March 31, 2021 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam. Dinner - Cream of Asparagus Soup, Grilled Filet Mignon, Salad, Baked Potato and Sautéed Oyster Mushrooms

March 31, 2021 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam. Dinner - Cream of Asparagus Soup, Grilled Filet Mignon, Salad, Baked Potato and Sautéed Oyster Mushrooms

Today everything went right in the market.  My portfolio was up over 2.25% for a while as big tech took off, although my portfolio finished up just under 2% for the day.

I am thrilled and hope the buying is rotating back to high tech.  I took one of Willy’s recommendations and bought Charge Point (CHPT) on Thursday and in the two trading days since I bought it it has risen 30%.  The company makes electric vehicle charging stations, which will be increased dramatically if Biden’s new infrastructure Bill passes

I ate my usual breakfast of tropical fruit salad with yogurt, milk, and granola.

Then I thawed two thick fillets.

At 11:30 I drove to the bank and then Sprouts to shop.  I bought a fresh Atlantic salmon k.  filet, mushrooms, a head of butter lettuce, cream, milk, tofu, cream cheese, an eggplant, Peruvian scallops, two Altaulfo mangos, cluster tomatoes, a bunch of asparagus, four small avocados, and bananas. When I exited Sprouts I called 2000 Vietnam and ordered an order of  (patted noodles) Bahn with grilled pork and egg rolls.

When I arrived at the restaurant the order was ready and when I arrived at home at 1:30 Suzette was hungry and ready to eat.  Unfortunately the Bahn was not what she wanted, so she made herself a meatloaf sandwich.

I enjoyed every morsel and removed leaves from the head of butter lettuce to wrap the pork and egg rolls and fermented Daikon and carrot in.  I lingered over the lunch for a good deal longer than Suzette, who ate her sandwich and returned to her desk while I sipped Vietnamese iced coffee and dipped patted rice vermicelli noodle pads in the fish sauce and then rolled them in a leaf of lettuce.  After lunch I started working on my 2920 taxes. 

At 4:00 we started prepping dinner.  Suzette placed six potatoes into the oven to bake and we went to the garden and picked a basket full of lettuce and arugula.  I then returned to the garden and picked tarragon and chives.  I chopped the tarragon and put the chopped tarragon pieces into the Caesar salad dressing and freshened it by adding lemon juice and olive oil.  I also sliced the chives and put them into a shallow bowl to be used to garnish the baked potato.

I sliced two radishes, 1/3 cucumber, and a tomato and added them to the spun lettuce chilling in the fridge.  

Peter and Etienne arrived at 6:30. Etienne brought two bottles of wine, one of which was a Pinot noir meritage.  I poured glasses of Calstar Cellars Sauvignon Blanc and showed Etienne and Peter the wine cellars and then let him pick a bottle for dinner.  He chose the first bottle he pulled from the wine fridge, a 2008 Juan Gil Spanish Jumilla.  Here are wine notes that appear correct to me:

A big, dark, heavily oaked wine with caramel, resin and baked berry aromas. The palate has a thick, meaty feel, slightly abrasive tannins, and then sweet, sticky, woody black fruit flavors. Finishes with brown sugar and more wood flavor; strives for a higher level but gets bogged down with barrel influence. MICHAEL SCHACHNER

• RATING
  87

We started the meal with a bowl of Cream of Asparagus soup Suzette had made in the afternoon with the Cornish Game Hen stock she made last night.  She sautéed celery and onion and chopped and cooked two bunches of asparagus in the sautéed vegetables and stock and added a potato, salt. Pepper, timur, nutmeg and cream.  Suzette drizzled the soup with cream fraiche and served the soup warm in covered soup bowls at the table under the gazebo. Suzette had laid paper and kindling in the ceramic brazier and she started the fire when we began the soup course. 

We drank Emma Reichart German Riesling with the soup, which complemented it perfectly.

Before we ate the soup Etienne sliced 1/2 lb. of fresh organic oyster mushrooms he had bought at a farmers market in Las Cruces and I minced a shallot and he sautéed the mushrooms and shallot in butter.

While we ate soup Suzette grilled the filets and when they were grilled to rare I sliced them and Suzette opened a potato for each plate and placed pats of butter in each potato. She then added salad dressed with Caesar dressing to the plates and I added three slices of steak to each plate and a spoonful of sautéed mushrooms.

We carried the plates with sour cream and sliced chives to the garden table and poured the Juan Gil red as we began dinner. It was an interesting wine.

We all enjoyed dinner as Etienne and Peter informed us about wineries and restaurants in the finger lake region of New York, which is where Peter was raised.

The meat was first rate. It seemed to be restaurant grade to me and the salad, potato, and mushrooms were all wonderful.  This is very much the kind of meal we would eat for special occasions when I was growing up in Texas.  We would often go out for dinner on Sunday evenings to the Farmer’s Daughter, a sister restaurant to the Cattleman’s, in Fort Worth and I would always order a petit filet, which was always served with a baked potato and salad.  So, tonight’s meal had a deja vu feel to me.

When we finished dinner at around 8:30 Peter bid us goodnight and Etienne brought in his kit to spend the night in the guest bed room.

We had a sniffer of Calvados while Suzette had a sniffer of cognac.  We waited for Trevor Noah, but he was not on tonight, so we all went to bed around 9:30.

Bon Appetit 

March 30, 2021 Lunch - Antipasto Salad. Dinner - Roasted Cornish Game Hen with Roasted sautéed Acorn Squash and steamed green beans

March 30, 2021 Lunch - Antipasto Salad. Dinner - Roasted Cornish Game Hen with Roasted sautéed Acorn Squash and steamed green beans

I started the day with a bowl of granola, tropical fruit salad, milk, and yogurt.  A rather uneventful day as the market traded in a range, so I watched some of the Chauvin Murder trial, the part where the young girl you took the video of the murder testified.  This young girl should be given an Academy award for her video.

At 10:00 Jody came to fix the light switch in my office and at 11:00 the yard men came to clean the yard.

At 11:30 I made a salad with a head of Romaine lettuce and three green.." onions sliced thinly, a tomato, a radish, 1/3 of a cucumber seeded, peeled, and sliced, and 4 slices of salami and two slices of ham.

I ate a slice of toast with creamed herring before lunch and a slice of toast spread with goat cheese with the salad.

With all the salads I am eating, I like to think I am beginning to lose weight.  

A bit after 2:00 when I tallied my day in the market I was surprised that my portfolio was only down a little bit, mostly due to a  drop in Apple.

But thanks to Square, Plug Power, and one or two others moving up I finished the day just a bit below even.

I started making Ratatouille at 4:00.  I chopped 1 1/2 onion, two zucchinis, 2/3 of an eggplant, two tomatoes, and about a dozen cloves of garlic.  I sautéed those ingredients in 3 T. of butter and 2 T. of olive oil over low heat for about an hour. I went to the garden and picked a handful of baby oregano and tarragon and chopped them and added the herbs to the ratatouille.

At around 6:30 Suzette put two Cornish game hens on spandex cooking frames and roasted them in the oven for about an hour.  While the chicken was roasting Suzette roasted an acorn squash in the oven with the chicken. 

We snapped about 1/2 lb. of green beans and steamed them.  When the squash was cooked Suzette peeled the skin off and seeded and cubed 1/2  and put the squash cubes in a skillet and sautéed them in butter with pinon nuts, and brown sugar. The squash was wonderful.

The Cornish game hen was browned nicely.  I cut one in half and placed a half on each plate, which Suzette then filled with cubed acorn squash and string beans.

I opened the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that Rick Davis made for Calstar Cellars in his small winery.

It was a delicious, smooth California Sauvignon Blanc wine, not overly citrusy.

We loved our dinner.

We watched an episode of Finding Your Roots and then an episode of the Durrells In Corfu.

After dinner I made a cup of camomile tea and ate the last three squares of  Baklava.  

At 9:00 we went to bed.

Bon Appetit 

 March 29, 2021. Lunch - Chicken Salad and Cheese toast. Dinner - vegetables with Couscous 

I worked on Karim’s lease most of the day. 

When we finished at 3:00 I made a salad with the PPI chicken thigh, a half head of Romaine lettuce, a tomato, three green onions sliced thinly, a few thin slices of onion and Pecorino Romano cheese, and the PPI salad from last night that contained sliced radishes, hard boiled egg, croutons, thin slices of red onion, and slices of marinated asparagus.

I toasted a slice of 9 grains bread and melted slices of Pecorino Romano cheese on in the microwave.

At 4:30 I rode to the bank to deposit a check.  It was a surprisingly hard ride, perhaps because I had not eaten much today. 

When I returned home I found that Suzette had arrived.  I sat with her and watched the news but at 6;30 I lay down to recuperate and nap. We had discussed dinner and Suzette suggested a vegetarian menu of vegetables sautéed in couscous, which sounded great, since I had not thawed anything.  

When I awakened at 7:30. When I arrived in the kitchen I found Suzette dicing some red bell pepper, having diced onion, some asparagus, sorrel from our garden, and a tomato.  I fetched the bag of zucchinis from the garage and quartered one and sliced each quarter into 1/3 inch slices and added them to the Le Crueset casserole in which the other vegetables were sautéing in butter and olive oil.

As soon as the vegetables softened Suzette added the couscous and sorrel and stirred and covered the casserole to steam the ingredients.

We then discussed a wine and decided to open the Calliers des Vignes Prestige  White Cotes Du Rhone that was chilled.

Soon Suzette ladled a pile of vegetables and couscous onto our plates and poured glasses of wine.

The flavor of the couscous and vegetables was great. It makes me want to make ratatouille.

After dinner we watched two episodes of Antiques Roadshow and then most of a documentary on Beatrice Mandelman, which was interesting because I bought one of her collages.

At 9;30 we soaked in the hot tub and went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit 

March 28, 2021 Brunch - Sausage Burritos Dinner - PPI spaghetti squash, baked chicken, rack of lamb, meatloaf, and salad

March 28, 2021 Brunch - Sausage Burritos   Dinner - PPI spaghetti squash, baked chicken, rack of lamb, meatloaf, and salad

Something amazing happened today.  When awakened in the morning the numbness and pain in my right leg was gone and it did not return all day.  This is the first time for this to occur for an entire day in about ten years.

I watched the news shows until 10:00 and then took two phone calls until about 11:00.  Suzette ate the PPI Pork egg foo young and then went to the garden to work, feeding the fruit trees and cultivating the garden beds.

I made sausage, potato, and onion burritos for me and Suzette at about 12:00.

 Then I went to the garden and helped plant snow peas and lettuce.

We zoomed at 2:00 with Billy and Elaine and at 3:00 I napped until 4:15 when we went for a walk in the Bosque around the lake where many waterfowl were eating and basking in the warm afternoon sun.  We saw Canadian geese, mallards, goldeneyes, green teal and a pair of wood ducks.

I walked over a mile without serious pain.

We then drove to the recycling center on Broadway and deposited our empty bottles. When we returned home we opened the newly received bottle of Calstar Rose of Pinot Noir, which was a little disappointing after the luscious 2023 Calstar Pinot Noir.  It was rather bland without much character, although drinkable and sufficiently dry.

We drank a glass under the gazebo and when Willy arrived at 7:00 he helped us pick a basket full of lettuce from our garden that we took to the kitchen and prepared a salad and heated leftovers for dinner.  Suzette filled three plates half full with chicken, meatloaf, lamb riblets and spaghetti squash covered with the lovely tomato and mushroom sauce that the chicken was baked in and heated them in the microwave, while I spun the lettuce and placed the lettuce in a large wooden salad bowl and added a diced and sliced hard boiled egg, a tomato, two radishes, six marinated, grilled asparagus, and thin slices of red onion and Caesar dressing.

We filled our plates with salad and glasses with the rest of the Calstar rose and went back out to the table under the gazebo to eat dinner and chat.

After dinner Willy left and I ate a piece of baklava with a cup of camomile tea flavored with lime juice and honey, a la Mexico.

At 9:30 we went to bed tired from our day of gardening and hiking in the Bosque.

Bon Appetit 

 

March 27, 2021 Lunch - BLT Sandwich Dinner - Grilled Rack of Lamb and Asparagus with Tomato and Red Onion Couscous and Tzatziki

March 27, 2021 Lunch - BLT Sandwich  Dinner - Grilled Rack of Lamb and Asparagus with Tomato and Red Onion Couscous and Tzatziki 

We slept in this morning.  Then I prepared my usual breakfast of granola with fruit salad and yogurt and milk and we worked on the trip.  By noon we have reservations for all the nights except one and have completed the whole itinerary.

Tzatziki

I then went to the garden and picked a large handful of mint.  I cleaned the  mint and chopped finely and put it into a bowl.  Then I peeled a cucumber and sliced into 1/4 inch cubes and salted the cucumber.  I then chopped chives and added them.  Then I peeled two cloves of garlic and pressed it into the bowl and squeezed in 1/2 lemon and then added 1 cup of yogurt.

I covered the bowl with Saran and set it in the fridge to mellow.

We decided to prepare BLT sandwiches.  While I picked a basket full of salad Suzette fried four pieces of bacon and toasted four slices of the gnarliest bacon we have seen in a while and sliced a tomato and fetched the mayonnaise.  When I returned we spun the lettuce and we each made our BLT sandwich.  I always make mine open faced and Suzette makes hers closed.  It was windy, so we ate inside.

A little later after I finished pruning the roses I was hungry and made a peanut butter and honey sandwich on a piece of toast and then lay down at four and napped until 6:00.

Tomato and red onion Couscous 

We started cooking.  Suzette prepared the asparagus and rack of lamb and I prepared the couscous. 

I chopped a slice of red onion and cubed a Roma tomato and put them into a sauce pan with 3 T. of butter. I then measured 1 cup of Couscous and heated a kettle of water and heated the tomato and onion and after they began to soften I added the cup of Couscous and stirred it to coat each grain with butter.  In another minute I added a bit more than 1 1/2 cups of water with a bay leaf to the hot ingredients, which caused a cloud of steam.  I covered the pot with its lid and waited for it to build steam and then reduced the heat to its lowest level and cooked the couscous for a couple of minutes and then turned off the heat.  When Suzette put the rack of lamb and the asparagus she had tossed in a gallon freezer bag with olive oil, salt, and pepper on the grill, I checked the couscous and it was quite wet, so I turned the heat on to medium for a minute or two and then turned off the heat. For dry couscous I add 1 1/3 cups of water. I usually prefer damp spongy couscous and add 1 3/4 cup of water as I did today.

I went to the basement looking for the Cotes Du Rhone I had bought at Costco for $7.99 yesterday, but could not find it, so I selected a Kirkland Rioja Reserva ($7.99 at Costco).

When I returned the plates were filled with two rib-lets each, a pile of couscous on which were grilled asparagus and a puddle of tzatziki on the side.  I opened the Rioja and we poured it out into the glasses.

Suzette had started a fire in the ceramic brazier and we each too our wine glass and plate of food to the gazebo in the garden and ate a lovely meal.

We added wood to the brazier to throw some heat toward us to alleviate the evening chill after the sun set.

We talked and talked until around 9:00 when we decided to serve dessert.

Mike had brought a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle Gewurtztraminier wine from Washington State and three types of Greek desserts, two different Baklava’s and a piece of Kadaif he bought at Istanbul Market plus a container of chocolate covered raisins from Turkey. I poured glasses of wine and put the bottle in a bucket and took them to the gazebo with plates of dessert Suzette filled with pieces of the desserts. We talked and ate some more and the came in around 10:00 and Mike and I drank glasses of Calvados and Suzette drank a cognac and until after 11:00.

It was great seeing Mike again and having someone over for dinner.

Bon Appetit 

March 26, 2021 Lunch - Smoked Pork Egg Foo Young. Dinner - Gyoza and Chili Relleno and beans

 March 26, 2021 Lunch - Smoked Pork Egg Foo Young. Dinner - Gyoza and Chili Relleno and beans

Today I spent a lot of time in the morning playing in the stock market and in the end everything was good. The market moved up from the open but by mid morning it started down and I sold my Apple shares. It kept going down for a while but then turn up again and I bought back the same number of shares.  The two trades netted me cash of over $1000.  

But then after lunch Apple started down again I toyed with the idea and selling again but decided to hold my position, which was a good decision because Apple and the rest of the market surged upward in the last hour and from being down over 80 points the NASDAQ ended up almost 163 points and the Dow ended up over 450 points.  So I netted a respectable gain on the day of 1.25%.  As I went to bed at this evening at 8:30 p.m. the futures point to a higher open on Monday. So maybe the big tech sell off is ending.

I ate a bowl of granola, milk, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad at 9:30 a.m.

At noon I decided to avoid lots of carbs and decided to make a stir fry/ egg foo young.  I diced the smoked pork and about 1 T. each of ginger and garlic and three large stalks of Bok Choy (dividing the firm white section pieces from the green leave sections), a slice of red onion, a large white mushroom, two stalks of asparagus, and the white section of a leek.

I heated 2 T. of peanut oil in medium high heat and cooked the minced ginger and garlic in an instant.  Then I added all the ingredients except the pork and green leaves and cooked them for several minutes until the firm ingredients softened.

I whisked three eggs with 1 T. of soy, 2 T. of Chinese cooking wine, and 1 tsp. of sesame oil. 

Then I added the pork and Bok choy green leaves and mixed them in and cooked them for a minute.

Then I added the seasoned egg mixture and let the mixture cook for several minutes until the egg mixture set on the bottom.  I do not stir fry, literally I lift in sections.  The large amount of ingredients in the wok presented four sections based on the size of my ladle, so I flipped the mass of ingredients in four sections, reassembling it so the uncooked top was united on the bottom that was facing the wok surface.  

After the flipped top had cooked to a light brown color I flipped the mass in four sections again to brown the bottom and add additional firmness to both sides.  Then It was ready to eat. In the end it resembled a large omelet divided into four sections.

I made a made a cup of green tea and lifted one section of the massive egg foo young into a plate and ate it.  I was hungry so I ate a second section and then filled a plastic container with the remaining 1/2.

After lunch I watched the market take off with glee.  This was the turn in the market I have been waiting for, where all the big tech companies’ began to move back up in response to the expectation that the economic stimulus combined with the increased number of vaccinations, would jump start the economy.  I hope I am right.  The early indication was the turnaround of Moderna and Johnson and Johnson shares and the upsurge of all of the reopening stocks, like casino and travel stocks and raw material stocks.

Today, the first day when 3.4 million Americans received vaccinations, may be remembered in history as when the U.S. economy began the slow recovery from the pandemic.

If I were Biden I would send as many vials of vaccine to the Florida beaches and vaccinate as many young Spring Break revelers as possible.

At 3:00 I took a shower and dressed and when Suzette came home we drove to Costco to shop.  We didn’t need much but we needed to replenish the basics, flour, sugar, olive oil, envelopes, coffee, dishwashing tablets and liquid, and frozen berries for Willy.

It was my exercise for the day as we pushed the cart around Costco.

We picked up a rack of 8 lamb Rib-lets for dinner Saturday night and two bottles of wine, including a new 90+ point rated Cotes Du Rhone red and a new Rioja Reserva.

We arrived home at 4:30 and I was hungry. As I put Willy’s  berries into the freezer I saw a bag of Ling Ling pot stickers and grabbed it. I followed the instructions for cooking, which is to coat the bottom of a skillet with oil, then I placed nine frozen pot stickers on the oil and added 1/2 cup of water and turned the heat on and covered the skillet with our wok cover and steamed the dumplings for ten minutes until the water evaporated.  I then added a few dashes of sesame oil and waited for the pot stickers to brown.  Then I turned them onto their other two sides in succession and lightly brown all three sides. 

While the pot stickers were cooking I made a dipping sauce by mixing 1/2 tsp. of chili oil with 1/3 cup of soy and added slices of two thinly sliced green onions.

When the dumplings were ready Suzette ate two and then said she wanted to eat the PPI chili relleno and beans.  So I finished the dumplings, while she added some meatloaf to the chili Relleno and bean container and re-heated it in the microwave and we drank the two Trader Jose dark Mexican beers she had fetched.

Before we knew it, our snack had turned into dinner.

We were both tired so we went to bed at 8:30 after Washington Week.

I awakened at 4:00 and blogged.

Bon Appetit 

March 25, 2021 Lunch - Padilla’s Family Mexican Restaurant Chili Relleno Plate. Dinner - Baked Chicken Thighs in a tomato and Mushroom Sauce with roasted Spaghetti Squash and Steamed Asparagus

March 25, 2021 Lunch - Padilla’s Family Mexican Restaurant Chili Relleno Plate. Dinner - Baked Chicken Thighs in a tomato and Mushroom Sauce with roasted Spaghetti Squash and Steamed Asparagus 

Today was quite busy.  I awakened again around 7:30 and watched the market for a few minutes and then showered and ate breakfast of granola, blueberries, milk, banana slices, and yogurt.

At 11:00 I had a telephone conversation with my new doctor.  After that I looked at the market and was saddened to see the 150 shares of Square fall further in today’s trading.  Peter arrived at 1:00 with a chili Relleno plate for each of us.  The plate includes two chili rellenos, double beans, and two sopapillas.

Chili rellenos are one of my favorite vegetarian dishes.  Unfortunately or fortunately the green sauce covering the Relleno contains meal. I like this dish a lot and probably could eat it once a week.mPeter also ordered the chili rellenos and enjoyed lunch.

I served us glasses of iced coffee with lunch; 1 T. of condensed milk mixed into 1/3 of a tall 16 oz. glass of cold coffee that is then filled with ice to create a moderately sweet glass of iced coffee.

At 2:00 we joined the Last Thursday Book Club monthly meeting.  The book this month was Restless by William Boyd.  Most folk liked the book about a woman who becomes a spy for Britain in 1939.

The book club ended a bit after 4:00, which allowed me to complete several deeds.  The number of deeds I have checked so far this month has been at least 40.  It is more than most months.

At 5:00 I meditated until 5:30 with our five members by zoom.

Suzette arrived just as we were finishing.  I showed her the ad from El Super.  She did not see anything she needed for the Center, so I drove to El Super and enjoyed shopping for 1 1/2 hours.  I bought mostly fruits and vegetables, including spinach, green beans, Zucchini, both red and yellow onions, a small bunch of fresh bay laurel leaves, green onions, apples, mangos, a pineapple, a papaya, oranges, cucumbers, radishes, Bok Choy, ginger root, lentils, poblano chilis, an eggplant,  asparagus, condensed milk, a acorn squash, and a box of chamomile tea bags.

 

When I returned home Suzette had roasted a spaghetti squash and the package of four frozen chicken thighs I fetched at noon had thawed.

We had some PPI spaghetti sauce, so Suzette decided to cover the chicken with a sautéed tomato, garlic, spaghetti sauce, and mushroom sauce made in a skillet and then baked for 45 minutes in the oven.

Suzette diced two tomatoes, some garlic, a couple of large white mushrooms sliced, and cooked them in a skillet in which the 1 cup of     PPI spaghetti sauce was heating with olive oil.

I grated some Parmesan cheese and chopped some parsley. 

When the sauce the sauce was cooked Suzette poured it over the four thighs in the Pyrex baking dish and put it in the oven.

I snapped the tough ends of the asparagus stalks off and put them in the steamer basket and Suzette added water and we covered the steamer.

When we believed the chicken would be ready in 10 minutes we started heat under the steamer. 

I opened a bottle of 2018 Barbera d‘ Asti DOCG Rosa dell Olmo (Trader Joe’s $7.99) and poured us glasses.

When the chicken and asparagus were cooked, Suzette plated our dishes with a pile of spaghetti squash, then lay a chicken thigh with some of the sauce on top and finally lay three asparagus across the top of the pile and then garnished the pile with grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.

The baked tomato and mushroom sauce was very delicious and the mushrooms and tomatoes slightly firmed by baking.

Dinner was ready by 8:00: so we watched Midsomer Mystery as we ate and then an episode of Endeavour.  Suzette went to bed at 11:00 and I at midnight.

Bon Appetit

March 24, 2021 Lunch - The Shed. Dinner - Salad and a bowl of French Onion Soup

March 24, 2021 Lunch - The Shed. Dinner - Salad and a bowl of French Onion Soup

This was a super fun day and a super busy day.

We worked until 10:00. Then we ate a quick breakfast. I ate two slices of toasted bagel with lax, red onion, cream cheese, and capers.

Suzette heated and ate the leftover pork egg foo young I made yesterday.

We then loaded some of the art we picked up in Las Vegas and drove to Santa Fe.  We stopped first at Stephen’s Consignment. Stephen looked at the pieces and rejected several and took pictures of several for his appraiser to consider for consignment.

While at Stephen’s we looked around and Suzette soon found a lovely silk embroidered coat that fit her perfectly.  I bought it for her for a Mother’s Day gift.  As we were paying and talking to Stephen I noticed an interesting silver brooch and earring set.  Stephen took it out of the case and it turned out to be Taxco silver in a design resembling a Paloma Picasso design done for Tiffany and the designs by Millicent Rogers.  Suzette bought the set. As suzette said as we left Stephen’s with all of the art packed back into the Highlander, “I sure is nice to be able to buy nice things.”  

I replied, “Amen.”

We then drove to the Santa Fe Auction warehouse and picked up the three pieces we bought in the auction last week.  

During the drive to Santa Fe I had called The Shed for a reservation for 2:30.  

It was 2:00 when we left the Auction warehouse and drove to Owings Gallery downtown on Marcy Street.  Nat was in, so I grabbed the Eva Hauser drawing and showed it to Nat.  Unfortunately, he could not shed any information on the artist or the work.

We walked through Sena Plaza, which I always love to do to The Shed under the Portal and arrived almost precisely at 2:30.  Lunch service was winding down and the restaurant was becoming far less crowded as we were shown to my favorite table I requested in the narrow windowed atrium overlooking the patio, now filled with outdoor seating.  

The table I love was warm and cozy and usual third table had been removed, which left our table a very comfortable about ten foot space between our table and the other table in the alcove.

When our waitress arrived I knew exactly what we wanted, I immediately ordered a No. 5 with beef and double Posole and two Negra Modelos.  There was some confusion about the type chili.  I thought the dish was served with red chili, but apparently now both green and red chili are available. Fortunately, our waitress thought I said green.  When the dish came with green chili, we simply ordered sides of red chili and sour cream to dampen the sauce’s extreme picante flavor.  

I went to the bathroom and when I returned the food and beer had been delivered and zsuzette had requested an extra plate and divided the dish in half with each of us having one rolled blue corn enchilada and half the posole, which turned out to be the perfect portion for each of us.

We spread red Chile and sour cream on our enchilada and slowly ate it with bits of Posole and chili sauce so our mouth could acclimate to the hotness of the chili.  It was a lovely meal.  One of the best ever in the 50 years I have been eating at the Shed.

After lunch it seemed to be threatening to snow, so we decided to drive directly home.  The sky cleared at La Bajada so it was an easy and fast trip home.

It was lucky we left, because when we arrived home at 4:30 I found that I had a number of issues that I had to deal with that kept me at my desk until 6:30.

When I finally finished the tasks we discussed dinner and we agreed to make a salad with the last of the Liverwurst slices.  We went to the garden and uncovered the raised bed with lettuce and picked a basket full in a matter of minutes.  The lettuce is really beautiful now, young tender and productive.

The weather was quickly getting colder, so Suzette said she would like to have a bowl of French Onion Soup with the salad for dinner. 

So we fetched the two hard boiled eggs, the marinated asparagus, a tomato, radishes and the casserole with the soup. Suzette rinsed and spun the lettuce and placed it in large pasta bowls and peeled the eggs.  Then I sliced the tomato, eggs, radishes, and asparaguses and Liverwurst and lay them on the lettuce in a composed manner.  Suzette fetched the Swiss Gruyere cheese and sliced it and I toasted a slice of French baguette for my soup and handed it to Suzette with two ceramic brown French Onion soup bowls.  Suzette then made a simple balsamic dressing by adding more olive oil to the asparagus marinade and drizzled it onto the salads.

We heated the soup and Suzette filled the soup bowls and laid the bread crouton on my bowl and then cheese slices and only cheese on her bowl and placed the bowls in the 350 degree oven we had preheated.

Suzette fetched a bottle of 2016 Chateau Vallier Appellation Cotes du Bordeaux from Cadillac, a Grand Vin de Bordeaux.  Unfortunately, I do not recall where I found this bottle, I suspect it was at Costco and probably cost $11.00 or $12.00.  The wine was good, not great, but extremely drinkable, although having a slightly greater tannic acid edge.  Suzette stopped drinking after dinner, so the wine does not get zsuzette’s highest rating, as the Trader Joe’s Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon last night did.

Here is one rating service’s notes and rating.

Made using single-variety vats in the early stages, this is a big, ripe and fruity wine with weight and attractive acidity. Its smoky edge and licorice flavors don't mask the black-currant fruit and acidity. Drink from 2021. ROGER VOSS

• RATING
  87

After dinner we watched news until 9:00 and then got in bed and watched Trevor Noah until 9:40.

Bon Appetit