December 12, 2017 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup and Clam Chowder. Dinner - Hamburger helper with Ground beef, poblano Chile, red onion, garlic, tomatoes, asparagus, and sliced daikon with PPI Roasted Root vegetables.

December 12, 2017 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup and Clam Chowder. Dinner -  Hamburger helper with Ground beef, poblano Chile, red onion, garlic, tomatoes, asparagus, and sliced daikon with PPI Roasted Root vegetables.

I ate my usual granola, yogurt, milk, and blueberries for breakfast as I watched the market take off again.

Then at 10:90 I went for my semi-annual check up with my doctor today and got a pretty favorable assessment.  I had to wait an hour so did not finish until after 12:00.  I drove home hungry and decided to make a quick lunch by heating the PPI Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup from yesterday and add a can of clam chowder t it.  The result was very successful. The combination of the two soups produced a light milk base clam chowder with lots of noodles and good meat flavor fro m the pork sausage and slices of beef meatball.

I watch the market finish with a huge ½ point gain on the Dow but my portfolio experienced a much more modest gain of $450.00 as oil and the FANG stocks sank and I had no big winners like the biomedical stocks yesterday.

I napped from 2:40 to 3:40 and the dressed with four layers on top and two on bottom as I watched the first ten minutes of Mad Money and discovered that the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s movie assets will be approved, which made me want to buy some more Disney stock.

I then rode to Montano and back. When I returned home at 5:15 Suzette was home from her big day at a seminar in Santa Fe and last minute shopping for her trip to Pennsylvania for her dad’s funeral.

I offered to cook dinner.  We had a 1 ½ lb. chunk of ground beef in the fridge, so I decided to make another goulash.  I first diced a small red onion, ½ of a poblano pepper and seven or eight cloves of garlic.

Then I diced three Roma tomatoes.  Willy arrived at this time and I asked him to help by shelling 1/3 cup of peanuts.

I then sautéed the onion and chili in our large cast iron skillet for about ten minutes on moderately high heat while I diced four stalks of PPI steamed asparagus and the PPI daikon slices from our sashimi meal Sunday night.

Then I added the ground beef to the skillet and sautéed the meat until it change to a Grey color and then added the diced tomatoes and cooked them into the mixture and added Mexican oregano, ground cumin and salt and pepper and then the diced asparagus and daikon.  I did not add taco seasoning tonight.

Suzette, “What about adding cheese?” as she handed me the wedge of Pecorino Romano cheese.  I sliced slices of cheese and lay them on top of the mixture in the skillet and let the cheese melt.

When Willy finished shelling the peanuts we roasted them some more in a small non-stick skillet until they were golden brown and then we crushed them with the side of a cleaver and chopped them into pieces with the cleaver blade.  I then sliced an avocado and heated the PPI Roasted Vegetables from last night’s meal and served everything buffet style.

We fetched Modelo beers and had a fresh, hot, hearty meal.  The dish was a little dry, I.e. it lacked a saucy texture, which I attribute to cooking it at a higher heat, which evaporated the cooking liquids.

I liked it almost as much as the one I made last week.

I was really excited that I had gotten control of the threat of diabetes, so I toasted slices of Fano baguette and opened a bottle of Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir (Trader Joe’s for $4.99) and spread Brie cheese on the slices of bread and washed it down with Pinot.

We watched the election returns from Alabama’s special election to fill the seat opened up by Trump’s appointment of Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General and when it became evident that Doug Jones would win at around 8:45 I celebrated by heating a Swedish punch roller and washing it down with a couple of cups of Earl Grey tea with milk.

I have begun thinking about Donald Trump’s world view and tonight I had the strong feeling that Donald Trump and Steve Brannon must be thinking that the Gods are conspiring against them because their  selection of Jeff Sessions for Attorney General did not turn out well and initiated the process which resulted in Mueller’s investigation, got another Democrat in the senate, and increased the pressure on Trump from his sexual misconduct because  they supported a person to replace Sessions who was an alleged sexual predator on young women.

After a wonderful day, I went to bed at 9:20 after Willy left and Doug Jones gave his acceptance speech.

Bon Appetit

P.S. when I wake up during the night as I did tonight I have been drinking cups of hot water with the juice of a sweet lime and a tsp. of  local honey, which helps me clear my nose and throat.  I have become fond of it and will miss the sweet limes when they go out of season.  I bought 4 lb. of them at El Super last Wednesday for $.69/lb., so should have a good supply through the end of the year.