Thank you! It is really what she has wanted (24/7 attention, care, and activities), even if she had been stubborn about coming around to it. I am very relieved for her that we found a good match for her!
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Another dinner out, this time with friends who split their time between the boonz and the big bad city. They were in town just for a few days & wanted to see us, plus our recluse friend whom you practically have to extract from her home 
I was still kinda full from the previous night’s dinner, so I didn’t feel like a big meal. We ordered the fried whitebait for the table, which were fantastic last time we had them: perfectly crispy with a delicate batter, served up in a silver cup with lemon and a nice, zippy dipping sauce.
This time, a lot of giundilla peppers were also in that silver cup, not only cooling down the hot fried fish, but also making the batter wet. Whyyyyyyyy? 
I ordered the house salad with champagne vinaigrette and ‘crispy’ pancetta. The salad was casa lingua size, i.e. ginormous, with carrots cut in half lengthwise — a bit awkward to eat, and the kitchen hadn’t quite removed the green tops. The lardons were cold.
My PIC and I shared an eggplant pizzetta and the sirloin peperonata with polenta, our friends got swordfish a la plancha & moussaka lasagna. I chose a luscious Moschofilero from the Peloponnes for the two of us, the others shared a Rhône red.
The eggplant pizzetta was a bit anemic, and the eggplant not fully cooked. I had a couple of bites and left the rest. The sirloin was cooked to our liking (on the rare side of med-rare), but the food was lukewarm, as were our friends’ plates.
Moussaka ‘lasagna’ with random fennel slaw
The hostess inquired, noticing our half-eaten plates, and comped us a couple of desserts / digestifs.
We shared the budino and the olive oil cake. We really liked the budino, as evidenced by its quick disappearance.
I don’t think we’ll be back any time soon.
It was great catching up with our friends, however, and they came back to ours for a nightcap.
I hope they make their way back to Chelsea today safely — big snow storm!
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last night’s dinner at my sister’s, a friend shared a Korean recipe with me for soy-poached black cod (I had ling), with daikon and bok choy. Turned out great, although my sister didn’t have enough soy sauce and it could have used more (other ingredients in the poaching liquid were mirin, sake, sugar, garlic, onion). Went with surf and turf, because I thought I hadn’t bought a big enough piece of fish for the two of us. I was wrong, but it was the first rib eye i’d made in ages. Marinated the steak in a delicious Japanese yuzu bbq sauce I got from Daiso, and seared it to med. rare. Steak was perfect, the char from the sugar in the marinade was wonderful. The fish was super rich, so we only finished about a quarter of the steak between us. i would have liked to use bigger rounds of the daikon as the recipe called for, but my sister isn’t a big fan so i made them thinner and they’re hiding under the fish. Also had to cut back on the gochugaru because she’s a spice wimp. Still, a tasty dinner.
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so many of us have been there, taking care of elderly parents. glad to hear she’s eating, hopefully adjusting and even enjoying soon. you earned that wine!
and i’ve never heard of that dish! need to investigate.
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Thank you! We’re adjusting, as she is. I’m glad I had family able to join in and help with moving her things.
From the header notes on the recipe, it is a signature side dish at a restaurant called Calhoun’s in Tennessee. It can be served as a very gussied up creamed spinach or you can serve it as a dip, which is what I generally do. It is very similar to the spinach (and artichoke) dip at a now closed restaurant that was local to me (Bison County), so once I came across the recipe and tried it, we needed to have it in fairly frequent rotation!
Fun fact - makes an excellent burger topping!
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it sounds fantastic! total comfort food.
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It totally is! I made the recipe last night using a 16 oz bag of frozen spinach and about 10 oz. of cheese (a mix of cheddar and Jarlsburg, since that was what was in the house). I used 8 cloves of garlic (I slice them) and all of a finely diced, 4 oz. yellow onion. The nutmeg is key (or add a blade of mace that you can fish out later)!
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GMTA!
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Had debated multiple meals for tonight, but decided full-on comfort food was required…for the impending snowstorm tonight and expected shitstorm.
Baked Mac & Ham & Cheese, with a small side salad of green leaf lettuce, chopped sliced radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes, with an easy honey-mustard vinaigrette.
Oh yeah. There was a glass of wine!
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Loooks yummy! Sadly my breadcrumbs are waaaay at the back of a vey full freezer so I did without tonight 
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I go with augmented Panko…I mix them with McCormick’s garlic-herb blend that includes garlic powder and “spices and herbs”, which includes dried parsley, oregano, rosemary, red pepper, dried orange peel, onion powder, and paprika.
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I babysit the girls overnight occasionally. My educational background is all child based, so I really look forward to these nights. We went to the farmer’s market this morning, and bought this week’s produce. We always make naan bread pizza in our pajamas on overnights. Hits the spot, and they love making their own food. Back to the grind tomorrow, making dinners for both sets of clients. Now it’s movie time with popcorn and some homemade popsicles we made during the little one’s nap.
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Proper snow day at casa lingua today, which I spent entirely in my jammies reading, writing, and petting the Chonk. Started a Mississippi roast around noon that pulled apart like buttah (which I never add),
and I removed as much of the fat as possible.
eww fat
Used “hot” banana peppers instead of peperoncini for extra heat, which didn’t seem to make that much of a difference, and fresh peperoncini to serve with.
Belgian endive & mandarin salad on the side to balance out that salt bomb.
Positively stuffed, but already looking forward to beefy leftovers 
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It’s none of my beeswax, but just curious, are they your clients’ kids?
Can I come over? I’m so on-board with this. Greens, and mac & cheese - best possible of all worlds.
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Oh! And here’s another salad and M&C. Bonus points for the glass of wine.
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Yes they are! I have a Masters in Early Childhood Development, so I love spending time with them.
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I made Pati Jinich’s chilies rellenos with salsa roja; the peppers are cooked over rice rather than battered. They were tasty but honestly more labor than they were worth. I think I’ll just eat chilies rellenos out. Sides of zucchini sauteed with Badia adobo and green salad (not shown).
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