Breakfast/lunch/Dinner, what are you having?

[Scepticalscribe]

Ordered in sashimi (from an excellent Japanese place, which has switched to take-out or takeawy/delivery since the advent of Covid) yesterday evening after my French class, as I was too tired to want to cook and I love Asian food; delicious.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It is Friday, Good Friday in the western Christian calendar, one of the days of the year which is traditionally meat free.

Now, as it happens, these days, most days of most weeks, my dining and diet takes a meat free form, but, nonetheless, I still thought to conform to some of the old traditions.

So, dinner this evening took the form of miso soup:

Miso soup (miso paste, soya sauce, a little fish sauce, sesame oil, vegetable stock, and freshly squeezed lime juice), with Japanese noodles, diced French onions, and shredded cabbage.

 

[Renzatic]

All I know is that I ate way too much Seczhuan chicken, and now i'm miserable.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

All I know is that I ate way too much Seczhuan chicken, and now i'm miserable.

There is no such thing as too much Szechuan chicken, or Szechaun or Chinese, or Asian anything, to my mind.

 

[Renzatic]

There is no such thing as too much Szechuan chicken, or Szechaun or Chinese, or Asian anything, to my mind.

There is a fine line. Trust me.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

There is a fine line. Trust me.

Ah.

You crossed it?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

There is a fine line. Trust me.

Years ago, actually decades ago, as a teenager on my first visit to France, I suspect that I crossed a similar line re the consumption of honey (from the honey gathered from the hives my host family kept near their house in the country, which was outside Chartres; the rest of the time, they lived in central Paris).

Anyway, it was the first time in my life I ever knew anyone who kept bees, and the centrifugal process of extracting the honey from the honey combs in the hives (yes, I was given the appropriate gear, masked head covering, gloves, etc) fascinated me.

And in a display of pure greed, I devoured this delicious honey in the sort of generous quantities that would have put Winne the Pooh to shame.

My French hosts mildly remonstrated with me, pointing out that I ran the risk of suffering some sort of stomach upset. I didn't care. And yes, I did suffer the predicted stomach upset, and I still didn't care.

 

[Renzatic]

Ah.

You crossed it?

I ran so far beyond that line, I couldn't even see it anymore.

 

[lizkat]

All I know is that I ate way too much Seczhuan chicken, and now i'm miserable.

I'll be doing that next time I manage to get up to Ithaca and land some Szechuan shredded beef on a plate, believe me.

I had originally thought to have lamb with mushrooms and lentils today, but the messy weather Thursday interfered with my shopping plans, so that idea got revised to just mushrooms with lentils and egg noodles, but it was great anyway. Love lentils, so versatile as far as cooking them with different arrays of herbs and spices. I used smoky Spanish paprika and a little marjoram today, sauteed some onions and carrots to have in the lentils along with the mushrooms, a splash of red vinegar at the end instead of lemon juice as I'm out of lemons at the moment.

So a shopping list is under construction for later in the week, but today's dinner turned out pretty fine meanwhile.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I'll be doing that next time I manage to get up to Ithaca and land some Szechuan shredded beef on a plate, believe me.

I had originally thought to have lamb with mushrooms and lentils today, but the messy weather Thursday interfered with my shopping plans, so that idea got revised to just mushrooms with lentils and egg noodles, but it was great anyway. Love lentils, so versatile as far as cooking them with different arrays of herbs and spices. I used smoky Spanish paprika and a little marjoram today, sauteed some onions and carrots to have in the lentils along with the mushrooms, a splash of red vinegar at the end instead of lemon juice as I'm out of lemons at the moment.

So a shopping list is under construction for later in the week, but today's dinner turned out pretty fine meanwhile.

Sounds delicious; I assume that garlic also made an appearance in that dish - it seems to me to have the flavour profile that would go well with garlic.

 

[fooferdoggie]

tried a new bbq place.it was pretty good. I cant eat the sauce so mine was without. I set a new record on my bike going to the place to grab it and back

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dinner took the form of a fish stew, inspired by some of the Iberian - Spanish and Portuguese - fish stew recipes that I have read.

A few onions, very finely diced, were sautéed in olive oil until soft; then, around ten cloves of garlic (two finely sliced, the others minced) were added. Also added to the olive oil were around eight anchovies, chopped, which were allowed to dissolve in the onion and garlic mix.

Then, several tomatoes - a mix of cherry tomatoes, vine tomatoes, and one large tomato - chopped and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper were added to the pan.

Pimentón (Spanish smoked sweet paprika) - a few heaped teaspoons - was next added and stirred for a minute or two into the onion & garlic & melted anchovy mix.

Next, a generous glass of Spanish white wine was poured into the dish, and simmered until the wine had reduced into something resembling a sludge.

Stock - a jug - was prepared (a chicken stock cube, seasoned with fish sauce, to which two teaspoonfuls of tomato puree were dissolved). This was added to the pan, along with a few potatoes, already peeled and diced into small squares.

This was allowed to simmer - partially covered - away for around 40 minutes, until the potatoes were cooked, at which point I added some chopped and diced white fish (haddock) and salmon; the fish was ready in around five to seven minutes, and the dish was then decorated with chopped, fresh parsley, before I served dinner, even though I dined toute seule, as per usual, in these Covid times.

Very tasty, though I say so myself.

 

[lizkat]

chopped, fresh parsley

The two groceries from which I can shop for fresh produce remotely now don't have fresh parsley for some reason, although they sometimes have cilantro. Exasperating and incomprehensible. Anyway I certainly look forward to the growing season, as the indoor growing of herbs doesn't always work well for me, it gets too dry and lacks enough sun, a bad combo. I especially miss fresh parsley in winter and find the dried stuff worthless for my purposes.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The two groceries from which I can shop for fresh produce remotely now don't have fresh parsley for some reason, although they sometimes have cilantro. Exasperating and incomprehensible. Anyway I certainly look forward to the growing season, as the indoor growing of herbs doesn't always work well for me, it gets too dry and lacks enough sun, a bad combo. I especially miss fresh parsley in winter and find the dried stuff worthless for my purposes.

Agreed.

One of the stalls - a really good stall - in the farmers' market had fresh parsley - which I bought - grown by themselves (though no other herbs), which they had confirmed by phone when I phoned them a few days earlier to enquire about what they would have available on Saturday.

Actually, my query concerned eggs (free range, organic): Covid constraints meant that their normal supplier of hens - who have yet to start laying - and eggs was not possible, and hence, (after a long winter, with slow growth), they are running late, growth is late, and the hens - who are normally comfortably ensconsed by mid March, have just arrived this week (and won't be laying for at least another fortnight).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Very simple, and very tasty: An omelette, (organic, free range eggs), seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, and fresh (finely chopped) parsley, and cooked in butter in an Italian copper sauté pan.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A hot and sour soup: Stock, freshly squeezed lime juice, lemon grass, chopped chilli peppers, a thumb of ginger, fish sauce, brown sugar, miso paste, a little tom yum paste, to which, were added, French onions, cherry tomatoes, shredded kale, and chopped mixed fish.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I cant eat carbs so I give them away to people in my shop building. got this Easter egg cake at a great store for only 6.50 it was 25.00 regular price. they said it was great I tried a little piece of the lower and it was good. poor thing had to take a ride in my bike bag but it was tough.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Lunch was a cheeseboard: Black olives, Camembert Rustique, Gorgonzola Cremosa, Bleu d'Auvergne, St Nectaire, Comte and Dent du Chat with fresh French baguette, from the French bakery.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dinner:

Shrimp, crab claws, and smoked salmon, served with roasted potatoes, homemade Marie Rose dressing (mayonnaise, ketchup, sea salt, black pepper, Worcester sauce, lemon juice, and pimentón - smoked, sweet Spanish paprika), and homemade aioli (minced garlic, organic, free range, egg yolks, olive oil), and two salads, dressed lamb's lettuce, and a cherry tomato and cucumber salad, both with homemade French dressing (with honey, rather than sugar, olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar, sea salt, black pepper, French mustard).