October 31, 2021 Breakfast - Bacon, cheese, and tomato Omelette Lunch - charcuterie and cheese Sandwiches. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak and Asparagus, Country Fried Potatoes and Onion, and Mushrooms and Shallot in a Brown Sauce

October 31, 2021 Breakfast - Bacon, cheese, and tomato Omelette  Lunch - charcuterie and cheese Sandwiches. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak and Asparagus, Country Fried Potatoes and Onion, and Mushrooms and Shallot in a Brown Sauce

Today was pleasant and interesting. I spent the morning working on Aaron’s trial, except I took a break when Suzette served us a lovely Bacon, cheese, and sliced tomato Omelette.  I really enjoyed it because it was different from others we have made and delicious.

Lunch - 

At 3:30 I opened the package of charcuterie we bought at Costco and toasted two slices of Bosque Bakery Baguette.  I spread basil Mayo on both slices of baguette, then lay slices of brie on one and Jarlsberg cheese on the other. Finally, I lay slices of cured ham on the Jarlsberg sandwich and salami on the brie sandwich.  I added seven or eight olives and four slices of dill pickle to the plate and fetched a Dos Equis beer from the garage for a wonderful late lunch.

I then napped for 1/2 hour until 4:00 when Suzette awakened me and we drove to Kit Carson Park and walked to the two lakes.  We saw lots of ducks of the four main species; wood ducks, Mallards, Green Teal, and Ring necks.  Also, two large flocks of Canadian geese fly over head on their way to one of the sand bars in the Rio Grande.  

After our walk we drove to Smith’s at Constitution and Carlisle to shop.  We bought milk, brown sugar, asparagus, vanilla and Death by Chocolate ice cream, chicken thighs, and a whole chicken and a 12 pack of Angry Orchard Hard Cider.

We then drove home and made dinner.  

Dinner 

I sliced the last two clusters of Lion’s Mane mushrooms and sliced five Portobello mushrooms and 1/2 of a shallot while Suzette sliced two previously baked Yukon Gold potatoes and some yellow onion.  Suzette then started the mushrooms sautéing in one skillet and the sliced potatoes in another skillet.

             

Suzette wanted to make a brown sauce for the mushrooms, so she made about 6 oz. of beef broth from concentrate.

She then salted and peppered the rib steak and tossed the asparagus in a freezer bag with olive oil, salt, and pepper to coat them.  Then she grilled the steak and asparagus while watched and flipped the potatoes and mushrooms to brown them evenly on both sides.  When Suzette brought the grilled steak and asparagus in I added about 2 T. of Amontillado sherry to the mushrooms and then she dusted the mushrooms with flour and sautéed them to cook the flour and then added the beef stock and stirred to thicken the light brown sauce.  

I opened a bottle of 2015 De Ponte Lonesome Rock Ranch Pinot Noir.  It was not as elegantly smooth as De Ponte’s Dundee Hills Pinot Noir but it was mighty tasty, and had a youthful vigor even after 6 years.

Suzette sliced the steak and plated our plates with slices of steak and country fried potatoes covered with the mushroom sauce and I poured the wine.

Neither of us could finish our meal. We decided to use the PPIs to make a burrito, so we combined our half eaten plates of food in a plastic storage box.

We sipped the rest of our wine, I with a couple of chocolate sandwich cookies.  Suzette latter had a sip of cognac, as we watched Grantchester, Game 5 of the World Series, which Houston won and the Dallas Cowboys beat the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football and went to bed after Houston beat Atlanta to take the series to a sixth game.

Bon Appetit