April 21, 2022 Lunch - Greenhouse Bistro. Dinner - Roast Chicken and Steamed Asparagus

April 21, 2022 Lunch - Greenhouse Bistro. Dinner - Roast Chicken and Steamed Asparagus 

Today we instituted a new regime.  I drove to the Center for Ageless Living for lunch and a swim and picked up a roasted chicken to take home for dinner.

We are going to try to repeat this routine once or twice weekly.

Suzette had an 8:00 meeting so she left early.  I felt weakness, so ate a bowl of granola with milk, yogurt, blueberries, and a banana at 8:30.

I then felt weak at 10:30, so I toasted a small slice of French baguette and spread it with butter and apricot preserves and garnished it with slices of Manchego cheese and drank a cup of tea with it.

I arrived at the Center at12:15 and was soon joined by Suzette in the Bistro.  Denise, who is Food and Beverage Director was our waitress. Josh the chef, said hello when Suzette arrived.  Suzette ordered a small portion of the smoked trout salad and I ordered the Lasagna Blue Plate Special.  Both dishes were made to order. I ordered pink lemonade to drink.

My lasagna was a full platter with a large square of lasagna and a garden salad including slices of fresh mushroom, cucumber, red bell pepper, and radishes.  I ordered Thousand Island dressing for my salad that was served in a ramekin.

The lasagna was rather unique it had thick layers of fresh ricotta and a light tomato coulis instead of the more usual heavy marinara sauce.  The chef later told us he makes his own tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes and herbs from the Center’s garden’s.  The dominant flavor was of ricotta cheese, which I found refreshing.

The garlic bread was also freshly made using thick slices of sandwich loaf baked on premises. 

After lunch I changed in the Men’s locker room and Suzette met me in the pool.  Lauren, the Spa attendant handed me a plastic noodle for support and buoyancy and I was able to develop a pretty effective scissor kick as I lay on my back held up with my arms resting on the noodle.  I did four laps of the pool in 25 minutes while Suzette swam.  Then she returned to work and I soaked in the hot tub for another ten minutes.

I then dressed and picked up the roast chicken at the Bistro and drove home.

I napped from 3:30 to 4:30 and then zoom meditated from 5:00 until 5:30. Luke joined the meditation today and Suzette and I spoke to him by zoom for almost an hour after the meditation.

Suzette was hungry so at 6:30 I fetched the chicken and tore off the leg and thigh and placed placed them on a plate that Suzette microwaved.  Suzette also steamed 10 stalks of asparagus for an incredibly quick dinner.

The chicken that had been stuffed with fresh tarragon from the Center’s garden and lemon and cooked in the Combi cooker was really delicious.

Loyda came and helped me carry the four new bottles of wine that arrived from De Ponte and the bottle of Kahlua we brought back from Mexico to the basement and I brought up a bottle of 2006 Norton Reserve Malbec and a bottle of Standing Stone Vineyards Dry Riesling Timeline from the  Seneca Lake Aka, Finger Lakes, NY that I chilled for dinner.  This was one of the bottles I received in the case of Hermann Wiemer wines I ordered recently.  The wine had great depth of character and complexity. MIT was not a simple Riesling.  Suzette’s comment was, “This wine deserved a more complex dish such as chicken in a cream sauce.”

I agreed but found the wine immensely sippable and we each had a second glass after dinner.

Here is a review, 

Under the leadership of the Hermann J. Wiemer team, this entry-level, off-dry Riesling is an outstanding success. A boisterous, perfumed nose yields aromas of citrus blossoms, pomelo, lemon oil, tangerine and fresh yellow apple. The juicy palate gives way to ripples of juicy pear, apple and pineapple flavors, lifted by a persistent vein of orange-laden acidity. It's impeccably balanced and incredibly concentrated and fresh, with a gentle stoniness riding underneath it all. While enjoyable now, it has the structure and fruit to hold well through 2030

We each ate a couple of squares of chocolate with cognac and watched Midsomer Mystery after dinner and Rachel.

I also ate a bowl of ice cream.

Bon Appetit