What's For Dinner #126 - the Hearts, Flowers, Candy, But It's Cold and Snowy! Edition - February 2026

Intensely mushroomy porcini risotto from Food & Wine: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/porcini-risotto

Paired with albóndigas from a recipe @Zoeliculious shared in the meatball thread a while back, in saffron tomato almond sauce: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/albondigas-spanish-meatballs/

A rather brown meal but a delicious one. My only regret is using ground pork shoulder in the meatballs instead of beef - I think the beef would have stood up to the sauce a bit better. The risotto was probably one of the best I’ve ever made (or had) - just be forewarned that you’ll probably need more liquid than called for and a bit of extra time if you want an all’onda texture. I added around another cup of liquid and it took around 35 minutes of low simmering to get the rice to al dente.

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Good evening, my flavorful companions, from the last night of this jaunt through time.

Though the rain had cone to an end last evening, this morning brought a heavy blanket of fog to our camp, delaying the marksmanship competitions ans casting a bonechilling damp to the day.

Happily it was no match for the brilliant sunshine of the day, and by noon, the marksmen (and women!) flocked to the ranges to display their skills. My lifelong friend (in the photo) scored well today, so we expect her to collect a prize at the closing tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon, I competed with others in the Highland games. Wrapped in our clan tartans, we tossed a caber, heaved a stone dubbed a Braemar stone, even though it was a fraction of the competition size, and had races of agility and strength. Sadly my team and I scored poorly, but happily settled for the consolation prize of a dram of velvety whiskey.

Tonight’s meal was again a potluck, with a wide range of accompaniments alongside the delicious beef braised with onions and mushrooms.

The sky is crystal clear tonight, and the nearly- full moon beams down on us as we enjoy our last few hours together.

Tomorrow we’ll return to our modern lives with some regret, well mixed with happy memories of our time in the past.

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We enjoyed another outstanding dinner at Drew’s, in Keyport, NJ, including octopus; excellent pimento cheese flatbread with bacon jam; crawfish empanada; scallops; rack of veal; lazy lobster risotto.It all went great with an excellent red blend and cabernet. There were plenty of leftovers for dinner tomorrow.

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Classic New England style chowder with clams we dug ourselves. Savory cheddar biscuits with buttermilk, Old Bay seasoning, and garlic. Tangy coleslaw.

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Chicken thigh, pounded, breaded in seasoned flour, egg, panko/asiago rosemary cheese and fried in butter/oo. Pan drippings with a splash of pinot blanc, lemon and capers. Butter/parsley petite gold potatoes, artichoke and aioli. Best artichoke I’ve had in a long time, lots of flesh on the eaves. Red Snapper and wine.

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looks fantastic

Come back Shane salad.

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Tonight’s dinner was Broccoli Cheese Soup. Unfortunately, my bread bowls flopped - I did something wrong somewhere. Any who, I served the soup in a regular bowl and sliced my failure instead.

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I have lots of failures in cooking. Bread bowl would be one of them for me . Its fun just to try rather than just sitting back . Bravo

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I’ve started the March thread here:

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