C. sapidus

Today's breakfast concoction: Seared shrimp, mushrooms, roasted chile Poblano, and a little crumbly sausage, topped with a fried egg. Started by sauteing shallot, ginger, garlic, and Fresno chiles with black cardamom, cinnamon stick, and star anise. Blended the soft stuff but saved the aromatic oil and spices to sear the shrimp and saute mushrooms, roasted Poblanos, and a little sausage. Stirred in the blended sauce and finished with fish sauce, cilantro, Thai basil, and a splash of half-and-half to mellow the heat. Topped with a fried egg. None of our nonstick pans are nonstick any more. Makes frying eggs an adventure.

Continuing to use up holiday leftovers. Neighbors order rotisserie chicken, eat the white meat, and donate the rest to us. Mrs. C picked off the dark meat and made stock with the carcass. So tonight's meal used the dark meat chicken, tossed in leftover homemade BBQ sauce. BBQ chicken fried rice with onion, ginger, garlic, chiles, cilantro (leaves and stems), fish sauce, soy sauce, a squeeze of lime, and two eggs. Sliced cucumbers to go with. Shoot, now that I think of it we had some mushrooms that would have gone nicely. Oh well, breakfast.

That sounds like an amazing soup stock @Duvel And wow, quite the cookie extravaganza @chromedome

Pulled pork from yesterday, smoked overnight and then finished in the oven. Chilly last night so it was easy to keep the smoker around 225', which yielded a nice smoke ring but also used up a lot of charcoal. Mopped the butts every few hours, and finished with a glaze of homemade BBQ sauce. These were huge pork butts, probably took 17 hours or so, and even so the meat near the bone was more in slicing than pulling range. Still, no complaints. Pulled pork sandwich with homemade BBQ sauce and coleslaw on a potato roll. Leftover bacon and chorizo potato salad to go with, courtesy of Mrs. C. The BBQ sauce was a Paul Kirk recipe, jazzed up with ginger, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

Boys are home and invited friends over, so I BBQed pork butts for 12. Mrs. C made potato salad with bacon and chorizo, I added mustardy Cole slaw and BBQ sauce. Potato rolls to go with.

More meals for the boys' visit: Bombay curry: Marinate boneless, skinless chicken thigh chunks with garlic-ginger paste. Make the spice paste of garlic, ginger, dried red chiles, peanuts, cumin, coriander, white poppy seed, canela, cloves, and turmeric. Saute onions and curry leaves, add the chicken and spice paste, and then simmer in coconut milk and chicken stock. Halfway through remove the chicken (to avoid overcooking) and add halved baby potatoes, Finish with tamarind juice. Sambal ulek to spice it up as desired. Braised Savoy cabbage: Saute minced onion with sliced jalapeno, sequentially add ginger-garlic paste, cayenne, turmeric, crushed tomato, and sliced Savoy cabbage. Braise until done. There were fights over this. Mrs. C made a delicious loaf of sourdough bread.

Boys are visiting so we have been doing our holiday cooking this week. On Xmas day we will be dropping eldest and GF at the airport, then visiting with friends. Tomorrow should be fun - a bunch of the boys’ friends will be stopping by for dinner so I plan to BBQ a couple of pork butts and do pulled pork with all the fixings. Best of all, the electrician stopped by today and installed Mrs. C’s present to me - fixing the wonky under-counter lights! I could not have asked for anything better.

Dinner from ‘My Bombay Kitchen’ Mulligatawny: Toast white poppy seeds, coriander seed, cumin seed, cinnamon stick, cloves, turmeric, and uncooked basmati rice, then blend with cilantro, jalapeños, almonds, garlic, and ginger. Brown-fry onions, add the masala, and then simmer with Mrs. C’s chicken stock and cubed chicken thighs. Finish with coconut milk and serve over basmati rice. Optional lemon wedges for squeezing. Butternut squash with curry leaves: Toss butternut squash cubes with garlic, olive oil, and snipped dried red chiles. Strew with curry leaves and roast in the oven. Always surprisingly good for how simple it is. Mrs. C made a particularly good loaf of sourdough bread, which was wonderful with the soup.

Breakfast concoction for a full house: This started as a simple breakfast and kept growing as more expressed interest. Separately sautéed shrimp, mushrooms, plantains, and green beans. Fried crumbly chorizo with onion and garlic, added some sambal ulek from last night, and finished with chopped parsley, Mexican oregano, and garam masala. Scrambled in eggs and feta and mixed everything together. Younger son said it was too spicy. I told him he needed to build up his tolerance before coming home for a visit.

That is interesting, using the cobek (which I do not have) and hot oil to "fry" the sauce. Lucky you, having home-grown chiles. I miss our vegetable garden, which is now buried underneath the new sun room. I was happy with the flavor and heat level, but I'll use Holland chiles next time if they are available. Thank you, I was hoping to get your perspective on the meal. And now I know that kuning means yellow.

Dinner from 'Cradle of Flavor' Malaccan beef and vegetable stew (Semur daging lembu): Basically a European stew with Malaysian flavors like shallot paste, star anise, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, black soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Red onion, carrots, sliced green beans (sub for peas), and potatoes cooked separately and added just before serving. Jasmine rice to go with. Very popular, no leftovers Sweet-sour cucumber and carrot pickle with turmeric (Acar kuning): Salt matchsticks of cucumber and carrot with sliced shallots and red Fresno peppers and let sit for a couple of hours. Meanwhile make a flavoring paste of shallots, garlic, macadamia nuts (sub for candlenuts), ginger, dried red chiles, and turmeric. Saute the paste and simmer with rice vinegar and sugar. Rinse and dry the quick-pickled vegetables and mix with the sauce. First time making this but it won't be the last. Javanese sambal (sambal bajak / ulek): Shallots, garlic, red Fresno peppers, palm sugar, and a fried disc of dried shrimp paste, all blended "to the consistency of cooked oatmeal." Fry until reduced, darkened, and the oil begins to separate. Good stuff, will make again. I owe Fresno peppers an apology. International market usually carries red Holland chiles, and I was very disappointed to find them out of stock. I reluctantly substituted Fresno chiles, which are often bland. Not this batch!

Gertie's crab cakes, tartar sauce, and green bean salad. Mine was the first (and worst) - I swear the other crab cakes looked better. Served with croissants for those who wanted a crab cake sandwich.

No idea, sorry! When the can showed up I wished I had observed. Last night on the road, bourbon shrimp appetizer with a crab cake-topped salad with nice greens and plenty of walnuts. I’m in Delaware so it seemed safe to order a crab cake lol. No pics, sadly.

Me neither! It was very cleanly done.

These had melted cheese inside, but crispy cheese on the outside sounds amazing. Sorry about the embezzling restauranteur. Looked like Peekskill has a few good Mexican offerings, and a nice wine and liquor store where I got restaurant recommendations. Many restaurants were “closed for the season” this time of year, so you may want to do your Peekskill restaurant tour in the summer.