January 4, 2022 Lunch - Fried Potstickers. Dinner - Spice rubbed Bobby Flay Chicken with Calabacitas

January 4, 2022  Lunch - Fried Potstickers. Dinner - Spice rubbed Bobby Flay Chicken with Calabacitas

Today was a good food day.  I drank a cup of hot chocolate for breakfast and then sold my Moderna stock and purchased 600 shares of Nvidia and 2000 shares of Apple.  I am comfortable with my current positions, except if Apple falls further I will repurchase the other 2000/shares I sold.

I lost a lot of money due to selling at the low and hope that the market keeps going up from here.

At noon I cut a cryovac section of six chicken thighs from the six section pack in the freezer and took it inside to thaw.  I noticed the bag of dumplings and decided to make fried potstickers for lunch.  I put 2 T. of canola oil in a non-stick skillet then placed 12 potstickers comfortably in the skillet and sautéed them on all three sides until they turned golden brown.  

I made a dipping sauce of garlic chili sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce plus a chopped green onion.

The potstickers were hot and delicious, especially when cut in half and each half filled with a small spoonful of the dipping sauce.  I drank cups of green tea with the potstickers.

I watched the market close and it was down. I lost about .5% today as the Dow went up and the NASDAQ went down.

I dozed off around 2:30 and awakened around 3:30.  I showered and dressed and at 4:30 walked to Kit Carson Park and back.  

When I returned at 5:00 Suzette had arrived.  I wanted to go to Smith’s to buy groceries because this was the last day for three specials on salmon, blueberries, and Dos Equis beer. Suzette said she would join me.

We found most of the things we wanted, milk, green beans, broccoli, eggs, and beer, but not two of the things we went for, fresh salmon and blueberries, so we got rain checks for those two items.  This means I will need to go back to Smiths on January 10 to buy the two items and hopefully jars of discounted oysters.  January 10 is the sell by date printed on the jars of oysters and that is the day the price is usually marked down.

When we returned home a few minutes after 6:00 we decided to dust the six thighs with a spicy spice mixture given to Suzette by her local bank and make Calabacitas without chili.

I sliced two zucchinis, an onion, and four small cloves of garlic, while Suzette cut the kernels off three ears of corn. We then sautéed those four ingredients in 1 1/2 T. of canola oil and 3 to 4 T. of butter plus a pinch of salt in a covered enamel casserole. 

Bobby Flay chicken

Bobby Flay simply refers to a cooking method we copied from Bobby Flay that reduces the cooking time.  The method includes a braising meat on top of the stove in a skillet weighed down with a smaller skillet filled with water (sort of like using a brick to crisp and speed cooking meat) and then baking in the oven for fifteen to 20 minutes.

In about 40 minutes everything was ready and Suzette plated the dinner.  Suzette drank a Stella Artois beer and I drank the last of the Kirkland Premier Cru chablis.  This chablis is sweeter than many chablis I have tasted and Suzette thought it tasted distinctly of Chardonnay, which is the grape in chablis, but what I discovered is that that bit of sweetness ameliorated the spiciness of the chicken rub and made for a pleasant dining experience.

We watched two new episodes of Finding Your Roots while we ate and after dinner Suzette served us small bowls with one scoop each of pistachio almond and coffee chocolate chip ice cream, which is the closest combination I have found to spumoni.

Later we ate Belgium chocolates and wedding cookies with a glass of Calvados for me and a glass of cognac for Suzette.

A bit later I ate two chocolate chip cookies with a cup of chai.

We went to bed around 9:30.

Bon Appetit