December 26, 2025 Breakfast - 2 fruit tamales Lunch - Romanian Christmas Dinner

December 26, 2025 Breakfast - 2 fruit tamales Lunch - Romanian Christmas Dinner

I woke up at 7:00 and watched Squawk on the Street and the open.

Nividia was up over $3.00 early, but as the day progressed the averages went negative and Nividia closed up $1.90 that produced a small gain in my portfolio.

What went crazy were gold and silver. Gold gained over $50.00 per oz. to $4550 per oz. and silver went up over 11% to $79.68 per ounce.

Platinum went up even more, rising 11.5% ($260.70) to $2534.70 per ounce.

The precious metals are on fire.

I ate two of the fruit tamales Jody and Loyda brought us with a fried egg and a cup of tea for breakfast.

I then helped Suzette add olive oil and lemon juice to the whisked meat of the two eggplants she roasted on the grill to make an eggplant salad for the Romanian dinner we would attend at Aaron and Monika’s house at 3:00.

I tried to save my appetite after breakfast by not eating a heavy meal, although I ate a couple of Christmas cookies with tea and Suzette made me a snack of baguette rounds garnished with slices of avocado and hard boiled egg around noon.

I also rode my new recumbent bike around the neighborhood.

Then at 2:40 Billy, Elaine, Suzette, and I took a slab of Gravad lax and the eggplant salad and drove to their new house in Tanoan.

When we arrived we were introduced to their Romanian friends, Jan and Emilia and Mina (who we met last year. 

Aaron did much of the cooking this year. He grilled pork chops marinated in olive oil and rosemary and some amazing pork sausages made by kneading ground pork shoulder in the Kitchen Aid until smooth and then adding whole peppercorns..

He also made the cabbage rolls baked slowly in a large  casserole with strips of bacon and sauerkraut. The cabbage leaves had been tenderized by cooking them in the liquid that gathers in sauerkraut. The stuffing was very tender pork also.

Jan made my favorite dish, perhaps because it was so unusual, a meat and vegetable salad in slightly acidic mayonnaise and decorated with a lovely flower arrangement made with vegetables.  There was another salad made by Mina that was also amazing.  It was eggs stuffed with chicken livers in mayonnaise and also decorated. 

Soon after we arrived Aaron grilled the marinated pork chops and then grilled the hand rolled pork sausages.

When the sausages finished grilling we started eating the food.

I tried one or two of everything except the cheese and chili pepper phylo wrap, which I had last year, made by Mina.

I discovered something interesting. Total Wine now sells Romanian wine. I enjoyed glasses of a dry Muscat. After the meal Monika gave us a bottle of white and red Romanian wine as a Christmas gift.

It was a great meal.

After we all finished the meal and rested for a few minutes before dessert. There were two cakes, a store bought German stollen and a Romanian coffee cake with a few raisins and a thin ribbon of chocolate at the top.

They were both good but we were full and I did not get excited about either.

We packed take-out boxes with the wonderful foods, so Willy could try them and left around 5:00.

It was a memorable dinner.

When we arrived home we sat and talked until around 6:15 when Billy and Elaine left.

I then watched a minor bowl game between Florida International U. And UT San Antonio until UT SA went ahead over 20 points because it was a scrappy exciting game tied at 14 points for a while.

Also UNM played Minnesota to a tie in regulation in its bowl game but lost in overtime.

I went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 1:00 when I finished this blog entry.

Bon Appetit