Monday, 7/28/25

 Too hot to cook (even on the porch) so we just had leftover bread, toasted, and a salad. I made the salad all fancy with feta, cherries and beets.

Sunday, 7/27/25

 Sweet and sour eggplant with crispy garlic chips, from the NYT. I didn't have Japanese eggplant but regular old globe worked fine. Super delicious just as written; served over basmati rice. My only thing is that I should have been more careful getting the garlic chips more uniformly thin (they were worth the effort!).

Saturday, 7/26/26

 A recipe from "Weekday Vegetarians get Simple" that looked good as I was flipping through it at work. Can't resist "brown butter orzo with zucchini". This was similar to a SK pasta dish in that it called for cooking shredded zucchini for a while; the brown butter certainly added a lot of delicious flavor. I think I could have even doubled the zucchini, though. It also would have been nice with a little crunch, like toasted panko or nuts. Than Jason and I ate a whole thing of Ben and Jerry's.

Friday, 7/25/25

 We had some leftover skirt steak from dinner at Vespa last week that I had thrown in the freezer; used that and whatever other odds and ends we had laying around (carrots, cucumbers, egg) to make gimbap. We are getting better at rolling them! They could have used something pickled, like daikon, but it was still a pretty quick and good dinner.

Thursday, 7/24/25

 Still going at the rangoons and sausage dumplings from the freezer. The farther away we get from the making of them, the more delicious they are. 

Wednesday, 7/23/25

 I don't know why I wanted deviled eggs for dinner....maybe because eggs are almost a reasonable price again? Anyhow, had that with leftover toasted bread, cheese, and the last of the pickled yellow squash. The oven is off-limits again.

Tuesday, 7/22/25

 I was looking forward to a white bean, fresh mozzarella and roasted red pepper salad for dinner, so it was disappointing that it was somehow less than the sum of its parts. After cooking my own white beans (25 minutes in the Instant Pot is too much! Try 20 next time), roasting my own peppers and getting fresh basil from the farm I was expecting something more delicious. The ever so slightly mushy beans probably didn't help. I added cucumbers and cherry tomatoes for a little more crunch. It still needed doctoring up (chili crisp helped a little). The last of the pita bread to go with it.

Monday, 7/21/25

 Jason proclaimed it "Cool Enough to Run the Oven Day"! So I made roasted haddock with brown butter and almonds (well, cashews because that is what I had) from the NYT. I am always nervous about cooking fish but this was delicious! How could it not be, what with the brown butter, lemon and scallions? Served with ditalini with a whole bag of spinach tossed in; I topped that with more lemon, parm and some of the brown butter mixture. I made a giant mess but it was worth it.

Sunday, 7/20/25

 Quiet night at home; tofu (dredged in cornstarch and pan-fried) with broccoli and summer squash, with peanut sauce and rice. I had some quibbles: the broccoli was a little underdone, summer squash doesn't really add anything (but at least I used it up), and I felt the peanut sauce lacked something but I couldn't figure out what. But altogether it wasn't bad (and I left the more fun dinners for later in the week).

Saturday, 7/19/25

 Dinner at Vespa with Donna, Deb, Carter and Corrina. what a treat! Highlights were the appetizers (a corn custard that they called a torta, and grilled shrimp with Calabrian chile), risotto, and the lemon posset brulee for dessert. My pasta (pan seared with garlic, shallot, sundried tomato, artichoke heart, spinach and a Calabrian butter cream sauce) was good if not particularly creamy or chili-y. The skirt steak were a bit tough but overall a good meal and a great evening. We will miss those aunts....

Friday, 7/18/25

 After working a full week for what feels like the first time in a while, it was fun to head to Whately with too much pizza (who's laughing now, Jodi?) for dinner with the aunties and Corrina, Zac, Ramona and Carter. Plus some wine, salad and fruit; who could ask for anything else?

Thursday, 7/17/25

 Grilled cheese on Jason bread, and more of the various pickled things alongside. Good but somehow very rich.

Wednesday, 7/16/25

 Hash browns with kale, lots of onions, and smoked cheddar. A nice easy one dish meal to make in the electric skillet, and no leftovers. And pretty quick since I precooked the potatoes in the Instant Pot earlier in the week.

Tuesday, 7/15/25

 Burgers on the grill; I dolled up the beef with egg, soy sauce, Sriracha and panko (sort of meatloaf vibes) and Jason did the cooking. The cheese wasn't strictly necessary, but I have no regrets. Cucumber  pickles and pickled yellow squash on the side

Monday, 7/14/25

 I was tired from our first day open in the temporary library space, but rallied enough to make pupusas for dinner, with Jason's help. I used a mixture of mozzarella, provolone and chopped up pickled jalapenos for the filling, and decided that salsa counted as a side dish and a vegetable.

Sunday, 7/13/25

 Sort of last minute invitation to Jay and Jodi's for pizza to celebrate Beverly's birthday. We brought some rum-raisin ice cream (a favorite of Beverly's that no one else would touch). Jodi somehow ordered 5 family sized pizzas...we did our best but there were lots of leftovers.

Saturday, 7/12/25

 For once Jason deemed it too hot to cook pizza! So we took the ingredients we were going to use (goat cheese, onions, and cherry tomatoes) and made it into a pasta with linguine instead. I think the pizza would have been better but it was fine.

Friday, 7/11/25

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. Jason made bread, I made some cucumber salad, and we all helped to make pasta with bok choy and cherry tomatoes. Nice way to end the work week.

Thursday, 7/10/25

 We finished off the leftover potato tacos, clearing another thing from the freezer. Only somewhat successful in the air fryer but not bad. Also had a salad with greens from the farm and some sketchy dressing I found in the back of the fridge.

Wednesday, 7/9/25

 We are working on the freezer this week, so tonight was some crab rangoon and whatever it is that we called the sausage filled ones (mini fried calzones, maybe?). The beauty of these as leftovers is that they are just as good reheated in the air fryer, and without all the hard work of the first day. Downright relaxing. We also finished up the eggplant salad.

Tuesday, 7/8/25

 Corn fritters (from the Paula Deen recipe, usual modifications). These never disappoint. We had also had some quick cucumber pickles and an eggplant-red pepper salad (an attempt to recreate a delicious salad from a nearby Russian grocery store; I don't know if I succeeded but it was good).

Monday, 7/7/25

 It would be a lie to say that tonight's dinner was from the NYT, because really I just used used the words "tofu with asparagus and black bean sauce" as an inspiration. Did have tofu and asparagus, but I also added ginger, garlic, and some broccoli and snap peas that Jason had brought home from the farm. I also didn't use Chinese fermented black beans, instead using up some of our Korean black bean paste. The recipe also called for baked tofu, but I just cubed up regular and sauteed it.I was surprised at how good it was. I didn't feel like cooking and wasn't psyched for tofu, but it was worth it.

Sunday, 7/6/25

 We had a pretty big lunch at Priya with Jason's parents, so while we were delighted to get a spontaneous dinner invite from Jen and John, we weren't exactly hungry. But we rallied and ate hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad and tomatoes and mozzarella (they had a lot of picnic stuff left over). All we brought were some cucumbers and flowers from the farm. No one is sad when you show up with flowers, though.

Saturday, 7/5/25

 A dinner that I was really looking forward to, that wasn't quite as good as I hoped. First, grilled chicken with tahini/honey and lemon was fine, but it took a lot of tinkering to get that tahini sauce tasting good. We just bought a new brand of tahini; maybe it's to blame (NYT). And a cherry and burrata salad from Sk that sounded so amazing that I splurged on cherries, burrata AND pistachios only to find it....fine. Not worth the expense. Maybe feta would have been better? Oh well.

Friday, 7/4/25

 Pizza night featuring pineapple, ham and fresh jalapenos. I admit I wasn't looking forward to it too much (I don't really like ham), but better than I expected. We had a nice fresh pineapple and I think that makes a difference.

Thursday, 7/3/25

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. We made fresh pasta as a group project, and I think it turned out well. Zack made a simple tomato sauce, and we have toasted walnut, fresh mozz, cherry tomatoes and Calabrian chili pasta as garnishes. Jason thought it would be too laborious, but it went quickly with 5 workers spreading the pasta it to dry a bit.

Wednesday, 7.2.25

 A white bean and feta salad with pickled celery (from Ali Slagle via the NYT) that I had high hopes for, but I just felt it was a little lacking. Lacking what, I don't know. But it was another good dinner for a hot evening, with pita that Jason made on the grill.

Tuesday, 7/1/25

 I made a giant chicken, artichoke and spinach stew over the weekend; so much that I convinced Jason that we should have Carter for dinner. It was nice to see him, and the stew (which I have made before, from the NYT) was nice. We served it with egg noodles; I thought rice would have been a better choice but who is complaining, really, about eating egg noodles.

Monday, 6/30/25

 We drove Beverly down to Bradley to pick up Joel, and stopped for dinner near the airport at a place called Tunxis Grill. My pizza was meh at best (thin little cardboard crust), but Jason enjoyed his burger very much, and the eggplant fries appetizer was really good. Home annoyingly late.

Sunday, 6/29/25

 I don't know why I wanted to make ceviche, after never making it before, but something cold and tart sounded good. I used frozen tuna from Aldi, which worked well although it turned a revolting pale pink. Lots of cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and avocados, and so much lime juice that I broke my juicer. I used a recipe from the NYT, but obviously it's mostly a matter of taste. I really liked it! I don't think Jason did quite as much, but he of course ate it up anyway. Not as filling as sushi bowl, but the plantain chips were a great touch.