The hair, the joy, the concentration, the intentional focus! A joy for me! Thanks!
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Hi Everyone, and Happy Easter to those celebrating. Lulu is 19 today! We’re having a sort of lazy day. I’m just getting back into the feeling of those, post having a kid around. Currently waiting around for the oven to heat up to put in a loaf of bread. Maybe go to the gym for a short work-out (and maybe not), hoping to spend the afternoon with my book. Hope everyone is well and enjoying their weekend. Here i what we ate:
Sun: LLD cooked; filet mignon, roasted potatoes, salad
Mon: asparagus goat cheese tart, salad
Tues: solo - sardine toasts again. When I was at Trader Joe’s this week they didn’t have any of my favorite sardines. I am very much hoping this is temporary. Speaking of tinned fish, have you noticed how much more expensive it suddenly is??
Wed: Curry noodles with shrimp (basically Singapore noodles) from Raghavan Iyer’s On the Curry Trail (RI is one of the current COTMs). These were spectacular.
Thurs: carry out
Fri: roasted chicken sausage, creamy cheesy grits (Barefoot Contessa - another current COTM), sliced tomatoes.
Sat: I took LLD for a morning date to a pastry shop that I’ve just found in the past few months and am crazy about. We each had 2 (!!). He said “Gruel for dinner.” But he actually made his old signature meal - salmon, arugula salad, naan.
Easter is a time for hope, and I am hanging onto that with every bit of myself. Wishing you a good, delicious week.
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Happy Easter and Happy Birthday to Lulu!
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Lulu is 19??!! I knew she was in college, but somehow her age didn’t register. I still visualize her as around 8, maybe! or 12! Happy birthday and happy Easter. I made our usual Easter dish, our son’s favorite Spanish “French Toast”, Torrijas.
Asparagus goat cheese tart from Melissa Clark, NYT? gift link here. I need to make that again, have some tarragon and DuFour puff pastry that need to be used.
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Hi, everyone. Cooking for three in the Boston burbs, where last Saturday I woke up to a heavy dusting of snow on the ground, and yesterday it was 86. It’s been nice being able to spend time outside in the sunshine! I hit Costco yesterday so my purchases feature rather heavily in this week’s menu. 
Sun: Easter ham, stovetop mac and cheese, and air-fryer green beans (NYT: 375 for 8-10min… we’ll see how this works.)
Mon: we are going to our friends’ house to spectate the Boston Marathon, as usual. They live just past the halfway point and it’s like a big street party. I’m taking cookies from Costco because I’ve learned from past years that the guests tend to value quantity over quality. Dinner will be salsa-marinated chicken (improvised…), cheese and green chile tamales from Costco, and maybe some beans.
Tues: fish tacos (from frozen breaded fish - my dad said the everything bagel seasoned cod was actually pretty good and not garlicky?) and Mexican rice
Weds: pasta with walnuts, ham (leftover), and cheese; asparagus
Thurs: panko/mustard chicken breasts (Ina via Food Network); less salt and bake b/s breasts for 35 min at 375F); sheet pan broccoli/rice/cheese (fresh broccoli, steam in microwave, skip the bread; use leftover panko from chicken as the topping!)
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Thank you from Lulu! And yes, the recipe is from Melissa Clark, mine from Dinner in French but probably the same on the NYT site. It’s so good.
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Smart on the cookies. Always so disappointing when your work goes unappreciated.
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Happy Bday, Lulu! 19!
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Happy birthday to Lulu!
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Lulu is 19!! . Meanwhile none of us have aged a day 
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One of my favorite salsa improvs is arroz con pollo made with bottled red or green salsa. Can add aromatics and spices for stronger flavor, or use more salsa, or not. (And if you have more rice than chicken, it’s like a bonus side of Mexican rice for other days).
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I have a package of ground turkey to use up that I was going to make Thai curry meatballs and Kheema shepherds pie from, but your koftas and wanjajeon have me rethinking that.
Re hard boiled eggs – how about egg curry? (Maunika Gowardhan has a few examples, but even a basic onion-tomato-aromatics base is good with boiled eggs – add spices, curry powder, garam masala, coconut milk if you like, or not).
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Love this!
The fancy stuff is, for sure.
Re sardines, I have been working may way through a pack of oil-packed ones from Coscto, and they are pretty good (about $2/tin, but if you feel like splurging on Matiz or Ortiz, a multipack works out to $4 or $5 for those on Amazon)
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Hi, all! Cooking for 3 back in Chattanooga after a whirlwind trip to St. Louis for the weekend. Still haven’t grocery shopped, so all of this is contingent on my getting myself together…
Tonight (Monday, April 21): Pizza out or from the freezer; still in negotiations on that one.
Tuesday: Lots going on, probably masala omelettes for our spice-loving guest
Wednesday: Marinated flank steak, rice, broccoli
Thursday: Chicken with spinach and tomatoes en papillote (does anyone do that anymore?); roasted potatoes
Friday: TBD; our houseguest’s last day here. Either out or guest’s choice 
Have a great week and stay safe if you’re getting storms! Happy cooking!
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Yum. My dad’s trick for his signature masala omelettes was to chop everything (ie onion, tomato, green chilli, cilantro) fine and mush it with a pinch of salt in a bowl first with his fingers to meld the flavors, then mix that into a well-beaten egg (he separated them, and beat the whites to soft peaks with a fork, but I use an immersion blender on the whole egg). Mint plus cilantro would make it a Parsi omelette (usually without tomato).
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Hi everyone
I didn’t end up cooking as much as I had expected last week, between eating out with friends and finishing leftovers.
For the (Greek) Easter celebration with my friend’s family, I took mini egg bites / quiches, another tiger cake, and a small sour cream orange bundt cake. (Came home with lamb, tyropita / cheese pie, and easter cookies / koulourakia.)
Thoughts for the coming week (inspired by several folks’ menus):
– Turkish Eriste-inspired pasta with leftover roast lamb + garlic yogurt + roasted cauliflower
– Dad’s chicken stewed with beets + chapatis / quinoa-rice
– Turkey meatballs in Thai red curry + mixed Chinese greens + quinoa-rice
– OR Kofta curry + coconut rice + greens on the side
– Smoked fish and sardine salad (to use up assorted smoked fish from a Central Asian market) + toast + veg
– Kheema shepherds pie with cauliflower + potato topping
– Singapore curry noodles + mixed Chinese greens
– Arroz con pollo + roasted cauliflower
– Goat curry of some sort + sauteed cauliflower + chapatis / quinoa-rice (or maybe Biryani)
Have a lovely week!
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I love that you came home with almost as much as you took them but different. Great deal! Also the whole meal sounded brilliant.
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On that note, I saw a Ranveer Brar video for Chicken Chapli kebab that incorporated grated hard boiled eggs, just in case people are looking for other ideas!
I’m going to have to try that! Any garnishes or chutneys served with? ETA: do you include in the egg mixture the juices the veggies exude after they are mixed together with salt?
Oh boiled egg in a kabab so does not appeal to me 
Here’s MJ’s chapli / chappal kabab from Quick & Easy (very similar to our everyday home kababs, except we include finely chopped onion and swap breadcrumbs for besan).
You did also remind me of Nargisi Kofta – boiled egg covered with ground meat of some sort and then simmered in a gravy (possibly a precursor to Scotch eggs, so can also just fry or bake the kabab-coated egg on its own too, and skip the gravy).
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