July 30, 2019 Lunch – PPI steak and Couscous with Pickled vegetables Dinner – BCT Sandwiches

July 30, 2019 Lunch – PPI steak and Couscous with Pickled vegetables
Dinner – BCT Sandwiches

A rather ordinary day.  I worked until 10:00 when I ate a bowl of granola, mango yogurt, blueberries, and milk.

I walked 2/3 of a mile at 11:30 without stopping.

For lunch I reheated the PPI steak from last night with the PPI Couscous from last week ate some of the freshly made pickled vegetables (carrots, radishes, cucumbers, and Daikon).

I showered and shaved and went to the bank and a meeting that did not occur. I went home and at 5:00 went with Suzette to Costco and Southwest Distributers to do her weekly shopping for her program.

At Costco we bought mozzarella cheese and heavy cream for ourselves and at Southwest we bought a 14 oz. package of rice stick noodles for $1.29 for home consumption.

We returned at 7:00 and turned on the democratic debate.  Suzette brought home a bag f lovely vine ripened tomatoes from her garden at the Center.  When she suggested using them to make BLT sandwiches I agreed.  We had all the ingredients we needed except lettuce s Suzette went to the garden and picked a handful of tender young Chard leaves while I fried about seven slices of smoked bacon.

We sliced two pieces of French baguette the length of a fried piece of bacon into thirds lengthwise to make six slices.  Then Suzette sliced the slices of mozzarella in half and spread them with the fresh basil mayonnaise and laid thin slices of mozzarella cheese on top of the mayo and toasted the slices of bread in the oven to melt the mozzarella.  She then added the chard leaves I had destemmed, then one slice of bacon per slice of toast and finally slices of tomato for ap very visually appealing dish that was also very delicious.  I loved the tangy taste of Trader Joe’s sour dough French baguette, the slightly licorice flavor of the basil mayonnaise, and the melt in your mouth tender and flavorful tomato slices.  I did not notice the Chard as being very much different from lettuce.

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Willy arrive shortly after 8:00 when we were getting ready to eat. We each drank different drinks. Suzette made a mint julep.  I opened a bottle of Aquino Chianti Reserva with ice to chill it, and Willy drank water.  We ate and watched the debate and afterward discussed it, while  Suzette and I  nibbled some PPI clafoutis.

We turned off the TV after debate coverage at 9:30 and Willy left after re-booting my computer and we went to bed.

Bon Appetit

July 29, 2019 Lunch – Egg and Sausage Casserole with Chinese Vegetables. Dinner – Sautéed Rib Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms and onions, sautéed Artichokes with dill sauce and Chard Couscous

July 29, 2019 Lunch – Egg and Sausage Casserole with Chinese Vegetables. Dinner – Sautéed Rib Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms and onions, sautéed Artichokes with dill sauce and Chard Couscous

We awakened at 7:00 and walked 1 mile at 7:30 in 35 minutes.  Not great but a walk.  I then at breakfast of granola, blueberries, milk and mango yogurt.

I took a shower and dressed and went to the office.  I worked until noon and the re-heated a piece of PPI egg sausage casserole and the PPI Chinese mixed vegetables from Thursday’s lunch.

I took two rib steaks from the freezer after lunch to thaw.

At 3:30  I drove to the bank and took Suzette’s bike to the bike coop to get repaired and then drove to Lowe’s and purchased powdered sugar for Clafoutis, Club soda, and Tonic Water.

When I came home Suzette had arrived.  We watched the Nightly Business Report and discussed eating early.  I ate a bite of PPI Clafoutis and Cole slaw.  I was hungry, so was thrilled when Willy came at 6:00.

Artichokes with dill sauce

Everyone was willing to eat, so I went to the garden and picked some dill and a few sprigs of basil and chopped them finely and mixed them with 2/3 cup of mayonnaise and the juice of ½ lemon to make a dill dipping sauce.  Suzette cut three Artichokes I had boiled two days ago in half and drizzled the six halves with olive oil.  The Artichokes are the small ones sold at Trader Joe’s in a plastic four packs for $2.49.

Chard Couscous

Willy went to the garden and picked a handful of Chard and then went for a short ride in the bosque on Luke’s road bike. I removed the central stem and cut each half leave into two or three bite sized pieces.  Then Suzette rinsed and spun the Chard pieces to clean them.

I melted three oz. of butter in a sauce pan and added a cup of Couscous and cooked it for couple of minutes and then added 1 ½ cups of hot water and the Chard and covered the Couscous and cooked it over low heat for five to ten minutes.

The bread

I cut a six inch long piece of a French baguette I bought at Trader Joe’s last week and drizzled it with olive oil and cut a clove of garlic in half lengthwise and placed the two halves on the olive oil and wrapped it in aluminum foil and we heated it in the oven.

The steaks

Suzette asked if I wanted any mushrooms with the steak and I replied, “Yes and onions.”  So I sliced four large white mushrooms and five thin slices of yellow onion while Suzette salted and peppered the thawed steaks.  She tried to grill them but the propane gave out and she had to sauté the steaks, onion, and mushrooms in one large skillet and the six Artichoke halves in another large skillet on the stove.  She added butter to the steak skillet and later I opened a bottle of Amontillado sherry and doused the mushrooms and onions in the steak pan with about  2 oz. of sherry.

The wine

I asked Suzette whether she wanted to drink Pinot or Cabernet,  she said Cabernet, so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of Wellington 2010 Mohrhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon.  I opened it and poured three glasses of it for dinner.  It is my favorite cab for the money.  I bought two cases when the winery was sold several years ago, so we still have some bottles in the basement cellar.

When everything was ready Suzette plated each plate with two sautéed halves of artichoke, and a pile of Chard Couscous while I sliced the steaks she had laid on the cutting board on the work table.  Each of us selected our steak slices and garnished them with sautéed mushrooms and onions from the steak skillet.

I put the artichoke dipping sauce and heated baguette on the table and we commenced a hearty dinner as we watched the Antiques Roadshow.  They were vintage shows from 2005, so it was fun to guess whether the items increased or decreased in value before the 2015 price was projected on the screen.  Several times we were surprised by either a decrease or an increase.  I also tried to guess the increased value of Art, such as a small bust by Frederic Remington that went from $30,000 to $50,000 or whether some items were reproductions.

We did not drink all the wine, so I ate a few bites of Port Salut, Saint Andre, and Brie on each of three slices of warm bread to finish the wine.

Then I poured a small amount of Calvados into a sniffer and sipped it as I ate two chocolate covered peanut clusters for a proper finish to a proper French dinner.

Willy left after the Roadshow shows ended at 9:00 and Suzette and I soaked in the hot tub that Suzette had cleaned and re-filled with clean water and bromine yesterday.  It was a lovely soak after which we fell into bed.

I awoke at 1:30 to drink two glasses of water and finish this blog as I digested dinner.

Bon Appetit

July 28, 2019 Brunch – Sausage and Egg Casserole  Dinner – BBQ Country Style Pork Ribs and Cole Slaw

I woke at 7:30 and watched Stage 20 of the Tour that was shown again and news programs until 10:00

Suzette asked what I wanted for breakfast and I suggested a baked sausage and egg casserole.  Suzette found one on the Internet.  I think this is the recipe.

Directions
In a skillet, brown and crumble sausage; drain and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs; add milk, salt and mustard. Stir in bread cubes, cheese and sausage.
Pour into a greased 11x7-in. baking dish. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Taste of Home › recipes › sausage-a...
Sausage and Egg Casserole Recipe | Taste of Home
Ingredients
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage.
1/2 cup butter — melted.
1 16 ounce package cottage cheese.
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese.
1/4 cup all purpose flour.
1 teaspoon baking powder.
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper.
10 eggs — lightly beaten.
Sep 29, 2018
Crazy for Crust › cheesy-sausage-eg...

Except Suzette laid slices of vine ripe tomato on the bottom of the casserole and cut the recipe down to probably four eggs and eliminated the cottage cheese.  It was delicious and decidedly low carb.

The coverage of Stage 21, the ride into Paris, started at 10:00.  I watched the beginning and then rode my bike to Montano.  I was a bit tired when I got back and lay down and watched the rest of Stage 21.

Toward the end of the race I heated the croissants I bought yesterday at the Farmers’ Market and we ate them while watching the race for a very French snack at 1:00.

We also washed and coated 6 lb. of country style ribs with Kraft BBQ sauce and placed them on a
rack and baked them covered with aluminum foil in the oven for 4 hours at 325 degrees.  Suzette said she removed the foil and brushed the ribs with BBQ sauce for an hour and then recovered them.  I usually put ½ inch of water in the bottom of the roasting pan, but forgot to do that today.  The ribs still tasted wonderful and may even have dropped a bit more grease for lack of water although the meat was firm, not greasy.

There was no change in the standings and Caleb McEwan won the sprint finish as he drafted the other riders to sweep around them again.

Suzette went shopping and I rested until 4:30.

At 5:00 Suzette made Cole slaw with ½ head of Savoy cabbage, pickled beets, carrots, and mayonnaise.

We ate our dinner in the garden with beers.

We then watched TV.  60 Minutes, Poldark, and Grantchester.

We decided to not eat any dessert tonight, so we drank water after the meal.

We both enjoyed a restful day.  Suzette got her bike out of the shed and we pumped the tires and she rode up the block and back.

Bon Appetit

July 26, 2019 Lunch – Thais Restaurant. Dinner – Sautéed Teriyaki Salmon Salad

Yesterday was wired I went to Buffet King for lunch and ate three plates of food that was delicious but got loose bowels on the way home, which I think I got from the Chinese vegetables at East Ocean on Thursday.

The result was I did not eat any dinner, so a bad day of food.  Although the ribs, Mado Dofu, and Thai chicken and still stellar at Buffet King and did not cause the problem. In fact the food got me through dinner without hunger.

That brings us to Saturday and another experiment in digestion.

I stuck to the old faithful for breakfast whitefish on bagel with cream cheese and a thin slice of onion.

I watched Stage 20 of the Tour, which turned out to be amazing.  I woke up at 8:30 expecting to see half the stage and the stage was over.  They had reduced the stage from 90+ miles to 37 miles.  I was happy that they reviewed the stage.  So I was able see how Nebali the 2014 Tour winner won the stage and how Bernal and GeraintbThomas came across the line holding hands 15 seconds later to place 1st and 2nd in the Tour. Poor Allaphillipe lost 3 minutes and 45 seconds on the last climb to the finish and fell from 2nd to 5th.  He gave it everything he had but ran out of gas after 14 days in yellow yesterday and today.  I am sure he will be a hero in France because he held yellow for two weeks and won two stages. And the French love to see their heroes suffer terribly giving maximum effort even though they do not win.

After the bike race coverage ended at 9:30. Went to the garden and ate breakfast.  There were three lilies in the pond and the garden looked lovely.

Three lilies in bloom today

                                                The view from my chair under the gazebo

Mike called while we were in the garden and we went out front to supervise his adjusting the sprinkler heads in zone 1.

After he left Suzette left to go to the hardware store and I walked to the Farmers’ Market to walk a mile in the most appealing way possible.  I only bought ab almond and regular croissant at the Le Quiche Bakery booth and walked home.

I then showered and rested and made teriyaki sauce with ¼ cup each of sake, Mirin, and soy sauce and ½ T. of sugar and marinated the two salmon filets and two seared tuna pieces from last week’s meal at the Palmers.  A bit after 12:00 Suzette returned.  Suzette was in the mood for Moo Shu Pork,
so decided to go out to eat lunch and then see the documentary on the long love affair between Leonard Cohen and Marianne at 2:15 at Highridge theater.

We checked google for the best Moo Shu Pork and found out that Tsai’s Restaurant at Cutler and San Pedro was highly rated, so we drove there and ordered one order of Moo Shu Pork with six mandarin pancakes instead of the usual four for $1.00 extra.   We requested extra hoisin sauce and sliced green onion and were served them without charge.  We thought the Moo Shu Pork was good, but not great.  That award still belongs to Suzette who made a great one several years ago with real mandarin pancakes.

 

After lunch we went to see the “Leonard and Marianne: Words of Love”. It contained amazing footage and was extremely moving.  I suspect there was not a dry eye in the theater, at least not Suzette’s or mine, for sure. I highly recommend it. Cohen for me ai equal to Dylan as a poet and song writer.  I rank Cohen  socially a bit higher than Dylan because he was a Buddhist and had been born into a wealthy, supportive family.

We went home after the movie. I rested and read until 7:30 while Suzette made a fresh bowl of Japanese pickled carrots, radishes from the garden, and cucumbers to go with the teriyaki salmon.  I diced the piece of daikon I bought at Sprouts last Tuesday and added it to the pickled vegetables.  She then cleaned the lettuce from the Center and made a salad.  She diced a tomato, sautéed the two salmon filets and garnished the salad with the vegetables plus some pickled beets and dressed the salad with the pickling medium she made by mixing rice vinegar, Aji Mirin, and sesame oil.  When I added the Daikon I added some sake.

We drank the rest of the PPI bottles of Gruner Vitliner and Chateau Petit whites.

After dinner we watched TV and I ate a dessert of the last Boston Cream filled donut with chocolate ice cream.

We even saw a bit of National Treasure Book and Saturday Night Live.

I blogged a bit after Suzette went to bed.

Bon Appetit

July 24, 2019 Lunch – PPI Gazpacho and lamb chop on Couscous   Dinner – Hamburger with mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, onion, garlic, and carrot Casserole

I ate breakfast and then rode 10 miles to Montano and back.

I watched the Mueller testimony for a while and then showered and dressed.  As I put on my shoe the film staff arrived a bit before 11:00 to view the house for a scene or two in a TV series.  Thanks to Cynthia for the referral.

I had made a telephone conference for 1:30 with a client on a new case, so at 11:30 I decided to eat lunch because there were lots of great PPIs.  I first poured the remaining bowl of gazpacho from last Tuesday’s dinner into a bowl and sliced ½ of a Persian cucumber into quarter rounds that I added as a garnish to the soup plus a generous sprinkle of Trader Joe’s fried onions.

I then spooned a pile of PPI Chard and basil Couscous onto a plate and set a cooked lamb chop on top, covered it with Saran, and re-heated it in the microwave.  When it was heated I added a squirt of harrisa sauce to it from a metal tube we keep in the fridge.  Voila, a lovely lunch.

I drank water.

At 5:00 I watched the business news, since it was a good day in the Market and began to pit a bag full of beautiful super colossal Washington cherries, the best I have seen in years and only $1.48/lb. at Sprouts.  I can only conclude that the availability of this superior cherry at this price is related to the Chinese tariff, which has dried up some of the demand for the best quality cherries in China.  The last time something like this happened was when the tsunami hit Fukushima and interrupted the fishing ports and markets in Japan.  I was served the best sashimi I had had in years, which made me think that the highest quality fish normally sent to Japan was being shipped to the US instead.

Suzette came home as I was pitting cherries and I told her I intended to bake a casserole of Brussels sprouts, onion, fresh garlic from the garden, and carrots.  She suggested that I stop pitting cherries and start prepping the casserole because it required an hour to bake, so I did.  She pre-heated the oven and then prepped the Brussels sprouts by cutting off the tough ends and slicing them in half, while I peeled seven or eight nice sized cloves of garlic, peeled and diced two onions and two carrots.  We decided to flavor the vegetables with rosemary, so Suzette went to the garden and cut a stem of rosemary and picked the leaves off it and added them to the casserole dish filled with the vegetables.  She then tossed the vegetables with a generous drizzle of olive oil and dash of salt, covered the casserole dish with aluminum foil, and placed it in the oven to bake.

I then finished pitting the cherries.  Suzette suggested soaking the cherries in mint syrup instead of cognac, which is what we did.

We then discussed the entrée.  I suggested PPI lamb, put Suzette looked in the meat drawer and suggested that we cook the rest of the uncooked ground beef.  Suzette shaped patties and in about 45 minutes sautéed them in a skillet.  I asked if she wanted to add onions to the hamburger sauté and she suggested mushrooms, so I sliced three large white mushrooms and added them to the skillet with two more T. of butter.

I suggested drinking the new bottle of Gigondas I had bought at Trader Joe’s for$14.99.  I had put it in the wine fridge, so it was slightly chilled and accessible. While we were watching the news while the casserole baked, I opened the bottle and poured a small taste for each of us.  The Gigondas did

have a special syrupy and slightly acidic flavor, but it did not set off any bells in my head.  Cynthia had told me earlier in the day that that particular bottle at Trader Joe’s was good but there are much better bottles of Gigondas at Total Wine for $20.00.  Perhaps I will pursue that.

Suzette wanted cheese on her hamburger so I sliced several slices of Manchego.

After 1 ¼ hours everything was ready and Suzette plated and I filled the glasses.

Some of the Brussels sprouts and carrots were still quite firm, so Suzette returned the casserole to the oven and turned off the heat, so the vegetables would cook more. We left them in the oven overnight and when I placed them in a freezer bag at 5:00 a.m.they were crisp on the outside and soft inside and the olive oil had become delightfully rosemary flavored.  I tossed the vegetables in the flavored oil as
I scooped them into the freezer bag.  This was a major discovery.  It implies a new two step cooking
method for vegetable casseroles. First the regular baking and then a slow period at a lower temperature to allow the flavors of the herbs to mix with the oil to flavor the dish.

                                             The vegetable casserole after double baking

After dinner Suzette decided to make dessert. She combined small slices of the peach cake Mickie made for the cocktail party with a scoop of Bluebell vanilla ice cream and garnished the dish with three or four cherry halves.  I ate a few bites of Port Salut and Saint Andre cheese with the Gigondas to see how it tasted with cheese and it was not great.  Then I enjoyed immensely the peach cake and ice cream dessert Suzette made.

Suzette’s lovely and tasty dessert

The other thing I really liked about this meal was the flavor of combining sautéed mushroom slices with a baked Brussels sprout and onion.  We both liked the combination of the baked garlic with bites of hamburger. This year’s baked fresh garlic from the garden is really wonderful.

Bon Appetit

July 23, 2019 Lunch – PPI Chirashi Donburi. Dinner - Poached Salmon with garlic tarragon cream sauce, steamed green beans and asparagus and casarecce pasta

July 23, 2019 Lunch – PPI Chirashi Donburi. Dinner - Poached Salmon with garlic tarragon cream sauce, steamed green beans and asparagus and casarecce pasta

I walked a mile with Suzette.  Then I fried two eggs and a patty of pork sausage for breakfast.  Then I showered, dressed and watched the sprint finish of the Tour stage in Nimes.  The Australian, Caleb McEwen, won again by powering around the slip stream of six powerful sprinters in a perfectly timed acceleration.

Then I went to my dental appointment, after which I drove to Sprouts.  I bought a green bell pepper, a lb. of Brussels sprouts, apiece of Daikon, a lb. of chocolate covered peanuts, a bag of red cherries, 2 lb. of sea scallops, and a gallon of milk.

I went home, put everything away, and ate the PPI Chirashi left from yesterday’s lunch at Azuma with cups of green tea.

Then I worked until 5:30 on my new case and then worked on my 2018 taxes.

At 6:30 Suzette wanted to start cooking. We discussed the menu and decided to make poached salmon in a cream sauce with steamed green beans.  A little later we decided to boil casarecce macaroni to go with the meal.  We decided to flavor the cream sauce with tarragon, thyme, and fresh garlic from this year’s recent harvest.

I went to the garden and picked a handful of tarragon and a few sprigs of thyme. I then de-leaved the herbs and chopped them finely and put them into the poaching medium Suzette had made for the salmon consisting of butter, white wine, and water, plus garlic.  It smelled wonderful as the herbs and garlic cooked into the liquid.

Suzette then started a pot of water boiling and added a handful of cassarecce macaroni we bought in a six one lb. bag assortment of Italian shaped macaronis at Costco.

When Willy arrived around 7:30 Suzette started the green beans she had snapped steaming in the steamer and put the salmon into the poaching medium and covered the skillet with the wok cover so the fish would steam and poach.

When the fish was cooked we transferred the three filets to a pasta bowl and placed them in a warm oven and poured the approximately two cups of liquid into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup.

Suzette then sautéed two T. of butter with two T. of flour in the emptied skillet for about five minutes until they combined into a light brown roux.  Then I slowly added about 1 ½ cups of the poaching medium to the roux as Suzette constantly stirred the mixture to integrate the poaching liquid and avoid lumps.  As the sauce thickened I would add liquid and then Suzette would stir vigorously to integrate the liquid and then more slowly as the sauce smoothed out until the sauce thickened and we
would repeat that step of adding liquid and stirring in liquid until the sauce relaxed and no longer thickened rapidly. We then added two T. of heavy cream to the sauce to give it a creamy flavor.

Suzette then re-heated a bag of PPI steamed asparagus in the microwave.

When everything was ready and the pasta drained, Suzette plated the pasta bowls with a pile of pasta, a Poached filet of salmon, sauce, and then sprinkled the green beans and asparagus over the top of the salmon filet.

I poured glasses of the Gruner Vitliner White I bought at Trader Joe’s for $6.99.  It is one of Suzette’s favorite whites and it light fruity and acid balanced complexity accented the licorice tangy flavor of the sauce on the fish and pasta and helped cut through the cream sauce and rich oily fish flavor.

Here s a picture.

We talked with Willy about traffic deaths of pedestrians by cars and how the new Vision Zero program Willy is in charge of might reduce deaths.

After dinner Suzette heated the slice of peach cake Mickie brought to the Friday evening cocktail party and added a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream to make Willy a dessert.  I made a cup of green tea and ate the chocolate topping and Boston cream filling from a donut I got at Donut Mart yesterday.

When we finished dessert it was almost 10:00 and we said goodnight to Willy and went to bed after a wonderful day of food.

Bon Appetit

July 22, 2019 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner – New Recipe, Fruit and nut stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Chard and basil Couscous

July 22, 2019 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner – New Recipe, Fruit and nut stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Chard and basil Couscous

I slept until 8:00.  I got up and saw it was going to be a good day in the market and ate breakfast of granola, fruit salad, and yogurt and watched some of the Tour stage.  I then walked a mile to Kit Carson Park, then to the Country Club and back along Park Ave. I arrived home in time to watch the end of the stage, an ascent of the 7th tallest mountain in the Tour this year of 2600 meters. A mountain finish on the last day in the Pyrenees.  Tuesday will be a flat profile and then the Tour will head to the Alps and Paris for the finish on Sunday.

I then did a little work and showered and dressed and drove to my podiatry appointment.  I had long discussion with my new doctor, which resulted in being fitted with in soles in my shoes with better arch support.

I then drove to Trader Joe’s and bought a French baguette, Artichokes, a bottle of cognac for Suzette, and a case of wine.  The wine included two new wines, a $14.99 Gigondas from Southern Rhône Valley, a new $4.99 100% Verdejo from Spain and 10 of the favorites including Sagnol rose, Emma Reichart rose, Chateau Roudier, Origon Gran Reserva Grenache and Syrah, and Picton Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

I felt like I was on a pilgrimage by now. Mi drove to Azuma and ate my favorite lunch made by my favorite sushi chef, Chirashi Donburi, a combination of raw fish, cooked octopus, egg omelet, seaweed salad, on a bed of sushi rice and shredded Daikon for $14.99.  My idea of the perfect high protein cool summer meal.  I drank hot green tea, which today was served in an authentic Japanese steel teapot for $2.50.  I loved that small touch.  The Chirashi includes 12 pieces. I eat 6 and box the other ½ of the lunch for lunch tomorrow.

Then at 1:00 I drove three blocks down the street to Albertson’s and bought 2 lb. of fresh farm raised Atlantic salmon for $6.97/lb. and a 6 lb. slab of country style pork ribs for $.97/lb.

Then I drove across the street to a Donut Mart.  Unfortunately they were sold out of bagels, so I got three chocolate covered donuts filled with Boston cream (custard), I drove home and deposited all of the food in the fridge and started working a bit after 2:00. When I checked the Market I was pleasantly surprised to find that my portfolio had increased by ½% and was back above what I considered my expected annual gain after two days last week that took it well below.

I worked until 4:30, when I drove to the bank and then to Lowe’s where I bought 2/3 lb. of nice green beans.  Lowe’s produce prices generally are much higher than El Super but Lowe’s gets the best quality produce, so for one item on the way home it makes sense to pay a bit more for the convenience.

I arrived home at 5:10 in time to watch most of the Nightly Business Review.  Suzette arrive soon after and we discussed the dinner menu.  She suggested hamburgers and I suggested we see if the pork tenderloin was still fresh enough to cook.  When Suzette unwrapped it, it was fine, so suzette decided to make a new recipe she had mentioned last week,

pork tenderloin stuffed with fruits and nuts.

Suzette soaked several dried apricots and figs in hot water for about twenty minutes to rehydrate them.  Then she ground them with walnuts and salt and about one dozen sage leaves in the Cuisinart to make a purée filling.  I made a deep incision in the tenderloin to butterfly it.  Suzette stuffed the tenderloin with the filling and we wrapped the stuffed tenderloin with string to hold it together.  Suzette shaped aluminum foil into a boat shape and placed the tenderloin in it to keep the flames from reaching the tenderloin and then grilled it.

Before grilling 

                                                                After grilling

When I went to the garden to pick the sage leaves for Suzette’s Pork dish, I also picked a handful of basil and a few sprigs of thyme and a handful of Chard and two snow peas.  I had seen a recipe for herb seasoned farro and decided to adapt it to Couscous. I chopped the basil, two cloves of fresh garlic from our garden, and a medium shallot that I then sautéed in three T. of butter.

While the herbs were cooking I heated water and Suzette tore the Chard leaves from their stalks and I chopped the Chard and the two snow peas into bite sized pieces.  I then added 1 cup of Couscous and the Chard and snow peas to the pot and let them cook for about three minutes.  Then I added 1 ½ cups of boiling water to the pot and covered it a raised the heat to cook the Couscous and then lowered the heat to let it steam a bit.  After another five minutes I turned off the heat to let the Couscous steam and fluff.

Willy called and said he was coming by for dinner because his ankles were not up to skate boarding with his friends this evening. Suzette set the table for three.

I discussed wine with Suzette and we quickly decided upon a bottle of Emma Reichart rose because it is 100% Pinot Noir and heavier, so perfect for the heavier stuffed pork tenderloin, so I went to the garage fridge to fetch the rose and put it into the fridge.

When Willy arrived Suzette brought in the tenderloin and I sliced it and poured the rose.  Suzette spooned Couscous onto three plates and we served, ourselves slices of the stuffed tenderloin.

                                                                 Suzette’s dish

                                                                         My dish

We were surprised that the stuffing on top of the tenderloin was charred black.  We guessed the flames reached around the aluminum to burn the sugary fruit in the filling.

We enjoyed the new recipe for us, although it is a rather standard dish.

The wine was great with the dish and the fruit flavor of the Pinot Noir accented and complemented the fruit flavor inn the filling.

I started watching a Rachel Maddow when she interviewed Steven Miller’s uncle named Glosser. I am intrigued how a Jewish person can become so sadistic, but missed those important questions at the beginning of the interview.  The uncle was a normal liberal person who opposed the policies Miller was espousing.  Willy left shortly after I started watching TV.  We then turned the channel to the Tour and watched the exciting mountain finish.

At 9:00 we went to bed and I blogged yesterday’s blog.  I awakened at 2:00 and blogged today’s blog and drank two glasses of water that I should have drunk with dinner.  But the fruity rose was so delicious with the fruit filled pork that drinking water seemed to dilute the flavors at the time.

I had brought in the cream filled donuts for Dessert but we did not crave dessert because of all of the fruit in the entrée.

Bon Appetit

July 21, 2019 Brunch – Sausage and Eggs and Cottage Fries. Dinner – Grilled Lamb Chops with Zucchini and Cauliflower Couscous

July 21, 2019 Brunch – Sausage and Eggs and Cottage Fries. Dinner – Grilled Lamb Chops with Zucchini and Cauliflower Couscous

This was a low food day.

I ate a bowl of granola, fruit salad and yogurt and watched the news and Tour de France until 10:00.  Suzette was hungry so she made us Sausage patties and eggs with Cottage Fries.

Then I rode to Campbell Rd.   It was a bit uncomfortable with a belly full of sausage, eggs and potatoes.

I rested a bit for a bit after my ride.

We invited Macon for dinner.  She arrived at 6:3q0 with a bottle of Sheehan Red Blend.  Suzetteb grilled lamb chops and made zucchini and cauliflower Couscous by separating the flowerets from the stalk of cauliflower and running everything through the Cuisinart to reduce it to a granular size and then sautéing the resulting vegetable Couscous in butter and olive oil in a large skillet until it began to brown.  We added some green beans to the couscous tonight and made small individual Caprese salads with three slices of tomatoes and basil covered with then slices of onion and Port Salut cheese.

Suzette asked me if I wanted to use the two PPI baked potatoes to make twice baked potatoes.  I said, “No, but I would love a grilled potato.  I then cut the two,PPI baked potatoes lengthwise into four about 1 inch thick slabs.  Suzette salted two each with flavored salt, such as Oaxaca flavored salt and grilled them with the lamb chops.  Since Suzette is not eating starches she placed one of each on Macon’s and my plates.

Suzette plated our plates with a pile of vegetable Couscous and then placed a lamb chop on top of the Couscous beside the Caprese salads and grilled potatoes for a lovely plate.

My plate

                                                       The happy diners by the pond

The Sheehan red blend was surprisingly good. After dinner Macon showed us her photos from her recent 8 day trip to Mexico City and surrounding villages visiting mostly folk art museums.

Finally, a leisurely day.

Bon Appetit

July 20, 2019 Lunch – Steak Salad. Dinner – Pete’s Café in Belen

Happy Moon Landing Day +50 and Happy 80th BD for Judy Chicago

I watched the Tour this morning as I nibbled on two 1/3 slices of regular bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with thin slices of onion and bits of smoked whitefish.  Pinot beat everyone to the observatory at the top of Tourmalet, a distance of over 10 miles and a vertical climb of over almost 1 ½ miles (like racing up approximately 1 ½ Grand Canyons) at the end of a 73 mile day of racing over smaller mountains.  At about one mile to go the top a Frenchman Pinot took off and only the yellow jersey could stay with him. Pinot won and Allaphillipe was second six seconds behind.  Last year’s winner and favorite to win this year Geraint Thomas, faltered and lost 25 seconds, so is now 2.02minures behind Allaphillipe. The French are going wild because Allaphillipe won the individual time trial the day before in Pau to gain 14 seconds on Thomas and gained 25seconds more today.  Allaphillipe would be the first Frenchman to win the Tour since 1985 if he wins this year.

I then walked to the country club and then to Kit Carson Park and then back home for my longest walk of the year.  My own little Tourmalet.

At noon Suzette returned home and she ate the PPI Vinaigrette salads and cleaned the lettuce from her garden in Los Lunas and I made a salad with the PPI steak, the lettuce, a cubed tomato, a Persian cucumber, a slice of dill pickle and several cracked green olives.  Suzette made a balsamic dressing for both of our salads by mixing balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

After lunch we rested until 3:30.  We then dressed and drove to Belen and met George and Sylvia at Pete’s Café at 4:45.  It was rather funny that we also studied the menu and all ordered a chile Relleno with a small salad.  I added a beef enchilada to my plate that I shared with Suzette.

After our dinner we walked past the museum and the Belen Hotel that is now where Judy and Donald live to the library where a projector and chairs were set in a meeting room and watched a Netflix documentary on Feminists based upon a photography book by Cynthia Macadams: Feminist Photos 1974-1977 and the gallery exhibition in 2010 at the Steven Kasher Gallery of some of the photos.

Macadams  photo of Judy in 1977

Judy Chicago was featured prominently in the documentary, since she was the first professor of feminist art in the U.S. at Fresno State College in 1970 and later at California Institute of Arts in L.A.

She was raised Jewish, like Bob Dylan, and changed he name, like Dylan,  to Chicago, but for a different reason. In her case from her married name of Gerowitz, after the sudden death of her husband in a car accident, to abandon any connection with a male dominated society.

After the movie we walked back to the front of the Hotel where about ten rows of smoke bombs were
linked together.  Judy came out of the hotel at around 8:00 and when she judged the light to be just
right a lady little ten rows of smoke bombs they were different colors of smoke and were quite beautiful as they filled the evening sky with torrents of colored smoke.  As the smoke subsided we could see the sun setting through the smoke over El Morro Peak in the West.

Here are some photos.

                                             Looking east at display and hotel

The hotel

                                                    Looking west at the display at 8:00

                                                Judy appears around 8:15

                                                   Judy talking just before the display

 

                                                           Lighting the fireworks

                                                     Judy in front of the smoke display

                                             The sunset through the smoke after the display

In the museum 

                                           

After the smoke display we visited the new Through the Flower Museum across from the Hotel. It had several of her and Donald’s works including his picture taken at the top of Tome Hill showing the line of pilgrims ascending the hill on an Easter Friday.

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x8721f72a1ecb407d%3A0xca7bd531ed6d3774!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM99tJZWIx3RP8A-_mtLm8YpSeqPiAZXeoOt06H%3Dw768-h512-n-k-no!5sThrough%20the%20Flower%20-%20Google%20Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipM99tJZWIx3RP8A-_mtLm8YpSeqPiAZXeoOt06H&viewerState=

An interesting picture in the series of text and photos documenting Judy and Donald’s careers showed a fireworks installation she did in California in the 1960’s.  The text said that Judy favored smoke installations because they have a softer, more feminine feel.

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x8721f72a1ecb407d%3A0xca7bd531ed6d3774!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM99tJZWIx3RP8A-_mtLm8YpSeqPiAZXeoOt06H%3Dw768-h512-n-k-no!5sThrough%20the%20Flower%20-%20Google%20Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipM99tJZWIx3RP8A-_mtLm8YpSeqPiAZXeoOt06H&viewerState=lb

That was what she created for us to see tonight.

We said goodnight to George and Sylvia and drove home at around 9:00.

We try to stay up for Saturday Night Live but were unable to do so after a day of minimum food and maximum activity.

Bon Appetit and Art.