Dinner! 2004

[Susan in FL]

The meat looked great, but did you see the expression on the Baby's face! That is priceless. Does he eat me yet? It looked like he was impressed as we are with the cut of beef. What a cutie!

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Yes! I immediately noticed that expression, too. Great picture, in all regards.

If those photos don't make one hungry for beef, nothing will!

Edited November 29, 2004 by Susan in FL (log)

[lovebenton0]

Wow, it's been family and eG gatherings for days! Family was at our house, as usual.

T-day:

Starters: Gorgonzola/garlic chive/cream cheese spread with crudites

almond and jalapeno stuffed olives

pickled peppers from the garden

cornichon pickles

deviled eggs (first food contribution by step-daughter home from college )

Turkey roasted LA style with bacon strips across the breasts, in a cheesecloth shroud soaked with EVOO, and onion, celery parsley in cavity. First time to do this and it was fantastic!

Baked lots of breads/rolls, meal and sweet, as you can see here.

Cornbread dressing with pork mincemeat (pork, dried apples, dried pears, golden raisins, onion, sage, thyme, allspice, pepper, bourbon -- put up for a week to set in flavors and mix with cornbread for dressing.

Giblet gravy

Acorn Squash with Apricot Wild Rice Stuffing

White soft rolls and mixed grain hard rolls

Cranberry/orange relish with Grand Marnier (from brother)

Mix veg salad in vinaigrette -- and cole slaw () (both from Mom)

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake (divinely sinful by brother)

Friday:

Sour cream turkey enchiladas topped with sliced red jalapenoes

Romaine, scallion salad with avocado salsa verde to dress

Sweet Potatoes with Plantains and Pecans (which were made for Thursday but I left them in the warmer so we had Mexican/Southern fusion meal Friday night with the turkey makeovers. Actually a good match, I think it was the plantains that pulled it off.

Saturday: Out, cold, from, holiday, week, guests.

Sunday: Austin eG gathering in the afternoon, with assortment of strange and unusual foods -- including fried pickles/oreos/and tea sandwiches. However there was also a great home-cured gravelox with sour cream and capers to pile on party pump bread, cold Senegalese Blender Soup with toasted coconut and Ugandan Peanut Chicken and Rice that were all delicious. Just picked at salad and had small turkey sandwiches later in the evening. Not nearly as big as Jason's -- but still with dressing and cranberry relish, then smeared with cranberry relish/mayo/horseradish sauce on home made white/egg bread.

New avatar is from the sweet potato bread big loaf (about 16"x8") filled with golden raisins and pecans I baked Thursday very early in the morning.

[Milt]

Our Thanksgiving Day meal included an appetizer of squash soup, which I made from a (part of a) cabeza squash. It included the squash, chicken stock, heavy cream, salt, pepper. Our turkey was the most beautiful and the tastiest we have had in quite some time. We usually buy a very large tom and have plenty of meat leftover for casseroles, sandwiches, etc. This time I bought a 10+ pound Butterball turkey, and we (9 of us) nearly consumed it all. One friend brought in homemade apple sauce, along with a jar of cranberry chutney she had just made and another a cranberry salad. All were excellent. We made mashed potatoes with turkey gravey, baked mashed sweet potatoes, and the best dressing my wife has ever made. I still like mine better, but I am the only one in our family who does. Two pitchers of tea - one sweet and one not. Desserts were a traditional pumpkin pie and an apple pecan pie. Leftovers held us until Saturday evening, when we tired of turkey and did a marinated pork loin.

[handmc]

cold Senegalese Blender Soup with toasted coconut

Do you have the recipe? Please o' Please

[FoodMan]

Sunday-

A traditional Colombian dinner at my in-laws house. Braised beef tongue served with rice, avocados, limes and fried plantains. I love the stuff, too bad my mother in law does not make it more often.

Monday-

crockpot dinner of pork and beans with tomato paste, lots of onions and garlic.

Elie

[lovebenton0]

cold Senegalese Blender Soup with toasted coconut

Do you have the recipe? Please o' Please

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Jaymes brought the soup and the Ugandan Peanut Chicken -- I was planning to ask her for those anyway so I'll be glad to pass it on if I'm able to get that, handmc. It was luscious!

Tonight we did not have turkey! My mr brought home a pack of beautiful NY strips and all the makings for a grill out burger with mushrooms/onions sauteed in butter/soy and Beaujolais Noveau (from Friday's dinner) on toasted onion buns with melted Swiss, dijon mustard. I ground two of the steaks for burgers and kept the third for beef larb sometime this week. Nothing like home ground meat. And he just wanted to grill burgers, not have a steak -- so with an 80 degree afternoon that hit the spot. Tater tots and Romaine salad on the side with crumbled gorgonzola, scallions and apple/pear slices, splash of basalmic.

Edited November 30, 2004 by lovebenton0 (log)

[Susan in FL]

We have been with our oysters as some of you have been with your turkey. Judith, all of your burger dinner -- home ground beef, and your fixin's -- sounded wonderful!

Last night I ate one raw oyster before dinner, just to play the silly game and keep the streak going. Russ made chicken, spaghetti with a quick marinara sauce, and caesar salad for dinner. Tonight oysters are going in a Gumbo we're making.

[Ling]

Last night, I topped a hanger steak with a sauce made from olive oil, garlic, parsley, and anchovies.

And for dessert, I had the apple crisp I made the night before.

Edited November 30, 2004 by Ling (log)

[Viola da gamba]

The last of the steak & mushroom pie, stir-fried mayan onions & red peppers with balsamic & habanero, giant chocolate toffee cookies for dessert.

[lovebenton0]

We have been with our oysters as some of you have been with your turkey.    Judith, all of your burger dinner -- home ground beef, and your fixin's -- sounded wonderful!

Last night I ate one raw oyster before dinner, just to play the silly game and keep the streak going.  Russ made chicken, spaghetti with a quick marinara sauce, and caesar salad for dinner.  Tonight oysters are going in a Gumbo we're making.

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Oh, Susan! How I would be loving some of those oysters about now. Gumbo with oysters sounds so good! I'm missing something here -- like okra, which I require in mine -- or it would be turkey ' sausage gumbo here tonight. Next best thing is simmering on the stove right now -- turkey and dumplings.

[rooftop1000]

hi hi

no pictures but had so much fun with my "new" electric Fondue pot...(MIL just moved and gave it to me)

...did the oil type fondue with ...everything including,

shrimp- fahita marinated skirt steak (thats how i freeze it so..)- chile rubbed pork butt strips- ginger scallion mini meatballs- homemade rice balls- Mrs Ts mini peirogis- scallion,onion,asparagus,and broccoli with tempura batter and....hmmmm anything else....and chocolate cherry cake from The Cake DR

for hubby's Bday

I better go get the rest of my butt out of the crock pot...

Tracey

[percyn]

Sunday's light dinner...Homemade sushi (I am still trying to get the hang of making sushi at home). In Japan, new sushi chefs make rice for 3 yrs before moving handling the fish. I spent 3 minutes...dosen't it show?

Maki Sushi (wrapped in seaweed) - Spicy tuna rolls

Nigiri (raw fish on the rice) - Maguro (tuna).

Temaki Sushi (hand rolled sushi) - Spicy tuna

Can you tell I like spicy tuna? Even when I order sushi in restaurants (usually at least once a week), I have to get a side order of spicy tuna, and then generally get some sashimi (raw fish). They must spike the spicy tuna rolls with some addictive ingredients. Served with my favorite pair of chopsticks, which I got in Tokyo (at the airport of all places - hope that is not lead paint on them).

Cheers

P

[percyn]

Tuesday's Dinner

Angus (Philly) Cheesesteak ... the way my wife likes it (salt, pepper and swiss cheese)

...and the way I like it (sautéed onions [ran out of Trader Joe's caramelized red onions], mushrooms, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill BBQ sauce, Trader Joes's Grilled Vegetable Tapenade, and the kitchen sink). Still no match for Jason's sandwich

We spilt the 6" sub, so I decided to make a salad topped with skirt steak, which was marinated for 20 min in Trader Joe's Island Teriyaki marinade (garlic, some spices and teriyaki) and seared in a case iron pan. That's odd.... I was just discussing this with Ling earlier today.

Wine - Had an open bottle of Foley's Pinot Noir.

Cheers

Percy

Edited December 1, 2004 by percyn (log)

[Susan in FL]

...Served with my favorite pair of chopsticks, which I got in Tokyo (at the airport of all places - hope that is not lead paint on them). 

Do you bring your own chopsticks into sushi restaurants? Of course... Why not, what a great idea. (That would be a DUH... on my part.)

Your homemade sushi looks great.

And now to the other side of the world for the origin of our dinner... The Chicken, Sausage, and Oyster Gumbo was delicious. (Including Okra, Judith. ) Russ did the roux, as I had a meeting early this evening. His was darker than what I have made, which if I understand correctly, made the Gumbo not as thick. The chicken was thigh meat, the sausage was andouille, and the oysters were almost the last of our supply.

[Susan in FL]

...simmering on the stove right now -- turkey and dumplings. 

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.... Texas.... Do you make slippery dumplings or the puffy drop dumplings?

[Rehovot]

Giant pot of lentil soup, for us, and latkes with a little bit of mushroom - sour-cream topping.

Mushroom thing was the only Thanksgiving Leftover to make an appearance at this meal.

[lovebenton0]

...simmering on the stove right now -- turkey and dumplings. 

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.... Texas.... Do you make slippery dumplings or the puffy drop dumplings?

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Turkey and dumplings, I also fruity cole slaw earlier, then we shared a mini pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

I have really started to make smaller dumplings in the past couple of years -- although whether they are more bready (rounder) or more noodly (thinner and in strips) depends on my food mood and what I'm cooking them with. Recently I have really enjoyed forming them into about silver dollar sized patties about 1/4 thick. They puff up nicely to be roundish and satisfying dumplings with more surface area coated with the soup/stew. I guess you could say these in particular were little puffy slippery dumps.

BTW, Susan, that gumbo looks great! Must be the okra! Gumbo is on my serious meal list for the weekend.

[Ling]

I had a quick meal of Japanese curry (Glico), with pork, potatoes, and veggies. And a frozen banana for dessert.

lovebenton0: that turkey and dumpling dish looks hearty and delicious!

[lovebenton0]

cold Senegalese Blender Soup with toasted coconut

Do you have the recipe? Please o' Please

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With her permission I will post exactly what Jaymes told me.

All it was was a can of cream of chicken soup, a tall can of evaporated  milk, a half-tsp of curry powder, and juice of half a lemon, whizzed around in the blender, and then chilled.  You toast some sweetened, shredded coconut to garnish.  I actually intended to bring it as something of a joke, but it turned out to be great!  I really enjoyed it as well....  Decided I want to do a little investigating online and find out what the real recipes are for Senegalaise soup.  Think it must be something wonderful, if the "quicky" shortcut version is that good.

But now I'm a little embarrassed to have it posted.  If you do, please point out that the theme of the evening was not exactly "fine gourmet dining," okay??? 

The theme of the gathering was Strange and Unusual Foods. I believe I posted that that included the deep frying and consuming of oreos, pickles, pickled peppers and peanut butter/cheese/dill pickle and chipolte mayo tea sandwiches. So no, this was not a gourmet attempt. However, we did have a few unusual and fine dishes to eat -- and I (as well as many others) considered the Senegalaise soup to be among those. I was just as surprised by the recipe as Jaymes was embarrassed by it but I swear you would never know that Campbell's touched your palate.

We are both now interested to find the real thing, so if anyone has a clue. . .

  I had a quick meal of Japanese curry (Glico), with pork, potatoes, and veggies. And a frozen banana for dessert.

lovebenton0: that turkey and dumpling dish looks hearty and delicious!

Ling, thanks, that turkey made the deepest richest stock -- I'm in love. Can hardly wait to do gumbo this weekend.

Was that a plain or chocolate-covered frozen banana? Used to love those when I was a kid in MI.

[rabidscottsman]

Last night before I went to work I stopped into a restaurant called Satay 2 Go. I got a order of Laska. Its a Malaysian curry rice noodle soup with bean sprouts, shredded chicken breast and tofu.

It was really good, and it had the perfect amount of spice to it. I would give the spiciness a 5 to 6 on a scale of 10.

I have been surfing the web looking for a recipe and i havent been able to find anything yet

[rabidscottsman]

oops i mispelled the name of the soup...its laksa

[FoodMan]

Last night I had a very fast and simple favorite of mine, avocado slices, sea salt and tomato chutney sandwich on homemade multigrain bread.

Elie

[little ms foodie]

Susan, I may have missed this earlier in the thread but when you and Russ get fresh oysters how long can you keep them? And how do you keep them? I'm asking because Dayne and I buy fresh oysters periodically and have always been told to use them by the next day. Just wondering!

[reesek]

last night i made reuben sandwiches. i needed some comfort food after searching (unsucessfully) for my missing cat.

i decided to make my own as deli is a hard battle in seattle. i ordered 2 grilled (i know) reubens on sunday from the mom & pop deli by my house and was asked (among other atrocities), " lettuce & tomato?" "mayo & mustard?" and the worst of all... "what kind of bread?"

my effort was definintely tainted by worry. sigh. but i think it's more than that...even the bread at the grocery store wasn't right. not enough crust and the flavor wasn't rye-y enough. corned beef was ok. very lean, which i prefer, but not super flavorful. does anyone know deitz and watson? that's the brand the gourmet deli carries.

[Chufi]

  i needed some comfort food after searching (unsucessfully) for my missing cat.

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I hope you will find your cat. Losing a pet is terrible..

Comfort food here as well. We had a bowl of pasta with fennel and chorizo and then this Chocolate coconut cardamom ricepudding. It doesn't look very pretty but it tasted fantastic. I made it as comfort food for my friend who got fired this week.