8/30/15

We had a such a large and delicious lunch that we skipped dinner. Well, we ate a little cake, but that was it.

8/29/15

Diner with Jennie and David, so a loaf of bread and a cake. A toasted marshmallow and salted caramel ice cream cake, to be exact. I liked the flavors (there was also a graham cracker crust), but I don't see why you couldn't just have a bowl of ice cream.

8/28/15

An indulgent dinner: fried mozzarella, watermelon, fresh tomatoes. I think fried mozzarella would be one of the things I would request for a last meal. I also made a brown sugar angel food cake (from Martha Stewart). The good news is that it used up a LOT of egg whites; the bad news is that Jason and I prefer regular old angel cake. Still, it wasn't bad.

Thanks, Jen!

8/27/15

Dinner at Jen and John's. Jason made pizza, and tried some exciting new combinations: ricotta with zucchini, and bbq chicken with red onions (a la Bob and Timmy's). Both were really good. I had a slice of the ricotta with sliced tomatoes for breakfast and it held up really well.

8/26/15

Dinner in Whately---another great meal (flank steak, roasted potatoes, panzanella, corn). We brought bread and another plum cake, which I like more than I expected to, given that I don't usually like fruits in cakes. Maybe I actually do?

8/25/15

Burritos: unexciting, but tasty and popular.

8/24/15

Spicy ginger pork with rice noodles, from the Times. Saute ground pork with ginger, scallions, garlic, soy and rice vinegar, toss in baby bok choy. then finish with a little sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, and black vinegar. I followed the  recipe exactly and was really pleased with the results. In fact, we all liked it, so this one I will make again.

8/23/15

Mezze-style dinner: tiny savory pancakes with peas, scallions and serrano chiles; smoky eggplant dip and deviled eggs (plus some naan from Trader Joe's). The pancakes I thought were a little too thin and would bump up the flour next time; I wouldn't change a thing about the eggplant (although I added a bit of sumac). Both recipes were from the NYT. Overall a fun and not too tricky dinner.

Carter wanted me to show his dinner.

8/22/15

Dinner with Jennie and David. We brought  a plum torte from NYT. Really easy, really good. I didn't have italian prune plums so I used small yellow ones, and I subbed in some brown sugar for white. This would probably be good with any number of fruits.

8/21/15

Family Relaxation Night, so I made a family favorite, eggplant parmesan. Beloved and devoured by all. To mix it up a bit with the ubiquitous zucchini, I added leeks and sun-dried tomatoes.

8/20/15

Dinner with my parents. My mom made corn chowder with scallops. Incredibly delicious and a bit decadent. I made chocolate mousse on the fly; I used a less dark Trader Joe's chocolate that worked well and I thought I stopped whipping in time, but while my back was turned it seized up a bit! Not too much, though. Still soft enough but I guess this is a learning process.

8/19/15

Herbed meatballs and pasta (from NYT). We really liked these meatballs---I used ground beef, but chicken or turkey would work well, too. Really an amped up pesto with chives and parsley. I think the ony thing I would change anything, except to maybe make more. We also had a salad with sesame-soy vinaigrette.

8/18/15

I set out to make grilled flank steak sandwiches with roasted red peppers, but the flank steak was too expensive. So we had grilled chicken (a little too salty, unfortunately) on ciabatta with red onion jam, goat cheese and tomatoes. No one missed the steak. We also had corn off the cob and some silly reuben flavored potato chips.

8/17/15

Still not cooking. We had pizza in a nice air conditioned restaurant.

8/16/15

I have apparently given up cooking altogether, so we went to my parent's for dinner again.  It was a nice (relatively)quiet evening, with just Thor and Rod there. My mom once again proved who is boss in the mashed potato department, and I don't even bother making hamburger gravy myself. Why compete? We brought a pie from Food52 (kind of a key lime with a saltine crust). I liked it, but I don't see it going into regular rotation. My unusual dessert recipes should probably stay home (the spicy chocolate cookies I brought to Jennie and David's come to mind).

8/15/15

It was a beautiful day for the memorial service for Carol. An amazing lunch at the church (catered by my mom's friend Peter). Then everyone stuck around for leftovers and pizza at my parents. I think everyone had a great time right up until an epic thunderstorm.

We all agree that Carol would have loved it.

8/14/15

Dinner at my parents, with many Sluters and Sluter-adjacent people. Pasta, meatballs, sausage, grilled corn. We brought brownies (my usual recipe, but somehow inferior) and blondies (from Cook's Illustrated via Food52). I think I want to make the good old Fanny Farmer recipe again--I preferred the chewiness of that one. And I'll brown the butter....

8/13/15

Another night, another Genius recipe.  Pasta with eggplant (that you saute with garlic and sun-dried tomatoes). I subbed rosemary in for the basil, and added cherry tomatoes for a little acid. Carter didn't like it at all, Jason loved it, and I was in-between. I think I would have liked the eggplant to be even a but mushier, unappealing as that sounds. We also had leftover bread and goat cheese. It was too unattractive to photograph.

8/12/15

Tuna melts on rye, as per Jason's request (plus chips and tomatoes). These were more delicious than I expected, but ultimately not that filling. More chips next time?

I snuck kale into mine.

8/11/15

Another Genius recipe---ginger fried rice. I think "genius" may be overselling it, but it was pleasant enough. I am becoming more convinced that I need a rice cooker. My rice is never fluffy enough and is always a bit sticky. We also had grilled chicken (citrus-fish sauce marinade again) and zucchini. Carter declared the rice and chicken "tasty".

8/10/15

I looked deep into the fridge this morning and realized that no more food could come from this kitchen until some food went out. So, leftovers for dinner. The best part was that I melted down the chocolate mousse from Friday with a little bit of milk chocolate, and re-whipped it. SO MUCH BETTER. Now I see why it was a genius recipe.

8/9/15

Shrimp and grits from Food52. I admit that I did not completely follow their recipe (which defeats the point of Genius Recipes, I guess). Carter thought the idea of pureeing the shrimp was unappealing (and so did I), and I used polenta instead of grits. Carter and Jason seemed to like it, but personally I prefer my grits without shrimp. Sorry, Low County. Also had some so-so tomatoes.

 Carter wanted me to use his bowl as a model.

8/8/15

Two dinners. The first was at a birthday party for a friend of Carter's.  This was bo ssam done right! In addition to being cooked longer, it was served with amazing accompaniments:

Sticky rice, scallion-ginger sauce, bo ssam sauce. I am definitely making this again. NYT has a recipe.

The next dinner was Jennie and Davids; we brought bread and brown sugar cake. I think we did a pretty good job eating twice.

8/7/15

Homemade fettucine, two ways: butter and parmesan, and tomato sauce with italian sausage (too salty). Plus summer squash---I have decided that I prefer my zucchini and squash cooked on the mushier side. I know, how retro.
Dessert was "one ingredient chocolate mousse" from Genius Recipes. This involves melting chocolate with water, then whipping over ice until it is mousse. Two notes: 70% chocolate is too bitter (maybe cut with milk chocolate next time?), and the line between not whipped enough and too whipped is very fine. You can re-melt and start again, but I didn't feel like it.

8/6/15

Tacos with a chorizo-potato filling, plus a salsa made from corn, avocado and tomato. I think I would have preferred corn tortillas to flour, but still good.

8/5/15

Take-out from Mom's House. Fast, cheap, tasty.

8/4/15

The last night of Ultimate, and the last night of dinner in the car. Muffaletta sandwiches were good but very messy. I don't think I would make them ahead of time again, even though the recipe calls for it. I don't care for disintegrated bread.

8/3/15

Bo Ssam, wrapped in lettuce leaves, with various condiments (hoisin, sweet chili sauce, chili-garlic stuff), plus some tomatoes. I made the version from Milkbar Life, and I was disappointed that it took more than twice as long to cook as the recipe said (and still wasn't completely tender). I looked at the actual Momofuku recipe online and found it to be much more complicated---I think that is the one I will use next time, as the pork was fine but not amazing. I hate to buy an expensive piece of meat like that and nearly ruin it. There were no complaints, however!

8/2/15

We had our first corn of the season and it was perfect:

Off the cob for the boys; I eat it the old-fashioned way

We also had burgers, french fries, and tomato-mozzarella salad, making this pretty much the quintessential summer meal.

8/1/15

And back to dinner: bread, brownies (the usual recipe), and a Tuscan Custard Rice Torte (from Food52). Nice, but I thought it could have used a little more flavor. Or brulee-ing the top would be good.

8/1/15

Special Lunch edition:
Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, courtesy of the best friend ever, Jessica:

Before

After

This was nearly as good at flying to San Francisco and having lunch at Mandalay (ha ha, of course it isn't!! But it was a rare and delicious treat). Thank you Jessica!!

7/31/15

We finished up July with homemade pizzas. Carter requested (and got) hamburger and pepperoni, I wanted caramelized onion and goat cheese. Both turned out terrific. I like the addition of cherry tomatoes to the goat cheese pie.