Nice move .Trader Joes is the slowest moving checkout line on earth with those chatty checkers.
How was it?!?
Since we are kindred souls on the mustard…give me a heads up on this one, please.
There is a but a fairly vague idea for a Middle Eastern dinner. There’s lamb for certain - small chunks of leftover leg of lamb that are defrosting. They’ll be tossed in what the Middle Eastern shop calls their “sharwama spice mix” and fried to warm through and go a bit crispy. There’s khobez bread and shop bought houmous. Other than that, a glance in the fridge finds cucumber, yoghurt, mint and parsley that’ll probably mix together nicely. And cooked beetroot that’s left me scratching my head what to do with it - maybe some of the yoghurt and, perhaps, sumac.
That all sound delicious!
I just looked at the label again and apparently this was one of the random condiments i bought at that amazing ex-pat grocery near our hotel in shanghai on my last trip there 
Sooo… no idea if/where to get it- seems to be a french brand. Note the mustard coats are included and there’s apparently 701kJ per 100grams (???)
Beet tzatziki is pretty delicious if you want to go in that direction, since you have all the ingredients.
It was good! I especially liked “the dressing”.
I ended up adapting the ingredients a bit, steeping pulverized Schezuan peppercorns and dried chile de arbol in peanut oil, then strained it. This was a sub for “chili oil with sediment”. I used sous vide for boneless skinless chicken breasts, on sale at my beloved “Lucky’s”. I used a stick blender, rather than “pounding”. I also used shredded Napa Cabbage for lettuce, and mixed in some sliced green onion rather than serving the salad on a bed of it.
For me, the true test will be if I still want to eat it over the next few days.
Oops! Too late to correct spelling of Szechwan/Sichuan.
The word Szechuan comes from the Chinese word 四川, spelled in pinyin " Sichuan " meaning "four rivers. …
There are many Chinese dialects in China, so many that it is hard to guess how many dialects actually exist. (I think over 200 dialects) In general, dialects can be roughly classified into one of the seven large groups: Putonghua ( Mandarin ), Gan , Kejia ( Hakka ), Min , Wu, Xiang , and Yue (Cantonese).
So, the pronuciation and the pinyin is dependent on the dialect spoken. However, we were always advised as children that if Chinese study and can write in mandarin, then China can be united once again as we can communicated with one another thru writings. I had to attend Chinese school, 4 hours a day for 8 years but that was over 60 years ago and my memories are fading.
My ancestors came from Fujian ( fukien, Hokien) . In the same province, there are 2 very different dialect . My carpenter who comes from the same province, east of my ancestor’s home town speaks an entirely different dialect from me. His dialect is Fuzhounese, Foochow or Hok-chiu, which is the prestige variety spoken mainly in the Mindong region of eastern Fujian province. Like many other varieties of Chinese, the Fuzhou dialect is dominated by … In Chinese, it is sometimes called 福州語 (Hók- ciŭ-ngṳ̄; pinyin : Fúzhōuyǔ).
CONFUSED? YOU ARE NOT WRONG, SO NO APOLOGY NEEDED.
I CANNOT CONVERSE WITH MY CARPENTER IN OUR DIALECT , BUT ONLY IN MY LIMITED MANDARIN
I FIND IT EASIER TO CONVERSE WITH HIM IN HIS LIMITED ENGLISH!!
Dinners lately have been tasty but basic. Chicken parm, fried fish with sweet potato fries, etc. My son and daughter-in-law came over on Friday to shake things up a bit. We had bulgogi-flavored burgers topped with cabbage slaw dressed with gochujang mayo, and homemade potato chips dusted with gochugaru flakes, Old Bay and salt. Dinner is always fun with the two of them, and usually pretty creative. The wine must have gotten to me and unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.
Khachapuri, Georgian cheese bread, seems to be everywhere in the Boston area lately, so I thought I’d give it a try. Mine isn’t pretty like the restaurant instagram pictures, but it was rich and flavorful. I didn’t really follow a specific recipe, but pretty much followed the advice to use a mixture of feta and mozzarella as the cheese mixture to mimic the traditional Georgian cheese. It was pretty easy and I’ll make it again. What could be bad about freshly baked crusty dough, salty cheese, eggs and butter? I must say, I did have to raid the antacid bottle in the middle of the night. It’s not a light dish.
My husband went off in search of snow so I cooked some stuff I have been craving and I know he would totally hate. No pics but a red lentil coconut curry soup yesterday for lunch. MMM. I ate it again today and cold was even better. Dinner I made a bread salad with a variety of random ingredients.Roasted broccoli, carrot, cucumber, sauteed shrimp, scallions? I meant to throw in an avocado but forgot until I was half way through. It is dressed with white balsamic, olive oil, mustard, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.
The whole idea for the salad was because I got over zealous with whole wheat flour in a recipe that I never tested before. Very DENSE. Breadcrumbs and croutons for sure.
Dinner tonight will be ribs, slaw and baked beans.
I was considering doing the ribs in the IP but I always sauce them and finish in the oven. Think I’ll simply cook them in the oven and save on the washing up. Slaw to be buttermilk based since I’m trying to use up a container.
Today is sunny and much warmer than I had expected. But rather windy. Spoke with a friend in Asheville and she reported miserable weather so it’s heading my way.
I tend to agree with you, digga. I usually go for flavor over authenticity, recognizing that my tastes are not based in a true understanding of the food and culture of a region, but rather are informed by my very anglo-New England experiences. I definitely don’t claim to improve a dish when I make it to our tastes.
And speaking of bibimbap, that happens to be my most requested dish for company. I certainly don’t claim that it is authentic, but I can’t say I’ll stop making it because I’m not Korean.
We did ribs last night. In a 275 oven for 3 hours, basting every 45 minutes. Better than any technique or piece of equipment we’ve ever used.
I agree. I do prefer the IP in the summer - my kitchen has a big bay window that faces west with no shade at all. It becomes unbearably hot and I don’t use the oven much.
My motivation for using the IP tonight was to try to fine tune the timing. My notes show 3 different past results so I think I’ll be able to nail it next time. The past results have been quite good so it’s just refining it to my preferences.
I’ve never made ribs and suddenly this seems outrageous. My mouth is watering!
We still chuckle at all the machinations we used to go through and this is so darn easy and great tasting.
Those burgers sound excellent
