March 22, 2023 Breakfast - New Recipe, Eggs with Smoked Trout, Shallot, Spinach, and Truffles. Lunch - PPI Miso Noodle Soup Dinner - Lamb, red onion, Spinach, and tomato served on Lemon flavored Pasta with goat cheese Béchamel Sauce

March 22, 2023  Breakfast - New Recipe, Eggs with Smoked Trout, Shallot, Spinach, and Truffles. Lunch - PPI Miso Noodle Soup  Dinner - Lamb, red onion, Spinach, and tomato served on Lemon flavored Pasta with goat cheese Béchamel Sauce 

Today’s meals were exceptional even by our culinary standards and reflect the fact that we recently purchased fresh ingredients on Monday and the fact that Wednesdays Suzette works from her home office and has more time to create in the kitchen.

Brunch exceeded every other meal Suzette has prepared in a long time and it made me think I was in a Michelin starred restaurant in France.

Suzette combined fresh moist smoked trout from last night’s dinner with sautéed minced shallot, fresh baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced black truffle and scrambled eggs to create an unforgettable dish.

I drank a glass of German Reichart dry Riesling with my breakfast and Suzette drank a glass of Clamato juice flavored with lime juice.

The dish was so good that we promised ourselves to purchase a duck liver so we could make our other favorite egg appetizer of egg, heavy cream and foie gras that we first ate at a bistro in Montmartre.

At 1:00 I reconstituted the PPI Miso Noodle Soup from yesterday by adding a piece of smoked trout, fresh spinach, and two large heads off shrimp to give it a more seafood orientation. The new ingredients combined with the onion, cured ham, tofu, rice noodles, and seaweed was wonderful.

Then when I thought things could not get better, Suzette surprised me when she said, “I have an idea for a new recipe for dinner.”

I replied, “If it contains lamb, let’s invite Willy.” 

It did and we invited Willy to dinner at 7:00.

We started cooking at 6:00.

I cubed the meat of four lamb chops, minced 1/2 red onion and three cloves of garlic, and diced 1 tomato.  We both destemmed a bowl full of spinach leaves.

Suzette then boiled 1 inch wide pasta in lemon flavored water and made a béchamel sauce to which she added fresh goat cheese, while she sautéed the onion and garlic and added the diced tomato and then the cubed lamb and seasoned the dish with salt, pepper, and Za Atar.

                                       Boiling the lemon flavored pasta

When everything was ready Suzette twirled the pasta into stacks on each plate and then poured the white sauce over it and then spooned the sautéed ingredients over the pile of pasta and sauce.

What a fabulous presentation and it tasted fabulous.

We opened a bottle of Kirkland 2018 Rioja Reserva and I felt like we were eating a dinner of spring lamb in Spain.

Willy and I were still hungry after dinner, so he toasted rounds of baguette that we buttered and garnished with one of several cheeses, Stilton blue, goat cheese, brie, or Mimolette.

                                     The four cheeses on buttered toasted rounds

The brie was perfectly aged with a best if eaten date of April 2, 2023.

Later after Willy left, Suzette and I shared a cognac with squares of bittersweet chocolate before going to bed at 9:00.

Bon Appetit

 

March 21, 2023 Lunch - Miso noodle Soup Deluxe dDinner - Smoked Trout with Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli

March 21, 2023 Lunch - Miso noodle Soup Deluxe  Dinner - Smoked Trout with Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli

I made oatmeal with raisins and 1/2 of a Gala Apple diced with a tsp. of brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon for breakfast.

I walked farther than ever since the operation with Andrew, my PT assistant at 10:30. We both thought I was making progress.

Then at 1:00 I made my favorite miso soup with tofu, red miso, dehydrated dashi, rice sticks,  and water, plus three leaves of Napa cabbage sliced in strips, three slices of cured ham sliced, two mushrooms sliced, and an egg whisked with soy, mirin, and sesame oil and garnished with thinly sliced green onion rings.

I love this relatively thick soup.  I ate two bowls and there was enough for another meal.

I watched the Market close and when I checked my portfolio was up almost 1.5%.  A good day.  The most exciting thing was that Apple exceeded my buy back price for much of it, so I am approaching break even, 6.25% from break even as of three years ago to be more precise.

I read Master and Margarita much of the afternoon.

When Suzette came home she suggested we smoke the three trout I purchased yesterday at Costco starting at 6:30, to which I immediately agreed.

Suzette soaked 1 x 6 inch cedar planks to hold the trout and I rinsed them and removed their heads and tails to prepare then for smoking on the propane grill at low temperature.

Today the plank caught fire but Suzette put out the fire with water that created lots of smoke.

I filleted the first trout that we ate on a pile of spaghetti squash sautéed with broccoli flowerets.

I chilled a bottle of Riechart Riesling.

The trout was amazingly tender and a great value at $3.99/lb. at Costco.

I boned the other two smoked trout that we will use to make an omelette and a salad, so three meals.

After dinner we had a glass of zsuzette’s homemade Limoncello.

To get some carbs I ate a slice of Mimolette and brie on toasted and buttered bread.

Later I drank a cup of tea with oatmeal cookies to book end the oatmeal experience today.

Bon Appetit

 

March 20, 2023 Lunch - Hot Dog at Costco. Dinner - Reuben Sandwich

March 20, 2023 Lunch - Hot Dog at Costco. Dinner - Reuben Sandwich 

Today was a very interesting food day. I ate moderate amounts of food spaced perfectly so I got nutrition when I needed it and did not over eat.

I ate a bowl of granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt around 9:30.

Then I drove to my podiatry appointment at 10:45.

After podiatry I drove the short distance to Costco and was lucky enough to get a handicapped space near the entrance.

I decided to shop and then eat at 1:00.  I went a little crazy. Besides the  basics we needed of eggs, spinach, fresh trout, Dewar’s scotch, xerox paper, and Yukon Gold potatoes, I bought a bottle of Grand Marnier, a bottle of King’s Estate Pinot Gris, a bottle of Chablis Premier Cru, a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, six bottles of Kirkland Rioja Reserva, and five bottles of Kirkland Chianti Riserva.  In addition I bought lamb chops, seaweed salad, heavy cream, Asparagus, a three pack of Boursin on sale for $6.99, and 3 lb. of thick sliced bacon for a total of $383.00.

By the time I finished shopping around 1:15 my body was weakening, but I was able to order a hot dog and drink for $1.50 and find a table.

I took my time to eat and drank two glasses of Tropicana pink lemonade while I read my Master and Margarita book.

After lunch I got a helper to load the stuff into the Prius and then I filled the car with gas that has risen to $3.16 per gallon.

As I drove home I remembered that Suzette had said she would make Reuben Sandwiches for dinner if I bought a loaf of Rye bread, so I doubled back to Pastian’s Bakery and bought a loaf of Jewish light rye and a loaf of 9 grain bread for $1.08.

When I arrived at home a bit after 2:00 I unloaded the perishables.

I worked on both of my litigation cases until 4:15 when I ate a square of bittersweet chocolate and finally lay down and read and took a nap until 5:30.

I was not hungry so I watched the news and read until 6:30 when I made a cup of tea and checked in with Suzette.  She did not need or want any help making the Reuben Sandwiches which is often the case when she is cooking German Cuisine.  She chopped and sautéed corned beef and cabbage and made a sweet Russian dressing with pickle relish, mayonnaise, and catsup.  She then pan toasted two slices of rye bread with butter for each sandwich and then turned the slices of bread and spread the insides with Russian dressing and lay corn beef and cabbage and cheese on one slice and then put the other inside slice on top and toasted the outsides in butter to melt the cheese and toast the bread with butter.

The result was delicious.  It did not look filling but it was. We savored the warm melted cheese, mixed with corned beef and cabbage sandwiches with a glass of the remaining Famille Perrin Cotes Du Rhone left from last night’s dinner.

This simple dinner was completely satisfying, just as the hot dog, and granola had been.  I felt like it had the correct spacing of food and exertion, except for a few minutes at the end of the massive shopping spree at Costco when I began to fade.

I did not crave dessert after dinner and we went to bed at 9:00 at the end of the Antiques Roadshow.

I would say this was a good day of activity and moderation in eating.

Bon Appetit

March 19, 2023 Brunch - Corn Beef Hash with Poached Eggs. Snack - Notorious Poke. Dinner - Hamburger Helper

March 19, 2023 Brunch - Corn Beef Hash with Poached Eggs. Snack - Notorious Poke. Dinner - Hamburger Helper 

Today we ate three bowls of food.

The first was at 10:30 after we had worked un the yard.  Suzette fertilized and watered the fruit trees.

I pruned the roses in the front of the house.

Suzette chopped some of the corn beef and potatoes and then sautéed it in a skillet and then broke four eggs on top and covered the skillet to let the eggs steam until poached that was served in a bowl.

This was rather second best corn beef hash I have ever eaten. The only better one was at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas, which uses the recipe from the 21 Club in NYC.  I especially liked the way Suzette cubed the potatoes into small cubbies in the French manner.

After brunch I lay down and rested until 2:30.

When I returned to the TV room Willy had arrived and had helped take the netting off the pond.  Unfortunately, the netting had sagged and leaves had rotted and killed some or all of the fish.  Suzette said she had a better design to prevent the netting from touching the water next year.

Willy was hungry and suggested we go to the Notorious Poke shop at Sawmill, for his lunch.  We met him there and Suzette and I shared a Tuna Poke bowl with half jasmine rice and half forbidden rice served in a cardboard bowl with chop sticks.

The bowl contained cubes of raw Aji tuna, edamame, pickled ginger, seaweed salad, cubed avocado, sautéed Maui onions, and sesame seeds tossed with a miso, soy, and sesame Hawaiian poke sauce.

Willy ordered the Leche de Tigre Salmon bowl with leche de tigre sauce, avocado, edamame, jicama, cilantro, pickled fresnos chilis. The sauce seemed to contain lots of lime juice and cilantro and pickled chili peppers.

Make the leche de tigre. In a separate bowl, squeeze the limes and add the garlic, celery, ahi Amarillo, and cilantro. Squeeze the cilantro with the stems and add into the bowl. Let the marinade sit for 5 minutes.

Willy told us the owners were wonderful chefs and that believe it based upon the freshness and interesting combination of ingredients.

We dropped Willy at his apartment and then drove home.

Suzette worked on billing until 5:00 and I drafted an affidavit until 6:00.

At 6:30 Suzette decided to make her version of hamburger helper for dinner.  She thawed a hamburger and sautéed it with zucchini slices, kernels from two ears of corn on the Cobb, onion, some grated Snake Creek cheddar cheese, and some chili powder.

The result was delicious and again served in a bowl for a trifecta of excellent bowls of food today.

We opened a  bottle of Famille Perrin Cotes Du Rhone that was really good (Trader Joe’s $9.99).

At 7:40 I watched TCU play Gonzaga in the round of 32 of the NCAA playoffs.

At the half I ate some chocolate cherry truffle ice cream.

Toward the end of the game Gonzaga pulled ahead on the strength of its big All American center, Drew Timme.

TCU lost by 3 points.

I blogged and read and went to sleep after the game.

Suzette went to bed at 8:30.

Another day of good creative food.

Bon Appetit

March 18, 2023 Brunch - Bagels and Lax. Snack - Creamy Winter Soup Dinner - Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Potatoes

March 18, 2023 Brunch - Bagels and Lax. Snack - Creamy Winter Soup Dinner - Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Potatoes 

I slept until after 8:00. The Brentford v. Leicester City match was beginning, so I watched them tie 1 to 1 which did not move Leicester any further from relegation.

At 9:00 I toasted two slices of bagel for each of us, spread them with cream cheese, lay thin slices of red onion and lax on them and sprinkled capers. I lay tomato slices on the side. I drank tea and Suzette drank coffee.

I then watched Everton tie Chelsea 2 to 2.

Between matches I trimmed the rose bush on the patio.

After breakfast Suzette went to Plant Work to buy fertilizer.

When she returned around 1:30 she heated the PPI Creamy Winter Soup and toasted four slices of baguette. We each ate a bowl of soup and I ate two chocolate chip cookies after lunch.

After lunch Suzette combined the 2 lb. Brisket with seasonings, carrots, cabbage, water, and potatoes in the German Romertorf Clay cooking casserole and began cooking it. 

I lay down to read and nap until 4:30.

Suzette worked until 3:00 and then napped for an hour.

We did not dress for the Symphony tonight. We dressed casually and did not feel underdressed.

When we left for the symphony at 5:20 Suzette turned down the heat in the oven and continued to cook the food.

The program was excellent tonight, a Romanian cellist who won the Tchaikovsky Competition played Dvorak’s Cello Concerto premiered in 1911 and after the intermission, the symphony played 6 selections from the ballet Daphne and Chloe that were written by Ravel that was premiered in 1912 by the Ballet Russe. Both were big beautiful works of music.

When we returned home at 8:15 the corned beef was fully cooked.  I put a you tube recording of the Clancy Brothers for mood music while we ate corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

I was amazed how clean tasting the dish was. It was very simply, corned beef, potatoes and cabbage, although we added a dab of horseradish to our plates.

Suzette was tired and went to bed by 9:00 and I followed soon after.

I blogged and read a bit, but enjoyed the last of a very relaxing day.

Bon Appetit

March 17, 2023 Breakfast - Shrimp, Sausage, nice, Tomato, and onion Omelet. Lunch - PPI Chicken, green beans, and egg noodle pesto pasta

Dinner - Oysters and crackers

Today two wonderful things happened: it snowed and TCU won in the first round of the NCAA basketball playoffs.

Today I made a big breakfast. I sautéed a slice of sausage, some red onion, and 1/2 tomato sliced in the skillet and then added  about 1/2 cup of the dirty rice from our BBQ shrimp meal. I whisked two eggs with about. 1 1/2 T. of the BBQ shrimp sauce and cut the last BBQ shrimp into five pieces and added it to the skillet when the vegetables and sausage were cooked.

I let it cook until almost firm and then added slices of Manchego cheese and folded one half onto the other half.

I then turned off the heat and filled a glass with water and then plated the omelette.  It was a wonderful breakfast.

At 2:00 Suzette came home while I was heating a container of PPI Chicken, green beans, and egg noodle pesto pasta.  I ate 75% of it and Suzette finished it. We discussed buying oysters for dinner and made a plan for her to call in the order and I would go with her to pick up the oysters when I finished my review.

I then went to Bill Turner’s to review a closing at 2:30 and at 3:30, when I finished, called Suzette to tell her I was coming home to pick her up.

I am driving now. I drove us to Whole Foods.  Our order was ready when we arrived packed in ice in large plastic containers that held two dozen oysters each, one filled with Wellfleets and the other with Chebooktook oysters from New Brunswick, Canada. We also bought a whole wheat baguette an six everything bagels.

Suzette made cocktail sauce and fetched some saltine crackers and we opened a bottle of 2021 Falerio Italian white wine.

We loved the smaller Chebooktook oysters that had a different flavor than the Wellfleets and other oysters we have had.

We each ate 2 dozen and loved our dinner.  We often buy oysters on the half shell on Fridays at Whole Foods because they sell them for $1.00 each.

After dinner we watched some news but the big event of the evening was at 8:10 when tip off between TCU and Arizona State was scheduled.  I watched the entire game, which was very exciting.  It was tied 70 to 70 with 12.4 seconds to play.  TCU had the ball and scored to win 72 to 70 after they came back from being down as much as 11 points. 

I was happy.

Bon Appetit

March 16, 2023 Lunch -Salmon Sashimi, sushi Rice, and cucumber slices. Dinner - creamy winter Soup

March 16, 2023 Lunch -Salmon Sashimi, sushi Rice, and cucumber slices. Dinner - creamy winter Soup

I usually do not get excited about any of the many recipes sent to me on the internet but one caught my attention today because we had all the ingredients, more or less.

About

When the weather gets nippy and the wind starts to bite, you don't want some thin soup; how would that warm you up? No, it's time to pull out all the stops, which means the Creamy Winter Soup is the cold weather cure. This is, essentially, a pot pie in soup form: a creamy, thick broth with plenty of richness and poultry flavor, filled with juicy chicken and classic vegetables just eager to warm you to the core. Oh! And don't forget the tender potato gnocchi! That makes this hearty soup all the more satisfying and heart-warming! Creamy Winter Soup finds all the comfort of staying inside and watching the snow fall and serves it up to you in a bowl.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, divided
• 1 pound chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium chicken bouillon granules
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• 1 (16-ounce) package potato gnocchi
• 1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped

Directions

Step 1 -

In a Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter.

Step 2 -

Add the chicken to the butter and cook until browned, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Step 3 -

Transfer the chicken to a plate and keep warm.

Step 4 -

In the same Dutch oven, add the onion, the carrot, the celery, and the garlic in the remaining butter until tender, about 5 minutes.

Step 5 -

Whisk the flour into the veggie mixture until blended, about 1 minute.

Step 6 -

Gradually stir in the milk, the cream, the bouillon, and the pepper.

Step 7 -

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Keep stirring to prevent anything from sticking to the bottom.

Step 8 -

Add the gnocchi and the spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 3-4 minutes.

Step 9 -

Add the chicken back to the soup, then cover and simmer until the chicken is heated through and the gnocchi is tender, about 10 minutes. Don't let the soup boil.

Step 10 -

Serve.

I sent the recipe to Suzette and she agreed we should prepare it.  I had done the hard part yesterday, which was to cube the chicken.

Today when Suzette came home she brought the celery and a bunch of leeks in from the garage. We made several adjustments.  We used celery tops instead of spinach, leeks instead of onion, and the new lemon pasta instead of gnocchi. 

I sliced the leeks, and diced the celery and carrot, and minced the garlic.  Suzette first sautéed the chicken in butter and remove the chicken from the casserole and then sautéed the vegetable ingredients in the large enameled casserole. We then dusted the vegetables with a heaping T. of flour and cooked it for 2 minutes, then we added about 1 cup of broth and 3 1/2 cups of a mixture of milk, cream, and sour cream.

Finally, we added some of the lemon flavored macaroni we bought at Trader Joe’s yesterday and added more milk and cooked the macaroni in the soupN until it softened.

The result was wonderful and as it thickened it did taste exactly like the filling of a chicken pot pie.

We doused the thick soup with sherry and ate butternut toasted baguette with the dinner.

We drank the rest of the Vara Viura with dinner for a peasant complement.

Willy came by after we finished and ate two bowls of soup and three slices of toasted baguette.

The soup satisfied my craving for anything else to eat.

After dinner we watched a Netflix documentary on taking hallucinogens that was very clever and trippy.

I liked the lemon flavor of the pasta and the addition of Amontillado sherry to the soup.

For breakfast I ate granola, and milk, and blueberries and yogurt.

For lunch I sliced the rest of the salmon fillet and doused the rice we brought home from Tsai with about 1 T. each of rice vinegar and mirin to turn it into sushi rice and then heated the rice.

I.filled a dipping bowl with wasabi and soy and put slices of pickled ginger in another small bowl.

I made a cup of green tea and peeled and sliced 1/3 of a cucumber to eat with the salmon.

This was a fun day of food, made special by a pile of sashimi and a new recipe.

Bon Appetit