October 7, 2016 Lunch – Pho Noodle Soup, Dinner at Billy and Elaine”s

October 7, 2016 Lunch – Pho Noodle Soup,  Dinner at Billy and Elaine”s

I worked hard this morning to finish and file a motion in the LRG case.

I made what I will call a French Pho soup stock yesterday with the PPI in steak from Tuesday evening’s meal, plus a diced carrot, celery stalk and a small red onion,and  a pho bullion cube.  Today at 11:00 on my way to the shower, I put the pot of soup Ontario stove and added rice Erick noodles and a bunch of bean thread noodles.  Unfortunately I got involved in editing the motion and did not finish until 12:30, when I filed it.

The noodles had splintered into 1 to 2 inch pieces but the flavor was good.  I ate a bowl with a ha day squeeze of Hoisin Sauce and the juice of ¼ lime.  

We we e picked the up by the taxi at 1:30 and flew to Dallas.

Billy picked us up at DFW at 6:00 and drove us to his house where Elaine greeted us with hugs.

We arrive fed just as the Mark Shields and David Gershin dialogue was beginning, which is my favorite ten minutes of TV every week.  After that finished Billy served some Manouri cheese imported by Krinos with the bottle of Gruet Reserve Pinot Noir we shipped to him a week ago plus a Nemas red by Kouri from Greece.  We preferred the Gruet and drank it.  The Manouri cheese had both the texture and flavor of a lightly salted Mexican Panela, that course granular texture.

Billy cooked for a while longer to make sure everything was properly cooked.  He had slow cooked lamb shanks in a tomato, onion, bay laurel, and carrot sauce until the meat had fallen of the bone, a wonderful lentil Dahl cooked till the water evaporated seasoned with cumin, coriander, turmeric and fresh curry leaves, to name a few spices and herbs.  Elaine’s friends from work had brought her the fresh curry leaves from a plant they kept in their kitchen. Talk about a kitchen garden.

Billy also made rice and had decanted one of the bottles of Guzman 2001 Consecha we bought from the Guzman’s when we stayed in their remodeled farmhouse in the Rioja 6 or 7 years ago.  It was still lovely but with just a hint of oxidation on the back end.  Most wines get a little oxidized after 15 years. It was a very special and fabulous wine with the meal and reminded us of our wonderful trip to Spain.

The stand out dish was the lentils.  It was alive with flavor.  Rebecca had sent the recipe to Billy and Elaine, so it felt like she was part of the meal also.

Billy served the three dishes buffet style from the kitchens do we ate at their round Danish modern table between the kitchen and the TV viewing area.  We talked and nibbled for over an hour, it seemed.  The Billy brought the freshly baked pear tart garnished with sliced almonds and brushed with melted butter before it was baked.

Billy also brought an assortment of five after dinner drinks, a DuPont 20 year old Calvados, the DuPont 30year old Calvados we bought him at the DuPont Distillery in Normandy, an Austrian 70% Apple/30% Pear Brandy, a clear Pear brandy, and a Fine Burgundy Marc.  We sliced slices of tart and poured snaps glasses of drinks.  I ate two slices of the wonderfully fresh pear tart and sampled all of the drinks except the 30 year old DuPont Calvados.  My favorite was the Austrian 70/30 Apple/pear Brandy with the tart.

Finally at 10:30 we went to bed, which is when I discovered I had forgotten the pack my pajama bottoms. I guess I will soon have a shopping moment on the trip.

Bon Appetit