November 11, 2018 Lunch – Modern General. Dinner – Steak Quesadillas with Guacamole and Squash Casserole

November 11, 2018 Lunch – Modern General. Dinner – Steak Quesadillas with Guacamole and Squash Casserole

I drank a cup of hot chocolate with coffee for breakfast with a piece of buttered pumpkin bread smeared with orange and elderberry marmalade and made a bucket of tropical fruit salad by dicing a papaya, a pineapple, 4 mangos, and four oranges and the juice of 2 limes as I watched the news program while Suzette packed a box of wine to send to her family for Thanksgiving.

At 10:30 after the news programs we drove to Staples and mailed the package and then drove to the newly opened Modern General at 11:30 to meet Cynthia for brunch.  The restaurant was crowded so we were lucky that Cynthia had arrived early and was waiting for us at a table of white birch with white benches.  The entire restaurant is modern and of good design as is the menu.

The menu contains a large selection of smaller dishes with fresh ingredients prepared very cleanly.  Cynthia ordered a soy flavored rice and vegetable stir fry, Suzette ordered a small skillet filled with fried sweet potatoes topped with an egg and I ordered a bowl of Posole cooked in shredded chicken white meat served with rows of sliced radish, jalapeños, chopped cilantro, and chopped green onion, with sriracha on a spoon and a wedge of lime; a nicely presented dish that was very tasty for $8.00.  Both Cynthia and Suzette’s dishes were $11.00.  We all drank water.  After brunch we drove the four blocks to our house and had cups of lavender Earl Grey tea with warmed pieces of pumpkin bread with butter and marmalade for dessert.

Then at 1:30 we took the bowl of fruit salad and a bottle of Crayon 2017 French Rose (Trader Joe’s for $5.99) to Glen and Bev’s house for the house concert by Robin Cage. Ronin has a lovely and powerful voice with good range whose career is just beginning to nibble at National recognition. She is touring with a drummer named Zach and a bass player named Cali.

There was one other dish made for the concert, a home made chickpea spread with cooked red pepper, a sort of hummus without the tahini, garlic, parsley, and lemon juice but very nice and smoothly puréed served with pita chips.

As it turned out the band had driven from Ruidoso and had not eaten since breakfast, so they each ate a bowl of fruit salad at the break, as did a few others.

After the concert ended around 4:00 we drove home and watched the end of an exciting Seattle v. LA Rams game.

I made guacamole with the two avocados I bought at Sprouts on Friday with some red onion, two cloves of garlic, a bit of salt, about 1 oz. of finely diced poblano chili and about 2 T. of chopped cilantro.

Since we had guacamole we decided to make steak quesadillas for dinner. I sliced steak and 1 half PPI baked potato and chopped some onion and grated Mexican Swiss cheese, which Suzette the cooked and lay between two whole wheat tortillas each to make us each a quesadilla that she served with a scoop of guacamole and a heated square of PPI squash casserole.  I drank a beer with mine and Suzette finished her scotch with hers.

We watched 60 Minutes and then our favorite Sunday evening line up of PBS Masterpiece Theater episodes, “The Durrell’s in Corfu”, “Poldark”, and “Woman in White” while switching back and forth to the Cowboy v. Eagles game, which the Cowboys won.  Jim Cramer must be pissed, he is a huge Eagles fan, being from Philadelphia.

I ate a few pieces of the chocolate truffles I bought at Trader Joe’s on Thursday with a cup of tea and the last of the Trimbach Plum Brandy.

At 9:00 we were tired and cold, so we got in bed to watch the episode of “Woman in White” and then went to bed.

As Suzette said, “A very pleasant day.”

Bon Appetit