April 10, 2016 Breakfast – Gravad Lax Omelet, Lunch – French Onion Soup, Dinner – Pork Confit, zucchini, red onion, with Penne Pasta

April 10, 2016 Breakfast – Gravad Lax Omelet,  Lunch – French Onion Soup, Dinner – Pork Confit, zucchini, red onion, with Penne Pasta

Suzette said, “we should eat some of the gravad Lax.” 

So, we decided to make an omelet.  I chopped 1 medium shallot, two mushrooms, 1 avocado,and 1 Roma tomato, and about 3 oz. of gravad lax.  I also sliced the last of the goat cheeses, one herbed and the other plain (about 2 oz.), and whipped four eggs with about 1 tsp. of water and ¼ tsp of Herbs of Provence seasoned salt and a dash of white pepper.

We sautéed the shallot and mushrooms first. Then we added the gravad lax, tomato, and avocado.  Finally, we added the cheese.  I squeezed orange juice while Suzette cooked the omelet.  When I had squeezed enough oranges for two Mimosas, I opened a bottle of Cinzano Asti Spumante and we made Mimosas.  Suzette served the omelet and we ate a wonderful Breakfast.  This is the type of omelet my mother used to make and I love it very much.  

We then worked in the back yard and Suzette also cleaned out the back porch to make a clean area to sit in in her new chair with a view of the garden.

We planted the quince and pomegranate bought this week and re-planted a beleaguered cherry tree.  

When we finished it was after noon and I decided to make French onion soup with the PPI steak from the other night.  I followed Julia Child’s recipe, but forgot to sprinkle the three T. of flour before adding the stock so I had to make a béchamel with wine and stock and that added 3 extra T. of butter to the soup.  Not worse, just different with a noticeable buttery flavor.  I also opened the 20 year old tawny port and added about 1 T. of port. 

I ate the PPI Miso/Vietnamese soup from Friday lunch and the a bowl of French onion soup.  Willy and Suzette also ate bowls of soup with toasted pieces of Fano baguette.

I rested during the afternoon.  I enjoyed watching Arianna Huffington talk about her new book on sleep on GPS, so decided to try to get more sleep. 

At 6:30 we began dinner.  I sliced two zucchini, ½ of a red onion, and four mushrooms, and started a pot of boiling water for the pasta.  Suzette the took over, chopping about 1 lb. of pork confit, pouring penne pasta into the boiling water, sautéing the onion, mushrooms, and zucchini with some oregano, and then adding the pork confit.  When the pork confit mixture had heated and cooked in about fifteen minutes Suzette added about 1 cup of sour cream an about ¼ cup of heavy cream to the mixture to make a stroganoff like dish, which she mixed with about 2-3 cups of cooked penne in a large ceramic bowl.  Suzette then went to the garden and snipped taotsui leaves to garnish the dish while. I grated Peccorino/Romano cheese.  Suzette then served the pasta mixture in large pasta bowls, i garnished the dish with grated cheese and she garnish the top of the cheese with taotsui leaves for a lovely looking dish of food the tasted equally delicious.  This is our favorite way to eat pork confit.  I toasted slices of Fano baguette and we drank Grillo Sicilian white wine with ice cubes in it.  

    A tulip from Luke's garden

The Grillo is a more full bodied white like the Cotes du Rhone, we drank last night, so it goes well with a heavy cream sauce. 

 

Bon Appetit 

April 8, 2016 Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup, Dinner – Cream of Celery Soup with Cheese Sandwiches

April 8, 2016 Lunch – Miso Noodle Soup, Dinner – Cream of Celery Soup with Cheese Sandwiches 

I skipped breakfast today.  I drove to Ranch Market at 11:00 to shop for groceries.  Friday is a special day because there are both weekly specials such as 5 lb. of oranges or onions for $.99 and small avocados for 5 for $.99, plus Friday through Sunday specials such as 1 gallon of milk for $1.89 or ten limes for $.99.  I bought all of those specials plus  a daily special of medium head-on shrimp for $4.99 and cilantro for $.25/bunch.  There was 85% fat free hamburger meat for $3.59/lb. and smoked pork cutlet for $3.49, which are very cheap. I also bought mung bean sprouts for $.99/lb. and green onions for $.50/bunch, thus committing me to making a Miso/Vietnamese Noodle soup for lunch.  

When I returned home at noon, Willy was at home and I had to break the news to him that lunch plans had changed and we now we're going to eat home made noodle soup for lunch.  He took it pretty well and I suggested that he watch me if he wanted to learn how I make my weird hybrid Japanese and Vietnamese noodle soup.

Miso/Vietnamese Noodle Soup

I start filling a 3 quart pot 2/3 full of water and add 2 tsp. of dehydrated dashi and about 2 tsp. of dried shredded Wakame seaweed and start that simmering.  Today I did the full rendition of the soup, so I went to the garden and picked a handful of chard, two garlic plants, and a sprig of lovage.

I de stemmed the chard and lovage and cut the leaves into bite sized pieces.  I sliced both the white and green parts of the garlic thinly and about ¼ onion and added all of that to the pot of stock.  Then I sliced two Portobello mushrooms and four shitake mushrooms and added them.  I the added rice vermicelli and egg noodles to the pot with 1 T. of ground dehydrated pork, 1 T. Chinese Rice Cooking wine, 1 tsp. Thai Fish sauce, 1 tsp. of soy, and ½ tsp. of sesame oil.  I then added a heaping T. of white miso.  At this point I would add tofu, if I had any, but today I did not. 

Willy did not want any shrimp, so he served himself and then I added 7 medium heads on shrimp to the soup.

I ate two bowls of noodle soup with hoisin sauce and Shiracha, the juice of ½ lime, fresh cilantro, and fresh mung bean sprouts.   

We both enjoyed the soup. 

We had made no plan for dinner because we had a plan to go see Honey House at Hotel Andaluz (the old Hilton) at Copper and 2nd.

We arrived at 7:00 and found Ricardo and Cynthia and said hello to some of their friends.  A stage was set up at the reception end of the large lobby.  Since all seats were taken in the lobby,  I quickly decided that we should go upstairs to find seating.  There was practically no one upstairs and we found four large lounge chairs near the stage end of the balcony that gave us a good view of the stage and a very comfortable seat.  Ricardo wanted to buy a bottle of wine, so I joined him. We went to the lobby bar.  He bought a bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc.  I looked so the wine list and saw a bottle of Cava Reserva Brut and decided to try it.  Suzette said she wanted a glass of red so I selected a Tempranillo crianza for her.  As it turned out Suzette drank the cava, which was a very good brut and only half of the double glass of red. We listened to Honey House and dance and talked to Ricardo and CynthIa and to Glen and Beverley, who live at Roma and Keleher, downtown also.  The purpose of the evening was to hire Honey House to play at my 70th Birthday Party on July 3.  I was surprised at what a lovely evening it was. We talked, danced and sipped cava for three hours.

I was energized and put on Nina Simone’s record “To Love Somebody” poured a cognac/Courvoisier and listened to it with Suzette, who was in a good mood also, because when she heard “Turn, Turn, Turn” she said, I want that to be played at my funeral.”  And, “We need to listen to all of your records.  We should listen to a record every night.”  After Suzette went to bed at 11:00 I went through the records and organized them a bit.

I went to bed at 12:00 after a Willy arrived.  

Bon Appetit 

April 6, 2016 Lunch – Vietnam 2000, Dinner - Pasta Primavera with Chorizo Meatballs

April 6, 2016 Lunch – Vietnam 2000, Dinner - Pasta Primavera with Chorizo Meatballs

Willy and I decided to go eat Vietnamese food for lunch.  Willy was a little pressed for time and since I needed to shop for food, I decided we should go to Vietnam 2000 at the corner of San Mateo and Lead/coal/Zuni.  What a fortuitous decision.  We ordered two No. 21s, our usual with two fried egg rolls and grilled pork on a bed of boiled rice vermicelli noodles, layered on top of chopped lettuce, basil, and cilantro,  mung bean sprouts, and sliced cucumbers, served with a sweetened fish sauce to which shredded fresh daikon and carrots and a pinch of chili is added.  Even though we have eaten this dish at this restaurant dozens of times over many years, inexplicably, today’s prep was the best ever.  I think it was because the pork was charred and the flavor of the fish sauce with the charred pork was a richer more primeval taste, but we both looked at each other in disbelief, it was so good.  In fact it was so satisfying, that I only ate ½ of my lunch and boxed the rest for a snack later.

After lunch we drove to Sprouts at San Mateo and Lomas and Willy read in the car while I shopped.  I had a great day of shopping all the items I selected were on discount and wonderfully fresh.  That often happens in the Spring and I love it.  I started at the butcher counter, buying thee filets of Rockfish for $5.99/lb. I then went to the vegetable section and selected Roma tomatoes, zucchini at $.99/lb., an eggplant for $.88, for ratatouille possibly.  Then I bought strawberries on sale for $1.50 for a quart box and finally double dipped chocolate covered peanuts, my new favorite candy for $2.99/lb.  Since Willy has become fond of nigiri sushi rolled in fried onion, I bought a container of fried onions on close out for $3.99 and a liter bottle of Sprouts private label extra virgin olive oil from Spain, which is my current favorite olive oil for $7.99.  

For dinner Suzette wanted to make a dish using the PPI Chorizo meatballs that Chef Kelly had made for last Thursday’s Wine Party.  She decided to use the fresh zucchini and tomatoes to make a pasta primavera and add the meatballs.  I sliced zucchini, Roma tomatoes, ½ of an onion and parsley from the garden.  Suzette boiled ½ lb. of Italian Spaghetti and Sautéed the vegetables in olive oil and tossed them with the spaghetti for a simple, delicious meal.  I fetched and opened a magnum of Patch

 Block pinot noir (a George DuBoeuf wine from France that I found on close out at Quarters on Yale for $5.00 for a 1.5 liter magnum bottle).

  The PPI Pasta Primavera

Willy toasted slices of Fano baguette, which he ate with the meal.  After dinner I fetched cheeses and we ate Delice, herbed goat cheese and blue cheese spread on toast and washed down with pinot noir. 

We ate a few double dipped chocolate covered peanuts before and after dinner.

I also cubed two pork tenderloins and Suzette made a marinade for them in a gallon freezer bag in preparation of pork confit.

Here is the recipe for the Pork Confit:

   

Bon Appetit

April 7, 2016 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Noodles, Dinner – Fish Baked In Aluminum with Rice and tropical Fruit Salsa, Cream of Celery Soup, and Pork Confit

April 7, 2016 Lunch – PPI Vietnamese Noodles,  Dinner – Fish Baked In Aluminum with Rice and tropical Fruit Salsa, Cream of Celery Soup, and Pork Confit

I ate granola, LaLa Mango Yogurt, Tropical Fruit Salad, and a splash of milk for breakfast.  Then around noon I ate the rest of the rice noodles from yesterday’s lunch.  

For dinner we decided to cook the 1 lb. of rockfish filets bought yesterday at Sprouts for 5.99/lb. in aluminum foil.  This is a recipe we first encountered at Roberto’s Restaurant , near the bus station in Puerto Vallarta, when I first visited Harold and Suzette around 1996, when PV was more of a village than a town and they owned the condo at Conchas China's Beach.

The cooking concept is simple but the result is fantastic.  For each portion you cut two lengths of aluminum foil and place a fish filet centered in the aluminum foil.  Then you add chopped ingredients to complement the flavor of the fish.  Tonight Suzette added, Chopped Roma tomatoes, shredded zucchini, sliced portobello mushrooms, minced red onion, and a sprig of fresh fennel, (in Mexico chilis are added), plus white wine and butter, and salt and pepper to make a poaching medium.  You then crimp each sheet of aluminum into a sealed pocket around the fish and ingredients, so that you create a sealed pocket inside a sealed pocket.  The double walled pocket is much better at sealing the ingredients from the direct heat of the grill.  Then you broil the pockets on a grill for 30 minutes at low heat or until the fish is cooked.  

  The pocket after all ingredients have been added and before sealing

  The final dish after rice has been added with the fruit salsa shown

This cooking method has three advantages. It braises all the ingredients together, so they exchange their individual flavors and meld them into a delicious sauce. It allows one to individualize the selection of ingredients.  For example, we do not care for chili with our fish and Suzette does not like mushrooms with her fish, so we simply eliminate them from her pocket. Finally, prep and clean up is easy.  You simply toss the empty aluminum pocket after you finish eating the dinner from the pocket. 

We like eating our fish with rice so I had made 1 cup of rice while Suzette was prepping and cooking the fish pockets. I also fetched a bottle of Santiago Station Sauvignon Blanc (Total Wine $3.99 less 20%) from the cellar to use for the poaching medium and to drink with dinner during the prep. 

Tropical Fruit Salsa

I wanted to use the Tropical Fruit Salad I had made on Sunday consisting of fresh papaya, pineapple, mango, orange, and lime juice as the base for a fruit salsa for the fish but did not have any fresh chilis, so at around 3:30 I began simmering two dried mulatto and two Cascabel chilis in about three cups of water with ¼ onion roughly chopped.  By 6:00 the chilis had softened and I was able to remove the stems, seeds and internal ribs to leave just flesh and skin.  I simmered the flesh for another 45 minutes to an hour. Then I was able to separate the flesh from the skin of each chili.  I chopped three or four small avocados, three mangos, and ¼ to 1/3 cup of red onion and placed them in a bowl with the chili flesh and filled the bowl with about two cups of fruit salad and squeezed the juice of one lime on the salsa and added a dash of salt for a quick, delicious salsa for the fish.

We the used the cooking liquid from the chilis to make the rice, by salvaging 1 cup of chili and onion infused liquid and adding 1 cup of fresh water to the pot in which we had simmered the chilis that still had the seeds and onion in it and simmered the 1 cup of basmati rice for 30 minutes. 

This gave the rice a warmer, slightly picante chili flavor. 

When the fish had cooked for 30 minutes and the rice was cooked Suzette fetched the pockets from the grill, placed each one in a pasta bowl, opened the pockets, and added about ¼ cup of fresh cooked rice to each bowl. I poured glasses of by now chilled Sauvignon Blanc and placed the fruit salsa on the table a little after 8:30.  

We ate our wonderful dinner with the clean light fruity Sauvignon Blanc from the Mendoza Valley of Argentina.  Although Argentina’s Mendoza Valley reds, such as Malbec are highly regarded, I prefer its whites, such as Sauvignon Blanc and its lovely high grown Torrontes.  

 

While dinner was cooking I brought in the celery stock I cooked on Sunday and heated it. Suzette then puréed it with the immersion mixer and then we resorted to old school methods and seived the liquid through a food mill to yield a smooth light ouree.  We had a gallon of purée, so we decided to make a Béchamel with 3 T. Of flour and about four of five T. of butter.  We added about 1 cup of heavy cream to the béchamel plus several cups of celery purée to create the cream sauce, which we added to the celery purée and cooked together for about twenty minutes at medium heat, at which time the soup began to thicken slightly into what I would call a light cream soup.

Suzette had brought in the large casserole from the garage fridge and heated the oven at around 7:00 and added the marinated pork tenderloin cubes to the oil and baked the pork into a confit by 9:00.

I see another great meal just over the horizon.

After all this cooking and having nibbled on too many corn chips during the dinner prep, I was really tired after dinner and so we retired to our bed to watch Doc Martin.  As soon as I saw it was a repeat, I lay down and went to sleep.  

Bon Appetit

April 5, 2016 Lunch – longevity salad, Dinner – Grilled Rib Steak and Sweet Potato Slices and steamed Asparagus

April 5, 2016 Lunch – longevity salad, Dinner – Grilled Rib Steak and Sweet Potato Slices and steamed Asparagus 

I ate my favorite breakfast again this morning, granola, fruit salad, and LaLa Mango yogurt.

I invited J. B. Bryant over for lunch.  My idea was to make a longevity salad that would include the PPI sashimi from yesterday's lunch at Azuma, plus some seaweed salad we bought at Costco and greens from the garden.  At 11:15 I looked for a ginger salad dressing that would match up with the ginger and soy dipping sauce usually served with sushi.  I found what looked close on Epicurious.  Here it is: 

Asian Ginger Dressing

Ingredients

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar

2 tablespoons peeled and minced ginger

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

 

 

Preparation

Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Add 2 tablespoons of water. Process until smooth.

Reprinted with permission from Bikini Bootcamp , © May 2007, By Melissa Perlman and Erica Gragg, Broadway Books

I cut up the slices of Salmon, yellowtail, octopus, tuna, and ultra white, pickled daikon, added a small mound of sushi rice, omelet, and sliced a tomato and added a scoop of seaweed salad.  We each dressed our salads.  Both of us also mixed everything together to coat all the ingredients with dressing.

When B.J. arrived we walked out to the raised beds and picked a basket full of greens.  We cleaned them and tore them to bite sized and then put on the other side of the plate from the rice and fish. We drank water and ate on the porch with the smell and view of the wisteria and view of the garden. 

B.J. was kind enough to give me a painted shirt in payment for services i rendered to him.

When I showed him the basement, I took steaks out of the fridge.

After lunch I road to Montano and then rested for a while.  At 5:45 I showered.  Suzette arrived around 6:00 and we re-assembled the grill with the new parts that arrived today.  We discussed what to eat with the grilled steak and settled on grilled sweet potato slices and steamed asparagus.  

Suzette grilled the sweet potato slices and steak, while I snapped the end of 21 stalks of asparagus, which Suzette filled with water and steamed.

In no time at all dinner was ready.

I had fetched a magnum of Patch Block Pinot Noir and poured glasses of it for each of us.  I do not know if Willy appreciated the heavy beef that Suzette had aged on slabs of Himalayan rock salt, but I surely did.  The taste of the grilled beef seasoned with coarse sea salt triggered one of those déjà vu memories of eating aged beef in my youth in Fort Worth, Texas where aging sides of beef was an annual event, like roasting and storing green chili is here in New Mexico. 

We toasted bread and after dinner had a cheese course with buttered bread, blue, Delice, and goat cheese with another glass of Pinot. 

I noticed that the deficiencies of the wine were more glaring when paired with cheese, where a wine with more character would have been more appreciated.

Remember that Wednesday is the double discount day at Sprouts when two week’s specials overlap.

Bon Appetit

April 3, 2016 Brunch – Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches with PPI Broccoli, Total Wine, Albertson’s, and Dinner – Green Chile Cheese Burgers and Tacos

April 3, 2016 Brunch – Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches with PPI Broccoli, Total Wine, Albertson’s, and Dinner – Green Chile Cheese Burgers and Tacos

I made Tropical fruit salad while watched the news programs, then we made Bacon, lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches on Fano French Baguette with Applewood Smoked Bacon from Costco and fresh lettuce growing wild beside the privet fence.   

I worked with a client while Suzette re-upholstered the new hair she bought in Taos for $20.00 with fabulous pink flamingo print fabric.  We each finished our jobs at 3:00.  We grabbed the coupon booklet from the Sunday paper and Willy for his maiden trip to a Total Wine.  We bought Negra Modelo, Gruet Brut, Shaendling Scotch, and Willy bought some ginger beers.  Suzette mentioned wanting a green chile cheese burger, so before we left home I took hamburger buns out of the freezer to thaw.  

After Total Wine we drove to Albertson's, so Suzette could buy ?Mason jars for her mushroom cultivation project and we could buy hamburger meat on sale for $3.49 for 85% fat free.  There was also a sale on Rib Eye steaks for $6.97/lb., so we got bought three steaks to trade for duck with one of Suzette’s employees.  Willy wanted tacos, so we bought crisp taco shells, also. I showed Suzette and Willy the ice cream section and we selected a 1.5 quart container of their favorite, Mint Chocolate Chip, and a container of my favorite, Java Chip, for $2.88 per container.

We then went home and fixed hamburgers with Manchego cheese on them garnished with grilled onions and tacos made. With Taco seasoning, sautéed chopped garlic and onions. We ate dinner with Negra Modelo beers we chilled in the freezer.  What a fun dinner!

 

Bon Appetit

April 4, 2016 Lunch – Azuma, Dinner – a PPI Trifecta; Seafood Fried Rice a new recipe

April 4, 2016 Lunch – Azuma, Dinner – a PPI Trifecta; Seafood Fried Rice a new recipe

I made tropical fruit salad yesterday with a papaya, a pineapple, several mangoes, and several oranges.  On Saturday I went to Ranch Market and bought shrimp for $3.99/lb., LaLaMango Yogurt 32 oz. for $2.50, avocados 5for $.99, and a few other items.

For breakfast today I ate my favorite breakfast in Mexico, tropical fruit salad, mango yogurt and granola.

I called Robert Mueller and met him for lunch at noon at Azuma.  Monday is the best day for sushi at Azuma because the fresh fish is delivered on Mondays and Thursdays, but Monday's there are the fewest people.  

We ordered our usual, Chirashi Donburi lunch for $14.95; 12 pieces of fish served in a box on a bed of sushi rice usually with daikon pickle and omelet spears with some shredded fresh daikon.  I love it.

After lunch I stopped at Fano and bought a baguette for $3.00 and then went home.  I rode to Rio Bravo and watched Mad Money.  

I had an idea for dinner but wanted to check with Suzette.  We had PPI baked Pink Grouper, the shrimp I bought on Saturday at Ranch Market and the stir fried scallops and bamboo shoots from last night.  I decided to stir fry all,of the seafood PPIs with boiled flat Vietnamese rice noodles.  When I told Suzette my idea when she arrived around 6:20, we started taking ingredients out of the fridge.  When she opened the pot of PPI rice and stir fried scallops, she said, “Let’s make seafood Fried Rice with this rice.”  I could not argue with such a great idea, because fried rice is Willy’s favorite dish and we had all the ingredients.  

So, I fetched the eggs and we cracked, whipped 2 eggs with 1 tsp. Of sweet soy and fried them into a pancake in 2 T. of peanut oil.  We the tossed in the rice and stir fried scallops and then the shelled shrimp.  I fetched the snow peas and beach mushrooms from the fridge and we threw them in and the Suzette skinned and cut up the PPI baked Pink Grouper with the BBQ shrimp sauce and I added 1 T. Chinese Rice Wine, ½ T. Soy sauce, and 1 tsp. sesame oil.  I sliced 1 large scallion and added the white portion and folded the mixture to heat it and cook the mushrooms, onion, and snow peas.  Suzette diced the egg pancake and added the chunks of egg to the mixture.  In another minute the dish was done.  We filled plates with the steaming hot mixture and I poured the last of the Sachet Vouvray into two glasses and we had a wonderful dinner.  

After dinner Willy and Suzette ate Mint Chocolate chip ice cream and I ate Java chip ice cream while we watched Antiques Roadshow, cheering when Suzette’s ad for the Center for Ageless Living was shown preceding the Roadshow.

Bon Appetit