August 21, 2016. Brunch – A steak, potato, and tomato tortilla, fresh Tropical fruit salad and grilled artichoke. Dinner – Chicken with Cassarecce pasta tossed with fresh pesto

August 21, 2016. Brunch – A steak, potato, and tomato tortilla, fresh Tropical fruit salad and grilled artichoke.  Dinner –  Chicken with Cassarecce pasta tossed with fresh pesto

We watched Olympic coverage and news programs.  Then at 10:00 we began to cook.  Suzette’s plan was to make a baked tortilla with PPI steak and potatoes and slices of tomato.

She first set the ingredients in the eggs in a large cast iron skillet on top of the stove and then baked the tortilla in the oven until fully cooked and golden brown.  We squeezed fresh orange juice and opened a bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne from Temecula, CA.

Suzette grilled the half cooked artichokes I had bought at Trader Joe’s last week and boiled for about 45 minutes.

While watching the Olympics, I also made a fruit salad with papaya, mangoes, pineapple, peaches and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

After lunch we drove to Bombay Spices on Central, where we bought long black pepper, chai tea, and green raisins.

Then walked through the flea market at the State Fair grounds.

We took naps until 4:30.  When we determined that Willy was going to join us for dinner, we decided to use the chicken I had cooked last week with  fresh pesto to make a pasta dish.

Willy arrived and we went to the garden and picked a basket full of basil and chard leaves and made a cup of chai with the new Tea India chai tea bags I bought at Bombay Spices.

While I diced onion and garlic, Suzette diced the chicken and made pesto with Willy, who sautéed a small pan of piñon nuts for the pesto.

She combined the roasted piñon nuts, grated Romano Pecorino cheese, the basil leaves, 4 or 5 small cloves of garlic and ¼ cup of olive oil in the Cuisinart to make fresh pesto.

Then she boiled dried Cassarecce pasta in a pot of water and when it was ready, drained it and tossed it with the chicken, some white wine, the chard and pesto. The resulting dish was a delicious simple single dish dinner.

We drank the last of the 2014 Amancay Winery Torrontes white from La Rioja, Argentina. 

I later ate a bowl of my new favorite foods, yogurt, blueberries, green bananas slices dabbed with peanut butter.

Bon Appetit