Monday, January 31, 2022

January 31, 2022 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam Bahn with Egg rolls and Marinated grilled Pork. Dinner - Charcuterie and Cheese and bread

January 31, 2022 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam Bahn with Egg rolls and Marinated grilled Pork. Dinner - Charcuterie and Cheese and bread


Another sleep in until after 8:00 which worked out perfectly.


At 9:00 I ate a bagel with cream cheese, Gravad lax, red onion slices and capers.


I then worked until 10:00 and then got ready to go to yoga at 10:45.


Yoga was great today.  I feel like I am beginning to feel better and increase my flexibility.


After yoga I ordered and drove to the bank and then to 2000 Vietnam and picked the two orders of lunch for Todd and my lunch.


I then drove to the bank and opened a new account and moved money to Marty and my accounts from the note payments we were due from a transaction we were involved in with Aaron.


That took 1 1/2 hours , so I did not get home until after 2:00.


I had been monitoring the market and had seen that the market was up again today.  When I checked when I arrived home I saw that the NASDAQ was up 469 points, the Dow was up 406 points and Apple was up $4.45.; a second stellar day in the market in a row.  The increase in the portfolios was 3.8% today, the best day I have ever experienced in the market. The last two days had erased 37% of the loss I experienced in the early part of January.  Said differently, my gain for 2021 was 21.4% and my gain from the beginning 2021 as of today is 12%. So I have regained some but not all of the gain from the beginning of 2021.


When we opened our boxes from 2000 Vietnam we discovered that the restaurant had mistaken my order and given us a dish of patted rice sheets with egg rolls and grilled marinated pork; Bahn.  So I fetched the lettuce from the garage and the bunch of cilantro from the fridge and asked Todd to go get the romaine lettuce from the garage.


Todd and I enjoyed dipping the pork and egg rolls and pads of patted rice noodles into the fish sauce and then wrapping them in lettuce leaves.


We did not finish lunch until almost 4:00.


I retired to my bed and watched the news and dozed.  It appears that Trump was at his rabble rousing worst this last weekend at a rally in Conroe, Texas, calling for riots if he is indicted and that Mike Pence could have reversed the 2020 election results. Spewing racist hate and rebellion.


Suzette came home at 5:30 and wanted a glass of Wine.  She had picked a bottle of 2016 Confidential from the Lisbon region of Portugal rated 90 points that we bought at Costco.p for $10 to $12.00.


It was a lovely fruity wine with less tannins that many wines we drink.  After I tasted it, I took a glass and then agreed with Suzette to eat bread, charcuterie and cheese for dinner.  We opened the package of charcuterie we had bought at Costco and I placed seven or eight cheeses on a cutting board, including, Iberico, mimolet, St. Mary’s bloom ripened, Boursin, Arum blue from France, Point Reyes Blue from California, and the last bit of Raclette.


Suzette also wanted lax so I sliced tree slices of Gravad lax.







We poured glasses of Confidential and nibbled salami, ham, prosciutto, lax, and cheese on bread and without bread for dinner.


We watched the Antiques Roadshow until 9:00.p during which Suzette made us coffee ice cream sundaes, ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream with a maraschino cherry on top.


At 9:00 Suzette went to bed and I stayed up until 11:00 watching the news and talking to Todd.


Then I blogged and went to bed after midnight.


Bon Appetit


Sunday, January 30, 2022

January 29, 2022 Lunch - Vara Wine Tasting. Dinner - Ratatouille with Red Rice from the Camargue, and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

January 29, 2022 Lunch - Vara Wine Tasting. Dinner - Ratatouille with Red Rice from the Camargue, and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas


Today was very peaceful.  I slept until 8:00 and then made a lovely breakfast for Suzette and me.  I toasted two slices of bagel for me, spread them with cream cheese and lay Gravad Lax on them and spread Swedish Mustard sauce on the salmon.  Suzette did not want bread so I lay slices of Gravad lax on lettuce leaf’s and spread Mustard sauce on the the salmon.  I garnished each of our plates with slices of pomelo.


We enjoyed breakfast together and then Suzette went to work and I worked on my brief until 1:00 when I called Vara Winery to update my account and see if today was a delivery party.  It was, so I called Suzette and she said she would drive home to go to the tasting party.  


I showered and dressed, fetched a beer, and heated the remaining Boeuf Bourguignon by the time Suzette arrived.  We shared the beer and the Boeuf and then she drove us to Vara.


When we arrived at Vara we checked in and provided the new credit card information and we were handed glasses and trays.  We went outside where there were bottles of wine in buckets of ice and covered steam trays of food.  There were only two items left, Papas Bravas and steamed asparagus with a lemon Mayo sauce garnished with pickled red onion strips.


There were four wines to taste: a Viura white, a Grenache rose, a Carinena red and a Grenache red.  We did like the Viura. We loved the Grenache rose and the Carinena, and we thought the Grenache was not a very food friendly wine because of its high tannic acid flavor but that softened as it oxidized a bit as we drank it.


The wine we loved was the Grenache Rose. it was fruity and went well with food.


When they stopped serving food and wine at 3:00 I switched the Viura for another rose and took delivery of our four bottle allocation.  Then I drove to Costco and we bought a bag of creamer potatoes, mushrooms, shampoo, lobster bisque, a box with 8 cans of diced organic tomatoes, a box of frozen pork dumplings, and I picked up two prescriptions.


We then returned to home at 4:30 and started cooking.  We have a set division of labor for most dinners with one or two dishes. I sit at the table watching the news and chopping vegetables while Suzette brings me items to chop and is in charge of the stove and cooking and seasoning the dish.  This tends to minimize the time and effort of each person.


Dinner - Tonight’s meal was Ratatouille, Rice, and steamed Sugar Snap Peas.  These are all dishes we have cooked many times and there was no consultation needed, just execution, so each of us could execute our segment of the meal prep independently but in tandem.


Ratatouille - Since Ratatouille is a vegetable stew, it must cook the longest to cook and integrate the flavors.  So we prepped and cooked it first. Suzette fetched the firmest vegetables first: a large onion, a head of garlic we grew in our garden, and 1/2 each of a yellow and red bell pepper and I cut those into my standard 1/2 inch cubes, except for the garlic that I minced.  I like 1/2 inch cubes because I think they are easier to eat because one can get three or four cooked cubes on a fork for a bite. That is especially important with dishes with lots of different ingredients that merge together such as Ratatouille.


Suzette put those ingredients into a large French enameled casserole and sautéed them in 2 T. each of olive oil and butter.


And brought me the less firm ingredients: an Italian and a Chinese eggplant and two zucchini next to dice.


Finally, Suzette brought me four Roma tomatoes that required some surgery to be useable.  We decided to add one can of the organic diced tomatoes and were glad we did because when Suzette opened the can they were beautiful, much nicer in appearance that our Roma tomatoes.


Then we discussed seasonings.  Suzette has become enchanted with grinding some of the basil we grew in our garden and dried this year into a powder because that released its deeply pungent flavor.  Suzette ground about 1 T. of dried basil and I added about 2 T. of finely chopped Mexican oregano and Suzette added some salt.




Rice - While the Ratatouille was cooking we looked for quinoa and could not find it but Suzette came up with an even better idea, to cook red rice raised impressive The Camargue that Rebecca gave us for Christmas.


The Camargue is the Rhone River delta in Southern France where it pours into the Mediterranean Sea, so the dinner became a true French Mediterranean meal.


Suzette followed the instructions for preparing the rice of 2 1/2 cups of water and cooking 45 minutes, but that Cupid not seem correct because although the rice had cooked there was still water left in the bottom of the pan.





Sugar Snap Peas - I tried to de-thread the peas but they were tender enough to not have many threads.  I put them in the steamer and when we were nearly ready to eat Suzette steamed them for six minutes.



Tom and Lynne are seriously athletes and do no drink alcohol, so Suzette and I picked a bottle of 2015 Rivero Reserva from Rioja from the wine rack to keep the Mediterranean theme going.


While dinner was cooking I talked to Lynne about my water case and she discussed several law related subjects such as one of the reasons why she left Minnesota was because the small town politics of impropriety among the lawyers she had to deal with, such as a sexual relationship between a male prosecutor and a female judge.  What rankled Lynne was that the prosecutor was sanctioned but the judge was not and still sits on the bench. Lynne said the a complaint was filed against the judge but it did not result in her being sanctioned.  Those kind of things bother most lawyers, as it did Lynne and me.


While Lynne and I talked law stuff, Todd helped Suzette by buttering pieces of French baguette and wrapping them in aluminum foil and toasting them in the oven and setting the dining room table and lighting a small candelabra.


When the food was ready at around 7:15 We each spooned a pile of rice into a pasta bowls and spooned ratatouille on top of the rice and added a spoonful of sugar snap peas to the bowl.



We all drank water and Suzette and I drank red wine.


After dinner Suzette fetched the chocolate dessert from the garage fridge and cut 1/2 inch thick slices of Mousse cake for each of us.  Todd, Lynne, and I brewed hot tea to drink with dessert.



It was a lovely meal that I really enjoyed because after I prepped all the ingredients I was able to talk law rather than assist in the final prep and serving of dinner thanks to Todd’s assistance.


Todd had an early run in the morning so he and Lynne retired to the guest room at 8:30 and Suzette and I watched a few minutes of Father Brown and a new episode of “Death in Paradise” and Suzette went to bed at 10:00, although I stayed up and watched some of Saturday Night Live.  


Bon Appetit


Bon Appetit




Saturday, January 29, 2022

January 28, 2022 Lunch - Potstickers, Dinner - Broiled Mackerel with Stir Fried Vegetables

January 28, 2022 Lunch - Potstickers,  Dinner - Broiled Mackerel with Stir Fried Vegetables


The most fun today was food shopping at Talin.


I went to a dental appointment at 9:30 and after it at 11:15 I drove to Talin.


I went through most of the store, buying a variety of items.  I bought tofu, red miso, dried seaweed, a kilo box of Hondashi (the instant dashi powder) and a bottle of mirin in the Japanese section.  Next to the Japanese section I found a can of harissa, a Moroccan condiment containing red peppers, carrots and spices used to season couscous l


Then I went to the fish section and they had fresh pink grouper and mackerel and I bought a pound of grouper and a 1 lb. mackerel.


Then I found a 13 oz. bag of frozen fish balls.  They were out of Chinese garlic chili paste, so I went to the vegetable section and bought white beech mushrooms, a bag of Baby Bok Choy, and two Chinese eggplants. 



I had a wave of weakness as I carried my box of food out of the store but there was a kind homeless man who helped carry my box to the car.  When he asked for change to take the Railrunner back to Santa Fe, I gave him $.75 and registered this as the first time anyone ever asked for change to get back to Santa Fe.  Perhaps because I live in a different world of acquaintances in Santa Fe.


When I got home I grabbed the bag of pot stickers from the freezer. After putting the food away I poured 1 1/2 T. of peanut oil into a large skillet and got 15 pot stickers into the skillet. I scorched and blackened the pot stickers because I covered the skillet with a larger skillet and could not monitor the progress of their cooking because I was making a dipping sauce with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic chili paste and a minced green onion and a cup of green tea. I really did not mind the blackened sections because I was hungry and trying to regain my strength.  As I ate I finished a New Yorker article on the fall of Afghanistan.



After lunch I checked the market and could not believe it.  The portfolio had a gain of 3.6%. It was the opposite of the last week or two when I was losing 16.66% of my portfolio’s value.  Apple reported impressive numbers last night and today the stock increased $10.00 along with most of the other high tech names and regaining 18% of the total loss of this year in one day.  It was my best day ever.  


Now I just need 5 more such days to regain my highest value again, just like Trump just needed an additional 11,780 votes to win the Georgia election. I actually think my odds are better than Trump’s since I am in the game and the economy increased its greatest amount since 1992 last year, if inflation subsides a bit.


At 4:30 I drove to the bank to deposit a check and when I returned Suzette had arrived.  We discussed dinner and she said she wanted to broil the mackerel and eat stir fried vegetables with the broiled fish. 


I filleted the mackerel into two fillets which Suzette placed on a greased cookie sheet and broiled in the oven for 10 minutes when I was nearly finished with the stir fried vegetables.


Stir Fried vegetables


I sliced 1/2 onion into long pieces.  I chopped garlic and ginger and diced two heads of baby bok Choy, separating the white stalks from the green leaves.  I then sliced a zucchini Suzette fetched for me. Finally I cut the roots off about. 2 oz. of white beech mushrooms.


I heated 1 1/2 T. of peanut oil and 1 tsp. of sesame oil in the wok and added the onion slices, the zucchini slices, and the minced garlic and ginger.  


After a minute or two I added the white portion of the bok Choy.


After about five minutes I added the mushrooms.


I made a seasoning sauce with about 1/2 tsp. of dehydrated chicken stock, 1/2 T. of soy, a few dashes of sesame, about 1 T. of Chinese Cooking wine, and about 1/2 T. of cornstarch plus 1/4 cup of water.


After another three or four minutes I added the green tops of bok Choy.


After another minute I added the seasoning sauce and immediately saw it needed a bit more water to avoid over thickening, so added another 1/8 cup of water.  I reduced the heat and let the vegetables cook slowly until the mackerel had cooked its allotted 10 minutes.


Broiled Mackerel


Suzette simply oiled a cookie sheet and dusted the mackerel fillets with ground Timur, the Nepalese relative of Szechuan peppercorns, and then broiled the fillets for nine to ten minutes.



There was some leftover couscous mixed with sushi rice in the fridge that I heated up to add some carbs to the dish.


Suzette plated the fish and stir Fried Vegetables on each plate and added the heated couscous to my plate.




We drank the last two glasses of the open bottle of Gruner Veltliner and glasses of water with the meal.


After dinner I drank a cup of tea and ate several of the Keebler and Chip Ahoy cookies and they were both terrible, compared to my chocolate chip cookies.


In the afternoon I talked with my partners in a land deal and determined that I may receive an additional $44,000 over the next five years in monthly payments.


By the end of the day I felt like today had been the combination of Easter Sunday due to the resurrection of my portfolio and that God had provided me manna from heaven like he did to sustain the Israelites in their 40 years of wandering in the Wilderness to the Holy Land due to the monthly payments I will receive for the next five years.


I also felt like Job, when the jaws of the great fish opened and delivered him to dry land. 


No need to worry, God is with you.


A day of biblical proportions.


Today I also was able to make my gut happy again by eating pot stickers for lunch and plain fish with stir fried vegetables and a little couscous for dinner.


At 9:30 Todd and Lynne arrived to spend the weekend as they visit friends.



Bon Appetit








Thursday, January 27, 2022

January 27, 2022 Lunch - Padilla’s Chile Relleno Plate Dinner - Duck Confit with Potatoes Reblechon and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

January 27, 2022 Lunch - Padilla’s Chile Relleno Plate   Dinner - Duck Confit with Potatoes Reblechon and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas


Woke up at 4:15 and worked on my brief until 6:15 when I went back to sleep until 7:30.


I worked at my desk until 9:10 and then toasted two bagel halves and spread cream cheese on them and garnished them with slices of thinly sliced red onion and Gravad lax and made a cup of Assam chai.



I then showered and got ready to go to my dentist appointment but found out at the last minute that it needed to be re-scheduled to tomorrow.


So, at 11:15 I drove to Smiths after clipping several coupons.  Today was a fabulous day of grocery shopping for four or five reasons. I clipped on line before I went a mega discount of $1.00 if five or more related items were bought.  I bought a bag of Keebler chocolate chip cookies, a box of Triscuits, a bag of Chip Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, a pound of extra creamy Land O Lakes butter, and Nathan’s Ball Park Franks and got the discount. 


The next big deal was a discount on Pork tenderloins to $2.28 per lb. And a Chuck roast for $3.49 per lb..


Then I went to the produce department and found freshly discounted bags of sugar snap peas that were in good condition for $.99 per bag.


But the best deal of all was when I entered the store where the fancy Murray cheeses are kept and asked the attendant where the discounted cheeses could be found.  She pointed to a cooler a few feet away and said, “Over there.”  I walked over there and Viola, I found the discounted cheeses.  There were two types and I took 1 of each, a wedge I’d Point Reyes Bay Blue for $2.49 and a small round container of St. Mary’s Blooming Rind cheese for $3.99.  I felt like an explorer discovering a new land.






I also bought red, yellow, and orange bell peppers on sale for $.88 each.


It was a great day of shopping.  


After I checked out I called Padilla’s and ordered a Chile Relleno plate with double beans, onion, and green sauce.


I had to wait and that made me a few minutes late for the book club meeting, but when I connected Charlie and me we had to wait while the four live attendees ate bowls of mushroom soup, so I was able to eat most of my Relleno before recording the notes of the meeting.


After the meeting at 2:45 I worked a bit and ate the two sopapillas that came with the meal with honey and then dozed off in front of the TV until a bit after 5:00, when Suzette arrived and I joined the zen sitting group.


After it ended at 5:30 we discussed dinner.  Suzette suggested duck tacos and I suggested making potatoes au gratin with Raclette cheese and steamed sugar snap peas. 


We took a short walk at 5:45 and then when we returned began to cook.  Suzette found a recipe she had found for potatoes with Reblechon cheese.  I diced 1/3 onion and 1/2 of a shallot and sliced two strips of bacon into lardons. Then I peeled and thinly sliced six small potatoes and covered them with water and boiled them until tender.  It was a French recipe from the Savoir.  Since Raclette is also a Savoir cheese and also a good melting cheese, the substitution was of little consequence.  


Suzette fetched the quart of heavy cream and a bag of sugar snap peas from the garage fridge. 


While Suzette sautéed the bacon and onions, I snapped a generous handful of sugar snap peas and put them in the steamer.  


Suzette then sautéed the blanched potato slices until they started to brown and then removed them to a Pyrex dish. She then added 150 ml. of white wine and 200 ml. of  heavy cream to the skillet and heated it until the sauce started to thicken.  She then poured the sauce over the potatoes and baked the dish in a convection oven until the dish was bubbling at the edges and the potatoes had browned.  Here is a picture.






                                                      The finished sauce


I removed the excess skin from the 1/2 duck confit and sliced it into 3/4 inch thick slices where possible and filled another Pyrex container.  Suzette drizzled the duck with some liquid from a bottle of Maraschino cherries to flavor and keep the duck meat from drying out.


Before dinner prep I went to the basement and fetched six bottles of wine, four whites and a bottle of De Ponte Dundee Hills Pinot Noir and a bottle of 2018 Pierre Mondel Signargues Cotes Du Rhone Villages.  I opened the Signargues and poured two glasses.




Suzette microwaved the duck and steamed the sugar snap peas and when the potatoes were fully cooked she plated our dinner.  It was really a wonderful dinner.  The Signargues is one of my absolute favorite wines with duck because it has 4 grapes and a decree of complexity that I think is a bargain at $15.00 per bottle at Total Wine.


P


We both loved the wine and after dinner sipped the rest of the bottle.


While I still had some wine left I opened the Mary’s cheese and we ate some slices with sips of wine.  It was an amazing experience.  It was hard to believe it was an American cheese.



We watched the last four episodes of Emily in Paris and went to bed at 10:15.


We elevated our minimum-cooking taco night into an amazing French meal.


I loved it.


Bon Appetit







Wednesday, January 26, 2022

January 26, 2022 Lunch - PPI Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner - PPI Baked Chicken and PPI Roasted Vegetables and rice

January 26,  2022 Lunch - PPI Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner - PPI Baked Chicken and PPI Roasted Vegetables and rice 


I worked a little today but also watched the market rise about 2% and then fall back to Earth and go slightly negative by the close, thanks to the hawkish comments by Fed. Chairman J. Powell about how there could be four or more rate hikes next year.


I think that the Fed may reduce the number of rate hikes if Covid diminishes, the supply chain bottlenecks diminish, and inflationary pressures diminish.


I added 2 eggs whisked with 1 T. each of soy and Chinese cooking wine and added that to the PPI Miso Noodle Soup at 2:00 and had a bad reaction to the broth.  I am a living example of how bacteria in your gut can protect you.



Suzette came home at 5:15 and she was hungry so she heated the PPI Baked Chicken thighs with the PPI Roasted Vegetables I made yesterday (onion, garlic, rutabaga, carrot, potatoes, and Brussels Sprouts with rosemary) and the last of the PPI sushi rice.



Suzette opened a bottle of her favorite white wine Gruner Veltliner. In this case a Hungarian wine that I buy at Trader Joe’s for $5.99.


We have sworn off desserts and limited ourselves to one glass of wine per meal.  I guess that is our New Year’s resolution.  If will be a food one if we lose weight and feel better.


We watched Rachel Maddow and then three or four episodes of the second season of Emily in Paris on Netflix.


I wonder how long our new diet resolution will last.


Bon Appetit

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

January 25, 2022 Lunch - Miso Noodle Soup, Dinner - Roast Duck Confit with Roasted Vegetables

January 25, 2022 Lunch - Miso Noodle Soup,  Dinner - Roast Duck Confit with Roasted Vegetables

Another amazingly interesting day.  I slept until 8:00.


When I got moving Suzette had left so when up I saw that the new photo of me in 1985 the Chews gave me had fallen on the floor I carefully put by right knee down on the floor and picked it up and my right hip popped back into alignment.  I was thrilled. I could walk without pain.




At 10:30 I made a pot of miso noodles with rice vermicelli, wheat noodles, and bean thread noodles, plus dehydrated dashi, red miso, two fish balls, several pieces of salmon, a small amount of celery leaves, spinach, and thinly sliced mushrooms.


I ate 1 1/2 bowls, being careful to not eat too much liquid, so as to trigger diarrhea by my active gut enzymes.


At 3:00 I walked 2/3 mile and felt fine, which is a miracle because yesterday when my hip was out I could not walk a block without pain.


Then I drove  to the. Library to pick up next month’s book club selection and then to Lowe’s where I bought Brussels sprouts, a bunch of cilantro, two onions, and some green beans.


I returned home at 4:20 and made guacamole with the three ripe avocados we had plus some minced onion, two cloves of garlic pressed, some of the fresh cilantro chopped finely, four drops of green Cholula hot sauce, and a dash of salt.


I then started peeling and chopping, onions, a rutabaga, a carrot, two potatoes, and the bag of Brussels sprouts I had just purchased.  I added about seven or eight cloves of garlic and sprigs of Rosemary and tossed all the vegetables with olive oil and covered the dish and roasted the vegetables in a 325 degree oven starting at. 6:05.


Suzette arrived at 6:15 and we sat and enjoyed a drink together and the she defrosted the two duck confit halves and the roasted them in the oven with the vegetables after raising the temperature to 350 degrees for an additional 50 minutes.


I looked for a Cotes Du Rhone, but selected a bottle of 2011 Origon Gran Reserva from Spain’s Terra Alta region because it had the same grapes as a Southern Rhone, Syrah and Grenache.


At 7:00 Willy arrived and ate some of the guacamole and then joined us for dinner.  Suzette and I shared 1/2 duck confit and Willy ate the Boeuf Bourguignon and mashed potatoes and celeriac from Sunday.



I showed Willy the 28 by 36 inch Tom Noble watercolor I bought and the chairs  and he liked them, which made me happy.  





After he left we watched some TV and then I sipped a bit of Calvados with the last three Christmas Belgium candies.


At 10:30 I made a cup of champions and blogged this entry.


 It was another terrible day in the market.  I can only hope something the Fed notes says tomorrow will change the negative trend in the market.


Bon Appetit