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