September 24, 2020 Lunch – 2000 Vietnam. Book Club, and Dinner – Roasted Chicken with Sautéed Sweet Potatoes and diced Asparagus

 September 24, 2020 Lunch – 2000 Vietnam. Book Club, and Dinner – Roasted Chicken with Sautéed Sweet Potatoes and diced Asparagus

Today was fun.  I ate yogurt, blueberries, granola, and milk for breakfast.

Then I worked until 12:30 when I drove to the library to pick up next month’s book club book, Educated.  Then I drove to Willy’s and picked up a folding camp chair.  I then telephoned an order for a no. 21 from 2000 Vietnam. I drove and picked it up and then drove to the NM War Memorial Park for the book club meeting.  We met under a large covered benched area.  Keith went all out.  There as a stereo playing baseball songs, hot dogs from Sonic, cold drinks, boxes of the original cracker Jacks, caramel corn, peanuts, everything  one associates with baseball games. We discussed the book, DiMaggio, by Durso, which did not get a good grade.

After the book club I drove to Sprouts and bought a salmon filet, a whole chicken, a lb. of mushrooms, a bunch of asparagus, and five tomatoes.

I returned home at 4:45, just in time to unpack the groceries, grab a glass of water and slide in front of my computer to log in to the zen group Zoom meditation at 5:00. Luke joined us for the first time today.  Everyone was happy seeing him.

Suzette arrived shortly thereafter.  I asked her whether she wanted salmon or chicken. She did not care so I called Willy and he said he was going to play soccer, so I decided to roast the chicken.  I dusted the 

whole chicken with tandoori seasoning and placed it on a Spandex vertical roasting frame in a 9 x 9 inch Pyrex baking filled to ¼ inch with water.

I roasted the chicken in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes and the Suzette turned the heat down to 375 for one hour.  For some reason the chicken did not fully cook and we had to microwave the leg quarters we cut off after removing it from the oven.

While the chicken was cooking Suzette peeled and sautéed the three small sweet potatoes we had baked several days ago with about five stalks of asparagus in butter in a large skillet.  This slightly crisped the vegetables and caramelized the sweet potatoes.  The result was delicious, which was refreshing because the chicken was tough.  I fetched and Suzette opened and poured a bottle of Falerio Italian white wine.  The wine has a unique flavor that is acidic and fruity but more  grapefruit  than lemon of Vouvray or grassy of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I bought the wine at Total Wine for about $9.00 per bottle.

I also cubed a aubergine and a white eggplant, a zucchini, a yellow squash, an onion, a small head of garlic, a green bell pepper, and the five Roma tomatoes I had bought today. I put all the ingredients into a large casserole and added olive oil and cooked them into Ratatouille.  After about 30 minutes Suzette added a cup of water to keep the vegetables from scorching.  We will eat Ratatouille for the next few days.

We each took our plate and glass outside and enjoyed eating our meal and sipping the wine in the mild evening air as we discussed the Coopers Hawk that has become a regular visitor to our bird bath in our garden.  In fact today when I went to the garden at 1:00 to pick basil for my Vietnamese lunch, as I stepped from behind the hedge onto the path into the garden, it flew away and I watched it pass under the trees in our neighbor’s yard making its way to open sky.

At 9:30 Suzette went to bed and I stayed up to blog.  

The sweetness of the sweet potatoes must have satisfied our craving for dessert, although Suzette drank a  glass of limoncello chilled with crushed ice.

Bon Appetit