September is when you really begin to notice the waning light earlier in the evening. Kids come inside earlier, and nights are (hopefully!) a bit cooler. We’re not quite thinking about comfort food yet, but it’s just around the corner.
Classes have started, everyone is learning their new schedules, and schedules get frantic with the addition of school sports, music, and after school homework and play dates.
Despite the scrambling to adjust, food still needs to go on the table. What are you making?
We hosted our annual Labor Day potluck yesterday, which was a grand success
Doors opened around 5, and the last straggler got kicked out around 11:30. Our crowd of 20+ guests all brought delectable dishes to add to the Armenian lamb shish kebabs my PIC provided from the Primo.
He was dismayed about it being overdone, as we’re still learning our way around this grilling monster, but — while it was closer to medium well than our preferred med-rare — it was super-tender, juicy & flavorful. People clearly enjoyed it bc they went to town on it & didn’t leave a single chunk. So there, PIC! Take that!
I contributed tzatziki & a spicy yoğurtlu patlican salatası, and we also put out Boursin and triscuits, chips & French onion dip, and TJ’s delish dolma with a splash of lemon juice.
Weather has been absolutely stellar yesterday and today, so I had to crank up the grill. Unfortunately those pesky fekkin wasps also love this weather, and the delicious aroma wafting from the bbq, so eating outside wasn’t and option.
Pork tenderloin souvlaki, heavy on the veg, and Greek-ish salad with some quick homemade tzatziki for dipping the meats.
The sausage and grilled peppers are for tomorrow and maybe the day after, I can’t justify turning on the grill just for a couple of meat sticks…
I smoked barbacoa today (to use up a chuck roast I found in the deep freeze dated 2023!). It was really good! Green salad, refried beans, and a white Rhone blend along with.
Roasted duck leg - leanest duck leg ever, hence the mangled skin, despite my every precaution. Duck fat roasted potatoes. Braised baby kale. Toum. Everything but the toum from one of three farmers markets I visited this weekend and all delicious!
Fridge clean out, combining broccolini, some of the chickpeas, and spinach with pearl couscous and shrimp, topped with the last of the tahini-yogurt sauce.
My PIC had taken care of the brunt of the potluck debris by the time I rose from my slumber, so I only had a few dishes including SEVEN martini glasses to clean. Our friends are cray!
Scooted by my recluse friend for a late afternoon glass of Riesling & some kitty loving, then came home to a PIC who was craving Indian food. A ME place nearby that has good Lebanese food also has a small selection of Indian dishes, and I’d read raves about their butter chicken, so I ordered that & lamb kada(h)i — both very spicy plz since we missed Spicy Sunday — plus an order of garlic naan.
Neither dishes had even a smidgen of heat, and the spices and flavors overall were pretty disappointing & bland,
and it pimped up the dishes nicely. We’ve also had much better garlic naan at other Indian places in town. I guess we’ll stick to their Lebanese food from now on
The leftover cucumber salad from last night made for a nice, crunchy, zesty complement to the meats & rice.
Leftover quiche with what is probably my last cayenne of the season. His garden is fading fast. Had a bunch of ripe bananas to use up so Aunt Holly’s banana bread to the rescue. Cut the sugar in half and it was just sweet enough. Slathered in butter. Is there any other way.
I saw on TikTok just yesterday that if you want to rid yourself of unwanted company in the form of wasps, just open a can of tuna and place it away from where you’re cooking and eating.
An American hot dog, an Italian orzo salad, Asian chile crisp chips and a Mexican tequila Sunrise, honoring some of the laborers who helped make America the great melting pot it is.
Hello Again 
