March 5, 2023 Lunch - New Bakery, Santa Fe Dinner - Pot Stickers with Seaweed Salad

March 5, 2023 Lunch - New Bakery, Santa Fe Dinner - Pot Stickers with Seaweed Salad

We awakened at 6:30 I went back to sleep until 7:30 when I watched the news, Fareed Zacharia, and Nottingham play to a 2 to 2 tie with Chelsea. During the soccer game Suzette heated the two pieces of pizza from yesterday’s snack at Black Mesa Brewing and she fetched coffee and I drank tea.

At 9:20 we drove to Santa Fe. We tried to go to La Choza but it was closed.  We decided to go to New Bakery.  It was crowded when we arrived and we had to wait in line to order, even though there were two women taking orders.

Suzette ordered a Mocha Coffee with Mexican chocolate that we sipped while waited for our food to be delivered. Suzette ordered the Sunday special an omelette wrapped around a Chile Relleno. An imposing dish.

My choice was also a large platter of food a pile of carne adovado with red chili beside a platter of beans covered with two eggs over easy and several warm corn tortillas.

I ate it all except for one of the corn tortillas.

It was delicious and exactly what wanted.  I tasted Suzette’s massive omelet and it was also extremely delicious and creative.

This was the best and cheapest meal of the trip.

We then drove to Albuquerque, and then first to Vara to pick up our allotment and then to Costco to shop.  We bought basics like oatmeal, baguettes, peanut butter, eggs, asparagus, green grapes, brie, manchego,  brie, and goal cheese and cod.

When we arrived home at 2:30 and unpacked I fell asleep for two hours.

When I got up we watched the news.  Suzette said she was not hungry, but when I mentioned cooking frozen pot stickers Suzette sad, “What about seaweed salad?”

Suzette fetched the bag of frozen pot stickers and I fried 14 in a puddle of peanut oil. For 8 to 10 minutes.  While the pot stickers cooked I made a dipping sauce of soy, Chili oil, and two thinly sliced green onions and Suzette thawed a bag of prepared seaweed salad.

We drank beers with dinner. It was just enough to satisfy us after the large meals we ate at lunch.

This dinner is a good example of turning nothing into something.

We had no leftovers, so we started with a concept to eat fried dumplings and added to it a vegetable of seaweed salad to come up with a decent light dinner.

Later, after we watched a made for TV movie with Amy Adams titled Leap Year”, I made a cup of tea and Suzette poured a little cognac into a snifter and we ate the last eclair.

Bon Appetit

March 3, 2023 Lunch - Martyrs in Taos. Dinner - Mondo Italiano

March 3, 2023 Lunch - Martyrs in Taos. Dinner - Mondo Italiano 

Today was our first day of travel since my operation and turned out very well.

We were up by 7:00 and watched some news and was happy the Market perked up and ate three of the four eclairs we took from the Museum party last night.

Then we packed and left around 9:20 and fueled up at Costco and were on the road to Taos by 9:50.

We arrived in Taos at 12:00 and immediately drove through town to Martyrs just across from Kit Carson Park.

We were given a table immediately and Suzette asked for a taste of the by the glass rose.

I had ordered the tenderloin Salad before but today decided on the Cobb salad.  Suzette ordered fried calamari with chipotle sauce and a small house salad.

All the food is wonderful at Martyrs.  My salad was a landscape of a boiled egg cut in half, a grilled chicken breast cut into strips, two slices of fried bacon, a crumble of blue cheese, and a handful of grape tomato halves dressed with blue cheese dressing on a bed of romaine lettuce hearts.

I loved the salad and Suzette loved her fried calamari, except she had to mix some blue cheese dressing into the chipotle dressing to reduce its picante heat.

After lunch we drove to Robert Parsons Gallery and looked at his art.

Then we drove down Salazar to Princess Nails at 2:00 so Suzette could get a pedicure.

At 2:45 we drove to 203 Fine Arts to see the weird Ron Davis abstract canvases from the 1980’s.  The picture that really intrigued me was a 1950’s painting by Edward Corbett who painted large fields of white divided by thin lines of color.  I asked Eric how much the painting I liked cost and he said, “$125,000.”

I thanked him for making it so expensive that I could only admire the painting.

We then drove to sageBrush and checked in.

We got an ADA room with a wheel in shower and lots of grab bars in the bathroom.

We rested until 5:30 and at 6:30 we drove to Mondo Italiano for dinner.

I love Mondo and usually order the same thing, Lasagna and sautéed Broccolini, except tonight we added four fried East Coast Oysters.  The oysters were breaded in a heavy crusted cornmeal that made it difficult to taste the oysters. We split one order of Lasagna and broccolini and ordered a bottle of Francine Montpollicelli di Abruzzo  that we could only drink half of.

After dinner at around 8:00 we drove back to Sagebrush but instead of going to the room we went to the large lobby where there was a bar and live music.

We stated for about 45 minutes, and shared a Strongbow apple cider.

Finally we returned to our room and went to bed.

Bon Appetit I’m

March 2, 2023 Lunch - Cream of Onion and a Snow Pea Soup. Dinner - Miniature Show at Albuquerque Art Museum

March 2, 2023 Lunch - Cream of Onion and a Snow Pea Soup. Dinner - Miniature Show at Albuquerque Art Museum

Suzette helped me dress in khakis and a nice shirt and loafer shoes this morning, so I would not need the dress again later.

 Today’ most exciting and dangerous meal was breakfast.  We had no milk or eggs so I went looking in the pantry for a can of fish.  I found a flat can with a pull top opener of Chicken of the Sea sardines packed in oil.

On the bottom of the can was printed a best if eaten before 2010.

That did not deter me.  I toasted thre small slices of baguette and spread them with Boursin.  I then boned each filet and clumped sardines on bread to make oily open faced sardine sandwiches.

I was a little concerned but as I felt better rather than worse as the morning progressed, I felt relieved and happy for trying a dangerous food adventure.

At 10:30 I did a vigorous session of physical therapy.

At 1:30 I poured my leftover crock of French onion soup and snow peas into a larger bowl with the rest of the French Onion soup and heated it.

The soup was hardy and filling with lots of cubes of beef and crisp snow peas.

Suzette brought home a gallon of milk at 4:30.

Then at 5:15 after the guilty verdict in the South Carolina murder case was announced, we drove to the library to pick up The Master and Margarita, this month’s book club selection.

We then drove to the Albuquerque Art Museum for the miniature show. Gala.  Joe and Mary McKinney had given us tickets.  The doors to the back gallery opened at 6:00. Appetizers of cured salmon on a slice of cucumber spread with cream cheese were served and glasses of champagne while we waited.  

Then when the back gallery was opened at 6:00 there was a central core area filled with more appetizers, including avocado toast, beef and mushroom skewers, a chicken roulade wrapped around a vegetable core, and carnitas on a corn tortilla chip, and baked Brie in a pastry crust.

There was a bar with a bar tender. Most importantly there were tables and chairs reserved for sponsors and two chairs marked with Joe and Mary’s names, so after walking around about 1/3 of the gallery I tired and retreated to a chair.  Then I walked with Suzette to the bar and got a Coca Cola, while Suzette was drinking champagne.  I drink coke whenever I need energy to keep going and after my first coke I was able to visit all the works.  There were none that I wanted or needed so at 7:45 when it was time tipi select works we sat and talked with Keith, a retired surgeon and Mary.  Joe did buy something but all the rest of us older folk agreed that there was no more wall space in our homes for art.

At 8:15 we left and discovered a tray of eclairs in the corridor.  We each ate one and Suzette packed two each in two cups, so we were able to carry four eclairs home.

When we got home I made a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk to wash down the eclair’s overly sweet Bavarian Cream filling.

Suzette went to bed and I stayed up to watch the news until midnight.

We enjoyed dressing up and getting out and I was happy to be able to walk with a cane.  The goal is develop stamina, now that the pain from my hip is gone.

Bon Appetit

March 1, 2023 Lunch - Vinaigrette. Dinner - Snow Peas in cream sauce, French Onion Soup, and Filipino Stewed Chicken, Turmeric Rice and Snow Peas

Today was a magical food day.

I had an appointment at 8:15 and then at 9:45 I made breakfast.

For breakfast I fixed the last two Kaufman bagels Suzette bought the other day.  She ate the caraway seed and salt one and I ate the plain one.

We had no cream cheese, so I spread Garlic and Herb Boursin on the super crisp twice toasted slices and then added thin slices of red onion and thick slices of Gravad Lax, a slice of tomato, and finally a small spoonful of capers.

I drank tea with milk and sugar and Suzette drank coffee.

Then at 11:45 after I funded Luke’s rent for a space to develop a spiritual healing center in Kingston, NY, Victor Marshall arrived for lunch.  He drove us around the corner to Vinaigrette. 

It was a sunny, warm day and I enjoyed getting out. Victor ordered, Eat Your Peas, a lovely large bowl of greens and peas, and I ordered my favorite, Frisée Salad, a pile of Frisée dotted with fried bacon lardons, topped with a poached egg and dressed with a shallot vinaigrette.  I immediately noticed that menu prices have been raised.  My Frisée Salad used to cost $9.99 several years ago when Vinaigrette opened.  It now costs $14.25.  Victor’s pea salad cost $15.00.

Given the fact that hamburgers and enchiladas have doubled in price during the same period, I found the larger salads to be a good value.

I was saddened to hear the story of how Victor lost his license to practice law and told him a bit about my varied law practice. 

He and I have a bond because he was fighting for the historic water rights for farmers on the San Juan/Colorado River and I am fighting for the rights of farmers on the Lower Rio Grande in New Mexico. So we are dealing with the same opponents, issues, and political forces.  The difference is I did not try to recuse the judge for bias, as Victor did.

Coincidentally, when I return home at 1:30 I noticed that my last appeal on behalf of the LRG farmers had been assigned to a panel for a decision after being filed in the Court of Appeal for about four years.

Justice does move slowly.

I then had the most fun of the day.  I called Aaron and we were able to file Earn’s Annual report with the  State of Delaware, timely for the first time ever, saving Earn the $200.00 penalty fee for late filing.

We were thrilled and I told Aaron I thought he should buy himself a fancy dinner in NY with the $200.00 savings.

At 4:00 I lay down to rest and watch Ari Melber and was awakened by Joy Reid at 5:00.

I rushed to my computer and joined the meditation group that included all six of us tonight for a wonderful meditation.  One notices subtle things in meditation and tonight I noticed that my concentration was deeper and clearer because I was nor experiencing pain in my right hip.  I was thankful that I had the operation and realized that better days are ahead.

Suzette arrived just as mediation ended at 5:30.  She has had a harrowing 30 minute delay on I-25 due to a huge accident and was in no mood to go anywhere, even though I offered to take her to dinner if she would also go to Costco.

So after a cocktail, she explored what was available in the fridge and came up with a fabulous dinner. We had PPI French onion soup, a bag of snow peas, and the last Filipino chicken thigh that Elaine brought us for dinner last Friday night, and turmeric rice I made last week.

So Suzette developed an amazing and highly satisfying dinner out of these disparate leftovers.  She first made us superb baked crocks of French onion with a slice of baguette covered with Racalette cheese.

We stripped the tough strings from the sides of the snow peas and then Suzette steamed the snow peas and added a splash of heavy cream to the steamed peas to produce a light, creamy sauce.

Finally, she heated several snow peas with some turmeric rice and the last Filipino chicken thigh together in the microwave for a delicious Entree for me. I poured us glasses of Kirkland New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the opened bottle in the fridge.

We first ate our hot crocks of French Onion Soup with a bowl of creamed steamed snow peas that were out of this world delicious. The soup was really authentically delicious in every aspect but I could not eat much of mine because Suzette served me the heated entree of chicken, rice and snow peas soon after we started eating the soup.

The snow peas were fabulous. Suzette had created a new dish.  Crisp fresh steamed snow peas, lightly sauced with a drizzle of heavy cream.

We ate the snow peas with our soup and then I ate several more with my chicken and rice entree and there were still some left so Suzette added the  snow peas and sauce to my half eaten crock of soup and added the last of the soup to fill the crock for a wonderful lunch dish for me for Thursday.

But that was not the end of this evening’s creative leftover feast. After dinner while we watched some news Suzette fetched the last slice of triple mousse pastry we had bought at Le Quiche. Its outer edge had toughened due to a week’s exposure to the air. I recommended drizzling it with cognac and Suzette decided to heat the cognac drizzled pastry in the microwave for 30 seconds.

The microwave softened the tough edges but it also caused the pastry to collapse into mounds of white, light brown, and dark brown chocolate mousse suffused with cognac. The result could not have been better or more delicious, especially with the snifter glass of cognac mixed with a bit of Grande Marnier Suzette served me with the pastry.

So from a frustrating start of frazzled nerves from terrible driving conditions and having no clear dinner menu, Suzette created an exciting dinner with a new recipe for snow peas, and a fabulous French pastry dessert. 

I love our way of developing interesting dinners utilizing PPIs.

Bon Appetit

February 28, 2022 Lunch - Menudo at Garcia’s Dinner - Tomato, Eggplant, Ragu with Lobster Ravioli

February 28, 2022 Lunch - Menudo at Garcia’s Dinner - Tomato, Eggplant, Ragu with Lobster Ravioli 

I woke up at 7:00 and Suzette was already working.

I got dressed and ate a slice of buttered baguette toast with a smear of orange marmalade and the uneaten croissant, ham and cheese sandwich left from our lunch at Le Quiche. I heated the sandwich wrapped in Saran in the microwave for a minute and it collapsed into a delicious gooey buttery pastry of French brioche, ham, and cheese.

Here are the last bites

I then worked until 11:30, when I called Peter and suggested we go eat Menudo at Garcia’s.

Peter picked me up at 12:15 and we drove to Garcia’s. A medium sized bowl of menudo with Posole costs $9.75. It is a sufficient quantity of food and is served with lemon wedges, oregano, and onions and a flour tortilla and later a sopapilla.

We enjoyed our lunch immensely and Peter returned me home at 1:30.

The Kendzierskis came at 2:00 and Mary signed her Affidavit.

After they left I filed the three documents electronically and served copies on the other lawyer.

At 2:30 I lay down and slept until I was awaken by a call at 3:30 from Mrs. Rajan who was calling from the county clerk’s with two questions about recording the two documents I prepared.  I agreed to the changes. After Mrs. Rajan filed the papers she brought them to my house so I could take a copy of each and pay me for my services.

Suzette arrived while Mrs Rajan was still here at 4:30.

At 5:00 when Mrs. Rajan left we watched the news as Suzette had her evening cocktail.

We discussed dinner.  We have run out of eggs, but decided not to go to Costco because Suzette was tired.  

A search of the fridge led Suzette to suggest that we combine the PPI eggplant and sweet potato Parmigiana with the six lobster ravioli and the Italian Sausage Ragu in the home made Spaghetti sauce.p we made with fresh Roma tomatoes.

She sliced the ravioli into strips and sautéed the eggplant and sausage and then added the lobster ravioli strips.

The result was wonderful, a better meal than I would have guessed that was soon definitively confirmed when Suzette took seconds and ate the remaining amount.

We had two open bottles of red wine a Spanish Tempranillo from Rueda up river in the Rioja Region.

We were both tired but made it through a one hour interview with Bill Maher on CNN until 8:00.

We then put on our pajamas and nightgown and watched Lawrence O’Donnell until 9:00 when we went to bed, although Suzette had already slipped into sleep by 8:00.

I woke up at 12:30 and finished the blog and watched Chris Hayes and then read.

Bon Appetit

February 27, 2023 Lunch - Filipino baked Chicken with rice and Stir fried Chinese Broccoli Dinner - Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce over Spaghetti and Sautéed Broccoli

February 27, 2023 Lunch - Filipino baked Chicken with rice and Stir fried Chinese Broccoli Dinner - Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce over Spaghetti and Sautéed Broccoli

I awakened at 7:00 and Suzette helped me dress.

Then I ate a bowl of granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt at 9:00.

I then worked on two responses until 1:45, including winning a summary judgment in one water case and settling another water case after lunch.

I then heated a piece of Filipino baked chicken, a piece of duck, a piece of charred cauliflower, some rice and some stir fried Chinese Broccoli.

I went back to work at 2:15 and edited an affidavit and drafted a motion and sent it to opposing counsel for concurrence by 5:00 when Mrs. Rajan came to sign her documents.  When I  finished with her around 6:30 and sat down dinner of Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce over Spaghetti and Sautéed Broccoli with a glass of Tempranillo from Rueda in Rioja.

Willy joined us for dinner and started talking about a long trip around the world to Japan, Singapore, India, and then Europe.  

I went back to work after dinner and worked until 8:30.

I gained an extension for completing discovery and we completed an Affidavit in another case with the help of Robert.

That meant I worked 10 hours today.

At 8:45 I watched news and sipped a cognac and Grand Marnier and nibbled a pecan sandie.

I blogged this entry and then watched Rachel Maddow.

Bon Appetit 

February 26, 2023 Brunch - Eggs over Easy on Smashed Potatoes, chopped lamb, and onions. Snack - Filipino chicken with charred cauliflower, and rice. Dinner - Roast Duck, Stir Fried Chinese Broccoli, and rice

February 26, 2023 Brunch - Eggs over Easy on Smashed Potatoes, chopped lamb, and onions. Snack - Filipino chicken with charred cauliflower, and rice. Dinner - Roast Duck, Stir Fried Chinese Broccoli, and rice

I woke up at 6:30. I watched Chelsea lose to Tottenham 2 to 0, which kept Tottenham firmly in fourth place in the PL standings.Then I got dressed in blue jeans for the first time since my operation with Suzette’s help.

Suzette then made breakfast of Eggs over Easy on Smashed Potatoes, chopped lamb, and onions. This was the perfect evocation of our style of cooking with leftovers. Both the potatoes and the lamb chop were PPIs.

Suzette simply chopped up a previously grilled lamb chop and several previously baked smashed baby potatoes and sautéed them with some red onion and then added two eggs on top to steam covered by a lid until the white was firm and the yolk slightly runny.

I really enjoyed this morning meal.

Henry arrived at 10:30 after I watched the news and we worked until 3:30, when I had to take a break. Henry brought Dos Equis beers and cheese coated Ruffles and turkey jerky that kept us going until 3:30.

Suzette heated us each a PPI chicken thigh with charred cauliflower and rice that Elaine had made for us and brought Friday night.

After our snack we worked another 2 hours until 5:45.

After Henry left I lay down on the bed and watched 60 Minutes with Suzette, but soon fell asleep until 8:00 when I heated a plate of Roast Duck, Stir Fried Chinese Broccoli, and rice that I ate with a cup of green tea.

I loved the combination of roast duck, stir fried broccoli, and rice in the tea sauce for the duck.

Revived, I blogged this entry and then watched the CNN Special on how ordinary citizens are stepping up to fight the Russians in Ukraine titled the The Will to Win.

Bon Appetit