Forgot to take a pic, but a very satisfying dinner of cumin rice, dal, potato sabzi, and salmon.
I’m loving the quick-cook technique of roasting the salmon in butter in a very hot oven!
The cumin rice, dal, and potato sabzi were from a temple in Queens. Very simple but very delicious.
Tonight’s dinner was garlic shrimp that was marinated in a soy sauce/oyster sauce/garlic combination then oan fried and served over rice. Salad on the side
Lemon- caper- Greek herb blend roast chicken thighs, pinto beans with Rotel tomatoes, bacon, cumin and oregano, squash from the garden.
Night #3 of my Long Weekend of Favorite Meals: Skinny Orange Chicken with Basmati rice and sauteed sugar snap peas seasoned with s/p and dried marjoram.
There was wine.
I also made myself a dessert: Peach Galette using late season peaches (and a Pillsbury crust). Unfortunately, not the best peaches, but still a decent dessert with Tillamook Caramel Toffee Crunch ice cream alongside.
Louisa Weiss’s Suddeutsche Lauchtorte with eggs, leeks, bacon, gruyere, and a parmesan bechamel. Served with a tomato-basil garden soup, topped with a drizzle of chili oil and cheesy croutons (ex-Crescia al Formaggio).
Crappy fall lighting at dinner time spoils the photos.
that’s beautiful! as usual…
that galette looks fantastic, El!
Thank you!
95 degrees when we sat down to dinner. Cold, silken tofu for me, with a gochugaru/soy/ginger/garlic sauce, with cukes and scallions, sesame seeds and sichimi togarashi. BF made himself some sausage patty concoction with his fabulous marinara.
I was going to have more leftovers but the glorious 80 degree Indian summer day had me craving salad. My favorite salade niçoise with all the usual suspects. Caesar-ish dressing with a mélange of anchovies, calamata olives, red onion and parsley to sprinkle over. Toasted garlic butter baguette.
There was wine. A chard form the “open me” people. The bottom of the cork.
I agree…I can’t handle working in an indoor kitchen in the heat.
Looks excellent to me!
The first hot soba soup of the 2024 fall season. Yu choy, spinach, broccoli, shrimp, squid, wood ear and nori.
All 4 of us for dinner last night. I made carnitas burritos and burrito bowls. Not very photogenic but tasty. I made refried beans from small Salvadorian red beans from the international market
I love the cork!
For our final celebration in this 25th year of our love (smooch-a-versary 
), we’d booked a table at Kalaya — long praised by the NYT, Phil Rosenthal, James Beard, yadda yadda yadda. We’d been to their locash on South Street a few years before the hype raised prices & had Nok find bigger quarters in Fishtown to accommodate the hungry masses.
We had a couple of HH beers at Evil Genius brew pub nearby and watched the Phillies win an incredibly exciting game. I cheered so loudly at the replay of the Mets’ 3rd base’s mistake the bartender gave us free beers! 
Kalaya was positively buzzzzzing on a Sunday (!) eve with the young, the beautiful & the well-off, so naturally, we fit right in 
Our first seat at the bar was blasting the a/c right down my neck, so we switched to the short end of the bar.
I had the super-refreshing Lum Yong to start with, ‘a mysterious blend of gins, coconut, lemongrass, galangal, lime & turmeric,’
my PIC got the Achara, ‘a bitter & tropical sipper with mango tequila, toasted coconut, and lime leaf vermouth, which was also quite good.
Our server was hell-bent on recommending the $75/person tasting menu, which included a few things we wanted to try, but we decided to order à la carte instead.
Shaw Muang: 6 bite-sized chicken dumplings that were very pretty (the place is famous for its gorgeous dumpling creations), but rather forgettable. The slice of Thai pepper perched atop each at least provided a bit of a zing.
Pra Ram Long Som: pork tenderloin with peanut satay sauce and water spinach. Velvety, tender pork in a very rich sauce. We probably could’ve / should’ve stopped there.
Pla Muk Thod Kreung: fried curry squid with long hots, lime leaf, and nam jim waan. The fry was crispy & very light, but I didn’t detect any heat from the long hots…nor any actual long hots.
For our ‘large plate’ we’d chosen the Pu Pad Pong Karee: colossal crab meat with chili oil, egg, Chinese celery and crab roe, served with Jasmine rice. Very good, though not much heat (again), and indulgently rich.
The side of pickled mustard greens with egg & garlic was probably not necessary, evidenced by our taking home most of it, along with the crab curry.
Overall, it was a nice meal, but we much prefer the more casual, much cheaper, and far spicier Thai we’re accustomed to from our favorite place in Berlin.
We continued Mrs. P’s birthday celebration weekend with another excellent dinner at Alfie’s Ristorante in Warren, NJ. We enjoyed surf n turf; sirloin steak au poivre; portobello mushrooms in a balsamic glaze; calamari; antipasta. It all went great with a couple of excellent cabernets.
I love how you and Mrs. P extend your celebrations over several meal. My kinda peeps!
