January 6, 2016 Lunch – Noodle Soup, Dinner Party with Kathryn, Mike, Cynthia, and Ricardo New recipe – Salmon Cakes, Potatoes Savoyard, salad, and Mushroom Soup

January 6, 2016 Lunch – Noodle Soup, Dinner Party with Kathryn, Mike, Cynthia, and Ricardo New recipe – Salmon Cakes, Potatoes Savoyard, salad, and Mushroom Soup

I went to see my new doctor today and liked him very much.

After the appointment at 11:00 I went to the 999 Seafood store that is across from the hospital.  I liked its produce and prices.  I bought onions were $.39/lb., some rice stick noodles for $.99 for 14 oz., some interesting flaky cookies from Argentina for $1.49, a large can of beef pho broth for $1.49, a ginger tea with honey, more long Bok Choy, a package of beef meatballs, tofu, and a few more items.

By the time I arrived at home I was hungry because I had not eaten any breakfast, so I heated up the PPI Noodle soup from yesterday and added a chopped up stalk of Bok Choy, a couple of sliced beef meatballs, a couple of shrimp, some of the new rice sticks, a couple of sliced shitake mushroom and some more water.

I garnished the soup with green onion and fresh cilantro and squeezed lime juice, hoisin sauce, and Shiracha on the bowl of hot noodles and broth.  I especially liked the rice sticks. I made a cup of ginger tea to drink.

At 5:00 I decided to go to Ranch Market for some salad stuff for dinner.  I bought radishes, limes, a papaya, two Manila mangos, four smoked pork cutlets, 18 large eggs for $2.25, tomatoes for $2.49/lb. , two cucumbers at $.88 each, four or five oranges at $.69/lb., and and four small avocados.

I will make fruit salad this weekend.

Suzette had awaken early this morning to make salmon cakes by combining the PPI poached salmon from Christmas with bread crumbs and a béchamel sauce made with the PPI poaching stock from the lobster pieces we cooked for New Years Eve. 

I came home around 6:00 and started making salad with cubed cucumber, Palm hearts, cubed  tomato, sliced radish, cubed avocado, hard boiled eggs.  Suzette tore and washed a head of butter lettuce and a head of romaine lettuce and reconstituted a jar of dressing made with balsamic, blue cheese, olive oil, and herbs Provence and Suzette made a bowl of tartare sauce with mayonnaise, horseradish, and relish. 

Around 6:15 Cynthia and Ricardo arrived with a large pot of freshly made cream of mushroom soup, a lovely creamy cryovac packed goat cheese with herbs, two  Bosque Bakery baguettes, some fresh baked cookies from Saratori's Italian Bakery and a pint of Hagen Daz vanilla ice cream.  

Mike and Kathryn arrived around 6:30 with a bottle of Barolo red and a bottle of Brunello de Monticello,

I fetched bottles of Nessa Albariño white wine and poured glasses of wine, since we are eating salmon cakes.  I thought the slightly fruity wine went well with the dinner. 

Cynthia heated her soup made with lots of fresh mushrooms, white wine, milk, and cream or a roux. 

   The mushroom soup

For the first course we ate bowls of soup with slices of Bosque baguette slathered with the creamy goat cheese. 

While the soup course was being eaten, Suzette sautéed the salmon cakes and I tossed the salad, and Suzette heated the Potatoes Savoyard she had fetched from the garage.   

We poured more glasses of 2010 Nessa Albariño and Suzette plated one or two salmon cakes per plate and I added scoops of potatoes, Cynthia sliced the other baguette, and we passed the salad.

We enjoyed getting together again and comparing stories of our Christmas holidays.  We talked about the 1000 lb. King seal that Cynthia and Ricardo saw on the beach at San Simeon and their visit to the Grand Canyon.  Mike told of his hike down the Bright Angel Trail past Indian Gardens several years ago and how to avoid the mule trains

. Kathryn told a wild story about snow mobiling into Old Faithful Lodge in the winter when a herd of buffaloes  came to the area where they were walking around Old Faithful geyser and blocked their return path to their snow mobiles when the buffaloes lay down on the wooden walkways that Kathryn and her party had just traversed.  Rather than getting too far off the path and possibly falling through the surface into a pool of hot water, Kathryn and her Party were required to weave through the buffaloes, staying as close to the path as possible.  A great wild animal story. 

Since everyone liked the Albariño, I opened a third bottle after dinner and we sat and talked some more.

Cynthia and I then served parfait glasses of vanilla ice cream and a plate filled with the Italian cookies rolled in sesame seeds they brought and the flaky cookies I had bought.

I served glasses of water, which were appreciated and we talked until 10:30.

Bon Appetit