August 13, 2024 Lunch - Enchiladas topped with sour cream and onionS. Dinner - Grilled steak, sautéed kale, candied walnuts, and onion, and Vichyssoise

August 13, 2024 Lunch - Enchiladas topped with sour cream and onionS. Dinner - Grilled steak, sautéed kale, candied walnuts, and onion, and Vichyssoise 

We woke up early today around 5:30 and I showered and dressed and ate a bowl of granola with milk, yogurt, and a diced apple from our tree.

Then Suzette and I picked peaches from our tree.

After we finished picking I ate a pain au chocolate with a latte macchiato and then walked .8 miles in the neighborhood in 30 minutes. When I returned I rested for a few minutes and then worked at my desk until 2:30, when  I checked my portfolio and I discovered that I had one of the best days of my investing life with a gain of 3.22%. More importantly, in the last three days I have regained 1/2 of the loss I have sustained from my portfolio’s  high about two weeks ago.

A slight reduction in the Producer Price Index seemed to be the catalyst for the strong market advance, with a nudge perhaps from an upward trending unemployment rate that makes a Fed interest rate cut more likely in September.

At 3:15 I took a frozen T-bone steak from the freezer slathered a square of enchiladas with sour cream and garnished it with minced onions and heated it in the microwave.  I drank the small amount of of Carlsberg beer left from yesterday with lunch.

Suzette came home around 3:45 and said she also had eaten enchiladas for lunch.

I had a snack of corn chips garnished with Boursin cheese and a glass of Chateauneuf du Pape at 6:00.

Then we decided to sauté kale and chard from the garden with candied walnuts and onion and sauté peach slices with the steak.

I chiffonade cut the kale and chard and minced 1/3 onion and Suzette sautéed the two ingredients with chopped candied walnuts. As we approach the date of our departure for Europe, the combinations are getting stranger.

I brought in the casserole full of vichyssoise and fetched a handful of chives from the garden and sliced them into thin ringlets and Suzette ladled the soup into French soup bowls and garnished the soup with chives.

Willy arrived at 7:00 and joined us for dinner. Suzette garnished the steak with the sautéed peach slices.  I cut the steak into 1;2 inch thick slices and Suzette plated plates with a pile of sautéed kale and chard and then added slices of steak garnished with sautéed peach slices to the plates.

Using the chiffonade cut the chard and kale makes them more tender and easier to cook.

I chilled a bottle of Kirkland Malbec and opened it when the plates were served.

Malbec is Willy’s favorite wine 

We were tired. Suzette went to bed at 9:15 when Willy left. And I stayed up to blog and read until 11:00.

I walked 4500 steps today and felt good.

I seem to be gaining strength and stamina just in time for the trip. Bravo!

Bon Appetit