September 30, 2021 Book Club Hot Dogs. Lunch - Scallop and Fish Ball Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner - PPI Mapo Dofu with rice

September 30, 2021 Book Club Hot Dogs. Lunch - Scallop and Fish Ball Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner - PPI Mapo Dofu with rice

I awakened at 3:30 and worked until 5:45 and then slept until 8:00. I called the attorney for the State Engineer and discovered that the status conference was for a case unrelated to me.

So I called Peter Eller and arranged to ride with him to the book club meeting at 9:30.  I showered and shaved and dressed and went outside at 9:25.

Peter picked me up at 9:30 after picking up Charlie and drove us to the War Memorial at Louisiana and Gibson.

We met in a small pavilion because the rose garden amphitheater was in used for a war memorial.

The book this month was Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck and hot dogs were on the menu.  We took a hotdog break halfway through the meeting. It was cold and my fingers ceased to function at times as I scrivened notes.

We returned home at noon and I invited Peter to join me for a bowl of noodle soup.

Lunch - I gave Peter a choice of meats and he selected scallops and fish cakes.  Siphoning filled the large sauce pan 2/3 full of water and added 1/2 T. of instant dashi and a small handful of pulse seaweed and dried wheat, rice, and mung bean noodles and brought the pot to a simmer.

I then added 1 minced shallot, three mushrooms sliced, 1 baby bok Choy, a heaping T. of red miso, a T. of Chinese Cooking Wine, a tsp of soy sauce,  1/2 tsp. of sesame oil, and then two fried and three regular fish balls and four Peruvian scallops to the pot.  After the fish balls and scallops started to cook I removed them and sliced them into slices.

I turned the heat a bit to heat the soup.  While it was coming to a boil I sliced four green onions into thin rounds.

I made green tea and ladled soup and noddles into bowls for PEter and me and poured green tea and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch.

We ate chocolate wafer cookies after lunch with an additional cup of tea.

Peter left at 2:00 and I checked the market and found that it was another big down day for the market, although my portfolio was down only about .7%.

That is what happens when Congress plays politics with the debt ceiling and there is no progress on the Reconciliation Bill.

The debt ceiling stop gap measure was signed into law this evening so perhaps the bleeding will cease soon.

I napped fro 2:30 until 4:00.  I watched some news until 5:00 when I meditated until 5:30.

Suzette arrived around 5:45.  We discussed dinner and Suzette suggested that we eat more of the Mapo Dofu for dinner.  So I cleaned seeds out of an ounce or 2 of Szechuan peppercorns and sliced four green onions into thin  rounds and put each into small bowls on the table.

Suzette spooned PPI rice and Mapo Dofu into a Pyrex baking dish, covered it with Saran and heated it.  I heated water and made cups of green tea.  Suzette wanted a fresh tea, so made a cup of Blake turmeric tea.

So we enjoyed another meal prepared in a matter of ten minutes.

We watched Rachel and then a repeat of an episode of Midsomer Mystery and went to bed after it ended at 9:30.

There is lots of news about violence and threats of violence over wearing masks that seems politically motivated and I thought about what my client said the other day, “There is no cure for stupid and greed.”

Bon Appetit