April 5, 2026 Easter Dinner with the Family Breakfast - Gravad Lax Omelet Dinner - Asparagus, Garlic Grits, Smoked Trout, Caprese Salad, and Quince and Fig Cobbler. Snack - Cobbler. Dinner - Enchiladas with beans and rice

April 5,  2026 Easter Dinner with the Family Breakfast - Gravad Lax Omelet Dinner - Asparagus, Garlic Grits, Smoked Trout, Caprese Salad, and Quince and Fig Cobbler. Snack - Cobbler. Dinner - Enchiladas with beans and rice

Today was Easter and traditionally that means we join together our extended family, Amy and Vahl and Suzette and me and Luke and Willy in a late lunch. Today was a complete success. We cooked smoked Trout, a Caprese Salad, and Quince and Fig cobbler. Amy cooked Garlic Grits, and Aparagus, and bought biscuits from Whole Foods.

When I woke up at 6:30 I made a chai and watched the news.

Then I made a Mushroom, Red Onion, cream cheese, and Gravad Lax Omelet for breakfast.

 

The day started in earnest with Suzette finishing the walkway between the roses and I cutting back the vine on the trellis arch at one end of the pathway between the two gardens and Luke and I gathering a basket full of Garlic Chives, parsley, chives, and Lemon thyme in the garden.

I then chopped the garlic chives, chives, thyme, and parsley finely and Suzette mashed those herbs into 8 oz. of butter to make a compound butter to stuff the trout’s stomach, a Swedish recipe.

Then I sliced tomatoes, and red onion, and Luke helped arrange those slices with leaves of fresh basil from the plants we bought yesterday at Trader Joe’s and slices of fresh Mozzarella we bought at Costco to make a Caprese salad that Suzette dressed with a simple Argentinian olive oil and Balsamic vinegar vinaigrette.

Suzette also made a jiffy cobbler without salt combining figs harvested last year from our fig tree and quince harvested last year from the trees at the Center in Los Lunas.

I chilled the three bottles of Faurino Rivera Ulcea 2024 Albariño I bought at Costco on Friday and the half bottle of Vara Late Harvest Albariño we bought at Vara yesterday.

Then around 12:30 I cut the heads and tails off the five trout I bought on Friday at Costco and Suzette stuffed them with the herbed compound butter and lit the propane grill and soaked a cedar board in water.

Amy called at 12:15 to say they were leaving Eldorado and to preheat the oven to 300 degrees, mince a shallot for the vinaigrette for the asparagus, and they would arrive around 1:15.

When I preheated the oven I inadvertently baked the cobbler.  Then when Amy and Vahl arrived Amy put the Garlc grits into the oven to bake, added the minced shallot to her vinaigrette and dressed the asparagus, Suzette started the trout broiling and smoking on the propane grill, and I opened two bottles of Albariño and put them into an ice bucket with water and ice and Willy carried the bucket out to the Gazebo where Suzette had set the table for dinner.

Then around day was sunny with temperatures around 72 and no wind, so perfect for out Al fresco lunch.

Suzette moved a wicker table to the gazebo where we places the Caprese salad and asparagus platter.

When the trout and grits were cooked I removed the skin and fileted the five trout at a table near the gazebo and put a filet on each of the six plates and Luke poured the wine and the mint tea he made from several of the fresh mints growing in our garden.

It was a lovely meal with lots of conversation about traveling among our well travelled family.  After we finished the entrees, we cleared the plates and Suzette served parfait glasses filled with cobbler and Kroger artisanal vanilla ice cream and cordial glasses were filled with the late harvest Albariño for dessert and more mint tea.

I loved every element of this meal, especially since every dish was prepared without salt to meet my restricted salt diet. 

We finally started clearing the table after two hours and everyone left around 4:00 and I lay down for an hour nap and Suzette cleaned the kitchen with Luke and Willy’s help.

When I got up around 5:15 Suzette and I ate a snack of cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Then around 7:30 I heated and ate a bowl of enchiladas garnished with sour cream and beans, and rice as we watched Eva Longoria eating in Madrid.

Again another day with small meals and snacks and one huge Easter dinner.

I cannot say how thankful I am to be able to share another Easter meal with my extended family in what seems like a magical moment, two weeks after being discharged from the hospital . It was also fortuitous that Luke was in town as he is on his way from living in New York to living in L.A. and Willy has moved back to Albuquerque from 1 1/2 years living in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia and Amy was recently discharged from a recent hospitalization for a virus.

What also amazed me was the magical menu of family favorite dishes perfectly matched to the wine. Amy’s favorite Southern dishes of grits and biscuits paired perfectly with vinegary huge Aspragus and a fresh Caprese salad and locally raised Smoked Trout stuffed with fresh herbs from our garden plus a cobbler made with figs and quince we grew in our gardens paired with my favorite Albariño and an interesting and unusual late harvest Albariño with dessert.

It was a memorable meal in so many ways.

I am happy that I am feeling better, as my muscles are regenerating and my kidneys are recovering. It appears I have dodged a bullet yet again.

Bon Appetit

April 4, 2026 Snack - Pain au Chocolate Brunch - Trout Cake and egg Sandwich Snack - Fig Newtons. Dinner Enchiladas and Beans Snack - Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich

April 4, 2026  Snack - Pain au Chocolate Brunch - Trout Cake and egg Sandwich Snack - Fig Newtons. Dinner Enchiladas and Beans  Snack - Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich

Today we were active and it was the first day I walked over 3000 steps.

I got up early and ate a pain au Chocolate as I watched the first 1/2 of Man City versus Liverpool. When Man City was up 2 to 0 at halftime at 6:30 I went back to bed and slept until 8:20.

At 9:30 we drove to Trader Joe’s where we bought Whole Wheat bread, Iberico cheese, seven bottles of wine and two bottles of cognac and several plants, including basil plants for the garden

We then drove to Total Wine where we bought a 12 pack of Negra Modelo, a 12 pack of Carlsberg and two bottles of Shielding scotch for Suzette.

On the way to Trader Joe’s I ate four fig newtons.

After Total Wine we drove to Smith’s where we bought bagels, milk, cream cheese, two salmon fillets, green beans, and shallots.

When we returned home Suzette whisked and fried an egg each and microwaved the two leftover trout cakes from last night’s dinner and we made trout sandwiches.

Then Luke and Suzette worked in the garden and I read and watched TV because I had walked through three stores.

At 3:00 Luke left for a yoga class and zsuzette and I drove to Vara to pick up our shipment of wine and the taste a flight of four sparkling wines that are all being made by Laurent.  We also tasted a Late Harvest Albariño from California that we liked very much, so we bought an extra bottle of it and an interesting whiskey with three different grain bases.

We sat at a table in the grove of trees. Our favorite sparking wine was the Silverhead Brut, although I liked the Silverhead Rose’.

At 5:00 when we returned home and heated plates of PPI Enchiladas and beans and ate a good dinner.

We watched Bill Maher at 6:00 and Have I got News for you at 7:00 and snacked on another square of enchiladas and some beans and I ate a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream with Hershey’s chocolate syrup.

Then we watched Father Brown and when Death in Paradise began I made a snack of toast spread with peanut butter and honey and drank a cup of chai with it.

So today we did not cook, but ate lots of snacks and small meals.

Bon Appetit

April 3, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Snack - Burque Bakery Pastries with Shamly Lunch - Bagels with Lax Dinner - Trout Cakes in Lettuce wraps

April 3, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Snack - Burque Bakery Pastries with Shamly Lunch - Bagels with Lax  Dinner - Trout Cakes in Lettuce wraps

I woke up at 6:30 and ate granola with milk, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad at 7:30.

Then at 10:15 Shamly came with two lovely pastries from Burque Bakery, one a puff pastry cup cake hollowed out in the middle that was filled with persimmon. The other was a larger cupcake filled with candied cherry.

More importantly, Shamly talked to the ICICI Direct representative in India and set up a tele conference for 1:00 tomorrow to complete my application for a demat account.  I am more hopeful than ever that I will get a demat account. It was great to hear Shamly speaking Hindi with the ICICI bank representative, working out the teleconference.

At 11:15 Shambly left and I toasted two slices of bagel and spread them with goat cheese and garnished them with red onion and Gravad lax and filled a sandwich bag with green grapes.

I then drove to Tricore for a blood draw and at 12:00 drove to Liberty Dialysis and was surprised when they told me that there would be no dialysis today. Instead I filled in a medical questionnaire with the nurse and they took a blood sample to check my Creatine level. I delivered a full three liter uranyl with 21 hours of urine.

It seems like Liberty thinks my kidney function is getting better.

Around 1:45 I drove to Costco where I bought 7 bottles of wine: 2 Kirkland Pinot Grigio, 3 Faustino Ulcea, a gigondas, and a Barbera di Asti,  I also bought trout and a carton of eggs.

I then drove home around 3:00 and ate the bagels for lunch.

We watched TV and at 5:00 started watching Women’s Final Four. South Carolina beat U Conn and then UCLA beat a lackluster Texas team.

Suzette made Trout cakes with zucchini, an egg, rice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and trout sautéed to golden brown in butter and served with tartare sauce and lettuce leaves. We ate the in lettuce leaves slathered with tartare sauce.  

The glasses of Kirkland Cotes du Provence rose with dinner were lovely.i shall buy more.

After the basketball game we went to bed at 10:00.

The best dish of the day were the trout cakes eaten in romaine lettuce leaves.

If Shamly can help me demat my shares and today’s pass on treatment means I am near the end of dialysis, this was the best day in years.

Bon Appetit

April 2, 2026 Breakfast -Granola. Lunch - Vietnam 2000. Dinner - Grilled Lamb Chops and Asparagus with Roasted Root Vegetables and Rice

April 2, 2026 Breakfast -Granola. Lunch - Vietnam 2000. Dinner - Grilled Lamb Chops and Asparagus with Roasted Root Vegetables and Rice

I awakened at 6:30 and ate granola with milk, tropical fruit salad, and yogurt.

We went for a tour of the garden this morning.

I worked until 12:00 when Peter came and drove us to Vietnam 2000.

This was my first lunch after discharge from the hospital. Peter ordered one of my favorites, No. 30, grilled Pork and egg rolls on steamed rice vermicelli on lettuce, bean sprouts, and cucumber strips. I asked the waitress if the kitchen could make No. 86 without any salt. No. 86 which is steamed rice flour sheets on a bed of sautéed cucumber strips, and bean sprouts garnished with the same fried egg rolls and grilled pork.

What came out of the kitchen was a delight. In all appearances the usual rice sheets dish garnished with egg rolls and grilled pork except this dish was also presented with snippets of oriental basil randomly garnishing the dish, an extra special effort to present a specially appealing dish. I could not be mired in thrilled that the chef had not only accommodated my request for no salt in the sautéed cucumber sticks and bean sprouts but also added a garnish of snippets of basil to enliven the presentation. What can one say when one’s request is exceeded but gratitude to that restaurant that goes the extra mile to deliver the best possible dining experience.

I have been committed to Vietnam 2000 for many years including take out during the dark days of Covid and today’s experience shall bind my commitment for many more years to come.

When I returned home I made myself a strong Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk and watched the market close on a remarkable day that saw the the averages swing from deeply negative to positive for 5he NASDAQ and almost positive for the Dow, a sign that there is pent up risk on fever out there.

Unfortunately, oil decoupled and fell rather sharply even though 40 nations are meeting to try to reopen the Straits of Hormuz.  Brent went from 102 to $112 a barrel. For example, the future price for crude for delivery in June was $98.00/barrel, but the price for a barrel of crude for delivery in April was $141. To say the oil market is in chaos is an understatement, My portfolio made a small .425% gain, which trilled me.

When Peter drove me home I worked at my desk until 3:30 and then meditated with our small zen group until 4:00, when I began chopping vegetables for the roasted root vegetables for dinner.  I filled a 10 x 16 inch Pyrex baking dish with a diced turnip, red beet, and onion and a head of garlic separated into cloves, two carrots, about 1 lb. of Brussels sprouts, three small Yukon gold potatoes and a small handful of fennel bulbs.

When Suzette came home at 5:00 she tossed the vegetables with z’atar, Aleppo chili, and ground timur pepper.  She then roasted the vegetables for 45 minutes covered spin a 350 degree oven with aluminum and  then15 minutes uncovered to brown the vegetables.

She also grilled five lamb chops I bought at Costco on Monday and about 8 to 10 thick asparagus I bought at El Super that she seasoned and tossed in a bag with olive oil on our outdoor propane grill.

We saw a great sunset as we were grilling the lamb chops.

I heated a pile of PPI rice and Suzette added a pile of roasted vegetables, 4 or 5 grilled asparagus and a grilled lamb chop.

I poured out the last 1/3 bottle of Lemelson Pinot Noir that Vahl gave us.

It was a hearty dinner that combined winter and spring ingredients. I loved creating bites of rice, vegetable and lamb.

I even enjoyed the few sips of red wine.

After dinner we watched Midsomer Murders and I took a sip of Calvados with two chocolate and caramel macadamia nut clusters.

Suzette went to bed at 9:30 at the end of Midsomer Murders but I stayed up to watch a British police mystery, titled George Gently and blogged this entry before going to bed at midnight.

Bon Appetit