Eating with Bob and Suzette

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

December 3, 2024 Lunch - Lime Dinner - Turkey and Orzo Soup

I woke up and worked from 5:30 to 9:30 on my Objection in the LRGA case.

Then I ate a chocolate croissant with a cup of chai for breakfast and got dressed.

I worked on other matters until 12:00 when Aaron called to announce he and Monica were ready to go to lunch. We met at Lime Vietnamese Restaurant on Montgomery at Eubank.

Monica ordered her favorite dish, Salt and Pepper Stir Fried Shrimp. Aaron and I ordered Pho soup with rice noodles. I ordered mine with raw beef.

The Salt and Pepper Shrimp

The service was wonderful. The waiter brought whatever we asked for, such as extra lettuce leaves for our double order of fried egg rolls and a small ramekin of the pure salty fish sauce for the pho.

Lime is Monica’s favorite Vietnamese Restaurant. I liked the Pho and look forward to ordering different dishes in the future.

We discussed Earn business. It was fun.

I stopped a Alquds Middle Eastern Restaurant and Grocery at the corner of San Pedro and Montgomery on the way home and bought yogurt, pitas, frozen lamb chunks, and a frozen package of 2 lamb shanks.

I then made my way through the construction labyrinth of I-25 from Montgomery to the Big I and arrived at home at 3:00, just in time to watch the last 15 minutes of Leicester City beating West Ham 3 to 1. It was the first win for Leicester in the last 6 matches, but it put them clear of the relegation zone. I loved it and celebrated with a Vietnamese iced coffee as a fabulous finish to my Vietnamese lunch.

Suzette came home just as the match ended.

I went back to my desk to revise a contract for a client and check my portfolio. I had not gotten much chance to check during the day, so I was pleasantly surprised that the NASDAQ, my portfolio, and the S & P all set new record highs today.

After I sent out the revised contract I listened to the afternoon stock trading show and they explained why Apple continues to go up. The reason Apple keeps going up is because lots of money is flowing into the market since Trump’s election through purchases of stock funds that must buy the basket of stocks in their portfolio and if, for example, Apple is 5% of their portfolio, the fund will buy enough Apple to equal 5% of the newly invested funds. Apple’s fundamentals have not changed only the demand for its stock. Apple was up $3.08/share today to $242.65 and is trading up $.29 in after hours trading. Lots of the other high tech stocks went up today, so it was a good day.

I did not get a chance to walk today so at 5:00 I rode a mile on the therapeutic bike. Suzette made Turkey and Orzo soup with the turkey broth we made from the Thanksgiving turkey carcass and a mirepoix. Tomorrow I might add carrots, celery, and spinach to the soup.

After dinner we watched an old but wonderful 2003 movie, Love Actually, a Christmas romantic comedy with an all star cast and then went to bed at 9:30

It was a very productive day, except I got busy and forgot to meditate.

Bon Appetit

Monday, December 2, 2024

December 2, 2024 Breakfast - Granola, milk, yogurt, and Tropical Fruit Salad. Lunch - PPI Turkey Divine Dinner - Sautéed Salmon fillet with Dressing, Carrots and dates, and Cranberry Sauce.

I woke up at 7:15 and watched the market open. Nvda was negative $1.38 in the pre-market but began to climb and ended the day positive $.38. AppL was strong all day, ending up $2.26 and Meta was up an amazing $18.51. The NASDAQ and S & P both hit new highs and my portfolio is 1.28% from reaching a new all time high.

I worked at my desk most of the day, mostly on the LRGA.

I ate breakfast around 9:00 of granola, milk, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad.

Then at 12:30 I heated the PPI Turkey Divine and ate it. It did not agree with my gut and I had an upset stomach for the rest of the day.

At 5:30 Suzette made a dozen pumpkin chocolate filled woopie pies. This was her first effort and it succeeded fabulously.

At 6:30 Suzette started preparing dinner. She Baked the remaining dish of oyster dressing and sautéed the two salmon fillets we thawed today. I fetched and heated the carrots and dates and the cold cranberry relish.

I opened a bottle of Kirkland Pinot Grigio that is the best under $5.00 bottle of wine in Albuquerque.

We were not very hungry after eating several woopie pies, we have 1/2 of our salmon fillets and the dressing leftover for another meal.

We watched a very entertaining Monday Night Football game between Denver and Cleveland with almost 1000 yards of offense and a final score of Denver 41 and Cleveland 32. Cleveland probably would have won if it Quarterback had not thrown three interceptions.

We went to bed at 10:00.

Bon Appetit

Sunday, December 1, 2024

December 1, 2024 Breakfast - Lax and Bagels. Lunch - Romanian Stuffed Peppers. Dinner - PPI Pot Roast with wWith sushi Rice, Chinese Broccoli, and Spinach

Woke up a little after 6:00 and worked at my desk sending out correspondence until 7:45.

I then turned on PL soccer and watched Chelsea beat Aston Villa 3 to 0.

Toward the end of the first 1/2 I rode the therapeutic bike 1.26 mile.

I watched a little news and then the biggest match of the year so far came on, No.1 Liverpool v. No. 5 Man City that has won the last six championships.

Liverpool beat Man City soundly, 2 to 0.

After her aerobics and before she left for work, I toasted three slices of bagel, spread them with cream cheese, and garnished them with slices of red onion, Gravad lax, and capers. Suzette ate one with orange juice and I ate two with tea. The Gravad lax was still really orange,red and very firm.

After Suzette left I updated the blog, and sent our dinner participants the menu, baked fish, and watched football.

At 12:00 I walked to Laguna and back on Los Alamos.

When Suzette came home at 2:00 we decided to re-heat two of the Romanian stuffed peppers Nina made for Thanksgiving. I drank a glass of Pinot Gris and Suzette drank beer and the Pinot Gris.

After lunch we rested. At 4:00 Luke called and we talked. Then Suzette watched home decorating shows and I read until 7:15 when I was starting to get hungry.

Suzette had thawed out two salmon steaks at lunch. I asked if she wanted to cook the salmon for dinner and Suzette replied that she was not hungry.

So I heated some leftover Pot Roast with sushi rice, Chinese Broccoli and spinach.

I drank a glass of Barbera di Asti (Trader Joe’s $6.99) with dinner and ate bites,of horseradish cream sauce with it.

After dinner and an episode of House Hunters International set in Vietnam, we watched a very funny 2024 movie by Jerry Seinfeld movie titled Unfrosted on Netflix and went to bed at 10:15 when it ended.

I logged 4000 steps today and so did Suzette.

Bon Appetit

November 13, 2024 Lunch - Mu Shu Pork at East Ocean Dinner - Asturian Bean Soup with Corn bread muffins

I ate a chocolate croissant with a cup of chai for breakfast around 9:00.

Then I had a meeting with a client at 10:00 at 11:30 Suzette returned and at noon we decided to go to East Ocean to try their Mu Shu Pork.

The Mu Shu Pork was a little greasy and did not have much or any egg in it, but they gave us thinly sliced green onion spears to wrap in the Mandarin pancakes with the Mu Shu pork and plum sauce.

We ate two filled and rolled pancakes and then took the two remaining pancakes and the rest of the Mu Shu home to eat with extra scrambled egg.

After lunch Suzette drove us to Restore it on Menaul to look for a shower liner, but she did not find one.

We then drove to Rehm’s Nursery where Suzette bought nematodes to put into the raised beds where she suspect there are grubs, because nematodes eat grubs.

When we returned home I checked my portfolio and found that it was down. Then I worked on the checking account in the State Bank of India and at 4:00 I drove to the bank to have a document notarized.

When I returned home at 5:00 I had accumulated 1800 steps so I walked around the block. When I returned home I had accumulated 3400 steps by bedtime I had accumulated 3800 steps.

Dinner - Suzette suggested we make corn muffins to eat with the Fabada for dinner. She went the basement and found our ancient steel muffin pan and buttered and filled the cavities with a corn muffin batter she made from the recipe on the box of corn meal flour.

The cornbread muffins were lovely cut in half and spread with butter and honey. They reminded me of the corn bread mixed into regular bread dough that is a favorite bread in Northern and western Spain, where many farmers raise a path of corn.

We also went to the garden and picked a basket full of kale and chard leaves. I destemmed the green portion and we added the greens to the beans.

I ate an extra cornbread muffin with butter and honey for dessert.

Bon Appetit

November 29, 2024 Lunch - Turkey and cheese sandwich. Dinner -Turkey Divine

When I woke up I watched the market open and ate a Romanian cheese turnover made with phyllo dough and a French chocolate croissant with a latte Machiatta.

Perhaps the abundance of food choices we have is reason enough to be thankful.

Nvda was up $3.90 to $138.90 per share, so I decided to make my Required Minimum Distribution from my IRA. I called Wells Fargo around 10:00. There is no precise way to make a distribution of the kind I wanted to make that was a transfer of shares from an IRA account to a personal account because you must file a form and Wells Trade processes it and then within a day makes the journal entry at whatever price there is at that time. So I signed the form and guessed a number of shares that would approximate the distribution amount based on $138.80 per share and the price went down from there and closed at $138.25.

So I will need to make another transfer and perhaps several to hit the RMD amount.

At noon Suzette was hungry and asked me if I wanted a turkey sandwich. Of course, I said, “Yes.”

So she put Mayo on two slices of bread for each of us and turkey and slices of Jarlsberg cheese inside and buttered the outsides and grilled the sandwiches on both sides to a golden brown. It was a wonderful sandwich. The soft bread, avocado, and cheese melted in my mouth. We put lettuce leaves in the sandwich and slices of avocado We drank the last of the Le Pont Bandol rose, which was really heavenly.

Then I rested until 2:00. When I awakened I checked the market close and was delighted that my portfolio had made up almost half of its recent drop in prices from the all time high.

At 3:00 we walked around the block. It was good to get some fresh air.

When we returned home we put a new screen on our back door using the kit Suzette bought at Home Depot. It was really easy after we watched a video.

Dinner - We then watched a lovely movie on Netflix titled “A Family Affair” and then football with a break at 7:00 to cook dinner. Suzette made my family’s favorite day after Thanksgiving dinner, Turkey Divine, a dish my mother cooked almost every year.

Suzette started by cutting the flowerets off a head of broccoli and steaming the flowerets. She placed a layer of cooked turkey dressing in a 9 x 9 inch Pyrex baking dish and then lay a layer of cooked Turkey on top of the dressing. Then she heated broth to re-emulsify the dressing and poured that diluted leftover Turkey gravy with some added broth over the ingredients. The.n she chopped the broccoli flowerets and added them and finally I grated about a cup of cheddar cheese and sprinkled the cheese on top of the other ingredients. We actually made a change to the recipe and added about 1 cup of sliced portobello mushrooms.

Suzette baked the Turkey Divine for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven until the cheese melted and the ingredients started to Bubble around the ends.

The dish before the cheese topping and baking

The finished dish after baking

I opened a bottle of Acrobat Oregon Pinot Gris and we had a lovely dinner. The dish was simple and delicious. This version was more like a stew with standing broth in the bottom.

Turkey Divine is a complete meal in one dish using normal leftovers from Thanksgiving that my mother created and that we ate every year after Thanksgiving, . I even think those large 16 lb. turkeys and extra baked stuffing were designed with this dish in mind more so than the desire for abundance at the Thanksgiving table.

Bon Appetit