November 1, 2026 Snack - Pain au Chocolate. Brunch - Enchiladas with Eggs and beans. Snack Plum Dinner - Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Soup

November 1, 2026 Snack - Pain au Chocolate. Brunch - Enchiladas with Eggs and beans. Snack Plum  Dinner - Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Soup

Suzette had a busy day exercising and working in the garden and at her desk.

I watched the news and ate a pain au chocolate with a latte machiatta at 8:00.

Then at 9:30 Willy arrived for brunch and to watch the PL match between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Suzette heated enchiladas and beans and fried five eggs. Willy drank a latte. We drank mimosas.

Then a Willy left and Suzette cut down the pineapple plants and pulled out the cosmoses in the garden.

At 11:00 the Cowboy v. Cardinal football game stated and I watched it. It was rather sad that the Cowboys lost in the last few seconds. Then we watched the end of the Chiefs lose to the Broncos and ate a plum as a snack.

From 2:20 until 5:00 I edited my brief and Suzette worked at her desk.

At 5:30 Suzette added water, two dumplings, and frozen snow peas to the leftover Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup and we heated it for dinner and added hoisin sauce, fresh cilantro, and lime juice. We also heated water and brewed cups of tea to drink with the Soup.

I loved the soup, especially with the tangy lime flavor and ate several bowls.

Then we watched Miss Fisher, Professor T, and Maigret and Suzette went to bed at 9:00.

I watched Washington beat Philadelphia in Sunday Night Football and then blogged this entry.

Bon Appetit

October 31, 2026. Breakfast - Enchiladas and Eggs Lunch - Spaghetti. Snack - Brie on Toast. Dinner - Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

October 31, 2026. Breakfast - Enchiladas and Eggs  Lunch - Spaghetti. Snack - Brie on Toast. Dinner - Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup 

I woke up at 7:00 and watched Chelsea beat Man Union 2 to 0.

Then I heated a square of the enchiladas we made two nights ago covered with sour cream and fried two eggs for breakfast.

I then  watched several PL matches and at 12:30 Suzette heated the leftover spaghetti hamburger helper and served it with the leftover salad from Thursday evening.

We drank glasses of Montpulichiano red wine. 

After lunch I toasted and buttered two slices of Bosque Bakery South Valley Sourdough bread and garnished them slices of brie cheese and ate them with the last glass of red wine.

Then I started watching College Football,.mainly to TCU beating Kansas.

Then we drove to Sprouts to buy Blood oranges and lettuce. We also bought two Aji tuna steaks for sushi and a salad Nicoise.

When we returned I watched a bit of Texas v. Old Miss and then fixed dinner.

At 5:30 we organized the Halloween candy basket by the front door and Suzette put on a Dracula t-shirt and started playing scary music  and handed out candy to kids until 7:00.

Dinner - At 5:30 I started dinner. I chopped up the sirloin side of the leftover grilled T-bone and 1/2 onion and used the crab broth Suzette had made to which I added rice stick, egg noodles and rice vermicelli, about a cup of Napa cabbage, 1 T. of red Miso, a Vietnamese dehydrated beef cube, and a Pho seasoning bag. Later I put seven pork dumplings in.

Suzette went to the garden and picked a basket of sorrel and I destemmed them and chopped them into bite sized pieces that I put in the soup at 7:00 when Suzette stopped giving candy. There were fewer little children this year or on r neighborhood is no longer a popular venue for trick or treaters.

I also sliced four green onions into thin slices and fetched the hoisin sauce and the bunch of cilantro and cut a lime in half.  We served ourselves bowls of soup and garnished them with green onions, cilantro and squirted hoisin and juiced lime juice on the bowls .

 

Suzette liked the soup and there was a lot left.

We watched Father Brown, Have I got News for You. and Bill Maher and went to bed at 10:45.

Bon Appeti

October 30, 2026 Breakfast - Granola with milk, yogurt, and raspberries Lunch - Green chili cheeseburgers. Dinner - Enchiladas with Pork, Squash, and mushrooms and cooked golden pinto beans

October 30, 2026 Breakfast - Granola with milk, yogurt, and raspberries Lunch - Green chili cheeseburgers. Dinner - Enchiladas with Pork, Squash, and mushrooms and cooked golden pinto beans 

I slept until 7:45 again after being up 2 1/2 hours from 2:00 to 4:30 a.m..

I helped Suzette remove a new lounge chair from her SUV and then I ate granola with milk, yogurt, and raspberries at my desk as I edited a pleading until 10:00 when Suzette returned with the other lounge chair that we will place in the basement when it is renovated into a wine cellar.

After we removed the chair Suzette went to her exercise class and when she returned around 12:00 we fixed lunch. Suzette made four hamburgers from the package of ground beef I bought at Smith’s last week. She froze two and grilled the other two to medium rare with two hamburger buns. We made a magic sauce with 1/2 cup of Mayo, about 1/2 cup of bread and butter pickles, a dash of ground black fermented garlic, and about 1/3 cup of processed green chili.  We took our burgerscand beers to the gazebo and ate in the garden.

                                         The ingredients with the bowl of magic sauce

                                              View of the garden from the gazebo

We sliced a tomato and I sliced a slice of red onion and Fetched the from last night’s dinner.

When the burgers and buns were cooked we each spread magic sauce on a bun and garnished them with a slice of tomato, lettuce, and the burger. I added a slice of red onion. This created a monster burger that was to large to fit comfortably in our mouths, so we ate at the edges and took bites from oblique angles until we managed to eat the entire burger, although it was messy as it kept ejecting magic Sauce all over our fingers.

We drank Negra Modelos.

Then Suzette worked in her office and I continued to edit my pleasing until 5:30. We started watching the new episodes of Lupin until 10:00 with a break for dinner of blue corn enchiladas with shredded pork, squash, and mushrooms and cooked 

Golden Pinto beans with

After dinner we ate a few pieces of Halloween candy.

Bon Appetit

October 29, 2026 Breakfast - Granola with yogurt, milk, and raspberries Lunch - Monroe’s with Book Club. Dinner - Crab Souffle, Salad, and Bean Soup

October 29, 2026 Breakfast - Granola with yogurt, milk, and raspberries Lunch - Monroe’s with Book Club. Dinner - Crab Souffle, Salad, and Bean Soup

I woke up around 6:00 and ate breakfast and worked at my desk until 10:30 when I got ready for book club. I ate granola with yogurt, milk,band fresh raspberries again, as some of them are beginning to show signs of mold.

I picked up Peter at 11:10 and drove us to Monroe’s for lunch with the book club. Several people ordered a bowl f green chili. I ordered the breakfast of two eggs over easy, two enchiladas filled with carne adovado and cooked squash and lettuce and tomato with extra onions.

The prices have gone up and my dish was $12.95 and is now $15,95 plus $1.00 for the carne adovado.

We then drove to Charlie’s house for our discussion. Susan had bought a bottle of Precision Cabernet Sauvignon but no white so I drove home and fetched a bottle of Llegado de Farro, a blend of 80% Verdejo and 20% Godella from Castillo and Leon.

We discussed The Persian by McCloskey until around 3:00 and then drove Peter home.

When I returned home at 3:30 I rested until 5:00, when Suzette and I started cooking dinner. We had invited our old friends Wayne and Elaine and Nancy and Cliff for dinner.

The menu we selected was crab soufflé and a chopped salad of Napa Cabbage, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Nancy brought a white bean soup and Fruit tartlets from Whole Foods. Elaine brought a tossed green salad that we combined with the cabbage salad for which I made a tarragon vinegar, mustard, and Chateau Ott olive oil dressing. So we had a complete menu of soup, crab soufflé, salad, and dessert.

We followed the Julia Child recipe for Fish soufflé as we usually do and Suzette cooked it in the steamer oven and it turned out perfectly.

Here is the recipe.

It is a little complicated but with both of us prepping, it went rather smoothly.

I minced Swiss cheese and buttered and dusted the souffle dish with cheese.  I minced a shallot that Suzette cooked in white wine. Suzette whipped the egg whites and separated the yolks and started the Bechamel sauce by cooking flour in butter and heating a cup of milk. I took over at the stove to add the milk to make the Bechamel sauce and then off the heat whisked in the egg yolks and cooked the shallot.

We then combined the cooked minced shallot with the Bechamel and stirred in the crab meat.

Then then we folded the fluffy whipped egg whites into the combined ingredients and Suzette poured it into the dish and set the steamer oven to the setting for soufflé, as Wayne and Elaine arrived around 6:20.

Nancy and Cliff arrived around 6:45. Suzette set the dining room table with the Rosenthal China with its black on white soup bowls and heated Nancy’s bean soup and we ate a first course of soup and I toasted slices of Bosque Bakery Rustic baguette and South Valley Sourdough to go with the soup and salad.

Then Suzette served the souffle and the combined salad with more bread.

I opened the chilled bottle of Red Newt Dry Riesling that arrived this week and after we drank it Suzette fetched a bottle of French Vielles Vignes Sauvignon Blanc from the garage and we filled glasses with it.

I was amazed that the souffle was sufficient to serve seconds and thirds.

After we finished the soufflé Nancy and Suzette served the fruit tartlets on dessert plates.

Suzette’s organization of China and the table was flawless and the combined efforts of everyone made for an elegant meal.

                                           Here are the plates left after dinner

We talked in the living room a bit and around 8:30 Wayne and Elaine left. Then at 9:30 Cliff and Nancy left and we went to bed.

It was a lovely day of food and social interaction that tired me but made me feel better, if those two are compatible.

Bon Appetit