It’s been a year.
Or maybe 2 years rolled into one.
At least that’s the way it feels sometimes.
But there’s still reasons for us to give thanks.
Sometimes we have to looking for those reasons, because of everything else going on.
I’m thankful for my sister and BIL…my family.
I’m thankful for good food (and good wine…I mean who’s kidding who, here? )
I’m thankful for the Internet…it affords me many more “friends” than I could have imagined…even if they are mostly virtual and I’ve never met them in real life.
I’m thankful for those who share their love of cooking, eating and drinking on these WFD threads.
So, what’s cooking and being poured in your house?
What a lovely sentiment to start the month! Like you, I am grateful for my family - parents, siblings, nieces, nephew - even though they are far away. Luckily I have my husband and kitties to keep me sane at home! Grateful also to be gainfully employed, so that I can continue to indulge my love of food and wine!
Last night was an absolute festival of junk food - fish sticks, tater tots, pizza rolls and of course an Almond Joy (or three) from the candy bowl. Back on the low carb straight and narrow today with an omelet filled with smoked pork shoulder and pepper jack cheese. Will do something a little lighter for dinner - salmon and a salad, perhaps. Balance!
Well here we go…had a hankering for braised short ribs today, however my local grocery store only had 1 pack of two short ribs left. They had 1 pack of boneless and 1 pack of 2 beef ribs. So tonight was an assortment of braised ribs over a fresh parpadella with ricotta on the side. Delicious!!!
Wild mushrooms, and Saffron Risotto with a Chardonnay …
A favorite of the season … Chilly mornings (10 degrees centig ) and sunny sunny afternoons going up to 22 Centig degrees. Real nice weather this weekend …
Impulse buy of Sweet Asian chicken wings at my local butcher to use up my birthday coupon was dinner tonight.
Sides were roasted paprika potatoes (that decided not to crisp up the way I like but were still good) and sauteed sugar snap peas, red bell pepper and corn with Penzeys Fine Herbs blend.
I’ve been feeling really uninspired and worn out the last few days. Yesterday’s truly weird Halloween didn’t help. The whole energy of the day was off. My kids didn’t even want to put on their costumes and go trick or treating in the neighborhood. There was a general feeling of “what’s the point”?
Still feeling general malaise, but sleeping in this morning and getting a big phase of a huge work project that’s been crushing me this week helped a bit. Tonight I decided turkey chili and corn muffins would do the trick. I enlisted my 7 year old little guy to help with the chopping – red and green peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes. We made a huge batch with plenty of black beans. just spicy enough to have a bit of kick, but not too much for the kids. I prefer mine topped with cheddar, the rest not so much. Corn muffins on the side. no other veggies because there were a ton in the chili and who can be bothered…
I feel this. Turning the clocks back today was an extra kick when I’m already down. Election stress is seeping into everything. Hopefully there will be some relief next week!
We had another excellent dinner at Bistro D’Azur in South Orange, NJ.
We enjoyed duck confit salad, lobster crepe, Spanish chips, NY strip steak frites, and swordfish escabeche. It all went great with an excellent Shiraz.
ham steak with a maple syrup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, smoked paprika, and cayenne glaze, and buttermilk & goat cheese mashed taters with TPSTOB. Also, garlicky broccoli rabe. Also, I made tomato gravy - never had or made before, but i thought it might go… Super rich! (made with all bacon fat.) and I know it’s supposed to be good on biscuits but we had baguette, so…
A nice weekend, but unremarkable dinners, which is a fine trade off.
Last night we had lebanese takeout with the pod family - we had many of our usuals, and I opted to try their shawarma pizza, which was fine but not a reorder.
Tonight we had another family over (distanced outside) and decided to keep it simple with pizza and salad, topped off with lots of ice cream. A very fun evening.
But there was grilling too, to stock the freezer for lunches - tandoori chicken breasts and simply marinated sirloin cap. All cut, portioned, vacuum packed, and frozen for easy weekday lunches.
No pics, I was too relaxed and then too rushed to get everything organized and cleared before guests.
Tomorrow is a kid birthday, and every meal has been planned out for a while Dinner will be an Indian fry fest extravaganza.
Here’s my Halloween haul, which arrived just in time from “overseas.”
Ditto - it’s been pretty bad here for a few weeks. So, yesterday, I made a few lists of things to make to get back into the grove. I also jotted down things I saw on cooking shows, these posts, and broke out a few cookbooks to add to the list. I’m hoping a list will be easier to go to than my brain at the end of the day!
Asparagus, spinach, risotto. Did this with just water (no stock), wine, lemon zest and juice and parm. Finished with a few purple basil leaves, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a drizzle of evoo.
Crab spinach enchiladas suizas. This was a reinvention of my leftover crab cakes. mixed up with frozen spinach and a bit of cream cheese for some moisture/richness. topped with a delicious suizas sauce which was heavy on salsa verde for some kick. My husband doesn’t generally love straight leftovers so transformation is always a plus. Still have a ton of filling for these that went into the freezer.
I made Italian-style(ish) turkey meatloaf seasoned and stuffed with mozzarella and marinara, and topped with marinara and ketchup. Used French fried onions, which worked very well. The ubiquitous kale salad (currants, pistachios, and white wine pumpkin-seed vinaigrette). Baked tater with PSTOP&SC.
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Dinner will be an Indian fry fest extravaganza.
