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