November 16, 2023 Lunch - Taco Salad at Monroe’s Dinner - Grilled Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms and Steamed Broccoli with Cheese sauce

November 16, 2023 Lunch - Taco Salad at Monroe’s  Dinner - Grilled Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms and Steamed Broccoli with Cheese sauce

I slept until 7:30.

Then I dressed and made breakfast of fried bacon, potato, and egg burritos for Suzette and me.

I then drove to Old Republic title Company at 9:30 for the closing of the hotel purchase, which went very smoothly. I drank a cup of hot chocolate before the closing while waiting I was reviewing documents.

We finished by 10:30 and I was back home by 11:00, just in time to grab my wallet and drive to Monroe’s for the book club pre-meeting lunch.

I was not very hungry after two burritos and a cup of hot chocolate so I ordered a taco salad.  I loved it but it was a lot of food with beans, taco meat, lettuce, a scoop each of sour cream and guacamole plus a ramekin of salsa. MI could only eat 1/2, sim boxed the other half and took it home.

The club met today at Charlie’s. Susan made amazing brownies and I fetched a Kirkland 2021 Pinot Grigio from Friuli and a 2014 Calstar Sangiacomo Pinot noir.

The book was Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson. There was a lively discussion?

We finished by 3:30 and when I returned home at 4:00 I checked the market and was surprised that my portfolio was up .5% because it had been down when I left for the closing at 9:00 in the morning. 

I started slicing two leeks and four small Yukon Gold potatoes that I covered with 1.75 quarts of water and added chicken stock and 1 T. of salt to and cooked for 1 hour.

Suzette came home and we discussed what to cook with the steak I had thawed in the morning and the Potage I was making and we settled on Steamed broccoli with cheese sauce and sautéed mushrooms. A dinner of many sauces.

I called Willy to let him know we were cooking and invite him to join us for dinner.

Willy came around 6:30 and helped us cook.

While Suzette steamed the broccoli, made the cheese sauce by making a roux and creaming it with the chicken broth from the soup and adding grated cheese grated by Willy. Then Suzette creamed the soup with a hand held immersion mixer..

I minced a shallot and two cloves of garlic.  Then I sliced all the remaining mushrooms and sautéed those ingredients in butter until soft.  I then added about 2 T. of Amontillado sherry and turned down the heat to let the  ingredients simmer.

Willy selected the wine, a 2021 Vara vino Tinto and poured glasses.

Suzet te then grilled the thick porterhouse steak to a lovely medium rare and I sliced it.

Suzette spooned soup into French soup bowls and drizzled the top with cream and went to the garden and picked five chives that I sliced into thin ringlets that she garnished the soup with.

She covered the steak to keep it warm and we ate our Potage.

Then I sliced the steak and Suzette plated the broccoli and sauced it with cheese sauce and then each of us selected our slices of steak and garnished them with sautéed mushrooms and ate a hearty dinner.

We watched Uruguay beat Argentina in a World Cup qualifying match and then watched the US squeak by Trinidad Tobago in a Concacab match.

Willy left during the match. I ate three squares of chocolate with the last of my dark rich wine and later a small glass of cognac mixed with Grand Marnier.

I felt better after dinner and could walk without pain.  I guess my muscles were needing protein.

We watched Midsomer mystery and went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit