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.
I do like the idea of gumbo with potato salad.
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Dinner looks superb!
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Went with a proper Sunday roast chicken dinner, creamy sour cream mashed potatoes, and steamed green beans. Gives me plenty of leftovers for chicken salad sandwiches for work lunches.
Wine. Maybe some Gifford’s sea salt caramel truffle ice cream for afters.
And I do need to make crockpot chicken stock, as I have WAY too many chicken bones in my up and down freezers. I had planned to do so this weekend, but…lazy.
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Light indian comfort food last night driven by a kiddo’s overindulged tummy.
Khichdi (lentils and rice) with a simple tempering of garlic and cumin, plus whole garam masala. Ghee to serve.
Accompaniments (for the rest of us) of roasted cauliflower, potatoes in a tomato gravy, and pan-fried chilli garlic shrimp. Oh, and papad.
AND! Key lime pickle that I made this week, an attempt to recreate my grandmother’s via taste memory and ingredient guidance from my mom - plus a little sous vide action for the modern day.
We always called this “the black pickle” - but we had to wait for the pickle to age before the color darkened. Try as they might, my mother and grandmother could not convince us kids to touch the new batch until it had sat for months and darkened. This was a sped up version - I cooked the key limes sous vide to tenderize the rinds, and finished them in jaggery for the color and flavor (which is traditional). Toughest home food critic - my sibling - partook and said “oh yeah, that’s pretty good” - “pretty good” is high praise around these parts 
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