November 12, 2015 Lunch – Hello Deli, Dinner – sautéed NY Strip steak and PPI Brussels Sprouts and Barley Casserole

November 12, 2015 Lunch – Hello Deli,  Dinner – sautéed  NY Strip steak and PPI Brussels Sprouts and Barley Casserole 

Yesterday I ate PPI miso soup for breakfast and made a Cesar salad for lunch. We ate PPI Mapo Dofu and rice for dinner and then I went to meditate.

Today I attended a seminar on appellate procedure at the State Bar Center.  At noon we were told we had 45 minutes for lunch, so I walked across the bridge to the commercial strip center north of the Bar Center.  I wanted a fast lunch, so I decided to order a Rueben sandwich at Hello Deli.  It was crowded when I walked and there was a long line waiting to order, but a waitress came over to the line and told the couple in front of me if the wished to be served more quickly they could sit at the counter .  In a minute I decided to sit at the counter and went over and was told that I would not have to wait as long for my food if I ordered and sat at the counter.  I thanked the attendant and ordered a Rueben sandwich with potato salad and sat down at the counter.  In less than five minutes a lovely Reuben Sandwich was brought to me.  As I waited I saw that the Deli seemed to be owned and operated by a NY family, who had every one running at NY speed.  I was impressed with the level of organization and the quality of the food.  The Rueben was good and hot. Good seeded Jewish rye bread.  Good lean corn beef.  Good sauerkraut, a sliced of melted Swiss cheese and a good crisp dill pickle wedge and an okay potato salad.  After I ordered I looked at the menu and saw the were many more choices of sides than I had imagined, including salad and soup and even fried onion rings, although potato salad is the traditional choice ($8.35).

    My Reuben sandwich and potato salad

  A view of the line to order from the counter at Hello Deli

I called Suzette at 5:00 and she did not have a suggestion for dinner other than eating the casserole we made last week.  I had not thawed out any meat, so I stopped at Lowe’s and picked up a N.y strip steak, which was on sale for $5.19/lb.

We also discussed what we would take as a appetizer to the Neighborhood cocktail party and came up with the idea of a salmon smear on baguette, so before I arrived, Suzette creamed the two ripe avocados and some Latin American crema I had bought at Ranch Market on Tuesday to form the base of the smear.

When I got home we decided to sauté the steak on our new stove since the temperature was dropping fast.  I went to the garden and picked five or six stalks of thyme and five or six sage leaves.  When I returned Suzette suggested adding mushrooms and fetched the last six or seven chanterelle mushrooms, which I sliced along with three green onions, the sage and thyme.  We discussed wines and I asked Suzette, “What do we have upstairs?” She brought over a couple of bottles including a bottle of 2012 Chateau Haut-Sorillon, a Bordeaux Superieur from an Appellation d’ Origene Protégé, which is the newer EU designation and probably means that this chateau is located within Bordeaux but not within one of the original designated Appellations designated under French law in 1855.  

Suzette heated the casserole in the microwave and salted and peppered the steak and sautéed the steak and then the mushrooms, herbs, onions, and chopped garlic in butter and truffle salt.  The resulting seasoned mushrooms were fantastically delicious on an with the steak.  The steak was good also.  I was happy that I had stopped to pick up a hop for dinner.  The wine was smooth without strong tannins, so very drinkable. I loved the Brussels Sprouts casserole and had forgotten how hearty it was with the barley and mozzarella cheese.  

We had a very filling dinner.  

After dinner I toasted slices of Fano baguette and buttered it and fetched a pear we had picked at one of Cynthia’s gardens and the French brie cheese from Isigny sur Mer in Normandy, we bought at Costco.  We ate slices of brie on the buttered bread with slices of pear for a very French finish to dinner.

After the cheese we still had some wine left.  So we finished the wine with a few Lindt Lindor chocolates to complete the French dinner template as we watched The Lucky One, a made for TV movie, and Thursday Night NFL Football. 

Bon Appetit