The Ladies Who Lunch (Part 3)

[ElsieD]

@Anna N  Nice looking lunch you have there!

[Anna N]

Well we are adapting our Ladies who Lunch routine to limitations placed on us by Covid  We almost never do lunch on Sunday but here we are. @Kerry Bealstopped at one of our favourite hangouts, Sakai, and brought lunch to my house.

 

 

Steak sashimi. 
 

 

 

Seafood Pa Jun

 

 

 

 

 
 

Our plates. They included the two dishes above and Shrimp Rocks, a favourite appetizer, shrimp and vegetable tempura, and mandu.

 

 I ate far too much.

 

There was a little of the seafood pancake left which Kerry took home with her and a few mandu which stayed here   
 

I won’t be able to think of food for days.

 

[rotuts]

excellent excellent  excellent

 

put a big smile on my face 

 

these days

 

that counts for a lot

 

and , well , looked like Good Eats

 

for both of you

 

a Bonus !

[Shelby]

I'm super jealous!!!!  And, thanks, for a bit of normal in this very abnormal time.

[rotuts]

now Ive never heard of 

 

Seafood Pa Jun

 

so I looked it up.

 

rats .  i would have loved it!

[Jacksoup]

@Anna Nso happy to see you posting more regularly again.  I’ve missed you.

[heidih]

59 minutes ago, rotuts said:

now Ive never heard of 

 

Seafood Pa Jun

 

so I looked it up.

 

rats .  i would have loved it!

 

@rarerollingobject laughed when she posted this as across continents we had the exact same brand in our pantries when I did my food blog after. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/139829-eg-foodblog-rarerollingobject-2011-mealtimes-at-the-university-of/?do=findComment&comment=1830267

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by heidih (log)

[Anna N]

Not sure when or if we will ever return to dining in restaurants but that doesn’t mean we cannot still carry on the tradition of the Ladies who Lunch!

This tiny Vietnamese restaurant seems to have so far survived by offering takeout and recently was allowed to open for indoor dining. Kerry dropped in here today to pick up our lunch. 
 

 

Pho ga for Kerry

 

 

And the most amazing pork meatball Banh Mi for me. There were three meatballs and any one of them would make a meal. I behaved in a much more civilized manner this time and ate only enough to be satisfied. The remainder is stashed in my fridge for dinner this evening and perhaps even breakfast tomorrow. I don’t think the photograph does justice to the size of these meatballs. Each was at least as big as a golf ball. 

[Anna N]

It seems like only yesterday I was reporting about lunch and it really isn’t very long ago but here we are again. Kerry stopped off at The Burnt Tongue  on Locke Street in Hamilton and grab the soup for me and sandwiches for herself. Apparently as Kerry discovered today all their sandwiches are basically grilled cheese sandwiches with various and sundry additional elements. 
 

 

Thai pork ball soup. This was an odd concoction. It was quite palatable but had little to remind me of Thai food. It was more like a cabbage soup with some well seasoned pork meatballs. I still have a little left for another meal.

 

I still have a little left for another meal.

 

 

Sandwiches for Kerry. One is grilled cheese and French onion and the other is grilled cheese with spinach and artichoke. She managed to eat one and a half sandwiches and I can look forward to the remaining half sandwich at another time.

[heidih]

@Anna N French onion?

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

@Anna N French onion?

From the menu which is on their website, posted above, white cheddar and caramelized onions. 

[shain]

Thai. Returned to a place we visited a two months ago.

 

Yum won sen. Mung bean noodles salad. Sweet-spicy-acidic, plenty of herbs.

Phad phak bung. Stir fried morning glory and shrimps. Oyster sauce, fermented soy beans, soy sauce, nearly whole garlic cloves, chilies. Lots of "wok hei". With sticky rice. So good.

Pad thai with eggs and shrimp (mixed it all up before remembering to take the picture). Really good, nice wok hei, well seasoned, not sweet or overly sauce. I'm always hesitant of ordering pad thai, it's often overly localized, but this place got my trust the last time. Still needed some extra chili sauce.

Massaman curry with tofu, onions, potatoes, peanuts, fried shallots. A little too much tomato to my taste, but it was OK.

 

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by shain (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

On 8/11/2020 at 12:24 PM, Anna N said:

 

 

 

T

 

...grilled cheese with spinach and artichoke.

 

This sounds superb.    On my first trip to Italy I discovered spinach and mozzarella grilled sandwiches, panini., which quickly became my daily "bar" breakfast order. 

[heidih]

41 minutes ago, shain said:

Thai. Returned to a place we visited a two months ago.

 

Yum won sen. Mung bean noodles salad. Sweet-spicy-acidic, plenty of herbs.

Phad phak bung. Stir fried morning glory and shrimps. Oyster sauce, fermented soy beans, soy sauce, nearly whole garlic cloves, chilies. Lots of "wok hei". With sticky rice. So good.

Pad thai with eggs and shrimp (mixed it all up before remembering to take the picture). Really good, nice wok hei, well seasoned, not sweet or overly sauce. I'm always hesitant of ordering pad thai, it's often overly localized, but this place got my trust the last time. Still needed some extra chili sauce.

Massaman curry with tofu, onions, potatoes, peanuts, fried shallots. A little too much tomato to my taste, but it was OK.

 

 

Wow nice dishes and the mention of good wok hei. There was a place by my office that did it well. My assistant , the first time, ordered pad see ew and I was fearing mush but we got the perfect wok hei.  A pleasant surprise. We went there weekly! Alternating with the Mexican mariscos place also around the corner. She couldn't handle a whole fried fish on the table so I only got to envy the other workers. 

[shain]

57 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

Wow nice dishes and the mention of good wok hei. There was a place by my office that did it well. My assistant , the first time, ordered pad see ew and I was fearing mush but we got the perfect wok hei.  A pleasant surprise. We went there weekly! Alternating with the Mexican mariscos place also around the corner. She couldn't handle a whole fried fish on the table so I only got to envy the other workers. 

 

Yes, pad see ew is all about technique, it's not trivial to get a good char on the noodles and keep a good bite.

They served it at the restaurant, but only with beef, so I didn't get to try.

They also have a garden where they grow many ingredients, some of them are hard to get in here: morning glory, Thai basil and holy basil, "Thai celery", even the tomatoes (which are obviously not hard to source). Last time they also had long beans and Thai eggplants.

[Anna N]

 

@shain— your lunch looks delicious. Thank you for sharing.

 

Once again @Kerry Beal brought lunch to my house. This time, at my request, she found a place that cooks a whole pig Chinese style.  I have been missing this tweet since lockdown began in March. She was able to find us in Nations in Jackson Square, Hamilton. She selected some dim sum dishes to go along with the pork. 
 

 

Mixed vegetables. 
 

 

Noodles with rice.

 

 

Not quite sure what do use are called but they were stuffed dumplings and extremely tasty. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

The pork of which there was an abundance.

There was also some squid which didn’t get photographed before it was served.

 

 

My plate. Lots of leftovers in my refrigerator to enjoy over the next day or so.

 

 

 

[heidih]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

The pork of which there was an abundance.

There was also some squid which didn’t get photographed before it was served.

 

 

Beautiful looking pork. I've not had breakfast and would gladly partake. You called it squid not calamari! Is this a new Anna?!  Did you see this? https://www.vulture.com/2020/08/rhode-island-features-calamari-in-dnc-roll-call.html

[Anna N]

Today @Kerry Beal picked up lunch from Charred and brought it to my place. She also served it up!  This was the piri Piri whole chicken dinner with three sides. We both decided of the sides we would prefer a double order of the potatoes rather than the other options.

 

 

Described as creamy chipotle coleslaw I wore out my taste buds trying to detect even hint of chipotle.

 

 

The chicken which was beautifully cooked and very juicy.

 

 

 

But the star of the show is the potatoes.  They are cooked beneath the chicken so they pick up all the flavour.
 

 

 

Two plates served up in the kitchen.
 

 

A close-up of my plate. (The chicken looks overcooked but it certainly wasn’t). The bonus:  lots of leftovers. 

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Today @Kerry Beal picked up lunch from Charred and brought it to my place. She also served it up!  This was the piri Piri whole chicken dinner with three sides. We both decided of the sides we would prefer a double order of the potatoes rather than the other options.

 

 

Described as creamy chipotle coleslaw I wore out my taste buds trying to detect even hint of chipotle.

 

 

The chicken which was beautifully cooked and very juicy.

 

 

 

But the star of the show is the potatoes.  They are cooked beneath the chicken so they pick up all the flavour.
 

 

 

Two plates served up in the kitchen.
 

 

A close-up of my plate. (The chicken looks overcooked but it certainly wasn’t). The bonus:  lots of leftovers. 

Spicy?

 

[Anna N]

22 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Spicy?

Surprisingly no. I did not find it spicy, not even the sauce. 

[Okanagancook]

Not spicy!  I bought some piripiri peppers and steeped them in oil for a couple of months in a dark cupboard.  This is brushed on the roasting chicken...well, at least this is the traditional method for piri piri Chicken.  Wow, that is hot.
Yours should have some heat don’t you think.  Why call it piri piri chicken if it isn’t a tad on the spicy side.

 

this is a pet peeve...something called what it is not...a frequent Chopped criticism of dishes.

[gfweb]

22 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

this is a pet peeve...something called what it is not...a frequent Chopped criticism of dishes.

Me too.

A turkey sandwich with coleslaw on rye is no kind of Reuben

[Okanagancook]

3 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Me too.

A turkey sandwich with coleslaw on rye is no kind of Reuben

Exactly!

This could morph into a subject on its own...but if a restaurant is going to alter a ‘classic’ dish then that needs to be documented in the menu so you can decide if you want it.

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Me too.

A turkey sandwich with coleslaw on rye is no kind of Reuben

Isn't that what's called a Rachel?

 

[gfweb]

8 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Isn't that what's called a Rachel?

 

maybe?