April 1, 2015 Dinner Salad Nicoise

April 1, 2015 Dinner  Salad Nicoise

These days both Suzette and I are extremely busy; at least too busy to cook or blog much.  For example, Iast night we ate a PPI dinner, Bobby Flay sautéed and roasted chicken (See prior recipe), PPI steamed asparagus, and Marrakesh Vegetable Stew (See prior recipe) over PPI Basmati rice.  It was a delicious dinner and only took as long to prepare as it took to heat up the vegetable stew on the stove.

Free appetizers at New Korean Restaurant at 508 Centrral

Cucumber Kim Che at Korean Restaurant

Friday night's BBQ'd Shrimp

Sunday's Avocado soup with salad

  Monday I bought 1 lb. of tuna steaks at Sprouts Market and Suzette sautéed them in one skillet while I cut five large mushrooms in half through the middle and sautéed them with about three cloves of roasted garlic and a few sprigs of fresh thyme in olive oil and butter until their skins crisped and turned brown.   I made a dipping sauce for the tuna with prepared wasabi, chopped pickled ginger and mayonnaise and we made rice and steamed asparagus.  I opened a bottle of 2012 Wellington Vineyards Roussanne that was delicious with the oily tuna and mushrooms.

Today I ate PPI chicken noodle soup for lunch and then for dinner we decided to make a Salad Nicoise using the extra PPI tuna steak we sautéed Monday evening and some string beans I bought at Sprouts on Monday and a potato and two eggs, two Roma tomatoes, a sliced avocado and a handful of pitted Kalamata olives.  At around 6:00 before I went to meditate I went to the garden and picked an assortment of lettuces and several leaves of Japanese Red Giant radish. We opened a bottle of Leese-Fitch Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc that went well with the fish, but both of us had eaten late lunches, so we could not finish our salads.  Looks like a salad for lunch tomorrow.   

I actually did some shopping today.  I ordered a case of the new crop of 2014 Pinot Noir Rosé from Benton Lane Winery in the Willamette Valley just north of Eugene, Oregon.  The retail price is $15.00 per bottle and if you order a case there is a 10% discount and free shipping, so I did. 

Then I received notice from Wellington of our Wine Club selections and I adjusted the order to include two bottles of Mohrhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignons and two bottles of Marsanne or a bottle of Roussanne, plus a zindandel and a bottle of Cabernet Franc.  Club members get a 25% discount off retail prices.  Wellington’s Mohrhardt Ridge Cab. Sauvignon is a wonder of nature and worth trying if you have not tried it, especially at $30.00/bottle less 25%.

After lunch I went to Ranch Market for its Wednesday and Thursday produce specials.  Today’s best Pilon value was a 10 lb. bag of potatoes for $.77 plus a free 1 lb. bag of carrots (the carrots are usually $.50), Key limes were $.69/lb., LALA yogurt was $2.50 for 32 oz., small avocados were $.14 each, so I bought 20 of them, plus a 70 pack of corn tortillas for $2.50, a 15 oz. bag of chips for $1.69, a cucumber for tzatziki on Friday night and a gallon of milk.  Ranch Market calls a special when something else is thrown in for free a Pilon and there were about six of them today.   For example, another Pilon I should have considered was a head of Iceburg lettuce for $.99 with two small free avocados, a $.28 value for free.

I love the new Pilon and produce specials at Ranch Market and will go every week.  Another change; Ranch Market now plays English C&W instead of Spanish Ranchero music and the specials are announced in both English and Spanish instead of just Spanish.  I guess they are trying to appeal to a wider range of clientele.  It seems to be working; it looked like a U.N. meeting with Jihab covered Muslim women, Chinese and Indian couples among us Anglos and Mexicans.  The produce department is remodeled and wonderful.  Unfortunately, the food court has raised it prices to restaurant prices and is no longer interesting.  Sadly, the days of $.99 tortas and tacos are gone.

Bon Appétit