Salad!
with crispy fingerling potato slices and TJs Fried Onions.
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We like that brand of ant baits, but more often use blackboard chalk or
diatomaceous earth and draw a line they won’t cross. Boric acid, too. I
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Yes, we certainly will!
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Dungeness crab for dinner tonight!!! Two measly crabs for the two of us. They were barely over a pound each and not much body meat, but the claws were nice and tight. These must have come from way up the north coast as the official crabbing doesn’t start until this weekend for Sonoma to Mexico. I’m ready! Garlic bread, green salad, lemon, lots of lemon, a little mayo and I’m good.
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Sausage and Bean Stew cooked in a pressure cooker made with Ayocote Morado Beans. The beans were soaked overnight, then precooked at high pressure with clove studded onion and bay leaves for 5 minutes. After browning sausages, onions and bacon, the beans were cooked another 5 minutes at high pressure with chicken broth, thyme, cinnamon, cloves, diced tomatoes, light brown sugar, molasses, mustard and Worcestershire sauce
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A little bit late - The Sprout’s birthday dinner News Year Day (her bday is actually 12/31) at Buoys in Manasquan, NJ. A breakfast and lunch shack by day, it serves a prix fixe menu at night.
Oysters
Nuggets
Radiatori
Tile Fish
Prime Rib
Fritter
Menu with details
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Happy birthday to your Sprout! Looks like a delicious celebration.
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The pest is gone. Hope it stays that way 
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Happy birthday to the sprout, and happy birth day to you!
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First ladies night of 2025 is in the books! 
I’m so grateful to have such a fabulous bunch of funny, smart, strong, supportive women in my life 
I was told in no uncertain terms that I was to never leave town for such a long period again. To atone for the sin of spending our fall semester elsewhere, I’d picked up little tchotchkes for everyone at a neat lil gift store in Princeton 
The gay bar was near empty when I joined the gang, but the B team was manning the bar & service was pretty subpar. Took forever to get water for the table, drinks took longer than they should, and most of the food ordered showed up late, or not at all. Three of my lovely beshes had ordered smoked salmon toasts that don’t exactly require much of any cooking.
Two of the toasts showed up after about an hour, the 3rd one never made it, and by the time the barkeeper was told a toast was missing, the kitchen had closed 
My “smashed” potatoes weren’t. It was a plate of boiled fingerlings tossed in aioli I’d thought might come as a dip on the side with shaved parm on top. At least they showed up in a timely fashion, but I was tempted to smash them myself right then and there.
I stuck to a few ciders in lieu of hard liquor, honoring my attempt to go easy(er) on the boozing.
Got home around 10:30, since one of my friends has to get up at some ungodly hour and teach middle school special ed kids. I am in constant awe of her energy and dedication. She had a delish looking boozy hot chocolate.
I was still a little peckish, having shared my taters with the table while others were waiting for their food, so had some leftover mutter paneer that thankfully had picked up a lil more heat sitting overnight. Watched a crazy movie on the big screen & hit the sack around 1:30am.
Slept like a baby. Scratch that — better than a baby. More like our chonk 
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Had the other pork shoulder braise I prepped earlier this week, based on this recipe: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/smoky-pork-pappardelle
Fresh from the oven
Finished and served on pasta (lasagnette ricce)
Not sure what I was expecting, but this was kind of meh. I did make quite a few changes (subbed maple syrup and cider vinegar for the honey and champagne vinegar, fennel instead of celery, cream and cream cheese instead of Mascarpone), but I don’t think any of those were material. I added some red pepper flakes and lots of Parmesan after tasting, which helped. Pecorino might be even better. I stuck half of it in the freezer and it will get eaten eventually, but I wouldn’t make this again.
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Well… it looks good — but it’s a bummer when a recipe one’s excited about turns out not to be a hit. At least it wasn’t a lot of work?
Thank you, it was.
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I bet it will improve after a rest. Maybe the cream muted the flavors too much? Used plenty of salt?
It has rested a couple days in the fridge already. I wouldn’t say the flavors are muted, just not very interesting. It is sort of generically fruity without really being sweet or having a distinctive apple flavor. Some fresh herbs might help - I find they do get dull after a long braise. Maybe I’ll throw some fresh sage, etc. in when I serve it again. It’s not bad at all - I think I was expecting something that was more than the sum of its parts, and this is just…the sum of its parts. 
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Leftover turkey gumbo and roasted parsnips on the side, bec they were languishing in the fridge for a long time.
Today I tossed cubes of parsnip with olive oil and cooked them covered in the oven until done, then uncovered for another 10 min to try and develop some caramelization. I used to always roast them uncovered on a sheet pan, and struggled to get them done without burning. Cooking them mostly covered solves this, finally.
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Just got around to making the chuck eye roast I’d gotten for NYE.
Delicious. I sometimes seriously crave prime rib, but it’s idiotic for me to prepare it for one. So learning about its extension/cousin cut was a pleasant surprise for me. Reverse sear, pulled at 124. Yes, that’s the thermometer probe still stuck in the roast. Incredibly tender, too.
I’m a happy girl.
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Tonight I followed a recipe from a favourite cookbook (“Simply Thai Cooking” by Wandee Young and Byron Ayanoglu) called Spicy Thai Beef. I really really liked this recipe and will definitely make it again but it was only mildly spicy. That can be easily fixed. I find the cookbook author is a little lighthanded with the spices.
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Love chuck-eye roast & often cut it into thick steaks. Yours looks cooked perfectly 
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The steaks are much more available than the roasts, at least around me!
Which was a source of frustration …
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