April 30, 2017 Brunch – Steak, Potato, and Mushroom Burritos. Dinner – Broiled Lamb Chops, Boiled Corn, Roasted Potatoes with fresh chopped mint, and Cesar Salad

April 30, 2017 Brunch – Steak, Potato, and Mushroom Burritos. Dinner – Broiled Lamb Chops, Boiled Corn, Roasted Potatoes with fresh chopped mint, and Cesar Salad

Suzette cooked a favorite Sunday dish when we have PPI steak and baked potatoes, steak and potato burritos.  I had bought a package of fresh flour tortillas at El Super last Wednesday, for this dish.  Suzette was kind enough to add some sliced mushrooms, to add enzymes or because she knew I liked mushrooms with my steak.

Suzette also made a sauce for the burritos by mixing mayonnaise and the Los Poblanos red chili salsa.  I drank chamomile and mint tea.

We then worked in the raised bed garden area, clearing and cultivating ½ bed that had been fallow at was shaded by a tree where we will plant lettuce for the summer.  I helped Suzette erect a meshed screen beside the poke beans we planted to provide support for them to attach to and grow.

We also planted the new fig bush Suzette brought from The Center for Ageless Living and cleaned away the grass growing around the tree’s neighboring plum tree.  We then removed  the lettuce from the end of another bed that had had gone to seed and Suzette cultivated that area, so we can plant tomatoes, and basil.  I took the large basket of lettuce we harvested and cleaned it and bagged it.  We both agreed we had brought some order to the garden.

At about 1:30 I took a nap and read my book.  Suzette finished “All my friends will be Strangers” by Larry McMurtry.

When I awoke around 3:30 Suzette was watching TV.  I challenged her to a bocce match and we played until 5:00.

The afternoon was sunny and it was starting to warm to about 67 degrees so very pleasant weather for bocce.

At 5:00 we started cooking dinner.  I diced about seven or eight small russet potatoes that Suzette tossed with olive oil and roasted in the oven for an hour at 400 degrees.  Suzette Said, “Let’s use the heat to make croutons with the Bosque Bakery baguette Cynthia and Ricardo brought last night.”  So I fetched the loaf of bread and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes and threw them into a bag for Suzette to toss with salt and olive oil.  We then put the the croutons on the top rack in the oven and I set the timer for 15 minutes.

I then went to the garden and picked a small basket of fresh mint for the potatoes and chopped about ½ cup of fresh mint.  Suzette then tossed the roasted potatoes husked the six ears of fresh corn and filled a large pot with water and started it boiling.  I freshened up the Cesar salad dressing by adding lemon juice and olive oil.  I then made a salad by dicing a Roma tomato and about 1/3 of a cucumber and adding it to some of the lettuce we had picked today.  I then added some of the croutons we had made and sliced some Pecorino Romano cheese and added some Cesar salad dressing and tossed the salad in the large teak wooden salad bowl Suzette fetched for me.

Susan and Charlie brought lemon sherbet and Vanilla gelato with fresh blueberries and lemon zest for dessert as I was finishing up the salad.  Suzette put the lamb chops she had salted with sea salt and pepper in the oven after we ran out of propane gas in the grill and put the corn into the boiling water and then tossed the roasted potatoes with the minced mint and added some salt.  I then went to the basement and fetched a 2009 Fleury Cotes Du Rhone and opened it and poured glasses of it.  Suzette simply put the tray of chops, the potatoes out on the counter and laid out a tongs to grab ears of corn and we served ourselves buffet style.  I brought the salad to the table and we sat in front of the fireplace and ate our dinner and talked.  Charlie said Rhee was going to be a harpsichord concert of Bach’s Goldberg Variations being played in Santa Fe next weekend that they were attending.  We decided we had another commitment that prevented us from going, but Suzette put the Glenn Gould recordings of the aria and the thirty variations on the sound system and we listened to them during dinner.  Charlie felt that the Bach Goldenberg Variations were among the greatest music ever written. During dinner the conversation turned from the greatest music to the greatest works of art, and Susan and Charlie mentioned Roger Van Der Weyden’s “Descent From the Cross” which hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I mentioned his Altarpiece with his fabulous Last Judgment that hangs in the Hospice du Beaune.

After dinner Suzette and Susan served scoops of sherbet and gelato with fresh blueberries garnished with lemon zest for a delicious light dessert.

At 9:00 we said goodnight after a lovely meal.

Bon Appetit