December 27, 2025 Breakfast - Church Street Cafe. Lunch - Romanian Leftovers and fruit tamale Dinner - Garden Salad with sautéed Albacore tuna

 

December 27, 2025 Breakfast - Church Street Cafe. Lunch - Romanian Leftovers and fruit tamale  Dinner - Garden Salad with sautéed Albacore tuna

This was one of those horrible days after a major holiday when one succumbs to the excesses of holiday foods willingly.

We started out okay by meeting Billy and Elaine at Church Street Cafe to enjoy a New Mexican meal before they departed for Dallas.

Everyone ordered Huevos Ranchero except Suzette and me. We split a carne adovado platter served with a half platter of carne adovado with red sauce, beans, and spinach and two warm corn tortillas.

I gave Suzette some spinach and carne adovado and filled the two corn tortillas with carne and ate two carne adovado burritos. That left a lot of carne and beans that I boxed and took home.

Willy and I watched an exciting fixture between Aston Villa and Chelsea that Aston Villa won with a Watkins goal late in the match.

I ate a few bites of the leftover Romanian salads in the early afternoon and rode my stationary bike a mile in the afternoon and watched football.

Other than working with Karim for 1 1/2 hours, meditating with Todd for 1/2 hour, and two episodes of Emily in Paris, I watched football most of the day until 10:30 at night when Houston beat LSU in the Texas Bowl.

Around 5:00 Suzette went to the garden and picked a basket full on fresh lettuce and we made a tuna salad. I diced and sautéed the leftover raw tuna from the party in olive oil and added it to the salad and we dressed the salad with the mayonnaise tartare dressing we made for the Gravad lax and drank a Finger Lake Rose’.

                                                    The converted tartare dressing

Later I ate broken cookies with cognac and tea.

Bon Appetit

December 26, 2025 Breakfast - 2 fruit tamales Lunch - Romanian Christmas Dinner

December 26, 2025 Breakfast - 2 fruit tamales Lunch - Romanian Christmas Dinner

I woke up at 7:00 and watched Squawk on the Street and the open.

Nividia was up over $3.00 early, but as the day progressed the averages went negative and Nividia closed up $1.90 that produced a small gain in my portfolio.

What went crazy were gold and silver. Gold gained over $50.00 per oz. to $4550 per oz. and silver went up over 11% to $79.68 per ounce.

Platinum went up even more, rising 11.5% ($260.70) to $2534.70 per ounce.

The precious metals are on fire.

I ate two of the fruit tamales Jody and Loyda brought us with a fried egg and a cup of tea for breakfast.

I then helped Suzette add olive oil and lemon juice to the whisked meat of the two eggplants she roasted on the grill to make an eggplant salad for the Romanian dinner we would attend at Aaron and Monika’s house at 3:00.

I tried to save my appetite after breakfast by not eating a heavy meal, although I ate a couple of Christmas cookies with tea and Suzette made me a snack of baguette rounds garnished with slices of avocado and hard boiled egg around noon.

I also rode my new recumbent bike around the neighborhood.

Then at 2:40 Billy, Elaine, Suzette, and I took a slab of Gravad lax and the eggplant salad and drove to their new house in Tanoan.

When we arrived we were introduced to their Romanian friends, Jan and Emilia and Mina (who we met last year. 

Aaron did much of the cooking this year. He grilled pork chops marinated in olive oil and rosemary and some amazing pork sausages made by kneading ground pork shoulder in the Kitchen Aid until smooth and then adding whole peppercorns..

He also made the cabbage rolls baked slowly in a large  casserole with strips of bacon and sauerkraut. The cabbage leaves had been tenderized by cooking them in the liquid that gathers in sauerkraut. The stuffing was very tender pork also.

Jan made my favorite dish, perhaps because it was so unusual, a meat and vegetable salad in slightly acidic mayonnaise and decorated with a lovely flower arrangement made with vegetables.  There was another salad made by Mina that was also amazing.  It was eggs stuffed with chicken livers in mayonnaise and also decorated. 

Soon after we arrived Aaron grilled the marinated pork chops and then grilled the hand rolled pork sausages.

When the sausages finished grilling we started eating the food.

I tried one or two of everything except the cheese and chili pepper phylo wrap, which I had last year, made by Mina.

I discovered something interesting. Total Wine now sells Romanian wine. I enjoyed glasses of a dry Muscat. After the meal Monika gave us a bottle of white and red Romanian wine as a Christmas gift.

It was a great meal.

After we all finished the meal and rested for a few minutes before dessert. There were two cakes, a store bought German stollen and a Romanian coffee cake with a few raisins and a thin ribbon of chocolate at the top.

They were both good but we were full and I did not get excited about either.

We packed take-out boxes with the wonderful foods, so Willy could try them and left around 5:00.

It was a memorable dinner.

When we arrived home we sat and talked until around 6:15 when Billy and Elaine left.

I then watched a minor bowl game between Florida International U. And UT San Antonio until UT SA went ahead over 20 points because it was a scrappy exciting game tied at 14 points for a while.

Also UNM played Minnesota to a tie in regulation in its bowl game but lost in overtime.

I went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 1:00 when I finished this blog entry.

Bon Appetit

 

December 25, 2025, Christmas at home and at Amy and Vahl’s

December 25, 2025, Christmas at home and at Amy and Vahl’s

I woke up at 6:30 and rested until 7:30.

Ari was not feeling well so we did not meet to exchange gifts until 10:30 in the living room.

I had a dream last night of how to fix the pouring custard that had become thick and slightly curdled. I would add coffee. Suzette and I poured the custard from its pitcher into a steel bowl. Then I made a cup of espresso and added a few drops at a time and stirred until the texture softened and the custard developed a smooth sheen and creamy consistency. Viola. We poured the approximately 20 oz. of custard into a 32 oz. yogurt container.

I cut two slices and toasted a 1/2 bagel, spread them with cream cheese, and garnished them with slices of the fresh Gravad lax and drank tea for breakfast.

When Billy and Elaine arrived and we were all together, we exchanged gifts. Luke gave me a biography of Ram Dass that I am looking forward to reading and a couple of skin care products. We gave each boy a herba mate drinking spoon from Argentina. Willy received lots of sardines, including a can from Patagonia and several bags of espresso coffee. We gave Elaine a kleenex holder in the shape of Mount Fuji. Billy gave each boy a gold 1 oz. Krugerrand and Suzette a $5.00 gold Olympic coin. I gave Ari a golden cowrie. We gave Ari and Luke each an apron made from a fabric food advertisement Suzette bought at the Tokyo flea market.

Luke gave Suzette a cookbook from a famous Japanese American fusion restaurant in L.A., Rintaro.

                        Suzette and  Willy’s gifts

Billy and I then examined a part of my coin collection and I gave him a 1933 Swiss Five Franc coin to show his Swiss friends who will be visiting them in Dallas soon.

We then packed up the chocolate dessert and repaired creme anglais and gifts for the family members and drove to Amy and Vahl’s home in Eldorado at noon. When we arrived Amy and Vahl and Vahl’s son Erin and wife Arvin and Arvin’s mother, Lee, plus Deanne, and Dayla, Craig Sr. and Carol, and Craig Jr. were there. Quite the crew.

I gave Deanne a bottle of Veriton, Archery Summit’s Pinot Gris. I gave Vahl a bottle of De Ponte Estate Pinot Noir and I gave Craig a bottle of Vara 2018 Vino Tinto Espanol.

I then unpacked the chocolate dessert and heated the bowl in hot water and flipped it out of the bowl onto a dolly on a plate.  Suzette or Amy poured some creme anglais into a pitcher and splashed some custard onto the chocolate dessert to decorate it.

There was a massive amount of food. There was ham and several mustards and several breads with lots of cookies and brownies on the dining table. Then in the kitchen were two large aluminum containers, one with chicken enchiladas and the other with vegetarian enchiladas and a pot of beans on the stove.  Finally there were two beef tenderloins Craig had cooked to rare and a bowl of horseradish cream sauce Vahl had made plus several other desserts.

Suzette and I sat by Craig Senior and discussed a difficult case he had and then Billy, Rick Spiegel, and I discussed Fort Worth Jewish families and Congregation Beth El. We had all gone to Bluebonnet, McLean, and paschal together. Mary joined us on the couch and I discussed with her Westcliff and Wedgewood Elementary, McLean, and Paschal. We bonded as we easily shared our common histories and recollections.

Soon people were serving themselves food. I filled my plate with a ham sandwich with a dense seeded mustard, a slice of rare tenderloin, beans, and a square of chicken enchiladas.

We were drinking bottles of the Calstar 2014 Sangiacamo Pinot Noir Vahl ordered at my suggestion. It was delicious. There were three bottles opened before Vahl switched to a bottle of Lemelson Pinot Noir.

After dinner we all lined up outside for a family photo.  

Then I tried a small wedge of my chocolate torte and creme anglais. It was excellent. The creme was smooth with a distinct coffee flavor. 

Then we exchanged our secret Santa gifts. We gave Craig, Jr. one of the ad aprons that Suzette had bought at the Tokyo flea market and a Japanese paring knife we had bought in Tokyo. Vahl gave me a bottle of Lemelson Pinot Noir. Finally, as the sun set brilliantly at 5:30 we left and Billy drove us back to Albuquerque.  

As we left Craig Jr. commented on the distinct coffee flavor and I shared with  him the story of the coffee fix to the custard.

When we arrived in Albuquerque Billy and Elaine gathered their gifts and drove to Casa de Suenos and we watched two episodes of the new season Five of Emily in Paris/Rome. Then, Suzette went to bed and I stayed up to blog this entry and I went to bed at 10:30.

Bon Appetit