July 16, 2019 Lunch – Upper Crust Pizza. Dinner Party at Charlie and Susan’s

I got up at 4:30 and worked until 6:30 and then rode to Campbell Rd.

Then watched Squawk on the Street until 8:00, showered, dressed and went to my client’s at 9:00.  We talked for a while and then drove to Santa Fe for an 11:00 meeting.  On the way I appeared telephonically in a court case at 10:00 to almost 11:00.

After our meeting at 12:10 we walked to Upper Crust Pizza and ate salads and Miriam and Felipe ate a slice of pizza.

They like dessert so I recommended the French Pastry Shop in the La Fonda Hotel, so we walked the three blocks to it.    I ordered my usual, an Opera torte, Felipe and Miriam ordered equally decedent parties.  I like Opera torte because it has a layer of mocha butter cream and is coated with chocolate. After dessert we returned to Albuquerque at 3:00.

I wasted time until 4:00 and called George and at 5:00 I placed the ceramic baking dish filled with onion, potatoes, and two small heads of diced garlic covered with aluminum foil into the oven.

Suzette came home shortly after that and I rested until 6:00 when George and Sylvia arrived.  We talked for a while and then I showed them the art until 7:00.  They brought two lovely bottles of wine.  We grabbed the roasted potatoes, a 2.25 lb. bag of asparagus and the  Argentinian Reserva they brought and walked to the Palmer’s.

Susan had made a lovely gazpacho with all fresh ingredients, like vine ripe tomatoes and bell peppers.  She put out lovely garnishes for the gazpacho: sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, cooked lobster meat, croutons, and sour cream. Charlie had sous vided the filet mignons to a perfect medium rare, which is 129 degrees and then grilled them to create some char broiled flavor and grill lines on the crust.  Suzette grilled the tuna steak after brushing it with sesame oil on the grill and after I snapped the thick asparagus, she tossed them with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a gallon freezer bag and then grille them to perfection on the grill.

Soon we were ready to eat.  We each filled our soup bowl with gazpacho and the garnishes and our plates with grilled steak, asparagus, and roasted potatoes.  Susan put a large bowl with oven toasted pieces of rosemary Parmesan bread from Costco.

I poured the Argentinian wine. It was heavy and full bodied, perhaps a merlot, which complements steak nicely.  We ate and talked.  George is an amateur archery and fencing expert and history buff with special interest in ancient archery warfare and Sylvia is Vice President of the NPR affiliate in Dallas and a documentarian.

After dinner Susan brought out dessert, a large bowl of lemon mousse and a bowl of fresh blueberries.  The lemon mousse with fresh blueberries was an absolute show stopper.  Cool, creamy and slightly tangy.  The combination of fresh blueberries with the lemon mousse was the best dish of the meal in which every dish was great.

Everyone took seconds of dessert it was so delicious.

Charlie then showed George and Sylvia the furniture he made.  They were super impressed with the harpsichord, especially when Charlie played some Hayden.

We then went to Charlie’s wood working shop and admired the model airplane the won the national award a year or two ago.

Finally, at 9:30 we said goodnight.

After a while people who know each other well and have cooked for each other for years like Charlie, Susan, Suzette, and I have an intuitive feel for how a meal will come together.  I had talked to Susan several days ago and planned the menu.  I had purchased the meat and Charlie picked up the steaks and sous vided them.  Suzette and I bought the large asparagus at Costco. Yesterday I diced the potatoes, garlic, and two small onions, so all we needed to do was douse them with olive oil, cover them with aluminum foil, and slide them into the oven at 350 for 1 ¼ hour. Suzette took over grilling the tuna and asparagus, which she did so well tonight that the asparagus were as good as they ever get, meaty, tender, dripping with cooking juices and lightly charred.

The steak was perfectly cooked medium rare from end to end, not charred on the edge and undercooked in the middle that occurs from normal grilling.  The best filet I have eaten in years.

I never even think about dessert when going to the Palmer’s because Susan is the most experimental and most adept dessert cook I know.  She always is exploring new, interesting desserts.  We usually are  pleasantly surprised by her choices, as we were tonight.

This was an exceptional meal.  Every dish was wonderfully well executed and the wine was more than adequate.

Bon Appetit