Dinner 2026

[C. sapidus]

Sri Lankan eggplant curry: Rub Japanese eggplant rounds with oil, sprinkle with S&P, and broil until reddened. Mix broiled eggplant with lime juice and ground cumin, coriander, cayenne, fennel, and turmeric. Saute black mustard seed, cinnamon stick, and sliced onions, add eggplant mixture, and then simmer with coconut milk and Thai basil leaves (sub for curry leaves). Serve with lime wedges.

 

House guest made bulgur with za'atar to go with.

 

Eggplant is one of my go-to dishes when Mrs. C is out of town - she does not enjoy the texture.

 

 

[Maison Rustique]

With the weather so crappy (More snow and temps headed to below zero), I am ignoring all the healthy food I bought to cook. Threw together a handful of biscuits and pulled sausage gravy out of the freezer. Just needed comfort food.

[Dejah]

Mung Bean Noodles with Chinese sausage, rehydrated dried shrimp meat, Napa cabbage. This was in place of rice. We also had a can of fried dace and black beans

                                                                                                               

 

Tried out another Weight Watchers recipe: Was supposed to be Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. I subbed out the chicken with shrimp. It was great!

                                                                 
 

[Neely]

I made this below meal just for me one night. Husband was away so I thought I’d invent a dish with ingredients I like . Turned out I didn’t like it. Fried pork dumplings with my concoction of onion, shredded cabbage, spinach and fava beans. I made up a sauce with tomato paste and sweet chilli. It was all too gooey and sweet. The fava beans were mushy and even the dumplings which I like simmered in an Asian broth, were not good being fried…. Oh well you know the saying … you win some, you lose some!!

 

 

Next night I bought a rotisserie chicken and had it with two salads and some homemade sweet potato fries……

Much better

 

[Duvel]

After a rather busy Saturday I felt rather lazy, but had this hankering for some Chinese food. When I feel too lazy to cook I usually do something with dough, that practically keeps making itself with all the waiting time. So I opted for Rou Jia Mo (肉夾饃) …

 

While the dough was resting and the pork (shank instead of belly, because that’s what my butcher had on offer) was braising away I kept the family happy with two treats from the mancave:

 

Kind of pretzel bites with a odd yet tasty lard with seaweed flavor …

 

 

Semidried squid with sea urchin coating …

 

 

The dough before being rolled up, flattened and griddled in a hot pan …

 

 

 

The pork shank, chopped up in larger pieces in a complex stewing liquid with literally a dozen spices (that oddly I had all at home 🤭). Shank has an even better skin to meat ratio than belly which added to the dish …

 

 

And the final product, served with cucumbers, cilantro and chili. I had three, the other two two each … I’d call that success ✊

 

 

Enjoyed while introducing little one to the Batman saga of Christopher Nolan. No complaints 🤗

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Duvel said:

After a rather busy Saturday I felt rather lazy, but had this hankering for some Chinese food. When I feel too lazy to cook I usually do something with dough, that practically keeps making itself with all the waiting time. So I opted for Rou Jia Mo (肉夾饃) …

 

While the dough was resting and the pork (shank instead of belly, because that’s what my butcher had on offer) was braising away I kept the family happy with two treats from the mancave:

 

Kind of pretzel bites with a odd yet tasty lard with seaweed flavor …

 

 

Semidried squid with sea urchin coating …

 

 

The dough before being rolled up, flattened and griddled in a hot pan …

 

 

 

The pork shank, chopped up in larger pieces in a complex stewing liquid with literally a dozen spices (that oddly I had all at home 🤭). Shank has an even better skin to meat ratio than belly which added to the dish …

 

 

And the final product, served with cucumbers, cilantro and chili. I had three, the other two two each … I’d call that success ✊

 

 

Enjoyed while introducing little one to the Batman saga of Christopher Nolan. No complaints 🤗

Jesus... I'm drooling at that last picture... you could frame it...  I'm a huge fan of the CN Batman trilogy, but the 2nd is by far and away my favorite.  I find myself always watching it on a plane since my wife doesn't like to watch it - she finds Heath Ledger's performance too realistic and it freaks her out and gives her nightmares...  his performance makes that movie.

[Shelby]

On 1/30/2026 at 1:52 PM, KevinG said:

Roasted Cauliflower & Fennel Soup with paprika, cumin, miso, spiced chickpeas and more.

 

Well that is just beautiful!

21 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

With the weather so crappy (More snow and temps headed to below zero), I am ignoring all the healthy food I bought to cook. Threw together a handful of biscuits and pulled sausage gravy out of the freezer. Just needed comfort food.

There is a law that states that we are not allowed to eat health food during any type of snow, ice and severe cold.  Looks soooo good.

17 hours ago, Dejah said:

Mung Bean Noodles with Chinese sausage, rehydrated dried shrimp meat, Napa cabbage. This was in place of rice. We also had a can of fried dace and black beans

                                                                                                               

 

Tried out another Weight Watchers recipe: Was supposed to be Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. I subbed out the chicken with shrimp. It was great!

                                                                 
 

I want your shrimp Alfredo--I might just have to make that tonight.

 

Like a lot of us we have snow and bitter cold going on.  Today is supposed to be the last of it and then highs get into the 40's.  I'm ok with that but I'm sure not ready for summer.  Give me some cooler temps until at least March please  

 

I re-ran across that Vinegar Chicken recipe that I love so I did a smaller version of that.  Doesn't look like much but it was good.

 

 

Lamb stew that REALLY hit the spot. 

 

 

Fried chicken using what I didn't use for the vinegar chicken.  My plate looks really puny lol.

 

 

 

Broccoli salad, fries, kraut and German sausages from the Amish market.

 

 

 

Chicken quesadillas

 

 

Zoodles, my venison meatballs and sauce and salad under a mountain of basil.

 

 

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Shelby (log)

[rotuts]

@Duvel

 

So , entre nous , [ see , my German is a bit weak ] 

 

how do you  ' ReNew your Man Cave ?  '

[KevinG]

Elk Medallions with mushroom brandy sauce, grits, parmesan, & roasted carrots. Inspired by The Mill in Hershey (PA).

 

 

[C. sapidus]

Chicken larb with cucumbers, Boston lettuce, and cilantro-mint rice. Details on Larb laab larp (clicky).

 

[sartoric]

Picnic chicken, baked not fried after the 11 secret herbs and spices 😉 with flat chips and salad.

 

Things in a bowl, chicken on rice, baby pak choy and the last of the bag of bean sprouts. That’s 5 in a row where I’ve managed to use them all before the slime sets in !! I better give up now. 

 

Saturday night with the Carolines. 
Veggies, fruit, dip, cheese, note my dried mango slices from our tree. 

[Maison Rustique]

Got dumplings at Costco last week and made a quickie cold weather soup tonight.

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

On 1/28/2026 at 10:08 AM, liamsaunt said:

Spiced roasted carrots and cauliflower on whipped tahini with pistachio-herb topping for crunch 

 

That looks and sounds delicious to me. Was that  your main? I would be happy with that as a main - my husband would say "where's the meat?"😉

 

[Dr. Teeth]

Keep playing with it, changing or adding one thing each time.

 

Miso glazed broiled salmon, over sesame ramen with memba, avacado, yu toy and garlic crisps

[liuzhou]

A delivery dinner. Spicy crayfsh with Chinese cabbage and potato slivers over rice.