What's for Dinner #47 - the Halfway Through The Year Edition - July 2019

Last night, we came back to our apartment beaten and battered. I had to find art supplies and no one seemed to know where to purchase them. Finally we got a good lead on a supermarket that would carry the supplies, and then luckily one of the other kids from the art school was there with her mother.

We are sharing our 3 bedroom Beijing apartment with two sisters, one in each of the other rooms. They graciously fed us. A congee-type thing and a veggie patty. Plus we had cucumbers, apples, and bananas. I asked about the patty and was told they made it up. They eat lots of different grains. Hope I have energy to learn something from them.

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Broiled bbq pork chops, mac n cheese, baked beans, and honey-mustard coleslaw (doctored leftovers made by a friend).

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Home. Off duty. DH asks for a BLT.


I scrounged up already cooked, salvaged spaghetti, newly dressed with artichoke pesto.

Two simply served but happy campers.

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Yay! another BLT on rye lover! Had people on another food group pooh-pooh my choice of bread from a couple weeks ago, but i love rye for a BLT! any sandwich, really…

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This will be a week of absolutely no cooking. I’ve fallen behind on reviews and have been averaging only 1 a month (editor wants 2), so the BF suggested we play catch-up this week and go out for dinner any night that I’m home. so, the last two nights were this newish pizza place by a chef that has 3 other extremely popular places in this City (in my neighborhood, actually). food was great to outstanding.

Caesar salad…


white anchovies were all mine! sometimes it pays off that the bf doesn’t like seafood.

Ricotta meatballs…


there was something deliciously lemony in the excellent marinara sauce.

Mozz, taleggio, mushroom, garlic & spinach pizza…


taleggio for me overpowers other things (unless eaten alone, in which case, hand me the trowel), so this was a tad rich, especially after those meatballs. But the crust! Heaven.

burrata & stone fruit salad with mint, chilies, & pistachios


OMFG this was moan-out-loud-lick-the-bowl-clean good.

chopped salad - the be all and end all of chopped salads…

housemade sausage pizza with mozz, tomatoes, olives and rosemary…


holy crap - the be-all-and-end-all of all pizza.

I can tell we’ll become regulars here.

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Looks good! I’m guessing from the picture names that its from Flour+Water Pizzeria? Have been meaning to try the $8 take out slice from there which is apparently half a pizza.

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yep, and yep!

Going out to dinner so you can play catch up!. I like that! Sounds like my kinda neighborhood.

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O.M.F.G. I’ll have what Maria is having!

I like the look and idea of this. What’s the dressing (if any)?

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The Costco in Pentagon does not carry the much Kirkland wine. I usually go to TJ but last trip, I bought their Asolo Prosecco, brought it to a party but they did not open it. I still have a bottle in the fridge but for $7.00, what the heck. I also bought the Concha y Toro m 6.99 and KS cabernet for $7.99

Yesterday, found new allergy to the spent flowers of lamb’s ear. Was harvesting it for my friend who went to Costco with me yesterday. I had to travel to Va as I like Pentagon best. She has a home in SF too She says the Pentagon branch does not have as much Kirkland brand as SF branch. Tough as it was very very hot and humid, and my son who. had to go to Dulles Airport for his trip was kind of late. It was MN before I returned home as I brought crabs ( from restaurant , not ours as my son is too busy to leave crab pot in river and I am too weak to pull it out this year), so, its 2 Pomeranians with me, it was kind of tough shopping. The male supervisor at Pentagon absolutely adores my moms while the female supervisor does not allow them. I took a chance if she is there, my friend’s husband would take them to the mall. They love shopping and love the attention that they get from customers there who ask to pose pictures with them, for th eir children to pat them, etc etc. I even had offers to buy them! My wolf would dance to cha cha cha if given treats from vendors!

I was only able to buy the same wines I purchased before bec they were good price, and did have on my list the Russian River Chardonnay but could not find it, Pauillac, their chianti. Next time perhaps.

I had to buy loads of kombucha which were on sale ( son drinks two bottles a day ) and they had to be refrigerated. Still have 3 cases on fridge but lagging it home in freezer chest is no fun

So, let my friend had the crabs, bought Chinese take out chicken chow fen( their treat) , made a salad from garden of cucumber with sesame oil, soy sauce , mirin and cider vinegar ( it was not good to my taste as they do not like to have
too much soy sauce, refused for me to add pepper and red crack vinegar.)
I also bought an apple pie for dinner

So, for next two weeks , I am not cooking. For starter, I bought a rotisserie chicken and when son comes back, his GF will be visiting from Amsterdam for 3 weeks, so a lot of cooking except on days when they head for beach (Outer banks or M vineyard)

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it was a salsa verde - with mint, among other herbs.

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The episode of Escape from Seoul part II wasn’t as smooth as planned. We thought that more than 3 hours in advance of going to the airport was enough. Reality, not really. It took us less than an hour to arrive in the airport. But the self checkin services didn’t work, the counter queue took forever. When we arrived at the security, the line was 3 or 4 times more than the day before, meaning it would mean at least 40 minutes to pass the security and immigration. We would miss our plane again! In panic mood, I talked to a woman in uniform and she allowed us in with a side door, there were a few person waiting to be checked. The people in line were very nice and let us passed before them. We ran frenzily to the gate, and this time, we were only 2 minutes before the boarding gate closed (official time). What a relief! But I noticed that people were allowed onto the plane until the last minute of departing time.

For meal, we had a meal with a congee and wonton place in Hong Kong.

Wonton noodles

Lo mein with dumpings

Roasted meat - char siu and pork

Pomelo skins

A week from now, I will be cooking again. YAY!!

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Yikes! Glad you were able to get out OK this time!

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Must THANK everybody that let us jump the line.

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We’re getting the tram into the city for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow, my companion in life is off to London for the day, with her sister - to see a major Van Gogh exhibition. Train doesnt arrive back until after 11. They’ve booked a restaurant for an early dinner. Meanwhile, I’m planning to raid the brown gloop drawer of the freezer for leftovers from a home dleivery from the local Mumbai street food restaurant - I know there’s Chicken Malvani and a dahl in there. And I know I’ve got chapattis so, with some home made banana chutney, I think that’s dinner sorted.

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glad you made it out, but that meal looks fantastic !

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Just curious, what percentage of your monthly dins are take out?

A quick dinner. Microwaved some cauliflower while cooking some frozen peas stove top and sautéing shallots and garlic.

Tossed that into the food processor to make a purée

Seared scallops in butter and bang…dinner

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Garlicky pan roasted chicken thigh, obligatory greens and crusted hashed potatoes.


Raspberries, sugar and cream

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Tonight, I made Paneer Tikka Masala. I’ve made this a few times before but “rebooted” my approach using lessons learned while preparing other curries this year.

The biggest change was incorporating whole spices (clove, green cardamom, black cardamom, cinnamon), in addition to ground spices (garam masala, fenugreek, kashmiri chili powder), into the mix. These spices added depth that wasn’t present before.

On top of that, I marinated the paneer in yogurt and broiled it before adding it to the curry.

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