August 30, 2021 Lunch - Sawmill Food Hall. Dinner - new recipe - Penne Pasta Primavera with sliced zucchini, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, garlic, and chicken garnished with buttera

 August 30, 2021 Lunch - Sawmill Food Hall. Dinner - new recipe - Penne Pasta Primavera with sliced zucchini, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, garlic, and chicken garnished with butter

 Woke up and saw that it was going to be a positive day in the market and checked the news and then ate a blueberry Newton and walked 2/3 mile at 8:30. 

When I returned I worked until 10:30 when I heated a plate of enchiladas and fried an egg over firm to garnish the warm enchiladas that I had garnished with chopped onions.  

Then at 12:00 I drove to the bank and then to the Sawmill Market at 1909 Bellamah NW where I soon met Don and Bev.  We walked around looking at the many different dining and beverage options until Suzette arrived. Since I had just eaten I did not order anything to eat.  Instead I bought a root beer.  Don bought a brisket sandwich at a BBQ shop, Suzette bought two brochettes and Bev bought an interesting circular six cellos pasta with pomodoro sauce. Two things became obvious, this was the Paxton Lumber building and the vendors were offering an interesting assortment of high quality interesting foods.

Willy had said that he liked the Sawmill Mall and I could see why. 

I bought a 12 oz. glass of root beer for $5.00 at a beverage vendor that sold beers, ciders, and mixed drinks by the glass.

Then Suzette said she had ordered and needed a glass of wine, so we walked to the wine bar, where she ordered a glass of Michael Codex Albariño. We were the Molly’s customers so I started talking to the proprietor and he started pouring me Tastes of wine every time I mentioned a wine.  He asked me whether I preferred white or red wine.  When I sad, “white”, he poured a glass of a one ounce taste of Campo Viejo Cava, which was lovely and then a taste of a Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc, which I found musty.  

I then told him of my first experience going to Mondavi winery with Billy in 1969 and entering a small tasting room at the front of the property where Robert Mondavi was pouring his wines and how he offered me a taste of his new dry rose, just as this fellow was offering me tastes, and how I have loved dry rose’s ever since.

The proprietor then poured a full glass of Campo Viejo sparkling Cava as Suzette appeared and said they were eating at a table outside and could I join them, so I paid $8.00 for the glass and joined them, ending my rhapsodic wine interlude.

The food was good, better than I expected. I tried pork brochettes and the pasta dish and liked both.  

Then at 1:30 I said goodbye and returned home to meet my client and his sister for their 2:15 court appearance. I checked my portfolio’s performance at 2:07 and found that it had arisen 1% thanks in large measure to an over $4.00 increase in Apple.

We appeared at the court hearing for thirty minutes and then we talked among ourselves and with opposing counsel until 3:30.

After they left I checked the mail and found two checks, so I drove to the bank again to deposit them.

When I returned home at 4:15 and lay down to watch Ari Melber, my favorite news anchor, Suzette yelled from her office next door to the bedroom that we were expected at Willy’s for a drink at 5:00.  I told her that Secretary of State Blinken was soon to speak and I wanted to hear him.  Suzette told me that the 5:00 time was flexible.

Secretary Blinken spoke at 5:00.  It was a major policy speech, clearly the most important diplomatic statement of the U.S. government so far in this administration and perhaps any administration of the last twenty years, because it reset American diplomacy toward Afghanistan. It was a crisp delivery of 8 key points stated succinctly without editorial comment or hyperbole.  Several things were clear from the points: America will continue to extract Americans and affected Afghans who wish to leave Afghanistan, the Allies including G7 and NATO and the UN have set standards they expect the Taliban to meet in its governance of Afghanistan, the U.S’ embassy and consular staff for Afghanistan will be posted in Doha, Qatar, and several nations, including Turkey, have offered to deal directly with the new government of Afghanistan directly in Kabul.

At 5:15 when the speech ended Don and Bev arrived and we drove in their big diesel truck to Willy’s where he offered us drinks and pistachios on his deck with its amazing view of the mountains.  We enjoyed a pleasant conversation until 6:30 when Willy excused himself to go to the gym.

Dinner - When we returned home suzette and I began to discuss dinner.  Suzette went to the fridge and found the remaining chicken, the tomatoes from her garden at the center, and a zucchini, so we decided to make a chicken primavera pasta dish.  We decided to include onion, portobello mushrooms, and garlic.

Soon Suzette was boiling penne pasta and I was chopping vegetable slices.

I put the vegetables into three bowls as I do for Chinese dishes based upon the sequencing of their cooking times, onion and zucchini in a bowl, mushrooms and chicken in a second and tomatoes in a third.  The ingredient we chose to unite all the flavors of the dish was fresh basil, so after I chopped the ingredients and Suzette began sautéing them in a large skillet I went to the garden and picked a handful of basil leaves and destemmed them and diced them into 1/3 inch squares that Suzette added to the skillet.  Suzette added white wine to make a simple white wine sauce when it mixed with the butter and olive oil she used to sauté the dish.

I then asked Suzette what wine she thought we should drink.  She said a light red, such as Chianti.  I wanted to serve a cool wine because it had been a hot day, so I started looking in our wine fridge in the butler’s pantry.  After a few minutes, I found a 2015 Casa Avril Malbec and decided to try it because I thought Don and Bev should try a good New Mexico wine.  As I recall we paid $40 or $50 dollars for the bottle.  It was Mr. Vigil’s most costly wine and neither I nor Suzette had tasted it, so it would be a surprise for all of us.

I opened the Malbec and carried it out to the gazebo as Suzette was yelling to me to bring the wine.  Everyone liked the wine.  It resonated flavor wise with the anise flavor of the basil, as Bev noted.  It also expressed a smoothness and weightiness that suggested character.  We enjoyed our meal and the wine immensely.

At 9:00 Bev said it was time to leave to go feed Daisy, their dog, so we said goodnight after Suzette planned a spa day for them at the Center and I planned a whiskey tasting at Left Turn Distillery.

Bon Appetit