Indeed. This week was less OH ITS FRIDAY LET’S GO OUT!
And more wiping off the dust and a little blood and celebrating not crying.
Not the worst week of my life by a long stretch…just one I don’t want to repeat.
2 Likes
My PIC gave a talk at a small college a couple hours south of us in Lancaster County. The auditorium was in the engineering building, which has an absolutely stunning exhibit of rocks, minerals & gems that took me back to my childhood when I collected those things (as you might imagine, my rock collection did not emigrate with me). If you’re ever in the area & that’s something you might dig, I highly recommend checking it out.
After the talk we checked into our hotel, where our hosts picked us up & we drove to the restaurant I had chosen from 3-4 of their suggestions.
The restaurant was cozily lit and absolutely hopping on a Friday night, with a jazz duo providing a nice soundscape.
2 of us had very good dirty martinis — our host had ordered the “Milliontini” with truffle oil-infused brine, and immediately regretted it. We also had a lovely Rheinhessen Riesling, and a Super Tuscan that wasn’t — especially given the price.
As for the food — the vast variety of starters had been a major draw for me, only to find that they had changed the menu just that day, with the lamb pierogies I’d been salivating over since I saw them no longer available 
We all shared the General Tsos fried oysters with kimchi & Asian slaw, plus the lump crab pimento dip.
I opted for the shrimp and bay scallop ceviche, made up entirely of scallops, but nice and refreshing, plus the beef tartare.
This arrived with such a ridic amount of salt it may as well have been made of Lot’s wife herself. We sent it back and I politely declined any replacement. Thankfully, my boo needed help with his excellent house burger.
Our hosts were very happy with their scallops.
It was almost impossible to choose something from the dessert menu, but we settled on the Ferrero Rocher dessert to share between the four of us. Delish.
I had their house special espresso ‘martini’ to drank with, and it didn’t suck.
After a nightcap that was mos def not needed our hosts dropped us off at the hotel & we slept much better than the proverbial babies.
A full day awaits once we make our way home: a protest, a friend’s retirement party, and another friend’s trio gig at a brew pub we’ve not been to in eons. I foresee bar food for tonight’s dinner.
PS: This restaurant guest’s epic shirt my picture couldn’t possibly do justice had to be documented for posterity.
12 Likes
OMGosh. I love them that way, too.
1 Like
Oh! I hope you didn’t toss the surplus. My instinct would be to a) freeze it (don’t see why that wouldn’t work), and/or b) use it on other things - drizzled on lentil soup? brushed on chicken breasts before roasting? brushed on a whole (spatchcocked) chicken before grilling? I’m sure others would have some good ideas.
ETA: add some to a mac and cheese? on a hot dog even…
2 Likes
Unexpectedly tasty scrounge fried rice because I could not be bothered to go to the store today. Bonus: my fridge is cleaned out.
15 Likes
Love tasty fridge cleanout meals 
2 Likes
a new Hake recipe for this week’s fish share https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026753-cod-with-harissa-butter-and-lemon
this was an opportunity to use some of the mellow Gjelina harissa I made a few months back; blended with lemon, softened butter and garlic it topped and was sauteed with the hake, the resulting sauce was delicious with the fish and accompanying freekah/bulghur pilaf
15 Likes
Haircut.
Wegmans.
Scallops.
Pan-seared scallops served on Near East rice pilaf with a white wine, lemon, and parsley sauce drizzle, with toasted Panko crumbs mixed with dried lemon zest and parsley sprinkled on top. Asparagus alongside.
There was wine.
And a mid-afternoon Kitty Cuddle Puddle on my lap while I was reading, which has never happened!
21 Likes
Feeling meh. I’m a hypochondriac that hates going to the doctor. So this is what I ate. Stale English Muffins perked up with a good toasting, generous slather of Best Foods, and another perfectly ripe avocado.
18 Likes
Hope you feel better soon!
2 Likes
It was a busy day at casa diva today. I got my taxes done this morning then off to a lecture at the library this afternoon then home again to do laundry. I decided to take a break from cooking tonight and was going to go to a new-to-me jazz bar for a bite to eat and to listen to some music but I was too tired to walk there even though it’s only 20 minutes from home. My brain thinks I am 20 but my body reminds me I am not 
I decided to get delivery from a favourite Greek place so I got a lamb souvlaki, tzatziki and a pita, rice pilaf and a roasted potato. Their portion sizes are as huge as I remember so I had the lamb, pita and tzatziki for dinner and the potatoes and rice will be lunches for this week.
17 Likes
Roasted pork tenderloin, red sweet potato, red mini bell, onion, garlic. Mixed baby greens, baby wild red arugula, green onion, celery, radishes salad with honey mustard dressing. There was a Manhattan.
16 Likes
A bit under the weather today so decided to make a pot of brothy lentil soup. It really did the trick, and I had it alongside breakfast for dinner that everyone else was having.
Waffles were sourdough ones that were left to do their thing over the day. We liked these better than the NYT recipe we used to use (I think those would be perfect with ice cream, whereas these are a little sweeter themselves, and also more substantial). Served with some excellent beef bacon from a butcher box we subscribe to.
Soup was from love & lemons, I used two kinds of lentils I had small amounts of, I used chicken stock from the bottom of my freezer (2 cups of which apparently was chicken and duck bones) and some finely chopped tomatoes rather than fire roasted. I am so happy I have very little stock left in the freezer, as the scraps bag is almost full to make more! Soup was showered with parm.
The non soup plate was my PIC’s, as that was more abundant and so a touch more photogenic.
17 Likes
18 Likes
I like the sound of casa diva 
Decent wings at the brew pub where my friend was playing. We chatted with a nice couple from DelCo & had subpar cocktails — my PIC a terribly sweet margarita (with sour mix 
) and I a dirty vodka martini (weak).
Looking forward to absolutely ZERO socializing outside of our household tomorrow 
14 Likes
For our final anniversary celebration we enjoyed an outstanding dinner at Drew’s in Keyport, NJ, including Cajun surf and turf with melt in your mouth blackened ribeye and BBQ shrimp; blackened ahi tuna; delicious fried green tomato flat bread with pimento cheese and bacon jam; excellent crawfish cheesecake; broiled oysters; shortrib mac n cheese. We took home an almond joy cake for dessert. It all went great with an excellent red blend and cabernet. There were a ton of leftovers to have for dinner tomorrow and Monday. The menus at the end give more details.
13 Likes
Happy Anniversary to you and Mrs Paryzer, and to many more!
1 Like
Thank you 
