Hi everyone
The weather in nyc is up and down, but mostly very cold. I slipped on a massive stretch of thin sidewalk ice that looked like water, but thank god for a shred of balance to recover upright rather than splatting out.
Jet lag has had me starving: seems like all I’ve been doing is cooking and eating! Still catching up with friends, but given the weather, we are meeting more at home, which gives us more time together and saves at least one of us from braving the weather!
Recent actuals:
— Indian home food: Chicken in one of my family preps, Bihari-style gobi aloo (cauliflower & potato), Bihari Dal Pitha (rice dumplings stuffed with spiced lentils), yellow moong dal, parathas, and rice — I took dinner over for my friend who lost her mom while I was away. Also baked a simple cake because her dad has a major sweet tooth. It was nice to see her dad eat well, because she had shared that he has been really down and refusing to eat much. But homey food has a way of helping that, and he even had a second paratha. And he had requested the dumplings (which I learned to make last year specifically for him).
— A Chinese feast from a Flushing Chinatown visit, taken over to friends’: braised duck, char siu pork, poached chicken in Sichuan chilli oil, shredded potato salad, beef chow fun, noodles in spicy peanut sauce, pork belly braised with taro, pancake stuffed with mixed greens, pancake stuffed with pork & cabbage, and pork and chive dumplings. We ate too fast because I got delayed by snow removal efforts on the avenue and we were all starving when I got there… and then collapsed onto the sofas 
. Luckily we recovered over a few hours of chatting to catch up, and (they) were even able to have some cake for dessert 
.
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Ideas for the coming week:
— Taking dinner over to spend time with another friend tomorrow: either another family chicken recipe (plus veg & sides) if she wants Indian food, otherwise Thai red curry with salmon and vegetables.
— One more dinner to friends the next day — same question will determine menu. One of them is gluten free, so I’m mulling over dessert — maybe flan, or one of the flourless chocolate cakes on the baking thread.
— Maman’s Cheese (Spinach) Soufflé (inspiration courtesy @MunchkinRedux).
— Dal cooked with vegetable stubs + cabbage thoran + rice + papad.
— Duck rendang + coconut rice + vegetables.
— Pongal (South Indian lentils & rice) + yogurt + papad + winter pickle kindly made for me by a family friend.
— Use up (Cantonese) poached chicken breasts that I have been unusually slow to consume — Quesadillas, Chicken pot pie, Chicken salad.
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I’ve also been thinking about baking a small focaccia to make a mortadella sandwich I enjoyed on a trip, and have the one in the new COTM Samin Nosrat / Good Things bookmarked to try. Also want to pick a few other things from COTM to jump in.
Wish you all a happy weekend, and a peaceful and delicious week ahead.
