January 12, 2018 Breakfast – Bagel, cream cheese and Lax. Brunch -Roast Beef, mushroom, sweet potato and onion fricassee with an egg, Dinner – Hamburger steak, steamed green beans, and Sweet Potato Salad

January 12, 2018 Breakfast – Bagel, cream cheese and Lax. Brunch -Roast Beef, mushroom, sweet potato and onion fricassee with an egg,
Dinner – Hamburger steak, steamed green beans, and Sweet Potato Salad

I wanted  to try the new batch of Lax I finished making last night, so I I awakened at 5:00 and read for a bit and then watched a couple of Premier League soccer matches.  At 7:00 I became hungry, so I toasted 1/3 of an onion bagel, spread it with cream cheese and laid slices of of the newly cured Lax on it.

My first impression is that I perfectly balanced the sugar and salt.  Rather than tasting salty or sugary, it tasted mildly cured.  I liked it a lot. I then toasted the second slice of bagel too long and it became charred, so I buttered it and laid slices of Iberico cheese on it and enjoyed a charred cheese sandwich.  My mother taught me to eat charred bread, because she did.  I can’t explain any other reason why I eat it, even though I prefer golden brown toast that is slightly firm to the touch.

Suzette came into the TV room a little later and wanted to fix a breakfast.  I agreed to eat again.  She diced and sautéed some of the PPI pot roast, a mushroom, a sweet potato, and some onion and the added an egg for me and two eggs for her.  Here is a picture of her plate.

I talked to Billy around 9:30 and then walked to the country club and back, which is about eight blocks without pain or weakness.  I continue to do the exercises given to me by my new physical therapist, Reyna, and am feeling better and am more flexible.

At noon I had a cup of hot chocolate and at 1:00 toasted two pieces of German rye bread, one spread with butter and chopped chicken liver and the other with sour cream and pickled herring.  A very Eastern European roots snack.

When Suzette arrived home from work, she wanted to watch The Hobbit, the five armies”.  I joined her and we each enjoyed a bag of microwaved popcorn as we watched the movie sitting by the warm fireplace.  I have discovered what Suzette already knew, which is that when you cook a bag of popcorn in on the sensor popcorn setting it perfectly pops the entire bag with nary an unpopped kernel.

After the movie Willy came by and helped us prepare dinner.  I finely chopped about ½ cup of onion and four cloves of garlic and he mixed the onions and garlic with a bit of turmeric and formed four hamburgers with about 1/3  of the 2 ½ lb. of ground chuck I had bought at Sprouts last Wednesday for $3.99/lb.

I then snapped the green beans I had also bought at Sprouts for $.98/lb. and put the pieces into the steamer that Suzette brought me and sliced four slices of English Stilton, one each to be melted on the top of each hamburger.

Suzette then took command of her usual galley stations, the stove, microwave, and outdoor grill.  She steamed the green beans over high heat, she reheated three sweet potatoes she had baked in the oven when I baked the blueberry clafoutis on Thursday evening. And she grilled the hamburgers on the outdoor grill.

I watched the steamer and turned it off when the green beans seemed to be cooked to tender but still slightly crisp and then fetched a bottle of Aquino Italian Reserva chianti from the dining room wine cellar ($5.99 at a Trader Joe’s) and opened it and poured three glasses for us.

When the hamburgers were ready Suzette plated our plates with a potato, some green beans, and the
hamburger of our choice and put condiments on the table, including mayo, catsup,  pickle relish, and French seeded mustard.

Here are pictures of the hamburgers with their caps of melted Stilton and a plate of food.

After dinner Willy showed us a trailer for his favorite new sci-fi series “Expanse” and Suzette ordered the first book for reading on the beach in Mexico.

After Willy left I retired to our bed to watch the Cowboys v. L.A. Rams playoff game but fell asleep before it ended.

I awakened at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday Morning and finished this blog while sipping my favorite Mexican tea; camomile, honey, and a few drops of  fresh lime juice.

Bon Appetit