July 19, 2023 Lunch - PPI Chicken Curry, Raita, and Rice Dinner - Crab Soufflé with Steamed Asparagus

July 19, 2023 Lunch - PPI Chicken Curry, Raita, and Rice Dinner - Crab Soufflé with Steamed Asparagus 

An uneventful day turned eventful.

I woke up at 4:30 just in time to see the first climb on the hardest day of climbing on the Tour.

I ate a fig bar and rode 2 miles on the recumbent bike while the bike riders rode over 3 or 4 monster mountains.

This was the deciding day of competition for the yellow Jersey and the polka dot jersey. Ciccione rode aggressively getting 25 points and going into first place as the King of the Mountain. The American Neilson Powless who had been in first place failed to make the break and got no points and lost the jersey.

Then on the last climb Pogajar cracked and lost 5 1/2 minutes to Vingegaard, who is now over 6 minutes ahead and appears to have a lock on the top spot on the podium in Paris. Pogajar is still second.

After the race I made Gravad lax with 1 cup of salt and 3/4 cup of sugar plus a tsp. of ground black pepper.  Since I bought two whole salmon fillets, I had three pieces large enough for a dinner portion for two left that I froze and three small pieces for sashimi tomorrow.

I picked the rest of the fresh dill and dried seed tops from our dill plant in the bed in front of the house.  I used the dill weed for the Gravad lax and harvested the seeds that I bottled and put in the spice cabinet.

I then reviewed a transaction and talked to my client to set up a closing for Monday.

I had only eaten a fig bar for breakfast, so by noon I was hungry.

At noon for lunch I  heated the PPI raita, chicken curry, and rice left from dinner the other night that I ate with bits of our mango chutney, sweet lime pickle, and Mixed Pickle.

I made chai and felt better after the meal. 

After lunch I set up an appointment to close another transaction tomorrow with another client.

Then I completed annual meeting minutes for another client and researched mechanics’ lien law and found and sent the client the forms and law to claim and release a mechanics lien and then set up an appointment for Monday or Tuesday to prepare and sign the claim of lien.

At 4:15 I meditated for 30 minutes and then assisted Aaron with a research project.

Suzette came home after a fabulous day highlighted by a 14 person high tea in the Bistro and a tour of her exhibit of women artists of New Mexico for the Albuquerque Art Museum Foundation.

She is suffering from back problems so she relaxed until 6:30 and then we prepared dinner.

Crab Soufflé 

This is one of my favorite dinners.  We follow Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe, which is a little involved but turns out beautifully.

Suzette sautéed crab with fresh thyme and shallot and made a béchamel sauce with grated Racalette to which 5 egg yolks are mixed in off the heat and then five egg whites that have been stiffened to soft peaks are folded in.

The mixture is poured into a buttered soufflé dish that has been dusted with grated Parmesan cheese.

Suzette has fixed the steam oven, so we baked the soufflé for 30 minutes in a steam environment.

I steamed 8 to 10 asparagus and we poured glasses of Falerio white Italian wine and I toasted and buttered a slice of baguette for a simply fabulous dinner.

And on top of all these wonderful things, the Market was up again for the seventh day in a row.  The disheartening loss of $1,135,000 of portfolio value that I experienced earlier this year has almost been erased by an increase of $900,000. The market is within 5% of its all time high of last year.

After dinner we watched documentaries on Santander and Asturias until 9:00, when Suzette went to bed and I blogged.

Bon Appetit