January 17, 2025 Lunch - Thai Spice. Dinner - Littleneck Clams and Casarecce Pasta in a garlic cream sauce with Spinach

January 17, 2025 Lunch - Thai Spice. Dinner - Littleneck Clams and Casarecce Pasta in a garlic cream sauce with Spinach

Today I introduced Aaron to a new Thai restaurant for him, Thai Spice at 7441 Paseo del Norte.  Although I have not made extensive research of Thai restaurants in Albuquerque, it is my favorite Thai restaurant at the moment.

At 9:00 I ate what has been my favorite French Continental breakfast since I was 14 during my first visit to Paris, a cup of hot chocolate with a chocolate croissant. After breakfast I talked to Surjit about help with an Indian Rupee payment for my PAN card.

Then at 10:30 Aaron called and asked me to go to lunch. I said I would call after my 11:30 appointment.

I called back at 12:45 and met Aaron at Thai Spice at 1:15.

We perused the menu and I decided upon Pad Thai with pork and Aaron ordered Massaman curry with Chicken. The two full orders proved to be almost too much with two bowls of rice.

The Pad Thai was not as sweet or gelatinous as others I have eaten but was delicious with lots of thin slices of pork. The same was true of the   curry, a bowl of liquid combining coconut milk, peanut butter and Thai herbs with lots of onion slices, thin slices of chicken, and potato wedges.

The curry was served with a mound of rice over which one spooned the curry.

We are trying to eat less but Aaron finished the platter of Pad Thai and I slurped the last of the Massaman peanut flavored coconut milk and chicken broth with onion slices, chicken, and peanuts left in the bowl of Massaman curry after we scooped out most of the solids.

It was a wonderful lunch that Aaron enjoyed very much.

After lunch at 2:30 I drove to Bill Turner’s and reviewed a package for a closing and then at 4:00 drove home and helped Suzette file her Water analysis.

Then we relaxed and watched the news and two episodes of a Nicole Kidman series about a murder in high society in Nantucket.

Dinner - At 7:00 we cooked dinner. I chopped 2/3 of a medium shallot and four small cloves of garlic that Suzette then sautéed in butter and then added white wine and water and vegetable broth to to make a poaching medium to steam the 5 lb. of Littleneck clams she bought at Costco today.

As Suzette steamed the clams open in the medium at high heat I destemmed a pile of spinach leaves and Suzette made a roux with flour and butter with a dash of fresh ground nutmeg. After we steamed and opened the clams, Suzette mixed the roux into the medium and added a dash of cream and a dash of Marsala to reduce the saltiness of the clams’ liquid. Then Suzette added the pasta and clams and stirred the sauce to thicken it and then served it over the spinach and a piece of toasted French baguette in a pasta bowl.

The dish was terrific, especially with the 2022 Calstar Russian River Sauvignon Blanc that was slightly citrus but with a lot of fruit. A great bottle of wine with a great dinner.

Suzette’s back started hurt from the session at the gym with her new trainer this morning so she went to bed at 9:00 and I followed about 1/2 hour later to blog while I ate two squares of Trade Joe’s Belgium milk chocolate with a small glass of Maison Serene cognac.

2000 steps and a good day in the market that seems to be up one day and down the next.

Bon Appetit