June 23, 2023 Lunch - Pita Pocket Sandwiches Dinner - Cheese on bread and BBQ

June 23, 2023 Lunch - Pita Pocket Sandwiches Dinner - Cheese on bread and BBQ

At 4:00 a.m. in the morning I flipped the slices of salmon I started curing at 4:00 p.m. on ThursdayI. I cured the flip side until 8:30 p.m.  A 24 to 30 hour cure is pretty standard for my curings.  The variable is the tightness of the fit of the slices of salmon in the curing dish and the amount of curing medium.  In this curing the fit was rather tight, so the curing proceeded rapidly.

Also the amount of salmon was less than 2 lb., so the traditional amount for curing 3 lb. of salmon was more than sufficient. Also I had more than enough dill weed, so there was decent separation and flow of curing medium between and around the salmon fillets for the curing medium of 1/2 cup of sugar, 2/3 cup of salt, and 1 tsp. of crushed black pepper to reach all the salmon flesh.

There was just enough of the old Gravad Lax left from the last cure for me to generously cover two slices of toasted bagel for breakfast at around 9:30.

I then drafted a deed for a client and began working on my 2022 taxes.

I rested from 2:30 to 3:30 and then made lunch.

I started nibbling on the PPI BBQ pork and enjoyed it so I toasted a pita and cut in half and filled both halves with slices of tomato, BBQ Pork, Tabouli, slices of onion, and labni.  I also fetched four dolmas, five cracked green olives, and two dill pickles to fill the plate and create a substantial Middle Eastern meal.  I drank water with lunch and after lunch drank a glass of kefir with mint to wash down my lunch.  

This was the big meal of the day, like our lunch yesterday of z Vietnamese food at noon was the big meal of the day.

I now understand the logic of the Mediterranean or Indian diet, to get up in the cool of the morning and shop for groceries or pick ingredients.  Then after a small breakfast to work or cook until the heat of the day becomes unbearable at 2:00. Then to eat the large meal of the day and then rest until 5:00 or 6:00 when the temperature begins to moderate.  Then to work until 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening and finally to eat a smaller meal in the evening.  The Spanish have even created a more sophisticated meal plan. After work they meet their friends for conversation over glasses of wine and small nibbles of food (tapas) and then eat a smaller dinner at 9:00 to 10:00 in the evening. This diet is attuned to the heat of their climate.

So when Suzette came home at 4:30 she had not eaten lunch, so she heated a bowl of rice with slices pork smothered in BBQ sauce as what turned out to be her belated lunch and early dinner.

We watched the news until 8:30 when I ate a few bites of cold BBQ pork and a toasted and buttered slice of baguette with Eberico cheese on it with a glass of Vara Tempranillo, sort of a tapa, and then we walked to the Country Club and back.

I have a regime of medication or am recovering from hip surgery to the point that keeps me mostly pain free so I can now begin to build my stamina. It is four blocks to the Country Club.  Three months ago I could only walk one block.  Now I am reaching the point of being able to walk the entire four blocks without pain.  For me that is a level of success.  I also am doing a little yoga to loosen the muscles a bit more. 

When we returned home from our walk, Suzette went to bed at 9:00 because she had awaken at 6:30 and had a long day of work.

I stayed up reading a New Yorker article on the imprisonment of a Dubai daughter of the Sheik and ate a slice of knaecke brod spread with butter and Boursin cheese spread at 10:00 and went to bed at 11:30.

I awakened at 3:30 a.m. and blogged this blog and watched news of the Wagner forces March to Rostov on Don and what May be the beginning of a major shake up in Russian politics.

Perhaps as the weather is heating up we are adopting a more Mediterranean style of eating that should serve us well in Spain.

The big difference for me is that at sun rise at 5:30 instead of going to work I go back to bed and sleep until 7:00 or 8:00.

Bon Appetit