April 26, 2024 Brunch - PPI Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry Matzo Ball Egg Foo Young. Dinner - Roasted Duck, Potatoes, Asparagus and Onion

April 26, 2024 Brunch - PPI Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry Matzo Ball Egg Foo Young. Dinner - Roasted Duck, Potatoes, Asparagus and Onion

This was a busy but interesting day. I started by working on my transaction with Earn from 6:3 until 9:30. Then I reviewed a PSA for Sarah. At 11:00 I was becoming sore so I finally made brunch.  I added sliced matzo balls to the PPI Chicken and Vegetable stir fry from last night’s meal and when those ingredients were cooked, I added two eggs and stirred them in. After several minutes the egg stiffened and bound the ingredients into a cake like consistency. I let to ingredients cook, while I made tea and the cake browned.

I transferred pieces of the cake to a plate and ate a lovely and filling brunch.

After brunch I met with Rahim and revised a brokerage agreement until 2:00.

As soon as the market closed I checked my portfolio. It was a huge day in the market with the Dow up 153, the NASDAQ up 316’ and the S&P up 51 to 5100.  The market has recovered much its loss of last week in the last two days. My portfolio was up 2.8% thanks in part to Nvda rising $30 and Amazon rising $6.

 I napped from 2:30 until 3:30 and then took a walk around the block without the aid of a cane.

When I returned I watched the news until Suzette arrived at 5:30.

She had a very busy day with lots of gardening resulting in her accumulating 13,000 steps, an all time high for her.

We decided to have a lovely dinner but the roses were in bloom and I wanted to pick a few, including my favorite, Mr. Lincoln.

After I picked three roses and put them in vases and put the Mr. Lincoln, which is highly fragrant on Suzette’s side table, I filled a small Pyrex baking pan with 1/2 onion diced and about two dozen small potatoes sliced in half and Suzette took over the cooking of dinner in a most creative way.

She tossed the potatoes with olive oil and a bit of salt and roasted them in a 350 degree oven covered for about an hour, but after 30 minutes she removed the foil and put the two pre-cooked duck halves in the roasting pan and then in a few more minutes added a handful of olive oil tossed asparagus stalks.

I had anticipated this roasted duck dinner for several days and put a bottle of  Jean XXII 2021 Chateaunuef du Pape in the fridge to chill. When it is warm we like our red wine chilled.

We poured glasses of wine while the food was roasting and found it to be a very complex and wonderfully mellow wine. 

Then when the food was cooked Suzette filled up our plates with roasted potatoes and asparagus and I carved one duck 1/2 by removing the meat from the thigh and leg and slicing the breast and divided the meat between the two plates.

We loved the roasted duck and vegetables with the luscious wine. This was a great meal.

Later after we watched Phil eating in New York and Venice and Moderna, I served us a bowl of chocolate cherry ice cream garnished with several of Suzette’s homemade Maraschino cherries and opened the recently arrived Germain Robin Old Havana cognac which was part of the original inventory made by Germ that was sold to Gallo and came back to Germain after Gallo’s five year exclusivity period.

The Old Havana was incredibly light with a very floral bouquet and a rather distinctive vanilla after taste.

It was a magnificently wonderful dinner from start to finish and was very low in fat.

As I finish this blog on the morning of the 27th I am feeling wonderful.

Good food not only puts you in a good mood, it also puts your body in a good mood.

Bon Appetit

April 25, 2024 Breakfast - Toasted Raisin Bread spread with peanut butter and honey Lunch - Greenside Restaurant and Book Club Dinner - Chicken and Vegetables Stir Fry

April 25, 2024 Breakfast - Toasted Raisin Bread spread with peanut butter and honey Lunch - Greenside Restaurant and Book Club Dinner - Chicken and Vegetables Stir Fry

Another perfect day.  Suzette awakened me around 7:30 to help her load a cabinet into her SUV.

Then I toasted two slices of raisin bread and spread peanut butter and honey on them and drank a cup of hot chai and listened to the immunity arguments at the Supreme Court. 

The argument lasted almost 3 hours, so at 10:15 I started getting dressed.

Luckily the arguments ended at 10:45 and I was able to pick up Peter and drive him to the Greenside Restaurant in Cedar Crest where we met the members of out book club for lunch.  I wanted something with carbs and protein that was not greasy, so I ordered a  Sangre de Christo Sandwich that was a Monte Christo sandwich; layers of ham and cheese with a bit of green chili on white bread sandwich bread that was then dipped in egg and milk batter and fried like French Toast. It was a lovely sandwich and I ordered a salad as my side with Mango vinaigrette dressing to be good. Others were ordering Chicken Fried Steak, which is a specialty.  Here are a couple of dishes.

After lunch we drove to Karl and Joanna’s house in Pakko for our book club meeting. This month’s book was the mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel, who created the first efficient internal combustion engine. The diesel engine and disappeared mysteriously at the beginning of WWII.

After the meeting we were treated to Italian lemon cheese cake, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate truffles all made by Joanna.

We returned home at 4:30 and I feared checking the market because the Dow was down 375 points and Meta was down $60 when I left home in the morning, but I suffered only a mild loss because Nvda was up almost $30.00 and AppL was up almost $1.00.

I wrote a letter and then went to the kitchen to help Suzette with dinner and watch the wall to wall coverage of the two Trump cases.  Apparently David Pecker, long time friend of Donald Trump and editor of Inquirer Magazine admitted to printing untrue stories and to helping Trump to violate election laws.

I chopped garlic ginger, garlic, snapped green beans, seven stalks of asparagus, and sliced a zucchini.  Suzette brought in some garlic and Ramp leaves and I minced those and then diced 1/2 of a chicken breast.

Suzette boiled a bundle of Vietnamese rice vermicelli for 7 minutes to soften the noodles and added them to the stir fried chicken and vegetables and finally added a seasoning sauce.  The result was really delicious and we used up lots of ingredients.

I drank Chloe New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Suzette drank Noble Vines 667 California Pinot Noir.

We watched some TV and then Denver Nuggets beat the LA Lakers to take a 3 game lead in their NBA playoff series.

We made the bed and I blogged in bed as Suzette slept.

Bon Appetit

April 24, 2024 Breakfast - granola with milk, yogurt and diced Fuji apple Lunch - Fried Pot Stickers. Dinner - Antelope Stew with Tomato Couscous

April 24, 2024 Breakfast - granola with milk, yogurt and diced Fuji apple  Lunch - Fried Pot Stickers. Dinner - Antelope Stew with Tomato Couscous 

I had a busy day.  I started by eating a bowl of granola with milk, yogurt and diced Fuji apple. I then showered and got dressed.

Then around 9:00 I picked a basket of lettuce from the garden.

At 9:30 I drove to NM Ortho for my six week exam and it went well. Today I graduated myself from the use of a cane to support my walking.

After my Orthopedic exam I drove to Trader Joe’s and bought several pounds of chocolate before the price goes up, two bottles of Chevalier VS cognac and eleven bottles of wine, including a St. Emillion Grand Cru, a Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve California Pinot Noir, a couple of German Reichard dry Rieslings, two French Palantir Sauvignon Blancs, an Italian Soave, and another white for Summer.

At 11:45 I drove home.  I was hungry and decided to fry pot stickers.  I put 11 in a skillet with 2 T. of peanut oil and a dash of sesame oil. Unfortunately, several were frozen together and did normal cook evenly. The skins tore of several and they absorbed a lot of oil and it turned out to be rather a greasy mess. Of course I ate them with a dipping sauce of soy, chili oil, green onion, and the sauce from the package that has a lot of sugar. I drank green tea.

After lunch I watched and doze through two PL matches. I watched the first half of Crystal Palace v. Newcastle that Crystal Palace won and the second half of Everton v. Liverpool that Everton won, which might eliminate Liverpool’s chance to win this year’s PL title.

I sent out two demand letters and read a land purchase agreement and then at 5:15 drank a gin and tonic and at 5:30 I meditated until 6:00.

I watched some news and Suzette gave me a foot treatment and cut my hair.

Today Arizona indicted the 11 fake electors and seven others for various crimes associated with preparing, signing, and sending fake election certifications to Washington for the 2020 election. Trump was apparently an unnamed co-conspirator but Mark Meadows, John Eastham, Rudy Giuliani and several others were indicted along with the 11 who signed the fake certifications.

Finally at 7:00 we decided to heat up the PPI Antelope stew and tomato couscous. Née noticed that there was very little fat on the antelope.  We drank the California Noble Pinot Noir I bought at Costco on sale last week and we both liked it. We also ate the stew with lots of Suzette’s homemade mango chutney.

We watched the science programs on PBS after dinner.

They included one on trying to save coral reefs, then A Brief History of the Future and finally The Making of North America about life.

We went to bed at 10:00.

April 23, 2024 Breakfast - Eggs and Bacon and toast Lunch with Barbara Page Dinner - Mediterranean Cod with Middle Eastern Rice

April 23, 2024 Breakfast - Eggs and Bacon and toast  Lunch with Barbara Page  Dinner - Mediterranean Cod with Middle Eastern Rice

I made breakfast by frying two slices of bacon and two eggs and three pieces of toasted baguette with a cup of chai.

The Market took off again today and by the time it closed the NASDAQ was up 245 points and my portfolio had regained 1/3 of what it lost from its high in the last few weeks.  Thank God for relative peace in the Middle East, American support for governments resisting autocracies, and success of the U.S economy.

At 11:00 I drove to see Barbara Page at her assisted living facility and she invited me to join her for lunch, which was rather nice, a good large  egg roll on a plate with teriyaki flavored noodles, breaded chunks of white chicken breast, with steamed carrot slices and broccoli flowerets.  The meal was served with sweet tea and water.  Everyone eats together in a large dining room that seats fifty persons easily. There are a lot of old people but they seemed nice and everyone is Mrs Page’s friend.

After lunch I went to REI to examine shoes and then to Costco where I bought seven bottles of wine including a Kirkland Pinot Grigio, two Kirkland Chianti Classico Riserva, a bottle of Gruet Brut, a Chloe Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, and a discounted Pinot noir from Monterrey County. I also bought sugar, mayonnaise, a hose for the garden, Cholula hot sauce, baguettes, Dubliner Cheddar, two cod filets, Clamato juice, and two duck halves.

When I returned home i rested until Suzette came home.

Suzette found a recipe for Baked Mediterranean Cod that looked delicious cooked in a Meunier style.

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  This easy baked cod recipe comes together in just over 20 minutes, but there is a reason it is a big fan favorite! Tender, perfectly flaky cod, tossed in bold Mediterranean spices and baked with a tasty garlic and lemon sauce.

Fish is one of the staples of the Mediterranean diet, so my family tries to eat fish about twice per week.

Luckily, there are so many ways to prepare a tasty fish dinner. Sometimes, I go for a big baked salmon, a hearty fish soup, or something different like a saucy Moroccan fish.

But one of my favorite go-to dinners is this easy lemon baked cod! And it is the #1 fish recipe on my site, for good reason!

Why this cod recipe works?

Cod fillet is a beautiful fish that is quick to cook, tender and mild-tasting so you can easily give it some big flavors!

This baked cod recipe takes on some bold Mediterranean flavors with a tasty garlic and lemon sauce and a few warm spices, including coriander, paprika, and cumin. 

Best part? You can make this lemon baked cod in just over 20 minutes from start-to-finish!

I squeezed the lemon juice and Suzette melted the butter and whisked in Spanish olive in one pie plate. In the other she mixed the ground coriander and flour and added a tsp. of  Z Atar. Then she dipped the four dried fresh cod portions into the lemon and oil mixture and the dish with flavored flour to coat the fish.

Then she briefly sautéed the fish in the garlic flavored oil and finally baked the fish in the oven with asparagus for Ten minutes. I minced 1/4 cup of parsley that we used as a garnish and served it with PPI Mediterranean rice.

We opened the bottle of Chloe I had chilled in the garage when I returned from Costco.

This was the first evening to eat under the gazebo in the garden.

After dinner we returned to watch Finding Your Roots and then went to bed.

I stayed up to blog this entry and read, while Suzette went to sleep.

Bon Appetit

It was a lovely day.