It’s rare that I have a store-made meal that’s as good as what I’d make from scratch, BUT:
other than the prefab crust, Hannaford’s butternut squash quiche (cheese, onion, etc) and
Panera’s Autumn Squash soup (curry, apple, cream, etc) are superb. I bought a container of the latter at Market Basket after members of my knitting group (which just relocated to the Panera in Chelmsford) raved about it. I believe both are seasonal - wish they were available year-round. It was an excellent dinner, with enough leftovers for two more of the same meal.
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Smoked pear and thyme pork sausage . Sautéed redskin potatoes in butter . Steamed micro Napa cabbage . A little piece of leftover lingcod . And pan con tomate .
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That pear and thyme sausage sounds fantastic! Did you make it yourself or purchase?
I purchased it from El Salchichero here in Santa Cruz . Chris the owner is always coming up with these great sausages at his fantastic butcher shop .
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Last night was crispy beef and tofu stirfry with leeks - I had purchased the leeks and tofu with mapo tofu in mind but neither of us has been in the mood for it (plus I accidentally let the broccoli I bought to serve it over wither and die in the fridge). Lest the leeks suffer the same fate, I tossed them into the mix last night, and the result was very tasty!
Tonight will probably be eggs or something equally simple, as we have a handyman coming to install a garbage disposal and range hood. I still have some pork shoulder from the weekend as well. We shall see.
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Last night’s pasta and salad hit the spot… even though I basically had to make it all after returning from my shift 
As for tonight - I see wings in our future. I work till 10 and will absolutely not feel like putting a meal together again at that point. My man will take care of the celery and blue cheese dressing. So there’s that '-)
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Nice pasta , Lingua 
First meal in Reykjavik last night. Time difference is only 1 hour but there’s no DST here in Iceland it’s officially 2 hours difference. Tired and disoriented and it was dark, not to mention cold, I settled for something typically Islandic.
Nice and rich “prawny” broth.
Has different fish, tiny Arctic prawns and Islandic “lobster”. Their “lobster” is actually a huge langoustine.
Haddock with breadcrumbs. Nice.
Gratuitous photos of stuff from yesterday.
I dislike how they overuse and romanticise the word “Wanderlust” (pronounce “wahn-daRe-LOOST”) in the English language. It’s no longer used in Germany, well not since year 18xx something.
About to touchdown. Road from airport to the capital seen from my window seat.
I’m a bit of a Goethe fan.
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LW - I hear ya about losing one’s cooking mojo. I go through that every few months (maybe even more often now with cipollini and his picky eating which frustrates the hell out of us). Akin to writer’s block, I was definitely in a cooking rut…until last night. I started with a simple corn chowder, which bloomed into a spicy, Thai-inspired soup. In the pot went: 2 cobs of raw corn, gnarly farmers’ market carrots, FM red potatoes, few tablespoons of heavy cream, the end of my Thai dry chili paste from TJs (I have to find this at another TJs - it is quite awesome, veggie, mushroom-y, umami bomb), 3 spicy chilies from the Hmong farmers from same FM, onion, garlic, baby leeks, FM baby celery (leaves and stalk - so many concentrated flavors when celery is harvested so small), small can of “Hot” Rotel. And because I’m Korean, MSG, baby. All sautéed in coconut oil first. Even threw in bay leaf and thyme when I thought it was going to be more Western-ish.
No pics…but my mojo is back. A trip to the FM has that effect on me. Yours will return, too.
Copious wine helps while cooking, as well. 
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Oh, man. That food looks delish. Friends of mine were in Reykjavik last spring with a group of students & really enjoyed themselves.
Fernweh is a great word.
Thx – that pasta is really pretty good for commercially produced stuff.
Seafood is huge and very typical here, as is lamb. It’s everything I would want but then I prefer to cook it my way.
You’d shriek when you heard the prices of everything. Seems Iceland isn’t expensive enough… It’s extremely touristy year round. Same for Japan.
Dinner was lamb liver. I tried to find the smallest package but it was still huge, and so thick. I did make a photo of the packaging just before cooking.
Islandic lamb is hard to find outside of Island and has a good reputation. I had it in Japan and it was probably more expensive.
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Cooking mojo still sucks. Continued crappy sleep has something to do with it, I’m sure. Unlike the old Chowhound tag line, “Live to eat”, I’ve only been eating to live. Just don’t have the desire to deal.
Tonight’s crapmeal was a burger with goat cheese and sauteed mushrooms on a brioche bun (meh on the flavor). Sweet potato fries on the side, which I burned. :::Sigh:::
There was definitely wine +, as this is my Friday. At least I didn’t screw that up by breaking the cork in the bottle.
I might just go out tomorrow night.
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Happy Friday Linda . Take yourself out tomorrow night . Your mojo will come back sooner than later`. My sleep has not been that great either . Waking up in the middle of the night with pain in my blown out shoulder and thinking about the job it takes a while to fall back asleep . Any way I am cleaning the fridge out , will be leaving for two weeks . Nothing special for dinner but a bunch of different omelets .
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We had leftovers in omelets night last night too! I’m on my own tonight so I will have to do a freezer dig to see what can be thawed quickly - I’m pretty sure I have a salmon filet in there. Prep and sides TBD.
Looks good!
There’s no light above the table so I use the tiny kitchen counter to make photos of beers and ingredients.
Lamb liver for dinner yesterday. The smallest package I could find, almost 500gr. Just pan fried with onions and garlic.
Today I made lamb fillet. Again, pan fried. Very tender and has a mild and subtle sweetness. The supermarket meat section is full of lamb it’s so awesome!
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Lamb again because I’m in Iceland and it’s the only chance I get to eat it.
I have soft spot for Montes wines because I have been to their vineyard in Colchagua valley, Chile.
PS: LindaW, take it easy. You can’t force a cooking mojo to return. I’ve been experiencing it the whole summer. I am still cooking at weekends but not sure how long it will last. Let’s hope it will return, for the both of us. Can you get lamb? 
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Mom did better at her shopping yesterday than I did today. Oh well. Some work-related stuff when I got home, then dinner. It’s been so cool out, I wanted something oveny. Mushroom Imperial Chicken (adapted from a 1959 Good Housekeeping recipe) to the rescue. Easy, peasy, lemon-squeezy.
Couple of slices of b/s chicky boobie over basmati rice with dried herbs and steamed green beans alongside. Wine. Cooking mojo has kicked in just a little bit.
The non-flash pic looked like a brown-on-beige meal with a little green. So just ignore the pool of butter under the beans. 
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