August 5, 2021 Lunch - French Onion Soup, a sliced tomato, and an Artichoke. Dinner - Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon Teriyaki with Fried Rice and four fruit cobbler

August 5, 2021 Lunch - French Onion Soup, a sliced tomato, and an Artichoke. Dinner - Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon Teriyaki with Fried Rice and four fruit cobbler

Today I did not eat breakfast and I suffered for it.  Instead I watched the U.S. Women’s soccer team win the Bronze medal against Australia.

Then I worked until noon when Suzette came home.  We decided to fix French Onion Soup and eat the cooked artichoke before it went bad. I was weak as we prepared lunch and it took a while to regain strength.

The French Onion Soup - 

Suzette heated the casserole full of French Onion Soup and filled small French soup tureens.  I sliced slices of Jarlsberg cheese and then toasted slices of French bread.  Suzette lay the toast on top of the hot soup and then slices of cheese on the toast and melted the cheese in the oven. 

The tomato -

Suzette cut two tomatoes crisscross into four quarters and then placed a dollop of basil Mayo in the middle cavity of each.

The Artichoke - I fetched the cooked artichoke and the PPI grilled artichoke and placed them on a plate with a small bowl of basil mayonnaise.  Suzette had made the basil mayonnaise with the blender with a handful of basil leaves from our garden, prepared mayonnaise, and enough fresh lemon juice to mask the institutional flavor of the mayonnaise.

Suzette drank a glass of French Morgan and I drank the last of the Roaix Cotes Du Rhone. We ate in the garden where I could watch the goldfish swimming in our pond.

At 2:00 I checked my portfolio. It was another splendid day in the market, mainly due to Square and Nvidia.  Every day this week has held a pleasant surprise that has resulted in my portfolio rising 3.7% in the first four days of this week.  Monday and today it was Square.  Tuesday and Wednesday the big mover was Moderna. It is unsustainable but fun to watch. Seeing your stock picks move higher produces a certain euphoria. It now feels like my portfolio will increase by 25% this year, since it is already up 20%.

I then napped from 2:30 until 3:30 and at 4:00 drove to the bank and went to the Business Registration office in the Plaza del Sol building next door to inquire into how to register a business.

I then drove home in time to meditate from 5:00 to 5:30.

Dinner - 

I had bought a big 3.3 lb. salmon filet at Smith’s on Tuesday that I marinated in teriyaki sauce starting on Wednesday. We invited Willy for dinner tonight and we decided to stir Fry fried rice with the grilled salmon and make a cobbler.

We cut a 1 x 6 inch cedar board we had bought at Home Depot to the length of the salmon filet and then Suzette soaked the cut board for an hour in the bathtub filled with some water.

I had talked to Willy and he said he could come around 8:00 aft, so at 7:30 I started to prep the stir fried rice with vegetables.

Fried Rice with Vegetables 

I cut 1/2 onion, three cloves of garlic, 1/2 of a zucchini, and put it in a bowl to which I added some pickled ginger.

Then I sliced bamboo slices in half, three mushrooms, 6 or 7 asparagus stalks.  

I heated peanut oil and stir fried the hard items and then added two cups of rice and a bit more peanut oil.

After a few minutes I added the softer items and stir fried all the ingredients to cook them a bit.

After a few more minutes I added 1 T. of Chinese Rice wine and 1 tps. of soy.

I the made a seasoning sauce with 2 T. of Chinese rice wine, 1 T. of soy, 1 tsp. of sesame oil and 2 tsp. of cornstarch and 4 T. of water.

The sauce became overly thick so I added some more water and cooked all the ingredients together into a saucy stew.

The fried rice was ready when Willy arrived at 8:00.

The Cedar Plank grilled salmon

We cut two planks the total length of the salmon filet and soaked them in a partially water filled tub for an hour.

I had marinated a 3.3 lb. salmon filet I bought at Smith’s on Tuesday. The marinade was made with 1/2 cup each of soy, mirin, sake and 1 1/2 T. of sugar heated to melt the sugar into solution.  The I let the marinade cool and then put the salmon filet into a gallon freezer bag and the poured the cooled marinade into the bag and put the salmon into the fridge to marinate. 

At 7:30 Suzette fetched the boards and lay the salmon on the board and grilled it on a medium hot grill for about 30 minutes.  There were areas that were well done and others that were barely beyond seared, which is how I like my salmon.

I fetched a bottle of 2013 Wellington Malbec.because Willy likes Malbecs.  Willy poured the bottle out into three wine glasses

The Wellington Malbec was deliciously smooth and went surprisingly well with the salmon.

We each served ourselves salmon and fried rice and carried our plate and wine to the table in the garden.

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner and the lovely wine.

Willy left after dinner and in another fifteen minutes Suzette erred bowls of fresh four fruit cobbler (plums, peaches, blueberries and apples. With maraschino Cherry juice she made with the jiffy cobbler recipe and baked while the salmon was cooking.  It was delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We watched an Agatha Christie mystery called the Curse of Ishtar until 11:15 and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit