Dinner with clients tonight, thus no pics. Apps of jumbo shrimp cocktail and an assortment of oysters on the half shell. Wedge salad with traditional blue cheese dressing, entree NY Strip Steak medium side of sautéed spinach! Yummmmm…
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Indeed. I would rather sit at a table covered in newspaper and heaped with crabs with people I like than any starred table with people I don’t.
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When I was a broke college student a crab feast was the only party I could afford to throw.
We’d buy a pack of chicken necks, put them in the trunk and drive an hour or so south of Tallahassee to a brackish canal. By the time we got there the chicken necks were funky enough to delight the blue crabs. There was a big-assed alligator that hung out on the outer bank and observed. He ignored all our average sized catches. But somehow he knew the moment we caught a big crab and would swim over and grab it off the line! Luckily there were always plenty of normal sized crabs for us! 
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As for me? I’m working my way through the upstairs freezer. Gotz way too much stuff in there - time to clean it out.
A thick-cut pork chop was seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried thyme and pan-seared in some hot oil. A 1/4 cup of white wine was added to the hot pan, and then 1/2 cup of defrosted Keys Mango Sauce was then added, and blended into the white wine. Covered, and simmered until the chop was done.
Side dish was steamed broccoli. No starch. But wine.
The Key’s Mango Sauce is this combo that I had used for a pork tenderloin awhile back:
2 1/2 cups fresh mango, diced (2 mangos)
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar (I’ve also used lime juice)
3 Tbsp dry sherry
1 1/2 Tbsp ginger root, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
In a food processor or blender, puree mangos. (If the mangos are stringy, strain the puree through a fine sieve.)
Transfer to a medium-sized heavy saucepan and stir in sugar, vinegar, sherry, and ginger. Heat over low heat, stirring to dissolve sugar; do not boil the puree. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
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I have a downstairs freezer (and a big ass generator if it comes to that, looks like we in NY may be dodging the worst) with a lot of frozen fish and shellfish so I bought plenty of cream, have leeks and veg to make a creamy bisquey kind of seafood stew for my spouse. Some day I’ll get back to eating fish and shellfish, but that time is not here yet. I always start with very smoky bacon or some salt pork, leeks and carrots, fish stock (usually home made from my freezer, not sure I have any left) cream, thyme, saffron, sherry, s and fgbp, tomato paste. It looks like I’ll be using some halibut, shrimp and sea scallops.
For me, there are pastured chickens down there that I like spatchcocked and roasted at 450 after brushing with melted butter, then s and p, over a bed of onions, celery, and carrot in big chunks with fresh thyme, evoo s and p. A whole bird with even inch of skin crispy and seasoned.
I rarely bake sweets, but got a big tub of mascarpone and one of smooth ricotta; thinking lemon ginger cheesecake with an almond meal crust flavored with ginger oil and freshly grated ginger to approximate my old ginger snap crust of yore.
I think I also have all the makings for a turnip gratin, gruyere and lots of fresh herbs. I love really fragrant, herbal, homey smells if it’s stormy. I may have to pretend it’s snowing, at this rate, though. Every forecast has us getting less.
I have a downstairs freezer AND full (apt-sized) fridge/freezer in my garage as well. Just no generator. Last time I lost power here was the first winter here - the Halloween snowstorm that was heavy and wet. I was without power for 2-1/2 to 3 days. But while I had to clean out the upstairs fridge of some stuff, things in my freezers stayed frozen without being opened at all (I ended up staying elsewhere during the power outage).
I love the bisquey seafood stew idea. And your spatchcocked chicken. And the lemon ginger cheesecake.
:::Looking around for my invitation:::: 
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I didn’t buy the freezer til I got the generator, since the idea was to fill it with a lot of pastured meat at some expense. After Sandy, when it hit the 20s and I could see my breath indoors, I decided I was just too old for that shit. Our generator allows us to run everything at once if we want to, at stupid expense, which pretty much guarantees we’ll never have an outage again.
But if we do, at least I won’t be running out every a.m. to the beverage place for more bags of ice to pack my fridge and freezers!
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Tuscan Thursday: Ribollita with Italian Sausage. Molto bene. I was going to make Panzanella salad, but decided too much bread and I forgot to buy a cuke, so it was romaine, radicchio, red onion, cherry tomatoes & basil with a rw vinegar & oo dressing. There was a glass of Sangiovese. A rare dry, mild day today, defrosted the freezer and like Linda I need to start paring it down.
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The crab cakes turned out well, especially for a first! The tartar sauce could’ve been a bit on the thicker side (and the pickles chopped even finer); also, I think I’ll pan-fry the leftover 1.5 cakes.
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Hi LindaWhit,
The forum software here doesn’t have the Chowhound issue of thread loading slowly once a thread gets to ~400 posts that necessitated a new thread. So originally we tried to switch to a new thread every month so its easy for everyone to know when exactly to migrate over to a new thread. With that said, I will leave it up to you all on this thread to decide how you want to handle when to start a new thread.
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My personal preference: a new WFD thread for EACH MONTH. Easier for search and to know if the thread is doing better or worse…
Can admin move the posts?
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I’ve cooked two evenings in a row! Arm roast one night and then stew last night made from some round steaks I found on sale. The stew ended up bland but thickened well, and that’s what I always worry about.
I don’t recall any of that. Perhaps it was decided when I was ill and not participating as much. Please feel free to delete my thread then.
That looks like a beautiful, crisp exterior!
Last night was a freezer clearing meal. I had tried a “Greek” meatball recipe a while back and had dozens of leftovers. IIRC the meatballs were pork with rice and lemon zest. They were very tender but rather one dimensional in flavor. Re purposed them into a casserole with cabbage, onion and chicken stock. Side dish of tomatoes roasted in Garlic Expressions.
Several months ago my boss/friend had been singing the praises of a dinner I made and said that she would happily pay $27 for it in a restaurant. After that it became a joke for her to name the amount she would pay for each dinner. Last night was $7.95 with the explanation that she would order it as a nightly special at the diner and be satisfied but wouldn’t order it again. Pretty much sums it up!
So far a little snow and a larger amount of freezing rain. Looks like we will be having a snow day. Bloody Marys and monopoly will come into play. Need to poke around her fridge and freezer and see what our dinner options are. I think she said she had purchased some carnitas at TJ’s. She’s making us a big bacon, egg and hash brown brunch. I think this will be the first time I’ve seen her cook in her despised kitchen!
It’s funny how delighted she is in having a snow day! I think she’s such a workaholic that she’d feel guilty just taking a day off without an “excuse”.
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Hey everyone! I’m in SE Virginia so they really have no clue how much snow/ice/rain we’re going to get. Either way, it’s bound to be a traffic nightmare when I get out of work today.
Because this will continue into Sunday for us, I going to make my Mom’s recipe for lentil stew (although it’s not really a stew). You take a whole mess of leftover tomato sauce and cut it with water to thin it out, then you throw in a bag of green lentils to simmer away. About halfway through cooking, I add in some mini-sized meatballs that I brown in the oven, along with a cup or so of brown rice. If I have a parm rind I’ll usually throw that in too. That will bubble away for another hour or so until it’s so thick that your wooden spoon will stand up by itself. The last thing you add before serving is a very healthy dose of grated cheese. It is so good on a nasty weekend like this.
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Kris - Long time no see! Glad to have you here!
Thanks! I think it could be crispier and browner, but I’m pretty obsessive about my crispy-crunchy foods 
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Leftovers are probable for tonight, but I went to the grocery store this morning to buy a few things just in case the storm shuts us down (although we’re not in any danger of losing power, and we can walk to probably 6 grocery stores even in several feet of snow, I figured it would be better not to HAVE to leave the house). Most important purchase was half and half, since I assume there will be much coffee drunk this weekend! Otherwise, I didn’t really need much, other than some vegetables and other perishables. Even in our small NYC kitchen, we’ve got enough of a “pantry” to get us through for quite a while - I really don’t understand these people that have to buy carts full of bread and eggs. Anyone else stocking up just in case?
