The Ladies Who Lunch (Part 3)

Anna N · March 30, 2019

29 minutes ago, caroled said:

That cheese looks like someone was trying to warm it in their hands before presentation!, the other components look pretty tasty. I've been craving Green Goddess dressing for a while now. Must get the stuff to make some.

OK I will admit to my complete ignorance. I have never eaten green goddess dressing. Except for the stuff they put on these fries which wasn’t a bit green. Is it green?

suzilightning · March 30, 2019

15 minutes ago, Anna N said:

OK I will admit to my complete ignorance. I have never eaten green goddess dressing. Except for the stuff they put on these fries which wasn’t a bit green. Is it green?

Yes, yes it is......

Read my recipe in the proper forum. I love it more than the blue cheese dressing I make . It is tart from the tarragon vinegar and grassy from the herbs. Recently I like to pair it with fruit - apples, pears, grapes - in a lettuce salad.

heidih · March 31, 2019

I think Green Goddess dressing appears more "green" when finely blended. Otherwise it is just a herby creamy dressing.

JoNorvelleWalker · March 31, 2019

5 hours ago, heidih said:

I think Green Goddess dressing appears more "green" when finely blended. Otherwise it is just a herby creamy dressing.

Don't forget the anchovy.

caroled · April 1, 2019

On ‎3‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 5:10 PM, Anna N said:

OK I will admit to my complete ignorance. I have never eaten green goddess dressing. Except for the stuff they put on these fries which wasn’t a bit green. Is it green?

Typically it is greener, but with everyone and their cousin making and posting a version of it on Pinterest, it seems to be morphing into a glorified ranch dressing. Epicurious has a buttermilk version that is much like I make and remember from my childhood, but they also have one that uses a large quantity of watercress and is full on pea puree green.

Katie Meadow · April 1, 2019

The NYT has a pretty good recipe for Green Goddess. Along with parsley, anchovy and tarragon it calls for watercress and chives and home made mayo if you can swing it. Very green. Older recipes often include sour cream. Once you start adding buttermilk and dry herbs and a fistful of salt it starts getting ranchy. Then there are those rogues who try to sneak in avocado. I say, let them eat toast.

heidih · April 1, 2019

As a Melissa Clark fan girl thos one I enjoy https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013024-greek-goddess-dip Very green. Feta tang is a bonus for me.

Katie Meadow · April 1, 2019

I was thinking of this one on the NYT site by Martha Rose Schulman: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014134-green-goddess-dressing

blue_dolphin · April 1, 2019

9 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Then there are those rogues who try to sneak in avocado. I say, let them eat toast.

I guess that would be me. I recently made the Greenest Goddess Dressing/Dip from Tartine All Day. Recipe available online here. I used homemade aïoli and sour cream. I and my friends thought it was delicious as a dip with some citrus arancini and raw vegetables (previously shared here over in the avocado cook-off.)

We did not try it on toast 🙃 but it would be great on a chicken sandwich, for sure.

chromedome · April 1, 2019

17 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I guess that would be me. I recently made the Greenest Goddess Dressing/Dip from Tartine All Day. Recipe available online here. I used homemade aïoli and sour cream. I and my friends thought it was delicious as a dip with some citrus arancini and raw vegetables (previously shared here over in the avocado cook-off.)

We did not try it on toast 🙃 but it would be great on a chicken sandwich, for sure.

As a Californian, you have special dispensation - nay, a moral obligation! - to incorporate avocado wherever possible, whether appropriate by outsiders' standards or not.

Anna N · April 1, 2019

It is beginning to sound very much like an Alice in Wonderland dressing. It is whatever one wants it to be! Thanks for all the input.

Anna N · April 3, 2019

Today, @Kerry Beal and I headed out to North York in search of a Japanese dollar store, Oomomo. Since it was on the way past Goûter, member @Alleguede‘s lovely Patisserie, and since we knew it was his birthday today, we stopped in with our best wishes. I left with one of his incredible kouign amanns. Sorry, I should have taken a photograph but where it is now would belong in a medical text, not here.

We found the Japanese dollar store and I have posted about it and its own newly created topic.

But after out wander through this Crystal Palace-sized emporium we were surely ready for some sustenance.

Within a three minute walk of the store, Memories of Japan , called out as having possibilities. It might better have been named Faded Memories of Japan since in certain ways it was hardly reminiscent of Japan. And yet we enjoyed our food.

The first clue that perhaps we were not in the most capableof hands was noted by Kerry. Our server, though pleasant enough, found it challenging when we didn’t order by number as it were. I don’t know about you but number 10 and number 19 don’t sound nearly as appetizing as Beef Sashimi and Mixed Tempura. Ultimately ordering by number seemed likely to be the most efficient way to make sure that our order was transmitted to the kitchen correctly. I am sure there is a perfectly valid reason for the numbering of dishes on the menu, I just think the staff should also know the dishes by name. But that’s just being ornery I guess.

Once again we decided to share a few appetizers.

Tea for Kerry, as usual. Sake for me.

Beef sashimi. And this is where you know that their memories of Japan are rather badly faded. The beef was tender and its accompanying sauce tasty but the beef rests on a bed of thickly sliced onion. In the dimly lit restaurant, I thought it was a bed of iceberg lettuce. Not until I took rather a generous portion did I discover it was onion. I am quite a fan of onion but I do think it should’ve been finely chopped and treated so that some of the sulphurous notes were muted.

Mixed tempura in the foreground and pork tonkatsu in the rear.

The fried calamari was very tender but again the presentation is very un-Japanese.

All in all it was a pleasant lunch and we did get to do some people watching.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Anna N
Numerous spelling and grammar errors. (log)

Anna N · April 10, 2019

@Kerry Bealand I returned to Celadon House today since we were in the vicinity and knew we had enjoyed our meals there previously.

We started with ginger tea for Kerry and a glass of water for me. I regret that there are no photographs, not that you don’t know what these two things look like, but the water glass was very attractive. I meant to share it.

Spicy calamari with their very addictive vinegar-based dip.

Four Season Beans. Twice cooked green beans with ground pork and chilies.

For me this was a to-die-for dish. Garlic Mushroom Gambas. Button mushrooms and Spanish onions with garlic and chilies. There is no way that you can prepare mushrooms that I won’t like them but this might be my new favourite.

Coconut chicken and rice for the table.

The dishes at this restaurant are unique. None of them come from the freezer and none of them are reheated in the microwave. It is a nice change from some of the Asian restaurants where every dish tastes the same no matter which restaurant you choose.

We were able to look back at the meals that we had posted from Celadon House and choose dishes we had never tasted before. Another reason to love this forum.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Anna N (log)

blue_dolphin · April 15, 2019

I joined 2 ladies for lunch today at the Lakeside Restaurant in Encino where we have dined (lunched?) before. They have a very pleasant, tree-shaded outdoor eating area that’s immediately adjacent to the Los Encinos State Historic Park.

Shrimp tacos for me

Salmon salad for both the other ladies

Edited April 15, 2019 by blue_dolphin (log)

Anna N · April 18, 2019

Fasten your seat belt. It’s another adventure for @Kerry Beal and me.

Today Kerry had some business to conduct in Brampton so last night I researched restaurants in and around Brampton. They largely fall into two categories— Indian and Italian.

But here’s the thing – – both of us have a penchant for considering Indian food appropriate only in winter and Italian food only when it’s exceptionally good.

As we searched for the address where Kerry was to conduct her business we caught a glimpse of a restaurant called Ann’s Grove. I did a quick Google search and learned that It was a small family-run Caribbean place.

It looked far more interesting than any of the places I had unearthed.

Ann’s Grove was compact but not crammed. It’s bar however was both compact and crammed, mostly with rums, as Kerry noted. But then what should one expect in a Caribbean restaurant? I tell you this just for a little atmosphere.

We had barely sat down when Ann herself came over to welcome us and proudly told us that she was the chef and owner and pretty much general factotum. A slight man, who seemed as if he wished to disappear inside of himself, whom we later learned was Ann’s husband, was bussing and waiting tables.

There were no menus but Ann was asking us if we fancied chicken or goat or …. This was a little bit disconcerting. Without a good grasp of what a Caribbean restaurant might offer, we found ourselves hard-pressed to make any decisions. But Kerry could read the offerings on the wall above the counter and we settled on oxtails with rice and peas (I forgot that peas really means beans!) and a chicken roti. We would share both dishes.

Another restaurant offering a box of tissues rather than napkins/serviettes.

Oxtails with rice and beans. Honesty is the best policy. Peas are green.

Chicken roti.

Ann also suggested drinks. Kerry ordered a guava soda and I had a mauby soda.

I had no idea what mauby was but I was feeling adventuresome. Not until I got home and was able to do some research did I learn that it is made from the bark of the mauby tree. Claimed by some to have diuretic properties and by others to cause diarrhoea the first time one ingests it, I was no longer feeling quite so blasé about my drink choice.

So far, so good. Thanks for asking.

Towards the end of our meal, the phone in the restaurant rang followed immediately by loud wails of anguish from Ann.

When she had more or less regained her composure Ann came over to our table to apologize for the commotion. Between her accent and her obvious distress, piecing the story together proved challenging.

Someone had died. We got that part. That the said someone lived in Barbados and had recently been put into a home, we got. Beyond that, it was anybody’s guess.

As near as we were able to interpret, Ann’s father-in-law had died. And she was the target of some feuding family because she had opposed putting a 79-year-old Jesuit priest into a home. And now see what had happened. If he hadn’t been put in the home he wouldn’t have died. At least that was the way Ann seemed to see the situation.

Do you see our difficulty in untangling this version of the story?

Either they do things VERY differently on the Islands or he wasn’t a priest, or he wasn’t a Jesuit, or he wasn’t a father. Or he was a father but the spiritual kind. That explanation could not account for the claim that he was her husband‘s father and her father-in-law.

I am quite sure a logical explanation exists that could dispel our confusion. But interrogating one who is grieving and so recently bereaved is not considered polite anywhere. So we offered Ann our sympathy, reassured her once again that we were not in the least upset, and left in possession of a riddle we may never solve and a doggy bag of delicious Caribbean food.

DesertTinker · April 18, 2019

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Fasten your seat belt. It’s another adventure for @Kerry Beal and me. ...

I am quite sure a logical explanation exists that could dispel our confusion. But interrogating one who is grieving and so recently bereaved is not considered polite anywhere. So we offered Ann our sympathy, reassured her once again that we were not in the least upset, and left in possession of a riddle we may never solve and a doggy bag of delicious Caribbean food.

“Liked” and “Confused”, since we’re only allowed one reaction per post. The mystery lives on.

Edited April 18, 2019 by DesertTinker
Spelling (log)

Anna N · April 18, 2019

Two lunches in a row but only one adventure per week.

Today @Kerry Beal and I returned to an old favourite, Hakka Fresh.

We shared:

The deep fried cauliflower.

Chicken Karachi.

Deluxe special Chow Mein.

And of course some rice.

We decided that water was just fine today so no questionable drinks. At least we hope not.

It was all good. Kerry put the cauliflower at #1 and the chow mein at #2. I was like Buridan’s ass, unable to choose. But whatever way you slice it, I was the one to take the doggy bag home.

demiglace · April 18, 2019

18 hours ago, Anna N said:

Fasten your seat belt. It’s another adventure for @Kerry Beal and me.

Today Kerry had some business to conduct in Brampton so last night I researched restaurants in and around Brampton. They largely fall into two categories— Indian and Italian.

But here’s the thing – – both of us have a penchant for considering Indian food appropriate only in winter and Italian food only when it’s exceptionally good.

As we searched for the address where Kerry was to conduct her business we caught a glimpse of a restaurant called Ann’s Grove. I did a quick Google search and learned that It was a small family-run Caribbean place.

It looked far more interesting than any of the places I had unearthed.

Ann’s Grove was compact but not crammed. It’s bar however was both compact and crammed, mostly with rums, as Kerry noted. But then what should one expect in a Caribbean restaurant? I tell you this just for a little atmosphere.

We had barely sat down when Ann herself came over to welcome us and proudly told us that she was the chef and owner and pretty much general factotum. A slight man, who seemed as if he wished to disappear inside of himself, whom we later learned was Ann’s husband, was bussing and waiting tables.

There were no menus but Ann was asking us if we fancied chicken or goat or …. This was a little bit disconcerting. Without a good grasp of what a Caribbean restaurant might offer, we found ourselves hard-pressed to make any decisions. But Kerry could read the offerings on the wall above the counter and we settled on oxtails with rice and peas (I forgot that peas really means beans!) and a chicken roti. We would share both dishes.

Another restaurant offering a box of tissues rather than napkins/serviettes.

Oxtails with rice and beans. Honesty is the best policy. Peas are green.

Chicken roti.

Ann also suggested drinks. Kerry ordered a guava soda and I had a mauby soda.

I had no idea what mauby was but I was feeling adventuresome. Not until I got home and was able to do some research did I learn that it is made from the bark of the mauby tree. Claimed by some to have diuretic properties and by others to cause diarrhoea the first time one ingests it, I was no longer feeling quite so blasé about my drink choice.

So far, so good. Thanks for asking.

Towards the end of our meal, the phone in the restaurant rang followed immediately by loud wails of anguish from Ann.

When she had more or less regained her composure Ann came over to our table to apologize for the commotion. Between her accent and her obvious distress, piecing the story together proved challenging.

Someone had died. We got that part. That the said someone lived in Barbados and had recently been put into a home, we got. Beyond that, it was anybody’s guess.

As near as we were able to interpret, Ann’s father-in-law had died. And she was the target of some feuding family because she had opposed putting a 79-year-old Jesuit priest into a home. And now see what had happened. If he hadn’t been put in the home he wouldn’t have died. At least that was the way Ann seemed to see the situation.

Do you see our difficulty in untangling this version of the story?

Either they do things VERY differently on the Islands or he wasn’t a priest, or he wasn’t a Jesuit, or he wasn’t a father. Or he was a father but the spiritual kind. That explanation could not account for the claim that he was her husband‘s father and her father-in-law.

I am quite sure a logical explanation exists that could dispel our confusion. But interrogating one who is grieving and so recently bereaved is not considered polite anywhere. So we offered Ann our sympathy, reassured her once again that we were not in the least upset, and left in possession of a riddle we may never solve and a doggy bag of delicious Caribbean food.

Not exactly your everyday lunch! Glad the food was good.

Anna N · April 25, 2019

Yesterday, @Kerry Beal and I were joined by @patris. I was so happy to see her I would’ve been content to have cardboard sandwiches for lunch. Fortunately wiser heads prevailed and we went to Maro’s Bistro, an old favourite.

Love their menu, both back and front:

Water for all.

Tea for Kerry and our guest with a choice of saffron or cardamom sugar.

Turkish coffee for me.

A shared platter of fried cauliflower with hummus.

The Morning Light sandwich for our guest .

Lebanese Cévapi for Kerry.

Memories of Persia for me.

We (I) took home more than we ate.

As always the service was prompt and friendly.

**Smithy** · April 25, 2019

That looks like a wonderful place! I like the fanciful names. I would have a difficult time choosing; it all sounds delicious.

patris · April 25, 2019

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Yesterday, @Kerry Beal and I were joined by @patris. I was so happy to see her I would’ve been content to have cardboard sandwiches for lunch. Fortunately wiser heads prevailed and we went to Maro’s Bistro, an old favourite.

We (I) took home more than we ate.

As always the service was prompt and friendly.

What a delightful day it was! I take for granted sometimes that I live close enough that a visit with the OG Lunch Ladies is an easy day trip, and I aim to make it a more frequent occurrence. I am lucky to have @Kerry Beal come down to visit several times a year, but I dearly love seeing @Anna N as well.

I am still dreaming of that wonderful, lemony cauliflower, and although I have no food photos to share I did get a shot of a most interesting appliance in the washroom:

Can’t say I would ever use what appears to be a hand-held bidet in a restaurant - or maybe I should fervently hope I never have the need!

Anna N · April 25, 2019

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

That looks like a wonderful place! I like the fanciful names. I would have a difficult time choosing; it all sounds delicious.

It always seems exotic to me even now after more than one visit. I have never seen anything like the food they serve here served anywhere else. The portions are astronomically large and could probably be shared by a whole table but I appreciate the leftovers. They will keep me going for days.

**ElsieD** · April 25, 2019

A friend and I went to Table Sodam today. She had the Soy Dak Gang Jung, boneless chicken with sweet & soy sauce with corn cheese. It cane with pickled daikon.

I had the Dak Gang Jung which consisted of boneless chicken with Spicy Sauce and an assortment of side dishes, which were, left to right, mushrooms, cucumber, kimchee, salad with nut flakes, soup and rice. Very yummy except I find kimchee to be too salty. John enjoyed the leftovers.

Edited April 25, 2019 by ElsieD
Did a general fix-up of the post. (log)

JoNorvelleWalker · April 25, 2019

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

A friend and I went to Table Sodam today. She had the soy Dak Gang Jung, boneless chicken with sweet & soy sauce with corn cheese.

...and you had?

**ElsieD** · April 25, 2019

56 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

...and you had?

Check previous post. It was edited.

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