Norm Matthews

Yesterday I made a Chocolate Brownie cake and two loaves of sourdough bread for sandwiches. I didn't take a picture of the bread but it looks just like what I usually make.

Tonights meal was pork chops from a Tyler Florence recipe which coats them in seasoned flour then uses the same flour to thicken a gravy with chicken stock and buttermilk. The potatoes came after I googled recipes like I learned about from people here discussing this general method. The corn came from the freezer and the bread was from yesterday.

I saw a recipe on Facebook that said "Traditional Irish Beef Stew" I googled that to see if that was really a thing. The impression I got that Traditional Irish Stew is made with mutton but if it isn't, they tell you what kind of meat is used instead... Sorta like Brandy is always made with grape wine- unless it isn't -and then you have to put the fruit it was made with in front of the word brandy... peach brandy, cherry brandy, etc. I saw a recipe that looked good and decided to make it. I got the stuff I needed at the store yesterday but only had time to get it ready to go in the slow cooker this morning. The recipe said to only use one cup of beef broth but that didn't come close to covering all the other stuff so I added more. It may have come out more like soup that stew. While I was doing that , Charlie went to a near-by Mexican grocery store that has a place where you can get ready made food and marinated meat you can take home to cook. It is always mentioned as a place that has good traditional tacos. He got some refried beans, fried rice, some sauces, tortillas, some tacos and somechicken legs that I grilled. We had that yesterday and the stew today. I made some bread to go with it. sorry for the double post. I thought this one didn't post.

Charlie invited his car club over to watch the Super Bowl. Thank goodness not everyone showed up. I made some sourdough bread and made Italian grinders with them, two chip dips, a shrimp mold that I had almost forgotten about. It was popular when I was teaching, Scotch eggs and a sauce for them and jalapeño poppers. Strawberry Hill bakery was having a half price sale so I got some povitica bread as well. Some of the other people who came brought food and drink too. I forgot to take pictures until people were eating.

While wondering what to have for dinner, Charlie told me he was making kimchi stew (Kimchi-Jjigae) I don't know what all he put in it except some of the beef bone soup stock I made a few days ago, Napa kimchi, tofu and Spam. I looked up a recipe and it uses pork belly instead of Spam, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and paste, green onions & Kimchi brine as some of the additional ingredients.

The prepackaged Bulgogi soup was good but it was not the way Charlie's mom makes it. From the description it is a soup base called ox bone soup and several soups start with it. It makes no sense to a Westerner like me to go to such an extent to make a cloudy milky white soup with almost nothing but beef bones and water. I made it once 8 or 9 years ago when Charlies mom came for his wedding. She liked what I made. This batch took three days to make because you should use the same bones to make three batches and combine them all in the end. Most of it is in the freezer now but I heated up a small amount with some noodles, green onions and bulgogi. Earlier I put a chuck roast in the slow cooker and we had both for dinner. I forgot to take pictures until we were already eating.

I hadn't heard of HMart before. I'll have to check it out. It would have to be an on-line purchase though. There are two Asian markets where I usually shop. This one, where I shopped yesterday is Oriental Supermarket. It is more Korean-specific than the other one which is 888 International Market. Both are about a 15 minute drive.

It is handy and they have other kinds too.

Charlie reminisced about his mom making bulgogi stew when he visited her. He said she made it once a week with leftover bulgogi and asked if I could make some. I had never had it or even recall hearing about it but I looked up a recipe and went to the Korean store. I wasn't looking forward to making bulgogi then turning it into a stew. I went to get some ready made bulgogi but actually found packets of Bulgogi stew. All I needed to do was tear open the package and heat it up. It's really good but Charlie said it was much more intensely flavored than his mom's. Her broth is almost like Korean Bone Soup he said. He thinks he will water it down when he heats up left overs.

Charlie suggested fajitas for dinner yesterday but there wasn't enough time to make them then so we had them today.

There were no potatoes, only cabbage, onions, eggs, flour and seasonings.

I have never had an interest in making Shepards pie until now. It was curiosity that finally got me to try it. I used beef instead of lamb. Lamb is not easy to find here. The cabbage fritters were good though it may not sound like it.. Charlie made a face when I told him they were like potato pancakes but with cabbage, but he liked them when he tasted them. Both were a hit.

The cubes are diakon radish kimchi. The light green is made with mature Napa cabbage and the dark green is baby Napa kimchi. As far as I know, baby Napa kimchi is something new. Neither of us had only ever heard of it a couple months ago( and didn't know just what it was) and only first tried it today.

No it's not deja vu. Yesterday we had beef bulgogi which has a little sugar in it. Today we had spicy pork bulgogi. It tastes different. I didn't do much cooking for it though. I went to the Korean grocery and got the spicy pork out of the freezer, picked up some cabbage bulgogi, some baby Napa bulgogi and some kimbap. About all I did was thaw it, cook it and make some rice. We had never had baby Napa bulgogi before. I didn't know if it was the same thing so I got some to try. Regular cabbage is made with Napa cabbage but this was greener and tasted different. I haven't decided if I like it better or not.

Yes. See the reply above. I have a small Pyrex collection that I got while looking for it. Once Mom and I were in an antique store, she made a comment about a high end kerosene lamp her aunt had and now I have a small collection of them too.

Yes. It is a recipe I got from my sister years ago. As for the vintage Pyrex double boiler, Once my mom mentioned that no one sold double boilers anymore. I realized that was true and started looking in antique stores for one . After a couple years, I found one in Ozark, Missouri back in the 1990s.. FYI if you find some Pyrex ware, DO NOT use it on an electric coil stove unless you also get a wire designed to keep it off direct contact with the coils. Those stoves will break Pyrex because they cause too much expansion in that area and they will crack. BLACK EYED PEA DIP 4 cups cooked, dried black eyed peas or 4 cups canned peas (mash some) 1 tbsp pea juice 5 jalapeno peppers chopped (remove seeds) --(I used substantially less) 1/2 medium onion chopped 4 oz. can green chilis chopped 1 clove garlic minced 1/2 lb. Old English sharp cheese 1 stick butter Mix all except cheese and butter. Melt cheese and butter in double boiler (I use microwave). Add all other ingredients. Simmer until hot. Serve hot.

Due to thinking I already had black eyed peas and not checking until it was too late for New Years Day, I am a week late making the dip I was planning but finally did it today.

@Anna NThanks for the list. It was a fun read and now have some fun ideas for future restaurant visits. I copied it to my reading list.

I attempted to make Rendang a few months ago, not knowing anything about it other than that Charlie and a friend watched someone on TV make it. I went to three stores to try to find everything and had to substitute some things. After some people here who are familiar with the dish gave me some input and Imelda, an on-line friend from Indonesia, sent me some packets with all the proper ingredients, I made it again and it turned out much better. The unmarked packet is toasted coconut. Thanks to everyone who helped me understand the dish better. PS. this is what Imelda told me about Rendang. Looks good Norm. There are so many ways to cook rendang, all of them were claimed authentic, depends on the region. Both Indonesia and Malaysia claim the origin of Rendang. This dish is widely accepted as having originated from the ethnic Minangkabau people, also known as ‘Minang,’ from West Sumatra, Indonesia. I have some packets of rendang seasoning, I can mail you some if you want to try the Indonesian Rendang, all you need is add some coconut powder and chili sauce if you like more heat.

@gfweb No Food Lion or Wegmans anywhere near here. Not even a Wegners.

Charlie and I were going through a list of recipes I've made over the last couple of years and decided to do Cheeseburger soup. Charlie suggested using French fries instead of regular potatoes and to add some jalapenos. I didn't think the fries and peppers was a good idea so I made them on the side. I have to admit that the soup made a very tasty dip for the fries. During the meal Charlie thought some kind of pasta would be a good substitute for the potatoes. I might try that next time. As for New Years, because it is so hard to find decent ham hocks any more,I decided to just to a cheesy black eyed bean dip but when I discovered I didn't have any in the "cupboard" it was too late. Store were sold out everywhere. It was ten years ago the last time I didn't have black eyed peas on New Years day. I broke every bone in my ankle on Jan. 2nd. It's the 4th now and every thing is going well but If you don't hear from me again, you can blame it on the beans.

It is pretty nice out today, at least compared to the last four. The snow is melting and I can go out without a parka. The cat was getting stir crazy and loved going out today. Saturday I cooked a ham for dinner, Sunday it was a prime rib roast. This week is using up leftovers. Monday it was ham and egg salad, yesterday it was Philly cheesesteak sandwiches with some of the beef roast and today the last of the roast got used in Beef Stroganoff. I forgot to take pictures of the ham salad and the cheesesteak sandwiches but here it the Stroganoff

We had a late lunch or early dinner. It was a ribeye roast.

I had not pre-planned anything except to stock up on enough food to get by if we got froze in for the next few days. I got stuff to make chili fot hot dogs which we had for lunch today. I also got a rib roast and a ham. i cooked the ham for dinner and while it was cooking I looked around for something to go with it and only found some canned green beans left unused for Thanksgiving. They tasted pretty bland so I added a couple spoonfuls of cream of mushroom soup, a sprinkle of onion soup powder and a few croutons and heated them in the oven with the ham. I tossed a salad to finish it all off. I will probably do the rib roast tomorrow and we will have around a week of leftover.

Charlie asked for tacos or meatloaf so tacos it was.