December 24, 2025, Breakfast - Scone and lemon curd Lunch - Pasta with Pesto and Oysters and tamale. Open House.

December 24, 2025, Breakfast - Scone and lemon curd Lunch - Pasta with Pesto and Oysters and tamale. Open House.

Every year our neighborhood puts out luminarias. There are thousands of them.  This year, as usual, Willy was in charge and Eli helped him set them up and light them.

For breakfast we ate scones baked by the Bistro’s baker smeared with homemade lemon curd and several people ate the beef tamales Jody brought last night.

Starting at 11:00 we started cooking. We combined two recipes to make a bowl of tuna tartare. I followed the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking to make a mayonnaise sauce by creaming three egg yolks with 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1 T. of Dijon mustard and then slowly drizzling in a cup of good olive oil. I added the sauce to 3 T. of capers, 1/2 cucumber diced, then slowly drizzling three egg whites sieved and one medium shallot minced. After mixing some of the sauce with the minced tuna to make the tartare there was tartare sauce left. We decided to play with it. I tried a little soy and mirin, but that did not work. Then I tried lemon juice and sour cream and that worked. We used the sauce as a sauce for the Gravad lax.

Billy went to play pickle ball in the morning 

At noon Suzette made pasta with pesto and fresh oysters that was very similar to the linguine, pesto, and oysters we ate at Belon in Tokyo.

Then Elaine and Suzette chopped beets, butternut squash, onion, and I snapped about 1 lb. of asparagus stalks and cut them into 1 inch lengths. Suzette added cranberries and roasted the vegetables and added the asparagus near the end of the roast to make a roasting pan of roasted vegetables.

Ari and friend arrived from their long drive from Idlewild in the mid afternoon. I missed her name but she stayed for the party before leaving to drive to her relatives in Santa Fe.

Finally, I sliced a side of Gravad lax and Suzette grilled the teriyaki Salmon on water soaked cedar and Elaine and I filled two boards with cheeses and I sliced baguette slices and toasted them in the oven. Then Suzette fetched her fruitcake from the basement and I sliced that and arranged the slices in a circle on a platter. At 5:20 Suzette grilled the teriyaki salmon and filled a serving dish with roasted vegetables on the table. Everything was placed on the table and buffet by 5:40. 

We walked outside to look at the luminarias and I spent a few minutes talking to Kathleen and Travis and met Clint’s wife and learned that Clinton had taken a position at Dartmouth Medical Hospital.

Jody brought another aluminum roasting pan filled with tamales, this batch was fruit filled, pineapple, raisin, strawberries, etc.

Aaron and Monika brought us a bottle of Japanese whiskey, which we will enjoy. Zeenat and Nizar brought a special bottle of wine and Karim brought a tin of cookies. Other gifts accumulated on the counter in the TV room.

Suzette set a bowl of bonito flakes, a bowl with miso, and a bowl with shopped green onion by the electric tea kettle in the kitchen and made hot miso/bonito drinks for the more adventurous guests.

When I returned to the house at 6:00 a flood a visitors began arriving. We had expected 20 to 30 and probably double that number showed up. Marty and Jill were glowing and hugging me. Jane brought two lady friends who I showed the art collection to. Zeenat brought Nizar and Karim came. Mike and Joy came, Cynthia and Ricardo came, Aaron, Monika, and Alex came. Bryce and his folks came toward the end of the evening. Ellie and kids came to see Willy. Bill and Regina and two sons came, Adam David. Jeff and his son came and we discussed the January book club selection with Billy. There were several others I did not meet and several I do not remember, of course.

I tasted all the food and it was excellent. The two ten inch slabs of teriyaki salmon were cooked to perfection and the adjusted tartare sauce we made for the salmon was unique and delicious.

Almost everything put on the table, including the cheeses, was eaten. 

Everyone left by 9:00 and I sat down and watched Hawai’i beat Cal in the last 15 seconds with a back up quarterback in an exciting Hawai’i Bowl.

Then at 10:00 we went to bed.

I went out at 2:30 to enjoy the luminarias without any cars or people. I love the peacefulness surrounded by the beautiful luminarias.

Bon Appetit

 

December 23, 2025 Breakfast - Granola. Snack - Zucchini Chocolate Bread with Lemon Curd. Lunch - Padilla’s. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak, Steamed Broccoli, Potatoes Au Gratin, and Sautéed Mushrooms and Cipollini Onions

December 23, 2025 Breakfast - Granola. Snack - Zucchini Chocolate Bread with Lemon Curd. Lunch - Padilla’s. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak, Steamed Broccoli, Potatoes Au Gratin, and Sautéed Mushrooms and Cipollini Onions

I woke up at 7:15, just in time to watch the market open. It was up and down all morning but gained traction in the afternoon and ended up for the day. My portfolio was up almost 1.3%, so a good day.

At 9:00 I ate a bowl of granola with milk, yogurt, banana, and blueberries.

I was not feeling strong and puttered in the morning until 10:30 when I toasted a slice of Zucchini Chocolate bread and smeared it with the lemon curd we made a few days ago.

I started feeling better and called Walgreens at Rio Grande and Central to see if my FedEx shipment had arrived. It had not, so I wondered if it had been sent to another location and checked the tracking history and discovered that it had been sent to the Walgreens at 2011 12th St. even though it was scheduled to be delivered to the Rio Grande at Central store last night at 6:00.

So I gathered up my door tag and tracking number and drove to the Walgreens at 2011 12th and miraculously, the package was there.

I drove home and put up the bottles of cognac in the shipment, and at 12:30 Elaine called and I drove to the airport to pick up Billy and Elaine.

I drove us to Padilla’s for lunch and just after we ordered, Suzette joined us.

We ate a wonderful meal. I ordered blue corn enchiladas with ground beef, Billy ordered blue corn enchiladas with chicken, Elaine ordered an enchilada, and Suzette ordered a chili Relleno, and a carne adovado enchilada. The sopapillas were really fresh and hot, the best in Albuquerque. We held the sofas until after the meal and only then did we request they be delivered so we were ready to eat them when they were hot out of the fryer.

Padilla’s was a lovely intro to New Mexico. After lunch I drove Billy and Elaine to the Casas de Suenas at the corner of Rio Grande and New York where they are staying and then drove home.

It was 2:45 when I checked my portfolio and a bit after 3:00 I was so stuffed with Mexican food, I felt compelled to walk around the block.  There were several neighbors out walking in the lovely warm afternoon sunshine and several neighbors had their Christmas decorations on display.

At 4:00 I finally lay down to nap but soon Henry arrived with a large platter filled with an assortment of cookies.  

We talked for a while and when he left I finally rested for a few minutes until 5:00 when Elaine arrived. Billy arrived a few minutes later with two boxes of candles given to him by Gayle Doyle, who he stopped to talk to. Those might be just enough to complete a row of luminarias combined with the candles we have.

Thank you Gayle.

At 5:30 Suzette and I started cooking. She sliced some mushrooms and blanched the two bags of cipollini onions. I butterflied the 3 1/2 lb. 4 inch thick Rib steak and Elaine and I peeled the cipollini onions and I cut flowerets off two heads of broccoli and put them in the steamer.

I found the recipe for Potatoes au Gratin in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and picked a copper pan deep enough to hold the slices of the four large white potatoes Suzette sliced in the Cuisinart. I rubbed the pan with a sliced 1/2 clove of garlic and smeared the garlic with butter and the turned it over to Suzette who arranged the slices and added the butter, salt, and white pepper plus 1 1/2 of boiling milk, and a heaping T. of flour and put them in the pan in the oven to cook for one hour.  Suzette also but the butternut squash that will be an ingredient in the roasted vegetables tomorrow in the oven to soften.

Billy and I selected a 2016 Brunello de Montalcino and a bottle of 2020 Smith Haut Lafitte Le Petit Bordeaux, one of mother’s favorite Chateaux. When the potatoes were within 20 minutes of being ready, Suzette put them in the steak on the grill and I started sautéing the mushrooms in a large skillet and the onions in a medium skillet with butter and olive oil. Then when we were ten minutes from ready and Suzette flipped the steak we started steaming the broccoli and Elaine and I went to the garden and picked a small handful of lemon thyme. We removed the leaves and I chopped them and added about 1 T. of chopped thyme and about 3 T. of Amontillado sherry to the mushrooms and lowered the heat to make a light sauce.

When everything was ready I filled a platter with mostly rare slices of steak and Suzette put them in the broccoli in a serving bowl and the mushrooms and onions in another bowl and put the potatoes on a trivet on the table. I thought everything was perfect, but Suzette thought the potatoes were undercooked because the sauce was not fully baked. I liked the softness of the potatoes and their sauce.

Luke’s friend, Billy Joe, joined us for dinner along with Willy, Billy, Elaine, Suzette, Luke, and me.

The Brunello was a much more acidic wine than the Bordeaux. Suzette it was probably intended to be drunk with tomato dishes.

After dinner Willy passed a plate of chocolate candies around the table.

Then Suzette went to the basement and fetched a loaf of the tropical fruit fruitcake she made and served each of us a piece.  Billy Joe liked it so Suzette cut him a large chunk of the loaf to take home.

Billy said it was a really good meal and Billy Joe said coming to our house was like stepping into another dimension.

I guess everyone enjoyed the meal.

At 8:30 everyone left a except Willy, who went to his room to work.

Suzette and I watched a Christmas movie on Netflix that I mostly slept through, but she enjoyed.

We went to bed at 10:30 but I got up at 11:00 to blog this entry and drink several cups of chai to try to digest the heavy dinner.

We had done it again, put together a remarkable dinner timed to perfection.

Bon Appetit

December 22, 2025 Breakfast - Fried Sausage, Onion, and eggs Lunch - Chicken Curry with Dinner - Imam Bayildi with rice

December 22, 2025 Breakfast - Fried Sausage, Onion, and eggs Lunch - Chicken Curry with Dinner - Imam Bayildi with rice

I woke up at 4:00 and finished the blog entry. Then went back to bed until 7:00 when I showered and dressed.

I watched some discussions on Squawk about the bidding war between Paramount, controlled by the Ellisons, and Netflix to purchase Warner Brothers Discovery. I own shares of WBD, so it is especially interesting to me.

At 8:30 I made breakfast. I sautéed a sausage patty and a slice of yellow onion and then added an egg combined with the leftover egg whites from our cooking yesterday that resulted in a large plate of food that energized me to work with Frank and Bakhtar for three hours n a lease.

Then at 12:00 I walked to the bank and back. When I returned I heated a bowl of rice and chicken curry and watched the Fulham v. Forest fixture for 45 minutes until Suzette arrived and we drove to Costco and shopped for a few items for Christmas Eve.

We then drove to Smith’s on Constitution where we bought a Humboldt Blue, salmon, tuna, Grey Poupon mustard, orange jelly covered with chocolate, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Jelly jar lids for the lemon curd.

Walking to the bank and back, and through Costco and Smiths helped me accumulate 6000 steps today.

We then drove home and I checked my portfolio that has risen .5% today and then took a nap from 4:40 to 5:30. 

Suzette had gone to the kitchen and started making Imam Baylildi, which was the dish she ordered at a Istanbul Restaurant in Honolulu. It involved caramelizing thinly sliced tomatoes and onions and then making a thick sauce to cover a seared eggplant half and bake until tender.

Here is the recipe:

Willy joined us for dinner when Suzette served each roasted eggplant half on a bed of PPI green rice.

I opened the bottle of 2020 Bolla Valpolicello that had been given to us. The soft tannins complemented the soft creamy texture of the Imam.

I loved the sauce because it was essentially was made by slowly sautéing onions, tomatoes, and herbs and spices. It had a very warm comforting flavor that went really well with the soft creamy roasted eggplant.

This is a fabulous addition to our recipes we cook regularly and is now among my favorite vegetarian eggplant dishes.

After dinner watched the roadshow and then watched the 49’s beat the Colts. The 49’s look like a complete football team that could go all the way this year.

I went to bed around 10:30.

Bon Appetit