October 16, 2024 Breakfast - Scallop, cheese, snow peas, and Green onion omelet sandwich. Lunch - Chickie and Pete’s Restaurant, Philadelphia Airport, Dinner - Bagel, cream cheese, onion, and whitefish salad in Denver Airport.

October 16, 2024 Breakfast - Scallop, cheese, snow peas, and Green onion omelet sandwich. Lunch -  Chickie and Pete’s Restaurant, Philadelphia Airport, Dinner - Bagel, cream cheese, onion, and whitefish salad in Denver Airport.

This was a leisurely travel day. Our flight from Philadelphia to Denver left at 4:45, so we were able to prepare breakfast. I combined the leftover Scallops Provencal, with 1/2 cup of thinly sliced green onion, and 1/4 cup of diced cooked snow peas, and three whisked eggs. As the omelet cooked I added a slice of American cheese in thin strips.  I toasted two slices of Italian bread and brewed a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk and sugar and placed two pieces of omelet on the two slices of toast and Suzette at 1/4 of the omelet.  It was delicious beyond words and gave me an energy boost that got me through the day of two flights and navigating three airports for a 4000 step day.

In the morning I also toasted three slices of everything bagels and spread them with cream cheese and whitefish salad and garnished them with thin slices of yellow onion to take as emergency food on the flights.

We left Jean’s at noon and drove to Philadelphia Airport. Unfortunately, Suzette left a bag of gifts at the TSA carousel and had to go back to get it around 2 :00 p.m. While I waited I ate 1 1/2 slices of bagel. When Suzette returned with the bag she was hungry and needed a beer.  We walked to one of our favorite restaurants in the Airport, Chickie and Pete’s, near our departure gate and ordered beers and a Cesar Salad that was split for us by the waitress that was terrific. 

We made our fight with all our possessions and flew to Denver.

While we waited for our Denver to Albuquerque flight, we ate the other 1 1/2 slices of bagel and Suzette bought a Hershey chocolate bar with almonds that we shared. I bought an almond croissant but did not eat it.  There is a decent snack on Southwest flights, Brownie Brittle, thin slices of dried brownies about 1 inch square on average with tiny chocolate chips.  We ate several small bags of them.

We arrived in Albuquerque at 10:00 and drove home. Suzette watered the house plants and I checked my portfolio and found that it had increased .66% while was gone, most of the gain occurred today in NVDA.

Bon Appetit

October 15, 2024 Breakfast - Blueberry Pancakes. lunch. Neptune Diner Food Truck at Roots Dinner - Scallops Provencal with steamed Snow Peas and Rice Risotto

October 15, 2024 Breakfast - Blueberry Pancakes. lunch. Neptune Diner Food Truck at Roots  Dinner - Scallops Provencal with steamed Snow Peas and Rice Risotto

Today was a good food day. The food was good and there were several extra snacks that eliminated any drop in energy.

I started the morning by eating the leftover 1/2 of a chocolate croissant from Riverfront Bakery on Sunday.  

The around 10:00 Jean thawed blueberries and made blueberry pancakes.  They were delicious and gave me enough energy to keep going most of the rest of the day. 

Then we drove to a huge open air and indoor auction. I joined with another man to bid on a book of U.S. stamps but we were outbid at $30.00.

We then drove to Roots market, a huge outdoor and indoor market.  I sat at a picnic table while the girls went to the flea market. As it turned out I was sitting in the sun by the Neptune Diner food shack that served mostly fried seafood. When the girls arrived we ordered. They both ordered oyster sandwiches and I ordered a soft shell crab sandwich. Both were excellent with lettuce and tomato and tartare sauce, especially with the birch root beer Suzette bought for us.

After we ate we walked inside to Weaver’s meat counter and bought a Lebanon Bologna smoked with applewood and slightly sweetened with sugar and a large bottle of Long’s horseradish.  We also bought a bunch of green onions and a bunch of fresh thyme for dinner.

As we walked back to the car we stopped at an Amish bake shop and bought 6 chocolate woopie pies.

                                          The last half of my soft shell crab sandwich

                                                                Roots Markets 

We then drove to Don and Bev’s and talked to them and gave Bev a critter and left them two woopie pies. Don made us Old Fashions with a fancy Kirkland Bourbon and an Old Fashion mix.  Bev is convalescing after having her gall bladder removed yesterday. She was in good spirits and did not seem to be feeling any pain.  They showed us pictures of their house in Florida that seemed to have avoided any serious damage from the two recent hurricanes.

We then drove to the Masonic Village to visit Mrs. Lindemuth and we shared the three of the last four woopie pies. 

A bit after 5:00 when she was served dinner, we drove back to Jean’s house.

We watched the news, including parts of the 39 minute music dance by Trump at a scheduled town-hall lacking any Q and A, just him dancing and m.c.ing the music played that was one of the craziest political events of this political cycle as we sipped glasses of Riscal Reserva Tempranillo from Rioja. It was also a horrible day in the market with Nvidea dropping over $6.00 and Arm dropping over $10.00. I am sure that I lost more than I gained yesterday.

I minced a shallot, five scallions, four cloves of garlic, stripped the edges off about 1 lb. of snow peas, and stripped the leaves off their stems of about 1 T. of thyme.  I then sliced 1 lb. of scallop pieces into approximately  1/2 inch slices.  

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Then Suzette tossed the scallop slices in a bag filled with flour, salt, and some thyme leaves and I then shuck off the excess flour from the scallops and Suzette sautéed the garlic, thyme, and shallot in butter and olive oil and when that had cooked added the scallops and sautéed them for a couple of minutes and the added white wine and a little water to create a cream sauce. 

                                                  The finished Scallops Provencal

While Suzette was cooking the scallops, Jean stir fried a package of Uncle Ben’s long grain brown rice in butter and then added water and cooked it for 15 minutes to perfection and also steamed the snow peas in the microwave with a little water.

Jean fetched her Noritake Azalea plates to serve the food and fetched better wine glasses.

When everything was ready Suzette divided the rice among the three plates and we each served ourselves the scallops in cream sauce, and steamed snow peas and garnished the scallops with thinly sliced green onion ringlets and thyme.

We poured three glasses of the Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc Suzette had used for the scallop cream sauce and we had a wonderful dinner at 7:45.

There were scallops and snow peas left for another meal.

I then watched Finding your Roots at 8:00 featuring the comedians Louis Black and Tom Woods and went to bed around 9:30 after drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea with a few slices of fruit cake.

Today turned into a big and excellent food day.

My goal this trip of eating a crab cake and a woopie pie was fulfilled and even exceeded by a soft shell crab sandwich and a splendid Scallops Provencal plus an excellent meal at Bardea in Wilmington Saturday evening.

Jean has been the perfect hostess and a great sport to indulge our fancy food fetishes.

Bon Appetit 

October 14, 2024 Breakfast - Bagels with cream cheese. Lunch - a bagel with Cream cheese, onion, and whitefish salad Dinner with Mts. Lindemuth.

October 14, 2024 Breakfast - Bagels with cream cheese. Lunch - a bagel with Cream cheese, onion, and whitefish salad  Dinner with Mts. Lindemuth.

Jean had bought pretzel bagels for us.  I toasted two of them and spread them with cream cheese for breakfast with a cup of tea for breakfast.

The plan the girls had made was to serve their mother, Sara Jane, who lives in the Masonic Nursing home a dinner of Crab Cakes, Creamed corn, and creamed asparagus with bits of bread at her regular dinner time at 4:30.

At 10:30 we drove to Oregon Dairy to shop for crab and bought a can of lump meat crab from Indonesia, plus a lb. of Scallop pieces, three shallots, a package of sugar snap peas, a package of snow peas, and a lemon. I also picked up a six pack of everything bagels, a small container of whitefish salad, and two lb. loafs of fruit cake.

Then we drove to the Wies Supermarket in Ephrata to buy wine for tonight’s meal and those we might make later. We bought a Franciscan and another Sauvignon Blanc, a Josh rose, a Mondavi Pinot Noir, a Riscal Reserva Rioja, and a Trapiche Malbec.  We also bought a carrot cake roll stuffed with a cream cheese icing.

When we returned to Jean’s at 1:00 I toasted a slice of everything bagel and spread cream cheese and whitefish salad on it and garnished it with a couple of slices of onion for lunch with a cup of tea.

Then I went up to nap until 2:00 and the girls made and cooked 7 crab cakes that were mostly crab meat with some crushed saltine crackers and egg sautéed them in butter. They also packed five of Mrs. Lindemuth’s Noritake Azalea pattern plates, some of Jean’s preserved asparagus, a small container of milk and two slices of toasted bread, the carrot roll, and the bottle of Franciscan Sauvignon Blanc and we drove to Elizabethtown to Don and Bev’s cottage and picked a cooler Don had left with a bag of creamed corn and drove to the Health Care unit at the Masonic Homes. Jean had packed all the items in a large plastic storage box and we also took the small critter Suzette bought for her mother at Brandywine Museum yesterday.

When we arrived at Masonic Homes we carted all the food and plates and critter to the third floor where Mrs. Lindemuth lives and arranged the plates on a round table in the room adjoining the dining room/TV room. Then the girls gave their mother the critter and placed it on the window sill of the window where Mrs. Lindemuth sits by the bird feeder outside the window. They then rolled Mrs Lindemuth from her normal place by the window to the table set for dinner and placed a hospital table in front of her so she could reach the plate. The attendants who were serving dinner heated the corn and asparagus and Jean tore the toast into bite-sized pieces and added the bread to the container of asparagus and poured the hot milk over the Aspragus to create the dish of creamed asparagus that Mrs. Lindemuth loves. I then served everyone a crab cake and we passed the creamed corn and asparagus with milk around, and Suzette poured glasses of the Sauvignon blanc and we enjoyed the Lindemuth’s favorite meal.

The crab cakes were excellent. I consider them the second best I have ever eaten. The best were with my cousins at the Baltimore Tennis Club made with only Maryland crab lump meat, a little Old Bay seasoning, and egg white.

After we finished the main course zsuzette served us slices of carrot roll for dessert.

After dinner we pushed Mrs Lindemuth out onto the balcony and the girls and she talked for a few minutes while they enjoyed the late afternoon light and fresh air. 

Then we rolled her back to her window seat and packed up the plates and containers and said goodbye.

This wonderful experience is the type of thing Suzette excels at; recreational therapy conceived and executed to perfection.

Suzette even wore the German necklace her Dad brought back from the war for Mrs. Lindemuth that Mrs. Lindemuth had given her.

I have never seen such family love and solidarity in any other family.

We drove about 45 minutes back from Masonic Homes to Jean’s house in the 5:00 rush traffic. When we arrived I was tired and emotionally drained and drank a Cherry Pepsi with Knob Creek Bourbon cocktail and I made Suzette a Dewars on the rocks.

I also ate a few bites of the fruitcake as we watched Ari on MSNBC.

At 6:45 I was tired and napped until 9:00 and then blogged this blog.

This was yet another amazing day demonstrating family love and dedication.

Bon Appetit