June 17, 2018 Brunch – Fried Egg on Toast and Black Beans. Dinner – Halibut Grilled on a Cedar Plank, Grilled Asparagus, and Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Couscous.

I ate a bowl of granola, yogurt, ½ mango, blueberries, and milk for breakfast.

Willy came over at halftime of the Mexico v. Germany game and at 11:00 he toasted a piece of Kommisarbrod in butter in a skillet and after flipped the first side laid an egg on the toasted side and then covered the skillet to let the egg steam until done.  I cut m  the process by flipping my toast and frying the egg over easy.  After Mexico’s win, we went to Macon’s house and picked apricots. We then watched some of the Switzerland v. Brazil match, which also turned out to be very interesting and then Willy left to play soccer.

Suzette came home a little after 3:00. At 4:00 we drove to Total Wine, where we bought two 1¾ quart bottles of scotch, a bottle of XO Calvados, a German Pear brandy, Algodones gin,  and a Grappa di Brunello.  All bottles except the grappa were fifteen (15%) percent off and the total cost was $160.00. Suzette paid for her scotch. I think a Total Wine has the best selection and prices on spirits, especially with a 15% discount.

We then drove to Trader Joe’s, where Suzette found Marsacapone  cheese and buttermilk for the party and we bought a bottle each of Amontillado sherry and Chevalier VS cognac.

We returned home and at 6:30 began cooking our dinner.  I chilled a bottle of Kirtland Marlborough. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Suzette picked a handful of thyme and a few sprigs of lavender in the garden.  I stripped the leaves from about 1/3 cup of thyme while Suzette pulsed pieces of sweet potato and cauliflower in the Cuisinart to a granular size akin to Couscous

  She then sautéed the cauliflower and sweet potato in butter over low heat covered to cook it.  After about 20 minutes Suzette added about ¼ cup of Quince syrup and about 1 tsp. of lavender flowers to the Couscous and kept heating it at low temperature until ready to serve dinner.

Suzette also soaked a 1 x 6 inch cedar plank and sliced two lemons.  She lay lemon slices on the cedar plank and then lay the Halibut filet on those lemon slices and lay additional lemon slices on top of the filet and lay pats of butter on the filet and garnished the top of the filet with thyme leaves.  She then cut the tough ends off of a handful of asparagus and tossed the good ends in a freezer bag filled with a couple of T. of olive oil to coat with oil.

When Willy arrived Suzette started grilling the Halibut and asparagus on the grill.

In 15 to 20 minutes the Halibut and asparagus were cooked to firm on the outside but moist and tender on the inside.

I opened and poured the Sauvignon Blanc which I recall costing about $9.99 at Costco.  I had a strong citrus and straw flavor.  Suzette liked it a lot.  I found it a bit too grapefruity, but very drinkable.i poured us each a glass.

Suzette spooned a pile of vegetable couscous onto each plate and
lay six or seven grilled asparagus on each plate.  She then removed the Halibut from the grill and doused it with melted butter and I cut the Halibut into four sections and placed a section of Halibut on each pile of Couscous.  We carried our plates to the table under the gazebo in the garden and ate a lovely Father’s day dinner.

Willy and Luke gave me a serious round hand held German knife sharpener for Father’s Day.  Suzette and I demonstrated our different methods of knife sharpening to Willy.  Suzette away from her with the knife under the file and my toward me with the knife blade removing toward me on top of the file.
I showed Willy the drawer full of knives and sharpeners as I added the new file to the drawer.

At  dinner we decided I needed to walk more, so after dinner Willy drove us to a parking lot just north of the northern lake at Tingley Beach and we walked about ¼ mile to a wooden deck built beside the Rio Grande.  The river was running with the new ripen off from yesterday’s rain and the sunset was just ending, so it was lovely.  We had a view of the Central Ave. bridge.  After a few minutes we returned home around 8:30 and I said goodnight and went to bed to blog.  Willy and Suzette cleaned up and did a bit of laundry, but soon Willy left and Suzette came to bed.

Bon Appetit