August 23, 2026 Breakfast - Pain au Chocolate Brunch - Bacon, mushroom, chard, and Swiss Gruyere cheese omelet with Croissants Dinner - Butter Chicken Ratatouille Saag with Pita
Today was a restful day for me.
I awakened at 4:30 and finished the book discussion notes and grades for Sense and Sensibility and then slept from 6:00 until 8:30.
Then I watched the news and the highlights of the first 2 stages of the Vuelta de Espana and ate a pain au chocolate with a cup of chai with collagen.
I then began the prep of brunch. Monica returned from Romania and we invited her and Aaron for brunch at 11:30.
I minced four shallots, a. pimiento pepper from our garden, about two cups of portobello mushrooms and three fresh shiitake mushrooms.
I also chopped five slices of thick cut bacon into 1/4 inch strips that I fried into lardettes.
At 10:30 Suzette returned from Los Lunas with a bag of freshly picked chard. She sliced the leaves from the stems for a handful and I chopped the pile of leaves into bite sized pieces.
Suzette had cleaned two window air conditioners at the Center, so she showered and dressed and then set the table.
Aaron and Monica came at 11:30 with croissants, strawberry eclairs, and Danish pastries from Whole Foods.
We served coffee to them and I grated 1 1/2 cups of Swiss Gruyere cheese.
Suzette and Monica took over kitchen duties and heated the croissants in the oven and cooked the shallots and pepper in butter and olive oil and then added the mushrooms, chard, and bacon, and finally four whisked eggs. Then they sprinkled grated Gruyere over the surface and covered the skillet and let the omelet cook without turning it.
Suzette cut a bunch of red grapes into small bundles and cut the omelet into 4 quarters and placed a quarter on each plate with a bundle of grapes and a toasted croissant.
I fetched the bottles of cherry preserves and the homemade quince, peach, and fig compote and poured glasses of Archer Summit Vireton Pinot Gris for Suzette and Monica. Aaron and I drank water.
We enjoyed the meal and talked of travel.
After thre meal we served cordial glasses of Canadian Rief Vidal Blanc Icewine for dessert.
I then lay down and watched Barcelona destroy Eche in a La Liga match and Suzette worked at her desk.
At 5:00 Willy called and we set 6:00 as the time to come for dinner.
I then boned and diced the meat from the three chicken thighs Suzette cooked last Thursday, We decided to cook the chicken in the leftover Ratatouille with spinach for an easy one pot dinner, which turned out to be the perfect menu idea because when Willy came he brought a bottle of Butter Masala. I thinly sliced a zucchini and we added that and 4 T. of Butter Masala paste to the ratatouille and cooked it for 30 minutes and then added the bunch of spinach I had chopped into bite sized pieces. The end result was a very pleasant tasting butter chicken combined with a mixed vegetable saag.
We did not have naan, so we sliced and toasted pita halves. The warm pita were really delicious with the richly flavored chicken and vegetable stew.
We drank glasses of the Vireton Pinot Gris that was really pleasant with the rich Indian stew because it had a fruity slightly sweet flavor.
After dinner we looked in the box of pastries Aaron and Monica brought and found the three small strawberry eclairs. Suzette cut each of them into thirds and we ate them for dessert.
I drank another cup of chai with collagen with dessert. Willy brewed a cup of Kushmi herbal tea and Suzette drank a sip of cognac.
Willy described his 7 hour ordeal to fix the ball joints on his car and he decided to call Jody to make the final adjustments.
Willy also reported that Luke was loving his job and was thrilled because he had his own office, which made us all exceedingly happy.
Willy left at 8:30 and we put the leftover chicken saag into a container in the fridge and went to bed at 9:30.
Bon Appetit
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