We enjoyed another outstanding dinner at The Farmer’s Daughter in Newton, NJ including homemade chips with caviar; tempura battered lobster fried rice; short ribs; charcuterie board; and steak tartare. It all went great with an excellent red blend and cabernet.
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Tonight’s dinner was a salade nicoise. The store I went to to pick up missing ingredients didn’t have French green beans in stock today so I settled for the regular ones. They tasted really woody compared to the French green beans so I will make a nore to self to use the French ones.
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Very festive!!
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I hear you on the woody green beans. Sometimes I can’t cook them long enough. How were the tomatoes? Did you make a dressing? I’ve never had fresh tuna with it - I love Nicoise salad but it’s a lot of prep and I can’t imagine making it for just for me. Hope you have a great holiday weekend.
Tonight’s dinner was a fail… In an effort to stretch a pound of ground beef, I tried combining a Baked Corn Casserole (Glen and Friends cooking) with a John Wayne Casserole (Catherine’s Plates). I added way too much liquid and the result was more of a gumbo or corn and hamburger mush. It tasted pretty good, but the presentation was a disaster. If I do try this again, I’ll cut the liquid in half.
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Variation on a quick goulash - Crisp up bacon and then use the fat to sear some diced pork tenderloin. Afterwards sautéed red and yellow peppers, onion and quickly braised it with diced tomatoes, caraway seeds and paprika before quickly warm it up with the pork and some pasta water to thicken the sauce. Served with basil and fusili.
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Family gathering food overload continues.
TONIGHT:
Biryani for most, mac & cheese and roasted cauliflower again for the littlest (taller than me now).
We had 3 kinds of Biryani: Mutton (from the family favorite place),Paneer (same place), and Soya Chaap (mom’s favorite, from a different place) which is a chicken-y textured soy protein product from North India (that I had never heard of until recently). Mom thought my older nephew would enjoy the chaap, so we got a kabab version too (my dad’s favorite kind of kabab, known as Burrah Chop).
I LOVED the Burrah Kabab but nephew wasn’t totally sold on it; he loved mom’s Chaap Biryani (and ate most of it). The mutton biryani was good, but I wasn’t feeling it tonight.
The mac & cheese was pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself. Garlic in the bechamel by kid request, over-cheesed (if there is such a thing) for the same reason, and beautifully browned. Nephew’s mind was a bit blown by my revelation of a pinch of nutmeg in the sauce (he is learning to cook and loves experimenting with food).
Desserts: Kulfi (ordered in) and Sheera (flour pudding? I don’t know how to describe it but it’s the most basic and homey sweet made from toasted whole wheat flour, sugar or jaggery, and water or milk).
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TODAY:
Dhansak, the famous Parsi dish (@klyeoh). Mutton and vegetarian (with soya nuggets) both. Brown (caramelized onion & whole spices) rice, kachumbar (minced onion and tomato), and papad to accompany. Kids also had the special roasted potatoes my mom made for them last night.
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LAST NIGHT:
The vegetarians except mom were out, so we had mom’s simple pan-roasted chicken and potatoes (latter made by mom herself, drumroll! In case you missed it, mom has been out of action most of this year, and only this week has regained the desire and confidence to step into the kitchen to make a cup of tea even… but for the grandkids, she stood there with the walker and made the potatoes).
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YESTERDAY:
Out at another favorite pan-Asian spot but a different branch than I’ve eaten at before. We had sushi (half of it vegetarian, and really good), dumplings (truffle edamame, water chestnut, fish, and sriracha chicken), salads (lotus root and glass noodle, avocado and arugula), crispy radish cakes, salt & pepper tofu, spring rolls, yellow curry, mixed vegetables in oyster sauce, blue butter fried rice, spicy hong kong-style noodles, snapper in black bean sauce, sesame cheesecake, and snickers-inspired pastry. Oy.
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NIGHT BEFORE:
Pav Bhaji, popular Bombay street food, this version but made by me.
The bread was perfectly fluffy, the exact thing I miss when I make this not in Bombay. Split, buttered, and pan-fried.
Bhaji topped with a generous plop of butter and minced raw onion. (Two plates pictured – the one PILED with onions is my nephew’s – there are more mixed in already with butter, this was the “second topping” 
).
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Your home-cooked dishes looked insanely beautiful! Drooling.
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The tomato I had last night wasn’t the best since it had been languishing in the fridge for awhile. I didn’t make a dressing last night but when I do, I like an oo red wine vinegar dressing. I’m still perfecting cooking fresh tuna since I forget how quickly it cooks - especially last night since I cooked it a little bit longer than I should have. I usually use canned tuna but one of the stores I shop at had fresh tuna on sale recently so it was a treat. This salad is pretty easy to scale down to a single serving. I use one tomato, one potato, one egg, a few green beans and a few olives. I buy the beans loose and the olives at the olive bar so I can buy enough for just one serving.
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That all looks wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that your mom is feeling so much better, too.
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Fabulous Festivus party last night. Naturally, there was The Airing of Grievances – facilitated by placing post-its on the Festivus pole, as well as the Feats of Strength, which involved “dancing” on an increasingly smaller newspaper page, and a partner squat. Naturally, we didn’t win 
Food offerings from the host were a hefty ham, marvellous mac, tender haricots verts, mashed, and a couple of salads – including a lovely beet & potato salad made by a lady from Azerbaijan.
I brought a smoked salmon mousse that had me in a minor crisis in the afternoon, as I’d never cooked with gelatin before (IKR???) & found the initial steps confusing. A panicked SOS on Fb, and my mates to the rescue 
I’d added more dill than the recipe asked for, horseradish, and chopped capers to the mousse & topped it with a little more dill and trout roe.
I guess it was a success? 
Thanks again, @GretchenS for the recipe 
Hosting friends for a low-key Greek xmas meal tonight: yuvetsi with lamb shanks & shoulder, and maroulosalata. Gigantes and dolmades for starters. Our guests are bringing apple pie and vanilla ice cream 
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Nothing better than a gaggle of loved ones around to boost spirits and jump rehab off a plateau and onto the next level!
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There isn’t!
I’m so glad to hear your mother is venturing back into the kitchen. I am sure seeing her cook again is therapeutic for everyone.
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Chatted briefly with my sis & her fam back in the fatherland, since xmas eve is The Big Day over there – not xmas day.
It’s the first one without our mom, who loved it more than anyone in the family: decorating her modest pad as soon as December rolled around with lights and her cute fake tree brought up from the basement, and every advent she’d light another candle on her Advent wreath. It’s strange not being able to talk to her today, as difficult as it already was last xmas due to her worsening dementia.
I’ve been missing her a lot these days……
Meanwhile, casa lingua is heavenly scented with the heady aroma of lamb & rosemary braising away in the oven & I can’t wait for dinner (especially since I didn’t have to make it).
And since it was my mom who introduced me to Greek food at a very young age, this meal seems like a proper celebration of her life
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Best wishes this Christmas Eve! Your meal sounds like a wonderful tribute to your mom.
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Perfect remembrance of your Mom. 
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When we used to go to Mom’s and my stepdad’s house in central PA, her Christmas Eve dinner was always meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas (or corn for my sister, who detests peas). Mom’s reasoning was “It all keeps and easily reheats in case one or more of you get in late.” I had a smart Mom.
BUT…they also made turkey or ham on Christmas Day, not beef as I’m doing tomorrow. So I lightened it up tonight with a low-temp cooked sockeye salmon with my new-this-year favorite char-siu and sweet red pepper chili sauce glaze, herbed buttery orzo and steamed broccoli.
It’s not meatloaf and mashed, but it was still very good!
Wine.
Merry Christmas Eve to all those who will be up putting gifts together and/or wrapping late into the night (or will that be morning?)and filling stockings with chocolates, oranges, and little gifties to keep the littles satisfied until after breakfast, and fitting all of the Christmas gifts under the tree, and eating the cookies and carrots put out for Santa and his reindeer. 
And good luck keeping the littles in their beds/rooms until the Mom-stipulated hour in the morning before the shredding of wrapping paper begins!
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My brother smoked an incredible brisket, I made the sides (including this prosciutto-burrata “wreath” ) and we finished with a cookie tower 
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What a nice way to remember her.
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Dementia sucks. Both my parents had it.
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