January 19, 2021 Lunch – Chicken Dumpling Miso Soup with Fish Balls and Scallop. Dinner – Spaghetti Sauce and Cheese Bruschetta

 January 19,  2021 Lunch – Chicken Dumpling Miso Soup with Fish Balls and Scallop. Dinner – Spaghetti Sauce and Cheese Bruschetta 

Today I started at 8:00 with a bowl of granola, blueberries, ½ of a banana sliced, yogurt, and milk.

I worked in the morning and at 1:30 I made a soup for lunch.  I wanted to eat as soon as possible so I used per-cooked Chicken mini dumplings instead of dried noodles plus sugar snap peas, a Scallop, three fish balls, three leaves of Napa cabbage sliced, 4 mushrooms sliced  ½ shallot minced, a heaping T. of red miso, chicken stock, and water.  The soup was delicious but I had a bad reaction to it about an hour later.

    

The market was wonderful today erasing all of Friday’s sell off and returning my portfolio within ,66% of its new all time highI think the Biden Presidency could be good for the market. I am fully invested in stocks, so I am watching it carefully.

Biden Inauguration Lasagna

Suzette came home a bit after 4:00 just as i was showering and took a nap.  She rested for a while and at 5;00 went to the kitchen and made pasta with eggs, flour, and water and used the pasta rolling machine to 

make flat sheets of fresh pasta. I sliced mushrooms and she whirled spinach.  Suzette had bought a

   

    

We sautéed about 11/2 lb. of sliced mushrooms in butter and olive oil.

Suzette fetched and heated the spaghetti sauce we made with ground veal and beef and pork sausage and crushed tomatoes and onions and garlic and sweet red wine.

She then constructed the lasagna.

  

In a 13 x 10 inch Pyrex baking dish Suzette layered layered sheets of pasta, a layer of spinach, a layer of ricotta cheese and spaghetti sauce, a layer of sautéed mushrooms, ricotta cheese, pasta.  These layers filled the dish almost to the top so we refrigerated the lasagna and will add the last layer of spaghetti sauce and mozzarella tomorrow before we bake the dish. We could not decide on a dinner menu until Suzette suggested bruschetta.  I sliced two 4 inch long pieces of French baguette in half.  Suzette carved a groove in the center of each piece and filled it with ricotta cheese.  Then she covered the pieces with spaghetti sauce and garnished the tops with grated mozzarella and baked them in the oven for about fifteen minutes to heat them and melt the cheese.

  While they were cooking I grated Parmesan cheese and poured red wine.  I opened a bottle of Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir from California and we ate a delicious small dinner.  

  After dinner we ate a chocolate chip cookie tuille with the wine and that was pretty good also

We are hoping Joe Biden’s favorite Ice cream arrives by the inauguration so we can have our entire Joe Biden Inauguration meal.

Bon Appetit       

January 18, 2021 Lunch – No. 21 from 2000 Vietnam Restaurant, Dinner – New Recipe. Veal, potato and pork Burrito

 January 18, 2021 Lunch – No. 21 from 2000 Vietnam Restaurant,  Dinner – New Recipe. Veal, potato and pork Burrito 

Today the most important events were not listed meals.  The most important was replenishing the wine and whiskey and the second important item was making the Bolognese sauce for the lasagna we will make for our inauguration party on Wednesday.  Suzette has planned a menu consisting of JoeBiden’s favorite dishes, a tomato sauce pasta dish and his favorite ice cream that is made in Ohio.  She ordered the ice cream that was shipped today and we made the sauce this evening.

Pasta sauce 

We sautéed two onions diced with 8 cloves of chopped garlic.  Suzette then added ½ lb. of ground veal and about 1 lb. of ground beef and then a large can of crushed tomatoes.  I went to the garden and picked about ½ cup of fresh oregano and de-stemmed the leaves and chopped them and added them.

Suzette said that the sauce was bitter and needed something to sweeten the flavor.  I suggested adding the last cup of Corrales Vineyard’s Muscat Canelli that had been waiting for over a year in the undrinkable but useful for cooking area in our wine rack.  It was perfect Suzette said.  I tasted the sauce and any hint of bitterness was neutralized and the sauce’s flavor was enhanced.

I reheated the salami and cheese sandwich I made last Friday for our trip to Santa Fe for lunch and then drove to Trader Joe’s.  I bought pesto, quinoa, andChana dhal for Willy.  I bought a wedge of Iberico cheese and three bottles of cognac and 14 bottles of wine; 3 Vega de Origon 2011 Gran Reserva, 2 Cherry Blossum California Pinot Noir, 2 Gruner Veitliners, 3 Claude Chatelier VS Cognacs, 2 Emma Reichart Pinot Noir roses, aChloe Italian Pinot Grigio, a 2017 Chateau Roudier St. Emilion, a La Finca Malbec from Argentina, a Picton Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and  a French Malbec from Gascon.

I then drove to Total Wine and bought a bottle of Marques de Riscal Rueda and 2 bottles of Bernonroy XO Calvados. 

After I put the Calvados in the cari called in an order for aNo. 21 to 2000 Vietnam and drove to the restaurant at the corner of San Mateo and Lead to pick it up.

I had called Willy and invited him to join me for lunch. So when I got home I tore leaves of lettuce and placed them in a pasta bowl and when he arrived I divided the dish between the two bowls.  I also made myself a Vietnamese iced coffee.  We ate in the garden at the table under the gazebo. 

The sky was cloudy but the temperature was still 55 degrees and the wind had not started to blow as it did later in the evening. 

Veal, potato, and pork burritos

While we were making the tomato sauce Suzette reserved ½ of the lb. of ground veal for a veal burger for dinner, but we later decided to chop up the thawed pork chop in the meat drawer and add yellow bell pepper and onion and egg the approximately 1 cup of PPI roasted potatoes to make a burrito. Suzette sautéed all the ingredients and spooned them onto a toasted large flour tortilla.  We slit a Negra  Modelo.  We both thought the strongest characteristic of this dish was its lightness and cleanses, very much like the poached salmon on perfumed rice last night. 

After dinner I drank another beer as we watched the Antique Roadshow, which included an early Provincetown BFO Nordfeldt in the style of Matisse that was appraised for $250,000.  That made my day.

Bon Appetit                   

January 17, 2020 Lunch – New Recipe Cream of Butternut Squash and Asparagus Soup, Dinner – New Recipe. Salmon and Mackerel in a garlic cream sauce over Perfumed Rice

 January 17, 2020 Lunch – New Recipe  Cream of Butternut Squash and Asparagus Soup,  Dinner – New Recipe. Salmon and Mackerel in a garlic cream sauce over Perfumed Rice

I awakened at 7:00 to watch the news programs and Tottenham beat Sheffield in PL soccer.  Then I watched Liverpool and Man Union play to a 0-0 draw.  I napped until 12:30 while Suzette made a very creative soup using the ham broth as a base to cook butternut squash and asparagus that she the; puréed and added a bit of cream to for lunch.

We zoomed after lunch and then at 3:30 walked around the two lakes in the Bosque to watch the ducks. I felt good and strong and walked without pain all the way, about 1.1 miles.

When we returned home we watched the Tampa Bay v. New Orleans divisional title game and then 60 Minutes and then two PBS aMasterpiece Theatre episodes.  During 60 Minutes Suzette created another interesting dish, she thawed and poached pieces of salmon and the PPI mackerel in white wine and five cloves of garlic and a shallot and added about 2 T. of cream.  I destemmed sugar snap peas and Suzette cooked then in a pyrex loaf pan with PPI rice flavored with Lily buds, and seaweed that she seasoned with Aji Mirin.  This imparted a fragrance to the rice.  This was a super delicious dish.  The delicately poached fish in a creamy garlic sauce on the perfumed rice was memorable.  I hope we can recreate this dis( again.

  

   I  opened a chilled bottle of Collier des Vignes Prestige White wine from Appellation Cotes Du Rhone Controlle that I bought at Trader Joe’s for $5.99.  It was wonderful, light, clean tasting with a hint of acidity. We loved it.

 After dinner Suzette made bird seed cookies to hang on our Christmas tree we took out to the garden.  Suzette found a recipe on the internet that included gelatin, fruit jam and bird seed.  Here is a picture of them.  The chop sticks are placed in them to create holes so that the bird seed cookies can be hung on the tree by string.

At 8:00  we ate bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream with one of the tuille chocolate chip cookies I made last week.

 We went to bed and read at 9:00. I awakened a5 11:30 to blog.

Bon Appetit 

January 16, 2021. Lunch – Egg Salad Salad. Dinner – PPI Enchiladas and Posole

 January 16, 2021. Lunch – Egg Salad Salad. Dinner – PPI Enchiladas and Posole

Today the big event was Leicester beating Wolverton in PL soccer.

I watched several matches but I am fond of Leicester.

I toasted two slices of bagel and spread cream cheese on them for breakfast but changed my direction when I decided to make coffee hot chocolate.  I then spread some of the lovely homemade peach preserves Ed gave us on them and ate them with the hot chocolate.

Suzette ran errands in the morning while I watched soccer.

When she returned near noon we made egg salad. Suzette hard boiled six eggs and peeled them and diced them.  I minced two stalks of celery and 1/3 of a red onion and a Suzette added mayo and mustard and marjoram.  For lunch we made an egg salad salad with the large tomatoes, some avocado, Romaine lettuce, and Chunks of Gravad Lax.  We ate outside in the sunshine. We drank glasses of Pinot Grigio.

 

  Willy came by after the match and we ate cookies with tea and moved theChristmas tree to back yard near the gazebo so it can be lit at night.  At3:30 we all walked 2/3mile through the neighborhood and said hello to Barry and Kylene, who were out walking also.

When we returned home an Willy left we tried to come up with a menu.  Suzette searched the freezer and found a package of frozen enchiladas, so we decided to heat the enchiladas and Posole for dinner.  We drank beer without bowls of enchiladas and Posole. This dinner is exactly the meal I had hoped to eat in Santa Fe yesterday, but the Shed was closed.  

Nothing fancy, just good solid food.

Bon Appetit

January 15, 2021 Brunch – Fried Rice Egg Foo Young. Dinner Sautéed Filet Mignon with Mushrooms, Creamer Potatoes with Butternut Squash and Roasted Asparagus

 January 15, 2021 Brunch – Fried Rice Egg Foo Young. Dinner Sautéed Filet Mignon with Mushrooms,  Creamer Potatoes with Butternut Squash and Roasted Asparagus

When you know how to cook delicious meals can be easy to create.quickly.

Today was a good example.  For brunch I made a dish I have made many times.  Stir frying PPI stir fried pork and Vegetables plus additional Pork sausage, Napa cabbage, shallot and rice and adding 2whisked eggs with Chinese Cooking wine, sesame and soy sauce. It formed a shallow omelet that I flipped in three or four sections to cook both sides evenly.  The result was delicious.  Here is a pictiure. 

  

I

Suzette came home at 11:00 and we drove toSanta Fe at 11:30.

  

We picked up PPE for the Center at 1:00 and then went to Stephen’s and then Zaplin-Lambert Gallery.    had a beautiful Thomas Moran watercolor of Acoma for $625,000 and a nice BFO Nordfeldt pInting of Pecos for$36,000.  The most interesting painting was an oil painting of plasters by Marjorie Eaton almost identical toSuzette’s watercolor for $30,000.

We then drove home and rested for a while. 

At 6:00 we began cooking dinner.  We had thawed a filet Mignon when we left forSanta Fe p. Suzette Roasted a 6 x 9 Pyrex baking dish filled with cubed creamer potatoes and butternut squash an she snapped about 10 stalks of asparagus and roasted them in the oven with the other vegetables doused with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I sliced a Shallot ,two cloves of garlic, and 6 portobello mushrooms and added them to the large cast iron skillet in which Suzette was sautéing the filet.  We added 2 more T. of butter and after a few minutes Suzette added 2 T. of Marsala and a few frozen thyme leaves.

I then opened a bottle of 2012 Cornelia Zinfandel from Paso Robles.

This was a great bottle of wine and a great meal that was easy to prepare.  We are good cooks who know how in a simple way that enhances the flavor.

After diner we ate chocolates truffles with the last glass of the Zinfandel.

Another da6 of great food.

Bon Appetit 

January 14, 2021. Breakfast – Vietnamese Omelet. Lunch – Beef Salad. Dinner – Stir fried Pork with Vegetables and Rice

 January 14, 2021. Breakfast – Vietnamese Omelet. Lunch – Beef Salad. Dinner – Stir fried Pork with Vegetables and Rice

I bought a bag with 11/2 lb. of fresh mung bean sprouts at the 99 seafood supermarket on Wednesday. They are very perishable so I have tried to prepare dishes with them as an ingredient.

This morning at 10:00 I made an omelet with sausage, shallot, Fresh Chinese noodles soaked in boiling water for four minutes, Napa cabbage, a green onion sliced, and a handful of mung bean sprouts plus two eggs whisked with salt.  The result was exactly what I had hoped for. Here are pictures, 

  

 

 For lunch at 1:30 I ate the PPI salad and added the PPI fillet steak, ½ tomato, and ¼ cucumber peeled, seeded, and sliced plus the last bit of goat cheese.  I toasted two slices of baguette and melted slices of Jarlsberg cheese onto them and had a pleasant lunch.

I checked my portfolio and was happy to see that it had slipped only .2% in what appears to be the beginning of a tech sell off.

At 3:50 I rode 2 ½ miles around the lakes at Tingley Beach.  When I returned home I Suzette arrived and I meditated at 5:00 until 5:30.

Suzette did not wish to cook so I made dinner.  I made a cup of rice.

Then I cubed a pork chop, 1 large shallot, a dozen sugar snap peas, 1/8 of a red bell pepper, the last ¼ cup of Napa cabbage, about ½ T. of garlic and fresh ginger, about 1 cup of a bamboo shoot, and about 3 oz. of brown Beech mushrooms.  I sautéed the meat and hard vegetables in heated peanut oil with ½ tsp. of garlic chili sauce. Then I added the sugar snap peas, cabbage, and bamboo shoots.  Finally I added two 

handfuls of mung beans and a seasoning sauce containing soy, Chinese Cooking wine, a splash of rice vinegar, sesame oil, and oyster sauce, and a pinch or two of salt and sugar plus cornstarch and about ¼ cup

 of water.  As the sauce heated and thickened I added another ¼ cup of water to keep the sauce from  coagulating.

  I then served us the stir fry dish on a pile of rice.

 

 We drank water with dinner but later I drank a cup of tea with lovely cookies Ed made for Suzette.

It was a pleasant day without a lot of legal work.

We watched a Charles Russell biography, then Midsomer Mystery, and finally I watched an episode of Endeavour and then blogged before going to bed 

Bon Appetit

January 13, 2021 Lunch – PPI Ham and Chicken Misp Noodle Soup. Dinner – Broiled Blue Mackerel with New Recipe. Sautéed Rice and Asparagus

 January 13, 2021 Lunch – PPI Ham and Chicken Misp Noodle Soup. Dinner – Broiled Blue Mackerel with New Recipe. Sautéed Rice and Asparagus

Today was historic and wonderful in at least four ways for me.  Thanks to Suzette I received my first Vaccination, I went to the 99 store for shopping and bought a lovely fresh blue mackerel, President Trump was impeached for the second time, the market was kind to me again today.

I ate bagels with slices of Gravad Lax and red onion for breakfast. 

 Then I dressed and drove to Suzette’s Center for Ageless Living and received my first shot of the covid    vaccine.  On the way back home I thought I would check to see if the 99 Seafood Supermarket had oysters. I drove up Gibson to the market.  There were no oysters but i found lots of other interesting items.  I bought a blue mackerel, fresh bamboo roots, mung bean sprouts, baby Bok Choy , ichiban eggplants, almond cookies, a 6 oz. can of crab, coconut milk, a can of quail eggs, white yams, shallots, fresh egg noodles, and a red onion.

I then drove home and reconstituted the PPI Miso Noodle Soup by adding ham, a bundle of fresh egg white noodles, some more shallot, and Napa cabbage, and red miso and chicken broth.  The result was really delicious.  I added fresh mung bean sprouts and hoisin sauce.

 I finished lunch just before 2:00, so I watched the Market close and when I checked my portfolio, I found that my portfolio had increased by .75%.  Another great day helped by a $2.09 increase in Apple stock.

Suzette came home around  4:30.  She ate the PPI steak  because she had not eaten lunch.  We then had cocktails and watched the news of this historic day.

We decided to start cooking at 6:30.  Suzette found a simple recipe for mackerel that called For simply broiling it for 6 to 7 minutes.  I filleted the mackerel and then Suzette seasoned it with salt and pepper and dusted it with chopped parsley and squeezed lemon juice over it.

She then Broiled it until the flesh began to flake.

Sautéed Rice and Asparagu 

The most creative dish was the vegetable.  Suzette sautéed cooked rice with 1 inch pieces of asparagus. I zested a lemon into the dish and a Suzette added a splash of Aji Mirin.  This was an interesting and creative dish.

We drank the opened bottles of French Belle Vignes Sauvignon Blanc and Kirkland Pinot Grigio with dinner.

The dinner was so delicious and creative that I had no interest in anything else to eat or drink after dinner.

We were sleepy and went to bed at 8:30.

Bon Appetit