November 9, 2023 Breakfast - Blueberry Muffin and Coffee and chai Lunch - Asian Chicken Salad with Thai Peanut Dressing, potato chips, and Biscoff cookies Dinner - Cesar salad with Spaghetti with Pesto and zucchini.
We woke up at 3:45 and dressed and drove to the airport at 4:30.
We made it to our gate at 5:30 and Suzette bought a Blueberry muffin and a coffee for her and a chai for me which we carried onto the 6:00 flight to Phoenix. During the flight American gave out packets with two Biscoff allspice and ginger flavored cookies that we kept but did not eat..
We served in Phoenix at 7:00 and walked to our gate for the 9:30 flight to Guadalajara.
Before we left Phoenix Suzette bought an Asian Chicken Salad with a Thai Peanut Dressing and a small bag of potato chips. That we shared during the Guadalajara flight plus I ate 8 or 10 Biscoff cookies.
When we landed in Guadalajara we found our way to the Payless car rental office and discovered that the car was beat up and we had to pay more than the daily car rental rate for personal liability insurance. This is a common trick in Mexico, to charge a low rental rate as a come-on to then force you to buy the more expensive liability insurance.
We accepted the insurance and paid the $401.00 for the six day rental.
Then when the car was delivered we saw it was badly scarred with nicks and broken paint but it was a stripped down VW sedan so we accepted it even though it was far from the modern powerful smart Opel we had rented in Spain.
We drove to the lake house stopping to pick up a bag of ice and arrived at 6:00.
Harold was waiting in the driveway for us with his pack of three or four dogs. He was the same charming fellow he has always been.
He helped with the grips but left them on the porch because he has remodeled the downstairs apartment into an Air BNB rental unit with a large bathroom with a walk in shower and all new furniture, tile, and large windows with an impressive view of Lake Chapala that he offered us if we were willing to negotiate the flight of steps down to the apartment.
When we saw the beautifully appointed and remodeled apartment, we immediately accepted it.
We then returned to the kitchen where Harold made us drinks. Suzette had Scotch and I drank the rest of the Coca Cola I had bought in Jacotopec with some Bacardi rum and ice.
Harold then opened a wedge of Cheddar cheese flavored with Cabernet Sauvignon and a filled a bowl with potato chips flavored with sea salt. Both of these items were bought at the Costco located north of Chapala across the lake.
We discussed old times and recent operations and then dinner. Harold suggested Italian pasta with pesto and a Cesar salad.
We agreed immediately and offered to cook. I took a stool by the large prep table and skinned and diced a 1/2 lb. piece of Mexican squash and about six baby cherry tomatoes and six pitted Kirkland Kalamata olives.
Harold filled a pot of water and turned on the stove and Suzette sautéed the vegetables and cooked the spaghetti to perfection. It was perfectly al dente, toothsome but soft. I have not had spaghetti this good since the linguine with clam sauce at Carlucci’s in Maryland on our drive back from Pennsylvania in the camper van.
Harold also had a bag of romaine lettuce that had been rinsed in disinfectant, good Greek olive oil, and a bottle of anchovies in olive oil that had partially decomposed, so were perfect to be made into the dressing.
I tore the lettuce into a wooden salad bowl and made a dressing by whisking rice wine vinegar, two egg yolks, some salt, and then adding olive oil, and finally the anchovies in their olive oil. The result was a thick dark dressing redolent with the strong flavor of anchovies. Harold said he could taste anchovies so I was interested to see if he tasted this strong Cesar salad dressing.
Harold had the two remaining ingredients for Cesar salad, a wedge of Parmesan cheese and croutons. The croutons were slightly moist because their had been frozen and thawed but still had a strong olive oil and garlic flavor.
I grated a pile of Parmesan to garnish the pasta and sliced slices of Parmesan for the Cesar salad and Harold fetched a bottle of Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon named Seleccion.
Suzette tossed the cooked pasta with the sautéed vegetables and some of the Kirkland Pesto sauce and we were ready to eat.
It was a fabulous light dinner with the sharing of lots of memories. Harold and Suzette were married for twelve years and bought this lake house together, before Bob, and I was Harold’s attorney when he was a commercial real estate broker in Albuquerque during their marriage.
After we finished the dinner we fetched the bag of chocolate chip cookies I made and ate a few bites of cookie with the last sips of wine.
Suzette and I were tired after a long day of travel so soon after dinner we retired to the apartment and went to sleep.
I awakened at 4:25 and finished this entry.
I hope to see the diurnal shift but am going back to sleep around 5:30.
Bon Appetit
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