December 14, 2018 Lunch – Hot Dog at Costco Neighborhood Christmas Party

December 14, 2018 Lunch – Hot Dog at Costco   Neighborhood Christmas Party

I ate yogurt, milk, blueberries, and granola plus 1/2 bagel smeared with cream cheese for breakfast.

I had a busy and full day today. In the morning I completed the lease Termination Agreement for one client and a Mechanic’s Lien for another client and agreed to go to the second

client’s office at 2:00 to sign the ML.

So at 12:15 I drove to Costco to eat lunch and shop for cheese.  The food court was rather full but I found a table after purchasing a hot dog. I garnished it with the usual: relish, onions, catsup, and mustard and ate it open faced with a knife and fork.

After a quick lunch, the effects of which I felt for a while. I went to the cheese section, where there was a tasting of a cave aged cheddar cheese made by Cabot Creamery, which I bought a block of.  I then found all my favorites, Norwegian Jarlsberg, English Stilton, California Humboldt Fog, Spanish Manchego, French Beaufort, and Boursin, a French cheese spread. The cheese board is now complete with the addition of the Spanish Capriche de Cabra goat cheese and Dutch Arikas raw milk truffles Gouda I bought at Whole Foods on Wednesday, the California Goat cheese from Costco, the Spanish Iberico three milk cheese I bought at Trader Joe’s on Tuesday, and a well aged wheel of French Brie from Costco .  Here is a picture of all of the cheeses.

Almost every year I find a new cheese to me or Albuquerque.  This year there were two. The Spanish Capiche goat cheese is new to me, but the Beaufort is an old friend that I love above most other cheeses and am thrilled to find for the first time in Albuquerque.

Here is some info from Wilepedia:
 Beaufort (French pronunciation:  [bo.fɔʁ]) is a firm, raw cow's milk cheese associated with the gruyère family. An Alpine cheese, it is produced in Beaufortain, Tarentaise valley and Maurienne, which are located in the Savoie region of the French Alps.[1]

Let me describe how I fell in love with Beaufort.  I lived in Fort Worth until I was 37.  I loved going for lunch to a restaurant owned by a Swiss couple in Ridglea named The Balcony.  It was frequented by the society matron lunch set and served superb light French bistro dishes like quiche and crepes, as well as heartier stews in season.  But I usually, ordered the cheapest the item on the menu, which was a $5.00 bowl of soup, because there was always a large buffet of cheeses and specialty

homemade breads available to all customers.  I sometimes felt a bit guilty that I frequented that lovely table of cheeses and breads too often, but I could not resist and think the ever watchful Swiss Owner said nothing because she knew I was Florence Simon’s son.  And of course, that in large measure was why I went to The Balcony, because it served the best lunch in Fort Worth.

So, The Balcony is where I first met and fell in love with Beaufort and the large rounds of bright orange Mimolet.

On a trip to Europe about fifteen years ago, we planned to drive from Annecy through the Piedmont region of Italy to Stresa on Lake Maggiore, but the route we planned to take, through the Simplon Tunnel, was blocked due to a lorry fire and cave-in, so we had to drive over the Alps.  The closest route to Annecy was south of Grenoble and was the same route taken by Hannibal when he invaded The Roman Empire.  It was a deep narrow gorge high up in the Alps just East of Beaufort. Although excited to retrace Hannibal’s historic route through the Alps and see Torino,  the day’s high point for me was visiting my favorite cheese area of France in my favorite region, the Haute Savoie.

After picking up and filing the Mechanic’s Lien, I went home and found that today was another 500 point cataclysmic fall of the DOW.  I am afraid to check my portfolio but it was bad, I am sure.

At 3:00 I rode the four mile route south to Marquez, then north to
Central, and then back home.  I am definitely getting stronger.

Willy came by at 5:45 and Suzette arrived shortly thereafter.  They reviewed the plans for the candy store remodel and I started cubing the two ¼ lb. slabs of Serrano ham and the two 15 oz cans of Spanish pimiento peppers and I opened and drained the large can of quartered artichoke hearts in
water.

When Willy left around 6:15 we searched for and found the small bag of saffron, John Cacciatore gave means she fetched the frozen green peas and sautéed all the ingredients in olive oil.  She then filled a yellow covered dish with the artichoke, pimiento, Serrano ham, green pea, and saffron tapa and I grabbed a bottle of Plaza Pueblo Spanish Reserva and we carried the casserole and wine the one block to Crystal and Doug Baker’s home at 7:00.

Here is a photo; notice the orange yellow color due to the saffron.

Soon many others arrived with lots of food, desserts and wine.

I said hello to lots of neighbors, but the most interesting discovery was that Alice and John Myers recently bought a house and moved to the neighborhood.  John is one of the best real estate lawyers in town, so we had a lot to talk about.

At 9:15 I was getting tired of standing and Suzette and I said goodnight and walked home.

We watched the news for a bit and went to bed.

Bon Appetit