Happy bday to Mr B!! Your chicken looked good! Too much cleaning work for deep frying at home, so I do it sparingly. But been thinking of investing on a portable gas burner that I can use my round bottom wok in the outdoors. The wok doesn’t work on the induction hob and I use only large pan to do frying, which is not exactly as using a wok.
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Since I only had to make one serving (a BIG serving 
) of the fried chicken, I didn’t bother with deep frying - I just shallow fried in about 1/2" of peanut oil. It did spatter a bit but not too big a mess, and much less oil to discard. I have a portable induction burner that I have used for deep frying outdoors before - works great in warmer weather but today I’ll live with the mess to stay inside!
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Actually it’s not the splashing oil that is bothering me, but the smoke. We have an open kitchen, the hood we have is not enough due to the large space, everything becomes sticky after a while. Once a technician looked around our house and kitchen, and told us that only a professional hood would be useful.
For the outdoor burner, my original idea was a portable induction burner, but H dissuaded me on that, saying that a gas one is more powerful than an induction one for the budget I’ve planned to invested. A higher end induction one would be interesting, but it’s not the same budget and since I would use it only occasionally, I don’t want to spend a lot on that.
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Schmutz is the condition of a working kitchen. Hire a minion to scrub after every meal, or lower your standards. We have a commercial hood and exhaust fans plus a restaurant exhaust fan on the roof, and our kitchen is still schmutzy. I resign myself to the fact that I cook. 24/7. We do a relatively deep clean from not-frequent-enough time to time, but I’m not getting excited about the down-sides of the way we live and eat!
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We had another outstanding dinner at Belford Bistro. We enjoyed grouper in a winter truffle beurre blanc, with artichoke and asparagus risotto; filet mignon in a red wine sauce with parsnip puree, and Brussels sprouts; fresh baked torchio pasta with short ribs, carrots, and Roquefort blue cheese; Humboldt fog cheese salad with cara cara oranges, baby artichokes, and carrots in a citrus vinaigrette. We also had an awesome lobster bisque soup not pictured. It all went great with an excellent Chateauneuf Du Pape. The Chef and staff created an incredible gingerbread house from scratch. It took them a couple of weeks.
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That is a stunning gingerbread house. My wife and I haven’t been to TBB in years but we had a very enjoyable meal with relatives at the time. Yours looks terrific.
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Thanks Dan. Everything was outstanding. We pretty much had all of their specials. That homemade torchio with short ribs was elevated comfort food.
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Greek night: mom’s pastitsio, my handcut Greek fries, tzatziki and seasoned olive oil for pita bread. I experimented with a “Greek Martini” (vodka, ouzo, lime juice). It was alright but did not make a second one.
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The lighting in the gingerbread house is nice.
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Brown rice, crimson lentils, yellow onions, green peas (and spinach!), cracked black pepper, served over roasted sweet potatoes - quite colorful!
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BBBPWSTOB . Pork loin . With garlic , rosemary , white wine ,
sweet Spanish paprika. Salad . Cheers .
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Looks like good times.
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Ditto on the lazy first day of the year.
Ham & Cheese Ball
I water soaked the salty leftover ham @pilgrim… it worked! Food processed the Ham, Fruit Glaze, Pimento Cheese, Cream Cheese and put the mixture in the freezer for about 10 minutes then rolled it in Candied Walnuts. The ball was the bomb! 
Yellow Eyed Peas… that’s right, yellow.
Southern tradition calls for lucky Black Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day. Thought I had some then remembered I gave them away, but had these yellows from Rancho Gordo - they’re denser, creamier & have a milder flavor… hopefully they’re just as lucky. 
Also included - leftover Ham w/bone, leftover frozen Collard & Turnip Greens, Carrots, Onion, Celery, Garlic, Yellow Bell Peppers, Rice, Louisiana Hot Sauce & Bay Leaf.
Happy 2021… We made it!
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looks terrific! that grouper dish is calling my name.
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Thanks. The grouper was excellent. It was a great combination with the artichoke and asparagus risotto and the winter truffle beurre blanc sauce. The chef is very talented.
Folks are on the New Year’s Jambalaya tip. My cousin - of the yummy potato salad - posted this on the family text thread.
I think she does the rice on the side.
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Cool didnt realize its a trend 
Haha… I didn’t either.
