October 13, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Chicken Salad Sandwich. Dinner - Two Garden Gate Bistro Dishes;

October 13, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Chicken Salad Sandwich. Dinner - Two Garden Gate Bistro Dishes; Mustard ChickenB served over a green chili risotto and La Cope Stella (sautéed Pork chop with a Stella rose black wine reduction with a holy basil gastrique served with buttery mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini, yellow squash and green beans)

I am getting over another rough spot in the road of life. On the flight back from NYC on October 1 I must have contracted both Covid and the flu and by Saturday, October 3, 2026, my carnatine parmytil condition triggered and I was having trouble breathing. So, we called for an ambulance that took me to Presbyterian Hospital. The Emergency Room confirmed that I had both Covid and the flu and started treating those ailments and put me on a glucose and saline drip to treat the outflow of myoglobin as my muscles decomposed.

I spent the day in a room in the Emergency Room. There were 35 people ahead of me waiting for a room in the hospital.

Finally, at 11:00 I was moved to a sunny room on the fifth floor of the new west wing, with a view of the West Mesa and the volcanos.

I spent five days in the hospital this time and was discharged on Thursday, October 8.

I attribute the shorter stay to two factors; the pumping my full of a 10% glucose saline solution that helped my muscles recover more quickly and the aggressive treatment of the Covid and flu symptoms.  My kidney function remained pretty stable so I did not need dialysis.

I am still a shell of my original pre-illness self with lungs still congested with the dead bacteria from Covid and the flu, but that is clearing steadily daily.

I have not slept so well in years. I go to bed around 9:30 and sleep 8 hours and still take an afternoon nap.

I am beginning to think that when I contract my carnatine condition and my muscles decompose that my body goes into a quasi-hibernation stasis where my body functions slow. Some evidence was when the night nurse came into my hospital room and awakened and told me that my heart rate had dropped to 29 from its normal 70.

I now have a cardiologist, so that will continued to be monitored.

There is not much to say about the hospital food. I was on a diabetic diet plan so could not eat a chocolate brownie. Food was cooked too well. For example, I asked That the salmon filet be seared, hoping it would be more tender and they seared an already fully cooked filet, which gave it little more crunchy texture but also made it tougher. The good thing was there was no salt added to anything.

I have been eating just to try to kick the recovery of my muscles into gear.

On Monday, October 12, I went Tricore for labs at 8:00 and we met Luke and Ari for lunch at Padilla’s. I ate a beef enchilada with sour cream, rice and beans and a sopapillas that were delicious, so that was the first food I have enjoyed since NYC.

Monday evening Luke, Willy, and Ari cooked dinner for us and Billy Joe that was also delicious, seared Aji tuna steak, Cesar Salad, and roasted potatoes, carrots, and perhaps a parsnip. I served the Les Adrets Bandol Rose that we bought at the winery that won the silver medal at the Brussels world wine competition, which makes it was the second best rose in the world that year.

Tuesday I ate my usual breakfast of a latte machiatta and a regular dough Pain au Chocolate.

Willy brought me chicken salad sandwich from Tiny Grocer in Old Town

I filed my Motion to extend in the Court of Appeals and then meditated and then at 4:30 finally was able to lie down for an hour nap.

Suzette exercised at 9:30 and then worked until 4:30. She arrived with two dishes made by the new chef, Mustard Chicken served over a green chili risotto and La Cope Stella (sautéed Pork chop with a Stella rose black wine reduction with a holy basil gastrique served with buttery mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini, yellow squash and green beans). I liked the chicken in its creamy mustard sauce but did not discern the holy basil flavor and found the green chili risotto too picante for my liking. I really liked the pork chop in its wine sauce with buttery creamy potatoes and the grilled green beans, zuchini, and yellow squash. Perhaps the most interesting dish for me is the chef’s grilling of vegetables.

We drank glasses of the recently arrived Red Newt 2016 Pinot Gris from its Cherry creek vineyard. The wine was a lovely light pink in color and I could taste the minerality of the cobble soil it was grown in. It was a real treat.

We both went to sleep during Finding Your Roots. Suzette went to bed before 8:00. I received calls from Susan and later, Diane and Jim, and then went to bed around 9:20.

I learned today that doctors are suggesting a Covid and flu booster every six months. We intend to do that and hopefully will be better protected.

Bon Appetit 

October 1, 2026 From NYC to Albuquerque Breakfast - with Ryan. Lunch - Ham and Cheese Sandwich on flight from NYC to Denver. Dinner - Quesadilla at home.

October 1, 2026 From NYC to Albuquerque Breakfast - with Ryan. Lunch - Ham and Cheese Sandwich on flight from NYC to Denver. Dinner - Quesadilla at home.

An interesting occurrence motivated us to come home one day early.

Every year Suzette attempts to register with DIA Trust for a visit to the Lightning Field, an environmental art work by Walter De Maria in western New Mexico,Four hundred Lightning rods planted vertically in a one mile by one kilometer rectangle with a small cabin to house attendees. There is no cost and the one night experience includes a box dinner and a drive to the site from Quemado by DIA attendants. Registration begins and ends moments after reservations for the year open on February 1. There are an extremely limited number of reservations for the stormy late summer and early fall monsoon season. 

Suzette registered this year and got lucky and made the waiting list and got even luckier and received a text on Wednesday, September 30, that there had been a cancellation and we had been selected to go on October 1, today. There only hitch was that there have been record torrential rains this last week in New Mexico due to the convergence of Typhoon Polo, the Monsoon, and a very strong Pacific waters’ warming from the El Niño effect that made it uncertain if the site was accessible by DIA’s jeep.

We were told Dia would confirm availability for tomorrow today if the weather cleared. So we rebooked our flight from Friday to today, Thursday at 4:35 from La Guardia through Dallas to arrive in Albuquerque by 10:30, so we could drive to Quemado on Friday.

We did not sleep well Wednesday night and got up early to pack, but were confronted by the problem of packing the wooden panel we bought at the Asia Society Museum yesterday because it had two sets of legs attached to the panel and would not fit in our duffel bag. We measured the 20 x 22 inch panel and determined that it would fit in the duffel bag if the legs were removed. The legs were connected to the panel by eight Phillips screws, so we needed to remove the screws and pack the legs and panel separately. I ate the yogurt, granola, and fresh fruit for breakfast around 6:00 and we showered and dressed and went next door to the 24 hour East Village Market for cups of fresh squeezed orange juice, and a coffee for Suzette and a bagel with cream cheese for me. After we ate, we asked the manager if they had a Phillips screwdriver we could borrow and they did so we went back to the room and disassembled the legs from the panel and finished packing. We returned the screwdriver around 9:30 and communicated with Ryan and arranged to meet at a coffee shop on 2nd Ave., but when we got there there were no tables and chairs suitable for a conversation, so we picked Molly’s two blocks away on St. Marks to meet and walked there.  Ryan arrived around 10:30 and we spoke for about an hour and then he walked with us back to our hotel. When we returned Suzette noticed a message from Southwest that our flight to Dallas had been delayed until 8:30 due to bad weather in Dallas, which meant we would not make the connecting flight to Albuquerque, and thus miss our possible reservation for the Lightning Field.

Englis

Suzette called Southwest and was able to book an earlier 2:00 flight to Denver. So at 12:00 we dragged our two suitcases and the duffel bag to the street and hailed a taxi that drove us to La Guardia. We arrived at our gate for the flight a bit after 1:00 and made the flight, but also received a text from Dia that the reservation for Friday was cancelled because the road to the Lightning Field was under water.

Both of our flights were delayed, so Suzette bought a ham sandwich, a bag of potato chips, and a Dr. Pepper that we ate during the 3 1/2 hour flight to Denver. We arrived in Albuquerque around 8:40 instead of 7:20 and were thrilled to see Willy in the Highlander at the airport. He drove us home and helped carry the suitcases and duffel into the house.

We settled in after our frenetic day of travel, but there was little food for a dinner, except some flour tortillas and a small wedge of Jarlsberg cheese, so we made a cheese quesadilla and brewed a cup of herbal tea for dinner that we ate as we looked through a portion of the month’s accumulation of mail.

Later I checked my portfolio and discovered that in the month we were gone it had increased by 6%, which raises the question, How can the stock market be doing so well when the economic conditions and political wrangling in the world are so terrible?

I accumulated 6262 steps today walking around the East Village and through three airports.  

Bon Appetit

September 30, 2026 Breakfast - At Bill and Elaine’s apartment. Lunch, Leo Cafe at Asia Society Center Museum Dinner - Peking Duck House

September 30, 2026 Breakfast - At Bill and Elaine’s apartment. Lunch, Leo Cafe at Asia Society Center Museum  Dinner - Peking Duck House 

We got up at 3:00 and 4:00 respectively and went back to sleep at 5:00 and 6:00 respectively and slept until 9:30.  Elaine came to the hotel room at 10:00 and we walked to Le Fournil Bakery at 111 2nd Ave, where Elaine bought us an assortment of pastries.  Then we walked to Billy and Elaine’s apartment. Elaine brewed coffee, Suzette steamed milk, and I made a cup of tea with hot milk. Then at 11:00 we took a one hour cab ride uptown to the Frick Museum at 70th And 5th Ave.that must be counted among America’s cluster of museum gems that were elegant homes turned into a museum with a stunning collection of art. It has many works counted among the greatest works of art in the Western World, including Rembrandt’s The Polish Rider, El Greco’s St Jerome, Vermeer’s the Note and the Mapmaker, and Gentile Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert.

At 1:00 we walked two blocks to the Asia Society Center Museum where we ate a Hanoi Mushroom bowl that was mostly watercress with some thin rice vermicelli and lots of chopped marinaded beech, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms, a owl of carrot and ginger soup, and a spring roll stuffed with mushrooms in its Leo Cafe. Suzette drank an Asahi beer and I drank a Lunar Yuzu soda. I liked the yuzu soda. Yuzu is an oriental citrus fruit that appears to be taking American gastronomy by storm at this moment.

We then toured the exhibit of Asian art collected by two generations of Rockefellers. Broth statues and ceramics were impressive.

     the most beautiful Sung Dynasty red copper glazed bowl I have ever seen

After viewing the collection we visited the gift shop and Suzette had a shopping moment and bought 13 pairs of colorful acrylic sock/slippers and an old wooden panel mounted on legs that she swore would fit in the duffel bag.

We carted our two bags socks/slippers and the wooden panel out to the curb and taxied back to the room where we rested from 4:00 until 4:37, when we took a taxi to the Peking Duck House at 28 Mott St. in Chinatown but soon after the taxi turned onto Mott heading south the taxi was snarled in traffic behind a Sysco delivery truck making deliveries and a an assisted handicap van stopping to pick up elderly in the only open lane, so we paid and walked the last four blocks to the restaurant.

When we arrived we were created by Elaine and her two friends with whom she hiked the Camino Santiago and who stayed with us for a night in Pontevedra two years ago and Rebecca had arrived with my new nephew, little one year old J.P., seated at a large long table in the back of the dining room nearest the kitchen.

Elaine had brought a bottle of rose’ from Cassis/Bandol that was chilling in ann ice bucket and a bottle of Spanish Rioja OK, are we officially up? Well, I can barely hold my finger to the page and Manipulate the computer, I guess. 

Rebecca ordered two whole ducks, two orders of a chopped stir fried chicken and pinon nut dish served with lettuce leaves and we made lettuce wraps.

Then the wines were opened and we drank wine and tea and water was served. I felt like part of me was still in Bandol when I sipped the chilled rose’ from Cassis.

Soon Mickey arrived and sat next to me and told us he was very busy and had to return to work at 6:15. I have never been on such a tight schedule and told him at this rate he was going, he probably could retire at 50, if he wanted to, but added that there is a lot of fun staying in the game. I hope that did not offend him.

Soon two large roasted ducks on large platters with their heads still on arrived, shown to us, and then taken to a table near the front of the restaurant where a

man with a large knife was expertly slicing thin slices of skin and meat and arranging them on large platters.  The waiter brought bowls of plum sauce, bowls of green onion and cucumber spears, and a huge round hooded metal container filled with a tall stack of delicately thin Mandarin pancakes.

As the platter of duck slices were served we distributed pancakes and each person slathered their pancake with sauce and added several spears of cucumber and green onion and slices of duck and skin and rolled them into roasted duck burritos.

Mickey asked me how I liked the duck and I said the skin was not as sweet or as crisp as those I had eaten in San Francisco. But on reflection I now realize that this duck dinner was excellent. The pancakes were perfect and served in a heated container that kept them hot, the plum sauce was pleasant, and the duck skin was crispy.

I am reminded of the 900 year old restaurant we ate grilled eel at in Narita, Japan last November that had its own special BBQ sauce it basted their eels with as they were grilled. It had a subtle flavor, not too sweet, not to salty, not to picante; just right. The flavor of the skin of the duck tonight tasted like that grilled eel sauce, subtle.

If we turn this comment into an axiom, I could suggest that in gastronomy the degree of subtlety of flavor and presentation are signs of excellence.

Then several more dishes arrived, a noodle dish with a pork stew and more cucumber spears, a platter of General T’sao’s Battered, deep fried and sauced chicken, and a platter of stir fried Chinese Broccoli. I ate a few spears of Chinese broccoli, practically no noodles, but I could not stop eating chunks of General T’sao’s chicken. It was the best I have ever tasted. It was not greasy or highly picante; again, it was just right. Instead of an overly sweet and spicy glaze I usually find in this dish, there was a light brown sauce that lightly sauced the firm deep fried clusters of battered chicken. I could not stop eating them.

My first impression of Peking Duck House was that just like Michelin starred restaurants that specialize in their sauces, sauces seem to matter at this restaurant, even if it is the same sauce that is used to glaze the duck and sauce the Major T’sao’s Chicken.

I took a few photos of Mickey, Rebecca, and squirming  J.P. before Mickey left.

Soon after Mickey left we finished the wine and asked the waiter to box the leftovers. Elaine and her two friends left together and Suzette and I with a large bag of leftovers followed Rebecca and J.P. In his stroller about six blocks to a bus stop on 3rd. Ave. where we boarded an uptown bus that delivered us to 9th Street on 3rd Ave. and we walked to their apartment on 10th Street at 1st. Ave. 

When Rebecca lifted J.P. out of the stroller he started rapidly crawling around the apartment living room and hallways and lifting himself up to walk while holding on to furniture. Rebecca and I both thought J. P. will be walking without holding on to furniture within weeks. J.P. Is the most cheerful and active baby I have ever seen and a joy to be around. He seemed as interested in watching as we enjoyed watching him. 

We sat and watched J.P. scoot around the apartment and later watched Rebecca dress him for bed. Around 8:00 we said goodnight to him and Rebecca and walked back to the 24 hour market just below our hotel, where I bought a yogurt with fresh fruit and granola. I saw they had fresh squeezed orange juice, so I told the lady attendant that if I could not sleep, I might see her again for a glass of orange juice during the night.

We were tired and went to bed and slept until 1:00. Suzette went back to sleep around 3:30 and I stayed up until 4:30 to finish this blog after a long fun day seeing good museums and family.

If the Buddhist concept that we as soul choose to recenter into bodies into a family that allow us to work out our karma, it makes sense that those who have progressed in working out their karma and been rewarded with joy should be reincarnated into a family of intelligent, wealthy, happy evolved souls. When I look at the photos of Mickey, Rebecca, and J.P. I see what appears to me to be a group of evolved souls

Bon Appetit