January 1, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate Lunch - French Onion Soup, Cesar Salad, and Quince and Pear tart. Dinner - PPI Spaghetti, Duck, and Broccoli

January 1, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate   Lunch - French Onion Soup, Cesar Salad, and Quince and Pear tart. Dinner - PPI Spaghetti, Duck, and Broccoli 

The first day of the new year was wonderful. I slept until 8:30 and then read and ate a pain au chocolate with a latte machiatta. I then sliced three onions and rubbed the large salad bowl with garlic and made a Cesar dressing with a can of anchovies, the remaing clove of garlic pressed, lemon juice, and about 2/3 cup of Argentinian Laur olive oil and then two egg yolks to bind the dressing. Suzette then strained the beef broth she made yesterday and sautéed the onions in butter and olive oil with 3 tsp. of salt and then two egg onions softened, she added sugar to the onions to caramelize them.

Then she added 2 T. of flour and cook it into the onions, Finally Suzette added two quarts (8 cups) of the beef broth and 1/2 cup of white vermouth and cooked the soup to mix the ingredients.

Here is the recipe: 

Then Suzette tore several heads of romaine lettuce and put the torn leaves in the salad bowl and then baked a cookie sheet of garlic and olive oil soaked croutons made from Costco baguettes and I grated a cup of Pecorino-Romano cheese and sliced about fifteen slices of Gruyere cheese to garnish the Onion Soup and Suzette sliced rounds of baguette and we toasted them and then filled French onion soup bowls with soup and placed a slice of toasted baguette and a slice of Gruyere in each bowl. At 10:30 I watched some of the Sunderland v. Man City PL fixture with Willy. All five PL fixtures today ended tied.

At 11:30 Luke and Ari arrived and I added the croutons, the grated Pecorino Romano cheese, and the Cesar Salad dressing to the lettuce.

Then Suzette served each person a heated bowl of French Onion soup and I served cesar salad and poured glasses of Chateau Aton Haut Medoc Bordeaux red wine.

                                       The Cesar salad after the first serving

After lunch Luke and I whipped cream with 2 Tsps. of powdered sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract.

Suzette served slices of tart and I poured glasses of pineau for Ari, Suzette, and me.

After lunch we went around the table and each gave our New Year’s resolutions. One of Suzette’s was to develop our garden area and mine were dematerialization of my Indian bank shares and a successful launch of Earn’s website.

After lunch Amber arrived and Ari and Luke left with Amber for California at 1:45 Suzette and I walked around the block in the warm afternoon sunlight, which helped me get to 3,000 steps for the day.

By the way my solar plex is beginning to strengthen. 

Then I watched Indiana quarterbacked by Heisman Trophy winner Mendoza crush Alabama in a National NCAA quarterfinal and then after 6:00 Miss. State beat Georgia in an exciting game.

We did not have an official dinner. Suzette ate the last cabbage roll with sauerkraut for he good luck New Year’s meal, willy ate at a new Afghanistan restaurant downtown, and I ate leftover roast duck, broccoli, and spaghetti with the last glass f the Vacqueyras red. The big important meal of the day was the very French lunch.

Willy returned with his report of the new Afghan restaurant and after Suzette finished working in her office she joined to watch the last 9 minutes of the Sugar Bowl which was won by Miss. State impressively.

Suzette cut me a slice of fruitcake and I ate it with a cup of tea and then after Miss. State won we went to bed.

Bon Appetit