August 3, 2020 Lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup. Dinner – Sautéed Rib Steak with onions and Sautéed Mushrooms and Shishito Peppers

August 3, 2020 Lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup. Dinner – Sautéed Rib Steak with onions and Sautéed Mushrooms and Shishito Peppers

This was a big food day.  It started with a breakfast of granola, milk, yogurt and several oz. of blueberries

Then for lunch I made a Chicken Noodle with the leg and wing meat plus two stalks r celery, a baby Bok Choy, 2 oz. of onion, two green onions, a heaping T. of red miso, a tsp. of  Knorr Chicken stock and sesam oil, miatake mushrooms, 2 T. of Chinese Cooking wine,1 tsp of soy, and 1 T. of sake mixed with a whisked egg.  

I ate about two quarts which was enough to make my stomach hurt for a while.

I rested for an hour and then showered and dressed and found that my portfolio had risen another 1% today.

Much of today was spent drafting a deed to transfer title of a property in Mother’s estate to her long time tenant.  Billy and I agreed to let the property go since the lady was poor and did not have the means to pay for the property.

At 12:30 I made chicken noodle soup by dicing the PPI chicken leg and wing meat and adding Knorr chicken stock, red miso, a chopped up Baby Bok Choy, onion, celery, a bundle of egg white noodles, and an egg whisked with Chinese Cooking wine and soy, plus sesame oil.

I ate two quarts and felt overfull.

I then napped until 3:45 when I called the bank for an appointment to have the deed notarized and went to the bank.

I was back home by 5:00.  Neither Suzette or I was particularly hungry but I had planned a menu of grilled steak, and sautéed Shishito peppers and mushrooms and steamed asparagus.  

So the dinner went ahead, although we watched the Antiques Roadshow until 8:00 before we began cooking to try to build a bit of appetite..  Suzette had eaten BBQ ribs for lunch and had stomach pains, but she took on her duties at the stove. She salted and peppered the rib steak and sautéed it after I sliced onions to sauté with the steak. At the end we finished the steak with a splash of cognac.   She sautéed the mushrooms, Shishito peppers, shallot, and garlic I prepped in butter and olive oil in a separate skillet and steamed the asparagus I had prepped.

While she was cooking the three dishes I went to the basement and found a bottle of 2010 Wellington Mohrhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, which is one of my favorite wines with steak.  Wellington Vineyards no longer exists.  It was bought by J and V I think.  But I bought several cases of this wine when they were selling out their inventory because it was my favorite cab for the money.

I spend up to $35.00 per bottle generally.  I do not buy the most expensive wines that go over $100.00 per bottle because I am a food lover and want a good bottle of wine with my meal.  I am not a wine snob, looking for that magical wine that has everything you could want in a wine.  

A good example is Southern Rhone, which is my favorite wine with duck.  The best Southern Rhône wine is generally acclaimed to be Chateau de Beaucastel because it includes all 13 approved mixing grapes of Chateauneuf du Pape but it costs over $100.00.  I can buy Famille Perrin Reserve for $9.99 that makes Beaucastel but only has Syrah and Grenache.  Or I can buy bottles by other producers with four grapes for $15.00 that are delicious wines that express the terroir and flavors of Southern Rhône. Or I can buy another Perrin wine called Coudelet de Beaucastel made from grapes grown across the road from where Chateau de Beaucastel grapes are grown but without all 13 grapes for $30.00.

Once you get above $10.00 the choices become infinite but you don’t need to spend  more than $20.00 to $30.00 to obtain a really delightful wine.

So I don’t.

I sliced the steak and it was too raw so Suzette sautéed the slices in the mushrooms and Shishitos to which she had added the sauce from the steak.

We plated our plates with asparagus and slices of steak garnished with the mushroom and Shishito pepper sauce. I put a few spoonfuls of Sauce Béarnaise on my asparagus and we carried the wine and plates to the garden and ate dinner in the last glimmers of sun light at around 8:30.

Suzette could only eat three bites but she said they were delicious.  I loved dinner.  It was a rather French style dinner with a sauce for each dish. Béarnaise on the asparagus and Mushroom and Shishito cognac sauce on the steak.

We then returned to the house and watched an episode of Ken Burns’ documentary on the US. National Parks “America’s Best Idea” until 10:30.

 Bon Appetit