This was a strangely scheduled day, but fun.
I worked on the Supreme Court Motion from 4:30 to 7:00 and then ate my usual yogurt, granola, and tropical fruit salad breakfast. Then I sent the three day notice and default notice to the tenants at 524 Romero and went to the bank at 9:30.
When I returned the wind was calm and it was warm so at 10:30 I rode to Montano and back facing a 5 to 10 mph breeze in both directions that I can not explain but felt.
I showered and dressed by noon and around 12:30 Peter. Appeared at my door and drove us to Kosmos for lunch. Peter had been raving about the Ceaser Salad, so we both ordered one ($8.95).
The regular chef was not in the kitchen, so rather than the salad being in a pasta bowl, which holds more, it was on a dinner plate. I complained and was brought extra lettuce and cheese, for which I was charged $.75 each. Peter also ordered extra cheese, which was a small ramekin of the grated parmesan of the type sold in bags at Costco. Nice but not special. The point is that everything you ask for is an extra, except Peter asked for extra croutons when he ordered his salad. The salad was pretty heavily tossed with a thick fresh ceaser salad dressing made with smoked anchovies that was delicious, so the extra lettuce actually blended nicely into the salad. The other extra special thing was the croutons which were a dish unto themselves. Large cubes of French bread that had been sautéed in olive oil and garlic. I loved them and understood instantly why Peter ordered extra croutons. All in all the salad was good to wonderful. My problem was that I had just ridden 10 miles and was
hungry. After I finished my salad I relaxed and talked to Peter as he nibbled the last of his salad and croutons. The regular chef returned while we were eating and Peter mentioned that we were unlucky that he was out when we ordered, so the salad perhaps is probably more generous.
Today was Peter’s birthday, so I bought him lunch and he drank a small glass of beer. Kosmos has a nice selection of locally brewed beers. We spoke to to owner, who is a friend of Peter’s who has poured a foundation of concrete for his homemade pylon for the sign soon to be erected on Fifth in front of the restaurant.
The doors were open, so we could enjoy the lovely sunlight and weather.
After lunch I went home and worked until 4:00 when I ate the PPI stir-fried shrimp and Chinese
vegetables from last night and then down to rest for 30 minutes. Suzette came in at 5:00 and told me Peter and Susan had arrived to go to Gruet. I had invited them to go drink champagne the other evening when we ate dinner together at Susan and Charlie’s house, where they are staying until the first of April when they move into a rental in the Ridgecrest area.
Susan drove us to Gruet. When we arrived we discovered that from 5:00 until 7:00 was the Pizza and Pinot release party for Gruet’s new Pinot Noir. Firenze Pizza has pulled its portable pizza oven into the parking lot and was baking. We walked into the tasting room and found four vacant bar stools on the side were there was an elevated counter suitable for holding glasses of wine. The banquet hall and the tasting room were full of happy people eating and drinking, so it was a very festive atmosphere. We ordered two tastings of each of the champagne tastings. One starts with the word Tete, which are the more expensive offerings and the other starts with the word Cuvee.
Both tastings are wonderful and by sharing them we were able to taste every bubbly for sale.
We started with the white and rose Sauvage, to which no sugar is added in the second dosage. The Rose Sauvage is probably my favorite Gruet champagne at the moment. It is dry with a strong Pinot Noir flavor. It is made with 100% Pinot Noir. The white is also nice and made with 100% Chardonnay. In the next 1 ½ hours of tasting we worked our way through all of Gruet’s champagnes. Generally speaking the vintage champagnes have greater depth and complexity. The non-vintages are fresher and fruitier. My second favorite is the Rose Brut NV, which is light, crisp and also made with 100% Pinot Noir grapes.
We got to know Peter and Susan a bit better as we talked and sipped. Peter’s career was as a Spanish history historian, who was on faculty at UNM with lots of time spent in Seville and Salamanca, where the archives are kept and in South America. Susan was an art historian who worked at the Fine Arts Museum in Santa Fe. They most recently lived in Bath, Maine and are moving to Albuquerque for their retirement.
We soon found out we share a similar love of travel in Mexico, they most recently stayed in Oaxaca for three months, and drinking champagne, of course.
We left at 7:00 and Peter drove us home.
During the day I had made teriyaki sauce by heating ¼ cup each of Aji Mirin, sake, and soy sauce plus ¾ T. of sugar until the sugar dissolves into solution. When the teriyaki sauce called I added it to the gallon freezer bag in which I put the two salmon filets I bought at Costco on Tuesday and put the bag in the meat drawer of the fridge to marinate.
I suggested sautéing the salmon. Suzette said, “Let me look in the fridge.” When she looked in the meat drawer she found the smoked pork chops I bought yesterday at El Super and the container of PPI Ratatouille. So she suggested sautéing the pork chops with slices of apple and serving it with the Ratatouille, which is what we did. Except I was still rather hungry, so I made a man on a raft. I toasted a piece of Pastian’s German Soudough bread, tore a hole in the Center, sautéed both sides in butter and then placed an egg on the toast with the yolk in the hole in the Center and sautéed both sides of the bread again to cook the egg.
I loved dinner. The smoky seared pork chop with the lightly sautéed apples and the heavy comforting Ratatouille were great together p, especially with a bit of egg and German sourdough bread.
Suzette was still a little hungry also, especially since she is not eating bread, so after dinner she Sautéed pieces of banana with several blackberries in butter and cognac and we had a lovely dessert of brandy poached fruits.
After dinner I was in the mood to cook. I decided to make a lentil and chicken stew with the lentils and three chicken quarters I bought at El Super yesterday. The 1 pound bag of lentils was $.99 and the three chicken quarters were $.69/lb. suzette fetched the crock pot and I added three quarts of water and the pound of lentils to it. I then separated the legs from the thighs and sautéed them with three slices of bacon in a large skillet with one sliced medium onion and I sliced carrot. After adding the meat and vegetables to the crock pot I lay down at 9:00 and soon went to bed. Suzette was having a great time watching “Who shot Roger Rabbit?” As I went to bed.
I often wake up during the night when I go to bed early and have eaten a fairly heavy meal and tonight was no exception. At 3:30 am the lentil dish took on a decidedly Mexican approach when I diced and added to the crock pot 1 Padilla chili, two Roma tomatoes and eight or nine small clov March 22, 2018 Lunch – Kosmos. Dinner – Sautéed Smoked Pork Chop with PPI Ratatouille and a Man on a raft
This was a strangely scheduled day, but fun.
I worked on the Supreme Court Motion from 4:30 to 7:00 and then ate my usual yogurt, granola, and tropical fruit salad breakfast. Then I sent the three day notice and default notice to the tenants at 524 Romero and went to the bank at 9:30.
When I returned the wind was calm and it was warm so at 10:30 I rode to Montano and back facing a 5 to 10 mph breeze in both directions that I can not explain but felt.
I showered and dressed by noon and around 12:30 Peter. Appeared at my door and drove us to Kosmos for lunch. Peter had been raving about the Ceaser Salad, so we both ordered one ($8.95).
The regular chef was not in the kitchen, so rather than the salad being in a pasta bowl, which holds more, it was on a dinner plate. I complained and was brought extra lettuce and cheese, for which I was charged $.75 each. Peter also ordered extra cheese, which was a small ramekin of the grated
parmesan of the type sold in bags at Costco. Nice but not special. The point is that everything you ask for is an extra, except Peter asked for extra croutons when he ordered his salad. The salad was pretty heavily tossed with a thick fresh ceaser salad dressing made with smoked anchovies that was delicious, so the extra lettuce actually blended nicely into the salad. The other extra special thing was the croutons which were a dish unto themselves. Large cubes of French bread that had been sautéed in olive oil and garlic. I loved them and understood instantly why Peter ordered extra croutons. All in all the salad was good to wonderful. My problem was that I had just ridden 10 miles and was hungry. After I finished my salad I relaxed and talked to Peter as he nibbled the last of his salad and croutons. The regular chef returned while we were eating and Peter mentioned that we were unlucky that he was out when we ordered, so the salad perhaps is probably more generous.
Today was Peter’s birthday, so I bought him lunch and he drank a small glass of beer. Kosmos has a nice selection of locally brewed beers. We spoke to to owner, who is a friend of Peter’s who has
poured a foundation of concrete for his homemade pylon for the sign soon to be erected on Fifth in front of the restaurant.
The doors were open, so we could enjoy the lovely sunlight and weather.
After lunch I went home and worked until 4:00 when I ate the PPI stir-fried shrimp and Chinese vegetables from last night and then down to rest for 30 minutes. Suzette came in at 5:00 and told me Peter and Susan had arrived to go to Gruet. I had invited them to go drink champagne the other evening when we ate dinner together at Susan and Charlie’s house, where they are staying until the first of April when they move into a rental in the Ridgecrest area.
Susan drove us to Gruet. When we arrived we discovered that from 5:00 until 7:00 was the Pizza and Pinot release party for Gruet’s new Pinot Noir. Firenze Pizza has pulled its portable pizza oven into the parking lot and was baking. We walked into the tasting room and found four vacant bar stools on the side were there was an elevated counter suitable for holding glasses of wine. The banquet hall and the tasting room were full of happy people eating and drinking, so it was a very festive atmosphere. We ordered two tastings of each of the champagne tastings. One starts with the word
Tete, which are the more expensive offerings and the other starts with the word Cuvee.
Both tastings are wonderful and by sharing them we were able to taste every bubbly for sale.
We started with the white and rose Sauvage, to which no sugar is added in the second dosage. The Rose Sauvage is probably my favorite Gruet champagne at the moment. It is dry with a strong Pinot Noir flavor. It is made with 100% Pinot Noir. The white is also nice and made with 100% Chardonnay. In the next 1 ½ hours of tasting we worked our way through all of Gruet’s champagnes. Generally speaking the vintage champagnes have greater depth and complexity. The non-vintages are fresher and fruitier. My second favorite is the Rose Brut NV, which is light, crisp and also made with 100% Pinot Noir grapes.
We got to know Peter and Susan a bit better as we talked and sipped. Peter’s career was as a Spanish history historian, who was on faculty at UNM with lots of time spent in Seville and Salamanca, where the archives are kept and in South America. Susan was an art historian who worked at the Fine Arts Museum in Santa Fe. They most recently lived in Bath, Maine and are moving to Albuquerque for their retirement.
We soon found out we share a similar love of travel in Mexico, they most recently stayed in Oaxaca for three months, and drinking champagne, of course.
We left at 7:00 and Peter drove us home.
During the day I had made teriyaki sauce by heating ¼ cup each of Aji Mirin, sake, and soy sauce plus ¾ T. of sugar until the sugar dissolves into solution. When the teriyaki sauce called I added it to the gallon freezer bag in which I put the two salmon filets I bought at Costco on Tuesday and put the bag in the meat drawer of the fridge to marinate.
I suggested sautéing the salmon. Suzette said, “Let me look in the fridge.” When she looked in the meat drawer she found the smoked pork chops I bought yesterday at El Super and the container of
PPI Ratatouille. So she suggested sautéing the pork chops with slices of apple and serving it with the Ratatouille, which is what we did. Except I was still rather hungry, so I made a man on a raft. I toasted a piece of Pastian’s German Soudough bread, tore a hole in the Center, sautéed both sides in butter and then placed an egg on the toast with the yolk in the hole in the Center and sautéed both sides of the bread again to cook the egg.
I went to the garage and fetched two Kirkland craft beers.
I loved dinner. The smoky seared pork chop with the lightly sautéed apples and the heavy comforting Ratatouille were great together p, especially with a bit of egg and German sourdough bread.
Suzette was still a little hungry also, especially since she is not eating bread, so after dinner she Sautéed pieces of banana with several blackberries in butter and cognac and we had a lovely dessert of brandy poached fruits.
After dinner I was in the mood to cook. I decided to make a lentil and chicken stew with the lentils and three chicken quarters I bought at El Super yesterday. The 1 pound bag of lentils was $.99 and the three chicken quarters were $.69/lb. suzette fetched the crock pot and I added three quarts of water and the pound of lentils to it. I then separated the legs from the thighs and sautéed them with three slices of bacon in a large skillet with one sliced medium onion and I sliced carrot. After adding the meat and vegetables to the crock pot I lay down at 9:00 and soon went to bed. Suzette was having a great time watching “Who shot Roger Rabbit?” As I went to bed.
I often wake up during the night when I go to bed early and have eaten a fairly heavy meal and tonight was no exception. At 3:30 am the lentil dish took on a decidedly Mexican approach when I diced and added to the crock pot 1 Padilla chili, two Roma tomatoes and eight or nine small cloves of garlic.
Bon Appetit
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