Dinner! 2003

[hjshorter]

As requested by my daughter: "a giant salad, with cucumbers, red pepper, celery and lettuce, tuna fish sandwiches with carrots in the tuna, and some soup."

[helenjp]

Hmm...dinner...when was that, exactly, again??

We are working on a kind of endless rotation at present -- dinner has to provide leftovers for next day's lunch, and sometimes breakfast is cooked while doing the dinner dishes the night before [ prepare oven-baked french toast, rice congee and boiled eggs, porridge etc. for finishing in morning], or else breakfast has to be cooked in the morning at the same time as the rest of the lunchbox...the lunchbox cooking has to include soft items that can be dropped off at father-in-law's house for his lunch and maybe dinner...and before I leave the house, I start our dinner, and maybe add a couple of items to the "meals on wheels" menu.

So today's "elder menu" is egg rolls with finely chopped spinach in the middle, a bit of grilled salt salmon, and a thick rice congee for lunch, and then broccoli cooked squishy and mixed with shreds of chicken meat in a gingery chicken thickened clear sauce, eggplant grilled then peeled and heated through in a sweetish soy dip, miso soup, and soggy rice for dinner.

For dinner last night (racks brains, oh yes) we had grilled shishamo (skinny salt fish with roes) dragged out of the freezer, undressed boiled spinach, and miso soup with deep-fried tofu and broccoli, plus rice and natto, and served with plenty of apologies! No complaint from kids, who for dessert were allowed free access to the stuff St. Nicholas brought on the sixth! (Kids don't seem to have noticed that the onset of St. Nick's visits coincided with husband joining a German company...)

Dinner tonight depends on somehow getting to the supermarket today -- a favorite when I don't get there is a can of saba (mackerel) cooked with water-packed bamboo shoot in soy sauce and sweet sake, but I'm even out of those staples.

[dumpling]

shreds of chicken meat in a gingery chicken thickened clear sauce

One of my favorite comfort foods cooked with rice. Ginger is a lovely thing.

[SethG]

Tuesday night:

Laurie Colwin's fake Tandoori chicken;

Madhur Jaffrey's Gujerati-style green beans with mustard seed;

and basmati.

[spaghetttti]

Monday night:

Made breakfast for dinner: pancakes from scratch, over easy eggs, beef bacon, Australian grapes, apple juice and coffee.

Tuesday night:

Tahu telur (a tofu omelette) with a spicy peanut butter sauce, bean sprouts and chopped kyuri cucumber, topped with golden fried shallots and served with krupuk (shrimp puffs/chips) and brown rice. I was too lazy to trim the bean sprouts.

We really enjoyed this light meal, especially with the green tea we drank; it was very special, hand shlepped from Beijing by friends.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, tostadas. Refried beans made by me, leftover long-cooked pork roast carnitasized, all the usual-suspect toppings, salsa verde made by me, finely chopped cabbage, tomato (farmer's market tomatoes holding out so far!), grated cheese, sour cream. Seemed awfully summery to me, but the Consort and the 12-year-old were enthusastically adamant, adamantly enthusiastic, and so.

Fahster's, Mate, to drink.

[laurel]

Mozzarella-making gathering last night:

We of course had to start out with a cheese plate:

Fresh cow's milk cheese I made last week, Nokkelost and Smoked Gouda Joe and I picked up at Everybody's Store last weekend. Placebo brought some curds and Jack cheese made at Beecher's, as well as another really good aged cheese (which I forgot what it was again), and wesza brought some crackers and bread from Tall Grass Bakery (OK, so more like a cheese table...).

While we were stirring the cheese, we had:

Ezell's fried chicken, contributed by heyjude

albacore and white maguro sashimi that Joe picked up from Uwajimaya

a salad with red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, and olive-oil marinated feta

roasted kabocha squash

cranberry beans

parsnip gratin

Finally, after all the pulling and kneading, we got a chance to eat the mozzarella we made.

Then, for dessert, we had the rhubarb custard tart from Slow Mediterranean Kitchen with some cultured cream.

[torakris]

still only midway through an inredibly busy week, last night threw together

flour tortillas filled with

Chinese style roast pork

Asian style coleslaw

[SobaAddict70]

Tuesday dinner:

chicken adobo

stir-fried mixed vegetables

steamed rice

Poland Spring

blueberry yogurt

Chicken adobo is one of those dishes that gets better the day after. Unfortunately it's 6:30 pm and I'm still in the office. Oh well...

Soba

[Susan in FL]

Tonight fresh local stone crab claws as an appetizer (ice-cold with Dijon-Mayo dipping sauce), and then fresh local flounder cooked this way, Israeli couscous cooked risotto-style, and roasted asparagus.

[dumpling]

Wednesday

Ginger Chicken Casserole- boneless chicken thighs chopped, floured and sauteed then mixed and slow cooked in casserole with ginger, basil, soy sauce, white wine, chicken broth, shallots, mushrooms, bean thread noodles

Whipped Acorn Squash (with milk, ginger and cinnamon)

Stir Fried Yu Choy with Oyster Sauce

Also in process of making some mint chocolate chip walnut ice cream. Ready tomorrow...

Today just Christmas cookies for dessert

Edited December 11, 2003 by dumpling (log)

[liamsaunt]

Wednesday: cassoulet. I made it Sunday while snowed in, and just reheated it today after work. Last night we went out to dinner (too sore from shoveling to cook!). Monday: Roast butternut squash lasagna, brussels sprouts shredded and seared, pinot noir.

[gus_tatory]

18 malpeque oysters, 18 caraquets, lemons, grey shallots, creamed horseradish, green onions, tabasco, grey goose vodka.

[SethG]

Wednesday:

Cod fillet with a red pepper sauce;

garlic/buttermilk mashed potatoes;

and oven-steamed (or whatever) leeks in vinaigrette.

[Suzanne F]

(I love following Seth and his adorable little chayote!)

Wednesday:

Pork chops marinated in tamarind nectar, miso shiro, and grated ginger. The chops seared in the regular cast-iron skillet, then finished in the oven with the marinade (with a little extra soy sauce and fish sauce; the miso didn't add enough salt) cooked down to a glaze.

Somen noodles with sesame oil and shichimi.

Swiss chard with a touch of herb butter (left from last night's red snapper/potato dinner)

Salad with creamy garlic dressing.

Beer (Saranac Black and Tan)

[SobaAddict70]

Wednesday evening was dinner in the office:

barbecued salmon (was actually kinda good)

corn salsa with pickled jalapenos (not bad)

red beans and rice

Poland Spring

oranges

plain yogurt

Soba

[SethG]

(I love following Seth and his adorable little chayote!)

Thanks! I need a blushing emoticon right here.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, cabbage & potato soup with cream. Also croque madame sandwiches, bread from my old pain de mie pan making nice square slices a reality. Oh a person can make a croque madame/monsieurish sandwich on bread with a rounded top or from an oval loaf, of course, done it my own darn self, many a time, but there is something just so right about those square slices.

Also a slice of tomato in addition to the fried egg. The tomato variant, whether it be non-egg monsieur or with-egg madame, seems to have no name of its own. However, it's a worthy addition to the flavor profile, if the tomato is sliced meticulously thin and tastes halfway decent, as was/did this December farmer's market tomato.

[torakris]

Thursday:

lasagna

brown mushroom, celery, and shaved parmasean with some lemon juie and EVOO

[Susan in FL]

Tonight we made homemade Caesar salad with this dressing and fried oysters. The lime juice and red wine vinegar, instead of the usual lemon juice, was very good.

[SobaAddict70]

Thursday dinner in the office: black and white sesame crusted cod, couscous, steamed broccoli, sweet potato puree.

Grapefruit juice.

As our cafeteria food goes, this wasn't that bad. I'll have to re-evaluate.

Heading home soon, hopefully...

Maybe have a midnight snack later.

Soba

[liamsaunt]

thursday: spaghetti and meatballs.

[FoodMan]

In preparation to make a Cassoulet sometime soon, I had made duck stock (which jelled up nicely), and duck confit. So for the past two days we had duck for dinner.

Wednesday:

Duck breast, pan seared till the skin is nice an crispy. Served with roasted root vegetables (sweet potatoes, parsnips, Yukon gold potatoes, and carrots) tossed with honey, balsamic and marjoram. Topped the duck with a sauce made with duck stock, Grand Marnier, orange zest and raisins.

Dessert: individual Genoise cake with buttercream frosting.

Thursday:

Duck leg confit, crisped up in the oven. Served with potatoes roasted in duck fat with chopped garlic and a salad of celery hearts and romaine tossed with EVOO and chopped preserved lemon.

Elie

[torakris]

Friday dinner

This week has been one of those 'let's see how long I can go with out going to the grocery' weeks, so I pulled out of my refrigerator:

sashimi style tuna (was frozen) and one very ripe avocado with some soy sauce and a generous dash of tabasco

hokiko (the egg sacs from the hoki fish) simmered with shirataki in a soy-mirin-sugar sauce

dashimaki-tamago Japanese sweetened thick egg omelette

cucumber pickles

miso soup with daikon and aburage

Japanese rice

[torakris]

Saturday dinner

I will be going to a potluck Christmas Party tonight and I am making a chocolate and vanilla marbled cheesecake and a potato and onion fritatta.

I will be going shopping tomorrow!