Lazy day.
Super simple dinner: roasted BISO chicken breast seasoned with a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, minced rosemary and parsley, dried roasted garlic powder, s/p and honey.
Sides were roasted potatoes (olive oil, s/p, Penzeys Tuscan Sunset and ground sumac) and steamed broccoli.
Wine. And an ice cream sandwich for desseet.
All I have to do is get up from where I am and say “FINNY!” in a stern voice and walk towards the two of them and Finn breaks away from Alfie. He often tries to go back for continued beating up, but if I hover nearby he finally stops.
Ah. You have established a hierarchy and Finny tests the limits. When Emma misbehaves she does stop when my wife says her name sharply. When I catch Emma and say her name she (Emma) checks with my wife. Clearly we have a hierarchy as well, and I know where I stand.
For an animal with a brain the size of a walnut Emma is pretty smart. She knows she is supposed to be on the counters. When I wake up in the middle of the night and swing my legs out of bed, Emma hears me and I can hear her jump off the counter in the kitchen. Bad Emma! grin Boundary testing.
You too can have barbecue pizza. A couple leftover pork ribs, an ear of corn, slices of summer tomato, grilled red onion, BBQ sauce, and odds and ends of cheese will do it.
Guardian of the grill while your pizza cooks is optional. Except at our house, where a certain good dog insists on keeping watch.
Good dogs are precious.
A while back I bought a few pounds of gnarly, bony pork chops - my favorite for long marinades and grilling. These ended up with Vietnam-ish flavors including fish sauce, brown sugar, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, and bird’s eye chiles then frozen for later eating. That eating was tonight. Served with a green papaya salad. I really only ate half but the whole chop made a better picture.
We enjoyed a sensational INDOOR dinner out for the first time in six months at Il Nido in Marlborough Township, NJ. All of the tables were nicely spaced and the servers were fully masked. The owners added hepa filters for better air circulation. We enjoyed a delicacy of 36 month aged culatello with hazelnuts; ricottina with white figs, fig jam, and prosciutto; basil pesto fettuccine with lobster; lobster risotto; wagyu bavette; honey nut squash with brown butter and rosemary. It all went great with an excellent Shiraz and cabernet.
Tried to hit one of our favorite restaurant tonight but the crowd and wait were enormous, so we swung over to a nearby Greek place for takeout. Excellent as always. I had chicken souvlaki and not pictured were mom’s falafel platter and BF’s falafel wrap and Greek fries. Even grabbed a bottle of Ouzo from the liquor store across the street. Haven’t had it in years. Remarkable as an aperitif.
A “light” dinner, as it was 100 degrees in San Francisco today (record-breaker!) Thin tri tip steaks marinated in TJs’ spicy zhoug (delicious stuff! I want to make my own sometime, but this is sooooo good i may never), made into lettuce wraps. Lightly sauteed cherry tomatoes with raw garlic, ground fennel, and red pepper flakes, cold from the fridge, tossed with cooled pasta. Refreshing. Last of the ratatouille, also served cool. The tri tip was super tender, and juicy, despite all appearances.
and yes, there were fries for brunch. followed by a sweaty nap.
so very sorry about your father-in-law … it sound like such a hard time to be going through, for all of you… you’re a good daughter-in-law. i know what it’s like, and yes, it is the worst of times and yet the best of times.
Oh yeah. Kitchen counter and the dining room table are both frequent perches. I hear the thump of 4 paws hitting the floor, then Finn walks in to where I am with the most nonchalant look. I say to him “I know you were just on the table” and I get the Vinnie Barbarino look of “WHA?” Little hellcat.
Pardon the slightly dirty plate, as this was seconds. We decided it was a grilling weekend. Marinated tri-tip w/chimichurri, potato salad, and garden tomatoes. Due to an error, the steak came out better than it should have! [I had a recipe that said sear, then indirect heat for 25-30 min. I went to check it’s temp at 20 and the fire had gone out completely. And it happened a second time too. So it smoked for a while twice while I thought it was cooking. Which resulted in a very smoky but not too well done tri-tip.] Everyone loved it. I’m a little surprised but this family of 4 put away nearly 2 lbs of it. Zoiks!
oooh, i’ll have to try the Corpse Revivor… my newest favorite martini lately has been Hendricks Midsummer Solstice Gin, Dolin Vermouth Blanc, and a splash of Aperol, with a lemon twist.
gorgeous!
How is the Hendrick’s Midsummer? Its a beautiful bottle.
I don’t have Aperol, but I do have Campari (its been sitting around a LONG time-- I ended up not being as big a fan of the Negroni as I thought I would be). Can this be substituted?
Thank you. I wish I found this recipe earlier in the season. It was very good and very easy to make. The hardest part was cutting the watermelon neatly and in somewhat similarly sized cubes.
the Midsummer is my favorite. Very floral. I started hoarding it last year when they brought it out, so happy it returned.
yes! in fact, I’m almost out of Aperol, was going to switch to Campari myself. But do yourself a favor and get the Dolin Blanc (a bit sweeter than Dolin Dry.)
That looks amazing.
Thank you! It was 
It was just nice to start eating indoors again in a safe environment.
I’m impressed. We’re in the same area, and we had sushi for lunch and skipped dinner. I hate these heat spells!
