June 21, 2021 Brunch - two open faced sandwiches. Dinner - Mahi Mahi cooked in foil

 June 21, 2021 Brunch - two open faced sandwiches. Dinner - Mahi Mahi cooked in foil

Today I awakened and watched some TV, there was an interesting conversation about, Why is there a schism in the Southern Baptist convention? on Morning Joe and, Is the stock market in an inflation reopening stock rally on CNBC. I drank a cup of chai and ate two fig bars.

Then at 7:00 a slow rolled north to the Nature Center and back, a ride of about 8 miles.  

I showered and dressed for court from the waist up and appeared by zoom at 9:30 for a continuance.

At 10:00 I turned on the TV to watch the EURO matches between Netherlands and Northern Macedonia and Austria vs Ukraine. I was very hungry so I toasted two slices of multigrain sandwich bread, spread them with Mayo, laid slices of tomato, salami, cured ham, spread the meats with German deli mustard, and finally slices of Jarlsberg cheese.  I drank the rest of the Gerard Bertrand Cotes des Roses with them.

I watched the first two matches half-hardily and dozed until 1:00 when the matches up I was passionate about began; Denmark vs. Russia and Belgium vs Finland.  I lived in Denmark one summer and love the country and the people. It is a fairy tale country, home of Hans Christian Anderson, and I believe the friendliest people in the world.  Hands down Denmark is my favorite country and they were dealt a bad break.  On the day their star player, Christian Eriksen collapsed and the match against Finland was stopped after several hours play resumed and Finland won. So to advance to the round of 16: which Denmark had not accomplished in years, Denmark needed to beat Russia and Belgium had to beat Finland.

It had to go perfectly or Denmark went home.

Luckily Denmark was playing the match In Copenhagen in front of 25,000 of their local fans wildly cheering them on.

And luckily, everything did go magically right for Denmark; Denmark won 4 to 2 and Belgium won 2 to 0. At the moment the team and fans heard that Belgium had beaten Finland in St. Petersburg by 2 points, the Danes in the stadium and I erupted in shouts of joy.  I also believe that what is humiliating for Russia is good for the West, which surely includes being eliminated from Euro Cup competition by tiny Belgium and Denmark.

I was joyous and wished to be in Copenhagen to share the populous’ collective joy.

At 4:30 I drove to El Super to shop for produce and pork.

I bought oranges, an eggplant, a yellow and an orange bell pepper, green onions, pasilla chiles, spinach, mangoes, brown onions, zucchini, corn chips, mushrooms, zucchini, potatoes, 12 Modelo Negras, corn chips, carrots, red onions, and pork.  The menu plan was to make Mango salsa for our Mahi-mahi dinner tonight and Ratatouille in a couple of days with some kind of meat cutlet, prepare a tropical fruit salad, plus fill in some gaps still unfilled after our return from our trip.

I love shopping at El Super, because it is close to our house, the produce prices are ridiculously inexpensive, and every employee is bilingual so I can practice my terrible Spanish.  I returned home at 6:15 and Suzette helped me unload the car, 

Willy had called and I had invited him for dinner with the lure of fresh baked fish and guacamole.  We agreed on dinner at 7:30, so at 7:00 Suzette and I started cooking.

Suzette wanted to grill the fish outside so she took that dish and I cooked the rice and made the mango salsa inside.

Fish in Foil

Suzette rinsed and dried the mahi-mahi and cut it into three pieces and placed one each on two sheets of foil.  She then sliced and added strips of poblano chili, red bell pepper, carrots, onion, garlic scapes, spinach, and added a splash of white wine and crimped each sheet of foil separately, thus sealing the first envelope inside the second envelope.  This double envelope is necessary to prevent leakage of liquid.

She then baked the foil wrapped envelopes on the grill.

Mango Salsa

In a medium mixing bowl I combined 1/2 shallot minced, cubed two avocados, two altaulfo mangoes, and one tomato.  I added about 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves and juice of 1 1/2 limes.

Suzette wanted salt, so she opened the bag of corn chips and dipped them into the salsa as I ate it.  

Willy arrived as I was finishing the salsa and Suzette was bringing in the baked fish envelopes.

Suzette fetched bottles of Dos Equis beer and opened the envelopes.  I added a scoop of rice to each envelope and we ate a really delicious dinner.  The white wine sauce blended with the fish and vegetables’ flavors was really delicious and helped flavor the rice into a lovely stew.

Willy left after dinner and we read a bit and went to bed at 9:30 without a desire for dessert.

Again satisfyingly, the market recovered enough today to take my portfolio to a new all time high.

Bon Appetit