August 6, 2016 Lunch – Pho noodle soup. Dinner Party at T.R. and Linda’s House

August 6, 2016 Lunch – Pho noodle soup. Dinner Party at T.R. and Linda’s House

I worked this morning and then watched the Olympic cycling road race, which was a one day 150 mile race through the hills surrounding Rio.  Much of the race course was within the Rio Botanical Garden.  Rio sits at the edge of a tropical rain forest.  The road was dominated by hair pin turns lined with large cut stones and small boulders painted white to mark the edge of the road.  Many of the favorites hit the stone barriers and went down hard.  Thankfully the organizers had lined the curves with netting that caught the riders, but there were several bruised bodies and broken bone in today’s race as the prospect of gold drove the riders to take risks on the descent from the high hills.  Many were riding at over 50 mph, so one small miscalculation that touched the stone edge of the course sent them flying into the barrier.

A Belgium Van Aranmants? won, a Dane Fulsang came second, and Majka, the Polish rider, who won King of the Mountain in this year’s Tour de France, hung on from the original six man lead out to take third.

I made a simple Pho soup with a boullion cube of Pho, a heaping T. of red miso, a chopped green onion, diced chicken, and a handful of chopped sweet yam leaves, while I watched the race.

Suzette came home at 1:30 and Wily arrived soon after to watch the U.S. Women’s soccer team play the French.

We showered and left for Santa Fe at 2:30.  We went to Stephens and then went to Peyton Wright to view the collection of Mexican and Mayan art Peter and John bought, on which I am assisting Peter.

Suzette looked through the catalog of pieces in the collection and saw two interesting huichol yarn paintings, which we bought to go with the other Mexican folk art we bought on our recent trip to Mexico.  These are the most interesting Huichol yarn paintings I have ever seen.  Here are photos of the pieces.

We enjoyed talking to John Shaefer until 5:15 and then drove over to the plaza and went to an opening at a small gallery in the Mercado on San Francisco St.

Then at 6:00 we drove to T.R. and Linda’s house for their dinner party.  They had invited fifty or more, so we met lots of new folks.  The dinner of BBQ pork and chicken was catered by Whole Hog restaurant. Besides the BBQ there was Cole slaw and potato salad and chocolate desserts and cookies from Costco for dessert.  I ate two small chocolate brownie like desserts to make sure I would have the requisite concentration for the return drive home.

Everyone was to bring their own beverage, so I grabbed a bottle of my new favorite rose for the money, 2014 Conte Priola, an Italian rose of Pinot Grigio from the Venice area, which costs $6.39 after the 20% discount.

We left at 9:00 and drove home.

Bon Appetit