October 31, 2025 Lunch - Chirashi at Crazy Fish Dinner - Bean Stew and Stir Fried Bok Choy with pinon nuts
I had a busy but pleasant morning. I ate a chocolate croissant with a cup of tea around 7:45. The market was up early but gyrated all day and trailed downward at the end for a minimal gain.
I dressed and at 9:00 I went to the Sheriff’s Civil Service Division in the County building to deliver my two summons for service.
Then I drove to Wells Fargo to open a new checking account since a fraudulent check caused the closing of my old checking account a week ago.
I had told Murat I would meet him at Crazy Fish at 11:00 and my banking ended at 10:20 so I walked to the Birdland store AT 3213 Central that is now Half-life production company and talked to Nickelle, who surprised me by handing me the rent check. Their business seems to be doing well. They are the official production Compny for the Lobos basketball team, which is a big deal.
I then walked back to the bank and deposited the check. Finally at 10:50 I walked across the street to Crazy Fish. I read and waited for Murat, who arrived a few minutes after 11:00.
Murat is from Amman, Jordan, and apparently has never eaten raw fish before but he is curious and when I ordered Chirashi, he ordered it also.
I showed him how to make a dipping sauce with wasabi and soy and how to dip a piece of fish in the sauce with a piece of Pickled ginger and he quickly began eating and enjoying the fresh raw fish.
The chirashi came with two slices each of salmon, Aji tuna, escarole, Yellowtail, annd albacore tuna. I ate my usual 1/2 and boxed the other half to go.
Murat brought me a bottle of his uncle’s honey. His uncle lives high above Santa Fe and has 12 hives. It is the best honey I have ever tasted.
I then drove home and worked on my pleading until 3:45 when I got hungry and decided to make a snack. I sliced several slices of Lebanon Salami and Manchego cheese and put them on one side of a flour tortilla and folded it in half and sautéed it in melted butter until each side was lightly browned. I sliced it in half and made a cup of tea.
Before I had eaten the first half Suzette arrived around 4:15, so I shared the second half with her. She had not eaten lunch, so we decided to make dinner, but there were two complicating factors, it was Halloween, which meant we had to give candy to hundreds of children. Suzette had dressed for the occasion with her red Dracula T-shirt and black and red cape.
We also wanted to watch game six of the World Series, so very little effort was available for dinner prep.
We decided to eat the PPI Bean, pork, and Kielbasa stew Suzette had made with the a bag of large red and green beans she received in her last shipment of beans sent by Rancho Gordo Bean Club and I would make stir fried Baby Bok Choy with the bok Choy I bought at Talin this week.
So at 6:15 we turned on the World Series and Suzette opened the front door and the screen door and moved a chair and the large container filled with chocolate candy onto the porch and prepared for the younger children, who we love to give candy to who mostly come while it is still daylight.
While Suzette watched for trick or treaters, I began to prep the Bok Choy by slicing the heavier white stems from the tender green leaves and minced two small shallots, five cloves of garlic, a quarter size of almost fresh ginger, and sliced two fresh shiitake mushrooms. Suzette put the casserole with the bean stew on low heat and we gave out candy and took a few pictures of several of the more creative costumers of the trick or treaters.
Suzette always wants to engage the older trick or treaters with a question. This year it was, “How do you think Donald Trump is costumed for Halloween this year.” The answer she expected was, “As a King.” She got lots of interesting feedback with that question.
We are supporting LA in the World Series, so when we discovered that LA had a 3 run 3rd inning and Suzette got hungry around 7:15, we shut down Halloween and I started stir frying the bok Choy.
I heated peanut oil and stir fried the white stems,garlic, mushrooms, and ginger and threw in a handful of pinon nuts. I made a seasoning of 2 heaping tsp. of cornstarch, 1 T. of soy, 2 T. of rice cooking wine, 1 tsp. of sesame oil, and 1/2 cup of water. After about 6 minutes when the heavier ingredients began to soften and change color I added the bowl of green leaves and let them sit on top of the other ingredients for several minutes to steam. Then I stirred the leaves into the other ingredients and stirred in the seasoning. The seasoning quickly thickened and congealed, so I added about another 1/2 cup of water to return it to a thick brown sauce. We then each filled bowls with one-half bean stew and one-half bok Choy. Both dishes were delicious and filling. Suzette thought the piñons added too many calories to the bok Choy and made me promise to eliminate them from future dishes, since she has lost 18 pounds and is trying to slim down further.
We changed into our sleep wear and got into bed to watch the rest of the game around 8:30. Suzette fell asleep but I watched LA win in a very exciting last inning. The Blue Jays got runners on second and third with one out in the 9th and it looked like they would tie or win the Series with one more hit or home run, but the game ended abrupt with a running catch of a line drive that would have scored at least one run and a throw to second to force the second and third out by Keke Rodriquez.
We then went to bed when the game ended around 9:15.
I woke up at 1:00 to finish this entry with a cup of chai.
To prove we are not Spartan dieters, we each ate two or three candy bars during our duties of giving out candy.
Bon Appetit
