This year was a really rediculous handbag that should last me for almost ever. I had a significant credit to use which helped me rationalize it 
If the pig share will bring you joy then i say do it! (Which i am conflicted about as a vegetarian but at the same time i support omnis who support small farms if that makes any sense…!)
So glad that a handbag brings you joy. I am too frugal for that, unlike my sister who has a bag for every occasion and/or style!
Well, I am the share member who takes all the bits that no one else wants. I believe, strongly, that if you are going to eat an animal, it is your obligation to eat all of it. And the other folks who buy shares, only want the “beauty” cuts. And yes, it will give me joy. It will give me hundreds of meals since we only eat about 4oz of animal protein per meal.
Tonight we had reservations at Sarma, a fabulous small restaurant near our home. But, 4pm passed. 5pm passed. 5:30pm and still our AirBNB guests had not arrived. At 5:45 I called Sarma to cancel our 6:30 reservation. It just isn’t fair to keep the table later than that.
Once the guests arrived and were settled in, we headed to Rincon Mexicano which couldn’t be much different. No alcohol. No fancy sauces. No tahini. I had a taco, side of beans, and the horchata. He got three tacos with a side of rice and beans.
I was overly optimistic and went to trader joe’s after work. There really is no such thing as a good time for me to go, the upper west side store is just always a crazy busy stressful experience!!
That took waaaay longer than it should have. I was totally That Person - and hangry at this point- so i snacked on a few pumpernickel pretzels sticks while waiting in the epic line to pay and getting my heels clipped by the twit behind me and her cart.
I just sautéed a bunch of the cruciferous crunch greens blend and added some defrosted and warmed meatless balls on top. And because I’m resourceful/lazy i whisked a gob of hummus with extra lemon juice and used that over everything. Plus nutritional yeast. Kombucha a la carte. Nothing glamorous but good enough for a ten min meal.
I walked into that location 10 mins before closing on a Sunday night once and I thought I had entered an alternate universe. It was totally dead. That is literally the ONLY time I have ever been in there when the line didn’t stretch all the way back to the bottom of the escalator.
Gosh that sounds fantastic for a throw together hangry meal. I love going to my TJs right at opening on Saturday! I’m usually the only one there but I’m not sure it’s ever really crowded.
Short ribs sous vide. I did 24 hours at 70c/158f for a super tender but not falling apart texture. When I took them out of the bath, I trimmed the fat/chewy bits and removed the bones, then rendered out all of the fat in a skillet (my husband loves to eat the crispy cracklins, and now I have 2 cups of rendered suet for other uses!). Seared the meat in some of the fat and served with a red wine and mushroom sauce. Incredibly delicious. I think I prefer this texture to a traditional braise.
Warm day today, grilled a Mary’s chicken, eggplant & zucchini, plus a lovely bottle of Vincent Arroyo 2010
Greenwood Petit SirahNY boneless strips with herb butter, baked potato with wild chives, rocket salad with shaved parmesan, peas n onions, sprouts EVO
Mr. SMT has been rebuilding our porch. It has been a HUGE job. He wanted a protein heavy meal; in fact, he wanted a burger, so that is what he got! Served on English muffins [I completely forgot that we had finished my homemade burger buns.] I had some leftover cole slaw from earlier in the week while he got a freshly made green salad.
Lamb shanks thawing for tomorrow night’s meal. Going with a braise in case our AirBNB check in is as flakey as the last one.
T’was a very good day with heirloom apple picking and some antiquing (even though I didn’t buy much, it was still fun). A most excellent remedy to what has been a totally crapola couple of weeks. Here’s hoping this is a turning point.
It’s been a surf-and-turf dining weekend.
Last night at Dali was Garlic Shrimp, Deep-fried Serrano Ham/Manchego Cheese/Breaded Zucchini (San Jacobo), and Vieras al Azafran (Scallops in Saffron Cream Sauce).
Tonight was steak tips marinated in a sweet garlic nuoc cham sauce (from Spring Kitchen, purchased at World Market), which I augmented with lime zest, maple syrup, extra garlic, and olive oil. Baked tater with the proverbial shit-ton of butter, salt, pepper, and sour cream, and steamed green beans alongside.
Oh yeah, there was wine. And there will be pah for dessert. After all, I have a lot of apples to use, after the apple picking (Northern Spys, Pound Sweets, Farmeuse Snow, and Sheep Nose). And alongside, there’s vanilla ice cream. Of course.
Can’t go wrong with Ana Sortun. Sorry you had to cancel. Lucky you to live so close.
Also hot today! I found a tiny farmers market on accident near where i parked my citibike and used the bit of cash i had on hand to pick up extra leafy celery, baby fennel and a few honeycrisps. I kept getting whiffs of celery from my backpack all afternoon! Haha.
I actually meant to make kombu celery but decided to do a salad with everything. Sliced super thin on the mandolin the celery, fennel and half an apple. A handful of salted sunflower seeds, and lemony vinegrette with a lot of pepper. Homemade kombucha a la carte
Dessert will be a few of the nursing mom oatmeal nut balls i made to bring my constantly hungry friend- basically dates, nut butter, oats, shredded coconut, chia seeds and hemp seeds.
Made some scrambled egg tacos with bell pepper, onions, pickled jalapeños, salsa from a jar, and cilantro.
The heatwave in NYC continues unabated - it’s rainy/muggy here today, with a high around 80. Incredibly unseasonable. And it’s making me not want to cook! I pulled some Bolognese sauce from the freezer last night and just ate a bowl of that as an entree (no pasta) with a salad. Tonight I’m going to force myself into the kitchen - I have a big cryovac of flap meat that needs to be cut up and prepped for the freezer, so I’ll make some kebabs out of that, plus tofu mac and cheese.
Go Pack Go !
Tex Mex pizza. A couple of table spoons of masa in the crust. Mozerell & Sharp cheddar with a drained can of Rotels on the top. Chorizo from Mexican butcher, onions, bell peppers. Topped with a little chopped green onion and cilantro.
It was freaking delishus.
A shepherds salad to go with.
We made a late lunch today so dinner will just be something snacky.
I met my friend’s mom (who i have known since i was six yrs old!) at the market and i had mentioned my kimichi radish salad fixation and they wanted me to make it :)
hot weird sticky day today here.
The omnis were not going to be without an animal on the plate and my new mommy friend wanted sashimi so they picked up some tuna.
I made us a double batch of the salad, used the mandolin for the daikon and kept it raw, quartered the red radishes, and used chinese sesame paste instead of fussing with the mortar and pestle. Mix of arugala and nappa cabbage. Tuna on top for the omnis and some smoked tofu for me. (Quick others did taste and declared “not bad” and “kinda like smoked gouda”).
The Hungry Hubby does not think salad is a meal so we also made some white rice and i mixed in some sesame seeds and scallions- he added butter to his bowl of it. (At which point his mother said “you’re an Indian boy! When did you start adding butter to your rice??” like he had committed a serious atrocity)
I had a glass of wine too and then kind of dozed off while holding a warm sleeping baby on the couch! Haha!
Had to go into work for a few hours today, as we have off tomorrow and I hadn’t been able to catch up these past 2 weeks.
Dinner was a composed salad consisting of spring mix lettuce, sauteed chicken, hard-boiled eggs, chopped tomatoes, shaved carrots, sliced radishes, slivered red onions, and chopped bacon with a creamy chive dressing.
Healthy, right? Well, there was birthday pah afterwards to make up for all that healthiness. 
