May 31, 2022 Lunch - PPI Pasta with Lamb Spaghetti Sauce Dinner at Charlie and Susan’s.

May 31, 2022 Lunch - PPI Pasta with Lamb Spaghetti Sauce   Dinner at Charlie and Susan’s. 

This was a near perfect day for me.  I awakened at 7:30.

I ate granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt for breakfast at 9:00.

Then at 2:30 I ate the last of the PPI Pasta with Lamb Spaghetti Sauce with a glass of Chianti Classico.

This was the recipe we copied from the Stanley Tucci CNN Discovering Italy episode on Umbria in which they roast and then purée roasted wild boar and mix the pureed meat into a spaghetti sauce.  We substituted roast leg of lamb seasoned with rosemary for a very credible rendering of the dish.

After lunch I rested until 4:00 and then felt physically strong and without much pain in my hips as I often do after a nap.

I opened the mail and then drove to the bank and got my notary application notarized and deposited checks.

I still felt good so I drove to Lowe’s and bought yogurt, eggs, club soda, and tonic water.

When I returned home Suzette had arrived and was watching Shepard Smith.

I made a gin and tonic with some of the newly purchased tonic water and joined Suzette.

At 5:45 she started getting our prep ready for dinner at the Palmers at 6:30.

Suzette made a salad with radishes. a tomato, an egg, the lettuce she picked in her garden in Los Lunas and the dressing she made last night with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar we bought in California.

She packed a bowl full of clafoutis, and fetched four ears of corn and a pound of asparagus.  

I fetched the Béarnaise Sauce I made last night and went to the basement to fetch a bottle of wine.  I brought up four bottles and Suzette selected the Trader Joe’s 2015 Platinum Pinot Noir, which tasted like it was not grown in Anderson Valley.

Suzette packed a basket with all of the items and we walked to the Palmers at 6:30.

When we arrived we were pleased that Susan had made about fifty gourgeres, one with Gruyere and the other with cheddar.

We poured glasses of wine and ate a few of these lovely cheese puffs.

Then Suzette started a pot of boiling water and I added the corn when it reached a rolling boil. Charlie helped find the asparagus steamer and we started cooking.

Then Charlie took the platter of top cut rib eyes he had cooked by the sous vide method out to the grill and grilled them for a couple of minutes on each side to give them a charbroiled flavor.  Charlie explained that he had cooked these thin boneless rib eye steaks using the sous vide method of bagged meat cooked in hot water eleven months ago to a uniform temperature of 129 degrees and then froze them.  Charlie explained that the sous vide method bot only cooks the meat to the perfect temperature, it also kills all the bacteria so can be stored indefinitely.

Susan had made a mushroom sauce.  We placed the pitcher of Béarnaise on the stove near the two pots to warm it without breaking.

I made this Béarnaise with a little extra vinegar last night, so the butter and egg yolk were firmly bound and melted to a thick sauce without breaking.

When the asparagus, corn, meat, and salad were ready. We took them to the table with the sauces and our glasses of wine and ate a lovely dinner.

                              Steak covered with béarnaise, corn, and asparagus

 

We always seem to get along with Charlie and Susan so we had a lively conversation until 8:00 when I requested that we move into the living room for dessert and to watch the third period of the first game of the Western NHL playoffs between the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers.

Charlie, Susan, and Suzette talked while I watched without sound.

I was happy because Colorado won 8 to 6.

We ate clafoutis and some bite sized brownies Susan had made.  Susan made me a cup of Darjeeling tea, so I was a happy camper.

We said goodnight at around 9:30 after the game.

A wonderful day.

Bon Appetit