So surprised to see this! It must be contagious, because I have been playing that game, too. So far, I have been successful and it has been slightly over one month since I bought groceries. It is very nice to see the freezer has some empty space, as well as the refrigerator. I am going to play as long as I can. Just when I think I may have reached the end, I find more buried in the freezer.
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Last night’s dinner started with egg rolls then I moved onto a salad then a chocolate truffle cake for dessert. I have been sampling some cakes from a recently re-opened grocery store. So far their cakes have been a hit except this one. The cake part on the bottom tasted a little stale and the whipped cream tasted like something out of a can. Oh well I know not what to get next time.
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Spent most of today making some food to get us through the week with leftovers! I made two sets of recipes from Chef Ranveer Brar: Purani Dilli Wale Chole with “Instant” Ganjar Achaar (Quick Pickled Carrots) and Keema Pulav with Lehsun Mirch Chutney (Red Chile and Garlic Yogurt Sauce). I actually did the carrot pickle yesterday, so it could meld overnight in the fridge. So, now we have lots of food for lunches and dinners, along with me scratching an itch for lamb! Excellent recipes, but I’ve been on my feet in the kitchen on one task or another since noon. There is scotch in my future!
I highly recommend Ranveer Brar’s YouTube channel, btw! Lots of new to me recipes and they are all very approachable. I think he is presenting in Hindi, but English subtitles are available.
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Steak with TJ’s zhoug (it had been a while, I had forgotten how hot it is), tiny potatoes browned in butter, TJ’s haricots verts. All super tasty. Trying to not go back for more steak, it’s intended for tacos.
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Redacted to say just that I love this game and play it frequently…
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A throw together meal of stuff that was at use-it-or-lose-it status: sliced and sautéed cremini mushrooms, onions, red bell pepper strips, broccoli florets, and a sweet Italian sausage squozen from its casing.
Added about 3/4 cup porcini mushroom stock from a half cube and 1 cup of boiling water. Let it simmer down, tossed in about 2 tsp of roasted garlic paste, 1 tsp if dried thyme, and 2 Tbsp of heavy cream.
Finally, some cooked garganelli pasta was added to the skillet and everything was tossed to coat in the “sauce”. Topped with a sprinkle of grated Parm-Reg and a smidge of minced parsley.
Wine. Definitely not the healthiest, but I needed something comforting after wrassling with tax returns on TurboTax. 
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A few recent deja vu meals.
Thursday night was roasted grape tomatoes and Arctic char with gigandes beans and mushrooms from a fancy French shop. High-protein pasta with pesto and cannellini beans because we love our beans in this house.
Friday night out at a favorite local museum (Decordova) to partake in their First Fridays. Our friends ordered all the food so I don’t have accurate descriptions; there was a grilled chicken sandwich that the adult guys split and I forgot to take a photo. Everything was delicious. Risotto-like dish, 2 salads—one with burrata. Our friends picked up Chipotle for the kids.
Saturday: Got more Arctic char because it’s on sale at Whole Foods. Roasted the fish, broccolini, baked potato (which B sprinkled with fish). I went out to the school gala and had bad Italian-American food.
Tonight the last of the Arctic char for B. More gigandes beans and mushroom, tomato sprinkled with roasted salt/pepper, broccolini, soba noodles. Took the photo mid-eating.
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We hosted our neighbor for dinner – he said he has no food preferences or allergies, and I knew he lived in Thailand and the UK, so figuring that he has a decent heat tolerance, I made Chinese food:
Sichuan peppercorn spicy peanuts (purchased)
Lychee G&Ts with Roku gin
Pork and napa cabbage steamed dumplings
Smacked cucumbers
Brown jasmine rice
Fuchsia Dunlop’s steamed butternut squash w/spicy black bean sauce
Pear cake with Häagen-Dazs green tea + vanilla ice cream and salted dulce de leche sauce
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The verdict?
Tonight I had the last of the egg rolls, a salad of tomato and Boston lettuce, beef stew with egg noodles and a German chocolate cake for dessert. This cake was a hit!
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How do you mean – like, did he like it? He seemed very enthusiastic.
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Family thumbs up all around, is what I meant. It looks absolutely fabulous!
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One day I may have to do this for realz, and I may as well start figuring it out now.
We enjoyed a nice dinner at Alfie’s in Warren, NJ, including twin lobster tail fra diavolo with mussels and clams over linguine (which wasn’t really spicy), black angus carpaccio over arugula; fried calamari in balsamic reduction with hot Italian sausage and hot peppers (not pictured); potato crusted red snapper over salad. It all went great with an excellent cabernet and Malbec.
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Thank you. A friend gave us a cutting a couple of years ago. The first year it didn’t do well but now has been growing like crazy. We bring it out in the summer and back in each fall.
I wanna move next door to you. What an amazing meal.
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Needed an easy meal. Broccoli rabe, garlic, red pepper flakes, anchovy paste (how do I not have any anchovies???) with gnocchietti pasta from Pasta Lab. Lots of parm to finish and a drizzle of good oil.
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