July 31, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate Lunch - Pasta and meatballs in Spaghetti sauce. Dinner - Leftover Enchiladas and refried beans and an egg

July 31, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate Lunch - Pasta and meatballs in Spaghetti sauce. Dinner - Leftover Enchiladas and refried beans and an egg

I awakened a5 6:30 and ate a pain au Chocolate with a Latte Macchiato. Then at 9:00 Suzette and I walked around the block and when we returned we picked a few peaches and then some figs.

I talked to Luke an hour about a new job in LA that sounds exciting.

At 10:45 I drove to Tricore and did some labs for my appointment on Monday with Dr. Bungo.

When I returned home around noon Suzette heated the meatballs And spaghetti sauce the new chef made with most of the leftover.cooked farfalle.

We drank the last two glasses of Kirkland Gigondas.

I’m 

Then I rested and started reading next month’s book club selection, the invention of Morel and rested until 4:15 when I watched the news until 5:00.

When I joined Suzette in the TV room I decided to heat up the leftover enchiladas from Mary and Tito’s yesterday lunch and I fried an egg to garnish and some sour cream.

We watched news until 7:00 and then watched a Netflix movie titled  Love and Gelato that was a sweet romantic comedy anout a 17 year old who promises her dying mother that she will spend the summer in Rome and falls in love with it and gelato, and an Italian.

Bon Appetit

 

July 30, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Beef Enchiladas with beans, Book Club. Dinner - Leftover Cashew Chicken and Shrimp and Mixed Vegetables with rice

July 30, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Beef Enchiladas with beans,  Book Club. Dinner - Leftover Cashew Chicken and Shrimp and Mixed Vegetables with rice

I woke up at 7:30 and ate a pain au chocolate with a latte Macchiato with collagen.

Then I listed the five or six quotes from Sense and Sensibility I wanted to read to the group.

I showered and dressed and, at 10:00, I drove to El Super and bought zucchini, Fuji apples, a cucumber, green beans, red onions, 3 small avocados, two eggplants, tomatoes, water chestnuts, a sweet potato, flour, sugar, a Pasilla chili, and a bunch of leeks.

When I returned home at 11:09 I unloaded and walked to Charlie’s at 11:25 and he drove Peter and me to Mary and Tito’s to join the other 5 book club members for lunch. I met our new member Tim who joined Paul and Peter at one booth. Peter ordered a bowl of Red chili, beans, and beef with flour tortillas, Tim ordered a chicken and cheese burrito, Paul ordered a sopapilla stuffed with carne adovado and beans smothered in red chili. I ordered beef enchiladas with double beans and extra onions with red chili. We all liked our orders. Mine had to be sent back to change from all rice to all beans so I finished last.

We then went to my house for the meeting and discussed the book. I served briefly cheese, Gruyere, and goat cheese with slices of French baguette and pistachios and corn chips. I also opened an Faustino Rivera Ulcea Albariño and a Calstar 2014 Sangiacamo Pinot Noir.

We broke up at 4:00 and I watched the news until 5:00. Suzette was hungry and fetched and heated the leftover shrimp with mixed vegetables and cashew chicken with rice that both contained lots of stir fried vegetables. I was still hungry and ate some reheated Lo Mein noodles.

We then watched a Scottish film on Netflix until 7:45 and then an episode of Midsomer Murders.

Suzette heated and served bowls of blueberry bread pudding with cream for dessert around 9:00 and went to bed at 9:30 when it ended.

I stayed up to watch George Gently Detective until 11:00 and then blogged this entry and went to bed around 12:00.

Bon Appetit

July 29, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Lunch - East Ocean Family meal. Dinner - Leftover General Tsao’s Chicken and Mongolian beef and rice

July 29, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Lunch - East Ocean Family meal. Dinner - Leftover General Tsao’s Chicken and Mongolian beef and rice 

Today the dam broke in the market. The Dow dropped more than 1100 points in its greatest daily loss in the last year.

I walked around the block around 6:30 and then ate a bowl of granola with yogurt, milk, and blueberries as I worked on a real estate transaction in the morning and taxes.

Henry called and we decided to go to lunch. He arrived in a lovely large Chevy sleeper van with Esther, her sister, and her mother and Henry drove us to East Ocean where we all agreed to share the $16.99 family meal. It included an appetizer plate with a cream cheese fried wonton, an egg roll, and a fried shrimp. Then we were each served cups of either wonton or egg drop soup.

Then five entrees were served with a container of steamed rice and a container of fried rice. Then we were entrees were Mongolian Beef, General Tsao’s chicken, Combination Lo Mein, Cashew Chicken, and Shrimp and Mixed Vegetables. My favorite was shrimp with Mixed Vegetables and the Lo Mein.

We could not eat even half, so Henry and Esther loaded the leftovers into six styrofoam boxes that were then bagged in plastic carrying bags.

They drove me home around 2:00 and gave me all the boxes.

When I arrived I checked the market and found that my portfolio also had its worst day in a year, losing a staggering 2.55%. But I was happy tat I sold 100 shares of Nvidia’s at yesterday’s high.

I worked until 4:00 when I lay down and watched the news until 6:00.

Willy came by at 5:00 and he and Suzette drove to pick up tiles for a walkway at the Center. At 6:00 we drove to Costco and bought eggs, baguettes, portobello mushrooms, cream, flour tortillas, pistachios, and lamb chops. 

When we returned home we heated plates with General Tsao’s Chicken, Mongolian Beef, and rice.  Suzette drank a beer and I drank a cup of green tea. And we still have enough Chinese leftovers for three or four meals.

After dinner we watched a Netflix movie titled “The Last Word” with Shirley MacLaine, Amanda Seyfried, and Anne Hecht that was not as cherry as last night’s movie because it was about death, but well acted and entertaining.

We went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit

July 28, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate and bagel with Cheese Lunch - Tabouli Salad Dinner - Enchiladas with Pinto beans

July 28, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate and bagel with Cheese Lunch - Tabouli Salad  Dinner - Enchiladas with Pinto beans

At 2:30 this morning I spoke to Mr. Dixit at an Indian bank that has agreed to help me dematerialized my Indian bank shares. It now appears that the path to dematerialized shares is open, which is great news.

In the morning I started to make Gravad lax but the Gravad lax was getting too old and scummy to eat so after I toasted two slices of bagel and spread them with cream cheese and slices of red onion and sliced the salmon, I decided to abort and threw away the old lax and, instead, ate a pain au chocolate with a cup of chai and then put slices of Iberico cheese on the bagel and ate the bagel with cheese with another cup of chai.

I then worked on my 2025 taxes until noon when I used the remaining two cups of tabouli to make a tabouli salad with fresh lettuce from the garden Suzette picked yesterday, plus 1/2 of a tomato. On my salad I added Kalamata olives and a few thin slices of red onion. I drizzled both salads with fresh lemon juice and olive oil and we each toasted a slice of French Country bread for a lovely low calorie lunch.

After another down day in the market during which I sold 100 shares of Nvidia while it was up a bit at $197.57.

Then in the afternoon I got a new case from an old client and also called the court for one of my cases and asked if the case would be dismissed after no activity for almost 2 years.

After a flurry of calls and emails I stopped work a few minutes after 4:00 to watch the news.

At 5:00 we heated the pinto beans Suzette cooked yesterday and reheated squares of the chicken and mushroom enchiladas we made on Sunday.

Suzette fetched beers and we ate a lovely dinner.

After dinner we made chocolate chip cookies with about a cup of minced chocolate mint Suzette picked in the garden.  This is the first time we have added minced chocolate mint to chocolate chip cookies. We both thought it created a subtle mint flavor without that awful candy mint flavor.

We finished baking the cookies at 7:00 just in time to watch Finding Your Roots. After that we watched a Netflix movie titled “People You Meet on Vacation” and went to bed at 10:00.

Suzette is back on her diet and hit her goal for the day, without going over.

Bon Appetit

July 27, 2026 Breakfast - Granola Lunch - Pickled Herring Sandwiches. Dinner - Sautéed Smoked Pork cutlet with Rancho Gordo Pinto Beans and Calabacitas

July 27, 2026 Breakfast - Granola  Lunch - Pickled Herring Sandwiches. Dinner - Sautéed Smoked Pork cutlet with Rancho Gordo Pinto Beans and Calabacitas

Today I woke up at 3:30 and went back to sleep after a cup of chai at 4:30 and slept until 9:15.

It was a dreamy day spent mostly reading Sense and Sensibility, which I finished in the evening.  I loved Austen’s syntax and insight into the workings of the human mind as it manifested in civil society of 1811.

I wanted to have a solid breakfast that would stick with me for the day, so I ate granola with milk, blueberries, and plain yogurt again today at around 10:00.

Then I checked the mail and worked at my desk until 12:00 when Suzette came home. I toasted two slices of French country style bread and spread them with sour cream and garnished them with pickled herring and slices of onion for a quick lunch.

Then I drove Suzette to Kaseman for a procedure. We returned home at 3:30 and while she rested until 4:30 I read.

She had not eaten so she sautéed two Hormel smoked pork cutlets and heated the Rancho Gordo pinto beans she cooked yesterday with chorizo, carrots, and onion.

I heated the leftover Calabacitas and we ate an interesting quick dinner.

I drank an apple cider and Suzette drank water.

Later I ate some milk chocolate with a sip of Calvados as we watched the Antiques Roadshow.

We went to bed at 9:00.

It was a dreamy day spent mostly reading.

Bon Appetit 

July 26, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Lunch - Enchiladas and fried eggs Dinner - Sautéed chicken, steamed broccoli, pimiento, onion with a white wine sauce on falafelle pasta

July 26, 2026 Breakfast - Granola. Lunch - Enchiladas and fried eggs  Dinner -  Sautéed chicken, steamed broccoli, pimiento, onion with a white wine sauce on falafelle pasta 

I woke up at 6:30 and ate a bowl of granola with milk, blueberries, yogurt.

At 8:30 I drove to Pres to visit Dana who is waiting for triple bypass heart surgery tomorrow. I found him in good spirits and spent an hour talking with him.

He told me, “My dad survived rhe Batman Death March and later had open heart surgery and made it through both of those, so I think my odds are pretty good.”

At 9:30 I returned home and watched Stage 21 of the Tour, the finish on the Champs Ellysee in Paris. It was a surprisingly exciting finish with the Olympic Road Race Gold medalist, Van DerPoel, winning by a few inches after 50 miles of racing.

Suzette made lunch after the race. She heated the leftover Mary and Tito’s enchiladas and placed fried eggs on them,  I lay down after lunch and read Sense and Sensibility but around 2:30 I threw up lunch.

Afterwards I rested until 5:30 when we started dinner with a snack of a slice of toast spread with peanut butter and honey around 5:00.  I went to the garden and picked some parsley, two stalks of oregano, four sorrel leaves, and three stalks of thyme.

Dinner - Suzette gathered the ingredients, a can of pimiento, 1/2 of a Vidalia onion, four cloves of garlic. I destemmed and quartered broccoli flowerets from 1/2 head of broccoli and Suzette steamed them. She also boiled a handful of falafelle (bow tie) pasta in thyme flavored water and began sautéing the onion, garlic, and pimiento in a skillet.  I added the broccoli and then the chicken and then the herbs, plus 1/4 cup of white wine and 1 T. of capers and a handful of shredded Monterrey jack cheese and grated fresh pecorino-Romano cheese.

Willy arrived at 6:00 and helped Suzette move her sewing equipment and table out of the basement.  

I completed dinner as they finished moving furniture and we sat down for dinner with glasses of La Granja Viura and Verdejo grape blend Spanish white wine.

We talked until 7:30 when Suzette packed some enchiladas and beans for him to take home. Willy left and we watched the last 1/2 of Patience and Grantchester and then went to bed at 9:00.

Bon Appetit