Buddy had never been to Amerasia for Dim Sun, so we went today. When the cart came around the first we selected deep fried beef and garlic dumplings and I ordered my two favorites, deep fried tofu stuffed with black wood ear and shitake mushrooms in a broth served in a soup cup and 2 steamed buns filled with BBQ pork and sweet bean paste delivered within the next cart full of fresh dumplings from which we selected steamed dumplings filled with chopped chicken and peanuts and steamed pork and ginger dumplings,
We used chopsticks and our fingers to dip the dumplings into the sauce we made by mixing red chili oil with soy sauce. All thought of decorum evaporated as we dipped, ate, and licked our fingers as we gobbled down the dumplings. It was fun.
At 2:30 when we returned from lunch I saw Charlie and his retired doctor friend getting ready to ride, so at 3:00 after the final bell on a day that saw the largest point drop in the Dow, I decided to ride my bike to Rio Bravo. It was a near perfect day, sunny, warm but not hot with a mild breeze, a joy to ride, especially after four days off the bike.
I thawed three beef patties before I left to ride and when I returned I took a small nap and then at 5:00 called Willy to invite him to dinner and request that he drive the Prius over so I could go to Lowe’s for milk.
I then rinsed and punched holes in three russet potatoes and roasted them into a 400 degree oven. When Willy arrived he took off for a ride on Luke’s bike and I drove to Lowe’s for milk ($2.50), 6 small avocados for $.25 each, broccoli crowns ($1.29/lb., cilantro ($.39/bunch) and bananas ($.59/lb.).
When I returned home I received a call from Suzette saying she would be delayed due to an intake interview at Pres. and to expect her at 7:00.
Willy returned and helped me a bit after 6:00 by making guacamole with four of the avocados, chopped yellow onion and cilantro and juice of 1 ½ lime, while I sliced the last four mushrooms and chopped two shallots and two cloves of garlic. I went to the garden and picked small handfuls of thyme and sage and stripped the leaves from the thyme and sliced the sage leaves into strips and added them to the mushroom pile. I then de-stemmed the flowerets from a large crown of broccoli and asked Willy to cut the bases off a small bag of baby Brussel Sprouts I found in the fridge, which I then cut in halves to cook more quickly and put the broccoli flowerets and the Brussel Sprouts in the basket of the steamer and fill it to the level of the basket’s bottom with water and put it on the stove ready to steam.
Then I sliced two onions into eight ½ inch thick slices. When Suzette arrived I grabbed two large skillets. I put about 1 T. of olive oil into each and then added 2 T. of butter to the skillet intended for the mushrooms and onions as turned on the heat under the steamer.
I lay the beef patties and three onion slices into the iron skillet and the mushrooms and the other five onion slices into the non-stick skillet with the added butter. After about five minutes I flipped the burgers and the onion slices and asked if anyone wanted cheese on their hamburger. Both Suzette answered in the affirmative so I took the small wedge of Stilton remaining from Christmas and sheared the unsightly edges off and then sliced five or six 1/8 inch thick slices and lay them on the
hamburgers. Willy wanted his cheese melted so he fetched the wok cover and covered the skillet and turned down the heat.
At 7:15 when the onions began to brown and the cheese melted I ran to the basement for a bottle of 2015 Chateau Haut Sorillon, my favorite wine with hamburgers, because it is an award winning 87 point rated Bordeaux Superieur that Trader Joe’s sells for $7.00 or $8.00.
In the haste to finish the four elements of the meal simultaneously and fetch and pour the wine, I forgot about the baked potatoes, especially since the four fresh ingredients (cheese burgers, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions and steamed Brussels Sprouts and broccoli) plus the fresh guacamole Willy had made filled our plates and satisfied our hunger.
It was a lovely light meal. I had warmed the pitcher of Béarnaise sauce beside the stove to loosen but not burst the sauce and I spread it on the steamed broccoli and ate alternating bites of steamed vegetables with forkfuls of sliced mushrooms, guacamole, and/or grilled onion with pieces of the hamburger that was cooked to medium rare perfection.
I loved the meal, forgetting completely about a starchy old potato and the loss of wealth in the stock market. Perhaps a breakfast burrito is in our future.
After dinner I shared with Willy the last of the marvelous mousse we bought at Chockola in Taos, our new favorite New Mexico chocolatier. I continue to marvel at the smoothness of the chocolate in the mousse, perhaps only possible by controlling the entire process from bean to mousse as Chockola does in order to achieve the precise moment when the chocolate is at a perfect consistency for making mousse. Voila!
We went to bed at 9:00 happy.
Bon Appetit
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