I mean I really don’t do meal planning. Just look in the freezers or fridges and think, what can I do with what I have. Usually on impulse after getting home from work. A well stocked pantry helps
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We used to be visited by a young cat, almost on daily basis. Came for years. We named her “Tiddles” (all cats should be called Tiddles and all dogs called Rover or Spot) Never a great one for playing - more interested in being fed and having her tummy tickled. Then she disappeared. Getting on for a year later, Mrs H was walking down the next road to home, saying hello to an elderley lady in her front garden. And there was Tiddles - living as the crow flies, less than 50 yards from us. Turns out the cat had grown old and no longer really went out. Also turned out, she was called Louisa, although her owner generally called her Wheezer.
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Pork loin on the menu tonight! Brown sugar Dijon crust, oven roasted potatoes, green beans and salad.
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When our present cat decided to stay with us. We were wondering his life before us. We later met the neighbour who had a workshop facing us. He said he knew our cat and he has fed him with tuna when the cat was first arriving in his place, then the kitty decided to stay! The cat always climbed into his arms! He was with him for 3 days but he couldn’t keep a cat because he was selling his place. One day we heard meowing the whole day, next day it continued, we open the door and there was the cat! He saw us, he followed us to our place instantly. He was a lap cat the first 3 weeks with us. Once he understood he would continue to stay, he showed us his real self and no longer let us take him in our arms or stay on our laps! He was such a great seducer and charmer when he needs to.
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Charming free-loading cats! 
It’s the other way around for me. I used to go to someone’s house to pet their cat.
Something Swabian-esq. It’s homely food but restaurants in Swabia do have it on menu. They tend to make it a lot more saucy than I do.
This was cooked, I could have eaten it like this.
But this time I decided to slice the sausage into discs and crisp-fry them. Added more stock then mixed the Spätzle and lentils.
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I wanted fried chicken tenders. No idea why, but I wanted them. Cravings cannot be denied.
So some of Buster’s chicken tenderloins were dipped in flour, then in an egg wash, then in a combo of Panko crumbs, Penzey’s Sunny Spain seasoning, dried oregano, dried parsley and a pinch of salt, then onto a foiled pan sprayed with cooking spray. Into the convection oven to bake, flipping once (and respraying with cooking spray) for a total of about 20-25 minutes.
A honey-mango sauce of mayo, frozen/thawed mango, honey, Sriracha, lemon juice and finely chopped parsley was blended in a food processor for spooning on top. (Needed more Sriracha, but it was still good.)
Steamed green beans, and leftover Israeli couscous. Overall, not too shabby (although the tenders would definite be better fried, but I don’t fry things, so…)
Yup. Wine.
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The remnants of tonight’s dinner for the menfolk. It’s a clean-out-the-fridge meal. They piled their plates before I had a chance to take a pretty picture.
Sheet pan of leftover boiled potatoes, sliced and covered in parsley, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese,.
Sheet pan of beautiful broccolini with pancetta and dried chili flakes.
Pork chops, marinated in bitter orange (I love my farmers market citrus guy), garlic, oregano, and onions., seared, then the marinade was added to the pan and boiled down for a quick sauce.
They all liked it all! So odd, they tend to be plain eaters, but I’m happy. 
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I’m always finding ways to eat more beetroots. Have loved them since I was a baby so I don’t relate to the haters’ reasoning. One of my favourite Portuguese proverbs: “One eats what one likes best”. Indeed.
I have decided not to really cook Faroe Islands salmon anymore. Well, at least no more than a lightning-quick sear. This salmon is so fine, not to mention expensive (eur. 30/kg) it would be a pity to over-complicate things. For this I soaked the fish in a beetroot water brine for a couple of days then briefly smoked just before eating. Beetroot dumplings alongside, as well as seaweed, lots of dill and lemon slices.
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Your fish looks wonderful
Last night i was just so tired once we got to the hotel i skipped dinner and passed out.
A snack stop this afternoon included this wonderful wall of chips
I went with the honey butter- HOLYCRAP AMAZING!!
We found a great traditional style restaurant for dinner and i had the most wonderful vegetarian tasting meal ever. I only took a few photos, there were many little courses with some lovely mild kimchi, a jook with herbs, grilled mushrooms…and so much more. Pictured here is the platter with chewy mini rice cakes topped with a flower, a wild rice patty, a leafy greens patty, and the plate with ginseng root that you dip in the clear honey. Every plate was so beautiful and creative!
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Have a great trip!
Thanks, Scuba. Leftover salmon was turned into a sandwich today.
Ttrockwood, so lovely. Gonna try the crisps, too, when I make it there. The most incredible tofu I ever had was in Japan. Maybe Koreans don’t eat as much soy as Japanese and Chinese? I don’t know. Have been reading my Korea guidebook. It mentions Buddhist vegetarian food.
My dinner today was both East and West. Pan-fried bone-in lamb leg steaks, boiled potatoes, and homemade kimchi (4 different kinds).
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Green lentils and Toulouse sausages cooked with pork fat. Mixed in some dried aged baguette. Cooked a big pot, so will last another 2 meals.
@Ttrockwood I haven’t been to Korea, but the chips machines remind me of Japan.
The supper plating are lovely. Do you like the ginseng? I never thought you could eat it like that! Fresh and raw!
@Presunto That salmon is amazing, I would eat it like sashimi for it’s natural taste!
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Oh i wanted to buy the entire chip aisle!! Unfortunately it was a very short stay and could not eat all of them or travel with them so well ;(
Yes the raw ginseng was new to me! A very strong kind of unique spicy radish kind of flavor.
Now i am in Shanghai for a few days for work, won’t be able to go far from hotel due to crazy schedule but i did have a great congee with fun toppings for breakfast this morning and some fantastic mushrooms here too :)))
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I’ve been away from home travellers around Asia for the last 13 months and have been unable to cook. I have landed in a small village on the east coast of Malaysia and have limited cooking facilities and also limited ingredients at the one village shop. With a little imagination, planning and a magpie approach I managed to cook up something quite nice last night.
Instant noodles and Chinese broccoli were procured from the local shop. The night before at the stall were we ate we grabbed a couple of chicken sausages. From the guesthouse breakfast we saved our boiled eggs and from yesterdays take away lunch of chicken and rice we kept one of the portions of curry gravy.
Very much a job of quickly boil the broccoli add to chopped up egg and sausages and combine with the noodles and curry gravy. More assembly than cooking but it still felt good after all this time.
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I stopped into a little market to find a snack/lunch this afternoon and scored this fantastic pretty fruit cup of very ripe and flavorful fruit!
I also picked up these seaweed cheetos (??!?!) and shared with my equally amused and baffled co-workers, although a few were enough for me
Tonight we went to a great vegetarian chinese restaurant, so many great dishes that included fresh fava beans and some kind of pickled vegetable, a tofu/mushroom/basil dish with sauce to eat over rice, this delicious plate of mushrooms with the world’s smallest zucchini ever, and a stuffed lotus root that i think was a mix of nuts/rice/mushrooms inside. My phone died so i only got one photo from the meal.
And i learned that one of the restaurants here in the hotel has great dumplings at breakfast so those are in my near future!
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what gorgeous pics!
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