April 9, 2033 Easter Dinner at Amy and Vahl’s Dinner - Turkey and dressing sandwich.

 April 9, 2033 Easter Dinner at Amy and Vahl’s  Dinner - Turkey and dressing sandwich. 

Today we were invited to Amy and Vahl’s for their traditional Easter Dinner.

I ate one slice of bagel with lax, cream cheese, and red onion around 8:30.

Suzette ate some PPI turkey and dressing with Mayo.

We then drove to Walgreen’s and bought a vase of three beautiful varieties green and orange Dutch tulips, a box of four Lindt chocolate carrots, and a bag of artificial green grass.

When we returned home I put the grass and laid the carrots on the grass in the crocodile basket/box I bought at Stephen’s for Amy and took a bottle of Calstar Cellars 2013 Sangiacomo Pinot Noir for Vahl.

Willy had agreed to drive us at 11:10 but he was late because we were all watching the Arsenal vs. Liverpool match and he was talking to friends in Berlin and San Diego after the fixture that Liverpool managed to tie 2 to 2.

We were assigned the duty to bring wine, so we fetched the bottle of Gruet Brut I bought at Costco last week and a bottle of Gruet Chenin Blanc from the fridge and waited outside for Willy for about ten minutes.

When he arrived we drove to Santa Fe and I dozed for the last twenty minutes. Willy showed me that his fantasy team ranking that was within the top 8,000 of the approximately 3 million world wide and that he ranked within the top 300 in the US.  Willy’s comment was telling.  He said, “If I can do this with PL soccer, I can do it with stocks.” 

My reply was, “I have every confidence you can.”

That made my day.

When we arrived at Amy and Vahl’s we said hello to Vahl’s sister, Dayn, and her friend Joe, and Vahl’s tennis buddy, Key.

Amy and Vahl started preparing the food and Vahl poured glasses of the Gruet Brut, which was very lovely, perhaps because it was not ice cold.

The flavor of Chardonnay wine increases as it warms slightly.

I ate a few pistachios, but soon dinner was ready.

Amy made garlic grits and an asparagus and cheese quiche and they were served with biscuits from Whole Foods, a fruit salad, and a spiral cut ham. Perhaps the most interesting item in the meal was a lovely honey produced by a friend of Vahl’s on the Big Island of Hawaii.

We ate outside and enjoyed the warm weather. 

Besides all the other dishes I ate three half biscuits slathered with butter and honey and was in honey heaven.

After lunch I spoke to Dayn and Joe about an easement issue for a while and we were served slices of Whole Foods Key Lime pie that is a perennial Easter dinner favorite dessert.

We arrived at 1:00 and left at 4:00.

When we returned at 5:15 I rested until 6:45 when Suzette fetched me to watch Eva Longoria’s Discovering Mexico. Tonight’s episode was Oaxaca and featured among other venues, a meal of black mole at Casa Oaxaca’s roof top dining area, a restaurant we ate at twice when we went to Oaxaca.

I prepared an open faced sandwich of turkey and dressing and gravy on a whole wheat hamburger bun and drank two glasses of Kirkland Pinot Grigio.

At 8:00 I played a March episode of Finding Your Roots featuring Jim Acosta and Van Johnson that was fascinating.

At 9:00 Suzette went bed and I watched an episode of the PBS series Marie Antoinette.

I went to bed at 10:00 and blogged and read.

Bon Appetit

April 8, 2023 Lunch - Dim Sum at Ming Dynasty Dinner - Stewed Beef Short Ribs with Mashed Potatoes on a bed of fresh Spinach and Chocolate Chocolate chip cookies

April 8, 2023  Lunch - Dim Sum at Ming Dynasty Dinner - Stewed Beef Short Ribs with Mashed Potatoes on a bed of fresh Spinach and Chocolate Chocolate chip cookies 

The day started slowly with some soccer and bowls of oatmeal with diced apple, brown sugar, and raisins.

We then prepared dinner, Suzette braised five beef short ribs while I diced a medium onion, three stalks of celery, two carrots, and three Roma tomatoes. After Suzette braised the ingredients in the large Le Creuset casserole she covered the ingredients with the fresh Turkey stock we made on Thursday and cooked the casserole in the oven for five hours, two hours at 350 and three hours at 200 degrees.

Monica and Suzette went to the flea market at the state fair grounds at 10:30 and I stayed to watch Man City crush Southampton 4 to 1 including a beautiful bicycle kick goal by Haaland.

When I arrived at Ming Dynasty at 11:38 everyone had already arrived, Aaron, Alexi, Monica, and Suzette.  Ming Dynasty is the best Dim Sum restaurant in the state and today was further proof. 

Aaron ordered almost everything on the menu and several items twice such as the pork and ginger steamed dumplings that were Alexi’s favorite and the fried shrimp balls rolled in fried noodle threads that everyone else two of. I loved it all and I was happy to split the bill, which came to only $30.00 each after stuffing ourselves on small elegant dumplings and puffy rolls of steamed bread filled with BBQ pork and Chinese sausages.

Monica thought it was the best restaurant she had eaten at in New Mexico.  For Dim Sum I could not agree more heartily.

After lunch I met Suzette at Albuquerque water gardens where we bought three goldfish and two water plants that we took home and put into our pond.  So the pond is taken care of for this year and hopefully for years to come because Suzette is going to re-design the cover we put over it in winter so leaves will not touch the water and poison the water.

We invited Willy for dinner at 6:30, so at 5:30 I made a batch of chocolate chocolate Chip cookies.  I mostly followed the basic recipe, 1/2 lb. of butter creamed, 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, three medium eggs instead of two large eggs, 1 3/4 cup of flour plus 1/4 cup of baking cocoa instead of 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp. of baking soda, and 1/2 tsp. of salt.  The resulting cookies were impressive.  They rose into soft mounds with crisp flattened edges and were very chocolatey. Suzette helped me bake the cookies to perfection by cooking them on the bottom rung of the oven 6 or 7 minutes and then on the top rung of the oven for 6 or 7 minutes. After the cookies were baked we lay them on drying racks to cool flat.

While I made the cookies Suzette boiled Yukon Gold potatoes and stripped stems from leaves of baby spinach. At 6:15 I fetched 2 T. of butter and 1/2 cup of milk that Suzette heated in the microwave and washed out the Kitchenaid bowl I had used for the cookies so Suzette could use it to mash the boiled potatoes with the melted butter and hot milk.

Willy arrived at the designated dinner time precisely at 6:30 as Suzette was finishing the mashed potatoes.  Willy poured out the last half bottle of Kirkland Rioja Reserva into three glasses and Suzette filled pasta bowls with layers of fresh spinach leaves, then a mound of mashed potatoes, and finally spoonfuls of the beef short rib stew.  The stew was watery rather than viscous so it emulsified the potatoes, which was not unpleasant because the extra turkey stock I added at 11:00 to cover the ingredients completely cooked the short ribs thoroughly, so they tore apart easily with the flick of a knife.

We enjoyed dinner immensely and then watched the last half of the Harry Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban, with sips of cognac for me and Suzette and chocolate chip cookies.

Willy left at 8:30 with a bag of cookies and we watched the last of the most recent Father Brown series on PBS and then Suzette went to bed at 9:15.

I stayed up and read The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera until 12:00 and then wrote this blog.

The most interesting comment of the day equal to Monica’s praise of Ming Dynasty being the best restaurant in New Mexico, was Suzette’s comment as she was going to sleep, “I love the smell of roasting meat filling the house from the turkey and beef short ribs.”  Spoken like the true carnivore, we both are and humans have been for much of recent human history. 

Bon Appetit

April 7, 2023 Lunch - Costco Hot dog. Dinner - The Greenhouse Bistro Israeli three course meal.

April 7, 2023 Lunch - Costco Hot dog. Dinner - The Greenhouse Bistro Israeli three course meal.

I ate granola with milk, blueberries and yogurt for breakfast.

I then rode 1.5 miles on the bike and read some of The Drowning Pool by McDonald, convoluted detective murder mystery set in post WWII California.

At 1:30 I drove to Costco and shopped for basics, eleven bottles of wine, 2 lb. of mussels, whipped cream, eggs, butter.  The wine included a Gruet Brut, a Gruet rose Sauvage, a chateau bottled Haut Medoc red, two bottles of Kings Estate Pinot Gris, two bottles of Kirkland Pinot Grigio, a single estate Italian Chianti Classico, and a bottle of Chateau bottled white Bordeaux.

I wanted to add some variety to the everyday wine selection we usually buy at Trader Joe’s.

After I shopped I ate a hot dog with a glass of pink lemonade.  Another thing that made the trip a success was finding the second best parking spot in the handicapped parking area in front of the entrance.

Suzette arrived just as I was finishing the unloading of the wine and she helped me.  She also brought home dinner.

Dinner - The Greenhouse Bistro at the Center for Ageless living has been featuring travel through food specials every month.  Last Month was Irish Food to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This Month the Bistro is offering a three course Israeli meal for $25.00 featuring recipes from the Jerusalem cookbook.

Each dish was unique and delicious. I tried it this evening and it is fantastic.

The first course was a spinach salad with quartered seeded dates  marinated in vinegar and olive oil that became the dressing, chopped walnuts, red onion, and diced pita bread that had been tossed in sumac.  The tiny red flakes of sumac gave the bread an interesting pungent flavor.  The salad was unique and a real taste treat.

The entree was a generous portion of a leg quarter of chicken cooked with a combination of rice and orzo (a pasta that resembles rice) and quartered  clementines.  The bitter/sweet fruity flavor of the clementines created an interesting contrast to the rich fatty comfort food richness of the chicken and rice that perked up the dish. I found combining small pieces of cooked Clementine with bites of baked chicken, rice, and orzo created a uniquely flavorful dining experience.

Both the salad and chicken entree were more generous than I could eat, so I took home the excess for another meal.

Finally, we were served dessert and it was equally unique, a mixture of yogurt and sweet marsacapone covered by a plum, guava, walnut, and

   Compote.

It was a refreshing finish to a wonderful meal.

I recommend the Bistro’s Monthly featured Israeli meal. It is a food adventure that will please your palate and your pocketbook.

The Israeli meal is served on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.

Bon Appetit

 

April 6, 2023 Lunch - Leftover Chicharon Burrito and Menudo. Dinner - Avocado, grapefruit, and Gravad Lax salad

April 6, 2023 Lunch - Leftover Chicharon Burrito and Menudo. Dinner - Avocado, grapefruit, and Gravad Lax salad

Today I skipped breakfast on the strength of my turkey and dressing dinner last night.

At 11:30 I ate the leftover chicharon burrito and menudo from yesterday’s lunch at Barelas Coffee Shop.  The chcharons were a little tough and fry but tasted wonderful when washed down with spoonfuls of menudo.  The menudo at Barelas is a bowl of red chili with Posole and tripe, so there is lots of red chili.

When Suzette came home she ate a snack of turkey and dressing with Mayo.  

I spread Boursin on Carr’s water crackers as a snack.

We decided to use the avocado and one of the grapefruits to make a classic Texas salad of grapefruit wedges and avocado wedges on a bed of lettuce with a poppy seed dressing.  We decided to add Gravad lax.

Suzette rinsed and tore the lettuce and sliced 1/2 of the avocado into thin slices. I removed the skin and cut a grapefruit into slices and made a dressing with sherry vinegar, olive oil, and honey.  We did not have poppy seeds. I sliced and diced pieces of Gravad lax and sprinkled them on the salad.

We opened a bottle of Pinot Grigio and ate a lovely light dinner.

Later Suzette ate ice cream.

After we watched a repeat of Midsomer Mystery we went to bed at 9:30.

Today I rode the stationary bike a mile in the morning and 1.5 miles in the afternoon and Suzette and I walked around the block at 6:00.

We said hello to John Myers who was out walking, also.

Bon Appetit

April 5, 2023 Lunch - Barelas Coffee Shop. Dinner - Roasted turkey, Sweet Potatoes, corn, dressing and brown gravy

April 5, 2023 Lunch - Barelas Coffee Shop. Dinner - Roasted turkey, Sweet Potatoes, corn, dressing and brown gravy

Yesterday, the only interesting meal was lunch; a sopapilla stuffed with carne adovado and eggs from El Modelo.

Today I made beef stick fried rice with mushroom, a diced fried egg pancake, turmeric rice, and onion for breakfast.  Suzette poured us each a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice from El Super for a fabulous breakfast around 9:30.

Suzette was preparing a turkey dinner, so after breakfast I diced two hamburger buns, six hot dog buns, and nine slices of 9 grain bread plus a medium onion and three stalks of celery for the dressing.  I asked for pecan and oyster dressing. Soon after I helped suzette bag the turkey, Henry arrived for our appointment which we started at 11:00.

At 1:30;Henry and I finished his project and he drove us to Barelas Coffee Shop at 4th and Bridge. We took a table in the back served by Donna, his wife’s cousin, who is a hoot and takes care of Henry.

Henry ordered a large bowl of menudo for me and he ordered Carne Adovado and eggs plus small bowls of beans and chicharrones.  Donna brought us three flour tortillas. I shared my menudo with Henry

We ate and ate.  Henry gave me several pieces of carne adovado to add flavor to the menudo, that contained only red chili and tripe, which improved the flavor dramatically and we nibbled chicharrones.

When we could eat no more there were enough chicharrones, potatoes, and a flour tortilla left to make huge burrito and some menudo that we took home.

It was after 3:00 when we arrived and I started looking at the news until 4:00 when Suzette asked me to remove the meat from the turkey.

I made three piles: white, dark, and dressing.

The dressing was fabulous and reminded me of the dressing my mother made for Thanksgiving in Texas.

We would go to the fish market for fresh oysters and add pecans to the dressing.

At 4:30 I meditated for 1/2 hour and then read The Drowning Pool until 7:00.  When I went to the kitchen, suzette was browning the halved sweet potatoes in butter and had heated the corn we froze last year with cream and sugar to make creamed corn and was steaming fresh asparagus.

Suzette went to the garage and fetched a bottle of Emma Reichard Dry Riesling from Germany.

Willy arrived at 7:10. 

I poured glasses of wine while Suzette plated dinner and we had a lovely turkey dinner.

Willy told us he bought more stock on yesterday’s dip in the market.

We all agreed that the trend line for the market would probably move higher.

Willy left at 7:45. We watched Lawrence O’Donnell at 8:00 and went to bed at 9:00.

I enjoyed the quality and diversity of the food today, from Chinese, to New Mexican, to Classic American.

Bon Appetit 

April 3, 2023 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - Hamburger Helper with Egg Noodles

 April 3, 2023 Lunch - Salami Salad. Dinner - Hamburger Helper with Egg Noodles

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

Then at 12:30 I made a salad with salami, radish, cucumber, hard boiled egg, red onion, and a diced tomato with the Cesar dressing. I also spread goat cheese on toasted slices of Bosque Baguette.

After lunch I checked my portfolio and it was up .4%, pretty good on a day when the NASDAQ was down 35 points and oil went up $5.00 per gallon.

After the mail came, I then walked to the bank and deposited a check.

Then I walked home and drove to the library and picked up The Drowning Pool by McDonald and then went to Wells Fargo and deposited another check.

When I returned home Suzette had arrived.

She was hungry so we decided to fix dinner.

Suzette wanted to use the two cooked hamburgers.  I cubed 1 1/2 zucchini, 1/2 yellow onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 red bell pepper, two tomatoes, and the hamburgers.  Suzette boiled egg noodles and then tossed them with the sautéed ingredients and added some sour cream, so the result was like beef stroganoff. It was delicious and I ate another bowl of it and there was still some left for lunch.

I opened a bottle of 2018 Flor di Vino Chianti Classico.

Suzette ate some ice cream later.

We watched the Antiques Roadshow and the men’s NCAA national championship that UConn won.

Suzette went to bed at 9:00 and I followed at 10:30 after another Antiques Roadshow episode and a bit of Rachel Maddow.

Bon Appetit

April 1, 2023 Breakfast - Bagels with cheese and salami. Lunch - mushroom and Steak Omelette Dinner - Party with Aaron, Monika, and Alexi

April 1, 2023 Breakfast - Bagels with cheese and salami. Lunch - mushroom and Steak Omelette   Dinner - Party with Aaron, Monika, and Alexi 

Today was the day we worked in the yard to clean it for this year’s gardening and living.  We also planted 15 Thompson seedless grape plants.

I woke up at 7:00 and showered and shaved and dressed by 8:00.

Suzette was already outside organizing the work because we were expecting Ken, Carlos, and Willy to join us to work today.

I made a quick breakfast of two slices of toasted bagel spread with cream cheese and garnished with slices of Gouda cheese and Salami and opened the large can of dolmas (cooked seasoned rice wrapped in grape leaves and cooked covered with olive oil).

I ate breakfast as I watched Leicester lose in the last minute of overtime to Crystal Palace and go into the relegation zone of PL soccer. 

Ken arrived at 9:30 and he and I went outside to supervise the planting of the grape vines.  With his help we planted four beside the house and the bocce court to become a grape arbor and the other eleven along the picket fence that will run along and above the fence.

Carlos also came at 9:30 but he went to get parts and worked on repairing the irrigation system first and then helped me dig post holes with a post hole digger to plant grape root stock.

Willy came a little later and cleaned the pile of rose bush trimmings I had made when I pruned the Don Juan rose on the patio and the dead leaves that had piled up on the patio.

I started about eleven or twelve post holes, which was about all my stamina would permit.  Ken dug out the first four holes I had started in the roto-tilled ground by the house and Suzette watered the holes and planted the grape plants. Ken identified and I started digging the line of holes along the fence. Carlos and Suzette took over the digging and planting at that point and I retired to fetch the hot dogs and drink a Magner’s apple cider from the garage fridge and watch Aston Villa beat a disorganized Chelsea 2 to 0 starting at 10:30. Ken drank a glass of club soda and then left at 11:00 after watching the match for a few minutes.

At 12:00 I cleaned the outside of the grill with Dawn soap and a brush that Suzette gave me and then washed off the grease and dirt with a wash rag and water she brought me

Willy left soon after after he cleared the pile of clippings on the patio that filled a large 33 gallon bag and watched the end of the Chelsea match with me at 12:30.

Suzette and Carlos worked into the afternoon to complete the cleaning of the yard and the patio.  Carlos blew the patio clear of leaves and he and Suzette washed off the patio furniture and rearranged the furniture. 

Suzette worked about eight hours and Carlos worked almost as long.

I then drove to Bosque Bakery a bit after 1:00 and bought two rustic baguettes. I then drove to Lowe’s Market and bought a head of Romaine lettuce, a pound of white mushrooms, and a jar of sweet pickle relish.  

When I returned home at 2:00 I made a small omelet with one of the mushrooms sliced, a shallot minced and a slice of grilled rib steak cubed. And toasted and buttered and spread orange marmalade on a slice of rustic baguette. 

After lunch I lay in bed and read and napped until 4:30 after Suzette had showered and dressed for the party.

At 5:00 I went to the kitchen and sliced slices of red onion and avocado and cubed the three green chilis Suzette had thawed.

Suzette fetched two monkey pod wood trays.  In a three sectioned long tray I put two types of black olives into one side, two kinds of green olives into the other side and dolmas in the middle section.

I then formed six hamburgers that Suzette seasoned with Cracked black pepper and salt and sliced slices of the aged Gruyere cheese to melt on the hamburgers.

Suzette fetched the potato salad and I fetched four bottles of red wine to drink with dinner, a 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape I bought at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago, a 2010 Wellington Morehardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2019 Vara Grenache, and a 2016 De Ponte Baldwin Family Reserve Pinot Noir.

Suzette set the table under the gazebo, tore, rinsed and spun some pieces of romaine lettuce, and filled our New Mexican brazier with wood and we were ready.

We watched the exciting semi-final Men’s NCAA match between San Diego State and Florida Atlantic that San Diego State won by one point with a puzzler beating shot.

A few minutes after 6:30 Aaron and Monika, and Alexi arrived with a salad, a cheese cake from Whole Foods, a small wheel of brie, and a bottle of Decoy Merlot.

Suzette put the salad on the patio table with the potato salad and mustard, catsup, Mayo, and the relish and the tray of olives and dolmas.

I asked Monika to select the wine and she picked the Chateauneuf. 

Suzette started grilling the hamburgers, hot dogs, which turned out to be eight of the beef sticks she bought for her birthday party last August, and toasting hamburger buns and hot dog buns on the grill. We all filled our plates with a hamburger and hot dog plus the salads and condiments and took them to the table in the gazebo.

We soon drank the Chateauneuf and Aaron fetched the bottle of Vara Vino Tinto Especial.  

We opened a bottle and poured a glass of Welch’s non-alcoholic wine for Alexi. 

Monika loves cheese so after we finished dinner she and I went to the kitchen and made a cheese board of Manchego, the aged Gruyere cheese, the goat cheese, a French blue cheese, and our half wheel of brie.

I also sliced and toasted six slices of the fresh Bosque baguette and put them into the bread basket.

We considered which wine to drink with the cheese and agreed the Pinot would be best, so Monika opened the De Ponte Pinot.

I gathered a sharp knife, two small knives and the cheese slicer and we took the cheese board, the bread basket, and Pinot out to the gazebo.  

Suzette had started the fire and she and Aaron and Alexi were sitting around the blazing brazier.

We retired to the table to eat cheese and drink wine.  The Baldwin Family reserve was an immediate hit among this knowledgeable wine drinking group.  Everyone acknowledged that it was a superior wine and the best wine of the evening.  Monika wanted to buy some immediately.  I told her it was part of the De Ponte wine club but promised to send the wine club information.

We ate cheese and bread and drank wine for a while warmed by the fire from the brazier that was about fifteen feet away from the table.

Finally, when we finished the bottle of Pinot, we cleared the two tables and went back inside for dessert.

Suzette and I looked at and admired the cheese cake but decided we had eaten enough and requested that they take the cheese cake home with rest of their salad. 

We said goodnight at around 9:15 after I gave Monika a sip of Maison Serrene cognac.  Monika’s taste is very much like mine.  She lived in France for a while as a young woman, which impressed the French style of dining on her psyche.

After Suzette filled the dishwasher with a few items we sat down and watched the last half of acre-run of an episode of Death In Paradise.

Suzette then went to sleep and I stayed up to watch “Astrid”, the new French detective series with a sip of Maison Serrene mixed with a splash of Grand Marnier, two oatmeal cookies, and a cup of chai for dessert.

I went to bed at 11:30 after Astrid.

Bon Appetit