Eggplant dumplings from Ottolenghi’s Flavor with some stewed kale from a Pepin book. Diced eggplants get roasted in the oven, mashed and mixed with panko breadcrumbs, ricotta, parmesan, flour, parsley, basil, garlic and eggs. Formed into dumplings before panfried. Quick tomato sauce by pureeing tomatoes and cooking it with tomato paste, sugar, chili flakes, paprika and oregano. You mix the dumplings with the tomato sauce and bake it in the oven before finishing it with some olives, parmesan and basil.
The kale is simply stewed with some garlic, chili flakes and water.
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I took myself to the nearby farm/restaurant last night for an early dinner of beef carpaccio (liberally sprinkled with bits of chive blossom @MunchkinRedux) and lard-fried potatoes with garlic aioli. So good.
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Oh, my! That looks fantastic! I love a good carpaccio, and how can one go wrong with lard-fried potatoes?? 
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That all looks incredible!
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Looks delicious!
I think it was @tomatotomato with the PSA about chive blossoms.
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Yep, and my chive blossom vinegar is infusing as I write this. Thanks for the encouragement!
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Sorry for the mis-attribution!!
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My poor PIC was still feeling like garbage today, and I slept really late.
He decided to join me at the market — just to get some fresh air and vitamin D. I picked up broccolini to add to a spicy shrimp stir-fry I was possibly going to make to have along the leftover spicy noodz from last night, but that got postponed to tomorrow, as we ended up scooting to the beer garden earlier for sunset brews & to “air out” some more 
He munched on a pretzel while I had their Caesar. Eh.
Finished our dinner at a dumpling place I’d been meaning to try. It was a-ok.
The pan-fried vegan dumplings were pretty uninteresting,
we’ve had much better XLB elsewhere,
but the shao mai were excellent.
I also appreciated the plate of kroepoek
which I SO wish US Chinese restaurants would offer, instead of those stupid fried crisps 
I’d also grabbed a bunch of figs and super-fragrant, perfectly ripe local strawberries,
some of which will likely be our dessert later. No whipping cream or even utensils to whip cream in this pad, so we may have to make do with a taste of the Sicilian pistachio gelato & vegan crunchy peanut sorbet we picked up at our favorite ice cream dealer in town 
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I can’t remember the last time I have seen fried crisps at a chinese restaurant in the US - is it common where you live ?
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Open face tuna/tomato and cucumber sandwedge on toasted olive sour dough with side salad.
Eaten with a knife and fork cause I was feeling boujee.
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Those brown noodle things that taste like nothing?
They’re everywhere.
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Interesting - it must be a regional thing as we haven’t seen them for 10+ years when we went to Chinese restaurants in San Diego, Boston or San Francisco
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I’ve gotten them in San Diego from east coast-style takeout places, when soup is ordered, and Boston more widely.
Hit or miss in NYC – takeout-only places (with predominantly American Chinese menus) tend to have them. The one nearest me has the “good” kind, fried in-house I think (the packets are open / folded, other places have small sealed plastic packets that are not as good / fresh).
Addictive dipped in duck sauce with some sinus-clearing mustard mixed in 
(At some point, someone gets up and throws all the bags out to save everyone from mindlessly finishing them 
)
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We mostly frequent Sichuan restaurants where these aren’t a thing, but plenty of CA restaurants serve them 
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I think we haven’t order for quite some time from places with an americanized menu and you might be right that those places are more likely to have these
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They were common in the NYC area, served while you order like chips and dip at Mexican restaurants. With little bowls of incredibly pungent Chinese mustard.
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Tonight’s dinner was bbq’d chicken and mac 'n cheese from last week’s ribfest and asparagus from my CSA.
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A quiet day on a beautiful day.
I really needed the slow, relaxed start.
I also needed something special for tonight.
Went with a D’Artagnan duck breast with blackberry sauce (because I haven’t been to Dali for awhile), Israeli couscous, and steamed green beans.
Was there wine? C’mon… 
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Can’t wait for @John pizza pics!!
It’s Saturday!!
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