Italian meatballs in marinara with pita bread, and an IPA.
I made a new recipe - Unstuffed Bell Peppers - last night. It was great! It called for only 1/2 lb ground beef, so next time I think I’ll up that to a whole pound. It was easy, too.
Tonight my husband has invited his friend for dinner. We’ll be having baby back ribs cooked in the oven for my convenience since I’m working from home today and don’t have time to watch them on the grill. Plus corn on the cob, cole slaw and baked beans. Eatin’ good in the neighborhood!
I’ve made something I called that when the only green bell peppers were too small/misshaped to really stuff and look nice. I basically made chili/soup and added chopped/diced peppers.
Tonight will be all Asian, a rerun of a couple of favourites just because that’s what I have on hand. Chicken Khao Soi coconut curry soup, and crispy ginger beef on white rice sprinkled with fresh scallion.
Dinner plans almost changed when I remembered a half bag of gigantic extra-jumbo shrimp I had in the freezer. I took it out early this morning and plonked a bottle of New Zealand Oyster Bay Chardonnay in the fridge. But my fridge is very cold and the shrimp are still frozen solid, so coconut curry soup and ginger beef it will be tonight as planned.
Dinner tomorrow night when the stuff finally thaws will basically be one gigantic shrimp cocktail accompanied by a vat of Chardonnay. The cocktail sauce will be à la Wolfpup – ketchup, hot horseradish, and Lao Gan Ma chili crisp. I’ll mix it up tonight and let it sit in the fridge overnight for the flavours to meld.
Frankly these shrimp are a little too big to be cocktail shrimp. Shrimp of this size should be grilled in the shell and then served with melted butter or garlic butter. I’ve done that with very large shrimp before, and the flavour and texture is much like lobster. But these are already cooked so I’s gots no other option.
Stopped at the turkey store and got some turkey burgers. Grilled them and also med redskin potato salad. Mmmmm.
Also, the turkey store grows out some steers. I asked if they ever had beef hearts, and they happened to have two, which I bought. One is in the freezer for later use. One I boiled, then diced. Four nice ziplock bags of diced cow heart. 
Our dogs absolutely love me!
Had lunch with a buddy in town today, so dinner was the rest of the rather decent (and huge!) Cobb salad I had then. Pretty good house blue cheese dressing, too.
Heart is actually pretty tasty. Lucky dogs!
Today was Taco Tuesday, which remains one of mr. roman’s favorite meals.
I’m glad I posted about the gigantic jumbo shrimp, because I see that it’s been three days since I took them out of the freezer. I wasn’t sure of the exact date.
So today, being absent-minded as always, I picked up a bunch of my favourite sandwiches at the supermarket deli – roast beef sub, assorted sub, and classic crispy chicken sandwich. Having completely forgotten that I had the shrimp.
The good news is the shrimp was still partly frozen yesterday, with lots of ice crystals, so it’s got another few days to go. With careful planning maybe nothing will go bad. This is why I keep the fridge extra cold!
Cheeseburgers, beans, and kiwi fruit tonight.
Cheesebugers from Crown Burger tonight. My jalapenos ended up on my wife’s cheeseburger, though (I may have mumbled my order). She transferred them to my burger, and we ate.
I commented that these were some very fruity jalapenos. My wife then pointed out she’d put ketchup on them. Mystery solved. Still a damn nice cheeseburger, and I got the itis and took a nap afterward.
Pizza, beer, and tears. Shouldn’t have watched the debate.
Mezzelune! Stuffed with buratta and calabrese sausage.
Mezzelune is a kind of half-moon shaped ravioli, and buratta is a rich cheese made with mozzarella and cream. To be served with Rao’s marinara (I would have preferred Rao’s vodka sauce for a ravioli-type dish but forgot to pick some up).and the last of my Foreign Affair Cabernet ripasso. Alas, it’s no longer on sale.
I’ll probably only need half the jar of marinara for the mezzelune, so spaghettini and garlic mushrooms will be in the offing in a few days.
My gf pulled out all the stops last night. I like Liver & Onions, so she made a classy version. She caramelized the heck out of the onions then deglazed with sherry. She reduced the sauce and served the liver with mashed potatoes. It was delicious!!
For dessert, I’d picked a bucket of blueberries (which I used for our breakfast waffles). She picked black raspberries and made a blueberry/raspberry cobbler for dessert.
Chilled vodka to drink.
Chicken Piccata is a go-to in my meal rotation, but last night I mixed it up a little. The first time I ever had Chicken Piccata in a restaurant was in the form of a casserole-style Piccata bake, so that’s what I made last night-- I mixed up the chicken and sauce with Penne noodles (boiled to not quite al dente) shredded Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses, topped with panko, and baked in the oven. Makes very tasty comfort food.
Bodega sandwiches, cucumber salad and clementines tonight.
The sandwiches are delicious but they are a heart attack on a plate and I feel like a huge lard after eating one.
Zzzz.
Tofu marinated in teriyaki, gochujang and Sriracha, seared, with stir-fried vegetables cooked in oil and leftover marinade. Sparkling water with unsweetened cranberry juice to drink.
Cobb salad in the mid-afternoon, and some nice mezzelune leftovers later. After tossing the Cobb salad in ranch dressing, I added back the pathetic half egg they had included, and then two more halves of hardboiled egg I’d prepared myself. Pretty much a full meal, which was good since there wasn’t much mezzelune left!
Tomorrow we’re going basic and simple: a tray of mac & cheese that I picked up on a whim. Also picked up a kielbassa made by a local ethnic place that makes great smoked sausages. Mac & cheese baked in the oven with half-slices of smoked kielbassa over the top should make for a simple but tasty meal. In keeping with its rustic nature, a simple Spanish Tempranillo seems like a good wine pairing.
I love liver & onions, and your gf’s recipe sounds like it’s hitting all the right notes. Liver, check; caramelized onions, check; sherry, check; mashed potatoes, check. But whoa Nelly, you didn’t forget the bacon and peas, did you? You need bacon and peas, pardner! Bacon and peas go with liver & onions like Batman and Robin—completely inseparable and ready to save the day!
Hmm, that sounds good.
Last night we did Thanksgiving in July. Roasted turkey, gravy, stuffing, lima beans, and cranberry sauce. Finished off the blueberry/black raspberry compote for dessert. Chilled vodka to drink.
Why Thanksgiving in July? Why not? I’m thankful for our turkey farm.