Susan in FL

I'm home now, and I am in pain. Hopefully it will be easing up soon. I am getting into my jammies and settling down to do drugs and alcohol this evening. Thanks for those food ideas. Cold soup, yes. I hadn't thought of that. Your advice about the vinegar and acidic stuff is well taken... I can tell already. I like your suggestion of the foie gras the best. I'll send my husband out for that right away. Now if only my insurance plan would cover that. I can't have anything fizzy... no bubbles at all. They specifically told me no beer for a week, until I get my stitches out. Klary, as always your dinners sound so good to me! And now, with these restrictions, it all sounds better than ever. I am going to accumulate quite a list of things I want to eat. One suggestion - use a little more cheese than you think you should - if you don't they can end up a little too delicate. ← Thank you both!

I've been thinking about that soup you mentioned. I love liverwurst sandwiches on rye or pumpernickel. Can you direct me to the recipe online, or tell me the approximates of how you made it?

Wendy, the parmesan crisps look so nice. You made it look as though they are easy, but are they? I've never made them. Adam that looks like total delicious comfort! After a few days of time-consuming cooking, last night we decided to end the weekend with an easy dinner. We enjoyed the Grilled Bread with Catalan Butter so much the other night, we made another batch of that spread, and had it as a starter; and then Russ made a pasta with a sauce of slow roasted tomatoes, sausages, and some other goodies we had on hand. If I can eat dinner tonight (I might be drinking dinner instead), I'll have mashed potatoes and ice cream. Today I'm having periodontal surgery and I'll have stitches. Anybody else been through this ordeal and have suggestions for the possibility of a couple days of soft meals? This is a terrible thing to happen to a foodie.

Yeah, how come? Guess we just do so much work... makes us have to drink so much beer.

What is your favorite beer for guzzling down after (or while ) you're working in the yard or whatever? I think of a lawnmower beer as refreshing, as well, and one that is light enough that I can drink lots. It's Corona for me. That is about as light as I can stand to drink. I wish I liked light or lite beers more than I do. I would save on some calories that way. One that I really like, however, is Dogfish Head Lawnmower Light. I wish that he would bottle it! It would be perfect for such a beer. It's available only at the brewpub, as far as I know. In the hottest of the heat of the summer here, we drink fewer heavy beers. Now that we can more easily find Dogfish Head beers in Florida, I wish even more that it was bottled.

I love reading all the posts on this thread. Boring... NO way! Thanks, All.

Wendy, everything looks yummy, and all great photos too!

Welcome to the eG Society, Barbara. I like where you chose to make your first post! I am trying to find out where I can buy a Kaffir lime tree within Florida. You would think that would be an easy task with all the citrus that is grown here, but so far I've had no luck. Supposedly I can't get one by mail order because with the big deal about disease that strikes citrus it is not legal.

Yum. I'll surely take that as a recommendation for a Sunday Brunch. Today we had a fried egg on top of a rice cake on top of Canadian bacon, garnished with scallions, with oatmeal stout to drink. The photo doesn't show very well what the dish consisted of. I'll show you the rice cakes when I was browning them (I won't, however, show them after I turned them over.

Out of all the magazines I read every month, I mostly cook from Bon Appetit and Food & Wine. I love to get recipes from food magazines. I don't usually follow any recipe exactly, so the trust factor is fine for me.

Perhaps a caption? "Ohhh.... to be a human." First course last night was clam and corn soup with vermicelli, a dish that I made up as I went along. Wine was Chardonnay. (Corn and Chardonnay is a good match!) Then we had pan-seared boneless duck breast (Russ used a brick on top of them to weigh them down in the cast-iron skillet, and it made for a very crispy crusty skin), with an orange thyme honey and balsamic sauce that again, I made up as I went along. We served the duck unsliced for a change, with portions of a Potato Tart with Roasted Garlic Cream. Can't take credit for that delicious piece of work -- it is a recipe from the Cooking Club of America. We drank Cabernet with it. Salad course was our standard (pickling) cucumbers and onions, with olive oil and white wine vinegar. Dessert was something I can't take credit for and don't even wish to, bakery-bought Napoleon. It was good, but nothing to write home (eGullet) about. It was helped along significantly by a glass of barleywine.

We have been enjoying the Anderson Vallely Hop Ottin', too. Thanks for the mention of Hop Hog. I'm putting that on the next Going North Beer Shopping List.

And an old favorite is Tiramisu and Millenium.

That is intriguing. We're looking forward to more info!

What an awesome photo.... Be careful, or that one will be framed and on my wall, too!! (I have one of Helena's photos in my kitchen.)

I really wish I could help you with this, but I can't. I've never tasted a NA beer. I do admire someone who loves beer and gives up alcohol. Congrats! Hopefully someone else will be able to comment on favorite NA beers.

Am I correct in assuming that you meant to add that you drink stout along with this dish? Or do you prefer another beer with it? ...Sounds interesting, and good! Oh yes!

What are some of the best food and beer matches you've tasted? Several stand out for me, and I'll probably have a lot of on-going discoveries to report, but I'll start with this one we enjoyed last night. A favorite match-up for us is Grilled Bread with Catalan Butter with IPA. This spread is so good, I made a link to the recipe, in case anybody wants to try it. My only modification to this recipe is to use less lemon juice. As written, it is just a little too sour for our tastes. Last night the IPA was the Dry Hopped -- OOOPS, I just realized this is not labeled as an IPA! -- River Horse Hop Hazard Pale Ale. Well, nevertheless, it was a great pairing! We also love IPA with various garlicky bruschettas.

Thursday night we had Beer-B-Q'ed chicken. We rotisserie-cooked a whole chicken on the grill, using a BBQ sauce of beer, molasses, onion, lemon juice, orange marmalade, ketchup, soy sauce, and Thai oyster sauce. It was tasty. I have a couple of recipes I created for beer and mussels, Hop Deviled Mussels and another one that is a cross between a soup and a pasta. On my list of things to do is to post some recipes on RecipeGullet, including those. We had intentions of making Beef And Guiness Stew during the cooler time of year, but it's summer, too late now.

Agreed! I always look forward to Percy's Catch-ups, and weekend posts. Last night we had Happy Hours at home, so that was combined with dinner. We started at the "bar" on our porch with chips, guacamole & salsa, and beer. Then we grilled skewered shrimp and Spanish Chorizo. The main course was salmorejo, the cold Spanish tomato soup and Grilled Bread with Catalan Butter. The Grilled Bread with Catalan Butter and IPA is one of my favorite food and beer pairings, and I really wanted that, but I also wanted to sip some Spanish red wine along with the soup. I also wanted to eat the bread with the soup. So how I took care of that was to have a glass of each. Cheers! Happy Weekend, Everybody.

Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine while I was cooking tonight, and Hop Hazard IPA with parts of dinner.

Rochelle, the suggestions you have gotten so far sound wonderful. From first-hand experience, I would have only one place in your travel area to recommend, and for this one you would have to go an hour or two out of your way. It is the J.W. Marriott Grande Lakes, in Orlando. My cousin and I stayed there for a few days last August, and this link will take you to the post I made about the food at Melissa Kelly's Primo, which is right there. That was wonderful, and we also enjoyed the lobby lounge where we had really good sushi. There is another restaurant in the hotel which is on a lower scale, Citron, and of course there is a restaurant by the pools. We had good enough lunches at each of those. This hotel had the best spa and the best fitness center I had ever been in. It also has a "Lazy Lagoon" where we floated around for hours on a raft or tube, drinking Mimosas or Bloody Marys or wine or whatever fancy drink with umbrellas that we wanted. On the same Grande Lakes property is the Ritz Carlton where Norman Van Aken's restaurant is, and of course you could choose to go somewhere off the Grande Lakes property to dine. I'm looking forward to hearing where you go!

I just discovered this blog and am glad to see you doing it. Also, I want to extend my congrats on your marriage. The first same-sex couple in your county or country to tie the knot? Whichever... cool! Best wishes to you, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the blog.

We had an eG food blog by FL Heat in January, and she included photos and comments about this market. Take a look at the blog if you wish... Seafood is included among the other goodies pictured. Maybe this will help your friend find some good fish. Here is the web site for the Land and Sea Market. I see there are two locations in Tampa.

....but as much as i love to hate Dogfish Head, this one is a winner: in terms of aroma and very long finish. ← I can't believe you said that! That is how I was for so long, sort of a love-hate relationship with Dogfish Head. To me in the earlier years it was highly inconsistent, even on tap at the brewpub. I couldn't trust that a separate batch of the same beer would taste nearly like the previous one. However, I haven't seen that problem of late and have now been won over on just about all his beers. I'm so glad you mentioned that. There is a chance of my husband going up north in June and could look for some. Do you think there would still be any available anywhere? ← It is still around on most of the store shelves I have seen. There might still be some around in June. Where is he going? If he is in the DC area the Northern VA suburbs are probably the best place to look. ← His plan is to drive to Delaware, and can fairly easily be in the DC area. He sometimes makes a stop right at Old Dominion when he goes to Delmarva. Thanks!