Dinner 2016 (Part 9)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Can't hardly wait, @sartoric!

[Shelby]

Hot wings

 

[liuzhou]

I've had an exhausting day, Shopping, shucking oysters, making bread, making liver pâté. Cleaning apartment and writing a 3000 word article. At least I should get paid for the last task!

 

So, no photographs tonight and no cooking. I picked up a large slab of very fresh sashimi grade salmon earlier and that was my dinner. With some salad.

 

I did also buy a new mortar and pestle this morning, though. No idea why. I already have four.

 

 

[HungryChris]

Fresh pasta and peppers from the Central Market, Florence, fresh sausage from a butcher down the street from our apt and my second shot at bruschetta like we had at La Castellana in Montefioralle. The  pasta with sausage and peppers was spot on, even though the sauce had not cooked all day. I am closing in on the bruschetta and am quite pleased with the progress. That is all I have to say for now.

HC

 

[sartoric]

Crab with lime chilli garlic dipping sauce, a salad, and crusty bread.

 

[Kerry Beal]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I've had an exhausting day, Shopping, shucking oysters, making bread, making liver pâté. Cleaning apartment and writing a 3000 word article. At least I should get paid for the last task!

 

So, no photographs tonight and no cooking. I picked up a large slab of very fresh sashimi grade salmon earlier and that was my dinner. With some salad.

 

I did also buy a new mortar and pestle this morning, though. No idea why. I already have four.

 

 

I've got 4 within sight right now - 2 cast iron, 1 granite, 1 ceramic. And my internal magpie wants yours - it's shiny! I think there is one made out of a block of salt in a box in the next room.

[scubadoo97]

I'm attempting a white ramen soup with a SV chicken breast, stock from yesterday's two chickens and enoki and white beech mushrooms.  Just off the cuff stuff from what's in the fridge.

[HungryChris]

6 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I've got 4 within sight right now - 2 cast iron, 1 granite, 1 ceramic. And my internal magpie wants yours - it's shiny! I think there is one made out of a block of salt in a box in the next room.

@Kerry Beal Have you given any thought to a molcajete? If you get one that is made from the dark volcanic lava stone, you just cannot beat them after they are broken in.

[Okanagancook]

I have been tempted to buy a molcajete because the surface looks like it will grind stuff earlier....like adding salt to a regular stone mortar.  I have a large stone mortar and pestle and it is large enough that I can pound the ingredients as along as I don't add too much but a large molcajete seems like it might be easier.  Never been in a position to haul it home efficiently!

[Kerry Beal]

16 minutes ago, HungryChris said:

@Kerry Beal Have you given any thought to a molcajete? If you get one that is made from the dark volcanic lava stone, you just cannot beat them after they are broken in.

Now - did I say I actually use them? 

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by Kerry Beal (log)

[HungryChris]

7 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Now - did I say I actually use them?

 

Well, then, the molcajete has now moved into the objectd'art column, where I believe it should feel at home too.

HC

Edited September 19, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[chefmd]

Fried rice with bacon, salami, green pepper, farm fresh egg.

 

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I've got 4 within sight right now - 2 cast iron, 1 granite, 1 ceramic. And my internal magpie wants yours - it's shiny! I think there is one made out of a block of salt in a box in the next room.

 

We're nearly matched  - I have 1 wooden, 1 granite, 1 ceramic, and my favourite - 1 marble. And now one stainless steel.

 

Edited September 20, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[gfweb]

On 9/16/2016 at 3:14 PM, rotuts said:

@sartoric  

 

next time mix in some horseradish into the catsup  if that's the red stuff.   enough to just almost sneeze.

 

Or Sriracha

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My favorite is marble too!

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Well, I had dinner, but it is a sad tale. Everything on the plate was pretty bad, and worse, I was completely responsible for this gustatory failure.

 

My husband did not excoriate anything, nor did he praise it, as he usually does. He did not eat more than a few forkfuls. I was similarly disappointed, but I choked mine down because I was hungry.

 

I served the leftover salt and pepper shrimp, and as I had been warned, it loses its crispness if not eaten quickly. I ate a couple of heads and tails and most of the legs, and peeled the bodies and ate those. My husband ate one, but spit most of it out. Peeling his own shrimp is just not something he's interested in doing. They were so good the first time fresh cooked, but this dish does not lend itself to leftovers.

 

I had a stash of purple hull peas in the freezer that I had been anticipating since I bought them. They were frozen from fresh. They were the mealiest pulses I believe I've ever eaten.

 

I made a salad with lemon tahini dressing, green bell pepper, grated carrot, iceberg lettuce, peeled store bought cucumber and a garden tomato. It was a waste of the garden tomato, that was very good when I chomped on the stem core and a wedge I snitched while preparing the salad. The dressing was fine when I tasted it for seasoning, but the finished dish sucked hard. I really don't know what happened, but I think I prefer a leaf lettuce with lemon tahini dressing.

 

It doesn't help that my husband brought home a nasty respiratory infection that is messing with our taste, smell and ability to even draw breath. Yeah, I'm sick. That's my lame excuse, but I think this is one of the worst meals I have ever had, where every single dish was really, really bad.

 

I also made a creamy herb sauced angel hair pasta. I later figured out why it was sticking together so badly. I forgot to add the butter! I have made this dish a hundred times or more.

 

Bless his heart, my husband requested the leftovers for lunch.  I knew he wouldn't eat the shrimp, so I gave him the purple hull peas and some of the pasta with his container of cantaloupe he did not eat yesterday in favor of the catfish sandwich I also sent. Every thing else went down the garbage disposal. I almost never do that, but I could not face this terrible food again. If my husband is smart, he will ditch the food in the construction dumpster, except the cantaloupe, get one of his guys to bring him takeout, and bring the container home pretending he ate it. 

 

Well tomorrow is another day. I am sure dinner will be better then. Well I sure hope so anyway.

[HungryChris]

22 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Well tomorrow is another day. I am sure dinner will be better then. Well I sure hope so anyway.

There are very few things more demoralizing than putting good effort into a meal that comes out as if you tried to screw it up.

Moving on is the only hope. You'll know you've recovered when you can laugh about it.

HC 

[liuzhou]

47 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Well tomorrow is another day. I am sure dinner will be better then. Well I sure hope so anyway.

 

We've all had days like that, I'm sure. And being sick is not a lame excuse. Apart from that I can't add anything to @HungryChris's response.

[VioletGibson]

On 17.09.2016 г. at 4:19 AM, David Ross said:

Sorry, my poor, too-much green in this photo doesn't do the dish justice, it was delicious.  Olive-oil poached halibut (a Mario Batali recipe), homemade ricotta ravioli and pesto. 

 

 

It looks soooo delicious!

[liamsaunt]

fish tacos

 

[Shelby]

Needed something quick and easy.  Hotdog night.  I was so tired that I think I forgot the ketchup lol.

 

 

I hope you and your husband feel better soon, TFTC!

[liuzhou]

Tonight did not go according to plan. I intended to make something completely different, but around 4 pm got a call requiring me to head off early tomorrow morning for a short (two day trip) for work. I don't really want to go but it pays for my beer and noodles.

So instead I picked up a bag of frozen shrimp. Bad mistake. My seafood girl would never forgive me if she knew. Then quickly fried them up with some garlic and chilli and served with linguine.

 

The shrimp were undercooked, so I threw the whole thing back in the wok for about 30 seconds and re-plated - now they were overcooked. I haven't under or overcooked shrimp for decades. Never again.

 

 

I ate it anyway.

Edited September 20, 2016 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[Shelby]

Just now, liuzhou said:

Tonight did not go according to plan. I intended to make something completely different, but around 4 pm got a call requiring me to head off early tomorrow morning for a short (two trip) for work. I don't really want to go but it pays for my beer and noodles.

So instead I picked up a bag of frozen shrimp. Bad mistake. My seafood girl would never forgive me is she knew. Then quickly fried them up with some garlic and chilli and served with linguine.

 

The shrimp were undercooked, so I threw the whole thing back in the wok for about 30 seconds and re-plated - now they were overcooked. I haven't under or overcooked shrimp for decades. Never again.

 

 

I ate it anyway.

Well, it looks good! 

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

fish tacos

 

 

That looks delicious.  What's in the topping?

[mgaretz]

El Pollo Loco-style chicken again.  This time I forgot to add the yellow food coloring!  Served with pinto beans doctored with a bit of Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory BBQ sauce, salad and the last of the Old Soul Zin.