November 23, 2021 Albuquerque to Dallas. Lunch - Kimball Museum. Dinner - Paella at Bill and Elaine’s

 November 23, 2021 Albuquerque to Dallas. Lunch - Kimball Museum. Dinner - Paella at Bill and Elaine’s 

We woke up at 5:30 to make the flight.  At 3:00 a.m. I made sandwiches of toasted French baguette with charcuterie and cheese for the flight.

We drove to the airport at 6:00 and checked I little late at 6:30 but we and our suitcases made it onto the plane.

When we arrived at Love Field we picked up our rental car band drove to the Kimball Museum in Fort Worth, arriving at noon.  I had eaten one +-half of my sandwich but Suzette had not eaten so we decided to order a pastrami and cheese sandwich and I picked up a piece of Texas Sheet cake and we bought a bottle of Rose from Paso Robles named Daou at the restaurant in the Kimball museum.

I thought the Rose would taste great with the sandwich, but it did not because the Rose seemed to have a buttery malolactic flavor. Then we tried it with the chocolate cake and it was amazingly delicious with the cake.  Like the two were wedded together. I am guessing because the cake may have been made with buttermilk.

We then viewed the Kimball collection and the big Turner show in the Piano annex. Turner was a first rate draftsman and water colorist, although he is admired for his nearly abstract later canvases of all white paint

Suzette wanted to see the Milton Avery show, so we walked across the street to the Modern Art Museum and saw the Milton Avery Retrospective. Avery was mostly self-taught so the faces on figures in his paintings are mostly non-existent, but his backgrounds in most of his later paintings after 1840 are dominated by slashes of white paint, which makes him one of the first modern painters.

I got tired after seeing the Avery show and Suzette fetched the car and I drove us to our hotel, the Warwick/Melrose at Cedar Springs near Oak Lawn.  This wonderful old hotel was once owned by Morton Meyerson.

We are staying here to garner 17,000 points to hopefully complete our 200,000 points for a Southwest companion pass for next year, which will allow Suzette to fly free as my companion.

After we checked in we lay down and took a nap until 6:00, when we drove to BIlly and Elaine’s house for dinner at 6:30.

Mickie and Rebecca were there and we discussed his new crypto business group and I tried to explain our new block chain business.

Both of us admitted we did not understand the other’s business model, which says a lot about how sophisticated portions of finance have become.

BIlly made a large deep skillet of Paella Valenciana with chicken thighs, ham, chorizo, Bomba rice, tomatoes, green olives, roasted red bell peppers, saffron and a quart of Aneto, a thick liquid containing stock of chicken, rabbit, duck, and snails plus herbs and saffron.  The dish was delicious and it was served with a bottle of Italian wine made from a grape that is a relative of Barolo, that is one of Mickie’s favorites. 

It was fun being with everyone.

After dinner we were served plates of chocolate sorbet that was really light but rich in chocolate flavor, Lindt chocolate infused with sea salt crystals, slices of fresh pear for dessert and BIlly poured some amazing spirits, an XO cognac for Suzette and a Marc of Burgundy for me.

It was an impressive finish to an impressive dinner.

One of the things that I love about our family is that since our mother was a gourmet cook and fine dining hostess,  BIlly and I and our children are good cooks and appreciate good food.

At 9:30 Mickie excused himself so he could get up early to work and we said goodnight at 9:30.

Bon Appetit