June 28, 2016. Lunch – Taj Mahal. Dinner – Cesar Salad with chicken breast ice cream, chocolate covered almonds and chocolate chip cookies

June 28, 2016. Lunch – Taj Mahal. Dinner – Cesar Salad with chicken breast ice cream, chocolate covered almonds and chocolate chip cookies

I ate granola, fresh blueberries, tropical fruit salad, and yogurt with a splash of milk for breakfast.  

Luke is in town and suggested we go to Taj Mahal for lunch.  The buffet is so good I often over eat.  I tried to restrain myself today, taking one thigh of tandoori chicken and onions, a little curried chicken, a few meat balls, some mung Dahl, saag, culcha, and finally some stewed squash.

We drank water and finished our meal with a bowl of rice pudding.

We both loved Taj Majal.  The food is always delicious and the ingredients are the best.

We had invited Megan to come tell us about San Miguel de Allende and we invited our traveling partners, Cynthia and Ricardo, to join us for dinner and a chat about Mexico.

I menu was Cesar Salad.  I started cooking around 4:00.  I burned the first tray of croutons, so Suzette had to go get a loaf of French bread at Lowe’s and she made croutons while I cut up four heads of romaine lettuce and made a classic Cesar Salad dressing following the Bon Appetit recipe.

Here is the recipe:

Classic Caesar Salad

A great Caesar salad gets its swagger from a great dressing. Squeamish about raw egg yolks and anchovies? Sorry. Yolks are what give richness to the emulsion, while anchovies provide a briny blast (and that whole umami thing). This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Ingredients

SERVINGS: 6

The Dressing

6 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained

1 small garlic clove

Kosher salt

2 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more

¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper

The Croutons

3 cups torn 1" pieces country bread, with crusts

3 tablespoons olive oil

The Lettuce

3 romaine hearts, leaves separated

The Cheese

Parmesan, for serving

Recipe Tips

I chilled a bottle of good white 2012 Cotes du Rhone and a 2003 Murphy Goode Fume Blanc. 

Cynthia and Ricardo brought 2013 Forest Pouilly Fuisse and dessert.  Suzette brought a roasted chicken home.  

Megan arrived at 6:00 and Cynthia and Ricardo a bit later.  They had drinks and started a lengthy discussion about San Miguel de Allende, while I puttered with the dressing, slicing cheese and chicken and dressing the salad.

When the salad was ready we served it in large pasta bowls and carried them and our glasses outside.  The Murphy Goode 2003 Fume Blanc was not bad but was decidedly oxidized with a slight bitter after taste, so we did not pour it.  

We ate at the table in the garden under the gazebo.  After we finished the Cotes du Rhone White we drank the Forest Pouilly Fuisse white.

After dinner Cynthia and Suzette made us parfaits with a scoop of vanilla, a scoop of piña colada, and a Pepperidge Farm Saulsalido chocolate chip cookie.

Megan had a trip planned to Ghost Ranch the next day, so we said goodnight around 10:00.

Bon Appetit