October 2, 2020 Two Garden Parties Lunch – 2000 Vietnam No. 21, Dinner – Roasted Chicken, Salad, and Focaccia
The Fall days are beautiful. Cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoon lingering into the evenings.
The market faltered with the news that the President and others in the WH have covid. My portfolio dropped 1.4% today with early indications that more drops are to follow unless Congress gets its act together and passes a stimulus package. Unfortunately, the WH and Congress seem to be new hot spots for covid infections, which does not bode well for any legislation.
I ate a bowl of granola, milk, yogurt, and blueberries for breakfast and at 9:30 rode 6 miles south. The weather report said it was 57 degrees and a 5 mph breeze but by the time I finished riding the temp warmed a bit.
Then I confirmed lunch plans with Peter, showered and at noon called 2000 Vietnam to order two No. 21s, which are a three layer assemblage of cold salad, mung bean sprouts, and herbs on the bottom; warm freshly boiled rice vermicelli in the middle and hot freshly fried egg rolls and marinated char grilled pork on top.
Peter arrived in his newly acquired White 2004 Mustang convertible that looked every bit the classic it is.
I made us glasses of iced coffee by swirling condensed milk into coffee with Suzette’s tiny emulsion mixer.
We took the boxes, the coffees and cilantro to the garden. I picked basil from the Bush in the garden and added it with some cilantro leaves to my styrofoam box holding No. 21.
Peter with box lunch and iced coffee
We enjoyed the light breeze and cool weather and conversation, mainly about the book club Peter has just joined.
After lunch I checked the Market meltdown that actually was not as bad as it could have been. Market activity in the last two weeks took the market 5% lower, so things are not so bad yet.
I then took a 2 hour nap.
When I awakened at 4:30 I called Suzette and told her I would not be arriving at the Center for a tour of her newly hung female artists of New exhibit until after 5:00. When I arrived she showed me the exhibit, which is impressive.
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We then went to the tent in the park for dinner. Suzette brought out a whole roasted chicken, a generous fresh salad made with power greens, chopped tomatoes, and cubes of fresh mozzarella with a container with a generous amount of creamy balsamic dressing, and a sandwich bag of slices of freshly baked focaccia. I had brought a bottle of Kirkland Pinot Grigio I bought yesterday at Costco for $6.99 that was clean tasting and pleasant to drink with a few cubes of ice.
We enjoyed the view of the flowers planted along the edge of the tangle of trees, cattails, and trees that border the park and resemble a Monet painting of his garden.
Everything was delicious. The Bistro at the Center uses a German Kombi unit that cooks the chickens to perfection by adding moisture as needed to keep the chickens from drying out
After dinner we drove home. Suzette made a cobbler with the peaches and blueberries we sliced and sugared last night. She used Laura’s Jiffy cobbler recipe, which produces a cobbler that is in all respects a sweetened fruit filled fluffy biscuit.
I hand whipped ¾ cup of fresh heavy cream I bought yesterday with the addition of a T. of powdered sugar and ½ tsp.of Mexican vanilla into a soft peak.
Suzette served us portions of cobbled with a mound of the flavored whipped cream.
Suzette had worked all day and was tired, so went to bed at 9:30.
I stayed up to blog and read.
I loved the two al fresco meals with perfect weather, excellent food, and no cooking. .
Bon Appetit
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