We had a delicious dinner at Alexander’s Garden Restaurant on their lovely patio here in Naples FL.
Twas a bit cool-ish last night, but they had their patio heaters cranked up and also had blankets for those who wanted.
We started with some crisp, spicy fried calamari, delicious. I had the sautéed yellow tail snapper with lemon/caper burre blanc, baby vegetables and potatoes Dauphinoise. Very good and just what my body was craving. My sister had the grilled salmon which she enjoyed very much. Dessert was a very tasty crème brûlée . A couple glasses of Pino Grigio with dinner.
Highly recommend for a splurge dinner and make sure you reserve a table on the patio.
As predicted, dinner last night was a frugal affair. I had a veryveryvery late breakfast of yogurt and poms, and a quarter cookie with my afternoon cuppa before I had to get ready for my show, which went really well Dat bassist, tho
I don’t eat at the venue due to their prices & mediocre food, but I had a wonderful local cider & a St. George’s Terroir martini.
When we got home I steamed a few dumplings: har gow and beef & scallion and whipped up a quick dippin’ sawce of chili crisp, rice vinegar, sesame oil & soy sauce.
My clarinetist crashed with us again, as he is increasingly uncomfortable making the hour-long drive back home in the dark (and seems to be declining cognitively as well ).
We snarfed them all up in no time before digging into my Jura.
Friday. The weeks begin to get a bit nutz as the year is nearing a close, what with all the year-end “stuff” that must be done. It’s never fun.
Thought I would be doing the regular Friday night steak tip, baked tater and veg, but pivoted to an enjoyable comfort food.
Beef Stroganoff was dinner tonight (using some steak tips that didn’t “match” the others in size or thickness when I bought them at my local butcher). I needed the quiet enjoyment of food prep, with the mincing, slicing, and mise en place prep.
Served on egg noodles with buttered green beans alongside. Not a traditional side veg for beef stroganoff, but it’s what I needed to use up. What would be a traditional veg side for beef stroganoff?
My PIC and I shared a delectable taco flight for lunch, then did a bunch of shopping for the weekend. I just had to get more toys for our boys at the pet store, and we desperately needed a month’s supply of dark chocolate covered pistachios
Dinner was on the same wavelength as @anon32378908, i.e. takeout sashimi (Scottish salmon, hamachi, escolar, medium-fatty tuna) with a side of rice, and pork belly in hot chile oil. A real treat!
I sliced up half of a perfectly ripe avocado and a few of my windowsill scallions, which are now patio scallions during the day / garage scallions at night, due to their toxicity to cats.
Apparently, Jonesy is a YUUUGE fan of soy sauce, as he jumped up on the kitchen counter while we were trying set out everything, and when my PIC caught him, he flew off the counter and soy sauce went everywhere The Chaos Cats!
We decided to let them have their dinner before we had ours. And then we locked them out of the kitchen while we did.
Looking forward to a cozy movie night (maybe even a double feature) on the couch with an ice-cold martini. Nice to stay home between two nights out
Oven- baked bean and cheese tostadas with chipotle vinaigrette . I was unexpectedly out of lettuce, so it was pico de gallo for the win. Brined Tex Mex seasoned chicken breasts to go with.
Casarecce, sauce was sauteed Italian sausage, mushrooms, shallot, garlic, a splash of wine, chicken broth and Boursin black truffle & sea salt cheese. Parsley. Mixed greens, green onion, cucumber, radish salad, creamy Italian dressing. A glass of Shiraz.
Yiouvetsi: lamb, long-simmered in tomato until fork-tender with shallots and lots of garlic, with orzo pasta. I added not-exactly-greek mushrooms and green beans (hmm, like fasolakia?)
Chicken Breast with Sesame Vinaigrette and Pan- Roasted Winter Vegetables with Miso, Ginger and Honey - chicken breast was cooked sous-vide (147F, 3 hours), very quickly pan-seared and served with a vinaigrette made by pureeing soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, kewpie mayonnaise, canola oil, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, toasted sesame seeds and scallions. For the vegetables, carrots, parsnips, brussels sprouts and shallots are quickly pan-seared in a cast iron skillet, mixed with butter, white miso, ginger and honey and finished in the oven. Served with some fries
The most difficult part was starting the different components at different times to that they all finish at the same time but sous-vide is always quite forgiving
Yesterday I made pav bhaji with some clutch coaching from @saregama. It turned out great, everyone enjoyed it, and I am looking forward to the leftovers!
. A couple glasses of Pino Grigio with dinner.
Dat bassist, tho 
).
The Chaos Cats!
