Susan in FL

Last night I ate out, at a holiday open house. Tonight's dinner was skillet-cooked, over pasta... chicken thighs first cooked in lots of garlic and then gradually the ingredients added for a "Three Tomato Sauce" with onions, mushroom, anchovies, Kalamata olives, etc. Monday night, another skillet dinner: Boneless pork chops sauteed in a little garlic, sage, and olive oil; then as soon as they were done, took them out, deglazed with some wine, and added spinach to cook in the juices... and, potatoes rubbed with olive oil and coarse salt, and baked. Eating inside has had an up-side... our view (or my view, anyway) is the neighbor's Christmas lights, opposite our house on the cul-de-sac.

Mmmm... I like the sounds of that.

Thank you, GG! You are the Link Queen. I ordered it.

I recently saw a recipe for nutmeg ice cream -- it might have been in a current issue of one of my magazines. I thought it sounded like a good winter ice cream. Anyone ever tried such a thing?

Welcome, new people! Amazing that you just had that. It looks luscious. I have been craving homemade onion soup for so long, and keep making other stuff first. I even have the onions and the Gruyere. ...Soon. That looks good! So does that! I am hungry. I am going to go cook chicken in a three-tomato (canned, fresh, and sun-dried) and who-knows-what-else sauce to have with pasta.

I had that bumper sticker on a car I traded in, and have been looking for another one ever since.

Lynnette, I add my welcome, to eG and to the Breakfast Thread! I wanna be Ling.

Thank you! It sounds good, and easy enough for even me to do.

Rachel, you reminded me of us. When we lived up north we grilled all year too, even when it was snowing. Your description of the ribs had me drooling!

Xanthohumol sure sounds like good stuff to me, seriously. With my health history, I'm a perfect candidate for it. I'm glad I love the taste of hops as much as I do. Has anyone heard more on any of "health beers" that are being developed? Now if only I could be part of a research project wherein they pay for supplies of all the hop monster IPAs I like.

Thanks, Yetty! Yes... Each part tasted so good and the textures were different, one from another. The fish eggs were surprisingly nice. We were going to get salmon caviar, but the Flying Fish roe was a good buy at the seafood shop. We were really glad we got it.

Both yesterday and this morning, it was warm enough to eat breakfast/brunch on the porch. In fact, it was warmer outside than inside. Russ and I have had so much fun listening to the weather man on TV. We had two "cold" nights this past week when he gave a warning for light frost in counties northwest of us. So when he predicted the weekend weather, he forecasted that it was going to be warmer -- the end of "the brutally cold" weather for a while. This is my kind of brutally cold weather. Yesterday we had some serrano ham, Tater Tots, and fried eggs. This morning we had the left over potato pancakes, smoked salmon, and Flying Fish Eggs (Daniel ) from last night with soft-boiled eggs.

I think I'll add some sliced scallions next time. That sounds good. Ours last night didn't turn out as pretty as Wendy's and Yetty's, but they were delicious. This thread helped them turn out the best they ever have for me. Russ usually makes ours, but last night I (mostly) did. We grated two large red potatoes. Then we let them sit in water so we would have the potato starch to add instead of flour. I think that made a difference. They were not gummy at all, like a couple of other times before. Here's the starch we had after draining off the water. We added it to the drained grated potato, and also added an egg, S&P, some finely chopped shallot, and just a little sprinkling of matzo meal. I don't like grated shallot or onion in them... For some reason, the onion juice when done that way gives it a taste I don't like. I fried them in goose fat, in the cast iron skillet. As mentioned above, on them we had smoked salmon, sour cream, and Flying Fish Eggs. It was one of the courses in our seafood feast last night.

We took care of them at brunch this morning, with the two left over potato latkes, and left over smoked salmon, and eggs! And on to tonight... Pasta, and a real good veal sauce that Russ made, and Goats Do Roam.

Wendy, it really is beautiful. You must be having so much fun in a brand new kitchen. Congratulations! Have you posted photos of the kitchen and dining areas of your new home anywhere for us to see? (If not, wouldja, please?) The meals you've fixed so far look wonderful, too. When we planned our dinner for last night, we called it "A Seafood Feast of Small Plates." The portions turned out a little bigger than we intended, but we ate the whole thing... We had a great time cooking and photographing and eating, starting at 5:30 PM and ending at 11:00 PM. I'll start with a couple of photos of what Russ brought home from his shopping at the seafood market. Here, I'm getting ready to pre-crack the stone crab claws. Then we had the five courses, in the style of cook-eat, cook-eat, cook-eat, etc. Noteworthy for us was that this was only our second dinner at the table, eating inside. The only other time was Thanksgiving. So in order to lessen the grief from the decline in eating on the porch, we made it special. Icy Cold Stone Crab Claws with Dijon & Dill Dipping Sauce Steamed Clams and Snow Crab Claws with Butter Potato Latkes with Smoked Salmon, Sour Cream, and Flying Fish Eggs Seared Scallops with Black Truffle Vinaigrette Shrimp Cakes with Chili-Lime Cream Sauce

I like it. The obvious is that some are better than others at being intuitive eaters. I am pretty much an intuitive eater; however, sometimes I am better at remaining that way than at other times. There are the nights like last night... We had planned a five course meal and I would eat every course no matter how full I got. Usually though, except for the planned indulgences, if I trust my hunger and cravings my weight would remain where I want it. If for some reason I go for a couple of days without green vegetables, I crave them and just have to have them, as much as when I just have to have chocolate sometimes. I'm like this with just about all food categories. I think I eat such a balanced diet because my body lets me know when it's out of balance. My "problem" is that we eat and drink indulgently every weekend, and I'm not as faithful to my workouts as I am faithful to weekend overeating.

Looks great, everyone! This weekend was our time to make them, too. We did last night and put smoked salmon, sour cream (we were going to use creme fraiche this time but didn't find any), and caviar on top. They were real good, and we have leftovers for brunch, but I am nowhere near ready with the photos. L8r!!

Oh Yetty....... Indescribably delicious looking. Wow.

That qualifies as a YUM. Welcome Adrienne, a Floridian, to the Dinner! thread!

Thanks, but I'll pass on Chris. If the House of Blues there is anything like our House of Blues in Orlando, this vintage is too well aged to enjoy that performance. Khyber Pass sounds good, though. Thank you!

I love it! That is my kind of Thanksgiving feast -- wish I'd thought of something like that. Well, now I have my idea for next year.

WOW! Awesome good info, kalypso. We have added another (two more actually) definites to our plans. I just found the website for Yard House. I am so excited about that, and this entire trip. I don't think I've ever seen so many good beers on tap anywhere, and it's walking distance from our hotel. We will be there. You made my day. Also, I just made the dinner reservation for New Year's Eve. Last night during the process of my "research," I emailed Trattoria La Strada and first thing this morning had a very nice response from them in my mailbox, and I made a reservation.

That lamb does look wonderful. Megan, that is very similar to how I make it. About saving pasta cooking water, I have developed a habit of that, no matter what I'm cooking pasta for or whether I even use it. It's always available if sauce needs to be more liquidy. Last night we ate Pizza and drank Yuengling from tap when we were out for Happy Hour.

Our "vintage", I like that. I looked at the Westgate sites and it does look good, as do the menus. We are staying at the Marriott in the Gaslamp district -- the one, as mentioned by kalypso, that is by Petco Park and has a bar on the 22nd floor. We surely will be in that bar more than once during our stay at the hotel. I don't suppose anyone as been in the restaurant that is in the hotel, Soleil on K.....??? Speaking of our "vintage," I did some web searching last night, and read San Diego eGullet threads from the past year or so, and decided that though the food looks real good in several places (such as Chive), I think a lot of them might be too crowded or fast paced or loud for us. Crowded, fast paced, and loud will be OK for closer to midnight, but for dinner that night, we're hoping for something more relaxed and romantic. Rama, G5/George's on Fifth, and Trattoria La Strada are among the places that appealed to me as possibilites. We will be in San Diego for four nights -- two in an apartment in the complex where my son's girlfriend lives and two at this Marriott, so I am getting ideas of restaurants and bars for us to hit while we're there. Much of our time will be spent with my son and his girlfriend and some with her parents who live in La Jolla, but there will be time for the two of us to try out a few places on our own. That is probably the most definite plan so far. ...That, and Stone Brewing Co. at some point during our trip. I think that is something we will find time to do during our stay, too. You have mentioned a few of the things I made note of last night. I do want to go aboard the Midway at some time, what with my son being in the Navy and all. Is the food at Sevilla good? His girlfriend who is stationed in San Diego and was born and raised there said what you did about there being all kinds of functions going on, and something about perhaps some streets being closed off, so it will be good for us staying in the area. All this pretty much leaves us with the decision of where to eat dinner on New Year's Eve. But still, I welcome -- and hope for -- more ideas and suggestions for dinners or lunches and for what-not-to-miss while we're in town. The ideas I got here on the California Forum were so helpful in the planning of my roadtrip in June, consulting with you all here has become essential for me in travel planning. Thanks!

I am bumping this up in hopes of any additional information that might now be available. We are leaning toward a restaurant dinner out, and general bar-hopping for the rest of the evening and the midnight celebration. Thanks!