July 19, 2022 Lunch - Pork and Beans. Dinner - Sautéed Salmon with Couscous and Greens

 July 19, 2022 Lunch - Pork and Beans. Dinner - Sautéed Salmon with Couscous and Greens

We are living simply these days because we think the hot weather messes up our digestive systems.

I ate granola with milk and yogurt and diced apple for breakfast at 9:15 as I watched the finish of Stage 16 of the Tour de France.  Amazingly a Canadian named Hugo Houl won who had never won any bike race before. It was also the first time a Canadian won a stage since 1988.

Nine stages have now been won by riders who have not won stages before. It is an amazingly entertaining TDF this year.

I then walked 1/3 mile and when I returned listened and testified in the hearing for Marie Coleman’s application to have a distillery and coffee roasting business next door to the kids’ property at 524 Romero. There were opinions expressed both for and against approving the project, so it is hard to tell which way the decision will go.

After the hearing at 12:30 I watered the creeping thyme Suzette planted yesterday. I became really hungry at 1:00 so I heated a bowl of PPI pork and bean stew with tomatoes, pimientos, and onion and a toasted flour tortilla.

Then at 3:00 I drove to two banks to deposit checks and then drove to Trader Joe’s to re-stock our everyday wines.  I bought 24 bottles of wine, a bottle of cognac and a 17 oz. bar of Belgium milk chocolate and almonds.

I was lucky that as I arrived at home when Suzette also arrived at 4:45, so she was able to help me carry the wine in.  We made four trips with six bottles each.

At 6:30 Suzette was ready to cook dinner. I had planned a simple menu, sautéed salmon filets with couscous cooked with greens from our garden and verde lago from next to our walkway.

The Couscous

I stripped the center stalk out of the green’s leaves and cut the leaves into bite sized pieces.  I the heated two T. of butter in a sauce pan and heated water in the kettle.

When the butter melted we added a cup of couscous and set the heat medium low and stirred the couscous to coat it with butter.  I the added 1 1/2 cups of hot water into the pot and we added the greens and turned the heat down to low and covered the pot to start it steaming after about five minutes the couscous was ready.

The Salmon

We had one thick piece and one thin piece.  Suzette sautéed them in olive oil until they began crisp on their edges.  Suzette also made a bowl of tartare sauce.

Suzette fetched a bottle of Picton Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the fridge in the garage that went really well with the salmon.

Suzette filled each plate with a pile of Couscous and then lay 1/2 of each fillet on each plate and we added tartare sauce.

We drank another glass of the wine after dinner and then finished the meal with a cordial glass filled with home made limoncello, that was both sweet and strong.

Bon Appetit