September 13, 2014 Lunch Cesar’s Mexican and Greek Dinner Grilled Steak Baked Stuffed Italian Sweet Peppers and baked Delicata and Pitty Pan Squash and Caprese Salad

This morning we started out at around 8:30 a.m. and went to Albuquerque's Downtown Farmer’s Market.  Suzette was looking for fresh Mozzarella cheese at Old Windmill Farms Creamery, but we were too late to get fresh mozzarella.  We bought sweet Italian peppers at Chispas Booth, 4 heirloom tomatoes at another booth and two pint baskets of heirloom cherry tomatoes ($4.00 each) from Sterling Farms. 

  

We then drove to Sprouts and bought asparagus, green beans, a 1 lb. piece of fresh Sockeye Salmon ($9.99/lb.), a wedge each of 60% double cream brie and 70% triple cream brie, a package of mozzarella slices, chocolate covered almonds, lettuce, green onions and 36 ears of corn.  When we walked back to the car I saw one of those iconic Fall New Mexico scenes people and children playing in the parking lot waiting to get their fresh green chili roasted.

  

We called Josefo and Davida and invited them to dinner and to help bring electrical power to the hot tub and the fountain in the garden.  They said they would come around 3:00.  After Sprouts we went to two consignment stores, so Suzette could look for a desk for the Bistro and then drove to Cesar’s Mexican and Greek at the southwest corner of Lomas and San Mateo for brunch at 11:00.  Cesar’s is unique.  It serves both Mexican and Greek Cuisine and it is open 24/7.  So if your date wants Mexican and you want Greek at 3:00 a.m., it is the place to go.

Here is a picture of the menus:

  

 Mexican on the top in black and white and Greek on the bottom in white and blue

Suzette's gyro's sandwich

Enchilada plate with double beans and no rice

 

Suzette's Gyros Sandwich and baklava

Baklava

I ordered the beef enchilada plate with double beans and Suzette ordered a Gyros Sandwich and we ordered a piece of baklava.  Everything is portion controlled and everything is served ready for takeout.  For example, water is $.25 for the cup with its nifty opening in the top that allows you to sip the drink without spilling it.

My enchiladas were baked and filled with carne adobo.  Suzette had a meat, onion, and tomato filled pita that had been warmed on the grill until soft and warm.  We loved it.  I would go back.

After Cesar’s we went over to Menaul to another thrift shop and then home.

Around 3:00 Josefo and Davida arrived.  While Josefo worked on hooking up electricity to the hot tub and resurrecting the electrical systems in the pond area, I picked basil, so Suzette can take it to the Center for Ageless Living in Los Lunas tomorrow and make fresh pesto.  Davida took a nap in the hammock under our new trampoline cover.

Around 3:30 I sliced the two delicata squashes and the pitty pan squashes open to expose their seeds and Suzette de-seeded them and drizzled them with Moroccan olive oil and baked them in the oven for an hour. 

At around 5:30 Suzette, Davida and I went to the kitchen to cook.  Suzette filled the delicata squashes with balls of pitty pan squash and sprinkled French Herb Provence and olive oil on them and baked them about thirty minutes longer.  Suzette de-stemmed five of the Sweet Italian peppers we had bought in the morning and made a stuffing from 1 log of California goat’s cheese (Costco), plus some oregano, chives, garlic and heavy cream in the Cuisinart and then made a pastry bag by snipping the end off of a 1 gallon freezer bag and filled it with the stuffing and filled the sweet peppers and put doused them with Moroccan olive oil and laid them in a 2” deep ceramic baking dish and baked them in the oven for 30 minutes with the squashes.

Davida sliced the tomatoes, and laid slices of mozzarella and fresh basil leaves on a plate to make the Caprese Salad.

With about 15 minutes to go, Suzette put the steaks onto the grill and I made a balsamic and olive oil dressing for the Caprese with a dab of mustard, salt and pepper, about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic pressed, and two basil leaves de-stemmed and sliced into thin strips.

Suzette wanted a Spanish red, so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2007 Eguia Reserva Rioja Tempranillo.

Josefo and Davida do not drink alcohol, so we served them glasses of Vernon’s Ginger Ale.       

Suzette brought the steaks in from the grill and I sliced them.

We took our food out to the gazebo by the pond and enjoyed a great dinner and were thrilled when the newly fixed fountain came on. 

the Stuffed peppers before they are baked

Teh stuffed peppers after they were baked.  See how cheese stuffing leaked out of peppers and became a sauce. 

The baked pitty pan stuffed delicata squashes

For dessert we made parfaits with ice cream, whipped cream and rhubarb and strawberry compote Suzette made last weekend and I poured out the rest of the 2008 Late bottled vintage port into small glasses.

Josefo and Davida said goodnight around 8:45.

Later we tried the Brunello Grappa that Mike and Kathryn brought us from Italy.  It was amazing; rich and buttery.  Sips of it launched streams of delicious fire through my mouth and down my throat. I chased sips of grappa with sips of ice cold water to quench some of the fire and prepare my mouth for another assault of the grappa’s delicious fire.  Thank you Mike and  Kathryn. 

Bon Appétit