August 3, 2023 Lunch - Book Club (Indian Chicken Korma and Sautéed chicken with Thai peanut Sauce). Dinner - Baked Pasta with Four cheeses and hamburger
What a fun day of food and activity. I awakened around 7:15 to a leaking toilet and slow draining shower.
After a shower, I dressed and fixed breakfast.
I sliced an irregular slice of a Kaufman everything bagel into two thin slices. You can slice Kaufman bagels thinly because of their density. They are wonderful bagels.
I toasted the slices and spread them with the wonderful scallion cream cheese smear that Kaufman’s makes and then lay thin slices of red onion and Gravad lax on the slices for a wonderful breakfast.
Then at 8:15 miraculously Bryan from Carroll Plumbing showed up to fix the toilet leak and snake out the shower line as well as install a shut off valve in our main water line and fix two leaking irrigation gaskets.
I was thrilled that Carroll had scheduled me for this visit and things would return to normal in my bathroom.
Then miraculously Jodi and Loyda came; Jodi to install the new security Ring camera and lights on the front of the garage and Loyda to clean the house including the mess in my bathroom caused by the leaking toilet and stopped up shower.
I worked on pleadings and a property sales agreement termination until 11:25 and then grabbed a tablet and pens and walked out the door to Charlie’s waiting car in my driveway to drive us to Jeff’s house in Placitas.
When we arrived all seven members were present and Pradip was finishing the frying of paratha for the Chicken Korma and Basmati rice dishes he prepared. Jeff was serving drinks, including iced tea, Vara Grenache, Gruet Chardonnay and beer after he put his dish of sautéed herbed pounded chicken strips with a delicious Thai peanut sauce.
The peanut sauce was so delicious I want to make it. Here is a recipe I found on line.
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter, if your peanut butter is thick, microwave is for about 15 seconds first
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon freshly minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup hot water
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Whisk all the ingredients (minus 2 tablespoons of the hot water) together in a bowl, a jar with a lid (shake vigorously) or a small blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add the extra water a little at a time depending on whether you need this for a sauce, dip or a dressing to your desired consistency.
- This can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge, or used immediately!
We filled our plates with fluffy basmati rice and spoonfuls of the chicken korma and Thai chicken covered with peanut sauce and a paratha.
Most others were drinking wine and beer but Charlie and I made glasses of sweet iced tea in the best Texas tradition for summer lunches.
We gathered around Jeff’s dining table and had a leisurely lunch of conversation and many second helpings of the wonderful food and finally slices of the peanut chocolate pie that had a wonderful dense dark chocolate crumb crust.
Then we moved into the living room for our discussion of Burmese Days by George Orwell, who after his time as a civil servant in Burma, returned to England and wrote Animal Farm and 1984.
After about an hour of discussion Jeff opened the shades covering the living room windows to reveal an impressive view of the Sandia Mountains. Jeff’s house adjoins the Forest Service property, so he has an unobstructed view of the mountains and landscape to the south of his property on Placitas.
Around 3:00 when the meeting ended Charlie drove me home and I finished and filed three pleadings in one of my cases by 5:45.
Suzette had arrived and was resting watching home improvement shows on TV, which is her way of relaxing after a busy day.
But as soon as I entered the kitchen Suzette enlisted my services to trim and chop the six or seven pieces of old cheese that she was recycling into a cheese ball by blending in the Cuisinart with wine. The cheeses included harden wedges of Manchego, Iberico, Westminster cheddar, Swiss Gruyere, and a Maytag Blue cheese.
Then Suzette made a hamburger helper dish by adding sautéed onion, mushroom slices, and ground beef to the PPI Casarecce Pasta in cream and cheese sauce and emulsified the mixture with Pinot Grigio rose wine and put the mixture in a large Pyrex bowl that we garnished with grated Parmesan cheese.
Suzette then baked the pasta dish in the oven until the dish was thoroughly heated and the cheese topping baked to a golden brown crust.
When dinner was ready I opened a bottle of Kirkland Chianti Classico Riserva and poured glasses of it.
This was again a great dinner made with PPIs (previously prepared ingredients) plus a few new ingredients.
We watched some news and about 30 minutes of the Women’s World Cup match between Panama and France and finally at 8:00 Midsomer Mystery.
Suzette made a sundae of vanilla ice cream and fresh blueberries that we shared as we watched the mystery, but by 8:45 I was tired and went to bed.
Later Suzette, when Suzette came to bed, she explained to me who the murders were. Mystery solved.
I awakened at 2:00 a.m. to blog this entry and then went back to bed at 3:30.
Bon Appetit
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