Tonight’s trip to ribfest was a success! I ordered a combination meal which included 1/3 rack of ribs, 1/4 chicken and coleslaw, baked beans and mac 'n cheese on the side. I ate the pork and sides tonight and brought the chicken home for a future dinner. The pork was fall-off-the-bone moist and the mac 'n cheese were awesome. The coleslaw and beans were ho-hum. The best part of the evening is that I found a new favourite lager. It was the best beer I’ve had in a long time.
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Haircut Day.
Which means a visit to my Happy Place, Wegmans. (Even my hairdresser knows where I’m going after my cut.)
Had my brain set on something else, but when I saw the number of coral-colored dry scallops in the fishmonger’s case, I screeched to a halt and got them all.
(And for anyone thinking scallops are too expensive to cook at home, the scallops in the picture cost me $8.58…they’d be at least $35 in a restaurant for that number of scallops, if not more.)
Wanted to try something different from my usual, so off to the Google.
Made seared scallops with crème d’échalote (French creamy shallot sauce) based on a video on YouTube. I chose not to strain the shallots and tarragon (used dried vs fresh) and cracked pepper, served it over leftover Basmati rice with steamed asparagus alongside. And it was very good!
There was definitely wine. And before dinner was prepared, I made a peach, plum, and blueberry crumble for dessert. Forgot to buy vanilla ice cream, but might make a quick vanilla whipped cream to go with.
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That looks so appetizing!
93 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. The HVAC we had installed after last year’s brutal West Coast heat wave is paying off in spades.
Dinner on the stove top: sausage penne with lemon cream sauce and garden kale.
The recipe - from Saveur magazine – can be lightened up by using milk (mostly) instead of half-and-half. I make a quarter-recipe for the two of us.
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We enjoyed another excellent dinner at The Farmer’s Daughter in Newton, NJ, including tomato goat cheese tartlet; filet mignon with horse radish blue cheese crumb, and an excellent zucchini corn cake; St. Louis ribs with mac n cheese, and hush puppies; lobster deviled eggs, and broiled oysters with cognac butter and gruyere cheese. It all went great with an excellent 2008 Shiraz and 2005 Syrah.
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I can’t keep up, but this is one of the first times in a while I have added a home cooked veg to the plate.
Berbere spiced pan roasted chicken breast, roasted green beans, and Dwarf Wild Fred tomato (I think).
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I know we were just here a few weeks ago, but had a craving for a good steak and some seafood after my talk tonight (a repeat of my Prohibition lecture). We were originally going to hit Barnacle Bill’s but was told the wait would be nearly two hours (a typical weekend night there on the Jersey Shore). BF had to work, so it was just mom and I, but we had a great time. The food here is always excellent. While I did order my usual steak with mushroom sauce (not pictured), we did try new appetizers: clams in green sauce, the broth of which was mopped up by copius amounts of bread, and stuffed mushrooms. Mom had grilled red snapper as a meal, and although I’m not a big fish eater, I had a bite and it was buttery, flaky, and fall-apart tender. For dessert, our favorite waiter hooked me up with a snifter of Algarvinha, a Portuguese almond liqueur. Delicious!
And here’s a shot of me shaking a Bee’s Knees after the talk:
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I knew of the recipe for years but when Smitten Kitchens zucchini pizza showed up in my emails today? And I had just been given a giant squash? It was time.
I am happy to say that the recipe worked well and was very flavorful but also light. Had it with tomatoes from our garden and wine (not pictured).
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I might need to make that pizza 
.
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You take the most beautiful food photographs!
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Quick stir-fry in the wok with pork tenderloin, red pepper, carrots, snap peas, bean sprouts, corn, pineapple, ginger, garlic, chili and sauce made from soy sauce, rice wine, light brown sugar, corn starch, white wine vinegar - served over rice
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Thank you very much 
I try to do justice to the chef’s hard work.
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@LindaWhit, my gosh, that looks wonderful. Found the YouTube video and wrote down everything he did. I am hoping to replicate this.
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Tostones. Used a new-to-me technique that involves two soaks in seasoned water before and between frying. Arroz con gandules from Charity Morgan’s Unbelievably Vegan. Creole “chicken” using the Daring chicken (original flavor) in my first non-grilling application. Everything delicious.
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Those tostones look masterful.
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Tonight we made José Andres’ gazpacho with croutons, CI crab cakes with lemony remoulade, and sauteed summer squash. It was all really good but I overdid the salt in the crab cakes (CI doesn’t specify the amount and I forgot Old Bay also contains salt).
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Made something up tonight. Pretty good; but needed a bit more oomph in the flavor dept.
Couple of b/s chicken breasts seasoned with s/p, and a bit of fresh thyme. Pan-seared in butter and olive oil, then added 1/2 cup white wine, 1/4 cup dry sherry, and 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar, with some thyme sprigs.
Let that simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, then removed the lid and added a large handful of red grapes and a smaller one of Marcona almonds. Simmered some more, then removed the chicken, grapes and almonds to reduce the liquid. Mounted with some cold butter for a sauce; added the chicken, grapes, and almonds back in for a gentle reheating.
Served on egg noodles with steamed broccoli alongside.
Wine.
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This looks awesome!
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