April 21, 2023 Lunch - Pita Pocket sandwiches and Kibbeh. Dinner - Turkey Stuffing with Turkey Gravy and Neighborhood Cocktail Party

April 21, 2023 Lunch - Pita Pocket sandwiches and Kibbeh. Dinner - Turkey Stuffing with Turkey Gravy and Neighborhood Cocktail Party

I slept until 8:30 and at 10:00 ate granola, milk, fruit salad, and yogurt.

Then I worked on taxes until 1:00 when i cut a pita in half and heated it in the microwave, I sliced several slices of roasted lamb and heated them in the microwave with the kibbeh and fetched the hummus, Labni, Tabouli, the tzatziki, green cracked olives, dried Moroccan olives, pickled turnips, and sliced several thin slices of red onion and tomato, and fetched a green onion.

I turned on the Fixture between No. 1 Arsenal and last place Southampton and at the 28 second point Southampton intercepted an Arsenal pass and scored. The match took on a very different complexion from that point, as Arsenal was forced to catch up.  At the half, Southampton was still ahead 2 to 1.

I enjoyed the match as I stuffed each pita with tomato slices, labni, Tabouli, lamb, tzatziki, and pickled turnip spears.

After I had eaten two sandwiches, I dipped the still warm kibbeh (a deep fried oblong object with a coating of grain wrapped around a core of ground meat, pine nuts, and seasonings) into the hummus to coat it with a layer of hummus and ate it also.

After lunch I decided that I needed to stay awake during the evening because there was a neighborhood cocktail party, so I mixed a heaping T. of condensed milk with 1/3 cup of cold coffee and added ice cubes to make a Vietnamese coffee that I sipped during the second half of the match.

The second half was just as exciting as the first half, because Southampton scored again and it looked like this would be the first PL match in which a last place team beat a first place team, but as the match approached the full time 90th minute Arsenal scored twice in short order to  tie.  Then 8 minutes of extra time for stoppage were added and it looked like Arsenal might score again and win, but Southampton survived the frenzy of Arsenal’s attacks to salvage a tie.

After the match Suzette arrived from another long day of Spring cleaning at the Center and showered and napped.

I deposited David’s check and fetched The Drowning Pool that Suzette had finished and Jill’s Boda/Kosta art glass bowl and drove to the library where I returned the book and checked out Tuesdays with Morris and Morris in his own words.

I then drove to the FedEx office on Central across the street from UNM and had Fedex pack and send the bowl to David.

When I returned home at 5:00 Suzette was in bed working on her phone. I went to the kitchen and filled a charger with dolmas, pickled turnip spears, and tomato wedges in concentric circles with a bowl of hummus in the middle.

I then peeled and diced the ripe delicious papaya I bought yesterday at El Super and mixed its cubes with the fruit salad I made previously.

I then heated some PPI Dressing covered with turkey gravy for a snack at 5:30.

We then watched Chris Hayes’ tenth anniversary live show and at 7:00 drove to Ed’s house for the cocktail party.

A smallish group of about fifteen mostly old timers were in attendance, which was nice because it allowed time to have a lengthy conversation with several old friends. 

The most interesting conversation was with Knute Lee and his wife, Annie, who moved to the neighborhood two years ago from Glenwood Hills up on the mountain.  As they described it, “From near vertical to flat”.

Knute praised my knowledge of food and wine and he said he had followed my writings for the last forty-three years since I wrote food reviews for Texas Monthly and enjoyed the weird semi-sweet 2014 St. Clair White Merlot I brought to the party. Apparently Knute likes sweet wines, because we made a tentative plan to get together to drink one of his Hungarian Tokays.

The best dish was a platter of chewy brownies made by Suzy.

Kylene brought a bottle of Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir and said that I had recommended it as the best, drinkable cheap Pinot and I was happy I had recommended it because Suzette and I drank it instead of the sweet White Merlot that I encouraged  Knute to drink.

At 8:45 we left as others started leaving after taking two chocolate cupcakes and three brownies and off loading the last six dolmas onto Kylene’s platter of dolmas.

When we returned home Suzette took a sip of cognac and I a sip of Calvados and we each ate a brownie and watched Inside Man on Netflix, with its stellar cast and interesting plot.

When it ended at 11:00 we went to bed.

Bon Appetit