suzilightning

a day off yesterday so i could cook. pork chop stuffed with some pumpernickel bread, shallots and sage. the moistruizing agent was a splash of stout. served with brussel sprouts and oven roasted sweet and eastern potatoes.

growing up in a summer resort area you chambermaided (Ram's Head Inn, Dering Harbor Inn, Chequit Inn) or worked in a kitchen/restaurant. i have washed dishes, prepped and did bakery at The Cook, washed dishes, prepped, garde manger at The Chequit Inn, took a place from dark to open 6 nights a week working prep, line and late night bar food if needed(Earl of Stirling Pub) and worked for a dear friend when she went out doing private catering doing everything from cocktail parties to intimate sit down dinners to large receptions. came in quite useful since she and i catered my wedding. now i do one or two pieces of work per month any time BUT september - november.

a second for that!!

thank you for those kind words. just some extra virgin olive oil and capers... this is one of those 15 minutes after he gets home and is hungry dishes. i keep the shrimp frozen in individual baggies so i pull one, pop the shrimp in the pasta water just till they are defrosted then it is done.

after my back-crackers appointment, johnnybird asked me to check out a supermarket near the office for some specific soy milk. found that but also found these three cheeses. i see a cheese platter tomorrow...

john's dinner from a few nights ago(he was late getting home and i was HUNGRY so ate earlier). pasta with shrimp, artichokes, tomatoes and red onion.

unfortunately no pictures of the food as they would not let me take them but after running some errands i ended up in this place; it si in a strip mall in ledgewood new jersey. here's the menu i had a meat pattie fresh and hot out of the oven, the goat curry and a ginger beer. total was 18.18 and it was wonderful. just enough spice to make you warm but not so much that you blew your mouth out.

sausage... i want sausage!! seems today i flipped everything. breakfast was leftover lasagna and lunch was leftover eggs, corned beef hash and hash browned potatoes. dinner was a slice of bread with ham and cheese since john wasn't off the phone and i was hungry.

you are right. it is a bit more intense. think of it as your greatest teaching job in the world .... then relax and have fun with it. i'm looking forward to how you came to japan and how you deal with any cravings for western food while there( i did read your blog about the jamaican food. great writing and with a sense of humor). blog on...... and i can relate to your eating in stages.

oh, yes. we have so many trees on our property and on surrounding neighbors that i can't have a garden. the three places we do get a decent amount of sun are the back patio, the kitchen porch and now, after removing two trees last year, the whiskey barrel planter in the corner of the front yard. last year i had a rosemary plant that has become a bush - and i brought in to overwinter -, basil that gave all season and flat leaf parsley in the front. tomatoes in containers coplanted with marigolds on the porch. if you go the container route make sure your containers for the tomatoes are deep enough. you need a good 8-12" for the roots. this year john has expressed interest in the contraptions that let you grow tomatoes upside down so he may get two of those for a wedding anniversary present - along with the plants. we are redesigning the back patio this year and i am going to buy some of the moveable raised beds so i can move my herbs around for the best sun. good luck and take pictures.

kim- marlene's crispy smashed potatoes made an appearance here, too! it was sunny - off and on between the snow showers- but cold so some more comfort food following friday's lasagna. the aforementioned crispy mashed potatoes(made with purple potatoes), honey glazed carrots(a johnnybird favorite), fried zucchini and braised tarragon chicken. this one is another keeper. i love the mix of tarragon, dijon mustard, shallots and white wine braised in the oven. after looking at the photo i think this might just belong in the bad dinner section. what was i thinking with those purple potatoes?

wow... great cold weather food all. john was home a little late so i went ahead and ate without him. when he did make it home he had this: salmon burger with green goddess sauce, fried zucchini and a salad of artichokes, grape tomatoes and olive with a lime vinaigrette. we're off to my mother-in-laws for the weekend so i made some things to take up to her dat enut bread using the last of the fresh dates.

how wonderful this week has been but can you tell me what kind of bird that is? it looks similar to our crows. many thanks

Ce'nedra - i agree. none of that cheese porn around here unless you share. Kim - how was that Rosa Regale? i've seen it but never tried it. try blue cheese with those dates though we paired them with with Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheese last night. leftover chicken became a chicken tetrazzini ready for the oven there is no pretty way to photograph the final product. while waiting for the tetrazzini to finish cooking a snack of Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheese with johnnybird's beloved Ritz crackers and fresh figs blueberry streusel coffeecake for dessert

no, no.... please send them my way. what beautiful food you have access to. i could dive into that cheese selection. as it is i'm salivating on the keyboard here at work. thank you for this tour

day off so some time to shop and cook. when john got home we had fluke in a white wine sauce with mushrooms, olive rice and sauteed bok choy with shallot. he loved it - i thought it was ok. course i prefer vension or bison anyday...

yesterday's list: didn't exactly follow that order and added a few things to the cart when i saw them - like fresh medjool dates.

not the prettiest picture but this is one of the best dishes i have eaten in a long time. the leftovers from the italian pot roast converted into shepherd's pie with the addition of some shallots, mashed potato and gruyere cheese. john had some last night and agreed - i should make the main dish solely so there will be leftovers to make this one.

we have the same problem here in nw nj when the farmers markets close. i have met through them and just being a big mouth people including 4hers who raise their own chickens, pigs and beef so i have access to birds, eggs, pork and cow off season. we are also lucky that there are several organic growers in the area and where the husband came from who do their own butchering. will also try to scare up some articles i remember about people who raised and slaughtered their animals "humanely" in the ny/vt area if that will be of use.

tried a recipe from a recent Cooking Light - basically an Italian pot roast. the meat browned the veg, herbs and stock add in a bottle of cabernet sauvignon that had been reduced to one cup then into the oven for 2 hours. turnips and carrots sauteed then cooked with some of the strained liquid from the pot. finished with some honey and fresh herbs and served for a late lunch. those are the end pieces that i claim for me. we then used a good portion of this to try and coax a neighbor's Jack Russell, Rocco, who had gotten out off his leash to go home before the snow started. he at least seemed to enjoy it.

oh, maggie- i am so with you. a former coworker used to say she liked martinis. i said so what is your ratio? her answer was vodka with ice. and i informed her that was vodka with ice NOT A MARTINI!!!!!!! i am a 4: 1 girl myself. shaken briefly. make that grade b since it is tastier

unfortunately this seem to have gone to their heads. this is what i experienced a week or two ago: the last time i tipped 15% was at a local diner when there obviously weren't enough servers and the owners were so busy reveling in their recent "Food TV" apearence that they didn't see i had sat for 1/4 hour without touching anything on my plate waiting for the server to come by and a) give me my check and b) bring a takeout box for the leftover food. when i paid the bill the owner said "how was it" and i honestly said " the burger was a bit over cooked but edible" (i asked for it medium rare and it was medium well) and that i thought they might be a bit light on help for the volume of patrons since i had to wait so long for my server to get back to me to box the food up and deliver the check - not that she had time to ask if the food was cooked properly. all i got from the former owner was a blank look.

So??? I use my credit card for almost everything. I pay it off every month and I get to take a free trip every year because of it. Credit cards with rewards on them can be very... rewarding, as long as you don't carry a balance. ← it is good for you but for any place that uses credit cards they have to pay a fee for every transaction. that is why IF we use a credit card to pay the bill the tip is always in cash. even if it has to be split it doesn't lose value because of the transaction fee. course the other day i was having my e/o week lunch at a favorite place eating lunch at the bar when the bartender was also serving the 4 top in the dining room. the payer was the new owner of the restaurant about 1/8 mile away. bill was 67.00 - tip was 10.00 not quite but close to 15%. now i used to work the back of the house. i respect those people who work the front - something i could not do- and i will tip 20-30 % if my food comes quickly, is hot if supposed to be hot and i am not ignored. the last time i tipped 15% was at a local diner when there obviously weren't enough servers and the owners were so busy reveling in their recent "Food TV" apearence that they didn't see i had sat for 1/4 hour without touching anything on my plate waiting for the server to come by and a) give me my check and b) bring a takeout box for the leftover food. when i paid the bill the owner said "how was it" and i honestly said " the burger was a bit over cooked but edible" (i asked for it medium rare and it was medium well) and that i thought they might be a bit light on help for the volume of patrons since i had to wait so long for my server to get back to me to box the food up and deliver the check - not that she had time to ask if the food was cooked properly. all i got from the former owner was a blank look. guess i'm not going to the JEFFERSON DINER any time soon.

while thinking about the ceci i remembered the only way i could get johnnybird to eat lima beans. a spread of lima beans(frozen thawed or fresh cooked), olive oil, white pepper and rosemary in a food processor then a sprinkle of a coarse salt on the crostini that had been spread with the beans. he hates limas but will scarf this up.

it may be bad but you are in no way a bad girl. heaven hill this month and rob roys from the cocktail thread. and baked beans with hotdogs. and chips and dip. and fig bars(generic) and peanut butter m&ms. gotta go......