What's For Dinner #113 - the Holiday Cookie Frenzy Edition - December 2024

I switched to Melissa Clark’s squash pie with buttercup or similar squash last year and we 3 here all loved it much more than canned pumpkin. So worth it to us!

I do understand that winter squash and also sweet potatoes are unappealing to many.

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I am. Today was a good day! In front of the laptop at 9 a.m., errands run at lunch to replace GC gift boxes with GC sleeves due to a purchase of 25 Amazon gift cards for coworkers in Hanukkah boxes (oops! :grin: ) instead of plain holiday GC boxes. And let the record show that the purchase of the Hanukkah boxes was NOT made by me! I just get to fix the issue. :zipper_mouth_face: :rofl:

Then back on the laptop for the afternoon. And several trips up and down the stairs did NOT leave me anywhere near the complete breathlessness I had pre-stents, so I’m getting there! :+1:

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Another stand-by: pan-roasted diavolo chicken thighs and Caesar salad with buttery croutons and homemade dressing (with anchovies). So good!

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Welcome home dinner for dotter and her posslq.
Grilled lamb chops, oven roasted smashed yukon gold pots, steamed asparagus and ‘holiday sauce’ (extra lemony).
Delish, as usual, and we’re going to miss the Rocket cat, terribly. :disappointed_relieved:

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Must try!

my sister had some wrinkly, flavorless tomatoes (camparis!) that she didn’t want, so i brought them home and the BF made sauce with polenta out of them, with all-beef meatballs. a little salad with anchovy for me on the side.

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Rocket cat? Did your fur baby pass?

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that chicken skin looks great!

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Bouillabaisse. We were supposed to go out to dinner tonight, but then we didn’t. This was how I comforted myself. And it worked!

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wonderful progress!

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Thank you! I follow epicurious’s method (apologies in advance for the paywall):

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Last day in our pad was spent packing & cleaning. Nixed a pho or oyster lunch out for another mish-mash of random stuff from the fridge — king salmon lox, leftover bok choy, slice of pizza. I never once had pho while here :sob:

Dinner was at the very dark, very sexy Double Knot, the perfect place to impress your date before you go home and … :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

We made a meal of excellent hamachi carpaccio, which I liked much better than the ceviche we had last time,

and a variety of robatayaki: a couple of orders of the scallion bc I’m obsessed with it, excellent maitake, very good miso eggplant, salmon scallion, lobster tail, very fatty pork belly, very good chicken thigh, excellent lamb chop, nice n kicky shishito peppers, perfect scallop.

I love dining this way & wish I had a robata at home :heart_eyes:

Bubbly (Prosecco, then Cava) for me, a Martinez-ish cocktail for my PIC.

Tomorrow, the biggest challenge will be to fit ALL THE THINGS into our Corolla bc we decided against renting another car in case they don’t ha ha :flushed:

Two suitcases and assorted kitchen things are already packed up in the trunk, but we still have: a cat carrier, scratching post, leftover booze, wok w/large steamer top, frying pan, braising pot, hot plate, blankets and pillows, frozen and refrigerated foods…oy.

Aside from that challenge, we also can’t leave until after 2pm bc my PIC has to attend a PhD oral exam on zoom, so it’ll be dark by the time we get home — but it will be so nice to be in our house again — much as we’ll miss city life!

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Neapolitan-ish Margherita with some anchovies added.

Dough after about 24h room temp proof:

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Variation on Chickpea-Dal - Chickpeas, red onion, garlic and red lentils are cooked in vegetable broth and coconut milk. At the same time you make some seasoned/infused oil by quickly pan-frying garam masala, cilantro and red pepper flakes in some oil before balancing it with some lemon juice. Mix everything together, add cashew nuts and more cilantro and serve with some coconut yogurt

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Looks great . Its making me want to fire up the pizza oven soon.

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Curiou where the recipe is from, as chickpeas aren’t dal.

Roast chicken with shmaltzy potatoes, so I would have chicken for travel quesadillas.

When the chicken was done, I removed the skin and put it back in to crisp up completely, cook’s treat.

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Travel quesadillas, what?! Might I persuade you to do my packing on my next trip? :wink: Hope your journey is smooth.

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Has anyone here heard from @tcamp? She’s usually a fairly prolific poster, but she hasn’t posted anything in over a week, and has not reacted to any DMs.

I’m worried :confused:

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