A local takeout place does a fabulous cochinita pibil, rice and beans. I added avocado and cherry tomatoes. Super yummy, the best part being the cochinita pibil. He lived in the Yucatán for awhile and learned a few things.
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Had to fight the strongest urge to go grocery shopping today… anyone else have to do that sometimes? 
Instead, I went fridge and freezer shopping - emerged with tuna marinated in ginger and soy (seared with a coat of sesame seeds), broccoli pan-fried with garlic, blistered shishito peppers, and wasabi mashed potato.
Everything was tasty - and sadly proved my own point about not needing to go to the store, but the wasabi potatoes and the garlic broccoli were particularly good because I haven’t had either in a while. Glad I didn’t make sushi rice because I told myself I need to utilize the 5lb bag of potatoes I foolishly ordered a month ago (because they cost the same as 3 a la carte 
).
Now I’ve menu planned a bit to use up other vegetables after which I will allow myself back in a shop… sometime this week 
Oh, and I finally baked cake last night! Chocolate bundt cake using the crazy cake recipe as a base and making adjustments.
Let it rest so the flavor could develop, then dropped off more than half the slices for my building staff.
Nice to have a bit of dessert to indulge in!
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We still can’t seem to have Sunday Sauce on a Sunday, but Saturday Sauce tastes just as good. BF spent hours preparing this lovely meal. There was fresh bread, seasoned olive oil, and artichoke pesto to start. This was followed by a beautiful meal of sausage, meatballs, and brasciole with stuffed rigatoni. For a side was my sautéed broccolini. Dessert was a selection of mini pastries and cakes from a local bakery. There was a martini for me…and even one for him! And some beautiful ambiance! An amazing night.
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That looks freaking AMAZING!
We enjoyed another phenomenal dinner at James on Main in Hackettsown, NJ. We enjoyed Hiramasa (yellowtail kingfish) crudo with yuzu peach emulsion, avocado oil, and jalapenos; octopus al ajillo with local garlic, hot paprika, heirloom tomato, and arbol chilis; burrata with local peach salad, toasted pecans, and aged balsamic; Viking Village scallops with sweet corn velvet, foraged chanterelles, crispy house bacon, and red sorrel; wood fired hog chop with maple coffee glaze; duck leg confit with house made sausage. We also had an awesome amuse bouche of pastrami cured salmon. It all went great with an excellent 2009 Napa Cabernet. Mrs. P’s name is Debra. When she was young her grandfather used to call her Little Debbie cupcake after the brand. On the way out we saw an old Little Debbie poster and had big “Debbie” pose next to it with her Loubitons. That is what the last picture is. She only wanted me to take the picture of her shoe and the poster 
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Truly lovely …
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Fabulous !!!
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Great presentation 
looks delicious.
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Buen agosto … We had the family over to have fresh on the half shell oysters and then more book boxes going north …
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What an amazing feast!
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I was very relieved it came out of the bundt pan without sticking or falling apart 
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Linda, it’s the 1st of August!
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Italian Cuisine in Diaspora would have sounded a bit less harsh…
One of my favorite cookbooks, Breath of the Wok by Grace Young, describes Chinese food cooked by emigrants from China all over the world. It’s so fascinating. There’s something to be said for open-mindedness toward the different. One can easily lose sight of deliciousness in pissing contests about “authenticity.”
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We camped Friday night and had a simple meal of grilled hot dogs, pasta salad, creamy cucumber dill salad with pickled red onion, and cold runner bean salad with tomatoes and bacon shallot-Dijon vinaigrette.
Yesterday we had pizza at a birthday party. Tonight I made picadillo de carne picada, cauliflower jasmine rice, and yellow zucchini and cabbage sauteed with red onion and Tajin seasoning.
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I think I could do with a week’s meal plan that utilizes a pack of hot dog buns: hot dog, lobster roll, hot dog, lobster roll, hot dog, hot dog, hot dog. That leaves me 2 hot dogs for a snack (and not broke from too many lobster rolls).
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On a related note, what has always struck me about DOP laws is that “terroir” matters everywhere, and yet protectionism only happens in some places.
Also interesting is that “origin” is now protected for things that actually “originated” very far away - I’m thinking of tomatoes and chillies, specifically
Anyway. Food politics are fraught and complicated and there’s often murky stuff right under the top layer. Who’s allowed to change food? Who isn’t?
People like tasty food everywhere, and make necessary modifications to adapt. Let’s go with that.
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Here’s the August thread…
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I have the same issue with making myself not go to the store, except for me, it’s the farm stand in the summer. I want to go all the time. I want to buy all the things. And then I can’t cook them fast enough and they spoil. So I have to remind myself not to go until I have barely any produce in the house. And I have to remind myself to use what’s in my own garden, although it may be less pretty since they’re the pros. Seriously, just because I haven’t harvested it yet doesn’t mean I shouldn’t! The swiss chard isn’t getting any smaller while I ignore it.
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