It’s a musician’s life hahaha. I def can’t party like I used to, but I make a concerted effort 
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last night at my sister’s, another go at the Nobu miso-marinated black cod. I just happened to run into the cod in the a.m., so i still didn’t get to do the 3-day marinade - it sat for about 5-6 hours. AND i forgot to salt the fish first - curses! - so it really didn’t have as much flavor as I would have liked. But, the char turned out great (pan seared, then into the oven), and it was buttery, flaky, and still generally wonderful. Especially over A-sha noodles that I doctored up with a sesame/garlic/scallion/ginger/hot oil sauce, and a bit of oyster sauce bok choy.
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We left town late since I was draggingggg (took me half an hour to pack for 2 overnights 
), and got into the hotel just about half an hour before we were meeting friends at a cute bar that specializes in Negronis and tinned fish. I had a white Negroni (too sweet), then moved to martinis with their well gin, Askur. We split a basket of house-made foccacia and very good habanero smoked oysters.
Pardon the terribly… romantic lighting.
That’s a lot of Tinas in the bathroom 
We then mozied over to the new brick & mortar venue of Fet Fisk, formerly just a pop-up & therefore hugely popular aka almost impossible to get in… thus the late dinner rez at 9:30pm! The menu has a lot of small plates as well as a few large ones, and between the five of us we shared a dozen oysters with a lovely tarragon mignonette,
scallop crudo with grapefruit,
fantastic sturgeon paté,
an amazing pea & sunflower shoots salad with citronnette & parm,
very good grilled cabbage Caesar that didn’t skimp on the fishies,
marinated mushrooms with horseradish (which gave them a nice kick),
rye cavatelli with hedgehog mushrooms, apple, truffle, and grana Padano (incredible),
steelhead trout filet with smoked almond sauce (I wish the skin had been crispier) and lots of capers,
and “Jansson’s Temptation” – a potato & anchovy gratin.
Their house martini is filthy and delicious, made with Askur gin.
We also split two bottles of a crisp Puglian Malvasia.
Desserts were a stupid caraway cake (hate it) and a rice pudding with berries (also usually not my cuppa, but this was very nice), digestifs a variety of delectable amaros.
We are currently debating our lunch options, and a place nearby serving Turkish breakfast may just be the ticket.
Let the eatings continue! 
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Wow, now SF got cod running the streets! Where will it end? 
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Gorgeous char!
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In case anyone missed the current cook-along threads, here they are.
We also have a new “Cooking From” category for cookbooks and authors who may not fit into other places but there’s enough interest to consolidate (if you have ideas for this, please message me).
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I really enjoyed your YouTube video. Reminds me of Lake Street Dive. That’s my kind of music, I grew up with jazz and played the saxophone for a long time until I realized women weren’t going to make a living at it back when I was blowing that horn…so I trained to be an audiologist.
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well isn’t that just like a cat…
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Wow, that’s a huge compliment! I saw them before they got big at a small music cafe near my hometown back in … 2012? 2013? Def before the Colbert bump I told them they should get to Berlin if they ever tour Yurp. I believe they’ve 'gotten there a few times meanwhile 
And sax! I’m impressed. Singing is just one of many hats I wear / passions / pathetic sources of income, but the one I enjoy perhaps the most (and make the least $$$ ).
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i love him!
I can’t sing worth sh!t and never enjoyed trying or being forced to do it. So not my gig. I learned how to lip-synch in church choir. I identified as alto.
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For an early dinner tonight before meeting a friend out for drinks later was a dish I’ve had on my to-make list for years and finally got around to – DaPanJi / Big Tray Chicken.
Used the NYT recipe as a roadmap, but one cannot trust any recipe that does not insist that readers who have not had the pleasure of eating the original dish make sure they have noodles to sop up the insanely delicious sauce. (In fact, it says something as dumb as “Spice Village gives you the option of including hand-pulled ones, which is a fun kind of overkill, but I preferred rice.” Umm NO. Stop it, Mark Bittman. Stop making me question every other recipe of yours I have ever used. Also, he forgot the ginger in the recipe, so 
.)
Anyhoo. My “responsible” self didn’t allow me to buy the fresh noodles for this in Chinatown a few days ago because “I have too many noodles”. So I used dry knife-cut noodles instead, which did an admirable job of standing in. (But DUH to me on not buying the actual noodles for the dish when I was planning to make it.)
Let’s talk about the potatoes. Oh my these potatoes. They sop up and concentrate all the myriad flavors that make this dish so good.
It is so gratifying when something turns out close to the flavor of the real thing with the application of a scant few ingredients.
For the leftovers, I’m going to heat up some parathas to stand in for the flaky pancake that most places that offer this dish also have on the menu to sop up the sauce.
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That looks fantastic!
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Try it, I think you’d enjoy it.
(If you plan to lmk and I’ll gladly send you my simplifications.)
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I made cavatelli with pan-roasted grape tomatoes, onions, and garlic, blanched broccolini, chicken Italian sausage, half and half, fresh basil, and Parmesan. It was a big hit. Garden spinach sauteed with garlic on the side.
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This doesnt offer MY picture and Ive probably posted this meal before but its a really excellent, balanced meal in terms of freshness (the salad/relish) balanced spice (the sambal/citrus salad dressing) and savor (the fried bluefish and ginger/onion rice. I had plenty of rice so I made a fried rice version of the ginger rice sauteeing lots of fresh ginger and onion until soft then adding the cold rice and frying together. The recipe calls for the ingredient “sambal” which I have scratched myhead about before in the times. I used some sambal badjak this time. No mint (thought i had it but didnt) but a good handful of cilantro lemon vs lime (didnt have). The recipe calls for a lot of citrus and a lot of sugar; I think you can freestyle this to your taste using less of both. A very worthwhile recipe and will be good for the summertime.
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A couple recipes from Gunpowder tonight: Malabar shrimp pulao and boondi raita with pink peppercorns. I am going to start a Cooking From for this cookbook soon (no energy tonight though). This was enormously satisfying to make and eat. You make a shrimp stock from shrimp heads and shells that gives a great depth of flavor to the pulao. The boondi (crispy chickpea flour balls) in the raita were a nice textural contrast to the pulao as well! Leftover for tomorrow!
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Looks great!
I like my boondi crunchy only, but I am always corrected when I make raita for others that it’s supposed to be soggy in there — people often soak it in water first to ensure full sog 
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Thanks!
Lol! The boondi definitely had a half life! I’d say they were beginning to sog by the time we were finishing up dinner. I am firmly in the crunchy camp myself!
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