Long week.
A very long week.
But I will have 1, if not 2, new thrones in my half and full bathrooms tomorrow, depending on how long demo takes in the half bath by my BIL. There might be no vanity, there might be no sink, there might be no new lighting, and it might still need to be painted, but there should be a new throne and new flooring.
So yeah. There’s that.
Made an easy dinner: thin-cut pork chop with Mike’s Hot Honey and bourbon-glazed mushrooms, with steamed asparagus alongside.
The cocktail was Highclere Castle gin on the rocks. (Yes it is the Downton Abby castle) As with any new gin I tried it on the rocks first. It is frighteningly smooth, but it is only 87 proof so throw caution to the wind. To me it has a slight minty taste, maybe the lime flower listed as a botanical?
We had a belated corned beef and cabbage and invited neighbors. Also included mini potatoes, rutabaga, onions, and carrots. Homebrewed stout. Disposables, because our dishwasher broke.
I really like this recipe but hadn’t made it in awhile…cheesy polenta topped with spinach, tomatoes, sausage and a poached egg, courtesy of The Kitchn. I used a green chile sausage for a lil’ extra kick and finally got my egg poaching to a consistent place using silicone egg poachers I got for Xmas. Yum!
(Does anyone remember Recipe Source? That’s where I found this recipe back in the early aughts; I just have some old printouts, I don’t think the site is around anymore but it’s a nice nostalgia trip whenever I dig through my tattered binder o’ recipes.)
Mrs. P made spicy Andouille sausage and shrimp empanadas, and guacamole and chips to start. She also added garlic crisps, sautéed red onions, and mushrooms. For entrees we were supposed to have some leftover penne with smoked salmon, that was made and frozen several weeks ago, but somehow the smoked salmon had a really fishy smell, and tasted off, so we had to toss it. What a shame. It was really good when she initially made it. She has made it several times in the past and the leftovers always reheated nicely. Anyway, we had to pivot to an improvised plan B. We had some frozen eggplant cutlets in the freezer, and heated them up and made a stacked eggplant tower with Rao’s tomato and basil sauce and fresh shaved parmigiana reggiano. We had an excellent cabernet to go with it.
And actually as I don’t eat red meat and the hubby shouldn’t, your side dish was our whole meal - we did cabbage and turkey bacon. (The nice Columbus turkey bacon from Costco.) Surprisingly tasty and satisfying, with big chunks of bacon, and my mom’s rolls on the side. No pictures as I didn’t think it would be that good. And then no pictures cuz we ate it all!
Pan seared cod with sauerkraut (cooked in apple juice with bay leafs, cloves, juniper and grated apples and finished with a little bit of cream) and mashed potatoes
Belated St Patrick’s Day corned beef, cabbage and parsley potatoes, prepared by the local farm, reheated by me with the addition of some horseradish cream. Delicious!
We had reimagined leftovers — pan-fried noodles with mixed vegetables and shrimp.
This was 3 different sets of chinese leftovers (asparagus with tofu, mixed greens, and the vegetables left from an old order of pan-fried noodles, all from our favorite chinese restaurant that we OD’d on while my nephews were visiting — after almost 2.5 years!) PLUS fresh shrimp and rehydrated black mushrooms — and of course fresh noodles.
Yes, Mrs. P is a rock star 
