Mom’s 88th birthday was a rousing success, and very much enjoyed by her. She got flowers, Garage Monkey made an appearance (inside family joke), and Strawberry Shortcake.
Dinner was decided on the way home - Lime & Herb-marinated steak tips (oil, lime juice, minced rosemary, thyme, and parsley, lime zest, ground pepper, and salt).
Baked tater, shit ton of butter, s/p and sour cream, and the first local(ish) COTC of the season. It was all good.
Was it her birthday today . Mine also on the 19th.
Peruvian sausages, crispy taters and aji verde, with some corn coblets, fried cotija, and salad (not pictured becuz YAWN), all courtesy of the BF. He bought us a Cristal to split, too, in keeping with the theme. Aji was liberally slathered over everything on my plate, of course. the big plate shows before the BF’s fancy plating. More aji verde for dessert.
Happy birthday 
Happy Happy, emglow! hope you celebrated yourself!
i was going to ask you about sugar - i think that’s the prob, right there. the fish sauce kinda needs the sugar to balance a bit, and it makes it pop.
Happy birthday to you and @LindaWhit mom!
Hmm.
Found good looking tomatoes “on the vine” on sale and thought gazpacho!!! Bought an onion, a 20oz bottle of my “secret ingredient “ original v8.
Only turns out that isn’t sherry vinegar in my cupboard, it’s another bottle of cider vinegar.
And my garlic had sprouted.
And what I thought was a cucumber in my fridge was actually a zucchini. Guess i ate the last cucumber the other night.
Plan B!
Due to the tofu thread i wanted some, so hidden jn the bottom of the bowl are just some cubes of that high protein extra firm tofu from trader joe’s so it could soak up the tasty juices.
Chopped tomatoes, some onion, a lot of cilantro, salt, and after the photo (and a few bites) i added some of that tasty basalmic soy vinegrette.
Glass of v8 a la carte
Adapt and apply. Success. Looks great .
Yep, very much the epitome of Thai food. A balance of different tastes.
right. you don’t need a lot, i don’t like sweet sauces, but you need a little.
When you wrote “Cristal,” I thought you were referring to a different beverage. Then I saw the picture.
@bcc hah! we not that fancy.
Hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Nice save! Sometimes my kitchen feels like an obstacle race…
Yes, it was her birthday yesterday - HAPPY Birthday, @emglow101! And slainté!
WFD tonight: 1 lb. of beautiful 8-12 ct black tiger shrimp, following this “recipe”: https://www.seriouseats.com/…/grilled-shrimp-garlic-lemon-f…
well, sorta following. ima use mint instead of parsley, because we have it in our planter.
side will be a salad of zukes, feta, toasted pine nuts & basil in a lemon-vinaigrette.
Chicken thighs are slathered in tandoori marinade, zucchini will be sliced, oiled and seasoned. I’ll light the grill as soon as the man calls to tell me he’s left work.
There will be cucumbers just like every other night because the garden spits them out like mad this time of year, not sure what I’ll do with them.
No heat in the kitchen- Yay!
We had slices before a road trip tomorrow-Monday. Cheap red. Hit the spot. Ice cream before. All the things!
A really REALLY good visit with Mom today. Got lots of things accomplished, and she enjoyed a chocolate covered strawberry from Shari’s Berries sent by one of my stepbrothers and his wife. (I had one, too.)
Lousy traffic coming home on a Friday afternoon, (took 2 hours vs. 1 hour). Friday summer traffic. Oh well.
So a quick pizza for dinner - a half ball of dough was pulled from the freezer and defrosted in time. Chicken, green beans, thinly sliced red onion, and mini-mozzarella balls sliced in half. Sauce was some crushed tomato sauce with lots of added dried herbs, tomato paste and grated Parm-Reg. Into a hot oven until slightly overdone (unfortunately). But it was still good for a throw-together.
There was wine. Doesn’t feel like a Friday for me - but I was told it is. 
Works for me.
