August 15, 2021 Brunch - Blueberry Pancakes and Bacon Dinner - Rack of Lamb with Spinach and Tomato Quinoa

August 15, 2021 Brunch - Blueberry Pancakes and Bacon  Dinner - Rack of Lamb with Spinach and Tomato Quinoa 

I had a relaxing day today.  I woke up at 6:30 to watch the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.  It made me think of Machiavelli’s description of the fall of Csare Borgia after the death of Pope Julius II when support by the Vatican’s Swiss Guard was withdrawn.  In the absence of support of a leader by his subjects, mercenaries will not stop a determined effort to overthrow the Prince.  In fact they will withdraw support.  That is what happened in Afghanistan.  There was no popular support for the Afghan government and after the U.S. withdrew its support, the Taliban met no resistance. The taliban offered the government troops amnesty if they lay down their arms and they did.

At 6:45 we walked 2/3 mile.

Around 10:00 Suzette fried four slices of bacon and then I cleaned the skillet and she made blueberry pancakes using the recipe and ingredients sent to us by Kathy and Jeff.

Suzette texted them to thank them for sending the ingredients and they texted back that they were eating blueberry pancakes also.

After breakfast we moved some of the furniture from the back patio to remove it from the house so there will be no obstructions for the painters.

I then lay down and read and rested while Suzette sanded the woodwork in the van and then made two batches of maraschino cherries (6 quart bottles).  At 4:00 we each ate a bag of warm popcorn and then we both napped from 4:30/5:00 to 6:30.

Willy called at 6:30 and suggested making quinoa instead of couscous, so I started de-stemming baby spinach leaves.  The I chopped three slices of red onion, 2 cloves of garlic and three small tomatoes from the Center’s garden that I diced.

 When Willy arrived I read a recipe on his bag of Quinoa that called for sautéing the onion and garlic and 1 cup of quinoa in 1 T. of olive oil and then adding 2 cups of water and cooking slowly for 15 minutes.  So, that is what I did, except I added 2 cups of boiling water as I do with couscous and the spinach, 1/2 tsp. of salt, and the tomatoes with the water.

We turned the heat down and simmered the quinoa for about 20 minutes until Suzette finished grilling the rack of lamb on a bed of mint stalks. 

Willy and I selected a bottle of La Finca Malbec that I bought recently at Trader Joe’s. I opened the bottle and Suzette and Willy started to take stuff out to the table but they brought it back in when the wind rose and Willy saw on his phone that a major storm was headed our way.

We ate inside and I liked the quinoa as well or better than couscous.  I will begin cooking it more often.  

The wine had a peppery after taste like the zinfandels we used to get from California, but we finished the bottle over the course of an hour of conversation and Willy doing his laundry.

Willy left around 9:30 and we went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit