Finally feeling better today (I had been sick from inhaling perfume) and am now going through the photos. This dinner was from the other day.
Chicken stuffed with rice and a knob of ginseng.
Just the kidney, I think. No liver and heart.
Spicy chicken stew or braise.
Happy New Year! It was a quiet holiday for me which is great. Iâm still getting my energy back which is good considering itâs been -17F with the windchill and usually I exercise in all weather but Iâve never dealt with temperatures this cold so being unable to go out due to health was nice to not force myself to challenge the elements. I snuggled all day with my cats and was finally able to look forward to tasty food as my appetite returned.
New Yearâs Evewas an assortment of nibbles throughout the day -
Sweet potato chicken poppers
Bacon wrapped scallops with garlic sauce
Skillet tortilla pizza with almond flour tortillas (coconut flour tortillas have been donated to a coworker now that I know itâs a trigger for me)
For dessert, a simple unsweetened apple crumble with an almond flour topping
New Yearâs Day started with a favorite classic steak and eggs
Pork rinds and rotel dip to nibble on throughout the day.
I always have collard greens on New Yearâs Day and made a large batch in the instant pot. The plan was greens and smoked turkey breast but my gut is not quite ready for vegetables so I had a spoonful for good luck and used the turkey breast to make another tortilla pizza with fontina and garlic. It was the last of the cheese in the house which is insane as my house is always full of cheese but Iâm eliminating it this month to save on groceries but mostly to see if itâs affecting my gut.
For dessert, goat milk yogurt with frozen peaches and mixed berries
The technique is simple, compared to the LâArpege masterpiece. Itâs a good use for truffle scraps or a bit of foie.
How do you like it? So far, I have never been a fan of food or drink with ginseng.
My son had 8 friends staying over for 3 days from 12/29 till 12/31. They played music till morning, slept til 11:00AM, then had breakfast.
we had mostly tapa style seafood, ( raw oysters, fried rockfish, fried calamari, fried shrimp, chilean seabass cooked with Miso, ginger, garlic, scallions and shaoxing wine( small portion for everyone with a little rice) and then on New Yearâs eve, we had cataplana with clams, calamari, shrimp and chorizo served with store bought garlic and jalapeño bread.
Most of the fried seafood were dipped in sweet potato starch, eggs, then panko but the small calamari ( had to find the small calamari with tentacles) were dipped in this korean mix, which made it very crunchy. I am enclosing picture of the mix . Do not follow direction as it is for a huge batch. Just make batter that is almost pancake consistency. IT IS GOOD served with lemon and marinara sauce
Went away late NYâs eve just in time for dinner at my sisterâs. Dinner was Chinese and Korean carry out food. I did bring a batch of rockfish fillet to make Filipino style tamarind soup with spinach. NYâs day was dim sum.
Home now, Tired. Sorry, no t many pictures taken
Such an interesting day. And, it had good news!
Scans are back. STABLE!!! They are giving me a month to recover, which is two weeks from today. I had no blood draw. No infusion. Only a bit of poking. And I was lectured that I need to prove that I am eating by increasing my weight by 4 pounds.
I got home wondrously early, and got to work processing 3 lamb shoulder steaks and a boneless leg of lamb. It is Merguez time. The mixture is hanging out in the fridge. Will grind, emulsify, and form in the morning.
For dinner, the lamb braise reappeared with polenta this time. The last of the Romaine turned into a salad.
Congratulations!! I hope this is the sign that 2018 will be a good year for you! Although two pounds a week means some serious peanut butter milkshakes with haggen daaz need to happen every day⊠
The dish looks great. I love polenta. I like to cook mine for 45 to 50 . I like it soft and creamy. Yours looks like this. Time for me to make some polenta.
I am going to moan about the cold for the foreseeable future⊠and yeah, yikes!!
All i could think about was a quick soup that i could hug and slurp a huge steaming bowl of. I found this hot and sour soup that uses white pepper which i can tolerate, other recipes call for more intense peppers. I swapped in extra firm tofu to keep it vegan, and added some shredded chard and carrots for additional veg.
This was SO amazing!! I canât recall the last time i had hot and sour soup because takeout places seem to use a chicken stock or include something non-vegetarian. Really fantastic balance of vinegar to the white pepper and did a great job of warming me up. Hopefully leftovers reheat well for lunch tomorrow.
Iâll certainly make this again soon, a nice quick option to my standard miso soup with stuff
I use a method I learned from someone on Chowhound. 1 part polenta [stone ground yellow corn in my case] to 5 parts liquid of which 1 part can be milk. Put corn and liquid in a dutch oven with a bit of butter and throw into a 375Âș degree oven for about 45 minutes. Whisk a bit. If it is beginning to thicken, throw in some grated parmesan. Bake for about 10 more minutes, and you have polenta.
That looks wonderful, though it is missing the lily stems which I think are essential. However, I think one could easily âfreelanceâ this recipe to what is in the pantry and still have a wonderful soup. Thanks for posting.
WONDERFUL news, @smtucker! And you can prove youâre eating by showing them the pics of the food youâre making. 
Oven baked chicken with flour, buter
,and spices. Boiled potato with olive oil and salt. Boiled broccoli with mayonnaise. I like mayonnaise with my broccoli. A little garnish of carrot. Wine to drink. Cheers. Happy New Year. Comfort food. I think Iâm going to break out and make my borscht next week.
Funny, I had hot and sour soup today too! Iâm recovering from either the worst head cold ever or the flu, and soup was the only thing I wanted. I used a recipe from Epicurious for guidance on the quantity of vinegar and white pepper, but riffed heavily on the actual ingredients since I had almost nothing in the house. It was basically bacon, bamboo shoot and tofu soup, LOL.
My Danish stepmother always ate broccoli with mayonnaise. I like it too as long as there is lemon or lemon zest involved. Your chicken looks like it is crunchy, how do you do that, I canât get oven fried chicken to crisp? TIA
Melt some butter. Put some salt ground pepper and dried spices to your liking in the butter. Put some flour in a bag. Roll your chicken in the butter and put a couple pieces in bag of flour I donât season this at all you could. Shake off excess. I use the Pyrex rectangle Bowl to cook this so my butter is melted
bake around 425° for an hour you just have to check it. Might want to turn a little bit up at the end to your likeness. I turn it over three-quarters of the way through cooking. You donât really have to. Iâm always experimenting.
Thank you, thatâs simple enough.
Iâll let you know how it works out 
my mom and grandmother used to make this I did a little different.cooked it a little longer. First time making it for me. It was crunchy. I donât roll around Just Flour side up.
Oh geez, hope it helps you to recover soon!
