September 23, 2017 Lunch – Squash Noodle Enchilada Casserole, Dinner – 30th Anniversary of The Center For Ageless Living

September 23, 2017 Lunch – Squash Noodle Enchilada Casserole,  Dinner – 30th Anniversary of The Center For Ageless Living

Today I started with ½ bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with whitefish and a slice of sweet onion with a hot chocolate.

At 1:00 I heated a wedge of PPI Squash Noodle Enchilada Casserole garnished with a dab of sour cream and a few slices of avocado and drank a New Belgium beer with it.

Gravad Lax

Before lunch I also made Gravad Lax by combining 2/3 cup of salt, ½ cup of sugar, and about ½ tsp. of freshly ground black pepper in a mixing bowl and then coating all four sides of two salmon filets with the mixture and placing them in a baking dish that held the filets snugly with layers of fresh dill weed that Suzette brought home on the top, bottom and in the middle between the two filets.  Since I had already cut and cleaned the salmon filets and placed them in an appropriately sized dish the process of mixing the dry ingredients and layering them on the salmon required only about ten minutes.

At 2:00 we drove to Los Lunas and I helped Suzette set up for her 30th Anniversary Party with the help of about a dozen employees.  I just opened and positioned pieces of coral on the two serving tables, set up the two Paella cooking burners and trays, and placed vases of sunflowers on dining tables.  The kitchen staff prepped and cooked the meal, which was baked paella, fresh oysters garnished with either mignonette sauce or cocktail sauce, and bread pudding in the kitchen. Then the food was brought to the food line where the two Paella stations were located.  There were two other tents set up; one for beverages were water, iced tea, and champagne were served and another at the end of the Paella line where the fresh oysters were served.  Suzette made a large sign for the oyster serving tent that read “Oyster Shack”.

I recognized and said hello to several staff members from the spa and sat with Pavlov's, Suzette’s financial adviser, and Carolyn, her TV ad sales person.  Pavlov's talked about working in his family’s diner in Carlsbad in his youth and Carolyn discussed her days of being a wine rep in California.

At 4:15 the attendant staff assisted about twenty clients to two long tables and the other nine or ten tables began filling up with family and guests while the “Up the Creek “ band tuned up and set the sound levels on its amplifiers.

At 4:30 the band started playing and one tray of fresh oysters with either mignonette garnished with fresh micro-grated lemon peel and another with oysters garnished with cocktail sauce.  Large containers of Paella were ladled into the Paella pans and the gas burners were lit to keep the Paella hot and food and beverage service began.
It was a very merry atmosphere with lots of good cheer, champagne guzzling, and eating.  Many people danced as the band played an assortment of music.  Suzette gave pearl jewelry to all the employees and thanked them for their service and read a poem.

The party was scheduled to last from 4:30 to 6:30, but when we left at 6:45 the band was still playing and people were dancing.  I consider the party a huge success.

We drove to the NHCC for the second night of music.  It had rained so the acts on the open air stage set up in the Plaza Mayor were delayed so we were able to hear one of the divas and her band from Argentina that we thought we would miss and then stayed until 11:00.  My favorite was a four person band named DDAT that was actually from NM that included a Navajo rapper and trumpet player, who were amazing.  I concluded immediately that the linguistic requirements to speak Navajo, must train one’s mouth to handle delicate nuances of sound masterfully.

The group Suzette liked the best was a six man choir from the country of Georgia in the Caucus Mountains who sang and accompanied themselves with small ukulele type instruments and small flutes they said were traditionally played by shepherds.

It was a busy and fun day of food and music.

Bon Appetit