June 28, 2017. Lunch – PPI BBQ and grilled zucchini and chayote Dinner – New Recipe. Roasted pig’s stomach stuffed with russet potatoes and Italian sausage

June 28, 2017. Lunch – PPI BBQ and grilled zucchini and chayote
Dinner – New Recipe. Roasted pig’s stomach stuffed with russet potatoes and Italian sausage

We did not ride this morning so I did not eat breakfast.

I decided to eat some of PPI BBQ and grilled chayote and zucchini for lunch.

I filed two motions with the Court of Appeals today and returned home at 5:00.

Suzette showed me the pig stomach and we decided that I knew nothing about cooking a pig stomach.  Suzette said, “My Mom used to make this all the time.”

So I went to meditate with some knowledge that something interesting awaited me for dinner.

When I returned home at 7:00, we opened a bottle of 2015 Ferme Julien Rose’ and sip a glass of wine and waited until 7:15.  I chose Ferme Julien because it has a little more body and character than Crayon, which we thought would stand up to the fuller flavor of the sausage.





Suzette cut through the middle of the stomach to check the doneness.  The cubed potatoes were still not cooked.  We added water to the roasting pan to create some steam to help cook the potatoes, basted the open edge of the dish with liquid,  and returned the stomach to the oven for another 45 minutes at 375 degrees.







Suzette also poached some of the Pear we peeled and diced in Pasando Tiempo Cabernet Sauvignon with a bit of sugar.  The pears had a slightly cinnamon flavor.

After another 45 minutes the outside of the stomach had taken on a dark brown color and crisped considerably.  Suzette announced that the potatoes had cooked and we were ready to eat.  She sliced ½ into two slices and added five or six asparagus she had steamed to each plate.  I poured out the rest of the bottle of rose’ and we carried our plate and glass of wine to the table in the garden gazebo.
















The dish was rather ordinary in flavor in my opinion; simply a loaf of potatoes, onion, and Italian sweet sausage packed into a stomach, that is trussed close, and baked, but the presentation was terrific, as the stomach formed a bowl from which one scooped the firm loaf of ingredients.

The dish reminded me of firm jambalaya with sausage that is baked into a cake in consistency.

I tried to eat a bit of the crisper portion of  stomach encasing and found it hard to chew, although it had a slight flavor of roasted meat.

I kept asking myself, “Did I miss something here?”

But, Suzette assured me, “This is exactly the way my Mother used to make it.”

We watched Rachel Maddow, who seems to have recovered completely from her illness, because she is back to her usual cognitive power of analysis.  Alternatively, having just finished the Rolling Stone interview with her and discovered her educational background was an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a doctoral degree in political science from Cambridge, I may simply be more aware of her capacity for higher level political analytics.  She surely discusses some interesting political issues that are under the radar of normal news media.

I noticed a rather strong black pepper flavor in the dish, which Suzette attributed to the sausage, but I woke up at 3:00 in the morning burping. Perhaps the burping is a reaction to the black pepper or my deep dive into Traditional German Cuisine.  I do remember a similar experience in Heidelberg in 1968 to a dinner of weinerschnitzel and fried potatoes with brown sauce on them, but that time it was probably just the grease talking.

Bon Appetit

June 27, 2017. Lunch - East Ocean. Dinner at the Baker’s Moussaka, appetizers, salad, and tzatziki

June 27, 2017. Lunch - East Ocean. Dinner at the Baker’s Moussaka, appetizers, salad, and tzatziki

I went with Aaron to East Ocean for lunch.  We ordered Clams in Szechuan Sauce and Fried Tofu with Vegetables.  The Clams were spicy with a thickened sauce dotted with Szechuan red pepper flakes.  The vegetables were not great in variety, mostly onion and bok choy, but the tofu was delicious in the abundant thickened chicken stock sauce.

We were invited to Doug and Crystal’s house for dinner.  We are all on diets, so Crystal made light appetizers of grilled Greek white cheese on a bed of arugula, grape tomatoes, and pickled red onion slices.

Suzette made us cocktails with bourbon, mint infused simple syrup, and club soda garnished with a sprig of fresh mint.

Before we left home I diced an heirloom tomato Suzette had bought at the Farmers’ market a week ago and added it to the tzatziki that we ladled into Suzette’s new Monkey pod wood bowl.

Crystal had made a 9x 9 baking dish of moussaka with ground meat potatoes, and eggplant topped with white cheese cream sauce and a lettuce and kale salad dressed with a vinaigrette.

So we ate a simple peasant meal on the patio beside the kitchen.

The wine was not simple peasant wine.  I was a magnum bottle of 2012 Tenuta .          a super Tuscan made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec grapes.  This was a very serious wine that had enough tannins to make you pucker up when you took a sip.

We drank wine and drank wine and talked and talked until 10:00.

Bon Appetit

June 26, 2017 Lunch – PPI Penne Pasta with Mushroom Spaghetti sauce and sautéed mushrooms with snow peas. Dinner – Sautéed Pork chops in onion and pears with an artichoke

June 26, 2017  Lunch – PPI Penne Pasta with Mushroom Spaghetti sauce and sautéed mushrooms with snow peas. Dinner – Sautéed Pork chops in onion and pears with an artichoke

Simplicity and using PPIs as the guiding principal today.  For lunch I ate two PPIs.  I reheated a container of PPI Penne pasta in the mushroom and ground beef spaghetti sauce with chard.  After lunch I was still hungry, so I heated another container of PPI sautéed mushrooms and snow peas.

We decided this morning to make our favorite Jose’ Andreas tapa of roast pork with apples and onions.  Tonight Suzette made two changes to the recipe.  Instead of apples she used diced pears.  One of her customers had given Suzette a bag of pears that were a little over the hill, which we peeled and diced yesterday.  They were a little over ripe which meant they were deliciously sweet.

Before dinner I went to the garden and picked a handful of dill weed, a handful of mint, a head of fresh garlic, and a basket full of oregano.

Tzatziki

I peeled 1 ½ cucumbers and diced them (about two cups).  I then minced ¼ cup of Vidalia onion and added that to the cucumbers.  Then I de-stemmed and finely chopped ½ cup of mint and ¼ cup of dill weed and the five cloves of garlic in the head of garlic I had plucked from our garden.  Then I added 1 cup of Kirkland Greek style yogurt and the juice of 1 ½ lemons.

We decided to let the Tzatziki sit in the fridge over night and then add a tomato before we take it to Crystal and Doug’s for dinner tomorrow night.

     Tzatziki

Sautéed Pork Chops with pear and onion

As stated above our favorite way to eat pork is the Jose Andreas recipe.  Here is the recipe.

 

This evening I vertically sliced one medium Vidalia onion we bought at Sprouts on sale for $.88/lb. into thin ribs.  We had peeled and diced a medium bowl of the pears yesterday also, so we had decided to make the recipe with the Vidalia onion and pears to see how it turned out with these adjustments to the recipe.  We also altered slightly the cut of pork from the recipe’s tenderloin to a center cut pork chop.

We thawed out two pork chops after we rode to Rio Bravo this morning.

Suzette decided to complete the dish in one step, rather than three steps by omitting the second step of oven roasting the pork tenderloin and combining the first and third sauté steps.

Suzette started by sautéing the onion strips in Sprouts Spanish olive oil we bought on sale at Sprouts yesterday for $5.99 per liter.  Actually I bought five liters of olive oil.

 

When the onion slices had softened she added the chops, which were about ½ inch thick and sautéed them.  Then she removed the chops and added about 1 cup of diced pears and 1/3 cup of prepared chicken stock we had bought at Sprouts for $1.99 per quart yesterday also.

After the sauce thickened slightly she returned the chops to the sauce to warm them and added a T. or two of Calvados to finish the dish.

Artichoke dipping Sauce
While Suzette Was cooking the pork dish I finished the Tzatziki and made the dipping sauce for the artichokes.  The sauce is very simple

½ cup of mayonnaise

juice of ½ lemon

1 to 2 T. of minced dill weed

I went to the garden and picked a small handful of the greenest dill weed I could find and went to the garage and fetched two lemons.

I fetched the PPI artichoke dipping sauce from last week from the fridge.  There were only a couple of T.s of it, so I removed the stems from the stalks of dill weed to leave only the tiny weed portion and then finely minced that.  The result was a small 1 ½ to 2 T. pile of minced weed which I put into the bowl of old sauce.  Then I added ½ cup of Kraft Mayonnaise we bought at Costco.  Then I cut a lemon in half and squeezed the juice of ½ lemon into the sauce.  Then I whisked the ingredients together until it ceased to show any lumps of mayonnaise and became a smooth homogeneous sauce.

 

The freshness of the dill with the pungency of the fresh lemon juice was remarkably flavorful.  Suzette noted it when she dipped her first artichoke leaf in the sauce.  The secret is to whisk the ingredients so that they transform from independent ingredients into a homogenous sauce.

We plated the pork chops smothered with the onion and Pear sauce and put one artichoke on each plate.  I poured the last ½ bottle of chilled PPI 2016 Crayon Rose’ into two glasses and added three or four ice cubes to each glass to keep it cool because we were taking our plates to the garden to eat.

We enjoyed our dinner beside the pond, which has taken on a more natural look as the plants and fish seem to have acclimated to the pond.

The dinner was delicious. As stated above the fresh dill and lemon juice gave the artichokes a real zippiness.

The recipe for the pork was also a success in two respects.  The use of Vidalia onion avoided that acrid bitter after taste that is associated with some onions and the sweetness and softness of the pear integrated into the sauce and gave it an overall greater sweetness.  These were two improvements in my opinion.  The only drawback to substituting pork chops for pork tenders was the meat was slightly tougher, although that toughness was masked to a great degree by the sweeter sauce.

We loved the meal and collectively decided to go further off our diet.  Suzette heated a bowl of the Apricot Cobbler she made yesterday and we split it and drizzled it with a T. of  heavy cream for dessert with a glass of Calvados and a cup of Earl Grey tea.

I did really go off the diet later when I had a piece of milk Chocolate with almonds (Trader Joe’s $4.99 for 17 oz.) and a second glass of Calvados.

It was a meal worthy of a slight transgression in honor of the tradition of great French dining, two wholly successful dishes and a glass of the new 2016 vintage of French rose’.

Crayon is my new favorite wine for the summer.  It has that light clean elegance of the best Southern French rose’s and costs only $5.99 at Trader Joe’s.  Try it. You will like it, especially for the price.  I rank it close to Le Pont rose’ from Bandol, which costs $20 at Total Wine.

Bon Appetit

June 25, 2017. Lunch – BBQ Brisket, with corn on the Cobb, and steamed snow peas. Dinner – PPI Teriyaki Aji Tuna, grilled Chayote and zucchini, and Bulgar wheat sautéed with diced pear, raisins, pine nuts and spinach

June 25, 2017. Lunch – BBQ Brisket, with corn on the Cobb, and steamed snow peas.  Dinner – PPI Teriyaki Aji Tuna, grilled Chayote and zucchini, and Bulgar wheat sautéed with diced pear, raisins, pine nuts and spinach

We picked more snow peas this morning, so for lunch we shared some PPI BBQ brisket an ear of corn and steamed the snow peas for a lovely lunch in the garden with Negra Modelos.

It was a lovely day and we were thrilled that both the water hyacinth and a water Lilly were in bloom.

After lunch we went shopping at Sprouts during its 72 hour sales event.  We bought 2 lb.s of Italian sweet pork sausages for $1.99/lb., granola for $1.99/lb., Spanish extra virgin olive oil for $5.99 per liter, milk for $2.49 per gallon, and 12-15 count per pound shrimp for $6.99/lb.

We again used PPIs for dinner.  We invited Willy and heated the PPI grilled tuna from Thursday evening’s meal.  I sliced the remaining two chayote and three zucchini in 1/3 inch thick strips that we tossed in a freezer bag with olive oil, salt, and pepper that Suzette then grilled outside while I sautéed some of the PPI bulgur with ¼ cup each of onion, raisins, and piñon nuts, and about two large handfuls of spinach with a bit of water, first covered to create some steam and then uncovered to evaporate the remaining water.  I put a Middle Eastern spice of oregano, sumac, and sesame seeds in the dish while it was cooking.

We drank iced tea and ate outside.  This was a gorgeous dinner of PPIs.

Bon Appetit

June 24, 2017 Lunch – steak and egg and spinach burritos Dinner – The Center for Ageless Living’s Field to Food Event

June 24, 2017 Lunch – steak and egg and spinach burritos  Dinner – The Center for Ageless Living’s Field to Food Event

I ate a bagel and the PPI eggs and steak for breakfast.  At around 8:00 we rode to Rio Bravo and back in less than an hour.

When we returned we drank coffee in the garden and talked with Eden, Dee’s friend from Seattle.

I then showed her the art collection. The tour was interrupted by Suzette who had cooked burritos with the PPI steak, some spinach, Swiss cheese and eggs.  We rolled the filling in flour tortillas and squirted Cholula Hot Sauce on it.  Dee described visiting Cholula.  I did not know there was such a place.  It is near Puebla Dee said.

Dee and Eden left for Santa Fe after lunch.  Suzette got ready and went to work and I rested and then got ready around 5:00 for the 10th Annual Field to Food Event.

I picked Willy up at 6:00 and we arrived at 6:30.  The wind was blowing really hard so Suzette delayed the meal for several minutes until the wind subsided.

Gruet Brut was served starting around 6:45 and with the first two courses, which were a gazpacho made with pears, almonds, and cucumber and the best pate I have tasted in a while, pork and beef baked and served with pickled watermelon and turnip wedges.

           Willy andvRicardo

                             Wine service area in back endge of tent

                   Ricardo and the food service area

                     Cynthia and Ricardo

                     One of a Suzette's Cloud Cakes

The wines were served starting with the meal.  The included Corrales Winery’s Riesling, Pasando Tiempo’s Cabernet Sauvignon, Milagro Winery’s Rose’ and a Gruner Veltliner and Sheehan Winery’s Chardonnay and a Merlot.  I drank champagne with the pate and soup courses and then began drinking the Merlot with the entrée course of vegetarian lasagna, salad, and pork roasted with pears.  Everything was fabulous.  Chef Kelly really outdid himself.

For dessert we were served slices of cloud cake with a lavender flavored crème anglais and orange zest.

Suzette told me that Katie and Andrew bought a table for eight.  I suspect in part because Katie really loves Suzette’s cloud cake.

It was a memorable meal and the service was impeccable.  I ate seconds on the first four courses, it was so good.

I can not describe how wonderful an all local, all organic gourmet meal with all local wines is.  If you have not tried a field to food meal, you should.  Suzette’s annual meal for $45.00 per person, is the best food and wine value I know of.

Bon Appetit

June 23, 2017. Lunch – sautéed steak, eggs, and beans. Dinner – Vintage Albuquerque

 June 23, 2017. Lunch – sautéed steak, eggs, and beans. Dinner – Vintage Albuquerque

Dee was joining a friend for lunch so I made a quick lunch by chopping onion, some garlic scapes, and sautéing them in a medium skillet.  I then added about 1/3 lb. of chopped rib steak and the PPI beans from Wednesday night’s dinner and then what was left of six eggs that froze in the garage fridge that I whipped.

The result was and ugly egg pancake that was delicious.  I ate a little more than half of it at 1:30 and bagged the rest.


Suzette came home at 4:00 and showered and changed into a lighter drinking outfit and we drove to the Balloon Museum on Alameda.  They gave us a glass at 5:00 and we started drinking and eating.  There was about the same amount of food as wine this year,  so we ate a bit more than usual.  Buffalo sliders with pickled red onion at Harvest Café, Rancher’s Club grilled served filet mignonette on home made kettle fried potatoes, Artichoke Café served an amazing pulled pork served in a small bowl made with a blue corn tortilla garnished with escabeche corn.  We drank the Featured wine a red blend from Cain Winery in northern Napa named Cain Five, a red wine blend.  Lots of wineries are imitating Spanish blends and French red blends this year with American grapes.  The most interesting whites were two Sauvignon Blancs from the southern Edna Valley that were rich big fruity wines with grapefruit flavor overtone, especially the one from Paragon Winery.

There were lots of pastries this year, so we ate pastries with French champagne from Chateau de
Bligny.

We left a little after 7:00 after trying all the wines we wanted to try and too much delicious food.

I liked several Italian red wines.  The Vino Nobile di Montepuliciano and of course the Banfi Brunello were smooth as silk.



A pleasant rather sweet white blend named Obsession from Ironstone Winery in Lodi was interesting, a blend of 85% Symphony and 15% Chenin Blanc grapes.

One of the more interesting food offerings was Savoy’s cold bouillabaisse.  Most wineries were chilling all their wines since the temperature was over 100 degrees.

Bon Appetit

June 22, 2017 Lunch – La Salita.  Dinner – Grilled Teriyaki Ali Tuna, chayote, and Zucchini

Dee and I went to La Salita for lunch at around 2:00.  He ordered cheese enchiladas with refried beans with red chili and thought they were good.  I ordered a chili Relleno with Swiss cheese and refried beans with green chili, which I loved.



  Then we went looking for Tom’s shoes, which turned into a wild goose chase that ended at Wyoming and Paseo del Norte at 4:45.  The traffic was terrible so I decided to go to Gruet Winery for a Tête-de-cuvée tasting.  I think Dee was a little overwhelmed by the variety and slight variations between the different champagnes but that did not diminish his interest in drinking them.  For example, we tasted three different rose’ champagnes, the Brut Rose’ that is 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay and a light red color.  Then the Danielle made by adding 10% by volume of Rose’ still wine to Chardonnay champagne at the second dosage, which produces a darker red and heavier champagne, and then my favorite, Rose’ Sauvage, which is 100% Pinot Noir that is fully fermented with no sugar added to the second dosage, which results in a champagne with no residual sugar, but all the natural fruit flavor of the Pinot Noir grape.
 
At 6:00 when we drove home the roads were still congested.  Dee said this is not nearly as traffic jammed as Austin, where he said you had to get on the side of the river you wanted to be on or you would be stuck on the wrong side of the Colorado River for the next three hours by 4:00.

At 6:00 we arrived home and after a drink we grilled dinner.  I went to the garage and fetched the
 largest chayote I have ever bought and two medium chayote and sliced them  into 1/3 thick slices.  Suzette put salt and pepper and olive oil in a gallon freezer bag and shook it to coat the vegetables with oil.  She then grilled the tuna steaks and the vegetables.
While a Suzette was grilling I sautéed bulgur wheat with raisins, garlic, diced onion, and piñon nuts in a large skillet with butter and olive oil.

When Suzette brought in the grilled vegetables and tuna, I poured a Cotes du Provence Rose’ and we plated and ate inside in order to watch the news.

He tuna was tender yet flaky and the vegetables were soft and lightly charred.  

Bon Appetit

                         The Gruet tasting room

              Dee smelling the bouquet

  

                  The grilled zucchini and tuna steaks

                  The sautéed Bulgar

                     My plate

 

June 21, 2017 Lunch – East Ocean. Dinner – BBQ brisket and sausage, Pinto beans, and corn in the cob

June 21, 2017 Lunch – East Ocean. Dinner – BBQ brisket and sausage, Pinto beans, and corn in the cob

I had a doctor’s appointment at 1:00 so on the way I stopped at East Ocean for a plate of Moo Goo Gai Pan without rice and sweet and sour chicken.

  

After the doctor’s appointment I went to Sprouts for the double Wednesday specials.  I bought nice tuna steaks for $8.99/lb., fresh corn on the Cobb for 5 for $1.00, a 1 lb. box of baby portabella mushrooms for $3.49,  asparagus for $1.98/lb., and a couple other things.

I only ate only half of the lunch, so had a snack of the rest at 5:00.

Suzette was baking Italian Cloud cakes for the Food to Field dinner, so I stayed out of the kitchen, except to make a teriyaki sauce to marinate the tuna steaks with ½ cup each of soy sauce, Aji  mirin, and sake and 1 T. of sugar heated until the sugar goes into solution.  Then I put the tuna in a freezer bag with the teriyaki sauce to marinate in the fridge over night.

   A cloud cake

We did not cook dinner because Dee Simpson was coming in with fresh BBQ from Austin.  At 8:00 we started getting hungry, so I opened a can of cooked pinto beans and heated it in a skillet with sautéed onion and garlic and shucked three ears of the corn and Suzette boiled the corn. Dee arrived at 8:45 with a load of smoked brisket and sausage.  Dee explained that BBQ has become a gourmet Food in Austin.  Texas Monthly has a list of the best BBQ joints in Texas every year and folks line up two hours early for lunch at the best joints in Austin.  Dee also explained that there are two types of brisket; dry and wet.  The dry is smoked a little longer until some of the juices in the fat run out of the meat, while the wet is fully cooked but at a lower temperature, so it retains more of its fat.  This similar to the French preference for undercooking meats, so they retain more of their original flavor.  I never will forget a lunch of Bourg en Bresse chicken, which is considered a delicacy in France, at a highly rated restaurant in Dijon, France when Billy and I and Suzette went with Mother in 2000 that served roasted chicken that was still red at the bone.  Well, the brisket Dee brought was fully cooked but, super moist.  He wanted us to re-heat it in the oven, but we would not wait, so Suzette heated the portion we wanted to eat in the microwave, which Dee said would dry out the meat.  I did not think  the meat was dried out at all.  It was the most tender, succulently moist, and the biggest and thickest slabs of brisket I have ever tasted.  Smoked meat and fat never tasted better.

Here is a picture of the brisket.

Actually I remove the slab of fat encasing the meat that holds the juices in the meat inside the meat, so I do not eat all the fat, just the internal fat mixed in with the meat.

We had a lovely dinner of beans, fresh corn, and brisket and sausage.  Actually the sausage was a little drier and both crumbled to the touch of a fork.

Bon Appetit

June 18, 2017 Brunch – scrambled eggs and bacon Jim Fish’s Memorial. Dinner – Lamb Chops, tzatziki, tabouli and baked sweet potato.

June 18, 2017  Brunch – scrambled eggs and bacon   Jim Fish’s Memorial.  Dinner – Lamb Chops, tzatziki, tabouli and baked sweet potato.

I started the day by eating ½ bagel with slices of Lax, onion, and Roma tomato and watching the Sunday Morning news programs and the Tour of Switzerland final stage.

Then Suzette made scrambled eggs with bacon, garlic and 1\2 of a shallot.

    

Then we rode to Rio Bravo.  It was a warm day by 11:00 when we rode, which caused us to exert a bit more than usual, so we showered and rested when we returned home.  At 2:30 we drove to Anasazi Winery in Placitas for Jim Fish’s Memorial.  There were over 100 persons in a large shed at the winery.  We stayed about an hour during which members of a Placitas poetry society gave readings of poems by and about Jim.  One member sang a newly created song, the verse of which included. Jim Fish was a Renaissance man.  Jim was a Renaissance man.  I met him when he and Doug Scott helped Roger Alink and me create the Wildlife West Animal Park in Edgewood in the early 80’s.  I would talk to him at Vine and Wine Society tastings of his Anasazi Vineyards’ wines over the years.  His wine progressed from fully dry fruit wines to blends of fruit wine and grape wine.  Today I tasted a lovely light cherry and Syrah blend.  Folks brought dishes.  We ate chunks of chicken, spiced beef, slices of chicken and roast beef rolled around a soft white cheese, and salad.

    

Suzette made me split a delicious chocolate chip cookie.

After the poetry ended we drove back home  and I rested a bit.  Then  Suzette pitted and cooked the apricots we had picked from Megan's tree yesterday with a bit of sugar.  



At 5:30 I woke up when Willy called to tell me that he was coming over at 6:00.  Suzette sliced the red sweet potato and dotted the top of the slices with butter and placed them in a Pyrex loaf pan with a bit of water , covered the pan with Saran and baked the sweet potato in the microwave oven.

I then began pitting the four types of cherries Suzette had bought at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday from growers from Chimayo with the help first of Willy and then Suzette who pulled the stems out of the cherries, so I could easily pit them.

I added about 2 T. of cognac to the cherries and covered them with Saran Wrap and put them in the fridge.

We then ate dinner.  Suzette heated three of the lamb chops and we each served ourselves tzatziki and tabouli and the baked sweet potato slices.

I fetched a bottle of H & H Chateaunuef du Pape.  The wine was lovely light yet complex.

Clafoutis

After dinner I made the clafoutis.  I started by buttering a ceramic baking dish ad then coating the butter with sugar.  Then I scalded three cups of milk and 1/3 cup of heavy cream.  While the milk was heating, I measured 6 T. of flour, ½ tsp. of salt, and 10 T. of powdered sugar into a large mixing owl.  I then added four eggs and beat them into the dry ingredients.  Then I added the scalded milk in three or four pours and stirred to uniformly mix it into the batter.  Finally I poured the batter into the buttered baking dish and then the cherries.  I placed the baking dish on a baking tray into a 375 degree oven and baked the custard for 50 minutes.  At the end of 50 minutes, the middle was firm and the top a golden brown, so I knew it was fully cooked.  The combination of yellow, blush red, dark purple, and blush yellow cherries made a particularly lovely clafoutis.

We ate bowls of clafoutis for dessert topped with whipped cream and watched several episodes of Silicon Valley on HBO.

Bon Appetit

June 19, 2017 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner – PPIs

June 19, 2017 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner – PPIs

A rather sporadic day of food.  I ate a bagel and then rode to Campbell Rd. against a pretty strong headwind.  I consider myself a recreational bike rider, which means I do not overly tax my body pushing hard into heavy headwinds.  Instead I try to enjoy the exercise of riding as much as possible.  One interesting thing did occur on this morning’s ride a huge cottonwood fell across the bike path just north of the botanic gardens that had to be circumnavigated.

When I returned home I showered and then met with Bill Turner and Sally, and then went to a podiatrist appointment at 11:00.

After the appointment I drove to Trader Joe’s and bought 11 bottles of wine and a bottle of cognac.  The 2016 Crayon rose’ has finally arrived, so I bought two bottles of that, plus a Brunello di Montalcino, a Chablis, a bottle of Amontillado sherry, two bottles of Ferme Julien rose, and the rest were the usual suspects.  Dollar for dollar, Trader Joe’s offers the best wines for the best prices in Albuquerque.

I then met Willy at Azuma for lunch.  He ordered his favorite Japanese dish, Sukiyaki beef from the teppan grill.  I remember his birthdays when he was young, when we would get a group of his friends and go to Samurai and sit around a teppan grill and order lunches for him and his friends.

Here is the Chirashi Donburi I ordered and a picture of Willy waiting for his teppan lunch.

Suzette came home feeling sick at 5:00 and rested in front of the TV while I met with Aaron about the Romanian wine business.

At 6:30 when I finished my meeting she was still sleeping, so I heated the PPI spinach and eggplant lasagna from Friday’s lunch at Mario’s and ate that.

Then I asked her if she wanted to split the PPI Chirashi Donburi.

I divided the Sashimi and we ate it as a light dinner.

We watched the Antiques Roadshows, which included the 2002 Albuquerque edition.

I was still hungry, so I ate a few bites of tabouli and then a few bites of clafoutis.



Then we went to bed.

A rather uneventful day, food wise.

Bon Appetit

June 17, 2017 Brunch – Dungeness Crab with Asparagus and Snow Peas. Dinner Party – Cheese Ball and red Pepper Hummus and olives, White Gazpacho, Tzatziki, Tabouli, and grilled lamb chops

June 17, 2017 Brunch – Dungeness Crab with Asparagus and Snow Peas.  Dinner Party – Cheese Ball and red Pepper Hummus and olives, White Gazpacho, Tzatziki, Tabouli, and grilled lamb chops

I ate some yogurt and fruit salad and ½ bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.  Then at 10:00 we walked to the Farmers’ Market.  Suzette bought tomatoes and oyster mushrooms.

 We returned home a little after 11:00 and decided to eat the Dungeness crab I bought at Costco yesterday.  I made a pleasant sauce that was both a cocktail sauce and also a mayonnaise sauce, by adding mayo and minced shallot to horseradish, catsup, and lemon juice.  The addition of mayo gave the sauce a creaminess that eliminated the grittiness of the flecks of horseradish.

I had had a wonderful fish monger at Costco.   I asked for the largest  crab and we visually picked the three we thought were the biggest.  Then he weighed each of the three crabs to determine which weighed the most.  I cleaned the crab and broke it in half, while Suzette went to the garden and picked fresh snow peas and steamed them with asparagus.  Then she steamed the vegetables and crab and I peeled an avocado and cut a tomato and we placed them on plates.

Suzette poured sauce into two small ramekins and placed one each on a plate while I poured glasses of Crayon Rose (Trader Joe’s $5.99).  We carried a plate and glass to the table under the gazebo in the garden.  We loved the crab and fresh steamed vegetables.  For once it seemed like we ate our fill of crab.  By the time we gagged down the last bite of the delicious tender white lump meat I could say, I had more than enough crab.”  We were also happy that we had eaten a low carb delicious meal.
 

                  

  We then drove to Corrales so Suzette could buy.   wine for the Field to Food event to be held on June 24 at 7:00.  I believe this year’s event will be the best ever. It will feature a roasted heirloom pig and pears, plus all the other usual locally grown ingredients, like beef pate and vegetarian lasagna.  This year the dessert will be Italian cloud cake, which if you have not eaten, you will love.

We first stopped at Corrales Winery, where Suzette bought six bottles of a lovely light Riesling.  We next drove to Milagros and tasted Richard’s new Rose made with Pinot Noir grapes from the vineyard on the east side of I-25 just north of the Placitas exit.  Richard said he had helped advise Santa Ana Pueblo regarding the construction of the vineyard that is raising grapes for Gruet Winery.  Richard said he wanted to make a true Rose’ and there were leftover Pinot Noir grapes that he was able to obtain.  The difference between a true rose’ and the usual rose’s is the usual rose’s are made from up to 20% of the juice that is bled off the leas when the grapes are crushed, whereas a true rose’ uses all of the grape production to make rose’ from start to finish.  Richard’s rose actually had an amber color, instead of pink.  It also had and intensely fruity flavor.  We liked it and I bought the bottle he opened for us to try. Suzette also bought 6 rose’s and 6 gruner veltliners.

We then drove to Pasando Tiempo and tried their wines.  Suzette liked their Cabernet Sauvignon and bought 6 bottles of it.

We then drove to Sprouts at Alameda and Coors, where we bought parsley, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, horseradish, and olive oil.

We drove home,  showered and then began cooking at about 4:00.

Tabouli

I drained the bulgur wheat that had been soaking and swelling up most of the day. I chopped 1 ½ cucumbers, seven or eight green onions, while Suzette ran two bunches of parsley through the food processor.  I diced two of the tomatoes Suzette had bought at the farmer’s market and we added those ingredients to the drained bulgur plus juice of 1 ½ lemons, a bit of salt, and three T. of olive oil to made the tabouli.

Tzatziki

I then chop ped 1 ½ cucumbers, three cloves of fresh garlic pressed, 2 T. of fresh dill, to which Suzette added 17 oz. of Kirtland’s Greek style yogurt plus lemon juice and a bit of salt to make tzatziki.

Cynthia and Ricardo came at 5:45 and Debbie and Jeff soon after.

I served rose’s, starting with the opened Milagro Rose’ and then the open Crayon rose’ from Languedoc.  Then I opened the two 2016 Cotes Du Provence Rose’s I had bought at Total Wine.  I did not like either of the 2016s as well as either the 2015 Crayon or the Milagro.  Debbie and Jeff brought a bottle of Carnivore Cabernet Sauvignon plus a lovely green onion cheese ball with a soft blue cheese, a red pepper hummus, olives, and crackers.  Cynthia and Ricardo brought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and a white gazpacho with sliced almonds and halved white grapes.  Here is the recipe.

After appetizers we went outside and sat under the gazebo and ate gazpacho.  Then we went back inside to serve ourselves grilled lamb chops, tzatziki, and tabouli and took the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon out to the gazebo.

We ate and talked until 9:30 without the mention of the word dessert.

After a pleasant evening of food and conversation we said goodnight around 10:00.

Bon Appetit

 


Tzatziki

I then chopped 1 ½ cucumbers, three cloves of fresh garlic pressed, 2 T. of fresh dill, to which Suzette added 17 oz. of Kirtland’s Greek style yogurt plus lemon juice and a bit of salt to make tzatziki.

Cynthia and Ricardo came at 5:45 and Debbie and Jeff soon after.

I served rose’s, starting with the opened Milagro Rose’ and then the open Crayon rose’ from Languedoc.  Then I opened the two 2016 Cotes Du Provence Rose’s I had bought at Total Wine.  I did not like either of the 2016s as well as either the 2015 Crayon or the Milagro.  Debbie and Jeff brought a bottle of Carnivore Cabernet Sauvignon plus a lovely green onion cheese ball with a soft blue cheese, a red pepper hummus, olives, and crackers.  Cynthia and Ricardo brought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and a white gazpacho with sliced almonds and halved white grapes.  Here is the recipe.

 

 

After appetizers we went outside and sat under the gazebo and ate gazpacho.  Then we went back inside to serve ourselves grilled lamb chops, tzatziki, and tabouli and took the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon out to the gazebo.

We ate and talked until 9:30 without the mention of the word dessert.

After a pleasant evening of food and conversation we said goodnight around 10:00.

Bon Appetit

June 16, 2017 Lunch – Mario’s Dinner – Grilled Halibut, Potato and Squash slices and Asparagus.

June 16, 2017  Lunch – Mario’s  Dinner – Grilled Halibut, Potato and Squash slices and Asparagus.

Today we rode to Rio Bravo and back at a good clip.  We seem to be getting into better shape.  Suzette has lost about five pounds and the quality of our diet does not seem to have suffered.  We have both given up sweets and bad carbs, such as rice and white breads.

Today I went to lunch with Peter Eller.  He wanted to go to Mario’s on 4th, just north of Montano.  When we arrived I immediately noticed the jewel box appeal of the restaurant’s brightly colored tiled exterior in green, red, and white; the colors of the Italian flag.  The inside was spacious and not very crowded at noon when we arrived.  There were two lunch specials.  We each ordered one.  Peter ordered the the sole stuffed with crab, shrimp, and scallops with linguine in alfredo sauce and I ordered the lasagna with spinach and eggplant.  We had a waiter with a rather drab personality who did not seem very smart both followed our instructions promptly.  I ordered minestrone with my lasagna, but when I saw the large salads being served I ran back to the kitchen just before the waiter served my soup and changed my order to salad.  The salads were a lovely mix of red cabbage, grape tomatoes, mixed lettuces, including organic greens.  I ordered Italian dressing and enjoyed it very much.  Peter ordered ranch dressing, which was so so.  Our waiter apologized for the twenty to thirty minute wait for our entrée, by saying the restaurant was down to only one chef.

When the entrees came they were well plated.  My lasagna was piping hot but Peter had to send his back to be heated again to warm it to his liking.  As Peter said, “There is nothing so bad as cold sole.”  His sole was served in a rollade, with the sole wrapped around the stuffing.

My lasagna was served in an oblong deep dish heavily sauced with a rather acidic tomato sauce that seemed to have recently been taken from a can.  It did not have any of the freshness of the tomato sauce I made last week with fresh Roma tomatoes and fresh oregano and garlic from our garden but the composition of noodles, eggplant, melted mozzarella cheese and spinach was quite tasty, even in the heavy tomato sauce.  I guess I was hungry.

After lunch we drove to Costco.  Peter shopped for a Pinot Grigio and chose an Italian Santa Margherita bottle for $16.99.  I bought sugar pills, spinach, and could not resist the lovely crabs for $7.99/lb. and fresh halibut for $11.99.  The crabs were large and I found a perfect piece of halibut that had two large lobes of meat without the central bones, just a small dorsal bone.  I also bought a ten ream box of xerox paper.

I took Peter home and the went home and unloaded the groceries in time to meet with my new clients who needed a corporation and documentation for acquiring a business.

I finished by 4:00 so was able to watch Jim Cramer’s analysis of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, which is a “game changer”.

I guess I will need to sell my Sprouts stock.

Suzette arrived around 5:15 just after I lay down to rest.  She was hungry, so we decided to cook.  I did not shop much this week, so had a limited array of ingredients.  We cobbled together and old Mexican Squash, a russet potato, and some stalks of asparagus.  We sliced the squash and potato lengthwise to make slices about 1/3 inch thick and Suzette dosed the asparagus, potato, and squash with olive oil and inserted a slice of lemon and dab of butter in incision she made in each of the two lobes of halibut and grilled the ingredients.  I poured the last of the PPI bottle of La Granja white wine into glasses (Avery pleasant tasting wine with the acidity of the 70% Verdejo and body of the 30% Viura from Spain, $4.99 at Trader Joe’s).

In about fifteen minutes Suzette brought the grilled items in from the grill wrapped in foil.  She has really perfected her grilling techniques to allow the items to finish cooking fish by wrapping it in foil to preserve as much of its fresh juices as possible.

Suzette loved the fresh halibut.  I liked mine but I thought the last piece we had last Tuesday was a little better because it had more of the internal juices intact perhaps my piece tonight was a little more cooked.

We plated the items and watched the News Hour inside because I wanted to see Brooks and Shields’ commentary.   Brooks was very pointed in his comments, saying that the President lacked the mental capacity to be the leader of our country.  He does not have normal reactions to stimuli and can not create consensus.

Alas it looks like our country is headed down a rocky road for a while.

The awful thought I had after the terrible shooting at the Republican baseball practice on Thursday was if the assault on the Republican congressmen was caused by one slightly unhinged desperate Bernie supporter who had lost his job, what can we expect if the Republicans pass a healthcare reform bill that eliminates medical coverage from millions of people.  The cries of persons who are saying that government medical coverage (Obamacare) is the only thing keeping them alive, may turn to the same kind of desperate action if that medical coverage is eliminated, especially for a tax cut for the rich.  Things could get very nasty.

Later Suzette served us small bowls of strawberry sorbet she made with frozen strawberries and honey.  It was delicious and satisfied my craving for something sweet.  I am finding that it is better to go cold turkey on sweets and give them up completely because just a little will create the craving for more.  We do cheat a bit and take bites it Nutella mixed with peanut butter as between meal snacks.

Bon Appetit

June 15, 2017 Lunch – East Ocean. Dinner – New Recipe PPI Sautéed Octopus and Vegetables In Mornay Sauce

June 15, 2017  Lunch – East Ocean. Dinner – New Recipe  PPI Sautéed Octopus and Vegetables In Mornay Sauce

I met Robert Pidcock for lunch at East Ocean.  Robert is a vegetarian, so ordering was easy.  We ordered Mixed Vegetables with Fried Tofu ($7.95) with rice.

We went to Costco at 2:30 and nibbled our way around the store, as we bought Brie cheese, goat cheese, blueberries, strawberries, lamb chops, and Greek yogurt.

We had decided to re-work the PPI Octopus and vegetables into a new dish for dinner.  While I met with a client and settled a case, Suzette created a new dish; Sautéed Octopus and Vegetables in Mornay Sauce Au gratin.

She made a Béchamel and added grated Comte cheesehead added the octopus and vegetables.  Then she made bread crumbs.  I fetched a Le Creuset baking dish from the basement and we put the octopus and cream sauce in the enameled dish and then spread the buttered bread crumbs on the top.  Then Suzette broiled the dish in the oven until the bread crumbs browned.

I was dicing French bread to make another batch of croutons, so Suzette went to the garage fridge and fetched a bottle of 2015 Ferme Julien Rose’.  I love Ferme Julien.  It is a delicious Rose and costs only $5.99 at Trader Joe’s.  God bless the Perrin Family and Trader Joe’s for making a really good rose’ affordable in the U.S.

I heated penne pasta and served my octopus mornay over pasta.  Suzette is being really good and ate her dinner without pasta.

           Garnishing the top of the baking dish with bread crumbs

I was hungry tonight and ate some fruit salad and yogurt later.

Bon Appetit