December 23, 2017 Lunch – Sandy Buffet ‘s Open House Dinner at Willy’s apartment

December 23, 2017 Lunch – Sandy Buffet ‘s Open House   Dinner at Willy’s apartment

I started with a sweet lime juice and honey in hot water.  I nibbled as I cooked, heating the duck posole and making my chocolate dessert.

Here is the recipe and a picture of me filling the buttered and sugared molds.

  Suzette added some ground cinnamon to keep the Mexican theme going.

I put the puddings on the top rack too near the heat source and they scorched a bit.

We then showered and dressed and at 11:15 walked across the street to Sandy’s for her open house.  She had Santa Claus visiting from the North Pole.  I know because we talked and we took a picture together.

Sandy served a chicken green Chile stew and tamales.  Of course there were lots of good looking desserts including boxes and trays of Buffet’s candies.  I ate a bowl of stew with a tamale and drank a beer with it.  Tim Keller was in attendance with his family.  It appears that we now have a new generation of families with young children moving into the neighborhood, which is quite wonderful.


We then drove to Walgreen’s to buy luminaries candles and the El Super for black beans, fresh epazote, and potatoes.

We then drove to Costco where we bought apple juice, corn, half and half, heavy cream, and Reddi-whip whipped cream.

When we returned home at 3:00 I made the negrus for the mulled wine with 5 cups of sugar 3 cups of water plus 6 cinnamon sticks, three crushed nutmegs, about 50 whole cloves and the zest from four sweet limes, one lemon, and two large navel oranges.  I simmered the syrup for about twenty minutes until 4:00 when I took a nap until almost 6:00 when we spoke to Willy and he invited us to his apartment for dinner.  

Willy fixed Irish Stew with Guinness Stout.  We took the bag of potatoes and Willy and Suzette made mashed potatoes.  We took a bottle of 2011 Marquis de Caceres 2011 Reserva, which turned out to not bee a great bottle of wine, or more aptly, we have been drinking such good wine lately, it paled in comparison.  I bought the Reserva at Total Wine but do not recall when or its price.

Later I ate some yogurt with poached pears and we went to bed at 9:00.

Bon Appetit