September 8, 2025 Breakfast - Bagels and lax. Lunch - Coda Bakery. Dinner - Roast Duck with Red Cabbage, Onion, and Sweet Peppers

September 8, 2025 Breakfast - Bagels and lax. Lunch - Coda Bakery. Dinner - Roast Duck with Red Cabbage, Onion, and Sweet Peppers

This was a very pleasant day. We slept in TR and Linda’s casita last night and this morning around 8:00 we took over the bagels, Gravad  Lax, cream cheese, and red onion over to share breakfast with them TR already had toasted a slice of bread and buttered it with Kerry Gold butter and French Bonne Marie blueberry preserves, but Suzette and Linda wanted a thin slice of bagel. I sliced a 1/2 slice of bagel in half and toasted 1/4 slice for each of them. Then I toasted two half slices of bagel for me. I spreadceach slice with cream cheese and cur about eight slices of Gravad lax and several slices of red onion.

Each of us garnished our slice with Gravad lax and capers and Linda made coffee for us and we had a pleasant breakfast and conversation.

We left around 9:30 and drove to Savers, which is a glorified Goodwill where Suzette found some interesting gold colored tile for the top of the bar in the basement and 22 Christmas plates.

We then drove to Restore It and checked their stuff but found nothing of interest, so at around 10:30 we drove back to Albuquerque.

It was a pleasure driving Suzette’s BMW sports car because it went 90 mph without any discomfort. I drove Suzette’s BMW sports to Encompass to meet with Peter and I drove to Shahin’s office, where I took care of three business matters in about an hour.

I then picked up Suzette and we drove to Coda Bakery at the corner of San Pedro and Central. It was her first time and she ordered Spring rolls with pork and a Bun Rice Noodle bowl for us to split. We split one of the two spring rolls and ate about 1/2 of the noodle bowl so we have enough for another meal for $27.00. We were impressed by the atmosphere, the quality and quantity of the food and the prices. Coda will probably become one of our regular destinations for Vietnamese food.

                                     The leftovers from lunch

We then drove home. Suzette worked during the afternoon and I rested and dread my new book club book.

Dinner - Then at 5:00 I got up and we discussed dinner. I requested roast duck and Suzette suggested red cabbage.

So I sliced thin strips of 3/4 of a head of red cabbage, 1/2 of a small red onion, a Criolla Pepper  and two yellow sweet peppers we bought at the farmers’ market last week.

Suzette sautéed the ingredients in a large casserole with butter and olive oil, salt, and a tsp. of salt and two tsp. of ground cumin.

She thawed the 1/2 duck in the microwave and the roasted it in the oven to heat and crisp the skin.

I opened a bottle of Chateau Guy D’Amour 2021 Cotes du Bourg because it was 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc, a nice Bordeaux red blend I had bought at Costco for around $10.00.

This was a great meal without a lot of effort. The duck skin was crisp and the camino-flavored red cabbage with onion and peppers quite delightful.

The wine was very pleasant and worthy of the 91 rating given to it by Wine Enthusiast.

After dinner we watched Antiques Roadshow with a sip of Kelt Cognac for Suzette and a sip of Calvados with a cup of tea and a square of milk chocolate for me until 9:00 when Suzette went to bed and I blogged.

Bon Appetit