any more crazy late night meals posts? This one which you already read got flagged and I think it was because of one word I quoted. Not sure though so going to repost with the one word changed. I did not mean to offend anyone and I apologize to whoever flagged me. Testing one two three: We still have two big greek diners nearby and another one a little bit further away. We used to go to Michaels Diner and play cards and eat. We tipped well and they were very tolerant there. It was a couple of days before halloween and I like to start early so I was in costume. When I went up to pay as I approached there were three teenagers ahead of me. The girl was doing the angry rude goth chic thing and she said “Everyone dresses like a dumb person around halloween. Like that lady.” I grinned at them and the two boys whispered for her to settle down because I was nice. This is a treasured memory for me. My one card playing friend was pretty into goth so I knew a bit of the culture. As a fan of the Adams Family I understand Morticia Adams was the patron saint and I wondered if anyone had ever watched that show? Morticia was the opposite of rude and angry. Go figure. https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrFFPOlZ6liK.MrY9yJzbkF;_ylu=c2VjA3NlYXJjaARzbGsDYnV0dG9u;_ylc=X1MDOTYwNjI4NTcEX3IDMgRhY3RuA2NsawRjc3JjcHZpZANwN05vQlRFd0xqS2hnSmloWHg1V19BWG5PVGd1TVFBQUFBQnB5c0hyBGZyA3lmcC10LXMEZnIyA3NhLWdwBGdwcmlkAwRuX3N1Z2cDMARvcmlnaW4DaW1hZ2VzLnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDMjIEcXVlcnkDYmVsYSUyMGx1Z29zaSdzJTIwZGVhZAR0X3N0bXADMTY1NTI2OTI5Ng–?p=bela+lugosi’s+dead&fr=yfp-t-s&fr2=sb-top-images.search&ei=UTF-8&x=wrt#id=220&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F76Mj5OPE0ro%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg&action=click
So much this. I’m on a Broker’s kick at the moment, but recently you couldn’t turn my head from Greenhook. Hendricks will always have a place in my heart. Also Plymouth. And Death’s Door! How could I forget you.
Conan’s dad won’t touch the sapphire. The hard lock down was rough for him. Our Penna liquor stores all closed March 16th that year even though it was announced they would be open for St Patrick’s Day. An online ordering system was eventually set up with bureaucratic efficiency. Sigh. I was so lucky that I had two options locally, Boardroom Spirits and also Imprint Beer. You could only get vodka at Imprint well beer too but that place is so much fun. Especially then as it had this forbidden quality about it like a speakeasy. Conan’s dad had to suck it up (pun intended) and drink boardroom spirits gin for a time. Going to have their ginger flavored vodka tonight. https://boardroomspirits.com/
How awful. So sorry you had to endure that torture and still be bothered. Hope it ends soon.
Chicken diavolo, loosely based on a Ruth Reichl recipe. I started a chili-infused olive oil a few weeks ago, straining it this morning and marinating the chicken thighs for about 14 hours. Pan roasted the thighs as per my usual (a procedure very close to Ruth’s).
It was delicious. The chili didn’t add a tremendous amount of heat, but improved the overall flavor of the thighs distinctly.
Served with hearts of romaine from the garden, along with some pasta salad.
BF made a Moroccan Merguez Ragout, or shakshuka, basically, but his turned out less soupy and he served it over couscous. i love love love merguez, so i was a happy camper. love couscous too. he made hummus and two little side salads too. Oof - we didn’t make a dent in this.
I like that recipe.
Oh, that time must have been miserable for you – and no escape possible. We are fortunate that we can close the windows, turn on the A.C and crank up the stereo. Or go for a drive. The noisiest earth-moving is drawing to a close, soon; parts of the mini-mountains of dirt are hauled out daily now. They’ve started the wall construction and pallets of large cement bricks / blocks surround the site. Various aspects of construction are scheduled now thru late-spring 2023 with much of Fall- Spring time interior work.
Mom took me out to dinner tonight and I was craving a good steak so on to Costa Verde we went. We sat at a table in the bar area which was packed for a Thursday night. I had the filet mignon with mushroom sauce (the cut of steak was so massive and the picture does not do it justice). It was cooked perfectly medium and melt-in-your-mouth tender. Best steak I’ve had in a while. Mom had Seafood Bulhao Pato (shrimp, scallops, and clams in garlic wine sauce over linguine). For an appetizer we shared shrimp in garlic sauce, a must at any Portuguese restaurant. I dredged a shameful amount of bread through that oil. To drink was a Bombay Martini for me and a Johnnie Walker Black Rob Roy for her. Bartenders were awesome on this wonderful night. I keep saying I gotta come here more often!
A misshapen omurice, which I blame on anxiety from watching the Warriors game 
Yeah, that’s it. Go Dubs!
All sounds lovely and I know not to yuck other peoples yums but if you can say bad things about home fries my very small brain is stuck in an endless loop over the phrase perfect medium. Just sayin’
I’m currently in Berlin with access to many local and European gins. Some of my favorites include the Hendricks Summer Solstice edition, Roku, Gunpowder, Opihr, St. George’s, Bluecoat… depending on what kind of a martini mood I am in. I will never understand vodka drinkers.
Your (unrelated to each other) comments about Lisbon and gin brought to mind this funky bar and restaurant I visited in Lisbon pre-pandemic: Gin Lovers.
Had a wonderful lunch here with a friend. Can’t say how it’s held up post-pandemic, but the building alone is worth a look if you are in the neighborhood. Independent, artsy shops also in the building were fun to browse too.
Getting the cooking groove back after my hip replacement a couple of weeks ago. Salad of burrata, snap peas and fried oyster mushrooms:
Seared redfish with brown butter sage sauce and parsley. Sage kinda got lost - I need to learn how to cook with this herb.
I used to be a rare-and-bleeding steak guy, but after a parasitic infection in my stomach last year (don’t even know if it was caused by food), I made some changes to my diet which includes letting steak cook a little more. Oh, how I miss seeing all the blood and juices in the plate.
I prefer perfect medium. DH likes rare. I can’t eat as much as he does, so we either buy a big strip or Delmonico and I eat from the ends, or we buy a smaller steak for me and he cooks it longer than his own. It works out. I don’t order steak when we go out to eat. Totally avoids the issue…
Glad to read that you’re back on your feet and in the kitchen. Hope all the healing proceeds quickly.
Thanks very much!
Whew! So glad I did not offend you. There is some concern about threads being locked. I am a smartas through and through. Jim Leff is planning to move to Portugal someday and I have enjoyed seeing the pics on his slog. Makes me want to make shrimp with garlic tonight but I have a date with some mexican style shrimp diablo from two days ago. Ok surreal antecdote time but at least food related. Quite awhile ago Conan and I fell prey to a professional wrestler who happened to own a card shop with his wife, He played a bad boy in his matches. Rob met his future wife at a horror con and they had many horror items in his shop for sale. Somehow the subject of steak came up, I swear it wasn’t me. The wife was complaining about having to send her steak back because even a little bit of meat juice was unbearable. Sorry you had to give up rare and medium rare for your health. I am vampire all the way on the blood but love garlic too.
