Saturday, 12/28/24

 We stayed home almost all day, enjoying having no plans. To celebrate, I made potato pancakes for lunch; they were the best ones I have ever made. Not sure why---the extra squeezing of the potatoes? Hand shredding? Using the electric skillet? Anyway, they were perfect. Yogurt subbed in nicely for sour cream. Dinner was cauliflower shawarma (NYT), that I made essentially as written; served with tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, cilantro, a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, and Jason's homemade pita. This recipe is so easy for so much reward, and feels quite virtuous to boot.

Friday, 12/27/24

 Holiday Farm Party; Jason of course got to make bread and I didn't get to make anything 😒😒.  The highlights were Prosecco, key lime pie, and meatballs, in my opinion. Last year there was roast beef; I guess no one was feeling that flush this year.

Thursday, 12/26/24

 We had some random leftovers that Jay and Jodi pressed upon us (they were going on vacation); pasta that was fine if a little bland. Jason made some garlic bread and I made yet another Caesar salad (once you already have the dressing the rest is simple). Finally polished off the apple pizza, which still tasted good although it was a bit soggy.

Wednesday, 12/25/24

 Merry Christmas! Carter came over in the morning for crumpets and then he and I took a nice long walk. A quiet afternoon and then dinner with Papa and Liz. Brisket (so good that I think I had fourths?), latkes, salad, and bread from Jason. I was really glad that we were able to get together...a small group but a cheerful one! And we still have our delayed plans to look forward to.

I was glad that Carter liked his sweater

Tuesday, 12/24/24

 Our Christmas plans all got delayed (baby with RVS, dad with a pressure sore), so Carter came over and we had just had pasta with meat sauce and a Caesar salad. We watched a little TV together and had an early night. Pleasant if not terribly festive. Jason made chocolate chip cookies that were tasty albeit a little flat.

Monday, 12/23/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. We offered to make potato pancakes so I spent the majority of the evening at the stove (all my clothes had to go into the laundry and I had to wash my hair before bed!). Jason thought it would be helpful to shred the potatoes beforehand, but I think it made them too wet. Still, a fried potato is almost always pretty good. J & J had brought back baked goods that one of Jay's cousins in LI made and they were outstanding. I don't even like stollen, but it was delicious. Plus Mexican wedding cookies, caramels, stroopwafels and other treats. What a talented baker!

Sunday, 12/22/24

 I am determined to make that spaghetti verde recipe work! This time I roasted the jalapeno, thinking it would tame the heat. I suspected we were in trouble since I roasted all the peppers on Saturday afternoon and my hands were still burning at bedtime...

Well, another incredibly spicy meal later and I am back to the drawing board. My next thought is to ditch the jalapeno altogether and add a can of green chilis to bump up the flavor. Not sure if I can talk Jason into another attempt, though. It was so spicy!

Saturday, 12/21/24

 Dinner at Jen and John's with some of Jen's family who were in town for the holidays, plus Laurie and her sister.John made chili (he makes really good chili), Jason made bread, and I brought some brown butter shortbread from SK. It is an update of one of her older recipes, now in bar form instead of slice and bake (apparently a lot of people had problems with that recipe but mine always worked fine). Anyhow, same great taste although since they were on the thick side I think a 9x9 pan would have been better than the 8x8 called for. There were also lots of other cookies and treats, and we scored a giant mug filled with candy that Eve didn't want.

Friday, 12/20/24

 We had a dinner cancellation, so we stayed in and played video games and ate Cheez-its. Caesar salad and pears for dinner.

Thursday, 12/18/24

 Snacks and wine with Jennie and David (Jason made bread, of course). The snacks were substantial enough to be called dinner. It was nice to see them again after a fairly long time. We got home on the early side and had some of our apple pizza.

Wednesday, 12/18/24

  I honestly can't remember but Jason thinks we just had bread and cheese and he's probably right.

Tuesday, 12/17/24

We had all this sliced cheese in the freezer that we bought on sale; Jason thought we could use some of it for grinders. In a case of the tail wagging the dog, it meant that we then had to purchase rolls and turkey, but that's OK. The sandwiches were fine but  I really loved the reprisal of the Caesar salad. 

Monday, 12/16/24

 Poor man's soup and some bread that Jason made to bring to Jay and Jodi's that turned out to be unnecessary. Love to come home to dinner already made, especially such a nice cozy one on a cold day. We also made our own little apple pizza, since there was leftover dough from Sunday and some sketchy looking apples in the crisper.

Sunday, 12/15/24

 Pizza at Jay and Jodi's with all boys in attendance. The  best one was, I think, the deep dish. It helped that we hadn't made it in a while. Apple "pizza" for dessert, plus an excellent butterscotch pie that Zack and sam made (it was from the NYT so I saved the recipe).  Always fun to have the nephews there!

Saturday, 12/14/24

 Does serving a Caesar salad with an ungodly number of mozzarella sticks make it a healthy meal? Does it help if the mozzarella sticks are homemade and cooked in the air fryer? Who cares; it was a great dinner although breading those cheese sticks is a big PITA. The to the Chasan-Tabor's for games and a lemon tart that Lisa made and the six of us demolished.

Friday, 12/13/24

 Town Holiday party, so I had chicken tenders and tater tots while Jason ate the leftover tofu. I also did not win a door prize, so I would not call the evening a total success. The chicken was pretty good, though. 

Thursday, 12/12/24

 A new pizza: goat cheese, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and bit of mozzarella. Excellent combo...I love a non tomato sauce pizza.

Wednesday, 12/11/24

 I tasked Jason with making dinner (since it wasn't one I was very excited about anyway) so he dutifully roasted up tofu and brussels sprouts for us. I had recommended tossing them with maple, soy and sriracha, which he did, but he could have had a heavier hand in my opinion. Served with rice and some chili crisp vinaigrette, this was fine.

Tuesday, 12/10/24

 I was (predicably) drawn to a recipe from the NYT for spaghetti verde with roasted poblanos. After reading the comments and some other variations of the recipe, I changed a few things: pureed the sauce, added a jalapeno, and topped with feta cheese. This was delicious and surprisingly spicy. You just never know how hot your peppers are going to be, I guess. Jason and I sniffled our way though. Would make again with maybe only a half jalapeno (the one I used was quite large and apparently robust).

Monday, 12/9/24

 It was Jason's idea to have cheesy tots for dinner, but it wasn't like he had to twist my arm. To be fair, we also ate a lot of roasted broccoli with it.

Sunday, 12/8/24

 HCR! We had a fun time just being walkers and spectators. The Brewery had a long wait, so we went to Progression Brewery instead; Corrina and I agreed that it was actually better (less crowded, better nachos). Even Carter was in good spirits. Ramona enjoyed herself as always.

When I got home I made some broccoli soup (as I somehow bought too much broccoli last week). I had a small bowl for dinner because lunch was late and large.

Saturday, 12/7/24

 Dinner with Jay, Jodi and Sam. Sam had just gotten his wisdom teeth out, so we made carrot soup onsite, and Jason made pita bread. I attempted to make chocolate pudding (usual SK recipe) but for the first time ever it didn't set up. Tasted fine but I couldn't get past the texture. I think it happened because for the first time ever I heeded the instructions not to let it boil. That's what I get for messing with a winning formula.

Friday, 12/6/24

Dinner at Jen and John's; Jason made a rye bread, and I baked a batch of SK Blondies in situ (they were great, BTW). The Blue Apron du jour had chicken, couscous, dates, and carrots with a romesco sauce. Delicious as usual. 

Thursday, 12/5/24

 Pizza night. One of my favorites, BBQ chicken, with smoked cheddar and red onion.  I just roasted some chicken thighs and that worked out fine.

Wednesday, 12/4/24

 Just leftovers.  Thought I would never finish the pumpkin curry (and indeed, I admit a little bit ended up in the compost).

Tuesday, 12/3/24

 A version of a pasta dish that Jason used to make for me long ago: onions, ricotta and walnuts. I made a few tweaks: added spinach an a couple of spoonful's of chili crisp. I also toasted the walnuts separately and tossed them on top. The onions were not cooked long enough so they retained some crunch which I really do not care for, but the flavors were good. It was my fault for telling Jason that they didn't need to be caramelized.

Monday, 12/2/24

 A recipe for 'pumpkin chick pea curry" from the NYT that sounded a little weird, but got lots of good reviews, so why not. I already had a can of pumpkin on hand anyway. It was good, but I don't think the pumpkin brought much except body to the dish. With all the ginger, garlic and spices, it tasted like your standard issue curry.  No complaints; probably won't repeat.

Sunday, 12/1/24

 One of the two soups I made on Saturday, turkey noodle. I accidentally cooked my turkey stock for a very long time, so it was certainly very flavorful (despite the skimpy amount of bones). It was filling enough so that we didn't have anything else.

Saturday, 11/30/24

 I promised Jason we wouldn't have to see anyone all today, except for strangers at the grocery store. Dinner was tteokgalbi, which was like Korean burgers. Seasoned round beef with soy sauce, scallions, ginger, garlic, mirin and some gochujang. You sear them and then cover, so they release all those juices and are sort of steamed. Served over rice, with another batch of marinated cucumbers. I really liked these, especially since I don't like a bun anyway. Not sure if they are very authentic, since the recipe came from The Washington Post, but I'll take it.

Friday, 11/29/24

 Kristen, Mike and Mercer came over in the late morning and we made crumpets and had an early lunch. Hard to believe we ate 18 of them (granted, Carter also came by) but there you are.

Back to Jodi's for what is apparently an unbreakable tradition now? Bueno y Sano (my spicy BBQ chicken bowl was delicious if tepid), plus this time we remembered the matza and it was devoured.

Thursday, 11/28/24

Thanksgiving at Jodi's. We were sad that some of the Vermont relatives didn't make it, and that it was cold and rainy, but we still had fun. I made mashed potatoes (since the Vermonters were supposed to bring them), gravy and more caramel matzo crunch (that we actually forgot to bring). JAson made bread and Carter brought his favorite canned cranberry sauce. My favorites were cheddar biscuits that Zack made and macaroni and cheese from Kristen. We were too tired to go back to Northampton for dessert and bowling. I think Jason fell asleep at 8.

Carter and his new sweater

 

Wednesday, 11/27/24

 Dinner with Jen and John and some of their family and friends for a pre-Thanksgiving get-together.: chili, delicious cheeses and breads, chocolate chip cookies , caramel matzo crunch (from us) and perhaps too much prosecco. Late night.

Tuesday, 11/26/24

Pancakes and sausage, both from the freezer. Meh. 

Monday, 11/25/14

 Well, needing to use up avocados may be a dumb reason to have nachos for dinner, but we don't care. It also used up the leftover black beans, so it was for the best. With some pickled jalapenos, cherry tomatoes and olives, they were quite good.

Sunday, 11/24/24

 Carter still had a lot of swipes left on his meal plan so he invited us to dinner at the DC (and then proceeded to be grumpy so it was a mixed blessing). I mainly had chicken pho and sushi...no appealing desserts and the salad bar at Worcester isn't as good as the one in Berkshire. Very light cooking week for me.

Saturday, 11/23/24

 Some new-ish friends invited us to a fancy birthday party, so I squeezed myself into high heels and a foundation garment and off we went to the Wheelhouse (it's not a restaurant, per se, but it used to be and I guess it's an event venue now?). Dinner was excellent: fancy charcuterie that I did NOT try enough of, smoked salmon toasts, a salad, and for me, braised short ribs. Dessert was a tiny slice (that was probably plenty for normal people) of chocolate mint torte. 

All dressed up

Friday, 11/22/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi....stir fry, bread from Jason and some pizzelles that we decided to make at the last minute. It was nice to see Zack, who had just gotten home, and pizzelles turn out to be great with vanilla ice cream/.

Thursday, 11/21/24

 An tasty but unremarkable pizza (pepperoni, olives).

Tuesday, 11/19/24

 A lack of eggplant at Aldi meant that my "crispy eggplant bowl" morphed into a cabbage and rice bowl with some of out leftover black beans. Even with the chili crisp vinaigrette I found it a bit dull; plus there were, I felt, too many onions. Serviceable.

Monday, 11/18/24

 Kind of a weird one from the NYT: sausages roasted with onions and grapes. It got lots of good reviews and had some flexibility, so why not? I used hot Italian sausages, with some rosemary and fennel, and added some sliced red potatoes as well. Otherwise as written. My only minor complaint is that it seemed like my grapes (smallish red ones) were still pretty firm, when I expected them to be soft and juicy. Maybe slice them? Or a different variety? Cook the whole shebang longer? I would also add more onions but overall we both really liked this unexpected pairing. Plus Jason finally got around to making crumpets, which he had been threatening to do for a while. Very nice toasted with some butter.

Sunday, 11/17/25

 We had post-dinner game night plans, so I rushed home and made a quick pasta with scallions, lots of cherry tomatoes, some halloumi-esque cheese and garlic. Could have used more halloumi (or less pasta?) but I thought is was delicious nonetheless. Perhaps not super filling so its a good thing we had brownies at our friends.

Saturday, 11/16/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi (rice and lentils with I think spinach?). Jason made bread and I made some apple turnovers since Aldi had puff pastry. They were fine, not amazing (I blame the puff pastry which turns out to have been made with margarine!! Shocking). They had Tillamook ice cream which was a great add-on and honestly my favorite ice cream. I am sorry, Jay, that I hog the ice cream.

Friday, 11/15/24

 Happy Birthday to my dad! We had dinner at his place with pizza, cake, Caesar salad and prosecco. Always nice to see everyone. Carter couldn't make it because he was getting over a cold, but Liz's daughter and granddaughter were there, which was a nice treat.

Thursday, 11/14/24

 Potato pizza (why oh why did we but so many potatoes? At least we both love potato pizza). One of my favorites but I have described the layers pretty thoroughly previously.

Wednesday, 11/13/24

 The leftovers were building up at this point. We finished off the taco stuff instead of making my planned pasta.

Tuesday, 11/12/24

 Potato soup with greens, from the NYT. It looked so appealing in their photo (due to a lot of turmeric, I think) but in the end it was just potato soup. I added maybe too much chard? It made the soup an odd pinkish color and was also a little slimy. Still, not bad with some cheese sprinkled on. We have so many potatoes and some are so iffy that we can't be too picky.

Monday, 11/11/24

 I made a couple of soups from the Times over the weekend, and the first one was  meatball and greens (I used chard from the farm). The meatballs had turkey, oats (odd but it worked) and feta. This was so good. I love meatballs in a soup, and the feta added a lot of flavor. I took some hints from the commentariat: I added celery and orzo and cooked the meatballs in the oven instead of the pot. It always seems like too much greens and never is. I loved this soup and hope I remember to make it again.

Sunday, 11/10/24

 Mushroom and poblano tacos, from the NYT. The filling was sort of wet and soggy, which isn't surprising given the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes (it didn't help that I also added spinach). I liked the flavors, though, so if I made this again I think I would roast the mushrooms and tomatoes and skip the spinach. And maybe roast the poblano, too. Jason made us corn tortillas, I drained away this liquid as best I could and voila. A nice vegetarian dinner.

Saturday, 11/9/24

 Bagels with Jay and Jodi (Jason made a double batch of sesame bagels and gave some to Carter, too).  Smoked salmon (we both bought some), cream cheese, tomatoes. My favorite thing was actually the roasted red cabbage that we made to go with it.

Friday, 11/8/24

 Dinner with Jen and John. The Blue Apron du jour wasn't my favorite for once; Brussels sprouts, roasted squash, chicken thighs with a honey mustard sauce. None of the pizzazz they usually have (but who knows, maybe it was user error?). Jason made some chocolate chip cookies but they were out of chocolate chips so really they were just "cookies". We all agreed we liked them better that way.

Guess who spent the day with grandma and Kiki?

Thursday, 11/7/24

 We invited Carter over for pizza night...it's a little odd to have him here in that he's not a guest but doesn't live here, either. He no longer slinks off to his room after his last bite, which is nice. The pizzas were good but nothing out of the ordinary: one cheese, one pepperoni.

Wednesday, 11/6/24

 Nachos with refried beans...unbeknownst to me, it was actually National Nacho Day. But isn't every day? Particularly in an election year? Jason even took pity on me and we bought some ice cream.

ps: Breyer's either isn't as good as it once was, or I am jaded.

Tuesday, 11/5/24

 Grasping at straws,  I made scrambled eggs with spinach, cheddar and shallots. That and toast was dinner. Honestly, the eggs were more like spinach held together with eggs but that wasn't a bad thing.

Monday, 11/4/24

 Jason had the good idea of fried rice to use up our tofu. Added a lot of peas and broccoli for a quick dinner. Supplies are running low!

Sunday, 11/3/24

 We didn't really have the opportunity to plan and shop this week (and our plans got cancelled) so it was bread and cheese for dinner, plus a spinach salad. Not bad for on the fly.

Saturday, 11/2/24

 We had the last day of vacation blues, and the stale pistachio croissant from Tatte didn't help. At least my sesame burek was good. We planned a fancy lunch at Saltie Girl, but I just wasn't feeling it...the oysters were good, and my tiny expensive plate of hamachi crudo was a delightful few bites, but my clam chowder was too rich and creamy and also not served hot enough. Jessica had a bagel with smoked salmon and all the accompaniments. Sitting at the raw bar was somewhat interesting if not overly comfortable. We stopped and grabbed cookies from Levain on the walk home, just to see what all the fuss is about. They have a very interesting texture and I didn't hate it by any means. but I prefer a thinner, crispier cooking.

 Then onto the bus to head home. Jason picked me up in Springfield and we hit up a pizza place in Ludlow that I was eager to try. Casa Pizzeria features about five styles of pizza, including  New Haven, Neapolitan, Detroit, New York and granny. We opted for a New York style plain cheese (our tradition for trying a new place) and I thought it was great. Really tasted like a New York slice. My only minor quibble was that the crust could have used a touch more salt. Another bonus: it reheated really well the next day. I would love to go back and try another variety someday.

We forgot to take a picture before we nearly demolished it

Friday, 11/1/25

I think this was our best all  around eating day (plus we even went to a small house museum tour, so there was culture). Breakfast as Blank Street coffee where we enjoyed "daydream lattes" with I think cinnamon and vanilla? I had a scallion scone which was quite nice.  I knew I wanted sushi for lunch and really struggled (ok, struggled may not be the right word?) to figure out where. In the end, I picked Blue Ribbon, another place on our list. This had the advantage of being mere steps away from the subway station. I was underwhelmed when I looked at the menu---it was so basic! But everything was like the best ever version of standard sushi bar stuff. Even the classic salad with iceberg and ginger dressing was amazing, as was the miso soup. I had hamachi with ponzu and serrano, plus tuna over rice, and Jessica had a sushi selection. She wasn't too excited about the eel, but bravely ate it anyway and pronounced it good. The setting was also very pretty. I loved this lunch. 

But I was also excited about dinner at Pammy's! We started off with lovely cocktails (of course; and of course we were both drawn to the same one): Morning Dew: Pammy’s Gin, Meyer Limoncello, Riesling, Fennel, Elderflower, Lime. I started with cobia crudo with yuzu (the sauce was good enough to eat on anything), then had a buckwheat crepe with corn, spinach and stracciatella which was maybe a bit salty but I demolished it nonetheless.  Then on to skirt steak with roasted pineapple and Jimmy Nardello pepper condiment. I was very happy with all my selections. Jessica started off with one that sounded so weird but was so delicious: a heart of cabbage salad with mustard and I am not sure what else. A sleeper hit! Then she had the famous lumache (I was jealous but I did have it last time) and striped bass. This place was busy as hell...next time I would try to reserve earlier so we could get a table rather than sitting at the communal table but no regrets! Too full for dessert, we headed back to the city. We truly planned to have a nightcap at this cool hotel bar right near where we were staying. We even walked in! But good sense prevailed and we went home to watch more terrible reality TV.  Awesome day.

Thursday, 10/31/25

 Breakfast was a place in the North End called Sunny Girl, which was reputed to have excellent breakfast sandwiches. I had essentially an Italian grinder and I loved it:

salame • soppressata • mortadella • burrata • provolone • roasted tomato pesto • shaved ’berg • calabrian chili hots • iggy’s sub roll

And I think Jessica tried something called an Arty Party which looked very messy. She said it was good but there was an unexpected sweetness she didn't love in the mascarpone:

over-easy nellie’s egg** • crispy mortadella • pistachio mascarpone • wild cherry mostarda • housemade English muffin

For lunch we went to the wilds of Somerville to try  pizza place we didn't get to last time, Mortadella Head. They feature Roman style pizza which isn't unlike Sicilian.. We tried two slices, one with meatballs and ricotta, and one with I honestly can't remember but prosciutto and pear maybe? Plus mozzarella sticks that unfortunately (and I can't believe I am saying this) too much cheese. The crunch to cheese ratio just wasn't satisfying. I had a nice boba tea before we schlepped back to the city.

Dinner was another place we didn't get to last time, Puritan & Co. Very pretty and very good. Jessica and I always go for the same cocktails; this one was particularly delightful: light up the moon: bombay dry gin, lavender, st-germain, lemon. We shared an order of impeccable Parker House rolls, I had beef carpaccio (as always) and orecchiette Bolognese (excellent), Jessica had burrata with roasted squash, arugula, pumpkin seed crunch, and a pasta with crab, Calabrian chile and preserved lemon (I liked mine better). Jessica had some kind of rocky road deconstructed thing for dessert while I had something with cinnamon ice cream? I can't remember so I guess it wasn't stellar. I was surprised that this very good restaurant wasn't more crowded, honestly.

They take Halloween pretty seriously on Beacon Hill:

Wednesday, 10/30/24

 I arrived in Boston at around 1 and after some struggle, got myself into the apartment to drop off my luggage. By then it was a bit late for lunch, so I just grabbed a pastry (some kind of thing that looked like a flattened bialy, with spinach and labneh) and a pistachio latte from Tatte. Then got myself to the airport to meet Jessica. For dinner I had picked Sweet Cheeks, a BBQ place out near Fenway. I am not sure why? Anyway, the food was pretty good, if not better than Village Smokehouse, I had pulled chicken (actually quite good), Jessica had brisket, and we shared a biscuit that was good but hell, I make a good biscuit. Her potato salad was better than my broccoli cheese casserole, and why I ordered a salad is anyone's guess. Guilt? The place was oddly quiet and I think that made it somehow less fun. Then we needed to get back to the apartment to watch TV.

Tuesday, 10/29/24

 I had been planning to make Salisbury steak but realized that Hamburg gravy would be even easier, especially since I was making mashed potatoes. My mom used to make it and I never asked her how, but it's pretty basic: hamburger, onions, mushrooms, beef stock and flour. It tasted a lot like hers! I knew Jason would like it and he did. Roasted broccoli on the side.

Monday, 10/28/24

How could I resist a title like "cheesy white beans with chili crisp"? I couldn't. Very quick and easy with canned beans . Some commenters felt it was bland, but I say: that's on you. I added a bunch of spinach to round it out and we ate it over rice. Delightfully cheesy. Much more appropriate for a weeknight meal.

Sunday, 10/27/24

 Well, that is the last time I make potato pancakes on a work night (let alone ~35 of them). Didn't sit down until almost 7:30! Plus Jason made me fry on the cold, dark porch. AND I oversalted my roasted cabbage so a lot of sorrow all around. At least the latkes are good.

Saturday, 10/26/24

 Saturday night at home! Bread and cheese (brie and sharp cheddar) and apples. For dessert I made the latest SK recipe: what she called an apple cider donut cake. This was a perfectly nice cake, but it in no way reminded me of a cider donut. Too many spices (glad I omitted the clove and allspice) and a cider glaze made it just into a nice spice cake (sadly the glaze caused the whole thing to get soggy as the days went by). If I were to make this again, I would omit the spices in the cider reduction altogether and dust the cake with cinnamon + nutmeg sugar instead of glazing it. I did appreciate its light texture and the fact that it is vegan, especially since eggs are so expensive.

Friday, 10/25/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi....more pizza. It doesn't turn out as well there (pans? Oven? Timing? Not sure). My favorite was the dessert one with pears.

Thursday, 10/24/24

 Pizza night and it was a good one. Potato pizza with three cheeses (provolone, mozzarella, cheddar), red onions and pickled peppers. The lack of sauce means that it comes out very light and crispy. One of my favorites (and it's a good thing since Jason inexplicably bought us 10 pounds of potatoes).

Wednesday, 10/23/24

 The last of the leftovers: chana masala for me, pork stew for Jason. And now the fridge is delightfully (if temporarily) bare.

Tuesday, 10/22/24

 Tonight was leftover green chili pork stew, now with the rest of a sad looking bag of spinach added to it. Somehow we finished the rest of the flan. It doesn't stick around long in our house.

Monday, 10/21/24

 Jason ate the leftover tofu and noodles while I went to a potluck baby shower. The food theme was 'taco bar' and I made a flan. The people who tried it seemed to like it (and bonus: I made an extra one for home). The taco bar was excellent and I successfully avoided doing crafts.

Sunday, 10/20/24

 I vowed that we would have leftovers all week. Night one was pizza. I like the sloppy joe well enough but am looking forward to something a bit lighter.

Saturday, 10/19/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi---we weren't really hungry (lunch at Priya), but gamely ate rice and cabbage and oatmeal cookies anyway. When I made oatmeal cookie dough on Friday, I baked some and added raisins to the rest and stored it. Jason baked these up and they turned out better. I knew that refrigeration (or lack thereof) was my problem.

Friday, 10/18/24

 Dinner with Jen and John. Bread from Jason, iced oatmeal cookies (SK) from me. I feel like my cookie making skills have atrophied: burnt peanut butter last week, and today my oatmeal cookies spread like crazy. At least they were salvageable and tasted fine. I blame not giving the dough time to chill. Anyhow, dinner was two Blue Aprons: a chicken with couscous, carrots and kale in sort of a harissa-apricot sauce and salmon with pinto beans, cabbage slaw and salsa. As usual they both turned out well.

bonus: chilly enough for a fire!

Thursday, 10/17/24

 Because of a series of really good sales, we have quite a bit of ground beef in the freezer, so we debuted a new pizza: Sloppy Joe.  I think I got pretty close to the sort of Manwich flavor (green peppers are key) but I think my dislike of catsup as an ingredient holds me back. Topped also with cheddar and some banana peppers. Plus a spinach salad since I had accidentally bought spinach two weeks in a row.

Wednesday, 10/16/24

 By this point in the week we had quite a lot of leftovers, but Jason suggested (insisted?) that we go ahead and have the planned tofu anyway. Nothing fancy: roasted broccoli and tofu on a sheet pan, served with noodles. The key to the whole thing was a nice, spicy peanut sauce. This was quick and felt nice and healthy, so no regrets. But there will have to be a leftover reckoning at some point.

Tuesday, 10/15/24

  Pork stew with green chilis? Posole Verde? Not sure what to call it, but it was pork shoulder, various green chilis, onions, zucchini and hominy.  No real recipe, just lots of time in the Dutch oven. I think potatoes would also have been good in there, but it was still great as it was. Served with tortilla chips and what may have been the last farm tomato of the season.

Monday, 10/14/24

Dosas with two fillings: cilantro chicken and potato. The dosas themselves turned out really well: Jason has really perfected the batter, but since he cooks one and fills it right away, and then they aren't great if they sit around, it ends up being sort of chaotic. Ideally, we would need a chef cooking two at a time for us so we could sit down together. The potato filling wasn't my best work, but overall it's still great that we can now make dosas at home. Carter stopped  by and had one with potato, but I don't think he was blown away.

Sunday, 10/13/24

 Spent the morning cooking for the week ahead. Dinner was an inexplicably large pot of chana masala (from Made in India) with the addition of a ton of spinach, plus rice and naan. This was the first batch of naan that Jason has made that was really good (soft and fluffy). I also made an oatmeal cake with penuche frosting (from Simply Recipes). As you might expect, it wasn't exactly light, what with the oatmeal, and the penuche frosting is quite sweet, but I thought it was a nice snacky kind of cake. The only thing I changed in the recipe was adding some nutmeg along with the cinnamon because I believe nutmeg is always a good choice.

Saturday, 10/12/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi; two regular pizzas (eggplant and cheese) and one dessert pizza with apples.  The apple one turned out better than I expected, especially with some nice sharp cheddar. Except for chopping things, I didn't contribute much.

Friday, 10/11/24

 Jason , Jen and I had an exciting day going to IKEa, and then we all had dinner at 60 North. Since Carter and Gus were both there, I made THREE Blue Aprons (well, one was actually a new service they are trying called Green Chef). This required a fair amount of concentration (with everyone blabbing and drinking around me) and a lot of dishware. 

#1: Lemon-pepper barramundi with brown rice and Brussels sprouts (the fish was pretty good, the rice was fine). This was the new kit.

#2; Sheet pan chicken with red peppers and potatoes (John subbed in chicken thighs for the breasts, so that was good; you sort of roasted everything and topped the chicken with a cheesy breadcrumb mixture)

#3; Udon noodles with pork (my favorite and the easiest; wished we had had twice as many noodles)

Jason made some chocolate cookies while all this was happening. So three at once is doable but messy fun it was a fun challenge.  I didn't notice a big difference between the two companies. They both have a lot of fun flavors and easy prep.

Thursday, 10/10/24

 Pizza night, with a promising concept (eggplant Parm) but I had just come from the dentist and was still pretty numb. So it was difficult to eat, I bit my lip and was generally not happy about the whole thing. Maybe I will like it better in reruns.

Wednesday, 10/9/24

 The words "cauliflower piccata" caught my eye in the NYT. Pretty much what it sounds like; I didn't have any wine so skipped that, and skipped the chick peas as well. Tossed the cauliflower and sauce with some pasta and added some Parm blend. Jason added some leftover sausage to his but I am a purist. This was good, as anything with plenty of butter, lemon and capers would be.

Tuesday, 10/8/24

 Filed under very weird reasons to make pancakes: we had some leftover corn from making soup, and Jason's mom apparently always put corn in their pancakes growing up and he thought we should give it a try. We also had a tiny bit of frozen blueberries so those went in, too. I can say that it didn't really bring anything to the party, but it wasn't unpleasant. Also had some breakfast sausage. My feelings on breakfast for dinner are well documented so I will leave it at that.

Monday, 10/7/24

 We had leftover roast beef from weekend sandwiches, so grinders for dinner. The Aldi roast beef is nothing to write home about, so I dolled mine up with plenty of tomatoes, pickled peppers and chili crisp. A quick if uninspired dinner. 

Sunday, 10/6/25

 I very uncharacteristically took a Sunday off so we could go to an Ultimate tournament up at Williams College. Well worth it! Beautiful day, beautiful drive, the team won all their games and Carter was pleased to have us there. We stopped for pizza in Pittsfield on the way home; our first stop on Try a new Pizza Place Every Month Year. South Street Pizza was okay but not amazing (good sauce and cheese, undersalted slight cracker-y crust). Still, we managed to finish a large cheese (our default for comparison purposes). Then we rushed home for a game night with friends in Hadley....I had made my brown sugar cake from The Craft of Baking. I think people liked it? I hope so, anyway. Fun, fun day!

Saturday, 10/5/24

 Guess what? Back to Jay and Jodi's! Jason's parents brought Beuno y Sano for Jay's birthday (chicken burrito bowl for me). We naively assumed they would also bring a Costco cake since they are known for it, but alas, no. So I had to eat burnt cookies when I got home.

Friday, 10/4/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi (with special guest: Carter!). I executed Jodi's idea of rice noodles with lots and lots of chard from their garden (also onions, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil). Jay also fried up some pork ribs but I didn't try one so I can't speak to it. I made my usual (SK) peanut butter cookies to bring; somehow I burned the entire first batch (sadly, the big tray). I am not sure how it happened, but I think I probably undercooked the second batch to compensate. Most were at least salvageable but I was pretty grumpy about it. And yes, Jason made bread.

Thursday, 10/3/24

 I forget why we did basically the same pizza as last week. To use up sauce or salami, maybe? Anyway, we had almost no provolone, so added a sprinkle of parm blend instead. Also used homemade pickled peppers as we were out of pepperonci. We'll try something new another night.

Wednesday, 10/2/24

 While I was home for lunch, I very quickly made a broccoli-cheddar quiche (I had chopped up the broccoli and made the pie crust earlier, so it was pretty easy). So we had that and a salad (with a nice herby vinaigrette ).  No real recipe, just loose guidelines from SK's spinach quiche.

Tuesday, 10/1/24

 Poor man's soup, a childhood staple. I don't know if I actually ever asked my mom how to make it, but in any event mine tastes pretty close. Jason made a loaf of rye bread to go with it so that was a very pleasant dinner.

Monday, 9/30/25

 We had a lot of noodles with spinach left from last week, so we turned it into another meal, with a side of seared tuna. No complaints. Well, a small one: I should have started thawing the tuna steaks a little earlier, as they were a bit frozen still. 

Sunday, 9/29/24

 Dinner with Jen and John. John bought a propane attachment for his Ooni, so we gave pizzas another shot. Still a few bugs to be worked out but progress was made: par-cooking the dough helped, and JAson now agrees with me that heating up the sauce is a good idea. Also: thinner pies. I made a lemon Bundt from the NYT that people seemed to like, but I found it only pretty good. The crumb was nice and plush, but the glaze wasn't lemony enough and too sticky.  Still better than no cake, though.

Saturday, 9/28/24

 There was a surprise birthday party for Jason's aunt at Garcia;'s, which translated into a late (and large) lunch. I had the chicken mole (fine) and Jason is now in love with chimichangas. So anyway, we were too full for dinner.

Friday, 9/27/24

 Jason requested (demanded?) that I make a repeat of a roasted and fried eggplant dish from last week. I wasn't super enthused but what the heck. Sadly, one of the eggplants was a little bigger than the other two and ended up a bit undercooked. Overall, he didn't like it as much as he remembered (I swear I was doing my best!). I also made some roasted broccoli and honestly, it was my favorite part of dinner.

Thursday, 9/26/24

 Pizza night with an old favorite: salami, cherry peppers, provolone and mushrooms. Turned out very well; a  sort of copycat idea from Bertucci's (RIP, forever in our hearts). We had extra milk laying around so while the pizza was baking I made a batch of SK chocolate pudding that is as easy as it is delicious.

Wednesday, 9/25/24

 A big swing for me: roasted salmon with a gochujang glaze (NYT). I don't love salmon generally, but I figured everyone else in the world does, so maybe I was wrong? Nope, still don't love it, but it may be partly due to the fact that I slightly overcooked our very thin filets. Oh well, at least the accompanying noodles with spinach, garlic, bok choy and scallions were excellent.

Tuesday, 9/24/24

 Roasted cabbage and tofu, with both some chili crisp vinaigrette (which I obviously am in love with) and hoisin-tahini sauce (maybe a bit too sweet). Rice on the side. Such an easy and tasty way to cook cabbage.

Monday, 9/23/24

 We had spent some time on Saturday making a big batch of blintzes, and so invited Carter to dinner since he loves them so much. We had a little trouble with the filling, as our recipe called for a pound of farmers cheese, which we didn't have (and only rarely do?) so we added extra cottage cheese and cream cheese, but it was still a little drippy. Jason reluctantly added a bit of flour at my urging, which helped. but I think we need to:

a. pony up for the farmers cheese

b. drain the cottage cheese

or

c. add more cream cheese

Anyway, they turned out fine, Carter was happy, and baking them in a 400 degree oven on an oiled sheet pan worked perfectly. I am not afraid to fry, but if the results are just as good, why bother? Also, we ended up with an extra crepe because my first few are always a bit small. 

Sunday, 9/22/24

 Bread and cheese (thanks, Corrina) and pickles and some of the last of the season tomatoes. A dinner we both love.

Saturday, 9/21/24

 One of Jason's farm friends sent him a video of an eggplant recipe that didn't appeal to me, but he was insistent, so...

Anyhow, you roast whole eggplant, and then peel them and carefully flatten them out. A quick dip in egg and a flour/breadcrumb mix, and fry them until they are nice and crunchy. I thought the sauce choice was weird (sour cream, mayo, soy sauce and garlic) but OK. This was was better than I expected, and pretty easy, but Jason raved about it and wants me to make it again over the weekend. I might add a tomato sauce this time, though.

Friday, 9/20/24

 Jason had been longing for the fried chicken up at the Village Smokehouse again, but since they don't open for lunch, we went and had an early dinner (so uncharacteristic!). So we just split an order of fried chicken and lot of fried cheese curds. Do I feel good about this meal? I do not. Was it delicious? Yes it was.

Thursday, 9/19/24

 A new pizza idea...I basically thought it up, but so did the NYT so I just  followed their recipe for chicken buldak pizza. Spicy tomato sauce, chicken, plenty of mozzarella, hot peppers and red onions. Not as spicy as I feared and super tasty! You do need to marinate the chicken overnight, so it takes a bit of planning, but otherwise pretty basic. Another successful combo.

Wednesday, 9/18/24

 A creamy cauliflower pasta dish, from the NYT. You were supposed to sauté the cauliflower, but that just seemed impractical so I roasted it. I also used ricotta instead of heavy cream (we let some heavy cream go bad and now I am not allowed to buy any more since it is over $5 a quart). Oh, and I never have shallots but a small yellow onion worked fine. So it was more the idea of the dish. Although I did make the crunchy pecorino breadcrumbs, which were excellent. In the end this didn't end up being too different from other cauliflower dishes I have made, but it was very good nonetheless.

Tuesday, 9/17/24

 Deeply unattractive homefries. The swiss chard and leftover pinto beans I added did nothing to help, looks-wise. That didn't stop those potatoes from being delicious because potatoes + cheese = recipe for success. 

Monday, 9/16/24

 A nice quick dinner of a grilled eggplant salad (with peppers, cherry tomatoes and garlic), hummus and pita bread. One of our favorite ways to eat---a little of this and that.

Sunday, 9/15/24

 I had intended to make kung pao chicken, but I didn't really have the kind of chilis called for, so I just made kung pao-ish chicken, with scallions, ginger, garlic, bok choy, peanuts and chili crisp vinaigrette (which it seems I am happy to eat on basically everything). I did keep the step of "velveting" the chicken with cornstarch, which does indeed produce a lovely, tender texture. Plus rice. It was very good! Jason was sad that I cooked inside on the wok, but one cannot let the idea of the stove getting dirty utterly prevent you from using it.

Saturday, 9/14/24

 Our day took a turn when Jeff and Sue texted that they would be in town and wondered if we were around. Dinner was easy enough to postpone, so we took a nice hike with them and then had dinner at UMass.  My sushi and ramen were great, but I should have skipped the nachos. There is always one dish that is a bridge too far. I should remember that but I get greedy. I don't see too many more dining hall meals in our future, so thanks, Asa!

Friday, 9/13/24

 Dinner with Jen (no John, who was working). Bread from Jason, plus two Blue Aprons (both variations on chicken and curry, both delicious). While Jason and Jen were working on a sewing project I made a batch of SK Blondies (figuring correctly that the ingredients were basic enough to be on hand) that were well received if very slightly overcooked.

Thursday, 9/12/24

 I owed Jason a pepper and onion pizza, so I let him produce the whole thing without my interference. Even though sausage, raw peppers and onions will never be my favorite pizza topping, it wasn't bad. It reminded me of a Frontier special; we might as well have thrown on pepperoni, too.

Wednesday, 9/11/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi, to say goodbye to Sam who was heading back to college. We just made some pasta with onions and cherry tomatoes; Jason made bread and I brought a sampler of our many pickles. Carter came too, so it was nice to see the boys.

Tuesday, 9/10/24

 Eggplant grinders, at Jason's request. The last time we had them, we tried using fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and both regretted it. So I made sure mine was plenty saucy and cheesy and it was great. Served with some of  our  many pickle varieties.

Monday, 9/9/24

 A dinner I was looking forward to and it did not disappoint. Chicken tacos with crispy cheddar....words I could not resist. I marinated the chicken with a sort of adobe mix and grilled it on Sunday evening; Jason made corn tortillas, and there was also a little sort-of pickled red onion element. But I was really here for the crispy cheddar, which couldn't be easier. Just put little mounds of shredded cheese on a sheetpan and bake until they are crispy discs. Really made the whole dish (even with just so-so supermarket pre-grated cheese). I wish I had taken a picture---they were so golden brown a good. Will definitely make these again.

Sunday, 9/8/24

 Just pancakes, sausage and bananas. More Jason's favorite than mine, but I owed him after the great pizza disappointment, I guess. We also had some zucchini (well, summer squash) bread that I made Saturday from an SK recipe. Finally used up all the summer squash; now to dispatch some cucumbers and eggplant.

Saturday, 9/7/24

 Long awaited birthday dinner at the North Village Smokehouse! Even Carter came along (and enjoyed it). My pulled pork sandwich was excellent, but honestly I was there for the company and the fried cheese curds. Hard to say which was better...

I have done a fair amount of pickling lately and wanted to remember all the sources:

Zucchini (or in this case, summer squash: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/zucchini-refrigerator-pickles-recipe/

Pickles: Smitten Kitchen

Hot and sweet peppers: https://www.loveandlemons.com/pickled-jalapenos/

Okra (sleeper hit): Bon Appetit

We eat the peppers on almost anything that needs a little hit of spice or acid. Thank you Sunset Farm for giving me too many vegetables!

And here is an obligatory shot of my two cuties:

He likes her but doesn't know what to do with her

Friday, 9/6/24

 Friday night at home! So nice to have ample time to cook dinner. I made a tofu and cabbage sheet pan situation, looking at various recipes to get a sense of it; we served it with rice and a hoisin-tahini sauce (NYT) that I couldn't resist. This turned out to be a great way to cook cabbage and we ate everything up. Dessert (I got to bake!) was maple-pecan shortbread bars from the NTY that was fantastic (Jason compares them favorably with pecan pie, but then he isn't a pie crust guy) if maybe a tiny bit undercooked. Nothing that chilling won't fix.

Thursday, 9/5/24

 Jason was out all day and didn't get home until after 6:30; luckily all our pizza ingredients were prepped and ready to go (green pepper and onion and pepperoni). I thought it was great; Jason was  slightly disappointed because he was picturing raw peppers and onions, and I had cooked them up, sausage grinder style. I promised him a redo for next week. Sadly we will never agree on raw onions and peppers on a pizza.

Wednesday, 9/4/24

 I realized that we could just have leftovers, so we did.

Tuesday, 9/3/24

 A roasted corn and chickpea salad with lime crema, from the NYT. My changes: used yogurt instead of sour cream for the crema, and I added some more ingredients to the salad for more joie de vivre: cucumber, cherry tomatoes, leftover grilled chicken and jalapenos. I liked it quite a bit the first day and even better for lunch the second day. I would also consider black bean over chickpeas.

Monday, 9/2/24

 Made the green chili macaroni and cheese with the whole megillah. Made my own salsa verde (spicy!) and marinated and grilled the chicken (the recipe called for poached but grilled was more flavorful). Jason used the Instant Pot to cook the pasta and I realized I could finish the whole thing in it using the saute function. This was my best idea yet, honestly. It's a nice deep pot and so it was easy to mix everything up. I had been tabling this recipe for a couple of weeks so I am glad to finally get around to making it.

(PS: doubled the pasta)

Sunday, 9/1/24

 Dinner with Jen....a Blue Apron with steak and mashed potatoes; oddly my favorite part was the roasted carrots. They were just roasted with olive oil and salt and pepper so I am not sure what made them so good. Time, probably. Jason made bread and I brought a cake. It was just a yellow cake from a mix with a coffee flavored ermine icing. How that icing vexed me. Too warm, too cool, too curdle-y. It was a whole production and was only barely not broken when I finally had to give up and frost the damn cake. Tasted good, though (and only I really knew, probably).

Saturday, 8/31/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi (plus Carter and Sam). Jason of course made bread and I made a double batch of the hot fudge sauce that Jodi likes. Jay made a simple but delicious pasta with onions and cherry tomatoes from their garden. It was nice having the boys there.

Friday, 8/30/24

 We were invited to a farm dinner at one of Jason's "co-workers". They have an amazing hidden back yard in South Amherst and there was a lot of tasty food and interesting people. Jason made a loaf of bread but I didn't even try it. I was too invested in the pulled chicken sliders.

Thursday, 8/29/24

 After much deliberation, I picked La Veracruzana for my birthday dinner. Carter joined us and we enjoyed queso fundido as an app and I had my favorite chiles rellenos and a spicy margarita. It wasn't the most exciting birthday ever but dinner was nice.

Wednesday, 8/28/24

 Grilled chicken thighs that I marinated with an old favorite from the NTY, a spicy, lime-y marinade with fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame. They grilled up beautifully ( I can't believe that I used to hate chicken thighs so much); we had them with some corn fritters from the freezer that we heated up in the air fryer and some tomatoes from the farm. I really love summer meals.

Tuesday, 8/27/24

 Another slightly odd recipe from the NYT, for a white bean salad with caramelized zucchini. Due to a slight rush job, I don't know if I would call them caramelized or just quite browned. Anyway, onions and grated zucchini are sautéed up, then mixed with white beans, herbs and some lemon juice. As written it was a bit dull and heavy; I added pickled peppers and cherry tomatoes for a bit of brightness and some parm blend for a bit more flavor. I actually think it would have been better with small pasta instead of beans, but overall it was pretty good. Jason made us a nice loaf of bread to go with it.

Monday, 8/26/24

 I wanted to try the tomato-dumpling salad while it was still fresh in my mind, so we picked up some potstickers from Aldi and gave it another go. These dumplings were definitely tastier, which was good as my tomatoes were slightly mealy. Chili crisp vinaigrette really makes the dish; next time I would like to add the optional fried shallots. I bet those French's fried onions in a can would do just fine.

Sunday, 8/25/24

 Lunch at Priya with the in-laws, which was wonderful as always but didn't exactly leave us hungry for dinner with Jen, John and Laurie. Luckily the Blue Apron du jour, tofu bahn mi, wasn't one of my favorites and I still enjoyed making it. Jason made some pita and we had that for an hors d'ouevre with hummus and goat cheese. it was great to see everyone on a really lovely summer evening but I was very, very tired.

Saturday, 8/24/24

 Very busy day (visited my dad, hung out with Ramona, Corrina and Zac, took a hike with Carter) culminated with dinner with Jay, Jodi and Sam. We made 4 pizzas of their choosing (potato being my favorite) and even had time for a game. Then I totally crashed.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Friday, 8/23/24

 Pizza night! A repeat of a ricotta-zucchini (or in this case, summer squash). Because I haven't been forthcoming with the details previously: thin layer of ricotta, very thinly sliced zucchini (salted and dried off a bit), cherry tomatoes, garlic, and a sprinkle of parmesan blend. so light and fresh tasting .I think Jason and were both disappointed with the spinach-prosciutto pie of a couple of weeks ago, so it was nice that this one turned out so well.

Thursday, 8/22/24

 How could I resist the words "halloumi croutons"? I finally got around to making pasta salad from the NYT with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and the halloumi. Some changes: Aldi didn't have halloumi but did have something similar with the dubious name "bread cheese" (it works fine, as it still had the same property of holding up to grilling), and I didn't have any fresh herbs on hand so I tossed in the last of the chimichurri (plus extra tomatoes). You sort of marinate the tomatoes and onions with red wine vinegar and olive oil and then mix with everything else. I thought it was so delicious; fresh and summery. Lot of room for improvisation, too.

Wednesday, 8/21/24

 A big batch of fried rice, which happily used up some odds and ends of vegetables. Instead of seasoning it much, I made another batch of chili crisp vinaigrette to be added at the table. I wasn't so excited for fried rice (I knew Jason would like it), but it turned out pretty well.

Tuesday, 8/20/4

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi...Jason made bread and pita, plus we brought some farm vegetables and all made various sandwiches. Jay had foraged a bunch of black trumpet mushrooms; since I am typing this two days later I think it is safe to assume they weren't poisonous. Exciting!

Monday, 8/19/24

 Knowing I would be tired from work, we just planned tater tot nachos. Even with the addition of some various pickled vegetables on the side you couldn't call it the most well-rounded meal, but nobody can say it wasn't tasty.

Sunday, 8/18/24

 I had been wanting to try making sabunada kichdi again and finally had the time and ingredients (even raw peanuts!). Tapioca and potatoes seems like an odd combo, but it's quite tasty, especially with some cilantro chutney we still had. Mini samosas from Aldi and a couple of cucumbers to round things out.

Saturday, 8/17/24

 Jason has been wanting to try Korean fried chicken forever, so we finally got around to attempting it. I used a recipe from the NYT which had you marinate the chicken (I used boneless thighs) in a mixture of garlic and grated onions, which struck me as weird but what do I know. You then dredge them in a cornstarch/flour blend and fry away. They are tossed in a spicy gochujang sauce afterwards, which made them a bit like the boneless wings from the Hangar, albeit much, much spicier. Jason was hoping it would be crunchier; after doing some reading it seems like double frying is the way to go for that. Still, they were hard to stop eating, being spicy, salty and a little sweet. Served with rice, kimchi and some cucumber pickles.

Friday, 8/16/24

 An enormous camp breakfast (eggs, Jason bagels, bacon), then time to pack up. John had to go back to work, so Jason, Jen and I took a more roundabout trip home, stopping at Mass MoCA and having a delicious lunch there (Casita; excellent tacos). Then home to do all the laundry, have leftover bagels for dinner and go to bed early. Camping is fun but no one sleeps well.

Thursday, 8/15/24

 Camping! We made it up to Savoy with plenty of time for a short hike and floating in the pond. Dinner was steak, tomato-mozz salad, watermelon-feta salad, corn, and chimichurri sauce (which I made by using pretty much every herb at the farm along with garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar and hot pepper flakes). S'mores for dessert. Super fun day (and the power stayed on).

There is a loon out there somewhere

Wednesday, 8/14/24

 Jason made a loaf of bread for us, taking advantage of the only somewhat hot day. We had that with cheese, homemade pickles, and tomatoes, plus I made a batch of zucchini fritters. I used basically a recipe from SK, subbing in yellow squash and adding some nigella seeds for flavor. I love it when the summer produce starts filling our table.

Tuesday, 8/13/24

 Another odd recipe from the NYT, for cold silken tofu with a gochujang sauce. I sincerely wonder why I thought I would like this (for the record, Jason thought it was great). Cold plain tofu just felt terrible in my mouth, and no amount of tasty sauce could hide it. Luckily, I had made a nice little salad with the last of the chili crisp vinaigrette and random leftover vegetables-----when I dumped that into the tofu I could at least eat it without grimacing. Sorry Jason, this will not be going into the regular rotation.

Monday, 8/12/24

 An odd dish from the NYT that I had been wanting to try for a while: a tomato and dumpling salad with chili crisp vinaigrette. You cook up pot stickers (ours weren't the best--next time I will go to Trader Joe's) and serve them with a tomato salad. This odd sounding combination was so tasty, even with our wonky potstickers and mediocre tomatoes. I loved the flavors and want to make again soon, with better ingredients. Dessert was hamantaschen; some lekvar that we had stashed in the freezer, and some strawberry. I made the strawberry filling from a recipe from a random blog; no need to save it as it wasn't any better or thicker than jam from the store, and took forever to cook. I loved the flavor, but finally accept Jason's belief that strawberry is too wet a filling. They basically held their shape, but got soggy way too soon. Oh well, back to dulce de leche, I guess!

Sunday, 8/11/24

 Dosas (postponed from Saturday), with potato filling and the leftover sauces. I also grilled up some broccoli that was making me feel guilty; i am glad I rescued it from decline. Jason has really mastered the dosas to the point where they are as good as ones you would get in a restaurant. I'm glad we persevered. With the last bit of batter we made a couple of dessert ones, with maple syrup and a sprinkle of salt; Nutella would also have been good.

Saturday, 8/10/24

 Last minute invitation to Jay and Jodi's (how could we say no to the nephews?). Jason made pita and I was the prep cook; Sam sauteed up some cool mushrooms (hen of the woods, maybe?) and Zack, who is turning into a really good cook, made grilled chicken with a herby yogurt sauce. The usual assortment of grilled vegetables to go alongside. So fun to see the boys; I just wish Carter hadn't been at work.

Friday, 8/9/24

 Jason was still riding the wave of almost-cool mornings and made another loaf of bread to bring to Jen and John's. We also brought some beef to bulk up their meatloaf Blue Apron....served with mashed potatoes and bok choy it made for a tasty if oddly wintery meal.

Thursday, 8/8/24

 Pizza night is back! At least for this week. We invited Carter over and he was happy enough to eat his cheese pizza and the last piece of strawberry cake. Nothing like living on your own to make you appreciate your parents' cooking. We made a pizza with prosciutto, spinach, cream and cherry tomatoes, but we both felt that it wasn't as good as we remembered. Too rich? Too heavy for August? The crust was excellent, though.

Wednesday, 8/7/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi: Jason felt it was finally cool enough to bake a loaf of bread, so we brought that and then made turkey sandwiches with it. We also brought over some cucumber and onions, as those seem to be the farm's most reliable crops so far.

Tuesday, 8/6/24

 Eggplant grinders (using some eggplant from the freezer). We experimented with using fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and I am not sure if it was an unqualified success. Maybe it would have been if we had had big juicy summer tomatoes (but we used tasty but small cherry tomatoes instead). At east it was a quick dinner to assemble.

Monday, 8/5/24

 Sushi bowl...no surimi this time, but with just Jason and me there was plenty of tuna to go around.

Sunday, 8/4/24

 A lot of cooking. We had a fancy lunch (arugula salad with fresh mozz and the best little cherry tomatoes from the farm) and corn fritters (from Paula Dean; eliminate the sugar, add a teaspoon of baking powder. Good use for lackluster corn!). Jason made dosas for dinner, and with a couple of tweaks they really turned out well this time: We got a different kind of urad dal (peeled, for the record) and he used rice flour instead of rice. Finally thin and crispy, with no grittiness. When I say Jason made dosas, I mean he literally made the dosas. I made the potato filling, tamarind chutney, and cilantro mint chutney. I used recipes from a new cookbook, "Amrikan". The chutneys were fine, but too sweet as written. I did like her method of microwaving the date-tamarind mixture since it was another hot gross day; the potato mixture was nice but I messed around with it a bit (added some pakora masala and some lime leaves). A successful dosa dinner!

Saturday, 8/3/24

 Eggplant, tofu, rice. I am trying and failing to recreate Chinese restaurant tofu with garlic sauce. This was pretty good flavor wise but failed to achieve the textures I was hoping for. I froze and thawed the tofu hoping that would help (only somewhat) and Chinese eggplant might work better than the globe style we had on hand. The sauce was cobbled together from various recipes and was tasty but nothing like that garlic sauce even a mediocre Chinese restaurant does well. Sorry, Jason! Not perfected yet. 

I also made a strawberry cake (SK) but fell asleep before dessert.

Friday, 8/2/24

 Grilled chicken with what was supposed to be chimichurri sauce. We ran into problems when Jason brought home celery leaves instead of parsley (I will say they don't look entirely un-alike, but still). So it was chicken marinated in an unusual celery sauce. Once you accepted the flavor, it was fine? Jason made us buy some corn from Stop and Shop which of course was subpar, and I made a pasta salad with grilled summer squash, cherry tomatoes and the celery vinaigrette. It was impressive that dinner made it onto the table at all since we also had Ramona all day AND picked up and assembled a bed frame for Carter's new apartment. We didn't sit down until almost 8. Absurd.

Awaiting more furniture

Thursday, 8/1/24

 One of Jason's farm friends gave him some baba ganoush, so we had that with pita and hummus, plus a little cucumber salad. Nice that summer produce is finally coming in. Since it has been too hot to make bread, Jason has been leaning more on pita to satisfy his baking urges.

Wednesday, 7/31/24

 Pasta with pepperoni, adapted from a NYT recipe. I added some summer squash, which didn't bring anything to the party but at least provided a vegetable, used less fennel seeds and pepperoni and threw in a bunch of Parm at the end. Nice quick dinner and pretty adaptable as long as you have tomato paste.

Tuesday, 7/30/24

 Nothing new: tofu, broccoli, rice. Sauce from Cravings. It turned out quite well, since I actually followed a reliable recipe for the sauce.

Monday, 7/29/24

 Burgers and the first corn of the season! It pretty good, but at a rather shocking $8 a dozen, I would have liked it to be a little sweeter and a little crisper. We'll try out a couple more farm stands and see how it goes.

Sunday, 7/28/24

 Jeff rented out a cute little movie theater for Sue's birthday, and showed her favorite movie (Nim's Island, for the record). So after eating an enormous breakfast at the hotel we headed over...popcorn and cake for lunch. We didn't stick around too long after, because I wanted to check out a Indian supermarket in Nashua (Patel Brothers. It did not disappoint). We had dinner plans with Jay and Jodi---we just brought some vegetables and guacamole to make quesadillas.

We have no idea what this is

Saturday, 7/27/24

 Jason and I took a mini vacation to glamorous Lawrence, MA (we had an event at 10am in Lowell Sunday morning). Jason's only requirements were that the hotel have a gym and offer free breakfast; the Holiday Inn Express fit the bill. For dinner we just picked up a pizza and ate in the room. For the record, King's Pizza is pretty good. We actually had a really fun time....I love almost any hotel.

Friday, 7/26/24

 Jason brought home some nice little eggplants, so I spent approximately 7 hours (well, that's what it felt like) breading it for eggplant Parm. Jason used the deep fryer to cook them all up and they were delicious and basically worth the work. Finished off the last of the garlic flatbreads but the giant wad of overcooked pasta abides.

Thursday, 7/25/24

 I am not sure how it came to pass that I had not planned anything for dinner??? So it was back to the leftover pasta and sauce (now mercifully gone).

Wednesday, 7/24/24

I had planned a pasta with pepperoni for Jason and I, but somehow we were out of one of the key ingredients (tomato paste). So instead I sauteed the intended mushrooms and spinach and we dumped that into the leftover tomato sauce. The only sad part was that I felt that Jason made too much pasta and overcooked it a bit. 

Tuesday, 7/23/24

 Quesadillas with some of the leftover pulled pork. The avocado gods were on my side so we also had some nice guacamole. I had envisioned making these in the oven, but the cast iron griddle out on the grill worked just fine.

Monday, 7/22/24

I made a tomato sauce with sweet and hot Italian sausage in the slow cooker (so retro!) over the weekend, and we had that with spaghetti and a kale salad (meh. despite vigorous kneading the kale was still fairly intractable) . Jason also made some of his garlic flatbreads. We are going to save so much money on meat when Carter moves out....

Sunday, 7/21/24

 Pulled pork sandwiches and two kind of slaw: regular for Jason and vaguely Asian style one for me, with a miso-soy dressing and mangoes. I made the pork in the Instant Pot: 80 minutes high pressure, 15 minutes natural release. I think you could even go a few minutes more but it was basically fine. Seasoned with onion, bourbon, a little liquid smoke and two kinds of paprika. While the pressure cooker is not as good as the oven for cooking pork shoulder, it's far more practical in the summer. I regret not picking up any corn but the season is just beginning.

Saturday, 7/20/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi; we brought a fair amount of farm produce and some pita and made vegetable skewers (bolstered with some sausage for us omnivores). I also made a SK strawberry cake which was gone before the night was over. Even Jodi ate some (and then Carter polished it off when he got home from work)! 

Friday, 7/19/24

 Lentils, rice, cauliflower. I made the lentils with (too much) ginger, garlic, onions and coconut milk in the Instant Pot and roasted the cauliflower on the grill.  The grill actually worked out pretty well. I thought the lentils weren't my best effort, but they are basically fine.

Thursday, 7/18/24

 Dinner with Jen and John on an unexpected Thursday! The Blue Apron du jour was steak and mashed potatoes with Brussels sprouts. We brought fresh new potatoes from the farm to supplement, and kale that we made into a kale salad. Jason made chocolate chip cookies but had trouble with cooking them in their toaster oven. Everyone ate them up anyway. For once it was a nice evening and we were able to sit outside and admire the moon.

Wednesday, 7/17/24

 Grilled chicken thighs (with a miso-soy marinade), broccoli, rice, peanut sauce.This was a great meal with only one downer: I used broccoli from the farm and despite soaking it and inspecting it thoroughly, a tiny worm remained, which of course was on Carter's plate. I don't blame him for being traumatized. He is already slightly suspicious and this didn't help.

Tuesday, 7/16/24

 Grilled chicken thighs (marinated in a miso-soy dressing), rice, broccoli, peanut sauce. I thought this was all great, and I am now a total convert to boneless chicken thighs. So much more foolproof. The only sad part was that I used broccoli from the farm, and though I inspected it closely and rinsed it several times, Carter still found a tiny worm in his.  He is already a somewhat suspicious eater, and this didn't help. I can't blame him for being grossed out, though.

Monday, 7/15/24

 Italian grinders and kettle chips. I have never succeeded in getting my grinders as good as from a shop, but tasty enough, quick and no cooking (good since it was crazy hot AGAIN).

Sunday, 7/14/23

 Rice and beans (cooked pinto beans in the Instant Pot over the weekend), plus a salad. Fine if not totally inspired dinner. Missing using the stove...

Saturday, 7/13/24

 I did several hours of prep in the morning; it felt good to tinker around in the kitchen, making the rest of my week easier. I also went through the dreaded crisper drawer and used up a bunch of vegetables that were mocking me. So dinner was homefries with kale and mushrooms (knocking three of the languishing items out in one fell swoop) with bacon and cheese, as well. All we needed to round things out was a little salsa. TBH, it was a bit kale heavy but that's OK.  Still on an ice cream jag for dessert.

Friday, 7/12/24

 Jason's aunt and uncle were down from Vermont; it was both of their birthday's on Thursday, and Beverly's on Saturday, so Jodi hosted dinner for everyone. We brought a cake from BJ's (surprisingly good), a rotisserie chicken and some zucchini for grilling. We also grilled onions, peppers and Beyond burgers, plus Jodi made a pasta salad. I think everyone had fun! It's always nice to see Yoni and Stephen, and I think Beverly appreciated it, too. Thank goodness for Jay and Jodi's bigger house (and AC).

Thursday, 7/11/24

 I somehow prevailed on Jason to just let us order pizza for dinner. I was so tired of figuring out how to produce meals in the relentless heat. He wasn't totally gracious about it, but Carter and I were so psyched! We got a family size cheese from Athena's and devoured the whole thing. I can see why people like takeout....

Wednesday, 7/10/24

 One of Jason's farm friends brought us back some Syrian bread from Egypt. I remember my mom getting this kind of bread from somewhere in Springfield when I was a kid (who knows where, since we never went to Springfield). Anyway, it is enormous, round and slightly thinner that a tortilla. We had some with hummus, cucumbers and feta cheese for an easy no-cooking meal. Thanks, Iman!

Tuesday, 7/9/24

 A pasta salad from the NYT, which appealed because it uses a bunch of spinach AND green peas. You combine the spinach with basil, garlic and olive oil to make a sort of pesto. I added some cherry tomatoes, too, and honestly any vegetables you had hanging around would be good. I found some nice kielbasa in the freezer to make it more of a meal. Jason liked it (he loves pesto) and Carter didn't say much but ate everything. Ice cream and maple syrup for dessert (I gave Jodi the leftover hot fudge).

Monday, 7/8/24

 Dinner at home! I had made Ikea style meatballs on Sunday afternoon; we had them with leftover broccoli and egg noodles. I will say that Jason has really mastered cooking pasta in the Instant Pot. Too bad I can't convince him to adequately salt the water. Anyhow, this all turned out pretty well even though my cream gravy was a little on the thin side. It was too hot to be standing out on the porch over the lame little hot plate waiting for gravy to thicken.

Sunday, 7/7/24

Dinner at Jay and Jodi's again; this time Jason's parents brought take-out from Miss Saigon. Jason and I both got #60 (stir-fry egg noodles with chicken) and it was good, but now I am rethinking and wondering if I should go back to the rice noodle bowl. Tough questions. 

Saturday, 7/6/25

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. We brought pita and hummus, plus hot fudge (which I know Jodi loves) and ice cream. Then we all grilled up a bunch of vegetables and Beyond Burgers. I was concerned that the beets wouldn't cook up on the grill, but they turned out just fine. I can't believe the four of us polished off all those veg but there you have it.

Friday, 7/5/24

 Dinner with Jen and John. A Blue Apron with rice, spinach and chicken thighs all cooked in a casserole. It took a while (you start with raw rice) but turned out pretty well. Jason made his usual garlic flatbread for a snack ( in my opinion he needs to branch out a bit, although they are undoubtedly tasty) and I tried a new dessert from Cook's Country for an "Creamy Chocolate Eclair Cake" . I felt that it was semi-disastrous, partly from user error and partly just being kind of icky. My two mistakes were not cooking the pudding long enough, so it didn't set up well, and forgetting the top layer of graham crackers. But I still felt that the recipe was lacking: too much overly sweet plain vanilla pudding and ganache with chocolate chips was blah. Honestly I don't know why I made it. Jason and Jen liked it, John and I were underwhelmed. Personally I think pastry cream and twice the graham crackers would be the way to go.

Thursday, 7/4/24

 Quiet 4th of July for us. Too hot for Jason to want to do much. I marinated chicken thighs in a yogurt based situation for a kind of shawarma. Jason made pita and we had the usual accompaniments (cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, pickled peppers, etc). The thighs certainly cook up nicely, without drying out, but that damn yogurt marinade sticks to the grill like crazy so DON"T DO IT AGAIN!

Wednesday, 7/3/24

 Finally made the tofu and broccoli, so I can clear that from my conscience. I had Jason make rice during the day, and just made fried rice in my trusty electric skillet. I wasn't entirely happy with my seasoning choices, but nothing that a little sambal oelek couldn't fix. I only marinated one container of tofu so the leftovers weren't too onerous.

Tuesday, 7/2/24

 I am putting off making tofu and broccoli, so it was just DIY nachos with leftover black beans. I will have to reckon with the tofu at some point, I guess.

Monday, 7/1/24

 A new recipe from Ali Slagle, via the NYT. A sort of rice salad with coconut, herbs, cherry tomatoes and a peanutty dressing. I added green peas because why not. I think I am the only one who really loved this, but Carter ate it cheerfully enough and Jason will eat anything. To round things out I had Jason grill some bratwurst that I found in the back of the freezer. I don't know if I don't like bratwurst, don't like this brand, or what but I didn't care for it all and neither did Carter. Jason liked it (see: will eat anything) so more for him? I would definitely make this again, especially for my weekday lunches. Maybe add some black beans to make it more filling, and a NYT commenter added mango which also seemed like a good idea.

Sunday, 6/30/24

 Got home in the late afternoon, so I just made frozen ravioli for dinner, with some leftover sauce.  I'm sure Jason was glad to be home.

Saturday, 6/29/24

 Vacation day in New London with Jason's whole family (except Carter, who had to work and I don't think he minded). We spent the afternoon at the beach, despite the only so-so weather. Jason made a couple of loaves of bread, I made peanut butter cookies (SK, minus chocolate chips which I think are a distraction) and Michael grilled chicken and vegetables. It was a fun and rowdy evening. I'm glad Jason agreed to spend at least one night.

Sam in the sand

Friday, 6/28/24

 Black beans and rice, plus corn tortillas that Jason made, so you could have a rice bowl or tacos. Served with tomatoes, cheese and salsa. Sounds boring, tastes good.

Thursday, 6/27/24

 Pancakes and scrambled eggs, at Jason's request. Twice in two weeks or so is a bit much for me, so I hope he doesn't request it again anytime soon.

Wednesday, 6/26/24

 Cheese and crackers, plus a salad with some kind of vinaigrette I had hanging around. Aldi double smoked cheddar and some extra sharp Cabot cheddar was not the most well-rounded cheese selection ever, but they were still tasty.

Tuesday, 6/25/24

 It was a very, very busy day at work, so I was glad that I had made a batch of broccoli-cheddar soup over the weekend (no recipe; 6 minutes in the IP). Toasted up the last few slices from a loaf of bread that Jason made last week to go with it. My only quibble is that the Aldi sharp cheddar was very blah.

Monday, 6/24/24

 Burgers and home fries. I did the burgers the way Carter likes them (onions, soy sauce and sriracha mixed in) and the skillet did it usual excellent job on the potatoes. Watermelon and grapes to round things out.

Sunday, 6/23/24

 Jason's parents took us to Priya for his birthday, so we weren't hungry for dinner. We just had some popcorn and I made Carter a bowl of pasta with some of the leftover grilled chicken.

Saturday, 6/22/24

 Grilled chicken and pasta salad...the two dishes weren't exactly cohesive, but both good in their own way. The chicken had a yogurt marinade, with Indian spices, while the pasta salad had a basil vinaigrette  It also had grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes and feta. Carter mildly grumbled about the zucchini (but ate it anyway) but was a fan of the chicken. Still eating hot fudge and ice cream for dessert.

Friday, 6/21/24

 Leftover falafel, which honestly wasn't as good as the first time. Oh well.

Thursday, 6/20/24

 Black beans and rice, with cheese, tomatoes and the pineapple salsa. I had cooked the black beans in the Instant Pot the day before, and Jason made the rice so it was quick and, of course, didn't use the oven. We have been on an ice cream with hot fudge kick (see: not heating up the kitchen). We started off all fancy with Tillamook, dropped down to Friendly's and will soon resort to the Big Y brand. Luckily the homemade hot fudge (SK original recipe, which I prefer to her "improved" one) covers a multitude of sins.

Wednesday, 6/19/24

 Took advantage of the midweek day off to go up to the DAR with Jen and John and Corrina, Zac and Ramona. Perfect for a little one...no waves, nice and shallow, lots of rocks and dirt to play with.

Enough with the sunscreen, Mom!

We kept it simple for dinner with grilled cheese and watermelon. I added some pickled peppers to the grilled cheese because I was feeling wild.

Tuesday, 6/18/24

 What started off as grilled tuna steaks with rice ended up being sushi bowl, since those tiny little tuna steaks just didn't seem like enough food. But with the addition of a cucumber salad, surimi, and a pineapple salsa it became an ample and festive dinner. No leftovers.

Monday, 6/17/24

 Hamburgers, chips, watermelon and grapes. At Carter's request I doctored up the hamburger (soy sauce, sriracha, dried onions). I am not sure what factor had the most influence (Big Y beef, which I think is superior; grilling technique, seasoning?) but these were so good. I was a little jealous of Carter and Jason who got two each.

Sunday, 5/16/24

 Falafel (basic instruction from the NYT). I add a lot more herbs and spices but otherwise the recipe works well. It also helps to grind the chickpeas separately. Jason fried them up outside AND made pita on the grill. I made some sweet and spicy pickled peppers to go with it, along with a tahini-yogurt sauce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and feta. Big hit all around.

Saturday, 6/15/24

 Back to pizza. We had a lot of chard hanging around, so I cooked that down and made it into a cream sauce base for the pizza, which also had mozzarella, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes (essential for the hit of sweetness and acid). That wasn't my all time favorite (too much cream sauce for me this week?) but I was pretty happy to use up that chard. Jason experimented with making the pizza on the grill and it still needs some tweaking.