July 5, 2025 Brunch - Eggs and Sausage. Dinner - Roast Duck, sautéed red cabbage, and green beans sautéed with pinon nuts

July 5, 2025 Brunch - Eggs and Sausage. Dinner - Roast Duck, sautéed red cabbage, and green beans sautéed with pinon nuts

A very relaxing day with a favorite dinner.

I drank a cup of hot chocolate at 5:30 as I watched stage 1 of the Tour de France.

Then I ate a chocolate chip cookie as we went to the farmers’s market around 9:00 looking for tomatoes but finding none, so we drove to El Super, where we found the largest, most beautiful Roma tomatoes I have ever seen. We bought about five pounds of the big beauties plus, green onions, a bunch of radishes, Persian cucumbers, regular cucumbers, mango yogurt, cojita cheese, chorizo, smoked pork chops, and 1 1/2 lb. of beef short ribs, limes, lemons, snow peas, green beans, two bunches of beets, yellow and red onions, six avocados, two bunches of cilantro, a 1/2 gallon of fresh squeezed orange juice, and two small heads of broccoli.

Suzette helped bag and carry in the groceries.

I was beginning to weaken when we returned so I drank a glass of orange juice and then cooked a breakfast of a sausage patty, a slice of onion, and two fried eggs and toasted, buttered, and spread three slices of baguette with French preserves. I drank a cup of Prince of Wales tea.

After breakfast I was tired so napped until 12:00 when I saw France’s women’s soccer team beat England’s team in the EUFA world championship quarter finals.  Then I watched Real Madrid beat Dortmund in team world quarter finals championship competition.

We watched TV until 5:00 and then prepped dinner.

Dinner - Finally I got my wish for a duck and red cabbage dinner.  We added a green vegetable of string beans sautéed in butter with pinon nuts.

I sliced 1/2 of a head of red cabbage that Suzette and I sautéed in a skillet with olive oil, cumin seeds, and 1 T. of butter until softened, at which point Suzette added a solution of 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar blended ith 1 cup of sugar.

Suzette also snapped the green beans we bought today and sautéed them in butter and added some pinon nuts.

She also reheated a roasted duck half (leg, thigh, breast, and wing) in the oven.

I opened and decanted a 2019 De Pointe Reserve Dundee Hills Pinot Noir.

When everything was ready I sliced the duck off the bones and served each of us 1/2 and Suzette added string beans and cabbage and I poured glasses Pinot and fetched the apricot chutney and we ate dinner at 6:00 in the garden under the gazebo.

We saved our six slices of duck breast for a salad tomorrow.

When we returned to the house I sliced a wedge of brie and opened a blue cheese and toasted and buttered three slices of baguette and garnished two with brie and one with blue cheese and Suzette spread two slices of pumpernickel bread with blue and poured out the rest of the Pinot and we ate a lovely cheese course in bed as we watched Back in Action on Netflix.

At 10:00 Suzette went to bed and I blogged as I drank a glass of Pico de Europa liquor with a splash of cognac to lessen its sweetness and a piece of the Blood orange chocolate bar Suzette gave me as a birthday gift.

It was a wonderful day with a fabulous dinner with an amazing wine.

Bon Appetit 

July 4, 2025 Lunch - Chirashi. Dinner - Corn Dogs. Snack - Peanuts and Beer at Isotopes Game I got up early and ate a Chocolate croissant and a latte Macchiato when Suzette awakened around 7:30. Then I read my new Book club selection this month, War with the Newts And went back to sleep around 9:30 and slept until 11:30. Then I ate a Jarlsberg cheese sandwich on Swedish hard bread and read until 2:30, when I split the leftover Chirashi from yesterday’s lunch at Crazy Fish and heated the sushi rice and Filled two dipping bowls with soy and wasabi and fetched the remaining seaweed salad from the fridge and ate a terrific lunch. I made a hot green tea and Suzette drank a Stella Artois beer. We then rested until 5:45 when we heated three corn dogs and ate them in the garden with lots of yellow mustard and catsup to prep for the baseball game. We drove to Isotopes Stadium at 6:45 and had difficulty parking and ,made it to our seats by 7:15. We learned only clear bags could be taken into the park and no food, only water in a sealed container, so I stuffed about a lb. of roasted peanuts into my pants pockets and carried the closed bottle of Pelligrino in. I was happy I had peanuts and water and we had feasted on corn dogs because concession prices were very high. Suzette paid $15.00 for a Negra Modelo and we n munched on peanuts. Aaron and Lexi found us and sat with us until the ninth inning when they left. The Isotopes were terrible and lost to the El Paso Chihuahuas 10 to 6, but the 17 minutes of fireworks were exceptional. We arrived home at 10:40. Suzette went to bed and I drank a sip of Picos de Europa liquor and blogged and read until after midnight as I listened to fireworks exploding all around us. Bon Appetit

July 4, 2025 Lunch - Chirashi. Dinner - Corn Dogs. Snack - Peanuts and Beer at Isotopes Game

I got up early and ate a Chocolate croissant and a latte Macchiato when Suzette awakened around 7:30.

Then I read my new Book club selection this month, War with the Newts And went back to sleep around 9:30 and slept until 11:30.

Then I ate a Jarlsberg cheese sandwich on Swedish hard bread and read until 2:30, when I split the leftover Chirashi from yesterday’s lunch at Crazy Fish and heated the sushi rice and Filled two dipping bowls with soy and wasabi and fetched the remaining seaweed salad from the fridge and ate a terrific lunch.

I made a hot green tea and Suzette drank a Stella Artois beer.

We then rested until 5:45 when we heated three corn dogs and ate them in the garden with lots of yellow mustard and catsup to prep for the baseball game.

We ate at the far end of the pond with its full view of the yard in the late afternoon sunlight.

We drove to Isotopes Stadium at 6:45 and had difficulty parking and ,made it to our seats by 7:15. We learned only clear bags could be taken into the park and no food, only water in a sealed container, so I stuffed about a lb. of roasted peanuts into my pants pockets and carried the closed bottle of Pelligrino in. I was happy I had peanuts and water and we had feasted on corn dogs because concession prices were very high.  Suzette paid $15.00 for a Negra Modelo and we n munched on peanuts. Aaron and Lexi found us and sat with us until the ninth inning when they left.

The Isotopes were terrible and lost to the El Paso Chihuahuas 10 to 6, but the 17 minutes of fireworks were exceptional.

We arrived home at 10:40.

Suzette went to bed and I drank a sip of Picos de Europa liquor and blogged and read until after midnight as I listened to fireworks exploding all around us.

Bon Appetit

July 3, 2025 Breakfast - Bao Sa Lunch - Crazy Fish Dinner - Lamb, Couscous, tomato, and salad

July 3, 2025 Breakfast - Bao Sa Lunch - Crazy Fish  Dinner - Lamb, Couscous, tomato, and salad 

I made a dipping sauce of soy, sesame oil, garlic and chili sauce and green onion ringlets and Harold and I ate Bao Sa, i with a cup of green tea and Harold with a cup of coffee.

Then Harold and I walked around the block.

At 10:00 Dendra and Harold drove me to my car parked overnight at Shahin’s office.

I then drove to Smith’s on Carlisle where I bought a wedge of discounted blue cheese, three two packs of T-bone steaks, some green beans, three Roma tomatoes, a gallon of milk, cream cheese, a six pack of Lender’s bagels, a cucumber, a red bell pepper, and a container of cherry chocolate truffle ice cream.

When I returned home around 11:30 Suzette was there. After I unloaded I called Rahim and we adjusted three contracts.

Then at 12:00 we drove to Crazy Fish to join Cliff and Nancy for lunch at 12:30.

Suzette ordered a roll and BBQ’d unagi on rice, I ordered Chirashi, Cliff ordered a teriyaki bento box and Nancy ordered a teriyaki bowl.

We ate and talked until 2:00. The Blaugrunds just returned from visiting 5 or 6 countries in the middle of Africa and tthe Seychelles, so we got a lot of info and were shown a few pictures of their trip such as a ballon ride over the Namibian bush country and a long desolate beach.

We we returned home I checked my portfolio and got a great Birthday gift, my portfolio returned to its all time high.

At 3:00 I rested for 15 minutes and then meditated from 3:25 until 4:00.

At 4:00 I worked at my desk until 5:00.

Then we talked to Luke who called to wish me a happy Birthday at 5;00.

At 6:30 I became hungry and remembered we had cooked lamb chops, couscous, and tzatziki and pita breads, so I cut the meat off two lamb chops, Suzette diced one of the Roma tomatoes and rinsed some lettuce from the garden and halved and toasted a pita.

Suzette made a sandwich and I fetched the couscous and tzatziki and Suzette fetched the creamy feta and made a sandwich. I filled a plate with couscous and lamb and heated it in the microwave and added tomato, tzatziki, Moroccan dried black olives, and lettuce to the plate and ate a hot meal.

We poured glasses of Juve and Camp  Cava and ate our meal under the gazebo in the garden.  It was a lovely cool evening at around 83 degrees.

As we finished dinner Willy called and we talked until 8:15 when we watched Midsomer Mystery. During the show asuzette made us bowls of coffee ice cream with a chocolate chip cookie

Suzette went tipi bed at 9:45 and I stayed up to watch Foyle’s War and blog.

Bon Appetit

July 1, 2025 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - Padilla’s Family Restaurant

July 1, 2025 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - Padilla’s Family Restaurant 

I ate a Chocolate Croissant with a Latte Macchiato for breakfast at 9:30. I rested and watched the Market rotate to the out of favor stocks and away from my favored high tech stocks except for AAPL.

At 10:30 I walked to the bank and made a deposit.

When I returned I worked and cut the two new Mr. Lincoln roses and then I picked a basket full of lettuce from out garden and made a salad by adding, a diced tomato, hard boiled egg, and salami, and sliced red onion plus a chunk of goat’s cheese and pickled cucumbers.. I added Spanish sherry vinegar and olive oil to the existing Dijonnaise dressing and dressed the salad.

I ate it with a glass of water.

I watched the Market close and I was sure my portfolio was down. I confirmed at 5:00 that my portfolio had lost about 1%.

I went the library at 2:30 to pick War of the Newts for book club and The Cambridge illustrated History of Prehistoric Art, which I began reading when Harold and Dendra arrived around 3:30.

We talked until 5:00 and then drove to Padilla’s for dinner Dendra ordered a beef and bean stuffed sopapilla and a taco. I ordered the chili Relleno plate with double beans. Suzette ordered a carne adovado stuffed burrito. Harold ordered a bowl of green chili stew. We all enjoyed our dishes except Harold who found the stew too picante to eat. We shared our meal with him and he was served two sopapillas that helped fill him up.

We then went home and at 7:15 I watched Finding Your Roots.

Then we watched Lawrence and at 9:00 Suzette and Dendra went to sleep.

Harold and I watched Frontline about the takeover of Syria by a former Al Quaeda leader.

Harold went to bed at 10,00 and I blogged this entry and then read my new art book.

Bon Appetit