November 12, 2017 Breakfast – Breakfast Burrito. Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner – Sautéed Pork November 12, 2017 Breakfast – Breakfast Burrito. Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner – Sautéed Pork Chop, Bulgar Wheat with Pistachios, and raisins and steamed string beans

November 12, 2017 Breakfast – Breakfast Burrito. Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner – Sautéed Pork November 12, 2017 Breakfast – Breakfast Burrito. Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner – Sautéed Pork Chop, Bulgar Wheat with Pistachios, and raisins and steamed string beans

Today was a rest day after all the activity of going to the art auction in Santa Fe yesterday.

I started by watching the news.  The State of the Union with Brad Tapper at 7:00 a.m. On CNN was the most compelling event of the day; an interview of former Director of NSA James Clapper and former CIA director John Brennan, whose warnings about Russian interference in American politics could not be any clearer.  It became clear why President Trump called CNN fake news, ithe truths it tells could not be more damaging to his false image of himself.

While the news was on I peeled and diced a small potato and ½ of a small onion and three cloves of garlic, which I sautéed in butter and olive oil.  I then added about 1/3 lb. of PPI steak and sliced and added two mushrooms, a dash of salt, pepper, oregano, and taco seasoning and then beat three eggs and added them and turned it once to cook both sides and then let the whole thing cook until it turned into a large pancake sort of thing while I toasted a flour tortilla and poured a glass of Clamato juice and squeezed the juice of a lime into it.

I wrapped the tortilla around pieces of about ½ of the egg pancake and then doused the top of the rolled tortilla with Cholula hot sauce and ate a wonderful breakfast.

I read and napped until 1:30, when I decided to make a miso soup with noodles.  I filled a pot ¾ full of water and began adding ingredients, including Chinese rice cooking wine, sesame oil, the dipping sauce from the Potsticker bag, the last three potstickers, a small handful of dried Lilly flowers, a handful of string beans, three mushrooms sliced, dried chicken stock,  dried dashi, a heaping T. of red miso, 7 or 8 small shrimp, three kinds of noodles, crumbled dried seaweed, and about 5 oz. of diced firm tofu.  While I simmered the soup for 20 minutes, I cut a green onion into thin slices.  I made green tea and ate two bowls of soup garnished with green onion while I watched the Cowboys play Atlanta.

The soup

I

then put on my biking clothes and rode 10 miles to Montano and back.

When I returned home at 4:00 ish I watched the rest of the football game until 60 Minutes came on at 6:00 and then began cooking dinner.

Bulgar

I took 1\ 2 cup of pistachios out of their shells.  Then I sliced and diced ½ small onion and three cloves of garlic.

Then I sautéed the onion and garlic and 1 ½ cups of number 3 Bulgar in a skillet with 1 T. each of heated butter and olive oil until it began to take on color.

I then added ¼ cup each of dried golden raisins, black raisins and cranberries and the pistachios and sautéed that for a minute or two while I heated 3 cups of water in a pot.

When the water was hot I added the Bulgar mixture and covered and simmered the mixture for 40 minutes until the water evaporated and the Bulgar softened.  This took a bit of watching the level of water.  I actually poured off some water and cooked the Bulgar without a lid on the pot and watched it, which makes me believe that I used too much water initially.

I had set the timer for 30 minutes, but after that time expired there was still water covering the Bulgar, so I poured off enough water to expose the top of the Bulgar and cooked it without a lid and watched it to make sure it did not burn.  Finishing the Bulgar in this manner reminds me of something my mother used to say, “when there is a problem with a recipe is when the real cooks start cooking.”

When the water began to evaporate I started steaming the green beans and sautéing two cloves of garlic sliced into thin slices in a bit more olive oil in the skillet and added the pork chop.  I steamed the green beans 8 minutes and then turned off the heat to them and sautéed the 1 inch thick pork chop about five minutes per side until the meat was a light pink.

I then plated dinner and poured a glass of 2016 Emma Reichert Rose’, my new found favorite at Trader Joe’s  at $4.99 a bottle and watched the Durrells in Corfu, my new favorite PBS Masterpiece series.

Bon Appetit




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