February 8, 2021 Lunch – Gravad Lax and Egg Salad. Dinner- PPI Mapo Dofu and Rice. And Hummus

 February 8, 2021 Lunch – Gravad Lax and Egg Salad. Dinner- PPI Mapo Dofu and Rice.   And Hummus

Today was exciting.  It started with a breakfast of granola, yogurt, milk, blueberries, and sliced bananas as I prepared for a hearing that lasted for two hours.

Thehearing was even more fun because I sort of won.

After the hearing I prepared a salad for lunch with romaine lettuce, a diced tomato, a diced hard boiled egg, capers, and Gravad Lax. I refreshed the Cesar dressing with a whisked egg with a Dash of salt and pepper and about a T. of olive oil.

After lunch I checked my stock portfolio that increased 1%.

At 4:30 I walked ½ mile and made a hot buttered rum when I returned.  As I sat down to rest Suzette arrived.  We sat and watched the news and decided to prepare the PPI Mapo Dofu.  I made a cup of rice with chicken stock, seaweed, and lily pods.

The dinner was really delicious with fresh rice.

We split a beer.

At 5:30 I simmered the garbanzo beans I soaked in water with added baking soda overnight.  I simmered the garbanzos in fresh water for 2 ½ hours.

They softened dramatically when we added olive oil, the juice of two lemons, squeezed garlic, tahini mixed in cold water, and ground cumin and puréed in the Cuisinart.

Here is the result.

It tastes great and will taste better when I add chopped parsley and olive oil.

Bon Appetit

February 7, 2021 Brunch – Bacon, Potato, and Egg burrito Super Bowl Meal – Texas Chili con Carne, onion dip, and Guacamole

 February 7, 2021 Brunch – Bacon, Potato, and Egg burrito   Super Bowl Meal – Texas Chili con Carne, onion dip, and Guacamole

I drank a glass of hot chocolate at 7:30 and watched soccer and news until 10:00 unfortunately my favorite team, Leicester tied 0 to 0.  I then watched Liverpool play Manchester City and Manchester City lost, which was unexpected and which allowed Leicester to hold on to its third place in the PL standings At 10:30 we made bacon, potato, and egg burritos with slices of avocado for brunch. Suzette drank a Bloody Mary and I drank a glass of Clamato with the juice of one lime.  

 

I rode 3 ½ to 4 miles north at 12:30 and when I returned watched Sheffield v. Chelsea until the family Zoom meeting from 2:00 until 3:00.

At 3:00 I started cooking our Super Bowl dinner.  I brought the Texas chili in started heating it.  I added more red chili powder, ground coriander and cumin and salt to the large pot of chili we cooked last night containing 2 lb. of ground beef, a No. 7 can of Ranch Style beans and ½ of a No. 7 can of diced tomatoes, plus two diced sweet onions, 10 cloves of garlic, salt, cumin powder, red chili, and coriander powder

I also made an onion dip with the contents of a bag of onion soup mix and 2 ½ cups of sour cream and a bowl of guacamole made with two ½ large avocados, two cloves of garlic and ¼ sweet onion minced, the juice of two limes, salt, and several dashes of Cholula hot sauce.

I filled one bowl with potato chips and another bowl with corn chips and chilled several Negra Modelo beers.

The Texas chili

   I decided to try to make hummus again so I filled the Le Creuset casserole with water and added about 2 cups of dried garbanzo beans and about three T. of baking soda and heated the water in the casserole and then turned it off and covered it to soak. 

 At halftime we ate bowls of chili with grated mozzarella, corn chips, and guacamole with a beer.  

Tampa Bay defeated Kansas City handily. At the end of the game we watched PBS Masterpiece Theatre episodes of All creatures Great and Small and the Long Song until 10:00 when Suzette went to bed and I blogged.

 We bought pita chips yesterday and we have pita bread so we have something to dip into the hummus I intend to cook tomorrow.

Bon Appetit

February 6, 2021 Breakfast – Lax on French Baguette with Cream cheese and red onion slices Lunch – Liverwurst and cheese sandwich, Dinner – PPI Couscous and Lamb Stew

 February 6, 2021 Breakfast – Lax on French Baguette with Cream cheese and red onion slices Lunch – Liverwurst and cheese sandwich,  Dinner – PPI Couscous and Lamb Stew

There were two big food events today and neither was related to the meals described above.

For breakfast Suzette and I decided to try the new batch of Gravad Lax.  We did not have a bagel so I toasted slices of French baguette, smeared them with cream cheese and lay layers of red onion, Gravad Lax and sprinkled capers on them.

For lunch I made a Liverwurst, tomato, and cheese sandwich.

Then our first big food adventure began.  We drove to Costco and went food shopping.  We bought essentials such as eggs, butter, coffee, and paper towels.  We also bought filet mignons, lettuce, mushrooms, garlic, sweet onions, La Gitana Rioja red wine, asparagus, chocolate chips, Dewars scotch, a bottle of Grand Marnier.  We had decided to fix Texas chili con carne for the Super Bowl, so we bought 6 lb. of ground beef.  Since Costco did not have the beans we needed.  We then drove to Southwest Distributors and bought large cans of Ranch Style Beans and White Northern beans plus a large can of Artichokes packed in water, mayonnaise, and two 15 oz. cans of pimientos. 

After we returned home at 2:30 and put the food away I lay down for a nap until 4:30.

When I got up Suzette was hungry, since she had not eaten lunch.. We decided to eat the remaining Couscous and lamb stew and apricots I had stewed, plus Suzette added some extra baked butternut squash to stretch the dish farther.

Suzette mixed everything together and heated it in a Pyrex baking dish in the microwave.  It was delicious. We drank beer with dinner and added chili garlic sauce and Mango chutney but that was not the second food highlight of the day, as good as it was.

After dinner we watched a HGTV program about an English couple who restore a Chateau in France and during this episode the couple harvest 110 lb. of pears from their trees in September and take to a local distiller who converts them into pear eau de Vie.  It just so happened that I had a bottle of pear eau de vie chilled in the fridge, so I poured us each a small glass of pear eau de vie and we sipped it as the episode showed the process used to make the pear eau de vie.  That was the highlight of the day of food.  We may not be able to travel to France yet, but we can enjoy pear eau de vie as we watch the folks fixing up their lovely French Chateau in the comfort of our TV room.

Bon Appetit.

February 5, 2021 Lunch – 2000 Vietnam No. 21. Dinner – Grilled Fillet Mignon and Asparagus and Roasted Potatoes

February 5, 2021 Lunch – 2000 Vietnam No. 21. Dinner – Grilled Fillet Mignon and Asparagus and Roasted Potatoes

I enjoyed today a lot because it felt normal, some legal work, lunch with a friend, a nap, and picking up a check for legal work.

I ate granola with milk, yogurt, and grapes for breakfast.

I revised and filed a pleading before lunch.

Then I called 2000 Vietnam and ordered 2 No.21’s, Bun Cha Gio with marinated grilled pork.  This is my favorite summer time dish with three layers of ingredients. The bottom layer contains chopped lettuce,  cucumbers, and herbs.  The middle layer is a warm pile of fluffy steamed rice noodles and the top layer contains two fried egg rolls cut into four pieces and a quantity of flat marinated grilled pork.  I love this dish and eat it almost every week.  I feel the need to support 2000 Vietnam with my dollars and my stomach in hopes that it will survive.

When I returned home Peter was waiting and I made him a glass of iced coffee and I took a glass of water and we ate our lunch under the gazebo in the cool sunlight.

After lunch I thawed two filet Mignons and then napped for an hour and then drafted a secretary’s certificate for one of my new transactions

.  I then drove to Shahin’s office to deliver the certificate and pick up a check for my services.

I then drove to the bank and then to Costco to fill the gas tank.

When I returned at 5:15 Suzette was just arriving after a hard day.  I went for a ½ Mile walk at a reasonable pace.

When I returned I picked seven or eight stalks of rosemary and then prepped creamer potatoes, garlic, and ¾ of a Texas sweet onion.

Suzette then salted and peppered and tossed the potatoes with olive oil and roasted them in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Suzette the snapped the ends off a handful of asparagus and tossed them in a freezer bag with olive oil, salt, and pepper and grilled them with the two fillets I had thawed.

While the potatoes were roasting I toasted two slices of French baguette and buttered them. I then garnished them with thin slices of red onion and the newly cured Gravad Lax and smeared them with Lax sauce, a combination of olive oil, Swedish mustard, and dill. Suzette and I proved then with a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. We loved the hint of mandarin orange powder she put in the mix used to cure the salmon.

Willy arrived at 6:45 and opened the bottle of Argentinian Malbec from Mendoza.

Suzette then Grilled the steaks and asparagus on the propane grill outside.

 After about10 Minutes I removed the Pyrex baking dish full of roasted potatoes from the oven and soon Suzette brought in the grilled steaks and asparagus. Mi sliced the ½ avocado as a garnish and sliced the filets and each filled our plates and I poured wine and we ate hardly and with much pleasure.  Willy went back for seconds and we finished off the bottle with dinner.

It was a delicious meal.  Willy queued up episodes 2, 3, and 4 of the Durrells in Corfu for a fun evening. 

Willy left after episode 4, Suzette went to bed and I blogged.

                                                         The Gravad Lax Sandwiches

Dinner 

  The market was somewhat benign today giving me a small gain,

Bon Appetit 

February 4, 2021 Breakfast – Bacon and Eggs and toast. Lunch – PPI Fish stew. Dinner – PPI Split Pea Soup and Quesadilla

February 4, 2021 Breakfast – Bacon and Eggs and toast. Lunch – PPI Fish stew. Dinner – PPI Split Pea Soup and Quesadilla

Today I was busy all day and the Market went up spectacularly, 1½%.

Two new clients and working on a transaction and three deeds.

I felt weak at 9:00 a.m. so fried two pieces of bacon and two eggs sprinkled with two green onions chopped and garnished with a slice of avocado.  I also toasted and buttered three slices of French baguette on which I spread English marmalade and drank a couple of cups of Earl Grey t  

At 1:00 I heated and ate the PPI bowl of Fish Stew from last night’s dinner.

Suzette arrived at around 5:10 while I was meditating.  

After meditation we checked the fridge for PPI and discovered a container of Split Pea and Ham Soup we had forgotten so Suzette heated it and I fetched two flour tortillas and sliced Manchego cheese and we made a large cheese quesadilla that we shared with bowls of the soup and Negra Model beers.

 

   

Tonight is Midsomer Mystery night on PBS.

Suzette went to bed after it and I stayed up until 11:00 to watch an old episode of Endeavour.

We are into the part of our cooking cycle in which we are eating and using PPIs these days, except at 5:30 I rinsed off, dried, and packed the two fillets of newly cured Gravad Lax in Saran and refrigerated them.

B on Appetit

 

February 3, 2021 Lunch – PPI Mapo Dofu. Dinner – Seafood Stew with a Shanghai noddles and Broccoli

 February 3, 2021 Lunch – PPI Mapo Dofu. Dinner – Seafood Stew with a Shanghai noddles and Broccoli

I did not eat breakfast. At 1:00 I ate a plate of PPI rice and Mapo Dofu and then went to the bank.  The market was not so kind today.  The NASDAQ was down a bit and my portfolio had a small gain.

Had I not sold my Google stock I would have had a large gain, but I am trying to stay philosophical.

At 3:30 I rode 3 ½ miles.  Shortly after I returned at 4:30 Suzette arrived.  I made us hot buttered rum, my drink of choice after a ride.

I brought in the gopher ring she had bought me and made an open faced sandwich by spreading sour cream on a slice of German fullkorn bread and laying slices of red onion and pickled herring in wine sauce on it.  

At around 6:00 Suzette made a seafood stew by adding white wine and water to the PPI noodles and Mahi Mahi plus the extra salmon, tuna, and scallops I chopped up left from yesterday’s Sashimi dinner.

 L

I had chilled a bottle of Picton Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to drink with dinner ($6.99 at Trader Joe’s)

 

 After dinner we ate vanilla ice cream with a chocolate chip cookie and a sip of cognac and watched the movie White Tiger on Netflix.

I finished the book, Gateway to the Moon today and really enjoyed it.  So much that I selected it for my book for the Book Club’s October meeting.

Bon Appetit

February 2, 2021 Lunch – Sandwiches. Dinner – Sashimi and Rice

 February 2, 2021 Lunch – Sandwiches. Dinner – Sashimi and Rice 

I ate a good breakfast of two slices of bagel with cream cheese, red onion, Lax, and capers.

I worked until 2:00 and then ate two open faced sandwiches, one of Liverwurst and Jarlsberg cheese and the other spread with peanut butter and honey.

I checked the Market and had another good day even without the benefit of a stellar day by Google.P

I worked until 5:00 when Suzette arrived on a corporate transaction.

Gravad Lax 

I then made a dish of Gravad Lax.  I washed and dried the two matched 9 inch long fillets of fresh Atlantic farm raised salmon.  I mixed 1 cup of salt, ¾ cup of sugar, and 1 tsp. of crushed black pepper in a bowl.  I then lined the bottom of a 9 x 6 inch Pyrex baking dish with fresh dill.  I spooned spoonfuls of  the dry mixture over the skin side of one fillet and lay it skin side down on the dill.  Then I spooned dry mix over the inside of the fillet and lay a layer of dill on top of it.  I then spooned dry mix over the inside of the other fillet and lay it on top of the first fillet.  I lay the rest of the dill and spooned the rest of the dry mix on top and covered the filets with Saran and weighted them down with a brick and put the dish in the fridge.

I usually cure 12 hours on each side so tomorrow morning I will turn the fillets and remove and wash them from the curing brine tomorrow night and wrap them in Saran and store them in the fridge.  The only modification we made to this batch was Suzette dusted the insides of the fillets with mandarin orange powder.

Here is a picture of the curing process.

 

 I had bought a tuna fillet, a lb. of scallops and an extra salmon fillet on Sunday when I bought the salmon, so I suggested Sashimi for dinner.  Suzette wanted to keep some of the fish to supplement our Mahi Mahi and noodle dish.

 So I sliced most of the salmon, the tuna, and the scallops along with a daikon and ½ of a large avocado and arranged them on Our large appetizer platter.  I fetched soy sauce and mixed it with wasabi sauce in two dipping bowls and filled a bowl with pickled ginger.  Suzette heated some PPI rice in the microwave and steamed 8 lovely thick asparagus and plated them on two smaller appetizer plates.

Suzette drank rose wine and I drank green tea and we partook of a fabulous Sashimi dinner.The Peruvian scallops are smaller, cheaper, and sweeter than the larger sea scallops. I do not buy sushi grade fish, because it is hard to find, more expensive and because I have become addicted to the regular fish,  the only thing I try to do is find a tuna steak that has a clear loin without any of the white sinews in it.

After dinner We watched finding your roots and then I lay down and slept until 10:00. Suzette watched a movie called Penguin Bloom.

Bon Appetit