March 8, 2025 Breakfast - Chocolate Croissant and latte. Lunch - Bahn Platter at Viet Pho snack - Lebanon Bologna and cheddar cheese sandwiches. Dinner - Smoked Trout With Grilled Asparagus and Polenta
It was a good day. I slept until 7:30 and then watched an exciting finish to the PL match between Brighton and Fulham in which Brighton beat Fulham with a penalty kick in the last few seconds of extra time.
Then I helped Suzette cover 1/2 of a raised bed and trim two fruit trees.
Then at 11:30 we drove to Restore It where Suzette found two doors and I read in the car.
We then drove down Menaul to Viet Pho for lunch and shared a patted rice vermicelli platter. It had an amazing assortment of meats, grilled pork fried chicken, and grilled sausage and shrimp and. most unusually, instead of lots of cut up squares of patted rice the meats and pickled vegetables were served on a large round pancake of patted rice sprinkled with bits of fried onion and peanuts and sautéed green onion. We ordered two extra plates of lettuce leaves and had fun rolling lettuce wraps, dipping them in fish sauce and trying to eat them without having sauce run down our arms or shirt.
After lunch we drove to Smith’s at Constitution and Carlisle here wer bought three fresh trout, an Aji tuna steak, a salmon steak and a lb. of sea scallops, and Mayo.
We then drove to Talin, where Suzette bought Spanish Lima beans, dill, tarragon, and we bought hoisin sauce, and shallots.
We then drove home and rested until 5:00.
We had invited Melissa and Ruth for dinner. We discovered we had no butter and called them at 5:30 to please bring butter. They also brought asparagus and baby tomatoes.
Dinner - the menu was simple, grilled trout and asparagus with a hollandaise sauce and polenta that Mellisa brought.
I cut the heads and tails off the three trout and minced two T. of fresh dill for the hollandaise sauce. Then at 5:45 Suzette put the trout on the propane grill and I broke three eggs, and put 1/4 tsp. of salt and a dash of white pepper in the Cuisinart. Then Melissa and Ruth arrived with asparagus and a large glass baking dish of polenta. It was great to see them. Melissa has lost a lot of weight and looked good, perhaps because she had retired from writing Hallmark shows.
Suzette coated the asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper.
The polenta was flavored with green chili on half and parsley on the other and Parmesan cheese throughout.
We put the polenta into the oven for twenty minutes which was how long the fish had to cook.
With ten minutes to go I started the hollandaise by adding the egg yolks and dill and began adding 4 oz. of hot melted butter to the Cuisinart.
When all the butter was added the hollandaise did not thicken, so I poured the hollandaise into a small enameled sauce pan and put it on low heat on the small burner of the stove and added a T. of butter and with the added heat the sauce thickened quickly.
When Suzette brought the trout and asparagus in from the grill, I deboned two trout and Suzette and Ruth plated polenta and asparagus and I added a trout filet to each plate. Melissa spooned sauce onto each trout filet and asparagus.
We drank Juve’ and Campo Cava.
It was a lovely dinner and we talked about what is being done to oppose Trump and a few other less pressing topics.
After dinner I served a sip of limoncello and then a single strawberry for dessert.
They left at 9:00 and we watched Bill Maher and then Suzette went to bed at 10:00 and I stayed up to watch “Have I got news for you” again, Stevie Ray Vaughan at El Mocambo, and then the beginning of SNL and went to bed at 12:30.
I had never made hollandaise with fresh dill and it was quite nice with some dill, although I reduced the lemon to 1 T. from 2 T. to reduce the citrus bite and that worked rather well.
We have a lot of trout left for salads and omelets and Melissa left some polenta.
Later I ate the last piece of strawberry shortcake doused with cognac with a cup of tea.
Bon Appetit
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