A nice spring vegetable soup with homemade stock and garden veg: leeks, asparagus, peas, and kale. I beefed it up with leftover roast chicken, leftover pesto pasta, and a parmesan rind. Drizzled on top with leftover lemon-chicken pan sauce from the freezer. Served with leftover focaccia.
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We enjoyed another excellent dinner at Fiorentini, in Rutherford, NJ. This time we just focused on the excellent appetizers (Italian street food). We enjoyed salumi; crispy risotto croquette; porchetta panino with salsa verde and spicy Calabrian chile; piadina. We enjoyed a lavender creme brûlée for dessert. It all went great with an excellent cabernet and red blend.
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Thanks! It was.
A bittersweet meal, as this was very good, but I will probably never make it again. Knotweed - which I just started foraging / cooking with - is available to me only for a couple of weeks in the spring. I would also need to have skate on hand, and shiitake mushrooms; that could happen, I guess. And nori and star anise. I mean, it’s possible, but what are the odds? Slim!
I do have two more servings, so yay.
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Frittata with potatoes and garden veggies, salad from the garden with a soy mustard vinaigrette.
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Pizza Saturday. Picked up some beautiful mushrooms , and ramps from the McCloud mushroom festival today. Once a year . Love this festival. Porcini , Butter boletes , and Morels.
Base of fresh mozzarella, gruyere, topped with ramp pesto , and those mushrooms. Cheers
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Glad to hear! We need to go back to PeterPaul. Maybe we’ll take @medgirl if she’s into trying German tapas 
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I truly hope so, for his sake alone. That restaurant is his life.
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What a fun meal! I almost always prefer antipasti / small plates / tapas over the mains at most places.
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Oh my lord I have serial shroom envy RN! Porcini are hands down my favorite, and that ramp pesto 
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Another dreary, dark & rainy Saturday that was practically made for getting the house in shape. Our sitter showed up a whopping 40 min early for his tour / Q&A, which neither of us was prepared for. Hardcore cleaning happens today, but the fact that he asked for a mop & ironing board (!!!) after we showed him the vacuum makes me think he’ll take good care of Casa Lingua while we’re gone, and he absolutely adores the Kaos Katz 
I had my last gig at the brewery tonight. Good crowd despite the lousy weather, with many friends bidding their good-byes. We even had a bunch of Union soldiers show up and hang out for the second set & I thanked them for their service
After all, the brewery is located in the very town where Memorial Day originated (cue rainbow).
My dood had planned to eat there, but the food truck had run out of food and left early 
! A couple of friends came back home for a nightcap and a bite. I finished the fabulous food leftover from our amazing dinner Friday,
whereas my PIC and our friends snacked on TJ’s dolmades & gigantes, corn chips with dill pickle dip, and the last of Aldi’s chile lime corn ribs & shrimp bites — a great way to clean out the freezer some & most certainly not picture-worthy.
MOAR cleaning and fridge & freezer clean-out tonight.
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Yes, appetizers show the chef’s creativity, while most restaurants use the same proteins in their main courses. I also prefer to taste several items, as opposed to one big entree.
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Very much this. Variety vs. flavor fatigue FTW 
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Tonight’s dinner was pan fried basa fillet and cherry tomatoes served over rice with steamed asparagus drissled with a little evoo.
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Come join in to nominate new choices for Summer 2026 COTM / Cookbooks of the Month / Quarter!
The threads for the current COTMs – SERIOUS EATS and JOSE ANDRES – are also still open for participation.
A quiet, rainy day.
Honey-mustard baked b/s chicken breast with a combo of honey, Dijon mustard, Inglehoffer stone ground mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, dried rosemary, a pinch of Aleppo pepper, and s/p. Baked for about 35 minutes at 350° basting several times.
Israeli couscous and sauteed sugar snap peas, onions, and red bell pepper strips sprinkled with Bouquet Garni herb mix with added dried savory and s/p.
There was wine.
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Big cleaning day at casa lingua — a fun time for the whole famblee (the Kaos Bros in particular just LURV it when we vacuum!), but as good a reason as any for a little spring cleaning. Carpets a-sparkle, floors a-floffy, windows almost see-thru 
Dinner was easy peasy: an assortment of steamed domplings, i.e. shu mai, har gow, and mini XLB. Black vinegar & fresh ginger for the latter, a dipping sawce for the other two with sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, HK hot chile oil.
Very satisfying. A pantry / fridge clean-out bucatini is on deck for tomorrow to use up any last bits n bobs before we leave.
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Finally did a LITTLE cooking last night. Salmon rubbed with a butter/fennel frond compound, sauteed skin-side down then into my sister’s air fryer. Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice with butter and minced fresh thyme, salad of little gems, cherry toms, and sweetie pepper drops - my sister had some in a dish in Vancouver and loved them so much she ordered them. They come marinated in a jar and are delicious - no heat but a peppery/sweet flavor. Lettuce and herbs/fronds from sister’s garden.
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