BeeZee

Mom, for whatever reason, never wanted to repeat recipes. She thought it was boring - even if we really wanted a repeat of something. The one constant we have is roasted chestnuts for snacks before dinner. Last year it was reasonably warm outside and Dad did them on the gas grill, which was pretty awesome.

lima beans...hated as a kid, still hate. Happy that succotash has been updated to use edamame instead.

I grabbed one out of a bag at Whole Foods last week because I was curious, they do taste like cotton candy. The grape I had was pretty soft, don't know if that is typical. They def appeal to kids, but I won't be purchasing them, not a flavor profile I am looking for. I'll eat candy when I want that.

I won't eat sushi on Monday, but other than that, it doesn't matter to me. I don't fear food being stored under refrigeration for 2 days. I know that the "best stuff" gets brought out for the weekend. It's pretty rare that I'm eating at a "fine dining" kind of place earlier in the week anyhow.

The unfortunately-colored quinoa (as prev mentioned in Dinner topic) repurposed with some grilled tofu, veg, and peanut dressing

Not croutons, they are called oyster crackers. Very dry, hard, plain cracker that is best eaten with a dollop of horseradish, or sent floating in a bowl of chowder!

Swordfish cooked indoors on grill pan, looked very pro with nice grill marks. Unfortunately my quinoa didn't fare as well, I added some green tea powder and chopped up blueberries (other things also, but these were the culprits)...wound up with an unappetizing gray color. Will need to add some chopped up colorful veggies and salvage the leftovers into a salad.

eaten in the car on the way to a meeting, take out from a local "healthy fast food" place...banana wrap. Whole wheat wrap with a banana, peanut butter, granola, and a little agave drizzled inside. It was a fun lunch and no crumbs!

Impending nasty weather, so cooking indoors this weekend. Made another batch of Bittman's corn chowder (to be eaten tomorrow) this time with 5 ears instead of 4 and it was markedly better. Bought a steamed lobster and picked the meat to use as garnish. Sending summer off in style. Mexican zucchini casserole for dinner, it was supposed to be stuffed zucchini but I decided to slice them into planks instead. Corn, brown rice, black beans, salsa...topped with shredded cheese and baked. Zukes exuded a LOT of water, that was the only negative.

I hate disorder and sloppiness in my kitchen...so I'll never ask DH to cook me anything. And after a fiasco one year of a cookies and cream cake that tasted mostly of Crisco (he liked the look of it) I've gotten VERY specific on my requests. I prefer a fruit-based dessert (tart, pie, cake). When I was a kid my parents used to buy a strawberry shortcake type cake for me. We go out for dinner...I have a couple of favorites not far from home...since my birthday is in the end of February, I don't like to assume I'll not have to deal with nasty road conditions.

I have eaten at this Vietnamese restaurant which isn't too far from the main casino area (ie, you won't step on crack vials) Com Ga Ninh Kieu 1124 Atlantic Ave, Atlantic City, NJ 08401 I have eaten at White House Subs, it's good because they have good bread, but it's a cold sandwich after all.

Jo, it's a bit of a hike for you, but in Edgewater, NJ is Mitsuwa Marketplace, which is chock full of Japanese goods. When I had business anywhere near that area, I'd schedule a side trip to spend an hour wandering the aisles. Wegmans supermarket has a few Japanese items in their "International" aisle.

Supermarket had big sale on lobsters 1-1.5 lb and I was determined to take advantage, but it's been hot and we wanted something light/refreshing...so cold salad with lobster was the answer. Found a simple recipe online from Mario Batali which had a lemon dressing and it hit the spot...lobster, tomatoes, celery, arugula. Had a glass of vinho verde, too.

breakfast at work (per usual during the week) so no photo...whole wheat bagel with Whole Foods Greek hummus and sliced NJ garden tomato from my coworker. He left a bag of them on the table in our office kitchen so I snagged a nice ripe Roma specimen (the small slices fit nicely lined up along the bagel's borders!). I love when he starts rolling in with the garden surplus.

it was the food blogs that first drew me in...a fascinating in depth view of how other people cooked/ate, and their culture from a personal point of view (not academic).

When I cut the corn off the cobs, I did scrape them to get the "milk" into the bowl, also. I also added a bit of tarragon to the soup, it does need something or it just tastes like milky corn. I think next time I'll garnish with some cooked lobster and make it a real summertime bowl.

I just made a batch of Mark Bittman's Basic Corn Chowder (which actually winds up having an equal volume of potato and corn) and it is very clean tasting, I had nice juicy sweet bi-color corn. I added diced red pepper to the veg mix (sauteed along with the onion and potato), it adds a nice pop of color. Fresh snipped chives at the end. Made with whole milk, it's not overly rich...but it did need a fair amount of salt since you make a corn cob broth rather than using stock. I suspect it may work well as a chilled soup as well...if I add more salt.

zucchini and yellow squash from co-worker's garden. He said they grew about 3" in a matter of hours after we got rain on Saturday. They will be good receptacles for stuffing!

as it is currently "mangopalooza" at TJ's, I tried 2 new things. Mango macarons (very good, box of 12 is $4.99 I believe, which is what I'd pay for 2 cookies at the bakery) and Mango Ginger Chimes (chewy candy). I like ginger candies, these have the mango flavor up front, then as you chew the familiar heat of the ginger takes over. I believe the pack was $1.99.

love the slab-o-butter...my husband used to work with a guy who said if you don't see teethmarks when you bit into your buttered bread, you didn't use enough butter.

so it's not quite like the "Ladies who Lunch"...but I always scope out food places on the Google map when I'm going to a customer meeting...to see what might be in the area of interest. Today's destination showed a scoop shop who makes their own on the premises. For lunch today, the sun came out and I had a scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. That is all.

I posted under "current deals" also...Instant Pot is on sale today on Amazon.com

Instant Pot on sale at Amazon today $67.89 (US)

well...charoset is supposed to resemble mortar...

I'm with you on that approach to the holiday, I put leftover charoset (chopped apple/walnut/dried apricot relish) on my morning oats