January 29, 2020 Lunch – Buffet King. Dinner – Cream of Cauliflower Soup, steam cooked Salmon with sautéed spinach and a Béchamel Sauce and Cranberry Sauce

January 29, 2020 Lunch – Buffet King.  Dinner – Cream of Cauliflower Soup, steam cooked Salmon with sautéed spinach and a Béchamel Sauce and Cranberry Sauce

I did not eat breakfast.

I picked up Billy at the airport at a bit before 11:00.  I suggested we go to lunch.  After a discussion Billy said he would like Chinese.i asked Billy if he liked good BBQ ribs. When he said yes, I suggested Buffet King at the corner of Seagull and Academy.  I warned him Buffet King was all about variety and abundance over quality.  He was still game, so we drove there.  When we arrived we found a table in front of a TV showing the Impeachment with the subtitle script of the audio.  I then gave Billy a tour of the vast array of dishes, pointing out my favorites.

We then started filing our plates with food.  I started with a pile of Manila clams, several fried shrimp, a spoonful of beef and broccoli, and two BBQ ribs.  Billy tried the ribs, put found a dish he liked better, sautéed shrimp and water chestnut slices.  For my second plate I went to the sushi bar and took a pile of seaweed salad, two mackerel and four snapper pieces of sushi and pickled ginger and wasabi.

I removed the pieces of fish and their seaweed wrappers from the ball of rice and ate them Sashimi style, dipping the fish pieces into the dipping sauce made by mixing soy sauce with the wasabi.

Billy ended after two plates full but I went back for a third plate on which I placed Mapo Dofu, 4 more fried shrimp, another rib, a cup of egg drop soup, and an almond cookie.

                                                  The last BBQ rib and cup of egg drop soup

Our waitress was great, refilling our tea pot with hot green tea and adding two more tea bags each time.  So the tea got stronger over time.

After lunch we drove home with an intermediate stop at Lowe’s where Billy bought two bags of powdered red chili and a gallon of milk.

Billy rested during the afternoon while I went to a client’s .

When I returned at 5:00 I had another client meeting at 5:20 until 6:45, making this one of my busiest days in a while.

When I finally got to the kitchen, Willy had arrived. We discussed the dinner menu.  Suzette would
steam the salmon. She and I would make the cream sauce and Billy would sauté the fresh spinach. We would also serve bowls of the cream of cauliflower soup Suzette made last week as an appetizer and drink the bottle of Vouvray I had chilled in the fridge.

Sautéed spinach.

Billy diced a shallot and the sweated a clove of garlic in olive oil in a large skillet and discarded it.  He then sautéed the minced shallot in the olive oil in the  skillet and added a pile of baby spinach leaves.

Steamed Salmon

We had bought a 2 ½ lb. skinned salmon fillet at Costco on Monday evening.  I cut it into four pieces and Suzette lay the pieces on the steaming rack and garnished them with pads of butter and slices of
lemon.  I minced 2 T. Of fresh parsley and added that.  She then steamed the salmon fillets in the in the steaming oven for 24 minutes at a setting of 21. When the salmon was cooked she turned off the heat, removed the pan of cooking juices and left the salmon fillets in the warm oven.

                            The prepped salmon fillets ready for insertion into the steaming oven

The Bechamel Sauce

Suzette fetched another bag of the garlic we harvested from our garden this year from the garage fridge. I minced two cloves of garlic. Suzette melted 3 T. of butter in an enameled sauce pan and I added the minced garlic and a T. of Billy’s minced shallot.  Suzette sautéed the garlic and shallots for a minute and then added 3 T. of flour and cooked that for a couple of minutes.  I then added the 1 cup of steaming liquid and approximately 1 cup of milk to the roux while Suzette stirred the sauce to keep it from developing lumps.  When the sauce was smooth we turned down the heat. The sauce
continued to thicken and so I added an ounce of Vouvray to thin it a bit.

Suzette served bowls of cream of cauliflower soup in our lovely soup bowls.

Willy fetched wine glasses and poured the Vouvray. I withdrew from the kitchen until it was time t assemble the plates.  Billy ¼ of the Spinach in a small pile on each of the four plates.  Suzette then placed a salmon fillet on each pile and I spooned cream sauce onto the salmon fillets and spinach.

We served ourselves. Suzette fetched her fresh cranberry sauce from the fridge and we enjoyed a lovely meal.

Comments

Steaming, rather than poaching, creates a perceptively firmer texture that is  not water logged.  The fish has a more natural flavor, rather than a boiled flavor.

The Vignoles Leachteau Vouvray was slightly sweet, probably 4 to 5% sugar by volume. It went particularly well with the spicy turmeric flavored cauliflower soup, but I found that it clashed a bit with the salmon.  Suzette loved it, but she loves Chenin Blanc on all its manifestations.  I liked the subtle lemony fruity flavor with the salmon though.

After dinner Billy brought me two gifts.  A box of Belgium Neuhaus chocolates and a bottle of 10 year old Gran Reserva Spanish Tempranillo.  I opened the box and studied the catalog provided and chose a passion fruit and almond truffle and ate it as I sipped the last of my wine.

We also collectively sampled a small plate of three baked items Suzette’s kitchen staff made as experiments.  They were all good.  I especially liked the coconut pound cake with a sugar glaze and the dark rich flourless torte.

At this point I became amazed with the waves of wonderful food.  I am so thankful to be in a family of fabulous cooks.  Everything tasted liked served in an expensive restaurant because it was of that quality and so expertly prepared. My amazement did not stop there because I was further amazed that we had created such a lovely dinner in an hour, so effortlessly.

After dinner as Suzette cleaned the kitchen I butchered the boneless leg of lamb we had bought at Costco last week by removing the flap of fat, the tendons, and silver skin.  I placed the resulting pieces of meat in a container and created a marinade of pomegranate juice, Pinot Noir wine, five cloves of garlic peeled and sectioned, and a handful of rosemary from the garden. I will add olive oil tomorrow to the marinade.

It was now after 9:00 and Willy left and Billy and I walked 1/3 mile to Laguna and back home and then we all retired to bed.

Bon Appetit

January 28, 2020 Lunch – PPI Miso Noodle and Dumpling Soup. Dinner – Stir Fried White cooked Pork with mixed Vegetables and Raw Rice and Texas Chili

January 28, 2020 Lunch – PPI Miso Noodle and Dumpling Soup.  Dinner – Stir Fried White cooked Pork with mixed Vegetables and Raw Rice and Texas Chili

I always change recipes to see what I can do to make them more interesting.  Today are two examples.

I did not eat breakfast.

When I returned from my dental cleaning appointment around 12:00 I heated yesterday’s Noodle soup and added 4 oz. of tofu diced, an additional T. of red Miso , 6 chicken mini-dumplings, two additional leaves of Napa cabbage, more Chinese cooking wine, water, and garnished the soup with green onion rings and seasoned it with lime juice, hoisin, and sriracha.

It was even more delicious today.  The increased Miso gave the soup thickness, enhanced flavor, and a reddish color.

After lunch I thawed a pork boneless loin steak and the leg of lamb we shall marinate tomorrow for our Friday night dinner in Taos.

Charlie came over after lunch and we talked for a while and traded books.  I then worked on my three new cases and at 4:30 rode the short loop.

This recipe is repeated in greater detail below. When I returned at 5:15 Suzette was home said she wanted to start cooking the Texas Chili for the Super Bowl.  She chopped three onions, a small head of garlic, sautéed that with six pounds of ground beef, six 15 oz. cans of diced tomatoes, quartered mushrooms, and a large can of red beans plus chili seasoning,  Tomorrow we will add oregano and cumin.

White cooked pork with mixed Vegetables

I sort of recall a recipe for White cooked Pork.  The trick is to coat the meat with a marinade
including cornstarch.  I did this by putting the cornstarch into solution. I emulsified it in Chinese Cooking wine and sesame oil and adding the marinated pork after the Mixed vegetables (1 onion, 2 cubed Mexican Squash, fresh minced ginger, fresh minced garlic, and ½ of a red pepper diced) had cooked for about fifteen minutes and softened.  After the pork cooked I added 18 snow peas, 1 T. of soy, 3 T. of water, and 1 more T. of Chinese cooking wine to create a sauce.

I also cooked 1 cup of raw rice in 2 ½ cups of water with a sprinkle of dehydrated chicken stock.

 

When the rice and pork dish was ready we each served ourselves.  I drank green tea and Suzette sipped her drink.

We both liked the dish. It reminds me of Julia Child’s recipe for Scallops Provençal which, similarly, sautés vegetables and then sautés flour coated scallops and adds the scallops to the vegetables with wine to make a sauce. The coating integrates into the dish to make a sauce. It is a lovely and easy way to cook a very tasty dish, because the sauce is created from the cooking juices of the ingredients with a little help from a condiment such as Chinese cooking wine or white wine.

Texas Chili

Suzette wanted to start making the Texas chili tonight since we had all the ingredients.  She started while I was cooking dinner, which filled our kitchen with activity as we dodged each other.  She first chopped three yellow onions and a head of garlic in the Cuisinart and sautéed them in canola oil in a large pot.  She then added 6 lb. of 88% ground beef from Costco. When the beef was fully cooked Suzette added six 15 oz. cans of diced tomatoes and a lb. of quartered white mushrooms.  I added my last ½ T. of Pendry’s Texas chili mix and Suzette added some more chili mix we had.  Chili mix typically contains, onion, garlic, chili, cumin, and oregano.

I then opened the large can of red beans we bought last night at a Southwest Distributors and she added that plus some water.  She then set the pot of chili on the smallest burner to simmer. After dinner and after going to the building to inspect the day’s work, I tasted the chili and it was delicious.  Just a bit of spiciness on the back end. When we went to bed I put the chili in the garage.  It will take several more hours of cooking for the tomatoes and beef to go into solution and the mushrooms to cook and soften.

Suzette’s addition of mushrooms to her Texas chili is a unique recipe that I have never considered authentic, but Billy often cooks his Texas chili with Posole instead of beans.  Texas chili has apparently metamorphosed and been adapted into so many different variations, like Paella, that it is impossible to claim any recipe is authentic.  I think the recipe is derived from the cattle drive days from South Texas when the cooks would gather wild chili arbol (pequin) and kill a cow and make a stew with beef, beans and chili pequins.  My adaptation is to add tomatoes, garlic, onions, and oregano to the authentic recipe.

By the way, the market made a U turn today and regained its 1.8% drop of yesterday.  Apple announced earnings after the market closed and futures indicate an up day tomorrow again. I am just riding the roller coaster.

We went to bed around 9:30.

Bon Appetit

January 27, 2020 Lunch – Beef Meatball and shrimp noodle soup. Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew with steamed Mexican squash and string beans

January 27, 2020 Lunch – Beef Meatball and shrimp noodle soup. Dinner – PPI Lamb Stew with steamed Mexican squash and string beans

I awakened at around 7:20,, just in time to see the deluge of selling in the Market.  By the close the results were awful.

Here is a part of the market report. US markets closed down sharply overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Index fell 454 points. The 1.6% drop was its worst one-day percentage loss since October. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively, also recording their worst performances in months. Some of the high flying tech names fell even more.  Apple fell almost 3%, for example.
European markets also slid Monday. Great Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 fell 2.3%, while Germany's DAX dropped 2.7%.
Because my portfolio is weighted heavily toward Nasdaq tech stocks it suffered about a 1.8% drop also. My worst day in a long time.

I ate a bowl of granola, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad for breakfast .

At 11:30 I made a pot of noodles, seaweed, Napa cabbage, red onion, broccoli, beef meatballs, shrimp, red Miso, dehydrated chicken broth, beef bouillon.  I seasoned the soup with lime juice, cilantro, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and green onions.

I forgot to add tofu, but will do so tomorrow because there is still ½ pot of soup.

After lunch I took our February 15 symphony tickets to Wayne and Elaine and went to the bank and the public library to pick up The Vagabonds by Guinn.

When I returned home I napped until Suzette called me around 4:15 to invite me to join her to go grocery shopping at Costco and Southwest Distributors.  Besides shopping for the Center we bought ground beef, tamales,, fresh green beans, a salmon fillet, and blueberries.

At Southwest Distributors we bought a large can of cooked red beans.

So we are ready to make Texas chili for the Super Bowl and Wednesday evening dinner of poached Salmon.

When we returned home I fetched the PPI lamb stew from the fridge and put it on low heat and snapped the green beans and sliced a Mexican Squash and started steaming the vegetables. Suzette added water to the stew as it had thickened.  I sliced a piece of whole wheat baguette into three horizontal slices and toasted them.  In about fifteen minutes dinner was ready.

I poured out the 1/3 bottle of Oregon Trail Winery Co. red blend left into two glasses and we ate a hearty meal.

Suzette made a vanilla ice cream sundae for dessert with a cognac. I had a cup of Earl Grey tea, a few chocolates, and a Calvados.

After watching Rachel Maddow’s coverage of the Impeachment hearings we went to bed at 9:00.

I woke up at 2:45 and blogged a bit and checked the markets.  I was happy to find out that the markets were firming up with the Dow futures standing at about plus 80+  points, although the Shanghai bourse was still closed for the Lunar New Year.

A thought came to me.  One of the main defenses advanced by the President’s lawyers is that the Democrats are simply trying to nullify the 2016 election because they hate Trump.  But that argument is illogical because impeachment by its very nature nullifies an election result, yet it exists as a check on the usurpation of political power or wrongdoing by a federal official, such as using one’s office for one’s personal gain instead of serving the public’s best interest.

Bon Appetit

January 26, 2020 Brunch – Bagel, goat cheese, onion, Lax, and capers. Late lunch/early dinner – Little Anita’s

January 26, 2020 Brunch – Bagel, goat cheese, onion, Lax, and capers. Late lunch/early dinner – Little Anita’s

We often eat only two meals on Sundays because activities on Sundays are often different than our normal workday schedule and today was in keeping with that altered schedule.

I worked and watched the news until 10:30 when Suzette ate eggs, a smoked pork cutlet and the last of the piñon Couscous.  I went to my Eastern European roots with a toasted sesame seed bagel spread with goat cheese and garnished with slices of red onion, Gravad lax, and capers.  I drank a cup of camomile and mint tea.

We then went to the building.  The welders Suzette expected to come did not, so she went home to continue working on her project to make screens to hang from the railing along Mountain Rd. to block the view of the outdoor patio of Willy’s apartment.

I went to Lowe’s to have two additional keys made.

Then at 12:00 we returned and installed two of the screens Suzette had finished.  They look terrific, very professional.

Brian, Robert, and Chris arrived with a new possible food partner to inspect the kitchen at 1:00.  I gave them a set of keys and kept painting.

We then painted the small building at the back of the lot brown.  I actually painted two sides of the building by 2:15 when Willy arrived.  I was very proud of my effort, but sore, tired and hungry.  I rested in the car for a few minutes and dozed a bit until Suzette came to awaken me.
I  invited a Willy to join us at Little Anita’s but he had just eaten, so Suzette and I crossed the street to Little Anita’s for a late lunch.  Suzette ordered a green chili cheese burger with French Fries. I ordered Carnitas with beans and rice and corn tortillas and red chili on the side.

    M   

                                               The back of the building is almost finished

Suzette liked her burger but said, “Monroe’s burger is better”.
I made soft tacos by spreading a thick smear of refried beans in a line across the middle of tortillas, then pieces of the fried pork, and finally rice

The filled tortillas were delicious.  Suzette drank a Negra Modelo and I drank two 20 oz. glasses of Dr. Pepper, which got me feeling much better.  The best antidote for me when I get weak is sugar, so the large quantity of Dr. Pepper pepped me up.

After we finished our meal our waitress brought us two huge sopapillas and honey syrup that were piping hot and delicious.

Little Anita’s seems to serve acceptable traditional New Mexican Cuisine.  I liked my carnitas way more than I thought I would.

We drove home after lunch and I went out for a rather vigorous 1/3 mile walk and felt fine.  When I returned home I read the latest Business week article on Leon Black, a very successful private equity investor.

At 7:00 I returned to the TV room and we watched Howard’s End, Sanditon.  At 9:00 after Sanditon, Suzette went to bed and I stayed up to watch Vienna Blood a murder mystery series set in 1904 Vienna featuring an unlikely buddy team of a policeman and a young Jewish doctor/psychiatrist.  The doctor is a follower of Freud and uses psychology to help the detective solve murders.

I went to bed at 10:00 still full from our New Mexican feast at Little Anita’s.

Bon Appetit

January 25, 2020 Brunch – Scrambled Eggs, Onion, and Mushrooms with Sautéed Smoked Pork Cutlet. Dinner Party at Blaugrunds

January 25, 2020 Brunch – Scrambled Eggs, Onion, and Mushrooms with Sautéed Smoked Pork Cutlet. Dinner Party at Blaugrunds

Today we slept a bit later than usual.  I worked a bit and Suzette went shopping for items the three crews needed to finish their jobs at the candy Lady building.

At 10:30 I finally became hungry and made a quick high protein breakfast because I intended to ride later in the afternoon.  I sautéed a Hormel smoked pork cutlet Suzette bought at El Super.  If there is one thing El Super has it is good quality pork products.  The smoked Pork cultlets are just one of many quality items.

After 5 minutes I flipped the cutlet and added a handful of onion slices and mushroom slices with a pad of butter to the skillet and sautéed them for several minutes.  I whisked two Eggs, with a dash of water, salt and white pepper and poured that over the sautéed onions and mushrooms.  The eggs rose into soft pillows as they cooked and especially after I flipped them to cook both sides.  Here is a picture.

Around 1:30 I drove to Costco and bought a torte constructed with chocolate cake and white chocolate and milk chocolate mousse for $15.99.

At 3:00 just before a rode I heated some PPI Couscous with piñon nuts and a small handful of Serrano ham slices in the microwave for 2:22 minutes at a power of 8.  Amazingly the ham crisped and crinkled up to create a very attractive crunchy salty bacon like meat that complemented the Couscous.

I then rode the short loop with the wind blowing at over 15 mph.   Fast and easy downwind and difficult heading into the gusting wind up wind.

I returned home a 4:00 and showered and dressed for the symphony.  We drove to Popejoy Hall about 5:20.  We were a few minutes early, so we spoke to Peggy and Ted Cronin. The program was very pleasant.  It featured two guitar concertos at the beginning, a contemporary one composed by Leshnoff who teaches at Towson U.in Maryland and the second by Vivaldi from the early 1700’s.

After intermission the symphony played Mozart’s symphonies 25 and then 35.

When the concert ended at 8:05 we drove to Nancy and Cliff Blaugrunds house for dinner.  They had accumulated a large selection of wines for us to select from.  We started with a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley that we shared with three cheeses, a firm white cheese, a Derby cheddar, and an English cheddar with apricots, plus a medley of olives, mixed nuts, and crackers.

After we nibbled and sipped wine while Nancy heated the Pyrex baking dish of moussaka made with ground lamb, eggplant chunks, and spices covered with a bechamel sauce.  When the moussaka was heated we filled our plates with it, salad of mixed greens and arugula with pesto and pistachio flavored couscous and toasted slices of pita bread garnished with grated cheese and toasted.

We opened a bottle of Louise Jadot Bourgogne Pinot Noir for dinner.

Cliff and Nancy caught us up on their family trip to Disney world to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  Their 4 year old grand daughter loved the trip and their older grandchildren loved Epcot Center.  Their next trip is to The Galápagos Islands in a week or two.

After dinner Nancy served slices of the mousse cake and we opened a bottle of Vieux Clicquot Demi-sec champagne.  Its slight sweetness went well with the heavy creamy torte.

After our lovely meal we talked until almost 11:00 when we said goodnight.

Nancy and Suzette had an animated conversation about sound therapy and Himalayan salt therapy rooms, which they both seem to be attracted to.

Nancy mentioned a salt room at a spa named Amethyst in Albuquerque, we had not heard of for example.

Bon Appetit

January 24, 2020 Lunch – a Costco hot dog dinner – “Mommas in the Kitchen” Puerto Rican meal at the Greenhouse Bistro

January 24, 2020 Lunch – a Costco hot dog  dinner – “Mommas in the Kitchen” Puerto Rican meal at the Greenhouse Bistro

What a fun day of food.  I drove to my 10:00 meeting without having eaten any breakfast only to discover that Dana and Susie had bought a dozen Einstein bagels and two types of cream cheese. So I had a really fresh whole wheat bagel for breakfast with cream cheese.  Heaven.

When the meeting ended at noon I drove to Costco and bought mushrooms, diced tomatoes, a 32 oz container of chocolates of the world, and freezer bags.  I then ordered a hot dog and a drink for $1.50 at the new ordering kiosk, where you touch a picture of the item you want and stick your credit card into a slot and the machine simultaneously sends your order to the kitchen and prints your order number on a receipt.  Within a minute a counter staff member calls out your order number and hands you your order upon tender of the receipt.

I love Costco’s new technologically enhanced payment and delivery system. Our fast food service has become practically instantaneous.

I garnished my hot dog with onions, sweet relish, mustard and ketchup.

Here is a photo.

After I ate my hot dog I drove home, arriving just before 2:00.

I did a bit of work and then drove to the Center for a Ageless Living in Los Lunas, arriving at 4:30 for my facial with Rosemary.  I love facials with Rosemary because we are the same age and have so much to talk about.  Also she gives a really wonderful facial, cleansing, exfoliating, masking, and then rehydrating to a glowing polished shine.

We finished at 5:50, just in time to get dressed and meet Suzette for the special dinner starting at 6:00.

This was a very special meal that was prepared by the cook’s Momma, Sylvia, who was raised in
both Brooklyn and Puerto Rico.  Thus the name “Mommas in the Kitchen”.

The meal was unique in lots of ways.  It included dishes and ingredients I had never tasted before. Sylvia made fresh sofrito, which I have never tasted before from ingredients grown in her family’s garden in Puerto Rico, including red, yellow, and green bell peppers, sweet peppers, and tomatoes. Sofrito was the backbone of the meal.

The recipes will be inserted herein after Monday, January 27.

The first course was an appetizer the combined three cooked shrimp sautéed in tomato sauce and sofrito and stacked at the core of a mound of mofongo, baked and massed yellow plantain that had a slightly sweet flavor. The dish had a zesty flavor with a bit of zip.  A spicy pepper must have made its way into the sofrito, because I detected some latent heat.  This was a very successful dish.  I had never eaten yellow plantains and I loved them.  I had never eaten fresh sofrito. It was an ecstatic experience. Every bite of the dish resonated with sofrito flavor. Sylvia told the assembled dinners that she would spent summers in Puerto Rico with her grand Parents on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico and much of their food came from their garden, including the vast array of peppers.  She said her fresh sofrito included yellow, green, and red bell pepper, several small peppers, including a small sweet pepper, plus tomato sauce and a couple of secret ingredients. She says she adds sofrito to almost every dish, so it is a basis Puerto Rican cooking condiment.

About thirty minutes later the entrée was served, a plate with a pile of rice and pigeon peas cooked in coconut milk and sofrito on one side and a pile of shredded roasted pork shoulder (pernil) on the other side.  I tasted each dish separately and together and both way were delicious.   Neither Suzette nor I had ever eaten pigeon peas. We were amazed by how tiny the are. They look and taste like tiny garbanzo beans.   Sylvia said they were members of the lentil family. Wikipedia identifies pigeon peas as a legume native to tropical and sub-tropical climates thought to have originated in India.

The flavor of the rice and pigeon peas cooked in sofrito and coconut milk was a unique flavor I had never experienced. Not sweet or bitter, but a bit like the peppers that form the main ingredients of sofrito.

I cleaned my plate, including the fresh lettuce salad.

We drank Stella Artois beer with dinner.

This was a very leisurely dinner with lots of talking. The chefs’ three children/grandchildren sat beside us and their playing and jiving kept us entertained.

The meal began at 6:15 and dessert was served at around 8:00.

Dessert was interesting but a little greasy.  It was a guava paste stuffed deep fried dumpling shaped like a empanada (pastelito) served on a piped zigzag of raspberry preserve.  The cake like pastelito was more dense than a doughnut. I did not taste the guava paste but Suzette did.

We went home at around 8:30.

This meal was $20.00. It was the best $20.00 meal I have had in a long time.  All the Mommas meals will be $20.00, a real food value for such unique cuisine.

Also the Bistro’s upcoming Valentine’s Day meal will be a great value as well at $45.00 per couple that will offer a three glass wine flight for $15.00.  Here is the menu.

I strongly recommend the Special meals that the Bistro is planning for the near future as fabulous food adventures at amazing prices.

Bon Appetit

January 23, 2020 Dinner – Irish Style Lamb Stew

January 23, 2020 Dinner – Irish Style Lamb Stew

I had a full day so no time for a proper lunch.  Lunch was a reheated slice of pizza and ½ of a meatball sandwich with a glass of water at a client’s office eaten during a telephone conference.

Breakfast was a bit better, a toasted piece of sourdough sandwich bread smeared with goat cheese and garnished with thin slices of onion and pieces of whitefish with a cup of green tea, actually a lovely breakfast.

Dinner was much better.  Two days ago Suzette thawed out several unidentified frozen packages from the freezer.  One of them was the remaining portion of a leg of lamb.  I butchered it and it yielded about 1½ lb. of approximately ½ inch cubes of lamb.

Yesterday I shopped at El Super and bought 10 lb. of russet potatoes and about 4 lb. of yellow onions.  I also fetched a bag of carrots from the garage.  This evening when I returned home from meditation I cubed five potatoes that Suzette had washed clean, a yellow onion, 2 stalks of celery, I large cloves of garlic, and 4 carrots.

Suzette dusted the vegetables with flour and then sautéed the lamb and then the vegetables in oil.  After the vegetables had cooked a bit she added 1 can of Guinness Stout and ½ bottle of Bohemia beer, returned the lamb to the large Le Creuset  casserole and added about an equal amount of water and cooked the stew for about an hour. The flour and liquid thickened into a lovely sauce that absorbed some of the vegetable flavors changing from an assortment of vegetables and meat into a homogeneous stew.

At 11:30 a.m. I went to Trader Joe’s and bought a French baguette for $1.99 today.  Suzette sliced about a six inch piece from it and toasted it and we spread butter on the bread and ate bread with the stew.

I opened the bottle of 2017 OTWC (Oregon Trail Wine Company) red blend from the Willamette Valley, which appears to be 100% Pinot Noir. It is described as a very popular wine with ratings of 88 points, 4.5 stars out of five stars, and a vinvivo rating of 3.9. This was my first time to drink OTWC red blend and I found it to have a very fruity and aromatic bouquet and a pleasant flavor.  Bill and Regina Turner gave us this wine at Christmas. The internet says its average price seems to be $17.00.  I can see why people like this wine.  It has many of the characteristics of high priced Willamette Valley Pinot noirs, such as a range of cherry and plum notes at a fraction of the price.

We watched a bit of the impeachment and them PBS Masterpiece British mysteries until 10:30 and the went bed.

Bon Appetit

January 22, 2020. Lunch- PPI Chirashi Donburi. Dinner – PPI Pork and Sauerkraut and Sausages and cabbage over PPI Mashed Potatoes with Steamed Broccoli

January 22, 2020. Lunch- PPI Chirashi Donburi. Dinner – PPI Pork and Sauerkraut and Sausages and cabbage over PPI Mashed Potatoes with Steamed Broccoli

Sort of an East meets West food day.

I ate the usual granola, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad for breakfast.

Then for lunch I ate the remaining ½ of the Chirashi Donburi I ordered on Monday at Azuma.  It was delicious.  The yellowtail, octopus, and salmon seemed to retain their freshness. It was just as wonderful as being at the restaurant for me. I brewed cups of green tea.  It was lovely.

After lunch at 1:30 I rode 6 miles to the South.  There was a strong approximately 17 mph headwind out of the north riding home but I made it and celebrated with another cup of green tea and three cookies.

I worked until 5:30 and then drove to El Super because I saw that one of the specials today was yellow onions for 4 lb./$.99, I also bought limes, yams, Mexican Squash, and Braeburn apples for 2 lb./$.99.  I bought broccoli crowns for $1.19/lb., lovely fresh green beans for $1.29/lb., and snow peas for $3.79/lb. Parsley and cilantro were $.33/bunch.  I splurged and bought a bunch of green onions for $.67.

I also bought a pound of medium heads on shrimp for $3.99/lb. for BBQ shrimp and 20 large eggs for $2.49.

After I rEturned home and unloaded Suzette took over.  She had thawed several items this week and we had planned to combine and heat one container each of Pork and Sauerkraut and Bratwurst and cabbage.  We had enough PPI mashed Potatoes to share.  The only thing needed was a green vegetable.  Suzette heated the Pork and Sauerkraut and Bratwurst and cabbage. In a casserole and steamed some broccoli and heated the mashed potatoes on the microwave.  I fetched two beers from the porch and pretty soon we had a delicious German dinner.  We drank beers with the food to make the meal even more authentically German.

Suzette as raised in central Pennsylvania in Amish country in a family of German ancestry.  I realized soon after we started our relationship and visited her family that her folks and the area I always had associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch were in fact were Pennsylvania Deutsch.  We simply had been phonetically mis-pronouncing the German word for being  German.

During and after dinner we watched Congressman Schiff’s closing of the House’s first day of their presentation in the Impeachment of President Trump and went to bed at 9:00, although I stayed up until 10:30 to  blog and eat an orange.

Bon Appetit

January 21, 2020 Lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup. Dinner – Bobby Flay Chicken with a PPI Baked Sweet Potato and sautéed shredded Brussels Sprouts and piñon nuts and onion.

I toasted a piece of sour dough sandwich bread, spread it with goat cheese, slices of onion, Granada lax and garnished it with capers.

I drank a cup of peppermint tea with it with a squeeze of lime.

At 1:00 I heated the PPI chicken noodle soup and enjoyed it with a squirt of hoisin sauce and juice of a lime.

After lunch I checked the market close and although the Dow was down 152 points, my portfolio did not suffer dramatically.

I took a nap this afternoon but awakened when Suzette arrived.  It was raining so I did not walk.

I watched the Senate trial of President Trump some during the day and until 10:00 tonight.  All 8 amendments offered by The House Democrats were defeated by party line votes 53 to 47.  Let’s hope that if McConnell and Trump obtain an acquittal that it will drive more Democrats and independents to vote this election for democratic senate candidates.

Suzette had thawed out several meat items and a broth.  We cooked this evening.  Suzette started by making a cream of cauliflower soup.  She roasted the flowerets of cauliflower after dusting them with ground turmeric and red pepper flakes. She then cooked the flowerets in a beef broth and coconut milk and added some heavy cream.  I could not taste the coconut milk but could taste the spiciness of the red chili.  We decided to garnish the soup with toasted shredded coconut and cilantro. The soup was an experiment for a soup next week for the Greenhouse bistro.

The roasted cauliflower flowerets

We then decided to cook dinner.  We decided to heat the PPI baked sweet potato, to bake the two thawed chicken thighs, and cook the Brussels sprouts.  We decided to shred the Brussels sprouts, so I cut off their stalky end and cut them in half and Suzette shredded them in the Cuisinart.  She then sautéed them in butter and olive oil with ½ diced white onion, and a handful of pinion nuts and finally micro grated some Pecorino-Romano cheese on them.  Suzette rubbed the chicken with a combination of herbs including cumin and paprika.

We decided we needed an light red, because the flavors on the chicken were a little darker.  I fetched a bottle of Conte Rose of Pinot Grigio from the Veneto from the basement.  I bought this bottle at Total Wine several years ago because it was around $6.00 and because it expressed the quality of
Italian heavier roses that are closer to reds.  It gets a 2.5 rating, which is not great.  The tasting notes say it is crisp tasting.  I like it a lot, especially wHen I want a rose that is closer to a red in taste.  The notes suggest pairing it with tomato dishes which makes sense because it is closer to a red in character.

The chicken thighs were huge so neither of us ate any dessert.

Bon Appetit

January 20, 2020 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner – Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes, cranberry Sauce, and Sautéed Zucchini, onion, and red bell pepper

January 20, 2020 Lunch – Azuma. Dinner – Swedish Meatballs with
Mashed Potatoes, cranberry Sauce, and Sautéed Zucchini, onion, and red bell pepper

Today I finally got back on a regular dining schedule.

For a biodynamic breakfast I ate a bowl of granola, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad.

I met Aaron at Azuma for lunch.  I ate my usual, Chirashi Donburi, which is 12 pieces of raw seafood on sushi rice with daikon pickles, seaweed salad and fresh shaved daikon for $14.95.  This is the best sushi deal in town and if you ask for an Azuma VIP card you will receive points toward future purchases of food equal to a 10% discount on future purchases.  Aaron ordered two rolls, a New Mexico roll and one other.

Aaron’ rolls

Both of us received a plate full of food.  I could only eat ½ of mine, so took the remaining half home.

I drank green tea with my lunch.  They serve green tea in actual Japanese water kettles with an insert to hold the green tea, so it is very authentic.

After lunch I went home and rode my bike four miles around the short loop with power and a good stretch in my legs and abdomen.

Suzette arrived shortly after I returned and finished my hot buttered rum and cookies.  We decided to eat an early dinner rather than nibble.  Suzette has thawed a bag of Swedish Meatballs we had made a few months ago, so we decided to cook them in a brown sauce and serve them with the PPI Mashed Potatoes from last night’s meal, the cranberry sauce Suzette made last week, and a sautéed vegetable medley containing onion, garlic, zucchini, and red bell pepper.

After I diced the vegetables Suzette took control of cooking.  She first sautéed the onion and red bell pepper in butter and olive oil.  She then added the zucchini and garlic.  In a separate skillet Suzette made a brown sauce with a roux made with butter and flour and then added beef stock made with a beef  to the roux to make the brown sauce.

Suzette replicated the traditional Swedish dish perfectly.  It was especially delicious with the fresh cranberry sauce.

Q

Willy came around 6:30 and joined us for dinner.  I opened the bottle of Trader Joe’s Reserve Syrah, which went very well with the meatballs.

I love the wines from Mendocino County.  The region is farther north and the cooler weather produces a softer smoother flavored wine usually.  This Syrah was no exception.

After dinner we watched the Antique Road Show and then the news.

I ate a slice of St. Andre cheese (Trader Joe’s) with the last ½ glass of Syrah and later we both ate a bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

We went to bed at 8:45 after re-hanging the large Agnes Sims painted fabric piece.

 Suzette went to sleep and I blogged.

Bon Appetit

January 19, 2020 Brunch – Bacon and Eggs and Black Beans. Dinner – Bratwurst Steamed and Sautéed in Ginger Beer with Sauerkraut and Baby Broccoli served on Mashed Potatoes Potatoes and Bananas Foster

January 19, 2020 Brunch – Bacon and Eggs and Black Beans. Dinner –  Bratwurst Steamed and Sautéed in Ginger Beer with Sauerkraut and Baby Broccoli served on Mashed Potatoes Potatoes and Bananas Foster

Willy came over at 10:00 to watch the Liverpool v. Man U. PL Match and eat breakfast.  He does not have a kitchen where he is taying so we let him cook breakfast.

He fried bacon and then heated up a 32 oz. Container of black beans and finally fried eggs in the bacon skillet to which the eggs stuck even with the removal of the bacon grease and addition of butter.

 

Suzette made her weekly Bloody Mary and I drank V8 juice with a squeeze of lime juice.

After Liverpool won Willy and Suzette went to the building and then I dozed and then met her at the Albuquerque Art Museum and we visited the psychedelic poster exhibit.  There were over 100 posters. Here are a few early ones with Texas bands and a couple of historic events, the acid test and the Gathering of Nations.

 

 

I watched 15 hours of TV today starting with Leicester City lose to Burnley and the news programs. Then the Liverpool match with Willy. Then the AFC championship game between KC Chiefs and Tenn. Titans. And then the NFC championship between San Francisco and Green Bay.

Then 60 Minutes and three Masterpiece theater episodes.

In the afternoon I ate two pieces of banana nut bread smeared with orange marmalade and a cup of tea.

At 6:00 we started dinner.  I peeled and cubed about eight potatoes.

Suzette took over and cooked one her wonderful German meals. She Braised the four bratwursts I thawed yesterday in ginger beer.  When the brats browned she added chopped baby broccoli and organic sauerkraut she had bought at Costco.  She also made mashed potatoes.

We had a wonderful dinner and shared a bottle of XX Beer.

A bratwurst covered with an onion, sauerkraut, and baby broccoli sauce on mashed potatoes

Later she made Bananas Foster.  She sliced and sautéed two bananas in butter, brown sugar.  Then she added a splash of rum to the sauté skillet and ignited the rum to flambé the bananas. She served the bananas over scoops of vanilla ice cream. I drank a cup ifEarl Grey tea with mine.

                                                   The flambéing bananas

What a nice way to eat a daily piece of fruit.

Bon Appetit