October 19, 2022 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam. Dinner - Grilled Hamburger on a sliced tomato, sautéed Mushrooms, and steamed Cauliflower with a Mornay Sauce

October 19, 2022 Lunch - 2000 Vietnam. Dinner - Grilled Hamburger on a sliced tomato, sautéed Mushrooms, and steamed Cauliflower with a Mornay Sauce

Today I ate only two meals and a snack.  It is easier to not eat on Wednesdays when Suzette works at home because, as today, by 11:00 she is hungry and ready to go to lunch.

Today we chose 2000 Vietnam for lunch.  Suzette ordered Bahn (patted rice) cakes with lemongrass chicken.  Bahn is served with lettuce leafs and a fish sauce so you can dip the patted rice into the sauce and wrap it in a lettuce leaf to make a lettuce wrap.

I ordered my new favorite winter dish, duck leg soup.  Today I ordered it with egg noodles, thin vermicelli.  It is served, as all soups are, with a  small plate piled with fresh mung bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, jalapeño pepper slices, and wedges of lime.

We both loved our lunch, but neither of us could finish our meal, so we took some home for another meal. Suzette also ordered Vietnamese iced coffee, which is a drip coffee, usually with chicory and lots of condensed milk that after brewing is served over ice.

The bill was $34.00 and we will make two meals from it.

We then drove to vote at 1500 Lomas and then home.

Suzette worked and I rested until 4:30 when I toasted two slices of baguette and spread them with goat cheese and basil Mayo and garnished them with slices of salami and prosciutto ham and onion. I drank a gin and tonic with the sandwiches and then meditated from 5:00 until 5:30 at which time Suzette wanted to start dinner.

My menu idea was a grilled hamburger, steamed cauliflower with a cheese sauce and sautéed mushrooms.

I had thawed two hamburgers yesterday.  I sliced five mushrooms and 2 oz. of yellow onion and de-flowered 1/2 of a head of cauliflower into flowerets that I then quartered.

Suzette then took over and sautéed the onion and mushrooms in butter and olive oil. She made a roux and then started adding milk to make a cream sauce and then diced chunks of English cheddar cheese.

Suzette then went outside to the propane grill to grill the hamburgers and I took over at the stove.  I added amontillado sherry and Herbs de Provence to the mushrooms and I added nutmeg and whisked the cheese sauce to emulsify the cheese which occurred after several additions of milk, a lot of stirring, and increasing the heat.

We poured out the last 1/2 glass each of Duckhorn Merlot and then opened a new bottle we bought at Costco last week, a 2018 Bordeaux from the Blaye Appellation, named   (Costco $7.99).

The Bordeaux was light but very clean tasting so perfect for the diverse flavors of the meal.

We enjoyed the meal a lot and drank another glass of the Bordeaux after dinner.

  I ate three Belgium chocolates with my glass, but Suzette was good and resisted the chocolates.

We watched the Astros defeat the Yankees and went to bed at 10:00.

We enjoyed two wonderful meals and we will have Vietnamese leftovers for another meal and enough cheese sauce to garnish the baked stuffed Delicata squash Suzette intends to prepare for dinner tomorrow night.

Bon Appetit