C. sapidus

Quick chicken korma. Stir-fried cabbage and bell peppers with fennel seeds. Microwave cilantro rice.

Sweet potato and salsa negra tacos, with white onion, garlic, jalapeno, crushed tomato, Mexican oregano, cumin, and feta cheese

Wow. Quite a few of my absolute favorite foods, right in one meal. Fantastic! Invite me next time?

Thank you! Sautéed onions, garlic, and the ground turkey, and then simmered with chicken stock, crushed tomato, ground cloves, cumin, Mexican oregano, and a big dollop of the salsa negra I made the other day:

Asparagus soup topped with ground, spiced almonds from Mrs. C Ground turkey in chipotle salsa and arroz Poblano from me. Still cleaning our the fridge and freezer after being gone for a month. Relative was in DC yesterday so we met at The Hamilton. Crab cake, coleslaw, tartar sauce, and a side salad for me. Pic won't upload. Oh well.

I think that is just bottled salsa that I drizzled on before serving. Maybe on the sauteed onions?

Breakfast tacos with salsa negra, green beans, and feta

Mrs. C bought a set of Caraway non-stick frying pans maybe 9 months ago. I think they were discount because of a couple of minor dings. They have held up well, although the canary-yellow outsides look like the pans get used (which they do). The main thing I notice is that the Caraway pans cook more like cast iron: they are slow to heat but have good heat retention. This took some getting used to compared with the responsive aluminum and copper pans I am used to. We have been happy with them, but price matters because non-stick pans are basically disposable. I hope that helps.

Welcome! Can't remember the last time I saw "squeeed" used in a sentence.

Made enough salsa negra for a few meals. Morita (dried chipotle) and pasilla chiles, fried in oil and soaked in a syrup of brown sugar and molasses. Garlic cloves, fried until golden brown. Whomped in the Preethi with crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, and then simmered for 20 minutes until dark and thick. One of my favorite sauces ever: hot, sweet, smoky and mysterious. Quite different than if made with canned chipotles in adobo. Shrimp and green bean tacos with salsa negra, cinnamon, cumin, Mexican oregano, and a little crema.

Leftover sauerkraut, frozen meatballs, and carrots with ketchup, hot sauce, lime juice, and bay leaves, finished with Mexican crema. This time I rinsed the sauerkraut, which was better.

We had leftover pork loin and sauerkraut. Simmer with mustard, horseradish, fennel, bay leaf, garlic, and hot sauce and then call it lunch. But now I'm hankering for a good Reuben . . .

For the Packer game Mrs. C made beer brats, served with sauerkraut and grainy mustard. Troegs doppelbock to go with.

Younger son's friends stopped by with a freshly-baked lemon pound cake. Really good as is, or sliced and toasted with butter.

Have fun with the music, and I hope the medical misadventures resolve quickly. Dunno if you will be anywhere near Las Cruces, NM but if so, I can strongly recommend the getting chile rellenos at El Jacalito Restaurant. One of the best things we ate in a month on the road.

Easy but good dinner: rockfish and smoked salmon salad on toasted bagel. Dressing was mayo, brown mustard, horseradish, and diced Tony Packo's Sweet Hots (pickles). We brought back the canned fish from our trip to Alaska last year. The rockfish was packed with sumac and dill, both were quite delicious as is.

Two thoughts: 1. Consider Ikea cabinets before you hand $$$ to a cabinet store. We installed ours 15+ years ago and they have held up great. 2. Regarding cabinet layout, first inventory everything you have (pots, pans, dishes, pantry, etc.) and - very important - how many linear feet of shelving each takes up. Next, consider what should be where (convenient prep area; trash near the sink; dishes near the dishwasher; pots, pans, and cooking utensils near the stove; etc.). With that info you can figure out where you need drawers, shelves, etc., which gets you 80% of the way there. Good luck!

Green beans and leftover pork loin, stir-fried with shallots, dou ban jian, Shaoxing rice wine, soy sauce, and an egg, and then finished with a drizzle of sesame oil.

Best wishes on a difficult decision @jedovaty The one thing NOT to do is wait until you are ready to sell and then do the renovation. That's what my parents did when I was a kid. After living with a falling-apart kitchen for a decade they paid to install a shiny new kitchen for someone else. Can you find a real estate agent you trust, who could advise you on what improvements are most likely to pay off? That might help narrow down your options and break the "paralysis by analysis" loop. Good luck!

Fried rice with chiles, cumin, fish sauce, feta, egg, leftover turmeric rice, and leftover green beans and mushrooms.

Mrs. C did her usual excellent job frying fish. This time it was flounder. I stir-fried green beans in ghee with an assortment of mushrooms. Onions, ginger, garlic, fermented black beans, and turkey stock to round out the flavors.

Just back from a month-long road trip to the west coast. I had planned to make palak paneer for our hosts but it didn't happen. So I made an empty fridge variation with shrimp and feta cheese, topped with fried ginger matchsticks. Turmeric rice to go with.

Soft scrambled eggs with zucchini, feta, chiles, garlic, and cilantro. Plantains fried in butter - not bad, but a little starchy.

Sounds like something I would enjoy! And particularly impressive in a princessmobile. Curry leaves are wonderful but if you cannot find them the usual substitute is bay leaves. Not the same but it rhymes. 😉

Found a dog-friendly BBQ joint in downtown Flagstaff, just off Route 66. Mac and cheese and the BBQ sauces were particularly good. Nice crunchy coleslaw, too. Porter to go with.