June 24, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Calabacitas. Dinner - Leftover Beef Short Ribs and Roasted Vegetables

 June 24, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Calabacitas. Dinner - Leftover Beef Short Ribs and Roasted Vegetables 

I woke up at 4:00 and pitted the cherries and added cognac and Grand Marnier to marinate them.

The I went back to sleep at 5:45 and slept until 7:30.  Suzette made me a latte with my daily dose of collagen.

I worked at my desk until 9:30 when I ate a Pain au Chocolate and then I pitted and quartered about a cup of apricots and added them to the cherries to marinate. At 10:30 I Walked to the bank which weakened me even though I took a sugar pill, so I rested until noon when I heated the leftover Calabacitas but I had to defer eating because Jeff and Rebecca came at 12:15 to make a decision on the location for tomorrow’s play. They were interested in seeing my art collection so I showed it to them which took about an hour.

Finally around 1:30 I ate two bowls of Calabacitas with two toasted flour tortillas and started watching soccer and started feeling better.

Then at 3:15 I napped for an hour.

Suzette came home hungry so around 6:30 we heated up the leftover Braised Beef Shirt Ribs with the roasted vegetables and opened an unusual bottle of 2010 Simonsig Redhill Pinotage from Stellenbosch South Africa. I guess I bought it because it had Simon in the name producer’s name.

After dinner we watched South Africa beat South Korea in World Cup competition as we sipped the South African Pinot.

South African wines seem to have an earthy heaviness that I associate with its terroir.

We then made a cherry and apricot clafoutis. I have standard recipe: two cups milk and a cup of heavy cream scalded. Three eggs stirred into 10 T. of powdered sugar, 7 or 8 T. of flour until smooth. Then add them to the scalded milk and cream. The pour the batter and the marinated fruit into a buttered ceramic baking dish that has been dusted with granulated sugar.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 - 60 minutes until the custard is firm and the top is browned.

We watched Wild Kimberley about the wildlife on Australia’s northwest coast until 9:00 when Suzette went to sleep.

I stayed up to let the clafoutis cool before putting it in the fridge and checked my portfolio that lost another .3% today.

I went to bed at 10:00 and blogged this entry.

Bon Appetit

 

June 23, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate Lunch - Large Oyster and Chicken Cesar Salad. Dinner - Chicken Curry and Rice

June 23, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate  Lunch - Large Oyster and Chicken Cesar Salad. Dinner - Chicken Curry and Rice

The menu may not how unusual the dishes were today.

The unusual aspect of Breakfast was that I drank tea with collagen with a pain au Chocolate Lunch for one of the first times.

Then I penned a settlement proposal for the LRGA.

Then around 10:30 I walked to the bank and added an additional block to my return home route that gave me a bit of exercise.

When I returned home I watched Portugal destroy Uzbekistan 5 to 0.

Then made a monster salad for lunch. I filled a pasta bowl heaping full with romaine lettuce and lettuce from our garden. I added a tomato and 1/3 cucumber diced, croutons, slices of red onion, grated Parmesan cheese, and green cracked olives. The salad resembled Mount Fuji.

The unusual aspect of the salad was the dressing. We did not have any smoked anchovies so I made the dressing with a cam of smoked oysters, juice of 1/2 lemon, olive oil and an egg whisked into a thick emulsion.

I pitted about 1 cup of bing cherries to 1/2 fill out jar of Marischino cherries to the top of the liquid.

I watched a bit of Britain v. Ghana but became sleepy at 3:00 and fell asleep.

I was awakened by a phone call from Etienne at 3:30 calling me to meditation.

After meditation I watched the news and then at 5:00 when Suzette arrived I suggested I make chicken curry with cubed of the butternut squash Suzette cooked a couple of days ago, I watched a very competitive match between Croatia and Panama that Croatia won 1 to 0.

While I watched soccer I diced 2/3 of tthe butternut squash, a Vadalia onion, two apples and then cooked those ingredients in 2 T. of butter and 2 T. of canola oil in a large enameled casserole that Suzette washed and dried.

Then after about twenty minutes of cooking covered I added about a three cups of chicken stock, 1 cup of raisins, and 1 1/2 cups of roasted Costco chicken plus about 2 T. of Madras Curry powder.

I then made rice using the remaining two cups of chicken stock and a cup of rice.

The unusual thing about the curry was the use of butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes. Since the squash and chicken were already cooked I was able to combine all the ingredients that greatly reduced the cooking time.

The first time I ate curry made with butternut squash was at Escalera on Lincoln Street in Santa Fe when Deborah Madison was the chef and it served exquisite vegetarian cuisine.

In fact the curry was ready after an additional 45 minutes before the rice was done because the fire in the gas burner under the rice went out, so we had to restart the rice cooking.

Suzette reheated the rice I made for my Sunday Father’s Day dinner of Indian food Willy brought.

We added some of the apricot chutney Suzette made and I added some Bengali Mixed Pickle.

I drank chai and Suzette drank a Dos Equis beer as we watched Finding Your roots and another exciting World Cup match between Congo and Colombia that Colombia also won 1 to 0.

We shared the last bowl of apricot cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Suzette went to bed at 9:00 and I went bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit

June 22, 2026 Breakfast - Chorizo scrambled eggs. Lunch - Calabacitas. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak and Calabacitas

June 22, 2026 Breakfast - Chorizo scrambled eggs. Lunch - Calabacitas. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak and Calabacitas

It was a busy day. I had 2.5 hours of billable time plus lots of phone calls and soccer watching starting with Argentina, then Franch, and finally Norway victories featuring their respective stars Messi, Mbpape, and Haaland.

I tried scrambling a chorizo sausage with onion and eggs for breakfast. The chorizo was full of grease but flavorful. I filled two toasted tortillas with the egg mixture.

Then I worked until 11:00 when I chopped two zucchini an onion,ma yellow bell pepper and a smoked pork chop and cooked them in a bit of butter and water for several hours abd then added 1/2 cup of chopped oregano. I put several dried hot red Big Jim chilis in but they heated up the dish too much, so I took them out. But they heated up damage was done. The Calabacitas was very piquant.

At 11:00 I drank a can of hard apple cider that helped digest the chorizo.

I ate some Calabacitas on rice reheated in the microwave around 1:30. Then I thawed a rib steak for dinner.

Then I rested and watched soccer until 4:00 when I worked on Rahim’s project for 1 1/2 hours.

Dinner - Suzette grilled the steak and we reheated the Calabacitas for a lovely dinner with glasses of The Lussac-St. Emillion Bordeaux red from the Center.

We watched the Antiques Roadshow until 9:00 and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit

June 21, 2026 Brunch - BLT Sandwiches. Snack - Gravad Lax canapés. Father’s Day Dinner - Curry Leaf take out Chicken Tika Marsala and Lamb Saag

June 21, 2026 Brunch - BLT Sandwiches. Snack - Gravad Lax canapés. Father’s Day Dinner - Curry Leaf take out Chicken Tika Marsala and Lamb Saag

It was a pleasant, quiet Father’s Day with some gardening, cooking, and lots of soccer.

I woke up around 7:00 and Suzette made me a latte machiatta with collagen and I soaked in the hot tub while she did water aerobics. Then we went back inside and I watched Fareed Zacharia and then ABC news.

Then I dressed and Suzette fried six slices of bacon and I cut six slices of whole wheat bread and two tomatoes and Suzette went to the garden and picked a basket full of lettuce. Willy joined us for brunch of a BLT sandwich with a cluster of grapes.

After brunch Willy left and we cleaned the several lb.s of garlic we picked yesterday and stored them in a plastic bag in the vegetable crisper.

Then Suzette drove to Lowe’s to buy flowers for a planter and I talked to Luke and then watched Belgium tie Iran 0 to 0, which was a disappointing match.

We then pitted about ten lb.s of apricots from Suzette’s trees at the Center divided about equally in two large pots.

To one pot Suzette added brown sugar, ginger, raisins, and apple cider vinegar to to make chutney. To the other she added water and sugar and cooked the apricots so that they were ready to eat over ice cream or be used as an ingredient in a cobbler or cake.

At 3:00 we finished pitting and I prepared a notice for the LRGA.

Then at 4:00 I started watching Uruguay v. Cape Verde, two of the smallest countries competing in the World Cup this year. It was an exciting match that ended in a 2 to 2 tie.

Also, Melissa came by to pick up some apricots and we gave her about 6 lb.s and we drank a glass of wine and I made canapés on thin slices of toasted baguette spread with goat cheese and garnished with Gravad lax, red onion, and capers

Then Willy called and offered to bring Indian food for dinner.

He suggested Chicken Tika Marsala and I suggested lamb saag.

I made rice and he arrived at 7:00 he also brought two potato samosas, a Nan, riata and rice. We pit out a jar of apricot chutney and Suzette poured us small mugs of Carlsberg Green beer.

We had a lovely dinner and watched Egypt beat New Zealand.

Then Willy left and Suzette went to bed and I stayed up and blogged until 10:00 when I watched an episode of Astrid and then went to bed.

Working out Luke’s money problem and Willy’s Indian dinner were my Father’s Day gifts as was Suzette holding me and telling me she loved me.

Bon Appetit

June 20, 2026 Snack Brunch - Shrimp, Ricotta, and Avocado Omelet Snack - Herring sandwiches. Dinner - Roasted Root Vegetables and Leftover Beef Short Ribs

June 20, 2026 Snack  Brunch - Shrimp, Ricotta, and Avocado Omelet Snack - Herring sandwiches. Dinner - Roasted Root Vegetables and Leftover Beef Short Ribs

Suzette awakened me at 8:00. I got dressed and ate a pain au chocolate with a collagen latte Machiatta coffee.

Then Suzette and I pulled the garlic plants from the westerly raised bed.

I sliced some onion and Suzette sliced 1 1/2 avocados and whisked four eggs and sautéed the onion in a large skillet and then added the four eggs and about 15 peeled and cooked shrimp plus some goat cheese ricotta. When the egg firmed Suzette garnished the top with avocado slices.

This was the most beautifully decorated omelet I have seen in years and clearly the best meal of the day.

We then drove to El Super to buy brown sugar, carrots, lemons, apple cider vinegar, and ginger to make apricot chutney.

Suzette brought about 40 lb. of apricots from the trees at the Center. After we returned home we pitted about 5 lb. of apricots and i chopped one yellow onion and placed them in a large pot to which Suzette added apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, raisins, and ginger and cooked it for several hours until the apricots began to break up and the liquid reduced and thickened. She then bottled the chutney.

We then pitted another six lb. of apricots and Suzette cooked these with brown sugar in water. When the apricots were cooked, Suzette bagged the apricots that will be used in cobblers at the Center.

Around 3:30 we finished pitting 1/3 of the apricots. I toasted two slices of whole wheat bread and spread them with sour cream and then garnished them with slices of red onion and slices of Vita herring in wine sauce.  I liked the cool herring with a glass of Palantir French Sauvignon Blanc.

I watched World Cup Soccer most of the day but most of the action was predictable, so it was unexciting and I had no favorite to root for. For example, I love Sweden, but it got crushed 5 to 1 by the Netherlands.

I read more of Being Ram Dass about his spiritual awakening in India.

Then around 4:00 I cut two carrots, a turnip, the bag of Brussels sprouts and two beets into cubes and Suzette roasted them in the oven around 5:30.  She decided to not make mashed potatoes.

We reheated the braised short ribs and when Willy came by around 7:30 we had a quiet dinner.

It seems that Luke’s situation has darkened all of our moods as he struggles to make a go of it in LA.

We watched a bit of Bill Maher but that did not relieve the bad feelings we all have.

The dinner was delicious and we drank Smith Haut Lafitte red Bordeaux, but we never got to dessert of cobbler, which is just as well because the root vegetables made me feel really good.

I stayed up until 11:00 to watch Japan crush Tunisia.

Bon Appetit