I cooked today after what seems like an eternity. No pics because, well, my mind was elsewhere. TLDR: Mom fell just before Dad’s 1 month prayers and had to have surgery for a compound hip fracture. So yeah. It’s been that kind of week, month, year, eternity, hell, something. She’s in all kinds of pain, physical and emotional both, that I can’t even imagine. So there’s no appetite and no desire to eat in an otherwise zealously healthful eater who really needs that approach right now for recovery. One or two tearful interventions later, she’s making an effort. Now I’m trying to plan ahead to accommodate her mood, appetite, and more.
In an unintentional cooking spree this afternoon (borne of the frustration of trying to feed her while she resists) I made Upma (savory cream of wheat) for tomorrow’s breakfast, Purple yam cutlets for teatime snack (yep, a real meal here), and Sheera (wheat flour porridge/pudding/dessert/something) because my sister told me it was the only thing my grandmother ate without complaint when she was in the hospital. Well it worked out well (other than my intended timing) because mom had some Upma with her tea, a cutlet for dinner (along with butternut squash soup), and a bit of Sheera for dessert. (Much improved from yesterday’s single cracker for tea and piece of toast for dinner, so I’m hopeful that home cooking and diversity of options changes things for her.)
Dinner tonight for us was mom’s pan-roasted chicken (cooked by me) with roasted potatoes, rice cooked in the chicken juices and schmaltz, and fresh bread (yep, triple carbing ftw here). And the soup too, lest you think there was no vegetable (I mean, there was POTATO, but still).
Before the storms were all going to hit last week and we had a day with kind of sunshine, got an idea to make some BBQ chicken while at Whole Foods. So picked up some leg quarters and their Memphis sauce (actually pretty good for a jarred sauce).
So BBQ’d some chicken that night (this is under charred for my taste but it was getting windy and cold up there):
Then the next day my gf had to go into the new office for the first time in forever and now they have a food truck every day instead of a kitchen. That day’s was An the Go so she brought home some garlic noodles with lemongrass chicken. I ended up slicing up some leftover BBQ chicken and putting that over the noodles as well. Funnily, we both actually liked the BBQ chicken with the noodles better than the lemongrass skewer. Maybe I stumbled onto something:
Dinner tonight was a Caribbean leaning shrimp and grits. I started with a base of epis, and bloomed spices (paprika, cayenne, thyme, black pepper, onion powder, bay leaves). Then added a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, a couple dashes of Worcestershire, and salt. This simmered while I shelled the shrimp. I had shrimp stock in the freezer and used a little in the sauce as well (and also in the grits). As the grits were finishing, I added the shrimp to the sauce along with the last of the coconut sauce from last night (we had about a half cup left). BF pronounced it comfort food!
I started the Woks of Life Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup on Sunday, we had it on Monday night. Loved. Used beef shank, and took a tip from a NYT recipe and added Chinkiang vinegar to the broth at the table - a lovely kick! Quite spicy, as I also added more hot bean paste and preserved mustard leaves than called for. Really delicious. Fresh noodles from 99 Ranch. Froze half for another night.
Sunday night I went to a friend’s for her bday dinner, which she had catered - Persian food. Gorgeous and delicious, the only flaw being the tahdig - while perfectly golden and crunchy, the rice was a bit underseasoned. Everything else was perfect.
and tonight: since we had cabbage languishing in the fridge, I sent the BF a recipe for haluski (i’ve made it a couple of times before) and defrosted some parmigiano sausages from Fatted Cafe. To date, our favorites from there. Deliciously parmy and almost buttery. Went great with the noodz. I’d told the BF that some recipes call for bacon in the haluski and others didn’t, and since we had the sausages, it was his call. He knew what to do! Also salad with a Georgian walnut dressing on the side.
