November 6, 2018 Lunch – Salmon Salad. Dinner – Sautéed Rib Steak, Mushrooms, Scallops, and red onion, baked potatoes, and steamed asparagus

November 6, 2018  Lunch – Salmon Salad. Dinner – Sautéed Rib Steak, Mushrooms, Scallops, and red onion, baked potatoes, and steamed asparagus

At 6:00 I ended the Gravad Lax cure by washing the Gravad Lax to remove all curing mixture and drying the cured filets and wrapping them in Saran to store in the meat compartment.  I left one out to use for breakfast.  Suzette made scrambled eggs garnished with melted Swiss cheese and chive slices and topped with chunks of Gravad Lax.

After a small bowl of eggs I sliced a 1/3 slice of whole wheat bagel and toasted it, spread cream cheese on it and then slices of Gravad Lax and drank a cup of green tea with it.

I worked on registering my art collection today until noon, when I made a salmon salad with teriyaki salmon, cucumber, diced tomatoes, sliced red onion, diced pieces of Swiss cheese and green cracked olives.  I drizzled it with some reconstituted anchovies dressing and drank water.

After lunch I loaded the David Barbero Sunset at the Grand Canyon, and the Indian Girl and drove to Ari’s house, so she could inspect the paintings.

She adjusted the frame on the Barbero and gave me assurance that the Bisttram was in good condition but was crazed and catching the light from the window in a way that exposed a crack and that I could move the painting to a different location that did not catch the light in a way that exposed the crack.

She helped me pack the two pictures and I drove to Trader Joe’s , where I bought 10 bottles of wine, a bottle of cooking sherry, a bottle of cognac, two bottles of French cider, and an 8 oz. box of chocolate truffles for $117.  The wines included three Gearano di Aquino Riserva Chianti, a new Private label Cotes Du Rhone, one of the Valpolicello  Ripasos, a Hungarian Gruner Vetliner, an Italian Pinot Grigio, and two Spanish Reserva Grenache and Tempranillo blends named Pueblo Plaza for $7.99 each.

I went home and emptied the car, exchanged places for the two paintings, marked the wines with price, date of purchase and where bought and watched Cramer’s financial analysis on Mad Money.  I then checked my stocks and was placed that the market achieved a bit more recovery today.  I wonder how it will react to the election?

At 4:30 I started watching election returns.  Suzette and I had discussed dinner briefly in the morning and decided to make a surf and turf dinner by sautéing the eight scallops I bought at Sprouts on Saturday with some of the PPI steak from Sunday night with a PPI baked russet potato bought at El
Super for $2.29 for 10 lb. and baked on Sunday with some asparagus bought on Saturday at Sprouts for $1.48/lb.

Suzette was hungry, so I thinly sliced five cloves of garlic, four baby portobello mushrooms and ½ red onion an snapped a handful of asparagus.

Suzette took over and sautéed the meat and vegetables , steamed the asparagus, and microwaved two baked potatoes.  I fetched the hollandaise sauce for the asparagus and scallops and the crema and chives for the potatoes.

We discussed wine and agreed upon Suzette’s suggestion of a Gruet Brut Rose champagne, which matched the food and the occasion perfectly.  The dinner was wonderful, especially since it took so little effort and was ready in about ten minutes, and we celebrated the blue wave in Congress by toasting it with pink champagne.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening and went to bed around 10:00 with renewed hope that American democracy was still alive and functioning, although a bit saddened by the results in Florida and Texas.

I was even heartened that President Trump answered to the question, “Is there anything you would do differently?” That he would have softened his tone.  I guess 14 pipe bombs sent to democratic targets of his hateful speech, murdering 11 old Jewish people, and the random murder of a black couple in a Kroger grocery store was the October surprise before this election and even in his isolated narcissistic brain he gets that connection that so many others who went to the polls to vote for democrats got.

Bon Appetit