January 7, 2022 Lunch - charcuterie salad. Dinner - Poached Salmon, Catalan Spinach, and tomato couscous

January 7, 2022 Lunch - charcuterie salad. Dinner - Poached Salmon, Catalan Spinach, and tomato couscous 

I toasted three slices of baguette and spread blackberry jelly on them and garnished them with slices of Gouda cheese and made a cup of Earl Grey tea for breakfast.

I had a crisis phone call with a client with whom I counseled and then got to the task of filing a lawsuit for another client.

I took a break for lunch and made a salad with 1/2 of a head of romaine, slices of red onion and radishes, diced a tomato and cut several cherry tomatoes in half and diced two slices of ham and three slices of salami and dressed the salad with the eternal Caesar salad dressing.

After lunch I lay down and napped until 3:00.

Then I returned to my office and saw that my filing had been rejected for lack of an arbitration certificate which is a required document.  I prepared the certificate and signed it and scanned it and resubmitted my envelope with the added certificate as Suzette was arriving and suggesting we go to Costco.

We drove to Costco around 3:30 and bought some basics like laundry soap, Bounce sheets, a new 94 point rated Sauvignon Blanc, a new 93 point rated Rioja, a bottle of Kirkland brand scotch, and a bottle of Vodka.

When we returned at 5:00 Todd was still studying.  When he finished at 5:30 we began cooking dinner.  

Dinner

The menu was poached salmon, Catalan Spinach, and Tomato Couscous.

Suzette cooked the spinach and salmon with Todd’s help while I prepped the shallot and garlic for the salmon and onion for the couscous and Todd cut the handful of cherry tomatoes in halves for the couscous.

I fetched a bottle of Pinot Grigio for the poaching medium and heated water for the couscous. Suzette fetched raisins, pinon nuts, and I cored, peeled, and diced a Fuji apple for the spinach.  Suzette rehydrated 1/2 cup of raisins in hot water and destemmed and rinsed about 1/2 bunch of spinach to complete the prep stage.

The Poached Salmon Suzette sautéed the minced shallot and garlic in a deep skillet in 3 T. of melted butter until softened and then added water and white wine to make a poaching medium.  Then she added the salmon fillet and covered the skillet with the wok cover to poach the salmon.

The Couscous 

In a two quart sauce pan I melted two T. of butter and sautéed three oz. of minced yellow onion and a clove of minced garlic.  When that had softened and began to turn translucent I added the cherry tomato halves and cooked them for a couple of minutes.  Then I added a cup of couscous and mixed and coked all the ingredients for a couple more minutes while the water was heating to a boil.  I then added 1 2/3 cup of boiling water and covered the pot to create as much steam as possible. After another minute I turned the heat down to the lowest temp and cooked the couscous for a few minutes so it would absorb all the liquid.  I then opened the lid and fluffed the couscous to loosen it.  I then covered the pan and turned the heat up a bit to create steam again and then turned off the heat to let the couscous stand.

Catalan Spinach 

Since the spinach is the most delicate dish Suzette started it after the salmon was poached and I was finishing the couscous.  She sautéed minced shallot and garlic in olive oil and added a handful of pinon nuts and the 1/4 cup of the rehydrated raisins and then after the pinon and shallot started the brown she added the destemmed spinach and sautéed the dish for another minute or two until the spinach began to wilt and the dish was ready.

I poured glasses of the Pinot Grigio and Todd filled a glass with water and Suzette plated dinner in pasta bowls.  She first spooned a pile of couscous into the side of the bowl and then lay 1/3 of the poached salmon on each pile and then spooned the Catalan spinach beside the pile of couscous.  It was a lovely dish of food.  I fetched a pitcher and she poured the remaining poaching medium into the picture and that became our sauce to season and moisten the salmon.

I really liked this preparation of salmon better than our usual cream sauce prep.  I could taste the salmon flavor more directly rather than have it obscured by a heavy floury cream sauce.  I can hardly wait until Summer when we can add fresh herbs to the poaching medium to enhance the flavor of the sauce to see if that enhances the flavor of the salmon.  Suzette often says less is more and tonight’s salmon dish proved that.

The couscous and spinach dishes were much busier with complex mixtures of flavors.  The couscous was a little wet because I added 1 2/3 cup of water instead of 1 1/2 cup of water to 1 cup of dry couscous.  I prefer it wetter because it continues to cook after the initial serving and will not dry out in the pan and stick to the pan if there is a bit more liquid in the pan.

Todd liked the spinach and added some more fresh spinach to his serving.

I liked the sauce and added it to the salmon and couscous as I cut the salmon into pieces. I was amazed that the salmon and couscous fully absorbed the generous addition of sauce.

It was a successful meal.  There was a fair amount of couscous left so I put the covered pan in the fridge.

After dinner we watched some news and I ate pistachios for dessert and drank a cup of Earl Grey tea.  

Suzette went to bed at 9:00.  Suzette gets tired earlier than I do because she does not take an afternoon nap. She often falls asleep in her chair in front of the TV.

Todd went for another run after dinner and returned at 9:30 as I was downloading my accepted filing of the lawsuit.  Hooray.

Today the market languished most of the day.  My portfolio was down another .4% for a total reduction of about 7% from its high about a month ago.  

I made several investment mistakes that amplified the reduction but hopefully learned my lesson and will let my bets ride in the future as long as the economy is still moving along and seems to be absorbing the interest rate increases and asset sales by the fed.

When Todd returned at 9:30 I went to bed and read until 10:00.

As I write this blog at 4:00 a.m. I feel better after a more moderate day of cleaner, lighter food.

Bon Appetit

January 6, 2022 Lunch - 12 Potstickers, seaweed salad, and radishes. Dinner - PPI Bobby Flay Chicken, rice, and Calabacitas. And sweet potato chips

January 6, 2022  Lunch - 12 Potstickers, seaweed salad, and radishes. Dinner - PPI Bobby Flay Chicken, rice, and Calabacitas. And sweet potato chips

I ate a toasted bagel spread with cream cheese and garnished with slices of red onion and Gravad lax and capers.

I ate lunch at 1:00 I sautéed 12 potstickers in 2 T. of canola oil. I also ate some seaweed salad and a couple of radishes each sliced into four slices and took a salmon filet out o& the freezer to thaw..

After lunch I checked my portfolio and suffered another loss of approximately .4%.

I am all in except for 2% in cash.  

I napped for an hour and then took a 2/3 mile walk at 3:30.

Suzette came home at 4:30 and we watched the news. 

We decided to eat the leftover chicken and Calabacitas and save the salmon for dinner tomorrow night.  Suzette sautéed the baked sweet potato to make fried sweet potato slices and I ate rice with my dinner.  I opened a bottle of 2019 Chenin Blanc we had bought at Total Wine for 30% off.  Suzette loves Chenin Blanc because of its fruitiness which is why I selected it tonight to complement the spiciness of the chicken.

After dinner it was cognac mixed with Grand Marnier for me with two chocolate chip cookies and cognac for Suzette.

Later I ate a Belgium chocolate with a sniffer of Calvados and a cup of tea.

At 9:00 we went to bed.

Bon Appetit

January 5, 2022 Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos with Sausage. Lunch - Posole with a tamale. Dinner - French Onion Soup

January 5, 2022 Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos with Sausage.  Lunch - Posole with a tamale.  Dinner - French Onion Soup

The best meal of the day was breakfast.  We made breakfast burritos with diced onion, potato, and pork sausage, and eggs sautéed and then rolled into a large flour tortilla.

We bought large burrito sized tortillas that filled the plate and held a generous serving of food. It was a great meal.

Suzette drank Clamato juice and I drank a cup of green tea.

I checked the market at 2:00 and experienced my worst day ever, a drop of almost 3%, due in large measure to the hawkish notes published by the fed.  I kicked myself for putting my position in Nvidia and Apple on two days before this huge drop.

We ate lunch after 2:00. I ate ate some PPI Posole with one of the tamales Loyda and Jody made and gave us. Suzette ate the container of PPI turmeric rice and her artichoke tapa.

I meditated from 5:30 to 6:00.

We were not hungry but when Willy called and said he needed to do some laundry and then go to Trader Joe’s after 6:00 I invited him over for a bowl of French Onion Soup.

I fetched three onion soup bowls, heated the soup on the stove, pre-heated the stove to 350 degrees, toasted and buttered slices of baguette, and sliced slices of Gouda cheese.

When Willy arrived and the soup came to a boil Suzette filled the bowls it’s soup placed the bread croutons on the top of the soup and than covered the bread slices with slices of cheese.  She then placed the bowls in the oven to melt the cheese and then served them.  

We opened a bottle of Malbec and enjoyed it with the soup.

After we ate Willy and I went to Trader Joe’s and I bought 12 bottles of wine, a bottle of cognac for Suzette, a wedge of Iberico cheese and 9 lb.  bars of chocolate for Suzette’s baker at the Center.

When we returned home at 8:30 I watched the news until 11:00 and went to bed.

Bon Appetit 

January 4, 2022 Lunch - Fried Potstickers. Dinner - Spice rubbed Bobby Flay Chicken with Calabacitas

January 4, 2022  Lunch - Fried Potstickers. Dinner - Spice rubbed Bobby Flay Chicken with Calabacitas

Today was a good food day.  I drank a cup of hot chocolate for breakfast and then sold my Moderna stock and purchased 600 shares of Nvidia and 2000 shares of Apple.  I am comfortable with my current positions, except if Apple falls further I will repurchase the other 2000/shares I sold.

I lost a lot of money due to selling at the low and hope that the market keeps going up from here.

At noon I cut a cryovac section of six chicken thighs from the six section pack in the freezer and took it inside to thaw.  I noticed the bag of dumplings and decided to make fried potstickers for lunch.  I put 2 T. of canola oil in a non-stick skillet then placed 12 potstickers comfortably in the skillet and sautéed them on all three sides until they turned golden brown.  

I made a dipping sauce of garlic chili sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce plus a chopped green onion.

The potstickers were hot and delicious, especially when cut in half and each half filled with a small spoonful of the dipping sauce.  I drank cups of green tea with the potstickers.

I watched the market close and it was down. I lost about .5% today as the Dow went up and the NASDAQ went down.

I dozed off around 2:30 and awakened around 3:30.  I showered and dressed and at 4:30 walked to Kit Carson Park and back.  

When I returned at 5:00 Suzette had arrived.  I wanted to go to Smith’s to buy groceries because this was the last day for three specials on salmon, blueberries, and Dos Equis beer. Suzette said she would join me.

We found most of the things we wanted, milk, green beans, broccoli, eggs, and beer, but not two of the things we went for, fresh salmon and blueberries, so we got rain checks for those two items.  This means I will need to go back to Smiths on January 10 to buy the two items and hopefully jars of discounted oysters.  January 10 is the sell by date printed on the jars of oysters and that is the day the price is usually marked down.

When we returned home a few minutes after 6:00 we decided to dust the six thighs with a spicy spice mixture given to Suzette by her local bank and make Calabacitas without chili.

I sliced two zucchinis, an onion, and four small cloves of garlic, while Suzette cut the kernels off three ears of corn. We then sautéed those four ingredients in 1 1/2 T. of canola oil and 3 to 4 T. of butter plus a pinch of salt in a covered enamel casserole. 

Bobby Flay chicken

Bobby Flay simply refers to a cooking method we copied from Bobby Flay that reduces the cooking time.  The method includes a braising meat on top of the stove in a skillet weighed down with a smaller skillet filled with water (sort of like using a brick to crisp and speed cooking meat) and then baking in the oven for fifteen to 20 minutes.

In about 40 minutes everything was ready and Suzette plated the dinner.  Suzette drank a Stella Artois beer and I drank the last of the Kirkland Premier Cru chablis.  This chablis is sweeter than many chablis I have tasted and Suzette thought it tasted distinctly of Chardonnay, which is the grape in chablis, but what I discovered is that that bit of sweetness ameliorated the spiciness of the chicken rub and made for a pleasant dining experience.

We watched two new episodes of Finding Your Roots while we ate and after dinner Suzette served us small bowls with one scoop each of pistachio almond and coffee chocolate chip ice cream, which is the closest combination I have found to spumoni.

Later we ate Belgium chocolates and wedding cookies with a glass of Calvados for me and a glass of cognac for Suzette.

A bit later I ate two chocolate chip cookies with a cup of chai.

We went to bed around 9:30.

Bon Appetit

January 3, 2022. Lunch - 2000 Vietnam No. 31. Dinner - PPI Artichoke heart Tapa and Baked Rigatoni.

 January 3, 2022. Lunch - 2000 Vietnam No. 31. Dinner - PPI Artichoke heart Tapa and Baked Rigatoni. 

Every day is a good day if you see it as such.  Today was a good day.

I awakened at 7:30 and worked a bit and then ate a bowl of granola with milk and yogurt at 9:30.

Then at 11:00 I did an hour of yoga with Avery.

I stayed and discussed home buying issues until 12:45 and then picked up a take out No. 31 at 2000 Vietnam and drove home and ate it as the market closed.  

                No. 31 after adding additional bits of romaine lettuce and cilantro leaves 

It was a good day in the market even though I have sold several of my winners.  My portfolio increased by .5%. My portfolio gained 21% last year, which made me very happy.

I then worked until 3:30 and as Suzette was arriving I drove to the post office and bank.

When I returned I took a nap until 5:15 when Suzette awakened me to prepare dinner.  As it turned out there was no real prep for dinner because we simply re-heated the leftovers from two prior dinners, the Artichoke Heart, pimiento, green pea, saffron, ham and chorizo tapa from two nights ago and the Baked Rigatoni from last night.

The only thing I needed to do was go to the basement and fetch a bottle of red wine.  I picked four bottles but the one I selected for dinner was a 2013 Tuella, a Portuguese red from the Douro Valley.  It contains many of the grape varieties used in port, but it is fully fermented into a rich red berry flavored blend (Trader Joe’s).

After dinner I toasted three slices of French baguette, buttered them and lay slices of Gouda on two and St. Agar, a French soft blue cheese, on the other and ate them with sips of wine. The blue cheese was particularly delicious with the complex wine. The reviews indicate it is a top selling blue cheese in France.

Later I made a cup of tea and ate a chocolate chip cookie with it.  We watched two episodes of Antique Roadshow and then I watched a two hour American Experience episode on the creation of the Everglades National Park, which was the first National Park created to preserve a bio-diverse ecosystem in 1947.

Suzette started dozing at 8:00 but we officially went to bed at 11:00.

Bon Appetit 

January 2, 2022 Brunch - Blueberry and Banana Buckwheat Pancakes

January 2, 2022 Brunch - Blueberry and Banana Buckwheat Pancakes Dinner - baked  Rigatoni with olives, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, marsacapone, onion, and chorizo

I watched two soccer matches today.  The second one between No. 2 Chelsea and No. 3 Liverpool was the big one. It was a great match that ended 2 to 2, which put both of them farther behind No. 1 Man City, which won its match this weekend.  I was thrilled that the American, Pulisic, scored the tying goal for Chelsea.

Suzette made us Blueberry and Banana Buckwheat Pancakes for breakfast with a mixture of wheat and buckwheat pancake mix. I heated the maple syrup.

Suzette then went to Home Depot and I took a shower, which turned out to be a great idea, because shortly after we took a walk in the Bosque, a neighbor who turned out to be her dentist rang the door bell to tell us we had a water leak.  The faucet by the west side swamp cooler had frozen and blown out.  Luckily, Willy arrived with a load of laundry at that exact moment when we were looking for the metal key to turn off the water at the meter and helped Suzette do that.

So no water, although I called the plumber to notify him that we were without water.

Suzette had bought marsacapone and a box of rigatoni pasta at Southwest Distributor’s yesterday and wanted to combine those two ingredients with the leftover pimiento, chorizo, and artichoke hearts from last night’s tapa dish plus cherry tomatoes, minced onion and garlic and olives to make a baked pasta dish.

We started cooking around 5:00 by opening a bottle of Aquino Reserva Chianti and sipping wine as we cooked.  I prepped the ingredients while Suzette boiled the pasta and sliced the chorizo and sautéed the ingredients and added the marsacapone and put them in a soufflé dish and covered the dish with grated Pecorino-Romano cheese and baked it in the oven for 30 minutes to heat and blend the ingredients thoroughly.

We drank a glass of Chianti with the pasta dish and each took seconds.  Willy returned after a walk in the Bosque and ate a bowl of pasta also.

The Fermin mild chorizo that we bought at Eurozone is such a wonderful produce that it helped make the dish.

Suzette gets excellent marks for creating this dish from buying the extra ingredients, marsacapone and rigatoni pasta, and realizing that there would be extra pimiento and artichoke hearts left from last night’s tapa dish to be ingredients in the baked pasta dish.

We sipped cordial glasses of Suzette’s newly made Limoncello after dinner as we watched the Masterpiece adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 days set in 1870.

Later I ate a bowl with scoops of pistachio and mocha chocolate chip ice creams that tasted almost like spumoni except for the missing eggnog ice cream and candied fruits.

Bon Appetit 

January 1, 2022 Brunch - Sautéed Potatoes and a Smoked Pork cutlet with two eggs over easy Dinner - Suzette’s Spanish Tapa.

January 1, 2022  Brunch - Sautéed Potatoes and a Smoked Pork cutlet with two eggs over easy  Dinner - Suzette’s Spanish Tapa. 

Today was very relaxing.  We watched TV most of the day, including PL soccer, three or four bowl games, and lots of My Lottery Dream House.

I drank several cups of sweet lime juice in hot water sweetened with honey.

At 10:00 Suzette sautéed Potatoes and a Smoked Pork cutlet with two eggs over easy for each of us.  Suzette drank a Bloody Mary with her brunch and I drank my second cup of sweet lime juice.

Then in the afternoon we walked 1/2 mile and then nibbled pistachios and drank a glass of Gruet Blanc de Noir to help settle our brunch.

At 4:30 Suzette got hungry and made her favorite tapa which we discovered when we visited San Sebastián with Billy, Elaine, and Rebecca ten years ago.  Suzette and I broke off from a hike with them and ended at Restaurant Arzak.  We asked how much lunch was and were told 242€.  We decided we did not want to spent $500.00 for lunch, so we walked across the street to the bus stop and asked someone where we might find a good lunch and they suggested we ride the bus to the end of the line at the port of Pasia and then take the ferry over to the north side of the port where there would be lots of small restaurants.  So we did that.  

When we reached the ferry Billy, Elaine and Rebecca came down the hill from the coastal path we had been hiking on.  They returned to San Sebastián because they had leftover fish from the prior night’s dinner they wanted to eat

So we crossed to the old town nestled against a high headland and walked around until we found a restaurant where we could sit at the window overlooking the port that served a 21€ comida del dia. I think it was Casa Camara.  Here is a website with some pictures of the restaurant and area.  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Casa+Cámara/@43.3214927,-1.948775,15.79z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0xd51a5e4fccf4677:0x1de4f9d3ea2e13b0!8m2!3d43.3265943!4d-1.9198099?hl=en-us

We tried to order different dishes so we could share.  The appetizer Suzette selected was the now famous tapa consisting of artichoke hearts, pimiento, green peas, saffron and diced pieces of jamon sautéed together.  We realized instantly that this appetizer was made from canned artichoke hearts and canned or prepared pimiento, air cured ham, saffron, and frozen peas.  We were enchanted that such a delicious tapa could be made from ingredients that would not spoil, because they were canned, cured, or frozen and merely sautéed to combine their flavors into a lovely tapa.  And, we have prepared the tapa ever since, including tonight as our entrée, except tonight Suzette added diced Iberico chorizo to the usual diced smoked pork cutlet for a more authentically Spanish flavor.  Bravo.

                                            Some of the ingredients 

We drank the last 1/2 bottle of Gruet champagne with the tapa.

The Rose Bowl was particularly thrilling as Ohio State scored 25 points in the second half to beat Utah 38 to 35.

I watched the CNN special on the 60’s and Re-run of SNL hosted by Betty White when she was 88 years old, to honor her passing yesterday at the age of 99, which made me feel great. Another year passed with much joy and financial success and hopefully we are embarking on an even more successful year.

Then I blogged this blog.

I am feeling better and was without pain moving about today, although still moving slowly to avoid causing pain from an misstep.

Bon Appetit