MaryIsobel

While rummaging through the freezer for inspiration, I came across a small amount of diced pancetta. Found a couple of slices of thick cut bacon from our butcher to add to it and dinner was carbonara. Just eggs, egg yolk, pecorino romano, and pepper along with the meat. Pardon the messy bowl - forgot to take a picture before we started eating. Had a salad of spinach, roasted red pepper and artichoke hearts with a lemon forward vinagrette to cut the richness.

My daughter's fiancee is a whisky lover (a very restrained whisky lover) so for Christmas, I went to our local government liquor store and asked for a "decent bottle of whiskey, under $100.00. The fellow there recommended Auchentoshan 12. The recipient was delighted with it and I was delighted when I saw a bottle in @Duvel's collection.

I'd love to try that but pretty sure that both the Génépy and the Pineau Charentes would be impossible to find in my town. I'll peruse the BCLDB website and may venure further afield one of these days if they are available within a 50 km radius. I love anything with bitters - big Negroni fan. Thanks once again for the inspiration.

I freeze buttermilk in 1 cup amounts. Flat in a baggie in the freezer, it takes up no room and works just fine in biscuits, pancakes and marinades. I can never use a whole litre at once.

Both meals look great. We we venture down to Bellingam, WA (we're about 10k from the Canada/US border) I always eye the marinated al pastor in the Mexican markets but we are not permitted to bring raw meat across the border. Your stew looks delicious. If you did use mutton, I will have to withdraw my comment but I do know that that is the authentic meat to use.

Kim, I envy the choices you have for eating out. In our town there is very bad Chinese, quite a few pizza places and a few Indian places, of which one is okay. We do have a falafel/shwarma place nearby which is always my choice but only for take out, as there are just a few plastic tables and chairs so not a lot of ambience. The food is quite good though not my husband's first choice. It's where I order from on the odd occaision that I am on my own. https://holyfalafel.ca/

I like a nice size mug for tea. My daughter gave me a great creamic mug for Christmas, it fits perfectly in my hands. It also came with a travel lid and fits in the cupholder in my vehicle. My other daughter, knowing my love of all things ginger, gave me this Stash tea, which I am going through at a rapid rate.

A cottage pie (because I wil make it with beef) has been on my radar for a while. Thanks for the nudge.

My husband requested "chili mac" tonight. I don't think I've made it in 15 years, since our daughters were in high school and I was always prepared to feed more than our family. I bought the ingredients and will induldge him with the caveat that for the rest of the week we will be eating veg-centric meals.

i want to work at your company! What an amazing menu.

Had a big prime rib for our daughter's (twins) and soon to be son-in-laws birthday dinner on January 14th. We were leaving for Mexico two days later so put the bones and scraps in the freezer. Made a vat of beef barley soup yesterday, supplimemnted with a couple of pounds of stewing beef from the freezer. Dinner for us last night. Plus 3 more meals in the freezer and took some to a friend recovering from knee surgery along with some buns. Baked our buns yesterday and put the other half batch in the fridge after the first rising and baked them this morning. Everyone was happy.

Wasn't terribly inspired tonight and still adjusting to our exhorbitant produce prices, so "egg roll in a bowl" with a scoop of brown rice. It filled the void and wasn't terrible. How's that for a glowing reccomendation?

I too make individual pavlovas - they do last a while. More often, I scramble them and give them to our dog as a special breakfast..

The dental work was absolutely fantastic. My husband is super happy with his new smile and ability to chew. The only restriction is no nuts for anything too sticky for the next 4 months. All the staff were truly lovely people and they even gave us a (1 hour) ride to the airport!

My posts kind of fizzled out due to a loss of wifi and ongoing dental work. We still enjoyed our holiday but due to the large amount of dental work, we did not eat like we usually do on holiday. We are home to the cold and damp today after a very long travel day yesterday. Yesterday was crappy, overpriced airport food, not picture worthy. It is good to be home and in our own bed and we are having soup from the freezer tonight. We'll be going back in 6 months to a year for my husband's permanent bottom implants. Think we'll stay in Puerto Aventuras for that trip.

I've used puttanseca for a variety of proteins because we both really like the flavour. It goes really well with a lot of things other than pasta.

On my own for lunch today, trying to use up some bits and bobs. A tostada with refried black beans, avacodo, tomato, some manchego cheese and a tomatillo salsa. Some sweet and delicious watermelon and equally sweet and delicious pineapple.

My husband had a late dentist appointment yesterday so I had dinner with our non-Mexican-food friend. I had grilled chicken skewers. Must have been grilled over wood - it was really tasty. Our friend insisted on paying so I helped out by asking if he really meant to leave a $40.00 tip on a 35.00 bill😆. Got that sorted. We usually have breakfast at home but my husband was ravenous this morning so we went across the street to Papa Charly's. Cheese omlette with potatoes, beans and a fruit cup for him and pancakes, bacon, a fruit cup and a mocha for me.

That looks really scrumptious. I haven't bought a magazine in years but my Mom had a subscription to Chatelaine (and Good Housekeeping) for many years and they did have some good recipes.

Looks fabulous. My go to recipe for butter chicken.

A friend of my husband arrived in Playa del Carmen last night. He is down here for 2 months but is not a fan of Mexican food🤨. We had lunch together today at Fuego Santo. I had a HUGE grilled chicken sandwich, it was great and I brought half home. Gave my husband the fries. Our friend had a hamburger and the Toothless One had spinach and ricotta ravioli with a rose sauce. Everyone was happy. Hopefully my husband's appointment tomorrow will give him back his ability to chew.

We went back to the food park truck tonight as there is a fried chicken truck, run by a woman from the southern US, which offers mac & cheese which the Toothless One thought he could manage, as his mouth is a bit swollen and sore today. It was amazing. The mac and cheese was so rich and cheesy, I could only eat half of the small (1 cup or so) portion. Husband gladly polished off the rest. The fried chicken was the best I've ever had. I'm not a connoisseurby any means; fried chicken is not a big thing in the Pacific Northwest. My mother never made it, I've never made it so my experience is limited to KFC et al and more recently Popeyes. It had a very thin, very crispy coating and was perfectly seasoned. I had a breast and it was moist and juicy. The woman's name is B (https://www.tripadvisor.com.mx/Restaurant_Review-g150812-d24177990-Reviews-B_s_Frito_Pollo-Playa_del_Carmen_Yucatan_Peninsula.html) and I predict great things for her should she choose to expand her business.

Much better dinner tonight at Buzo - https://buzos-restaurant-bar.negocio.site/ Lime marg for husband and a passion fruit marg for me. Chips and two salsas when we sat down and a small cup of seafood broth on the house. Seafood broth was delicious; well spiced but not terribly hot. Husband had "medallion" of red snapper. We would call it a steak. Our waiter spoke English so we were able to convey the information that husband didn't want too spicy and it wasn't, but very flavouful. I had the coconut shrimp, perfectly cooked, crispy and not over done. The sauce was mango with a tiny bit of heat. Worth a second visit for sure.

Just got home from our worst meal to date. We chose the place because it had great reviews on Trip Advisor, was steps from our lodging; it has been pouring rain most of the day and they had fish and chips which my husband felt he could manage. (He is not supposed to have anything crunchy or chewy or spicy or fibrous for the time being.) All the reviews raved about the empanadas there, so I ordered a chicken one and a Caesar salad. Empanada was pale, not the least bit crispy and was dripping oil. I ate the filling. My caesar salad was warmer than room temperature and had chicken in it which was not mentioned on the menu. I was kind of afraid to eat it so I just ate the croutons. Husbands chips were good but the fish must have been fried in the same not-hot-enough oil as my empanada and had no discernible seasoning. He was starving so he ate it. I will be leaving my own review! Fortunately I bought ice cream yesterday so we're about to have chocolate ice cream with a sliced banana. (No pictures because I forgot my phone.) Edited to add: The restaurant was called Cafe Orange and after a few minutes of arriving, we were the only people in the restaurant.

Dinner tonight was supposed to be soup but my husband kept saying "more pasta" so it is basically a very brothy pasta. I wanted to chop carrots in very fine dice but the knives available to me would have made that an arduous task. I used the old trick of doing them in the blender with a bit of water then draining. The broth was very concentrated but flavouful. I did chop some celery leaves very finely. It was good, if a bit unusal, neither soup nor pasta but it hit the spot and husband is satiated yet again.