Jensen

By coincidence, there is an article in today's SF Chronicle discussing the use of parsley as a main ingredient. Included are recipes for parsley ravioli, fried parsley, and Burmese-style parsley salad.

Speaking only for myself, I'm talking about a home dinner with starch, protein, and vegetable(s) all on the same plate. I thought that was what snowangel meant but I could be wrong. I have decided that I'm going to try plating tonight's dinner "restaurant-style", just for the experience. Of course, then I'll have to transfer it to a different plate to serve it...

I don't like the texture of visible fat in meat so, unless it has a crispy side to it, I will trim it off. However, refusing the entire meal because of it seems a bit over the top to me. Maybe some facts would help with the situation. Do you still have the nutritional information from the taquitos? This site (Nutrition Data) has a great database for foods. According to it, 3 oz. of short ribs with lean meat and fat has 36g of fat. 3 oz. of lean only has 15g of fat. I'll bet you a dollar that the taquitos had more than 15g of fat...

If you're going to go with the brighter flavours, like lime and cilantro, then I'd leave out the sesame oil. In fact, thinking of using lime and cilantro in an Asian-style sauce makes me think Vietnamese instead of Chinese or Japanese. That in turn makes me think along the lines of hot peppers instead of wasabi. What about macerating some chopped peppers (jalapeno or serrano) in a lime, cilantro, rice vinegar, and fish sauce concoction? You could take the peppers out before using it or leave them in, if you like. Hmmmm. I've got some halibut in the freezer. I bet it would be tasty with that as well.

I was thinking more of Asian-style flavours...wasabi/soy/sesame oil?

A wasabi-flavoured dressing might be nice.

Ditto from me. Corningware makes an everyday tableware set called "Just White"; the plates are square. The only thing I don't like about it is the shape of the bowl; they're more like rice bowls than soup bowls. That's fine for some things but so that I'd have a shallow bowl as well, I picked up some Motto bowls from IKEA. And another note for Swiss Chef, if you put a small napkin underneath the top plate, it will protect your good china.

Regular old pie pastry.

In keeping with the Vietnamese theme...I made pates chauds for the Spawn's French class last week. They were a big hit and they were very easy to make. I used the recipe found here: click After looking at that link again, Vietnamese sandwiches would be nice too but they might be better as a summer meal since they're served cold.

I'll add my voice to the chorus. Thank you so much for sharing your life with us once again.

Swiss Chef, maybe you could put a smaller, entirely white plate on top of the good china. (So, using the good stuff more as a charger than as a plate.) I'm completely intimidated by all the wonderful photos.

Summer borscht made with beet greens, pea shoots, onion, celery, tomato, and new potatoes.

I think it's Swiss chard. Not 100% sure though...

My spicy Thai asparagus soup: It was very good.

Lucy, I am thrilled that you are blogging again. Your last blog was so inspiring to me, in a number of different ways. I know that you will inspire me again. PS I can see the difference in weather in the lighting of your photos. You truly capture your home environs beautifully.

Oh, the hell with all the food .... there's HOCKEY! Remember when it was the New Westminster Bruins (which became the Tri-City Americans) and the Portland Winter Hawks and the Victoria Cougars (not the PG Cougars!)... oh, those were the days. Oh, and the Kelowna Blazers. They were a hot team too back then. I went to Cougars' games when I was very pregnant. I can't say it affected the Spawn but I did name my latest dog after Rogie Vachon... Okay, to bring this back to food, the best carmelised onions in the world were sold at the Cougars' games in Memorial Arena...

Congratulations, Chris, Andrea, and Bebe Esme! (And well done, Andrea...it's a lot of bloody work, isn't it?) I'm glad everything went so well. I had an induction when the Spawn was born and it went similarly to yours (although she arrived at 11:52pm, not 11:57 ); sometimes I think the body is all ready to go and just needs a little help getting started. The morning after, the Spouse showed up with three pieces of torte from a French patisserie...one for me, one for him, and one for my roommate. We didn't know her but didn't want to be eating yummy French pastries in front of her without sharing.

Chicken wings, saffron rice, and coleslaw...

Yeah, veritably pouring. About 4 1/2 drops of rain, now long since gone. And the sun's trying to make an appearance again. ← Could you at least LIE to me then? (pretty please?) We lived on Burnaby Mountain when we first moved to Vancouver from the Island so the photos of the Heights were especially tough for me. Sigh.

Could you please post a picture of the driving rain on one of those 400-inch days because all these photos are making me homesick. Thanks in advance... [ : emoticon with a single tear dripping out of the right eye : ]

And the finished product...

What a coincidence. That's what I made yesterday. Mine is now all assembled and, after I get back from the gym, it will be consumed. I had about a 1/2 cup of the Les Halles mushroom soup leftover, which I stirred into the soup. What a fab idea that turned out to be! It's not as rich as the mushroom soup was but it really added some depth of flavour. Well, I'll be doing an asparagus soup next week.

I have some in the works...beef barley. It was going to be for dinner last night but then we decided to go out for sushi. So, it's going to be for lunch today. There was also an interesting looking soup recipe in this month's Bon Appetit that I will be trying out soon. It's for "Spicy Thai Asparagus Soup with Lobster" although I'll probably either omit the lobster or replace it with crab (or even tofu, for that matter).

Did you hold it up in the air and shout: "avenoooooooooooooooooottooooooooooooo!" (For the perplexed: see Roots.) Why, yes, I did! How did you know? I think toasting the oats might be a good thing for this dish too. What exactly does "toothy" texture mean? I tend to cook my porridge so that it's firm and chewy, not mushy. That's how I prepared this.

Behold the birth of avenotto... For a single serving: 1/4 cup steel cut oats cooked in 1 cup of chicken broth. Finished with a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and seasoned only with cracked pepper. I'd make it again...