C. sapidus

rod rock - Thanks! Dejah – Thank you, too! Yes, lately the boys seem to prefer their eternal cucumbers mixed in with other vegetable matter. Chinese salty chicken? Do tell! Caramel chicken with ginger, fish sauce, and scallions, over coconut rice. Unpictured salad. Simple but effective.

Scotty, that swordfish looks delish! Oven-roasted chicken thighs, marinated with garlic, soy sauce, black pepper, and oil. Coconut rice, salad, and store-bought sourdough bread.

I agree with bague25, this is a wonderful book. Particular favorites: Lamb curry, madras style Chicken and cashew nuts in black spices (kaju chicken in kaala masala) Malabar shrimp curry (konju curry) Fish in coconut milk (fish molee) Also good: Goa lamb vindaloo Parsee red chicken curry Madras fish curry Particularly good side dishes: Fragrant rice Lemon rice Stir-fried French beans (beans porial) Peas and carrots with cumin (gajar mutter) Many of the other side dishes - green chutneys, red chutney, cabbage koshumbir, okra with onions, cauliflower with shredded ginger – are easy to make and very good.

You are quite welcome, Kim, and I am glad you liked the dish. BTW, your pancakes sound fantastic - I love a good, fluffy pancake. Mrs. C is on a work trip, and minus her civilizing influence the boys and I have reverted to bachelor food (spaghetti and meatballs, frozen pizzas, etc.). I hope to do some real cooking later this week.

Quick, someone bring me char siu bau for breakfast! Blue cheese and ham omelet. Again. Yeah, I’m probably in a rut. A good rut, but still. Toasted everything bagel to go with.

Patrickamory, you are piquing my interest in that book Old friends visited for dinner last night, and we cooked Italian. No pics at meal time, and few leftovers survived. Penne with mushroom sauce – Thinly-sliced mushrooms cooked down with sautéed onions and garlic, cooked down with white wine, and then cooked down again with chopped anchovies, tomato, and parsley. Grilled eggplant with garlic, rosemary, black pepper, and olive oil. Mrs. C planted rosemary in a protected spot in the back garden, so we have been enjoying fresh rosemary frequently. Mrs. C set out assorted salame beforehand, and ended the meal with a delicious pear dessert, baked and served with a sauce of orange peel, ginger, cinnamon, and honey, and topped with Greek yogurt, honey, and probably some other stuff. Oliverhill Winery 2006 McLaren Vale Jimmy Section Shiraz Blurry pic of leftover eggplant

rod rock and huiray – Thanks! Spinach was stir-fried in batches until barely wilted and then dumped in a colander over a bowl. After stir-frying the shallots and scallions, I added the stock and other liquids and reduced until it “tasted right” (not long), and then mixed in the spinach and spinach liquor. I hope that helps, it wasn’t very precise.

Prawn – You are killing me! Garlic-black bean pan-fried fish: One of my favorite ways to make fish. Partly fry the fillets and remove. Stir-fry the topping – a whole head of garlic, ginger, cilantro root, fermented black beans, dark soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, and cayenne – and then finish cooking the fish with the topping. Another fine recipe from Dancing Shrimp Stir-fried spinach with shallots and scallions, plus chicken stock, soy sauce, and rice wine. Quoth younger son: “It wasn’t horrible.” High praise for spinach. Jasmine rice

Kim - Great spread! Pictures? No, I am glad the damage was limited to breakfast. Blue cheese scrambled eggs on whole-grain toast

Slipper burgers – Lamb with onion, ginger, garlic, chiles, cilantro, coriander, cumun, cayenne, and black pepper. Potato rolls and Sriracha mayo added after the picture. Grilled zucchini salad – Dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, cilantro, cumin, white pepper, and smoked paprika.

RRO - Wow, Australia has had more than its share of extreme weather lately. Looks like a nice, cool meal! Crock pot beef barbacoa with potato wedges, pureed ancho chiles, chicken stock, roasted garlic, cumin, black pepper, and a shot of cider vinegar. Served over insta-quinoa. Mrs. C put together a green salad with buttermilk cilantro dressing. We are in the heart of swim season, and this meal met the prime directive – it was ready within seconds after we walked in the door.

MIP - Wow, that looks fantastic! What recipe did you use?

Soba – nice! Creamy scrambled eggs over fried potatoes. Eggs scrambled with half and half and ghee; leftover roasted potatoes fried in ghee with onions and Thai chiles.

1. Buy some new cookbooks 2. Cook from new cookbooks Modest goals, true, but I would like to try something new. Maybe Jacques Pepin or John Besh, either of which would be new for me. I would like cookbooks with a mix of weeknight and weekend recipes, because weekends are in short supply. I seek new, memorable meals to share with the family.

Southern Mussaman curry of beef from Thai Food, served with steamed eggs and raw vegetables. This was “best” because it reminded me how ridiculously good Thai curries can be with homemade curry paste. Quoting myself:

Rare RO: You have been missed, so I am glad to hear that things are looking up. We hosted the family’s holiday meal on Sunday. Lotsa vegetables but no pictures, and as we speak roaming teenagers are consuming the leftovers. The menu: Pollo con oregano: chicken poached with chicken stock, onions, and garlic, marinated with a paste of garlic and Mexican oregano, and then grilled to crisp on the Big Green Egg. Steelhead trout two ways: one with a ginger-maple glaze, and the other with a concoction containing olives, also cooked on the Egg. Even the youngest guests raved over Mrs. C’s fish. Braised potatoes with rosemary (Mrs. C) Arroz blanco with chicken stock, white onion, garlic, and chile Poblano Root vegetable soup: This was delicious. I know Mrs. C used parsnips, cauliflower, and maybe potatoes. The soup tasted rich and creamy without any cream. Broccoli with garlic and anchovies Creamy braised Brussels sprouts Bourbon sweet potatoes with orange sauce Mulled cider with orange zest, honey, and warm spices Beer, wine, and juices Cheeses, nuts, crab dip, and crackers for snacks Baklava (pictured upthread) Shortbread Chocolates

This triggered my curiosity so I checked my stash of Indian cookbooks. For plain Basmati rice most recipes do not include salt, but a few specify "salt to taste" or some such. Completely agree that the Thai and Chinese cookbooks that I am familiar with assume unsalted rice. Indian recipes for non-plain rice - pilafs, pulaos, kichiri, etc. - usually call for salt.

Thanks for the baklava link, Heidi. So our Russian friends invited us over for “soup”. Starters included beet salad, Russian salad, avocado and tomato ceviche, bread, olives, and plates of cheese and cold cuts, accompanied by drinks. The soup course followed – a delicious cabbage soup called shchi – with more bread. Next came tender pork tenderloin glazed with balsamic vinegar and topped with fried onions, along with mashed potatoes and Indian rice. Imported chocolates and cakes rounded out the meal, accompanied by Russian tea. I am probably forgetting a few things, but bring your appetite any time a Russian invites you over for soup. We have had similar meals when invited over for "dessert".

Jason – Jerk chicken looks great! As a fairly new Big Green Egg owner, I would welcome cooking details. We were invited to Russian friends’ house for “soup”, which probably involves a 7-course meal. We are hosting our extended family “Christmas” dinner tomorrow, so we made bourbon sweet potatoes and ChefCrash’s easy baklava this afternoon.

I love seeing everyone’s holiday meals. No pictures, but a delightful Christmas open house with the theme, “And now for something completely different” (which describes the guests and hosts as well as the food . . .). One of the guests runs a restaurant and brought her wonderful cream of crab soup (with huge chunks of crab) and her equally wonderful cappuccino brownies. Mrs. C took care of snacky things like chicken-cashew pate, crock pot meatballs, raw veggies and dips, cookies, and mulled wine. We served potato rendang (Cradle of Flavor) and the braised beef and potatoes from Revolutionary Chinese Cooking (with toban djian, cinnamon stick, and star anise), both made earlier, and a big pot of basmati rice with spices. The most successful (and most un-repeatable) dish was the East-West Buffalo wings. For the first batch I inadvertently turned the Egg into an 800F smoke-billowing ball of flame. I cut the air way back and went off to grumble for a while. When I came back the wings, by some miracle, were perfectly cooked and wonderfully smoky. Guests fought over the wings. The second batch, cooked more conventionally, lacked the same magic.

Trout meuniere seasoned with S&P, dredged in flour, and finished with parsley, lemon juice, and butter Braised potatoes with garlic and bay leaves and ”world’s best” braised cabbage (with carrots, onions, chicken stock, S&P, and Aleppo chile flakes, finished with sherry vinegar)

Kim, thanks! Recipe is readily available - just Google “Marcella Hazan” and “pink shrimp sauce” and it should pop right up. Scotty - nice! Dare I ask why "gut bomb"? Sookha keema, Julie Sahni’s version with ground lamb, brown-fried onions, ginger, garlic, chiles, and turmeric, finished with garam masala, lemon juice, and cilantro. I made a double batch – half for the office potluck, and half for our post-swim meet meal. Rice with whole spices, pilaf-style. No basmati in the house so we used jasmine rice, fried in ghee with cumin, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, black and green cardamom, cloves, and black pepper. Un-pictured salad

Scotty – Thanks! Patrick – A joke from my foodblog. Cucumbers were about the only vegetable our boys would eat when they were younger, so we served them with every meal. Priscilla (originator of the Dinner! thread) dubbed them eternal. Fortunately, the boys’ taste in vegetables has expanded. basquecook – I now have a hankering for mussels. Cod with chiles and garlic, slivered ginger, red onion, S&P, soy sauce, black soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Cod tends to flake to pieces in this dish, but the price was right. Braised cabbage with dried shrimp, plus garlic, S&P, a little sugar, and the water from soaking the shrimp. Celebration yellow rice, with coconut milk, turmeric, salt, and lime leaves.

East-West Buffalo wings – marinated, grilled on the Egg, and tossed with a sauce of Sriracha, ginger, garlic, scallions, lime juice, and butter Gorgonzola sauce – Gorgonzola cheese pressed through a strainer and mixed with mayo, sour cream, minced onion, and pepper Celery sticks, eternal cucumbers, and Clementines

Omelet with ham and blue cheese; toasted cheese bagel with butter and more blue cheese