September 27, 2023 Lunch - Santa Fe Chili and Wine festival

 September 27, 2023 Lunch - Santa Fe Chili and Wine festival 

Today was like a continuation of our trip.

Suzette went to work and I worked in the morning.

I ate the leftover Miso Noodle soup for breakfast around 10:00.

Jody replaced the converter battery in the Prius.

Suzette returned home at 1:00 and ate the leftover ravioli from last night’s dinner.

Then at 1:30 we drove to Costco for gas and the the the Santa Fe Convention Center for the Chili and Wine Festival to  the trade tasting.

This is an annual event we try to attend every year because it is so much fun.

The convention center’ main ballroom is filled with a large food bar in the center hosted by Nobel Sysco filled with desserts, canapés/tapas, fruit cheeses, charcuterie, and a slicing station serving roasted beef, pork shank and pork shoulder.

Then on both sides of that huge table that fills about a ten foot wide by 40 foot space in the width of the ballroom are arranged in two circles and along the walls tables were about 150 wineries and smaller importers pouring their wines.

These were not the best wines, that occurs tomorrow at the Reserve Tasting.  These are generally the more moderately priced wines they think retailers and restaurants will buy.

A good example is Suzette, who owns a restaurant that serves wine. She was looking for a northern style white wine, preferably Gewertztraiminir, for her German meal next month and several Spanish wines for the Bistro’s Spanish meals in November and December, especially a nice moderately priced Cava.

We wandered the aisles past the collections of wines at each table tasting ones that appealed to us for about 45 minutes and when we met again near the food table around 4:00 we went to the food table. We went to the carving end where one man was carving beef and the other pork we both also tried a canapé titled Salmon Wellington, which was a round roll stuffed with salmon and a cream sauce that was very tasty. We then both took slices of roast beef, pork loin, and pork shank and found a table pouring red wine. I found a nice French Beaujolais. We took our small plates to one of the four round elevated tables where we could stand and use both hands to tear the meat into pieces with the plastic fork provided.

We then toured tables on the other side of the hall and I tasted the Chianti Riserva at Banfi and their lovely Pinot noir from California. I take pictures of my favorites.  Here they are: Justin’s wonderful Justification Cab, a nice Albariño we missed in Galicia, the Balverne Sauvignon Blanc with its nutty finish, and the best Barolo of this tasting for me.

We tasted for another twenty minutes and returned to the food table and tried cheeses. I made ate a slice of white light farmer’s cheese on a slice of bread with a slice of red meat that turned out to be spicy ham.

Suzette took a loaf of rosemary bread and two heirloom tomatoes from the food display for our next BLT and we left at around 4:55 just as they were beginning to announce the “thank you for coming” message.

We have gone to this tasting for many years and know that all the food will be thrown out after the event, so taking it was no loss to Nobel Sysco.

We validated the parking ticket and returned to the car and drove to the Outpost Jazz Club.

We arrived at the Outpost Performance Space around 6:15 and took the handicapped parking spot. We were a little hungry, so we tore off a piece of bread and found it densely seasoned with dried rosemary to the point of being overwhelming but fresh and very satisfying.   

We then waited at the door with one other person until a couple of minutes after 6:30 when the doors for the Sullivan Fortner Trio performance that we had bought tickets for while in Spain.

I went to the front row and took the two seats on the left with a view of the keyboard.  More about this location on this Saturday’s blog with regard to the symphony.

We were tired and rested and read until the show began.  There were none of the usual drinks and snacks because of Covid.

Sullivan Fortner was a fabulous pianist and his drummer and bassist were wonderful also. They placed a loose rapid almost barrelhouse style of jazz from 7:45 to 9:45.

Suzette dozed during part of the performance and I had trouble keeping my eyes open.

So when the concert ended we drove home and went to bed.

Today was a day when I planned the two meals I ate.

We relied on the food and wine at the wine tasting that we are very familiar with for dinner.

Bon Appetit

September 26, 2023 Breakfast - El Super Chili Relleno burritos, Lunch - Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner - Ricotta stuffed Ravioli with smoked pork, asparagus, and tomato sauce

September 26, 2023 Breakfast - El Super Chili Relleno burritos, Lunch - Miso Noodle Soup. Dinner - Ricotta stuffed Ravioli with smoked pork, asparagus, and tomato sauce

Around 8:30 I went to El Super to refill the larder.  I bought lots, including zucchini, yellow squash, limes, lemons, Fuji apples, corn tortillas, sour cream, onions, leeks, ginger, romaine lettuce, cilantro, parsley, green beans, avocados, yogurt, milk, eggs, green onions, tomatoes, smoked pork chops, chorizo, asparagus, beets, and mushrooms.

Half way through the shopping I ate a chili Relleno plate with a chili Relleno, refried beans and two flour tortillas. I also drank a Mexican coke and added onions and cilantro from the condiments bar.

                                                 The chili rellenos on the hot tray line 

        The condiments bar: salsas, lime wedges, and chopped cilantro, and onions

I lay the warm flour tortilla on napkins on my tray, cut the relleno in half, covered each half with beans and made two chili Relleno burritos.

Breakfast is always the best time to eat at El Super’s La Cocina because everything is fresh. After a few hours on the hot tray food line the chili rellenos turn into hockey pucks as the creamy cheese filling solidifies.

After I finished shopping and unloaded the car, it was approaching 1:30 and I decided to make lunch.

I filled a 3 quart pot 2/3 with water and added a tsp. dehydrated dashi, a 

T. of dried seaweed, 1 1/2 T. of red miso and mung bean, wheat, and rice noodles and cooked them about 20 minutes while I added a chorizo, a sliced mushroom, and the white portion of a Mexican green onion.

I also sliced the remaining green stalk of the green onion into thin ringlets to garnish the soup.

I usually add 1 T. of miso, so the added miso enriched the flavor of the soup broth, as did the extra dehydrated dashi.

After lunch I reviewed an agreement and then walked to the bank and back at a more rapid pace than before the trip.

I returned home at 4:05 about ten minutes before Meditation and meditated until about 4:45.

Suzette came home during meditation and after meditation we discussed dinner.  I told her I had bought smoked pork chops, asparagus, and tomatoes. 

She went to the garage fridge and began thawing lamb chops, ground beef, and a steak. 

She also found a plastic box of ricotta filled ravioli and decided to boil the ravioli and make a sauce with the pork cutlet, onion, some garlic, tomato, and asparagus, 

She also fetched a chilled bottle of Ferme Julien rose. The chilled Southern Rhone rose tasted fabulous.

I was returning phone calls and trying to change my verification code on an app until Suzette called me to dinner.

She lay the cooked ravioli in a pasta bowl and smothered them with the sauce.

We took the dishes to the table on the patio but I soon retreated to the house after being attacked by a number of mosquitos and left the rest of my dinner for tomorrow’s lunch. 

I had eaten two large meals and Suzette had eaten none today before dinner, which explained her hunger and my lack of hunger.

It appears that the trend established on our trip to Spain of eating a big breakfast and lunch and no or little dinner is continuing.

If I can keep to two meals per day and keep up the exercise I should be able to further improve my stamina.

The fact that I did not crave dinner or a dessert today was a hopeful sign.

We watched Finding Your Roots and then went to bed at 8:00.. I blogged a bit but soon fell asleep.

I awakened at 3:00 to finish this blog.

Tomorrow will be a busy day with the Santa Fe Chili and Wine Festival to the trade tasting in the afternoon and a jazz concert in the evening at the Outpost.

Bon Appetit

September 25, 2023 Dallas to Albuquerque Dinner - Vietnam 2000

September 25, 2023 Dallas to Albuquerque Dinner - Vietnam 2000

I woke up at 8:00 but Suzette slept until 10:30, which I estimated was 12 hours of sleep.

We showered and dressed and fixed breakfast of scrambled eggs with diced baby grape tomatoes and 1/2 of a medium shallot and toasted and buttered a slice of rye bread and smeared by slice with strawberry butter. Suzette made coffee and I made Earl Grey tea.  We were happy that Billy and Elaine let us stay in their house for the night and left fresh milk for us in the fridge.

We called for an Uber at 11:30 and Mark arrived in his new blue Tesla Model  3 at 12:15 to take us to the airport where we had one of the most interesting experiences of the trip.

We asked Mark to drop us off at the baggage checking area at Love Field’s main entrance. After he helped us get the luggage to the curb we moved the five pieces of luggage to the check in area.

The attendant helped us with a couple of bags when he saw I was having trouble moving them. Suzette and I argued a bit about how much to tip. I am old school and wanted to tip a $1.00 while she said the tip should be $1.00 per grip and pulled a $5.00 bill out of her purse, which I laid on the counter as she laid our passports on the counter.

The gentleman went through the check in routine as I stood there resting on my cane and as he did he said, “I think you need Priority boarding.”

He then printed our boarding passes with Priority boarding.

I wasn’t sure what he meant until we got the bags checked and he added, “Priority boarding boards about 1/2 hour early. Do you need a wheelchair? It is a long way to the gate.”

I declined by saying, “No thank you. I am trying to walk a mile per day.”

It was a long way to the gate but we had over an hour until our flight.

I then realized we had been given a wonderful gift. We were to be boarded before any of the regular passengers.

So when the gate attendant called for Priority passengers to board we walked over to the cluster of 4 wheelchairs and family members gathered by the jetway and boarded after the attendant boarded a couple of wheel chairs and before a couple with a baby in a pram.

We took two seats on empty Row 4, which is the best seating I have ever had on a Southwest flight and thought how fortunate I was to be hobbling on a cane.

It was the usual uneventful 1 hour and ten minute flight, thanks to our recovery time in Dallas.

Suzette coordinated with Willy to pick us up at the airport, where I discovered another benefit of being less than full bodied.  I was able to get the four pieces of luggage off the luggage carousel with the help of three guys who were standing next to me while Suzette was having a business call.  We then took the grips out to the curb beside the red marked fire zone just beside the walkway across the street to the ground transportation roadway and the parking lot. 

When Willy arrived he parked in the fire zone and as he helped us load the bags an SUV parked in front of us in the middle of the walkway, blocking the walkway.  I thought the two uniformed security guards would surely demand the SUV move but they said nothing as a man in a wheelchair was wheeled out and got into the SUV and more luggage than we had plus his wheelchair was loaded into the SUV.

These two experiences expanded my awareness of how the airlines and airports have expanded or adjusted the normal rules for the handicapped and given them priority.

First the first time I felt good about my bad hip.

Willy drove us home and helped us bring in the luggage.

We opened the wine suitcase and gave him the bottle of Cantabrian red vermouth and he said, “Let’s try it.”

So I fetched three wine glasses and filled them with ice cubes and Willy filled the three glasses and we chatted about the trip over glasses of vermouth.

We also removed the other eleven bottles from the wine suitcase, each of which could be the basis for a story and lined them up.

The only casualty was a slight leak from the cherry liquor bottle we bought at Bodega Monasterio de Corias  winery in Gangas de Narcea.

We then walked the back yard gardens and Willy left around 3:30 after we decided to continue our discussion of the trip with Willy at dinner.

Suzette worked at her desk and I tackled the piles of mail that had accumulated in the 6 weeks that we were gone at my desk.

I finished opening most of the mail and depositing several checks by the time Willy returned at 6:00.

I had called Vietnam 2000 and determined they were open until 8:00, so we drove there for dinner.

Willy wanted us to try a Vietnamese sandwich made with a French baguette (Bhan Mi), so we ordered that with grilled chicken and asked for it to be served first.

Suzette and I decided to share a dish of steamed rice flour sheets garnished with grilled pork and fried egg rolls and Willy ordered No. 30, lettuce, mung bean sprouts and cucumber sticks on bottom, boiled rice vermicelli in the middle layer and grilled pork and fried egg rolls on top.

When the sandwich was served we cut it into three equal pieces. I noticed immediately when I bit into my piece that the crust was toasted and delightfully crunchy and the inside was soft. There was a small pile of cilantro on top of the opening, so I removed the cilantro leaves and opened the sandwich and lay them inside the cavity with the chicken, sliced onion, and lettuce. The sandwich )was delicious. I will order it again.

Soon we were served our main courses and the lemonade that Suzette ordered.

Willy did not eat many of his noodles because he is on a high protein diet but Suzette and I ate all of our dish. Suzette took more of the grilled pork and egg rolls and gave me more of the steamed rice flour sheets, which made me happy because that approximated the 70/30 carb to protein diet I try to achieve and allowed her to avoid carbs.

We also requested extra bowls of fish sauce and I requested extra basil and cilantro that I added to my portion of the dish.

We enjoyed our dinner of Vietnamese food immensely. It felt good to be back in Albuquerque, eating food we loved and knew would not upset our stomaches.

Willy dropped us off at home around 7:45.  I turned on Rachel Maddow and watched a portion of her interview with Cassidy Hutchinson, who has just published a book about her experience working in the Trump White House at the age of 27. The gist of the small part of the interview that I viewed was that the book may be the first draft of some of the true facts of what was going on in the White House during Trump’s administration.

Among several of the more shocking facts, apparently she was groped by Rudy Giuliani and Matt Gaetz tried to get her to go to his room on a Presidential trip.

Rachel’s concluding remarks and subsequent interview with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized to young people thinking about government service that the Trump administration does not represent the normal functioning of our government.

Perhaps Rachel just edited Trump’s footnote to history, that it will be an apology for how government should not function.

I fell asleep in the chair watching Lawrence O’Donnell at 8:15 and woke up and went to bed at 9:30.

Bon Appetit