Dinner 2025

[Norm Matthews]

We had Mongolian Beef tonight.

[gulfporter]

On 6/27/2025 at 12:22 PM, dcarch said:

Hosta scapes are showing up big time in the garden. One of my favorite veggies, crispy and tender.

 

SV steak on hosta scapes and yellow zucchini from the garden. 

 

When we lived on 5 acres in Northern Virginia we called our hosta, "deer caviar."  How did you manage to beat Bambi to them 🦌

[dcarch]

49 minutes ago, gulfporter said:

 

When we lived on 5 acres in Northern Virginia we called our hosta, "deer caviar."  How did you manage to beat Bambi to them 🦌

 

Electric fence works.

 

dcarch

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

Electric fence works.

 

dcarch

Sort of.  My parents had hosta beds that the deer LOVED. My father and I put electric fences around everything but we constantly needed to maintain them as the plants grew because the leaves would touch the wires and create a short (especially if rainy).  Plus the beds were maybe 10 feet in diameter and the deer would always try to jump the fence to get into the interior... many times with disastrous consequences.

[dcarch]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

Sort of.  My parents had hosta beds that the deer LOVED. My father and I put electric fences around everything but we constantly needed to maintain them as the plants grew because the leaves would touch the wires and create a short (especially if rainy).  Plus the beds were maybe 10 feet in diameter and the deer would always try to jump the fence to get into the interior... many times with disastrous consequences.

 

You do need to maintain some degree of plant control. A higher power fence charger can actually kill / burn plants that touch the wire.

 

For deer control there is 3D wiring method.

 

dcarch

 

Edited July 2 by dcarch (log)

[KennethT]

@dcarchinteresting - I had never heard of that before. 

[mgaretz]

Just liked the look of this pork chop enough to take a picture, with corn.

 

 

[dcarch]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

@dcarchinteresting - I had never heard of that before. 

 

I am sure you know about this, you seem very knowledgeable about tech stuff, but just in case:

If your ground is mostly dry, you may have to install the ground rod deeper and may be more than one rod.

 

dcarch

[btbyrd]

Wings, a wedge, and some quick pickles made in my chamber vacuum machine.

 

 

[Neely]

Roast pork with roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, beans with tomatoes, apple sauce and gravy made by my husband. I do like a more liquid gravy but he seems to like this thicker one which he makes from a roux. I’m actually pleased just to have the help so no complaints from me. 

 

[Paul Bacino]

Gyro Roll up

Lettuce/ tetziki/Greek dressing/onion/Gyro meat/tomato/feta

 

[gulfporter]

14 hours ago, dcarch said:

 

Electric fence works.

 

dcarch

 

We had 6 large established hosta beds (courtesy of former homeowner). 

 

We also had a huge deer population as we lived in one of the last 5 acre subdivisions in urbanized Fairfax County VA, and our home was lakefront.   Our winter herds were 20+ and they slept just off our deck!   Every spring we'd had at least 3 or 4 fawns.  We loved watching the deer.  

 

Our solution was to use dried blood as a deterrent, we had to reapply often.  We'd do it all summer, then we'd stop in late September and let the deer have at the hosta.  

 

[YvetteMT]

5 hours ago, btbyrd said:

Wings, a wedge, and some quick pickles made in my chamber vacuum machine.

 

 

@btbyrd that plate screams summer and I'd like to place my order for lunch now!

[weinoo]

20 hours ago, gulfporter said:

I am cooking duck to medium these days as I get more tender meat than when rare.  Maybe it has to do with the duck I buy here in AZ.  

 

You're absolutely correct...I'm of the opinion that too-rare duck sucks.  And I don't think it has anything to do with the duck you buy. (Exception might be for wild duck).

[Dejah]

Breaded Pork Chops. Corn OFF the cob for hubby and new taters. Tried out VH new flavour dipping sauce: Orange Ginger - can't beat the discontinued Mango Chili 🤥
                                                                                            

 

A friend brought over Ho Fun with shrimp. I cooked up Shanghai Bok Choy with garlic scapes.

 

                                                              

 

Cleaning up when freezer and pulled out a bag of homemade apple pie filling. Made Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp. No oatmeal was harmed in this crisp. 
                                                    

                                                                

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp - from E.D. Smith Pie Filling - Recipe on can

Basic Recipe: 6 portions 

1 - 19 oz. E.D. Smith apple pie filling

1 - cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp. baking POWDER

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese ( I use old cheddar)

1/3 cup melted butter

¼ cup milk

1. Combine and sift all dry ingredients

2. Mix in cheese

3. Mix together the melted butter and milk. Add to the above mixture

4. Mix gently with a fork until all the flour is incorporated

5. Spoon apple pie filling into a shallow 1 quart / 1 litre baking dish

6. Drop flour/cheese mixture by forkful to evenly cover the entire dish. Don’t press down! Use the fork to spread the dough if lumpy

7. Bake in pre-heated oven at 375F for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown

The recipe calls for a shallow 1quart dish. I used an 8” x 11” Pyrex glass dish.

I made 1.5 times the topping recipe but 2 cans filling

Great with ice cream or by itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

You're absolutely correct...I'm of the opinion that too-rare duck sucks.  And I don't think it has anything to do with the duck you buy. (Exception might be for wild duck).

I think it depends. We've had some duck breast in various places in France, years ago, that was rare and really tender. It has to be the duck because one of the places was a Burgundian fondue place where you cooked your meat in a pot of hot oil on your table.  Also had Charolais beef and lamb. I'd love to go back to that place.

[Norm Matthews]

Charlie wondered if we could have chislic today.  I said that would entail getting some lamb and the only place I know that has it are the Mexican groceries and they only sell it by the quarter, like a whole leg or shoulder and it would be frozen.  So he said how about some marinaded steak then.  I said I saw a Kabob recipe a few days ago that was grilled and basted with a compound butter. That is what we decided to do.  The recipe is just for the meat. I added the vegetables and cooked them on the gas grill for 30 minutes and the steak in the smoker firebox for about ten minutes over charcoal.  Charlie really liked it and wondered of it was an Asian recipe.  I didn't know.  He looked at the recipe and the last line identified it as coming from a Viet Phu Inc. cookbook.  That is  the Red Boat Fish Sauce company in California. 

[MaryIsobel]

6 hours ago, Dejah said:

Breaded Pork Chops. Corn OFF the cob for hubby and new taters. Tried out VH new flavour dipping sauce: Orange Ginger - can't beat the discontinued Mango Chili 🤥
                                                                                            

 

A friend brought over Ho Fun with shrimp. I cooked up Shanghai Bok Choy with garlic scapes.

 

                                                              

 

Cleaning up when freezer and pulled out a bag of homemade apple pie filling. Made Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp. No oatmeal was harmed in this crisp. 
                                                    

                                                                

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp - from E.D. Smith Pie Filling - Recipe on can

Basic Recipe: 6 portions 

1 - 19 oz. E.D. Smith apple pie filling

1 - cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp. baking POWDER

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese ( I use old cheddar)

1/3 cup melted butter

¼ cup milk

1. Combine and sift all dry ingredients

2. Mix in cheese

3. Mix together the melted butter and milk. Add to the above mixture

4. Mix gently with a fork until all the flour is incorporated

5. Spoon apple pie filling into a shallow 1 quart / 1 litre baking dish

6. Drop flour/cheese mixture by forkful to evenly cover the entire dish. Don’t press down! Use the fork to spread the dough if lumpy

7. Bake in pre-heated oven at 375F for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown

The recipe calls for a shallow 1quart dish. I used an 8” x 11” Pyrex glass dish.

I made 1.5 times the topping recipe but 2 cans filling

Great with ice cream or by itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You had me at apples and cheddar, truly one of my favourite combos. When my now son-on-law first came for dinner, I had made an apple pie and was asking who wanted ice cream and who wanted cheese. He chuckled and said cheese? On pie? Now it should be known that our family is full of pranksters and I guess he thought this was another joke. Once convinced that we were serious, he tried it and declared "Oh my god - why is this not a thing?" We assured it that it had been a thing in our family for generations and now he is a convert.

[C. sapidus]

Keema matar, made with ground lamb, onion, garlic, and chiles, tomato and yogurt, and spiced with cumin, coriander, cayenne, and garam masala, finished with lemon juice and peas. Would have added cilantro if we had any.

 

Basmati rice, with cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom, bay leaf, garlic, and chicken stock, topped with onion greens.

 

[Ann_T]

Originally planned to make Pork Chili Verde for dinner tonight. But when I got to the store, the butcher had two beautiful racks of lamb that I couldn't resist.

Bought both. One for the freezer and one for dinner.

Seasoned with fresh local garlic, rosemary from the garden and a mix of pink, white, green and black peppercorns.

Drizzled with olive oil.

 

Grilled the rack and served with a homemade mint sauce.

 

 

Moe's Plate.

 

 

My Plate. 

 

Sides were local new nugget potatoes with garlic, butter and dill and fresh asparagus.

[rotuts]

@Ann_T

 

That lamb is perfect .

 

The pics are going in the Lamb p0rn folder.

[weinoo]

20 hours ago, KennethT said:

I think it depends. We've had some duck breast in various places in France, years ago, that was rare and really tender. It has to be the duck because one of the places was a Burgundian fondue place where you cooked your meat in a pot of hot oil on your table.  Also had Charolais beef and lamb. I'd love to go back to that place.

 

While I've certainly had rare duck that was tender and palatable, I just think it tastes so much better when it sees some fire.

Edited July 3 by weinoo (log)

[liamsaunt]

It's striped bass season, and the tomatoes are starting to come in so..

 

Pasta with uncooked tomato sauce and basil

 

 

 

Roasted striped bass with Mario Batali's Sicilian lifeguard sauce (made with fresh tomatoes).  The recipe is originally meant to be served with calamari, but it's basically impossible to find calamari here, even in the fish markets.

 

[Ann_T]

We had gone into Victoria this morning and had planned to have lunch when we had finished shopping.

I couldn't think of anything that I actually wanted or a restaurant I actually wanted to go to.

So decided to just come home and make an early dinner to eat while watching our Blue Jay's play the Yankees.

Tonight's dinner. Chicken Cacciatore Roman Style (no tomatoes). With addition of Cremini Mushrooms.

Love this recipe that @JoNorvelleWalker shared. 

Served with new potatoes and spinach sauteed with garlic and lemon. 

 

Edited July 4 by Ann_T (log)

[Katie Meadow]

On 7/2/2025 at 8:59 AM, weinoo said:

 

You're absolutely correct...I'm of the opinion that too-rare duck sucks.  And I don't think it has anything to do with the duck you buy. (Exception might be for wild duck)

Rare duck is stomach-cringy. But so is any rare poultry, as far as I'm concerned. I love that hanging  Chinese BBQ duck. We used to make Bahn Mi with it. And also duck noodle soup. Now long gone, there was a great restaurant in Oakland Chinatown that served Duck Leg Pho. So good.  

Edited July 4 by Katie Meadow (log)