liamsaunt

Our local fishmonger comes to a nearby farm stand on Tuesdays and Fridays, so we have been getting fish for Tuesday and Wednesday dinners. Tuesday we had broiled sole with lemon and capers over Israeli couscous seasoned with pesto and cherry tomatoes and spinach. The couscous I had on hand had been colored with turmeric, which is why it looks so yellow. It was tasty, but the spinach cooled off almost immediately. It's getting cold enough outside that I am going to have to start heating the plates before dinner... Wednesday was the usual miso salmon. This week we had it in a soup bowl with a mix of traditional noodles and summer squash zoodles, plus miso roasted napa cabbage and a mix of oyster and shiitake mushrooms.

Saturday, sweet potato vindaloo from Meera Sodha's Fresh India cookbook. The sauce was delicious, but the potatoes never softened enough, even after tripling the cooking time. We ended up scraping the sauce from the potatoes and just eating the sauce with the rice. The sauce was good enough that I will make the recipe again, but not with sweet potatoes. Maybe cauliflower would work better. I don't know if there was something wrong with my potatoes or if it was the recipe. Sunday, spaghetti with spicy turkey meatballs.

Thursday, rigatoni with spinach and pine nuts Friday, chicken, pepper, and broccoli stir fry

Tuesday, we had a repeat from last week because we liked it so much: braised cod with tomatoes, olives, capers and basil Wednesday, miso broiled salmon with glazed harukei turnips and bok choy, served with ginger rice

Sweet potato and carrot soup with toasted pistachios and chives

Spinach and mushroom risotto

Some lemon garlic chicken with garlicky dill yogurt sauce, a salad, and some flatbread

Thursday, lemon and garlic marinated chicken with sweet potato and a really good NY Times recipe for mustard glazed roasted broccoli Friday, pasta with eggplant, spinach, tomato and basil

My first food related job was at age 15, waiting tables and the counter at a "family restaurant" that specialized in burgers had homemade ice cream. We had to wear old fashioned blue waitress dresses like the ones the girls wore on Twin Peaks (but without the hats). We also had to wear white aprons that tied in the back with big fluffy bows. The gross old guys that hung out at the coffee counter during the day would always lean over and untie my apron strings and make comments. I was 15 for Pete's sake. I quit as soon as I turned 16 and was old enough to work at the movie theater in town. Next food jobs were all in college. Freshman year I worked in the largest dining hall on campus, running the same industrial dishwasher that @rotuts has described. It was hot and messy, but I did not mind it. That summer, I stayed at college and waited tables at a diner in town. It was fine. I don't remember much about it to be honest. Sophomore year, I worked in a dining hall again, but this time in the vegetarian dining hall, doing all the prep work for the salad station. I liked that job. The work area was chilly and I was by myself. Junior year, I moved into a dorm on campus that had its own dining hall for residents of the dorm only. I was the vegetarian lunch cook. I was not allowed to pick the recipes, just execute the dishes that had been decided upon by the chef. I worked alone on the food though. I remember that a lot of the recipes were from the Moosewood Cookbook, but scaled up. That was a crazy dorm and a wacky time. The dorm (and the dining room) always smelled like pot. People used to chant my name while coming through the lunch line to get food. 🤣 The chef in charge was always hung over and screamed a lot. Luckily for me, he would come in and start the meat entree after my vegetarian food was in the oven and I had cleaned up, so we did not interact much. After that experience I moved on to office work for the rest of my working career.

I've been taking pictures but keep forgetting to post them the next morning. Here are some from this past week. Ricotta, spinach and arugula malfatti with roasted beet sauce, toasted pine nuts, and roasted broccolini Asparagus, shiitake mushroom, bell pepper, and cashew stir fry Tonkatzu chicken with smashed cucumber salad and rice Braised cod with cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, and basil Miso salmon bowl with roasted bok choy and napa cabbage. There's some broth and noodles buried under the fish too

Some recent dinners. Broccoli pasta Chicken tacos Noodle bowl with napa cabbage, bok choy, spinach, cilantro, and jammy egg Tomato braised cauliflower with raisins, feta, and mint

Pizza night. Carbonara Mushroom

Stir fried chicken, broccoli and peppers in a sweet and spicy sauce with rice

Broiled gnocchi with spinach and corn in a pesto cream sauce with basil on top

Gingery chicken and rice soup with cilantro and chile crisp