Tuesday, June 18, 2019

June 16, 2019 Breakfast – Chinese Vegetables with egg and Pork,  Dinner – Father’s Day Dinner Party- BBQ Spare Ribs, Potato Salad, Caprese Salad, grilled Asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto,  grilled ears of corn, Carrot cake and ice cream.

I awoke at 7:00 and made the BBQ sauce.  I puréed the onion and garlic in the Cuisinart and then cooked that in a sauce pan in olive oil.  After about five to ten minutes I started adding a T. of Grey Poupon , 1 T. Of apple cider vinegar, And the other ingredients and cooked the sauce for ten to fifteen minutes.   Here is the recipe


Suzette had to go to volunteer for Senior Olympics today, so I made a quick breakfast for us a bit after 8:00.  I diced and marinated a boneless pork steak in Chinese cooking wine and cornstarch.  I sautéed the pork and then added the PPI vegetables to the wok and in a few minutes finally added three farm fresh eggs beaten with the excess cornstarch mixture.  I cooked the mixture until it congealed and we ate a delicious breakfast.

I went to the basement to fetch our roasting pans and we placed racks in them and lay two racks of pork ribs in each, covered them with aluminum and placed the two pans with two sides of ribs each in a 250 degree oven at around 9:30.
I tried to relax today, but consequential TV and cooking dinner took over.   I Watched the TV news until 10:00 and then the U.S. women beat Chile 3-0 in World Cup play n France to advance and the world Cjhampionship game for under 20 between South Korea and Ukraine, which Ukraine won.

I rested for a few minutes in the chair in the TV room after the matches, but was under strict instructions to remove the aluminum foil from the ribs at 2:00, which I did and rotated top to bottom to equalize temperatures, since the bottom was 140 degrees and the top meat registered 160 degrees.

I  ate the remaining vegetables, pork, and eggs left from breakfast for lunch.

When Suzette came home around 3:00 I started peeling and cubing potatoes for the potato salad, then onion, celery leaves and chives, while Suzette hard boiled and sliced eggs, and made her secret sauce for the potato salad and we combined all the ingredients in the large teak salad bowl.

At 4:00 we coated the ribs with BBQ sauce and turned the oven heat to 200 degrees.

At 5:00 Suzette went to the garden and picked bunches of fresh basil.
I then made the Caprese salad with slices of tomato, onion, basil, and  fresh mozzarella cheese I bought at Trader Joe’s yesterday.

I brought in the ears of corn and two bottles of wine, a Sagnol Cotes du Provence and a Tavel. At 5:45 everything was ready.  Suzette set the table in the garden and I poured water in cups and filled the pitcher with ice and water.

Charlie and Susan arrived at 6:00 with a lovely carrot cake with the traditional cream cheese icing.
Soon Diane and Jim arrived bearing lots of Marble brewery beer, a lovely bottle of Pinot Grigio and a platter of grilled asparagus wrapped in prosciutto.

Suzette put ears of corn on the grill and I served glasses of chilled Sagnol Rose from Provence and we sat for a few minutes in the living room.  Since all the food was ready, I soon suggested that we eat.  Suzette had put all the food on the table in the TV room along with a stack of her green and brown heavy Franconia wagon wheel plates and I had put matching glasses filled with water and ice on the table.




Jim and Diane separated the ribs of two racks with a knife.  Here is a picture of them after accomplishing that task.



We filled our plates with ribs, potato salad and grilled asparagus.  As we took our plates and glasses to the gazebo we placed an ear of corn from the grill on our plate..

We have been neighbors and known each other and raised our children together for nearly thirty years together so the conversation came easily.  We caught up on the comings and goings of children and medical conditions.  The usual older person conversings.

Here is a picture of the group.



Suzette had filled the steel long jardiniere with ice and Jim had filled it with beer and I brought out a chilled bottle of Tavel bought at Trader Joe’s for $7.99?.

I opened the bottle of Tavel and poured a few glasses, while others took cans of beer.  When I said I was not sure if Tavel was the best choice of wine to accompany ribs, Diane read the label on the bottle that said that Tavel went well with white meats, fruit, and soft cheese.  After thinking about it I think I can say that the Tavel complemented the rib meat because Pork is a white meat and the ribs were very tender white meat, although at the time I was thinking about chicken.

After we ate we rested for a few minutes and talked.  Then Suzette and Susan cleared the table and went to the kitchen to prepare plates of dessert.  Soon small wagon wheel plates with a square of Susan’s carrot cake and vanilla ice cream were served.

We all discussed with Susan her recipe.  Susan said the cake ingredients included walnuts and crushed pineapple.

Willy arrived around 8:30 and joined us at the table, but soon the mosquitos started their attack, so we retreated to the safety of the house.

Susan and Suzette made every couple a plate of food to take home with lots of ribs and potato salad and carrot cake.

I bought and cooked four five to six pound racks of ribs and we ate about 1 2/3 racks, so after giving each couple ½ rack, we still had over a rack left.

Susan and Charlie left at 9:00 but Diane and Jim stayed for a while to talk to Willy.  Diane and Jim are very good friends with our City Councilman, Ike Benton, and are involved in many of the City’s planning initiatives, so there was a lively discussion about the recent adoption by Albuquerque  of Vision Zero standards, which is exactly what Willy advocates and studied in Dublin for his master’s degree.  Since Willy is now the person at MRCOG assigned the bike and pedestrian planning function there is every reason to think that Vision Zero thinking will become established policy in Albuquerque.  Vision Zero is a concept that was developed in Sweden in the 1990’s that shifts thinking that responsibility for fatal pedestrian traffic deaths lies with the pedestrian and says that with proper traffic planning pedestrian traffic deaths can be avoided or brought down dramatically.  For more information on Vision Zero see http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/topics/visionzero.cfm

At 9:45 Willy and Jim and Diane left and we did a quick clean up and were in bed before 10:00.

Bon Appetit





Sunday, June 16, 2019

June 15, 2019. Lunch – PPI Bun Cha Gio. Dinner – El Callejon

June 15, 2019. Lunch – PPI Bun Cha Gio.  Dinner – El Callejon

I ate two toasted slices of bagel smeared with cream cheese and garnished with the freshly cured salmon I made this week.  It was delicious.  At 9:30 I rode about 40 minutes and showered and dressed.

At noon I heated the PPI Bun Cha Gio from  yesterday’s lunch.  I then went to the bank and Trader Joe’s where I bought twelve bottles of wine: two Aquino Chianti Reserva, a Gruner Vetliner, a Tavel, a Rose, a new New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a Montaigne-Saint Emillon, a Grand Cru Saint Emillon for $17.95, two white Cotes du Gascogne Domaine Touch, and a couple more old favorites.


I drove home and put away the wine.  I felt better that the fridge in the garage and the wine racks were filled.

I read until Suzette came home around 2:00, she was hungry and made a lovely salad plate of Gravad Lax on 1/2 of an avocado, a sliced pickled egg with a mayo and avocado dressing she made with the other 1/2 of the avocado.  This was probably the best dish of the day.


She encouraged me to change my shirt to a white shirt, so I put on my favorite white Mexican shirt.

We napped until 4:20 and left for Santa Fe at 4:40 and arrived at T.R. and Linda’s home on Old Pecos Trail at 5:40.  After a quick drink of Negro ??? Whiskey made in Puerto Vallarta they brought home with them in May, we left for Jimmie D’s Restaurant and Bar in the Old Garrett’s Motel across the street from the State Land Commission Building on Old Santa Fe Trail.  The property has recently been bought or exchanged with the Land Commission according to Linda by an Albuquerque hotel group and is undergoing renovation, but the bar is finished in a Mid-century modern style including a lava lamp in the entry.  This restaurant has had many metamorphoses over the years.  I liked it best when it was a French Bistro about twenty years ago and even afterwards when the Le Chantilly folks in Albuquerque had the space.  Unfortunately, its latest emergence is mainly as a fancy Hamburger and fried chicken joint

                                                   Suzette and Linda at Jimmie D’s Bar

We ordered drinks and talked and then walked the three or four blocks to Don Gaspar to the El
Callejon Restaurant for dinner.  The El Callejon has also gone through many changes as a restaurant.  T.R. And Linda told us that the nice Mexican fellow serving us as bar tender was the new owner who had been the bartender in the earlier incarnation of the restaurant, although now it has only a beer and wine license.  We sat at the bar perusing the menu and ordered beers until our table was ready.  T.R. and Linda have been to this restaurant once and liked the tacos.  A quick viewing of the menu indicated that it was a fancy taco joint, which is okay for all of us because we like tacos.  We all ordered tacos.  T.R. ordered calabacitas and Carne Assada tacos.  Linda and I ordered Barbacoa tacos and Suzette ordered Two fish tacos and a Calabacitas taco.  If you order three tacos you also get a small ramekin of guacamole and a small cup of black beans, which we all did.





 Suzette and I shared our fish, Barbacoa, and calabacitas tacos and they were all delicious.  Each taco had its own distinctive flavor profile and I had the feeling that each meat had been cooked for hours in a richly flavorful sauce except the fish taco which was a warm corn tortilla filled with chunks of white fish floured and quickly sautéed or fried and enveloped in a light red chili sauce.  I liked all the tacos.  Suzette ordered an extra fish taco and Linda and I ordered an extra Barbacoa taco.  As Ssuzette so aptly stated, “It is just like Mexico, except for the price.”

El Callejon is an authentic Mexican Taqueria in downtown Santa Fe.  We were satisfied and drove back to their home. I drank a glass of Amaretto and we talked until 10:00.

A very pleasant evening with folks we are very simpatico with.

I had a cup of tea and cookie when we returned home at 10:45 and watched SNL for a while.  Suzette went to bed immediately.
Bon Appetit

Friday, June 14, 2019

June 14, 2019 Lunch – Vietnam 2000. Dinner – Stir Fried Vegetables with Couscous

I passed on breakfast.  I corrected and printed forms and delivered them to a client’s business.  Then I drove to Sprouts at San Mateo and Lomas and bought the last eight ears of corn in the store.  It was 90 degrees and I was in the mood for a big bowl of cool Vietnamese noodles, so I drove to Vietnam 2000 that serves my favorite summer dish Bun Cha Gio; grilled pork and fried egg rolls on a bed of rice vermicelli with cool chopped vegetables and herbs on the bottom of a deep bowl.  I usually ask for extra basil, cilantro, and been sprouts for a dollar extra.  I love this dish and always have.

   

After lunch I went to the bank of my client because she had given me a counter check on which she wrote the account number in hand.  When I arrived instead of an interrogation, I had a pleasant chat with the teller about my client as she cashed the check without question.

I then went home and put the corn in the fridge.  When I got back to my computer I discovered that I had experienced a very small loss for the day thanks to support for Facebook, even though the Market and especially the tech sector was down.

I worked until 3:30 and lay down and read my book club book, Dead Wake by Erik Larson.

I called Suzette at 5:30 after watching the Nightly Business Report and she approved of my idea of making stir fried Vegetables for dinner.  I went to the garden and picked eight radishes and six snow

peas and cleaned them.  I fetched carrots , mushrooms, and Mexican Squash from the garage and ginger, Garlic, ½ of a red bell pepper and the Chinese Cabbage Suzette brought from her garden in Los Lunas from the indoor fridge and started chopping.  I separated the chopped vegetables into two bowls, one firm and the other soft.  I chopped a small yellow onion and then the rest of the vegetables, two Mexican squashes, ginger, garlic, radish slices, carrot slices, the heavy white portions of the cabbage, and red bell pepper all went into the firm pot.  The green cabbage leaves, snow peas, and sliced mushrooms went into the soft colander.

The idea was to create a medley of vegetables with a texture similar to Chinese vegetables such as water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.

I stir fried the firm vegetables for about fifteen minutes in two T. of peanut oil and 1 tsp. of sesame

oil.  Then I stir fried the soft vegetables for about six of seven minutes covered with a wok cover,

which turned out to be a bit too long because the cabbage leaves collapsed.  I then added a seasoning sauce of 1 T. of soy, 2 T. of Chinese rice wine, 1 tsp. of sesame oil, 1 tsp. of sugar, ½ tsp of salt, and a pinch of white pepper plus about ¼ cup of water, and a handful of roasted cashew nuts.



Before I started cooking the vegetables I made 1 cup of Couscous by heating 1½ cups of water with a tsp. of Knorr dehydrated Chicken stock to a boil and adding 1 cup of Couscous and 2 T. of butter in a sauce pan. I let the Couscous cook covered on low heat for about five minutes and then turned the heat off and let the Couscous absorb the moisture. I then fluffed the Couscous with a fork and tasted it.  It was lovely and still a bit moist, the way I like it.



We both made drinks this evening. So I drank a gin and tonic with dinner.  I realized after dinner that I had forgotten to add the pork I had thawed out yesterday to the dish.

We did not miss the meat, there was so much variety and color to the dish that the meat was not missed.


Since we discovered today that the neighborhood cocktail was hit nownot this evening we both ate slices of the Clementine almond flour dairy and gluten free cake Suzette made this week.  Rebecca introduced us to this recipe in January when we spent the weekend in Taos for the Winter Wine Festival with Mickie, Billy, Elaine, and Willy.  It was a hit then and it is a hit now, moist with a subtle flavor of mandarin orange and almond.



We went to bed at 10:00 and I blogged this entry while Suzette sleeps.

Bon Appetit



Thursday, June 13, 2019

June 13, 2019 Lunch – Salmon Salad. Dinner – PPI Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

June 13, 2019 Lunch – Salmon Salad. Dinner – PPI Spaghetti and Meat Sauce


I ate tropical fruit salad with yogurt and granola for lunch.

Then at 8:30 I rode ten miles to Montano and back.

I showered and dressed and ate a bite of Meatloaf and two pecan cookies


At 11:00 I went to a client’s to prepare Documents for a sale and lease of a business. When we  finished at 1:00 I drove to Sprouts to buy a head of lettuce, some more granola, and milk.

I returned and made myself a salmon salad with cucumber slices, tomato, kalamata olives, green onion slices, about 4oz. of PPI teriyaki salmon, and store was being closed and it did not a hard boiled egg.

I was still tired from the ride so after lunch I napped until 4:00.

Then I checked my portfolio and discovered that although Apple went down I still made a small gain.

I then drove out Central to the new library at Unser and discovered that its computers were not working and it was essentially non-functioning.


I was disappointed but decided to go tho Albertsons to buy pork ribs.  When I arrived I discovered that the store was closing and it was not honoring any weekly specials published in the flyer.

Even more dejected, I drove across Central to Smith’s and found what I was looking for slabs of ribs for $1.99/lb.. I bought four slabs and a 12 pack of 12 pack of Negra Modelo, and also bought two rib steaks for $4.77/lb.

I returned home a bit after 6:00 and made myself a gin and tonic and collapsed.  I watched TV until 6:45 when I was called by Todd and discovered I had forgotten to go meditate.

Suzette arrived shortly afterwards, also super tired.  We quickly agreed to cook the simplest possible dinner, to heat the PPI spaghetti and spaghetti sauce.  I added a 7 oz. bag of tomato sauce to the PPI spaghetti sauce to stretch it a bit.  Suzette Baked the spaghetti covered with sauce in the microwave.  In a couple of minutes we had a hot dinner.  I went downstairs to look for a wine.  I could not find a Chianti and settled on a magnum of Concha y Toro Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon  blend.  I loved dinner because the spaghetti is rich in carbs, which is what I Need when my muscles start hurting, as they did a little today.  Thank goodness it was muscle fatigue pain rather than my conditio




We drank a glass of wine after dinner and watched the news and game six of the NBA Finals.  Toronto Raptors won the game and the series with a very exciting finish.  Unfortunately, Golden State Warriors lost two of their best players, which hurt them.

I then blogged and went to bed.

Bon Appetit

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

June 12, 2019 Lunch – PPI Spaghetti Primavera and steak and PPI Vichyssoise Dinner – Mom’s Meatloaf with Steamed Green Beans and acorn on the Cobb

June 12, 2019 Lunch – PPI Spaghetti Primavera and steak and PPI Vichyssoise   Dinner – Mom’s Meatloaf with Steamed Green Beans and acorn on the Cobb

At 9:00 I ate granola, yogurt, and tropical fruit salad.

At noon I ate the PPI Spaghetti and grilled steak from last night’s meal.

I napped from 2:00 until 4:45 when Suzette arrived.

I had a losing day in the Market, as it went down for the second day in a row.

Suzette started making her Mom’s Meatloaf.  Here is the recipe, except today she added several pickled eggs like the Persian dish we saw on Anthony Bourdain’s sShow on Iran.







I snapped green beans and Suzette started boiling corn on the Cobb.



After the Meatloaf was put in the oven to bake we each made our desserts.  Suzette made the clementine cake with almond flour and I made a Clafoutis with 7 T. of flour, 10 T. of powdered sugar, 3 3/4 cup of scalded half and half, ½ tsp. of salt, three whole eggs and two egg yolks.  Besides using more half and half and eggs, I also put about ¼ cup of cognac, Grand Marnier, and orange juice into the cherries several days ago.  We baked the Clafoutis for over an hour and it still did not dispel all the liquid, which when I tasted if after we removed it from the oven I considered a big plus; a
brandied cherry Clafoutis.


                                                         The dry ingredients mixed with egg


                                                            The brandied cherries

                                                  The scalded half and half




Mom’s Meatloaf was wonderful, not greasy,  very delicious.  Suzette told me that when she was leaving home she copied her favorite recipes from her mom’s collection of recipes and this was one of them.  So, thanks Sara Jane for the great recipe.  I guess it is one of those traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipes.



I drank the PPI Wellington Cabernet Sauvignon and Suzette drank the PPI Charles zshaw organic California Pinot Noir.  Here are the glasses.  The Pinot is on the right.  Can you see the difference in color?

We ate mocha fudge ice cream and rooted for Saint Louis to win the decisive game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and they did.

We went to bed after another big evening of cooking.

I go looking for pork ribs and corn tomorrow for our Father’s day dinner with the Souder/Grafs and Palmers.

Bon Appetit


Tuesday, June 11, 2019

June 11, 2019 Lunch – Liverwurst and Pickled beet Salad. Dinner -Grilled Rib Steak with sautéed Pasta with broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and red bell pepper

June 11, 2019 Lunch – Liverwurst and Pickled beet Salad. Dinner -Grilled Rib Steak with sautéed Pasta with broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and red bell pepper

I started the day by eating a owl of granola, tropical fruit salad, and yogurt around 9:00.

At 9:45 I rode forty minutes to Campbell Rd. and back.

I felt strong even though I rode yesterday.  I seem to be building my stamina and reducing pain in my joints as I eat more protein and carbs and exercise more.

I showered and dressed and from 11:00 to 12:30 worked with Skipti to file an annual report in Delaware and write a legal opinion.

I then made a salad with Romaine, the avocado, radish, red onion, and tomato salad Suzette made yesterday, plus cubed dill pickles, kalamata olives, pickled beets, herring, and liverwurst.  I also made a cheese sandwich by toasting and buttering a piece of whole wheat bread and melting slices of Jarlsberg cheese on it.




I drank water.

I then checked the Market and found that I had another up day with the help of the tech stocks and a slight increase in the price of oil.

I lay down but at 4:00 welcomed a contractor willing to bid on construction at the candy store.  Suzette arrived a few minutes later and took control of discussions and I lay down and read and the took a nap until after 6:00.

Suzette picked the menu for tonight’s meal; grilled rib steak and a one skillet dish of sautéed onion, garlic, red bell pepper, and broccoli, then sliced mushrooms with a dash of Marsala wine plus the PPI spaghetti.

I went t the basement to fetch a bottle of 2010 Wellington Mohrhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon and opened it.

The steak was part of the new batch of steaks I recently bought at Smith’s that I had cut 1 1/4 inches thick.  When Suzette brought it in from the grill it was still rare red, so I cut slices and Suzette sautéed the rare slices until they were more medium rare.  She then spooned the pasta with vegetables into a pasta bowl and then added slices of steak.



Suzette could not eat all of her bowl of food, but I did and loved it, especially with the Wellington cab.

After dinner I ate a couple slices of goat cheese and French Brie cheese and a piece of chocolate with additional sips of the cab.

We went to bed at 9:00.

My body is less sore after riding and less sore in general,  I am still making progress in my recovery fro pm the gall bladder operation I had in December 2018.

Bon Appetit


Monday, June 10, 2019

June 10, 2019 ?Breakfast – Flauta con Huevos, Lunch – Buffet King. No dinner

June 10, 2019 ?Breakfast – Flauta con Huevos,  Lunch – Buffet King. No dinner

We started the day heating the PPI portion of our Chicken sausage flauta we made for brunch yesterday.  I unrolled mine and sautéed it in a skillet and fried two eggs with it to made a hodge ponged Huevos Ranchero.  Suzette heated hers in the microwave and ate it more daintily.

I worked until noon, catching up on things I had put aside for the last week as we finished the Reply for filing in the U.S. Supreme Court.  I can’t believe I am saying this.  I read the reply again today and it hangs together far better than I remember.  I am hopeful that we will be granted intervention, at which point it will be Mano a Mano with the States of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and the U.S. like fighting a battleship from a canoe.  I hope the strength of our historic facts perseveres.

I drafted and filed a letter withdrawing my earlier Application to Judge Alito for an expansion of the word count, since we reduced the word count to within the required 3000 word limit.

The best news was the printer achieved his promised goal of printing and sending the Reply to the Court on Friday for hand delivery today.  The importance of that can not be over emphasized.  It was filed and distributed to the Justices today, which will provide them two to three days to read our reply before the judicial conference to be held on our case on Thursday. Hopefully we got the closing argument.

I picked Peter up for lunch at 12:30 and drove us to Buffet King at the corner of Seagull and Academy.  This was out third or fourth lunch there and I had decided on my favorites.  Although there are probably 100 food choices, I took three plates with  the same ingredients, plus a couple of additional items: two BBQ ribs, 1/3 of a plate of Manila clams in spicy black bean sauce, and 1/3 plate of Mapo Dofu.  Each item has a therapeutic benefit in my mind; the ribs have huge smounts of collagen to ease the arthritis in my joints, while the clams and tofu are rich in protein to build the strength of my muscles. I love the Mapo Dofu preparation by Buffet King because of its simplicity and wonderful flavor.  It is simply chunks of soft tofu stir fried with finely minced pork sausage in a brown sauce with red pepper flakes.  Simple, elegant, and tasty with the added benefit of being high protein.  The ribs were among the best I have ever tasted, succulent in a richly sweet BBQ sauce, I could not stop eating them.  The clams were small Manilas.  The plate of clams I ate probably yielded 3 oz. of meat, but if you love clams it is worth it.

I also ate two fried shrimp and a small pile of stir fried rice vermicelli noodles.  That was it.  I was so stuffed I found it difficult to walk to the car.  Poor Peter is in worse shape, his mobility is so diminished that he can only shuffle with the aid of a cane.  But his courage to keep going is inspiring.  I told myself, I will try to continue to increase my exercise to try to fully regain my strength.

I took Peter to his pharmacy to get his drugs to shield him from the pain and then I went to the bank to deposit a check.

After I dropped Peter off I went home around 3:00, took a steak out of the freezer, and discovered that my portfolio had a fourth day of increases, having increased .5% during that period in spite of the fact that I have 12.5% sitting in cash on the sidelines.  I am very pleased.

I lay down at 4:00 and soon fell asleep and did not waken until 5:30.  Suzette had arrived and I told her I was going to ride and could not eat dinner.  I was correct.  The high protein lunch gave me sufficient energy to ride the 3 1/2 mile short loop without a sugar pill in a pretty high wind.

When I returned at 6:55 Suzette was watching T.V.  I resumed reading until about 30 minutes later Suzette rushed in to tell me there was a Raymond Jonson painting on the Road Show.  We rushed back to see the appraisal.  It was a 1937 early abstract painting in light pastels on canvas, about 20 x 28.  Neither of us liked it, but we loved the appraisal of $50,000 in 2011.  Suzette guessed our watercolors are worth $35,000 each.

I was sucked in.  I stayed and watched the rest of the Roadshow, mainly because I wanted to see the PBS American Experience documentary on Teddy Roosevelt’s 1914 Amazon expedition to discover the terminus of the river of doubt that was renamed for him.

After it ended at 11:00 I blogged, ate some yogurt and went to bed after drinking three cups of tea.

Teddy Roosevelt, a sickly asthmatic child, who overcame his physical weakness by hard exercise, is my new role model.  I think he also was the youngest person to be elected to the New York Assembly and wrote over 60 books, ran for President three times and was elected once, besides having a military career, leading the Rough Riders against the Spanish in Cuba.  There was no challenge too great for him until he met his match in the Amazon in 1914.  It ruined his health and he died five years later.  He never complained. He just kept charging forward. A real American hero.

Bon Appetit