November 7, 2026 Brunch - Bacon, Mushroom, and cheese Omelet. Snack - Peanut Butter and Honey on toast. Dinner - Bobby Flay Chicken with baked Broccoli and Cauliflower

November 7, 2026 Brunch - Bacon, Mushroom, and cheese Omelet. Snack - Peanut Butter and Honey on toast. Dinner - Bobby Flay Chicken with baked Broccoli and Cauliflower

I slept until 8:00 and watched two PL soccer matches and then at 10:00 the Texas v. Missouri football game, which Texas won.

At 9:00 we made a wonderful omelet with crisp bacon lardettes, sautéed mushrooms, shallot, and lemon thyme, thinly sliced green onions and grated Gruyere cheese. I toasted and buttered and spread with strawberry jam, three slices of Costco baguette.

At 11:00 we drove to pick up four chairs Suzette bought for the table under the awning on the back patio and then we drove to St. John’s Methodist church for the annual Scandinavian Festival. It was really fun with lots of painted things for sale and Swedish food for sale, Swedish meatballs and potatoes, and pancakes with buckets of lingon sylt.

            A young woman brig fitted with a crown of flowers for St. Lucia day

a traditional Swedish home, the eldest daughter steps into the role of Lucia on the morning of December 13th. Dressed in a full-length white gown with a red sash, she wears the luciakrona to serve coffee, saffron buns (lussekatter), and gingerbread cookies to her family before dawn. Nationwide, schools, churches, and workplaces also host beautiful, dark, candlelit singing processions led by a chosen Lucia.

Unfortunately we were not hungry.

When we returned home I watched football and made a peanut butter and honey sandwich as we watched the Santa Fe Auction in who h Suzette bought a Dorothy Brett painting and a really good Gene Kloss painting.

At 3:30 we rode our bikes in the neighborhood.

Dinner - We decided to use the Bobby Flay method to cook the four quarters Suzette had thawed, which is to first braise the chicken in a skillet on the stove and then to bake the braised pieces in 5he oven for 20 minutes. I separated the legs from the thighs and Suzette tossed them with flour and slid fresh rosemary and garlic under the skin before cooking the chicken.

I separated the flowerets from a head of cauliflower and a head of broccoli. Suzette put the flowerets in a baking dish and dusted the flowerets with black garlic powder and mushroom powder and garnished them with grated Parmesan cheese and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

I fetched a chilled bottle of Lllegado d’ Farro Spanish blend of 80% Verdejo and 20% Godello ($7.99 at Costco), a truly wonderful wine at that price.

The chicken was tough but edible and the Roasted vegetables were a little soft but edible, but the wine was really great.

We ate and then drank the rest of the wine as we watched Bill Maher and Have I Got News for You.

Suzette then went to bed and I stayed up to eat a Swedish dessert and drink a cup of tea and watch Father Brown but fell asleep during it and went to bed to blog and by 10:00 i went to sleep.

Bon Appetit

November 6, 2026 Breakfast - Enchiladas and Eggs. Lunch - La Playa. Dinner - Vara Winery

November 6, 2026 Breakfast - Enchiladas and Eggs. Lunch - La Playa. Dinner - Vara Winery

This was a fun day of food. For breakfast I heated a square of enchiladas with two fried eggs and a handful of chopped red onion.

Then I filed a notice with the court of appeals and at 11:30 I drove to La Playa restaurant at 5210 San Mateo NE to meet Aaron for lunch. La Playa is the best seafood restaurant in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Espanola and serves impeccable Mexican seafood.

Aaron ordered a platter of fried shrimp on rice and I ordered my new favorite caldo, Vuelve à la Vida Mejor that is a tomato and fish broth full of shrimp, carrots, bay scallops, a crab tentacle, clams, and celery. I got the large and could only finish 1/3 with a corn tortilla, although I ate lots of chips with the three bowls of condiments before Aaron arrived, refried beans, pico de gallo and an avocado and chili crema.

It was a great meal and the restaurant has one of the best signs advertising its oysters I have seen.

After lunch at 12:15 I drove to Costco to fill the car with gas and shop. I bought eight wines, three bottles of Largo Farro, a Spanish blend of Verdejo and Godella grapes, an Argentinian Malbec, a French rose’ from Provence, and a Gavi White plus a Kirkland Pinot Grigio and a Kirkland New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a case of Pellegrino, two baguettes, mushrooms, eggs, and romaine lettuce.

I then drove to Shahin’s and paid the insurance premium for 524 Romero and went over my tax payments for 2025 taxes.

I arrived at home at 4:00 and rested for an hour. Then we drove in the rain to Vara for their wine club pick up party where each couple was served a large pan of paella with wine.  The paella was really good, a nice crust on the bottom of the rice and yet not dried out or scorched.

We only ate 1/2 but tried several wines. We picked up our box of three whines and said hello to Laurent and complimented him on the zero dosage sparkling wine that was very creamy tasting.

Tasting notes - a light yellow, perfect straw color with tiny bubbles and aromas of citrus blossom, green apple, and lemon. On the palate, this wine has bright acidity with fresh ripe fruit, minerality, green apple, and grapefruit. Gold Medal at TexSom.

We went home and watched several episodes of Lupin and ate a Swedish dessert. Suzette went to bed at 10:00 and I stayed up to watch TCU blow an 8 point lead over Arizona with two fatal errors in the last 2 minutes and blogged this entry and went to bed at 12:30.

Bon Appetit

November 5, 2026 Breakfast - Assorted Pastries. Lunch - Chicken Parmigiana and Rigatoni pasta with sauce Dinner - sautéed Smoked Pork chop with Sautéed cabbage, Fennel, and Onion and green beans

 November 5, 2026 Breakfast - Assorted Pastries. Lunch - Chicken Parmigiana and Rigatoni pasta with sauce  Dinner - sautéed Smoked Pork chop with Sautéed cabbage, Fennel, and Onion and green beans

I woke up at 8:00 and hurried to get ready and ate a pain au chocolate on the run to the Business NM Law Seminar at the Bar Center on Masthead. When I arrived a few minutes before 9:00 I discovered that a speaker was ill and the start had been delayed to 10:10 so I was left with a room of pastries and coffee and teas for an hour, since everyone else seemed to have noticed the e mail announcing the delay.

I ate two lovely apple pastries, a blueberry muffin, and 1/2 of a croissant with a cup of Oolong tea dreaming about the baked goods in France.

Lunches are always good and today’s was no exception; Chicken Parmigiana with Rigatoni and a lovely light spaghetti sauce plus salad and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I enjoyed talking to Gabe Parra who specializes in Medical coverages.

The most interest in session was the one presented by two criminal attorneys titled “What to do when a federal agent serves a warrant on your client”.

When the seminar ended at 4:45 I drove home through heavy 5:00 rush traffic.

When I arrived we discussed dinner. There was very little food available, so Suzette fetched a pork sirloin and package of five chicken  quarters to thaw and we decided to repeat our dinner of several nights ago of sautéed cabbage with fennel and onion, a sautéed smoked pork chop, and green beans.

I fetched a bottle of 2023 Sancerre rose of Pinot Noir and chopped 1/3 head of red cabbage, 1/2 medium onion and four fennel bulbs that Suzette harvested from the garden. 

Then Suzette sautéed the cabbage mixture and added sugar and apple cider and cooked the mixture until it was crisp. At the same time she sautéed the smoked pork chop and reheated the green beans cooked several nights ago.

I poured the Sancerre rose and Suzette ladled a pile of sautéed cabbage and sprinkled the green beans on plates to which I added pieces of the cut up pork chop sans its fat and we had a lovely impromptu meal.

We watched Midsomer Murders at 9:00 and ate a Swedish dessert I fetched from the garage and went to bed at 10:30.

Bon Appetit

November 4, 2026 Breakfast - Man on an Island. Lunch -Museum Hill Cafe. Dinner - Leftover Chirashi

 November 4, 2026 Breakfast - Man on an Island. Lunch -Museum Hill Cafe. Dinner - Leftover Chirashi 

I woke up around 7:15 to a new world. American legislatures controlling the levers of power in Washington and many states. Many of the Trump enablers and performers’ political careers ended last night. The new question is, What will the Dems do with their newly found power?

The market surged with the Dow up 1500 and the NASDAQ up 658 points at one point unluckily for me it was a mixed bag with several of the tech sector leaders down dramatically as investors assess the new environment. By the end of the day my portfolio was up a meager .54%, well below its recent high.

Suzette did her normal schedule of water aerobics in the hot tub and then on the floor of the guest bedroom while I cooked a man on an island and chai, since Suzette bought milk and eggs yesterday with a slice of red onion and a shishito pepper.

Then we worked at our desks in the morning and at 9:30 I drove to the post office to pick up a certified letter. I then drove across the street to the chili store at the corner of Mountain Rd, and Broadway and bought a 3 foot fresh Hatch chili ristra for TR and Linda. 

At 11:30 we drove to The Museum Hill Cafe in Santa Fe to meet TR and Linda for lunch. The owner Weldon Fulton,   was just back from Italy and had a lot of new wines that were not yet on the menu. He brought us a bottle of Bishop’s Peak Pinot Noir from San Luis Opispo to taste and we liked the light elegant expression of Pinot and bought the bottle.

TR and Linda arrived around 1:00 and we ordered. Suzette and I ordered the potato and asparagus cream soup (Potage) and split the daily special, Boeuf Bourguignon. Linda ordered the Reuben Sandwich and TR ordered the delicious looking hamburger and a Taos Mesa beer.

Everything was delicious and we munched and gabbed and I ordered the chocolate and orange custard torte for dessert until almost 3:00 when we drove to the Santa Fe Auction house on Railfan off Cerrillos to view the offerings in the big annual November auction. This year’s auction featured lots of female artists and Suzette found several she liked. I was not very excited by anything except a fall aspen painting by Martin Hennings and several nice Frederick Remington pencil drawings. 

We were tired by the time we viewed all 350 works offered at 4:00 and drove back to Albuquerque.

We rested for a few minutes and then I cut up the leftover fish from our chirashi lunch at Crazy Fish and Suzette heated the sushi rice and arranged a platter with Avocado, cucumber slices and Japanese pickles to which I added the fish.i made a cup of green tea and Suzette fetched the last Negra Modelo from the garage fridge.

We ate a pleasant sashimi dinner  But Suzette was still hungry and ate a square of blue corn enchiladas with some golden pinto beans.

Later I ate two squares of dark chocolate with almonds as we watched a Nature episode on the lives of urban pigeons living in New York and London.

We went to bed at 8:00.

Bon Appetit

November 3, 2026. Breakfast - Pain au chocolate, Lunch - Padilla’s Family Restaurant, Dinner - Sautéed Smoked Pork chops with sweet potato cottage fries, sautéed red cabbage, and quince sauce.

November 3, 2026. Breakfast - Pain au chocolate,  Lunch - Padilla’s Family Restaurant,  Dinner - Sautéed Smoked Pork chops with sweet potato cottage fries, sautéed red cabbage, and quince sauce.

I awakened around 7:15 in time to heat a pain au chocolate and brew a cup of chai and watch the stock market open. I worked at my desk until 9:30 reading the requirements for nominating a person or restaurant for a James Beard award. I will nominate Suzette as restauranteur.

Then I dressed and drove to Presbyterian for my 10:30 Cardiology appointment. The clinic was mobbed with patients. I never knew so many people had bad tickers.

I liked Stephanie, the Physician’s aid, who discussed my condition with me. She suggested a heart monitor that is glued to one’s chest and records heart activity for two weeks. I made an appointment to return at 1:30 to be fitted with the monitor, which left me just over an hour to eat lunch. I drove to Padilla’s and ordered an enchilada plate with double beans, extra onions, ground beef, and red chili. The beans were good today, cooked until they softened and began to develop a creamy sauce. The enchiladas were wonderful also. I was hungry and ate the stack of three enchiladas and beans on my plate. When the waiter brought me the two hot sopapillas after I finished my enchiladas, I only ate one because it was 1:00.

I drove back to Presbyterian Cardiology and the technician glued the monitor onto my chest.

After the second appointment I drove home, arriving around. 2:30.

I checked my portfolio, that recovered a little from its recent plunge due to the tech sell of today, increasing .8% today.

I then lay down and napped until 4:00, when we began to watch election coverage. 

Dinner - Suzette wanted to cook a German dinner of sautéed pork chops, sautéed red cabbage, and cottage fried red and purple sweet potatoes. We discussed whether to add onions to the cabbage and decided instead to add fennel.

So around 5:30 I thinly sliced 1/3 of a head of red cabbage and four fennel bulbs while Suzette peeled and sliced several red and purple sweet potatoes.

Suzette then sautéed the potatoes, cabbage and fennel, and pork chops in different skillets and fetched a bottle of Kirkland Côtes du Rhône rose from the garage fridge.

Willy joined us for dinner around 6:30 and we enjoyed a pleasant dinner. I loved the quince sauce with bites of pork chop.

We watched the election returns and when it appeared that it was a blue wave election, we drank glasses of Gruet champagne to celebrate.

The Democrats took control of both then the House and Senate and many state legislatures and governorships. Suzette went to bed around 9:00 but I stayed up until almost midnight when it appeared that El Sayedvhsd won the Michigan Senate race. Of a night of surprises perhaps the most surprising was Talarico winning the Texas Senate race and Hinajosa beating Greg Abbott as Governor to finally turn Texas blue.

I went to bed happy and blogged this entry, with the realization that a new political era may be at had that will be ruled by the rule of law and equality.

Bon Appetit