This morning Ioana, Aaron, and I drove to Santa Fe for a 10:00 hearing at the Alcohol and Gaming Division for approval of the Wholesaler License for New Mexico for VinDacia. The hearing went well. Aaron had to return to Albuquerque, so we returned after the meeting. I asked Ioana if she wanted to go to lunch and she said, “Yes.” We discussed options and I suggested East Ocean. She said she had not been there in a long time but would like to try it again. So we drove there separately. Ioana said she liked seafood.
I asked, “Do you like clams?”
She said, “I love clams!”
So I ordered Manila Clams in a Szechuan Sauce for $9.95 and Fried tofu with mixed vegetables from the dinner menu for $7.50. The waitress asked if we wanted rice and said that rice was extra. Ioana said she was not eating rice, so we did not order rice. We were served hot tea, which we both drank voraciously. Soon the waitress brought two heaping platters to our table, one filled to overflowing with clams in Szechuan Sauce and the other filled with large flat cubes of tofu and the same multitude of vegetables that one gets with Moo Goo Gai Pan, sections of baby corn, bok choy cabbage, onion, water chestnut, bamboo shoots, fresh snow peas, and mushroom slices. In a thickened chicken broth Mandarin sauce. I love this combination of vegetables.
Ioana loves spicy food. She loved the Szechuan Sauce, which I found a little too spicy for my taste today. I ate a few clams after removing the flakes and seeds of red Szechuan pepper. Ioana devoured the rest of the clams and even scooped up much of the remaining sauce with a spoon. She clearly thought the Szechuan Sauce was the best part of the meal. I enjoyed the fried tofu and vegetables and ate a lot of it, but we were unable to eat all of it and I boxed the remaining small pile. Ma, the owner and chef, came by the table while we were eating and I introduced Ioana to him. He said he was going back to Hong Kong for a visit this year. I had previously told Ioana that East Ocean is my favorite Chinese seafood restaurant because Ma is a real Hong Kong trained seafood chef. She loved Lunch and said she would return.
We were invited to Cynthia and Ricardo’s house for dinner, which was lucky because I had to work until almost 6:30 reviewing closing documentation for the sale of a hotel. I grabbed a bottle of Chateau Haut Sorillon red Bordeaux Superiore wine and Suzette took the PPI gazpacho and we drove over. Ruth and Melissa joined us for dinner.
The menu was shrimp coctel, black bean, corn and mixed vegetable salad, Mexican rice and Grilled NY strip steaks.
We ate at the table on the patio. It was fun listening to all of Melissa and Ruth’ stories. We started with bowls of gazpacho. Then Cynthia brought new bowls and the coctel was served. The coctel was boiled shrimp and chopped avocado in a liquid made with salsa, Clamato and lime juice. I loved it.
Then Ricardo grilled the steaks on the new grill in the outdoor kitchen area he recently completed constructing. I took the darkest most charred steak and it was delicious, cooked to medium rare. Melissa brought a bottle of Rose’ and a bottle of red, both from Costco and both quite good. Ricardo had selected a bottle of Bogle Phantom, which is mostly Petit Syrah and really lovely. I drank a glass of rose with the soup and a glass of Phantom with the steak.
Cynthia made a lovely, healthy dessert of mango ice cream with fresh fruit. We are all on this craze to lose weight and seem to be outdoing each other to create low calorie healthy dishes. We all agreed that Cynthia’s chard custard from a week ago was the best dish so far.
We talked and ate and drank until after 10:00.
Melissa thanked us for making her last night in Albuquerque so pleasant. She was returning to New York the next morning.
I loved the evening. A big steak dinner really connects me to my Texas roots.
Bon Appetit
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