I think we may have broken a record in the 15-yr long history of our Sichuan jour fixe. TWENTY hungry chili heads joined us for a final shared meal at our favorite hole-in-the-wall, with many regulars & a few new faces I’d recently added to the group.
Since I love almost nothing more than bringing people together — ideally over food, this was the perfect send-off No doubt my PIC and I will have many choices for Sichuan and other Chinese food in Philly, but we won’t have our crew to join us for the fun & chow
I’d called up the owner to give her a heads-up a day in advance, and I’d suggested she split the group into 2 tables. I usually order family-style: the bigger the group, the more variety in dishes, but since most of our friends are savages, we usually have to get 2 orders of each dish bc they suck at moving dishes along and s-h-a-r-i-n-g. I think everybody just gets caught up in conversation, but I have to gently remind people all the time to pass the food around. We got the classics: garlic cukes for starters (still the best of any and all I’ve had elsewhere),
chongqing chicken,
mouthwatering fish,
mapo tofu,
garlic eggplant (like velvety lava )
bok choy,
dry-fried green beans (obvy snapped the pic after the savages had descended on them),
but I was too stuffed to try them. It was a LOT of food.
A few of our ‘heads joined us for a couple of farewell drinks at our favorite watering hole.
And just this morning we got a msg from our tenant that he’s stuck in Ireland: his flight was canceled, which will delay our departure by a day. My PIC is only 50% as stressed now
I was sorting out the carbs and bakery stuff here in Toronto, through a filter on the app.
I kept missing the pick up deadline.
One Italian hot table was packing up its mains half an hour before closing but I never managed to get any. I think some pizzerias might be a good bet in Toronto.
First time visit to Mijote https://www.mijotesf.com/ in the Mission - a French inspired restaurant which reminded us a lot on the bistros we experienced on our last trip to France. “Simple” (as in few, high quality key ingredients for each dish) dishes rooted on French techniques (great sauces). Dessert was the exception from the “simple” approach with an unique combination of eggplant ice cream, ginger sauce/foam, peppercorns which worked really well when you ate all flavors together - really more than the sums of its parts. Normally a four course prix fixe it always allows you to add some courses which was hard to resists. Also great to see that they provide you with plenty of bread to soak up the great sauces. Overall really great night and it won’t be the last visit.
Tonight I made one of my all time favourite salads. The only disappointment was the jalapeño since it had absolutely no heat whatsoever. I did in fact leave the seeds in but it was like eating a plain ole green pepper
Simple dinner tonight after a trip to the vet for a Finny checkup…the Fat Boi has gained 2 lbs in a year, even though he’s been fed the same amount. So some lab tests to make sure there’s nothing going on inside. He hollered on the way there; he hollered on the way home. But he forgave me as soon as I opened the pet taxi to release him from prison.
Couple of BISO chicken thighs were marinated for about 5 hours in buttermilk, s/p, garlic powder, and paprika. Drained, then tossed with some Dixie Fry mix, and baked at 400° on a rack on a foil-covered baking sheet in the convection oven, turning twice, sprayed with cooking spray both sides.
Side salad of CSA baby Romaine, chopped CSA tomatoes, shaved carrots, sliced radish, chopped red bell pepper, and minced shallot. Dressing was Penzeys Buttermilk dressing blend mixed with buttermilk and mayo.
Bonus pic of Finn deciding that the trash bin space at the vet was a safe place to hide after they pulled out the wastebasket for him. Until, of course, the vet tech dragged him out for his shots.
With my PIC being much calmer due to the extra day we gained, we had a fairly leisurely morning, enjoyed a delightful taco lunch with friends, then did more cleaning & organizzzizing the house.
WFD was Mark Bittman’s “spicy” grilled shrimp bc we had a whole bag of black tiger shrimp in the freezer to use up & I wanted something super-simple, nuked COTC with TPSTOB, and another Caprese with the last burrata & half an avocado.
I should really grill shrimp more often than I do (rarely), as the char added a nice, smoky note, but they came out on the saltier side, and the heat was practically non-existent — perhaps no surprise considering it’s a Bittman recipe
Nice to have a quiet night at home… bc I managed to snag a table at a new restaurant’s soft opening tomorrow evening , which we would have missed had we left tomorrow, and we also have plans to attend our HK buddy’s HH soirée to which we were also theoretically (and now practically) invited
I’ve never been to Hawaii but I’ve been pretty disappointed with the Hawaiian food I’ve had on the west coast. Until Kau Kau, a popup in Portland by chefs from Hawaii who have cooked at several high end places here. Everything made with care right down to the rice which is often mushy and bland at most Hawaiian places. Garlic shrimp, shoyu-garlic chicken, kalua pork, kimchi salmon poke, meat jun, an octopus coconut greens luau side, pork lumpia and chicken long rice. Flavor robust and no sign of MSG to my palate (not that there is anything wrong with a little sprinkle….).
If I sorted out pizza and bagels there would be very little left. I did manage to nab a Whole Foods prepared food offer once. $30+ worth of food for $10.
Some of the pizzas are from places I would like to try but the timing doesn’t usually work for me.
What’s in the House Pasta: fresh tomatoes salted and drained, 2large cloves of minced garlic hanging out for a half hour or so. 1 large grilled stem on artichoke from the Italian market sliced. Local Pasta Lab bucatini. Pasta, pasta water, tomato water and parm. Tomato mix added and left to sit with the lid on until my dreadful Phillies game ended.
Fresh torn basil. Pasta MUCH better than the game.
No doubt my PIC and I will have many choices for Sichuan and other Chinese food in Philly, but we won’t have our crew to join us for the fun & chow 
)
the spellout: s-h-a-r-i-n-g
