July 2, 2016 Lunch – Chicken, Green Chili, mushroom, and cheese Quesadilla. Dinner – grilled Lobster Tail, Sweet potato, and Zucchini.
I ate granola with tropical fruit salad and yogurt for breakfast and because I had ridden ten miles to MoNtano and back, an extra piece of bread spread with blended peanut butter and honey. This was the first day of the Tour De France so I watched the stage until 10:00 and enjoyed seeing Mark Cavendish pop out from the finishing sprinters to take the win and wear the yellow jersey.
We worked on the yard today with Mario’s help. I cut unwanted elm and Mulberry trees. While Suzette and Mario filled and dug holes for tiki torches.
Finally, around 1:00 we stopped. Suzette was famished and noticeably cross. She said, “I need to eat. I started making a chicken sandwich with the PPI sliced chicken from Tuesday night’s dinner, when I spotted the two quesadillas Cynthia had given us last Saturday after the tapas party and checked them for mold. They looked alright and asked Suzette if she wanted a quesadilla and she said, “Yes.”
So I lay pieces of sliced chicken inside with the cheese, mushroom, and green chile and Suzette Sautéed the quesadillas in olive oil until they were golden brown and the ingredients hot.
We ate the quesadillas with bottles on Negra Modelo for a filling and delicious lunch. Apparently Cynthia had found fresh made flour tortillas that were fluffy.
We had bought three Canadian lobster tails at Costco on Friday. I looked at a recipe for Lobster with Asparagus in a butter and tarragon/shallot sauce in The Kitchen of Light cookbook, but Suzette wanted to grill the lobster with sweet potato and zucchini slices. I went to Lowe’s and bought two sweet potatoes in the afternoon.
I had ridden 10 miles in the morning, so I became hungry at 5:30 and heated a can of ready to eat Progresso Clam Chowder with a bit of milk and a dash of marjoram and cayenne.
Suzette and Willy went shopping for furniture after lunch and did not arrive home until about 7:00.
We decided to do a grilled dinner. I split the lobster tails open and made the tarragon/ shallot butter sauce with 1 tsp. of tarragon, 1 medium shallot, ½ tsp. Of minced garlic, about 8 oz. of butter and about 1 T. of lemon, plus a dash of salt and white pepper. Suzette used the sauce to baste the lobster tails. I sliced two zucchinis into halves and then thirds and peeled and sliced 1 medium sweet potato into ½ inch slices. Suzette then put the vegetables into a bag with salt, pepper, and olive oil, coated them and then put them on the grill with the lobster. She grilled the vegetables and lobster perfectly. Suzette asked, “do you think I cooked the lobster enough?” Which told me she did. I answered, if they have turned firm and the meat has become white, they are done. Also, lobster in its shell, like chops, will continue to cook after they are removed from the grill.
While Suzette grilled I added about another 6 oz. of butter to the sauce, but failed to skim the frothy white part, so it never became drawn butter.
I had picked up the last shipment of six bottles from Wellington Vineyards from the Palmer's house in the afternoon and chilled the 2013 Marsanne for this special dinner.
I poured chilled glasses of Marsanne. Willy joined us for dinner. Everyone enjoyed the wine. This was one of the first times I had seen Willy enjoy wine and drink two glasses. The wine was fabulous. Full bodied and yet floral; perfect with the rich buttery lobster.
We agreed that the price of $19.95/lb. for the Seafood Fiesta fresh Lobster tails was a good value, because we all had one tail each, which was a good portion.
Bon Appetit
