HungryChris

Maine steamers. Typically, these have a bit of sand if not purged in salt water for several hours, which I did. These were flawless! HC

Stuffed shells, three bean salad (I was both surprised and pleased by how much Deb liked this) and toasted homemade garlic bread. HC

Stuffed, boneless chicken legs and a salad. HC

Baked, stuffed shrimp, roasted asparagus and lemon, garlic and chopped caper aioli. The shrimp is one of Deb's favorites and the asparagus and aioli, one of mine. HC

Duck eggs, potato pancake and homemade toasted bread. HC

These were apparently wild harvested. Some still had roots and some did not. The ones that did have roots, I left the tops on and the ones that did not, I snipped the tops off. Those tops that I took off, I will cook. I think that they were harvested wild because the guy I got them from asked me what I was going to do with them and seemed amazed when I told him I intended to plant them. "And they actually come back?" was his response. HC

Made a day trip into NYC yesterday (local library bus trip) and had kind of a hat trick of a day: 1. Lunch at Becco (one of our favorites), 2. finally got to see the musical, the Jersey Boys (absolutely loved it) and 3. got a big bunch of ramps at the Union Square Green Market to plant. My little trial patch has done well but, simply put, I need more. As soon as I got home last night, I took them out of their sealed plastic bags to let them breath and put them out on the deck wrapped in wet newspaper. Here is how they look this morning. HC

Cucumber, avocado and chopped green onion salad (leftover from last night) with a few marinated bamboo shoots and hazelnut stuffed olives. HC

Poached duck egg, leftover corned beef, fresh salsa and toasted homemade Brothers Bread, recipe courtesy of Brother Rick Curry, The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking, HaperPerennial, 1995. I find when making this bread that I usually have good results if the mixer struggles a bit with the dough, at first. This time, however, while the bread turned out well, I suffered a bit of collateral damage. Oh, well, nothing Amazon Prime can't fix. HC

Cold pizza, marinated gigante beans from Whole Foods and pickled zucchini ribbons. HC

I have been watching for fiddleheads and finally saw some in Whole Foods in Glastonbury, CT yesterday, but at $14.99 a pound I knew they wouldn't taste good to me. HC

White bean hummus on toasted rye. HC

"Soupy" (soppressata) and pepper pizza. HC

Crispy fried soft shell crab, cold roasted asparagus and lemon, garlic aioli. HC

Last night was steamed snow crab night, and a good night it was. HC

Marble rye toast, white bean hummus, leftover roasted asparagus and fresh salsa. HC

Toasted pita chip with white bean hummus. HC

The weather has been cold and rainy for a week or more. Nothing is growing much, just waiting for warm, sunny days to arrive. The peas are up and waiting. The lettuce (on the left), radishes (in the middle) and the nonexistent beans in the trench on the right are all waiting. I have begun to come to the sad conclusion (it's been 2 weeks since they were planted), that the beans will need to be replanted for the third time. Oh, and the peonies are far from in bloom. HC

Broke out another corned beef from the freezer from the St Patty's day sale and had a corned beef dinner from the IP. I added the usual spice package included with the beef, along with a few bay leaves, mustard seeds and a quarter cup of Crystal hot sauce. This was a big one, so manual for 2 hours and quick released. Added the cabbage, carrots and potatoes for 10 minutes and quick released. This was a winner (even though I was a loser on my Kentucky Derby picks). The sandwiches with baby swiss on marble rye are on my radar! HC

Leftover steak with horseradish and mayo sandwich on thinly sliced marble rye. I have to examine the morning line and then we are off to pre-bet the Kentucky Derby. HC

Steak dinner tonight at the HC domicile. Deb like hers medium. I like mine rare. We both like our baked potatoes crispy. I have gotten pretty good at making it all happen, this time with roasted asparagus. HC

Warning Will Robinson. Kimchi level has fallen dangerously low! Time to stop being lost in space and find your way to Cranston, R.I. to replenish your supply! HC

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a popular Christmas song written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle, but it has long been my suspicion that they were secretly thinking about soft shell crab season. BTW, I spotted and bought clamato juice recently and while this is a virgin Caesar, it did prove to me that the cocktail has merit and needs to be pursued. Thanks, Anna N! HC

Eggs over easy, reheated broccolini, Italian toast and fresh salsa (my feeble attempt to salvage some cinco de mayo cred, after jumping the gun by a day). HC

oops! Because of a typo in a grocery flyer, we celebrated cinco de mayo on cuatro de mayo, oh well. The tacos were good anyway. Deb does not like a lot of lettuce on her tacos, so shredded lettuce is an add on. That is just how we roll. HC