December 5, 2033 Lunch - Compound Dinner - Boiled Shrimp with avocado crema

December 5, 2033 Lunch - Compound  Dinner - Boiled Shrimp with avocado crema

This was a wonderful day.

It started with the plumbers arriving at 8:00 to plumb the new bathroom for the remodel of our bathroom and front bedroom.

Then we drove to Santa Fe.  We stopped at Restore It so Suzette could find a mantle, but there was none.

We then drove to Owings Gallery to consign my Juane Quick to See Smith for sale at 11:30. Smith currently has a retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum that just opened in Fort Worth at the Modern At Museum. 

Then we drove to the Compound for lunch at 12:30.

I love the Compound because it offers fine dining at its best and the food and wine are excellent.  It has been awarded Wine Spectator’s certificate of merit for every year for the last four years.  Mark Kiffen, was the chef and is the owner and was awarded Best chef in the Southwest in 2005 by the James Beard Foundation. Kiffen has turned over executive chef responsibility to Weston Ludeke, who has cooked in Michelin restaurants. 

The food was fabulous. We first shared a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup, Beef Meatballs, Mirepoix, Spinach, Orzo Pasta, Beef Broth, and Parmesan.  I liked the strongB beef broth but Suzette thought the rosemary flavor in the broth was overpowering.

Bread and butter were also served and we tasted a taste of Albariño that was so highly acidic we passed on it and a 2022 Triennes Rose from Provence that we loved and ordered a bottle of for $64.00. 

In a bit our entrees arrived. Suzette had ordered a grilled salmon filet accompanied with farro mixed with rehydrated cranberries and a butternut squash purée that was fabulous. She said it was the best prepared salmon she had ever had.

My tart was elegantly simple, a large square of puff pastry that was incredibly fluffy filled with minced bacon and chèvre and topped with baby arugula and slices of pear that were so thin that they were translucent. 

It was one of the lightest tarts I have ever eaten.

The tart plate was decorated with dots of chèvre creamed in olive oil also.

The wine perfectly paired with the food.  We had one glass left when we finished our food that we drank and found it to be a bit harsh tasting, but we loved this elegant rose with food.

The maitre d’ is French and a trained sommelier. We complimented him on his selection of the rose and raised the issue of the acidity of the Albariño because it had not been aged on the lees.

We were full but shared the last piece of bread with butter with the last glass of rose to balance the harshness instead of ordering a dessert.

We then drove to the Santa Fe Auction house to pick up my Helen Hardin painting. The lady in charge of the auction showed us a collection of art consigned by a collector named Nelson from Taos that had an amazing number of early 20th century Taos painters.

We then drove to Stephen’s Consignment where Suzette found the perfect mantel. It did not fit in the Suzette’s SUV so we drove to a nearby hardware store,c where Suzette bought a package of bungy cords and we returned to Stephen’s and Domenic and Stephen helped Suzette lash the mantel to the luggage rack on top of the Highlander.

Suzette then drove us home.  The sun was setting at 5:30 as we drove home and I enjoyed the view of the after glow of the sun silhouetted by the line of mesas to the west.

When we returned home we drank a glass of fresh orange juice and watched the news for a while to recover from all the art, food, and shopping activity of the day.

Neither of us was particularly hungry, but around 7:00 Suzette made us a quick dinner by mashing the meat of an avocado into a cup of crema and adding a dash of hot sauce. We shelled the remaining shrimp we had boiled yesterday and dipped the large shrimp into the  avocado crema and ate them with corn chips.  I fetched a Shiner Bock beer from the garage and Suzette sipped her scotch cocktail.

We watched news until 9:00 and then went to bed.

We loved our day in Santa Fe with a world class meal and the prospect of selling one of my paintings and my new small magical deer painting by Helen Hardin.

Bon Appetit

December 4, 2023 Breakfast - shrimp and Scallop in Lobster Sauce with rice and an egg. Lunch - Chili Relleno at La Cocina. Dinner - Shrimp with Couscous in a Cream Sauce.

December 4, 2023 Breakfast - shrimp and Scallop in Lobster Sauce with rice and an egg. Lunch - Chili Relleno at La Cocina. Dinner - Shrimp with Couscous in a Cream Sauce.

Another fun day of food and exercise.

It started with a heavenly breakfast of sautéing the leftover shrimp and scallop in Lobster sauce leftover from our lunch at East Ocean last Friday to which we added scallops and diced asparagus for dinner on Sunday .night.  I whisked an egg and added it to thicken the egg ingredient today. It was quite delicious because it retained the gelatinous characteristic of the dish.

Then I dressed and drove to 8th St. and walked the last 1 1/2 blocks to Bill Turner’s office and reviewed a closing at 10:30.

When I finished at noon I drove to El Super to shop for groceries.  I bought a pineapple, a papaya, four ataulfo mangos, three gala apples, cilantro, two small avocados, a bunch of radishes, broccoli, a bag of red chili, orange juice, onions, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, a lb. of large heads off shrimp, five smoked pork cutlets, corn chips, lemons, and a bunch of asparagus.

In the middle of shopping I became hungry and ate a chili Relleno plate with double beans and no rice with a bottle of Mexican Coca Cola with two flour tortillas.  I cut the chili Relleno in half and rolled it in one of the warmed flour tortillas with refried beans, cilantro, and chopped onions to make a burrito. After eating the first burrito I rolled the other half Relleno in the other flour tortilla, again with beans, onion, and cilantro and wrapped it in aluminum foil to take home.

I then finished shopping and drove home at 2:30.

As soon as I arrived a FedEx driver delivered the order of spirits and wine from Blackwell’s in San Francisco.  There were six bottles, two Kelt cognacs, a Genepy La Chamois herbal , a pecan rye whiskey, and two 2018 Schlumbrrger Pinot Gris French Alsace wines.

I ate one of the Gala apples as a snack and rested for a few minutes and at 3:40 walked the three blocks to Southwest Capital Bank and made a deposit.

I returned home in time to hear most of Ari Melber, The Beat.

I got hungry again at 5:15 so I toasted two thin slices of bagel and spread them with butter and goat cheese and ate them with a cup of tea.

Suzette arrived at 5:30 hungry.  I suggested we boil the shrimp. I said I wanted shrimp with turkey dressing and gravy. Suzette there was no gravy and the dressing might be spoiled.  We finally agreed that I would eat shrimp with PPI couscous and a cream sauce and Suzette would eat shrimp with the leftover Cashew Chicken with vegetables from our East Ocean lunch. Suzette helped prepare dinner.

We steamed the lb. of shrimp in the large Casserole in about 1 inch of a mixture of white Vermouth, a pressed clove of garlic, and water. While the shrimp were steaming I made a Beurre Marie, mixing 1 1/2 T. of butter and flour. Suzette removed the shrimp from the casserole and I ladled some of the steaming medium into the beurre marie and whisked it into a creamy consistency.  Then I added the cream base to the rest of the steaming medium in the casserole and stirred it over heat until it thickened. I added a dash of salt and white pepper to the sauce and Suzette minced some fresh parsley and added that to the cream sauce.  We then each shelled five shrimp and lay them over our respective dishes and poured sauce over the shrimp and heated couscous for me and the Cashew Chicken and rice for Suzette.

The entire meal was ready in about ten minutes.

                                              Suzette’s dinner

                                                  My dinner

Suzette poured out the last of the Gruner Vitliner for me and she sipped her scotch with the meal.

This was a wonderful meal.  I love seafood with rice or couscous in a cream sauce. Suzette loved the big shrimp and we have about a dozen left for dinner tomorrow.

We watched Rachel interview Liz Cheney and then the Monday Night Football game between Jacksonville and Cincinnati that proved to be quite exciting.  It was tied at the end of regulation after Trevor Lawrence was injured. The Bengals won in overtime, 34 to 31.

After dinner we shared the last piece of Pecan pie from Thanksgiving, Suzette with a sip of cognac and I with a cup of tea.

Later I drank a sip of the Genepy herbal liquor with another cup of tea

We then went to bed around 10:00.

The small increments of exercise and food during the day worked to make me feel better by the end of dinner.

Bon Appetit

December 3, 2023. Brunch - Sausage, potato, and carrot Burrito snack - Popcorn Dinner - PPI Eggplant Parmesan with Spaghetti and garlic toas

December 3, 2023. Brunch - Sausage, potato, and carrot Burrito snack - Popcorn  Dinner - PPI Eggplant Parmesan with Spaghetti and garlic toast

Today was a good day for UT and Dallas Cowboys fans.

The bowl selection committee picked the final four teams to compete for the NCAA National Championship, they were Michigan, Alabama, Washington, and Texas.  It was probably between Georgia, Florida State, and Texas for the fourth spot, but since Texas beat Alabama, and Alabama beat No.1 Georgia, Texas was selected.

Then in the afternoon the 49’s played 1st place Eagles and beat them. So if Dallas beats Philadelphia next Sunday the Cowboys and Philadelphia will be tied in wins and since Dallas beat Philadelphia it will go into first place in its division.

The only problem with this shake up is that San Francisco looks to be the best team in the NFL and it has already beaten Dallas this yea, so the chances are not great that Dallas can beat San Francisco in order to reach the Super Bowl.

It was another day of two meals and a snack.  After I watched the morning news programs we made egg, sausage, potato, and carrot burritos for brunch.

Then I rested for a while and watched Brighton lose to Chelsea.

Then we drove to the Bosque and walked to the two ponds and watched the waterfowl. There was a new bird, a large coot or some type of rail.

I was a bit sore after the walk, but not for long.

We then drove home and I watched the San Francisco v. Philadelphia Eagles game during which we shared a bag of popcorn.

We ate Dinner after the game.  Suzette heated the PPI Eggplant Parmesan and Spaghetti and I cut two dinner rolls into thirds and sautéed them in butter, garlic, and olive oil to make garlic bread.

We poured the Italian Riserva Chianti that I opened yesterday and diluted its heaviness with ice cubes that made it lighter and cooler.

During dinner we watched 60 Minutes, and then a documentary on Agatha Christie‘s life during which Suzette served bowls of spumoni ice cream.

When it ended at 8:30 Suzette went to bed and I stayed up to watch Green Bay beat Kansas City and sipped cognac and a cup of tea and blogged.

Bon Appetit

December 2, 2023 Breakfast - oatmeal. Lunch - Turkey Salad stuffed Avocado Dinner - Mint jelly glazed Lamb Chop with Roasted Potatoes, carrots, asparagus and garlic

December 2, 2023 Breakfast - oatmeal. Lunch - Turkey Salad stuffed Avocado   Dinner - Mint jelly glazed Lamb Chop with Roasted Potatoes, carrots, asparagus and garlic

Today was a day of watching soccer and football.  The big game as far as I was concerned was Texas v. Oklahoma State which Texas won handily, 49 to 21.  The other big game was the SEC championship in which Alabama upset No. 1 Georgia, 27 to 24.

I made oatmeal with brown sugar, a diced gala apple, and raisins for Suzette and me around 9:00.

I walked around the block at 12:00. Then at 3:30 we walked two blocks toward the country club

Then Suzette went shopping until 1:00 when I made turkey salad with three stalks of celery diced, three eggs diced, two oz. of red moon diced, three green onions sliced thinly and about 1 lb. of turkey breast diced.

When Suzette arrived around 1:30 she added mayonnaise to the salad and I sprinkled curry powder onto the salad and we mixed the ingredients together.  Suzette sliced two large avocados in half and filled each half with turkey salad, she chopped a head of romaine and. Diced a tomato for garnish and I sliced three cornichons in half and sprinkled them on top of the salads.

We opened ai bottle of Gruner Vitliner and drank a glass of Gruner with the salad.

I watched Newcastle beat Man United and then Alabama beat Georgia 27 to 24.

At around 4:30 Suzette roasted quartered creamer, garlic, carrots from,our garden and later added asparagus to the roasting pan.

For dinner around 6:30 Suzette glazed and heated two lamb chops in the microwave and plated one each on plates with some of the roasted  vegetables.

After dinner watched a 2016 Woody Allen movie named Cafe Society and the SNL and went to bed at 11:00.

December 1, 2023 Brunch - Fabada. Dinner - Leftover Shrimp and scallops in Lobster Sauce

Today’s meals were very Spanish.  I only ate two times with a glass of vermouth and tapa like snack in between, which was how we ate in Spain.

At 10:00 I finally became hungry and decided to eat the last of the Fabada Suzette had made last week with a pull apart roll Willy had made for Thanksgiving.

It was delicious. The garbanzo beans finally cooked until soft with the addition of some water to make more sauce.

Then I worked at my desk to pay taxes until 4:00 with a discussion with Billy and a letter I wrote for Rahiim and checking the Market.

The market was up today and my portfolio reached a 52 week high, rising 1%. So I was thrilled.

At 4:15 Suzette and I started watching the news.  The big news for me today was that the D.C. Court of Appeals issued an order denying Trump’s motion to dismiss civil plaintiffs claims suing Trump for the harm caused them by his actions on Jan. 6, by several law makers and Capitol policemen, including pain and suffering, based on executive immunity.

Similarly the judge in the federal Jan. 6 criminal case denied Trump’s motions to dismiss the federal criminal case relying on his First Amendment to speak and Presidential immunity.

Trump will appeal, but all those cases appear to be moving forward toward trial.

We drank glasses of Lustau red vermouth and I ate a container of Boursin cheese spread on Carr water biscuits with my vermouth.

Then at 8:00 we heated the leftover Shrimp in Lobster Sauce and fried rice with the addition of diced asparagus, two diced scallops, and green onion ringlets.

I drank green tea and Suzette drank the last of the dry Vouvray. This green tea was the whole leaf green tea given to me by YoYo and Marty, which is very subtle.

We watched the last episode of The Life of Our Planet and finally I watched a very exciting 4th quarter of the PAC 12 Championship between No. 3 Washington and No. 5  Oregon, which Washington won by 3 points.

Later I drank another cup of green tea with two cookies.

Tomorrow the rest of the top college teams play including Texas V. Oklahoma State.

Bon Appetit