Where last night was Mexican / tacos tonight was Chinese. Credit to @seal for recently introducing me to this dish which I enjoyed so much I decided to give it a try; Ants Climbing the Tree and shrimp fried (cauliflower) rice.
Easy-peasy dinner: half of a humongous Frankenchicken breast seasoned with olive oil, s/p, and Herbs de Provence and roasted in the oven.
Sides were steamed and buttered green beans and leftover rice pilaf. And wine.
As usually several dinners.
H brought home some fresh scallops, made this classic chez naf.
Reduction of citrus (yuzu, orange and lime), zests, roes and tarragon. Pan fried scallops with butter.
Finished with a fish soup, made with rehydrated salted cod, tomato, carrot, potato, onion, shallot, garlic, vermouth, fennel… Added aneth and cream before serving.
Yesterday dinner, tried with a new recipe. The scallops was pan fried with butter, they were served with a cider reduction mixed with honey, carrot, onion and apple. Sprinkled with roasted hazelnuts, chive, coriander, celery salt and evoo. Excellent!
Followed by herbs sausage with a truffle aligot and a spinach salad with apple.
Today only the coral were left. Pan fried slightly, cooked with cream, safran, salt and pepper. Tossed on some squid ink pasta. Still good.
Some American style hard shell tacos with ground turkey, packaged taco spice mix, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, shredded cheese, and Taco Bell taco sauce.
I love those tacos.
Dinner was Chinese takeout and these carrot cake cupcakes the BF made. And a martini or two!
When it comes to martinis, everyone knows me as a gin drinker. However lately, it has been Tito’s vodka. Smoother than Stoli and maybe even Grey Goose. I am close to finishing this handle and I’m ashamed to say when I bought it.
Tito’s Vodka needs a picture of 1950s Yugoslavia.
Also, a vodka martini is like fettuccine Alfredo made with Cheddar cheese.
That’s what I used to think. But when well-chilled and little to no vermouth, there is something to be said for its purity.
I don’t say it’s not good - I’d go for the cheddar fettuccine, and I’d go for the vodka and vermouth - just that in both cases they shouldn’t be called by the same name as the original. When there are only two main ingredients and you change one of them, it’s a different recipe altogether, not a variation or modification - especially if the ingredient you’re changing is indisputably the main ingredient, like gin is in a martini.
(and without vermouth, it does have a good name: “a shot of vodka” )
I am close to finishing this handle and I’m ashamed to say when I bought it
As long as it was before noon that day you have nothing to be ashamed of, hell I’d be proud!
I don’t drink either, but I’d say that just asking for a “Martini” should automatically mean one made with gin - the Classic Original. Whereas a “Vodka martini” is, obvi, one made with vodka. Different name.
There are SO many martini-type drinks out there, differentiated with adding another word. Espresso martini, Appletini, Vesper martini, Lemon Drop martini, etc. Martinis, all. Just not the Classic Original.
They may need to rethink the instructions on how to get italics or emphasis, because this not-quite-working example unfortunately makes pretty good sense. Maybe the instructions should say *Replace this sentence with the text you want to emphasize* ?
That was the unfortunate outcome from trying to copy, paste, etc. via cell phone rather than a PC. I could have easily copied he entire statement, without dissecting the precise comment I wanted to respond to, but on the cell that proved to be a feat beyond my capabilities. All fixed now, thank you for pointing it out.
I’ve been using phone only here, so I know what you mean - but there are quite a few things on HO that are more difficult than they need to be, regardless of phone vs PC.
Elsewhere, I’ve seen the way the creator of this software handles suggestions and reports of problems - he tends to just tell people that there is no problem and that whatever they want they should stop wanting it. So I’m sympathetic to the admin team here - their hands are tied to some extent.
Seafood swankiness @naf!
I love a good ‘murican crunchy taco shell @Mr_Happy. I always ask for them at Chipotle (another sacrilege). They snag them out of a bottom drawer like contraband.
P.S. @DavidPF has jokes! Where’d you find this guy? Will he be here all week? Ba dum tss.
My brain has a mind of its own. It’s a joke factory in there, and the only person on QC is me. A lot gets out that shouldn’t.
Keep it comin.
True… It also depends how far back in history we’re supposed to go to determine “classic original-ness”. When the martini began, gin didn’t taste the same as it does today, neither did vermouth, they put in a lot more vermouth than today, blah blah blah. And gin manufacturers still keep changing formulas - I’m guessing often aimed at getting their gin into more martinis, because obviously that’s one of its major uses.
I tried Beefeater gin, and while it’s obviously gin, to my inexperienced taste it seemed like “gin for people who wish they’d ordered vodka”. And someone smarter than me is sure to disagree with that, which brings up the point that everyone will continue to disagree about this type of stuff anyway, no matter what.
I knew a guy once who said (basically, it was years ago): “Seriously, it all tastes like gasoline. Get drunk, be happy, stop arguing.” Even if he was wrong, he was not 100% wrong.
I made the Chicken Marsala @LindaWhit with leftover store-bought roasted chicken and crostinis for sopping.
Sauce & shrooms didn’t get as bronzey as yours, probably because I didn’t have all those good dark bits from pan-frying the chix and I crowded my shrooms, but it was still delish.
Eating out of the freezer to make room for the yearly lamb. Roasted a lamb leg, with a wonderful Mediterranean marinade. Had a great couple meals, and sandwiches out of it. Took the meaty leftover bone, had another in the freezer, and with the pan juices, made stock. It wound up as harira - an explosion of flavor and comfort in a bowl. I even cooked it. For the ample leftovers, I’ll be making some kind of bread. Maybe tomorrow.