December 10, 2024 Lunch - Padilla’s Restaurant. Dinner - PPI Lamb Stew with Tzatziki

December 10, 2024 Lunch - Padilla’s Restaurant. Dinner - PPI Lamb Stew with Tzatziki

I ate a chocolate croissant with a cup of Latte machiatta for breakfast around 10:00.

Then I called Mike to see if he wanted to go to lunch.he was available and we agreed to meet at Padilla’s at 12:30. He was waiting for me at a table when I arrived at 12:32. Mike just returned from Wisconsin for thanksgiving with his sister a week ago. He was ready for some real New Mexican food and ordered a Huevos Rancheros with Christmas (red and green chili). I ordered my usual, Chili Rellenos with double beans and green.

The food is really delicious at Padilla’s, I only ate 1 chili Relleno and half of the beans so I boxed the other chili and beans for lunch tomorrow.

Mike and Willy are both studying a program called Python, which is universally adaptable to different tasks, so I am hopeful that Willy is on the right track. Of course, knowing Willy, I am sure he is.

At 2:15 we said goodbye and I drove home. I worked on a motion in the morning and a contract in the afternoon.until I got tired at 3:30 and napped until 5:30. 

I then made Tzatziki with a cucumber, some of the wonderful Lebanese yogurt, garlic, salt, olive oil, and lemon juice. We did not have fresh dill or mint, so I chopped up about 2 T. of fresh parsley.

Suzette heated enough PPI lamb stew with roasted root vegetables to feed us dinner and and I opened the bottle of Trader Joe’s Saint Emillion that was a really good bottle of wine and we ate at 6:00.

My client came at 6:30 and we tried until 7:30 to complete a transaction on the computer, but failed.

After my client left we drank a couple more glasses of Saint Emillion and watched Who is Feeding Phil in Mexico City until 9:30 when we went to bed.

Bon Appetit

December 9, 2024 Lunch - Pepperoni Pizza, Dinner - Asturian Bean Stew with clams

December 9, 2024 Lunch - Pepperoni Pizza,  Dinner - Asturian Bean Stew with clams

I got up and sold 122 shares of Apple at $247.10 to raise the $30,000 to fund my first Multilayer subscription installment.  As it turned out I sold near the day high and the stock’s all time high of $247.24. Apple outperformed the market, so it was an easy call. Even with Apple up many other high tech stocks faltered and my portfolio lost .7% of its value.

I ate a Romanian cheese turnover with a cup of chai at 10:00.

I got help from Dell technical Assistance to fix the lack of printing by 12:30 and then drove to the Titan board meeting where we were served Pepperoni pizza, cokes and cookies, rather a nice Christmas party.

After the meeting at 2:15 I drove home by way of Lowe’s to buy a gallon of milk and a large pomelo, of which Suzette up is very fond.

When I arrived I was able to print the form to authorize the movement of money from the IRA account in which I sold the Apple to my self-directed IRA rom which the subscription payment will be paid.

Suzette came home at 4:30 and put the Asturian bean stew on the stove to simmer and then rested for a while. At 5:30 I rested until 6:00 while she watched HGTV.

We tried the beans at 6:00 with glasses of Terrano Albariño and they were still rather hard, so we let them cook until 8:45 when I had a bowl with two clams and the beans were much softer. After dinner we split one of the Pumpkin with chocolate filling woopie pies and later I drank a cup of chai and ate two cookies.

We watched the news until 6:45 when we started switching back and forth Made in Mexico, a documentary about craft produces from Mexico, such as candles, Mexicali, goods made with henequen fiber, etc. to the Cowboy v. Cleveland Browns football game and some news.

We went to bed after Dallas lost on a bizarre play with less than two minutes to play. Dallas’ defense stoped a Brown’s drive and forced the Browns to punt. Dallas special team blocked the punt, but one of the Dallas players tried to pick up the wobbling ball and fumbled it and Cleveland recovered the fumble and in several plays took the ball in for a TD with 1 minute left to win the game. If the Dallas player had not tried to recover the punt, Dallas would have won. Rarely is there so clear an example of how a team can lose instead of win.

We went to bed at 9:30.

Bon Appetit

December 8, 2024 Breakfast - Lax and Bagels. Lunch - Turkey and Orzo Soup. Snack - Cheese on toast Tapa. Dinner - Steamed Little Neck Clams

December 8, 2024 Breakfast - Lax and Bagels. Lunch - Turkey and Orzo Soup. Snack - Cheese on toast Tapa. Dinner - Steamed Little Neck Clams

I woke up around 7:30 and watched the news that the Assad government had been overthrown by rebel forces. More interesting was that Russia and Iran did not come to his defense. Later I learned that America and Israel bombed Al Quid-a positions to stop a take over by them.

It looks like some assumptions in the Middle East are changing.

I watched Leicester erase a. 2 Goal deficit to tie no. 7 Brighton and then Chelsea beat Tottenham to go into 2nd place in the PL.

At 9:00 I toasted three slices of bagel, spread them with cream cheese and garnish them with red onion, Gravad lax, and capers.suzette ate one with a Bloody Mary and I ate two with a cup of chai.

Then at 10:15 I helped Aaron draft a pleading until 12:30.

I then helped Suzette outside clear the porch of some old boards and move the black rocker onto the porch.

We were hungry again so we heated the turkey and orzo soup around 1:45.

Then we took a nap until 3:00 when we labeled and loaded Apricot spread, maraschino cherries, and Apricot and Lavender sauce and packed six boxes with three bottles each.

I then diced a carrot, an onion, 2 zucchini, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup of parsley for the vegetable stock for the Asturian faves Suzette was cooking.

We then watched two Christmas movies, the Brooks Shields one was great and the Heather Graham one titled “Best Christmas Ever” was pretty terrible. At 8:30 Suzette steamed the bag of little neck clams we bought at Costco in the bean vegetable broth.

I opened a bottle of Terrano Albariño that was quite good because it seemed to have been aged on the lies.

We shucked the last few clams and put them in a bowl into the fridge.

We ate most of the clams with a glass of Albariño.

We went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit

December 7, 2024 Lunch - Lebanon Bologna and cheese sandwiches Dinner - Lamb Stew

December 7, 2024 Lunch - Lebanon Bologna and cheese sandwiches Dinner - Lamb 

I woke up at 7:30 after being up from 4:00 until 5:00. At 8:45 I ate a bowl of granola, milk, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad. 

The oysters last night may have been a little contaminated because both Suzette and I had bathroom emergencies.

In the morning Suzette floured and braised the lamb cubes I bought at Alquds Market at the corner of San Pedro and Montgomery for $4.49/lb. and I peeled and cubed 1 1/2 onion, 3 carrots, three potatoes, a rutabaga, and a turnip. We removed the seeds from the only pomegranate to grow on our tree this year.g  Suzette put all those ingredients into our new crock pot with water and set the temperature on high to simmer the stew.

At 10:30 I drank a cup of teas and ate one of the delicious pumpkin chocolate filled woopie pies Suzette made this week and watched Nottingham Forest beat Manchester Union 3 to 2. According to the announcer Nottingham’s victory combined with the last victory were the first time Nottingham has won two consecutive matches in the PL since 1910. Then at 12:30 we drove to Costco to shop. We bought canola oil, baguettes, garlic powder, asparagus, blueberries, little neck clams, and several household items. We decided to Make Aperol Spritzers for the party, so we also bought Aperol and Prosecco, plus a Kirkland New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for $6.99, and a Spanish Juve and Camps Cava.

It was crowded and I pushed down many aisles so Suzette could look at possible gifts to buy for her employees for Christmas. So by the time I went to bed at 10:00 I had accumulated over 3200 steps.

When we got home we made lunch. Suzette mixed horseradish and mayonnaise and I sliced several slices of Lebanon Bologna and red onion and fetched the slices of cheeses Debbie gave us and the container of green olives stuffed with pimientos and we split a Carlsberg green tall boy as we watched a Texas lose to Georgia. 

Later at 6:00 we ate bowls of lamb stew and I opened a 2021 Chateau Nerthe Cotes Du Rhone that was really delicious, especially with the lamb stew.

We watched Oregon v. Penn State and SMU v. Clemson play for the Big 10 and ACC conference title respectively. Both were exciting games and all four teams will probably mbe selected to play in the 12 team playoff this year and early next year. For example, SMU came back to tie Clemson at 31 points each and Clemson kicked a 55 yard field goal with 3 seconds left to win.

I watched a few minutes of SNL and went to bed at 10:30. Suzette went to bed at 9:00.

It was a relaxing day with lots of good food and football. I am feeling better and stronger almost every day.  We started making plans for trips next year. The definite one will be 10,000 Waves’ trip to Japanese hot spring resorts. We are also looking at spending a couple of weeks in the south of France and in February we will go to either India or Palm Desert.

Bon Appetit

December 6, 2024 Lunch - Romanian cheese turnover and chocolate croissant. Dinner - Oysters

December 6, 2024 Lunch - Romanian cheese turnover and chocolate croissant. Dinner - Oysters 

I spent most of my day in front of my computer preparing a pleading for filing in the LRGA.

At 1:20 I heated and ate a Romanian cheese turnover and a chocolate croissant with a cup of latte machiatta.

I got the documents finished by 4:00 but then my scanner stopped working and I called for help from Suzette, who could not get the scanner to work either. Suzette had ordered oysters at Whole Foods, so we drove first in the direction of a FedEx store on Coors but got caught in the traffic going to Old Town for the Christmas Tree Lighting. Suzette suggested we ask Charlie to assist us, so she called Charlie and he obliged us. 

Sip o we drove to Whole Foods on Carlisle but instead of our order of 3 Dozen being ready, the butcher had not started shucking. The butcher said they would start shucking and they would be ready in 10 minutes, so I walked to the wine department and grabbed a chilled bottle of Martin Codax Albariño.  When I returned to Seafood in 10 minutes, the butcher said it might take thirty minutes, so we gave him our cell number and went to the front of the store and paid for the wine and grabbed a table and a couple of small bowls in the deli department and poured ourselves a bowl of wine.

In about 15 minutes we were called and we went to pick up our oysters.

We then drove to Charlie and Susan’s house and copied the 12 pages of argument and 40 pages of exhibits onto a flash memory stick and drove home.

Suzette then compressed the exhibit section from 26 Mb. to 6.9 Mb. and transmitted the documents at 7:00 to the court and served them on the counsel of record in the case.

Finally at 7:30 we ate the oysters with a fresh cocktail sauced Suzette made and crackers.

We then watched a Christmas movie about a Latina clothing designer in NY who falls in love with her designated ultra wealthy bachelor assigned to her as a model to be fitted with a tuxedo for a Christmas charity auction.

It is a rather contrived plot but turned out well in the end.

During the movie I made a cup of chai and poured a sip of cognac and ate them with a warmed slice of pecan pie.

We went to bed at 10:00 after the movie and learning NYPD had found the knapsack of the NYC assassin who killed the health insurance executive a few days ago and then went to port authority and left town on a bus. The police think they are getting close to identifying the gunman.

Bon Appetit

December 5, 2024 Lunch - leftover Sautéed Salmon and oyster Dressing with Carrot and Date salad Dinner - PPI Turkey and Orzo Soup

December 5, 2024 Lunch - leftover Sautéed Salmon and oyster Dressing with Carrot and Date salad   Dinner - PPI Turkey and Orzo Soup 

This was a rare day with no cooking.

I spent most of the day at my desk working on a pleading I will file tomorrow.

At 8:30 I ate a bowl of granola, milk, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad

At 1:30 I took a break and ate the leftover sautéed salmon and baked oyster dressing and watched Bournemouth beat Tottenham to trade places with them with Bournemouth now in 8th and Tottenham In 9th.

After lunch I thawed a package of lamb chunks. We will make. Lamb stew tomorrow in our new crock pot.

I then worked until 4:00 when I walked to the Country Club and back.

I worked until 5:30 and then rested and watched the news. 

At 6:30 we decided to heat the Turkey and Orzo soup we made with the broth we made from boiling the Thanksgiving turkey carcass to which we added Orzo, carrots, and leftover green beans. Every time we re-heat the soup the orzo seems to expand. Each kernel appears to be over 1/2 inch.

We watched a British American movie titled “Father Christmas” that was not as funny as the previous four.

I heated and ate a Romanian cheese turnover with my soup and later ate another bowl and another turnover at 9:15 just before we went to bed.

After dinner I ate a lemon cookie with a cup of chai and Suzette drank a cognac.

I have been getting up early to work when it is quiet, but I May sleep in tomorrow.

Bon Appetit