Tonight I decided to fry a few slices of bacon and have the leftover hash browns from a couple of nights ago to have a pale imitation of the breakfast for dinner we had previously. It was good, but really a pale imitation of the earlier meal. I was just too lazy to fry eggs and make more biscuits.
A light picnic at the beach of roast beef sandwiches, ice water, and bananas. Later, an IPA.
It was fantastic. I was halfway through before getting a picture, it was that yummy.
Last night was sautéed turkey breast cutlets served with spiralized butternut squash cooked in a dehydrated tomatoes and Marsala reduction. Side salads to use up freshly harvested leaf lettuce a friend gave me.
But the absolute hi-light of the meal was a bit of decadent fudge. Also a gift, we each had a tiny piece and saved the rest for future enjoyment.
Breaded pollock, home-made cole slaw, bourbon
Whole wheat linguini with a sauce of Meyer lemon infused olive oil, red onion and feta cheese. Homemade focaccia and the last of the watermelon.
Last night my gf requested marinated steaks that our butcher sells, so I drove down to buy two. Thing is, it’s a big tub of marinade with various steaks (porterhouse, t-bone, nystrip, filets) in the tub. He sells until the tub is empty, then begins again.
I requested two steaks. There were exactly two left! A NY Strip of average size and a HUGE, thick porterhouse. I bought both and grilled them rare.
We were dining by candlelight so I guess my gf didn’t notice how much bigger her steak was than mine (when I cook I always give myself the smaller one or the one that is imperfect). I finished my steak, salad, and coleslaw while she still had half her steak remaining. She requested help and i complied.
We have a ton of kale, and we love kale. So last night I started sauteing onions, added Italian hot sausage, then as much chopped/de-ribbed kale as I could fit into the pan. Of course the kale reduced. Then some chopped tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes, spices, a bit of pasta water, then eventually rottini pasta. Coleslaw on the side, watermelon for dessert.
Vodka and lemon juice to drink.
I grilled some drumsticks the other day, had one with grilled asparagus, then cut the meat off them for storage. I made chicken sloppy joes from the meat, with a slice of 8 year old cheddar. Quite good.
One of my lovely snack days. Late lunch was a smoked turkey sub from the local grocery with lettuce, tomato, and lots of Hellman’s mayo. The turkey was layered on so thickly that it was almost too big to bite into. Then a bit more of my current fixation on black tiger shrimp with cocktail sauce made with “angry grandma” chili crisp with its distinctive accents of Szechuan prickly ash, and a glass of sauvignon blanc.
Much later, a small charcuterie of smoked garlic sausage, Danish Fontina, and stuffed olives with a few glasses of Foreign Affair “Conspiracy”, a creative blend of mainly Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon done in the ripasso style, where the wine is passed over the skins of premium grapes for a second fermentation. (A ripasso wine isn’t a fancy wine – it’s a way to capture some of the exotica of really high-end wines at a budget price.) Followed by a remaining half of chipotle chili with slices of baguette thickly buttered with herbed garlic butter. The chipotle chili was one day from its “best by” date, but sitting around in the fridge for over a week seemed to actually improve it – them Mexicans know what they’re doing when it comes to food preservation!
Spent last night at the MountainView Amphitheater seeing Michael Franti.
Dinner was a pulled pork sandwich and lots of beer.
I finally achieved a yummy, nutty, slightly bitter Mexican mole. I’ve been trying to do so for years and had given up.
I saw a youtube video of a young Mexican woman making chicken “encacahuatado”, or covered in a peanut mole. I then made it myself. It wasn’t too hard, as I had most of the ingredients on hand. It involved guajiollo and ancho chiles, peanuts, sesame seeds, tomatoes, onion, and a couple of spices. It came out a nice tannish-brickish red, and it thickly napped some nice tender simmered chicken thighs.
Damn that was good. We had it with Spanish rice and toasted corn tortillas. There are still a couple of pieces of chicken left in the pot which I’ll put in the fridge for lunch a couple of days from now.
That same mole, slightly less peanutty, would be an awesome enchilada mole.
Marinated turkey kabobs (various peppers, onions, pineapple, mangoes) on the grill. Delicious. Coleslaw on the side. Lemon drops to drink.
Catfish in plum sauce on a bed of jasmine rice with carrots and peas. Shrimp egg rolls.
I also made some brigadeiros a few days ago and had a couple of those with a glass of port for dessert. They are dangerously addictive.
I couldn’t decide between pork chops or lamb, so tonight’s dinner was a Barnyard Blend: one pork chop, two lil’ bitty lamb t-bones, and a mess of baby potatoes and onions.
There’s some cheesecake in the fridge, I may hafta bust into that later!
Last night was spaghetti and meatballs, washed down with a respectable Malbec.
Pasta salad with red peppers, black olives, grated cheese and pepperoni with a delicious vinaigrette sauce, and a glass of ice water. Later, some grapes, and some cherry candy.
Udon noodles and ground beef with bok choy, snap peas and scallions in a rice vinegar/soy/gochujang sauce.
Air-fried boneless chicken breasts, served with honey drizzled over the top. IPA for accompaniment.
Picnic dinner at a friend’s bar with live music. Hamburgers cook on a Blackstone, macaroni salad, potato salad. And beer.