The most exciting event of the day occurred at 6:15 in the morning.
We awakened at 5:30 and dressed and drove to Kit Carson Park and walked to the beaver pond in the Bosque we walked to yesterday afternoon. Today there were no people on the trails at that hour. When we entered the blind observation deck we heard chomping beside it. Suzette went to the next opening in the cat tails along the pond edge. Soon a big approximately 30 lb. beaver swam out of the cat tails beside the blind about ten feet away from me and five feet from where Suzette was standing. The beaver did not seem to notice Suzette or care that she was close to it. It swam further north along the bank of the pond. Soon it began chomping again;
This time on a small bush, which it cleaved with it sharp teeth. It took hold of the small bush in its teeth and began swimming the small tree back to its lodge across the pond. Suzette took a picture of the beaver dragging the small bush toward its lodge. Here it is.
Beaver swimming to its lodge with bush in its mouth
We drove back home and Suzette went to work at 7:15 and I made breakfast of the last of the tropical fruit salad, yogurt, milk, and granola.
By 10:40 I was ready to go to the bank and order lunch for take out at Vietnam 2000. My new favorite summer lunch is No. 21 prepared by the chef at Vietnam 2000. It is a perfect summer dish in my mind; cool sliced lettuce, herbs, cucumber, and mung bean sprouts on the bottom, covered with a layer of soft boiled fresh rice vermicelli, and topped with strips of marinated and grilled meat and fried egg rolls. I prefer pork as the meat, but chicken or tofu are available. The dish is served with two small containers of salty fish sauce is sweetened with sugar and flavored with a pinch of shiracha and garlic. You moisten the noodles with the fish sauce which makes them very flavorful and easier to handle.
I took my No. 21 home and added three leaves of Romaine lettuce torn into bite sized pieces and the leaves from five or six sprigs of cilantro.
I added the two containers of sauce to the noodles in the container and heated the container for 22 seconds in the microwave to re-warm the ingredients.
After a delicious lunch, I worked on my brief for the Court of Appeals until 3:00. No sooner than I had laid down to read my new book that the mail arrived with a rent check, so I grabbed my mask and put on gloves and drove to the bank again.
On the way home I stopped to shop for specials at the Smiths at the corner of Coal and Yale, near the University. I was amazed that there were people not wearing masks, but put mine on and waited in line to be admitted as people left the store. At least they were controlling the number of shoppers.
I bought six chicken thighs for $.99/lb., three bundles of asparagus for $1.77/lb., 5 ears of fresh corn
for $2.00, two large avocados for $1.25 each, and 6 bananas for $.49/lb., but they did not have the
bing cherries for $1.99/lb. that Suzette wanted to use to make maraschino cherries. When I asked the manager, the manager said, “Our vendor has not delivered the cherries. I will substitute Rainier cherries, if you like at the same price.” I thanked her and took four 1 lb. bags, which she marked for a manager’s discount from $4.99/lb. to $1.99, thinking that if Suzette does not like them i will make lovely Clafoutis with them. After getting those items I decided to cut my odds of getting Covid 19 and leave, so I went to a check out line and waited patiently while the checker sanitized the rubber belt before I put my items on it.
I was both thrilled and terrified by this shopping experience, but will probably go back if there are specials we need.
I returned home at 4:30 and as soon as I unloaded my items and showered to clean the sweat and any possible Covid from my body, it was time to start cooking.
No sooner than when I had made my gin and tonic, Suzette arrived. I confirmed that we were going to make Pulled Pork tacos and that she wanted a papaya and avocado salsa.
We have an unspoken division of labor in the kitchen. I am the sous chef, sommelier and prep team. Suzette is the line chef and grill chef, so while she showered I started to prepare the salsa.
The Papaya/Avocado Salsa
I minced about 3 T. of onion, two small avocados, and about an equal amount of fresh papaya into a bowl and added ½ jalapeño chili finely minced and doused the mixture with the juice of a lime. I then added the leaves of five or six cilantro sprigs finely chopped. The result was a beautiful array of colors orange, greens and white.
Suzette returned refreshed in a colorful moo-moo and fetched the crock pot with the six or seven lb. pork shank we had cooked in Tomatillo sauce. The Tomatillo sauce contained 2 lb. of tomatillos, 1 onion, 1 head of garlic, ½ bunch of cilantro, 1 pasilla chili, a handful of oregano, and an Hoja Santa leaf that was cooked and then puréed with an emulsion mixer.
It had begun to rain when Suzette fetched the crockpot from the garage and stripped about 1 lb. of meat from the shank and chopped the long strands into 1 inch lengths and heated them in a skillet. She left the kitchen to take a call, so I stepped in. Rather than let the meat dry out I added some Tomatillo sauce and water to the meat to flavor it and keep it moist several times while Suzette
talked. After fifteen minutes, when she finished Suzette chopped ¼ head of Romaine lettuce, we heated the PPI Refried Black Beans from Sunday night’s meal in the microwave, and toasted two corn tortillas each on the open gas flame of the stove. I covered my toasted tortillas with a smear of black beans, about ½ of the warm pork, a layer of salsa and a garnish of chopped lettuce.
Suzette chose to eat her tacos with her fingers, so she put less salsa and beans on her tortillas.
It was still raining when I fetched 2 Jalisco Estrella beers from the garage.
We loved our dinner. The fresh fruit flavor of the papaya, the creamy avocado, and the spicy jalapeño made for a tantalizing combination.
Washing it down with a Mexican Pilsner seemed to complete the Mexican experience; perfect.
After dinner I stripped the remaining meat from the shank and put it and the remaining Tomatillo sauce into a bowl and covered it with Saran and Suzette put it into the fridge.
Then I fetched the cherry Clafoutis from the garage fridge, but we soon realized we were full and satisfied and each ate a few spoonfuls instead of a full dessert portion and Suzette put it into the fridge for another night.
We had not slept well last night due to the police helicopters flying overhead chasing looters or rioters and had not had a nap, so we were both sleepy and went to bed at 8:30.
I awakened at 2:30 to finish this blog.
This blog entry is dedicated to my best friend, Dee Simpson, who called last night in response to my recollection of how one can become instantly famous in our culture.
I had related a story of one of Amy’s childhood friends, who became instantly famous in the Latin American Art world when she appeared at a Sotheby’s auction in NYC and bid up to $265,000 for a Freida Kahlo painting against the Caracas newspaper baron. I am not sure why the event created a sensation in the Art world, whether because it was the then high price for a Kahlo or that an unknown person had appeared out of the blue as one of the major collectors of Latin American Art.
Regardless, Marilyn achieved her 15 minutes of fame instantly.
There is still one helicopter flying overhead occasionally, but I shall try to go back to bed. The city seems to have quieted down a good deal. Perhaps the riots and looting have ended. It is sad to think that our neighborhood that is ten blocks from the City center became the edge of a war zone. But we are not the only one in our nation.
Bon Appetit
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