# What's For Dinner Tonight: Episode 2021 – A New Hope **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [January 20, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015 "2021-01-20T19:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 193
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3842 "2025-02-05T22:56:02Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > I’ve never had _chorizo_ that got anywhere close, but each person has really different preferences. And that’s fine, the problem is, as you say, no consistency in this batch that you’ve had before. These were store-made, which in a decent supermarket is an opportunity for a fresher and better product than something mass-produced in a factory, but as I found out, consistency can be a problem when things are made by hand in small batches. I believe what I will do tonight is cut these hot chorizos into bite-size pieces and throw them into a pot of Bush’s Homestyle beans, along with all the onions they baked in, and let the thing simmer for about a half hour. Then serve with air-fried shoestring fries (which, notwithstanding the name, look and taste exactly like McDonald’s fries, like it or not!). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3843 "2025-02-06T00:34:05Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Hey! I’ve never heard of pickled herring on bread. That sounds like some kind of sacrilege! Wait, really? That’s the typical way it’s served at smorgasbords. The flavor of the pickled herring in sour cream is 100% complemented with toasted dark bread. Thanks for reminding me upthread how long it’d been since I’ve had any! Tonight is takeout Vietnamese. Roast pork banh mi; stir-fried eggplant, mushrooms, and tofu; and little hand-formed sausages with peanuts and nuac cham dipping sauce. The only good thing about going to the back doctor is it’s minutes away from the Vietnamese district (aka Little Saigon). ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3844 "2025-02-06T02:36:05Z")
For my birthday I told my husband I wanted to be cut loose at Wegman’s to buy whatever I wanted. Got myself a good haul! Tonight was lobster mac and cheese for me with a side of green beans, and mr. romans had Singapore noodles with chicken and shrimp and an egg roll. We also split a very large red pear, and there was coconut cake for dessert. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3845 "2025-02-06T02:45:23Z")
Happy Birthday! Sounds delicious! ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3846 "2025-02-06T02:53:08Z")
Thanks, and it was very good. I love Wegman’s. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3847 "2025-02-06T02:53:43Z")
I turned leftovers into a ham broccoli cheese frittata. Sliced a Roma tomato and squeezed out an avocado to round it out. Color! ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3848 "2025-02-06T03:05:42Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > For my birthday I told my husband I wanted to be cut loose at Wegman’s to buy whatever I wanted. Got myself a good haul! Sounds awesome, but I could NOT be trusted with such. Plus, my local grocery store doesn’t carry DUCK. Which is now officially cheaper than beef, which isn’t saying much… ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3849 "2025-02-06T03:11:21Z")
Fortunately for our checkbooks, Wegman’s is far away enough from our house that I can’t just stop by on a whim. That would be a disaster … ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3850 "2025-02-06T03:52:39Z")
Tonight I worked a tad bit late and needed to shower before band practice, so I had cheese and crackers. But really, having cheese and crackers has been my idea of a feast since I was four and had orange cheddar on saltines every day before pre-kindergarten. These days it’s fancy cheese snacks on fancy crackers. I’m moving up in the world, ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3851 "2025-02-07T17:14:40Z")
I made one of my too-rare pilgrimages to my favourite little deli the morning, so have all kinds of goodies. Lunch may be a chicken Caesar wrap, or I may save that for tomorrow. But dinner will be my beloved cabbage rolls in tomato sauce! Plus there is their superb tuna salad, fresh bread for it, and their inimitable fresh onion buns for Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. I had to ask permission to get into the aisle with the onion buns because there was some sort of video production happening in the area. I was so content with getting everything I wanted, and the cashier was so sweet and cute, that I complimented her on what a great little store this was. She was so pleased with the compliment that I thought … no, never mind what I thought. She was at least 45 years younger than me. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3852 "2025-02-07T23:54:57Z")
Yesterday was a charcuterie plate with four kinds of cheese, prosciutto, salami and lychees, all from my Wegman’s haul. Added pecans, apples and olives and it was a great, fun dinner. Tonight was the (Canadian) salmon belly and the last of the green beans from Wegman’s. A slice of tiramisu is calling my name too … ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3853 "2025-02-08T03:43:16Z")
I need this deli in my life. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3854 "2025-02-08T04:45:56Z")
> [@Patx2](#): > > I need this deli in my life I know, right? I think he keeps bringing up “cabbage rolls in tomato sauce” just to mess with me! Bad dog, Wolfpup! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3855 "2025-02-08T05:02:28Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I think he keeps bringing up “cabbage rolls in tomato sauce” just to mess with me! Bad dog, Wolfpup! Ha! I’ll turn the screws another notch. I wasn’t especially hungry this evening because I’d had half the chicken Caesar wrap in the afternoon, but thought I really should have dinner and I heard the cabbage rolls calling my name. So I nuked two of them, a perfectly adequate dinner. OMG! OMG! I had to go back and nuke a third one, and it was all I could do to prevent myself from having yet another! Ironically, I discovered this wonderful little place by accident because my ex-wife lives in the neighbourhood, and I stopped by one day after helping her with some computer problem and discovered what a wonderful emporium of goodness it was. Also ironically, the ex-wife hates cabbage rolls, although she acknowledges what a fine little place this is. I don’t know how anyone could dislike beef and rice wrapped in tender cabbage leaves and baked in tomato sauce. These are just like the ones my mom used to make, and much better than at the elite Pusateri’s, which has great stuff but doesn’t know how to make proper cabbage rolls. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3856 "2025-02-08T05:13:29Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Also ironically, the ex-wife hates cabbage rolls Gasp!!! How is this even possible??? I’ve ~~whined~~ mentioned already that every time I’ve made deconstructed cabbage rolls they’ve been a sad experience, as one needs the contrast between the rolls and the sauce to complement each other. And I have no patience for rolling each little cabbage roll by hand. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3857 "2025-02-08T11:14:17Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > Also ironically, the ex-wife hates cabbage rolls > > Gasp!!! How is this even possible??? She’s an Englishwoman. Cabbage rolls, borscht, perogies – these are all alien to her. Give her fish & chips and she’s happy. (She’s actually a pretty good cook, but confined to – you know, Englishwoman type stuff, for sure not anything you might find on the plains of Siberia! ) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3858 "2025-02-08T23:52:37Z")
Tonight (and the next few nights), Giada’s Winter Minestrone soup, with gruyere crostini. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3859 "2025-02-08T23:59:20Z")
Nice afternoon, so I indulged in a couple of BBQ brisket sandwiches from the food truck parked at the local brewery. Timed it just right and got the food with the first pint drawn from a new keg. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3860 "2025-02-09T00:22:26Z")
I know cabbage rolls are comfort food! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015/3861 "2025-02-15T20:11:14Z")
There is a snowpocalypse predicted for at least the next two days, which has already started. So I went out this morning to get a few essential groceries and, of course, booze! My intention being to cocoon and indulge in comfort foods while watching the snow fly. Tonight’s comfort food will be a bit of Chinese-Japanese fusion: Teriyaki chicken noodles, General Tso chicken, and an egg roll with plum sauce. Tomorrow the weather will be even worse, so more stay-at-home comfort food: dinner will be a fine freshly made pizza (made by the store, not by me) in a hot oven on a pizza stone. These guys make pretty good pizzas – not quite like a great pizzeria, but close enough! 🍕 > [@Patx2](#): > > I know cabbage rolls are comfort food!   They absolutely are! Only the place where I get them + the pending snowpocalypse = not feasible until next week! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015.md?page=192) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner-tonight-episode-2021-a-new-hope/931015.md?page=194)