This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Aug-22: For dinner there was Savory Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake (web). This was pretty good, although it was a bit runny in the center (raw zucchini probably, and wet mozzarella), so I cooked it quite a bit longer after adding the grated mozzarella topping. I used one 125g ball of mozzarella for the cheesecake and half of another one to add at the end. Ed thought more browned mozzarella would have been nice. For a starter, I took the extra zuke slices and marinated them like the zucchini carpaccio I've made a few times. Then sliced a tomato and the rest of the mozzarella, and picked some basil leaves to put together a sort of insalata caprese, topped with pistachio oil rather than olive oil. Turned out pretty good. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after. 

Harvested our first zucchini this year.

Tuesday/2-Aug-22: A half dose of Caribbean Rice Salad (MWDaily, p202) for dinner. This was easy, colorful, and tasty. A whole recipe, or even doubled, would be good for a pot luck dinner. I used an orange bell pepper; a yellow one would have been better because the orange blended with the sweet potato. We split a mini HD ice cream cup for after; that was our last one, old enough to be from before the recall.

Wednesday/3-Aug-22: Dinner was Turkey Phyllo Pot Pie (web). This was okay, if nothing special. I'm writing this a day later and neither of us can remember if there was a side! But there was a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Thursday/4-Aug-22: Dinner from the crockpot, Chicken with Vinegar and Garlic (SlowItal, p118). This was okay, but the chicken (thighs) was dry as is often is from the crockpot. Served over polenta, with a quick cucumber salad for a side. And, yes, a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Friday/5-Aug-22: Dinner was Spanish Bacalao a la Vizcaina (web), I put the cod on a rectangle of polenta left from yesterday and surrounded with the sauce. Quite pretty. Ed didn't much like the sauce, but I thought it was okay. Store-bought riz au laits for after.

Saturday/6-Aug-22: Leftover zucchini cheesecake for dinner. It wasn't as good the second time round. Followed by a big salad. For me, a dish of tapioca pudding for after. Ed prefers it cold, so he passed.

Sunday/7-Aug-22: Dinner was a halfish dose of Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce (web). Actually, this is what I planned for next Wednesday; tonight was supposed to be a Vietnamese skirt steak salad. Will have to freeze the beef till next Wednesday. Tonight's salad was easy and good. We finished the tapioca pudding for after. In the afternoon, forgetting about the tapioca, I made a Far aux Pruneaux, (GD). That will have to wait till tomorrow.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 8; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/17-Jan-22: Last night I started an Overnight Boule; this morning I baked it off. Good bread. I also started a batch of Oven-Dried Tomatoes (HandyBook). 

Dinner was an oldie, but goodie, Bulgur, Broccoli, and Feta Cheese Pilaf (MC; modified from VT/jun00). Still good stuff.

Tuesday/18-Jan-22: Dinner was turkey pot pie, really Ryan's Pie (PotPies, p46), or almost. I used turkey instead of chicken, and, since it was pretty bare of veggies, I added some peas with the turkey. Tasty stuff. That was dinner.

Wednesday/19-Jan-22: Made a loaf of English Toasting Bread (Electric, p21) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-). This is supposed to be baked in the oven, so it can be coated with cornmeal, but I skipped that and just baked in the ABM.

Dinner was delicious, all tried and true stuff. The main was Spicy Shrimp Stir-Fry (MJ@Home, p63). This is easy and really good. Served with the suggested sides Sri Lankan Rice with Cilantro and Lemon Grass (MJ@Home, p210) and Mushroom and Pea Curry (MJ@Home, p161). The mushroom-pea thing was way too liquid; we'll have the rest as soup for lunch one day soon. 

Thursday/20-Jan-22: We managed trips to both Drives today; the second one had been planned for tomorrow, but there were slots in the late afternoon available, so we took advantage of that (and Ed made a trip to the brico).

When it came time cook, I didn't feel like it, so I heated up the two choucroute dinners that I'd bought from a Drive for a quick dinner on another night. These were pretty so-so; the choucroute was tasteless. Too bad. I like me some choucroute every now and again, but not this. 

Friday/21-Jan-22: Made a loaf of Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-).

Dinner was Walnut-Rosemary Crusted Salmon (web). This was fairly easy (a bit of chop-chop) and very tasty. Served with a small salad and some cèpe-flavored pasta twists. Nice dinner.

Saturday/22-Jan-22: Crockpot dinner tonight was Beef Shanks with Red Wine and Tomatoes (SlowItal, p149). Surprisingly this was not very good. The meat never got falling apart tender. The sauce is okay; I might try to make soup of it. And roast beef sandwiches perhaps from the leftover meat. Served with polenta and snijbonen in 1" chunks. 

Sunday/23-Jan-22: Made a loaf of Easy French Bread (Electric, p62) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-).

Dinner was Falafel-Stuffed Peppers with a Coconut-Dill Sauce (web; notes). After that was in the oven, I made the roasted bell pepper sauce for tomorrow's starter. Then I made the tahini sauce to go with the bell peps. 

Dry rubbed the lamb shoulder for tomorrow's meal. It's outside pretending to be in the fridge (but actually colder than that).

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no; #3
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 BACKLOG2: yes; #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 RECYCLE: 0; #7 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Nov-18: Because I neglected to buy broccoli this week, I switched today and tomorrow's planned recipes. Tonight we had Pan Fried Pork Chops with Honey Lime Glaze (web). Not bad, this was, with bone-in pork chops. Used up the rest of my potatoes for smashed potatoes. Used some of my surplus of mushrooms with a zucchini, for a side dish of sautéd shrooms and zuke, with lots of garlic. A pair of chocolate covered madeleines each for dessert.

Tuesday/27-Nov-18: I'm feeling sickly today with headache and unhappy innards. Not much food for me. For dinner there was plain pasta with plain tomato sauce. Seems to have gone down okay.

Wednesday/28-Nov-18: Headache much better today, but innards still unhappy.

Shopping today. I didn't have energy to stop by the optician for new lenses or to talk with the cheese lady about what I wanted. Discovered packages of ground pork and veal when I was looking for pork and veal to grind at home. Surprise. Have never noticed these before.

For dinner Ed got a chicken scallop topped with basil strips, mozzarella, and a bit of tomato sauce. Was good, he said. I had some whole wheat pasta with pyramid cheese (kind of like goat cream cheese) with a lot of pepper. Pretty tasty. How am I going to eat out tomorrow night?

Thursday/29-Nov-18: My innards had a bad night and a bad day. Bill arrived; Ed had to get him by himself. We had reservations for dinner, but I couldn't do it. We decided on pizza, but one i closed on Monday and Thursday evenings, and the other one was supposed to be open, but wasn't. No sign on the door, just dark and locked. Instead Bill made us omelettes, which were tasty and seemed to go down ok.

Mouse in a trap this morning.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/30-Nov-18: The most-used oven seems not to be getting up to speed again, so our meal of Alice B. Toklas's Veal and Pork Loaf (Fancy, p120; cookbooker) was a bit late. This is a super meatloaf. Served with some frozen mixed veggies. For dessert, there were some toetjes from the boulanger.

Saturday/1-Dec-18: Lovely dinner out tonight.

Sunday/2-Dec-18: My innards seem to be getting better at last. Phew.

Ed was off early to choir practice, so I started a crockpot with Meat and Mushroom Ragu (SlowItal, p60; cookbooker). Made it all and we froze two meals for two. Then a salad. Then some cheese. Then some of Bill's Greek sweets.

The oven that was flaky yesterday is working today.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Nothing Fancy for November, no clue for December
This month: #4 PASTA: no for November, no for December; #5 BREAD: yes for November, no for December; #6 GUESTS: yes for November, yes for December

This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Feb-18: Our meal, rather later than intended, was Calamari Soup (SlowItal, p42; cookbooker). I used up some quite old squid from the freezer, but it was delicious. Not sure why a crockpot is necessary though. And some rice pudding for dessert, with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/27-Feb-18: Shopping today because tomorrow is cooking day.

Oops, there was no salmon that I needed to make one last meal from SlowItal. I hadn't come prepared with a backup meal, so I jiggled the meal plan on the run and we'll skip a fish dinner this week.

Our dinner was Pasta with Tuna and Capers in White Wine Sauce (web). We thought this was quite good for canned tuna. Mine was water-packed rather than oil-packed, since I generally don't like the oil kind. I didn't add extra salt at any point. Then a salad. Then more rice pudding, with a slog of crème de cacao this time.

Wednesday/28-Feb-18: Ha, my sore side turns out to be two cracked ribs rather than a pulled muscle.

Leftover Calamari Soup for dinner. Still good it was.

Cookbook: I'd meant to do tajine meals for next month's cookbook, but tomorrow we're participating in a Greek-themed meal, so I think it will be O&C instead. This was on my short list, so here go.

Thursday/1-Mar-18: A Greek-themed meal at Cath's this evening. I brought meze-like things. The easiest was a can of dolmades. Eggplant Salad Country-Style (O&C, p33; cookbooker) was yummy and embarrassingly easy to make.  I chose Radish Salad with Pickled Onions and Feta Cheese (O&C, p201; cookbooker) because it seemed such an odd combination. The Pickled Red Onions (O&C, p75; cookbooker) were surprisingly yummy with the radishes and feta.  I need to compare this recipe with the one I've extracted from another recipe and made a few times. Cath's delicious main was Stuffed Chicken with Spinach (web). Rosemary brought two desserts, a delicious fruit salad and yogurt with honey, walnuts, and cinnamon. Sorry I forgot to take a camera.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/2-Mar-18: Our meal was Broccoli Cornmeal Cakes (BH&G; web). (The web version shows honey, which isn't in the magazine clipping and wasn't at all necessary.) I used pyramid cheese for the goat cheese. One recipe made 18 pancakes; we'll have 2 meals of pancakes. Good stuff. Used most of 500g of broccoli. Save some florets for the pizza to come.

Saturday/3-Mar-18: Our meal was a half dose of Tagliatelles au Bleu et aux Noix (VPG, web). This was pretty good. I used fettuccine since the tagliatelle I expected to find in the freezer weren't there. We thought there were slightly too many walnuts, but can't complain too much about that. Then a salad using up the radishes from Thursday. Then a bit of reblochon.

Sunday/4-Mar-18: Pizza for dinner, using up odd bits from the fridge. On the bottom there was leftover pyramid cheese mixed with a bit of sambal. Then some pizza sauce from the freezer. Then grilled zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower. Sprinkled with black olives, sliced red onions, and capers. Topped with grated mozzarella grated grano padano, and slices of St Maure goat cheese. Yummy it was.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes for February, yes for March
Cookbooks of the month: SlowItal for February, O&C for March
This month: #4 PASTA: yes for February, no for March; #5 BREAD: no for February, no for March; #6 GUESTS: yes for February, no for March

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Feb-18: Leftover meatloaf (yummy) for our meal, with boiled buttered potatoes and steamed broccoli. An old-fashioned and satisfying meal.

Tuesday/20-Feb-18: Our meal was Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Peas for Two (web). Easy and very good.

Wednesday/21-Feb-18: Shopping today. We had Gruyère Cracker-Crusted Haddock (Ainsley2, p47), a halfish recipe with haddock/eglefin. We both took a bite and said, Hmm, this could do with a bit of lemon. And, yes, a good squeeze of lemon, brought this from ho-hum to quite tasty. Served with Sweet Potato and Coriander Mash (Ainsley2, p116), which was pretty good. Chopped coriander is tossed in with the sweet potatoes at the last minute, just before draining them; then all is mashed with crème fraîche. Then a salad. Then some store-bought desserts, vanille semoule au lait. We ate well.

Thursday/22-Feb-18: Defrosted the meatballs from Asian Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs (web) and remade the rest of the recipe. These meatballs are delicious and need to be made in bulk. For dessert, part of a prune tart that I bought on sale yesterday.

Friday/23-Feb-18: Fresh pasta today, served with Cauliflower with Prosciutto and Olives (SlowItal, p182; cookbooker). (Fresh home-made pasta is awfully good. Fresh from the grocery is not nearly as good.) A little odd to me to cook cauliflower like this in the crockpot, but it worked quite well. Then a big salad. We were full.

Saturday/24-Feb-18: Went to make a lamb dish for our meal, but found the lamb hadn't defrosted yet. Instead we had the meal for tomorrow's plan, Bahama Mama Shrimp Flambe (EAT-L, unable to find on the web). Served over long-grained brown rice, with some broiled zucchini chunks that had been tossed with a Trinidadian spice mix from the cupboard and a dab of olive oil. Some ice cream bars for dessert.

Sunday/25-Feb-18: Made some Rice Pudding (MC) to help use up our excess of milk.

Our meal was Greek-Style Lamb Parcels en Papillote (Ainsley2, p93; cookbooker). This was yummy; it's a shame that the meat was overcooked. As suggested, served with Mama's Greek Butter-Bean Salad (Ainsley2, p112). Butter beans are apparently lima beans. Yuck. I used muguets from a jar. (Haven't discovered an English name for these; they look like cannellini on steroids.) Anyhow, that was a super salad; it would be good as a main-dish salad, or to take to an event. (I've enjoyed this Ainsley Harriott book so much I've ordered the first one.)

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2 #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: SlowItal
This month: #4 PASTA: yes; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Feb-18: Suppose we're both feeling a bit better, but still low on energy and coughing a bit. Sigh.

Our meal was Spicy Roasted Broccoli Pasta (web). Having a bit of cauliflower to use up, I used half cauli and half broccoli. This was yummy, a nice small change for my usual sort of broccoli pasta. Then we finished all the torte that Cath left for us, so we are quite stuffed.

Tuesday/13-Feb-18: I had to be at BookChatters at 10am this morning, earlier than I've been up in the last few weeks.

Our main course was Easy Shredded Harrisa [sic] Chicken (web). This seemed like a good idea, but didn't work as well as expected. First, I thought I'd try the pressure cooker version, to save time. That didn't work at all. There's was one cup of harissa, but that apparently doesn't count as liquid, so the pot started burning. Luckily I opened it before things got too bad, and I finished the chicken by simmering it slowly. And the store-bought harissa I got was horribly salty. Yuck. Served with brown rice and Tzatziki (loosely based on web). And some zucchini. I cut up two zukes and tossed them with olive oil and a Moroccan spice mix. Spread them on tin foil on the broiler pan, and broiled for just over ten minutes. Quite nice they were. And a mini Häagen-Dazs for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/14-Feb-18: Valentine's lunch out today. Nothing happened in the kitchen. Shopped afterwards at Intermarché rather than Leclerc. They had nothing of the stuff on sale that I wanted, but I did find the "deseeded" tomatoes that Ed seems to be ok with. Bought six of them. And when Ed went to get eggs, he found 8-packs of large eggs. Usually we get 6 or 10 or sometimes 12; first time we've seen 8.

Thursday/15-Feb-18: We discovered this morning that of the last batch of yogurt I made, only three of the seven pots set up properly; the others are quite liquid. Not sure what happened. Testing the yogurt maker now, to see if the temperature is the same for all of the pots. If so, what else could be wrong?

Our meal was Bangladeshi Fish Curry (MJ@Home, p58), which was so-so. Served with Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148), an old favorite now, and Bangladeshi Red Lentils (MJ@Home, p195). This was good, but something a bit sweet wasn't appealing—maybe the onions cooked long and slow. Not my most successful meal.

Put the stew for tomorrow in the crockpot.

Friday/16-Feb-18: Our meal was a half dose of Peppery Beef Stew (SlowItal, p143), cooked overnight. As suggested, served with Tuscan-Style Beans (SlowItal, p193). Since I have only one crockpot, I cooked these on the stove. Both were good.

Guests this month? Does Cath still count as a guest? Or should it be someone new?

Yogurt on overnight. Don't understand what the problem was with the last batch. It almost seems as if it turned off while it was brewing, but it doesn't seem like there was an electric break since Mini, stove, and phones were all happy. We shall see.

Saturday/17-Feb-18: The overnight yogurt is fine. Still a puzzle what happened to the last batch.

Dinner was Curried Red Lentil Zucchini Soup (web). Yummy stuff. It was supposed to serve four, but the two of us ate it all.

Made up a half dose of Tomato and Red Wine Sauce (SlowItal, p52), doing it all on the stovetop.

Sunday/18-Feb-18: Why is meatloaf from the crockpot better than meatloaf from the oven? Tonight we had a halfish recipe of "Big Meatball" Meatloaf (SlowItal, p154). I used gruyère rather than romano because I had some to use up. The meatloaf was still good. Served with spaetzle and peas-and-carrots. All good.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: SlowItal
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Feb-18: Using up the second half of a butternut squash, our meal was Butternut Squash Soup (SlowItal, p19). Since I've got an old crockpot with lower temperatures and I'm sure this book is meant for the newer, hotter cooking ones, I cooked the soup about 4 hours on High (rather than Low). Then zapped with my immersion blender and served with croutons from the freezer. Pretty good stuff.

Served with a salad made from two of the mini-romaines I bought last week, topped with the remaining Cauli Thai Salad from last week. That worked really well, we thought, a nice spicy salad.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/6-Feb-18: Leftover broccoli gratin for dinner. Made some Easy Berry Cobbler (HandyBook) with frozen blueberries for dessert. Topped with crème anglaise I bought for something last week and then didn't use.

Wednesday/7-Feb-18: We dragged ourselves off shopping today. Leclerc had half cabbages for sale today. I bought one to give them some encouragement.

For our meal, we had Baked Honey Sriracha Lime Salmon (web), which was easy and yummy. Served with basmati rice and Spicy Stir-Fried Cabbage (web). Mini ice cream bars for dessert. We ate well.

Thursday/8-Feb-18: We had our meal late today. It was a half recipe of Garlicky Shrimp Pasta (web). Good stuff it was—lots of garlic to help fend off whatever bug has us both down. Then a bit salad. Then the rest of the Blueberry Cobbler with crème anglaise.

Yogurt on overnight, with a new starter since the last batches have had an odd cottage cheese-y-ness on the top.

Friday/9-Feb-18: Today we had Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes (web). The meat was yummy (the two of us ate what was supposed to serve four), but the sauce for the sweet potatoes was too sweet even though I reduced the sugar substantially. Served with Roasted Zucchini (web), which was good, but the Italian spice didn't really go with the pork. Of course the spices can be changed. I'll try to keep this in mind when a zucchini side dish is needed. For dessert we had 2-1/2 chocolate truffles each.

Saturday/10-Feb-18: Our meal was Rice with Black Pepper Sauce (Savory, p253), very tasty, easy, and fast. Served with a salad. Then used some of the smashed bananas from the freezer to make Best Banana Bread (HandyBook).

Sunday/11-Feb-18: Cath came for a meal today. I'd already planned the meal, so she just joined in, bringing a yummy dessert.

We started with Roasted Eggplant with Peppers and Cucumber (ClassicItal, p55), a tried-and-true salad. For our main, there was Spiced Beef Stew (SlowItal, p146) served over polenta. This was good, not spicy-hot, but spicy with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. It's really the kind of thing you'd do with venison, but it's good with beef also. And cheaper. Forgot to take a picture.

Cath's dessert was Italian Sultana and Ricotta Torte (web)

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: SlowItal
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
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This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Jun-14: I planned a crockpot dinner when we thought we'd be out for the day. That didn't happen, but I'd already defrosted the turkey, so this morning I started Slow-Cooker Turkey Stroganoff (web), using two turkey filets rather than bone-in breasts. Turned out the filets I got had been brined or otherwise treated; I just hadn't read the label that closely and there was no clue in the name. Good thing, then, that I added only half the salt to the sauce. I was short on mushrooms (a 500g package was hiding in the fridge), so I served over mushroom pasta. It was pretty good actually, and might be worth making again with some unadulterated meat.

Before dinner I made some banana bread with smashed banana from the freezer using a recipe for Banana Cupcakes (SimpSups, p274). Baked into two smaller loaf pans at the advertised temp, but for at least twice the time. Still a bit damp on the bottom but quite tasty. Didn't frost.

Tuesday/17-Jun-14: Shopping today; nothing special, although they did have chicken livers. Some now in freezer.

Dinner was a half recipe of Linguine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme Mushrooms (web), which simple and pretty tasty. I was worried about having enough thyme, but as soon as the pasta was added to the sauce the thyme smell bloomed. Followed by a big salad.

Wednesday/18-Jun-14: Off to Vallée des Singes for the day. Put Sicilian Lentil, Vegetable, and Pasta Soup (SlowItal, p32) in the crockpot before we left. When we were back six hours later, the lentils were still a bit crunchy. Poured the whole lot into a Dutch oven and simmered a while, then added the dilatini (the first pasta suggestion, which I thought might be too small, but was just right). It made a lot, so I froze the rest.  Some banana cupcake bread for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/19-Jun-14: For this month's potluck at IHCC, I made a some of Mark Bittman's vegetable stock along with some broccoli soup. It was good.

Friday/20-Jun-14: Stopped at the store today to get some fish (since we missed our fresh fish earlier in the week) and also found some pretty good looking corn on the cob. Dinner was a very loose interpretation of Po'Boy Sandwich (SimpSups, p172), served with Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC, HandyBook) and corn on the cob. I got blue ling for the fish, fillets which turned out to be quite bony, ugh. I rolled the fish in cornmeal and seafood seasoning, then sprayed with olive oil and broiled rather than frying. They turned out nice and crispy. Should try this technique again. Fish served on ciabattas, topped with coleslaw. The seafood seasoning I used (not Old Bay) was a gift from someone along the way, but was very salty. Decided to toss it. Dessert was two almond triangles from a boulanger, crispy pastry with almond paste filling. All pretty good.

Saturday/21-Jun-14: As a go-with for dinner, I made Cayenne Cornbread (BigGerman, p182) in the bread machine. Except that I forgot to add the yeast, duh. Actually it was better than I'd have expected with no leavening at all. Not going to make a sandwich, but it was good for munching and better crumbled in the soup.

The soup was Chile Bisque (H2CEV, p130), a recipe I spotted while looking at the broccoli soup. Sounded promising, but was almost too bitter to eat. I'll try to salvage the leftovers by adding some beans and corn. We split a classic magnum for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/22-Jun-14: Off to a concert this evening, so we had our main meal in the early afternoon. That was Broiled Lamb Leg Chops on Eggplant Planks with Mint-Yogurt Sauce (Essential, p549). I had only five little chops, so made a halfish recipe. The mint-yogurt sauce was a nice touch, but too sweet even though I cut back the honey. The eggplant slices were oiled, S&Ped, and had minced garlic pressed into the side that was down for the first bit of broiling. They were good. The lamb chops were coated with coriander seeds, black pepper, and salt; instead of crushing and grinding, I whizzed them all in my spice grinder. Broiled, then rested while the eggplant cooked. Served with some orzo. All good. No dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: none

This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-Dec-13: Yogurt on overday.

Tonight's dinner was a more or less half recipe of Cast Iron Chicken (web). This was yummy and really easy to make. Then a salad. And that was all.

Tuesday/10-Dec-13: Dropped a yogurt jar on the floor today ... and it bounced! Thank you, cork floor!

Dinner was Mushroom Curry (Q&E, p79), served over basmati rice, accompanied by Gujerati Carrot Salad (MJ1, p170). Tasty stuff.

Used part of a jar of yogurt for the curry, so there's yogurt on overnight even though it's a bit early for it.

Wednesday/11-Dec-13: Shopping today. Missed a DHL delivery; they used to come about 16.30, but this time they came at 15.00. Boo. But their online method of rescheduling has vastly improved.

Had an email from our long-time US forwarding company, asking for a notarized form authorizing them to act as our mailing agent. A form that has to be returned by the end of the year. I have a strong suspicion that the only way I could get anything notarized before the end of the year would be to fly to the US. Sorry, not going to happen. Well, I'd already been thinking about dropping them and getting magazines mailed directly here (since we're taking many fewer magazines these days). What an annoyance.

Dinner was supposed to be Sweet Potato-Topped Turkey Pot Pie (BH&G/oct13; web), using the rest of last week's chicken. But there were no orange sweet potatoes at the store. I prefer these and the recipe asked specifically for them. Instead I topped the pie with the nice Herbed Dumplings (CastIron, p68) from a similar-ish chicken dish I made a couple of weeks ago. Prefer the one from CastIron, I think.

Thursday/12-Dec-13: Dinner was a broccoli pasta sauce from the freezer, tarted up with some broccoli bits boiled with the pasta for the last minutes and some chopped walnuts. Then a salad. Then line dancing.

Friday/13-Dec-13: Both of us were out (in different directions) for the afternoon, so I put on a crockpot dinner, a half dose of Braised Beef with Anchovies and Rosemary (SlowItal, p147; cookbooker). Easy and pretty good, although 2" cubes of meat must be way too big. I did them smaller and they were still too big. Sauce was good. Served with spaetzle (from MW@Home and HandyBook) and some roasted asparagus. For dessert, two toetjes I bought the the boulanger this afternoon.

Saturday/14-Dec-13: This morning I made some tuna patties for tonight's après-concert dinner. Then we decided that considering how long (i.e., short) yesterday's concert was, we had time to have a pizza and go to a movie after. Today's concert, same program, was significantly longer than yesterday's. And there was a brief choir get-together afterwards, which Ed had neglected to remember. So we did some heavy munching at the gathering (resulting in a sugar buzz since the non-sweet stuff went fast) and went on to the movies. Tuna tomorrow.

Sunday/15-Dec-13: So, tonight we had Thai-Style Tuna Burgers (BH&G/may13; web). These were quite good, although I think serving them as patties, with the burger bun, would be fine. The two of us ate the whole recipe—no leftovers. Served with Mom's Cabbage Salad (MaiPham, p96), more or less. No mint, didn't soak the veggies. This was also good. Mini magnums for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no, #4 BREAD: no