January 13, 2022 Lunch - Vinaigrette. Dinner - Ham, Northern bean, and macaroni soup

January 13, 2022 Lunch - Vinaigrette. Dinner - Ham, Northern bean, and macaroni soup 

In the morning Suzette fetched the ham hock end of the spiral cut ham and the container of Northern White Beans from the garage freezer.

I made us toasted bagels with cream cheese, sliced red onion, and slices of the fresh Gravad lax I made yesterday.  What a joy to have fresh Gravad lax.

At 9:30 Amy arrived after dropping Vahl at the airport for his flight to Santiago, Chile where he would catch another flight to Tierra del Fuego to take a cruise to Antarctica. 

We drove to Park Square and walked 1/4 mile around one of the buildings until we found the Charles Schwab office.  Amy filled out the paperwork to make her mandatory distribution from her IRA, which she is going to give to both boys.

I gave each boy some money last month and will give them the same amount of money as Amy is giving them next month.

To use Amy’s words, “We don’t need it and they can use it.”

My attitude is a little different, “They are going to get it anyway, so in the case of Luke, he needs it to help pay for publication of his book and for Willy, who does not need it, to utilize to learn how to invest in the stock market.”

After Schwab we drove home and then picked up Willy at his work at 11:30 and drove to Vinaigrette for lunch.  

Willy and Amy ordered ginger turmeric non-alcoholic cocktails.

Amy ordered the Gumbo, a rich, thick mixture of chicken and okra over rice.

Willy ordered the Nutty Pear Fessor Salad, a mixture of Balsamic roasted pear slices, pecans, bacon crumbles, and blue cheese served on a bed of organic greens.

I ordered my favorite salad, the Frisee Salad with duck confit: fried bacon lardons, a generous handful of shredded duck confit, a poached egg dressed with a warm shallot vinaigrette on a mound of frisee, very French and very delicious.

Talking about things French, Vinaigrette has adopted the French style of pricing its dishes to include the tip. For example, my Frisee salad used to cost $9.99 when Vinaigrette first opened about ten years ago.  It now costs $14.50 and with the duck confit addition, $24.50.  Pretty pricy, but where else can one find such a wonderful salad. Also, very French, warm focaccia with olive oil is served if one asks for it for a $2.00 surcharge.

We loved our lunch. Willy told us he is exploring cold showers and he swam in the cold Rio Grande last week to train his body to tolerate cold.

He thinks it is invigorating and healthy, as proposed by a Dutch scientist named Wim Hof.

After lunch Amy drove Willy back to work and then drove me home.

When I returned home at 12:45 I started the soup.  I filled a large pot half full of water and put the ham hock and the white beans into the pot and added a mirepoix of 1 medium onion diced, two stalks of celery diced, and one large carrot diced and a tsp. of salt and turned the heat on to a low simmer.

It was sunny and warm so after I started the soup I walked 1/2 mile.  Then I worked until 1:45, then I watched the Market close.  Today was another disaster in the Market with my portfolio dropping a hefty 2.355%.  Omicron and four rate hikes proposed by the Fed for next year must be putting downward expectations on profits and a realignment of expectations for growth in stock values.

After 2:00 I listened to the news that the U.S. Attorney indicted the leader of the Oath Keepers for the federal crime of Seditious Conspiracy.

Here is the definition and sentence guidelines:

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Based on my understanding of the facts, there are thousands of persons who took actions to interfere with the laws that proscribe the steps required for the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden, including former President Trump and those around him in the White House and those who plotted to de-certify the count of electoral votes in Congress. Perhaps that is why, Kevin McCarthy changed his position from agreeing to cooperate with the House’s January 6th Commission to not agreeing to testify today.

If I was one of those persons implicated in the plot to Stop the Steal, I would be invoking the Fifth Amendment against self incrimination or refusing to testify, just as many are.

At 3:30 I added 2 cups of water to the pot of soup and then drove drove to  Batterie Plus and bought four rechargeable AAA batteries for our phones and then to Costco, where I bought a decadent white and chocolate mousse loaf, a container of organic greens, a two pack of Italian salami, cured ham, and prosciutto, two baguettes, a box of 1 gallon freezer bags, a bottle of 2018 Gabbiani Chianti Riserva, and a bottle of Kirtland Gigondas.

Suzette, who was at home by 4:30 called me as I was driving home to request that I buy more beans, but it was too late.

After I returned home and put most of the items into the garage fridge, Suzette informed me that many of the beans had decomposed into the soup.  The good news was that they enriched the soup stock, the bad news was that there was an imbalance between ham and beans and too much liquid.  After a few minutes Suzette came up with a fix for the imbalance ps, she found a 1 lb. bag of tiny macaroni shells in the pantry that she added to the soup that turned the soup into a sort of tomato-less minestrone.

I was sore from all the walking I had done today and welcomed the addition of carbs to the soup.  After simmering the soup with the added macaroni shells for fifteen minutes, we ate a bowl with a beer and it was thick, rich, and delicious.

After dinner we watched Rachel and I drank an apple cider to settle my stomach after eating the soup.

Then from 8:00 until 9:30, we watched Midsomer Mystery on PBS and I ate a bowl of coffee and pistachio ice cream with chocolate syrup and whipped cream.  Tonight’s show was a weird one with the solving of three murders occurring twenty years apart in the conclusion.

We went to bed at 9:30.

I awakened at 11:30 and made myself a cup of hot chocolate laced with cognac and blogged this day’s entry.

I am feeling less pain when I walk, so hope to build more stamina in the future.  I walked about 1 1/4 miles today. If the weather continues to stay warm I may ride my bike soon.

I would judge this to have been a good food day with a great breakfast and dinner and a lovely lunch at Vinaigrette.

This evening Suzette check Michelin star rated restaurants in Richmond and found several and a couple of good seafood restaurants on the square in Williamsburg, VA, where we will travel at Valentine’s Day.

Bon Appetit