Wait. Wot

Yeppers

We are having 12 people coming to join the two of us. It's going to be the largest dinner party here since the before times. We farmed out everything but the bird, gravy, stuffing, dressing and cranberry sauce. Speaking of the bird: 30 pounds of locally raised organic turkey brined, stuffed and ready to go into the oven. The stuffing is Pepperidge Farms herb seasoned with canned oysters and water chestnuts.

My mother fed us pork liver. It was the cheapest liver available so that is what she bought. I hated it. She was deathly afraid of trichinosis so she fried it until it was suitable for resoling shoes. We cut it with steak knives. I have since learned that well prepared liver makes for an excellent meal. My favorite liver is rabbit liver. I used to grow rabbits for meat. An 8 week old rabbit has a very large liver. Much larger than that of a chicken. Two of them are a substantial meal for one person.

It's an "Elda" made by J. A. Roby, Quebec, Canada. https://www.jaroby.com/en/produits.php?id=249&cat=15&sec=1 It's not obvious from the pictures that the oven door is also glass. This is our third winter with it. It heats most of the house as well as being a fun/challenging cooking device.

Tonight's porterhouse seared the way my great grandmother would have done.

Tonight I made shrimp and bay scallops using our own blush onions, pesto, grape tomatoes and gold peppers. Purchased organic peas for color contrast. Imported Baronia fusilli cooked al dente, finished in the sauce.

And perfectly cooked, too.

My last job was at a drinking company with a software problem.

My SO made this dinner to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my 30th birthday. Pan fried duck breast, rare, over our own sweet potatoes and onions with store bought spinach. Gravy made with our canned chicken stock. Daughters gifted us an appetizer plate of fruit, almonds, berries, pickles, cheese and prosciutto with fig jam and grain mustard. Bread and Butter chardonnay went with. Wine was a 1967 Haut Brion. It was fabulous for as long as it lasted. Dessert was dark chocolate avocado pudding with fresh fruit and berries (sorry, no pictures) accompanied by a 1951 late bottled (1973) vintage port. I doubt that I shall ever drink a wine as old as (or older than) I am ever again.

The soup was made with fresh tomatoes grown in Iceland. It was creamy with small chunks of tomato and it was very flavorful. The sandwich was made with icelandic sheep's milk cheese on artisanal bread made in house. It was in a funky, second floor walk-up coffee shop. We went back to Iceland in 2018 and found the building, but the coffee shop was no longer there.

SO does a protein smoothie so I do a steak. Bone in strip steak with red wine mushroom sauce, steamed brown rice and New Zealand spinach. Steak was SVed at 123F for two hours and seared an antique CIFP at 500F for 90 seconds per side. Streamer with brown rice and New Zealand spinach cooking. The steak is in a pot of water in the sink, awaiting its time in the CIFP. Plated New Zealand spinach is from our garden.

I'd love to try some Croatian dishes, please dish out some recipes. With pictures if you can.

Panini with ham, swiss cheese and sliced hard boiled egg on whole wheat.

Puts me in mind of tomato soup and grilled cheese I had in Reykjavik, Iceland, 8 years ago next month Thanks for dredging that memory up for me.

That's what I said about boning a 22# turkey, stuffing it and trussing it into a nearly natural shape before roasting it for a dinner party. Oh, and puff pastry, too.

What marvelous machine did you use for the ice cream?

Turkey breast cutlets sauteed with garlic, onions, fire roasted tomatoes and herbs with cauliflower from our garden, steamed.

Howdy, almost neighbor! Glad to hear from another Massachusetts member.

That is a thing of beauty in more ways than one.

Another porterhouse steak night. My SO is doing another four day cleanse so I made a very rare steak with baby bella mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, butter and red wine. The baked potatoes are two small red ones harvested from the compost pile. We didn't plant potatoes this year. The steak was SVed for 2.5 hours at 122F then seared in an antique CIFP at 500F for 100 seconds on each side. It was frozen solid when it went into the water.

Pork chop at Del Mar in Chatham on a bed of mashed potatoes with microgreens. Cooked to specifications, medium rare. Paired with a nice glass of Freak Show zinfandel.

Leftover paella from Bocado in Worcester. I added Aidells Italian chicken sausage and green beans.

Any well equipped kitchen has at least one pair of pliers and a blow torch.

Bone-in strip steak, brown rice steamed in homemade chicken stock, kale sauteed in olive oil with garlic and sherried baby bella mushrooms. Steak was frozen and SVed for two hours at 122F then seared in an antique CIFP at 500F.

Shrimp with our own onions, garlic, carrot, yellow pepper as well as ginger. Seasoned with Penzey's lemon pepper and ground coriander. Served with the season's first sweet potato, steamed.