August 14, 2026 .Breakfast two men on rafts. Lunch - Coda Bakery. Dinner - Oysters, watermelon salad, and corn on the cob

August 14, 2026 .Breakfast two men on rafts. Lunch - Coda Bakery. Dinner - Oysters, watermelon salad, and corn on the cob

I slept nine hours from 11:00 until 8:00 a.m. which is remarkable.

I made two men on rafts by toasting slices of French Country bread in butter on one side, turning them over and toasting the other side and dropping an egg yolk centered in a hole in the middle of the bread and drank a latte macchiato with collagen.

Then it took me several hours to obtain the documents to prove I met my RMD distribution requirement for 2025 and the 1099 for Verizon.

I sent them to Shahin at 11:00 and drove to take Peter to lunch.  When he mentioned Vietnamese, I said, “Let’s go to a new place.”

I drove us to the new Coda bakery restaurant at the corner of Central and San Pedro. It was packed with a line waiting to order when we arrived. When we reached the place taking orders I thought I ordered two Bun Cha Gio with extra egg rolls, but we got one bun cha Gio with double meat and two extra egg rolls which was perfect.  Peter loved the hot egg rolls and ate his two immediately. The portion in the large circular take out container satisfied both of us with some left for Peter to take home.

After I dropped him off at his house I went home and ordered 36 oysters from Whole Foods for 5:45 pick up and checked the market. AMD was up over $30.00 and everything else was flat, so my portfolio increased by .55%. 

At 2:30 I started editing my draft reply in support that I worked on until 4:00 when I took a jar of apricot chutney and a jar of the recently bottled Peach, quince, and fig compote to the Riccos.  Mary Ann showed me their art that was mostly black and white photos.

I then walked next door and returned the book I borrowed from Charlie. 

I returned home and at 5:15 we drove to Whole Foods and picked up the three dozen oysters on the half shell and drove to Debbie’s home in High Desert east of Tramway.

She made a watermelon, feta, and arugula salad and boiled several ears of corn for an excellent dinner. She is traveling to Seattle and will eat Dungeness crab so I made my three sauce combination sauce combining cocktail sauce, mignonette sauce with finely minced red onion cooked for 20 minutes in lemon juice and Mayo like in a crab Louis sauce.

She and Suzette liked it so well, they would not eat any regular cocktail sauce with the oysters.

The oysters were excellent, a dozen each of Wellfleet, Rapahanick, and Atlantic longs.

The salad was light and delicious as was the fresh boiled ears of corn.

We took a bottle of French Palantir Sauvignon Blanc and drank it with the oysters.

After dinner Debbie made desserts of Angel food cake garnished with sugared diced strawberries, whipped cream, and a scoop of Hagen Das vanilla ice cream

We left around 9:45 after a pleasant evening of food and conversation.

 One of the highlights was Debbie showing us the Buddha she recent purchased still reclining in her car’s passenger seat.

When we returned home we made the bed with clean sheets and went to bed.

Bon Appetit

August 13, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Leftover Enchiladas Dinner - Leftover Mapo Dofu with rice

August 13, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Leftover Enchiladas  Dinner - Leftover Mapo Dofu with rice

We are into the home stretch in getting ready for our vacation and we are trying to use up all the food we have in the fridges.

I promised Suzette to not buy any more food but broke that promise this afternoon when I bought two large avocados, two green bell peppers, and a gallon of milk, all of which we will use up in the next two weeks.

I ate a Pain au Chocolate for breakfast with a latte macchiato with sugar and collagen that has become my favorite breakfast because it is quick, light, and a good way to absorb some collagen that has helped my joint flexibility, I think.

I went to the Passport office at 10:30 to find out how to renew my passport when I return

Then market plodded upward all day as gas and the CPI went down a bit and AMD, Apple, and Nvidia all went up. My portfolio ended up .65%

Then at 1:00 I ate the other half of the enchiladas and beans I took home from my lunch at Mary and Tito’s yesterday with a buttered tortilla and a glass of cherry flavored water.

Then at 2:00 I drove to Shahin’s and worked on my 2025 tax return until 5:30.

When I returned home we decided to heat the leftover Mapo Dofu from Tuesday night’s dinner.

Suzette had been nibbling on pork and steak but was still hungry, so at 6:30 we ate the Mapo Dofu and rice.

Having bought the green bell peppers today, tomorrow I will make ratatouille because I now have all the ingredients.

Bon Appetit

August 12, 2026. Breakfast - Granola Lunch - Mary and Tito’s Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak with roasted new potatoes and Cucumber, tomato, and onion Salad

August 12, 2026. Breakfast - Granola  Lunch - Mary and Tito’s  Dinner - Grilled      Rib Steak with roasted new potatoes and Cucumber, tomato, and onion Salad

I worked from 3:00 until 6:00 and went back to sleep until 8:00.

I ate granola with milk, blueberries and yogurt around 8:30.

Then dressed and drove to a meeting at the Utton Center in the Law School building.

After the meeting I drove to Mary and Tito’s for lunch. I arrived a couple of minutes after 11:00 when it opened and there already were diners at almost every table. I ordered my usual, corn tortillas with beef and an egg, double beans, red chili, and extra chopped onions. 

After lunch I finished editing the Reply and thawed a rib steak and checked the market after it closed at 2:00. I gained .75%, about 1/2 of what I lost yesterday. 

I called Willy to tell him packages had been delivered for him and invited him to dinner. I then lay down until 4:00, when Suzette arrived.

We watched the news and discussed dinner and Suzette filled a tray with fresh figs cut criss cross at the top and inserted with dabs of goat cheese and sprinkled with chopped pinon nuts, doused with balsamic vinegar that we ate as appetizers, during the meal, and for dessert.

 We decided quickly to grill the steak with several of the larger new potatoes from the garden, but we lacked any green vegetable. Since we had a bag of lovely ripe fresh tomatoes from the Center and our garden, Suzette suggested a tomato, cucumber, and red onion salad. I prepared the salad while Suzette grilled the steak and potatoes that she had sliced and doused with olive oil and homemade basil salt and wrapped in aluminum foil.

Willy arrived at 7:00 as the grilled steak was resting and Suzette was dressing the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I sliced the steak and Suzette divided the roasted potato slices and salad among three plates and I sliced the steak and we each selected slices of steak.

Suzette selected one of the bottles of merlot Johal gave us when we visited the family in Fairfield produced from grapes grown on their property. It had a rich taste and appealing flavor but a slightly acidic finish. As we ate and after the meal when we sipped with squares of the artisanal Ecuadorean dark chocolate Willy and Luke gave me for my birthday in July, the finish smoothed out and it tasted better.

Willy then helped us in two important ways. My Iphone was not charging well, so Willy cleaned out the collected dirt from the opening in the phone in which the charger fit with a wooden toothpick, which allowed the charger to make proper contact. As Suzette said, “Many what appear to be malfunctions can be fixed by cleaning.” She gave the example of the microwave on which the sensor reheat function stopped. Rather than buying a new microwave, she cleaned accumulated food and grease from the top of the cooking compartment and the microwave has worked perfectly since.

Then the second wonderful help from Willy provided was when suzette was trying to access the Hulu series Murders in the Building with Martin Short and Steve Martin. He helped us activate our Disney TV service that was part of the bundle of channels that are included in our Comcast package, but we have been unable to access because we did not understand the activation procedures.

After Willy left around 8:30 we watched the first episode of Only Murders in the Building and at 9:30 went to bed, with the happy knowledge that we will be able to watch its first five seasons in France.

Bon Appetit

 

August 11, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Leftover Chirashi. Dinner - Mapo Dofu and Rice

August 11, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate. Lunch - Leftover Chirashi. Dinner - Mapo Dofu and Rice

Not as elegant as yesterday, but really delicious dishes, especially dinner.

I got up at 6:00 and copied tax records and worksheets and sent them to Shahin.

Then at 7:20 I brewed a latte macchiato and microwaved a pain au chocolate for breakfast and then rode around the neighborhood with Suzette.

She then drafted a complaint to send to the Consumer Fraud Division of the NM Attorney General’s office and I helped edit it and I completed the real estate transaction I have been working on.

Around 10:20 Suzette went to her exercise class and I drove to my dentist appointment. After the appointment I went home and ate the leftover chirashi from yesterday’s lunch with Japanese pickled cabbage and daikon and some leftover sushi rice.

 I finished lunch around 3:00 I checked the market and my portfolio was down slightly by a little over .1%. After two or three negative days the NASDAQ may be turning positive.

I meditated from 3:30 to 4:00 and then filed notices of non-availability in my two water cases. I rested from 4:30 to 5:30 when I started peeping dinner.

Dinner - I made Mapo Dofu. I cubed two Ichiban eggplants, 3/4 of a Vidalia onion, 1 lb. of pork loin, 1 1/2 T. of garlic, and 3 1/2 T. of ginger and cooked those ingredients in 2 T. of peanut oil with a dash of sesame oil.

Then I added 1 cup each of fresh shiitake mushrooms and wood ear, and 2 T. of holy basil from our garden.

Then I added 19 oz. of soft tofu and 2 cups of water to just cover the ingredients and cooked them 30 - 45 minutes to stew and blend their flavors.

Then I added a seasoning and thickening mixture containing about 1 T. of cornstarch, about 2 tsp. of sesame oil, 1 - 2 T. of rice cooking wine, and 1/4 cup of water.

After another ten minutes of cooking a sauce developed and the dish was ready.

We heated leftover rice and each of us ladled Mapo Dofu onto a pile of rice.

We drank beer with the meal.

 

Around 8:30 Aaron left and we watched an episode of Finding Your Roots. archived on You Tube until 9:30 when we went to bed.

This was a great day of food and we have enough rice and Mapo Dofu left for another meal.

Bon Appetit