C. sapidus

This meal was in the "slap it together quickly" category. Not sure we even have any sticky rice in the house. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I enjoy sticky rice but make it rarely, probably because it is more of a production.

Larb gai, from 'Larb Laab Larp" (clicky)

Larb gai, from 'Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook'. Easy to find this recipe because the pages stick together. Poach ground chicken with sliced shallots, lime juice, fish sauce, and minced ginger (sub for galangal powder). Mix in roasted rice powder and minced cilantro and scallions, and cayenne. Serve with mint, Boston lettuce, and microwave cilantro rice. Mrs. C said that she "would happily eat variations on larb several times a week in the summer." I asked her to remind me of that regularly.

Sometimes using up odds and ends leads to a fun meal. We had de-boned Costco chicken, some chipotle en adobo that needed using up, and sad-looking potato rolls. Sauteed and pureed the chipotle with garlic and cumin seed. Mixed with mayo, S&P, and chopped Tony Packo's sweet hot pickles. End result: probably my favorite chicken salad ever (caveat: I rarely have chicken salad, so competition is low 😉).

Cilantro fried rice with steelhead and stir-fried yellow bell pepper, topped with bird chiles in fish sauce. Roasted chile paste and lots of garlic in with the fried rice. Cukes on the side.

Maybe bars should offer a discount if you open a tab. Sounds like it would save everyone money, except the credit card companies.

Parsi soft-scrambled eggs with seared gulf shrimp and sauteed shallot, ginger, garlic, bird chile, ghee, half-and-half, scallions, and cilantro.

For me, minimal prep food includes an omelet, tuna salad, leftovers, or just a can of sardines with hot sauce. Or, as weinoo says, go out for dinner. Hope your ennui is soon on its way. 😉

Dinner was nearly all Mrs. C tonight: Steelhead, seared to remove the skin and then baked. Very simple - just lemon juice, S&P - but very tender. I had mine with some tartar sauce from the other day. Beet and baked rhubarb salad with fried plantains, parsley, shallot, and a dressing of olive oil, pomegranate molasses, and champagne vinegar. I would happily eat that in a restaurant. I had mine with feta cheese. My only contribution was frying the plantains.

Beef curry with spinach. Beef chuck (sub for lamb) was cubed and marinated with pureed ginger, garlic, jalapenos, yogurt, and cumin. Fry black cardamon, cloves, and bay leaf, slowly sautee onions, and then add ground coriander and cumin. Simmer with the meat and marinade, crushed tomato, and tomato paste. When almost done, mix in pureed spinach and sprinkle with ground nutmeg. Tasted better than it looked - I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately. Turmeric rice with black cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon stick, topped with scallions. Sliced and salted cukes.

Zucchini and shrimp with a yogurt and chipotle sauce. Separately seared and removed shrimp and cubed zucchini. Sauteed onions to deglaze the pan, then added cumin seed, garlic, fish sauce, and minced chipotle in adobo. Mixed in yogurt to tame the heat, and finished with Mexican oregano. Kind of a Mexican yogurt curry.

Papas chirrionas (potatoes with pasilla chile sauce). Toast pasilla chiles and blend with chipotle in adobo and crushed tomato (sub for tomate verde). Cube, boil, and fry potatoes, add sliced onion and garlic, and then add the blended sauce and cook down. Finish with Mexican oregano and feta cheese, and serve on corn tortillas. Send-off breakfast for elder son, who is on his way to the airport.

Elder son requested grilled five-spice chicken for his last dinner. Drumsticks were slashed and marinated with ginger, garlic, 5-spice powder, turmeric, soy sauce, oil, and toasted and ground star anise. Somewhat over-enthusiastically grilled over charcoal, but stayed nice and juicy after resting. Since I had the grill going, I quickly marinated zucchini with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, oil, salt, and black pepper

No, look what YOU made ME do . . . also jumbo lump. To be fair, elder son was visiting . . .

Hacked-up omelet with bay scallop, white onion, and long red chile. Plain for elder son, who is visiting. Topped with feta for me. Fried plantains, burned black like Mrs. C prefers. Tasted, as they say, better than it looked.

I suppose I should call this "zucchini-enhanced crab dip". Zucchini - cubed, salted, rested, seared, and removed. Sauteed chorizo, shallot, jalapeno and bird chiles. Mixed in the zucchini and leftover crab dip. Tasty, but still pretty heavy.

Heading back from Havre de Grace, MD, so I had to stop for crabcakes at Conrad's Crabs and Seafood Market. The fresh seafood looked amazing, wish I had brought a cooler. Crabcakes with mustardy tartar sauce. Good, but maybe I should have splurged for the jumbo over backfin. Crab dip - very rich, this would have been better for sharing

I am so glad that you are home and recovering well enough to cook up some delicious meals.

I was craving a spicy breakfast, so . . . breakfast tacos with chorizo, zucchini, and egg, plus white onion, garlic, jalapenos, bird chiles, Mexican oregano, and Thai basil. Finished with a little heavy cream and feta to somewhat tame the heat.

Soooo . . . I ordered a bunch of spices from Penzeys, including a big bag of the extra bold peppercorns. Received a notice that my credit card was declined (Penzeys must have had an old one on file). OK, no problem. Placed the order again, this time it went through. I never received a confirmation of either order so I sent Penzeys an email. Received a robo-reply with no useful information. Today, I received not one but two boxes from Penzeys. Yup, both orders went through. Never did receive an order confirmation. I now have a years-long supply of extra bold peppercorns, Sarawak white peppercorns, green cardamom, cassia, canela, . . . So you may be seeing a lot of Indian cooking from me.

More leftovers: pulled pork with homemade BBQ sauce and coleslaw on a potato roll. Baked beans. No complaints.

Leftovers for lunch: dum aloo (potato curry), collard greens, and beet salad (from a guest at the potluck)

Dum aloo (potatoes in spicy yogurt gravy): Peel, poke, and fry whole potatoes, remove. Brown fry onions, add minced ginger and ground cumin, coriander, cayenne, turmeric, and garam masala. Return potatoes to the pan and simmer with crushed tomato and yogurt. When the potatoes are done, finish with heavy cream. Very rich and full of flavor. We made this for a potluck, and most disappeared. Even so, we have a fridge jam-packed with leftovers. No cooking for a few days, most likely.

Mrs. C did a fused glass crafternoon with friends, and they stayed for dinner. Clockwise from bottom center: BBQ pork butt, rubbed with 'magic dust', smoked overnight in the Weber bullet, and then finished in the oven with a glaze of the BBQ sauce. Served with potato rolls, for those who prefer a traditional pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce and coleslaw. One guest said she would "skip the roll so she could eat more." BBQ sauce made with ketchup, brown sugar, yellow mustard, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, celery salt, 'Soul Sucker' hot sauce, and ginger. Coleslaw made with green cabbage, onion, yellow mustard, rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and mayonnaise to taste. Chow chow, homemade by one of the guests Baked beans, made with canned navy, pinto, and black beans, BBQ sauce, chorizo, onion, red bell pepper, chile Poblano, hard cider, molasses, yellow mustard, cider vinegar, and burnt ends from the pork butt. Collard greens, made with smoked ham hocks, red bell pepper, chile Poblano, cider vinegar, molasses, black pepper, hot sauce, and celery seeds.

Adobo de pollo de Lujo (red chile-braised chicken with potatoes and greens). Sauce was ancho and guajillo chiles (toasted and soaked) blended with roasted garlic, Mexican oregano, cumin, cloves, black pepper, and chicken stock. Sauce was fried, simmered with chicken stock, simmered with the chicken, potatoes, and Swiss chard, and then reduced. Topped with sauteed white onion. Edit: Mrs. C's sourdough bread did an excellent job of sopping up any extra sauce. I had been craving the deep rich flavors of a Mexican dried chile sauce and this hit the spot.