August 30, 2019 Lunch - Vietnam 2000 Dinner – Salt and Board

August 30, 2019 Lunch - Vietnam 2000   Dinner – Salt and Board

Another excellent Food day with the discovery of a new interesting restaurant.

I ate my usual biodynamic breakfast of granola, tropical fruit salad, and yogurt and then road to Campbell Rd.  The newly aligned toe clips were perfect and both feet slid into the clips perfectly, but for some reason the power was not there or there was some resistance in the bike frame and I mad slow progress.  But then I realized after a few minutes that my leg and hip had realigned and I was without pain and it stayed that way after I had ridden.  I think that my body has realigned from the newly gained conformation due to regular exercise.  I think I am at a solid 85% recovery of my physical stamina.

Suzette stayed at home for a while and upholstered chairs for the renovation of her restaurant.  I will help her this weekend.  She has also bought new marble table tops.

Suzette is working like a dog to get the Bistro ready for its re-opening this next Tuesday. She has hired a new chef with culinary school training, who is of Puerto Rican ancestry.

And she has created four new dishes: a super rich oregano infused chicken noodle soup with freshly made noodles, a vegetarian burger with a super grains salad garnished with a mint and cilantro sauce, a Vietnamese style rice paper and lettuce wrap stuffed with fresh organic pickled vegetables and serve with a peanut and mirin dipping sauce (that may have a bit of fish sauce added to it), and a duck breast and Asian pear (from the Center tree) with perhaps some onion slices in a combination of some kind.

I am excited to see the result next week.  I will go down Tuesday and/or Saturday. 

I worked on my reply in the water case today until 5:00 with a break to take checks to the bank and lunch with Peter at 12:30 to 2:00.

We drove to Vietnam 2000.  On the way we decided against the drip coffee we enjoy to avoid nervous excitation.  After a careful consideration of the menu we bot decided to order No. 21s, Bun Cha Gio or in English Fried egg rolls and grilled pork on a bed of soft boiled rice vermicelli on a bed of lettuce, cucumbers, mung bean sprouts and chopped herbs and green onion in large bowl.  Here is a picture.

I did not add a second bowl of fish sauce to avoid over salting my body and I noticed a difference.

I ate a bit more than half and took the rest home for a snack.  Unfortunately, the salt in the fish sauce ferments the noodles and make them limp and unappetizing after a few hours.  Of course, they are still edible.

Suzette arrived home with news of a new vegetarian recipe for the Bistro at 5:20.  She described the effort to create a sauce to garnish the vegetarian burger the restaurant was going to serve. She settled on the Bobby Flay Chicken sauce of mint, cilantro, honey, and lime juice. That should be a winner.

Sam at the Rembe’s party had mentioned a new restaurant that served interesting charcuterie and Suzette was hungry so after our drinks we drove to Salt and Board at 145 Harvard SE.  It is located in a complex of new small restaurants on Harvard in the first block south of the University.  There were lots of student looking people and lots of other young hipsters. 

The menu and the extensive wine list were intriguing.  Here is a picture. 

We started by tasting a Washington chenin blanc, a French Rose, and a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.  I selected the rose and Suzette selected the Chenin Blanc, no surprises there.

But we had difficulty picking menu items until the waitress explained the ingredients and preparation of dishes.  Essentially the menu contains three categories: charcuterie trays, open faced sandwiches on crostini (toast points) and covered toasted sandwiches like Croque Monsieur and Mufflata.

When we heard that the open faced sandwiches came with a small salad we decided to try several of those.  We selected the burrata and the mushroom pate sandwiches.

After a bit the wine and then after a bit longer the plates were served.

The salads and micro green arugula garnishes for the sandwiches were very attractive and fresh.  Although both sandwiches were great, I found the burrata the more interesting because the crostini was smeared with a fig and bacon jam tha was delicious and the burrata was super creamy on the inside.

Here are pictures of them.    

Suzette made quick work of her toast points by picking them up and eating them like a slice of pizza, but I wanted to cut my sandwich and requested a sharp knife. Our waitress was kind enough bring me a sharp paring knife from the kitchen that allowed me to cut through the tough crostini and eat the sandwich in bites.  I guess if I go back I will be the “no black pepper paring knife guy”.

We sat outside at the apex of a narrow but pleasant fenced and covered patio with umbrella covered tables and chairs that stretch the length of the front and side of the restaurant.  The restaurant is very clean and new looking, which was nice for a change from the old adobe El Patio down the street, for instance.

After a pleasant hour of eating and sipping wine we left around 8:00.

When we returned home I ate the last wedge of the watermelon I bought several weeks ago.  We were both tired and went to bed soon thereafter. 

The film folks were here again today.  They have started laying cables for power for the lights and cameras and the house is now fully decorated in mid-century modern to look like the South Texas ranch house in the Briarpatch story.

Here is a picture of our TV room as it is set for the show.

They will shoot the scenes on Tuesday afternoon.  I am thinking I will go to Los Lunas or work at Bill’s office and not be around, although I have been invited to visit the filming.

Read an article in the August 19 New Yorker on the re-appreciation of Wolfgang Korngold whose chamber music we heard and liked at the Santa Fe Chamber music festival several weeks ago.  The New Yorker discussed his operas that are having a resurgence of production around the world, except for the Met.

I did not have time to follow the market today except to see that it rose early in the morning and then plunged to the no gain flat line.  The result for me was a small gain and a 41 point gain in the Dow.

Bon Appetit     

August 29, 2019 Lunch – Jason’s Deli Dinner – Book Club

August 29, 2019 Lunch – Jason’s Deli  Dinner – Book Club

Today I had to go to Santa Fe for a meeting after lunch.

I walked a mile around the neighborhood and then ate granola, yogurt, tropical fruit salad and a splash of milk.

I went to Jason’s Deli on Paseo at 11:00 and ate the salad bar for lunch.  It was identical and a bit better than the one popularized by Souper Salad down to the gingerbread and corn muffins.  It was better because it had more choices and but no soup.  Instead there was a kitchen where lots of different types of sandwiches and tostadas, and wraps are made.

I did not know it but Jason’s delivers.  What they have done is to take health food to the fast food level.  They freshen the salad bar repeatedly so that every crock is filled fully.  I tried the muffins and they were delicious.  Some people were eating more muffins than salad. I ordered Felipe a sandwich and chips and an ice tea and met him outside the door at 12:10 and we drove to Santa Fe for our meeting.

The meeting lasted until 3:00 and then we drove back and Felipe dropped me at my car at 4:15. 

I drove home and rested and watched a bit of Business Report and saw the market was up.  When I checked my stocks, it was true; a big rally in the market today.  I think the Chinese confirmed they were negotiating on a trade deal. My portfolio was up 1¼%, which is big, putting the market and my portfolio positive for the year.

At 6:55 I walked to Charlie’s house for book club.  The snacks were minimal but the wines were great.  Susan buys them at Costco and gets good wines.  I drank a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc named My Beautiful and lovely soft Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley of Washington named Pendulum, which if produced by Precept wine company which owns Gruet.  Susan also bought a Louis Jadot Pinot Noir from Burgundy.

The after meeting dessert was Costco cheesecake and fresh sliced strawberries, which everyone loved.  I had a second slice and walked home and crawled into bed.

Bon Appetit

August 28, 2019 Lunch – Capo’s Ristorante Dinner- Vietnam 2000

August 28, 2019 Lunch – Capo’s Ristorante   Dinner- Vietnam 2000

The day started early with the arrival of the film crew to prep the house for the shoot next Tuesday at 7:00.

I wanted to ride so I toasted a slice of whole wheat bagel and smeared it with cream cheese and added slices of onion and lax and at that at 7:30,

Then Matt, our location coordinator, went to Java Joes and fetched us breakfast burritos and we ate them with him and Michael our individual location person.  They were big and doughy and filling.

I then dressed in my biking clothes and biked to Bill’s office to work with Sally to file the exhibits for my Reply that I was not able to file yesterday.  We talked and then I rode south to the end of the fields and back to Bill’s office, a distance of about 8 miles.

After Sally was finished, I went home and took a shower and dressed for the day.

I worked until 2:00 when I drove to Capo’s to eat lunch.  The lunch special was $6.99 for a nice salad and a large plate filled with a couple of thinly sliced, breaded and sautéed slices of eggplant covered with a creamy cheese sauce and a pile of spaghetti covered with a lovely fresh marinara sauce and a basket of fresh warmed Italian bread slices.  I loved it and even though I had ridden, I could not finish it.  I boxed the last third and took it home for another day.

I worked until 5:00 in my office as painters and crew worked in the rest of the house, painting in the kitchen and moving furniture.

At 5:00 Suzette came home and we had a drink of Chianti and rested for a few minutes and discussed the new dish she created for her Greenhouse Bistro restaurant in Los Lunas.  It is a Vietnamese rice paper wrapper around a lettuce wrap stuffed with pickled vegetables and lots of other vegetarian ingredients to create a vegan, gluten free dish for the spa and Bistro.

We checked to see when Talin closed so we could go there for ingredients Suzette needs for her dish and discovered it closed at 7:30.

So I went to meditate early and Dennis was waiting when I arrived at 6:45 and we finished meditating at 6:30 and I returned home at 6:45 and we left for Talin at 7:00.  We called Willy to tell him we were going to dinner at Vietnam 2000 at 7:45 and if he wished to meet us, we could eat dinner together.

When we got to the restaurant, Suzette said she wanted to try something different, so I selected a patted rice noodle dish (Banh) with egg rolls and grilled pork that is served with lettuce leaves, sliced cucumbers, cilantro and a fish sauce for dipping.

Willy ordered a Vietnamese sandwich stuffed with pork and other ingredients and a No. 21, which is Bun Cha Gio, a large bowl with salad and cucumbers and herbs on the bottom, soft boiled rice vermicelli in the middle and egg rolls and grilled pork on the top. Suzette ordered a fried egg roll appetizer and helped me eat my plate of Bahn.

Egg rolls were the theme of the evening in all their different manifestations. I think Vietnam 2000 makes the best egg rolls in town.  We ate all eight egg rolls served in their various settings.  Four on the appetizer plate, two on Willy’s No. 21 and two on my plate of Bahn.

We finished dinner by 8:45 and went home to bed after saying goodnight to the film crew’s night watchman.

I woke up at 12:30 to write this blog.  Pictures to follow in an update.

Since we cannot use our kitchen we will be eating out a lot this next week.

Bon Appetit

August 27, 2019 Lunch – Salad with Liverwurst and Port Salut Cheese Dinner- Stir Fried Smoke Pork Chop, Yu Choy, Water Chestnuts, and Bamboo Shoots with Couscous

August 27, 2019  Lunch – Salad with Liverwurst and Port Salut Cheese  Dinner- Stir Fried Smoke Pork Chop, Yu Choy, Water Chestnuts, and Bamboo Shoots with Couscous

I worked from 2:30 until 5:30 and then sent the draft to Bill and Sally and then worked on the reply from 7:30 this morning until 10:00, when I made breakfast of granola, tropical fruit salad, and yogurt.

I then showered and dressed and met with a new client for a consultation.  We got his transaction figured out moving by noon.

I then talked to Sally and she said Bill had edited the draft I had sent at 7:30 in the morning.  She said she would merge the two, so I sent my new draft to her and made my lunch.

I decided to make a salad with PPIs, so I chopped the last of a head of green leaf lettuce, sliced four or five small tomatoes from Suzette’s garden in Los Lunas in half, peeled and sliced 1/3 of cucumber, sliced a green onion, and then cubed the last slice of liverwurst and the last cube of Port Salut cheese that Mike had brought to dinner a month ago.  I added olive oil to the dressing and drizzled the salad with  tarragon dressing and garnished it with a couple of tsp. of capers. 

The salad was delicious, very fresh and wonderfully flavorful with the rich creamy liverwurst and Port Salut counter posed to the clean fresh lettuce and dressing.

After lunch I worked to get my Reply and Exhibits together and sent back to Bill and Sally.

At 4:00 I sent the final draft and drove to the bank and deposited my checks for the deed work I do and then went by Bill’s office.  Bill was still working on his final edit and we went over it together and then Sally sent it to me.

I went home at 4:45 but had difficulty uploading all my exhibits, but by 5:45 I filed it.

Suzette called and I barked at her around 5:15 when I was trying unsuccessfully to upload my Reply into the court’s electronic filing system.

I was in a better mood when she returned from Costco at 6:30.  We discussed dinner and decided to use up more ingredients.  We decided to Stir Fry the last two smoked pork chops with the bag of Yu Choy I bought at Talin last Tuesday.

I diced ½ onion, a zucchini, and 1 T. of elephant garlic and about 1 T. of ginger root.  I then opened small cans of water chestnuts and sliced bamboo shoots.

Then I sliced the bag of Yu Choy, which is a thinner more delicate green, not unlike Chinese broccoli but thinner stems and not many heads of flowerets, separating the stalks from the leaves and then rinsing both. Finally, I diced the pork chops.

I heated 2 T. of peanut oil in the wok and added the onion, garlic, Yu Choy stems, ginger, and zucchini and stir fried them for a bit.  Then I added the cubed pork, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts and stir fried those ingredients with the firm vegetables. I forgot to add beech mushrooms, alas, but the wok was getting really filled.  So, I finished by adding the leaves of Yu Choy and a seasoning sauce I made with 1 T. soy sauce, 3 T. Chinese cooking wine, 1 T. cornstarch, and 1 tsp. of sesame oil plus about ¼ cup of water, a tsp. of sugar and ½ tsp. of salt and covered the wok to steam the Yu choy leaves.  After a minute or two I stirred everything together. The sauce was not thickening so I took the wok cover off and stir-fried the mixture another couple of minutes until a sauce began to develop.  I heated the container of PPI couscous from the fridge and Suzette divided the couscous onto two plates and we each served ourselves heaping spoonsful of the Yu Choy stir-fry.

We drank the rest of a bottle of Emma Reichard Rose with dinner.

No dessert, but I ate some PPI candy from the last neighborhood cocktail party made with walnuts and caramel to get rid of another PPI.

We went to bed at 9:30, but were awaken by the alarm at 2:30.  Suzette thought she saw a mouse in Willy’s room that may have triggered the alarm.

I set a trap and then blogged these last two day’s food blogs.

We are both busy but seem to be eating well as we clean the fridge.

I can add the beech mushrooms to the 32 oz. of PPI Yu Choy stir fry to freshen it up tomorrow night, if we do not eat chicken mole with refried beans.

The idea is to get the fridge and counters empty, since we will not be able to cook while the film crews are working in the house starting tomorrow.  We will need to stay at the Hotel Chaco Monday and Tuesday night, since the filming location will be the kitchen.  Voila.

Film crews are like armies, they show up with everything they need including food trucks with catered meals for the crew that are setting up and filming the scenes for hours at a time. This shoot will involve three days of set up and prep, a day of shooting and two days of taking down the set and replacing everything back to its original condition.  In essence, they rent our house for those days.

Bon Appetit

August 26, 2019 Lunch – Cappo’s Ristorante Dinner – Chicken Mole and Steamed String Beans

August 26, 2019 Lunch – Cappo’s Ristorante  Dinner – Chicken Mole and Steamed String Beans

I had to file a pleading in one of my water cases today and worked into the night last night and all day today so I am catching up on a great day of food yesterday.

I ate my usual granola, yogurt, and Tropical fruit salad for breakfast.

I then rode to Montano and back.

At lunch time I called Bill Turner and rode my bike to his office and we walked to Cappo’s for the Monday special for $6.99.  The Monday Special is Lasagna coated with a delicious Marinara Sauce and served with your choice of Minestone or salad.  There was a choice between spinach or meat lasagna.  We both selected meat lasagna.   There was a bit more ground pork and beef and less ricotta in this lasagna than the last one.

We both ordered the salad and it was lovely today, fresh iceburg lettuce, a tomato, a slice of salami and a slice of provolone cheese.  I loved the lasagna and, amazingly, the large cube of lasagna filled me up, even after riding 10 miles and walking two and ½ blocks to the restaurant.  We talked about the case we are working on for a while.  I was in a hyper mood and the questions and comments kept flowing. 

After Lunch I started drafting the Reply and worked until 5:30 although I started to thaw out five chicken hind quarters from the freezer at around 4:00.

When Suzette came home I kept working and she decided to go through the fridge to see what needed to be thrown away and found a container of black Oaxaca mole.

She says it is the mole sauce we bought at Pro’s Market in from a big basin of it like they sell in Mexico, where they dig you out a scoop with a spoon or cut a cube with a knife,  She decided to make chicken mole and put the chicken parts into a large pot of boiling water and boiled them for an hour.

At about 7:00 I stopped working and came to the kitchen.  Willy came by and said he would join us for dinner, so I diced a poblano chili and several cloves of garlic and Suzette sautéed them in a skillet and then pureed them and added them to the cup of mole sauce she took from the fridge and added chicken stock to emulsify the mole into a sauce.

I then snapped the green beans and Suzette took them and put them in the steamer with water to steam them.

We then worked together to shred the chicken and Suzette added it to the skillet with the mole sauce to cook for a few minutes to take up some of the flavors of the mole.  It seemed like only about fifteen to twenty minutes later Suzette transferred the PPI sushi rice to a pyrex baking dish an covered it with Saran and heated the rice in the microwave and we were ready to eat.

I guess tonight we ate chicken with mole sauce instead of chicken mole.  If I had had my preference we would have cooked the chicken in the mole sauce for a couple of hours, but I must admit that I was hungry and the chicken in mole sauce tasted really delicious with its slightly elevated chili picante..

We drank beers with dinner and Willy came back around 8:30 and Suzette made him a plate of mole and green beans.

I ate a couple of slices of watermelon for dessert and after Willy left around 9:30 I then worked until 2:30 on the Reply.

Bon Appetit  

August 25, 2019 Breakfast – Gazpacho and Boiled Shrimp Snack at Sugar’s Roadside Diner Dinner - Ratatouille with Rice and Smoked Pork Chop

August 25, 2019 Breakfast – Gazpacho and Boiled Shrimp  Snack at Sugar’s Roadside Diner  Dinner -  Ratatouille with Rice and Smoked Pork Chop

We awakened at 7:30 after a not great night’s sleep.  I watched the news shows and PL Soccer Man Union against Bournmouth and then we went to the lobby for some breakfast food.  We brought two eggs, a small container of yogurt, and a bagel back to the room and Suzette poured gazpacho into bowls and put the shrimp on a plate and we each sliced an egg and ate spoonsful of egg, shrimp, and gazpacho.  I then ate the yogurt and finally a mousse left from last night.

We were both a bit hung over so neither of us cared to drink the champagne we brought with us.

We loaded up at 11:00 and headed down the mountain to the flea market at KTAO, which appears to be closed and for sale.

We then went to Bent Street to Robert Parsons’ Gallery and talked to him and fellow from Dallas named Roy Coffee who was a collector.

Then we went to the extensive Judy Chicago show at the Harwood and finally at 12:30 drove south. While we were in the Canyon Suzette said she wanted ice cream so I stopped at Sugar’s that is across the road from the old chili line station at Embudo.  It was packed with families and was serving an extensive menu that included BBQ and hamburgers of all kinds.  A man said he had waited an hour for food, so we ordered Root beer floats with soft ice cream in a large glass of root beer.  We sipped at a table under the trees among the other families.  

 

We ate our PPI potato chips and sipped the root beer floats for a while and then Suzette drove us south to Stephens in Santa Fe while I dozed.

We did not see anything at Stephens, so we drove to Santa Fe Plaza mall to see Zozobra Fest.  There was lots of art this year and Suzette found a nicely decorated tee shirt hand painted with an image of Zozobra on it for $25.00. I did not buy anything this year.

We drove back to Albuquerque and rested until 6:00.  Suzette slept until 7:30 so I made my own dinner by filling a pasta bowl with sushi rice, ratatouille, and a diced smoked pork chop and drank a glass of Emma Reichard rose’ ($4.99 at Trader Joe’s).  Suzette ate ratatouille with a sautéed smoked pork chop later.

I also ate a few more macaroons with a cup of tea after dinner.

We rested and watched TV, mostly to relax and then Suzette went to bed at 10:00, while I stayed up to blog a bit.

I am finally able to attach pictures to the blog from my laptop thanks to Suzette’s assistance.

Bon Appetit    

August 24, 2019 Lunch – Seafood omelet. Dinner - Taos Summer Wine Festival

August 24, 2019 Lunch – Seafood omelet.   Dinner - Taos Summer Wine Festival

Suzette had to go to work for an emergency at 4:00 in the morning so we got an early start.

I started around 7:30 with a bowl of yogurt, Tropical fruit salad and granola and watched PL Soccer.  I then rode the four mile short loop.

Then I showered and dressed and we went to pick up the table and chairs we bought for the apartment at the estate sale in the north valley.

We took it to the apartment and returned home around 12:30.

We were hungry, so we made an omelet with the PPI salmon, tuna and scallops from our sushi dinner with two sliced green onions.

We got packed the gazpacho, cocktail sauce, and boiled shrimp we cooked last night and finally left at 1:30 for Taos.

We arrived at 4:15 at the Alpine Inn Suites at Taos Ski Valley.

We cleaned up a bit and at 5:00 walked over to the plaza in front of the Blake where the wine festival was set up.  There were about twenty-five wine tables and about a dozen food booths and about 50 to 60 people.  So, there was an excess of food and wine for the number of persons attending, which made it great for talking to wine importers and chefs.

We enjoyed some wonderful Italian wines from northern Italy and the Piedmont among many other wines.  

The food was exceptional.  There were four or five terrific dishes. All the restaurants in the Taos Ski Valley seemed to participate, the quality of food has improved dramatically in the last year or two.  One restaurant served ramekins filled with boar and potato shepherd’s pie and ramekins of chocolate mousse with ground up hazelnuts, and another mushroom and leek turnovers topped with a potato swirl but those were not my favorites.

  My favorite was a wild mushroom and shallot duxelles mixed with quinoa piled onto a slice of toasted French baguette. Heavenly. 

There was also scallop ceviche and a wonderful paella.  Here is a picture of Suzette with the paella cook. 

There were also amazing confections, a green chili truffle and incredible small triple macaroons filled with layers of chocolate and Bavarian cream, which we ate while we sipped glasses of 5 year old Reserve Madeira.

We loved everything and as the sun set a couple from Capulin National Monument set up telescopes.  When the tasting ended at 7:30 we returned to our room, so Suzette could put on her shawl and I, my light jacket.   We then returned to the telescopes and looked at Jupiter and Saturn.  We could see the rings and moons of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, especially in the larger 24 inch telescope.

We went to bed at around 10:00 after a wonderful day.   

This is the third year for the Summer Taos Wine Festival.  It is sponsored by Taos Ski Valley.  I predict it will grow in size and attendance as all the other ones have, especially since there are additional condominiums being constructed.

We will miss the intimacy and excellence of this event this time but keep coming.  The weather was perfect with a cool breeze and the mountains were beautiful.

 

Bon Appetit

August 23, 2019 Lunch – PPI Swedish Meatballs and potatoes and lingonberry preserves Dinner- Tuna, Scallop, and Salmon Sashimi with Sushi Rice, Avocado, and pickled vegetables

August 23, 2019 Lunch – PPI Swedish Meatballs and potatoes and lingonberry preserves  Dinner- Tuna, Scallop, and Salmon Sashimi with Sushi Rice, Avocado, and pickled vegetables

A really diverse international food.day.

I ate an American breakfast of two sausage patties, two eggs and sauteed slices of Vidalia onion and two slices of a whole wheat dinner roll with butter and boysenberry jam.

I drank tea and then at 8:45 we drove to an estate sale in the north valley.  We soon found a table and chairs for Willy’s apartment, a few tools for the garden, a ceramic olive oil dispenser and some lamps and a cake serving set.

I went home and worked until 11:45, when I went to the court to get a transcript of a hearing and then the bank and then drove to Sprouts.

I had a thought last night that I would eat raw fish with sushi rice and the pickles I made yesterday to see if it seemed more Japanese like, since that seemed like a very traditional Japanese meal.

  

At Sprouts I bought a 1 lb. piece of fresh salmon for $6.99/lb., an 1 lb. aji tuna steak for $10.00/lb., and a pound of sea scallops for $9.99/lb.  Today was the first day of the 72 hour sale and Sprouts olive oil was on sale for $5.99/liter bottle.  It is my favorite olive oil.  It is Spanish extra virgin oil.  I also bought chocolate covered almonds for $3.99/lb., green beans, Jasmine rice for $.99/lb., a cucumber for Suzette’s gazpacho, six ears of fresh corn for $1.00 and 2 lb. of large 16-20 count shrimp for $11.98.    

At 5:30 I started cooking the Jasmine rice.  I made 1 ½ cup of.rice by heating about 2 ½ cups of water with a tsp. of dashi seasoning to add some fish and kumbo flavor and then I made the sushi seasoning with 2 T. of sugar, 2 T. of rice vinegar, 2 tsp. of salt, and a splash of water and then heated it in the microwave to melt the sugar into solution.  When the rice was ready in 35 minutes Suzette folded the sushi seasoning into the rice.  It was exactly the way I like sushi rice, moist and lumpy.

I started slicing the tuna, salmon, and seven of the scallops. There was a lot of fish.  I sliced only about 1/2 of the salmon and had 8 nice scallops left for another meal after slicing eight scallops that filled a plate with the tuna steak also.  Suzette wanted avocado with the meal so she sliced up an avocado.

I heated the last of a bottle of sake in a pitcher in a water bath in a small enameled sauce pan and poured cups of warm sake for each of us.  I also filled two dipping bowls with soy sauce and put in pieces of wasabi.  We then filled two small bowls with pickles and two rice bowls with sushi rice. I fetched the pickled ginger from the fridge and made a cup of green tea and we were ready to eat.  Here is a picture.

I called Willy earlier to tell him we were eating sushi and he came by at 8:15 to play clean up on the sushi.  He loved the tuna, as we did, but did not eat the scallops or all of the salmon and tuna. I put the remaining fish into a bowl for an omelet tomorrow morning.

This was the best, most economical sushi dinner I have ever made.  The fish cost less than $30.00 and I have ½ lb. of salmon and ½ lb. of sea scallops left for another meal and lots of sushi rice.

After dinner I ate some clafoutis and later a few chocolate wafer cookies with a cup of green tea and sat with Willy as he ate as much of the dinner as he could.

It was an awesome evening of eating.

After dinner Suzette and I thawed and boiled 16 jumbo shrimp to take to Taos for Suzette’s Birthday breakfast Sunday morning.  Suzette also brought home some fresh tomatoes that she made into gazpacho with some red bell pepper, and cucumber, and I made cocktail sauce for the shrimp by mixing catsup, Long’s Pennsylvania horseradish, and fresh lemon juice.

The other thing that was great today was that the house was selected for another few scenes of the Briar Patch TV series. This will be inside shots so we will be provided a hotel room for the night before and after the shoot, so as not to be in the way.

The news cycle was depressing including an over 600 point drop in the Dow and a drop in the price of il, and a drop in the interest rate yield curve, as Trump claims we are doing a great job of making China stop harming our economy as he and China put tariffs on each country today totaling $375 Billion of goods.  My portfolio and probably everyone else's portfolio lost more than 2% of their value today. The NASDAQ was down 3%.

Trump says America is winning in its trade war with China, although all the economists say, "No one wins a Trade War."

Bon Appetit

August 22, 2019 Lunch - Viet Taste Dinner – Cedar Plank Grilled Teriyaki Salmon with Pickled Vegetables and Tomato Couscous

August 22, 2019 Lunch - Viet Taste   Dinner – Cedar Plank Grilled Teriyaki Salmon with Pickled Vegetables and Tomato Couscous

I pushed the limit of my endurance by walking a mile today and riding ten miles yesterday, so I limped much of the rest of the day and lay in bed for a few minutes after mediation.

I ate yogurt, milk, granola, and Tropical Fruit salad for breakfast and then walked a mile, which is my current outer limit for walking.

I called Rahim to thank him for bringing me the lovely Jerry Garcia tie and asked if he and Nizar would like to go to lunch.  He said Nizar was with him today.  I asked if they wanted to meet for lunch.  He said yes and when I asked where they would like to go he mentioned Viet Taste.  We met at Viet Taste at noon.  It is located at 5721 Menaul near the corner of San Pedro and Menaul.  It is a large restaurant and at noon it was filling rapidly with lunch diners. 

I have a theory why Viet Taste is selected by readers of Alibi as the top Vietnamese restaurant in Albuquerque.  It is close to Uptown where lots of people work, so lots of people go to Viet Taste to eat lunch.  Also, many of its menu items are slightly cheaper than other Vietnamese restaurants. The combination of these factors makes it favored in the polls for best Vietnamese restaurant.

I am not a great fan of Viet Taste.  I have my favorite, Vietnam 2000.

Rahim and Nizar like Viet Taste because it serves an appetizer of grape leaves stuffed with spicy beef puree that they find very appealing.  It was too spicy for me. They are of Indian descent, so like spicy food.  We also shared a small sandwich with marinated and grilled chicken with pickled onion and carrot garnished with fresh cucumber slices that I liked much better and a bowl of bun with grilled beef and beef fried egg rolls that was okay.  Again okay, not exciting to me.

I perked up when Rahim said he wanted look at the Candy store renovation, so after lunch we drove over to it.  I showed them around the building and the renovation of Marie Coleman’s property at 522 Romero.  Rahim talked about a popcorn shop installed in less than 100 square feet as an idea. I told him about our plan to make the property into a wine tasting room and he liked it.

I then went home and met Matt and we talked about the shooting schedule for the next shoot for Briarpatch, which will be the last of the season and probably forever.

Matt asked a question about the big water case, which amazed me, so I told about my clients’ position and showed him some of the pleadings.

We talked from 2:00 until 3:30.

I then drove to the Courthouse arriving ten minutes before the Clerk’s office closed at 4:00.  When I asked the Clerk for a transcript of the Tuesday hearing I was informed that Civil cases are recorded by Court Reporters and I had to go upstairs and ask for a typed transcript, so I did that.

Erika had called and I told her I would bring her the security deposit check to her store on San Mateo, so after the courthouse, I drove to Chile Fanatic and gave her a check for her security deposit.  I then drove south to Sprouts and bought milk, yogurt and a 6 oz. plastic container of blueberries on special for $.98.

I then went home and watched a bit of news and made myself a hearing sandwich and a liverwurst sandwich.

Then at 5:45 I drove to meditation and finally slowed down for a few minutes.

When I returned home a few minutes before 7:00 I lay down to watch Rachel Maddow and went to sleep.

Suzette was resting and she finally got up to cut the cedar board and soaked it in water for grilling the salmon.

When Willy arrived at 8:00 Suzette woke me and we decided to make tomato couscous for dinner.  We heated 2 T. of butter in a saucepan and then Suzette added 1 ½ cup of water.  When the water came to a boil we added 1 cup of couscous and two diced tomatoes and put the pot on low heat.  I kept adjusting the heat to develop steam and then reduce the heat so the couscous would not become scorched on the bottom of the pan. Everything turned out fine and the tomato juice even went to the bottom of the pan and created a lovely flavorful soft crust.

Suzette had put the salmon on the grill before she got me up so when Willy arrived a few minutes later, everything was almost ready.  The salmon I bought at Talin was a steak cut from a big whole salmon, so it was thicker on the upper side and the thinner belly meat below, after I filleted the steak. Willy took the two thinner more well done parts and Suzette and I each took a thicker upper portion.  My portion was a little overcooked, but that did not matter much because the pickled vegetables overwhelmed the flavor of the fish.  I used the recipe from the Japanese Cookbook that called for 5 cups of rice vinegar, 2 cups of water, 5 T. of sugar, and 2 T. of salt.  It was a fiercely strong pickling medium.

After we divided the two salmon fillets into three portions and plated them, we filled our plates with couscous and pickled vegetables and drank ginger beers with dinner.

I rested on the couch after dinner and we talked about Willy’s impeding trips to Portland, Oregon and Toronto and at 9:00 Willy left.

We went to bed around 10:00 after I replenished the pickling medium with slices of a carrot, a cucumber, the rest of the daikon, and a small amount of ginger root.

The Japanese Cookbook author talks about how she ate rice with daikon pickles and soy sauce when she was a poor student living in Japan. That seems like a purer dish that trying to marry the pickles to a grilled fish, but the teriyaki salmon is the delicious teaser to get the pickles on the plate and the meal was better for both. I finally felt like I was eating in a very authentic Japanese style.

I think I will make some sushi and rice and try the pickles with it for an even more authentically Japanese meal.  

Bon Appetit

August 21, 2019 Lunch – Café Trang Dinner – New Recipe Swedish Meatballs with creamed spinach with mushrooms, garlic, and onions.

August 21, 2019 Lunch – Café Trang   Dinner – New Recipe Swedish Meatballs with creamed spinach with mushrooms, garlic, and onions.

Today I started with a good breakfast of sautéed, smoked pork chop and fried eggs over easy.  Then we both rode our bikes.  Suzette along the bosque trail to the river and I along the bike path to Rio Bravo.

Then I showered, shaved, and dressed and prepared a document and then at 10:30 I drove to the bank to get a document notarized and then to Central Trailer Supply to meet Dana for lunch.

This lunch turned out to be amazing. Dana is the key to keeping Titan Technologies alive and well, but what he talked about were the adventures of his dad and granddad in the Second World War.  Apparently they were members of the Albuquerque national Guard that was sent to Corrigador to man the shore battery that was captured by the Japanese and became the Bataan Death March.

Both of them were saved by their mates.  Dana’s grandad was also in the First World War, which is amazing.  Anyway, according to Dana, his Dad faltered and the men in the march shoved him behind a bush which saved him from being bayoneted by the Japanese.  He then spent over two years roaming the countryside being fed by Philippine natives until he was captured by the Japanese and sent to Japan to a slave labor camp.  According to Dana, his grandad was carried to a prisoner of war camp in the Philippines by a bigger stronger soldier who grabbed him by the waist of his pants before he could be bayonetted by a Japanese soldier.  His grandad was ready to die when he heard the Japanese soldiers talking about a big mushroom and shortly afterward the Japanese eased their torture of the prisoners and he survived.  Because of his father’s disappearance, his fate was unknown until after the war. Dana’s father and grandfather were the only father and son duo to survive the Bataan Death March.  Dana said he had an uncle who was also on the Bataan Death March who just died at 100.  Dana said his dad never complained about anything after the war.  So, my friendly lunch turned into an amazing story of survival and heroism.

We both ordered No. 44, which is my favorite dish bun noodles with fresh mung bean sprouts, shaved lettuce, a pile of roasted crushed peanuts, a pickled carrot and daikon salad, and a fish sauce dipping sauce garnished with two fried egg rolls and slices of BBQ pork on a bed of soft steamed rice vermicelli.  We both liked our dish and cleaned our plates.

After lunch Dana was kind enough to go with me across the parking lot to Talin to shop.  I bought a 1 ½ lb. fresh salmon steak, a daikon, shallots, brown beech mushrooms, a bag of Yu Choy, sweet red paprika from Spain, beef meatballs, and several types of noodles, bean thread, wheat, and rice.

When I arrived home at 1:45 I immediately called Matt to let him know I was home and apologized for having arrived at 1:45 for our intended 1:30 appointment.  He said in his usual friendly manner, “No problem, we will be right over.”  Soon about twenty-five people who are working on Briarpatch arrived including the director for this segment to be filmed in our kitchen.

After lots of looking and measuring, they left and Mat indicated they may start film prep as soon as Labor Day Weekend.  I told we planned to stay in town that weekend, so scheduling the shoot would be no problem.  Yea another shoot.

After they left at around 3;00 I worked a bit and then went to the bank to get a document notarized.

When I returned home I discovered that I had another good day in the market.  This may be short lived because I think I heard that the 2 year treasury crossed the 10 year treasury at the close, which is one of the signs of a pending recession.  The market futures started trending downward after the market close and are slightly negative.  If I was smart I would sell some stocks on the open.  

When Suzette came home at 5:30 I joined her for her weekly shopping trip to Costco and Southwest Distributors for the Center.  At Costco besides all the food stuffs for the Center, she bought boxes of Vegetarian tikka marsala for Willy and lemons.

We than drove to Southwest Distributors where she bought soy sauce, champagne white wine vinegar, eggs, and Chinese Cooking wine for the home plus lots more items for the Center.

At 6:30 we returned home.  We rested until 7:00 and then began to cook.  Suzette was distracted by work related problems so I peeled, sectioned, and boiled five potatoes for mashed potatoes.  I then cleaned two bunches of spinach and sliced three large white mushrooms, one-half of a Vidalia onion, and two cloves of garlic from our garden.

When Suzette became available again she started cooking.  I had put the onions and garlic into a wok to cook and Suzette added butter and we sautéed the onions and garlic for few minutes.  The I added the mushroom slices and cooked the vegetable mixture another five minutes.  Then we added a dozen PPI Swedish meatballs, 2 T. of Amontillado sherry, and the two bunches of cleaned spinach and covered the wok and cooked everything about ten to fifteen more minutes.

While the mixture was cooking, I made a roux with two T. of butter and 1 heaping T. of white flour.  Suzette took over and completed the cream sauce by adding heavy cream and milk.  When the sauce was smooth we added it to the wok and stirred everything together.

I opened a bottle of 2017 Famille Perrin Reserve White Cotes Du Rhone.  We loved the distinctive Marsanne and Roussane grape blend with the cream sauce, meatballs, mushrooms, onion, and spinach.

This was a great dinner with a wonderful new fall recipe.

After dinner I could not resist finishing with a French flare.  I ate a few pieces of chocolate with a bit of Calvados and Suzette became even more animated and made Bananas Foster with whipped cream and the last of the vanilla ice cream.

Suzette went to bed after 9:30 and I stayed up to blog until 10:45 and then read a bit.

Bon Appetit

August 20, 2019 Lunch – Vinaigrette Dinner- Liverwurst Sandwiches and Jarlsberg cheese sandwich

August 20, 2019 Lunch – Vinaigrette Dinner- Liverwurst Sandwiches and Jarlsberg cheese sandwich

I am still without an I Pad so will muddle through the old fashion way on my laptop.

I slept in a bit again until 7:30.  I ate a bowl of granola, milk, tropical fruit salad and yogurt and then Suzette and I walked a few blocks.

She left for an appointment and I worked a bit until 11:00, then dressed for court and when Suzette returned around 11:30 we drove to Vinaigrette in separate cars to meet Chris Goblet for lunch. I ordered the Duck Arugula Salad with arugula, garden greens, goat cheese, duck confit, and poached pears. Suzette ordered a Seasonal Salad with Peaches and Prosciutto and Willy and Chris ordered ½ sandwiches with ½ salads.  We enjoyed our salads and conversation about how to make the candy store into a wine tasting and sales shop.  

He was very energized to advance New Mexico wine and was receptive to our idea of making the Candy Store a kind of Maison du Vin.  What I mean by that is that in most wine producing regions of France I have visited there is a government sponsored Visitors Center and right next door or near it is a Maison du Vin, which is a tasting room and sales shop for the wines of that region supported by the wineries.

After lunch I went home and then to Court at 2:00 for the hearing in the case I am co-counsel in with Robert P. I argued Robert’s motion to strike any counterclaims and it was granted, thanks to his excellent briefing.

I then went home and changed out of my dress clothes and read until 5:00 when Suzette came home. I actually had a bad reaction to the Duck Confit Salad, similar to the one I had when I ate the salad before.

Suzette was tired and did not want to cook, which was fine with me because I did not feel like eating. I sliced a whole wheat dinner roll into three slices and toasted two of them.  I wanted something that would not upset my stomach, so I spread the chive and basil mayonnaise on the toast and added slices of liverwurst and ate them with a glass of tonic water and lime juice.  A little later I was feeling better and toasted the smaller top portion of the roll and buttered it and added slices of Jarlsberg cheese and ate it with a cup of hot tea.

That was it for food for me, except later I ate several slices of watermelon.

Suzette ate sparingly also.

I cannot believe that my body reacted to the duck confit salad so violently.  I guess I will go back to the greasy Frisee Salad at Vinaigrette.

I had an interesting day in the Market.  I almost like these days the best.  The Dow dropped 173 points with most stocks dropping, but the tech and energy sectors held firm and Home Depot announced higher than expected earnings and rallied over $9.00.  Since I own 300 shares of Home Depot, my loss for the day was negligable.

Bon Appetit

August 19, 2019 Lunch - Cappo's Ristorante Dinner - Grilled Filet Mignon and Artichoke and Ratatouille

August 19, 2019 Lunch – Cappo’s Ristorante.  Dinner – Grilled Filet Mignon and Artichokes with Ratatouille  

I loved today’s food.  Suzette used the PPI baked salmon from Saturday night’s Shell Club meeting, red bell pepper, tomato and cheese omelet and toasted pieces of French baguette to make a sumptuous breakfast.

After breakfast, Suzette rode bike around the lakes at Tingley Beach and I rode to Marquez.

I then puttered until 11:45 when I went to lunch with Jim and Willy at Cappo’s at the corner of Central and 8^th. The decision to eat at Cappo’s was driven by my desire to try their Monday lunch special of lasagna.  I really liked it.  It was vegetarian, filled between the layers of lasagna macaroni with ricotta cheese, so it was really light and tender. It was sauced with a light tomato marinara sauce that was also fresh and pleasant and served with either a cup of minestrone or a small salad.  I was completely pleased with lunch, especially since it cost only $6.00.

The other reason for lunch was to have Willy and Jim meet and discuss some of their planning issues and that was very interesting for me, especially when they discussed a project they worked on sequentially.

After lunch, I went home, thawed out three small filet mignon steaks, and slept for a couple of hours while Loyda cleaned the house.

I went to the bank at 4:30 and Suzette came home at 5:00.

We called Willy and determined that he would come over for dinner at 7:30.

I read my new book, March by Geraldine Brooks until Suzette called me to the kitchen at 7:15 to help her prepare dinner.  There was very little preparation needed for dinner.  Suzette cut the four artichokes in half and she prepared the steaks and filled and heated a saucepan of the PPI ratatouille.

I went to the garden and picked five or six stalks of chives and a handful of basil and made a dipping sauce for the artichokes with about 1 cup of mayonnaise, ¼ cup each of sliced chives and basil and a tsp. of olive oil and the juice of ½ lime.

I decided that a special wine was needed to grace our table so I opened the bottle of 2012 Chateau Le Grand Faurie, an Appellation Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Controlee, a blend of 60% Merlot, 35 % Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec grapes.  It was smooth as silk.  Even Willy liked it and drank two glasses.  It is $16.95 at Trader Joe’s and worth every penny and worthy of a special occasion. I will definitely buy more bottle of this one.  Grand Cru is a step down from Premier Cru, but a big step up from plain Saint-Emilons.

Here is a commentary describing the classification process for Saint-Emilion wines.

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When the classification of St. Emilion was initially created in 1955, only two chateaux earned the coveted Premier Grand Cru Classe A status, Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau Ausone. For many Bordeaux wine lovers, that was how it was, and how it was going to stay… forever.

Few people anticipated other chateaux would also be classed with Premier Grand Cru Classe A status. That changed in 2012, when the Saint Emilion appellation completed their supposedly, once in a decade classification and Chateau Angelus and Chateau Pavie were both reclassified as Premier Grand Cru Classe A.

Chateaux with Premier Grand Cru Classe A status are considered in the same league as the First Growths in the Medoc, who were classified in 1855. Because of the extraordinary high level of esteem awarded to First Growths, it’s easy to see why this is such a big deal.

If the selling price for the wines were the sole determining factor, I could see their point as Cheval Blanc and Ausone sold for close to 300% more money in many vintages, on release and in the secondary marketplace as well. But unlike what took place with the 1855 Classification, there were other elements in the equation.

To apply and achieve Premier Grand Cru Classe A status in the 2012 Saint Emilion classification, the Chateaux were judged on a multitude of criteria including price, reputation in the marketplace, terroir and their wine. Chateaux were judged on a 20 Pt scale. For First Growth status, meaning Premier Grand Cru Classe A, the chateaux had to score a minimum of 17 out of 20 points.

The scoring was looked at on a category by category basis. The quality of the wines were 30% of the overall score. For chateaux hoping for Premier Grand Cru Classe A status, chateaux were obligated to provide samples from the 20 most recent vintages for tastings.

The vineyards were also a factor weighing in at 30% of the score for their Terroir and soil of St. Emilion. An estate’s reputation was 35% of the score. Many things went into the estates reputation, including the selling price, the chateau and reception area.

Chateau Angelus and Chateau Pavie both completely rebuilt their chateau from top to bottom. Chateau Pavie completed construction in 2013, Chateau Angelus finished their renovations in 2014. Both estates became showpieces for Saint Emilion. Last, and least, the estate and their practices were worth 5% of the score.

The marketplace and Saint Emilion did not know what to make of the change taking place in the classification status at the top of pyramid for the new chateau elevated into Premier Grand Cru Classe A status. The change at that level of classification was instantly controversial.

The new, showy, extroverted chateau and cellars of Chateau Pavie immediately caused controversy. Both Angelus and Pavie raised prices for their wine as soon as their level of classified status changed. This stunned the marketplace because the wines became instantly more expensive with the 2012 Bordeaux vintage.

The reason the price increases surprised merchants and collectors alike was that 2012 Bordeaux is considered a moderate year, with some good wines, especially on the Right Bank. For that reason, there was light demand for most wines. Skipping ahead just 12 short months later, back vintages of Chateau Angelus and Chateau Pavie were now selling for new, record setting high prices! You cannot argue with the voice of the marketplace.

It was not only consumers that were confused or unhappy with the new, changes in the 2012 St. Emilion classification. For decades, the First Growths of the 1855 Classification, along with Cheval Blanc, Ausone and Petrus met once a year to taste their wines. The group became known as the group of 9.

Following the upgrade of Pavie and Angelus, the group of 9 refused to add the two, new First Growth estates, expanding the group to 11. In St. Emilion, traditionally, all the Premier Cru Classe St. Emilion chateaux arranged for a tasting of their wines for the press.

When the new Classification was announced, that tasting was cancelled. The reasons given was, that Pavie and Angelus were not willing to include their wines in the tasting because Cheval Blanc and Ausone did not also include their wines.

The remaining Premier Cru Classe B wines were thus not willing to show their wines as they did not want the market to think there were two levels of First Growths in St. Emilion. I understand that way of thinking. What I and others did not understand was the cancellation the Premier Cru Classe of St. Emilion dinner held during VinExpo.

Perhaps, I should flesh out my comment. The event was cancelled because previously all the First Growth of St. Emilion participated or attended. Following the change in the Classification of 2012, some of the Premier Cru Classe A estates refused to participate, which in turn meant that all four of the Premier Cru Classe A chateaux would not participate or attend.

In turn, the Premier Cru Classe B chateaux, either one by one, or mutually, also refused to participate as they did not want to give the impression of multiple levels of First Growth wines in Saint Emilion.

History will look at this differently in time. When Chateau Mouton Rothschild was upgraded to First Growth status in 1973, there was an equal uproar. 40 years later, they are considered a First Growth in all manners. As they should!

Regardless of where someone stands on the merits having four chateau at the level of Premier Grand Cru Classe A; Angelus and Pavie are two consistent and exciting Right Bank chateaux. Both estates have a 100% commitment to producing the best wines possible.

Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/bordeaux/st-emilion/premier-grand-cru-classe-st-emilion-producer-chateau-vineyard-guide/

We ate outside and the night air was beginning to get a bit cooler so we sat and talked about the building project and other things until after 9:00, when Willy left and we went to bed.

I woke up at 3:00 and wrote this blog entry.

Bon Appetit