February 24, 2026 Breakfast Chocolate Croissant and Latte Macchiato, Lunch - Crazy Fish. Dinner - PPI Roasted Pork Tapa with Mashed Potatoes

February 24, 2026 Breakfast Chocolate Croissant and Latte Macchiato,  Lunch - Crazy Fish. Dinner - PPI Roasted Pork Tapa with Mashed Potatoes 

I awakened at 6:15 and dressed and watched some news and then at 7:45 heated a chocolate croissant and made a latte macchiato that I took with me In the car to consume as Suzette drove us to Rio Rancho.

Later when we returned home we both rested until 11:30 when we drove to Crazy Fish.  I ordered my usual, Chirashi, and Suzette ordered her favorite, a Dragon Roll, that combines unagi (grilled eel) and avocado with rice wrapped with nori seaweed. I drank green tea and Suzette drank ginger tea.

I only ate half of my dish and Suzette helped me eat part of that.

The most exciting event of the day occurred after lunch, we walked the two blocks to Birdland to visit Nikelle and David and pick up a rent check.  Apparently they are days away from significant revenue, because they cut a check for January through March rent, so their video business must be prospering.

It was fun talking to them. David was even interested in me explaining my efforts in the LRGA and how the US took control of the Rio Grande River, plus Suzette discussed hiring their Celtic band for a Saturday picnic concert in August.

They are fully booked for St. Patrick’s Day week.  I really like Nikelle and David and that really makes a difference in a Landlord/Tenant relationship.

We walked back to the car and drove home and Suzette rested in the afternoon.

I checked my portfolio after 2:00 when the market closed and was happy that the morning rebound in the market held most of its gains.

My portfolio gained 1.45% and is approaching a new high.

The big difference in whether it goes up or down will depend upon Nvidia’s earnings tomorrow.

I then rested from 2:30 to 3:15 and then meditated from 3:30 until 4:00. We had all five members sitting today which was wonderful.

Then Suzette and I watched Ari’s The Beat. The most tantalizing news today was evidence that reports of interviews with a young 14 year old woman who told the FBI in 2019 that Trump sexually abused her have been deleted by the Justice Department from the Epstein files produced to Congress pursuant to the new Congressional disclosure law. That raises several questions. Is the Justice Department covering up Trump’s crimes. And is so, is it also deleting interviews of other rich and powerful men involved in the Epstein child pornography scheme.

Dinner- 

Suzette was hungry for the comfort of mashed potatoes, so at 5:00 I peeled and cubed five russet potatoes for her to boil and mash.

We decided to serve them with the Leftover Pork, onion and apple tapa but because there was very little sauce in the leftovers Suzette needed to make additional gravy to smother the mashed potatoes under. She made a cream sauce with chicken bone broth, flour and butter and added it to the leftovers as she sautéed them in a skillet. She added melted butter and milk to the drained boiled potatoes and creamed them in the Kitchen Aid.

While Suzette was cooking I went for a walk around the two blocks nearest our house that allowed me to accumulate over 5000 steps today.

When I returned I opened a bottle of red 2020 Chateau de Plaiziers Cuvee Prestige Cotes du Bourg I bought at Costco for under $10.00 .It tasted fine and we drank the entire bottle during and after dinner. We enjoyed our simple but lovely dinner.

The creamy mashed potatoes covered with sauce and the pork dish reminded me of French bistro food. We are looking forward to eating some when we spend September in Provence, France.

After dinner we watched the State of the Union.

I watched the first 45 minutes and the last few minutes after I finished reading The book club selection, Stella Maris.

I guess Trump irritated me because I found myself eating four or five pieces of chocolate with a sip of cognac and later a sip of Calvados.

I was able to see about half of Finding Your Roots due to speech coverage running past 9:00. I am sorry I missed much of it because Spike Lee was one of the two featured persons.

We went to bed at 10:00.

My impression of the speech is it was classic Trump, if you support me I will give you a lot of goodies, such as medals of honor and a child stock plan, but those are not programs that help all Americans. With Trump it is always a one way street to benefit him, his sycophants, and his family. 

Bon Appetit

February 23, 2026 Breakfast - Granola Lunch - Mary and Tito’s Dinner - Nicoise Salad with Smoked Trout

 February 23, 2026 Breakfast - Granola  Lunch - Mary and Tito’s Dinner - Nicoise Salad with Smoked Trout

I love Monday’s. I usually am rested and ready to do some work. Today was one of those days. I read my book for a few minutes, then showered and dressed and at 9:00 ate a bowl of granola, with milk, mango yogurt, and blueberries at my desk.

I kept getting diverted from my work by important things like a conversation with Scott bringing me up to date on the LRGA, checking to see if Tarantino County received my tax payment, and paying my Annual safety deposit box fee.

Finally, I was able to read an amendment to a PSA and talk to Rahim.

At 11:15 I remembered that Peter and I had tried to have lunch last week but failed to connect so I called him and he said he was ready to go to lunch, so I drove over and drove us to Mary and Tito’s.

Peter ordered a chichirone burrito and I ordered the Monday special of a taco and a chili Relleno with double beans, both with red chili. Both of our meals were less than $9.00.

We had an illuminating discussion of the book, Stella Maris and its author, Cormac McCarthy. Peter is a deeply knowledgeable student of literature, so his insights were helpful. He summarized the book in one sentence, “This book is just like Alice in Wonderland where the plot is constantly shifting from reality to illusion.”

Thank you Peter.

When we finished lunch, Peter offered to pay the check which I found very generous of him.

I fetched the car and drove him home.

When I returned home I worked at my desk until 3:30 when I walked to the bank and then checked my portfolio. It was a bloodbath in the market today with the Dow falling 822 points and the NASDAQ falling 259 points, the worst day in over a month. But when I checked my stocks something remarkable. My portfolio had a slight gain of .13% thanks to increases in my larger holdings, Apple, Nvidia, and AT&T. All my other stocks, except XOM which rose on the increased price of oil, were down dramatically. The only explanation I have is I was lucky.

Suzette came home around 3:00 and so after I checked my portfolio, I watched Ari with her. We also watched the burning of cars and buildings in Puerto Vallarta by the cartels, including cars in the Costco parking lot we shopped at last Monday. Henry called to make sure I made it back okay and I confirmed I had.

Dinner - 

At 5:00 I peeled and cubed a potato and put the cubes into the pot in which she was hard boiling four eggs in order to prep Salads Nicoise she was making for dinner with the trout we smoked on the grill Saturday evening instead of the traditional tuna and added some guacamole I made with 1 1/2 large avocados, garlic, red onion, lime juice, and Cholula 

I walked around the block to accumulate 3700 steps and when I returned she had finished two beautifully composed salads and made a lovely light honey mustard dressing with Mayo.

I fetched a chilled bottle of Spanish Faustino Umblea Albariño and poured glasses.

This is my favorite Albariño and is available at Costco for $12.99. It was fun having a lovely salad Nicoise with a lovely wine.

After dinner I spoke to Luke for about an hour and then watched the second hour of Antiques Roadshow with Suzette, who went to bed at 9:00. I stayed up to watch a documentary on Barbara Jordan.

I then blogged and went to sleep at 11:45.

Bon Appetit

I cannot explain 

February 22, 2026 Breakfast - Lax and Bagel Dinner - Chinese New Year at East Ocean with Chews and Blaugrunds

February 22, 2026 Breakfast - Lax and Bagel  Dinner - Chinese New Year at East Ocean with Chews and Blaugrunds

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and washed , dried, and packed the two Gravad lax fillets in Saran. Then I watched the Gold Medal match for Women’s Curling between Sweden and the Swiss. The Swedes were phenomenal, making as many as four rock combinations and winning the gold for the third time.

Then at 6:00 the last event of the Olympics, the gold medal match between 

Canada and the US in Men’s Ice Hockey. It was a nail biter all the way being tied 1 to 1 at the end of regulation. Then the US scored the winning golden goal in the first two minutes of overtime to take the gold. 

At around 8:30 I toasted four thin slices of bagel. Suzette took the thinnest two, spread cream cheese lightly on them and then garnished them with slices of tomato, Gravad lax, and capers. I garnished my bagels with Gravad lax, red onions, and capers.

I then watched soccer, Fareed Zacharia, and more soccer while dozing off and on.

At 12:00 we went to pick up Christmas Plates donated by a psychologist friend of Suzette’s. Then we walked in the Bosque to the lakes but most of the ducks had migrated north.

We then drove to El Super, where we bought mangos, a pineapple, a papaya, oranges, radishes, avocados, green onions, lemons, Persian cucumbers, tortillas, potatoes, plain and mango yogurt, a head of cabbage, a cucumber, carrots, and garlic.

We then drove home and unloaded our stuff and I rested and Suzette watched home remodeling shows until 4:00 when we got ready for dinner.

The Chews invited us and the Blaugrunds to join them for what had become our annual Chinese New Year dinner at East Ocean at 5:00.

When we arrived at 5:00 they were seated at a round table. We took our seats  and Wayne ordered dinner. There were five dishes served. First, fried dumplings, then Longevity broad noodles with beef, then Shanghai noodles with seafood, then Sweet and Sour Battered and fried Pork ribs, and finally a platter of Chinese Broccoli with beef.

We ate as much as we could and then filled boxes to take home the leftovers.

We returned home around 6:45 and Suzette went to bed and I watched a movie we had seen before on Netflix, My Oxford Year. It turned out to be a tear jerker, but very well acted.

I blogged and went to bed at10:30.

Bon Appetit

February 21, 2026 Breakfast - Taco Omelet. Lunch - Roasted Pork Sandwich. Dinner - Grilled Trout with green beans and pinon nuts and Seaweed Mushroom Rice

February 21, 2026 Breakfast - Taco Omelet. Lunch - Roasted Pork Sandwich. Dinner - Grilled Trout with green beans and pinon nuts and Seaweed Mushroom Rice

The Olympics have thrown my schedule off. I am getting up at 3:30 a.m. to watch events like cross Country skiing live.

Around 9:00 I decided to make scrambled eggs by adding onion and diced tomato to Willy’s taco meat in the fridge.

I called Willy and he came over for breakfast and to watch soccer.

I filled a toasted flour tortilla with the taco scrambled eggs and slices of avocado to make a burrito and Willy ate his without bread or a tortilla.

Then at 11:30 I drove to Costco and bought mushrooms, romaine lettuce, collagen for Suzette, lamb chops, trout, and  twelve bottles of wine: four Faustino de Umblea Spanish Albariño, a bottle of ten year old tawny port, a Scott Family New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a Kirkland Sauvignon Blanc, a Kirkland Bordeaux Superior, two Kirkland Malbecs for Willy, a Kirkland Pinot Grigio, and one of the small bird Cotes Du Rhone. 

When I returned home around 2:00 Suzette sliced thin slices of roasted pork and we toasted slices of bread and spread them with Mayo and garnished them with slices of tomato, red onion, and pork. I added lettuce to mine and ate the sandwich with dill pickles.

At 4:00 I went to the garden and picked a handful of parsley and a few sprigs of thyme and minced them and then added two green onions minced and two T. of soft butter to make an herbed butter.

Suzette soaked two 1 x 6 inch cedar planks in water.

Then at 5:00 we went to Willy’s new rental house to see it. I could see his office across the Little Theater parking lot that looked to be four blocks away.

When we returned at 6:00 we started cooking while watching Bill Maher. I cut the heads and tails off the three trout and Suzette salted one side of each trout with the new sea salt we bought in Mexico and grilled them. She also snapped the cooked green beans from the other night and sautéed them with pinon nuts.

I cooked a cup of rice to which I added 1/2 tsp. of dehydrated dashi and some dried seaweed and Suzette added about a cup of PPI sautéed mushroom.

Willy arrived punctually at 7:00 as I deboned the trout and we plated with a trout fillet, rice and green beans with pinon and Suzette put a T. of herbed butter on each filler.

I had chilled the Scott Family Sauvignon Blanc and served it with dinner. It was like putting high octane gas in the engine. It had a much higher amount of tannins that were matched with a slightly greater fruit that lit up one’s flavor buds.

It was a really successful meal and we have trout and rice leftovers.

Suzette wants to prepare a trout Niçoise salad.

At 7:00 as we ate we watched Have I Got News for You.

Then we watched Father Brown and Death in Paradise.

Suzette went to bed at 10:00 and I stayed up to watch Canada win the amen’s Curling Gold metal and went to bed at 11:30.

Bon Appetit