April 6, 2026 Breakfast - Granola and Tropical Fruit Salad. Snack - Pain au chocolate. Lunch - Bagel with Gravad lax. Dinner - Eggplant Parmigiana and Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce

April 6, 2026 Breakfast - Granola and Tropical Fruit Salad. Snack - Pain au chocolate. Lunch - Bagel with Gravad lax. Dinner - Eggplant Parmigiana and Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce

I awakened at 6:30 and watched news until 7:45. The market was up today again, as if the War in Iran and closing the Strait of Hormuz were not imminent threats to the world economy.

I filed a bowl of granola, milk, tropical fruit salad and yogurt and worked at my desk but not on either taxes or pleadings. Actually at 10:30 Luke and I made Gravad lax using fennel fronds we picked in the garden instead of dill weed and orange zest instead of ground black pepper and adjusted the sugar to salt to a  ratio to 50/50 to reduce the saltiness.

               The 50/50 mixture of sugar and salt to dust each side of the filets

                          Layering fennel between and on the two filets 

Then we toasted and smeared cream cheese on four slices of bagel and garnished them with thin slices of red onion and the last of the old Gravad lax.

I packed two bagel sandwiches for lunch at dialysis with a bag of red grapes and drove to dialysis at noon and Luke ate his two for lunch.

Amazingly, I was not put on a machine again today, which will make a week off the machine by Wednesday. Instead the nurse cleaned my port and took blood samples for lab tests of my creatine level and other markers.

Around 1:30 I drove to Lowe’s on the way home and purchased two containers of spaghetti sauce, a bunch of spinach, two eggplants and a pound of ground beef.

When I returned home Luke and I walked the two blocks to Southwest Capitol Bank and back home.  This was my first serious walk after discharge and it felt okay.

Then at 4:00 I began making the Bolognese sauce. I minced five or six cloves of garlic, diced an onion, three mushrooms, 3/4 lb. of 81% lean ground beef, and two vine ripened tomatoes and sautéed those ingredients with some olive oil in a large casserole.

Then Suzette added three cans of diced organic Costco tomatoes and I added a cup of water and we cooked the sauce for two hours while we prepared the rest of the meal. 

I sliced the two eggplants into 2/3 inch thick slices and Suzette brushed them with olive oil and grilled them on the propane grill outside. We then arranged the slices in two rows in a 10 x 18 inch Pyrex cooking dish with slices of fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf between them and then covered the two rows with the Bolognese sauce and baked them for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

While the eggplant dish cooked Suzette boiled a lb. of spaghetti. Everything was ready when the boys arrived from their workout at the gym at 7:00.

I opened a bottle of 2022 Kirkland Chianti Classico Reserva DOCC that is a solid Chianti for under $10.00 at Costco and poured half glasses for each.

Suzette rinsed the spaghetti and we put the Eggplant dish on the stove beside the remaining casserole of Bolognese sauce and each person filled their pasta bowl with spaghetti, eggplant slices and sauce and garnished theI bowl with Parmesan cheese I had grated.

We enjoyed being together and sharing an excellent meal as a family.

Luke was very clever and arranged for his car to be delivered to him at the house instead of being driven to L.A. because he will not be in LA. to pick it up and so he can drive to Idlewild and spend a couple of days with Ari, because his tenancy in L.A. does not begin until April 10. Driving to California will also allow Luke to pack many of the books and clothes stored at the house that he wants to have in L.A.

I ate a couple of bites of cobbler for dessert and said goodnight and went to bed at 9:00 after I turned the Gravad lax that will be ready at 7:00 a.m. 

Bon Appetit