We enjoyed another excellent dinner at F1rst Restaurant in Hawthorne, NJ, including and awesome crispy soft shell crab BLT; pork chop with braised red cabbage, bacon-Brussel sprout-shallot-potato hash, berry chutney; crispy fried brie with grilled asparagus, prosciutto, fig-golden raisin chutney, balsamic reduction; grilled octopus with crispy potatoes, roasted red peppers, capers, kalamata olives, romesco sauce. It all went great with an excellent cabernet and zinfandel.
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Salisbury steak with onion gravy, asparagus, mixed greens salad, cherry tomatoes, green onion, garbanzo beans, gorgonzola ranch.
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BF made us spag and chicken sausage meatballs - sausage came pre-spiced, a little bland, but his sauce was from scratch and tasted great.
and I had salad for lunch - basta!
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i had never heard the term “baseball steak” before! “A rounded, thick cut of top sirloin.”
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The Friday tradition of cod in Old Bay continues. Here with (very) roasted cauliflower and DELICIOUS local sugar peas, which are a revelation this time of year.
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Stuffed Eggplant - Filling made from ground lamb, diced eggplant pulp, onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, parmesan and parsley. Topped with some sour cream, parmesan and panko crumbs
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Yeah it had the texture of sirloin and was kind of baseball shaped.
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A mix of fresh and repurposed/lefotver foods for dinner. Salad (new) topped with frozen lamb polemni drizzled with pomegranate molasses. Leftover lamb chop and asparagus topped with tzatziki I wanted to transfer to smaller container but had too much. Freshly grilled eggplant with garlic and mint. Some how it all worked together and I have much more room in the fridge and freezer.
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Especially eaten out of while sitting on the couch in front of the tv. On a gloomy stormy night wearing fuzzy sluppers and the pet of choice sitting close by.
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Father’s Day 2024 celebrated 2 days early due to work and traveling schedules. Chiles rellanos made jointly by dotter and mother, macaroni salad and for dessert, angel food cake baked by dotter with macerated berries crafted by mother. Whipped cream on top. This father should be celebrated every day! The grandcat provided endless entertainment.
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You’re projecting your normalcy on to my dysfunction 
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Those strawberries look luscious!
Get those local berries before the high temps hit here on the East Coast next week. Today the farmer where we buy ours reminded us that the heat turns the strawberries into mush.
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I might have to stop at the Farm Stand in Tewksbury (Farmer Dave’s) to pick up another quart. Today’s weather is absolutely glorious. I’m not looking forward to the heat wave starting on Tuesday!
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Everything looks very good, and I’ve saved a couple recipes for white bean & potato soup, but I have to ask… what is “a little wooder”? All Google tells me is a Philadelphian saying “water”. 
I did figure out what “'nduja” was… I think, anyway. Pork sausage? And i envy you the cooler weather. I’m melting…
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A Quick trip up to LA and for the first night we tend to take a quick bite at Pine & Crane https://www.pineandcrane.com/ in Silverlake which doesn’t require a reservation (hard to predict when driving down the I-5), isn’t too far from the hotel and delivers good Taiwanese food. Looking over the photos it looks like we forgot to take a picture of the Dan Dan Noodles. A highlight is often their vegetable of the day from their own farm like today with the Taiwanese cabbage
Beef roll - braised five spice beef shank, cucumber, cilantro, scallions, hoisin
Pork potstickers - Kurobuta pork shoulder and Taiwanese cabbage
Taiwanese sausage - garlic
Three Cup Jidori Chicken - leg and thigh, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, ginger, garlic, Thai basil
Taiwanese Cabbage
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Tonight I made lemon and harissa-marinated crispy roasted chicken thighs served with roasted butternut squash and onions, buttered lima beans, dilled yogurt sauce, and Moroccan-spiced tomato brown rice from the freezer. Some cheap but tasty Tavel rosé from TJ’s was a good pairing.
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Craving pasta.
And bacon.
But I wanted more than a carbonara.
Found this recipe.
I caramelized a humongous Vidalia onion and used some of it in this recipe.
Oh…and if anyone tells you you can properly caramelize onions in 20-30 minutes, they’re lying through their teeth. I have pics that show it took from 3:20 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. for a VERY large sweet onion at medium-low heat.
I added chopped asparagus when the chicken was cooking as well.
It definitely scratched the itch.
A nice French white to go with.
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Seafood salad, bacon, and Jarlsberg, as well as lettuce and tomato. Toasted onion roll. Tater tots to go with!
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What type of pot and method you are using ? In our experience it really depends on the method, what oven you are using (electric vs gas) etc. It normally doesn’t take for is more than 30 minutes
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