July 12, 2014 A Spanish Dinner at Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery.

July 12, 2014 A Spanish Dinner at Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery.

We drove down to the Center for Ageless Living at 5:00 so Suzette could get ready for the 6:00 to 10:00 Members Only Full Moon swim at the Garden Gate Day Spa.  I sipped lemonade in the Bistro until a bit after 6:00 p.m., when I was invited by Talia, the Spa manager, to the Spa.  I walked across the parking lot to the Spa and put on my swimming suit.  When I walked out to the swimming pool I saw that there were trays of fruit and appetizers, such as crackers and cheese slices and buckets of Gruet Rose champagne in the aroma therapy room.  There were about fifteen to 20 persons in the pool and sitting around the pool talking.  I got into the hot tub and watched as Suzette made her rounds chatting to the attendees, who were all monthly members at the Spa and made announcements and a welcoming speech.

At around 6:45 Suzette changed into her bathing suit and we swam and talked with folks in the swimming pool until about 7:30 p.m. when we put on our spa robes and walked back across the parking lot to the Bistro for dinner.

The prix fixe dinner for July is Spanish.  The 3 dish meal includes a bowl of gazpacho, a pea and smoked ham salad and a bowl of chicken and chorizo paella for $19.95.

The wait staff did not mention the Spanish wine selections and we decided to drink glasses of pinot noir from an open bottle of Bogle Central Coast Pinot Noir.  The bottle of Bogle had been sitting out in the restaurant and the waitress served the red wine at room temperature which was warm.  We noticed immediately that the wine lacked flavor.   I asked for a glass of ice cubes and we each added cubes of ice to the wine and as soon as the wine cooled we could taste the pinot noir flavor.

This was a new discovery, that the grape flavor in wine is obscured by the heat and adding ice cubes brings the flavor back to its original level.  Suzette told the waitress to never leave the red wine out and to put it into the refrigerator, which she did.  Then Suzette told the waitress that heat will ruin any wine and that cool temperature will not hurt wine and that the wine should be kept cool.

The gazpacho was rather chunky with large pieces of bell pepper and tomato, but very delicious.  I particularly liked the added olive oil, which Suzette does not use in hers.  I am not sure I would like oily soup every day, but it was nice for a change.

The pea, pimiento, artichoke heart, saffron, and ham salad was also lovely, served as a salad on a leaf of lettuce.  It was actually a bit creamier than Suzette’s creation, which I liked.  Suzette warned me that the paella did not have any peas in it, so I reserved some salad to add some peas, pimiento, and ham to the paella.  The chicken and Spanish chorizo paella was served next.  Derren Ritter indicated to me before dinner that he had marinated the chicken and the Spanish chorizo was real Spanish chorizo.   I really enjoyed the paella, especially with the flavorful marinated chicken and the addition of the ham, peas and pimiento and its slight saffron flavor.  The dish immediately reminded me of the first time I ever ate ham and chicken paella with peas. It was at the Victoria Hotel in Granada in 1970.

I have déja vu food memories often.  I seem to carry vivid memories of the first time I ate certain dishes.  For example, I always remember the first New Mexico enchiladas I ever ate at the Shed in 1971.   The Shed’s is still the most iconic treatment of enchiladas for me.  Thank goodness the Shed still exists and fixes the same red chili covered baked enchiladas with posole, so I can re-visit that experience whenever I wish.  I usually also, order a piece of Chocolate Mocha Cake to repeat the entire experience.

After dinner I asked what the desserts choices were and the waitress told us that there were some fresh chocolate biscotti.  We immediately decided to have one because we liked the bakery creations of the chief baker at the Bistro, Mo.  It was dipped in chocolate on one end and made a perfect dessert to split.  We went home happy.

Bon Appétit