December 23, 2022 Lunch - Salad with Salami and ham and Boursin sandwiches Dinner - at Ruth’s house

December 23, 2022 Lunch - Salad with Salami and ham and Boursin sandwiches  Dinner - at Ruth’s house 

Another day of fruit salad, granola and yogurt and milk for breakfast and salad for lunch.  Today I spread two pieces of bread with boursin and salami on one and cured ham on the other.

I left the house at 12:00 and drove to World Market where I bought six Terry’s chocolate oranges, three of milk chocolate and three of dark chocolate plus a bottle of olive oil that said Mediterranean, so I hoped it was Moroccan.

Chocolate oranges  that are wedges of chocolate fused together at the end are a traditional Chanukah gift in our family, except when I was young the product was made by Droste.

I then drove to Smith’s and bought a buttera discounted to $2.99 in the.Murray’s Cheeses section, a fruit cake log, and a rain check for a 20 lb. Slab of rib steaks at $5.77/ lb.  I was looking for Posole but they had sold out. The buttera was a Chanukah gift for Suzette.

So, I drove to Lowe’s where I found a pumelo for another Chanukah gift for Suzette, who is fascinated by pumelos as the ancient predecessor of our current grapefruits.  Finally, I bought a 2 lb. Bag of frozen uncooked Posole. When I returned home I hid the pumelo in plain sight in a basket in the utility room and thawed and rinsed the posole and covered it with water and began cooking up it at a simmer.

At 3:00 when I arrived I made a salad with romaine lettuce, a diced tomato, slices of yellow onion, sliced radishes, and black olives marinated with lemon slices. I also toasted three slices of baguette and spread them with Boursin.  I lay slices of salami on two and cured ham rounds on the third.  The taste of warm toasted bread, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, spread with soft garlic flavored Boursin, and salami was heavenly

When Suzette arrived around 3:30 she immediately found the pumelo, which was good because she decided to take it to Ruth’s for dinner to serve slices of with the cloud cake and custard that is the recipe.

                                                                Me in my Chamois shirt

                          Suzette with her Chanukah pumelo and Italian cloud cake

I then removed the duck meat from the carcass and diced it and Suzette boiled the duck bones for 1 1/2 hours to make a duck broth that we added to the Posole.

Willy came over around 5:00 and brought the 200 votive candles he bought for the 250 luminarias he and Luke would put out on Christmas Eve.

At 5:30 we put the Posole on the back patio and left for Ruth’s house in Tanoan with the cloud cake, custard, and a bottle of chilled Gruet Savage Blanc de Blanc champagne.

When we arrived at 6:00 there were appetizers of wheel of brie cheese and Carr’s water biscuits and Figs and lettuce wrapped in prosciutto.  Cynthia and Ricardo were there and they had made a salad and chocolate extra chewy chip cookies that were delicious.

Ruth served us champagne cocktails made with Gruet champagne, an ounce of triple sec and a splash of cranberry juice; a nice Christmasy cocktail.

I sat in a chair by the fire and Melissa  brought me a low table on which to place my glass and the plate with two crackers spread with brie and two prosciutto wraps.

We talked for a while while Mellissa finished cooking and plating dinner and then we moved to the dining area in the large open living room, kitchen, and dining area.

I was given a seat with two arm rests at one end of the table and Ruth was at the other end.

Soon we were served plates filled with rice and a lemon chicken stew cooked in a Moroccan style sauce with a green salad.  I ate a few bites of the salad but left most of it having eaten a large salad three hours previously.

The chicken stew was interesting because Melissa is allergic to cumin so she doubled the amount of coriander.  I was fascinated that I noticed the difference in flavor.

 

Two bottles of Whispering Angel rose’ were served with dinner.  I like Whispering Angel produced by Lesclans, but I like Cotes Du Provence sold for less than 1/2 of its price at Trader Joe’s just as much.

After dinner suzette served the cloud cake on a puddle of pouring custard garnished with slices of pumelo, which is Suzette’s favorite way to serve this dessert. I love this dessert with the soft light meringue, the thick creamy vanilla flavored pouring custard, and the unusual lightly citrus flavor of

We said goodnight and drove home around 10:00.

Bon Appetit