Lunch! What'd ya have? (2018)

[BonVivant]

A few lunches from recent weekends.

 

 

Crisp-fried Tyrolean Speck and apple compote alongside.

 

Something I almost never do.

 

Saw the recipe in an Austrian food mag I was reading and well, I had all the ingredients in the cupboards.

 

Viennese style hash with blood sausage and apples. There's no such thing as a perfect country but Austria ticks many  boxes (for me).

 

But nothing is better than this. The BEST food in.the.world!

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by BonVivant (log)

[gfweb]

@BonVivant I like the way you eat. 

[liuzhou]

 

Perhaps not the most stunning dish visually, but it was great on flavour. Stir fried fresh ramen noodles with pork slivers, garlic, ginger, chilli, and scallions, finished with soy sauce and freshly made Sichuan peppercorn oil.

 

The Sichuan pepper and chilli meant it's not for the faint hearted. The numbing of the  peppercorns literally rendered me speechless for a minute. In a nice way.

麻辣猪肉丝炒拉面 má là zhū ròu sī chǎo lā miàn

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Had lunch today at NC Seafood Restaurant in Raleigh at the State Farmer's Market. My nephew, who lives in VA, and is stationed with the USS Abraham Lincoln, was kind enough to take me to my stepbrother's house, where he was staying, for dinner on Saturday. We all wound up having a really good time and a great dinner. I was invited to stay overnight and I slept in a real bed for the first time since I left the nursing home on December 5th of last year. I don't have to tell you how good it felt to be able to sprawl out. I slept like the proverbial log!

 

On Sunday morning, dear nephew took me to visit my husband in the nursing home, where I stayed briefly and he's still confined. Nephew was nice enough to offer to take us both out for lunch. I asked him if he was sure he could fit both us cripples and two wheelchairs into his vehicle, and he said no problem. Actually, it was kind of a problem, and he had to get "creative" with stowing both chairs, but patient and persistent, as usual, he managed it. The restaurant gets mixed reviews. If you're expecting something fancy, best not to go there. It's fresh NC seafood, perfectly prepared, but you order at the counter and they call your order number over a loudspeaker. Service is friendly and fast. We had employees walk out into the long line and take our orders to bypass the bottleneck at the counter. Portions are generous and reasonably priced. My kind of place, though, YMMV. 

 

In thanking my nephew for getting us out of our confining environments, and just generally treating me like a queen this weekend, I told him about how nothing ever happens at the nursing home, and there's nothing to do really and the food is truly bad. Husband will be the talk of the nursing home for a week for having the opportunity to go out to lunch at NC Seafood. No joke. He brought back a container of all the leftovers, so will escape the nursing home's dinner offering too.

 

I would have liked to take some of the other residents too, but we barely managed the two chairs as it was.

[blue_dolphin]

@Thanks for the Crepes, sounds like you had a nice weekend!  What did you actually get for lunch at the seafood place?

[Thanks for the Crepes]

25 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

@Thanks for the Crepes, sounds like you had a nice weekend!  What did you actually get for lunch at the seafood place?

 

I got the lunch shrimp plate that comes with very lightly breaded small shrimp. Just like I like: a dusting of seasoned flour and a quick fry. The size of the shrimp varies depending on catch, and these today were quite small, but fresh, delicious and perfectly cooked. The plates come with hush puppies, lightly flavored with onion, fried potato wedges and coleslaw. I'm picky about coleslaw, and this was good, not too much mayo. Everything is served in styro takeout containers, even dine in. There are a bunch of sauces on each table. Homemade tartar, ketchup, and Texas Pete hot sauce are the ones I remember, but there were at least four more. They are all in big squeeze bottles. A plate is always more than one can eat. It's been over a decade since I darkened their doors, but I was treated to takeout by a kindly visitor to a fellow resident when I was confined in the nursing home. This was the highlight of my stay there. I always enjoy NC Seafood, but it seems from the ratings, some people don't get the concept. That's OK, but I have always loved this place. Everything is made to order and comes out quickly and so hot you will burn your mouth if you're not careful. Nothing fancy, just perfectly cooked NC seafood. Right up my alley. They also offer broiled, but I guess the whiners on Yelp about all the fried stuff failed to read the menu that far. They also had crayfish today, which was tempting, but in the end I decided to go with tried and true shrimp plate. They drain the fried stuff well, so it doesn't come off as greasy to me. The restaurant grew out of the State Farmers Market seafood distribution center. 

 

And, yes, I was Queen for the Weekend, thanks especially to my amazing nephew, but also to other members of the family. 

[BonVivant]

Thank you, @gfweb. Acquaintances say "if I ate like you I'd be fat, but you are not, at all. How on earth?!". I give them 3 words: wine, fish and solitude. They don't see all the hours in the gym and pool I put in weekly. But really, it depends on other factors as well. I don't give myself a hard time. Eat what and when I want but it's important that I enjoy it (and be sensible).

[kayb]

@Thanks for the Crepes, glad you had a good weekend and got to visit your husband and your family, not to mention getting some great meals!

 

 

[Raamo]

This weekend was nuts - ate lunch both days at my desk - work emergency.

 

So nice today to eat at the table with my wife - and this was lunch!

  

[Anna N]

 

Thinly sliced smoked duck breast, lingonberry sauce, shredded lettuce, blue cheese crumbles on crispbread.  Hit all the right notes – – salty,  sweet, creamy, crisp, smoky.  I ended up eating only one and putting the other one in the refrigerator. 

Edited March 12, 2018 by Anna N
To add that I only ate one. (log)

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

nice

 

very nice.

 

do those Duckies come from that

 

Duck Place a little N. or you ?

 

forgot the ref.

 

would go well w a Personal Beverage !

[Kim Shook]

We gave up eating out for Lent and will donate what we would have spent to the Food Pantry at Easter.  Since Sundays are "little Easter" and we love eating out, we are really looking forward to Sunday brunches.  Our daughter has been insisting we go to a new area restaurant: SB's Lakeside Love Shack, so that's where we met her yesterday.  We shared a cinnamon bun topped with salted caramel maple syrup and cream cheese frosting:

It was good:

Cream cheese frosting is often too much for me.  Heavy and overly sweet.  This was fluffy and light and tangy – a really nice foil for the very sweet syrup.

 

Jessica had the “Benny”:

Poached eggs, VA ham over a grilled croissant topped with smoky tomato hollandaise.  Nice fruit and great bacon.

 

I had the Hot Brown w/ Texas toast, turkey, Mornay sauce and eggs:

 

Mr. Kim had the Cuban on a grilled croissant:

 

 

Very nice house-smoked pork! 

 

We also shared a pancake and smoked Cheddar grits:

 

The Love Shack sells individual pancakes for $1.  This is a GREAT idea. 

 

 

[kayb]

Another piece of yesterday's quiche (similar to yesterday's pic!). Followed it up with a sample of the fig-berry crisp. 

 

 

I kinda tore it up getting it out of the pan. It's topped with Greek yogurt sweetened with honey.

 

Although I'd seen a recipe for dried figs in a crisp, I wish I'd reconstituted these in some kind of fruit juice.

 

[Anna N]

47 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

 

nice

 

very nice.

 

do those Duckies come from that

 

Duck Place a little N. or you ?

 

forgot the ref.

 

would go well w a Personal Beverage !

 To be honest this is one of two smoked duck breasts that I picked up from my favourite supermarket in error!  I did seriously consider a personal beverage to go along with my duck but vetoed it hoping to accomplish other things today.  A couple of personal beverages and I mostly just want to nap.  Even one can do it on a good day.  

[blue_dolphin]

Leftovers for lunch.

I added some microwave-steamed sugar snap peas and yellow bell pepper plus a sprinkle of feta to the pasta with kale sauce from Six Seasons that I posted yesterday.

I found this more appealing than the overwhelming green-ness of the original.

[liuzhou]

For today's lunch, I disguised myself as a communist and ate in the city's Chinese Communist Party HQ staff canteen, as you do.  I was there to meet my friend J, who works there. The gate to the HQ is well protected against nosy foreign gastronautical spies but she came out to escort me past the guards.

 

Here is communist lunch.

 

皮蛋 pí dàn - Century eggs is a chilli sauce

 

Congealed pig''s blood with chilli and soy sauce.

 

Chicken and shiitake stew

 

Stir fried water spinach

 

Fish stew with chillies

 

"Japanese" tofu

 

Everything was excellent, way above the standard of most workplace canteens, cheap and heavily subsidised. And exclusive!

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[HungryChris]

Seasoned panko, pork tenderloin schnitzel and leftover Greek salad sandwich. In light of the weather and terrible road conditions, an adult beverage seemed appropriate.

HC

[Doofa]

@liuzhou Sincere interest here. Do you mean your only supposed to eat there if your a member of the communist party? I'm also curious about the cost for that super looking meal in comparison to a similar meal in another venue, if you don't mind. I live on the Isle of Man and wish I could get a meal like that. We do Queenies quite well D

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, Doofa said:

We do Queenies quite well

Well I had to look up Queenies to discover that they are a specie of scallops. This board is a never ending source of new  information that I soak up like a sponge (no pun intended).

[lindag]

Needed to just get out of the house today so I went to Great Harvest Bakery for a loaf of honey whole wheat bread, Irish Soda Bread and a turkey sandwich on their multi grain bread.

Stopped at the car wash for a much overdue wash and then to the liquor store to stock up on vodka, Kahlua and Irish Cream.

[liuzhou]

12 hours ago, Doofa said:

@liuzhou Sincere interest here. Do you mean your only supposed to eat there if your a member of the communist party? I'm also curious about the cost for that super looking meal in comparison to a similar meal in another venue, if you don't mind. I live on the Isle of Man and wish I could get a meal like that. We do Queenies quite well D

 

The Party HQ is a gated complex with several  buildings. Only those who work there or have legitimate business there may usually enter. Only those who work there can usually use the canteen and even if you were to get in, you couldn't buy anything without an electronic payment card issued only to employees. So my friend paid for lunch! It was her turn. I'm told I am the only foreigner ever to have eaten there.

 

The meal cost about quarter of what it would elsewhere. And was higher quality.

 

I've never been to the Isle of Man, but I'm told I was conceived there! Does that count?

Edited March 15, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[robirdstx]

 

Subway Italian B.M.T. with Swiss Cheese, Tomato, Jalapeños, Pickles, Red Onion, and lots of Black Olives

[suzilightning]

Leftover hot and sour soup with extra rice wine vinegar.

[lindag]

Today I drove South to Hamilton to meet a friend for lunch at the best local hamburger joint where you can still get your burger cooked to order along with the best onion rings I've ever had.  Also Picked up my prepared taxes and stopped at the Cornish pasty shop to bring home some to stock my freezer.  Looking forward to trying the Bisto gravy with a nice hot pasty soon.

The Bisto is in transit to my house but The earliest estimated date for delivery is the 29th.

Edited March 17, 2018 by lindag (log)

[liuzhou]

Spinach Duck Egg Omelette.