I just sent a friend a message to this effect tonight about today. And that’s even with a Supreme Court win! 
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LOL 
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Probably a UU……
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Noms for COTQ and DOTQ are up - hit me with your ideas, HOs!
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BF made a giant salad for dinner, with one chicken thigh we split, tiny little diced taters, HBE, edamame, tomatoes, avo, and various other things from the veg drawer. Dressing was a pseudo Caesar, with anchovy paste and dijon. So freaking good, i inhaled it.
![Salad with anchovy dijon vinaigrette|700x525]
(upload://o2k22pB97lV3dRWYynHIBAGEWht.jpeg)
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It’s taco Tuesday. Cabbage, shrimp, mango salsa, chipotle crema. Doctored up canned pinto beans, onion, garlic, poblano and Fresno chiles, chile powder. Margarita.
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Another garlicky, grilled shrimp Caesar with the last two heads of Little Gem from our spring garden.
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This cast iron pan has been in the family for literally a hundred years, but I feel like only now am I finally truly understanding it’s usage beyond cooking a steak. I made a curry in it tonight which was just incredible. Cubed marinated boneless skinless thighs were seared before I added onion, a red bell pepper, and diced green chilis (which were not as spicy as I hoped). When they started to soften, in went a jar of Maya Kaimal Madras Curry to simmer. Over 15 minutes or so, the gravy became dark and rich-- an almost magical transformation. The char on the chicken was reminiscent of Tandoori and the usual jar taste had vanished. I’ll never make curry in any other pan.
Fun fact: while at work today I was informed that our AC went and likely won’t be fixed until Thursday. I’m not a hot weather guy. If the heat dies in the winter, I put on a hoodie. When the AC goes, I’m a caged animal especially after coming home from being around an oven all day. I had my heart set on a curry today and went ahead with it despite the “warm” situation in our house. I figured its hot in India and they eat spicy food! Even with the green chilis not packing the punch, it was still hot. I sweat throughout and ended up feeling cooler when I was done eating than when I started.
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Salsa might as well be Indian (see: kachumbar), so excellent substition!
I frequently sub pasta sauce too (as long as it’s not too herby).
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Our final Sichuan jour fixe with 14 eager chile heads. Most dishes coulda used more heat for my taste, but everything was very good nonetheless.
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What are all those delectable looking gems? I’m impressed!
Bravo! Love your pan and it will love you back!
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What did you think of the bourbon? We did a taste test between several bourbons that I don’t recall but likely Angel’s Envy, Buffalo Trace, Bulleit and the Costco one. I found it a bit rough for sipping but perfect for Pine Cones (bourbon and lemonade which sounds terrible but really quite good).
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Plan was to eat leftovers, but sis secretly circumvented that as it’s Wednesday and one of only two days a week that her favorite dish (Khichda) is made at one of our family stand-by restaurants (also my favorite biryani place).
She doesn’t like their bread, though, so I ordered from another spot and decided to do my own secret circumventing by ordering chicken biryani along with the rotis.
So, the Khichda. This is an Indian Muslim dish made of a mix of grains and pulses that are soaked, cooked overnight with mutton (goat) and its broth, and finished the next day and eaten for breakfast or lunch or as many meals as it will last. It’s nutritious and delicious, but a real labor of love.
One of my dad’s colleagues’ homes is where we learned to eat it — when his mother (and later wife) were going to make it, we would be invited over along with the extended family. I didn’t care for the dish much as a child, but the community and fun surrounding the event is still vivid in my memory.
It’s eaten either on it’s own like porridge, or with chapatis or thin flatbreads called Rumali roti — literal translation “handkerchief-like bread”. The most common ones are large (maybe 18”?) but I found smaller ones recently so we’ve been eating those.
The biryani was good. Not as good as my fave, but much better than I expected from a random place I found for the roti 
Mom was on the road to tomato cheese toast on her favorite garlic bread, but the mention of Rumali roti tempted her, so I ordered some fresh paneer and made her a light and gently spiced Kathi Roll — sautéed a bit of onion, tomato, and garlic, scant powdered spices for a bit more flavor, added the paneer just to warm through, and finally a few drops of chutney and a sprinkle of chaat masala for a bit of zing. I carefully rolled up the rumali roti around a thin line of filling so it wouldn’t tear, and served it in foil so it wouldn’t fall apart while eating .
(I can’t resist fresh paneer, so “some” of it may have disappeared while I was making mom’s dinner 
)
ETA: Traditional toppings for khichda are birista (deep fried onions that you know from biryani), onion, mint, and lemon.
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From bottom to top:
- garlic cukes - a personal fave, but it’s like choosing your favorite cat: impossible, and why bother?
, - eggplant w/soy sauce (a new dish we tried, kinda meh),
- dry fried green beans
- garlic eggplant
- mapo tofu
- chongqing chicken
- salt-baked shrimp
- Sichuan bok choy
- fish dry pot
- cold chengdu noodles
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Big arse banquet burger on the barbeque…
Bacon cheese burger for those of you south of the Canadian border. Lettuce/pickles/pickled onions/tomato/bacon/cheese/mustard/catsup(on the burger and for dipping the fries, frozen but tasty)
This was one messssyyy delicious burger and now I’m in a semi food coma
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I made ATK’s “Weeknight Pad Thai,” which I can confidently tell you is a misnomer. You make pickled chilies, pickled radish, and dried shrimp. And then all the components get stir fried individually.
Still, pretty good. I did both East Coast shrimp and chicken breast. The pink things are rainbow radish.
I took several tips from @chiel, including making the eggs separately (we did an omelette) and letting the sprouts and scallion greens sauté.
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