September 6, 2018 Lunch – Vietnam 2000. Dinner – Fish Tacos with Coleslaw, Guacamole, Black Beans, and crema

September 6, 2018 Lunch – Vietnam 2000. Dinner – Fish Tacos with Coleslaw, Guacamole, Black Beans, and crema

I woke up early and worked until 7:00.  Then I watched the market open which was disheartening because there was a tech meltdown.  I lost almost $15,000 today am am down from 10.6% gain, but am still up 9% for the year.  Perhaps I will reach my goal of an 8% gain this year.

Max arrived at 8:45 and I typed up an explanation of why he could not pay his mortgage and then we appeared telephonically for his 9:00 hearing.  Afterward we went over his case and I made a to do list for him.

We then went to Java Joe’s for a coffee and then at 11:00 to Vietnam 2000.  Max wanted a soup and I decided to try what the Vietnamese women ordered at the restaurant several weeks ago, a bowl of broth with thick round udon noodles with thin slices of pork roast and shrimp.  Max ordered the same dish, No. 53.   There were also some fried onions and slices of green onion.  I enjoyed the soup very much.  The Vietnamese have an uncanny talent for making beautifully aromatic and delicious broths.

After lunch we visited the candy store and got Max’ opinion of how to proceed with the renovation.

Max then drove me home at 1:45 and I watched the collapse of my portfolio and thawed a haddock filet.

Then I did some work and at 3:30 rode to Rio Bravo.

When I returned I made guacamole with the 4 avocados I bought at El Super plus about 2 oz. of onion, three small cloves of garlic, salt, and Cholula hot sauce.

I opened the bag of corn chips I had bought at El Super for $.99 and tasted a few.  It did not taste great and I discovered why a few minutes later when Suzette arrived, tasted it, and said,  “You forgot the fresh cilantro.”

I was in the midst of slicing onions for a pot of French Onion Soup, so Suzette fetched the bunch of fresh cilantro I also bought with the avocados and Chips and I chopped and added about ¼ cup of cilantro to the guacamole.

We called Willy to notify him that we were making fish tacos/tostados at around 6:30 and he said he would arrive at 7:00.

I cubed the haddock filet and Suzette filled a 1 gallon freezer bag with three or four T. of flour and a dash of salt and pepper and filled a large frying pan with canola oil to a depth of about 1/3 inch.

We took the coleslaw and crema out of the fridge and set up a small buffet on the cutting board with the guacamole, crema, and coleslaw.

Suzette wrapped nine or ten blue corn tortillas in a wet paper towel and placed them in the microwave.

While we were prepping the fish tacos, we were also making a pot of

French Onion Soup.

I followed Julia Child’s recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

I sliced five cups of yellow onion thinly and filled a 2 quart pot with water and added the PPI steak from last week to simmer and added about a T. of concentrated beef broth to make a beef broth.

We then sautéed the onions in a large Le Crueset casserole with 3 or 4 T. butter and 1 T. of olive oil covered for 15 minutes.  I must have had the heat too high because the onions on the bottom of the casserole blackened a bit.  I then removed the lid and added ½ tsp. of sugar and 1 tsp. of salt and instead of simmering the onions for 30 to 40 minutes we simmered them for fifteen minutes because the scorching had already cooked them to golden brown.  We then added 3 T. of flour and stirred it into the onions and cooked it for a minute.  Then we added the beef broth and ½ cup of white wine and I cubed the steak and added it to the soup, which is our normal method of using up PPI steak.  We continued to simmer the casserole for a bit longer to meld the flavors and cook the flour.

The last step of making croutons and adding the cognac and cheese will need to wait for another day.

While was cooking the onion soup Suzette said she wanted some black beans, so she filled a skillet with a can of black beans and heated them and went to the garden and picked about ten leaves of fresh epazote and scissored slices of epazote into the beans and also added some Mexican oregano and a leaf or two of dried herbo santo and reduced the liquid and smashed the beans with a wooden spoon to make refined beans.

 When Willy arrived at 7:00 Suzette heated the oil in the large skillet and fried the flour dusted haddock, which took only a couple of minutes.  She then transferred the fried fish to a colander lined with paper towels and placed the colander on the buffet and heated the tortillas in the microwave for a minute and placed them on the buffet and we were ready to eat.  We fetched three Fat Tire beers from the fridge and each of us took a plate and constructed our dinner.  We each spooned retried Black Beans onto tortillas and then added fish, guacamole, Cole slaw, and crema. I eat mine open faced as a soft tostado with Cole slaw on the side because for me it is easier to eat with a knife and fork than trying to handle a leaky soft taco. Suzette is a purist though and always eats hers as a taco. Willy opted for the Simon tostado strategy tonight.

After dinner Willy found that his REI shipment had arrived and we helped him assemble his rear rack and connect onto his new bike.

Then we soaked in the hot tub for a while and by 9:30 went to bed.

Another day of fun with food.

I shall buy a baguette for a meal of French Onion Soup.

Bon Appetit