June 29, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate Lunch - Almond Croissant. Snack - Cheese Cake Dinner - Snails and Casarecce Pasta with herb pesto

June 29, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate  Lunch - Almond Croissant. Snack - Cheese Cake  Dinner - Snails and Casarecce Pasta with herb pesto 

What an odd day of food. I woke with vigor to ride and ate a pain au chocolate with a latte macchiato with collagen.  The I rode my new recumbent bike around the neighborhood. I was even able to pull myself out of the seat using Suzette’s car door handle and the increased strength in my legs.

Then I worked at my desk for a few minutes and then showered and dressed.

I paid a few bills and signed up for a water law seminar and then at 11:00 started watched the Brazil v. Japan. Japan scored first and Brazil equalized in the 56th minute and won with a last minute goal in the 95th minute to advance. During the match I heated and ate a Le Quiche almond croissant.

The next match between Germany and Paraguay was even more dramatic. Paraguay won on penalty kicks after a hard fought 120 minutes to claim one of the greatest and most unpredictable victories of this year’s World Cup.

At 3:00 I was hungry and ate the last piece of Susan’s cheese cake.

Then at 4:15 Suzette said she was hungry and we started preparing dinner. We went to the garden and picked parsley, sorrel, and basil for Suzette’s herb pesto. We drained the 30 snails and I made the snail butter while Suzette boiled Casarecce pasta and made the pesto with three herbs plus pinon nuts and Parmesan cheese in the blender.

We opened a bottle of Kirkland New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that was lovely with the snails and Suzette toasted four round slices of baguette for dipping in the snail butter.

I followed Julia Child’s Snail butter recipe on page 103 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, combining 2 T. of shallot with three cloves of garlic mashed, two T. of minced parsley, 1/2 cup of butter abd salt and pepper.

I sautéed the ingredients without the salt and pepper in a skillet and added 10 T. of butter to make a warm sauce instead of the recipe for a compound butter.  We also tossed the snails in the sauce and served them in snail pans and served the pasta in a separate plate. But in practice we ate the snails with the pasta with bread dipped in the garlicky butter and parsley sauce

It was a fabulous dinner even tough I had eaten my dessert an hour earlier.

After dinner Willy, Max, and Suzette moved furniture from his old apartment at 524 Romero to his new apartment and back to our house.

I was stuffed and tired, so I lay in bed to blog this entry and watch Morocco against The Netherlands in World Cup competition.

Bon Appetit

June 28, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Snack - Almond Croissant. Lunch - Duck Salad Dinner - BLT Sandwiches

June 28, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Snack - Almond Croissant. Lunch - Duck Salad  Dinner - BLT Sandwiches

We mostly rested today and prepared two pleasant meals.

I ate herring sandwiches with a cup of chai with collagen around 8:

Then we went to the garden and picked lettuce that Suzette freshened in a bowl of ice water. 

Then at 10:30 I lay down for a nap until Melissa came to see us at 11:00.  I ate a Le Quiche almond croissant with chai. Suzette and Melissa ate regular croissants with Bloody Marys.

Then after Melissa left, Suzette and I drove to Talin where we bought Bomba rice and a can of green pigeon peas for the paella.

We also bought Yu Choy, Rice Vermicelli noodles, shallots, brown beech mushrooms, and a package of small Spanish eggplants.

We then drove to Total Wine where we bought scotch, white vermouth, a bd a bottle of Guy Mousset Red Côtes du Rhône for a nickel for my birthday plus 12 packs of Negra, Modelo and Bohemia beer, a bottle of gin and a bottle of vodka.

When we returned home at 2:30 we made a duck salad thar was the best meal of the day. I deboned the remaining meat and skin from the pieces of duck left from our Friday lunch at East Ocean and Suzette baked the meat and skin in the oven. I diced a tomato and peeled, seeded, and diced 1/3 cucumber and put the diced pieces in a bowl. Suzette spun and added the lettuce and hard boiled five eggs and added egg slices and croutons to the salad and made a honey mustard dressing. We drank the last of the new bottle of Bandol rose we bought at Costco.

After a lovely lunch I rested and watched Canada beat South Africa in the first match of the knock out round of 32.

Then at 5:30 we decided to make BLT Sandwiches for dinner after we watched Miss Fisher. At 7:00 we fried four slices of the new thick bacon. I sliced four slices from the new loaf of whole-wheat bread and toasted them and Suzette spread them with mayonnaise.

I then sliced tomato slices and Suzette went to the garden and picked some fresh lettuce.

When the bacon was fried to brown and crisp we assembled our sandwiches and Suzette poured a Negra Modelo into two mugs that we shared.

We loved dinner.

After dinner we watched Patience, which is a British Copy of Astrid.

Then we watched Grantchester and then at 10:00 an episode of the real Astrid with two chocolates and a cognac.

At 11:00 I went to bed happy after two delicious meals.

Bon Appetit

June 27, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Costco Hot Dog. Dinner - Chicken Curry with Rice

June 27, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Costco Hot Dog. Dinner - Chicken Curry with Rice

This was a rather busy day. While Suzette did water aerobics and worked in the garden, I slept until 9:00.

I then got dressed and ate a pain au chocolate with a latte macchiato and then we rode our bikes to the farmers’ market where Suzette bought four croissants and a loaf of whole wheat bread while I talked to Zul about his transaction.

We then rode around the neighborhood and then drove to the UPS store and picked up two cartons of wine from Red Tail Ridge winery.

Then we drove to Costco and bought a new bottle of Bandol for $15.98, eggs, mushrooms, lemons, detergent, French brie cheese, feta cheese, Clorox, butter, thick cut bacon, coffee, two more bags of pain au chocolates, pistachios, four bottles of Clamato juice, Spanish olive oil, and a wedge of Gruyere cheese, and I also picked up.two prescriptions.

After we shopped we ate a hot dog with a soda and Suzette filled up her Highlander with $3.29 per gallon gas, which is the cheapest it has been in a while and we drove to Shamrock Southwest Distributers where we bought Lady fingers, marsacapone, Polish sausage, cherry saft, two cans of baby clams, anchovies, burrata cheese, and ricotta cheese.

We now have most of what we need for the party on July 2.

We finally drove home, arriving around 2:30.

By the time we unloaded it was time for today’s six World Cup soccer matches to begin at 3:00, 5:30, and 8:00.  There was lots of exciting action during the matches, as ability to advance to the knockout round of 32 changed with almost every goal.

The most exciting moment of the day was the last goal scored in the last minute of extra time in the. Last match of the day by Austria that provided Austria the tie to send it from elimination into the round of 32 at 10:30 at night.

I rested from 3:00 until 5:00 when we were hungry again and decided to not cook, but, instead, to simply heat the leftover chicken curry and rice.

Suzette fetched the pots from the garage fridge and heated the curry on the stove and some of the rice in a Pyrex baking loaf pan in the microwave and fetched the jar of homemade apricot chutney and I fetched the jar of Bengali Mixed Pickle for me.

We drank glasses of Trader Joe’s Bandol rose for the most substantial meal of the day

We spent the rest of the evening watching soccer and about 2/3 of Bill Maher.

Suzette chose to watched home remodeling during much of the time while I watched soccer in the bedroom so I am not sure when she went to sleep.

I went to bed at 11:00.

All the errands and bike riding over the course of the day allowed me to accumulate over 6300 steps today without tiring me too much, which was wonderful.

I guess you could say this was a day of previously prepared food mostly eaten in relation to errands.

Tomorrow we will rest and hopefully eat properly.

Bon Appetit 

June 25, 2026 Breakfast - Man on a Raft and Smoked Pork Chop. Lunch - Book Club Snack

June 25, 2026 Breakfast - Man on a Raft and Smoked Pork Chop. Lunch -  Book Club    Snack 

I woke up at 4:00 and went back to bed at 5:30 and slept until 6:30 when I spread goat cheese on toasted thin rounds of baguette. Then I sliced Gravad Lax and placed a piece on each baguette. Then I garnished each canapé with either thin slices of red onion or thinly sliced chives and put several capers on each.

The result was quite satisfying. A newly created appetizer I really liked.

Then we put out wine glasses and plates and plastic silverware for the book club party. 

At 8:30 I made three men on a raft, which is a slice of whole wheat bread toasted in butter in a skillet and then turn over and an egg placed on the toasted side while the other side is toasted in butter. Then it is flipped again to cook the egg to over easy, if the bread is large enough I tear a round hole in the middle so the yolk can be held in place. Today the yolks slid off the toast and burst because there was no hole.

I also sautéed a smoked Pork chop with the eggs and Suzette and I shared the chop.

Regardless of the good breakfast I started losing energy around 10:00, after we set up tables on the patio for drinks and fetched beers, apple cider, and four bottles of  wine and set up a table and chairs next to the raised bed and pulled couches in the living room back as far as I could. so chairs could be placed in front of them.

At 11:00 Keith came and I opened a 2019 De Ponte Estate Pinot Noir. It was a very pleasant wine, very smooth, yet with good tannins. Keith brought a bottle of 2023 Smith Kelly from Oregon.  I put a bottle of Toure French white from Cotes du Cascogne, A Faustino … Ulcea Albariño from Spain, a bottle of Trader Joe’s Bandol, and a bottle of Kirkland Pinot Grigio on ice outside with several Dos Equis, Negra Modelo, Angry Orchard Apple Ciders, and Carlsberg Greens.

Then at 11:15 Jeff arrived with Rebecca and they set up chairs in a semi circle around the coffee table.

As Keith and I sipped Pinot members and their wives began to arrive.

Susan and Charlie brought a cheese cake. Karl and Joanne brought Magic bars with crushed pistachios.Paul and wife brought Penne Pasta Salad. Pradip and wife brought Cantaloupe melon balls and prosciutto on skewers,

There was also a lovely chicken salad. Peter brought amazing crisp pecan cookies and Keith brought a bottle of good Oregon Pinot Noir.

I served the Gravad Lax canapés before Rebecca’s performance and put out the clafoutis on the dessert table.

At noon we all took seats in the living room and Rebecca performed her one woman performance which was a stream of consciousness monologue combined with playing the role of several characters. It was quite impressive.

When it ended we served ourselves food and a drink and went outside to eat at one of the tables under the trees or gazebo..

Suzette went to an appointment at Social Security and then joined us.

We conversed and ate until 3:00 when everyone except Keith left. He and I watched Japan v. Sweden and sipped the Smith Kelly Pinot he brought until After a strong thunder storm subsided around 4:30.

Then Suzette and I got into our pajamas and lay in bed to rest after all the activity. I dozed from 5:00 until 6:00 and then watched the second half of the Japan v. Sweden World Cup matche and then at 8:00 the US v. Turkey and some of Australia v. Paraguay.

We were stuffed and did not eat dinner, but I drank a cup of tea and ate a magic bar and a pecan cookie and an apricot later in the evening.

We went to sleep after Turkey scored a late goal in the last minute of extra time to beat the U.S. 3 to 2. 

It was a lovely party and everyone enjoyed the food and conversation. I suspect there will be more book club social events in the future. Jeff was wonderful in organizing Rebecca’s performance in the Living room. It was a vert pleasant event with great potluck dishes.

Bon Appetit