Sigh…remember RESTAURANTS? (That’s for the U.S.)
What a beautiful place and plates! Living vicariously through these, @barca!
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Just what I was thinking when I saw @Barca’s beautiful photos.
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Thank you for the lovely compliment.
Ristorante Gilda, is quite a jewel ! If ever, on my side of the globe, do visit San Remo, Liguria and the whole Ligurian Coast. Take a re-chargeable translator with you.
The restaurants and bars, do speak “Italian - inglese” !
It is one of the most beautiful autonomous communities unspoilt by loads of tourists and the sea views speak for themselves. It is actually only a 20 - 25 minute car drive from Nice, France.
Have a lovely wkend.
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Indeed, what a splendid meal. Happy anniversary!
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Good to know power is back.
Nice ones. Although I should stop drinking. Compared to last year, seriously I’ve gained 11 pounds / 5 kg, no joking. I think I’ll stop messing around and start doing some real sports.
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I made some Chashu on Tuesday, ramen in mind. But there were no ramen noodles at home, so I proceeded to plan B - soba with a clear soy sauce soup from NYT with poached eggs.
Next day, H got some ramen from a Japanese store in Paris. I made the 9-hour Tonkotsu broth with all the pork goodies and bones I’ve collected over the months in the freezer. Milky white broth, I made a slightly spicy miso tare to go with the soup. But the broth making made the kitchen very hot as we’re entering the heat wave phrase until Tuesday. The induction top cut off the power at one point. Delicious but wrong timing.
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@naf - think just about everyone has gained weight during this Covid thing. As well, whatever vices one indulges in, seems to have increased for nearly all, at least temporarily. We’ll probably get back on track, don’t think it’s too surprising, considering all the rapid changes and uncertainty of things at present. But you know that! 
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LOL, recently besides unlimited wines and alcohols, I’ve made lots of desserts: lemon tarts, and a few strawberries desserts, also kept mixing my own ginger syrup after trying to hack Gimber that I found in my neighbour’s fridge. Ate a lot of carbs too.
BTW, Gimber was really good, extremely sweet, intense ginger flavour, powerful as a non alcoholic drink. For my hacked version, I added some Kampot red pepper and long pepper. I think I’m nearly there.
I was planning to start playing with ice cream and sorbet these few days due to the hot temperature, but I think I better scrap the plan. 
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I bet Gimber would be delicious with some Misunderstood Whiskey! 
cc: @MsBean @gcaggiano
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That definitely sounds like a good combo. I love anything ginger – almost as much as I love anything tahini.
@naf - could you describe the Gimber flavor profile in more detail? I don’t see it currently available to me. and may have to resort to trying to make it. Thank you.
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It’s a belgian company making it and only available in Europe, it seems.
OK, I’ll try. You taste first the heat of overwhelming ginger with refleshing lime juice in a syrup. I grated out a good thumb of ginger, better more than less. I didn’t use the organic Peruvian ginger like they have but just normal stuff from the supermarket, so I bet they were Chinese ginger, I didn’t find much difference in terms of taste. Add a small amount of lime juice and much higher proportion of sugar syrup. This is already close enough to Gimber. On the bottle ingredients, they specify some spices but didn’t mention what, so I added some whole long pepper and red peppercorns. I would say it’s about 90% the taste of Gimber. I’ve no idea what herbs they have used, so I ignored that. If you want to make a small bottle size of that thing, you need to grate at least 5 or 6 whole ginger.
Normally it is suggested to use to dilute in a drink, but I actually like it “pure”, it’s sensationally good.
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BF outdid himself last night for my birthday dinner. His first foray into cooking Thai. Fresh spring rolls with homemade peanut sauce, green mango salad, steamed mussels in a basil/coconut sauce, Tom Yum, Thai Sticky-Tangy Ribs, and steamed rice
Everything was great, but the mussels in that sauce were TO DIE FOR. The ribs were perfect too. The soup was a bit watery - he thought he was making Tom Kha Gai but he followed a recipe for Tom Yum, and added coconut milk even though it wasn’t called for. Just needed a bit of doctoring. Still, all completely delicious. He started buying/prepping 2 days before 
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Tonight we’re debating doing take-out from Lolinda (Argentinian-ish steakhouse), our favorite for bday celebrations. We just don’t want to waste the gift certificate my sister gave me if their to-go food doesn’t measure up. They’re right around the corner from us so it shouldn’t be a matter of the food sitting… And we have a TON of leftovers… hmmm… but Lolinda… #firstworldproblems
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Looks like he’s a keeper! Happy Birthday!
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He cooks you seafood and doesn’t eat any himself. Mussels look fanTAstic. 
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Happy birthday! Good BF! But wait, aren’t you doing a birthday month like last year? I remember reading your serial b-day meals, well, remind me August already! 
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Happy birthday! Looks amazing!
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i know! and there was shrimp in the rolls. he ate both, it’s just never something he wants to order.
when we were living in Croatia, our landlord/neighbors used to invite us for dinner and a few times dinner was “small fish” - some type of mackerel. He would eat what they gave him without a word, and if they gave him seconds, he’d eat that too. Mama trained him right.
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You are doing your birthday right, @mariacarmen! That’s what I call a festive dinner. May the celebration continue!
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well, due to circumstances, the celebrations will be much sparer this year. I’m only seeing my sister and the BF, so… we may do take-out tonight, and tomorrow at my sister’s we’re ordering really great seafood take-out too. So, for 2020 let’s just call it a birthday weekend!
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