Dinner 2018

[Shelby]

Salads and spaghetti red last night

 

[IowaDee]

So how can one tell the difference between limes and lemons if both are green?  I have seen limes as large as lemons but the lemons were yellow making it easy to tell them apart.  

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, IowaDee said:

So how can one tell the difference between limes and lemons if both are green?  I have seen limes as large as lemons but the lemons were yellow making it easy to tell them apart.  

 

That's easy. We never get limes! They are always lemons.

 

Well, almost. I found limes twice in twenty years. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the Chinese for green lemons is 青柠檬 (qīng níng méng), where as the Chinese for limes is 青柠檬 (qīng níng méng). Yup! The same.

 

There is another way to say limes - 莱姆  (lái mǔ) in most dictionaries, but I've never seen or heard it used in real life. It is a phonetic rendition of the English using meaningless characters.

 

I stock up on limes when I visit Vietnam, which is nearby.

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[IowaDee]

Ooh, a world without key lime pie makes me sad.  I understand the confusion and by the way, I have been called a "meaningless character" a time or two.  But thanks for clearing that up.  

[dcarch]

21 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

That's easy. We never get limes! They are always lemons.

-------------

I stock up on limes when I visit Vietnam, which is nearby.

 

As I remember, those times I visited China, (very long time ago) I never saw limes or lemons sold.

Perhaps the Chinese never used lemon on sea foods.

 

dcarch

 

[liuzhou]

50 minutes ago, dcarch said:

As I remember, those times I visited China, (very long time ago) I never saw limes or lemons sold.

Perhaps the Chinese never used lemon on sea foods.

 

dcarch

 

 

Yeah, the first ten years or so that I lived in China, I never saw lemons, but they are easily available here in the south, now. They are occasionally used with fish, but I'm not really sure what most people do with them. I don't recall ever being served any dish with lemon in a Chinese home, but all the supermarkets and markets have them. I must ask.

 

But then there is the local, famous Zhuang dish from Guangxi - Zhuang Lemon Duck.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[HungryChris]

Sausage and sweet pepper pizza last night.

HC

[Duvel]

More cabbage pizza ... today I shredded the cabbage more coarse, resulting in a rougher texture, more like a veggie pancake. Taste again was neutral, but the mouthfeel was better than the “riced” cabbage version . It simply had more “bite”. Toppings were mushrooms and smoked lardons ...

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Duvel (log)

[mgaretz]

9 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Why "blasphemy"?

 

Because they are smoked as individual ribs rather than as a rack.  It increases smoke penetration, bark and flavor while cutting 3 hours off the cooking time. 

[FauxPas]

We grilled steaks night before, so last night I used the leftover meat to make fajitas. Sometimes I put a bit of cheese on top, sour cream and salsa on side. 

 

 

 

 

[dcarch]

21 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

We get green oranges all the time here in China. They are very sweet. They are the smaller tangerine or satsuma type.

 

 

We also get green lemons.

 

Lemons

 

 

Speaking of citrus fruits and Chinese vegetables, may be you can tell us something about Pomelo rind? 

I understand it is a vegetable in some parts of China.

 

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

I’ve posted before about Mr. Kim’s family’s tradition of fondue for tree decorating night.  Beef fondue and chocolate.  The beef part was dinner on Sunday (the chocolate ended up being done last night because we couldn’t face a rich dessert after stuffing ourselves with fried beef!  I’ll post that in the Daily Sweets thread).

This was the beef fondue part:

 

Steak sauce, BBQ sauce, horseradish sauce and sirloin:

 

Blanched broccoli, steamed potatoes, cocktail onions, and cornichon:

 

Salad:

 

Béarnaise:

(Just a packet mix).

 

Beer batter for the broccoli and mushrooms (not pictured):

 

Crusty bread:

 

 

Samples of the mushrooms and broccoli:

 

 

Since we knew that dessert was going to be major last night, I served a very simple supper – just cheese, crackers, and soup.  Cheddar and Habanero cheeses:

 

And plain old Lipton chicken noodle:

With no visible noodles.  One of my childhood comfort foods that I still love.

[KennethT]

I also find it interesting that you don't have limes in China - even as close as you are to Vietnam -  but that you have lemons.  Many times I have been in SE Asia (where there are no lemons, only true limes) and servers have called something lemon, even though it was a lime.  But I attributed that to a language issue - every time I saw that, they had never heard of the word "lime", but only knew "lemon" as a translation for the Thai (most times it happened in Thailand).  But the fact that they used the word "manao", which I know to be true limes told me it was a language issue.

[Kim Shook]

Another hot dog dinner tonight (still working down the freezer):

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Another hot dog dinner tonight (still working down the freezer):

 

I cannot envision so much dinner preparation!  I had a migraine aura at work.  I couldn't see for half an hour.  Walking home in the dark I got home about 9:45.  Now, finishing up my Mississippi punch, it's going on 1:00 am.  I dread getting up and prying the lid off the can of Progresso soup.

 

[HungryChris]

Last night, Deb had a nice little rib eye steak, and I countered with a lamb 7 bone 'chuck' steak. Deb managed to finish hers, but I struggled with mine, which was a bit bigger. We had a pickling cuke and Compari tomato salad on the side.

HC

 

[liamsaunt]

Sunday, scallop rolls and fries while watching the football game

 

 

Monday I tried a recipe that I got in an email from the New York Times for slow roasted spicy salmon in olive oil with a cucumber feta salad.  The spices were crushed fennel and coriander seeds, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  The recipe yielded very moist and tender salmon.  I was less enthusiastic about the plating suggestion, which was to break the salmon up into big chunks and surround it with the cucumbers and feta.  It would have looked nicer as one big piece.  I'll probably use the oil poaching technique again though.

 

 

Last night, Thai-flavored fish cakes (made with the dreaded pollock that my fish share sticks me with occasionally) with spicy cucumber salad and rice

 

[heidih]

Pollock is pretty tasteless so just a flavor vehicle? It is the cheapest wild fish in our markets so I'll cave at $3/lb. and step mom will eat canned sardines but balks at any warm oilier fish prep so I'll go her way at times.   Soup in a highly flavored Thai style can work. 

[Shelby]

Venison tenderloins last night!

 

 

[gfweb]

11 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Venison tenderloins last night!

 

 

 

What cooking temp / time on the deer?

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

What cooking temp / time on the deer?

We did these on the grill outside.  Temp is about 450F for a couple of minutes on each side.

[liamsaunt]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

Pollock is pretty tasteless so just a flavor vehicle? It is the cheapest wild fish in our markets so I'll cave at $3/lb. and step mom will eat canned sardines but balks at any warm oilier fish prep so I'll go her way at times.   Soup in a highly flavored Thai style can work. 

 

I not only think it is flavorless, I have issues with the texture. It always seems flaccid. I have tried it in many preparations and so far the only way I really enjoy it is ground up. I think it makes traditional chowder taste fishy, but the Thai soup idea is intriguing. I might try that next time. The share runs in eight week cycles and it is rare that we get pollock more than once as I think they know it is nobody’s favorite, 

[heidih]

Well a reason it is the main ingredient in most surimi!

[gfweb]

34 minutes ago, Shelby said:

We did these on the grill outside.  Temp is about 450F for a couple of minutes on each side.

That cooked the Bacon?

[Shelby]

5 minutes ago, gfweb said:

That cooked the Bacon?

Nope.   I think Ronnie took the bacon off and grilled it for a bit and then put it back on.  I like my steak so rare that the bacon never gets done enough for me.