February 23, 2022 Lunch - Duran’s Pharmacy. Dinner - Roasted Root Vegetables and Rib Steak with Sautéed Zucchini and fresh corn kernels.

February 23, 2022 Lunch - Duran’s Pharmacy. Dinner - Roasted Root Vegetables and Rib Steak with Sautéed Zucchini and fresh corn kernels.

I woke and worked from 3:45 to 5:30 and then slept until 7:00.

The market went up and then collapsed as the news of a Russian invasion of Ukraine became known.  By the end of the day my portfolio was down about 3.2% for one of the worst days ever.

I made a stir fried breakfast by combining several PPI’s; rice, cabbage, sausage, bacon, apple and eggs plus garlic and ginger.

I drank a glass of V-8 juice flavored with lemon juice.

We called Mike Verhagen and invited him to dinner and I fetched a 2 lb.

Rib steak.

I then worked until 1:30, when I went to Bill Turner’s to review a set of documents for one of his closings.

At 2:30 when I finished I called Suzette and picked her up for lunch.  We drove to several places and ended up at Duran’s Pharmacy.

Suzette was not hungry so she shared my choice of beef enchiladas. We ordered sour cream on e side and water, for each of which we were charged $.75.

The total for the meal was $18.80. We decided it would be another ten years before we would return.

We returned home and I napped until 5:30.

We watched the news for a while and then I started chopping vegetables at 6:25, starting with two carrots, two small onions and a sweet potato.

Soon Mike arrived with bags of parsnips, rutabaga, potatoes, turnips, and two bottles of Gigondas, a 2016 Guigal and a Morel 2020 from Total wine. We decided to open the 2016 Guigal Gigondas.  The wine had great character and smoothness, although it did not have as strong character as the Kirkland bottle we drank last week.

Mike peeled and I cubed a potato, a turnip, a rutabaga, five stalks of asparagus, a parsnip and a five cloves of garlic and Suzette added those to the baking dish of vegetables that she then tossed with olive oil and salt and started baking in the oven. She roasted the cubed root vegetables for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil and then uncovered the vegetables and placed the large salted and peppered 2 lb. rib steak on the vegetables and roasted the steak and vegetables an additional 30 minutes. The result was a steak roasted perfectly to rare and completely cooked root vegetables.

                   Suzette braised the steak before placing it on the vegetables

The Sautéed Zucchini and Corn 

Suzette cut the kernels off four ears of corn and I sliced two zucchini.

After we put the steak into the oven, Suzette started sautéing the corn and zucchini seasoned with a dash of ground basil leaves.

Dinner was one of those amazingly delicious winter meals with evenly cooked steak and roasted root vegetables, a basil flavored zucchini and corn, and a wonderful wine.

These are rare events, even among the exceptional meals we often cook.

After dinner I fetched the candy dish with the Godiva chocolate truffles and Mike and I tasted the three VSOPs and Otard XO. Mike and I both liked the Kelt VSOP, more than the Martell and A.E. DOR VSOPs.

Suzette went to bed and Mike and I talked and tasted cognacs and my Bernenroy XO Calvados with nibbles of chocolate until 10:45 when we said goodnight.

Bon Appetit