Yes please!
I started, but I messed it up.
Aspic is alive and well in Europe. I like mine with meat in it, even with some blood. Slice thinly and put it on bread is the normal way of eating it. In other shapes it’s more common as a side in the summer.
My partner does not eat extra salt. Just pepper on steaks. Good to see you posting on this thread again. And the cat photos made me throw my head back laughing!
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Not in this part of Europe. I remember it appearing on catered buffets when I was a child in 50s and 60s but nothing more recent. I did have a “tomato aspic” in 2016 as a starter at a restaurant in Vicksberg, MS - they prided themselves on offering “southern plantation” food which, I suppose made it very 19th century. And nothing of the meal was any good!
In the past, I’ve eaten “potje vleesh” in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium and “pot jevleesh” in the French part. Aspic binding together chunks of various meats, usually including rabbit. Always served with salad and chips.
Yes, chicken skins are the reward or fringe benefit
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“Gribiness”
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Last few weeks were just disaster for me,
First, cold, that eventually became bronchitis
then, this bitter cold and high wind caused cracks on my 100" by 100" skylight ( look at right lower quadrant)
Worried that it may end up having leak, tried to go to attic to find architectural specs ( from 1974), as I have to have it custom made ( supposedly only place I can get it from is Colorado) , cannot find contractor to order and install,
So, son has been cooking mostly but he leaves today for Amsterdam for a month.
Last night, decided to cook his favorite, chilean sea bass with just plain rice and red wine.
Pan seared , then added smashed ginger, garlic and the white part of scallion, garlic, miso, shoaling wine, miso pepper and before serving, tablespoon of sesame oil.
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Sorry you have had a tough time of it lately!
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I hope you’ll get better very soon. Sorry that you’ll be alone when your son is gone. Let us know you are fine by leaving us news from time to time.
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To start - handful of salad leaves topped with a (bought) smoked haddock fishcake. Tartare sauce (also bought) to perk things up,
To continue - simply roasted belly pork (free range piggy bought from the local smokehouse). Nigel Slater continues to be my guide through this month and he suggests making stuffing balls to cook round the meat - sausagemeat (I’m using some from the farmers market), onion, celery, lemongrass, thyme (he suggests lemon thyme but I don’t grow that). And a sauce made from the pan juices, cider and redcurrant jelly. To accompany - red cabbage (I made a load at Xmas and froze in batches) and Mrs H’s cheat’s “fondant” potato (basically it gets cooked in butter & stock)
To finish - Mrs H has made a lemon curd and cream meringue roulade. I know nothing of the baking witchcraft except that the meringue is made, shaped into a rectangle, baked, smeared with the lemon curd (farmers market purchase) and whipped double cream, then rolled.
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I would use thyme with some lemon zest, lemongrass is a bit strong unless you like it.
Your dinner is festive every night. Do you always eat a 3-course meal?
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I forgot to mention not your part of Europe. Saw the rankings in Good Food mag some years back, Brussels sprouts being most hated. Aspic is in the top 10.
In Germany there’s eel in aspic, as well as vegs.
Love sprouts and most things people hate.
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Always on Saturday evening. During the rest of the week it’s usually just one course followed by fruit or, maybe, a yoghurt. Even then, dinner is always something of an event (I like your “festive”) - we always eat in the dining room and, at this time of year, candles are always lit.
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I would be one of those. Much I love cabbages, I detest sprouts. Folk here have, in the past, suggested that if I roasted them, I would love them. So, I roasted them. Like any other roasting, it intensifies the flavour. So, intense spout flavour, eh? Something for me to try once and never again. Ever. 
I’m not at all averse to aspic, though. It should make a comeback.
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Love the colour of those eggs! (So beautiful that British spelling is required.). Eggs like those cost a fortune here in Baltimore and still sell out fast at the farmers market.
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Day at Mom’s started out meh, as she wasn’t doing well, but she chose to have lunch in her room and perked up a good bit before I left.
Various errands, and going to Market Basket the afternoon before the Super Bowl. Oy. But I survived.
I should have done some invoicing for work when I got home, but just didn’t have it in me, so I sat and read.
Dinner was a recipe from the past: Chicken and Asparagus in Mustard-Tarragon Sauce. A beige meal, and maybe I should have left it in the past. It was fair, and filling. Just not what I was remembering.
And I’ve decided I can’t cook jasmine rice without it becoming gluey. So I’ll stick with basmati.
The wine was good.
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I just realized your team is in the Super Bowl - have fun watching!
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Oh my Lord, in Baltimore we’d be out of our minds if our team was in the Super Bowl. But in New England they are so relaxed, “I just hope it’s a good game!” What?!
I guess when your team has played in 9 Super Bowls over 5 years, it’s just another Sunday in February.
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You can take that old skylight out . Use the rough opening for your closest fit and put in two Velux sky lights. A contractor will do that . Get rid of that 8’4" skylight . I think you’ll like it .
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Glad mom was on the upswing by the end of your visit.
Do you wash your rice before cooking? I feel like all the asian food youtube cooks i watch wash their rice before cooking. (I gave up on most rice cooking myself long ago since chinese place a block away i can get some for $1-2 perfectly done)
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