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
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