December 13, 2025 Breakfast - Granola with Blueberries and Banana Lunch - Hot Dog at Costco, Dinner - Jose Andres Roasted Pork Tapa with Sautéed Pasta, and roasted Asparagus
Another night of waking for two hours between 3:00 and 5:00.
I finished Before the Deluge, Hitler was another sick person like Trump who had to win, no matter the cost to others.
I awakened at 7:00 and dozed until 8:00 and then watched Chelsea beat Everton and Liverpool beat Brighton while I ate a bowl of granola with milk, Greek yogurt, blueberries and banana slices.
At 10:00 Suzette and I drove to the consignment store and bought a new king sized bed frame and mattress as our Christmas gift to ourselves. Yesterday I ordered four bottles of Maison Surrene and two bottles of Germain Robin XO cognac as a Christmas gift for myself and possibly Billy. The XO is mostly cognac distilled from Pinot noir grapes prior to the sale of Germain Robin’s inventory to Gallo in 2017 that has been sold back to Germain Robin in 2023 when Gallo’s exclusive ended, so it is aged American cognac.
After we bought the bed and arranged for delivery on Tuesday we drove to Costco. A few days ago after I found out that Costco no longer makes fruitcake, I mentioned to Suzette that I really would like fruitcake this year. We arrived at Costco at noon, so I went to eat a hot dog and Suzette went shopping and bought dried fruit for the Martha Stewart Tropical fruitcake and lamb chops plus batteries. Suzette needed to buy garlands and poinsettias. Since Costco was sold out we drove across the street to Home Depot’s Nursery department, where Suzette bought Three small poinsettias and we were given a large box of Christmas tree cuttings for free. After we filled the back of the Prius with evergreen fronds we drove to Total Wine to buy grain alcohol for limoncello plus a bottle of scotch, a bottle of rum to soak into the fruitcakes and a twelve pack of Negra Modelo.
We were on a fruitcake mission so we then drove to Smith’s on Carlisle to buy eggs, flour and sugar. I also bought bagels and tonic water.
We needed molasses and there was none at Smith’s, so around 5:00 we finally drove to La Montanita Coop where Suzette bought a bottle of molasses.
When we arrived home Suzette decorated the dining room and living room tables with the evergreen fronds and soaked the dried fruits in brandy to start the fruitcake process. Christmas had officially begun.
Dinner -
At 6:00 we started preparing dinner. We had agreed to make Jose Andre’s’ Roasted Pork Tenderloin, which is one of our favorite tapas in his tapas cookbook.
I went to the garden and picked a handful of stalks of oregano that were not frost bitten in the half light after sunset that I rinsed.
I then sliced two apples and an onion into long slivers and minced two cloves of garlic.
I then sliced two pork tenders into 1 1/2 inch sections and removed the silver skin from them.
Suzette snapped the ends off 7 or 8 asparagus and went to the garden and picked a handful of fresh sage and fetched a bottle of Albariño from the garage fridge.
Faustino Rivero Ulcelia is the best Albariño I have found in Albuquerque. I bought several at Costco for about $13.00 per bottle several months ago.
While I sliced about 1 T. of sage leaves into thin strips, Suzette sautéed the apple and onion slices in a large French Copper pan on the stove in butter and olive oil. In a separate skillet she sautéed PPI Casarecce Pasta with the sage in butter and olive oil.
She then added the pork slices and sautéed them with the apples and onions turning them once. After about ten minutes we spread the oregano sprigs on top of the pork and Suzette baked the pork ingredients and asparagus in a 250 oven for about fifteen minutes to get it to an internal temp of 140 degrees.
Returning the pork slices to the sauce
She then removed the pork and asparagus and added 2 oz. of cognac to the apples and onions mixture on medium heat and cooked it for a minute of two to cook it into a sauce. Then she added 1/2 cup of homemade chicken stock and cooked the mixture for two or three minutes to mix the flavors and thicken the light sauce a bit. Finally she returned the pork slices to the pan and spooned the light sauce over them to flavor them and reheat them.
The pasta had gotten slightly crisp from its twenty minutes of sautéing. Suzette plated a pile of pasta on one side of a pasta bowl and the pork dish on the other side and lay three or four roasted asparagus on top of the pasta and I opened and poured glasses of Albariño.
Although we have cooked several meals since our return from Japan including good enchiladas, this was the first great multi course meal we have cooked. It almost felt like a test to see if we were ready to cook another Christmas Eve buffet. And we succeeded. It was fabulous. The pork was pink in the center and very tender. The apple and onions slices were cooked to perfection, not too tough and not mushy. The sauce made with all fresh ingredients was superb. The Albariño was wonderful with the tapa and reminded us of the great meals we ate in Spain. Anrdres’ roasted pork tapa is actually an elegant dinner entree when served with a vegetable and starch, as we did tonight.
Later we watched a Christmas movie on Netflix, although I slept through most of it and went to bed at 10:00.
A walked over 3500 steps today, my coughing is subsiding, and helped cook a great meal, so I am beginning to feel fully in control of my faculties again.
Willy returned at 7:30 and ate a bowl of delicious looking Chile con carne he had bought at a brewery with us while we ate dinner.
Bon Appetit
