July 2, 2021 Lunch - cured ham salad. Dinner - Beef Stroganoff with Cassarecce Noodles

 July 2, 2021 Lunch - cured ham salad. Dinner - Beef Stroganoff with Cassarecce Noodles

I walked 2/3 mile with Suzette at 7:00 and then ate a muffin for breakfast while I watched the Market and Stage 6 of the Tour de France.  Another unknown Slovenian won the stage, beating the yellow Jersey by 1 minute and 44 seconds and the peloton by 5 minutes.  Another unusual and decisive performance.

At 8:45 we drove to Costco to shop.  We bought basics like eggs, ground beef, cream, and toilet paper and stuff for the party, like gourmet salad greens, crab and wine. I even got Suzette to buy us a box of corny dogs in the spirit of the 4th of July.

When we returned home we unloaded and Suzette left for Los Lunas around 10:00 and I started watching the Euro soccer quarter finals. Today there were two matches.

The first was Spain against Switzerland, which Spain won in a shoot out.  The second was Italy against Belgium, which Italy won 2 to 1.

The amazing thing is that there is a window of 15 minutes between halves in the late match from 1:45 to 2:00 that corresponds to the close of the market that allows me to watch the Market close and record my portfolio’s performance. The market has been rising steadily lately.  Today all three major indices hit new all time highs. My portfolio rose another .76% for a total year to date increase of 14.4%. It is starting to look like another good year perhaps with a 20 to 25% gain.

At 11:30 I became hungry and decided to made a salad.  I filled a pasta bowl with torn red leaf lettuce and garnished it with thinly sliced onion, two sliced radishes, a cubed hard boiled egg, and five slices of Italian air cured ham.  I refreshed the Cesar dressing with lemon and olive oil and drizzled the salad with some dressing.

I also toasted two slices of Bosque Bakery baguette that I buttered and garnished with slices of Jarlsberg cheese that I microwaved for 23 seconds in the microwave to melt the cheese.

I loved the clean cool Salad with the cheesy bread. I drank water.

After the second match ended at 3:00 I worked until 4:00.  After the mail arrived with a check, I drove to the bank and deposited it and then to the post office to mail several letters.

When I returned home Suzette had arrived.  I joined her with a gin and tonic and watched the news for a bit.

We discussed dinner and finally settled on beef stroganoff served over noodles.  I chopped three cloves of garlic, 1/2 of a pasilla chill, 1/3 cup of minced onion, five portobello mushrooms, and the large oyster mushroom we bought at the farmers’ market last Saturday.

Suzette sautéed those ingredients and ground beef and then added sour cream and heavy cream to make the stroganoff.  She then tossed the stroganoff with boiled cassarecce noodles.

I chopped about 1/4 cup of Italian parsley and grated about 2/3 cup of Pecorino-Romano cheese to garnish the dish.

Suzette drank Gruner-Vitliner and I drank Cabernet Sauvignon with the meal.

I really like this dish. I formed the rest of the ground beef into hamburger patties and froze them.

After dinner Suzette made the cucumber soup for the party tomorrow evening.

I drank a cup of tea with several cookies.

We were tired and went to bed around 9;30.

Bon Appetit