Lunch 2021

[heidih]

50 minutes ago, BonVivant said:

Unfortunately, good food and extraordinary natural beauty are not the only things Greece has. I freaked out a little this morning whilst drinking coffee in my room. Suddenly my chair, walls, ceiling, window panes, furniture, floor were shaking violently. Quite scary for someone who does not live in a highly seismically active region. It's still rumbling since this morning but very briefly. Still makes me feel in the stomach when it does.

 

Previous lunch in lovely Pyrgos village, Santorini. A platter of Santorinian products. The tomatoes, which are especially prized, have PDO status, just like the fava. Caper bushes are a common sight on the island and most people pickle the leaves, too. The double-concentrated paste is so good.

 

The elusive Santorini white aubergines, pickled here. They remind me a bit of Sicilian pickled aubergines that I couldn't stop eating, but this one is not exactly the same. Santorini version is much softer.

 

Mild smoked pork, quickly pan-fried. Also in the Cretan repertoire.

 

 

And of course more fava

 

Whilst waiting for my food to arrive

 

Thank you, @shain

All looks wonderful. The dark dimpled bread cut in squares looks interesting. Can you describe? And the caper paste!  A friend acquired some seed and hoped with our Med climate and being near ocean it would go well. They can be finicky about germinating. They sprouted - she was terribly disappointed when I told her the plant was cardoon. On the quake - odd feeling because unlike fire or flood you can't evacuate; totally at mother nature's mercy. 

[BonVivant]

Thanks, all. I'm fine now, until the rumbling starts again. Now any kind of rumbling freaks me out a little.

Earthquakes are a fact of life in Greece. Everyone goes right back to their normal lives. Although a little "shaken" but I must do the same.

 

@heidih, they are barley rusks. Cretans and Cycladians love rusks. They put them in salads, spread fava and dips on them, pile grated tomatoes on them and other uses. They come in little squares and rounds looking like half a burger bun but twice as big, and also other shapes and have their own uses. Being baked twice the rusks can be kept for longer. They have been eaten since antiquity. Cretan Dakos is so popular it's found in many other places in Greece, too.

 

The beauty of Greece. Everybody is mad about Santorini sunset, but I rather like the afterglow. The beauty of tragedy:

 

Btw, all businesses with views of the caldera (collapsed crater) come with an extraordinarily hefty price tag in high season. Santorini has a high concentration of luxury hotels.

 

Santorini before and after the catastrophic explosion that wiped out a civilisation

Edited September 27, 2021 by BonVivant (log)

[Duvel]

“Raiding the freezer/fridge” type of Chirashizushi …

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by Duvel (log)

[BonVivant]

I eat one warm meal a day so it seems like a lot here.

The most popular snack in Crete, dakos. Have to try it at least once at the source. At home I use toasted sourdough bread. In Crete they use Cretan Mizithra cheese, elsewhere feta will have to do.

 

''Greek'' salad with (seasonal) greens. Pretty sure they are not purslane.

 

These greens are a bit sour and moist. The taste is refreshing.

 

Grilled lamb chops

 

Day's special is braised pork (and to my horror) with leeks. Thankfully the pork tasted great (although I couldn't stand the sight of the leeks).

 

The afters. I had a beer tasting appointment directly after the meal and had to declined the raki.

 

Being the first to arrive I got to choose a table. Greeks start coming from 1:30 or 2pm. Mum is the main cook, dad grills everything, grown children and grandchildren do the rest. Restaurant is across the street from my lodging, where they tourists don't make a detour.

 

 

Sunset at the harbour with Venetian fortress on left

 

Key is in the lock and I have shoes on, ready to run downstairs and out on the street when the terrifying rumbling and shakes come (which are at random and there's no sign of it stopping any time soon. Happened again last night, twice.).

Edited September 28, 2021 by BonVivant (log)

[Kim Shook]

@BonVivant - sorry to hear about the earthquake and glad you're ok.  Even a small one is upsetting, I know.

 

One of my dearest friends (we've been friends since 1975) was in town for a few hours and we had a laugh filled lunch together at a Lebanese bakery that is fairly new to Richmond.  No pictures (we were talking non-stop), but we shared a beef shawarma and a half cheese and half za'atar manakish (flat bread).  He now lives in LA and says he hasn't had better shawarma there!  It was delicious. 

[Wait. Wot]

Panini with Jessica's Tuscan wheat bread, ham and Emmentaler.

 

 

[Raamo]

Teriyaki pork with peppers & onion and a tomato + kiwi salsa.

 

Recipe is from hello fresh, we sourced our on ingredients and I think we improved on theirs.

 

[heidih]

28 minutes ago, Raamo said:

Teriyaki pork with peppers & onion and a tomato + kiwi salsa.

 

Thanks for that salsa idea. I think a firm kiwi with the bit of seed contrast would be interesting.

[BonVivant]

Last Cretan lunch.

 

Red wine-olive oil braised cuttlefish

 

 

Whilst waiting for the next earthquake... last Assyrtikco, brought with me from Santorini.

 

Lastsunset in the Cretan capital. My flight was at 1pm the next day, there was another earthquake at 2pm.

 

I'm just so relieved the walls I'm looking at right now are not moving.

Lunch at home, in peace. Fresh Turkish dates.

 

 

Dip with pistachios

 

Another one with walnuts, roasted peppers, tomatoes and pom molasses. "Muhammara" without following a recipe. I just blitzed a few things in a blender.

 

Other bits are salad, roasted aubergine pulp, beetroot puree, and a type of air-dried sausage.

[liuzhou]

鸭脚螺蛳煲 (yā jiǎo luó sī bāo) - Spicy duck's feet with sea snails and a salted duck egg. In a local hole in the wall restaurant.

 

 

[shain]

On 9/28/2021 at 4:33 PM, BonVivant said:

Pretty sure they are not purslane

 

I would guess they actually are. Suits your description as well.

[Kim Shook]

Some friends stopped by to meet us for lunch on their way to visit family in Roanoke.  They’ll be back this week to stay with us for a few days.  We met them at a place we love and forget about all the time.  It’s called Tazza Kitchen and I have no idea why we forget about it.  Never had even an ordinary meal there – always good.  But, for some reason, it always takes Jessica to remind us of it.  For the table:

Hot goat cheese and marinara dip.  Brick oven crusty bread. 

 

Mr. Kim and I both the quiche and “simple salad”, which was greens, brick oven roasted cherry tomatoes, crispy shallots, and roasted shallot vinaigrette:

Gotta love a place that’s serving quiche again!

 

Jessica and our friends had the Spicy Sausage and black pepper honey brick oven pizza:

I tasted the crust and sauce and it was very good.  Jessica also got the fries, which were pretty good:

 

On Sunday, we went out in the country to get our pumpkins and stopped at a favorite sub shop for lunch.  I got the tuna sub:

I got the small (8-inch) and it has made three meals, so far.  Jessica got the sausage with grilled peppers and onions:

 

Mr. Kim got the cheese steak:

Which was delicious but needed extra cheese and some kind of sauce. 

 

We shared an order of their fries:

I’m pretty sure that these are the best fries in Richmond.  Including the fancy places that do them in duck fat, etc.  They are just perfect.

 

Lunch today was an heirloom tomato on white bread with Dukes’:

 

The world’s most perfect sandwich😁. 

[Annie_H]

Lunches via last nights dinner. Added ramen eggs for a mid-morning snack.

[robirdstx]

 

A Beautiful Day and Fried Shrimp (with fries, hush puppies and slaw) at TopWater Grill

 

 

[Duvel]

It gets chilly outside, so warm and comforting soups are in high demand by my family. Today potato leek, with cured & smoked pork neck and a boiled sausage …

 

[rotuts]

@Duvel 

 

crusty bread ?

[Duvel]

Nope. Just the soup … although you are right: a nice mixed rye would have been nice 🤗

[Duvel]

Maroccan chickpea & spinach soup, with lamb meatballs. 
 

[johnnyd]

Yam Nua - everything but fish sauce and limes grown within five miles

 

 

[BonVivant]

First tray of Bursa black figs.

 

Quark on toast

 

More figs

 

Even more

 

A little feast of figs

 

Kale and squash every day...

 

 

Farm (next to the woods where I go for walks every week)

 

Have tried almost all the squashes the farm grows but this year I only want to eat red kuri, then I saw a new one, blue banana.

10km bikling from the farm.. 

 

On 10/4/2021 at 8:32 PM, shain said:

 

I would guess they actually are. Suits your description as well.

 

Thanks.

Immediately after posting I was informed by someone on another site it was indeed purslane. The cultivated purslane we have here shares the name but bears no resemblance.

[shain]

11 hours ago, BonVivant said:

Thanks.

Immediately after posting I was informed by someone on another site it was indeed purslane. The cultivated purslane we have here shares the name but bears no resemblance.

 

I've never seen the cultivated variety. Here it grows as a weed, mostly where we plant other things and water. Since it's easy to manage, I'll let it grow wherever it won't block other plants.

 

The wild version is quite fleshy, and I like it best sauteed with eggy, tomatoes, feta and garlic; but also in salads.

[Duvel]

Carrot (and leek, onion, ginger & a bit of tomato) soup with creme fraiche & refried Haxe cubes …

 

[Duvel]

Had a can of good crushed tomatoes open (pizza night), plus some real ones at an advanced state of ripeness and chose to make tomato soup. While browsing through the fridge I also found two packages of smoked salmon that needed to go, so I whisked together some bagels. They crowded a bit the pot and took on an oblong shape, but were tasty nonetheless …

 

 

Homemade bage with horseradish cream cheese, smoked salmon, onions and caper & tomato soup. I’ll stick with my opinion: the best thing about home office is the canteen 🤗

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Duvel (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Jackfruit Biryani, Kachumber, and Raita, all from Dishoom.

A reviewer on Eat Your Books raved about this biryani but allowed that it was,"a bit of a faff to make."  I agree.  Deep fried onions, deep fried jackfruit, deep fried potatoes.  Sheesh. I enjoyed the finished dish but I don't fancy all that frying so it's likely one and done for me.  
 

[heidih]

@blue_dolphin was that canned or fresh jackfruit? So trendy now. I lie it "au naturelle"