January 8, 2023 Brunch - New Recipe: Boeuf Bourguignon Burritos. Dinner - New Recipe: Pork and sauerkraut, and sour cream casserole

January 8, 2023 Brunch - New Recipe: Boeuf Bourguignon Burritos. Dinner - New Recipe: Pork and sauerkraut, and sour cream casserole

This was essentially a two meal day. iPhone recipe was great and the other was not.

I watched the news and then worked until 12:00 when Suzette surprised me with an elegant brunch of a Boeuf Bourguignon burrito.  The tortilla was perfectly seared so that it was soft and clung to the filling like a pastry shell.  The filling was the wonderfully delicious Boeuf Bourguignon we cooked for New Years.  We drank The last 1/2 of the De Ponte 2026 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir tha still tasted amazingly.

Of all the wines in my cellar this bottle and the z2013 Calstar Sangiacomo Pinot Noir are my favorites.

I loved this dish.

After lunch we walked in .75 miles the Bosque to one of the ponds.

We then drove to Lowe’s to buy milk and as I waited in the car, she also bought avocados, and a few other items.

We returned home around 3:00 so I could watch the Cowboys and they lost, sadly.

I had mentioned a Russian dish I once made that was a casserole with layers of pork chops, cabbage leaves, sour cream and caraway seeds.

Suzette wanted to get rid of the Pork and Sauerkraut so she added sour cream to some of it and added cumin seeds since we did not have caraway seeds. Suzette also made mashed potatoes that formed a base for the pork and sauerkraut.

The result tasted amazingly like Pork and Sauerkraut and instead of the sour cream dominating as it did in the original Russian recipe, the sauerkraut dominated this dish.  I did not like it and caused a bad reaction to me the next day.

We drank beer with this meal.

After dinner I ate a bowl of spumoni ice cream which made me feel better.

We watched the line up of Sunday night Shows including, Miss Scarlet and a new season of Vienna Blood.

I went to bed at midnight after spending an hour deleting old food and wine photos made for past blogs.

Bon Appetit

January 7, 2023 Brunch - Sausage, Eggs, Country Fried Potatoes and a Bagel. Snack - Charcuterie and cheese sandwiches. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak, Penne Pasta with creamed spinach, Mushrooms and Shallot

January 7, 2023 Brunch - Sausage, Eggs, Country Fried Potatoes and a Bagel. Snack - Charcuterie and cheese sandwiches. Dinner - Grilled Rib Steak, Penne Pasta with creamed spinach, Mushrooms and Shallot

Today we ate two solid meals.

The big event of the day was Suzette cutting my hair in the Morning.

For brunch Suzette cooked Sausage, Eggs, and Country Fried Potatoes and I spread cream cheese on a Toasted Blueberry bagel.

We worked until 2:00 and then drove to Costco where we saw Bill and Regina Turner and did some shopping for eggs, scotch, baguettes, pecans, and Ghirardelli chocolates.

I stayed in the car when Suzette went to Home Depot and rested and read.

When we returned home after 4:00 I was hungry and toasted three slices of fresh baguette and spread them with basil Mayonnaise and then lay salami on two and cured ham on the third.  I drank a glass of root beer with them and then rested in front of the TV until after 5:00.

Suzette was not hungry, so we waited until 7:00 to start dinner.  Suzette fetched the 12 rib steaks we bought at Smith’s this week. We picked one for dinner and wrapped and froze the others.

I then minced a shallot and two cloves of garlic while Suzette de-stemmed about 1 cup of spinach leaves and sliced two mushrooms.

Suzette then fetched a bottle of De Ponte 2916 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir which is my other favorite Pinot.

Suzette then grilled the steak on the outdoor grill and sautéed the spinach, mushrooms, shallot and garlic in a large skillet with butter and olive oil and then added some PPI penne pasta and finally added cream.

I opened the wine and Suzette poured a glass to try it.  It was superb, tons of fruit and lots of elegant flavor with no bitterness.

Then Suzette brought the steak in and covered it with aluminum foil to let it coalesce its juices and keep cooking to medium rare.

I then sliced it and Suzette served the pasta medley and we picked several slices of beef.

The meal was unbelievably delicious.  The steak were far better this time.  I am thrilled that we have 11 good steaks for the winter.

After dinner we watched the Titans  play the Jaguars in an exciting game that the Jaguars won.

We then watched an episode of Death in Paradise and went to bed after watching the opening skit on Saturday night Live at 10:30.

I ate spumoni ice cream later in the evening with a sip of Germain-Robin Calvados.

Bon Appetit

January 5, 2022 Lunch - PPI Penne Pasta with Lamb, mushrooms, buttera, and asparagus Dinner - Clay pot Roasted hen with Dressing and Brussels sprouts Casserole with pinon nuts, and cheese

January 5, 2022 Lunch - PPI Penne Pasta with Lamb, mushrooms, buttera, and asparagus   Dinner - Clay pot Roasted hen with Dressing and Brussels sprouts Casserole with pinon nuts, and cheese 

I got ready by 9:30 when Rahim arrived with a McDonald’s Egg MacMuffiin. I spread blackberry jam with on one of the muffins and ate it with a cup of chai. It did not have much flavor.

We worked on his transaction until 11:30.

I then checked the vote for speaker and they were still voting. There were five additional votes today bringing the total to 11.

I heated my unfinished dinner of several nights ago of Penne Pasta with Lamb, mushrooms, buttera, and asparagus in a white wine cream sauce.

After lunch Rahim returned and we worked another 1 1/2 hour on his transaction.

I then helped Bill Turner on a transaction until 4:30, when Suzette arrived and we started prepping dinner.

Clay pot roasted stuffed chicken 

cooking adventures with the clay pot continued today. 

I chopped two stalks of celery, 1/2 onion, a 6 oz. Jar of oysters, and 1/2 loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread, while Suzette cleaned the 6 lb. chicken 

She then sautéed the onion and celery and added herbs, the oysters, and the bread cubes to make a stuffing and stuffed the chicken and lay it in the Rommertoff clay roasting pot. I rubbed the chicken with butter and Suzette sprinkled it lightly with salt and hand ground pepper and added a bit of water to the clay pot and roasted the chicken at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours in the oven.  

 I cut the stalk off and halved 1/2 lb. Brussels Sprouts that Suzette then added pine nuts to and tossed with olive oil and dusted with grated Pecorino Romano cheese and covered with aluminum foil and roasted for an hour at 350 degrees in the oven with the roasting chicken we bought at Smith’s last Saturday.

Willy arrived at 7:15 and Suzette fetched the Standing Stone Riesling from the garage.  I opened the Riesling and poured glasses of it.  It turned out to be sweet with a lingering grapefruit finish.

Willy carved and filled a plate with 1/2 of the chicken and the dressing he scooped from the stomach cavity. Suzette separated the chicken’s cooking juices and made a flour and butter roux and added the juices to make a gravy that she poured into a pitcher. We poured the gravy over the chicken and dressing.

Suzette spooned roasted Brussels sprouts onto plates and we each added chicken and dressing and gravy plus some of the Mom’s Cranberry Jalapeño salsa Susan made for us at Christmas.

It was another lovely Dinner.

Suzette complained that the chicken should have been cooked three hours, but I thought it was incredibly tender.

We talked for a while and then Willy left at 8:30 and we watched Midsomer Mystery until 9:30 and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit

January 4, 2023 Lunch - Deep Fried Tofu with Mixed Vegetables at East Ocean. Dinner - New Recipe Ceramic Pot baked Boneless beef short ribs with Carrots, White Truffle and Porcini Sauce with Steamed Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes

January 4, 2023 Lunch - Deep Fried Tofu with Mixed Vegetables at East Ocean. Dinner - New Recipe Ceramic Pot baked Boneless beef short ribs with Carrots, White Truffle and Porcini Sauce with Steamed Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes

I ate and orange and paid my taxes in the morning. I eat lunch with Robert Pidcock at East Ocean at 11:45.  We talked about our dissolution with the political and legal system and ended up talking about a terrible case we both work on.

I went home after lunch and edited a complaint and memorandum and then meditated at 5:00.

Suzette made an amazing dinner with boneless beef ribs, carrots, some of the white truffle and Porcini mushroom sauce, water, and thyme cooked in the oven in the Rommertoff ceramic cooker.  She steamed asparagus and heated PPI mashed potatoes to complete the dish.  Everything was tender and delicious.

We drank glasses of Chianti Classico Riserva that was perfect with dinner.

Suzette fetched the brie cheese and toasted two slices of baguette and I spread brie on the buttered toast for a cheese course with another glass of Chianti.

I actually turned dinner into a four course meal by taking a sniffer of apple brandy with the last Belgium chocolate and later a cup of chai with four cookies.

I watched an interesting program on a extraterrestrial object that passed through our solar system in 2017 that was photographed by the Hubble telescope and the James Webb Telescope, which many people think was the first contact with an alien object.  It looked like an out of control space craft to me, and apparently it sent a radio signal.

The House Republicans failed to elect a Speaker for the second day today after three more votes. I learned something interesting.  That two Republican super PACs have entered the negotiations for Speaker.

As Robert said at lunch, politics is all about money.

Bon Appetit 

January 3, 2023 Lunch - Don Sushi. Dinner - Penne Pasta with Sautéed Lamb, mushrooms, shallot, Burrata cheese and Porcini and White Truffle Sauce

January 3, 2023 Lunch - Don Sushi. Dinner - Penne Pasta with Sautéed Lamb, mushrooms, shallot, Burrata cheese and Porcini and White Truffle Sauce

I watched the Speaker vote for some of the morning until my client came at 11:00.

The display of party disunity could not have been clearer, especially when the democrats were so united.

I don’t know if this is the beginning of the end of the Trump influence on the Republicans and the insurrectionist wing of the party, but it is really ugly.

This does not appear to be a Republican Party that can lead the House forward.

My client, Henry, took me to lunch at a new restaurant to me, Don Sushi at 212 Silver SW.  it is both a Mexican seafood restaurant and a Japanese restaurant. We split four items, chicken fried rice, tuna ceviche, a New Mexico roll and a fried shrimp roll.

It was a lot of food but we ate it all.  I liked the ceviche a lot. It reminded me of the amazing tuna ceviche we ate in Hermosillo at Easter. The fried rice was fluffy and tasted more like Spanish rice, which was okay with me.

The rolls were big and I thought the rice was not as heavily sushi flavored as I was used to.  I removed the green chili from the New Mexico roll and dipped the remaining salmon and rice roll into a mixture of wasabi and soy and followed it with a leaf of pickled ginger.

The breaded and fried shrimp roll was the best.  I reminded me of a soft shell crab roll.  

This was not a cheap meal but it was amazingly tasty.

The waitress spoke Spanish.  I was happy that Henry is fluent in Spanish.

I ordered corn tortillas with the ceviche and he translated and the waitress brought the standard fried corn tortilla topos that we spooned the ceviche onto to eat.

I drank a beer and Henry ordered a drink or lemonade.

Henry returned me home at 4:00, just in time to see The Beat with Ari Melber and get the full report of what happened in the House votes.

Suzette arrived at 4:30 hungry because she had not eaten all day.

She had gone to Costco on the way home and purchased white mushrooms, pita chips, and laundry detergent.

She had decided to make a pasta dish to combine the three thawed lamb chops, the burrata cheese I bought her for Chanukah, and the can of Porcini and White truffle sauce Melissa gave us for Christmas.

Soon I was enlisted to mince a shallot and 1/3 of a pimiento, three cloves of garlic, cube the three meat from the three lamb chops, and slice five mushrooms.

Suzette fetched the bag of Asparagus from the garage and diced several stalks into bite sized pieces. She also went the basement and fetched a bottle of white Cotes Du Rhone.

While the penne was boiling Suzette sautéed the ingredients and added 1/2 of the can of porcini and white truffle sauce.  When the pasta was ready Suzette plated some pasta and cut the burrata in half and placed on top of the pasta and spooned the sauce over it.

The result was wonderful. Unfortunately I could not fully appreciate it because I had just finished a massive lunch only 2 hours before.  I ate half and we drank only a glass of wine so there will be PPI pasta and white wine to enjoy tomorrow.

After dinner I drank a glass of brandy mixed with Grand Marnier to settle my stomach and we watched the last episode of season 3 of Emily in Paris.

I hope the hip surgeries go well so we can return to France and enjoy some of that creative cuisine.

Bon Appetit

The most interesting thing to me was a scene in a restaurant where the Michelin representative compliments the chef on the creativity of the Seaweed Mousse.

January 2, 2023 Lunch - Posole with tamale and egg. Dinner - Boeuf Bourguignon with Mashed Potatoes and Spinach

January 2, 2023 Lunch - Posole with tamale and egg. Dinner - Boeuf Bourguignon with Mashed Potatoes and Spinach 

Suzette went to work at 7:00.

I slept until 9:00.

I ate Granola and milk and yogurt and blueberries for breakfast at 10:30.

From 12:00 to 1:45 I helped Karim and his daughter notarize documents.

At 2:00 I heated the last of the duck Posole and an egg and tamale.  I also toasted a flour tortilla on the gas burner of the stove and drank water with it.

That part of Christmas is officially ended.

I watched a great Cotton Bowl in which Tulane came from behind to beat USC by one point.

I then watched the Orange Bowl, but Penn State dominated when Utah’s quarterback was knocked out of the game.

We watched the Antiques Roadshow at 7:00 to 9:00 switching to the Bengals v. Buffalo game until a linebacker for Buffalo collapsed on the field and the game ended.  They took him off the field in an ambulance an an hour later it was announced that he was intubated and  in critical condition.

Suzette heated bowls of Boeuf Bourguignon on top of mashed potatoes and spinach and I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2013 Clos de Bois Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. It was rich and fruity with dark berry overtones ; a wonderful bottle of wine. 

After dinner I sipped another glass with several Belgium chocolates.

We went to bed at 9:30.

January 1, 2023 Brunch - New Recipe: vanilla and Balsamic Sautéed z salmon and goat cheese ball Omelet. Dinner - Pork and Sauerkraut with Mashed Potatoes

January 1, 2023 Brunch - New Recipe: vanilla and Balsamic Sautéed z salmon and goat cheese ball Omelet. Dinner - Pork and Sauerkraut with Mashed Potatoes

Another pleasant day of rest and great food.

I slept until 9:00 and read a bit more of Childhood’s End until 10:00

Suzette created a new recipe by combining eggs with two PPIs, the almond coated goat cheese ball Crystal made for our wine tasting on December 20 and the PPI slice of sautéed Salmon flavored with a vanilla and balsamic sauce from the recipe on the vanilla bean container we bought at Costco.

The result was a delicious melange of flavors and textures.

I loved the crunch of the almonds and the salmon folded Into the creamy goat cheese.  We drank the bottle of Gruet 30th Anniversary Petit Meunière that I chilled last night that we did not drink to toast the new year that was lovely with its slightly tart body.

After lunch I cut in half and then butchered a pork shoulder .  Suzette put the 1/2 into a Rommertoff ceramic cooker covered with prepared sauerkraut she had bought at Southwest Distributers and cooked it in the oven at 325 degrees for four hours.

We then processed the four herbs we harvested from our garden this fall, basil, oregano, thyme, and tarragon. Suzette previously processed the lavender and we will process the bag of mint.  Suzette then processed oregano, basil, thyme, and tarragon in the Cuisinart to make Herbs de Provence and filled five small bags. 

We called BIlly to see how he was doing and he seemed to be in good spirits, so we were happy that he is on the mend and may even visit for his birthday in February.

I then watched football and read and rested.until 5:30.

At 6:00 Suzette fetched two Oktoberfest beers from the garage and served us bowls of mashed potatoes covered with pork and sauerkraut.  This is a traditional German dish that is associated with good luck that Is a tradition in Suzette’s family.  She was texting and receiving texts from her four siblings who were also making pork and sauerkraut all afternoon.

I must say that this year’s addition of the pork and sauerkraut is the most delicious I have ever tasted. The pork fell apart on the touch of a fork and the sauerkraut was delicious.  I was amazed that the dish had only two ingredients; pork and sauerkraut. Suzette acknowledged that “It was good sauerkraut.”

We added some of the cranberry jalapeño salsa Susan made for us for Christmas using my Mother’s recipe.

We watched two episodes of Emily in Paris and then worked until 9:30 when Suzette went to bed.

I read and blogged until 11;30.

Bon Appetit