Dinner 2022

[cteavin]

I filmed an Okonomiyaki video for my YouTube channel and made it again for the thumbnail yesterday evening -- I love okonomiyaki. 😁🤤🍻If you've not tried it...

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

I want those soy sauce dishes! How clever they are!

 

What happens to the neato wooden boxes that the sushi comes in, once you're finished eating?

They went in the garbage.  They're really thin - maybe 2mm thick - so they're not really usable for anything and I imagine would fall apart if you tried to wash them.  And while they look nice and kept the sushi in great condition for my, admittedly, short trip home (around the corner), they're just eco-friendly packaging.  I would assume that the box is biodegradable - you could probably even compost it if I did that kind of thing in my apartment.  Plus it just seems so fancy compared to the standard molded plastic takeout containers.

[Katie Meadow]

Dinner was unremarkable except for one thing. A strawberry onion. We are winding down our days in Asheville, both of us sick from a cold we caught in Atlanta. I had forgotten those days, when a child is less than a year old and chalks up one rhinovirus after another. We are getting very tired of eating out, so we decided to cook. We had a box of thin spaghetti (DiCecco, a size we don't see often in the Bay Area) We had butter, chives, the remains of some delicious goat cheese, all things we needed to use up before we leave. And then there were the onions.

 

A couple of days ago running errands we went to an Asheville farmers' market, a huge barn where vendors set up shop. This time of year isn't the best for produce. There were endless shelves stocked with every imaginable kind of local pickle or jam. But there were these onions, labeled "strawberry onions." They were small to medium size and lovely. It was dark in that corner, but I was sure I saw a faint crimson cast on the onions but it was, as I said, dark. They were advertised as "sweeter than Vidalias." So I used one as the basis for a sauce for the spaghetti, with chives, goat cheese and butter. Indeed they were sweet. We caramelized them and threw everything together for a sauce. It was served with grated local cheese called Meadow (yep that's true.) It really wasn't at all bad, though not something I would typically make at home.

 

Later we googled them. Strawberry onions are so called because they are grown surrounding a strawberry field to keep varmints from smelling the berries. Believable, right? My husband tells me I was just imagining the beautiful rosy tinge. I've had Walla Wallas when visiting my daughter in the Pacific Northwest and loved them. But these Strawberry Onions were in a class by themselves. I have no idea why they are so sweet but there must be some special dirt around Asheville. So you see, our home-cooked meal away from home was better than I might have expected. Cooking in an AirBnB with limited pots, pans and resources always has me on edge. Our Asheville kitchen is lacking a few things. For instance the bread knife is thin and so flexible you could probably tie a knot in it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

After waffles and sausage this afternoon I could not stomach a real dinner.  My evening meal was a can of Progresso minestrone.  I burnt my tongue.  Glass of Whistlepig as first aid.

[liamsaunt]

Pizza topped with miso shallot butter jam, roasted king oyster mushrooms, fontina and parmesan cheeses and basil

 

[Dante]

Quorn piccata over smashed potatoes

[mgaretz]

A couple of recent dinners.  

 

Salmon, cooked on the NFG with Brussels sprouts, also cooked in the NFG along with the salmon.  The sprouts were tossed in tangerine-flavored balsamic after cooking.

 

 

Stir fry with char siu, noodles, onion, mushrooms, cabbage, spinach, carrots and celery.

 

 

[Duvel]

Tonight’s rendition of Pizza & Movie night featured …

 

Salami & mushroom. You can tell that the family is hungry when you go to the kitchen to get napkins and when you are back half of the pizza is gone 🙄

 

 

Spargel. Mozzarella, shaved raw white asparagus, cooked potatoes. Post bake enhanced with Tyrolean Speck and dollops of Hollandaise …

 

 

Margherita. Crushed tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pinch of Parmigiano and basil leaves …

 

 

… and the movie Finding Ohana, a kind of Goonies remake with some faux-Hawaiian mythology and fairy tale thrown in. Contrary to tonights pizza varieties this movie doesn’t need repeating.

[Shelby]

20 hours ago, KennethT said:

I was all set to make a new (to me) Indonesian dish, but it turned out to be almost 7PM when we were leaving the grocery store so we decided to put that off to tomorrow and get take out sushi on the walk home instead.  This time from our local favorite, Kanoyama - for $3 more, it was heads and tails above the quality at Ennju - the rice was 1000x better, and the fish was awesome.

 

It comes in one of those fanciful wooden boxes.  Left to right, tuna, hamachi, salmon, snapper, shrimp (perfectly cooked), hamachi, salmon belly, tuna/cucumber roll.

 

It was fortuitous that just a few minutes before, totally unplanned btw, we got these new soy sauce dishes at HMart...

 

 

And filled:

 

Sorry - I probably should have picked the detritus out of the dish before the photo but oh well....

You're absolutely killing me.  KILLING ME.  Sushi looks so fresh and good.  And those dishes.  I NEED THOSE DISHES.

7 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Pizza topped with miso shallot butter jam, roasted king oyster mushrooms, fontina and parmesan cheeses and basil

 

Ditto on the killing me

2 hours ago, Duvel said:

Tonight’s rendition of Pizza & Movie night featured …

 

Salami & mushroom. You can tell that the family is hungry when you go to the kitchen to get napkins and when you are back half of the pizza is gone 🙄

 

 

Spargel. Mozzarella, shaved raw white asparagus, cooked potatoes. Post bake enhanced with Tyrolean Speck and dollops of Hollandaise …

 

 

Margherita. Crushed tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pinch of Parmigiano and basil leaves …

 

 

… and the movie Finding Ohana, a kind of Goonies remake with some faux-Hawaiian mythology and fairy tale thrown in. Contrary to tonights pizza varieties this movie doesn’t need repeating.

Tritto (thrice of the ditto) especially the hollandaise one.  And no.  No one can remake The Goonies.  Nope nope nope.

 

Once again I've been feeling meh.  So super windy that I can't get into the garden to plant...well, I could but the seeds would end up in either Oklahoma or Nebraska depending on the hour of the day.  

 

A big pretty salad to cheer me up  along with spaghetti, bread , sauce and some new to us sweet Italian sausage that we LOVED.  It's Longhini brand that I ordered from Misfits.  Really good.

 

 

 

Sandwiches and Arby's fries that I bought frozen at the store...not as good as getting them from the restaurant, but a fun change from the usual.

 

 

Veggie quiche that turned out really good--I needed to use up a lot of things including a baked potato that I grated up in there.  And hash browns....bacon that needed to be cooked and sausages

 

 

 

Yesterday the asparagus sprung up and the lilacs sprung out!

 

 

Asparagus salad and spinach/canadian bacon/pepperoni calzones

 

 

 

With pretty flowers on the table that smell heavenly

 

[heidih]

@liamsauntthat miso shallot butter jam might need some'splainin

 

@Shelby Well I am madly envious of your sprung asparagus and lovely lilacs!

[MaryIsobel]

3 hours ago, Duvel said:

Tonight’s rendition of Pizza & Movie night featured …

 

Salami & mushroom. You can tell that the family is hungry when you go to the kitchen to get napkins and when you are back half of the pizza is gone 🙄

 

 

Spargel. Mozzarella, shaved raw white asparagus, cooked potatoes. Post bake enhanced with Tyrolean Speck and dollops of Hollandaise …

 

 

Margherita. Crushed tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pinch of Parmigiano and basil leaves …

 

 

… and the movie Finding Ohana, a kind of Goonies remake with some faux-Hawaiian mythology and fairy tale thrown in. Contrary to tonights pizza varieties this movie doesn’t need repeating.

As far as family night movies go -  hopefully you have been spared from watching the "Beethoven" movies. We usually had home made pizza too but then were subjected to many cheap, quickly produced movies about a Saint Bernard and ensuing adventures and there are 8 movies! Our kids adored them and were always stoked when a "new" (same movie with one or two different characters and a slight plot change) one came out. It was time spent together and Dad and I just drank booze from coffee mugs to get through them!

Edited April 24, 2022 by MaryIsobel (log)

[gfweb]

Duck with fig sauce and the first salad of the spring

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, MaryIsobel said:

Dad and I just drank booze from coffee mugs to get through them!

I think you're my kind of people 😁

[MaryIsobel]

15 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Duck with fig sauce and the first salad of the spring

 

Perfection! Going to need a little more info on the fig sauce though.

 

[gfweb]

50 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Perfection! Going to need a little more info on the fig sauce though.

 

 

Thanks!

5 dried figs diced and cooked in about 3/4 cup water

1/4 tsp dijon, 1/4 tsp light soy, a little salt

Stick blended and strained to get out seeds.

Bacon on top

Edited April 25, 2022 by gfweb (log)

[MaryIsobel]

8 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Thanks!

5 dried figs diced and cooked in about 3/4 cup water

1/4 tsp dijon, 1/4 tsp light soy, a little salt

Stick blended and strained to get out seeds.

Bacon on top

Thank you. We have a plethora of pork tenderloin. Long story but my husband is now facing a moratorium from buying meat without consulting with me first. I love figs and their flavour in anything, so will be treating our next pork tenderloin to fig sauce. I was happy to see that it was dried figs because fresh figs are few and far between here in the PNW, even when they are in season. A chain here, Earl's, does a fig, brie, thinly sliced apple sandwich on a baguette. It is my go to order when eating there.

Edited April 25, 2022 by MaryIsobel (log)

[gfweb]

30 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Thank you. We have a plethora of pork tenderloin. Long story but my husband is now facing a moratorium from buying meat without consulting with me first. I love figs and their flavour in anything, so will be treating our next pork tenderloin to fig sauce. I was happy to see that it was dried figs because fresh figs are few and far between here in the PNW, even when they are in season. A chain here, Earl's, does a fig, brie, thinly sliced apple sandwich on a baguette. It is my go to order when eating there.

Lol. I have pork tenderloin & flat iron steaks enough for another pandemic. 

[KennethT]

I made a new (to me) Indonesian curry today - ayam bumbu rujak.  It's weird trying to make a dish that you've never eaten before, never seen a description of (in English) and really have no idea what it's supposed to be like.  But it was surprisingly crazy good and very addictive.  My wife and I are both stuffed now!!!!  It brings up an interesting point how two different dishes using basically the same ingredients but either in slightly different proportion or a slightly different cooking method can wind up dramatically different.  This was very similar to quite a few of the Nyonya dishes I've made in the past, but tasted like something all its own.

 

 

 

[Dante]

Lentil stew with sofrito and lime slices, garnished with fried tortilla strips

[liamsaunt]

14 hours ago, heidih said:

@liamsauntthat miso shallot butter jam might need some'splainin

 

I riffed on an idea in the new Half Baked Harvest Cookbook.  Half Baked Harvest Every Day

 

She calls for 6 tbsp melted butter, 3 tbsp. white miso, and 1.5 cups warm water whisked together, poured over 6 peeled and halved shallots, baked at 500 for 25 minutes covered, then uncovered for 20 minutes longer.  I did similar but used slightly less butter, more thyme, and baked for double the time at 450, then pureed everything together to make a smooth jammy topping.  It was very nice with the mushrooms.

 

Last night, I cooked my husband a half rack of lamb with a potato and macomber turnip puree and a green bean-asparagus saute

 

 

My sister and I do not like lamb, so I made us a sort of chicken piccata with the same sides

 

 

[weinoo]

We’re on vacation, in Portland, Maine. And what better way to start vacation eating when in Portland, than with…

 

 

a dozen of Maine’s finest. And a nice Sancerre from the Loire Valley.

 

There was wood roasted squid and potatoes along with gnocchi with a lamb ragu for starters.

 

 

Significant Eater had a spinach pie for her Maine. Roasted in their wood-burning oven as well, I didn’t think it was as good as my…

 

 

Black sea bass, with mushrooms in a lovely, buttery sauce. This was excellent.

 

At Fore Street, the restaurant which really put Portland dining on the map.  Open for over 25 years, it was so good. I wish NYC had a place like this…https://www.forestreet.biz

[KennethT]

3 minutes ago, weinoo said:

We’re on vacation, in Portland, Maine. And what better way to start vacation eating when in Portland, than with…

 

 

a dozen of Maine’s finest. And a nice Sancerre from the Loire Valley.

 

There was wood roasted squid and potatoes along with gnocchi with a lamb ragu for starters.

 

 

Significant Eater had a spinach pie for her Maine. Roasted in their wood-burning oven as well, I didn’t think it was as good as my…

 

 

Black sea bass, with mushrooms in a lovely, buttery sauce. This was excellent.

 

At Fore Street, the restaurant which really put Portland dining on the map.  Open for over 25 years, it was so good. I wish NYC had a place like this…https://www.forestreet.biz

Out of curiosity, what are the prices like up there?

[Duvel]

On 4/24/2022 at 4:46 AM, cteavin said:

 

What is all that green inside your Okonomiyaki ..? It does not look like a Negiyaki to me, but I could be wrong. And where are the katsuobushi/aonori (sacrificed for a cleaner picture perhaps 😉) ?

[weinoo]

6 hours ago, KennethT said:

Out of curiosity, what are the prices like up there?

Oysters are right around $3 each in restaurants. These are some of the freshest I’ve tasted, some right out of Casco Bay.

 

Whole sea bass was $37, WHICH I think is a lot less than I’ve paid for whole roasted lesser fish is NYC.

 

(And today at lunch, they were $32 for a dozen of Maine’s finest.)

Edited April 25, 2022 by weinoo (log)

[cteavin]

7 hours ago, Duvel said:

 

What is all that green inside your Okonomiyaki ..? It does not look like a Negiyaki to me, but I could be wrong. And where are the katsuobushi/aonori (sacrificed for a cleaner picture perhaps 😉) ?

 

It's cabbage (with a saturation boost). 😆🤣

Love that you know negiyaki. I've been wanting to make that, too. 😁😉