December 24, 2021 Toast spread with Boursin and with a slice of Salami. lunch - Posole Dinner - Posole with beans and Tamales

December 24, 2021 Toast spread with Boursin and with a slice of Salami. lunch - Posole  Dinner - Posole with beans and Tamales 

Christmas Eve is special in the Neighborhood. Everyone lights luminarias and people walk the neighborhood and drop in at neighbors’s houses.

We usually have an open house with lots of wonderful food but this year it was just the basics, Posole, tamales, and mulled red wine and no open house.

I started around 10:00 a.m. after buying a second can of hominy at Southwest Distributors.

For breakfast I spread Boursin on four dried slices of toast left from our Wednesday lunch and lay a slice of salami on each.

Then I rinsed the Posole and put it in a large pot and covered it with water and turned on the heat so the Posole would simmer.  I added oregano, about 1 1/2 lb. of boneless pork sirloin diced inn1/2 inch cubes, a head of garlic, 1 1/2 onions, a generous amount of cumin seeds, and ground coriander.

After about 6 hours, the Posole and pork started to soften.  I kept adding 2 cups of water every two hours as water vapor gassed off. 

At 3:00 we went out and set up about 150 luminarias on the edge of the sidewalks around our house.  Most houses sit on one city block. Our house sits on four lots, three facing Park and one facing 15th Street, so it takes at least 150 luminarias to wrap the sidewalks.  Some years in the past when there was more child labor we would put a double row, a luminaria on each side of the sidewalk for a total of 300 luminarias. 

We then showered and dressed for the evening.  

Willy had mentioned hot mulled wine so I went to the basement and fetched the liter bottle of German Glugwein and a magnum of Block Parcel, a French Pinot Noir, and heated those in a three quart pot with a stick of cinnamon, a crushed piece of nutmeg, the zest and juice of one lemon, six or seven cloves and 3 T. of sugar.  Suzette tasted it and added some honey to sweeten the wine a bit more.

When Willy returned around 5:00 he and Suzette lit the candles in each luminaria with propane wands and then he gave us one of our gifts, a new Chefman tea kettle that has a clear glass container and blue lights that allow you to watch the boiling action. A really cool design.  We decided to make tea with one of the bags from the box of Ahmed Earl Grey tea I gave Willy and eat some Christmas cookies with our tea,  That led us to decide to exchange gifts in the living room. So we celebrated our Christmas gift exchange. I gave Suzette the bag of Peet’s ground coffee and we gave Willy a bag of red chili flavored pistachios, and Willy gave us a lovely bottle of premium olive oil, and I opened my 2022 calendar given to me by the proprietress of 2000 Vietnam.

After the gifts were exchanged I enjoyed a bowl of Posole with a tamale and some avocado Suzette chopped and a dab of sour cream with a mug of mulled wine.

At about 7:00 we asked Willy to take pictures of Suzette and me in front of our Christmas tree on the front porch and then we walked to Janice and Tom’s house and Barry and Kylene’s house on Los Alamos, which turned out to be an adventure because Los Alamos is on the City bus tour.

It was a beautiful evening.  The rain and wind had stopped and the temperature warmed to be very comfortable. 

Willy walked to the corner of 16th when he got a call from friends and decided to return home to await any friends who might come over and we continued the additional block to Los Alamos, which was a more lively scene because it was on the City Luminaria bus tour route.

Not long after I sat down at the brazier with a fire blazing in Janice and Tom’s driveway at around 7:30 a stream of police motorcycles came by and then a stream of about ten city buses filled with tour participants and then a stream of cars.  There were also lots of folks walking along Los Alamos, which is a more narrow street than Park, so it was a dense throng of vehicles and people compared to the quiet scene on our street.

Janice brought me a glass of a lovely white wine that tasted like a good Pinot Grigio and I talked to her children while Suzette went inside and was doing shots of tequila.

After about 30 minutes we said goodnight and walked past the next house to Kylene and Barry’s house. Again this was mostly a family affair but Josh and Ann were there, so a few neighbors among mostly family.  I had two insights at Kylene and Barry’s house. The first was that the scare of Covid did not prevent family and friends from gathering on Christmas Eve, especially in our Country Club area that is so festively decorated with Christmas Lights and luminarias. Second, that there is a minimalist method of fixing Posole and a maximalist method.

Kylene’s posole was a wonderful explication of the minimalist method.  She put a pork shoulder in a big pot with some Posole and a few red chili pod and cooked it until the pork shoulder and Posole cooked into a mass of shredded meat with flavored Posole.

I fear I am in the maximalist camp.  I carefully cut boneless pork sirloin into 1/2 cubes and add it to the pot of Posole and water plus garlic, diced onions, oregano, cumin seeds, coriander, and a bit of salt and tend it all day to create a Posole stew.  Perhaps my method was more tedious because I did not use a large enough pot.

Both methods work great.

Besides Posole, Kylene and Barry cooked a pot of beans with a ham hock that were delicious and smaller pot of red chili.  The also had a bunch of hand made pork tamales.  It was the perfect combination of New Mexico Christmas food, so Suzette and I shared a bowl full of a tamale, beans, Posole and a drop of hot red chili and talked to Barry on the back porch where Josh and a relative named Saul were sitting.

Barry told us about the recent kitchen remodel at their house in Taos and then Suzette and he talked about social security spousal benefits until we left about 1/2 hour later.  I learned that Barry’s first wife died and he may be able to claim 1/2 of her social security under a new regulation.  Suzette is going to try to get some of Harold’s benefit because they were married over ten years.

It’s appears to be the season to claim government benefits. I guess Joe Manchin is correct when he says he fears that America is becoming a government handout driven country. That does not seem so sarcastic when you are the one receiving the benefit.  It makes sense to me that if you were married in a community property state that 1/2 of the benefit belongs to you.

That is the same standard applied to pensions.

At 9:00 we said good night and told Barry we would stay in touch on the social security issues and walked home.

I was sore and tired and went to bed by 10:00.

Suzette followed shortly thereafter after she put the Posole in the garage and the mulled wine on the back patio, even though she feared a wild animal might drink it and die.  I told her, “if they do they will die in inebriated ecstasy.”

Bon Appetit 

December 22, 2021 Breakfast - Shrimp Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup Luncheon Party - Crab Salad Dinner - Pasta with Meatballs and Christmas cookies

December 22, 2021 Breakfast - Shrimp Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup  Luncheon Party - Crab Salad  Dinner - Pasta with Meatballs and Christmas cookies

I worked on my response to the Court of Appeals from 2:30 to 5:00 a.m. and then slept until 7:30 and worked on it some more until 9:30 when I ate the rest of the Shrimp Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup to get rid of a pot in the fridge.  The soup was actually quite delicious with whole heads on shrimp and slices of fish cake in addition to three kinds of noodles, lots of soft tofu, and diced asparagus.  I enjoyed it.

Afterwards I  cleaned the kitchen, which should rank as a Christmas miracle on any other day than today when Suzette was out running errands and we had to get ready for a luncheon.

When Suzette returned at 11:15 we started prepping the luncheon.  The menu was simple, a crab salad with slices of toasted French baguette.

I made my favorite salad dressing for crab, which is a combination of a Louis Sauce, a cocktail sauce, and a mignonette sauce.  I minced 1/2 of a large shallot and covered the minced pieces with lemon juice of 1/2 lemon and let that sit for about 30 minutes to cook the shallot.  I then added 1/4 cup of catsup, 1 1/2 T. of horseradish, and 1 cup of mayonnaise and stirred all the ingredients together and put the sauce into the fridge to chill.

I also chilled a bottle of Gruet Sauvage and a bottle of Gruet Blanc de Noir.

I peeled and cubed a cucumber, and sliced three green onions while Suzette was picking the meat out of the half crabs sections and making carrot slices with a vegetable peeler and steaming about seven or eight asparagus.  Suzette also boiled five eggs, so she could fan an entire hard boiled egg on each salad plate.  

Finally, I sliced, toasted and buttered 12 slices of French baguette that we wrapped in a tea towel and placed in the bread tray and then sliced three small avocados into slices for the salads.

Cynthia and Ricardo arrived at 1:00 with a pint of vanilla ice cream and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and Melissa arrived shortly thereafter with a bottle of vintage Laurent-Perrier.

 Suzette composed the five salads from the ingredients we had prepared and I poured the dressing into a ceramic bowl.

We filled a wine bucket with ice and water and carried it and the salads, bread, glasses of water, and an extra bottle of Gruet non-vintage Blanc de Noir to the table under the gazebo in the back yard beside a warming fire ablaze in our new chiminera.

The weather was perfect, around 60 degrees, sunny, with no wind.  

I started the conversation by breaking the ice by asking Ricardo, “Another great year?”

Everyone then started talking about their trials and travails during the last year.

There were lots of contenders for worst experience of the year but my favorite was Cynthia and Ricardo having to obtain a restraining order against their neighbor of 20 years who went Full Trumpian crazy and started threatening them and putting disparaging signs up at their adjoining property line that said “I wish Joe Biden would die and so would you.”

After a wonderful hour of conversation we finished the salad and the other bottle of Gruet Blanc de Noir and Suzette served dessert; a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream with a cookie in the baccarat bowls I inherited from Jill that triggered Suzette and my most interesting story of the year about how my client made me the devisee of her estate and how we drove to Las Vegas to pick up the items of her estate from the Clark County administrator.

At around 3:45 we went outside to admire the newly painted front porch as everyone was leaving.  I must admit that the bronze color reflected the attractive warm glow of the afternoon sunlight.  

After everyone left, I called the Third Judicial District Court and talked to the supervisor who was able to provide me the nomenclature for accessing the docket sheet for the case I am working on, so I can see when specific documents were filed.  I was thrilled because now I can respond fully to the Court of Appeals’ order.

I then talked to a potential new client and then at 5:30 started watching the news.

Suzette was not hungry, so instead of cooking dinner we drank a glass of egg nog mixed with rum and ate several more of Cynthia’s Christmas cookies and several from a large tray that Lorraine’s mom made.

I wanted to eati some real food so around 6:30 I heated and ate the remaining PPI pasta dish we made several nights ago with the sausage meatballs, sautéed mushrooms, sweet potato cubes, and egg noodles with a Dos Equis beer.

We then watched a really good Christmas movie on Netflix and then the Lawrence O’Donnell “The Last Word” program on MSNBC.  My admiration for Lawrence has grown considerably lately as it seems he has an acutely accurate understanding of the political process in Washington. For example, tonight he introduced Congresswoman Jaypal, the leader of the Progressive caucus, with the most laudatory introduction I have heard from him, saying her public announcements are pitch perfect.  Then he interviewed her and she described how Senator Manchin had called her on Monday and described their conversation about Build Back Better after Manchin had public announced on the Sunday talk shows that he could not vote for the BBB bill.  

She said she asked Manchin whether the President was correct in June when he said that Manchin had agreed with the President’s then structure of BBB and Manchin said he had.  Jaypal said she then told Manchin she would send Manchin the bill that the House fashioned based on the structure Manchin agreed to in June and she asked Manchin to identify the elements he would agree to vote for.  She then told Lawrence that she was hopeful a bill could be fashioned out of the elements of the President’s BBB structure that Manchin had agreed to with the President.

It became apparent to me that Jaypal is a masterful negotiator and legislator.  As Lawrence said, she has demonstrated in her short five years in the House that she is the most skillfully articulate member of the House.

It was a thrilling introduction by Lawrence that showed his political acumen, followed by an interview that proved that his assessment of Jaypal and her skills were correct and most importantly, that she and the President will get Manchin to yes on some form of BBB.

At 9:00 Suzette went to bed and I followed shortly thereafter after eating another two Christmas cookies.

Today’s lunch was our major social event of the Christmas season.  We are not going to host an open house this year.  I feel like going back into full lockdown, especially after Lawrence interviewed Congressman Clyburn who has gotten Covid after being fully vaccinated and boosted.

Omicron seems to be highly transmissible and it is sweeping across the U.S. and the world like a tsunami wave.

Bon Appetit

December 21, 2021 Lunch - Padilla’s Family Restaurant Chili Relleno Plate. Dinner - Cream of Squash Soup and a melted cheese sandwich

December 21, 2021 Lunch - Padilla’s Family Restaurant Chili Relleno Plate. Dinner - Cream of Squash Soup and a melted cheese sandwich 

I had a conference call with a client at 10:00 and then watched the President’s speech about Covid.

I then toasted three small slices of French Baguette that I then buttered, spread butter on and then lay slices of Jarlsberg cheese on at noon.

Then after the market closed I checked my portfolio and found that it did rather well even without the AAPL and Nvidia shares I sold yesterday.

The strategy I finally adopted was to sell 1/2 of my NVIDIA shares and 4/5 of my Apple share, which will provide me sufficient cash to buy back my positions if the market drops without sacrificing most of my positions if the market rises. Today was a good illustration of the strategy in real time.

The Dow went up over 300 points and my portfolio rose  1.77%.  If I had not sold it would have gone up an additional .88% or approximately 50% more.

I am comfortable with the reduced performance in exchange for the increased cash position to guard against a melt down.

Even with the relatively poorer performance today my gain for the year stands at 19.8%, which I will willingly accept.

At 2:30 I ordered a chili Relleno plate with double beans with green chili for take out from Padilla’s and drove to pick it up.

On my way home I stopped at Lowe’s and bought two large avocados on special for $.57/each and three small avocados for $.59/each.

When I returned home Suzette had arrived with a beautiful tray of Christmas cookies.

We shared the Chili Relleno plate, which Suzette said went well with the tamale and Posole she had eaten at the Center for lunch.

I drank a beer with the chili Relleno.  Then around 4:00 we sliced the 20 Lb. side of rib steaks into thick and thin steaks as I cut along the side of each rib and Suzette cut through the bone for one or two steaks.  The steaks varied in width from 2 1/2 inches thick to 1 inch thick depending on whether the steak included a rib or not.

After I finished wrapping the thirteen steaks I made an unsuccessful drive to the UHaul station to fill our propane tank because the attendant certified to pump propane leaves work at 4:00.

When I returned home Suzette re-heated the PPI Cream of a squash soup and made toasted cheese sandwiches with whole wheat sandwich bread, Jarlsberg cheese,  and sweet pickle relish for a light dinner with a glass of water.

I was tired because I had worked all day without a nap, so at 8:00 I lay down after talking to Billy and drafting my book review for Comanche Empire.

I watched Lawrence O’Donnell for a few minutes and then blogged this entry.

Rarely there are days when the food is not interesting. This was one of those days.

Bon Appetit

December 20, 2021 Lunch - Vietnamese Miso noodles with Shrimp. Dinner - Rack of Lamb with sautéed Potato Cubes and Tzatziki

 December 20, 2021 Lunch - Vietnamese Miso noodles with Shrimp. Dinner - Rack of Lamb with sautéed Potato Cubes and Tzatziki

Today I had an experience that made me think fondly of my mother.  Among the stocks I inherited from her were 323 shares of Pioneer Natural Exploration (“Pioneer”).  On Saturday I received a check from Pioneer for $975.00, which was a completely unexpected $3.00/share dividend.  It made me think of my mother’s love and her caring for me that had reached beyond the grave.

I was so moved by this inter-generational benefit that I prepared Assignments for each of Luke, Willy, and Suzette for 5617 shares of the Small Business Finance Bank by assigning each 1/3 of a 16,850 share certificate from the 335,133 shares I own in the bank. 

I also worked on my response to the COA order to designate transcripts by re-filing a Designation that I filed in 2019 in district court.

The most far reaching transactions of the day were the sale of 4/5 of my Apple shares and 1/2 of my Nvidia shares.  This was another brutal day in the market in which my portfolio dropped over 1.9%. The gain for the year is under 20% now, but I now have dry powder to buy stocks if they continue to fall.  No one knows what will happen in the near future, but I am placing a huge bet that things will get worse before they get better.

I ate granola, milk, blueberries, and yogurt for breakfast around 9:30.

Then I received a message from my yoga teacher canceling our session today because she had gotten a bad cold and feared she may have Covid.

At 10:30 I called Peter and changed our plans for me to pick up lunch since I was not going to be near the 2000 Vietnam Restaurant. Instead I invited Peter to lunch at my house.  I made Vietnamese Miso noodles with Shrimp, since I know Peter is a big fan of shrimp.

I filled a 2 quart pot 4/5 full of water and added four instead of three bundles of noodles ( 1 wheat bundle, 1 bean thread bundle, and two rice vermicelli bundles) plus Chinese Cooking Wine, crushed Pulse seaweed, 1/2 shallot minced, three stalks of asparagus diced, three mushrooms sliced, a Pho shrimp seasoning cube, 1/2 tsp. of dehydrated dashi. 1 T. of red miso, some green onion slices, 2 Fish cake balls sliced, 8 oz. of cubed soft tofu, and finally 11 shrimp when Peter arrived around 12:30.  The noodles had cooked about 45 minutes when Peter arrived so they were soft, having absorbed most of the liquid and yielding a rather soupy mass of noodles.

I put hoisin sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, soy sauce, and cilantro on the table and we each ate our way through a bowl of noodles.  I gave about 1/4 of my bowl of noddles to Peter, because I could not finish mine.

Peter left at 1:30 and checked at 2:00 and got the bad news while I was completing the assignments.

I then mailed Luke’s package at the post office, drove to the bank to deposit the dividend check and get the assignments notarized.

Then I delivered Peter’s copy of Comanche Empire to him.

I returned home and filed the designation. Suzette arrived at 4:30 and we walked 1/2 mile in the neighborhood.

When we returned home, Suzette wanted to grill the rack of lamb, so I made an elaborate tzatziki with a whole cucumber, three cloves of garlic, juice of 1/2 lemon, a tomato diced 2/3 cup of yogurt, 1/4 cup of chopped Italian parsley, and a slice of diced red onion, plus a couple pinches of salt.

While I made the tzatziki, Suzette grilled the rack of lamb after she glazed it with some of her homemade mint jelly and cubed two potatoes and blanched them and then sautéed them in olive oil and seasoned them with 1/3 cup of cminced Italian parsley, salt, and lemon juice.

I opened a bottle of 2015 Rivera Spanish Rioja.

The propane failed on the grill, so I sliced four riblets off the rack and Suzette finished cooking those riblets in the skillet in which she had sautéed the potatoes for a couple of minutes.

We enjoyed dinner, although we agreed the racks of lamb at Costco are of a better quality.

After dinner we watched the Antiques Roadshow and the Vikings v Chicago Bears NFL game. Neither team was impressive and neither will probably make the Playoffs this year. Chicago had three turnovers, 8 penalties, and a blocked punt in its dismal losing performance.

I ate a bowl of Pistachio Almond ice cream.

We went to bed at 9:30 and I then blogged until 11:45.

Bon Appetit

December 19, 2021 Brunch - French Toast   Afternoon snack - Charcuterie Sandwiches   Dinner - Duck and Italian Sausage Sautéed Pasta

I watched the news programs and a soccer match between Man City and Newcastle in which Man city crushed Newcastle 4 to 1.

I called a Willy to invite him for brunch and soccer viewing.

Suzette worked at her desk most of the day.  She was hungry by 9:00 so I made breakfast.  I had dreamed about making French toast by adding egg nog to the batter. I made a batter of 1/3 cup of milk, 1/3 cup of egg nog, 2 T. of sugar, 3 eggs, and a dash of cinnamon.

I also fried 6 slices of bacon. We had only whole wheat sandwich bread, so I used slices of it and the result was quite satisfactory. I heated maple syrup with about 1 1/2 tsp. of butter to pour over the sautéed French Toast.

We enjoyed the slightly different breakfast and Suzette returned to her work at her desk. 

Then around 11:00 Willy arrived and turned on the Liverpool v. Tottenham match, which proved to be a real battle to a 2 to 2 draw.

I then helped him soak two slices of bread and he took over and sautéed his French Toast and heated the syrup.

After the match we watched Dallas crush the NY Giants 21 to 6 mainly defensively by intercepting 3 passes and recovering a fumble.

Willy left and I laid down to nap and read Comanche Empire and watch the rest of the Dallas victory and some of the Green Bay v. Baltimore game.

At 3:30 I made three small sandwiches on toasted French baguette smeared with basil Mayo, one each of prosciutto, cured ham, and salami, with slices of Gouda cheese, smeared with tarragon mustard. I drank a Dos Equis beer with the help of Suzette. 

At 4:30 we loaded four boxes of bottles for recycling and drove to deposit them at the solid waste recycling center on Edith and then drove the few blocks to Costco.  Suzette wanted to purchase more items to give away at her employee Christmas warehouse that starts tomorrow and we needed several items.  We purchased Dungeness crab claws, butter, mayonnaise, Jarlsberg cheese, romaine lettuce, and grape tomatoes for our luncheon on Wednesday and tortillas and tamales for Christmas Eve to go with the Posole I will make.  Suzette filled the cart with cookies, candy, peanut butter filled pretzels, Ute snack mixes, body lotion, and lots of other items for the warehouse.

We left Costco after it closed its doors at 6:00 and the parking lot was emptying.

After we unloaded the perishables from the Highlander, we discussed dinner.  I had suggested a pasta dish utilizing the confit duck breast and the Sweet Italian sausage we had.  Suzette suggested cooking a frilly egg noodle.  We decided to sauté 1/2 shallot, dice several stalks of asparagus, slice several mushrooms and make a simple olive oil, vermouth, and parsley sauce.

While I chopped and sliced, Suzette diced the duck breast, a baked sweet potato, and asparagus stalks, made small meatballs with the sausage, and boiled the egg noodles.

When I had chopped the shallot and mushrooms, Suzette sautéed them plus the asparagus, duck, sweet potato cubes, and sausage meatballs in a large skillet In olive oil.  I then sliced six slices of Pecorino Romano.  Suzette added the parsley and cooked noodles to the skillet and tossed everything together to mix the ingredients and the plated half in each of two pasta bowls.

I poured the remaining half bottle of Henri Morell 2018  Signargues Cotes du Rhone Villages for a lovely accompaniment to the pasta dish.

After dinner I watched New Orleans beat Tampa Bay as Suzette worked at her desk and did laundry and then we taped Luke’s Christmas box.

We went to bed around 10:00 after I ate three Godiva chocolates with a bit of Calvados 

Bon Appetit

December 18, 2021 Brunch - Lax and Bagel Snack - Sushi - Dinner - Squash Soup

December 18, 2021 Brunch - Lax and Bagel  Snack - Sushi - Dinner - Squash Soup

The big event of the day was food shopping at 10:00.  I bought, egg nog, sour cream, carrots, celery, coffee, everything bagels, mint tea, and a 20 lb. slab of rib steaks.

I foolishly failed to eat breakfast and by the time I returned home at 11:30 my muscles were beginning to weaken, so I toasted a bagel and smeared it with cream cheese and lay slices of red onion and Gravad lax on the two halves of the profusely seeded Thomas everything bagel.

Then I lay down to rest and recover some energy.

At 2:30 I ate the leftover sushi from yesterday and a couple of cookies and in about an hour began to feel better.

Suzette came home at 3:00 with Christmas cookies and ate the leftover Cassoulet as I finished the sushi.

I lay down again to rest and napped until 5:00.

We walked to the country club and back and enjoyed the full moon and Christmas lights along Park Ave.

When we returned home Suzette cooked the rest of the squash Wayne and Elaine gave us that Suzette had baked several days ago with the vegetable broth I made yesterday and the creamed it with an emulsion mixer.

It was creamy and delicious but what made it memorable were the croutons she made from the the golden browned butter crust sandwich loaf slices flavored with wild mushroom salt and Herbs de Provence.  

The soup was delicious because it was the creamy, yet had no cream in it.

We drank the rest of the bottle of Verdejo wine Trader Joe’s $5.49 with the soup and after dinner with several of the lovely Christmas cookies Jean sent us and the baker at the center made as we watched Father Brown and then Death in Paradise.

Suzette went to sleep at 10:00 and I stayed up to watch the biathlon pursuit World Championship from France as a prep for the Peking Winter Olympics.  A Frenchman won on his home course. 

Then I read about the collapse of the Comanche Empire and then went to sleep.

Bon Appetit

December 17, 2021 Lunch - Sushi. Dinner - PPI Cassoulet with Sautéed Asparagus and Mushrooms

December 17, 2021 Lunch - Sushi. Dinner - PPI Cassoulet with Sautéed Asparagus and MushroomsL

I read and watched the news from 4:00 until after 6:45 and then went back to bed and slept until 7:30.

The NASDAQ gyrated all day between gain and loss and unfortunately it ended in a slight loss.  The Dow never reached positive and ended down over 400 points. My portfolio fortunately suffered only a minor loss thanks in large measure to a $12.00 gain by Moderna, possibly due to an announcement that the Pfizer drug is not as effective against the Omicron variant.

The most fun I had was during recording a corporate transaction for sale of stock I discovered that the stock had never been paid for and the company did not have to issue the stock at an exceptionally low price.  I heard joy from the mouth of my client, which was very gratifying.

I drank a cup of hot chocolate at 4:30. Then at 10:30 I ate a bowl of granola with milk and blueberries and yogurt.

That held me until 12:30 when I made a cup of sushi rice by adding Aji Mirin, sugar, and rice vinegar to the two cups of water, 1 cup of jasmine rice, and 1/3 tsp. of dehydrated dashi.

By 1:30 I had filled bowls with seaweed salad, soy and wasabi for dipping, pickled ginger to flavor the fish, and a plate filled with slices of salmon, tuna,band scallops, pickled leeks and two radishes sliced and a cup of green tea brewed.

I enjoyed a fresh sushi lunch and watched the Market limp toward a close.

After lunch I checked my portfolio and found I had suffered a minimal .038% loss.

Let’s hope this is the bottom and turn toward a Santa Claus rally.  I suspect Covid has killed the rally.

I worked until 5:00 when Suzette arrived. I made a vegetable broth with 2 quarts of water, four sliced mushrooms, the tough stalks of asparagus, some parsley, a stalk of celery, and 1/4 onion sliced.  I also brought in the casserole of PPI cassoulet and then read Comanche Empire until 6:00.

Suzette wanted to eat early so I diced 12 asparagus into 1 inch lengths and sliced four more mushrooms and 1/4 of a medium shallot.  Suzette added about 1/2 cup of vegetable broth to the cassoulet to moisten it and heated It in a Pyrex loaf pan covered with Saran in the microwave, while I sautéed the asparagus, mushrooms, shallot and some leftover broccoli in a skillet in 3 T. of heated butter and 1 T. of olive oil and then covered with the wok cover to sweat and steam.

I opened a bottle of 2018 Signargues Cote Du Rhone red wine,

one of my favorite bottles of Cote du Rhone $15.00 at Total Wine before the discount.

We enjoyed the slightly wet cassoulet better, especially with the sautéed mushrooms and asparagus.

After dinner I drank a cup of tea and ate a bowl of pistachio almond ice cream.

It was a good day of food and work.

Bon Appetit