August 27, 2022 Breakfast - Almond croissant and Chocolate and Almond Croissant. Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches. Dinner - Shell Club.

August 27, 2022 Breakfast - Almond croissant and Chocolate and Almond Croissant. Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches. Dinner - Shell Club.

Today was another busy, fun day. I watched PL soccer this morning.  Leicester lost, Leeds lost, and Arsenal won to go into first place up in the PL.

Suzette went to the Farmers’ Market to buy tomatoes for Caprese Salad and Shishito peppers and shiitake mushrooms to sauté for dinner tomorrow evening and also brought back an almond croissant and a chocolate and almond croissant for breakfast.

I made tea and she made coffee and we enjoyed the best croissants I have ever tasted.

I then watched the rest of the Arsenal match and rested. Suzette went shopping for beds and chairs to furnish a room for a new client.

When she returned she made egg salad with chopped egg, Serrano ham, pimiento stuffed olives, Mayo, and mustard.

She toasted slices of French baguette and sliced a tomato and we made egg salad sandwiches for lunch and nibbled red seedless grapes with them.  Suzette drank beer and I drank Sauvignon Blanc from France (Trader Joe’s $5.99).

I then showered and dressed and drove to Smith’s where I bought two rib steaks and a tomahawk rib steak plus milk, blueberries, a bok Choy, La Brea Bake and serve dinner rolls, and vanilla ice cream. 

When I returned home at 3:30 Suzette had packed a basket with cheeses, olives, figs, the apple chutney Suzette made from apples from our tree, the reduced Cabernet Sauvignon made by Chef Josh, Serrano ham.  I grabbed a bottle of 2016 Campo Viejo Reserva Rioja and four shells to show the members.

At 4:00 we drove to Tom and Donnie’s house at the top of the hill in north Rio Rancho. Suzette unpacked all the items and created a lovely charcuterie and cheese board.

I had invited Pradip to the meeting because he had done years of research on Conotoxins, mostly for pain relief treatment.  The cone seashell is the only species of Gastropod that creates toxins and hunts with them.  The Geography cone, found mainly in the Philippines and Australia, is known to have killed humans.  It kills by firing a poison dart it makes from its body and has a toxin that immobilizes like the venom of a rattlesnake, except there is no known antidote for the geography cone venom.  It is called the one cigarette bite because that is how quickly it kills.

Pradip told us his history of working in DNA and RNA research and how he became affiliated with Dr. “Toto” Oliveras at Utah University and studied conotoxins.  Dr. Oliveras had spoken to our group many years before I joined.

Tom and Donnie served a dinner of roast beef and a watermelon Mediterranean Salad and then sugar lace cookies with vanilla olive cream with fresh raspberries and blueberries.

The highlight of the evening was Bruce presenting Tom the first President’s Award of the Conchologists of America in recognition of his serving as Editor of the Conchologist Magazine for 20 years and other services, such as being an identifier (one who can identify hard to identify seashells).

This is the biggest honor the organization has ever bestowed on an active member and the first time it has ever been awarded.  Bruce is on the board of directors of the COA. We are only four members in Albuquerque, but we play a big role in the COA.

I need to renew my membership.  Tom told me I needed to go to the next Annual Convention.

We left around 8:45 and arrived home by 9:30.

What a lovely evening.

Bon Appetit