laurel

My boyfriend's apartment mysteriously sprouted a new oven/stove, so we tried it out for the first time cooking dinner on Wednesday: Hood Canal Oysters: Fried Green Tomatoes (and Fried Oysters): Delicata Squash Stuffed with Arugula and Ricotta Cheese, topped with Oregon Blue Cheese and Toasted Pine Nuts:

I might be organizing lunch at Earth & Ocean at 1PM next Thursday (the 20th). Anyone interested?

Tonight, dinner for 3: Salad with Chiogga Beets and Fresh Water Chestnuts: Dungeness Crab: Roasted Squash with Fresh Sage: Kale and Onions:

Joe and I and my mom visiting from Pittsburgh are going to do the 25/25 at Waterfront Seafood Grill tomorrow night (ie. Tues Nov 11) at 7:30. If anyone's interested in joining us, send me an email or PM.

Last Thursday: Black Bean and Smoked Salmon Chili:

5 of us tried Vivanda for lunch today: http://dreadnought.gorgorg.org/~kalana/wik...vandaRistorante Among the 5 of us, we tried all of the choices for starter (mixed greens or caeser salad), main course (lemon sole, lamb sandwich, or spinach ravioli), and dessert (panna cotta, mandarin orange sorbetti, pink grapefruit sorbetti). I had the mixed greens, sole, and panna cotta. The salad was a standard baby-green-salad-mix topped with sparse but excellent goat cheese, hazelnuts, and dried cherries. The olive oil / balsamic vinegar dressing was a little more oily and less vinegary than I would like (especially with the rich goat cheese), but the tart cherries partially made up for that. The sole was a bit dry around the edges, but the flavor was excellent, and the buttery/lemony sauce complemented the mild fish and bitter radicchio it was served on top of. The panna cotta was excellent; creamy without being too rich. The tart, fruity (passion fruit, I think) sauce it was surrounded with was also a very nice addition.

Sunday, dinner for 2: Stuffed Squash: and leftover black cod from last week. Tuesday, dinner for myself after a trip to Viet Wah: Pea Vines: Okra in Black Bean Sauce: Broiled Smelt:

I think I saw a can of Cougar Cold at DeLaurenti's. Also I just checked and they have it listed in their inventory.

Saturday dinner for 2: Braising Mix and Tofu Stir Fry: Apples and Goat Cheese: Tuesday dinner for 12 using the last CSA basket of the season: Miso-crusted Black Cod: Roasted Vegetables (Butternut Squash, Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, and Onions): Joi Choy and 2 Kinds of Tofu Stir Fry: Cranberry Beans: Collard Greens: Black Beans:

I've successfully made Panir (the Indian cheese made with boiling milk and acid) with the recipe in Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking.

Would you be willing to share your recipe? This was entirely improvised, so it'll be pretty inexact: Ingredients: 2 delicata squash 1 onion, diced 1 apple, diced 4 eggs about 1/2 c almonds, chopped about 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon olive oil Bake Sqaush: Halve squash lengthwise, remove the seeds and stringy stuff, rub cut sides with olive oil, and bake cut sides up at 350 until soft and just starting to be brown around the edges, about 30 minutes. Make filling: Saute onions in olive oil over medium heat until soft and fragrant. Toss in the eggs, and cook until done. Dump egg and onion mixture in a bowl with the apples, almonds, and however much cinnamon you want. Pile the filling in the squash halves (I ended up with about a cup of extra filling). Put them back in the oven and bake until the filling is warm, about 10 minutes. The filling wasn't very sticky, so it sort of fell apart while eating.. next time I would try stirring in some ricotta cheese or yogurt or something like that.

Forgot to take pictures at last night's dinner for 5: Really good peanuts Garlic-roasted potatoes Bisteya-inspired stuffed squash (delicata squash stuffed with scrambled egg, apples, onions, almonds, and cinnamon) Pan-seared cumin-crusted salmon Spinach in tahini-vinegar sauce Shiitake mushrooms and broccoli Ginger carrots

When steaming with a bamboo steamer and a wok, is it necessary to have the water come all the way up to the bottom of the steamer? I have a 14 inch wok and 12 inch bamboo steamer, so that is a lot of water...

I've been having an approximately weekly lunch outing with friends from a previous company. I've written a few sentences about some of the places we've tried.

We were car camping, and had a two burner coleman stove and two pans to cook things in (which is not much less well equipped than in my kitchen at home...). We'd gone shopping right before leaving the city, and Mt Rainier is only about 3 hours away, so it was pretty much in the back yard.

It was kind of improvisational... First I coated chunks of pumpkin in an olive-oil spice paste (mostly turmeric, cumin, and coriander), and baked it in the oven until it was soft. Then, sauteed some onions in olive oil, peeled and dumped in the pumpkin chunks, and pureed it with water until it was "soupy". It was pretty mild, so next time I would probably use stock instead of water, and use a little more spices.

Dinner for 9 on Wednesday: Balsamic and Mint Roasted Beets; Carrot Chickpea Salad; Baked Broccoli; Roasted Squash Seeds: Delicata Squash Stuffed with Ricotta, Apples, Walnuts, and Irish Cheddar: Savoy Cabbage Thoran: Curry Pumpkin Soup: Chinese Mustard in Black Bean Sauce: Beet Greens Sauteed with Garlic and Anchovy: Camping on Friday: Pan-Seared Beef Tenderloin Steak; Vegetable Stir-Fry:

Cancelled last nights come-over-and-help-me-eat dinner due to lack of interest, so we tried out a new recipe that we saw at the Dungeness Crab festival last weekend: Salmon Cakes:

A few dinners at once: An experimental CSA basket dinner for 2 last Thursday: Miso Soup with Tofu, Radishes, and Radish Greens: Braised Cabbage with Smoked Salmon and Tomato: Chiles Estellados (Exploded Chiles): A simple CSA basket dinner for 2 on Monday: Salad: Spinach and Mushroom Quiche: Backpacking dinner on Saturday: Garlicky Sauteed Greens: Hummus Stew : Yesterday's CSA dinner for 5 (and first attempt at making Thai food): Spinach and Tofu with Peanut Sauce: Garlicky Rapini Greens: Green Curry Shrimp: Potatoes and Cheese:

What an amazing trip! Can I come with you next time?

No pictures at tonight's CSA basket consumption, but: Tomato/Basil/Mozzarella salad Improvised baked thing with roasted eggplant, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and Parmesan mamster's Baked Broccoli Roasted orange and yellow peppers with anchovies and garlic (from A New Way to Cook) Oven roasted corn Pan-seared salmon with "wild mushroom essence" (ie. pulverized dried wild mushrooms, also from A New Way to Cook) Finished off the apples, nectarines, raspberries, and plums, with some Ten Ren #913 tea.

Dinner for five from the CSA basket: Salad with Shropshire Cheese and Spiced Pecans: Cucumber Sunomono: Steamed Fresh Edamame: Potato-Leek Fritatta Lemongrass Steamed Striped Bass: Corn: Apples, raspberries, nectarines, and plums for dessert.

Another dinner for 6 celebrating/consuming the CSA basket. Salad with Pears, Toasted Walnuts, and Shropshire Blue cheese: Cranberry Beans: (cooked, of course) Eggplants, Peppers and Tofu with Shiso: Broiled Mackerel with caramelized onions, garlic chips, and cherry tomatoes: Cucumber Sakekasu Roasted Potatoes and Carrots Cookies, Nectarines, and Blackberries for dessert.

Dinner for 6 (mostly) from the CSA basket (too busy to take pictures last night): Cantaloupe Carpaccio (vegetable peeler-ed thin slices of cantaloupe with tarragon) (recipe ) from epicurious Tuna Tartare inspired by this thread: basil, mint, scallions, and a tiny bit of lime juice, topped with tobiko on a nest of seaweed salad Prawns and Pears cooked in sake Peppers stuffed with corn, sweet onions, and cheese. Roasted potatoes and garlic

Last night's dinner for five from the CSA basket Salad with Tea Eggs and Korean Lotus Root: Tomato, Basil, and Fresh Mozarella Salad: First week we've had tomatoes in the basket Curried Scallops and Okra: The first time I've cooked okra.. it turned out pretty well Radishes and Radish Greens: Roasted Corn