November 19, 2023 Lunch - Steamed Mussels with Roasted Potato Wedges. Dinner - Artichoke Cafe

 November 19, 2023 Lunch - Steamed Mussels with Roasted Potato Wedges. Dinner - Artichoke Cafe

Today was leisurely for me but everyone around was active.

Erik and Sally who are visiting Willy from Sweden spent the night at our house. They are vegans, so when I woke up this morning I made tropical fruit salad for them with papaya, mango, pineapple, orange wedges and juice of a lemon and went through the fixture options for the new bathroom with Suzette.

Suzette and I ate a bowl of granola with yogurt and the tropical fruit salad for breakfast.  I watched World Cup qualifying matches most of the morning.

Willy came over around 10:30 and Erik and Sally ate fruit salad.  Then they left with Willy for the day.

Then Suzette went shopping for bathroom fixtures and tile and food at Costco, including chocolate croissants, baguettes, mussels, Dungeness crab, and limes.

When Suzette returned around 1:00 we decided to prepare a Spanish lunch of steam mussels and roasted potatoes and toasted baguette.

We opened the chilled bottle of Vouvray that was slightly yellowed and a bit sherried but still drinkable. I chopped four cloves of garlic and some parsley and Suzette made a steaming medium of white wine, parsley, garlic and water and steamed the mussels. I sliced 2 pieces of baguette and toasted the slices.

When the mussels were steamed Suzette divided them into two bowls and added half the steaming medium to each bowl. We placed the roasted potato wedges on a plate and poured a small amount of the patron chili flavored artisanal vinegar we bought in Spain into a small ramekin.

We ate mussels dipped in the vinegar and the potato wedges and Toasted baguette slices dipped in the steaming broth.

We drank a glass of the Vouvray with our very Spanish lunch.

We then lay down for a nap until 5:00 when we got dressed and drove to the symphony.  Tonight’s program was not very interesting, an overture to an opera by Lalo, Mozart’s 23rd Piano concerto with Valeria Safran as soloist and Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz, which was not very interesting to us.

After the symphony we drove to Artichoke cafe for a light dinner.

Suzette ordered French Onion Soup and we shared a meatball appetizer and a side of smashed potatoes.  Suzette drank a Tempranillo and I drank a Bohemia.

The meatballs were garnished with a tomato coulis that was like the dish in Spain. I thought the flavor of the French Onion Soup was off a bit, like it was flavored with Blue cheese instead of Gruyere.

The potatoes were great sautéed in butter and then smashed to about 1/2 their original height.

We were not hungry for dessert. When we got home at 9:30 we watched the last few minutes of Death in Paradise and the Suzette went to bed and I watched a new series, What to do when someone dies and the NM Lobos beat San Jose State for the first time in years.  The Lobos looked really sharp tonight, running and throwing the ball for big gains?

I went to bed after midnight after blogging this blog.

Bon Appetit