July 6, 2023 Lunch - Bahn at Vietnam 2000. Dinner - Grilled Hamburgers with salad and sautéed Yellow Squash, Onions, and Mushrooms

 July 6, 2023 Lunch - Bahn at Vietnam 2000. Dinner - Grilled Hamburgers with salad and sautéed Yellow Squash, Onions, and Mushrooms

I woke up at 4:15 to watch Stage 5 of the Tour because today was a climbing day in the French Pyrenees including Col de Ispan and the Tourmalay.

There were two surprises in the day’s race. First, Nielson Powless was able to catch the breakaway in time to win the first climb and come sixth on the Tourmalay to keep the polka dot jersey as the best climber for a fifth day, a feat no other American has ever achieved.

The most amazing thing was the resurgence of Pogajar who dropped a minute to Vinegaard in yesterday’s stage.

Today, when Van Auld pulled off the lead as Jumbo’s lead out rider protecting Vinegaard on the climb up the last Category 1 mountain at about 5 km.from the top there were only two riders on the lead, Vinegaard and Pogajar. And with about 1 1/2 km. of the climb left Pogajar took off and won the stage with a 35 second gap over Vinegaard. Even Pogajar said at the beginning of today’s stage that if he lost more time to Vinegaard today, “we can pack our bags and go home.” But, the opposite happened and we have a bike race that may not be decided until Paris.

I ate a bowl of granola with milk, tropical fruit salad, and yogurt during the race, which ended around 9:30.

I was tired from lack of sleep but did a few administrative things like send my first International wire through Wells Fargo’s digital wire system, renew my subscription to the anew Yorker, and meet with Patrick to consummate the sale of a client’s REC.

At 11:30 I wanted to check in with Rahim about a matter so I called him and invited him to lunch.  He said he was picking up his daughter and would meet me at Vietnam 2000 before 1:00.

They actually beat me there by a few minutes.  Rahim had eaten at Vietnam 2000 and was aware of their menu.  He ordered spring rolls stuffed with shrimp and lemon grass chicken that we split as an appetizer and one of Vietnam 2000’s signature entrees, Bahn with grilled beef wrapped shrimp.  I ordered my new favorite, No. 50., Bahn with grilled marinated pork with fried egg rolls with extra lettuce so I could make lettuce wraps wrapped around pads of rice vermicelli dipped in fish sauce, pork, and cilantro.

I asked Rahim and his daughter about their recent trips to London at Christmas, and 

more recently to Rome, Capri, and Sorrento.

After lunch I drove home and went to sleep for a hour and then dozed and watched some news after Suzette came home at 3:30.

At 5:30 we decided to thaw hamburgers and grill them with Russet potato slices and sauté yellow squash, onion, and mushrooms.

Suzette did the grilling and I chopped the yellow squash, onion, and three mushrooms and sautéed the slices in butter to which I added Amontillado sherry and good olive oil to make a light sauce that would provide a sauce and also create a dressing for the bed of fresh garden lettuce Suzette laid the hamburger on.

I opened a chilled bottle of 2018 Chateau Cambon La Palouse, Cru Bourgeoise Exceptional from Haut Medoc that was a classic Bordeaux blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot.

It was creamy and a lovely complement to the rather dry hamburger that we ate with catsup.

I ate the rest of Suzette’s hamburger and at 8:00 we watched a lovely episode of Midsomer Mystery and went to bed when it ended at 9:30.

Bon Appetit