Norm Matthews

We had pork chops with Jerk seasoning, brown sugar, pineapple, ponzu and mushrooms. Dessert was strawberry shortcake. I didn't take a picture of the Super Bowl food but it was a chili bar with lots of toppings and mix-ins, hot dogs and corn chips with a nacho dip.

Tonight was meatloaf, potatoes, brussels sprouts and salad.

Our dinner was Instant Pot Chuck Roast with gravy, turnips, parsnips and potatoes, also had green beans and sourdough bread.

When the pan my son ordered came, they sent three. The packer must have grabbed three instead of one by mistake. He gave the other two to other people. I wish they made an 11 or 12-inch one.

Congrats, Franci.

I checked my blog and counted 7 meals made from scratch so far this month. The other meals were delivery pizza, left overs, sandwiches made with store bought cold cuts and home made bread or cheese, dry salami, celery, and crackers. Charlie was going to take me out to an Irish pub on the Plaza this weekend but we got weathered in with ice storms two days in a row.

I discovered a PPS show last weekend called Movable Feast and tried some recipes from their website. First I baked some sourdough bread for soaking up some of the beer sauce with Beer Steamed Mussels, Pecan Apricot rice, and Japanese Beef Tataki.

I had not heard of Darto until now. Last year I thought about getting a forged iron skillet from one place but when I went there, my computer warned me that it was infected with a virus. A little later I found some nice ones from a forge in Seattle but they were sold out before I got around to getting one and they are still not available there a year later. In November I saw one from Aus-Ion and was about to order one when my son sternly told me not to buy anything for myself at Christmas time so I put it and an Instant Pot on my Christmas wish list and he got both for me. Here is the skillet after I have seasoned it. It is a little under 10 1/2 inches. It's formed in one piece. Nothing riveted or welded. The handle is vented to keep the handle cool

How To Make Stuffed Cabbage Rolls - Japanese Version (Recipe) is shown in a video on You Tube.

I used regular green fresh cabbage and boiled it to soften the leaves. I had not seen a cabbage roll recipe that did not use rice, well excpt one used barley, but I did a search and found quite a few. To see the recipe, click on the normmatthewsblogspot link at the end of this post.

The picture of the cabbage rolls showed it served in a bowl with the thin sauce. I opted to serve it with rice on the same plate because I thought my Korean son would like it that way. When I said 'no rice' I meant that rice is usually included in stuffed cabbage filling, rather than on the side. Perhaps I should have said 'unusual' instead of 'strange'. I have several Japanese and Korean cookbooks and I can't recall the use of tomatoes in any of them. I have seen tomatoes in a few Chinese recipes though. At the time, It seemed to me that I have started seeing a few Japanese recipes (from Japanese cooks who live in Japan) which I thought showed Western influences. My son was not surprised at all. He is of the opinion that Japanese food is quite widely influenced by other cultures.

The tomatoes were in the sauce it was cooked with. It was stuffed with ground pork (1/4 lb), 3/4 lb ground beef, panko bread crumbs, nutmeg, onion, egg, milk, salt and pepper. The sauce was: 2 bay leaves, 1 large garlic clove, minced, 1 (14.5-oz, 411 g) can of diced tomatoes, 1 Tbsp. white wine, ½ tsp. kosher salt (1/4 tsp. table salt) and 1 cup (240 ml) chicken/vegetable stock

I made cabbage rolls tonight. It was in an online Japanese cookbook. I thought it strange that it was an Asian recipe, that it used tomatoes and no rice. I served with rice on the side.

I didn't take any pictures but I used the Instant Pot to make Chicken Pho.

I used to do this New Years Day meal for fun and in remembrance of my Southern mom. Lately I have been doing it a little out of superstition. Three years ago we had what Cassie said was a traditional Mexican New Years dinner. We had none of the Southern food that was representative of good luck and health in the year to come. The very next day, I fell and broke every bone in my ankle. Charlie is not a fan of black eyed peas with ham so I made my sister's chip dip with them instead. He like the dip. The ham hocks were cooked with canary or Mayocoba beans. We had collard greens, deviled eggs, corn bread, green beans with new potatoes, and pumpkin pie.

One of the gifts my son gave me for Christmas was an Instant Pot. I used it today to make Beef Pozole.

The flax oil I got recently was refrigerated at the pharmacy. I used the new steel pan for an omelet this morning. I had seasoned it with the flax oil 6 times, then wiped it with olive oil last night and made the omelet this morning with a little butter. It slid around the pan like it was on ice.

re linseed oil: It's the binder that has been used in artists oil paint for the last 500 years. Flax oil is food grade linseed oil.

I'd never heard of the potato skin before today.

I am not Tic Tac but the directions I got with the AUS-ION pan I have said to apply a very thin coat to a warm pan then place it upside down in a 480 degree oven for an hour and a half, then let it cool down in the oven for two hours and to repeat this process 6 times.

I found it in the pharmacy section at a grocery store and it is expensive relative to other oils. It was a little over $20 for a pint.

My son gave me a forged steel pan for Christmas. He said it was impossible to wrap it without telling what it was so he gave it to me early and I spent three days seasoning it with flax seed oil and am impressed with how hard and durable is the seasoning. Much better, in my opinion than any other liquid or solid fat I have used on cast iron.

Dinner last night was quick and simple: Ham steaks, salad, Mac&cheese and green beans cooked until tender then tossed with onions and bacon cooked in bacon fat and then all tossed together. I had my ham with some sourdough bread. Charlie ate his plain. .

A friend told me about this Shrimp dish she has at a restaurant in Florida and so I looked it up, found a recipe that looked good and gave it a try. We had it with a sauce that is very much like Yum Yum sauce, carrots and orzo.

For the last 30 years, we always got our kimchi from Chicago but at the Asian store I saw some from Korea and I got it. One of Charlie's favorite recipe's is for Korean chicken wings. I wanted to try Japanese popcorn chicken made with chicken thighs, so I made both. Our sides were rice, snow peas and pickled daikon. When Charlie got home, he added Yum Yum sauce and Tamari for dipping sauces.