We enjoyed a sensational anniversary dinner at The Circle Restaurant in Fredon, NJ, including an excellent purple gnocchi with shrimp and asparagus; an awesome duck with crispy crust of cardamom, cinnamon, and coriander among other things; filet mignon au poivre with a smoked gouda gratin; creamy burrata with castelvetrano olives and toasted focaccia bread; creamy carrot soup (not pictured). It all went great with our favorite wines (Caymus and Cooper and Thief red blend).
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I can’t imagine eating all of that food and drinking all of that wine. It always looks delicious, but impossible.
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Well, we do take home leftovers 
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Roasted biso chicken thigh. Sauce was shallots, garlic, mushrooms, wine, chicken broth, Dijon mustard, cream and parsley. Cauli pilaf and green salad with tomato, onion, yellow baby bell, blue cheese, o&v dressing.
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It was so good on the night in question. We used the leftovers- which wasn’t much- to make fried rice to take to the Ukrainian Embassy in my area. The personnel haven’t been paid since February. And while their housing has been paid a year in advance, money for food and personal items hasn’t been paid since the war started. So a group of ladies got together and made casseroles and easily frozen and heated meals to take to them. I feel like the pig went to a GREAT use- first an EPIC party and then for some good cause food!
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Another new-to-us WFD: Chicken Reuben Skillet from Simply Julia. I’d have skipped this recipe but had a partial jar of sauerkraut to use up so here we are. It was better than I expected. we ended up with pre-scliced cutlets rather than cubes, and only used a pound instead of 1.5 lb of chicken (for 4 servings really a pound is enough) and 1.3 tbsp of butter instead of 3. Sautéed the cutlets with spice mixture then removed one for daughter; added sauerkraut, mayo, and ketchup; topped with gruyère and baked. This was really good and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to make it again, it’s perfectly serviceable for unwanted sauerkraut.
Served with roasted potatoes and broccoli. Not pictured is a cocktail similar to @gcaggiano’s gimlet (El Mas Chingon from Amá).
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A rare Sunday work day and I was exhausted. Like skip-the-gym exhausted. Thankfully my hockey team won an early game which freed me up to watch the Oscars. Not as big a deal as it used to be. Actually, I set the DVR to record and then we started watching an hour in so we could skip commercials and overly long speeches. We ended up catching up halfway through 
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Dinner was Chinese food. Painless delivery from our favorite spot.
A “glamorous” Oscar night did call for a good cocktail, so a vodka martini it was.
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Sometimes it just comes out great to your liking. I
brined chicken thighs in salt water and a little sugar for 24 hours. Removed the bone . Proceeded to make chicken picatta. Fabulous , fabulous
Tender with taste . Side of mashed potatoes with peas . Cheers
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Re Spam: we get a craving for Spam Musubi from time to time so I like to make it when that happens! 
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Thanks for posting the recipe MTT. Our family always enjoys them.
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The Chris Rock / Will Smith thing was kind of a big deal.
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Tonight’s dinner was a Big Deal. Mom made her signature Mutton (ie Goat) Biryani.
Just. Delicious. It’s probably been 4 or 5 years since I’ve eaten it - 2 of the pandemic, and a few more because we usually tell her it’s ok to just make the korma (the base meat preparation) and we’ll eat it with Pav (bread rolls) and rice, instead of the whole layered assembly situation, it tastes much the same.
But everyone knows that’s a Big Lie — we say it to save her the extra trouble of making biryani rice, frying a mountain of sliced onions, layering, and finishing it all together.
Biryani is so much more than a sum of its parts!!!
I made onion raita on the side, and papad which only I ate - apparently I made that up as an accompaniment somewhere along the way 
(She knows we lie, and so she made a double batch of korma and fried onions both so we can have it again soon…)
Y.U.M.
(Swipe on the the first photo gallery for the components. And that plate is my first helping… no moderation when biryani is WFD )
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Those fried onions look heavenly!
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I meant the overall tuning into the Oscars. I’m a big movie guy, but mainly older films. However, I’ll still watch due to the history and tradition of it. Just not as exciting as it used to be.
The Smith/Rock thing is just insanity. And I barely noticed it happen live! Might have been that second (or was it third?) Martini.
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I had to rewind, myself. Same reason. Same drink, even! Then we had to pause the broadcast and go searching online for the uncensored version.
I watch the Oscars every year - I always have, and I expect I always will. And sure, it’s a mostly a snooze fest. But I’d hate to miss it.
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I go all the way back to black & white tv and Bob Hope, you? I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch along the way, and yes I watched last night.
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I remember Bob Hope, too, but in color. I don’t think I’ve missed any, but it’s certainly possible. They do run together in the mind.
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Wow, such a lovely spread with so many interesting dishes. Nice to see you here @naf, welcome.
Ina Garten’s (IG) Lamb and chickpea curry stew.
This is So Good that I make it at least three times a year.
I do change up the method IG adds the following all in one shot.
I spend a little more time with it to marry the flavours together.
First adding the wine to deglaze and cook off. Next the tomato paste gets browned for added flavour.
Adding the maple syrup, dark brown sugar and harissa cook to combine flavour for a little bit.
Then Chicken stock and reduce slightly at this point add the coconut milk.
Simmer for 1 1/2 hours (IG does this for 1 hour only).
Continue with the rest of the ingredients and recipe method as is except for the chickpeas. I wait to add them in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
I do cook it for a little longer so I end up adding about 3/4 to 1 cup of water.
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