February 5, 2025 Lunch - Pho Man. Dinner - Chicken cassoulet with Steamed Asparagus

February 5, 2025 Lunch - Pho Man. Dinner - Chicken cassoulet with Steamed Asparagus 

I ate a chocolate croissant with a cup of green tea as I met with a client at 9:00.

Then at 9:55 I left to pick up Mike at Women’s Hospital to take him home.  We stopped on the way to pick up his pain meds at CVS. I left his house at 10:36 and was early for my dental appointment at 11:00.

After the teeth cleaning I drove to Al Qud’s Market st the north east corner of Montgomery and San Pedro and bought creamy feta and six pitas. I noticed a Vietnamese restaurant across the street named Pho Man that claimed to be a  Vietnamese Grill.  Since the market was up I decided to try it.

I ordered Bun with pork and asked for and received a plate of cilantro and basil.

Pho Man does take a more meat centric view of Vietnamese food. There were lots of strips of grilled pork on a bed of chopped lettuce and fewer noodles and bean sprouts in the medium sized bowl than other restaurants. The fish sauce was excellent and i was asked when I ordered if I wanted peanuts and when I said yes I was not charged extra. It was more like a grilled pork salad with a light slightly sweet dressing with some noodles, bean sprouts, and a pile of pickled vegetables and garnished with chopped peanuts and a small black boat filled with sauce. I found it immensely refreshing.

There was a TV screen that appeared to play Dishes, Dinners, and Dives continuously that was fascinating also. It seemed to me to be very warming to be immersed in the creation and consumption of food as one ate. It was like having a buddy at your table that talked to you about all these interesting diners while you ate, which completely relieved any boredom or feelings of being alone for me. I found it to be psychologically very soothing and a brilliant touch in the small intimate restaurant.  I will return and now count it as a favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

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After lunch at 1:00 I drove to Costco and bought duck, lamb shanks in a pomegranate sauce, and fresh large heads on shrimp and two bottles of green Chile and gassed up the Prius. 

I then drove home, arriving at 2:00.

I checked the market results and was up big with Nvidia leading the way, My portfolio was up 1.9%, regaining 38% of the portfolio’s loss since its January 26th high in the last two days. Both the decline and the recent moves have been mainly driven by the price of Nvidia. Everyone seems to have finally realized that Nvidia’s chips are pushing the AI wave of the information revolution we are now riding.

Dinner - Suzette was a home today to do her podcast and spent a long time cooking cassoulet for dinner.  She confided the cubed chicken thighs in a mixture of canola and olive oil. She cubed and sautéed smoked pork cutlets to make lardons. She cubed and tossed French bread in salt and olive oil to make croutons. She cooked the white beans with onion and carrots until they were soft. At 7:00 after the beans had cooked about 3 1/2 hours, we ate.  Suzette steamed six stalks of asparagus in the microwave in a freezer bag with some water for a couple of minutes.

Then she plated a pile of beans and garnished them with chicken confit, pork lardons, and croutons. That is the dish she wishes to serve at the restaurant.

We then added the asparagus, which I think added color and a green vegetable that enhanced the overall dish.

We split the last glass of Colome 2024 Estate Torrontes that was a wonderful pairing with the bean stew in its light sauce.

After dinner we teleconferenced with Billy to plan the Argentina trip and watched a PBS Nova episode on how birds are one of the two living survivors of the 66 million year old extinction of the dinosaurs with small mammals from which humans evolved.

The show examined the fossil evidence that proved there were birds that were warm blooded, had clasping claws, and had feathers in existence over 100 million years ago.

We went to bed after a full day at 9:00.

Suzette did another podcast today. The subject was caring and how all of us are care givers at some point in our lives.  Her conclusion was that we are care givers from the time we are born. It is in our DNA as humans as it is for all mammals.

Bon Appetit