A relatively quiet day. Gawd, I love when the boyz let me sleep in!
Dinner decided as I was erranding.
Pork tenderloin seasoned with olive oil and Penzeys Tsardust Memories seasoning blend, roasted in a 350° oven. A quick mango salsa with shallots, red bell pepper, minced chives, lime juice, minced parsley, and s/p was mixed with leftover Basmati rice and reheated. With slices of the pork on top, and steamed buttered green beans alongside.
Was there wine? Pffffttt…c’mon. 
I had a hunch we would have the munch so I made a bunch.
Steak with blue cheese crust, mushrooms and onions.
Blue crab rangoon inspired egg rolls.
Tuna tartare.
Oh and the hubs bought a Nanaimo bar cheesecake on the way home from his cupping this afternoon. We will tuck into that later.
My take on Radio Bakery’s (NYC) smoked salmon sandwich, on an allium-studded focaccia with scallion cream cheese, cukes, and pickled onions. Hands-down delicious. Garden greens on the side.
Grilled pork tenderloin, corn, mini bells and onions. Spinach salad, red onion, celery, orange, avocado, pistachios, rice vinegar, oo, orange marmalade dressing.
A friend on The Well is visiting Greece and posted about fried zucchini. I remembered my grandmother made it, so I made it tonight. Disks in a tempura-like batter (not what Yiayia used to do, I think), crisp on the outside from the potato starch I added (also not what Yiayia did). With broiled black cod and artichoke hearts, and tomatoes with feta.
Pizza Saturday. Tomato and fresh mozzarella. Topped with prosciutto , sopperssata , and arugula.
Cheers.
After a highly successful & delicious culinary and historical tour of some of the bites n sites our favorite city has to offer (if only Bourdain’s handlers had contacted me instead of whoever wasted the first Berlin episode ), we took a quick breather at our respective abodes.
Our friend arrived late afternoon from Amsterdam — just in time for a beer garden visit: Prater, of course. It was packed to the rafters given the summery temps, but we found a nice table for our group. Our HK friend enthusiastically chugged half of her beer, then practiced how to say “Eisbein ist lecker” and entertained random strangers with her newly found German knowledge & opinion 
.
I’d made a rez at a German tapas place we’d taken our Texan friend many moons ago, and whose current ratings indicated that it was still good. Can confirm!
We started off with a refreshing & seasonal strawberry sour (für mich),
a “super margarita” for my boo,
a negroni for our new arrival, and a nice house Riesling for the happy couple.
There was a bit of disappointment on the lady’s end that there sadly was no Eisbein on the menu, but everyone was very happy with the dishes we decided on, which covered many German regions. The greeting from the kitchen was a beet root shooter with pear & orange. Looks like beets are hip these days, as they seem to be on menus everywhere.
Our choices: a classic German cuke salad (very good)
Matjes with sour cream sauce, apples & onion (wonderful, tender, almost creamy herring)
Kassler with sauerkraut foam (hands down the best Kassler I’ve ever had — melt in your mouth tender)
Palatinate Saumagen with bacon kraut (excellent)
fish ‘fingers’ with dill, sour cream & lime (good)
Königsberger Klopse with creamy caper sauce & beetroot (my mom’s were better 
)
beetroot dumplings with smoked tofu, pears, and horseradish foam (I did not care for this at all)
as well as mashed potatoes (ok, mostly ordered to sop up some of the Klopse sauce)
and creamed kohlrabi on the side
— another dish/veg none of them had ever heard of before ( 
) — just in case all that wasn’t enough food.
Happily sated we made our way back to our kiez. Our buddy’s visit was brief, as he continued on to Italy for a conference today, and we’ll see how we can entertain our happy couple for the remainder of their stay. Lots to see & eat still, natch 
At our summer party yesterday, one guest, who is from a Palestinian family, brought a trio dishes prepared by her sister. They were stunningly good:
-the best tabbouli I’ve ever had
-a rice pilaf topped with pine nuts and golden raisins
-handmade flatbreads topped with a spiced lamb mince
They were all spectacular but the pilaf almost brought the house down. We insisted she call her sister on speakerphone to tell us how she’d made it - I can’t wait to try!
Yum! Looks delicious.
These are getting very professional!
Looks like a spectacular spread!!
I almost didn’t want to eat my burger.
There was some moaning in discomfort afterwards!
Our first restaurant in Porto, Almeja https://www.almejaporto.com/ , is well known for its contemporary take on Portuguese cuisine with relaxed, yet focused service. We went for their tasting menu covering the regular and vegetarian ones. The dishes were tasty, sometimes playful takes on familiar flavors and memories. The service was really engaging and struck the right balance between explaining the dishes but also simply having a nice discussion - overall highly recommended
Ok. Sitting on the train to return home, I’m researching this rice dish. Looks like the very common rice-with-toasted-vermicelli dish frequently called “Lebanese style” rice. Lots and lots of recipes online. During the call with the cook yesterday, she mentioned:
The pine nuts topping the dish appear to also have been toasted first. The golden raisins were plump; either they were plumped in something or they inherited some moisture from being spooned over hot rice.
The person who brought the dish works at Bellevue hospital in nyc (as does her sister, the cook) and told us some stories about the many special treats brought in regularly by the very international nursing staff. She specifically mentioned the pistachio cake supplied by a Filipino nurse. I’m never been more curious !
Baked, stuffed flounder (shrimp, corn, Fresno chiles) over a salad of pearl couscous, corn, and tomato, tossed with lime zest and juice
.Quiet day.
Sauteed about 1-1/2 cups of corn kernels from last season (gotta use them up before local corn comes in next month!) with 3 large chopped green-only scallions in hot olive oil.
Added some freshly ground pepper, dried thyme and Italian herbs, 1 Tbsp of tomato paste, then added about 1 cup of fresh tomato sauce, 2/3 cup Carbone marinara sauce, and 1/4 cup heavy cream.
Mini penne cooked and added to the sauce to heat up. Plated with crumbled cotija cheese and torn basil on top. It was really good!
Wine.
Sounds like the making of a new cookbook! (Which, of course, we ALL need!)
