Well, it is more of the same wine, but a new glass.
I got a huge bounty from the farmers market yesterday, with which I made a moussaka and a Greek salad. The eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and olive oil in the moussaka all came from my local farmers market. As did the cucumber, tomato, onion, and olives in the salad. And the garlic and most of the olive oil in the dressing (The vendor was actually sold out of regular extra virgin yesterday, so I used up a bottle I bought there previously, and supplemented it with a bottle from the grocery store). The wine wasn’t from the market, but it is from El Dorado County, just east of here. There actually is a wine vendor that just recently started selling at the farmers market. I really should try their wares sometime.
Had a taco salad at a local diner. Afterward at home had some watermelon with feta and mint.
Spent the day at the yearly Guitarbecue. Bands, beer, barbecue.
One of our periodic breakfasts-for-dinner: pancakes with margarine and real Vermont maple syrup, and lots o’ bacon, and a glass of OJ. The last pancake, as is our custom, included a generous sprinkling of dark chocolate chips.
Ground cow burgers on the grill with all the fixings. Potato salad on the side.
Really love the ground cow we’ve been buying. The farmer just grinds everything together. No steaks/roasts/etc, it is all ground meat. Pricey but really good.
Dinner tonight will likely be … nothing, or nearly so. Was feeling a bit peckish around noon so had (prepared, frozen) butter chicken with basmati rice. Wasn’t quite enough to satisfy the peckishness so toasted half a dozen slices of baguette on a crepe pan, buttered them, cut each in half, topped with soft French brie, and drizzled with a bit of four-leaf balsamic vinegar. Sat out on the porch in a cool breeze immersed in the smell of pine and fir to consume it. The moderate winds are causing some of the trees at the back to make annoying noises against a neighbour’s house, but the front is just idyllic right now.
Chicken bites tossed in a spicy Thai peanut coating and seasoned zucchini/summer squash slices roasted in a hot oven and sprinkled with shredded parmesan and romano cheese. Clementines to start.
Well, so much for the noble objective of almost no dinner tonight in view of earlier indulgences. Am baking up a batch of Thai spring rolls, to be had with Wolfpup’s house special dipping sauce: plum sauce well blended with “angry grandma” chili crisp, and some more “Conspiracy” blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot from the local Foreign Affairs winery. It’s damn good wine but I should have bought a lot more when it was on sale and was actually a great value. At the regular price it’s not really a deal.
Stir-fried beef & broccoli, and roasted Brussels sprouts. With an IPA. For dessert, more watermelon with feta and mint, left over from yesterday (big pool party/potluck).
The mint from my yard was perfect last week, but as of yesterday it’s all getting old and tough and brown edges. Just barely enough new growth to make the dish.
I made a cheese assortment that we had with beer sitting on our pond dock, watching the ducks and koi.
Then my gf made chicken curry that was delicious. It would have been so much better with rice, but carbs….
Pair of chicken thighs, roasted on top of fresh baby potatoes, plus rather elderly allium (shallots, onions, garlic) because “root basket clean-out night” needed to happen. Plus a roll, to gild the carb lily.
The chicken skin is so crispy it’s ridiculous.
(Any leftover meat will get wrapped into Thai spring rolls tomorrow, as I have fresh lettuce and cilantro.
… dammit, no green onions! 
)
ETA: coffee ice cream for dessert, since it’s a bit hot now that the oven’s been on a while.
Reminded of how much I like butter chicken by the somewhat bland and tiny frozen dinner I had a few days ago, tonight will be real butter chicken, with a few non-traditional touches. Instead of basmati rice, I’ll cook up a batch of Uncle Ben’s white rice. It’s traditional to garnish this dish with cilantro but I don’t have any so I’ll just chop up some green onions. With an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon that I particularly like. Followed by Haagan Dazs vanilla bean ice cream sprinkled with sweet balsamic vinegar.
If you lived next door, I’d trade you some fresh thick green onions for cilantro!
BLTs with big fat juicy tomato slices and some cucumber salad.
Grilled Mediterranean Salmon, homemade coleslaw, grilled peaches.
The ideal grilled peach starts with a hard, under-ripe peach which is grilled until it is very soft. Mmmm.
I’ve occasionally wondered what to serve with fish and chips, one of my favourite dishes, to balance it out with something a bit healthier. Looking at the illustrated menu of a fancy restaurant recently, it hit me: coleslaw, of course! An excellent choice to have with your salmon, too, and a tarted-up homemade version sounds perfect.
Last night’s butter chicken was a smashing success! The chopped scallions on top were a nice visual touch and gave it some crunch, and since it was already very flavourful and spicy, I don’t think the absence of a cilantro garnish was much of a loss. And since there were lots of leftovers by design, another butter chicken dinner is in the offing – either tonight or tomorrow. Tonight I might have shepherd’s pie and a Greek salad.
I made the squid ink pasta I’d been dithering about for awhile - I ended up getting a packet of frozen tutti di mare - mussels, clams, pieces of shrimp and squid - and using that as the protein. Sauce was minced garlic, dried oregano, and a red pepper flakes sauteed in olive oil, with a white wine and clam juice reduction. Added the seafood to that for a minute or two and then tossed it in the drained pasta with some butter, lemon juice and parsley. Came out pretty good, though I’d leave out the parsley and add some lemon basil instead.
I liked the mussels with this far more than any of the other protein components so I’ll go with all mussels next time.
Served with green salad, white wine and homemade focaccia.
I currently have a large bone-in skin-on chicken boobie roasting atop the usual potato/onion/garlic assortment. There’s butter both on & under the skin, and I added a drizzle of olive oil just to see how I’d like it.
I have one roll left, so that’ll go in towards the end to crisp up the crust.
After doing yardwork this afternoon I didn’t feel like cooking, so I ordered Chinese takeout. Kung pao beef, egg rolls, and wonton soup. Which is probably way too much food, but I was just really craving that wonton soup along with the other stuff. I’ll get multiple meals out of it.
Tonight I made two Fritattas. Eggs, smoked gryere cheese, onions, asparagus, red bell pepper, and onions. Actually made two so I could add some bacon to mine.
Leftover portions will be tomorrow’s breakfast.