November 8, 2021 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam. Dinner - Penne Pasta with Broccoli, bell pepper, and Sausage Spaghetti sauce

November 8, 2021 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam. Dinner - Penne Pasta with Broccoli, bell pepper, and Sausage Spaghetti sauce. 

I awakened at 7:15 and watched the market lift off for another Up Monday as I made a bowl of oatmeal for Suzette and me with raisins, brown sugar and slivered almonds.

Willy called and we discussed his selling his shares of Lucid, a new electric car maker, that was up about 10% for the day.  He decided to sell.

Then I showered and dressed so I was ready to work by 9:00

Shahin came by and we discussed his new potential venture.

Then at 10:30 I left for my yoga class.  I stretched more than ever.  It seems as if the combination of exercise and yoga are having a cumulative effect on my body.  In other words, the yoga is helping the body to align itself and loosen joints that have tightened over the years and that is easing the strain on the body that is allowing the body to build strength and stamina through walking and biking.

TR commented on Saturday on how color is coming back into my face.  I suspect the increased color is a result of greater oxygenation from greater mobility, flexibility, and exercise.  I still have a long way to go but I am on a promising path.

After yoga, I called in an order and drove to the bank to make the deposit of Left Turn’s rent check and then drove across the intersection to 2000 Vietnam and picked up Peter and my lunch. 

I when I arrived home at 12:45 I called Peter to tell him I had arrived with our lunches and then made us iced Vietnamese coffees with the leftover cold coffee Suzette had made for breakfast, condensed milk, and ice in a tall glass.

When Peter arrived we took our coffees and lunches out to the gazebo to enjoy the warm sunshine.  It was about 68 degrees. Peter’s enjoyed his new favorite Vietnamese dish, Jasmine rice with Shrimp lemongrass curry, No. 118.  I ordered my favorite, Bun Cha Gio with grilled Marinated Pork, No. 30.

Bun Cha Gio consists of three layers; a bottom layer of cool strips of fresh chopped lettuce and cucumbers and mung bean sprouts, a middle layer of warm steamed vermicelli rice noodles, and a top layer of hot deep fried egg rolls filled with vermicelli and ground pork and marinated grilled slices of pork.  It is my favorite Summer dish and I am thrilled that the warm weather is continuing so I can enjoy it.

I like to add lots of fresh cilantro and basil to the dish, so I took the bunch of fresh cilantro I bought at El Super last night and picked a handful of basil from a plant in the garden and garnished my dish with leaves of both.  Here is a picture of my lunch after it was garnished with the fresh herbs.

Peter and I have these long rambling discussions on all types of topics and occasionally Peter divulges some tidbit of family history that blows me away.  Today he shared a big tidbit.  His father won a gold medal as an Olympic rower for Germany at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. When I asked Peter if his father competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he told me his father did not because he had completed his law degree at Berlin University and was establishing his law career.

I mentioned that both of our fathers took similar paths.  That my father was an NCAA letterman in golf at TCU in 1929 and completed a law degree at University of Texas in 1933 and was establishing his career in law in 1936.

Amazing.

When we finished lunch we viewed the painting of Talpa Church and the two watercolors that Suzette bought at the Santa Fe Auction and Peter found them to be more than acceptable, especially since he had recommend that she buy the two watercolors.

After Peter left around 2:00 I checked the market and found that the $130 slide of Moderna had ended, at least temporarily, and my portfolio had had a slight .375% gain for the day.  Up is always better than down.  The market registered new highs and I must admit that when adjusted for the Required Mandatory Distribution I made last month, my portfolio is within 1% of its all time high, even after the huge Moderna sell off, thanks in large measure to a recent run up by Nvidia.

I worked with Shahin from 3:30 to 5:30 and then watched the news until Suzette arrived around 6:30 after her yoga class.

Dinner 

Suzette did not want to cook but I did, so we checked the PPI spaghetti sauce and when it was deemed fresh enough to use as a PPI, I started cooking.

I filled the three quart pot with water and heated it to a boil and added 1/2 lb. of dry penne pasta to rehydrate.

I then cut flowerets from the head of broccoli I bought last night at El Super into bite sized pieces.  I also diced 1/4 of a green bell pepper into small pieces and minced a shallot and two large cloves of garlic.

I then sautéed the vegetables in 2 T. of butter and 1 1/2 T. of olive oil covered until soft in a large cast iron skillet.  Then I added the PPI Sausage Spaghetti Sauce and about 1 cup of water to the sautéing vegetables and a 1/2 tsp of dried oregano.

Soon the sauce reconstituted itself into a glistening creamy texture and the  penne was soft.

Suzette came to the kitchen to check on dinner’s progress and it was ready, so she drained the penne and spooned a pile of penne into a pasta bowl and spooned the spaghetti sauce over the penne, while I diced some mozzarella and grated some Pecorino-Romano and fetched and poured the last 2/3 of an open bottle of Aquino Reserva Chianti.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner watching the Antiques Roadshow.

Suzette went to sleep in her chair, so I was able to switch the channel back and forth to the Monday Night football game between Chicago and Pittsburgh that was competitive to the final whistle.

Suzette went to bed at 10:00 and I went to bed at 11:00 after listening to Rachel Maddow and sipping a glass of Grappa de Brunello and a few chocolate sandwich cookies.

Bon Appetit