March 27, 2024 Breakfast - Bagel with Gravad lax Lunch - Chicken, Carrots, and celery Snack - Salami Sandwiches Dinner - Tirana

March 27, 2024 Breakfast - Bagel with Gravad lax Lunch - Chicken, Carrots, and celery Snack - Salami Sandwiches Dinner - Tirana

It was an interesting day. I woke up at 7:00 and worked on a contract until 10:00 when I toasted two slices of bagel. I spread them with cream cheese and garnish them with slices of red onion, Gravad lax and capers.

Before she left at 8:00 Suzette brought the pot with all the chicken bones , celery, and carrots  she had been simmering last night in and turned on the heat on the stove to recommence the stock cooking.  I added about 2 cups of water and turned down the heat to a simmer and went back to work

I drank chai and then read another contract until 11:30 when I stopped the pot of chicken stock simmering on the stove.

I drained the liquid and put it into the fridge and ate the significant remaining boiled. chicken, carrot, and celery.

Then at 12:30 Luke and I drove to Smith’s. I bought flour, milk, a slab of rib steaks, a wedge of discounted grana cheese, a sour dough baguette, duck foie gras, coconut water for Luke, and three bottles of discounted fresh oysters. 

I was suffering weakness during the shopping so when we returned I toasted three slices of baguette and spread them with basil flavored mayonnaise and then garnished them with slices of salami, cured ham, red onion, Jarlsberg cheese, and lettuce at 2:30. I drank a glass of root beer to get some sugar inside me.

After the snack I lay down for a 1 hour nap.

When I awakened I checked the market and discovered that Nvidia was down $25.00 and Arm was down $2.50. In the face of this dramatic drop, the Dow had increased by $414 that other stocks that I own such as Home Depot, Solar Age, and Enphase Energy up dramatically. The net effect across the entire portfolio was a slight gain.

Luke had been painting a mural so at 6:00 we walked out to the garden to view the mural.

There was a lot of discussion regarding dinner and a decision was made to go out to eat at Triana, a Spanish tapa bar and restaurant in Nob Hill.

Willy came over and he, Suzette, and Luke walked around the block. I spent the time sending a comment to a client regarding a contract.

Then at 7:00 we drove to Triana. When we arrived we ordered a bottle of Martin Codex Albariño and ordered Garbanzo and spinach soup and goat cheese on toast.  Then we discussed the menu and ordered  an roasted oxtail, sautéed mushrooms, an order of bread, and tuna and avocado appetizer.

Then later we also ordered the roasted cauliflower with an interesting sour cream sauce and albondigas with Romesco sauce.

After we had eaten a bunch of tapas, we were finally full and skipped dessert and drove back home at 8:30.

Willy left and we were all tired and went to sleep.

I woke up at 1:30 to write this blog.

My strength had recovered with all the good food I ate that my gut did not reject as it did yesterday.

Bon Appetit

March 26, 2024 Breakfast - Scrambled eggs and a bagel with cream and Jarlsberg cheese Lunch - La Cocina at El Super Dinner - Roasted Chicken from the Bistro, oven roasted ,asparagus, and PPI Casarecce Pasta

March 26, 2024 Breakfast - Scrambled eggs and a bagel with cream and Jarlsberg cheese Lunch - La Cocina at El Super  Dinner - Roasted Chicken from the Bistro, oven roasted ,asparagus, and PPI Casarecce Pasta

I woke up at 2:30 and worked until 4:00 and watched some news, mostly the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in  Baltimore and then went back to sleep for 1 1/2 hours until 8:00.

I asked Suzette to bring home a Roasted chicken from the Bistro and she called the rider.

I watched the market go crazy up and down and by the end of the day Nvidia and Arm were two of the day’s big losers. My portfolio suffered a 1.2% loss, which is terrible, until you consider that from February 2 through yesterday it experienced a 10.8% gain, so it has a lot more gain to give up before my February 2 position is at risk.

Around 10:00 Luke made me a lovely small plate of soft scrambled eggs and toasted me a bagel that I smeared it with cream cheese and garnished with slices of Jarlsberg cheese.

At 12:00 I had my first excursion out of the house, Luke drove us to El Super and we shopped for produce.  We bought lemons, limes, avocados, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, chayotes, green leaf lettuce, yogurt, ginger, radishes, green onions, carrots, celery, snow peas, and asparagus.

We then went to La Cocina, a food service area within El Super. I picked out a pork tamale and a Mexican Coke and Luke ordered a taco plate with two large Al pastor tacos and two sides of beans.

We both liked our choices.

After lunch we finished our shopping and returned home by 1:45.

At 2:00 Frank came by to discuss a project and left at 3:00 when Steven, my new PT person, arrived to help me do my exercises.

When Steven left at 4:00 I lay down and rested until 7:00.

When I arrived in the kitchen, Luke and Suzette had started preparing dinner. Luke sliced and placed a bunch of asparagus in a freezer bag and tossed the stalks with olive oil, salt, and lemon zest.  Suzette then tossed asparagus and put them on a cookie sheet and baked them in the oven.

Suzette removed the roasted chicken from the fridge and I cut it into pieces and then Suzette put the pieces we were going to eat (two thighs and a breast) on a cookie sheet and warmed them in our oven (our microwave is currently not heating due to the failure of a part) and I deboned the rest of the chicken and placed the bones in a large pot and Suzette put the rest of the de-boned chicken into a freezer bag in the fridge.

The third leg of the meal was sautéing PPI cassarecce pasta with a little olive oil.

I minced about a dozen sprigs of chives to garnish the pasta.

When everything was ready we ate a great meal with glasses of French Vielle Vignes Sauvignon Blanc from Trader Joe’s that is a softer, less citrus wine than is often the case with a New Zealand or California Sauvignon Blanc that goes particularly well with roasted chicken.

After dinner Suzette added water, carrot, celery, and onion to the chicken bones pot with the addition of the bones from our dinner and made a stock.

Soon it was after 9:30 so I ate a couple of pieces of milk chocolate and went to bed, as did Luke and Suzette and Suzette moved the chicken stock to the back porch to chill for the night.

Bon Appetit

March 25, 2024 Breakfast - bagels with cream cheese and Lax. Lunch - Charbroiled Vietnamese savory pastry Dinner - Hamburger Steaks with PPI, Pasta and Brussels Sprouts Casserole

March 25, 2024  Breakfast - bagels with cream cheese and Lax. Lunch - Charbroiled Vietnamese savory pastry Dinner - Hamburger Steaks with PPI, Pasta and Brussels Sprouts Casserole

I woke up early and toasted two slices of bagel, one of white flour and the other of rye flour.  I spread them with cream cheese and garnished them with Gravad lax and red onion. I drank a ginger tea with them.

The market was down and then u in the last few minutes plunged down today to make all the indexes negative, so I had a negligible gain.

Suzette came home early and heated the savory pastry Amy brought me in the hospital in the oven because our microwave is broken, but she became occupied and let the pastry become charbroiled.

Since my mother taught me to eat charbroiled toast because she said the extra carbon was good for me, I ate the pastry and found it edible, especially when I dipped it into the last few spoonfuls of tzatziki.

After lunch Luke went to the coop and bought Brussels sprouts.

So for dinner we decided to make a baked Brussels Sprout casserole.

Dinner - I had bought a large bag of Brussels Sprouts before the operation, so I cut off the rough bases where each connected to the stem and then cut each in half vertically and placed the halves in a 9 x 14 Pyrex roasting pan with a dozen cloves of garlic in their skins and sliced a large shallot into 1/2 slices and Luke squeezed garlic onto it and Suzette tossed them with salt and olive oil and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes and then added pinon nuts and baked them another 15 minutes uncovered.

She also made four hamburgers from the ground beef we have in the meat drawer and grilled them on the grill to medium and then melted slices of Jarlsberg cheese on them.

Finally, Suzette sautéed some PPI Casarecce pasta in olive oil and butter.

I opened a bottle of 2021 Embroidery Pinot Noir we recently bought at Costco for $7 or $8.

While Suzette was cooking I sipped the Lustau red Vermouth with slices of orange and watched Kaitlin Clark and Iowa defeat an unusually tough West Virginia team in a Women’s NCAA tournament match-up.

When Suzette plated dinner we sat down for a family dinner.

After dinner Willy left and Luke, Suzette, and I watched the first episode  3 Person  Problem, the new Netflix series.

We went to bed a bit after 10:00.

Bon Appetit

 

March 24, 2024 Brunch - Blueberry Pancakes and bacon. Snack- Beef Brisket and Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla. Dinner - Pita Pocket Sandwiches

March 24, 2024 Brunch - Blueberry Pancakes and bacon. Snack- Beef Brisket and Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla. Dinner - Pita Pocket Sandwiches

I slept until 6:45 and watched TV most of the day. Several NCAA tournament games were excellent, going to overtime.  Then there was the Denmark v. Switzerland European Cup friendly that was a 90 minute battle end in a 0 to 0 draw.

During the morning news programs Suzette asked me what I wanted for brunch and I said, “Pancakes.” Trying to thing of the most digestible food I could thing of.

So Blueberry pancakes it was.  Suzette used up all the blueberries because they were starting to go bad, so there was more berry than batter in the pancakes. 

I heated the bottle of maple syrup in a Bain Marie of hot water to warm it.

Suzette also fried four slices of bacon.

Willy called and we save some bacon and pancakes for him.

He then showed me his tax prep and we discussed how to describe his interest in the warehouses.

Willy the left and I took a shower and got into bed and rested until 3:00 when I talked to Rebecca about taxes for a while.

At 4:00 Suzette came and I suggested we split a quesadilla, so asuzette made a brisket and roasted vegetable quesadilla that we split.

The big match-ups in the tournament were in the evening. Clemson upset Baylor and there was a really competitive game between Texas A & M and University of Houston that went to overtime before Houston prevailed.

At 8:00 I felt the need to eat so I toasted a pita, cut it in half and filled each half with slices of feta and tomato, salami, and tzatziki.

Again this food I know my gut will accept, but just to make sure I drank a glass of yogurt drink

Then at 11:00 I drank another glass of yogurt drink to make sure my protective gut bacteria were happy, so I  could sleep in peace as I wrote this blog entry.

Bon Appetit

March 23, 2024 Lunch - Roasted Vegetables, bacon, and a fried egg Dinner - Poached Salmon with Cassarecce Pasta with a cream sauce.

March 23, 2024 Lunch - Roasted Vegetables, bacon, and a fried egg Dinner - Poached Salmon with Cassarecce Pasta with a cream sauce.

I woke up early and watched EUFA friendly soccer matched between first Belgium and Ireland and the second, between England v Brazil.

These matches were little more than workouts. Among the 4 teams there was only 1 scored in the second by Brazil, but I enjoyed watching the soccer.

Suzette toasted a slice of bagel and spread with cream cheese for me for breakfast and then went to an estate sale to buy a lot of Mexican woven cotton table clothes to decorate table for Cinco de Mayo.

At 9:00 I took a nap until Aaron arrived at 10:00 for PT evaluation. We had a lovely two hour conversation and evaluation. 

Suzette came home at around11:30 and joined the conversation.

Then after Aaron left at 12:00, Suzette sautéed PPI Roasted Vegetables we made with the Chuck roast last week with an egg on top with crisp bacon.

After lunch I napped and watched basketball and ate a toasted chocolate crepe.

Dinner - Poached Salmon with Cassarecce Pasta in a cream sauce.

We started cooking dinner at 6:00. I minced a large shallot, two cloves of garlic, chives, and six sprigs of parsley for the poaching medium. After the vegetables were cooked water, white wine, and butter were added and salmon was poached in a covered casserole.

I also cut strips from a slab of Murray’s Swiss Gruyere and then cut each into cubes.. I then sliced slices from a wedge of Dahm firm cheese to garnish the dish.

After the salmon was poached and the pasta cooked, Suzette made the cream sauce by first cooking several T. of flour in several T. of butter to make a roux.  The Suzette added poaching medium to the roux to make the cream sauce and then added the cubes of Gruyere and then added back the fish and heated the fish in the sauce. Suzette then plated drained pasta in a pasta bowl and spooned salmon in cream sauce on top and garnished each plate with fresh minced parsley.

The 2021 Vielle Fontaine Vouvray was excellent, characteristically Chenin Blanc with its citrusy acidity and sweetness.

After dinner Suzette scooped me a bowl of chocolate cherry swirl ice cream garnished with several of her lovely maraschino cherries.

Then Willy left and we watched an early episode of Death in Paradise .

Then Suzette went bed and I watched an early episode of Nina and went to bed at 11:00.

Bon Appetit