October 3, 2023 Lunch - Jerusalem Restaurant. Dinner with Dianne , Willy, and Jim - Grilled cheese hamburger on Ratatouille with salad

October 3, 2023 Lunch - Jerusalem Restaurant. Dinner with Dianne , Willy, and Jim - Grilled cheese hamburger on Ratatouille with salad 

I called Diane and invited her and Jim for dinner.

I went to Physical Therapy in Rio Rancho at 11:30 and graduated.  As I  drove back to Albuquerque I saw a sign for Jerusalem Restaurant in Rio Rancho near the Intel plant.

I turned into the parking lot and took a seat. 

The menu looked pretty familiar lots of shawarma, kebabs, and gyros.

I decided to get something I had never ordered, a Shish Kafta platter.

I asked if it came with Tzatziki and the waiter said, “No, it comes with garlic sauce, but you can have a 2 oz. container of tzatziki for $1.49.”

I ordered the tzatziki.

I was soon surprised when a bowl of Tabouli salad was delivered. It was light on Bulgar and had a fair amount of chopped lettuce, but the. Tomato, cucumber green onion, and parsley were finely diced like a good French restaurant. I was delicious.

I ate quite a few bites and there was still enough salad left to garnish two pitas of pockets filled with the kafta, garlic sauce, tzatzik

The pita was warm and soft and I asked for another one for $1.00.  As I left I asked the waiter if they make their own pita, and he said, “Yes.”

When I asked the cost of 6 pita, the waiter said, “$6.99.”

I passed.

The meal with water was $20.00.  I took most of the rice home and 1 1/2 Kafta, so enough for rice for our a dinner and a lunch wit +h  , xmcis’ Kafta.

I enjoyed the lunch and would go back.

I then drove to Costco and bought baguettes, tuna, coffee, heavy cream, three bottles of 2018 Ollana Reserva Rioja, and one bottle of Gruet Blanc de Noir.

I then drove home and watched Nicole Miller’s show announcing the removal  of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Eight Republicans voted to remove him with all 210 Democrats. Also, the judge in the civil trial in NY entered a gag order against Donald Trump for a tweet against the Judge’s court clerk with her address and Internet address, saying she was Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend and in control of the case, both statements were false and upset the judge even though Trump took down the tweet. So one judge has set a limit on Trump’s reckless lies.

I then reviewed a lease from 3:00 to 5:30.

Then Suzette and I cleaned the kitchen and made hamburgers and heated the ratatouille. I also had a snack of herring and herring salad on a slice of baguette and two slices of salami on a slice of baguette.

I then made five hamburgers from the loaf of thawed ground beef, sliced five slices of rosemary bread and five slices of the fresh baguette, sliced slices of Manchego cheese and called Willy and invited him to join us for dinner.

Willy came at 6:30 and Diane and Jim arrived at 6:45 with a bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and a bottle of Berne Cotes de Provence rose.

I poured five glasses of the 2018 Ollana Reserva I had bought at Costco today and Suzette brought in the hamburgers she had grilled with the medallions of melted cheese and the heated bread slices heated in aluminum on the grill.

Suzette then plated one hamburger on a pile of ratatouille on each of five plates.

Diane carried her bowl of salad of boiled beets wedges, caramelized pecans, red onion, romaine lettuce, red bell pepper and small cheese sticks to the table under the gazebo in the mass of cosmoses in the garden and we added spoonfuls of salad to our plates and enjoyed a hardy, healthy dinner.  

I opened another bottle of Ollana Rioja Reserva and we drank it after diner and talked about past and future trips.  Jim and Diane are taking a 21 day tour to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand this fall and we discussed our trip to Spain.

At 8:45 Willy left and soon thereafter, Jim and Diane left.

I drank several cups of chai and we then watched some news and I blogged until 12:00 p.m.  

Bon Appetit 

October 2, 2023 Breakfast - Fried Eggs, chorizo, and sautéed onion. Dinner - Corn and Chicken Chowder and a Tomato and a Herring sandwich.

October 2, 2023 Breakfast - Fried Eggs, chorizo, and sautéed onion. Dinner - Corn and Chicken Chowder and a Tomato and a Herring sandwich.

Today I tried a slightly different strategy that I might continue.

Since we usually eat dinner together I ate breakfast at 9:00 and no lunch.

For breakfast I fried a chorizo, a slice of onion, and two eggs and ate a slice of toast with Marian berry preserves.

I was able to make it to dinner without eating because Rahim brought me a cup of pour over coffee at 1:00 from Little Bear..

And also because when Suzette came home at 5:00 we fixed an early dinner.

She heated a thawed container of Corn and Chicken Chowder made earlier in the year that we sprinkled with saltine crackers and I made a tomato sandwich and a herring salad sandwich and drank a glass of Clamato with the juice of 1/2 lime.

I also ate four cookies after dinner, so I was not completely pure in my diet.

I am trying to lose some weight and get ready for my next hip replacement next year.

I also walked a bit today a long 1 1/2 blocks from Wells Fargo Bank to the Courthouse and fro:pm the parking lot to the County Building and a few feet to Podiatry.

I felt winded from the walk to the Courthouse.

Suzette said she ate a muffin and a small bowl of vegetable soup, so she is on the two meal diet also.

We shall see if this strategy makes a difference.

Bon Appetit

October 1, 2023 Lunch Grilled Lamb chop salad. Dinner - Pasta with mussels, zucchini, and onion in Cream sauce

October 1, 2023 Lunch Grilled Lamb chop salad. Dinner - Pasta with mussels, zucchini, and onion in Cream sauce

Another two meal day.

I watched the Europeans win the Ryder Cup and news in the morning while Suzette worked in the garden. 

Things have gone a little wild in the vegetable beds but the new plantings are doing well, especially the peonies.

Suzette also gathered a handful of orange and red cherry tomatoes and one or two larger ones and a small bunch of carrots.

I started peeling and sectioning quinces today.  By dinner I judge that I had processed 10 lb.  Of the 50 lb. of quince Suzette harvested from her quince tree at the Center. Suzette then poached the slices in a medium of sugar water and lemon and bagged them in freezer bags and stored them in the garage freezer.  They are delicious and ready for making into pies.

                                                After having peeled 10 lb. of quince

For a few days we will have quince everywhere in the TV room.

Lunch 

We decided to make a salad for lunch by grilling the two lamb chops and beets and using the cherry tomatoes, plus a green onion sliced thinly several of the carrots sliced, and a mixture of bibb and romaine lettuce.

I also peeled and sliced the three red beets I bought at El Super and Suzette grilled them with the lamb chops.

While Suzette grilled the lamb chops, I made the salad.

I had also thawed the goat cheese, so i garnished each salad with two wedges of goat cheese and made a dressing with a few crumbles of goat cheese, the new Spanish olive oil, and a drizzle of Italian Kirkland Balsamic  vinegar.

We poured glasses off chilled Carayon Rose (Trader Joe’s).

It was wonderful to be back home where we could eat fresh vegetables and herbs grown in our garden.

During the day we also snacked on a few bites of Vita pickled herring with the herring salad made by the Greenhouse Bistro crew. 

After lunch Suzette worked at her desk and I watch NFL football and Joe Biden wish Jimmy Carter a Happy 99th Birthday by zoom.

Then at 6:00 we started dinner.

Dinner 

We needed to use the 32 oz. of mussels we had steamed and shucked yesterday, so we decided to combine them into a cream sauce with onion, garlic, and diced zucchini to serve over a bowl of linguine.

I sliced 1/3 onion, three cloves of garlic, five Portobello mushrooms, and a zucchini while Suzette boiled the linguine.

Suzette then made a cream sauce and sautéed the onion, garlic, mushrooms, and zucchini.

She then folded the sautéed vegetables and mussels into the cream sauce and added some Arack to give the sauce a slightly licorice flavor.

She then plated the linguine in pasta bowls and covered it with the mussel cream sauce.

Willy came over at 7:00 to join us for dinner.

And Rahim came by to check the downloading of a document and talked to Willy for a minute or two.

I fetched a bottle of chilled Picton Bay Sauvignon Blanc (Trader Joe’s) from the garage and poured three glasses.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner, probably because a mushroom and garlic cream sauce is one our favorite sauces with seafood.

Here is a picture of the sauce and pasta left after the meal, which will be enough for another meal.

After dinner we ate a few slices of the poached quince and then Willy left.

We watched some TV but we were tired and Suzette went to bed at 9:00.

I tried to watch Astrid, but fell asleep in front of the TV and went to bed at 11:20.

I feel very lucky that we can enjoy the produce grown at the Center, in our garden, and food tastings from the Greenhouse Bistro.

Suzette and I are interactive with the kitchen crew at the Bistro when a new menu is being developed to perfect the menu and helping source ingredients, such as the current German Journey menu 

We also support the Bistro kitchen staff sometimes, like processing the large quantity of quince this year.

Bon Appetit