Lunch 2023

[OlyveOyl]

I’ll join you in a  duet…he’s one of my favorites!

[chromedome]

8 hours ago, OlyveOyl said:

I’ll join you in a  duet…he’s one of my favorites!

I still haven't forgiven him for eating the last mango in Paris...

[blue_dolphin]

Pulled pork and slaw sando on a toasted bun

Pork and slaw courtesy of ZEF BBQ, brioche buns from Aldi. 

[blue_dolphin]

Picked up this week's fish and it was fresh ahi tuna loin...again!  Not complaining at all, it's just something I usually think of for special occasions and Thursday lunch isn't really in that category.  

I cut off a chunk and went with a coriander-crusted seared tuna sandwich with gochujang mayo and topped with slaw for a bit of crunch. 

I added the rest of the slaw after the photo so you could see at least a little of the lovely tuna

[Steve Irby]

Chicken Salan over basmati rice.  Served with a spiralized cucumber salad.

 

[johnnyd]

Opah, poached in vermouth, ginger sticks and tarragon

 

 

[johnnyd]

Prik Khing curry tofu. Not particularly attractive but unexpectedly delicious considering I wasn't using a recipe, just mucking around.

 

[Kim Shook]

@Kerala – afternoon tea is my absolute favorite meal in the world!  I have not had the opportunity to indulge as often as I liked, but when I do it’s heaven.  Yours looks lovely!

 

Last week:

 

Leftover salad and open face tacos with just meat and cheese.

 

More leftovers – rice, pork tenderloin, and an apple:

Went to lunch with a friend and got an Indiana-sized tenderloin.  That is a normal sized hamburger bun and the meat is what was left after I had eaten all I could at lunch!

 

Went on a an estate sale and thrifting run a ways out of town and stopped at one of my favorite burger joints:

 

Last Sunday, we had a Sunday School potluck/cook out at church.  Jessica made the sweet version of those bacon wrapped crackers:

 

 

I made my mother’s lifetime best friend’s Strawberry Shortcake Dessert (no picture – bur just a big bowl of cake and creamy goodness topped with strawberries and glaze) and cheater creamed corn (a tube of frozen creamed corn, 2 big bags of Hanover Silver Queen corn, butter, and pepper). 

 

A couple of days ago:

Bologna and Havarti sandwich, tortilla chips, and corn dip. 

[MaryIsobel]

41 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

@Kerala – afternoon tea is my absolute favorite meal in the world!  I have not had the opportunity to indulge as often as I liked, but when I do it’s heaven.  Yours looks lovely!

 

Last week:

 

Leftover salad and open face tacos with just meat and cheese.

 

More leftovers – rice, pork tenderloin, and an apple:

Went to lunch with a friend and got an Indiana-sized tenderloin.  That is a normal sized hamburger bun and the meat is what was left after I had eaten all I could at lunch!

 

Went on a an estate sale and thrifting run a ways out of town and stopped at one of my favorite burger joints:

 

Last Sunday, we had a Sunday School potluck/cook out at church.  Jessica made the sweet version of those bacon wrapped crackers:

 

 

I made my mother’s lifetime best friend’s Strawberry Shortcake Dessert (no picture – bur just a big bowl of cake and creamy goodness topped with strawberries and glaze) and cheater creamed corn (a tube of frozen creamed corn, 2 big bags of Hanover Silver Queen corn, butter, and pepper). 

 

A couple of days ago:

Bologna and Havarti sandwich, tortilla chips, and corn dip. 

"a tube of frozen creamed corn" has me curious. I have never seen creamed corn except in a can. Not a great memory for me.

[Kim Shook]

2 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

"a tube of frozen creamed corn" has me curious. I have never seen creamed corn except in a can. Not a great memory for me.

Yep!  The can is awful.  The tube, on the other hand is a whole other thing.  It is full of corn flavor and creamy rather than watery.  It's still a little too liquidy and sweet (to my taste) - which is why I mix it with at least twice as much regular frozen corn.  It truly approaches from scratch creamed corn.  When I met Mr. Kim, he hated creamed corn.  But he'd only had the canned stuff.  After he tasted my from scratch and this cheater recipe, he changed his mind.  

[OlyveOyl]

Beautiful artichokes this season, they have been fresh and very “ meaty “. My favorite presentation is with vinaigrette , the peeled stems were a bonus.

A strawberry dessert with wonderful strawberries and a little lemon cakelet topped with sour cream  was a pleasant ending.

[KennethT]

Wanted something fun before my COVID booster.... sambal grouper with cucumber salad.

 

[Smithy]

14 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Yep!  The can is awful.  The tube, on the other hand is a whole other thing.  It is full of corn flavor and creamy rather than watery.  It's still a little too liquidy and sweet (to my taste) - which is why I mix it with at least twice as much regular frozen corn.  It truly approaches from scratch creamed corn.  When I met Mr. Kim, he hated creamed corn.  But he'd only had the canned stuff.  After he tasted my from scratch and this cheater recipe, he changed his mind.  

 

Huh. I've never heard of creamed corn in a tube either! My mother always cooked it from canned. I cook a creamed corn casserole based on my mother's recipe as a special holiday treat for my darling. It's All His, and safe from me except to take a token amount with the dinner. If I ever run across a tube of the stuff I'll give it a try.

[MaryIsobel]

14 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Yep!  The can is awful.  The tube, on the other hand is a whole other thing.  It is full of corn flavor and creamy rather than watery.  It's still a little too liquidy and sweet (to my taste) - which is why I mix it with at least twice as much regular frozen corn.  It truly approaches from scratch creamed corn.  When I met Mr. Kim, he hated creamed corn.  But he'd only had the canned stuff.  After he tasted my from scratch and this cheater recipe, he changed his mind.  

How interesting. I'll have a look next time we go across the border but we are very far north, so may not be available in Washington.

 

[blue_dolphin]

16 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Yep!  The can is awful.  The tube, on the other hand is a whole other thing.  It is full of corn flavor and creamy rather than watery.  It's still a little too liquidy and sweet (to my taste) - which is why I mix it with at least twice as much regular frozen corn.  It truly approaches from scratch creamed corn.  When I met Mr. Kim, he hated creamed corn.  But he'd only had the canned stuff.  After he tasted my from scratch and this cheater recipe, he changed his mind.  

 

@Kim Shook, is this the stuff you get?  I don't think I've seen it but there are many things I don't see in the grocery store unless I make a point to look! 

[Kim Shook]

On 6/10/2023 at 6:25 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

@Kim Shook, is this the stuff you get?  I don't think I've seen it but there are many things I don't see in the grocery store unless I make a point to look! 

Yes!  That's exactly it.  I've also found Cope's brand boxed and in a boil-in-bag.  This one is the best and the hardest to find.  They may not even be making it anymore.  But I know that the McKenzie's is still available because I just bought some.  

 

Friday:

A leftover fried boneless chicken breast from our dinner at Cracker Barrel the night before on the way home from Northern VA.

[blue_dolphin]

4 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Yes!  That's exactly it.  I've also found Cope's brand boxed and in a boil-in-bag.  This one is the best and the hardest to find.  They may not even be making it anymore.  But I know that the McKenzie's is still available because I just bought some.  

 

Thanks! When you said it was a tube, I was puzzled but when I saw they meant it to look like an ear of corn, made sense.  Between the farmers market, Trader Joes and local bakeries, I don't visit regular grocery stores very often but I'll keep an eye for this when I do.  

Speaking of Trader Joe's, I went there while hungry this morning, such a mistake 🙃, but I allowed myself a bag of their Mandarin Orange Chicken, long a customer favorite, but one I've never tried. Popped some right into the CSO to cook while I put stuff away and added some broccoli so I could call it a meal. 

That's their sauce.  Not particularly good, as others have reported. I mixed in some sweet chili sauce and found the combo OK as a dipping sauce.  I'm sure I could improve on it. A lot of those little pieces hardly had any chicken in them. I expected that.  Nothing truly bad about it but no reason to get it again either.  Unless the hangries strike again!

[pastameshugana]

We make a monthly or bi-monthly pilgrimage to 'Chinatown' in Johannesburg - it's about 1 hour depending on traffic so we've got to make the most of it. This time we went for hot-pot. We've tried several in the area, and our favorite is a tiny little place. Not particularly nice, but delicious, and they've got a kiddie pool with the live fish in it they cook and serve. Always fun to watch the cook wrestling a 10kg live fish out of the pool into the kitchen... Forgot to take pictures this time.

 

We always start our trip at our favorite Chinese import market to stock up on basics. Lots of great instant noodle varieties from China and S. Korea. They have different varieties of baked goods occasionally, this time they had these delightful little pineapple cakes. The outside had a nice, dense, cake-like texture, and the pineapple filling was very mochi-like and sweet. Addictively good!

 

 

This time we tried these noodles:

 

There's 14 portions in the package, for 120 Rand, which works out to about 6.50 USD (depending on the exchange rate, which is fluctuating wildly these days).

 

I made some Gochujang buttered noodles (which is a ridiculously easy and sinfully good lunch, in my not so humble opinion) with these, and the noodles themselves were outstanding. Great chew, wonderful texture that grabs the sauce, and a nice rich flavor. I think these would be incredible with an Alfredo as well.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

27 minutes ago, pastameshugana said:

(depending on the exchange rate, which is fluctuating wildly these days).

It's the same in Costa Rica right now. I don't know what's going on.

[liuzhou]

50 minutes ago, pastameshugana said:

 

This time we tried these noodles:

 

刀削麵 (dāo xiāo miàn) = Knife Shaved Noodles, a favourite of mine. From China's Shanxi province.

[OlyveOyl]

Fettuccine with a pork ragu , whipped ricotta, and herbs from the garden.

I had a small piece of leftover pork roast that was looking for a home, so it got pulse chopped with some garlic and a small carrot.  To that I added canned San Marzano tomatoes, peperoncini,white wine , a little squeeze of tomato paste and some evoo.That was simmered for about 45 minutes, added parsley, fresh marjoram and basil.  The ricotta was whipped in the food processor until it was silky smooth, the sauce made enough for several meals.

A green  salad from the garden  followed by a dish of sliced strawberries finished off lunch.

[Anna N]

Finally got around to trying Eric Kim's Gochujang Buttered Noodles. However,  bucatini is a poor choice for the noodle and needed a few more minutes to cook through properly. I was sure someone else said they made it with this pasta. And my gochujang was super spicy -- quite beyond my tolerance level. Back to the drawing board.  

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Finally got around to trying Eric Kim's Gochujang Buttered Noodles. However,  bucatini is a poor choice for the noodle and needed a few more minutes to cook through properly. I was sure someone else said they made it with this pasta. And my gochujang was super spicy -- quite beyond my tolerance level. Back to the drawing board.  

I’m so sorry it was a bust! I ran out of gochujang the other day and my first thought was, Oh no!  What if I need Eric's noodles! 

[pastameshugana]

18 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

刀削麵 (dāo xiāo miàn) = Knife Shaved Noodles, a favourite of mine. From China's Shanxi province.

 

Awesome, thank you for the translation!

[liuzhou]

6 minutes ago, pastameshugana said:

 

Awesome, thank you for the translation!

 

You are welcome. What is awesome is watching them being made fresh. A skilled chef holds a great lump of dough in their left hand/arm and with their right shaves off bits of dough which fly through the air and land in a large pan of boiling water. These are skimmed out seconds later and served. Cabaret with lunch! There are videos on YouTube (which I can't reach at the moment). Use the translation or the Chinese to search.