gulfporter

Indian curry with lime pickle, mango chutney, yogurt and cilantro.

Chilly day here. Green chile chicken soup.

Blueberry cream cheese tart on puff pastry.

Sheet pan Harissa Chicken and Preserved Lemons. Condiment yogurt with lemon and parsley.

I agree with @blue_dolphin go to a local farmers market.

We don't eat a lot of burgers, but enjoy going out for one a few times a year in the US. We never buy or eat ground beef in Mexico due to a severe E.coli infection back in 2008, and when I say 'severe' I mean life-threatening. This morning at my nearby Tucson Safeway, there was a Manager's Special in the meat dept. The regular $9.99 a pound for ground American Wagyu was marked down to $3.99, sell-by date was today. We always freeze our ground meat into burger portions when we get home, So we took a chance even though we've never bought American Wagyu ground beef before. Grilled some for lunch today and by far the best burger in years, either side of the border! It had the taste and texture of a burger from a high-end high-priced popular burger joint in Tucson where they sell for $15 bucks. After we ate lunch mi esposo said, I'm going back down and getting more. He got the last 2 one-pound packages. We are careful with our diets and my at-home standard burger is one-eighth pound. I serve on dinner rolls and they are more or less a single slider.

I am not sure of definition of a quick bread. But I made this last week and would make again. We try to eat a lot of blueberries and the ones coming to market now from South America are quite good and often on sale. https://amandascookin.com/blueberry-breakfast-cake/

Our alliterative dinner. Penne pasta, peas, pancetta, parmesan.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake....that's what the recipe is called. Waiting for it to cool. Update: after cooling and tasting, I would make again. It's dense and a bit on dry side (which I like with morning coffee), not too sweet other than the topping. I increased blueberries to 2.5 cups and I added pinches of salt to both the batter and the topping as I think most baked goods benefit from some salt. "Batter" so thick I used my hands to mix in the fruit and to pat it into the pan. This is recipe, https://amandascookin.com/blueberry-breakfast-cake/

Grilled chipotle-marinated chicken breast salad with arugula, goat cheese, picked red onion and cucumber. Dressing was olive oil and chipotle.

In DC-Metro when working, our office was awash in free zucchinis brought in by home gardeners. I always made this pie, though I made it in a 9 x 13 dish. Tastes just like apple and because of the way you cut the zucchini, it looks like apples too. My mother found the recipe in one of her 'church members' cookbooks. 8 c. zucchini peeled, seeds removed. Cut in half lengthwise, then scoop out seeds before slicing to mimic apple slices. 2/3 c. fresh lemon juice 1 c sugar 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon Crust: 4 c flour 2 c sugar 1/2 tsp salt 3 sticks butter 3/4 tsp. cinnamon Cook the zucchini slices in the lemon juice till tender...20-30 min. Add 1 c. sugar and spices. To make crust mixture: combine dry ingredients, then cut in butter. Add 1 loose cup of the crust mixture to thicken the zucchini mixture. Cool zucchini mixture. Put 1/2 remaining crust mixture into greased 13x9 pan, press flat. Bake 375 for 10 min. Then put zucchini mixture over crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Distribute rest of crust mixture over zucchini. Bake 375 for 35 to 40 min.

fyi, La Boqueria is navigable early in the day, we go between 8 and 9 and it's just us and the locals. We've been to Barcelona 4 times and it's a spot I never skip.

Chicken thighs molé with sweet potato chunks. Topped with pickled red onions.

Have you planned a foodie shopping trip to their big market? Load up on Spanish Pimiento Vera! The seafood displays are amazing, even if you're not going to be cooking.

When we lived in St. Pete area of FL, there was a small airport with the IATA call letters, PIE. On Pi Day they gave out slices of pie.

Just out of oven but can't cut until room temperature. Blueberry Sour Cream with a Pecan crumble topping.

A local gringo-oriented market (though the weekend city folks from Guadalajara shop there in droves) has new shelf space for Patak's brand Indian sauces, etc. I prepared the curry sauce per directions (add sauteed onion and tomatoes though I used a local tomato puree). Dropped a cut-up rotis chicken in it and let it sit in the heated sauce while I prepped the side of caramelized brussel sprouts using my pantry of dry Indian spices. Lime pickle of the same Patak's brand and some yogurt on the side. Both us us very impressed with the flavors. Not sure if available in US but will look for it next trip north.

Can I freeze a half-used glass jar of something? Specifically....using half a jar of an Indian curry spice paste today. I won't use the other half for at least a month or two. Do I have to empty the jar into a plastic container before putting in freezer? Or can I just chuck the jar, tightly screwed with cap, into the freezer?

Grilled blackened salmon with bacon, avocado and chipotle on a baguette.

@blue_dolphin First time we had abalone was in early 80s at a small restaurant in Big Bear Lake CA when on vacation. It was super tender and tasty. We re-routed that driving trip so we could go back there just for the abalone. After that whenever we saw abalone on a menu anywhere, we'd order it. Usually a huge disappointment, chew factor ranged from rubber bands to shoe leather. We gave up and have never ordered it again. Sigh. It takes a special talent to cook them properly. Yours look wonderful! Have same issue with octopus; 'pulpo' is on many menus in MX and is always melt in mouth delicious. But anytime we try it in US, it's a chew fest.

Forgot to mention that on Fridays (pay days) my Dad would either bring home a plain pizza or some freshly fried (real) fish sticks from a seafood market. He made a powerful cocktail sauce of half ketchup and half homemade horseradish. My grandmother made her own horseradish and it had beet juice (or crushed beets??) in it and was bright red. To this day when I buy 'white' horseradish, it doesn't look right to me. Anyone else with Lenten food memories??

It's been in the 80s so we wanted a light lunch. Grilled salmon and endive tossed in EVOO with S&P. A bit of canned whole cranberries with chipotle as a dipping sauce. Doesn't get any simpler than that. I had originally planned to grill the endive but it was so fresh I went the au natural route. I hadn't seen in quite awhile down here in MX so it was a real treat....sweet and bitter at same time.

My favorite Torta Ahogada place in town adds a shrimp torta during Cuaresma (Lent). For the uninitiated the name means, Drowned Sandwich. It comes on a super dry bolillo baked specifically for this sandwich. You get separate bags of a sauce, super hot sauce (so hot my husband doesn't add any of it), pickled onions and diced zucchini. You stuff the pickled items in the sandwich then drown it in the sauce. The bread loosens up.....provecho! I eat mine more like a slow French Dip so I can control the bread's mushiness (for lack of a better word); I like a bit of bite and chew all the way thru to the end. Lent isn't as strict here as it was just 10 years ago. Growing up in a Lithuanian immigrant Catholic family in the 50s and 60s, Lent was very strict. No meat any day of the week. We were poor so most Lenten meals were potato pancakes, mac n cheese and cheese and/or potato pierogies my grandmother made.