What's for Dinner #36 - August and Everything After

It’s Ronzoni brand, comes in kind of a small box. Very amusing, and potentially tastes better than other shapes :))

2 Likes

A M U S I N G

gonna buy me a box😁

1 Like

I use it in my chicken soup when I cook for the grand kids…I have no problem finding it here in NYC

3 Likes

A Nigel Slater recipe, from Kitchen Diaries (and bang-on for seasonality - it’s in the book dated at 14/8):

First cook your couscous. Then mix in chopped coriander and mint, lemon juice, chopped preserved lemons and spring onions. Then griddle thinnish slices of aubergine and mix that in. Top with simply griddled chicken breast.

There’s some mousetrap West Country Farmhouse Cheddar for afters. And cherries if something sweetish is needed. But not together.

4 Likes

Happy Belated birthday to you! I’m a bit slow at catching up on posts!

Have not posted for a while since I work 8-10 hours in the garden everyday , weather permitting ( I do work when it is raining, unless it is pouring, my favorite time as there are less bugs then). When I do return to my. home, I am usually muddy, strip my clothes in utility room, take a quick 5 min shower to rinse off my dirt and mud for a quick lunch, rest for an hour or so , then back in the garden. Not much cooking and if I do, too tired to take pictures as dinner is often after 10:00PM weeknights. Weekends, no cooking as my son in the past 6 weeks since he returned home from South America has taken my poms out to cruise on the Chesapeake bay, sleep either in Annapolis or Solomon’s island during weekends. They are leaving today again with guests from DC and will cook at the beach or eat breakfast tomorrow in restaurants . My poms are usually so tired returning home!

Yesterday was different. Had a dental appointment, had to go to Dulles to pick up a guest from Amsterdam who is staying for a month so, grocery shopping!

I could not find OLLI’s saucisson anymore at any of the Costco’s store, neither does Wegman’s carry our favorite, which is the wild boar. So, had to go to Balducci in Bethesda. The deli guy told he has both D’artagnan’s duck and wild boar saucisson aside from Ollli’s wild boar but in his humble opinion, D’artagnan’s duck saucisson is the best! Well, ended up buying 2 wild boar and 6 duck saucisson. Hope he is correct!
Wander if I ever go to DC market , perhaps try to get some of the Spanish Fermin’s iberico pork saucisson which is considered tops also. Hope my son will take his friend to tour DC so he can buy some for comparison otherwise La Tienda charges over 50 dollars for 3- 7 ounces which is too expensive bec of shipping. These will serve as great snacks ( they eat every few hours) with some reserve cabot cheddar cheese( someone commented that is good), and other cheese ( friend brought my son’s favorite cheese , Dutch Old Amsterdam) Also great for her to bring home to Amsterdam when she returns in. month!

Also went to Asian store, found halibut ( fantastic price but only managed to buy 2 big slabs as we took t he sedan instead of my wagon which is filthy with my weed pulling - I pulled between 8-10 gallons per day to bring it to a neighbor’s revine as our recycle center will not allow weed.) Have also been planting at least 30 if not 40 pails ( 5 gallon) sedum this past months. Also was able to purchase small baby squids which I cannot find locally in Southern Md. That would be good fried with Korean seafood flour mix. Wished I bought more butI know I have limited space bec I had to buy a big supply of paper towel from Costco. Snow peas, Asian spices ( chili crisp, gojuchang, broad bean paste etc) We literally came home with every space in the car piled up with food. I had to carry the poms in my lap as their car seats were also filled with groceries!

Lunch at the Asian store was fantastic. Brought some buns which I an only find in that particular Asians store in the DC metro area. I believe it is called Hujiao bing. It is a mini bun that is baked in sort of a tandoori oven so the bottom is crisp brown, very little but tasty dough and inside is this fantastic pork that was full of juice so when one bites into it, one has to be ready with a paper towel to catch the drippings . I just literally oozes and spurts out!!! This cooking originated from Fujian Province, my ancestral hometown. Bought 8 of them, ate 2 while I was there after lunch but my guest loves it when we came back home. Too bad my son does not like it ! Great for me an dry guest!

After the dentist while my son went to airport, the wife o the dentist dropped me off at Costco. I bought a bag of Organic Dried Figs by Sunny Fruit from Smyrna Turkey. These were sundried, pasteurized, were absolutely tender and juicy! HAS TO BE REFRIGERATED AFTER OPENING. I ate 4 figs last night. I think my son and his guest ate these with cheese , wild boar saucisson after midnight with pinot noir. At around $10 for the 56 pieces, they were one of my Best Buy. Will go back to Costco, and buy some more as Costco has this problem of not ordering more. These are the 40 ounces bag which I just found sells for over $18.00 from Amazon. I had to hoar some of their cooked beets yesterday as they were out ( 5.99) whereas I have to buy them at around 10.00 from Amazon. So, yesterday, I bought 2 more boxes of those which are great for salads!

I hope we will start putting our crab pots in the water so the guest can have a taste of our crabs here.

13 Likes

Long time no hear! Good to know you are doing fine and cook again.

I am not doing a lot of cooking either, we are doing some work in the courtyard, a bit lazy and too hot to do any real and interesting cooking. Always I just grilled some meat and salad and that’s meal. Or we just eat out. By the way, my implant (tooth) is finished and working well. (Thanks for the moral support of those low spirit days). Bad news is cat has scratched his cornea, and we need to put 3 - 4 types of eye drops 5 - 6 times a day. Each medicine needs 5 minutes apart from the next. He wasn’t happy, nor us.

3 Likes

Oh my! At least there are two of you - can’t imagine trying to administer the eye drops to a cat by myself. Hope he heals quickly.

I’m thankful most of my cat’s meds are crushed and put into smelly wet food which he loves. One med is liquid. I hold him and we cuddle for a few minutes. Then I ask " are you ready?" After a moment he opens his mouth and lets me empty the syringe .Doesn’t hurt that he knows he can have the smelly food after the syringe! :cat:

8 Likes

Enjoy your company!

Sometimes life takes over and leaves little time for kitchen fun. Autumn is just around the corner and I’m sure you’ll be back cooking and posting more frequently!

1 Like

bad news for me is that my lat molar which was an implant had to have bone graft again March 2017. The bone graft failed, the oral surgeon retired and so, when the implant fell out last month, I decided enough is enough. Had to go see periodontist yesterday, quite a trip between m grocery shopping as I felt something may8 be wrong with 2 other implants . He could nto find anything wrong (? yet)

Had lunch by mysel as m son and 2 poms are out again cruising the bay and staying at the beach. Some cherries purchased yesterday, the fantastic figs, a few slices of wild boar saucisson and one of those Hujiao buns ( wrapped with a wet paper towel, microwaved for 20 sec) . Decided I am going to just stay lazy .

I do read all of. your cooking adventures everyday.

7 Likes

for liquid meds, I drop them in a small amount of vanilla ice cream . My moms would lick every single drop of it!

1 Like

This is the sweetest thing I have ever heard! I wish my cats felt this way about medicine. Mine do very politely offer up their paws when it’s time for claw trimming and then very patiently wait while the others have their turn, then go to the kitchen together for treats - so I suppose I can’t complain TOO much. :slight_smile:

8 Likes

That’s why he’s called the circus cat! He’s very smart and extremely habitual. I figure most beings would find being confined and having meds pushed down their throats to be a frightening experience. So we worked out this system. But I have had other pets where this wouldn’t have worked at all!

Edit: this was in response to biondanonima’s comment about feline medicine dosing!

3 Likes

Cats are smart.

My neighbours are away for vacation now, I need take care of their “sick” cat (their cat is in better shape than mine). He needs 1 pill every morning. It was a nightmare to pop it in his mouth as instructed by my neighbour, the cat cried like the end of the world and spilt out the pill. In the end, I need to crush it in the tuna juice and he adored it. Every morning he waited for his tuna breakfast.

3 Likes

I wish I could do this for the circus cat. This med can’t be at room temperature for very long. And his tremors cause food to miss his mouth the first few tries. But he takes it all in stride!

5 Likes

Sorry to hear about that. I don’t know, I have an impression that maybe you should go to see another dentist to see if able to find the problem.

My cat too, after a while, he understands that it is no use to struggle, he just protests a bit in a grumpy way, but he accepts his drops in eyes.

3 Likes

I think half the battle with cats is won if you let them feel a certain amount of control.

You’ve made me recall how my mother would give us children medicine when we were too young to swallow a pill! She crushed it and put it into a spoonful of jam.

3 Likes

Animals can be so stoic. A lot of life lessons from them!

1 Like

Crab cakes from the local fishmonger will be WFD tonight. Side of COTC.

Imbibed a bit too much over this last week of endless poker games and get-togethers, so we’re taking a lil booze break at casa lingua.

8 Likes