All Activity

That looks huge! Is it well-enough preserved that you'll be able to get through it without taking up precious refrigerator or freezer (if you have one) space?

This, right here, is a perfect demonstration of "expert" or "expertise". You call this simple, I'd call it a major and uncertain project!

They're doing a soft open, https://www.horinyc.com/

Thank goodness we have people like Fred who can save us from trying a tempting recipe that is just meh.

Moravian Sugar Cake from NYT Cooking... I *think* I've made cake(s) in the past with mashed potato, but seemingly they weren't particularly memorable, as was the case here. I liked the look, but otherwise it didn't land with me. Recipe or YouTube.

Ouch. Bad marketing advice, I think. I'm on the edge of being offended. Although you can get away with this stuff in NYC perhaps. Maybe consider it to be a club?

Opened up NYE.. with Short rib Onion Soup - premade stock with chicken legs/ beef tid bits day before. AM removed smultz and cooked onions , PC the short rib and assembled

Tapas-ish dinner on NYE Tinned octopus with lemon and olive oil Deviled egg with candied bacon, bacon-wrapped dates with chorizo inside Butter-poached (SV) pimenton shrimp

@Duvel HAPPY NEW YEAR!!. What a way to bring in the New Year with that amazing feast. At some point will you please share your recipe the for the Karaage. We kept it simple with just the smoked salmon with homemade bagels. Served with a bottle of a 2022 Blanc de Blanc Brut from Fort Berens Estate Winery.

With the truffle I treated ourselves to: Our first course last night was risotto. I made a compound truffle butter with some shavings from the truffle, so the risotto is simply Carnaroli rice, butter, olive oil, shallots, garlic, white wine, home made chicken stock, and the compound butter and Parmigiano added in at the end, topped with slices of the Perigord truffle. Pretty good. Followed by a non-pictured roast chicken, which had some of the compound butter and truffle slices spread under the skin - also good.

We are still in Spain and had some friends over. Little one opted for Japanese, so I had to improvise a bit without my pantry … Hakushu highball (not improvised) for the cook … Half of the table (second part was blurry) Pickled cucumbers & pickles radish (on the right) … Edamame … Tuna tataki … Karaage. Three plates of this disappeared in a flash … Fried aubergine, marinated in mentsuyu … Spinach tofu salad with sesame dressing … Okonomiyaki … Steamed shrimp with ginger & mentsuyu … Yakisoba. Little one requested ramen, but that’s difficult for 10 people … “At least make some marinated eggs” … ok 😎 Choya plum as dessert wine, with chocolates & fruits. No complaints 🥳

@sartoric I reposted the recipe on my blog. You can find it here: https://thibeaultstable.com/2025/12/30/freds-italian-chicken/

With your fingers then.

Just as nibbles--like a snack mix. I did decide that when I make it again, I may cut some small cubes of a semi-hard cheese of some sort to add to it.

And finally, I cooked my dinner which I prepared last night minutes before the year changed. 辣子鸡 (là zi jī), Sichuan Chilli Chicken. With rice and stir fried greenery.

That Aldi special turkey made an encore performance in another episode of “things in a bowl”. Here it is with thick egg noodles, baby bok choy, wombok and topped with the last of a bag of mung bean sprouts. It’s true folks, you can finish the bag before they get slimy. For something completely different, we reverted to an old favourite pasta with chicken sausage, broccolini, fresh chilli and enough garlic to ward off vampires forever. Just in case, we doubled down with garlic bread. To be sure, to be sure. Last night was New Years Eve, so we had lentils for luck with spicy Italian sausage and some spinach salad. Then I crashed a neighbours party and had the best time. Toot toot, Happy New Year 🥳

Can you tell me more about this please ? Also, I have that same Le Creuset baker, but in white 😀

Good to know, I want to try this too.

More importantly, although I've mentioned this rare ham before but never in this context. It is only made in one city in China and seldom leaves there. Fortunately, I lived there for two years back in 1997-1999. I have a few good friends there still who regularly send or bring it to me. 晒兰 (shài lán) is from Huaihua city in western Hunan Avocado for scale.

Well I guess both are true, but initially I meant pans, pots etc to wash. We have already had two more meals, there’s two bags of turkey in the freezer, and a poultry rice porridge on the stove as I type.

New Year's Dinner in Scotland was always locally produced ham, which reminded me of this topic. I finally got my hands on some Rugao ham, which I mentioned some few posts back. And here she be.

Pavlova with cream, blackberries, raspberries and a raspberry coulis.

When we rented a car in Iceland, everything was in Icelandic, so the first evening (after driving to the hotel) was spent downloading the manual...

Ok, last one of the year. Wife made funnel cake for the youngest kid after we left Busch Garden quickly last week and skipped the funnel cake stand. This is without any remotely relevant experience. Motherhood is a mysterious and powerful thing.

I woke up earlier that expected, mainly because I was hungry, I think. Luckily the congee was ready so I chopped some century egg and fried some lean pork mince, added it to the congee and let it warm up. Did the job. Now going back to sleep!