March 31, 2023 Lunch - Taj Mahal. Dinner - Tandoori chicken with turmeric rice and Raita

March 31, 2023 Lunch - Taj Mahal. Dinner - Tandoori chicken with turmeric rice and Raita

I awakened at 8:00 and was immediately surprised that the market was up for the third day in a row.  As it turned out the Dow ended up 415 and the NASDAQ was up 208.  More importantly my holdings of Apple and Boeing went positive for the first time this year, which is an increase of 24% from the portfolio’s low earlier this year.

I made a special man on a raft with an egg plus three egg whites for breakfast.

I then dressed and at 10:30 I drove to Pastian’s Bakery where I bought hamburger buns, hot dog buns, and a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread for a total of $1.62.

I then drove to Smith’s where I bought asparagus for $.99/lb., large avocados for $.88 each, plums in syrup for Suzette, black beans, garbanzos, a wedge of aged Gruyere, eggs, yogurt, oatmeal cookies, angus hamburger meat, shallots, garlic, and vanilla ice cream.

I then was called by Suzette, who was driving back from her morning seminar and we decided to meet next door to Smith’s at Taj Mahal for lunch.  I was happy to stop for lunch because I was getting tired and sore.

I took a full plate of food with tandoori chicken, grilled onions, chicken curry in a tomato sauce, beef meatballs, a naan culcha, fried shrimp, saag, garbanzo Dahl, and raita.  We both ordered chai. Our waiter was Shamiz’ son, Aman, who I met for the first time. Suzette ate a little less. Good for her.

Taj Mahal has done something interesting with their pricing. They have maintained the same high quality in their food but raised the price of the buffet to maintain that high quality.  The price now for the buffet is $17.90.

After lunch we drove to Istanbul Market on Wyoming, which is my favorite Middle Eastern grocery.

Suzette needed a few items for a dish being offered at the Bistro and I added a few items to it.  We got Moroccan dried olives, a jar of cracked green olives with thyme, chocolate halvah, my favorite yogurt mint drink, and a new item, mango pickle, and a bag of six fresh baked pita.

Suzette got sumac, orzo, and dates.

We then drove back to Taj Mahal to take Suzette to her car and then we drove home.  

After I put up the groceries I confirmed that it was a monster day in the market with a gain in my portfolio of 1.45%.

I then napped until 3:30.

At 4:00 I watched Ari.

At 5:00 we were going to watch a movie but I wrapped the I Pad I am going to give to Alexi and then we made Potato Salad instead.  Suzette boiled seven or eight Yukon Gold potatoes. I then peeled and cubed them.  While I did that Suzette minced red onion, red bell pepper, hard boiled eggs, and celery and made a dressing with Mayo, mustard, sour cream, and pickle relish.

After the salad was made, we watched a few minutes of the new German version of All Quiet on the Western Front, but it was so violent and depressing we switched to Chris Hayes and then the women’s NCAA basketball tournament and Rachel.

I heated the last piece of tandoori chicken with some turmeric rice and ate it with the last of the raita we made Tuesday night for my dinner. I added mango chutney and some of the newly purchased mango pickle, that I liked very much because it was not highly seasoned and the mango was soft and ripe.

Suzette made cheese sandwiches by toasting and buttering two slices of rustic baguette and adding slices of herbed Gouda for her dinner.

We then switched back and forth from Lawrence to the second women’s basketball semi-final between undefeated South Carolina and Iowa, which Iowa won because of its dominant player named Clark who scored 41 points.

We then watched the 2023 Gershwin music award given to Joni Mitchell. When she received the award she sang Summertime from Porgy and Bess as a tribute to the Gershwin’s. Her voice is still strong and it was a thrilling conclusion to the evening.

We went to bed at 10:30 and I blogged this entry.

Bon Appetit

March 30, 2023 Lunch - Greenside Cafe, Cedar Crest Dinner- Grilled Rib Steak and Asparagus and Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

March 30, 2023 Lunch - Greenside Cafe, Cedar Crest Dinner- Grilled Rib Steak and Asparagus and Roasted Potatoes and Carrots 

I took a rib steak from the freezer and Suzette’s leftover duck leg soup at 9:00 and thawed the steak and ate the soup for breakfast.

At 10:50 I walked to the Palmer’s house.  Soon thereafter Pradip arrived from Santa Fe and Susan made me a cup of rose tea from the selection of teas for Valentine’s Day she received from NM Tea Company.  She put it in a travel mug that Charlie had bought that kept the tea hot for the next 6 hours.

Charlie drove us to the Greenside Cafe in Cedar Crest for lunch with 7 of the 8 book club members.  Peter and I split an order of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Others ordered other equally interesting dishes from chicken fingers to hamburgers.

After lunch we drove to Karl and Joann’s home in Paa Ko for the meeting. The book we discussed was a modern Russian classic titled The Master and Margarita.

According to Pradip and Karl it was highly satirical if you understood the Soviet era of Stalin of the 1930’s.  I didn’t get it except for a reference to the fifth dimension and the hallucinogenic imagery.

Joann owns a Company that makes truffles and she is a wonderful baker.  Today she made a wonderful dessert board with Toll House chocolate chip cookies, a chocolate cheese cake, and a plate of coconut and cookies and cream truffles.  The core of her truffles are cake based and then dipped in chocolate to create a hard chocolate shell.

The cheese cake was flavored with cocoa powder on an crisp Oreo cookie crust and topped with a layer of Bailey’s chocolate ganache floated across about 2 inches from the edge.

I ate each and loved them with a glass of red wine.

Karl drinks good wine. Today he served a lovely Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and and a delicious 2020 Del Dotto red blend from Napa, California.   

I could not resist asking for a few truffles and a slice of Cheese cake to take to Suzette, which Joann obliged me with.

When I returned home a bit after 5:00 Suzette was at home and I discovered that the NY DA had indicted Trump in the Stormy Daniels payoff scheme.

All the news for the next few hours was about the indictment, which is still sealed, so no one knows what the charges are or the parameters of any trial.

We decided to make a simple dinner of grilled asparagus and roasted potatoes and carrots.

I wanted a good wine to celebrate the indictment so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2016 De Ponte Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, which is one my favorite Pinots.

Suzette grilled the thawed rib steak and asparagus and I cubed four Yukon Gold potatoes and three carrots that Suzette tossed with olive oil and garlic salt. 

I opened the bottle of wine to let it breath and we sipped it. It was tight and bitter at first but as it opened up over the next hour it became very smooth but with strong tannins.  It did not become fruity as previous bottles did.

The steak was perfectly cooked to between medium rare and rare and the potatoes and carrots were soft. Our mushrooms were beyond hope so I made a recipe of hollandaise sauce using the Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe. Essentially three egg yolks whisked with 1 T. each of cold water and lemon juice and then heated with 8 oz. of butter.

The recipe was quick tonight because I turned the heat up at the beginning of the cooking process.

I love hollandaise on asparagus and even dipped pieces of steak into it tonight.

After dinner we finished the bottle a cheese course of brie on a toasted and buttered slice of Bosque Rustic Baguette.

I woke up at 1:00 in response to a rumbling stomach, so I drank a cup of chai and blogged and went back to sleep after two more hours of news coverage.

The most important news was an interview with the Foreign Minister of Finland upon the announcement that the governments of Hungary and Turkey had voted to admit Finland into NATO.

He expressed his belief that the only effective deterrent to Russian aggression

on Finland was to admit Sweden also, which has yet to occur.

Bon Appetit

March 29, 2023 Lunch - Garcia’s Dinner - Avocado stuffed with Lax, potato, egg, celery, and red onion

 March 29, 2023 Lunch - Garcia’s   Dinner - Avocado stuffed with Lax, potato, egg, celery, and red onion

I awakened at 8:00.  At 8:30 I took Tylenol, collagen, and turmeric.

At 9:00 I made two men on a rafts with slices of rye bread.

Then I worked until 11:00 when Ken arrived.  After we reviewed the areas we planned to plant grapes, we drove to Garcia’s on Central. Ken and Suzette ordered carne adovado and I ordered a bowl of menudo and Posole.

After lunch I checked the market and was pleased that my portfolio increased 1.9%, a great day, although the NASDAQ rose 1.79%, so my gain was in tandem with the market and reflected my NASDAQ heavily weighted portfolio.

I then helped Luke register his company in NY and then napped from 2:45 until 3:45.

We then walked around the block and then I rode the exercise bike for 6 minutes. 

We had no plan for dinner when we returned, but soon Suzette came up with a menu idea.  She suggested that since the large avocado I bought on Monday was perfectly ripe, we should stuff the avocado with lax and other items.  We soon decided to add to the stuffing fried potatoes, celery, egg, capers, and red onion.

I cubed all the ingredients in small uniform 1/4 inch cubes and Suzette made a sauce to dress the stuffing with IKEA lax sauce, Mayo, olive oil, and lemon juice.

Soon we had a gorgeous dinner of elegant ingredients.

We toasted and buttered two slices of Bosque Rustic Baguette and split a bottle of Bohemia beer.

I took another dose of Tylenol, turmeric, and collagen at 7:30.

The two doses per day seems to be working well.

Later I ate a bowl of cherry chocolate ice cream with maraschino cherries and liquor juice and chocolate syrup.

Bon Appetit 

March 27, 2023 Breakfast - two men on rafts. Lunch - PPI Duck leg Soup Dinner - Green Chili Hamburgers with Fried Potato spears and Cesar Salad

 March 27, 2023 Breakfast - two men on rafts.  Lunch - PPI Duck leg Soup Dinner - Green Chili cheese Hamburgers with Fried Potato spears and Cesar Salad

I worked at my desk and on taxes at the dining room table and talked from 8:30 to 1:30, although I took a break at 10:00. I was hungry and we had no milk, so I decided to make two men on a raft.  These are slices of rye bread  with a hole in the middle in which an egg is placed as the bread is being toasted in butter in a skillet. I tore a hole in two slices of rye bread and toasted them in butter in a skillet on one side. Then I turned them over, added butter to toast the other side and dropped an egg onto each slice so that the yolk fit in the hole.  I then toasted the o5er side and flipped the slices again to fully cook the white part of the egg.  The result was a well cooked egg white that covered most of the slice of bread and a runny yolk in the hole in the center.  A perfectly cooked egg by my reckoning.  This is a breakfast dish my mother would serve me, so I guess it is a family recipe.

Fernando came by this morning and we had a long conversation about several issues he is facing that went until 1:30.

So at 2:00 I decided to heat the leftover duck leg soup from 2000 Vietnamese Restaurant.  It was just as good as at the restaurant, a murky pho driven liquid with a mass of egg noodles, duck meat, slices of green onion, mung bean sprouts, and basil leaves.

At 3:30 I drove to Lowe’s to buy milk and also bought 2..5 lb. of hamburger meat, a large avocado, a beautiful head of romaine lettuce, and a red bell pepper.

When I returned home at 5:00 I walked a block in the windy sunny cool weather without a cane.  In fact I do not need a cane at this time, which is a hopeful sign, even though I still waddle a bit.

Suzette arrived as I returned home and I lay down to read and rest until she had had her cocktail and called me to the kitchen to help prep dinner.  

We had invited Willy to dinner at 7:00.  The menu Suzette had devised was Green Chili hamburgers with fried potato wedges and Cesar Salad.

I chopped three green chilis that Suzette had thawed, two cloves of garlic, and 1/2 of a small onion and added it to about 1 1/4 lb. of ground beef and Suzette mixed those ingredients and formed them into three hamburgers.

She then sliced three or four Yukon Gold potatoes lengthwise into spears and cooked them with a bit of water covered in a Pyrex baking dish in the microwave and then sautéed them in olive oil.

Willy arrived at 7:00 during the prep and sautéed the potatoes.

Suzette made croutons twice because they kept burning for the Cesar salad.

I reconstituted the existing Cesar dressing into a more official Cesar dressing by adding lemon juice, olive oil, an egg, and 3 chopped up smoked anchovies.  I opened a can of Trader Joe’s anchovies and used three for the dressing and lay the others out on a plate to garnish the salad.

I then tore leaves from six of seven leaves of romaine lettuce into bite sized chunks and rinsed the pieces and spun them and put them in a large metal bowl and added some warm croutons, some dressing, and about 1/4 cup of shaved micro slices or Parmesan cheese onto the salad with the micro grater.  I then tossed the salad to mix all the ingredients and put it on the table.

When Suzette brought the charcoal grilled hamburgers with melted Manchego in from the grill, she plated plates with a hamburger and a pile of sautéed potato spears that had been drained in a colander lined with paper towels.

I opened a bottle of Kirkland Rioja Reserva and filled the three glasses Suzette had fetched with wine.

We each served ourselves salad and took three anchovies each to garnish our salad.  The salty anchovies combined with the creamy dressing on the salad and fresh romaine was a wonderful combination, as was the spicy green chili laden hamburgers with their mild green chili after taste.  Integrating green chili into the hamburger was a very creative thought and a much nicer way to create a green chili cheese burger in my opinion.

We dipped the potato spears and hamburger in catsup for a lovely meal.

The wine was solid also.  A monopole was perfect for this meal of mixed flavors. 

We enjoyed dinner and watched the US soccer team beat El Salvador and then Willy left around 8:00.

Billy and Elaine called a bit later and we had a long conversation regarding their planned trip to visit us during the first week of May. It seems the only definite is a trip to the Folk Art Flea Market. We said we were at their and Mickey and Rebecca’s disposal otherwise with two guest bedrooms and two cars.

After the call Suzette sliced us each a slice of the lemon cheese cake she made and we shared a glass of cognac and watched the second hour of Antique Roadshow featuring objects with lots of color, like a blue glass French paperweight, a Warhol flower print with bright colored flowers that resembled late Matisse cut flowers like those I saw at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1968 or 1970.

We went to bed at 9:00.

And I slept until 12:45 when I wrote this blog.

Suzette and I discussed our respective sleep patterns this evening and I was unable to explain mine even to my satisfaction.

Bon Appetit

March 26, 2023 Brunch - Bagels and Lax. Snack - Smoked Trout Soufflé with Creamed Spinach Sauce Dinner - Grilled Charcuterie Sandwich

March 26, 2023 Brunch - Bagels and Lax. Snack - Smoked Trout Soufflé with Creamed Spinach Sauce  Dinner - Grilled Charcuterie Sandwich 

I awakened at 6:00 and watched TV until 6:30 and then went back to sleep until 8:30. Suzette made cups of hot chocolate with Kahlua for us.

I watched the news until 10:30 when I sliced a Whole Foods everything bagel into three slices and toasted them and spread them with cream cheese and garnished them with slices of red onion and Gravad lax and capers for our brunch.

Suzette then went to the garden and Roto-tilled the three raised beds and the area where she wants to plant grapes.

I watched TV but when she returned around 3:00 she was hungry and suggested eating the leftover smoked trout soufflé.

While Suzette showered I made a garlic béchamel with dashi and whipped cream and grated some  nutmeg and added a handful of spinach.

It was delicious and very French.  It was the culmination of cooking three dishes.  First, the smoking of the trout.  Then the converting the trout into a soufflé, and finally preparing a creamed spinach sauce to pour over there-heated soufflé.

I tell myself, we are eating exceedingly well, and we prove it, time and again.

We drank glasses of La Granja Viura/Verdejo Spanish white blend with lunch.

Then at 4:00 I walked around the block which was a new post-op distance record for me. I ate an oatmeal cookie, but no sugar pill.

When I returned home a watched Texas lose to Miami in the round of eight in NCAA finals.

Suzette ate ice cream with chocolate syrup for dinner but  I made a cooked charcuterie sandwich.

When I was attending UT we used to stop at Nemacheck’s Meat market in Abbott on the drive to Austin and buy a thick slice of their Bologna.  When we arrived in Austin we would make fried Bologna grilled sandwiches. 

That is sort of what I did this evening.  I toasted two slices of  grain bread  in a skillet with several thin slices of red onion. Then I flipped the pieces of bread and sautéed about 8 slices of salami and four slices of cured ham.

I then flipped the toasted slices of bread and sautéed the salami and cured ham with the bread. I then lay the onions on the toasted slices of bread and then salami and ham on each slice and finally I toasted the sandwich while I went to the garage to fetch a Magner’s apple cider and ate a wonderful dinner.

Bon Appetit     

 

March 24, 2023 Breakfast - Sausage, Eggs, and Toast. Lunch - Duck Leg Soup at 2000 Vietnamese Restaurant. Dinner - Smoked trout Soufflé with salad

March 24, 2023 Breakfast - Sausage, Eggs, and Toast. Lunch - Duck Leg Soup at 2000 Vietnamese Restaurant. Dinner - Smoked trout Soufflé with salad

This was another fabulous day of food.  All three meals were wonderful.

A plate of two eggs over easy with a sausage patty, sautéed onion slices, and two toasted slices of nine grain bread got me going this morning.  

When Suzette returned from an evaluation in Rio Rancho at 1:00 we drove to 2000 Vietnamese Restaurant, which appears to be under new ownership for lunch.  We both ordered duck leg soup with Egg noodles (No. 76).  I must admit that I like new management as much as old management.  The soups were served with a plate loaded with Oriental basil, cilantro, mung bean sprouts, lime wedges and jalapeño slices.

The duck was wonderful also, cooked and resting on top in a pile of egg noodles in a broth studded with slices of green onion. I love this soup and added a swirl of hoisin sauce although it was not needed.

We ate as much soup as we could and then filled a quart cup to over half full with the remaining 1/2 bowl of soup.

We drove home and I worked in the office until 4:00 when I watched Ari Melber.

At 5:00 we started watching more news and the round of 16 NCAA basketball matches.

The two remaining No. 1 seeds lost today in upsets. Alabama got beaten by San Diego State and Houston was beaten by Miami

I was most impressed by Texas in the the Texas v. Xavier match-up, which Texas won easily, 

The Texas v. Miami game will be epoch.

After the game ended at 10:15 we went to bed but not before I wrote this new blog.

This was an amazing day of food.

We decided we needed to use the PPI smoked trout to make a trout soufflé.  Suzette used the recipe for crab soufflé and substituted trout for the crab meat.  The steam oven was not working so Suzette cooked the soufflé in our regular oven.

I fetched a bottle of Vara Cava from the garage that was wonderful with the soufflé. 

I made a small salad with tomatoes, radish slices, cucumber, and red onion slices and cubes of avocado and leaf lettuce.

Suzette used her crab soufflé recipe that was a very simple recipe but it resulted in a very elegant dish.  Wet delicious trout soufflé that firmed as we left it in a cooling oven.

I ate more today and had real hunger.  I hope that means I am not gaining weight.

Bon Appetit

March 23, 2023 Lunch - Smoked Trout Salad. Dinner - Fried Oysters with Fried Potatoes and Seaweed Salad

March 23, 2023 Lunch - Smoked Trout Salad. Dinner - Fried Oysters with Fried Potatoes and Seaweed Salad

The market was up and down and closed up again today. I would have had a good day except for short sellers attacking Square and knocking it down $10.50 per share. So instead of a big gain I had a small gain.

I am going to help Luke start a healing center in Kingston, NY by loaning him some money for working capital.  I have been blessed, so I am happy to share my good fortune and hope it will help him succeed financially and professionally.

I toasted 1/2 of an everything bagel for breakfast and spread cream cheese on it and garnished it with slices of Jarlsberg cheese and salami for a more German style breakfast.

I started lunch at 1:45 but my client came and we worked on completing discovery in his litigation case today and finally transmitted it by 3:00, which is when I ate the lovely smoked trout, Moroccan dried olives, tomato, radishes, cucumber, and goat cheese salad with a toasted piece of baguette with melted Manchego.

Suzette arrived at 5:00 with a cheese cake. We ate a small slice and hen I walked to the corner and back mostly without the aid of the cane.

Suzette brought home two jars of West Coast oysters containing 7 oysters.

We immediately decided to bread and fry them. I suggested fried potato wedges and Suzette suggested seaweed salad.

Suzette washed and dried three Yukon Gold potatoes and I sliced them into long wedges.  Suzette made bread crumbs and whisked two eggs.

I made tartare sauce by combining a T. of pickle relish with 2/3 cup of Mayo and the juice of 1/4 lemon.

Suzette heated 1/4 inch of canola oil in a skillet and dipped the oysters in a bowl of whisked egg and then coated them with bread crumbs and fried them in the hot canola oil.

Suzette also fried the potato wedges in hot oil.

She then plated the seaweed salad, fried oysters and fried potatoes and we poured glasses of La Granja’s Viura/Verdejo blend and ate an amazing dinner.

We watched college basketball and NHL hockey until 10:30 when Gonzaga beat UCLA by 3 points and the went to bed.

Bon Appeti

March 22, 2023 Breakfast - New Recipe, Eggs with Smoked Trout, Shallot, Spinach, and Truffles. Lunch - PPI Miso Noodle Soup Dinner - Lamb, red onion, Spinach, and tomato served on Lemon flavored Pasta with goat cheese Béchamel Sauce

March 22, 2023  Breakfast - New Recipe, Eggs with Smoked Trout, Shallot, Spinach, and Truffles. Lunch - PPI Miso Noodle Soup  Dinner - Lamb, red onion, Spinach, and tomato served on Lemon flavored Pasta with goat cheese Béchamel Sauce 

Today’s meals were exceptional even by our culinary standards and reflect the fact that we recently purchased fresh ingredients on Monday and the fact that Wednesdays Suzette works from her home office and has more time to create in the kitchen.

Brunch exceeded every other meal Suzette has prepared in a long time and it made me think I was in a Michelin starred restaurant in France.

Suzette combined fresh moist smoked trout from last night’s dinner with sautéed minced shallot, fresh baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced black truffle and scrambled eggs to create an unforgettable dish.

I drank a glass of German Reichart dry Riesling with my breakfast and Suzette drank a glass of Clamato juice flavored with lime juice.

The dish was so good that we promised ourselves to purchase a duck liver so we could make our other favorite egg appetizer of egg, heavy cream and foie gras that we first ate at a bistro in Montmartre.

At 1:00 I reconstituted the PPI Miso Noodle Soup from yesterday by adding a piece of smoked trout, fresh spinach, and two large heads off shrimp to give it a more seafood orientation. The new ingredients combined with the onion, cured ham, tofu, rice noodles, and seaweed was wonderful.

Then when I thought things could not get better, Suzette surprised me when she said, “I have an idea for a new recipe for dinner.”

I replied, “If it contains lamb, let’s invite Willy.” 

It did and we invited Willy to dinner at 7:00.

We started cooking at 6:00.

I cubed the meat of four lamb chops, minced 1/2 red onion and three cloves of garlic, and diced 1 tomato.  We both destemmed a bowl full of spinach leaves.

Suzette then boiled 1 inch wide pasta in lemon flavored water and made a béchamel sauce to which she added fresh goat cheese, while she sautéed the onion and garlic and added the diced tomato and then the cubed lamb and seasoned the dish with salt, pepper, and Za Atar.

                                       Boiling the lemon flavored pasta

When everything was ready Suzette twirled the pasta into stacks on each plate and then poured the white sauce over it and then spooned the sautéed ingredients over the pile of pasta and sauce.

What a fabulous presentation and it tasted fabulous.

We opened a bottle of Kirkland 2018 Rioja Reserva and I felt like we were eating a dinner of spring lamb in Spain.

Willy and I were still hungry after dinner, so he toasted rounds of baguette that we buttered and garnished with one of several cheeses, Stilton blue, goat cheese, brie, or Mimolette.

                                     The four cheeses on buttered toasted rounds

The brie was perfectly aged with a best if eaten date of April 2, 2023.

Later after Willy left, Suzette and I shared a cognac with squares of bittersweet chocolate before going to bed at 9:00.

Bon Appetit