June 30, 2022 Lunch - Greenside Cafe. Dinner - BBQ Pork Ribs with roasted Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus

June 30, 2022 Lunch - Greenside Cafe. Dinner - BBQ Pork Ribs with roasted Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus 

I watched the news until 8:30 to hear about the two new Supreme Court  decisions and then showered and dressed and toasted 1/2 bagel and spread butter and Cod roe and garnished it with slices of Manchego cheese.

 I then worked at Bill’s office for 1/2 hour and then returned home to meet Charlie at 11:15 to ride to book club. Charlie picked up Peter and then drove us to Greenside Cafe in Cedar Crest where we met four other members of the book club.  Charlie and I ordered Chicken Fried Steak being true Texans. Greenside makes the best Chicken Fried Steak of any restaurant in the Albuquerque area. It is served with mashed potatoes and white gravy. I ordered an Angry Orchard apple cider. Charlie was moe traditional and went with iced tea. The chicken fried steak was so large we ate half and took the other half home.

After lunch we drove to Karl’s house and sat around his dining room table for the club meeting.

The book was Swag by Elmore Leonard.

Karl likes good wine mostly from Napa Valley.  He served a St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc from Napa and a bottle of Renieri Brunello di Montalcino, $100.00 of wine. Very impressive.

After the meeting we were served vanilla ice cream with a choice of bourbon pecan or apple pinon pie. Karl’s wife baked the pies. The pecan pie was exquisite the filling had that perfect gelatinous quality where the pecans are suspended in the filling.  I have not seen that baking quality in a long time.

We sat on the back patio and talked and watched the birds for another twenty minutes.

After a tour of Karl’s wine cellar, we drove back to Albuquerque. We arrived at 4:40 and although I was tired, Suzette wanted to start the rack of pork ribs cooking, so I helped get the rack into the oven and then lay down and forgot again to meditate at 5:00.

At 6:00 I basted the ribs with BBQ sauce. I suggested turning the heat down but Suzette wanted to keep it at 375 degrees.  When we took the ribs out at 7:15, they were scorched a bit, but Suzette said, “We did not want to eat at 9:30”. Suzette made roasted potatoes with the small creamer potatoes and steamed asparagus and fetched a bottle of Vara 2020 Grenache Rose from the garage.  We like Vera’s Grenache Rose, because it has a fuller flavor of red wine and is dry and pleasant, so went well with the ribs.

After dinner we watched an older episode of Midsomer Mystery and sipped the last of the rose’ and went to bed after the episode at 9:30.

Bon Appetit

June 29, 2022 Breakfast - Sausage, potato, and egg burrito. Lunch - The Compound. Dinner - Pizza and Caprese Salad

June 29, 2022 Breakfast - Sausage, potato, and egg burrito. Lunch - The Compound.  Dinner - Pizza and Caprese Salad

Today was another exceptional food day.  I awakened at 7:00 and started moving around 7:30.

I showered and dressed in khakis, a blue shirt, and took my blue blazer to Santa Fe because  had made a reservation at the Compound for lunch at 12:15 and the suggested dress was business casual.

I got t the kitchen by 8:15 and started making sausage, potato, and egg burritos for Breakfast for me and Suzette.  I diced and sautéed about 1/2 previously baked potato and about 1:/3 lb.of Jimmie Dean sausage in a skillet.  We went to put on my socks and when I returned the sausage and potato was cooked. I added three eggs and stirred the eggs and other ingredients together.  I then toasted two flour tortillas over the open grill and then added three slices of Jarlsberg to each burrito and wrapped 1/2 of the mixture in each tortilla.

Suzette grabbed hers as she left for work and I put several dashes of Cholulu hot sauce on mine and ate it with a knife and fork.

Then at 9:30 I drove to The Supreme Court Library in Santa Fe.  I arrived at 10:30 and did research until 12:00 when I drove to The Compound for my 12:25 reservation.

I was seated at a table in the main dining room.  There were several interesting items on the menu but I was still not terribly hungry, due to the big breakfast I had eaten.

I decided to order a light salad so I ordered the lobster salad.

 Then looked at the wine list and the waiter made a suggestion but I saw one of my favorites and ordered a glass of Elk Cove Pinot Gris.

The salad was a mound of Boston bibb lettuce topped with lobster, tangerine slices, thin slices of red onion with a tangerine vinaigrette.

It was elegant and very tasty, although the lobster was previously frozen, which is perhaps the best one can hope for this far from the ocean for $28.00.

The Compound is a reliably wonderful restaurant and was for many years,  before Mark Kiffen took over as chef 20 years ago.

I returned to the law library at 1:30 and researched until 4:30 and then drove home, arriving at home at 5:30.  It seems like everyone wanted to drive 85 mph.

I rested for an hour.  Suzette came in to ask me what I wanted for dinner.

 I Suggested Chinese stir fried Yu Choy, which did not register with Suzette.

Instead she finally sad, “Let’s eat the pizza.”  There were two pieces of pizza left from my lunch at Titan last week.  I suggested making a Caprese style salad.  We did not have mozzarella so I substituted goat cheese.

Suzette went to the garden and picked about a dozen basil leaves for the salad.

I diced two tomatoes, cut thin strips of red onion, destemmed and sliced strips of basil, and dotted the salad with crumbled goat cheese.  Suzette made a wonderful olive oil and balsamic dressing using some of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar we bought in California.

Suzette opened one of the new bottles of a 2018 Beau Rivage Red Bordeaux she bought for the Greenhouse Bistro and it tasted pretty good.

After dinner we watched the Bangkok episode of Somebody feed Phil.

The food looked terrific.

We went to bed shortly after 9:00 at the end of a wonderful day of food.

Bon Appetit 

June 28, 2022 Dinner - Sautéed Salmon fillet with Steamed Broccoli and Country Fried potatoes with Mint

June 28, 2022 Dinner - Sautéed Salmon fillet with Steamed Broccoli and Country Fried potatoes with Mint

I ate granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt for breakfast at 9:30.

I watched the Jan. 6th hearing in which Cassidy Hutchison testified for two hours.  As usual the testimony was riveting since she sat just feet away from the Oval Office as Mark Meadows’ assistant and heard and was present for much of the behind the scenes activity and discussions.

I watched until almost 2:00 and then showered and dressed.

I ate two bites of chicken curry salad and then hosted a zoom call with the Titan board and then a group interested in building a plant from 2:30 to 4:15.

After the meeting at 4:30 I lay down and as soon as I did Suzette arrived.

We were both hungry so we decided to cook an early dinner.  We very quickly decided to steam the last head of broccoli, sauté the salmon filet I bought yesterday and cube and sauté an already baked russet potato for an easy dinner.

Suzette made tartare sauce with pickle relish, Mayo, lemon juice, and horseradish.

I went the garden and picked fresh mint to garnish the fried potatoes and minced it.

Suzette fetched a bottle of Emma Reichart Riesling and by 5:30 we were ready to eat.

The salmon was tender, pink in the middle the way I love it and it was fun to dip bits of it into the tartare sauce.

I dozed for about an hour after dinner until Suzette awakened me at 7:00 so wE could watch a repeat episode of Finding Your Roots and then some repeat of the hearing testimony.  Suzette had a tough day and went bed at 9:00.

I followed at 10:00 after finishing this blog with a cup of tea, some pills,  and a few cookies.

I am taking the daily dose of 6 pills of collagen and 2 capsules of turmeric because they seem to have dulled the sharp pains in my hips and quads.

Bon Appetit

June 27, 2022 Lunch - Steamed Halibut with Sushi Rice. Snack - Chicken salad Sandwiches. Dinner - Grilled Rib steak with grilled Asparagus , scalloped Potatoes, sautéed Beech Mushrooms, green onion, and Shishito peppers.

June 27, 2022 Lunch - Steamed Halibut with Sushi Rice. Snack - Chicken salad Sandwiches. Dinner - Grilled Rib steak with grilled Asparagus , scalloped Potatoes, sautéed Beech Mushrooms, green onion, and Shishito  peppers.

This was a big food day because I ate four meals.

I ate a bowl of granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt for breakfast at 9:30.

I then thawed a thick steak for dinner.

At noon I heated the leftover Halibut wrapped in Chard on a bed of sushi rice and drank a cup of green tea.

At 1:30 I drove to the bank, the Law School library, which was closed to the public, and finally to Smith’s.

At Smith’s I bought eggs, milk, yogurt, a salmon filet, green onions, a wedge of Pleasant Hill reserve semi-hard cheese, and green beans.

I then drove home arriving at 3:45.

After a couple of phone calls, I watched Ari Melber from 4:00 until 5:00.

I then toasted two pieces of bread and filled them with 

I then completed a draft of a purchase agreement by 6:00.

Mike arrived at 6:30.

Suzette went over dinner with me at 6:15.  Grilled steak, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and sautéed beech mushrooms, Shishito peppers, and chopped green onion. I had forgotten we had bought thick asparagus perfect for grilling until Suzette fetched them from the garage.

When Mike arrived we first toured the garden that Suzette has been working diligently on until it is starting to looks really good.

Suzette prepped the steak with salt and pepper and the asparagus by snapping their ends and shaking them in a freezer bag with olive oil and salt and pepper.

She covered the PPI scalloped potatoes with Saran and put them into the microwave to reheat.  Then Suzette grilled the steak and asparagus while I sautéed the mushrooms, green onion, and shishito peppers in butter and olive oil. We removed the green onion and mushrooms when they browned and continued to cook the Shishito peppers until they browned and popped open.

We also warmed the remaining béarnaise sauce and opened a bottle of De Ponte 2016 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir.  A very good bottle of wine.

Pretty soon Suzette brought the charbroiled steak and asparaguses in. The steak ranged from medium at the thinner edge to rare next to the thick bone.

 I sliced the steak into long triangular wedges since it had a long thick bone on one side.

Suzette set the table and poured the wine and plated the plates with potatoes and asparagus.  We then each selected several pieces of steak cooked to the doneness we preferred and then Suzette spooned the mushroom and chili mixture over each small pile of steak.

We took the Béarnaise Sauce to the table on the patio where we ate and dabbed bits of Béarnaise Sauce onto our asparagus and steak.

The was a French style meal all the way.

After dinner I fetched the two wedges of Murray’s cheese I had bought on deep discount. For illustration, the Pleasant Hill Reserve Cheese was marked down from $9.80 to $2.49.

We then went inside and talked and then went inside and poured cognacs and talked until Suzette went to bed at 10:30.

Mike and I then talked until midnight.

It was a lovely meal that left me feeling better after the meal than before.

Bon Appetit 

June 26, 2022 Brunch - Bagels with cream cheese, Gravad Lax, red onion, and capers. Snack - Pepperoni Pizza Dinner - Chicken Noodle Soup with Toasted Russian Rye

June 26, 2022 Brunch - Bagels with cream cheese, Gravad Lax, red onion, and capers. Snack - Pepperoni Pizza  Dinner - Chicken Noodle Soup with Toasted Russian Rye

Today was a day of rest, although Suzette and I worked in the garden in the morning and then Suzette went to work to clean out the garage and I drafted a purchase Agreement from until 2:00.

I watched the news programs and at 10:00 went to help Suzette in the garden.

At noon I ate two slices of bagel with cream cheese, Gravad Lax, red onion, and capers with a cup of tea.

I napped from 2:30 to 4:00 and then heated and ate two slices of pepperoni pizza. 

We decided to heat and eat the chicken noodle soup we made yesterday with a mirepoix, chicken, and German egg noodles

Suzette was hungry when she returned and ate the leftover No. 30 from 2000 Vietnam.

Billy and I called Cousin Audrey at 6:00.

Willy came by to do his laundry at 6:30 and brought in the chicken soup.

We heated the soup and toasted slices of French baguette and Russian Rye.

We opened a bottle of the new 2021 blaufrankische dry rose just released by Herman Wiemer.  It is a little expensive at $25.50 per bottle.  We all thought it was very young and had a lot of residual tannin, which made it a good candidate for aging but not comparable to a young French rose from Provence that are better young.

We watched game five of the Stanley Cup finals and were thrilled when the Colorado Avalanche won the game and the Stanley cup.

Willy made us all cups of tea and after the Avalanche victory.

We watched the rest of Endeavor and then went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit

 

June 25, 2022 Lunch -Scalloped Potatoes with The Shed Red Chili. Dinner - Chicken Salad on Toasted Russian Rye and Chicken Noodle Soup

June 25, 2022 Lunch -Scalloped Potatoes with The Shed Red Chili. Dinner - Chicken Salad on Toasted Russian Rye and Chicken Noodle Soup

when I woke up Suzette was already working in the garden, cleaning one of the beds.

I ate a few mouthfuls of Vietnamese Noodles and then picked roses from three of the bushes.  This has been one of the longest rose blooming seasons in memory.

After picking roses and putting them into vases, I took a shower and dressed.

Suzette wanted to create a new recipe for lunch, a French New Mexican fusion dish, scalloped potatoes or potatoes au gratin cooked sliced potatoes baked with Gruyere cheese onions, and milk sautéed until one side is browned and the garnished with fried eggs and the Shed’s Red chili sauce, which is a béchamel sauce.  The red chili sauce starts with sautéing minced garlic, then the cooking of a roux of flour and oil.  Then powdered red chili is added and finally tomato juice and water and then it is cooked at low heat until it thickens.  Pretty simple.

                                                               The chili sauce

                                                        Before the chili is added 

I completed two legal projects this morning.

After lunch Suzette went shopping and I lay down for a nap from 2:45 until 4:45.

At 5:00 we walked 2/3 mile to the Country club and back along Park Ave.

Then we prepared curried chicken salad and chicken noodle soup.

I chopped onion, celery, and chicken for both and diced apples Suzette had peeled for the chicken salad.  Suzette peeled two hard boiled eggs and made a curried mayonnaise dressing that I folded in to complete the chicken salad.  

Suzette boiled the chicken bones we had to make a broth.  Then she sautéed the diced onion and celery and added a diced carrot.  When the vegetables were cooked she added the diced chicken and noodles and cooked the soup for about thirty minutes.  The soup was lovely with soft noodles and refreshing chicken broth. I ate a bowl of it before I went to bed.

Dinner - we name open face sandwiches by slicing and toasting slices of Russian rye in butter in a skillet.  We then piled the chicken salad on the toasted bread for lovely open face sandwiches.  Suzette chopped some romaine lettuce for garnish.

We drank the rest of the French Belles Vignes Sauvignon Blanc with dinner.

Later we sipped some limoncello while watching Death in Paradise.

Suzette went to bed at 10:00;and I at 11:00 to blog and read.

Bon Appetit

June 24, 2022 Lunch - Pizza and Salad. Dinner - Steamed Halibut wrapped in Chard, Scalloped Potatoes, and steamed Broccoli

June 24, 2022 Lunch - Pizza and Salad. Dinner - Steamed Halibut wrapped in Chard, Scalloped Potatoes, and steamed Broccoli 

I heated the remaining Danish pastries left from Midsomer and we ate them on the patio for breakfast, Suzette with a cup of coffee and me with a cup of tea.

Suzette went work and I then worked on the securities memo until 10:30 when I showered and dressed and drove to Central Trailer Supply for the Titan meeting.  Susie had set up a special lunch of a spinach with the stems removed, diced bell pepper, garbanzo bean, and tomato salad for me with an olive oil and balsamic dressing in a crystal bottle on a silver tray.  The others got spinach salad with the stems on for the others.

It was so cute and yet so appropriate that I had to laugh.

Here are some pictures.

When our meeting ended at 2:00, I drove to Talin to buy fish for dinner, I bought a bag of German egg noodles, a lovely 1.25 lb. Piece of fresh halibut, coconut milk and Thai Tom Yum seasoning for Willy’s soup, black Moroccan olives, Yu Choy, brown beech mushrooms, ginger root, and fresh turmeric root.

I drove home and arrived at 3:30 to await delivery of a case of Pinot from Rick at Calstar Cellars that arrived at 5:15.

We made cocktails and watched TV until the wine arrived at 5:15 and then until hockey began at 6:00.

Dinner was easy.  Suzette went to the garden and picked several large leaves of chard.  She drizzled the halibut steak with the PPI basil infused olive oil she made for the Midsomer meal and put several pats of butter on it and wrapped it in chard leaves and secured them with toothpicks and steamed the fish in the steaming oven with a steam saturated atmosphere.  Suzette had brought home a tray of scalloped potatoes from Chef Josh. She cut a square of potatoes and sautéed it in an iron skillet in butter until it developed a crisp deep brown crust. Finally she cut flowerets from a head of broccoli and steamed them in the steamer.

I went to the garage and fetched a bottle of Belle Vignes French Sauvignon Blanc (Trader Joe’s $5.99) that had a pronounced citrus flavor that went well with the fish, which we also drizzled with fresh lemon juice after it had cooked.

We loved dinner.  It seems like we continue to have excellent meals.

For example, the halibut was $8.99/lb., which is the cheapest I have seen in many years.  It must have been a Mexican halibut but it was a big halibut.  Here is a photo of it after removal of the 1.25 lb. steak.

I ate some chocolate ice cream doused with cognac and garnished with whipped cream and chocolate syrup during the third period.  Tampa Bay won to bring the series to 3 to 2 games in favor of Colorado.

Bon Appetit 

June 23, 2022 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam No. 30, Dinner - Roasted Chicken and Sautéed scapes, asparaguses, and potatoes

June 23, 2022 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam No. 30,  Dinner - Roasted Chicken and Sautéed scapes, asparaguses, and potatoes

I made a sausage, sushi rice, and green onion omelet for breakfast.

Then at 12:00 Johnny and Henry arrived bearing 3 No. 30’s from 2000 Vietnam as I had requested.  We talked for a while about Johnny’s case and then ate each of our No. 30s on the patio.  We ended at 1:00 as I had requested, so I could watch the Jan. 6th hearing on how Trump tried to replace the Attorney General with Jeffrey Clark, who would do Trump’s bidding to throw the election to Trump in coordination with John Eastman’s fake elector scheme. By the end of the hearing I was crying.  There was nothing Trump would not do to stay in office.

I worked on a memo after the hearing until 5:00 when I meditated until I was interrupted by the completion of the new windows in our dining room.

Fernando came for his final payment and I discovered that his grand dad, Arturo Herrera, ran Westland for many years.

After Fernando left we rinsed and dusted a whole chicken with tandoori seasoning and roasted it in the oven first at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then at 350 for an hour.

While the chicken was roasting Suzette sautéed garlic scapes, diced asparagus, and PPI diced creamer potatoes.

I went to the garage and fetched a bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio dells Venezia that went well with the chicken (Trader Joe’s for $6.00 or $7.00).

At 8:00 we watched an ancient episode of Midsomer Mystery and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit

June 22, 2022 Lunch - East Ocean. Dinner - Sautéed ground beef, asparagus, onion, mushrooms, and green onions served over sliced creamer potatoes.

June 22, 2022 Lunch - East Ocean. Dinner - Sautéed ground beef, asparagus, onion, mushrooms, and green onions served over sliced creamer potatoes.

i spent much of today recovering from our Midsomer celebration last night.

I ate a bowl of granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt at 9:30 when my new client came for a 2 hour appointment.

I then drove to East Ocean to meet Robert for lunch.  We shared a platter of deep fried tofu with mixed vegetables and discussed a case until 2:00.

I went to the bank and deposited a dividend check of $2386 paid upon the 342 shares of PXD.  That is a whopping $6.97 per share that indicates to me that President Biden is correct when he says oil companies are experiencing unprecedented profits.

I then went home and filed a motion to extend the date for filing my reply brief in the water case.

I watched the news until 5:00 and read some of The Last Rose of Shanghai until 6:00 when the NHL finals game 4 began and we started dinner.  Dinner was easy because we combined mostly PPI’s, specifically the hamburger helper we prepared several days ago with the small creamer potatoes we cooked last night for dinner.

I sliced six mushrooms, the ends of two onions, and about seven of eight stalks of asparagus.

I then sliced six or seven small creamer potatoes.

Suzette sautéed the ingredients with sour cream and water to make a sauce and added green onion slices.  The sliced potatoes she heated in the microwave.

While Suzette was cooking I fetched a 2015 Primus The Blend from Chile and a 2012 Origon Gran Reserva from the basement.

Suzette selected the Primus for the meal, which was a god choice because it is a heavy wine with depth of flavor. 

The blend rates 3.9 on Vinvino and sells for a bit more than $21.00, so not a shabby wine.

Suzette thought it went flat after about 45 minutes, but no complaints about the wine.

Suzette served the meat and vegetables medley over the heated sliced potatoes garnished with green onion slices for a quick and delicious dinner.

We watched hockey and soaked in the hot tub between period 2 and 3 for twenty minutes.

The Avalanche tied the score 2 to 2 in the 3rd period and won in overtime to take a commanding 3 to 1 game lead in the series.

We were thrilled because we are cheering for Denver to win the Stanley Cup.

After the game I drank a cup of tea with two fudge sticks, a wonderful cookie made by Keebler we bought on sale at Smith’s last week.

The market went down a bit today so there is not yet a reentry point to buy back the Apple, Nvidia, and Square shares I sold.

Bon Appetit