In case you missed it, we have two new Cookbook of the Month threads for the Quarter – Smitten Kitchen and Sabrina Ghayour.
Come join in!
And last quarter’s New York Times COTM thread is also a Cooking-From thread ie ongoing, so please keep sharing your NYT cooking explorations there.
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I’m hoping to make myself that recipetin eat fish with lemon cream sauce tomorrow! So good. And I would be all over the chili topped baked potato.
Hope the forecast gets sunnier. Have a wonderful time.
Wishing you all health, harmony, and happiness in 2025!
We had a whirlwind two weeks with so much food that I lost track of some of it 
The plan was helpful to make sure we covered most things that are different people’s favorites, even though we switched up the days based on what people were in the mood to eat.
The last few days are always a race to the finish, trying to squeeze in as much as possible as everyone gets sad that the next visit is probably a whole year away.
Some actuals:
– Last night, first night without visitors: Momos! It’s comfort food and we ate while watching a silly movie to distract us from the newly empty house.
– Assorted stuffed parathas / flatbreads at home – paneer, cauliflower, and my mom insisted on cheese for the kids, which they loved.
– Khichdi made by mom (by kid request / demand) + spicy fried prawns for some of us + papad for everyone
– Mac & cheese (twice, once with truffles) & cauliflower cheese for the vegetarians + ordered in fam fave kababs + naan for the rest once and mom made her pan-roasted chicken & potatoes the other
– Italian at home and Italian takeout: Cacio e pepe at home (semi-success, but I didn’t let the pasta cool enough have to try again) and more Cacio e pepe (with truffles) and Arrabiata ordered in from the fancy place my sis has been wanting to take the kids but we ran out of time.
– Normal home Indian food – dal, vegetables (green beans, paneer in gravy, cauliflower, etc), kheema aloo, mom’s mutton (goat) korma & another gravy mutton, fish fry, etc.
– New Year’s Eve lunch – Out at the fam fave Chinese spot, first time after my dad, and first time out to a restaurant for my mom in almost 2 years. Younger nephew was elated as it’s his favorite spot in town but he only wants to go with grandma, not without (which was last year’s visit).
– New Year’s Eve dinner – Pizzzzzaaaaaaa! Takeout, mix of a new place and an old reliable. Plus biryani because sib has been getting his biryani on any chance possible Champagne, coke, and an array of desserts.
– New Year’s Day – COLOSSAL prawns a la my dad (see here)
– Takeout from fam fave coastal seafood place that is the vegetarians’ favorite North Indian takeout as well
– Indian Chinese takeout – veg & chicken Manchurians, burnt garlic fried rice, egg fried rice, chicken lollipops, mixed greens, sweetcorn vegetable and chicken soups, hakka noodles
– South Indian out – onion chilli uttapam, ghee idlis, podi masala dosa, chhole bhatura
– Assorted departure meals: mom’s mutton curry and rice, my cheese toast, leftover North Indian takeout, and Indian chinese takeout
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The plan for the next few days while we are alone, and before our next guest arrives (my college roommate, concluding her first trip to India with a stay with my family):
– Out with mom for a special dim sum lunch at our favorite place
– Winter specialty of Undhiyu (mixed winter vegetables cooked slowly in a green garlic and cilantro masala), with puris or chapatis and kadhi (yogurt / buttermilk gravy)
– Finish assorted leftovers of the past 3 weeks (of which there are A LOT)
– Scotch broth (barley soup) from one of my favorite places, with either toast or some leftovers
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Hope everyone’s year has started well!
Love your Mon & Tues.
I am not brave enough to attempt chicken fried steak at home (yet) but I love it!
Happy 2025 everyone! I hope the holidays were happy and not stressful. LLD left to visit his mother and sister early Tuesday, and I dropped Lulu at the airport to go back to college yesterday. I have until Thursday evening to myself, and I’m excited about it. I’m doing dry January (with the exception of a family wedding weekend later this month), and so far, so good. Here’s what we ate this past week:
Mon: LLD’s last meal at home before his trip, one of his favorites: swordfish with fennel, lemon, and chilies with fennel salad and homemade focaccia (which I was very happy with).
Tues: NYE, seared tuna with avocado rice bowls. Late night we had potato chips with creme fraiche and salmon roe, a little treat I learned from Julia Turschen, to go with our champagne.
Wed: soyrizo, chickpea, tomato skillet with toast and a fried egg
Thurs: sushi out
Fri: capellini with raw tomato, capers, olives
Sat: solo, sardine toasts with tomatoes and sweet onion, Lulu and I baked toffee walnut blondies for her to take back
Sun: kidney bean curry, rice, raita
It was a nice holiday season, but I am looking forward to having things settle down a bit. LLD has lots of travel, etc. coming up, but I am going to try to make life as chill as possible around here. We’ll see how that goes. Have a great week!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice holiday. The last two weeks went flying by even though I haven’t been doing anything. I’ve just been hanging out at home reading the last couple of weeks since I am still at home nursing a broken toe so nothing exciting to report. My menu for this week from actuals from last Friday through to planned to next Thursday.
Friday: Spicy beef curry following a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks (“Simply Thai Cooking” by Wandee Young). I’ve tried other recipes from this cookbook and loved them so I to it for inspiration to finish up some veggies in the fridge. The only thing I was missing was the beef so I picked some up during my grocery shopping yesterday. It is now a new favourite although it could have been a little spicier. Next time I might add a little more curry paste.
Saturday: Take out pizza because I am tired of cooking.
Sunday : Salade nicoise.
Monday: Ramen soup of some sorts to finish up the last of the bok choy in the fridge. Dinner will definitely be soup based whatever I decide to make because it is soup weather.
Tuesday: Stirfried lo mein noodles with pork and vegetables.
Wednesday: Rice pilaf.
Thursday: I have a film society screening so I will be stopping for dinner before the movie. I’m still figuring out the logistics since I usually walk to the movie theater and stop for dinner along the way. This time I will be taking the bus to the theater so I will have to eat somewhere fairly close by. I hate broken toes 
Hi, everyone. Cooking for three in the Boston burbs. I enjoyed having the time for “project cooking” over the holidays, though it wasn’t entirely successful. One night last week I made fresh (gluten-free) pasta, using the ATK recipe (courtesy of my gift subscription!) - unfortunately something went funky with/in my pasta roller since I’d last used it, and the pasta was inedible. It looked so good 
but tasted rancid. Sigh.
Sun: prep for the week… made a batch of granola, made dinner for Weds, and made bean soup for lunches this week. Dinner tonight: “sticky chicken” aka ATK’s bourbon chicken sans bourbon, with white rice and steamed broccoli.
Mon: grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato and bacon, tomato soup
Tues: chili mac (from a Rachael Ray cookbook), bacon-chickpea salad
Weds: sort of Spanish chicken cacciatore - roasted peppers, roasted tomatoes, chicken, wine, and a crap-ton of paprika, topped with Manchego. I’ll make polenta for myself but the guys will probably want rolls. (Also from a Rachael Ray recipe but heavily modified from original. A jar of roasted peppers works just fine, no need to be a hero here.)
Thurs: make your own pizzas - will need to send DH to the store for Boboli crusts for them, mine is in the freezer
Fri: old school tacos, refried beans. One of DS’s friends will be staying with us for the weekend to avoid being dragged to his younger sibling’s hockey tournament out of town.
I’m sorry. It sucks! Hope they heal quickly.
Do you make other changes to the braise? I think I would like to try this.
ETA: sorry about your pasta
I do make other changes - a 12-oz jar of roasted red peppers, as I said, but I also skip the mushrooms because we don’t like them, and use more smoked paprika plus some sweet paprika (maybe 1.5t smoked and 1t sweet?). I used white wine today but usually use red, I don’t keep sherry in the house. And her polenta recipe is cuckoo, just make it with chicken broth. Manchego on top is a must!
Also, vote here!
I wondered if there would be beans on the menu with LLD away… 
I love the idea of this over polenta.
And they were SO good!
Hello from sunny and warm Pasadena, CA, where most of the chaos (and garbage!) related to the Tournament of Roses Parade and the football game at the Rose Bowl has dissipated.
Cooking for two adults, focusing on dishes that make for good leftovers, feeding the freezer, and repurposing.
Tonight (Monday) is leftover pizza (takeout) for the partner and scrambled eggs/English muffin for me.
Going forward I’m planning on making a new batch of beige soup (onion, two types of cabbage, cauliflower, BTB No Chicken Chicken Base) probably tomorrow, as I know I’ll be antsy with the winds and fire weather. (Gift Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/06/weather/los-angeles-santa-ana-winds-fire.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nU4.CYKL.9oWM79uu5cAp&smid=url-share)
Also likely making banana bread as we’ve several that are overly ripe.
No idea what else, as after the holidays all that appeals is fresh fruit and vegetables.
Truly hope everyone - those who post and those who choose to lurk - is well, warm, and taking care of themselves!
Hello Pasadena (and everyone else) I am in Brentwood Glen and so also bracing for the winds/fires. Hoping everyone will stay safe.
I strained my back/hip/etc, basically everything hurts so this week’s menus will be mostly leftovers
Suzanne Goin butternut squash fennel soup
Lost Kitchen meatloaf
Perhaps something baked for later in the week
Wednesday - DH is away for business
Thursday - Lunch out unless there are fires and
Friday - lunch out either way (mah jong)
So nice to see you here. I hope you’re feeling better soon!
Thinking about you and Diana with the fire near Pasadena–hope you’re in a safe place!
Greetings, People.
Below you’ll find the dinner menu I’m planning this week, which will be accompanied by a very cheesy breakfast rotation. I have a pound of Cougar Gold to use up post-holidays. There will be cheddar omelets, souffles, grilled cheese, biscuits or scones, and cheese-bread much of the week (and probably the next week, as well).
Cooking for two adults in the PNW:
FRI: Pork tenderloin medallions. Potatoes. Roasted carrots. Maybe peas. The last of the leftover mac and cheese?
SAT: A bok-choy and beef stir-fry from Woks of life. Rice.
SUN: Chicken breasts and rice. Variation TBD. Veg TBD.
MON: NYT’s parmesan-salmon Caesar (gift-link), as recommended by @ieatalotoficecream on the NYT thread.
TUE: Smitten Kitchen’s mushroom lasagna (adapted from Ina Garten). New-to-me, but beloved by this community - it’s been on my radar for some time. I’m thinking of adding spinach to the bechamel. Salad.
WED: Leftover Persian lentil soup from the freezer. Yogurt naan.
THUR: Leftover lasagna. Salad.
