Greetings from the Greater Boston area, where I have about a week and a half left before I return to school and the kids come back! We’re trying to make the most of what I have left for summer vacation. Saturday, we went to Boston Comic Con, which was fun, although very crowded and with far fewer mask wearing individuals than I’d have preferred. We got to meet the cast of Clerks 3 though, so that was neat! Here is what we’ve eaten so far in the past week, for two adults and 1 small cat:
Sat. (8/14) - Breakfast sandwich in the morning from Leo’s here in town (omelet for BF). Then into Boston for the comic convention. Dinner at Row 34 in Seaport. It was ok. The host stand didn’t have itself together and reversed itself on the possibility of a patio seat after initially saying it was possible. After getting mixed messages about the possibility of bar seating, we were then offered a table next to the servers’ station unless we were willing to wait a half hour. The food was good; the vibe was not. I might give their Burlington location a shot, but I doubt I’ll be back to the Boston one.
Sun. (8/15) - Local pizza delivery for lunch. Dinner was tortilla chips, pepper jack cheese, and salsa with beverages while we did a double feature of Clerks and Clerks 2, a nice cap to the weekend.
Mon. (8/16) - Tried the crustless vegetable tart with saffron aioli from At Home In The Kitchen by David Kinch. It was a little labor intensive, but good. You caramelize onions, garlic, and thyme to be the “crust”. Those are bedded in a 9" pie tin and then you overlap thinly sliced tomato, zucchini, and eggplant over the top. Season and drizzle with olive oil and bake until the vegetables are pretty well roasted (about 45 minutes). I cheated on the aioli and added some saffron I’d bloomed in hot water to some storebought mayo with a little lemon juice. Rounding out the plate was pasta salad with mushrooms (BF’s request) and some rainbow trout from our monthly fish subscription.
Tues. (8/17) - Leftover pasta salad and vegetable tart. I added some goat cheese to the pasta salad. Realizing the previous Saturday that we were more spent from walking around the convention center than we expected to be, we took a walk before dinner after BF finished work.
Wed. (8/18) - BF was feeling somewhat inspired by Kevin Smith’s weight loss, so was more than happy to left me take a run at a bean chili for dinner tonight instead of a meat based one. It has been cooking in various stages all day. I am using a tomato base, but also a five chile blend of pasilla, guajillo, morita, and ancho, along with freshly toasted and ground black pepper, cloves, coriander seed, and cumin seed (and Mexican oregano). Today’s bean of choice is pinto. So far, everything smells and tastes great! This is going to make way more than what two people need, but leftovers should freeze ok. I will have rice, cheese, and sour cream available for bowls, along with fresh tomatoes, radish, scallions, and cilantro. All this and I even found time for the exercise bike and a load of laundry. Go me!
Thurs. (8/19) - At least one night of leftovers from the chili.
Fri. (8/20) - Might do chili one more night. Otherwise, we have an assortment of crackers, cheeses, and sausage in the pantry/cheese drawer. There’s also salmon roe and Boursin. I will see what mood we’re in when BF finishes for the day.
Sat. (8/21) - We’re probably in for the day, so dinner is whichever thing we didn’t do that seems appealing. Or, delivery!
Projecting into next week, I still have lots of fish in the freezer. There will be shrimp for one or two nights most likely. Then I will see how we feel.