July 16, 2025 Breakfast - Salmon and goat cheese and egg burrito. Lunch at East Ocean with Mike. Dinner - White Beans in a Saffron Roux with chicken, celery, green onion, and red bell pepper on Rice

July 16, 2025 Breakfast - Salmon and goat cheese  and egg burrito. Lunch at East Ocean with Mike. Dinner - White Beans in a Saffron Roux with chicken, celery, green onion, and red bell pepper on Rice 

I ate a chocolate croissant with two cups of chai and watched the market open and the last 25 miles of Stage 11 of the Tour de France that was won by one of two break away riders 7 seconds ahead ahead of a powerful chaser.

Then I had a busy day doing very little. I wrote to Prosperity Abstract in Philadelphia escrow distribution instructions.  I talked to Scott about his case and sent him several cases. And I spoke to Dana about his case and sent a default notice to a tenant.

Then at 12:45 I drove to East Ocean and met Mike for lunch.  He had recently been in a car accident that destroyed his Audi sports car and he and Joy had bought a new Toyota Corolla. He was very lucky to make it through the accident with minor injuries. 

We talked for almost two hours mostly about his impending marriage to Joy for which I and Suzette will be witnesses and the party planned for them by his old friends. I ordered my favorite dish, Scallops in Lobster Sauce and Mike ordered his favorite dish, Kung Pao Chicken. Each dish was served with a covered bowl of rice. We also ordered bowls of egg drop soup which is very good at East Ocean because it has lots of egg clusters and the broth is real chicken stock.

After lunch I drove to Smith’s at Carlisle and Constitution and bought two discounted wedges of cheese, a soft French blue and a goat brie.  I also bought bacon on discount, cream cheese, 18 eggs for $2.99, and flour.

When I arrived home at 4:00 I checked my portfolio and was surprised that all three averages made modest gains thanks to Trump saying he was not going to fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and a $6.70 surge in ARM with the announcement that it might make its own chips. My portfolio made a new high with a small gain of .034%.

Suzette arrived at 5:00 and ate a snack of rotisserie chicken that I bought at Costco yesterday. Then at 6:00 I diced three stalks of celery, 1/2 of a red bell pepper, and four small green onions.

Suzette made a new dish with the saffron that the Blaugrunds brought us from their latest trip to Africa. Suzette had cooked white beans she had soaked the previous day in chicken stock yesterday and today she made a dark brown roux with olive oil and saffron flavored flour and then sautéed the celery, green onions, and red bell pepper in the roux and then added the beans, a diced Chicken breast, and broth to make a bean strew that she served on some of the leftover rice from lunch. 

I also toasted two slices of the fresh baguette i bought at Costco yesterday. And we ate bowls of bean and chicken stew with a slice of baguette.

Suzette’s new recipe was a success thanks to the quarterly shipments of boxes of unique beans from Rancho Gordo bean club like the white beans we ate this evening.

Then at 7:00 Suzette went to her office to prepare her billing and I watched When Dinosaurs Walked on PBS mainly about recent discoveries in Alberta, Canada.

At 8:00 we were both tired and lay down and slept until 9:00 when we watched a PBS Nova documentary on Prehistoric ancestors to whales that walked on land found in the Sahara and how whales evolved into swimming mammals.

At 10:00 Suzette went to bed again and I blogged this entry.

Bon Appetit

July 15, 2025 Lunch - Costco Hot Dog. Dinner - salmon and goat cheese and asparagus Omelette on garden Salad

July 15, 2025 Lunch - Costco Hot Dog. Dinner - salmon and goat cheese and asparagus Omelette on garden Salad

Every day is interesting in a different way. Today was a great day for Nvidia stock. When it was announced the US. Lifted the embargo for Nvidia to sell its lower capacity H20 AI  to China, the stock surged. It was up $8.50 in the pre-market but when the CPI was announced as rising to .3% for June was an increased that many thinks heralds more increases in the CPI/inflation as Trump’s tariffs begin to push prices up and the Market turned down. Fortunately for my portfolio Nvidia gained $6.63 for a new high for Nvidia, the NASDAQ, and my portfolio, that was up 1.8%.

I prepared disclaimers for my probate case and called the Title company in Philadelphia then went to Shahin’s office to do my taxes and meet with my probate client at 11:00. I read this month’s book club selection War on the Newts while I waited so I did not waste my time waiting  for the 1 1/2 hours for Shahin to finish other matters during p. I also got a new client and met with my probate client and told him to change the title on the estate’s bank account to the estate’s name from his name. He left to go to the bank and I first worked with Shahin to prepare an answer to a Writ of Garnishment and then we started Willy’s taxes but ran into a lack of documentation.

Then we quickly completed my taxes and I left at 3:00.

I drove to Costco for a late lunch of a hot dog with a Coke. There was diced onion today, so I was in heaven.

Suzette called and asked me to bring home a roasted chicken. I also grabbed a package with two baguettes to replenish our bread.

I arrived home at 4:10, just in time to put up the chicken and join Todd and Etienne for meditation at 4:30.

At 5:00 when I finished Suzette arrived.

She decided to cook the white beans she soaked last night in chicken stock and wings from the roasted chicken.

We had agreed to cook the leftover salmon and goat cheese roulade into a frittata and serve it with garden salad from our garden this morning.

I fetched three medium Yukon gold potatoes from our garden and sliced two into thin slices. Suzette lined the bottom of a cast iron skillet with the potato slices and sautéed them with olive oil. Then she added the cooked salmon and goat cheese and diced asparagus and then three whisked eggs.  She then covered the skillet and steamed the fritata until the egg and asparagus cooked. Then I flipped the frittata onto a large plate and cut it in quarters and slid 1 1/2 quarter onto bowls of lettuce I picked yesterday in our garden and dressed each of the salads with the Dijonnaise dressing I made yesterday.

I poured out the rest of the Archer’s Summit Pinot Gris named Vireton. It was much better tonight than when opened last night, perhaps for one or both of two reasons: I chilled it for 30 minutes in the freezer tonight so it was colder and/or it had oxidized a bit that accentuated its fruitiness.

Ithe wine was wonderful and I felt better about having bought 20 bottles of it.

After dinner we ate some chocolate cherry truffle ice cream and watched Phil in Las Vegas with sips of cognac. I ate mine with the last of the chocolate birthday cake Linda and TR served us for our joint birthday last Tuesday.

We were tired and went to bed at 9:30 after a long and busy day, since I had gotten up at 4:00 due to my excitement about Nvidia, but I returned to sleep from 6:30 to 9:00 and Suzette awakened at 6:00.

Bon Appetit

July 14, 2025 Lunch - Steak Salad Dinner - Sautéed Smoked Pork with, Sauerkraut, Pickled Red Beets, Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and onions

July 14, 2025 Lunch - Steak Salad   Dinner - Sautéed Smoked Pork with, Sauerkraut, Pickled Red Beets, Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and onions

I tried to get back on my regular diet today. I ate a bowl of granola with milk, mango yogurt, and blueberries.

Then at 12:00; I went to the garden and picked a basket of lettuce and a sprig of tarragon.

Then I made a Dijonnaise dressing with a tsp. of seeded Dijon Mustard, Spanish olive oil, Spanish sherry vinegar, three cloves of garlic, a dash of pink salt and the leaves of the sprig of tarragon.

I rinsed and spun the lettuce and put it in the fridge to crisp. Then I diced a Roma tomato and sliced two slices of red onion and peeled, seeded, and sliced 1/3 of a cucumber.

I Put the cucumber and tomato pieces into a pasta bowl and added about 3 oz. or PPI T-bone steak pieces to the bowl and finally added the red onion and  lettuce to the bowl and drizzled dressing over the salad. There was an acidic after toast so I drizzled the salad lightly with the fancy olive oil we bought in Argentina.

I then toasted a slice of baguette and spread it with butter and garnished it with slices of Jarlsberg cheese and melted the cheese for 23 seconds in the microwave.

I drank cool water with the meal as I watched the down market finish the day with Nvidia down $.82 and Apple down over $2.00.

I checked my portfolio and it was down a bit but helped by Meta and Oklo going up over $6.00 per share each.

I tried to work, but found it difficult to concentrate so at 3:00 I took a nap until Suzette awakened me at 4:30. We discussed the dinner menu and Suzette came up with an exciting dish, Sautéed smoked pork chop with sweet and sour red cabbage, sauerkraut, and pickled red beets.

I watched the news from 5:00 until 6:00 and then went into the TV room and watched more news while Suzette prepared dinner.

This was a similar dish that she made last week that I loved. We decided to drink the bottle of French Alsace Sylvaner white wine I bought at Total Wine a week ago for a penny for my birthday. It turned out to have an apple note in its flavor profile with a bit of acid on the backend that went nicely with the dish.

I love this dish. It is my favorite of the German inspired dishes Suzette makes, perhaps because it does not not have a lot of fat, even with a dollop of sour cream on top.

After dinner we watched hours two and three from Fort Worth on the Antiques Roadshow. There were two great sports items Henry Jordan’s Super Bowl rings and charms from playing with Green Bay and the gold Medal from the 1936 Berlin Olympics a fellow named Fortenberry won. The 1936 Olympics was the first to include basketball as an Olympic event. Fortenberry was on a professional AAU team and later played for Phillips 66. He was famous in basketball history because at 6’ 8” he was the first man to dunk the basketball professionally and the person responsible for creating the rule against goal tending and the person responsible for stopping the toss up after every score. 

Quite a wonderful evening of antiques and Fort Worth memories.

We carried in two lovely wooden windows and a door Suzette bought at an Estate sale today.p and I made a cup of tea and blogged and Suzette went to bed.

Bon Appetit

 

July 13, 2025 Brunch - Sausage, onion, and potato Burritos. Early Dinner - New Time Travelers’ Gastro Pub

July 13, 2025 Brunch - Sausage, onion, and potato Burritos. Early Dinner - New Time Travelers’ Gastro Pub

I watched Stage 9 of the Tour de France much of the morning because I was tired of hearing the news about the non-release of the Epstein Report and the Texas Flood. At 10:00 we made breakfast. I sliced about 1 cup of onion and Suzette went to the basement and fetched several Yukon Gold Potatoes we grew in our garden and cleaned and diced them.

Then she sautéed the onion and added a handful of Jimmie Dean sausage and then added the potatoes she had cooked in the microwave. Finally she added three whisked eggs and stirred the mixture to evenly cook the ingredients. While the ingredients cooked I grated about1 cup of cheddar cheese.

She then toasted burrito size flour tortillas and served a pile of the sausage mixture in the middle of the tortilla garnished with grated cheese. We rolled our Burritos and I drizzled Cholula hot sauce on my burrito. Suzette drank orange juice and I drank water.

After brunch we dressed and drove to Cinelease to pick up our remaining 1 1/2 wine racks and do a bit more shopping. Suzette found curtains, saffron colored napkins, and a large mirror and I found a nice long sleeve shirt.

After paid for everything and loaded the Highlander we drove to Santa Fe.  We initially drove to St. Vincent Hospital for Suzette to do an intake interview with a new client. Then we drove to TR and Linda’s and picked up my I Pad I left on the 9th.

Then we drove to Canyon Rd. To take pictures of the tree with crystals hanging from its limbs so Suzette can design how to drape a dead tree at her Center with the crystal chandeliers she bought.

Finally around 3:00 we drove down Alameda across St. Francis to the New Time Travelers’ Gastro Pub to try their fried oysters.

We ordered an order of Fried Oysters, which was 5 oz. for $16.00. They were hot encased and fried in a tempura batter. It was happy Hour so we got slight discounts on beer and cider and a smashed burger cheeseburger.

I burned my palette again on the oysters but we liked them and the cheeseburger we split. The light dinner was pleasant but way too greasy for a person without a gall bladder.

We drove home, unloaded, rested for an hour and the drank several drinks to suppress the greasy stomachs we felt. Finally I drank some yogurt drink and Suzette ate some yogurt to coat the stomach.

Suzette said what do you expect when you go to a bar, other than greasy bar food.

We watched PBS Miss Fisher, Patience, and Grandchester, after which Suzette went to bed.

I stayed up to watch Atlantic Crossing and Sisi and blogged this blog at 11:00 and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit

July 8, 2025 Breakfast - Sausage and Eggs, and toast. Lunch - Beans and Chorizo. Dinner - Grilled T-bone steak with Potatoes roasted on the grill, and Salad

July 8, 2025 Breakfast - Sausage and Eggs, and toast. Lunch - Beans and Chorizo. Dinner - Grilled T-bone steak with Potatoes roasted on the grill, and Salad

I awakened at 7:15 and took a shower and dressed.

At 8:30 I made breakfast.  I sautéed two slices of Onion, a sausage patty, and two fried eggs and two quarter slices of bagel.

I then wrote a letter to the Earn folks regarding a note  and then a letter to the title company attorney.

At 11:00 I took a 3 hour call from Rahim .to discuss a construction contract.

 After 2:00 I checked my portfolio and remarkably, it was up thanks to Nvda hitting a new high of $160.10.

  Suzette came home around 2:30 and heated the pot of beans with chorizo. They were giant red and green beans from Argentina and white Lima Beans from Spain with garbanzo beans in a chorizo flavored broth. I liked the dish a lot.

I then made a Dijonnaise dressing for the salad by mixing minced fresh tarragon, fresh garlic from our garden pressed, Spanish Sherry vinegar, Spanish olive oil, and a dash of salt, and white pepper.

We then packed and drove to Santa Fe to TR and Linda’s house on Old Pecos Trail arriving a few minutes before 5:00.

We were welcomed with glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. First, I was poured a glass of Sancerre and then we were poured Josh and we moved out to the patio.

At 6:30 we began cooking. Linda grilled a handful of asparagus, I made a salad with our garden lettuce, a monster Roma tomato, 1/2 cucumber peeled, seeded, and sliced, three radishes sliced, croutons, an avocado diced, few leaves of basil sliced thinly, and the grilled asparagus sliced into 1 inch slices. Linda had given me two avocados, so I diced and added another avocado to the dressing.   I also quartered the 10 Yukon Gold potatoes we grew in our garden and Suzette and TR wrapped half of them in foil to roast on the outdoor grill.

I then sliced the shallot and four mushrooms we brought and when Linda informed me that Suzette had put the steaks on the grill, I sautéed the mushrooms and shallot in butter and olive oil.

In a few minutes Suzette brought in the roasted potatoes and the  two charbroiled T-bone steaks and I sliced the steaks, giving TR and Linda the tenderloin portions since they were our guests for dinner. 

                        The sautéed mushrooms and Suzette’s plate

Suzette dressed the salad and Linda fetched salad plates and served each of us salad. Suzette plated four or five potato quarters and I added the steak.

We opened the Calstar Cellars 2020 Nelson Hill Pinot Noir and poured glasses of it for Linda, Suzette, and me. TR drank his usual, beer.

We sat at the lovely Moroccan table under the pergola on the patio. Both the back and front yards are immense and TR told us how happy he was to have a large property. We agreed it was wonderful to feel that one could spread out a bit and relax in all this space. I would guess the house and casita where we stayed was on three or four acres, one of those older  Santa Fe estates, now worth several million dollars.

During the meal starting at 7:30 we saw a beautiful sunset and a full moon rise.

After dinner Linda brought out three more bottles of wine, a Madeira, a Ifer California Pinot Noir, and a Meomi Pinot Noir. I chose the Ifer and it turned out to be a decent pinot. Suzette brought out the Chocolate Maven chocolate birthday cake with butter cream icing and sprinkles. Linda handed me the serving knife and I cut pieces for each.

The most interesting comment of the meal may have been my surprised exclamation, “Oh, that is a lovely butter cream icing”, quickly followed by TR’s “How did he know that?” when I cut the birthday cake

I guess he had not seen me put a bit of the icing stuck to the knife from the first slice of cake in my mouth. But it was a deja vu moment of the many butter cream cake icings my mother and I made in my youth. Butter cream was the standard icing for years in our house and the first taste of a real creamy butter cream icing in years brought back strong memories. A real feeling of a special birthday celebration.

Linda’s birthday is July 2 and my birthday is July 3, and the purpose of this evening’s meal was to celebrate our birthdays, admittedly belatedly, but the first day we all had free.

Linda purchased the best cake possible and it was appreciated. I ate aI second slice, to celebrate my birthday, 79 years and still going strongly.

We drank another glass of Pinot and TR said goodnight and we cleared the table and retired to the casita at 10:00.

I awakened at 1:30 to blog this entry and read a bit in the cozy living room area of the casita.

Bon Appetit