August 13, 2021 Lunch - Steak Salad. Dinner Fish Tacos with Guacamole and Cole Slaw

August 13, 2021 Lunch - Steak Salad. Dinner Fish Tacos with Guacamole and Cole Slaw

I awakened at 7:40 and toasted two slices of bagel and spread cream cheese on them and garnished them with slices of red onion, Gravad lax, and capers and watched the market until 8:30 when the tree guys came to trim two trees in the back yard. 

I was amazed by how far their cherry picker could extend.  To trim the big elm tree beside the hot tub they parked the truck in the alley and the basket reached all the way to the hot tub. It seemed like a long distance.

The biggest hassle was moving the fallen log from the big cottonwood in the front yard that Suzette wanted placed on the red gravel on the east side of the driveway from the middle of the west side of the yard.  It must weigh 400 lbs. The crew dragged the log with a large rope connected to a hauling ball on the back of a truck.

I started making my lunch at 12:15 but did not get to finish making it and eating it until 1:30, due to several tree issue interruptions.

Steak Salad

I filled a pasta bowl with gourmet greens and then carved all the meat left on the bone of the rib steak we grilled earlier this week.  I also peeled and seeded and sliced 1/3 cucumber in half and then each half into 1/3 slices.  I also sliced two green onions and a radish into thin slices.  Finally, I refreshed the dressing by adding a whisked egg, about 2-3 T. of olive oil, and juice of 1/2 lemon.

I also toasted two slices of French baguette and buttered them and garnished them with slices of Cambozola cheese I bought yesterday at Costco.  The bread with blue cheese was delicious with the steak salad.

A few minutes after 2:00 I checked my portfolio and was pleased that I lost only a minimal amount, since the markets were flat today.

Suzette came home at 5:30.  Murad showed up soon after and I spent an hour drafting his will and asking Charlie to come witness the signing.

Fish Tacos -

After Charlie left we decided to use the Mahi - Mahi fillet I bought Wednesday at Sprouts to make fish tacos.  We already had the Cole slaw that Suzette likes with her fish tacos a la San Diego.

While Suzette cubed and fried about 9 oz. of fish in about 1/3 inch of canola oil, I made guacamole with the three small avocados plus about 2 oz. of red onion, two small  cloves of garlic pressed, about 1/3 tsp. of salt, and three or four dashes of Cholulu hot sauce.

Suzette fetched two Negra Modelos and we enjoyed a quick delicious dinner.

After dinner Suzette ate a bowl of Jamoca Almond fudge ice cream garnished with some of her homemade maraschino cherries and then dozed in front of the TV.

I pitted the 7 lb. of fresh bing cherries I had bought at El Super on Wednesday for $1.67/lb. with Mother’s Cherry pitting tool. I ate the cherries when the tool failed to  pop out the pit. So I had a dessert of fresh cherries.

We went to bed at 10:00.

As I write this blog at 2:20 a.m. on the 14th, I can hear an ambulance’s siren wailing, just like during the height of Covid a year ago, as the delta variant spikes across the U.S.

Also this afternoon as the tree guys were positioning the tree branch on the red gravel two police cars sped by with their sirens blaring and their lights flashing, which is highly unusual.  When I returned to the house I received a call from Diane saying, “There is an active shooter situation at Washington Middle School.”

Putting 1 and 1 together, I now realize that the two police cars were responding to that event, which I later heard from Charlie involved one 13 year old student shooting another 13 year old student at the school.  What a way to start the school year.

Bon Appetit