French onion soup, tonight and some to freeze Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
A slice of Swiss topped by grated Asiago. While I like it well browned, on this the toast popped up under the broiler and burned it a bit.
All-right, you might want to look away. We have not been eating gourmand food of late...here goes a few... First up, a dirty little diner in a town of roughly 4 buildings on our way home from Christmas out west... (my wife cannot resist a "traditional" little American diner. I don't know what movies she was exposed to growing up in Poland, but literally since her first trip to visit me in 2013 and continuing until today, she just loves these places and insists we stop at one when she spots it. If the waitress calls her "honey", the wife's day is made.) Image Unavailable, Please Login
So....going back to our "first ever attempt at cooking Thanksgiving" for a large-ish group, we had a ton of leftovers (again, they "said" the food was good, but nobody ate all that much). My wife is nothing if not frugal and loathes ever tossing out food...so into the freezer went everything...you name it; mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn soufflé, green bean casserole, turkey, stuffing and likely a few things I'm forgetting. Out it came in an inspiration (her word) of "we can make Sheppard Pie" out of it. Ummm...sure honey. And voila, you get this (especially after you throw on top your newly discovered bit of Americana known as little canned fried onions), and "yes" those are cranberries lurking in there, which I can only speculate came from the stuffing. This tasted only modestly better than it looks (in case you were wondering). At least there was 7-days worth of it...sigh... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sorry folks, it isn't going to get any better from there...next up was "I'm hungry, but don't want to cook a damn thing". Which, of course, led to the freezer and frozen fries. Into the air fryer and toss on some shredded cheddar and dinner was served... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finishing up with one respectable meal...wife found Okra in a store when we were passing thru civilization and brought it home and made a Bhindi Masala of some sort with tomato sauce, some lentils and a boatload of indian spices. Served with the leftover truck stop basmati rice and naan...this was actually tasty. Image Unavailable, Please Login
My wife and I have had some of our best (and worst!) meals at little side of the road places like that. T
We’ve missed it two years in a row now. The week before we bought all the good stuff - black eyed peas and stewed tomatoes. Way back when I was in Richmond I always got the local Mrs. Fearnow's Black-eyed Peas and Stewed Tomatoes. It’s long gone now. Sure was tasty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillie_Fearnow
My wife channeling her Indian Auntie self from a prior life (with an assist from my real Indian Auntie Sita’s recipes): Masala Dosas Sambar Chai tea All was yummy, she’s getting pretty good at Indian food… Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
You can't drop that here without some details! [emoji2] Details on the dosa batter and prep, please...T
Beginning my 3 to 5 year plan for no more work work… I asked one of my high performers to fly into London where we rendezvoused and headed north to our Birmingham office. Going to teach her about client entertainment; dinner Tuesday. Ok pub for Sunday dinner at The Botanist. Was hoping for Sunday roast. We showed up after 8 and they had run out. We both opted for the roasted pork belly. I went for the salt shaker on the table after the 1st taste. Kid you not, it was empty. I grabbed one from the next table as I chuckled. Average belly. Good potatoes. Greens were slightly undercooked. Under £60 for dinner and two drinks. (Old Fashioned and bottle of hard cider). Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good plan. Work - unlike driving a Ferrari - is overrated! [emoji2] Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login First hard freeze this week, so party time in the garden is coming to an end. After months of TLC, our first Bishop's Crown pepper! Not very hot, but I ordered it for the weird shape. Reminds me of the Brazilian starfish pepper we grew last year. Image Unavailable, Please Login With cold weather on the way, stocking up on soups and stews. Sardinian minestrone. https://www.bluezones.com/recipe/sardinia-minestrone/ T
Took client and team to Smoke in Arden, UK, right next to Hampton Manor. Even better this second visit. Didn’t get to stop afterwards for cocktails at the manor as I had an important call at midnight (4 pm pacific). Missed photo of one course and the sesame crusted bread made on-site. I’ll also post a better menu picture later. We selected the 5 course chef selection. https://guide.michelin.com/gb/en/west-midlands/hampton-in-arden/restaurant/smoke Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not eating diners most nights, but was a bit hungry, so a quick plate of microwave nachos. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wife made Indian again, this time more sambar, a bit of the leftover potato masala and some freshly made garlic/butter naan. Yummy. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Today for lunch we had planned to make pizza in the Ooni. The dough has been fermenting for a couple of days... But Mother Nature denied that plan (its 10F, but the wind is whipping along at ~30mph, so the wind chill is negative something). Didn't think the Ooni would handle the cold *and* the wind - nor were we sure the pizza chef would handle them either... So...we improvised to Detroit Style pizza cooked in the oven. Luckily we had some cheddar cheese (but not enough, so still had to use some mozzarella). There is a layer of some really good and spicy Italian sausage and sautéed onions on the bottom against the dough, then a heavy dose of flavored-up tomato sauce, then a **** ton of cheese, topped with pepperoni and fresh onion on both, and then one added mushrooms, while the other added olives. We have only tried Detroit style twice at home, and its both easy and delicious. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Know the feeling, would love to grill a steak but that’s not gonna happen for a while, it’s -11 now. High of -6 tomorrow. Maybe in a week or so.
Grilled zucchini, then marinated in olive oil, lemon, shallots overnight then wrapped around mozzarella balls. Other snacks will be mixed olives, chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano, sopressatta from Andrea Salumeria in Jersey City, washed down with Patron blood orange margaritas poured over giant ice cubes with blood orange supremes frozen inside. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some dinners from the past few days…beef crack burger, tonkatsu, paella. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Crazy. It was about 11 F overnight here. So, lots of soups, stews, etc. Did shrimp and grits the other night ; forgot a pic. Ham and white bean soup. Etc. Last night was beef stroganoff. Wife bought a wagyu chuck roast. Cut it up and it looked very well marbled. So, I sliced it into chuck eye steaks. And, then sliced some of the remainder to make beef stroganoff. This recipe. Image Unavailable, Please Login https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25202/beef-stroganoff-iii/ Over egg noodles. Image Unavailable, Please Login T
