Congratulations and good luck!
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It’s my Friday night so I cobbled together some leftover roast pork fried in bacon grease for carnitas. Topped with avocado, Cotija cheese and some mild Rotel. It didn’t look very good so no pictures but it tasted fabulous. I think bacon grease could make ANYTHING taste good. A small glass of white port for dessert.
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Leftover smoked meatloaf with very rich mashed potatoes and steam roasted brussel sprouts
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It’s so strange, my regular supermarket has gorgeous thin asparagus now for just $3/lb- who knows where from- i regret not getting some actually…
I cooked!!! Well, boiled some water… 
practically the same thing.
Veggie tofu dumplings with scallions and a dribble of trader joe’s soyaki
Needed some crunchy, just sliced cucumber with cilantro and a little red onion, sprinkle of salt and tiny bit of sesame oil
Crazy bubbly homemade kombucha that thankfully i opened over the sink, our weird warm weather lately made this batch ferment faster than I thought it would!
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Ended up in Chinatown earlier in the week, so now I’m working through the bounty of vegetables.
Tonight was a twist on one of my favorites - king oyster mushrooms with butter-tare sauce. I made some quinoa/rice to soak up the sauce, but it ended up being mostly a glaze.
So. Good. I love these mushrooms so.
When I was in Chinatown I tried 4/$2 dumplings which were pretty tasty - pork/cabbage and chicken/basil.
Also saw these near checkout at the grocery store - thought they were candy, but no, they were tiny crabs… candied!
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My markets have had thin to medium asparagus without a break since spring. And the price has remained quite reasonable too.
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Those mushrooms…!! 
You didn’t get the candied crabs??? Lol. Actually reminds me my first trip to seoul I bought a bunch of snacks to send my family (honey butter almonds included of course) and a few bizarre cheap ones because my dad will eat about anything. Including something i found called dried squid- like jerky- in a peanut powdery coating with chili flakes. Turns out he loved it!! So maybe the crabs are delicious? ;))
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I made a slow cooker tiki masala with asparagus. Not wildly authentic but much healthier than takeout:
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Cool find!
I know, right! They were 99c for a small box, so I bought two… for 1.69 
(All this was one “tiny” box)
I thought about getting the crabs… I’m sure they’re just crunchy and sweet. I might when I can share them…
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I had similar with tiny caramelized fish with sesame, they were sweet, salty and crunchy, not bad as a snack. But crabs, eating the shells and everything, that’s another level!
They’re tiny, so the shells are very thin - probably like shrimp shells. But I’m not there’s mentally… yet…
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Late late late late LATE dinner.
National Grid is shutting down our entire workplace to work on some major renovations overnight…and last minute, a client said they wanted to pay their entire outstanding balance on a credit card…$275K+. Ummm, OK, I’ll stay late to process that payment! That was a first!
So - while I had already planned an easy dinner, I didn’t get to eat until about 8:30 tonight.
Sauteed some chopped onion, red bell pepper, and broccoli florets in butter and olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper and dried thyme.
Eggs were whupped, heavy cream added along with some goat cheese and the sauteed veg. Poured into a small Le Creuset baking dish with a sprinkle of paprika on top. Baked in the oven for 15 minutes at 425° and finished at 350° for the last 25 minutes or so.
Rosemary-Olive Oil bread that was toasted and buttered and wine alongside.
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Sampled the crab cady in Japan this year. It was fine. I liked the dried squids better.
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Beef pulao today. Doesnt look like much, but tastes good. You can think of it as rice cooked in pho broth (some spices are different, no sugar, no fish sauce, plus other small details, but otherwise very close.)
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This is the second time that I am writing this. First time was rather lengthy but cannot find it. Wander what happened to it?
OK, here it goes, Dinner tonight is for 4 friends of my son as he is leaving tomorrow again for Amsterdam. He requested paella, but weather is so erratic. Forecast today was rain, yesterday was no rain. Instead, we had 8 inches of rain yesterday, all the seeds sowed yesterday floated away. Lost 400 dollars worth of micoclover and fescue seeds as they floated away .
So, decided just to have 4 people for dinner instead of more friends as more would have to cook paella in my 36 inch pata negra pan using an emperor fire pin for fuel. That is done outdoor, what will happen if it pours like yesterday, With 4 people, we can use an 18’ pan using the propane infra red grill as source of heat in our partially covered porch.
Appetizer was stuffed cherry pepper with mangalitsa ham, aged cheddar cheese and Meyer lemon infused EVOO. This was served with sun-dried figs from turkey and sun dried mangoes.
Also had D’artagnan’s wild boar saucisson with Old Amsterdam cheese ( the last of what he brought back recently from his trip .
I also made brie with dalmatia fig spread. Picture showed brie was partially eaten.
Friends brought wine, tiramisu and another chai desert.
I made the sofritto ahead of time in my wok using caramelized onion, then added carrots, green pepper and tomatoes til tomatoes turned darkish , total 30 minutes excluding caramelizing onion time. Instead of adding sausage initially as I used to, I decided to grill them and cut into small pieces to add to the soffrito.
Cooked separately in my wok indoor U15 pink argentina prawns in EVOO , lots of garlic, a tin of anchovy, a few squid rings, and a packaged of cooked mussels. This will be added to the rice and some roasted red pepper when rice is almost done
Decided to use 4 lbs of bombs rice, had defrosted 8 cups of fish stocks from freezer, and made 8 cups of shrimp stocks ( shrimp shells from today, the last few days dinner, roasted then to made broth)
I had hope that the 18 inch paella pan will not be too small for 4 cups of rice as I want to have a good socarrat. Ideally, one should use the largest pan so that the rice is not too thick to achieve a good socarrat. Well, it turned out perfect…
The 16 cups of broth was a little bit too much but we just had to wait once the rice was cooked but still wet for the rice to dry out by raising the paella pan higher, then added some olive oil for it to go under the rice to make a good crusty socarrat. Then, we turned heat off, covered the paella with tea towel for 20 minutes. Rice was very good, It did shine, and socarrat was excellent.
Really wanted to give my technique for my paella but somehow do not know what happened to the first draft. Will do so if anyone is interested.
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What the what?!?? Manhattan chinatown? I usually end up at hong kong supermarket and wander mott street veggie vendors but maybe you have a better store!
Ha! I don’t think i realized one could even charge that much to a credit card…!
Your eggy baked soufflé situation looks gorgeous- in your situation i may have cut directly to goat cheese, bread and wine ;))
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