September 6, 2015 Lunch -Dungeness Crab and Dinner –Bocce Party

September 6, 2015 Lunch -Dungeness Crab and Dinner –Bocce Party 

While Suzette infused some officials the gin she bought yesterday at Costco with tea bags of camomile tea, I made an omelet in the microwave for breakfast.  I heated 3 oz. onion and a clove of garlic in a pyrex bowl. Then I added crumbled PPI fried bacon, spinach leaves, and diced tomato and heated the mixture again.  Finally I added four eggs beaten, with salt and a dash of pepper and water and heated about 6 minutes until the egg firmed.

I then rode and then we washed dishes and took a nap until 2:00 when we ate lunch of the Dungeness Crab Suzette had bought at Costco yesterday ($7.99/lb.). Suzette sliced a beautiful yellow and red tomato from our garden and toasted Fano French bread, which we buttered with creamery fresh butter from Old Windmill Dairy and dipped in the mayonnaise sauce I had made yesterday with rosemary infused vinegar, lemon juice, a minced shallot, and mayonnaise, plus slices of yellow and red tomatoes from our garden and a bunch of grapes Barbara Lardner gave to Suzette that she raised in her garden.

Suzette and I had righted the Giant clam shell and she had positioned the fish fountain so the fountain worked well by the pond where we sat under the gazebo.

We drank a rose of Malbec from the Mendoza Valley, which I had bought at Total Wine.  

After lunch I chopped a stalk of lemon grass and Suzette made lemon grass infused simple syrup.

At 5:30 we got ready for the party.  I squeezed the juice of three lemons for the martinis, Suzette puréed artichoke hearts, bell pepper, and green onion and added that to the PPI mayonnaise sauce from lunch and added some sour cream to that to make a dip.  

At 6:00 Cynthia and Ricardo arrived with a bag of ice and a platter of Caprese salad.  We put out potato chips, hummus, and nan bread from Costco and Ricardo made martinis with the infused gin, the lemon grass syrup, lemon juice and slices of lemon peel in a cocktail shaker filled with ice they had picked up on the way over.

Shortly thereafter Bill and Regina Turner arrived with a package of marinated pork tenders.

We played bocce and talked until about 7:30 when it became twilight.  Then Suzette fired up the grill and cooked the pork tenders and several of the mission figs we had picked at the Lamm’s house last night.  

Suzette plated figs, pork, nan and hummus in plates and the lovely Caprese salad Cynthia brought for a lovely dinner.  I poured a Santiago Station Cabernet Sauvignon from the Mendoza Valley in Argentina ($4.00 at Total Wine).  It's soft floral flavor went surprisingly well with the pork.

Unfortunately, three of our ceramic martini glasses were broken as people jostled the rather instable steel table with its folded apron edges.

After dinner we served calvados and cognac and a little before 9:00 the fireworks started at the Albuquerque Country Club, which we could see perfectly from the bench next to the bocce court.

We put out chocolate covered pecans and mixed nuts and watched the fireworks, which lasted about ½ hour.  

Everyone left around 9:30 and  we put up food and watched Sherlock Holmes on Masterpiece Mystery and then the 2014 remake of War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise, which was a bore.

A lovely Labor Day weekend party. 

Bon Appetit 

September 7, 2015 Two beautiful Tomato Dishes

September 7, 2015 Two beautiful Tomato Dishes 

The tomatoes from our garden are at the height of their maturity, so we are enjoying them every chance we can.  The most beautiful are a Brandywine type with a curved fluted top near the stem that is perfect for slicing.  We bought a new 2 lb. package of applewood smoked bacon at Costco yesterday, so we could make BLT sandwiches and this morning while I prepared for trial with Scott, Suzette fried some bacon and sliced a red and a yellow tomato and slices of the fresh loaf of honey wheat bread we got at her Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery on Friday evening.

Instead of lettuce she substituted spinach leaves.  Suzette made her obligatory Bloody Mary and I drank water.

I then rode ten miles to Montano feeling every push of the peddle, since this is the third day in a row of riding.

SinceI had ridden I was hungry and we prepared an early dinner.  I sliced the four eggplants we have grown in our garden this summer and Suzette grilled them while I sliced about three ounces of Manchego cheese and she constructed a casserole in a pyrex pie pan with a layer each of PPi casarecce pasta, eggplant and tomato sauce made from tomatoes from our garden and topped with cheese.  Suzette baked the casserole in the microwave.  

We were able to walk on our refinished kitchen floor today, so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2009 Eguia Reserva Tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain to go with the Australian rack of lamb Suzette bought at Costco on Saturday.  Suzette grilled the rack of lamb, I opened the bottle of Rioja, and we had an excellent dinner. 

The wine has aged beautifully.  It now has a well rounded, smooth texture, having lost most of that assertive organic edge that seems to be characteristic of young Tempranillo.

The casserole was a stunning success in two respects, first, because Suzette prepared it with the rude elements available to us, a grill and a microwave and secondly, because it was a rather complete combination of the fresh ingredients from our garden; garlic, oregano, tomatoes cooked int a sauce combined with fresh eggplants. 

We have reached the height of peasant cuisine with this meal.  

For dessert we ate bowls of vanilla ice cream doused with a fig compote Suzette had made from the figs we picked last week, drizzled with chopped chocolate covered pecans.

This was an amazing dinner that made me feel like I was back in a small village in Spain or Italy eating the best local ingredients.

The addition of pasta was important because it's carbs helped my body recover from the bike ride.

Bon Appetit 

August 26, 2015 PPI Filet Mignon, black beans, Tomatoes, and sugar snap peas

August 26, 2015 PPI Filet Mignon, black beans, Tomatoes, and sugar snap peas

Suzette heated up the PPI filet with the black beans while I steamed the PPI sugar snap peas and sliced several tomatoes that I drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

We drank Aberdeen 50% Shiraz/50% Malbec rose which tasted a little flat and definitely was not fruity.

A simple pleasant dinner.

Bon Appetit 

August 25, 2015 Birthday Dinner for Suzette Grilled Filet Mignon, steamed sugar snap peas, Sautéed potatoes, mushrooms, onions and garlic

August 25, 2015 Birthday Dinner for Suzette  Grilled Filet Mignon, steamed sugar snap peas, Sautéed potatoes, mushrooms, onions and garlic.

I went to Costco for lunch (a hot dog) and to buy some food.  I saw Mimi Montgomery and invited her to dinner.  She said she was having dinner with her friend, Larry Kay, and would check with him.  We were  standing in the meat department and I saw lovely filets, so I picked a package with four nice filets and told Mimi, “We will grill these.”  Mimi said she would call me later to confirm. 

I then picked a 2 lb. bag of sugar snap peas,a blur cheese and a goat cheese and a bouquet of yellow roses for Suzette.

Mimi called later to confirm that she and Larry could come to dinner at 7:15 and they would bring mango sorbet.

I went home and at 6:00 we began washing dishes and preparing dinner.  I chopped about ¼ cup of onion, three or four cloves of garlic, five brown crimini mushrooms, and four Yukon Gold potatoes.  I also fetched a bottle  of 2008 Hafner Vineyard’s Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley that Cliff and Nancy had given us for Christmas several years ago.  I also stripped the strings off the edges of 1 ½ cups of sugar snap peas and went the garden and picked stalks of thyme and tarragon and plucked their leaves and added them to the mushrooms.. Suzette added some water to a pyrex bowl filled with diced potatoes and cooked them.  Then Suzette sautéed the onion potatoes and garlic and then added the mushrooms and thyme and tarragon. 

At 7:00 Suzette opened the wine to let it breath.

Mimi and Larry arrived a bit later with a container of butter pecan gelato and a Hagen Daz Mango sorbet.  Suzette heated the grill and turned on the Bayou cooker.  She grilled the steaks and sautéed the potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and herbs, while I heated the sugar snap peas for a bit more than a minute so they would still retain their crispness and flavor. When Suzette brought in the steaks I sliced them and they were a slightly bloody medium rare. I fetched the Béarnaise sauce and we plated the plates.  The meat was incredibly tender and the wine was fabulous. The sugar snap peas were crisp and sweet, at the height of their flavor and stole the show as best ingredient.

We enjoyed talking with Mimi and Larry.  Larry is also a lawyer and a serious long distance bicycle rider.  

We sat in the gazebo and after dinner ate the gelato and sorbet and sipped cognac

By 10:00 we said goodnight.  

Suzette said she did not like having to cook on her birthday.  I responded that I was able to make a better dinner than we could find anywhere for a cost for the entire meal that was less than the same meal for one of us if we had gone out to dinner and ate a better dinner.  She agreed that we would not have found such a good meal in Albuquerque and if we did we would not have wanted to pay for it.  We play this game after a good meal, by which we try to set the cost of the meal taking into account the dishes, the quality of ingredients and wine. Suzette estimated the dinner at $50 for each person’s Filet Mignon dinner and $100.00 for the 2008 Hafner Cabernet. Her final analysis was, “We would never have paid for such a wonderful meal?”  Meaning $300 for dinner for Four was too extravagant, even for a BD.  And we got to share it with friends we had not seen for a long time.  By my reasoning having to cook a bit was a small inconvenience given the result and the enjoyable evening and dinner.

Bon Appetit 

August 24, 2015 brunch – Huevos Rancheros Dinner- Sautéed Smoked pork and Napa cabbage with Calabacitas and Black Beans

August 24, 2015  brunch – Huevos Rancheros  Dinner- Sautéed Smoked pork and Napa cabbage with Calabacitas and Black Beans 

I rode to Rio bravo and then helped Suzette with a project and made breakfast with a smoked pork cutlet, onion, a tomato from the garden, eggs, garlic and lime flavored Mexican red hot sauce.  There was too much liquid and the sauce did hot stiffen, so the result was really soft mushy eggs, which I liked.

I ate PPI Cuban sandwich for a late lunch. Suzette arrived from Santa Rosa a bit after 6:00 and I worked until after 7:00 on my water case trial preparation, Suzette cooked dinner, which turned out to be very interesting and delicious.  She started by chopping red bell pepper and onion and sautéing that with a can of seasoned black beans, Hoja Santa and Epazote for the first dish.  For the second dish, we had thawed a container of Calabacitas, so she chopped Napa cabbage we had bought at the farmer’s market last weekend and sautéed it with a diced pork cutlet and the added some of the Calabacitas to make an elaborate dish.  

We ate the delicious food with Mexican Modelo Especial beer and watched the Antiques Roadshow. 

Bon Appetit 

August 23, 2015 – Day in Santa Fe. Museum Hill Café and Dinner at T. R. and Linda’s

August 23, 2015 – Day in Santa Fe. Museum Hill Café and Dinner at T. R. and Linda’s

Suzette made lovely Bacon, Chard and tomato sandwiches at About 9:30 with chard and tomatoes from our garden on toasted Fano baguette.  

We drove to Santa Fe and parked at Owings Gallery and walked through Indian Market to the Fine Arts Museum, where we saw the color show from the permanent collection.  I saw several new pieces including a Dorothy Morang abstract watercolor in the  Transcendental style from 1940 that I liked.  Then we walked upstairs and saw the Museum construction show with its wonderful Kenneth Chapman and the original Rapp and Rapp elevations.

We walked through the sea of booths and people constituting Indian Market that has grown since I last saw it 15 years ago. Booths now stretch around the Plaza and along all the streets adjoining the Plaza.  For example, we walked from the Museum along Lincoln to Marcy and saw booths stretched all the way to the federal courthouse.  The number of Indian artists seems to have grown over the years.

We then drove to Museum Hill to see the Red Show at the International Folk Art Museum.  The parking lot was full and we parked in the Botanical Garden lot across the street.  The museums in Santa Fe have coordinated shows around the Summer of Color theme with the Wheelwright’s color being silver for jewelry, the Spanish Colonial Museum’s color being blue for indigo, the Indian cultural Museum’s color being turquoise, and the Folk Art’ color red featuring cochineal.  It was 1:45 and we were hungry, so, we walked to the Museum Hill Café and were seated at a table on its expansive patio.  We both chose salads.  I ordered a Cobb with pico de gallo and Suzette ordered a salmon  salad.  My salad turned out to be an adventure as I searched through it to remove all the diced jalapeños and even then it was just on the edge of hotness for my taste with the addition of a small ramekin of blue cheese dressing.  Suzette’s salmon was grilled and a lovely salad.  We ordered glasses of wine.  I ordered a Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc and Suzette ordered a maguey juice Bloody Mary that tasted  like the liquid in a Mexican shrimp Coctel. 

The Waiter realized that we liked wine and brought us a sample of Ponderosa’s Chardonnay that was unbaked and rather nice, like the Chardonnay produced in Anderson Valley.

We then saw the extensive Red show that was highly technical, covering the cultivation, dying and trade in cochineal, besides displays of beautiful cochineal colored objects.  Here are a few:

     El Greco

    Japanese fireman's coat

We then went to the other exhibit of Southern clay objects.  I ran out of gas and we found some lounge chairs in front of a video showing many of the potteries and folks all across the South making many of the objects in the show and I took a nap.

At 5:00 when the museum closed we had to find something to do for 1 ½ hours until dinner.  My stomach was upset from the pico de gallo in the salad, so I suggested ice cream.  We drove to Baskin and Robbin’s on Cerillos and shared a cup of pistachio almond and world champion chocolate wit both white and dark chocolate ice cream mixed together.  We then drove to the narrow park along Galisteo at Cordova and sat and read and walked through the Santa Fe Rose Society garden.

At 6:20 we drove to .t.r.band Linda’s house on Old Pecos Trail.  Soon we were joined by Mitzi and Steve who own Mid-century Modern gallery on San Francisco street and Ronald and Elizabeth who own the Indian jewelry shop in the La Fonda Hotel.  They were all interesting to talk to as we sat on the patio behind the main house and sipped wine and cocktails and ate from the abundant selection of  appetizers, including warm quesadillas, tuna stuffed green olives, cheeses, and salami.

Elisabeth and Ronald brought a bottle of chateau Pegau, Chateau Neufchâtel du Pape Rose, which was new to me.  We brought a bottle of Gruet rose and a bottle of a Presidente cotes du Rhone rose from Total Wine.  T.R. Had made watermelon margaritas, which were quite nice, but I wanted to drink the roses.  I had a glass of each and liked the Presidente the best.  About two hours later Linda made the rice and plated plates with chicken breasts with a Moroccan sauce on rice and Calabacitas.  After dinner we sat around the fire T.R. had made in the fire pit in the middle of the patio and talked until 10:00, when we said goodnight after a lovely evening of food, wine and conversation.

Bon Appetit 

August 22, 2015 lunch – Greenhouse Bistro. Dinner – 5 Star Burger

August 22, 2015 lunch – Greenhouse Bistro. Dinner – 5 Star Burger

Lunch was heavenly

Dinner was hellish

I went to the Center for Ageless Living for a massage at around 1:00 and at 2:00 went to its Greenhouse Bistro for lunch.  Suzette joined me. I wanted to try the new chef, Alex’ cuisine.  I started with the Spa lunch special of Peach soup.with a Grape Suzette salad.  The presentation was lovely.  The soup was served in a punch cup (one of Mother’s) on a lovely ceramic plate accompanied by the salad.  It was a beautifully presented dish.  The salad was fresh and delicious with wonderfully fresh large red grapes sliced in half and chopped threads of Parmesan cheese and fresh tarragon and lettuce from the center’s garden.  The soup was surprisingly good, sweetened by peaches in a August 22, 2015 lunch – Greenhouse Bistro. Dinner – 5 Star Burgercreamy base and flavored with Cointreau and peach schnapps.

Then I ordered a Cuban sandwich because Suzette told me that Alex though the focaccia used on the sandwich was too thick and he had used his recipe for focaccia to bake a thinner and slightly denser focaccia.  The sandwich was very delicious and impressive.  Slices of ham, cheese, dill pickles, and roasted pork pressed together in a sandwich press.  I loved the firmness of the sandwich loaf and the side dish of fresh salad greens, slices of cucumber, and cherry tomatoes and even the small pile of crisp potato chips.

Alex is clearly using the bounty of the Center’s garden to enhance the freshness of the menu items, which I love and which I think makes the Greenhouse Bistro’s food so distinctively delicious and appealing.

The opposite occurred at dinner.  I told Suzette that I had had a great Fish and Chips at 5 Star Burger, so we decided to go therefor Fish And Chips.  When we were served our dish, I discovered that instead of the lovely large filets of Haddock that used to be on the dish the dish is now served with fish sticks that are tasteless and so thin they get over cooked and are dry with none of that fresh liquid fish flavor that makes Fish and Chips so delicious.  

I asked to speak to the Manager and when she came I asked why they would change the fish from a delicious filet to a fish stick.  She said the management in Kansas City had changed vendors from Sysco to U.S. Foods because U.S. foods could provide a Kansas ground beef.  Unfortunately U.S. Foods did not have the Haddock filets, only fish sticks.  Suzette explained that U.S. The Foods is mainly an institutional vendor that is known for its cheap prices and that was probably the reason for the change.  The Manager agreed that the fish sticks were of inferior quality and even suggested that if we wanted really fresh fish and chips we should go to “Two Fools Tavern” on Central because they use fresh fish and batter the filets themselves.

We probably will never go back to 5 Star Burger because we do not eat hamburgers for $11.00.  We instead grill rib steaks we buy for $6.00/lb.

But we surely will go to “Two Fools Tavern” next time we want fish and chips. 

Bon Appetit