March 9, 2016 Lunch – PPI Mapo Dofu, Dinner Party at Doug and Crystal’s house

March 9, 2016 Lunch – PPI Mapo Dofu, Dinner Party at Doug and Crystal’s house

I started the day with a great appointment with Dr. Kissallson, my Podiatrist, who grew up in Toronto, Canada, and told me about Montreal and Quebec City.  Then I went to Trader Joe’s where I bought crab claw meat, herbed goat cheese, chocolate truffles, a bottle of cognac, and ten bottles of wine, a 2013 Tuella Duoro, a Marques de Caceres Rueda, two Cherry Blossom California Pinot ?Noir ($3.99), a Josefina 2014 Paso Robles Rose’ of syrah, a 2014 Les Portes de Bordeaux Rose’ and  a Vinas Chilenas Reserva 2015 Rosario Estate Rose’, a 2012 Chateau Haut-Sorillon Bordeaux Superieur, a 2011 Gaetano Di Aquino Chianti Reserva, and 2014 a La Granja Grenache/Tempranillo blend.

All of these wines are in the $4.00 to $8.00 range and are the type of wines we drink with many of our daily dinners; good, not great wines, but great value for the price.

Then I drove to Sprout’s  Academy store, where I bought six thin slices of boneless pork sirloin for swine schnitzel, beautiful asparagus for $.98/lb., an incredibly lovely bunch of organic beets for $.99, a cucumber for $.50, a nice eggplant for $.98, four nice zucchini for $.50/lb., and two beautiful artichokes for $3.00.  A great produce day.  It finally feels like Spring when beautiful big artichokes and thicker asparagus start coming in in abundance.

   Artichokes bigger than an I phone at $1.50 each; how exciting

I then went home and heated a bowl of Fried Rice and Mapo Dofu and drank several cups of green tea with it around 11:30.

I worked all afternoon until 5:30 except for a break of about an hour to ride to Rio Bravo and back at 2:00.  

I think I reached a final negotiated settlement of two cases today; the Los Lunas project and Jessie Gilmer’s claim, so a big day in law.

Around 4:30 Willy and Suzette returned from their beer tasting at the new Brewery on Candelaria near I-25.

We checked the invitation to the Fish and Chips opening and discovered it was Thursday evening instead of this evening, so we watched some news and spoke to Luke for a long time about his plans for the near future. He seems to be charting a new path that may be somewhat more independent from Maha Rose, sort of beginning to create his own brand separate from Maha Rose, yet still connected to some degree.

At 6:15 we walked to Doug and Crystal’s house.  Soon Janis and Tom joined us. We started by sitting at the long counter in the kitchen where Doug bartended and made us martinis with various vodkas.  I tried Chopin and Montopolowa potato vodkas.  Doug and I both preferred the Montopolowa vodka, which used to be distilled in Poland, but now is made in Austria.

Crystal served wedges of Spanakopita she had made with dolmas and a lovely warm appetizer of feta cheese, yellow and red grape tomatoes, and chopped Kalamata olives drizzled with olive oil and baked in the oven that we nibbled as we sipped cocktails.  

Doug likes dry martinis with just chilled vodka, while Crystal prefers martinis with a dash of olive juice.  This was the first time I had seen a bottle of olive juice, which Doug added to the vodka before shaking with crushed ice in a cocktail shaker.  I felt like we were in serious cocktail territory and was enjoying it immensely.  I stopped drinking my gin and tonic when I saw everyone else drinking vodka martinis and I tried a martini with olive juice and did not care for it.  Doug accommodated me when I asked to try the straight potato vodkas.  First the Polish Chopin vodka, which he chilled by shaking in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice and later a glass of chilled Monopolawa vodka.  I immediately appreciated and became a convert to Doug’s devotion to chilled straight potato vodka. He and I both preferred the Monopolawa vodka, which has a slightly more assertive potato flavor.

After about a hour of drinks, appetizers and conversation in the kitchen Crystal announced that the dinner was ready, so we moved into the small dining room next the kitchen.  Doug and Crystal’s house also has a large formal banquet hall with a table that sits at least a dozen.

Crystal served a Greek Salad, a platter of moussaka, a bowl of roasted potatoes, and Tzatziki with two Greek wines, both of which tasted like they were made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, a Douras Nemea and a new wine to me, a Tzinkas 

    Crystal serving Moussaka and Doug talking 

We started talking about politics and the conversation heated up, but remained friendly.  It is amazing that the strong friendship we share with Doug and Crystal and Tom and Janis, who are on diametrically opposite ends of the political spectrum seems to thrive in the midst of such conversations.  In fact I had two illuminating moments, one when I realized that Doug was turned off by all the political palaver and would probably not vote and I saw the path to a Democratic victory of the Presidency as the dissatisfied Republicans like Doug might not vote in this election, especially if Trump or a less popular alternative candidate is the Republican Candidate and the other that our common bond as Americans can accommodate this kind of political differences.

After dinner Crystal served Krinos baklava with a lovely liquor they brought back from Greece that had a floral flavor.

Our lively conversation ranted on until 9:45 when we started yawning and found it more politic to go to bed and said our goodbyes.

Bon Appetit