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Wilted spinach, cilantro,and Thai basil and pureed with half a jalapeno and a roasted chile Poblano with a splash of half-and-half. Sauteed sliced shallot, the other half of the jalapeno, and garlic, and then added the sauce, roasted chile Poblano strips, fried potato cubes, thyme, and Mexican oregano. Inspired by palak paneer, but with Mexican flavors. 😆 Topped with an over-not-so-easy egg and feta cheese

Hard to know whether to file this under Breakfast or Lunch. I missed breakfast so this is the first meal of my day, but at noon. In the microwave I heated a slice of the tomato cheddar pie I wrote about here. While it was heating, I cooked 2 eggs over easy on the stovetop. Slid the eggs onto the pie; scattered shredded cheddar atop the eggs; dug in. Brunch, I suppose. Delicious, for sure.

Rather conventional breakfast items today. French toast sticks, sausage, yogurt and peaches (O’Henry, my fave) with a drizzle of vanilla bean-infused maple syrup. The only twist was using a split-top brioche hot dog bun to make the French toast sticks, a trick I spotted online and a good way to address odd dog/bun ratios. I tend to use sturdy, stale, sometimes VERY stale, bread that needs a good soak. This was rather the opposite and only needs a quick dunk rather than a soak but I’d do it again.

I actually already tried that route and it didn't work. No doubt I didn't use enough. I felt that any more chocolate would be simply wasted as I already found the mixture too sweet for my taste.

LOL Schmidt's was, as we termed it, weasel piss whiz. Even worse when warmed-up at a Phillies game.

Spinach, home-grown tomato, onion, blue cheese, pepitas. We have a bit of a heat wave going again now that it is autumn, so I am using all these tomatoes and thinking light.

Banana & Peanut

Dinner was roasted chicken fillets with grilled (burnt ) bacon and zucchini. Thankfully the chicken was still moist with the addition of a stock. All mopped up with some crusty bread.

Cowboy Chicken Salad with Smoky Chipotle Dressing from “Delicious Tonight” by Recipetin - salad was made with romaine salad, texas cowboy chicken, red onions, black beans, corn, cherry tomatoes, avocado and cilantro. The texas cowboy chicken is pan-seared, pounded chicken breast that was marinated overnight in a mix of chipotle powder, smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder, oregano, cumin, sugar, lime zest and juice and olive oil. The salad dressing is made from yoghurt, mayonnaise, chipotle in adobo, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, cumin, onion powder and cilantro

I am not Smithy but I tried the beef birria yesterday and it’s very good. I reheated it from frozen on the stove. I made corn tortillas and served it as tacos, with the consommé on the side for dipping. I added pickled red onions and cilantro to the tacos (I would have added cotija cheese if I had had any). It was super flavorful and satisfying! Only complaint - it says two servings on the package and there is only enough for one person.

If I ever see it I will probably give it a try.

My son loves Dogfish. Schmidts makes me gag. I was once at a trade show in the old convention center. There was a beer vendor with an Ortlieb's tap. I should have thrown the Schmidts he sold me in his face.

I’ll happily admit I don’t know what the hell these are and I’ve no intention of finding out. Made in a dedicated mooncake building in the grounds of the Liuzhou Hotel, a historic 5-star* hotel next door to my last home, they are highly prized in Liuzhou and cost about 16 times more than your average mooncake. The first line reads 柳州饭店银柳月饼 (liǔ zhōu fàn diàn yín liǔ yuè bǐng), “Liuzhou Hotel silver willow mooncakes” 安定underneath 雅风银柳 (yǎ fēng yín liǔ), “Elegant silver willow”, which I read as a tribute to the city – the liu part of Liuzhou means “willow”. That’s all the information they give. Nothing in the way of description, ingredients of flavours. Just pay up and move along! *The government owns the hotel and the government awards the stars in China, so take that with a tablespoon of salt.

Dumb Oster French door oven has a recall for potential burn injuries. US and Canada. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025/Sunbeam-Products-Recalls-More-than-One-Million-Oster-French-Door-Countertop-Ovens-Due-to-Burn-Hazard

I tried this new to me Blond Ale which came in a 750ml at a very surprising low price. I found it delicious, my tastes run primarily to strong Belgian styles.

@JoNorvelleWalker Chimay is good stuff but that price is nuts. Joe Ortleib is twirling in his grave ;-). I drank a lot of Schmidts and Valley Forge back then. I'm too young to have drunk Esslinger's or Hohenadle's. I just had a couple DogfishHead 60 minute IPA. Nice.

Last night I had my first Chimay Green Strong Blond Ale. https://chimay.com/us/beers/chimay-150-us/ My new favorite. Wonderful as long you can forget about the price. A quart of Ortlieb's (I grew up in Philadelphia) used to go for 35 cents. Four little bottles of Chimay Green are closer to 35 dollars.

Dinner was sort of a continuation of brunch. I had work that involved leaving at noon and getting home at maybe 6pm. I know I get peckish along about 3 or 4 pm, so I made myself a sandwich of salami, cheese, tomato and lettuce (with the obligatory mayo and mustard) on toasted sourdough. I ate half for breakfast, at about 11:30 am. I took the rest with me, had no time to eat it, got home at more like 7:30 pm, with 2 animals clamoring for care before I could take care of myself. Once again I used my panini press to transform the other half of the sandwich. I took the lettuce out for grilling, slathered the surfaces with butter, and let rip between the plates while I threw together a salad. After the half-sandwich was properly heated, I loaded it up with the lettuce and with sauerkraut. Simple, easy, delicious. Plenty.

The 'chocolate' is cocoa powder, so there's nothing to melt. You could crumble it up and glue it back together with actual chocolate 🤷‍♀️

Maybe warm up the mixture in the oven (put on a pan lined with foil) to loosen/melt the chocolate? The next time you make this I'd add everything all at once (except the oats) and when it is melted and somewhat homogenized then add the oats. You want the sugar to melt (so it isn't gritty) but I think cooking for a minute then adding the PB and then the oats cools the mixture quickly and makes it set up.

Thanks's to Amazon's quick delivery service, I have the book!

Hot-and-sour shrimp salad (Plah goong): Sauce was roasted chile paste, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and six (!) bird chiles. Poach shrimp until nearly done and mix with the sauce, sliced lemongrass, shallots, cilantro, and mint. Simple and wonderfully aromatic. Served with jasmine rice. Mrs. C returns tomorrow so this was the last of the "meals my wife would not enjoy" series. Benefit of hindsight: four bird chiles would have been plenty

I just boiled the eggs for 6 1/2 minutes, then peeled and submerged them in a container filled with diluted soy sauce and a big splash of mirin and let them sit until dinner time.

Well , as I said for me : Cake and Ice Cream : then for me TJ;s has some very nice basic IC : Vanilla , Coffee , Chocolate Ive made my own , these I enjoy now , as quite good very very very good . Ill be having more.