liamsaunt

Roasted salmon with melting cherry tomato sauce over spinach

We get the salmon from our fishmonger. He brings a truck to the farm stand near my house on Tuesdays and Fridays. They go to the fish pier in Boston every morning and just bring what looks the best to various markets around. They email a list of what they are anticipating being able to bring two days before the truck comes. You can request items that are not on that list as well, and he will bring them if he can find them. That was my mistake with the cod. He did not have it on the list, and did not buy any to sell from the truck, but picked up the pieces I asked for. Next time I will just ask for “best available.” Last night we had rice and bean bowls with guacamole, salsa, peppers and onions, cabbage slaw, low fat cheddar cheese, etc. That white line behind the bowl is the veining in the black soapstone counters I have in the smaller kitchen off my dining room. My nephew is home from grad school for the winter break and is staying in the room where I usually pop the dinner plates for photos, so the lighting will be wonky on my plates for the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday night is usually miso salmon. Last night we had it in a ramen bowl with peppers, scallions, and cilantro

Cod in a spicy tomato olive sauce with spaghetti. The cod was from our fishmonger but did not taste as sweet and fresh as usual, which was disappointing.

I’m keeping it small and simple this year with a slow roasted rosemary crusted beef tenderloin for the beef eaters. I am also making an herbed risotto with a roasted wild mushroom topping for the mushroom eaters (me!) and a few roasted vegetables- probably broccolini, carrots, and maybe winter squash. I don’t feel like baking bread, so I am not going to. We don’t do appetizers or dessert either. My niece bakes cookies every year so there will be some of those around if anyone decides they want something sweet.

Sunday we had extremely garlicky spaghetti with spinach and toasted bread crumbs. No vampires approached the house that night! Last night, broiled chicken paillard with a honey mustard glaze, rosemary roasted potatoes, and broccolini

Some dinners from this week: Miso salmon with roasted broccoli and rice I had a bunch of slices of garlic bread in the freezer leftover from various other dinners and wanted to get rid of it, so I made pappa e pomodoro. I blended it up with a stick blender which is not traditional. Sweet and sour eggplant with garlic chips, from NYTimes cooking. Served with rice.

Swordfish braised in a spicy tomato sauce with capers, olives, currants, and Israeli couscous. Garlicky bruschetta for dipping

Sunday we had a NY Times cooking recipe for roasted carrots with whipped tahini. I roasted some yogurt and lemon marinated chicken thighs with the carrots, and added garlicky spinach. I also made some cilantro-garlic flatbread. Yesterday I made another NYTimes cooking recipe: winter vegetable curry with apple raita. The original recipe had potatoes and chickpeas but I eliminated both since I thought it would be too filling with the rice. The apple raita was a little strange on its own but tasted good mixed into the curry. I added pomegranate arils just because I had them in the fridge.

Same! Your meals all look great. Here are some recents from my kitchen Penne with slow cooked broccoli and lemon chicken Carrot, white bean and turnip soup with garlic croutons Miso salmon ramen bowl with spinach Sheet pan roast of potatoes, Brussels sprouts and chicken sausages with honey mustard Soy glazed hake with broccoli and rice

Not too many photos from Monday, as we did exactly what I said we were going to do: sit on the deck and take in the view and read books. Here’s a picture of the sunset from our deck. And the afterglow, looking towards the hotel Dinner was at Solaris again. Unfortunately, we did not like it as much this time. Amuse bouche of smoky gazpacho. This was really tasty. Husband ordered the rockfish. It looked pretty, but was a little bland. I had the catch of the day, which was grouper. This was better than the rockfish, but still a little bland. The pickled parsnip salad on top was the best part. We shared a dessert of pavlova with pistachio cream and strawberry-basil ice cream. This was our favorite part of the meal. And that ends our quick visit to Bermuda. We will be back.

I do know they are actively hunting them and the meat is featured on many menus. I like the taste of it, very mild and sweet. I am surprised there does not seem to be more of an effort to catch and serve them in other places we visit. I have only been able to order it once on St. John, though I see lionfish frequently while snorkeling there. I am aware that dealing with the spines can be problematic. On St. John, you need a special certification to hunt them. I am not sure what the rules are here in Bermuda.

I’m on a very quick jaunt to Bermuda to celebrate husband’s birthday. Flying time is under two hours, and it’s warmer here than at home. We arrived yesterday, and only plans we made for this fast visit were to sit on the deck and take in the view, go down for occasional beach walks, and eat fish for dinner. We have been successful in following the itinerary so far. The view from our condo at the Reefs Looking towards the hotel from our deck and a sliver moon view from our arrival evening. The sun sets just after 5 at this time of year. There’s a new restaurant at the Reefs. Here’s the menu We ordered a special of lionfish crudo to share. I would have preferred the fish to be sliced a little thinner, but the flavors were good. Husband had the grilled lobster. He said it was delicious i had a special of coney fish, which came with carrot puree and the same asparagus sauce that was on the lobster. I really loved this Mini cannoli dessert We enjoyed our dinner so much that we cancelled another reservation elsewhere to come back tomorrow night. Today’s beach—Church Bay. The water was too cold for me to swim though other brave souls were in the water A light lunch at Coconuts Wahoo tacos. We just split this pate since we were going to dinner later. Tonight’s pre dinner deck view We went to Aurora for dinner. They have a new sushi menu, but we were not in the mood. Tuna tartare to share Husband had lobster and shrimp spaghetti. I think he orders this every time we eat here. I had a special of herb crusted turbot with potato purée, minced vegetables, and fish jus. We split a slice of coconut chocolate cake with coconut sorbet to continue the birthday theme

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