August 30, 2018 Lunch – Tuna Salad. Dinner – Book Club.

August 30, 2018 Lunch – Tuna Salad. Dinner – Book Club.

I woke up after 7:00 and watched the business news until after the end of Warren Buffet’s interview.  Apple was up about $.40 when the interview started and it immediately went up another $.40 as he spoke.  After he spoke it went up as high as $4.00 but settled to around $2.00 by the end of the day, to a new all time high.  The two things he said that caught my attention and probably most other Apple watchers, given the stock’s daily movement were that he is still buying “some” Apple share (I think the number of shares bought most recently was 6,000,000.  I think Berkshire Hathaway owns a total of 250,000,000 shares of Apple currently).  So today’s gain to Berkshire based mostly on Buffet’s comments was $500,000,000.  Think about that.

His other comment that really lit a fire under investors was that the company is actively buying back shares.  I think the current buy back plan is for $100 Billion.  Buffet’s actual comment was, “So, I guess I should talk the stock down so they will buy back more shares and drive the price up.”

It was clear to me and other investors, apparently, that this was a no lose proposition.  If Buffet buys shares the price goes up. If the price goes down, Apple buys shares, which pushes the price back up.

I ate a 1/3 thick toasted slice of bagel smeared with cream cheese and layered with onion slices and white fish for breakfast with a cup of green tea as Buffet spoke.

Then I rode my bike to Rio Bravo.  After  I returned and showered I completed my memo for the complaint I am working on for my water case by 1:00.

I then made a fresh salad with the approximate 1/3 lb. of PPI fresh Aji tuna, two Roma tomatoes diced, 1/3 of a cucumber diced, croutons, two radishes diced, and about 2 oz. of minced onion.  I made a Japanese dressing with rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, Mirin, and a bit of salt.

The salad was delightfully light and flavorful.

After lunch I worked until about 3:30 when I went to bed for a nap that lasted until 5:30.  I then checked cocktail recipes for Moonshine and discovered one with cola and maraschino cherries, so I went to Lowe’s at 6:00 and bought those items plus two bottles of Tonic water and a gallon of milk.

I returned home and gathered up the bottle of Moonshine and went to Charlie’s by 6:30.

He drove us to Ken’s house in Sandia Heights for this month’s book club.  Amazingly all 12 members were in attendance, including our new member Gary.

Here are pictures of the motley crew.

Ken and his wife put out a lovely spread with boiled shrimp, guacamole and blue corn chips, plus baby carrots, nuts and candy.  There were both white and red wines.  Ken usually buys wines at Costco that score over 90 points.  A lovely meeting and evening

Bon Appetit

August 29, 2018 Lunch – Chirashi. Dinner – Seafood Paella

August 29, 2018 Lunch – Chirashi. Dinner – Seafood Paella

I ate a bowl of granola, milk, yogurt, and blueberries for breakfast.

Then I worked until 11:30 when the mail arrived with two rent checks.

I took them to the bank and then went to Lowe’s and bought a bunch of radishes and three bananas for Suzette, and three lb. of chicken thighs.

When I returned home I made chirashi. I made sushi recipe with basmati rice by adding 1 T. each of rice vinegar and sugar and 1 tsp. F salt to 1 cup of rice cooked with seaweed and Lily flowers.

I thawed out four scallops in the morning and sliced them and placed a small piece of nori seaweed on each.  Then I sliced about ½ lb. of aji tuna into bite sized pieces, lay three boiled shrimp on the plate, and sliced two radishes thinly.  Here is a picture of the plate.

When the rice was ready I added the vinegar, sugar, and salt mixture and stirred it in abs filled a bowl with the rice.  Then I poured soy sauce into a dipping bowl and added some prepared wasabi mustard to it.  I made a cup of green tea and fetched the container of pickled ginger and started eating my oversized plate of sashimi. A Chirashi at Azuma contains 12 pieces of seafood and I was confronted by a plate with about 60 pieces of seafood.

It took about 1 hour to eat lunch. I watched the stock market report as the market approached the close with new highs in the NASDAQ and S and P.  After lunch and the market closed I discovered my portfolio went up $13,600.  A pretty good day.  Apple hit a new high.

I took a nap at 3:30 and woke at 4:30.  When Suzette came home around 5:15 she saw all the fish and the rice and decided she make a seafood paella.  I told her that sounded fabulous and excused myself to go meditate.

When I returned home at 7:00 she started cooking.  She diced a cooked bratwurst, the ½ trout fro Sunday’s dinner, several shrimp from last night’s dinner, and a small of fresh tuna along with ½ of a small onion.

She also cleaned and diced a handful of sugar snap peas that had lots of peas. I fetched a 7 oz. can of Spanish pimiento peppers and diced it into pieces and added them to the large skillet of ingredients.

I fetched a bottle of chilled 2015 Benton Lane rose’ from the garage fridges day poured glasses.

Suzette sautéed the ingredients in olive oil and butter.  I then added about 1 tsp. of chopped saffron leaves to give the dish a little saffron flavor, Suzette heated about 1 cup of sushi rice.  She plated my plate with 2/3 cup of rice and and ladled several spoonfuls of paella onto a plate.  We ate heartily.  Willy arrived around 7:30 and Suzette plated him a plate and I poured him a glass of Oregon rose’.

After dinner I ate two pieces of cheese cake left from last night’s dinner with a shot of Calvados and cup of Earl Grey tea with milk.

Willy left around 9:00 and we went to bed.

Dinner was a miraculous meal that Suzette created from nothing.

I love those dinners when Suzette creates something fabulous almost out of the air.

Bon Appetit

August 28, 2018 Lunch – Tuna and scallop Sashimi Dinner – Suzette’s girls group BD Party

August 28, 2018 Lunch – Tuna and scallop Sashimi   Dinner – Suzette’s girls group BD Party

I had two 1/3 slices of a toasted everything bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with onion slices and chunks of smoked white fish.

Then I rode to Montano.

I invited Aaron for lunch because I had two good sized chunks of fresh Aji tuna I had bought at Albertson’s yesterday for $6.97/lb.  The piece of tuna I bought was a loin piece, so relatively free of tendons. I sliced Sashimi sized pieces and put them on a plate.  Then I fetched a sheet of roasted nori and cut about ½ of it into ½ wide strips.  I then sliced four raw scallops I had thawed overnight into four slices each and placed a small piece of nori on each.

I then thinly sliced most of the piece of daikon I bought yesterday after cutting it down the middle, yielding lots of half moon shaped slices.

I made green tea and fetched a tube of wasabi mustard and soy sauce and dipping bowls.  We poured soy into our dipping bowls and then added some wasabi. I also fetched some pickled ginger to dip with the seafood in the dipping sauce.

Today was Suzette’s BD celebration with her girl group.  She had decided to celebrate at our house and was expecting five members to attend.

We had decided to start cooking at 3:00 for the 5:30 dinner, so I finely minced a medium shallot and covered the shallot pieces with lemon juice at 3:00.

I then boiled the shrimp for Suzette’s BD Party with her girl group at 4.00.

Suzette arrived at 4:30 just as I was draining the 4 ½ lb. of peeled shrimp that I boiled in a pot of water seasoned with lemon peels, ¼ of a medium onion and two bay leaves until the shrimp curled and turned pink.

Suzette made a cocktail sauce and made my favorite sauce for cold boiled seafood, a

mignonette sauce

 I went to the garden and picked two sprigs of tarragon and seven chives.  I de-stemmed the tarragon leaves and put them into the mixing bowl with the shallot and lemon.  Then I sliced the chives and added them and then added about 2/3 cup of mayo and some extra lemon juice plus a pinch of salt and three drops of hot sauce.  I then transferred the sauce to a colorful ceramic bowl Suzette chose and chilled the sauce in the fridge.

Suzette set the table at the table under the gazebo in the garden and I lay  down.

I heard Suzette welcome several of the girls and make their way out to the garden.  I was finally aroused when there was no one left to answer the door and so I greeted Mary Ann bearing a fruit salad and a yogurt and Kool Whip dressing.  I helped her put the fruit salad in the kitchen and the dressing into the fridge and escorted her to the group of four others already in the garden.  Since the table was set for six and only five were in attendance, I was invited to join the party.


Each person had brought a dish.  There were macaroni balls sautéed to golden brown, a bottle of Kendall Jackson Reserve Chardonnay, A lovely salad of chunks of avocado, cucumber, red onion, and grape tomatoes, a platter of cheese cake wedges from Walmart, and Mary Ann’s fruit salad and Yogurt dressing.

We ate appetizers for a bit and then decided to serve the shrimp.  I fetched the shrimp and  then two more glasses, the PPI bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio, my mignonette sauce, and spoons.  Suzette served bowls of the gazpacho she had made on Sunday garnished with chunks of avocado and French bread croutons.

We ate and talked.  When everyone had finished their shrimp and gazpacho, we cleared the table and Suzette brought out glass dessert plates.  I offered to serve some of the Cherry Clafoutis I made yesterday, so I brought it out.

We filled our plates with cheese cake, fruit salad, and pieces of Clafoutis for a serious dessert course. Suzette brought out the chilled bottle of Picton Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (Trader Joe’s $8.99) and filled glasses of those who still were drinking wine.

I showed Tanya some of the art collection and then discussed a legal issue with Diana inside the house as a Suzette filled and ran a dishwasher load.

We finally said goodnight to Diana at 8:30 and watched the news until 9:30, when we went to bed.

It was a lovely garden dinner party that Suzette and everyone else enjoyed very much.  I apologize for not taking pictures of it.

Bon Appetit

August 27, 2018 Lunch – PPI Steak, Mushrooms, and cipolini Onions and Cauliflower Couscous Dinner – Fish Tacos with guacamole and red cabbage coleslaw

August 27, 2018 Lunch – PPI Steak, Mushrooms, and cipolini Onions and Cauliflower Couscous  Dinner – Fish Tacos with guacamole and red cabbage coleslaw

I promised Suzette I would test the smoked white fish to see if it was still edible! So at 7:30 I put my body on the line and toasted ½ of a whole wheat bagel, smeared it with cream cheese and spread lumps of white fish on it and ate it with two cups of Earl Grey tea with milk.  As you probably have guessed, I lived; surprisingly, with no ill effects.  In fact the white fish was delicious.

At 11:00 I called a Gruet and ordered another case of rose champagne at a 40% discount, which came to about $11.50 per bottle with tax.

At 12:30 I heated the plate of PPI rib steak and sautéed mushrooms, cipolini onions, and sugar snap peas from last Friday or Saturday night with some of the PPI cauliflower Couscous, carrots, and green beans from last night’s meal.  I drank a glass of the PPI Trader Joe’s Growers Select Petite Sirah from California.  I heated the steak and vegetables in the microwave, which made the steak much tougher, but I enjoyed the good chew.

Suzette had mentioned re-using the canola cooking oil used to fry last Night’s trout to made fish tacos.  At 4:00 I drove to El Super and bought a head each of Napa and red cabbage, three small avocados, a bunch of cilantro, a cucumber, a still warm package of three dozen blue corn tortillas for $1.69, and 24 eggs.  El Super does not sell fresh fish, so I drove to Albertsons and hit the jackpot twice.  First, it had fresh Aji tuna loin on sale for $6.97/lb., so I bought a 1.6 lb. piece for dinner and a .9 lb. piece for lunch tomorrow.  Then I decided to see if Albertson’s had daikon to slice into strips to go with the tuna sashimi tomorrow and I was surprised to find several.  I asked the produce man to cut me off a small piece, which at $2.99/lb. cost me $.84.

They have started roasting green chili at El Super.  Here is a picture.

I then went home a bit before 5:00 and made a Clafoutis with 3.75 cups of heavy cream and half and half scalded.  I buttered and sugared a ceramic baking dish.  Then I measured 10 T. of flour into a mixing bowl and added 12 T. of powdered sugar to the flour.  I then whisked five eggs in a bowl and added them to the dry ingredients.  I let the scalded milk cool and then added it to the batter of flour and dry ingredients to complete the batter.  I poured the batter into the buttered baking dish and then added the bowl of cherries that had marinated in cognac and Grand Marnier for two days.  This filled the baking dish to its rim.  I baked the Clafoutis in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 54minutes.  Here is the end result.

The big crack may mean it is slightly undercooked.  The proof will be in the eating.

Suzette came home at 5:30 and Willy called a few minutes later to tell us he has finished his bike ride four miles Hwy. 164 up into the Sandias from Placitas and would arrive in twenty minutes.

At 6:00 Suzette started cooking the fish tacos.  I showed her the 1.6 lb. tuna loin and it blew her mind when I told her it cost $6.97/lb.

Willy arrived at around 6:30 and we made the guacamole as Suzette made the coleslaw.

Guacamole

Willy separated the avocados from their skins with a spoon and put the fruit into a bowl.p an smashed it into a paste with the spoon. I finely diced three oz. of yellow onion and added it to the bowl.  Then I peeled 1 large clove of garlic and pressed the pulp into the guacamole and squeezed the juice of 1 lime in also.  Willy added some salt and I added a few drops of Cholula hot sauce.  I then de-stemmed the qleaves from about seven or eight stalks of fresh cilantro and chopped them and added them to
the guacamole.

 

Coleslaw

Suzette cubed about ½ of the loin into ½ inch cubes.  Then she made the coleslaw.  She sliced ¼ of the head of red cabbage and a carrot in the Cuisinart and then mixed in the tartare sauce I made yesterday wit added pickle relish and mayo.

Then Suzette fried the tuna cubes in canola oil and let them drain the excess oil onto a paper towel.

 I fetched beers from the fridge and we were ready to eat.  Willy and Suzette drank Warsteiner Oktoberfest beers and I drank a Belgium Brewing Fat Tire.

Willy told us about his new mountain bike and bike ride today and last week.  He is really loving the high country of New Mexico.

I told about my conversation with Luke and his plans for visiting for three weeks in September.

After dinner Willy played us a podcast that was very funny about Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen sharing a cell in a federal prison.

When Willy left at 8:30 I retired to the bed to blog and went to bed around 9:00.  I guess I was tired because I had not had a nap.

I love it when dinner goes from a two word suggestion by Suzette to a gourmet dinner of fresh Aji tuna tacos with fresh red cabbage Coleslaw and freshly made guacamole in warm freshly made blue corn tortillas with a good beer.  Is this what Gourmet Mexican food tastes like?

Bon Appetit or Buen Sabor

August 26, 2018 Breakfast – Lamb and Goat cheese omelet. Lunch – Que Hong replacement Dinner – Sautéed Trout with Cauliflower Couscous

August 26, 2018 Breakfast – Lamb and Goat cheese omelet. Lunch – Que Hong replacement  Dinner – Sautéed Trout with Cauliflower Couscous

We planted two raised beds this morning.  Then I went in to cook breakfast, while Suzette did a couple more things outside.

Suzette requested a lamb and goat cheese omelet.  I also had a Mexican squash and like onions and garlic with lamb, so I added those plus a red mini sweet pepper to the mix by thinly julienning them.  I sautéed all the vegetable ingredients and then added the meta of one lamb chop that I had julienned also  and heated it.  I whisked four eggs and added the herbs I had prepped last night: thyme, tarragon, and chives to the eggs.

I poured the eggs over the sautéed vegetables and lamb and dotted the top of the eggs with about 3 T. of goat cheese.

When the eggs began to congeal I turned one side on top of the other side and cooked it for another couple of minutes.

Suzette made a Bloody Mary and I poured a glass full of Clamato with the juice of ½ lime.  We carried the food and drinks to the table under the gazebo in the garden and enjoyed a lovely  breakfast.

I waited about one hour and then rode to Rio Bravo and back in a very respectable 45 minutes. I think my quads are getting shape from being atrophied from inactivity due to my accident and surgery.

When I returned Suzette had gone to Lowe’s to buy a caulking gun to glue the new mirror into the frame she made..

When she returned we went shopping.  We stopped at Bombay Spice, but they were out of Tea India chai masala.  Suzette said she was getting hungry so we stopped at what used to be Que Houng, but had changed ownership and menus.  Everything was a bit more expensive.

We ordered No 71, Stir-Fried Flat noodles with mixed vegetables and pork for $8.95  As it turned out the dish consisted of  stir fried boiled 30 mm. wide rice noodles with carrot strips, mung bean sprouts, onion strips, and green cabbage squares and pieces of pork seasoned with a light brown sauce.  I squirted hoisin sauce on the dish with Suzette’s assent.  It was a very tasty dish,
although we both thought the dish was just okay.  Neither of us felt a compulsion to return.

We then drove across Louisiana Blvd. to Talin.  Suzette wanted some items for new dishes for the Center.  She bought Chinese Cooking Wine, oyster sauce, and soy sauce plus thin Vietnamese Banh rice noodles.

We also bought for the house. Pho seasoning cubes, firm tofu, rice noodles, wood ear threads, Siljan’s Swedish hard bread, a six oz. container of white beech mushrooms, and a beautiful fresh 1 ½ lb. trout, for which we were given a bag of ice to keep chilled.

We then drove across the parking lot to Coda Bakery where Suzette picked up a baguette and then drove to Uptown to Total Wine, where Suzette bought two 1.75 liter bottles of her favorite scotch and I bought a bottle of Moonshine whiskey for the book club meeting on Thursday.

We then drove to Trader Joe’s where we bought toiletries for the guest bathroom and I bought nine bottles of wine; three Paton-Clemente Spanish La Mancha Tempranillo Crianza for $4.99, a bottle of Austrian white Gruner Veltliner for $8.99, a bottle of Famille Perrin Reserve red Cotes du Rhone for $8.99, a bottles of French St. Emillon for $12.99, a bottle of cognac, a bottle of Picton Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for $6.99, and a new cheap French sweet white wine for $3.99.

We then drove home and watched the nightly news at 5:00 by way of the candy store to check on Mario’s progress in cleaning the weeds and fixing the gates.

At around 6:00 we decided to cook dinner and a Suzette decided to make cauliflower Couscous to go with the trout since we had a head of cauliflower..  We also decided to add the green beans I had bought last week to the Couscous.  Suzette used the shredding attachment instead of of the chopping blade, which produced a more uniform and larger granular shapes the cauliflower Couscous.  She also shredded two carrots.  She then sautéed the cauliflower Couscous and carrots and de-stemmed green beans in butter.  While the vegetables were cooking Suzette fried the whole trout in a large skillet filled to 1/3 inch with canola oil until browned on both sides.

While Suzette was sautéing the Couscous and trout, I made a tartare sauce with the juice of ¼ lemon, 2/3 cup of mayonnaise, and 1/3 cup of pickle relish, plus a pinch of salt.

I also opened the bottle of 2015 Terlato Friuli Colli Orientalist Denominazione de Origine controllata Pinot Grigio that Travis Nd Kathleen brought to the Neighborhood party last week.  It was a lovely wine and highly rated by both Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator.  Here are some notes.

Average Price (ex-tax)
$21
Aggregated Critic Score
89/100
Producer
Terlato Vineyards
Region/Appellation
Colli Orientali del Friuli
Country Hierarchy
Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Grape/Blend
Pinot Grigio
Food Suggestion
White Fish
Wine Style
White - Green and Flinty
Alcohol Content
13%

We agreed with the ratings. The Terlato Pinot Grigio was a superior wine; light, with a good balance of peach fruit notes and minerality. Its lightness and minerality complemented the trout’s lightness
perfectly.

We both agreed the tender trout, Couscous and green beans with the perfect light Pinot Grigio was a great meal, not available at any Albuquerque restaurant, but at least a $125.00 meal.  This meal is a great example of what greatness can be achieved for very little money. Suzette said it is hard for restaurants to fry trout in canola oil like she had, because it gets messy to repeat the technique repeatedly and that this dish would be $24.95 in a good restaurant.  We each were served a 6 oz. portion of trout on a pile of cauliflower Couscous with green beans and shredded carrots. We had paid $7.50 for the 1 ½ lb. trout and only ate ½ of it, so each of our dishes ¼ of $7.50 for a food cost of $1.87.  I paid $.50/lb. for the cauliflower at El Super so each dish contained approximately ½ lb. of cauliflower for $.25.  The carrots were even cheaper. I paid $.99 for 4 lb. of carrots.  The green beans were $.99/lb. and there was about 1/5/lb. in each dish for another $.20.  The ¼ lemon wedge served with the dish probably cost $.35 and the tartare sauce probably cost the same.  So, this dish cost a bit over $3.00 in food costs.

The wine had an average cost of $20.00, so a 2½ to three multiple for it in a good restaurant would make it a $50.00 to $60.00 bottle.  If the trout dishes were $25.00 each and the wine $50.00 to $60.00, that totals $100.00 to $110.00 for the meal and with a 15% tip, the total cost would be at least $125.00.  And we could not think of a restaurant where we could get this good a meal in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. The last time I saw fresh lake fish cooked this well was at lake side restaurants at Annecy in France and at Lake Maggiore in Italy.

We loved the meal.  After we admired the pond and all our new fish, we went inside.  I ate some fig Clafoutis with whipped cream and a cup of Earl Grey tea and Suzette ate the last piece of peach and blueberry cobbler with a sip of cognac, as we watched several new American Pickers shows.

At 9:30 we went to bed after a pleasant day of work, shopping, and eating.

Bon Appetit

August 25, 2018 Lunch – Polo Picnic. Dinner – Grilled Rib Steak; sautéed Medley of Cipolini onions, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, asparagus; and Skillet Sautéed Purple Potatoes

August 25, 2018 Lunch – Polo Picnic. Dinner – Grilled Rib Steak; sautéed Medley of Cipolini onions, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, asparagus; and Skillet Sautéed Purple Potatoes

Today was Suzette’s Birthday.  She wanted to go to the polo match in a Santa Fe.  We wanted to take a picnic lunch.

We went to our two favorite fig trees and picked figs.  Then Suzette made cris crosses cut into the figs and stuffed them with goat cheese. We packed the ice chest with containers of olives, cucumber sticks, the PPI slices of bread from our dinner last night at Amore.  Suzette made a Caprese salad with the PPI fresh mozzarella from our dinner at Amore last night, fresh tomato slices from tomatoes grown in her garden in Los Lunas, and fresh basil leaves from our garden, plus the marinated asparagus and the stuffed fresh figs. We put in the egg salad, the chilled bottle of Sauvage, and two bottles of beer and left for a Santa Fe at 9:00..

We arrived at the Hipico Center at 10:00 and did not see anyone, so we called and were informed that the match would begin at 11:00.

We decided to drive to Stephen’s where Suzette found a watercolor by Ann K.       of  Indians at Taos Pueblo Church. Suzette also bought a cute menorah in the shape of a box of crayons.

Then we returned to the Hipico a few minutes after 11:00 and drove to the awninged area at the edge of the parking lot at the end of the polo field where there was a picnic table and about ten folks watching.

Most folks were sitting on portable chairs near the fence, except for Warren and his wife Anouck, who were sitting on the field side of the picnic table.  We said hello to Warren and Anouilh and asked if anyone had taken the far side of the table.  They said, “No”, so that is where we sat and used the picnic table for our picnic. We laid out our lunch items and poured glasses of Gruet Rose’ Sauvage champagne and ate a delicious meal of egg salad, Caprese salad, olives, asparagus, cucumber sticks, and finally goat cheese stuffed fresh figs.  Suzette is still not eating bread, but I spread egg salad on the three PPI slices of fresh bread served with the stuffed mozzarella last night at Amore to make open faced sandwiches.

The polo field was about ½ mile long so we were rather detached from the play and there was a lively banter among the watchers as they came to know each other.

I got a good laugh from several of the more serious viewers who had chairs at the edge of the field a few feet in front of us, when at the end of the match, one of the asked me, “Did you enjoy the Match? and I replied, “It was very exciting.”  Watching 8 riders hit and chase an almost invisible small white ball ¼ to ½ mile away, was a bit like watching paint dry and they good natured lay knew it.  But the day was sunny and there was a brisk breeze that kept most of the flies away from the food, so it was near perfect weather for a picnic with billowing clouds all around the polo grounds.

                                      The yellow team scoring a goal at our end of the chuk

We got to know Anouk and Warren a bit and when he said he was a structural engineer specializing in building with reinforced concrete, we became very interested in talking to him about the restoration of our concrete basement floor that has a bloom of crystallized salts from being submerged in water for days, when our hot water heater burst.

Amazingly, I think he mentioned the name Fila, which is probably the largest surface treatment solutions company in the world.  We instantly got excited because we were hosted by Fila at the Las Vegas Surface Show several years ago thanks to our friend Mike Livingston.  We saw a strategy for dealing with the problem and were thankful to Warren.

Everyone had left by this time, probably to take care of their horses. I gave Warren my card and we said goodbye and drove back to Santa Fe.  Suzette was interested in visiting the ZoZo Fest, which is an annual event celebrating Zozobra.  Zozobra is a large figure about sixty feet tall devised by Will Shuster 94 years ago and sponsored by the Santa Fe Kiwanis which is set afire in a exotic ritual during Santa Fe’s Fiesta to dispel gloom.  It was a quirky Anglo celebration that was added to the Santa Fe Fiesta, which is a traditional Spanish celebration.  We found the fest location in a large empty space in the Santa Fe Place Mall, next to Appleby’s.  It was filled with mostly kids, but we soon found the art donated to the fest that was on sale and Suzette fell in love with a scorched wooden plaque with the image of Zozobra carved into it and I was charmed by a painted retablo of Zozobra Helping San Pasquale make tamales.  I bought both of them.

Here is Suzette standing in front of Zozobra’s Head. Zozobra is usually set afire on the Friday night of Santa Fe Fiesta weekend, which will be on August 31 this year.

While we were at the Fest, the King and Queen of Santa Fe Fiesta and their procession of attendants decked out in their traditional 17th Century garb made a procession through the Fest area, for one of
those wonderful moments when cultures and history mix so easily in Santa Fe.

After our fest visit we drove home and I took a nap until 4:30, when Billy called and reported on his and Eliane’s hiking trip to Yosemite.

I got up and watched the news and then some of the coverage of the death of a John McCain.  At 7:00 we decided to make dinner.  Suzette had thawed out a rib steak.  We decided to make a vegetable medley to go with the steak.  I sliced about 1/3 lb. of white mushrooms and peeled 9 cipolini onions and a clove of garlic and a sweet pepper.  Suzette fetched the PPI sugar snap peas and bag of diced purple potatoes from the fridge and started sautéing the cipolini onions and sweet pepper in a large skillet in butter and olive oil.

I went to the garden and picked seven or eight sprigs of thyme, a sprig it tarragon and five or six chive stalks, which I de-stemmed and chopped.  Suzette started sautéing the purple potatoes in another skillet in heated butter.

I then took over at the stove while she grilled the rib steak.

In about fifteen minutes everything was ready.  I had added sherry to the vegetable medley but forgot to add the herbs, so I fetched the Béarnaise sauce from the fridge to flavor the steak.

I selected a bottle of 2015 Trader Joe’s Growers’ Select Petite Sirah ($7.99) and opened it.  When we first tasted it, we did not like it.  Suzette said, “It is overproduced.”  I thought it had an overwhelming fruitiness of dark berry flavors, but as we drank it with the meal it’s flavor softened and in about 45 minutes, it was silky smooth and very drinkable while still retaining its fruitiness.  We liked it.

I kept turning the potatoes until most sides of each piece was crisped, which made them very delicious.  The steak was heavily marbled and cooked the rare and then covered to allow it to cook to medium rare, so it was also wonderful.  We did not eat all of the steak, so we will probably make a steak and potato omelet for breakfast tomorrow.

Viola, another good meal.  I commented that this was a better meal than one can buy in a good steakhouse restaurant at a fraction of the cost.  I had bought the slightly over 1 lb. steak at Smith’s last week for $5.77/lb.

We watched Bill Maher’s August 24 show and went to bed at 10:00 after a full day of activity.

Bon Appetit

August 24, 2018 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner – Amore.

August 24, 2018 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner – Amore.

I awakened at 6:30 when Suzette’s alarm went off for her dental appointment.  I watched news until 7:45 as the market took off like a scared rabbit.  At various points in the day my portfolio was up $12,000, but by the end of the end of the week sell off I ended up almost $11,000 to a new all time high and meeting my estimated gain for the year of over 8% for the year.   And that was after giving up 1% on my ill advised sale of Apple for a week.  I drank a nut of coffee hot chocolate during the morning news.

Then at 7:30 I ate a bowl of granola, milk, blueberries, and Trader Joe’s French Village yogurt (which seems to have more live Bulgaricus yeast in it, after which I rode to Rio Bravo.

For lunch I heated the PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup with the addition of a couple more mini-Chicken dumplings, the last of the Napa cabbage, and the green top of a cipolini onion sliced thinly.

It 4:00 I ate a toasted piece of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and honey and a cup of tea.

Suzette arrived early and agreed to go to the opening at the UNM Art Museum and then dinner at Amore.

On the way to the Museum we stopped at the Candy store to check the gate repair and Walgreen’s for more bandages and Aquaphor for the trip to Europe.

When we arrived at Popejoy, there was a real art opening going on with a D.J. spinning rap music and a catered buffet of cold pasta salad, a garbanzo, marinated artichoke leaves, kalamata olive, and fresh greens salad, and small tostadas piled high with duck confit.  We each took a bowl of the green salad and a duck confit tostada, which were both very lovely and then went into the art museum.  There were two shows: one of works from UNM’s permanent collection, which was a teaching exhibit, presented in periods and movements. It was nice, but thin with only one piece by most artists, except for Bruce Conner who did dark found object art as best I could tell, which we both hated. We then walked downstairs to the Flight exhibit by a local artist who had made a large installation piece with flying bird mobiles.  We did not know the artist or her many friends, who showed up for her opening, so we walked through and then left.

We then drove to Amore at 6:45 where we said hello to Diane and Jim, who were finishing dinner and on their way to a movie.

We quickly decided to order a Burrata ($13.00), which was a fresh made mozzarella shell stuffed with a truffle cream filling served with slices of bread and tomato. We also ordered the Calamari appetizer ($12.00), which was fried breaded calamari rings, probably prepared by Sysco served on a bed of baby arugula with a ramekin of aioli.

We tried several wines.  Suzette settled on a Gavi white and I chose a glass of Chianti red.

We discussed our lunch for the polo match tomorrow and decided to take home some of the burrata to combine with some of the fresh tomatoes from Suzette garden at the Center.

When we returned home Suzette steamed some asparagus and marinated them with balsamic and olive oil and some fresh tarragon.

Suzette also made egg salad with the three hard boiled eggs we had in the fridge with mayo and finely chopped celery and onion.

I chilled a bottle of Gruet Rose Sauvage.

At 10:00 we went to bed.

Bon Appetit

August 23, 2018 Lunch – Mapo Dofu on Couscous. Dinner – Avocados stuffed with Chicken Salad and shrimp and Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

I ate a 1/3 slice of an everything bagel toasted and smeared with cream cheese and garnished with slices of onion and Lax and capers.

I took Suzette’s broken jewelry to a jewelry repair shop at 11:30.

When I got home I heated some Mapo Dofu on couscous.  After a quick lunch I went to a mediation downtown.

After the mediation I drove to El Super and bought yellow onions, lemons, fresh lychee nuts, peaches, cherries, 2 Cucumbers, and a pasilla chili.  This is the first time. Have seen fresh lychee fruit in the stores in the U.S., although I had seen it in Mexico, where it is grown.

I went home and peeled and sliced the 6 peaches and then pitted the 2 lb. of cherries and doused the cherries with cognac and Grand Marnier.

Suzette came home at 5:15 with a container of chicken salad and we made dinner.  I diced the 6 or 7 PPI shrimp and added them and a bit of mayonnaise and a few drops of fresh lime juice to the chicken salad, while Suzette halved the 2 large avocados and removed them from their shells and filled them with the chicken and shrimp salad and garnished the plate with tomato slices.  Here is a picture.

The avocados were perfect, creamy but not blemished.  I loved dinner.

Suzette wanted a good bottle of white wine, so we opened a chilled bottle of King’s Estate Pinot Gris which was fruity with just a touch of sweetness (Costco $12.99?).
Before dinner Suzette also made a peach and blueberry cobbler using Laura Williams’ jiffy cobbler recipe.

Here is the recipe:

About the time we finished our chicken salad stuffed avocado the bell for the cobbler timer range and we served ourselves bowls of cobbler, mine drenched with whipped cream and a Suzette’s with heavy cream.

Harari in Sapiens described the tendency of people to gorge on sweets as hardening back to the pre-
agriculture period of sapiens when the only sugar in our hunter gather diets was mature fruit.  Since the production of mature fruit was so rare, we would gorge on it whenever we found it, less some other animal, like a raccoon or group of baboons find it and strip the tree.  That is what it felt like tonight as we uncontrollably devoured bowls of cobbler in a re-creation of that early sapien gorging on mature peaches and blueberries.

To extend the sapien desire to gorge on mature fruit concept a bit further, After dinner Suzette poached a bag of figs we had gathered from trees in our neighborhood in cognac, Grand Marnier and some of the Pinot Gris.

Bon Appetit

August 22, 2018 Lunch – Miso Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup with sausage and Chicken Dumplings. Dinner – PPI Lamb Chops with PPI Purple Salad and steamed asparagus

August 22, 2018 Lunch – Miso Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup with sausage and Chicken Dumplings. Dinner – PPI Lamb Chops with PPI Purple Salad and steamed asparagus

I ate granola, yogurt, milk, and blueberries for breakfast and then rode to Campbell Rd.

I worked a bit and then at noon made a two quart pot of Miso Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup with sausage and Chicken Dumplings.  I added dashi to about 1 ½ quarts of water and then a cube of pho seasoning, two sliced mushrooms, 1 sliced PPI sautéed cipolini onion, ½ PPI grilled bratwurst, eight chicken dumplings, a handful of spinach, a small handful of PPI buttered sugar snap peas, 1 tsp. of sesame oil, 1 T. of Chinese Cooking wine, bean thread noodles, wheat noodles, 4 oz. f diced tofu, and 1 ½ T. of red miso.  I cooked it for about twenty minutes to thoroughly cook the noodles.  Everything else was already cooked.

It was a lovely flavored soup with lots of interesting ingredients.  I ate about ½ so there will be some for breakfast or lunch tomorrow.

I rested and started reading Sapiens by Harari.  It is fascinating, so logical and informative.

Suzette arrived at 6:00 without a chicken.  She suggested heating the PPI lamb chops from Monday’s dinner.  I suggested we eat the Purple potato salad and steam some asparagus, so we had a dinner menu.

Suzette also sliced a yellow and a red tomato from her garden in Los Lunas, so we made a very colorful and super easy dinner.

I opened a bottle of 2015 Patron-Clemente Spanish Crianza Tempranillo from La Mancha.  I had bought this wine before at Trader Joe’s and it is a really good value at $4.99.  Suzette thought it did not hold its flavor very long, but I am impressed that for $4.99, it is a good value.  Why pay more for something to drink with leftovers.

We finished it, so not a rejected wine.

Bon Appetit