And then there are these types of pictures. Foods that I will never taste, and I am jealous. So cruel to be raised in Boston, a land of sea creatures, and not be able to eat anything that came from a shell or turns pink when cooked. Life is not fair, I tell you!
That is a salad that speaks to me. But due to my allergies, I would have to have some grilled calamari or octopus in the center of those lovely greens. And you know, that is a great idea that should happen soon!
Cluck chuck.
Scallops look delicious
Cheers on the sale 
it is after midnight
we just returned from Dulles , with road work along the way, taking us almost 3 hours to drive home
It was wonderful to have dinner ready. Just had to warm that in the microwave. Rice was still warm ini the rice cooker .
There was plenty of gelatinous broth, both from the bones as well as from the gelatin I addedI guess once it got cold, the gel set in.
I hardly use my collection of tin lined copper ware as I bought it for him, knowing how he loves to eat, ( he really misses home cooked meals when traveling ) , I want him to go to culinary school. Started to collect early this year but, gave up. Have some beautiful ones in my collection though with the help of Kaleo and Alexander.
He is very spoiled!
I wish he would go to culinary school!
It is time he cooks for me ! ( I wish)
I also like how we learn from one another. How do you make your mashed potatoes? How do you achieve that lovely sear on scallops etc.
Always learning. (Oh, just saw Scuba’s comment. We feel the same way 
)
@emglow101, wow, that’s fast. All your hard work prettying her up! Congrats!
This is my go to for boneless chuck, I first came across the idea from Kenji at Serious Eats. It’s amazing.
It will be better to learn it from you and keep the family recipes going, not?
Well, some people just are not interested in cooking. Sometimes you need elements to trigger the cooking passion, like nostalgia of home food.
that is very kind response. thank you.
I never cooked when I was young, living at home, initially with my grandparents, then with my parents as they moved to the city for us to have a Chinese education.
As a bride, my mother followed my father to a very remote town in the Island of Luzon to live with my paternal grandparents, who inherited a tobacco business from my great grandparents.
Out of boredom, at 17 years of age , she decided to open a bakery, the only one for the whole village.
The people in town were very supportive as they wanted so much to have fresh bread, cookies .
A huge oven was built, ( really huge, probably the size of my present kitchen which is huge by American standard) ), I only remember it was dome shaped, made of ? concrete , brick or adobo?
Bread and cookies were their specialties.
Filipinos often have fiestas to celebrate their Saint’s day, baptism, wedding, birthday etc.
Those events are quite common. No one owns ovens then, even as I left in 1964. I send my mom a small countertop oven when I arrived here 1964 but she never saw it. She passed away before the oven arrived.
The people in town would bring pigs, chickens ( very seldom beef , story is that the cow has tears when they know they are being slaughtered. I hardly see goat meat) , and as a courtesy for their buying bread and cookies from us, the meat were cooked in the oven for them, gratis since the wood burning oven was always on as I remember, they come out crisp, delicious! She even made huge pieces of wood to accommodate a pig in that oven. Thanking us, they would give us chunks of the cooked meat in return so we always had lechon and oven roasted chicken . Without refrigeration, they used to submerge the meat in those big commercial oil ( 5 gallon?) as preservative
After 7 years or so, my parents moved away to the City, 7 hours away for use to have education in a private school that taught English and Chinese academics. It is a branch of Hope Christian College in Michigan. My mother sold her bakery whens they moved. The person who bought the bakery continued the practice my mother started, and we still had chunks of meat given to my grandparents which they would bring to us in the city when they visited, preserved in those huge oil container.
Mom was a very good cook, and though I seldom cook when at home, I learned a lot watching her cook.
I married an American who was diagnosed with gluten enteropathy just before we got married in 1972.
That made me start to cook as gluten enteropathy was relatively unknown then, there was no commercially gluten free product in th one days.
There are a lot of Chinese dim sum ( radish cake, turnip cake , vietnamese rice paper to make my spring rolls for him) noodles made of gluten free products and of course, the Filipino desserts made of rice, coconut, and eggs were wonderful
Most coeliacs I understand in those days are rather cranky bec of their diet, but not my husband. As a patent attorney, he entertained a lot with my help, and thus, we cooked together for those occasions. I cook, he chops and clean!
That is my history.
My son has ben trying to take videos when I am cooking, especially when his friends come here when he is home as they often asked for my recipes.
Congratulations! And great celebratory meal!
What a beautiful story!
Lovely indeed, thanks a lot for sharing.
“Communal ovens” still exist in some countries these days. Not owned by a community but by someone/some family like in your story and also during medieval France and Italy. Though they are disappearing fast now with easy access to modern appliances.
Thank for sharing your story!
my pleasure
I feel you and the other guys and gals are almost family now although I am getting too old to cook that often , bog down with lots of work in the garden, which is almost a full time job. However, I enjoy reading all your activities, and read them daily. I have learned a lot from you all. Thanks
Haven’t been cooking all that much recently except stuff like spaghetti & sauce, a roasted chicken breast, mac & ham & cheese, scrambled eggs. So I figured I needed to clean out the fridge after getting home late tonight.
Egg garganelle pasta with sauteed carrots, onions, red bell pepper, and some leftover corn and peas tossed in to reheat. Seasoned it all with salt, pepper, and a handful of Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset seasoning. An herby-winey-cream sauce poured over top and mixed in, sprinkled with some Parm-Reg.
Glass of wine alongside - dinnah.
Leftovers tonight. Tortilla soup. But changed up the starter to corn tortillas toasted on the camal filled with white cheese and cilantro. Cucumber, radish and tomato salad with cilantro. A squeeze of orange and lime , salt with an olive oil drizzle and sprinkle of ancho and morita ground chilies made up the dressing
All i knew was that i desperately wanted some peanut buttery sauce for dinner.
After getting distracted in whole foods (and finding some wonderful local heirloom tomatoes!) i went with a salad pile with peanut butter/lime/soy/cilantro sauce. Shredded super fine cabbage, scallions, cilantro, cucumber, bean sprouts, and cubed smoked tofu with chunks of those tomatoes. Smoked salt, and a generous amount of the peanut buttery sauce. Kind of like a summer roll exploded in a bowl with tomatoes. The tomatoes were amazing ripe and very flavorful (and unsurprisingly rather expensive) and were fantastic with the peanut buttery sauce.
I made a comical portion so leftovers will be lunch tomorrow
Last night’s dinner was a 35th wedding anniversary celebration at a restaurant which I will write up on the Boston boards.
Tonight my German AirBNB guests wanted to make us dinner. Who am I to say no? Dinner was what they call Kässpätzle and a green salad. They had brought their own spätzle device, and so they took over my kitchen. My one attempt at spätzle was a total failure. I now know why. This dough was worked to death, with gluten strands. It was just gluey and thick! Who knew? After it was cooked, they mixed in some onions braised in a stout and more cheese than I have seen used at any one time. The cheese was a combination of Gruyere and Emmathaler.
Here are some pictures- shaping and cooking the spätzle.
The Kosspätzle dressed with some chives from my garden:
My plate:
Spätzle is 1 of my very favourite things. There are several ways to eat it but with cheese is everyone’s favourite.
I make it with a Spätzle tool bought in Hungary (Hungarians also eat Spätzle). This tool is simple and cheap. In Germany and Austria you’ll see a few other versions and are more expensive of course, but the quality is a lot better. Made of plastic like in your photo is easer to clean, not to mention it can go in the dishwasher. I must look for it when I’m in Germany or Austria. So far I’ve only seen metal versions.
I make Spätzle often. Most spectacular is with beetroots in the batter.
Also possible with roasted ground sesame.
Or with some parseley.
But Austrian style is the best (to me). Like this one with smoked ham and Speck.
Always a hit in my household of 2.
Austrian home cookery. Same as above but with more herbs from the garden.
When you want a break from Spätzle you can move on to Schupfnudeln (dough has boiled mashed potatoes but it is absolutely not gnocchi. The addition of potatoes began only in the 17th century when they arrived in Europe. Before that Schupfnudeln were made from rye and eggs).
Schupfnudeln with Speck and Sauerkraut.
Wow, nice to meet guests that like cooking!
I like spätzle, not sure if I would like to make it myself though…
Congrats for the 35th anniversary!
