It’s the weekend, which means dining out. Tonight we had an excellent dinner at Drew’s Bayshore Bistro in Keyport, NJ. Below is a link to the details and pictures.
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HOLY EFF, that is the most beautiful duck ever! happy about the good mom visit, BUT THAT DUCK!
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Now that Passover is over I had speckled butterbeans seasoned with a semidry cured sausage and corn bread! Very simple but very delicious.
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Bucatini carbonara tonight, with some lovely pancetta i picked up at our closing Italian deli. This was the best version I’ve made - the pancetta was delicious, sweet and salty, and the sauce turned out really silky. but I think it was the bucatini that made the difference - such a great texture. The recipe i used called for a little white wine and garlic (whole smashed cloves to flavor the oil) and I’d do it that way again. also an arugula/torn fresh mozz salad. excellent! dressed simply with Corti Bros. evoo and a teensy splash of a wonderful vermouth vinegar.
I also picked up an aged balsamic from Modena, 4-5 bottles of wine, a Cocchi I’ve not seen before, and a 2-ft long salami that i cut in half, wrapped half in parchment, then foil, then double freezer-bagged and froze. we’ll see how this experiment works out. it’$ maybe good they’re finally clo$ing 
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lunch was a reuben from our Montreal smoked meats place, and my sister had the 12 ounce plain on rye with a little Gulden’s mustard. hers was lunch and dinner, mine i finished in one sitting. getting closer to that goal weight every day. 
going to Tomales Bay for oysters tomorrow to celebrate a friend’s bday. 'sposed to be gorgeous out.
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I’ve started getting some of those! Theyve come a long way from what they used to be…
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That is gorgeous - all of it. But where’s the wine!
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Finally starting to get used to low sodium and other dietary restrictions, so I’m in the middle phase where I know how to cook in a way that won’t kill me - taste is step three (and plating like y’all is a distant step four, can’t plate to save my life.) So that means big batches, mostly veg, which has actually worked pretty well. Tonight, large batches of charred broccoli and cumin turmeric cauliflower - still had a bit of roasting time to go here, and three types of roast mushrooms (only button and cremini pictured) to be used in a variety of dishes this week. Lots of salads and grain bowls. Should last me a few meals, especially since I need to bring desk lunch/dinner to work now. I have serious new respect for meal preppers.
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You ate the whole thing??? Is one of the sandwiches a little Rubenesque?
I too am seriously working on my 12 pack… (you know two six packs)
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Looks fantastic, don’t worry about the plating, just describe how great the house smelled!
For me, throw in a baked potato, with some butter, sour cream and some of those veggies and I am in heaven!
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Love that place - do they deliver directly or via a service like postmates?
Sounds like a fun visit!
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Ahh! Is this a birthday party for your son or someone else? I know our kids have close birthdays.
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Early dinner before film festival yesterday.
Chicken was a flavor bomb - brined in ginger and lemongrass for a few days, and slow roasted (next time I’ll bother to sear for some color). Coconut rice with the chicken drippings and the last of a can of coconut milk that needed using up. Steamed broccoli with yuzu kosho.
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Sounds fab with duck. Recipe please
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Another friend. His party will be June 1!
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We looked at the menu on Seamless, but i just called to place the order and hopefully save the restaurant those dumb fees, think their own guy delivered it- then again we were just three blocks away too
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Lucky… I’m never in TriBeCa often enough…
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Fun fun! We are doing ours on May 18. I’m catering it completely 
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A 180° contrast to last night’s meal is tonight’s meal:
Hamburger Stroganoff. From a 1971 General Mills recipe card. Wayback Throwback.
Minor changes (using fresh cremini mushrooms vs. canned, cutting way back on cream of mushroom soup, sloshing in some brandy, and sprinkling with some Aleppo pepper).
I served it on top of egg noodles with peas and corn on top, sprinkled with paprika. And wine.
There were no pictures, because it looks like slop. But still yummy in my tummy with some throwback comfort food.
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We are doing hot dogs and kielbasa…last year was the insane homemade food menu 
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John, after the duck was pan-seared (she was a Dolly Partonesque-sized breast!), it went into a separate pan into the oven to finish cooking. Most of the duck fat was poured out into a small ramekin to cool down, leaving about a Tablespoon in the saute pan…
I added minced shallots (maybe 1-1/2 Tbsp) and sauteed quickly, then added a half cup of chicken stock and 1-1/2 Tbsp of a good Aceto Balsamico di Modena balsamic vinegar and about 1 tsp of minced fresh thyme, maybe a bit more. I simmered that for a bit to reduce, added a handful of large blackberries, crushing them with the back of a wooden spoon after they had cooked for a bit, and drizzled in a bit of honey and let it reduce a wee bit more.
Removed it from the heat and mounted it with a hefty Tbsp of cold butter to gloss it up. You could strain it to remove the bits of blackberries left after crushing them, but I wanted some texture.
Lightly spoon over the meat and add a couple of reserved blackberries for garnish.
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