Lunch 2023

[weinoo]

Pretty easy and quick to prepare:

 

 

Faella "Tofe" with assorted raw tomatoes, roasted Hatch chilies, feta, Parmigiano, olive oil, salt and pepper.

 

[johnnyd]

Lobster stew - local new potato, pancetta, homemade lobster stock, lemon thyme from the garden, a bit of green/red bells and onion, finish with paprika oil.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by johnnyd (log)

[btbyrd]

Mussels and Utz original.

 

 

 

[Kim Shook]

On 8/17/2023 at 4:12 PM, Smithy said:

@Kim Shook, I'm trying and failing to remember the last time I saw, much less ate, at a lunch counter! Nice that you can still find such a place!

We really are lucky!  One of the places makes soups so good that I have gone by and picked up a large order to have with dinner.  

 

We had a post church brunch on Sunday at a local place – a VA restaurant with a few locations.  We’d never been before.  I’ve been craving fish and chips for weeks and had heard good things about theirs.  The menu is really interesting with lots of things I was looking forward to trying in the future.  We started out with their pretzel sticks with cheese dip and Guinness mustard:

The cheese sauce was fine, but the mustard was delicious – though unfortunately too hot for anyone at the table but Mr. Kim.  Sadly, this was the best part of the meal.  Mr. Kim had the steakhouse salad:

The salad itself was fine (though those pallid tomatoes are a crime in August in the Commonwealth of Virginia!!!), but the steak was awful.  It had something running through the entire piece that make it impossible to cut through.  The kitchen had given up and sent it out only partially sliced through.  Mr. Kim’s effort trying to cut it up enough to eat sent part of the salad sailing  to the floor.  It was, however, cooked to medium-rare, as requested.

 

Jessica and I both had the fish and chips.  The fish was haddock – not my first choice, but fine – and looked gorgeous:

The “chips” are not chips, but steak fries and frozen ones at that.  They tasted good – I have no quibble with frozen fries.  Had I been served those beside a burger, I would have been perfectly happy.  But don’t call something “chips” and give me steak fries.  The fish itself was very nice – tender and flakey and it tasted great.  The breading was the problem.  It was crispy on the edges and the very outer layer, but the inside was oddly spongy.  I said that if you set a piece of this fish and a piece of Long John Silver’s fish in front of me, I’d be picking up the LJS’s every time. Both of my brunch partners agreed with me. 

[MaryIsobel]

6 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

We really are lucky!  One of the places makes soups so good that I have gone by and picked up a large order to have with dinner.  

 

We had a post church brunch on Sunday at a local place – a VA restaurant with a few locations.  We’d never been before.  I’ve been craving fish and chips for weeks and had heard good things about theirs.  The menu is really interesting with lots of things I was looking forward to trying in the future.  We started out with their pretzel sticks with cheese dip and Guinness mustard:

The cheese sauce was fine, but the mustard was delicious – though unfortunately too hot for anyone at the table but Mr. Kim.  Sadly, this was the best part of the meal.  Mr. Kim had the steakhouse salad:

The salad itself was fine (though those pallid tomatoes are a crime in August in the Commonwealth of Virginia!!!), but the steak was awful.  It had something running through the entire piece that make it impossible to cut through.  The kitchen had given up and sent it out only partially sliced through.  Mr. Kim’s effort trying to cut it up enough to eat sent part of the salad sailing  to the floor.  It was, however, cooked to medium-rare, as requested.

 

Jessica and I both had the fish and chips.  The fish was haddock – not my first choice, but fine – and looked gorgeous:

The “chips” are not chips, but steak fries and frozen ones at that.  They tasted good – I have no quibble with frozen fries.  Had I been served those beside a burger, I would have been perfectly happy.  But don’t call something “chips” and give me steak fries.  The fish itself was very nice – tender and flakey and it tasted great.  The breading was the problem.  It was crispy on the edges and the very outer layer, but the inside was oddly spongy.  I said that if you set a piece of this fish and a piece of Long John Silver’s fish in front of me, I’d be picking up the LJS’s every time. Both of my brunch partners agreed with me. 

Horrible to dine somewhere you are looking forward to and then finding out it is not up to snuff. Your track record with restaurants seems to be pretty good so I guess you just have to accept that there will be a less than stellar one at some point.

[Raamo]

Last night I spent about 2 hours making Grandma's slow cooked green beans from the New Mediteraian Table cook book

 

The bread is french lean loaf from MB.  I've made a lot of this the last 2 weeks.

 

This all made for a very tasty lunch:

[OlyveOyl]

Lunch today was thinly sliced ham warmed in a foil packet for a few minutes in the oven. Served with a mustard sauce…mayo, mustard, pickle relish.

Half of a very large sweet potato, zapped for five minutes, put in oven while it was warming up.

Tomatoes with sorrel sauce.

Edited August 22, 2023 by OlyveOyl (log)

[BeeZee]

Had a lunch time presentation in Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood, so afterwards I grabbed a Vegetarian bahn mi (grilled tofu) from Bahn Mi Cali and found a place to sit outdoors and enjoy the nice day. They had asked if I wanted hot sauce and I said "no" thinking there might already be jalapeños...but there were not, so the sandwich was lacking a little zest. Photo from their website, I was eating my sandwich out of a brown bag in a parking lot. Pigeon got the crumbs.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

@OlyveOyl – that ham with mustard sauce has me thinking about the Costco Master Carve ham I’ve got in the freezer and making a batch of @Tropicalsenior's Gourmet Mustard!

 

A friend gave me these some lovely egg coddlers awhile back and I finally got around to trying them.  I really need to work on my timing, but the texture was so great – very tender.  Much better than when I’ve baked them in ramekins in the past.  With toast and a plum:

 

 

 

[OlyveOyl]

@Kim Shook That was a Master Carve Ham, they are  so good!  The mustard  “sauce” was a mix of mustard, mayo and pickle relish.

Edited August 23, 2023 by OlyveOyl (log)

[weinoo]

After quite some time away, I met a friend for lunch today...at Great NY Noodletown!

 

We shared a bunch of things; always get some roasted meats.

 

 

 

Roast duck and roast spareribs.

 

 

Singapore chow fun (was awesome).

 

 

Yu choy oyster sauce.

 

Everything was spot on today, which isn't always the case.  Just great though.

[weinoo]

I had no idea that Great NY Noodletown even had a web site!

 

And an Insta!

 

This is worrisome! (They still only take cash!!)

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

my kind of place .

 

I love Singapore ( any kind of noodles )

 

I always try to remember to ask for the GBP's to be omitted .

[weinoo]

11 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@weinoo 

 

my kind of place .

 

I love Singapore ( any kind of noodles )

 

I always try to remember to ask for the GBP's to be omitted .

 

Yeah - try that at NY Noodletown and see where that gets you!  (Once, at Arturo's, I asked if I could see the pizza oven...the response:  "Do you wanna go in head first or feet first?")

Edited August 25, 2023 by weinoo (log)

[Kim Shook]

Yesterday we were out running errands and stopped at an old favorite for lunch.  They are under new ownership and some things seem unchanged and others not quite.  The meatloaf and sweet potato tots were still great:

This was Mr. Kim’s meal.  Mine was not so successful.  I tried yet again to satisfy my craving for fish and chips:

The fish (cod) itself was good.  The coating was mushy and not crisp at all.  The “chips’, like the last place, were fries.  And not terribly good ones either.  Sigh.  I know that it sounds insane but I’m still trying to find someone in my area that makes better fish and chips and one particular Long John Silver’s in our area. 

 

Today was tuna-noodle salad and rye toast at home:

Edited August 26, 2023 by Kim Shook (log)

[weinoo]

 

Big salad of potato salad, roasted veg, veg, tuna, etc.

[liuzhou]

12 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

The fish (cod) itself was good.  The coating was mushy and not crisp at all.  The “chips’, like the last place, were fries.

 

It always amazes me when restaurants can't get crisp batter right. It's not rocket science. What was wrong with the chips. They don't look so bad to me., but I know looks ain't everything.

 

[BonVivant]

It's good to have your own maggi plant (AKA lovage). Tear the leaves into smaller pieces and add to anything. Such an intense herb/plant.

- - -
I call this thing Vietnamese "Leberkäse". Steamed pork paste with tendons (I didn't make it myself, the product is imported from France and is readily available in Asian supermarkets where I live).

I usually use a crusty bread but these days I also like these airy and pillowy Polish steamed buns.

And speaking of Maggi... I have here 3 to compare. French version is a bit salty. The other 2 taste almost similar. Both good. Hmm, next time I shall bring back a Mexican version. Look at it on the shelf every time.

 

- - -
(Beetroot-) cured salmon belly

Potatoes with quark and gherkins

On the right is Matjes

Also, pumpernickel and quark with chopped dill and blow-my-head off grated horseradish.

 

[KennethT]

Trying my hand at more south Indian food - trying to get close to that fish head curry meal we had in Singapore. Mahi mahi in slightly sour curry with roasted potatoes. Both made with my home grown curry leaves.

[Tropicalsenior]

This week my Sunday meat buns turned out to be lunch. I made the Manapua Meat-filled Buns again with a couple hitches. When I went to get my backup supply of hoisin sauce, it was not there. I only had one tablespoon of hoisin sauce so I added a tablespoon of ketchup, a tiny bit of brown sugar and a tiny bit of rice wine vinegar to make up for it. I like the result better than the original. Hoisin sauce is definitely on my list for next week.

I served them with homemade lemonade and an Asian inspired coleslaw. They are definitely worth making again.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Made a quick lunch of pasta with sugar snap peas and red bell pepper tossed with a spoonful of Trader Joe's jarred Lemon Pesto (see @OlyveOyl's photo of the jar in her post here) and sliced basil leaves.

I thought the TJ's lemon pesto was fine and might be a useful pantry ingredient. Some freshly grated zest and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice would punch it up but then I might was well make my own and the whole point was convenience.  It delivered that and I look forward to playing around with it in other applications. 

TJ's used to sell a refrigerated Lemon Artichoke Pesto that I really liked but it disappeared ages ago. I fashioned a good copycat version and this reminds me that I should make a batch of that. 

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin 

 

your pasta dish looks very inviting.

 

the long noodles visually work well with the thinly sliced SP's and RBP  

 

my above stove micro needs a new panel , so I no longer make long pasta .

 

[ my slightly smaller counter top replacement  micro will not hold a Fasta-Pasta ]

 

after cooking the long pasta , do you add a small amount of water to the pasta, after drainng

 

but before assembling the dish ?  

 

or is your pasta timing much better than mine was , and it doesn't need it ?

 

compact pasta shapes , ie bowties and such , would not have the same visual appeal 

 

but would still be tasty .

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

after cooking the long pasta , do you add a small amount of water to the pasta, after drainng

Yes. For this, I cook the spaghetti in a skillet so it doesn’t need a ton of water and boils quickly. A little before it’s done, toss in the sugar snaps and in the last 30 sec, the peppers go in. Then I dump into a strainer sitting in a serving bowl.  Pasta and veg go back into the skillet and get tossed with the pesto and a little

pasta water. When it’s all good, I dump the water from the bowl into the sink and put everything into the now-warm bowl. 
 

12 minutes ago, rotuts said:

compact pasta shapes , ie bowties and such , would not have the same visual appeal 

True.  Always looks better with similar shapes. Uncut sugar snaps and thicker pepper pieces work with penne or rotini but as you said, they all taste the same!

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin 

 

never occurred to me to cook long pasta in a skillet .

 

thank you for that idea .

 

I do have a 12 " Fond-less .

 

Ill use linguini as I prefer it to spaghetti .    I like the edges for some reason.

[Kim Shook]

On 8/27/2023 at 6:13 AM, liuzhou said:

 

It always amazes me when restaurants can't get crisp batter right. It's not rocket science. What was wrong with the chips. They don't look so bad to me., but I know looks ain't everything.

 

They really weren't bad. Just not the chunky chips that I was hoping for.  And if the batter isn't rocket science, proper chips certainly aren't. It's really just a matter of cutting them right.  And double frying is a nice extra, though not absolutely necessary.