September 11, 2021 Lunch - Tapas and wine tasting at Vara. Dinner - New Recipe, Black Bean and Italian Sausage
I awakened at 9:30. I watched the last ten minutes of Liecester City losing the Manchester City 1 to 0, not unexpected since Man City is the perennial winner or runner up of the PL these days.
I made breakfast of Gravad lax on Toasted French baguette smeared with goat cheese and garnished with slices of onion.
We were going to the Corrales Studio Art Festival, but Suzette wanted to go to lunch. We took showers and dressed. I suggested Vara for lunch so we drove there at 12:15. We were the first customers so got our choice of outdoor tables under a large patio umbrella with a view of the west side of Albuquerque, since Vara sits on a Mesa near the east side of the Rio Grande.
We immediately ordered a tasting flight of three sparkling wines (Cava, Rosada, and cava Reserva) and a New Mexico still wine made from Mission grapes called cardinal.
We also ordered a flight of four still wines, an Albariño, a granache Rose, a granache, and a Tempranillo.
All the wines were good to excellent. Our favorites were the cava rosada and granache.
We ordered an order of albondigas and Gilda tapas. The Gilda was four skewers, each with two pieces of pimiento, a white sardine and a slice of tomato. The Albondigas were even more interesting, three good sized beef meatballs garnished with a tomato and garlic coulis and micro greens.
The Albondigas
V. G A Gilda
After we finished our first two appetizers we ordered a steak tartare tapa and an order of grilled toast points and another glass of Grenache.
The tartare was delicious smeared on the thick oily toast points. I joined the wine club on the spot. Laurent Gruet is now affiliated with Vara and the word is that Vara is negotiating the buy the Shady Lakes for its permanent winery and tasting room.
At 2:00ish we drove to Corrales and visited three studios. We then drove home because we were tired.
When we arrived at 4:00 the US Open Women’s final was still going so I lay down and watched the 18 year old English Rachunanu beat the 19 year old Canadian Leylah in a match for the history books. It was the first time a player who qualified in by playing won the title and a definite passing of the torch to a new generation of women players.
Suzette came in and mentioned how I might make guacamole with the three ripe avocados as a snack at 5:00 during the awards ceremony.
Dinner - I made guacamole as we watched the news. I combined two 1/8 inch thick slices of onion cut in half and diced narrowly with two cloves of garlic minced finely, three small avocados, 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves, and four or five drops of Cholulu hot sauce.
While I made the guacamole, Suzette sautéed a can of Refried black beans, and chopped Italian sausage, onion, and garlic and fetched the container of requeson. I had bought two packages of tostados (fried tortillas until hard) so Suzette made Black bean and sausage tostados by smearing a layer of requeson on a tostado shell and then adding a layer of the black bean and sausage mixture. She then fetched two beers.
When she served two each we spooned a layer of fresh guacamole on top of the bean layer for a delicious light dinner and the creation of a new dish.
We later watched our favorite Saturday night shows, Father Brown and Death in Paradise. Suzette sipped a cognac and I sipped a glass of grapefruit flavored vodka and ate several praline glazed pecans.
Bon Appetit
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