oops I bought the sausages at the grocery store. Note to self: buy hot Italian sausages at the Italian grocer where they have Italian sausages that are actually hot.
Too bad you don’t have Trader Joe’s in CA. Their hot sausages don’t mess around.
I live in Canada and we don’t have TJs here 
I’ve only been to TJs once when visiting an aunt and uncle in Tucson. I dream of getting trapped in that store and having to eat my way out 
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Careful what you wish for 
This isn’t entirely accurate, but you get the gist 
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I think Farm Boy is the closest we have here In CAN to TJ’s. I went to one once in Hermosa Beach and wasn’t impressed at all.
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Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. My laptop is plugged in on the kitchen peninsula, but my iPad is on an easel right next to my stove. Well, one of my iPads.
Why - it’s Taco Friday!!! Just like every Friday
2 Cajun shrimp tacos, 1 lamb barbacoa. Place was hopping, so I got takeout. Since we’re regulars, the owner is particularly generous with the shrimp, and packs in between 5-7 of them: perfectly cooked, plump, flavorful shrimp. The lamb was tender & delicious, and that berry hot sauce is 
glorious.
First good meal in 3 days 
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Today’s take out lunch was a salade nicoise. The salmon was dry but everything else was perfect. The salad dressing is very addictive.
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How would you describe the dressing? It looks almost tartar sauce like? I usually make a very simple vinaigrette for salade niçoise.
I usually make a vinaigrette too but as you can tell the dressing included was a creamy dressing. It tasted like mayo mixed with something. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t yogurt. There was copious amounts of dill in it though.
Nice. I’m a dill lover through and through. That does look more like a dip than a sauce, or at least a very thick sauce.
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Sounds like housemade ranch.
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The last of the mediocre takeout saag paneer & chicken makhani from a few days ago. Perfect for sopping up last night’s booze, however, and happy to finally be rid of it
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I decided to take a break from soup for lunch today so I made a cheese plate for lunch especially since I wasn’t able to score a cheese tray for take-out lunch last Friday. Sometimes I get a scratch that needs to be itched. I had cheddar and blue cheese with sesame crackers since those were the only kind I gave handy, sliced red delicious apple and olives on the side.
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Yogurt, flax seed and pickled apple, which my Ukrainian friend urged me to buy when we were in Brighton Beach a while back, and I’m glad I did, because it’s very good! It tastes like a slightly salty baked apple.
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I was enjoying cooking for myself as my mother makes eating certain things difficult, but she came back sooner and I had nothing planned for today (yesterday I served her some leftover keema curry which wasn’t very spicy, so was good for her). I have cabbage, which is such an MVP vegetable to me, along with a single carrot. I blanched them, then sautéed minced garlic in butter, and added the carrot and cabbage along with water, chicken base, and lemon zest. Emulsified with some butter, added just the tiniest bit of lemon juice, and some dill from the yard. Boiled the frozen meat ravioli I had in the freezer and had a tasty lunch of ravioli with vegetables in a light glaze.
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“ StarChiva Cuisine, Richmond Hill “ - An atypical ‘Dim-Sumless’ weekend luncheon
For the majority of my Hong Kong expat friends and relatives. Carrying out a ritual of participating in a ‘ weekend family Dim-Sum luncheon gathering ‘ is one of the popular ways of reliving and bringing back past Hong Kong nostalgia and experiences. This repetitive routine is also one of the root causes in creating packed crowds and long lines at popular Cantonese DimSum restaurants.
Today, whilst hosting my cousin for a weekend luncheon…… who made an unexpected contrarian relocation from Vancouver to Hamilton. I decided to bypass the usual weekend ‘Dim-Sum related mayhem’ and picked a ‘san Dim-Sum‘ venue for our luncheon-meet.
Indeed, our choice of StarChiva provided us with a way more serene, relaxed and comfortable setting, thanks in part to their rather unconventional lunch offering approach.
Our party picked a few of our favorite dishes from the a-la-carte menu:
- Grand Father 5 flavor components braised duck
- Sun dried salted fish, chicken and eggplant hot-pot casserole
- Braised E-Fu noodles with mushroom medley and yellowing
chives
Complimentary tea or coffee and Tiramisu dessert.
Overall, this is another near flawless and enjoyable luncheon experience. The braised duck was as tender and flavorful as before. The savory, ‘acquired taste‘, eggplant casserole, aromatically pungent, umami packed and exotic tasting. Unlike a lot of half-hearted interpretation, our braised E-Fu noodle was nicely executed with perfect seasoning and well timed texture. Coupled with the ‘ wok-hay’ element, the amount of mushroom and chive condiments used were generous enough to impart a welcoming and desired smokey and fragrant profile.
Nice to have a weekend Chinese lunch that was not loaded with refined carbohydrates and greasy, fried products! 
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Since breakfast was such a major disappointment, I went all out for lunch: toasted local rye bread, cream cheese, a touch of horseradish, a slice o’ lox, fresh dill, and trout roe. On that note, I need to start using this decorative delight far more often than I have been. It doesn’t last forever and was def too $$$ to let it go bad.
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I really want to eat a pickled apple now!
