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