them in.  Then I added the scalded milk to the mix and stirred it eliminate any lumps.  Finally I added the brandied cherries to the mix.  I had buttered and dusted a ceramic baking dish with sugar.

Then I poured the batter into the dish and baked it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes.  The result was a perfectly baked golden brown well risen Clafoutis, which I removed from the oven.

Suzette arrived as I cut a cantaloupe as I was cutting a cantaloupe into slices and then wedges.  Suzette wrapped prosciutto around three sides of secured them with toothpicks.

I then sliced 5 peaches into halves and Suzette grilled then on the grill for a few minutes and then topped with a roll of Serrano ham (Costco for $9.99).

I gathered the candies, Clafoutis, wines, peaches, and cantaloupe, plus a plate of pickles, and a bowl of mixed olives.

I decided to follow the norm and take $10.00 per bottle wine.  The four I chose were the lovely 2012 Vina Real Reserva from Rioja Mohua Sauvignon Blanc from Costco and a St. Sagnol Rose from Coteaux Varios de Provence and a Cherry Blossom California Pinot Noir from Trader Joe’s.  I love all of these wines.

Here are pictures of the dishes laid out on the table at Charlie and Susan’s house where we took all the stuff and held the meeting.

After filling plates with food and glasses with wine, we watched the documentary on Max Evans “The Thousand Year Old Man”  that Barry lent me.  I enjoyed it again and so did the others.  We then discussed the book and other Evans books and members gave their grades.

Then we moved to the kitchen and served the Clafoutis with whipped cream and Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream.

I was amazed by how successful the Clafoutis was.  There was one main reason.  I used higher butter fat milk, 1.2 cups of heavy cream and 1.8 cups of half and half.  I also let the milk boil when scalding it, which I do not know if made a different.  The result was this was the first Clafoutis in which the crust was fully integrated, rather than having a light custard over a heavy doughy crust.  The result was a creamy custard that held the cherries in matrix.  This lead to another beneficial effect, the edge of the custard pulled free of the edge of the ceramic dish.

Keith ate three helpings with liberal additions of whipped cream and I ate several helpings.  I think I have finally discovered the secrets to making a wonderful Clafoutis.

At 10:30 I took the cheeses and food back home.

I finally had time to look at the results in the Market.  Today was the largest 1 day loss of any stock in the history of the Market, when Facebook’s Total market capitalization dropped by $119,000,000.  I own 540 shares, so my loss from Facebook was $22,269.  But the good news from this catastrophe is that my total portfolio only dropped $10,000.  Not my worst day by a long shot.  This is direct evidence of the benefits of portfolio diversification.

Bon Appetit

July 25, 2018 Lunch – Tabouli Salad. Dinner – Swordfish Kebabs and Grilled Asparagus

July 25, 2018 Lunch – Tabouli Salad. Dinner – Swordfish Kebabs and Grilled Asparagus

I watched Stage 17.  It was a mountain stage in the Pyrenees.  Quintana came out of the doldrums and won a mountain top finish by a minute.

I also did another sale and purchase back of Apple stock and made a $938.00 profit.

At 11:30 I went to Susan and Charlie’s house to discuss the book club meeting tomorrow evening and then drove to El Super to do some shopping for the Wednesday specials.  I bought onions 3 lb. for $.99, large avocados for $.89 each, beautiful green beans were $.99/lb., limes were $.89 for 2 lb., Roma tomatoes were 2 lb. for $.99, mushrooms for $1.98/lb., perfect Persian cucumbers for 2 lb. for $.99, green onion bunches and cucumbers for 3 for $.99, etc.

The fun thing for me was seeing  Zul and Anverali at the Super also buying lots of produce.  We checked out at the same time.

I then drove home and unloaded the car and made a tabouli salad with a fresh heart of romaine lettuce suzette bought at Costco, tabouli, Lane, a diced Roma tomato, kalamata olives, 1 ½ Persian cucumbers, and green onion. I toasted a piece of whole wheat bread and spread Boursin cheese on it and drank cool water to cool myself as the temperature neared 100 degrees as I enjoyed the cool salad.

After lunch I lay down for a few minutes to rest and regain my strength.

It turned out to be a good day in the market that was ruined shortly after the close when Facebook announced a reduction of engagement in Europe and a slowing profit growth rate in the future.  As of 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, the stock is down 17% or $36.00/share, which for me is a loss of $19,000.  I would hate to be a hedge fund manager today.

At 3:30 I drove to Sprouts and bought Magnesium Citrate for Susan, milk, Greek yogurt, blueberries, Italian sausages, a 1 lb. swordfish filet, granola, and for the party, toffee coated peanuts, and chocolate coated raisins.

I returned home at 4:30 and watched a bit of Cramer.  While was watching Suzette arrived and the minute she saw my swollen face, said “We need to apply a cold compress to your eye.”  She fetched a washcloth and set it and put it in the freezer to freeze.

Then we discussed dinner.  We decided to cook the swordfish tonight.  Suzette soon found an interesting recipe for swordfish kebabs on the Internet.  She made the glaze of honey, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and olive oil, sort of a simple BBQ sauce.  I went to the basement and fetched a 2013 Matua New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and put it into the freezer to chill andbfetchedbthreevsdditional skewers from the basement.  Then Suzette filled skewers with 1 1/2 inch cubes of swordfish, Vidalia onion, tomato and peaches from our tree.  We decided to grill asparagus with the kebabs, so while I called Willy to invite him to dinner and applied the cold washcloth to my eye, Suzette fired up the grill to 400 degrees and grilled the kebabs and asparagus.

Willy arrived a bit later and soon we were eating a delicious fresh grilled meal and sipping Sauvignon Blanc.  My impression of the kebabs and asparagus was that they had a woodsy flavor from being grilled over an open flame.  The glaze enhanced the otherwise rather bland flavor of the swordfish.  Also, the 2013 Matua was excellent.  We both agreed that it’s flavor and clarity had been improved from cellaring it for four years ( I bought it January 9, 2015 at Costco for $7.99, which I think still sells it for the same price.).

Later, Suzette and I ate the last of the Clafoutis.  I added whipped cream and a splash of Grand Marnier to mine and made a cup of green tea.

We watched several soccer matches in the Heinekens International Champions Invitational with Willy until a bit after 9:00 when he left and we went to bed.

Bon Appetit

July 24, 2018 Lunch PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner Hamburger Helper ground beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, oregano, steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower

July 24, 2018 Lunch   PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner  Hamburger Helper   ground beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, oregano,  steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower

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

I rested again today although became busy during the day with a couple of matters.

For lunch I heated up the PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup and added some Jimmie Dean Sausage, sesame oil, and a sliced mushroom.  I also garnished the soup with slices of green onion.

I ate all three bowls o& it with the hope it would give me strength to restore my health.

I watched Mad Money and the business news but was unable to find out why Square dropped $2.00 today.  The result was that the fang stocks rose and my portfolio reached a new high.  Alphabet rose $40.00 per share, which helped a lot even though I only own 37 shares.

We started cooking at 5:30 because Suzette had eaten little today.  I diced two baked potatoes, 1 onion, and two fresh carrots grown in Suzette’s organic garden at the Center for Ageless Living. Suzette sliced two mushrooms and began sautéing the 1 lb. of ground beef left from last night’s meal.  In a separate skillet Suzette sautéed the potatoes, onion, carrots, mushroom slices, and the PPI steamed broccoli and cauliflower from last night’s meal.

Suzette went to the garden and picked a small handful of oregano.  I removed the leaves from the stems and finely chopped the oregano and added it to the skillet.

She combined the ingredients of both skillets and melted strips of Pecorino Romano cheese on the mixture while I went to the basement and found a bottle of Aquino Chianti Reserva ( Trader Joe’s $5.99). I opened and poured the Chianti.

We ate a hardy dinner while we watched the news.  After dinner Suzette ate several bites of Clafoutis, as did I also,  but the best dessert was a small fresh peach from our peach tree.

Bon Appetit

July 23, 2018. Lunch - Vietnamese Miso Noodle soup. Dinner – Grilled Hamburger and onion slices, steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower and sautéed mushrooms

July 23, 2018. Lunch - Vietnamese Miso Noodle soup. Dinner – Grilled Hamburger and onion slices, steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower and sautéed mushrooms

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

At 10:30 we went to surgery for removal of skin cancer.  I was scheduled for surgery at 11:00 and it lasted until 2:30.

When we got home I was hungry, so I made a Vietnamese Miso Soup with dashi, a Pho seasoning cube, 1 T. of red miso, the PPI haddock with tofu and mixed vegetables, a diced shallot, a diced white mushroom, seaweed, green peas, and green onion, plus wheat, rice, and buckwheat noodles.

I ate a bowl and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.

I rested until 5:30, when we started cooking dinner.  Suzette had thawed out ground beef for hamburgers and she peeled and diced russet potatoes.

I sliced four mushrooms and two shallots and five small cloves of garlic and de-stemmed and chopped about 1 T. of tarragon.

I then de-flowered a stalk of broccoli and 1/3 of a head of cauliflower and put them into the steamer with water to the bottom of the basket.

Willy called to see if I was okay and said he would come by at 8:30 so we made enough for his dinner also.  Suzette made three hamburgers and I sliced an onion into five ½ inch slices and Suzette grilled them.  I sliced two slices of blue cheese that Suzette put on the hamburgers when she flipped them.

While Suzette was grilling I steamed the vegetables and sautéed the mushrooms in 2 T. of butter and 1 T. of olive oil.   After the mushrooms and shallot softened and absorbed the oil and butter, I added about 2 T. of Amontillado sherry and reduced the heat.

Everything was ready at more or less the same time.  I poured me a glass of Cherry Blossom pinion Noir (Trader Joe’s $4.99, the least expensive decent Pinot noir in town) and fetched a Negra Modelo for Suzette.

We had a lovely dinner while we watched the news.

Suzette made a plate for Willy that he ate when he came at 8:30.

I went to bed at 9:30.

Where they operated hurts a bit and moving my face hurts because they stretched the skin to sew it together but not exceedingly so.  I am taking Tylenol to dull the pain.

Bon Appetit

July 22, 2018 Lunch – PPI Eggplant Parmigiana. Dinner – Halibut baked in foil

July 22, 2018 Lunch – PPI Eggplant Parmigiana. Dinner – Halibut baked in foil

I ate ½ whole wheat bagel with Lax, onion, cream cheese and capers for breakfast and then rode to Montano.

I then watched the news and the Tour de France stage to Carcassonne.
Another Astana rider won today because the peleton did not chase.

I rested after the race after eating a piece of bread with herring, onion and sour cream.

At noon Suzette became hungry and heated the “to go” box of eggplant parmigiana that the Savor crew gave her last night.  She opened a bottle of Cherry Blossom Pinot noir and I took a small glass and joined her and she was kind enough to share a bit of the eggplant dish.

Then I rested and read until 3:30 when I showered and dressed.

At 5:30 we started to prep dinner.  I sliced two green onions and a carrot and cleaned a handful of mushrooms.  Suzette made three pockets from double layers of foil and placed, Halibut, purslane, carrots, mushrooms, green onion, corn kernels, garlic,  wine, butter and lemon juice and then closed the pockets by crimping the edges of aluminum together.

We invited Willy, he said he would come at 7:30; so Suzette started the grill and started grilling the pockets at 7:05.

When Willy arrived I asked him whether he wanted white or rose’.  We decided on rose, so I poured a 2017 St. Sagnol from Coteaux Varios de Provence.  We ate in the garden at sunset, as the air temperature began to cool.

Suzette picked about ten peaches from our peach tree and peeled several so during a show from the Endeavour series on Masterpiece theatre, Suzette filled small bowls with vanilla ice cream and peach slices.

Bon Appetit

July 21, 2018 Breakfast – Sausage, Potato, and onion Sauté with sunny side up eggs on tortillas. Lunch – Tabouli Salad. Dinner – Savor catered pop up dinner at Gruet

July 21, 2018 Breakfast – Sausage, Potato, and onion Sauté with sunny side up eggs on tortillas.  Lunch – Tabouli Salad.  Dinner – Savor catered pop up dinner at Gruet

We thawed a number of items when we emptied the freezer section of the refrigerator, including a lb. of Jimmie Dean Sausage.  For breakfast today I suggested sautéing some sausage with potatoes and onion and egg, like in a burrito.  Suzette agreed and took over cooking when I finished dicing the onion and PPI baked potato.

She cut ½ lb. of sausage into sections and sautéed it.  I added the diced onion and potato and crumbled the sausage further.  When the ingredients were mostly cooked Suzette broke four eggs onto the top of the sautéed ingredients and and covered the skillet with a wok cover to steam the eggs.  Here is what the finished dish looked like.

Suzette steamed four small tortillas in the microwave and placed two each on a plate and ladled the egg sauté onto the plates.  We took plates to the garden and ate a pleasant breakfast beside the pond.

The pond has finally cleared and we were able to count four goldfish.  We were thrilled.



Suzette wanted to go to the Cottonwood Mall Sears’ “going out of business sale” and I went along for
the ride but rather than shop I found a chair near the entrance where I could sit and read, while she went to buy a rototiller and toaster.

After we coordinated the pick up at the merchandise pick up door, we drove to Donut Mart on Coors and I picked up seven or eight bagels and talked to Tahir for a few minutes.

We then drove home.  I ate a salad of tabouli, kalamata olives, and two labne balls plus two slices of French bread spread with taramasalata.

We lay down for a nap after lunch.  I woke up around and dressed and drove to Nob Hill.  After
saying hello to Jay and Paula we walked to the stage at Carlisle and listened to a traditional blue grass
band and then a contemporary rhythm and blues group named Fat City.

We left at 6:45 and drove to Gruet for the Savor pop up dinner.  When we arrived a friend of Suzette’s, Ellen Costilla and her daughter, Michelle, said hello and we talked and then we joined each other for dinner.

The tasting room was pouring Blanc de Blanc 2012 and still Pinot Noir for dinner.  I chose two glasses of the Blanc de Blanc, which my current favorite wine made by Gruet.  After sipping those we ordered dinner.  It was hard to decide because there were three good choices, pork tenderloin on a bed of lentils with caramelized onions, Coq au Vin served on a bed of mashed potatoes mixed with roasted root vegetables, and Eggplant Parmigiana.  We decided against the pork dish because we eat
so much pork.  I ordered the chicken when the Savor guys assured me it would include a thigh and they would add some extra caramelized onions.  Suzette ordered the eggplant parmigiana because she loves eggplant.


Ellen ordered the chicken and Michele ordered the pork tenderloin and lentils, which looked lovely.

Here are pictures of my coq au vin:

The coq au vin was cooked to haut cuisine  perfection. The chicken fell into pieces when prodded by a fork and knife and the mashed potatoes and root vegetables drizzled with the cooking sauce were delicious.

This is my third time to try Chef and owner Stephen Ormsby of SavorbyStephen’s  catering.  This was the first full pop up meal and the most impressive.

Stephen Ormsby grew up in Taos where his first cooking experience was in the Taos High School Culinary Arts program.  I remember fondly the elegant and delicious appetizers the students prepared for the Winter Wine Festival in Taos.  He then went to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Phoenix and after graduating worked at a number of restaurants owned by the Fox group, including Michelin starred restaurants in both the back and the front of the house.  He returned to NM working in a number of Albuquerque restaurants before starting his current catering service.

Stephen’s pop up meals usually offer three entrée choices that are rather complete meals combining vegetables or salad.

Here is a picture of Chef Stephen and his crew

The portions tend to be small but adequate due to their exquisite flavors.  The exception last night was The Eggplant Parmigiana, which included four ½ inch thick slices of eggplant cooked in a delightfully fresh marinara sauce garnished with crisp croutons of French bread.

I enjoyed my coq au vin and when Suzette was not able to finish her eggplant, I enjoyed a bit of her dish also.  I drank another glass of Blanc de Blanc and Suzette drank a glass of Pinot Noir with dinner.

We left around 8:30 and arrived home in time to see Grantchester on PBS at 9:00.

After Grantchester ended I ate a bowl of clafoutis with whipped cream, a cup of Earl Grey tea with lavender with milk and a sniffer of Calvados.

A Grand finish for a grand day of food.  I rarely eat three wonderful meals in one day, but today was one of those days.

Bon Appetit