This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Jun-22: Using the other half of last night's roast chicken, tonight's dinner was a half recipe Sicilian Chicken Salad (SFAH, p342), served on ciabattas with leaves of lettuce. Very good stuff. I tarted up the end of a jar of mayo to make the aïoli. The half recipe generously served us two for dinner. We're stuffed. 

Tuesday/7-Jun-22: Ed picked up two Drive orders today; don't know if we'll make shopping in-store on Thursday.

Dinner was Piquillos Rellenos (MC), an old favorite I haven't made in a long time. Small portions would be nice as a starter; bigger ones make a nice dinner, with a bit of salad on the side. Some chopped peaches and cream for after.

Wednesday/8-Jun-22: Soup for dinner, Solyanka (Monastery, p91). Sort of Solyanka, I guess. Most other recipes I've seen online have tomatoes; this was didn't. It was okay, we finished it, but nothing special. Served with some cheese and onion sandwiches. And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.
 
Thursday/9-Jun-22: Dinner was Slow-Roasted Crispy Pork Belly (web). I've cooked this bit of meat before (it's cheap and often on sale), but never with much success. Never could understand what the big deal about cracklings was. Made right, cracklings are great. This recipe is right. Takes a long time, cooking the meat slow, then zapping it on high to crisp up the skin. High fat, but delicious. Served with a halfish recipe of Garlic Parmesan Roasted Sweet Potatoes (web). The dish I cooked the sweet pots in was too big, but it still worked. These are very good. And then there was Zucchini and Feta Salad (WorldVeg, p640), which is an old favorite. And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Friday/10-Jun-22: Put up some stock made from some lamb and goat bones that have been hanging around the freezer for age. Now to find something to use it up.

Dinner was Barbara's Greek Onion-Leek Pie (MC).This is quite yummy. Playing with filo is fun. This bit was a bit fragile from its extended stay in the freezer, but it makes such a pretty finished product no matter what. Then a salad made from half the huge sack of lettuce we got from the Drive earlier in the week. And some strawberries and cream for after.

Saturday/11-Jun-22: We were out late in the afternoon and decided to stop for pizza on the way home. Not much happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/12-Jun-22: Dinner was Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88), which is quite a good hamburger. Ed barbecued them, rather than cooking on the grill. Then we finished the ice cream I made a while ago with the last of the store-bought strawberries and some freshly picked blueberries. 

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO:  no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2:  no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-May-22: Dinner was an old favorite, Chicken Diane (MC; GD). With that was Parmesan Carrots with Lemon-Parsley Dressing (web; CL/mar17) and some spaghettis courts. HD mini cups of ice cream for after.

Tuesday/24-May-22: Dinner was a half version of Moroccan Fish Tagine (web; GD). I used my tagine instead of a Dutch oven. Although I doubt this is very authentic, it was quite tasty for minimal work. Served with Moroccan couscous. Strawberries and cream for after.

Wednesday/25-May-22: I had a bit of surgery today to get another set of extra-long T-tubes in my ears. Dinner was simple, Vegetable Soup with Spicy Merguez Sausages from the freezer, and a chocolate-covered madeleine for after. 

Thursday/26-May-22: For lunch we had Clean-the-Fridge Pasta, which turned out pretty good, but more a bit more than intended. Dinner was light, Scrambled Eggs with Cauliflower (WorldVeg, p528), a sort of Indian scrambled eggs that was quick and tasty. Originally I was looking for a frittata sort of thing and found Frittata de Cavolfiore (Artusi, p134), where he recommends boiling the cauliflower first. Since I don't think cauliflower gets done in the two minutes that Jaffrey recommends, I did this and it worked great. Quite tasty it was. 

Friday/27-May-22: Dinner was Turkey-Lentil Curry (GB), made with turkey oysters. Added some frozen peas to give some veggie matter and color. Served over brown basmati rice. A chocolate-covered madeleine for after.

Saturday/28-May-22: Dinner was Spice-Crusted Pork Tenderloins with Banana-Date Chutney (License, p150), which I've made several times before. The chutney was from the freezer, leftovers from the last time I made it. Didn't bbq but started under the broiler and finished in the oven. Served with some canned black beans and some tarted up (grated lime peel, lime juice, a pat of butter, cayenne, and chopped cilantro) canned corn. Followed by some strawberries and cream. (Buddy has discovered that our potted strawberries are bearing. Our crop is reduced.)

Sunday/29-May-22: Dinner was a halfish version of Curried Brussels Sprouts (MC; AH), using up more of my frozen Brussels sprouts. Served over small servings of whole wheat spaghetti. Pretty good stuff, an easy. A chocolate-covered madeleine for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 2; #2 PHOTO: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/13-Sep-21: Someone was really tired this evening and didn't feel like cooking. Pizza truck!

Tuesday/14-Sep-21: Dinner was a half recipe of Baked Rice with White Beans, Leeks and Lemon (web). The amount of white beans seemed a bit lower than I'd have like. The half recipe could have taken a whole can. This was quite good; would have been better with brown rice, I think, but I was short on time. There's a suggested variation using harissa, preserved lemons, and chickpeas; I'll try this in the near future. Then a really plain salad. And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Wednesday/15-Sep-21: Lunch out for my birthday today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/16-Sep-21: Shopping today. Found a pair of coquelets in the anti-gaspi bin and couldn't pass them up. 

Dinner was a halfish dose of Italian Broccoli & Salmon Bake (web; GD). I used casareccia as the pasta and comté as the cheese; used capers and anchovy fillets, minced. There was an unusual (to me) technique for a making a bechamel: the milk, butter, and flour were stirred together in the pan and then heated till thickened. Worked pretty well. No dessert, we were full.

Friday/17-Sep-21: Dinner was Clafoutis Courgettes, Chèvre et Basilic (web). Pretty good stuff. Some store-bought vanilla riz au laits for after.

Saturday/18-Sep-21: As I started dinner, I made a Blueberry Buckle (web). This was yummy. I reduced the sugar in the cake to 1/2cup and used butter instead of shortening. I see I left out the cinnamon from the topping, but neither of us missed it.

The main course was a halfish dose of Eggplants with Spicy Shallot-Tomato Sauce (WorldVeg, p190). This was pretty good. Served with basmati rice and Tumis Buncis (SriOwen, p195), an Indonesian dish with green beans (maybe should be kousebanden, but green beans are called for).

Sunday/19-Sep-21: Having not been to a boulangerie in the last days, I made a loaf of Easy French Bread (Electric, p62).

Dinner was Zucchini and Eggplant with Pork (MC), served over brown basmati rice. Easy to make and quite tasty. More Blueberry Buckle for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no; #3 *DMA: no
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: no; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Apr-21: Baked the Overnight Boule this morning.

Dinner was a half dose of Spicy Eggplant Stew with Potatoes, Mushrooms, and Chickpeas (WorldVeg, p196) served over brown rice. A half recipe, but all the spices and a bit short on salt, as is normal for Jaffrey's recipes. Some pear cake with cream for after.

Tuesday/13-Apr-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Veal Scaloppine with Marsala (ClassicItal, p361). This was easy and good. Served with smashed potatoes and steamed veggies, cleaning out the fridge, asparagus, haricots verts, and broccoli stems. 

We both had a chocolate itch, so we had chocolate-covered madeleines for after. 

Wednesday/14-Apr-21: Dinner was a half recipe of Baked Salmon with Cucumber Relish* (web). Pretty tasty, although the cucumber relish needed salad. I tossed the red onions and dill with the relish. Served with a side of whole-wheat spaghetti. It was good. We're full, having had leftovers for lunch after Ed brought back groceries from two Drives.

Thursday/15-Apr-21: Easy dinner tonight. We ate (most of) the Simple Beef Curry I made last week. Served over plain basmati rice, with Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172) as a side/relish. Some store-bought vanilla yogurts for after.

Friday/16-Apr-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Drunken Shrimp (web). Served over a bit of pasta. Not bad, not great. Followed by a bit salad. No dessert needed.

Saturday/17-Apr-21: Made up a half recipe of Red Pepper Sauce (Flavours, p11) for tomorrow's dinner.

Dinner was Thai Red Chicken Curry (web). This was pretty good. Recipe needs a bit of work: Way too much rice for two; I used 2/3cup but thought that was too much. Too much liquid; would match the 200ml packet of coconut mild with the chicken stock. We also thought it could have used 4tsp of red curry paste, rather than 2or 3, to be just the right heat. The recipe encourages you to use vegetable as available. I had green beans, so used those in place of the zucchini. Didn't have any basil, which might have been nice. Followed by Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web), which is a favorite. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Sunday/18-Apr-21: For breakfast we split Manny's Lemon "Pancake" (CtryCityEgg, p85). This was like a Dutch baby, topped with lemon juice and a bit of powdered sugar.

Made a loaf of Dennis's Blarney-Stone Bread (Magic, p70) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-) this morning. It's a funny misshapen loaf. Curious how it will be when we cut into it.

Started to make the gnocchi for the sauce I made yesterday, but just didn't feel like it. Instead I used mafalda for the pasta and mixed a bit of the Roquefort that should have been in the gnocchi into the drained pasta. It was okay, nothing special. Then a big salad. Then a part of chocolate-covered madeleines. 

Seem to have decided on two more books to recycle, CtryCityEgg and Flavours (after copying a few recipes). The egg book is attractive, but not enough interesting recipes. Flavours should have been good, but most of the recipes I've tried have been decidedly so-so. Need to reduce.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes    
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: no; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 1; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Mar-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Sri Lankan Beef Smore (MJ@Home, p140). We really like this the last time I make it, with meat from the butcher, rather than from the Drive. This time the sauce was delicious, but the meat was a bit tough. It was supposed to be "beef to roast", but it was completely unmarbled. Even though it was wrapped in a layer of fat, it was not very tender or tasty. As suggested, I made with Thin Rice Noodles with Brussels Sprouts (MJ@Home, p225), allegedly a South Indian recipe, but bsprouts and India don't seem to me to go together. Since bsprouts aren't to be had at a Drive right now, I got some frozen. Defrosted them, then proceeded, omitting the first bit of water-based cooking of the bsprouts. This wasn't bad, although I'm not sure they they especially went with the beef. 

The last of our store-bought yogurt desserts for after. (They were on sale last week.)

Just updating my goals page and realize that I've got only two goals for my backlog of recipes, but there are at least three areas. "Backlog1" as I've defined it, is only recipes in the office. Actually, those are probably about halfway dealt with. "Backlog2" is the recipes in my old binders. Don't really plan to start on those till the office is clear. But, there's another group of loosely sorted recipes (lots of desserty things, but other stuff too) on the shelves. (I was working on the dessert recipes a couple of years ago, but got stuck on how to sort desserts (e.g., Chocolate, Fruit, Other with subcategories for Cake, Custard, etc. Or the other way around.) And, there's a stack of stuff to be weeded out, then filed into my MenuPlan spreadsheet. Hmm... Well, the general idea is to clear stuff out and organize what's left. I'm definitely making progress, even though not as measurable as it ought to be. We'll see.

Tuesday/16-Mar-21: Hard time today making the grocery list and order because the internet was so slow. Suspect that the Livebox may have been damaged with all the power problems on the weekend.

Dinner was a 2/3-ish version of Creamy Tuscan Garlic Scallops (web), served over tagliatelle. Pretty good, but it could have used more spinach. (I think I used more than was asked.) No dessert, but I had an Angel's Kiss (cream and crème de cacao) while Ed had a bit of amaro.

Wednesday/17-Mar-21: Made a loaf of German-Style Whole Wheat Bread (Rustic, p150) (WW/Rapid/L/-/-). Huge loaf, and very tasty.

Ed picked up two Drive orders today.

Dinner was Cilantro and Lime Salmon* (web). Easy, quick, and very good. Served with Asparagus with Lime and Mint (web) and some spaghetti court. Turned out to be an unplanned green and white dinner for St Pat's Day. 

A store-bought vanilla yogurt for after.

Thursday/18-Mar-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Chicken Yassa (Wilder, p75; GD). This was simple and pretty good, maybe not as good as a more complicated recipe I've used before. Served over polenta with some steamed broccoli on the side. Some mini HD ice cream cups for after.

Put chickpeas to soak for tomorrow's meal.

Friday/19-Mar-21: Cooked the chickpeas and the chana dal in the morning.

Dinner was Sour Fennel-Flavored Eggplant (WorldVeg, p195; cookbooker). I made a full recipe and we easily ate it all. I didn't soak the eggplant as asked, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Served with the recommended go-with, Chickpeas and Chana Dal Cooked Together in a Mint Sauce (WorldVeg, p34; cookbooker). Both were good, but don't see that they went together especially well. Ed wasn't crazy about the tamarind-mint sauce; I liked it. Some strawberries and cream for after.

Started an Overnight Boule with 2c T65 and 2c T110. 

Saturday/20-Mar-21: Baked off the bread in the morning. It's good.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Sausage and Peppers Pasta with Broccoli (web). The sausage was my homemade stuff from Guiliano Hazan's recipe; the pasta was mafalda. Pretty good stuff. Then a simple salad with feta and beets. 

Sunday/21-Mar-21: Dinner was Smoked Salmon, Fennel and Herbed Mascarpone Tart (web). My printout didn't have a picture, and I'd forgotten how it looked, so I put my pâte feuillettée in a pie plate. I guess I could have made a round tart by scoring the edge. The edges were quite burnt, but I just scraped them off into the sink. I'm not a fennel fan, but this was very good. Odd that the salmon and capers were added after it was cooked. Tasty. Then a big salad. Then some strawberries and ice cream.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes/no; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Sep-20: Easy dinner tonight. Ravioli à la Panna using raviolis filled with ham, peas, and mozzarella. Made a big salad with the rest of yesterday's arugula, and a big home-grown tomato. Used some of the tomato slices to make mini insalatas caprese with a bit of leftover mozzarella from the fridge. That's all, we were full.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/8-Sep-20: Dinner was a halfish dose of Cardamom Chicken Stew in the Indian Style (BigFlav, p304). The original recipe wants 12 thighs for four people. That seems excessive; we usually do four for two. Very tasty. Might be better to remove the skin for cooking, since we don't usually eat skin cooked in this way. There was lots of liquid left, and I'll freeze a bit to use for something else. Served with plain basmati rice and some Zucchini in a Yogurt Dressing (SpiceKitch, p58), an old favorite. We're full, no dessert needed.

Wednesday/9-Sep-20: Late lunch made for a late dinner. :-( We had Crispy Scallops (web; online). (I got the recipe for the scallops, without the salad, from EAT-L. The salad isn't very appealing to me.) These were good. Served with grits and Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon Thyme, and Pistachio Oil (VegHarv, p214), which is a favorite nowadays. My lemon thyme died, so it was plain thyme, and I didn't have time to chop some pistachios (a nice crunch), but it was still good. Used my Dutch kaaschijfje to slice the zukes. That's all.

Thursday/10-Sep-20: Made a loaf of Oat Bread (BigGerman, p29) (Basic/Rapid/L/d/-). Very tasty. Hope it holds up over the next days better than the Oatmeal Sesame Bread did.

Dinner was pork ribs (a rare find at the grocery) à la Leo Koning (e.g.,a ton of salt,a half ton of cayenne; with a nod to Chef John I supplemented this with some garlic powder and black pepper. Cooked on low low low until they're done, several hours). A nice messy dinner once in a while, but the first time since we've moved, since finding unadulterated ribs is an unusual happening. Usually they're already marinatee, and perhaps cooked, Mexican or whatnot. Served with Clothilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (web). And Madhur Jaffrey's Zucchini and Feta Cheese Salad (WorldVeg, p640). We're stuffed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/11-Sep-20: Dinner was a half recipe of Chickpea Dumplings in Curried Tomato Sauce (EW/oct19; web. I used a single can of tomato pulp (supposedly seedless), rather than the two tomato-y cans indicated. Pretty good stuff.

Saturday/12-Sep-20: Ed picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today.

Dinner was Baked Salmon with Herb Tahini (web). This was good, even though I see that I forgot the pine nuts in the herb topping. Served with Moroccan couscous and leftover zucchini-feta salad. Then a plate of sliced tomato from the potager, with S&P and olive oil and basil. Yum. Some cookies for after.

Sunday/13-Sep-20: Put the meat for Beef Tikka (RezaSpice, p100) on for its first marinade fairly early (for me). Went away for a while. Made the second marinade and added to the meat. Ed bbq'd this perfectly. Not the best written recipe, but really delicious. Served with (MJ's Simple Buttery Rice with Onions (out of my head) and Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MJ@Home, p173), an old favorite. Rather than using a frying pan, I sprayed the zucchini slices with oil and grilled them on the grill pan that came with the stove. All was good.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Aug-20: I picked up an order from Leclerc today after my French lesson.

The sweltering heat continues. We had a big thunderstorm this morning, and may have more in the next days. Thursday it should start cooling off.

Dinner was a half dose of Basil, Shrimp & Zucchini Pasta (web). Pretty good stuff, made with surprisingly little tomato sauce. (I buzzed the proper amount of canned tomato pulp to make the sauce, and froze the rest.) Peaches&cream ice cream for after.

Tuesday/11-Aug-20: Made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17), this time using less water. This is a delicious bread and smells wonderful while it's baking. Although most breads smell wonderful.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Tomatoes and Eggplant over Couscous with Caper Sauce (VegPlanet, p257). I used a preserved lemon for the lemon juice and peel. Feta on top at serving. Quite good, but not quite well-seasoned enough. Finished the peaches and cream ice cream for after. Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/12-Aug-20: No phone and internet briefly in the morning. Dinner was Roasted Masala Lamb Chops with Pistachio & Pomegranate (Jamie). This was good. Didn't serve on flatbread (bone-in lamb chops on flatbread?), but served with Moroccan couscous (from the organic shop) and Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78), a tasty favorite. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. (Leclerc Drive has finally started carrying these!)

Thursday/13-Aug-20: Neglected to defrost something for dinner and my mind was a blank, even though there's lots of veg in the fridge. Pizza it was, with the rest of the package of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Started some Overnight Bread.

Friday/14-Aug-20: Baked up the Overnight Bread in the morning.

Dinner was Spicy Turkey Salad (PatSalads, p102). (Wish I'd remembered this book when it was seriously hot.) I had about 300g of turkey scallops (two of them) and minced those rather than grinding. Interesting that the meat is cooked in a mixture of lime juice, lemongrass, and garlic, with no oil involved. It was a bit short on meat, but otherwise I did a whole recipe. A very light meal for two, not four. We started a new packet of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/15-Aug-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Lots of fruit; not much veg, which we're over-endowed with right now.

Dinner was Sweet-and-Sour Salmon in Almond Prune Sauce (Essential, p431). This sounded a bit odd (sauce of prunes, honey, dijon, etc.), but turned out delicious. I'm not sure, but I think everything with pomegranate molasses might be delicious. Served with trio rice and some steamed haricots verts. Store-bought crème caramels for after.

Sunday/16-M Aug on-20: Used more of our plums to make Plum Amaretto Jam (SmallBatch, p50). About a pound of plums (maybe a teeny bit more) make two AH jars. Tastes good. Into the freezer with them.

Dinner was Corn with Cauliflower (WorldVeg, p173), which sounded a bit odd, but worked quite well. Served over short-grained brown rice. The rest of the store-bought crème caramels for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Apr-20: Yesterday's bread was delicious, one of the best whole wheat ones.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Garlic Noodles with Beef and Broccoli (web). I steamed real broccoli and used soba noodles instead of spaghetti and, of course, I used the red pepper flakes. Really easy, and fast, and good. Chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

Tuesday/21-Apr-20: Made another loaf of Carole Walberg's White Wheat Bread (MC) today. It's good stuff.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Asparagus and Olive Tortellini (MC; VT/may96), which I've made before. There were blue cheese ravioli in stead of tortellini. Pretty good. Then a salad. And the last of our chocolate-covered madeleines for after. I wonder when we'll ever be able to get these again?

Made an order at Intermarché and we could pick it up tomorrow!

Wednesday/22-Apr-20: Our Intermarché order included everything I ordered. Yay! Had to jiggle the meal plan a bit, because I didn't expect to be getting fish so quickly.

While dinner was cooking I roasted a pair of red bell peppers so I can make up some pizza sauce tomorrow.

We got 500g of salmon in two pieces. I used one of the pieces for a halfish recipe of Cilantro-Lime Honey Garlic Salmon (Baked in Foil) (web). This was pretty good. Served with steamed haricots verts tossed with some olive oil, lime juice, salt, and red pepper flakes. And some polenta. For dessert there was strawberries and cream.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/23-Apr-20: Made up some pizza sauce this morning and put two batches in the freezers.

Dinner was loosely based on Saumon au Curry et Salade de Riz (VPG; web). Having lots of haricots verts to use, I added some of these. I cut the salmon into cubes and marinated it with Thai green curry paste from a jar, then sautéed the cubes to top the salad. It was pretty good.

Friday/24-Apr-20: Having a Charentais melon that needed using, I made up the broth for Easy Melon Ice Cream (web). It didn't buzz up smooth, so I strained out the gravely bits. Planned to serve them over crumbled cookies perhaps tonight, but we were full, so that will wait for another night. I was thinking they might be good over Vanilla Pecan ice cream.

Made some of Chef John's pita breads (web). Although most of them puffed up nicely, they weren't in two layers for the eating. Much tastier than store-bought, though, so we coped.

For dinner, we pigged out on some yummy store-bought felafels. Served these with, yes, pita breads, and Yogurt-Tahini Sauce (H2CEV, p792). I'd intended to make two sauces, as usual, but this combined the tahini and the yogurt in one and was delicious. Need to get more tahini now, but how? No dessert, since we were both quite full.

An interesting beetle joined us at the end of the meal. Unfortunately no camera was handy. Can't find it in our insect book, so it remains unknown.

Saturday/25-Apr-20: Used up our carrots to make Peanut Butter Soup (GreenBook) for lunch.

Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (MC). It's a bit sunken on top, but I'm sure it will taste okay. I see now I meant to make English Muffin Bread 2 (also MC), but lost the thread when I went to do it. Next time. The bread came out with a bit of a sunken top, too much liquid, as I remember.

Made up some Roasted Cumin. Burnt the first batch though lack of attention, so made a second. I'm now very low on cumin seed.

We had a thunderstorm this afternoon, resulting in flooded entry and water under the stereo system. In addition, the passage between the house and kitchen was flooded. Sigh.

Dinner was a half recipe of Best Grilled Chicken Thighs with Garam Masala (CL/jul-aug18; web). This was easy and very good. Served with plain basmati rice and Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MW@Home, p173), also good. For dessert, there was some vanilla pecan ice cream with melon crumbles. I thought this was good; Ed thought the melon and pecans didn't go together.

Sunday/26-Apr-20: Sunken top or not, Ed really likes this English Muffin Bread.

Dinner was a half dose of Hard-Boiled Eggs in a Tomato-Cream Sauce (WorldVeg, p517). Served with plain basmati rice and South Indian-Style Green Beans (MJ@Home, p147). All was good. Right at the end of the prep, Ed knocked over the bread machine pan (yes, left from yesterday) full of soapy water, filling some of my little prepared dishes. A mess to clean up. Really shook my pacing. Had to back up and re-prep some things and organize all. Oddly disconcerting. For dessert we split the one chocolate easter bunny we scored this year.

Yogurt on overnight.

Suzanne Dunaway's No-Knead Bread on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 5; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Oct-19: My French teacher gave me some figs this afternoon and I had a bit of goat cheese left in the fridge, so our entrée was figs stuffed with goat cheese, drizzled a bit of honey, sprinkled with walnuts, and run under the broiler.

Dinner was halfish dose of One Skillet Chicken with Garlicky Mushroom Sauce (web), done with skinless, boneless thighs. Good stuff. Served over mushroom-flavored pasta, with haricots verts on the side. Some chocolate-covered corn flake things for dessert.

Tuesday/8-Oct-19: Canned tamales and home-made guacamole for dinner. That was all. It was good.

Wednesday/9-Oct-19: Busy day with vet visit and haircut. Planned an easy dinner, Smoked Trout & Pea Pasta (web) with a salad. Fusilli wasn't really the best pasta choice, but it was okay. The sauce was pretty tasty. Some crumbs of chocolate-covered cornflakes for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/10-Oct-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was was Lemon-Steamed Fillets (Desperation, p278) with eglefin/haddock. This was ok, but nothing special. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. Some store-bought riz au laits for dessert.

Friday/11-Oct-19: Dinner was a halfish dose of Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry (web), served over brown rice. Okay stuff, if not fantastic. Some ice cream for after.

Saturday/12-Oct-19: Our neighbors from Bordeaux were married in Mazerolles today. They had a little get-together in the afternoon.

We had Risotto with Tomato and Eggplant (WorldVeg, p408). This was surprisingly (to me) yummy. The two of us ate all of what should have served 3-4. I might serve 3 with a salad, which I skipped because it was already full of veg. We split an out-of-date chocolate bunny that I found recently. Later we had some bits of P'tit Basque, a sheep cheese we discovered on our Toulouse vacation. Yum.

Sunday/13-Oct-19: Lunch out today. Nothing much happened in the kitchen. In the evening we finished off the bottle of wine we brought home from lunch along with the P'tit Basque cheese. Nice.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: n/a
Cookbooks of the month: none
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Sep-18: For dinner there was Pasta Sauce with Peas, Ham, and Cream (p164 , MarCuc). The sauce is simple, but good. Hazan says the original pasta for this sauce is garganelli, a hand-made pasta. I found the instructions for this in (p110, Geometry). A weaver's comb, which is probably where we get Afro picks, is traditionally used to make the grooves on the rolled squares of pasta. Can't say I have any skill at this, but I do have an Afro pick now.

The sauce was good, but the pasta was a bit heavy, maybe because I only rolled to 5 rather than 6.

Then we had the rest of yesterday's salad mixed with the rest of yesterday's beans, all of which make a nice salad. No dessert since we were full.

Tuesday/25-Sep-18: We're still having problems with a mouse in the pantry. Chocolate chips and pasta are its current favorites. Three live traps are set with no results so far.

Recombobbled the meal plan today after we learned yesterday that Cath's friend is coming a week later than expected. Made the list too.

Used some very ripe bananas and some from the freezer to make up a loaf of Best Banana Bread (HandyBook).

Didn't have the oomph to make what was on the plan; really too tired to deal with peeling a winter squash. Instead made Vegan Eggplant and Tomato Gratin (VegSups, p24), which I made non-vegan by dolloping on the rest of some fresh goat cheese that needed to be used up. Pretty good. Followed by a salad. And some quite-tasty banana bread.

Wednesday/26-Sep-18: Shopping today.

Dinner was Grilled Salmon with Chile-Honey Glaze and Ginger-Red Onion Relish (BigFlav, p87). Ed bbq'd the fish. The glaze is good, but the relish is super-yummy. As suggested, served with New Potato Hash Browns with Caramelized Onions (BigFlav, p236). These were good, but I thought the onions were too sweet. We also had Fried Eggplant with Feta and Basil (O&C, p276), which Ed didn't like as well as the last time I made this. We were full, but managed a pair of chocolate-topped madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/27-Sep-18: Lunch out with Sue and Andy.

Made up broth for Mango Ice Cream (ThaiCC, p91) using canned mango, since the fresh ones were hard at the store this week and there were no frozen ones.

Friday/28-Sep-18: For dinner, Ed bbq'd a half dose of Grilled Sirloin and Apricot Skewers with Pomegranate Vinaigrette (License, p126). Since apricots are way out of season, I used peaches instead as suggested. Good this was. As suggested, served with Grilled Potatoes with Yogurt-Parsley Sauce (License, p283), which Ed liked a lot. Also a half recipe of Zucchini and Feta Cheese Salad (WorldVeg, p640). And then there was Mango Ice Cream, which was pretty good.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/29-Sep-18: We ate half of an Onion and Rosemary Tart with Fromage Blanc (VegSups, p9; cookbooker). Then a big salad. Then some mini ice cream bars.

Sunday/30-Sep-18: Ed was wanting pork chops. So tonight he barbecued a pair, rubbed with a Cajun spice run. Served with Moroccan Green Pepper Salad—Felfla Mechouia (WorldVeg, p634; cookbooker), a delicious salad, roasted green bell peppers with a bit of preserved lemon. And Oven Fried Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon (O&C, p280). We finished off a nice bottle of Fronton Flingueurs negrette, along with some slightly aged Morbiers. Then a spoonful of Mango Ice Cream each. And later a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-Jul-18: Dinner was a half recipe of Creamy Prawn Curry (200Budget, p188). This was good, easy, and fast. Might have had too much shrimp, though. A half recipe calls for 300g cooked shrimp. I usually use half of this for the two of us, so we had a lot of shrimp. I made, more or less, the Spiced Coconut Rice that was a suggested accompaniment. I didn't have chopped creamed coconut; I just used the rest of the pack of coconut milk that I used for the curry, topped up with water. Then I made (sort of) Southeast Asia Broccoli from FoodNetwork. They won't show recipes from the .com site in Europe now, so I had to look at a cached version. This was good, but a bit salty from the fish sauce. It was good mixed with the curry and rice. For dessert, we finished the tapioca pudding.

Tuesday/31-Jul-18: I had the idea to sneak in some home-made pasta today. Cleaned off the counter and got out the recipe I intended to use, only to discover that I'd forgotten that it wanted a serious amount of parlsey and I didn't buy any last week. Easily discouraged, I used frozen tagliatelle to make a half recipe of Tagliatelle con Salsa di Noci—Tagliatelle with Walnuts and Marscapone (Top100Pasta, p12). Having no mascarpone in the fridge or freezer, I used cream cheese, which was the suggested alternative. This was quite good although it would have liked a little bit of the pasta water to loosen the sauce up a bit. Before the main, we each had an artichoke bottom with green tapenade and half a crottin de Chavignol, with the cheese melted under the grill. Following the pasta, there was a big salad of roquette/arugula. Then we each had a Rustic Cherry Tart (web), more or less. I had frozen cherries that needed to be used, as well as some squares of pâte feuilletée, which I used instead of making pastry myself. Pretty good this was. Ed has his with cream.

I didn't get the list made today, so it looks like we'll shop on Thursday instead of tomorrow. Start of new month means new cookbook-of-the-month, which takes some research that I hadn't done in preparation. Oh well.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/1-Aug-18: Finished the list today, whew.

Oops, didn't remember that the lentils for tonight's dinner needed to be soaked for 3-4 hours. So I precooked those a bit to make a quarter recipe of Palestinian Rice with Lentils and Browned Onions (WorldVeg, p404). Served with a half recipe of Pumpkin or Hubbard Squash Cooked with Bengali Seasonings (WorldVeg, p289). Used a good chunk of our first winter squash from the potager. (These were supposed to be acorn squash but clearly aren't. Picked two more this evening. Tomorrow we'll pick the first of the other sort of winter squash we have. Both these are burying the zucchini.) Unfortunately my mustard oil was a bit rancid so the dish had an unpleasant taste. Served with Sliced Tomatoes in a Tomato Sauce (WorldVeg, p303). This was good, but I overlooked the instruction about cutting the tomatoes into only three slices. It would have been better that way I expect. Little ice creams for dessert.

Thursday/2-Aug-18: Shopping today.

Our meal was Seared Salmon with Pesto Fettuccine for Two (web). This was possible because I found some refrigerated pesto, which turned out to be pretty good, at Grand Frais on my last visit. I'll freeze the rest of this up in small portions tomorrow. Couldn't find whole wheat fettuccine, so I used whole wheat spaghetti already in house. Ed barbecued the salmon, along with slices from the rest of yesterday's squash. This was pretty bland really, but worked ok. He thought thicker slices worked better than thin. For starters we had artichoke bottom with green tapenade and goat cheese, grilled. For dessert there was store-bought riz au lait with red currants.

Friday/3-Aug-18: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Le Filet de Poulet à la Crème Fraîche Chavroux. (This is from a new Chavroux product; I've not found an online source for the recipe.) First oddness, the recipe calls for filets de poulets, which are generally kip filets or skinless, boneless chicken breast halfs; but the photo shows what looks like a skin-on kip filet, with a bit of wing bone sticking out. Never seen a chicken breast like that for sale. I used kip filets. They are cooked in a 180C oven 10min on one side, 2min on the second; this worked fine, to my surprise. The sauce wanted 1.5 soupspoonsful of the crème fraîche. That wasn't nearly enough to deal with 150g of sliced mushrooms (mine were shiitakes). I topped it up as needed. Made some sautéed potatoes with the rest of the potatoes on hand. Reheated the peas and corn. Mini ice cream bars for dessert. We're full.

An interesting thing about the chicken dish is that the kip filets were cooked in the oven, 375F, 10min on the first side, 2min on the second. The kip filets were fairly flat, and fit into the largest dish that will fit in my little, old toaster oven. Interesting, rather low-fat, way to cook them.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/4-Aug-18: Using up one zucchini and a roasted beet, our starter was (more or less), Zucchini Beet Salad (web). I made a halfish recipe, one beet and one zuke (cut on mandolin rather than spiralized). This was good, but the half recipe was really too much as a starter for the two of us, and not quite enough for a main. Odd portions, but yummy.

Our main was Grilled Pork Skewers with Green Mango (Thrill, p158). The recipe serves four supposedly. A half recipe would have served three, but we managed to eat it all. Very tasty. Served with All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262). Even though I used borlotti beans (have no canned black beans in the stash), this was still yummy. Stuffed we were. We drank a bottle of Brin (a Fronton, 100% negrette), which I liked better than Ed. Just wanting the taste, I finished with two tiny slices of Chaource which was on sale last week.

Sunday/5-Aug-18: The menu planner  needs a good talking to. A stir-fried Chinese meal on a super-hot day probably wasn't the best choice. But it used up some of the pineapple juice malingering in the fridge. And it was super-delicious.

We had World's Greatest Lemon Chicken (Chinatown, p73; cookbooker). I been told this truly was the best lemon chicken, and I think that was right. Really tasty. Served with plain rice and Hot and Spicy Wrinkled Beans (Chinatown, p106). I've made the green beans a number of times. It was still good.

Made some Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding (MC) in the morning. This one was only the French tapioca. Worked fine. Yay!

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no for Jul, no for Aug; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: yes for Jul, no for Aug; #5 BREAD: no for Jul, no for Aug; #6 GUESTS: yes for Jul, no for Aug

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Jul-17: Early meal today. I made a recipe that Jacky posted on Facebook recently, Orecchiette with Peas, Shrimp, and Buttermilk-Herb Dressing (web). Well, I sort of made it. I didn't have enough orecchiette, so I used malfada. Rather than all shrimp, I used the end of two packages of shrimp and scallops. No buttermilk, so I used yogurt. And a bit more lemon juice to cut the taste of the mayo. It was good. I made a whole recipe and we ate it all. Yum.

Made a salad, but we didn't eat that. Back in the fridge for tomorrow.

I defrosted a packet of pâte feuilleté squares yesterday and turned them into a little dessert today. An apple chopped in smallish bits, some walnuts, and some mixed dried red berries, mixed with cream cheese, a dab of honey, some cinnamon, some quatre épices, and a slog of kirsch. Made little packets of them and baked for 25min or so. Pretty good for minimal effort.

Tuesday/25-Jul-17: Froze up 16cups of chicken stock today.

Early meal of Cilantro Lime Chicken (web). Easy and very yummy. Served with some plain couscous, livened up with some Moroccan spice mix. (Probably wrong continent since the chicken came from a Malaysian site.) Then yesterday's salad. Then the last two apple packets.

Wednesday/26-Jul-17: Both of us slept late today, so we didn't get to shopping till really late in the day. A full store, but all the check-out counters were going so that part went fast. Tuna was on sale, but they were out, so I bought so tuna and replanned when we got home.

I'd defrosted some tomato sauce for the planned tuna dish, so instead we had Salmon in a Tomato-Cream Sauce (MJ@Home, p56), which we liked a lot last time I made it. No cilantro for the sauce today, but it was still good. Served with plain rice and plain peas, but it all went together well.

Thursday/27-Jul-17: Lovely bbq with Cath&Doug and their daughter Alison and her daughter Sophie this evening. I took Isla Bonita Pork Tenderloin (MC), with three huge varkenshazen. And Pineapple-Apple Coleslaw (TooMany, p59; MC), an old favorite that I haven't made in quite a while. Every was good.

Friday/28-Jul-17: Leftover cheese enchiladas for our main meal, with some pretty spicy guacamole, and a bit of coleslaw. Some chocolate cake from last night for dessert.

Did no cooking for tomorrow, which is a shame.

Saturday/29-Jul-17: Yogurt on overday.

Made two salads for a wedding dinner this evening, both old. There was Greek-Style Lentil Salad (WorldVeg, p630) and Zucchini and Feta Cheese Salad (WorldVeg, p640). Unforuntately, not as many people attended the dinner as were expected so we have gaboons of leftovers.

Sunday/30-Jul-17: Zucchini salad for breakfast. Lentil salad for our main meal, along with the leftover pork from Thursday. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Sep-16: Tonight's dinner was Panfried Pork Chop with Lemon-Caper Sauce (Twenty, p315). This was quite good, although breading bone-in pork chops is a bit odd, since it's difficult to see what you're cutting into. This was actually a bit like wiener schnitzel, but with a pork chop. The sauce was good too. Served with trio rice, some haricots verts, and some shrooms sautéed with garlic and parsley. All good stuff. No dessert needed.

Tuesday/27-Sep-16: Lunch out today. Nothing much happened in the kitchen.

Wednesday/28-Sep-16: Shopping today. The enlarging store continues to be a noisy mess. Finding what you want is a real challenge. And, although there's more space, the selection seems to be reduced. The pasta section has gone smaller again.

Tonight's starter and dessert were from Time-Life. Our main was Fish Tacos with Avocado-Lime Crema (web). This was supposed to be made with fish sticks. Not here. I got lieu noir, and too much of it, so we'll have this again for lunch tomorrow. I cut the fish into bits, dipped it in flour and an unlabelled, homemade spice mixture that smelled good, and fried it in a bit of grapeseed oil. Pretty good stuff, although the avocado bit would have been better with sour cream/crème fraîche rather than mayo.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/29-Sep-16: Dinner was some lemony pintade with potatoes from the freezer, thickened with a bit of potato starch, with some peas added for vegetable matter. Then there was a Turkish eggplant salad which didn't "match" flavor-wise, but was tasty on its own. That was all.

Friday/30-Sep-16: Meant to work on the tomatoes today, but didn't, except for the ones that went into tonight's dinner, the last official one from Time-Life.

Saturday/1-Oct-16: Put together a 3-bean chili sort of thing for tonight's dinner, xmas limas and chickpeas from the freezer and my last can of black beans. Used tomato purée; don't much like chili with tomatoes. Got out several dried chilies, soaked them, then buzzed them. Sautéed onions, garlic, oregano, ground roasted cumin, chile powder, and other stuff. Was pretty good altogether. Two servings in the freezer.

Went to make some Cayenne Cornbread (BigGerman, p182) as a go-with, but found my bread machine won't mix. Sigh. Mixed and kneaded a bit by hand, but not enough.  Put it in a bread pan, let it rise and then into the oven. Wasn't too bad.

Ed has to take a dish to a little do after his choir's AGM tomorrow. I made up a double dose of Greek-Style Lentil Salad (WorldVeg, p630). I've made this before and we liked it.

Still didn't work on the tomatoes and lots are going bad now. Tomorrow. There are still another bunch down in the potager.

Sunday/2-Oct-16: Ed had his meal with the choir today (where the lentil salad went over well). I had the leftover lamb with green beans from Friday. It wasn't as good reheated.

Seeded the last batch of tomatoes and started them simmering down. Lost of bunch of them. A few of the bottom ones were crushed; quite a few others had moldy bits. Will pick one last batch on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Trying to figure out what book to use for Cookbook Countdown in October, which doesn't have that many cooking days. I think I've relegated two of my possibilities to the recycle bin. We'll see.

In the evening we had popcorn to start a movie and then I ironed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2
This month: #3 PASTA: no for Sep, no for Oct; #4 BREAD: no for Sep, no for Oct; #5 FotW: yes for Aug/Sep; no for Oct/Nov

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-May-16: Sophie ended up spending the night at the vet, since there were no other emergencies in the afternoon. The hole that we saw when we took her in was only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The actual wound is about three times as long. She is home, cone-headed, and complaining because she has to stay in. Painkiller and antibiotic every day for a bit.

Used up the last bit of some small cooked shrimp from the freezer to make up a partial recipe of Potted Shrimp (TLBrit, p45) this afternoon to try in the next days.

For dinner, I marinated some lamb steaks in my usual marindade (olive oil, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, with lots of black pepper and garlic powder or smashed cloves), then grilled them. Served with Christophe au Gratin (TLCarib, p85), using a zucchini instead since there were no chayotes at the shop last week. This was a pretty bland version of stuffed squash, but not a bad side dish. And some trio rice.

Tuesday/3-May-16: We went to a concert in Angoulême this evening, so had our meal a bit earlier than usual. I made a half dose of Shrimp and Corn Chowder (CL/sep14; web) followed by a salad. Then the end of Mama's vanilla pudding with some fresh strawberries. The soup was quite good and easy to make. Used dried thyme, rather than fresh. Used one small can of corn (no frozen and canned is better imho). Served the soup with Irish Soda Bread (TLBrit, p18); posted about this here. (Well, yes, somewhere I did say that I wouldn't join another cookalong again for a while, but here I am again. Since this one actually matches an idea I'd already thought about for next year, I'm joining in early with my Time-Life books.)

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/4-May-16: Shopping today at Intermarché. Tuna was on sale, but they didn't have any. Very annoying store.

Potted Shrimp munchies before dinner.

Started a crockpot this morning with Simple Beef Curry (Hériteau, p56; cookbooker). Too much liquid, but otherwise pretty tasty considering that it was indeed simple. Served with plain basmati rice, and Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (Q&E, p87), an old favorite that went very well with the beef. Some store-bought crème brulées for dessert.

Thursday/5-May-16: Working on Ed's hemoglobin level again (although it's pointless right now since he went for his follow-up blood test on Tuesday). Dinner was Boudin Noir Poêlé aux Pommes (web). This was with boudin noir à l'oignon (with onions) and was quite good. Served with a side of
taglitelle and a dish of steamed haricots verts (done to Ed's taste!) with a bit of shallot sautéed in olive oil. For dessert some crêpes with Grand Marnier, an impulse buy from yesterday.

While we were eating outside this evening, we enjoyed watching a pair of blue tits carrying bits of food to the next box in the lime tree.

Friday/6-May-16: A busy day today. On the way back from my haircut, I stopped for a bit more shopping (including four chairs for outside dining). Then home to put it up in time to take Sophie to the vet to have her bandage changed. Actually it was removed. So now we see the bare, green stitches closing a gash about as long as my index finger. Another week till they're removed.

Dinner was Cabillaud au Citron Vert et Baies Roses (web); that's cod with lime and red peppercorns for those whose menu French isn't up to snuff. This was supposed to be cooked in close dishes in the microwave. I did it in foil-covered dishes in the oven. Pretty good. Served with trio rice and Baked Eggplant Slices (TooMany, p114), an old favorite. For dessert we had more Grand Marnier crêpes with the rest of the strawberries.

Yogurt on overnight. Chickpeas soaking overnight

Saturday/7-May-16: Went to a pottery fair today, the one we visited two years ago. Before we left, I put the chickpeas on to cook in the slow cooker.

Dinner was a half dose of Chickpeas Cooked in a Moghlai-Stye (WorldVeg, p32). This is actually pretty easy to make if you have all the ingredients, ground roast cumin seeds (I used up my stash and topped it up with regular cumin), garam masala, puréed tomatoes ( made some and froze the leftover bit). Quite tasty. Served with Cabbage Salad with Mustard Seeds (WorldVeg, p617), Carrot and Cilantro Salad (WorldVeg, p618), and Potato Chaat (MJ@Home, p165). All quite tasty. MiniMags for dessert. We ate well.

Sunday/8-May-16: Early dinner tonight before we went to a movie. We had Swartzuur—Lamb Stew with Tamarind and Dumplings (TLAfrica, p33). Pretty good. Takes some clock time, but not especially hard to make. The meat is not browned, just plopped in the pot with onions and chicken stock, then simmered. After a while tamarind water gets added in. Then some dumplings, the oddest I've ever made. Flour is dumped into boiling stock (rescued from lamb pot before the tamarind was added) and stirred into submission; after that cools a bit, you stir in an egg. Or stir,stir,stir as my mother used to instruct. Tasty sweet-sour result.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: yes for April/May

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-Nov-15: Meant to defrost the fridge today. Brought all the ice chests down. Oops, there was yogurt making that needed to be cooled. Tomorrow.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Spaghetti with Sardines, Dill and Fried Capers (web). Sardines from a can. Not bad really. The dill and capers were a strong enough taste to stand up to the fish and it all worked out well. Then a salad. Then some of Aunt Essie's Fruit Cobbler (green notebook). I have always made this with a can of peaches, but realized tonight the directions ask for a #2 can of unspecified fruit. Peaches are good.

Forgot to say that I tried two new pastas while we were in Tuscany. A couple of times we enjoyed pici and brought back a sack for us and for a gift. It's kind of like spaghetti on steroids. It's supposed to be hand-rolled, but what we had and what we bought looks to me like it's extruded—too very even to be hand-made. Then there was testaroli. Have never heard of this before and didn't find any references in any of my books that I looked in. It starts as a kind of pancake, then is cut into bits and boiled; it's traditionally served with pesto. Apparently this may be the original "pasta". It's quite heavy and was quite a lot to have before a main course. Glad I tried it, don't need to have it again.

Tuesday/3-Nov-15: Defrosted the fridge today. Not a favorite job. Ed helped by cleaning shelves and drawers.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Hot, Sweet, and Sour Chickpeas with Eggplant (H2CEV, p609), served over rice. Pretty good stuff, and relatively fast. Finished off the peach cobbler. Then (yipes!) some chocolate square with hazelnuts.

On the weekend we picked up the tiles for the kitchen. Had a good look at them tonight. A bit disappointing (not to mention my second choice.) For the edging, the reds don't match. Since they were supposedly hand-made on our order, this was a surprise. The solid reds don't match the figured ones. Worse, though, the bulk of the tiles have cracked glaze (what we looked at definitely wasn't crackled) and the color is whiter than cream, so doesn't match the edge tiles. Not sure what we're going to do.

Wednesday/4-Nov-15: Shopped today. First time I've seen extra-wide aluminum foil. What an advance! I'm still using a box I brought from the US probably at least 25 years ago. Don't use it very much.

Dinner was Arctic Char + Cucumber Relish (CLjan/feb15, web) with Radish & Avocado Quinoa (CLjan/feb15, web). These two recipes made up a Just-for-Two Tuesday article. No char to be found (not sure I've ever seen omble), so I used cod instead. The fish and relish were okay, but nothing special. The quinoa salad was pretty good. For dessert, we had a pair of tiramisus, a new brand. So, so.

Thursday/5-Nov-15: The fourth burner on the stove finally got fixed today. Hooray!

Dinner was Karhi—Vegetable Stew with Chickpea Flour Sauce (WorldVeg, p36; cookbooker). Good stuff it was too. That's all.

Friday/6-Nov-15: Dinner was a half recipe of Pollo Rebozado—Cornmeal-Coated Chicken in Tomato Sauce (TLLatin, p34) served with a halfish recipe of Arroz Verde (TLLatin, p84). The salad is a take-off on Ensalada de Cabalacitas—Zucchini Salad (Ortiz, p237). The chicken was tasty. Cornmeal coating didn't happen. (What do you expect? Beat an egg till foamy, dilute with milk, stir in just a bit of cornmeal, which promptly sinks to the bottom. If a proper coating was the aim, it would have been better to dip in flour, dip in egg, then dip in cornmeal as you usually do for something coated.) The sauce was good (tomatoes cooked with wine) and the sauce leftovers will make a nice salad or vegetable dressing in the next days. The rice was a big hit. For a halfish recipe, I used a small (4-oz) can of chiles, which is usually three, and zapped them together with a bit of stock, parsley, onions, and garlic. (Thank you, staff mixer.) This will definitely get made again. I made the salad at the last minute for a go-with, also using a canned chile, with zucchini, avocado, a shallot, and a bit of oil and vinegar dressing. It should have been chilled, but I did it very last-minute.

Saturday/7-Nov-15: It was clean-out-the-fridge pizza tonight, with roasted cauliflower, zucchini, and green beans, topped with black olives and capers. Not bad. For dessert we had some chocolate bonbons. At the old folks dinner in October, which we didn't attend because we weren't here, the old folks get little boxes of goodies. Pascal brought ours around to us this morning.

Sunday/8-Nov-15: We both had leftover pizza for lunch today, Ed at choir, me at home, so neither of us felt like much for dinner. I made a salad, embellished with some lardons from the freezer that wanted using. The rest of our bonbons for afters.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 UNUSED: yes; #3 GRAINS: yes; #4 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #5 PASTA: no; #6 BREAD: no; #7 FotW: yes for September/October; no for November

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Jul-14: Yogurt on overday. We made an all-day outing to Family Village (yes, that's the French name), a sort of outlet mall, that included lunch at Alinéa, which is the French version of Ikea. There's also a Grand Frais, a grocery store carrying lots of unusual and exotic fruits and veggies. Just discovered there's on in Soyaux, too; that's a suburb of Angoulême, so it's a bit closer.

Because we had lunch out, we had only fruit for dinner.

Ed drove with two other choir members to yesterday's concert in Limoges; they had to be there quite a bit ahead of time. I travelled with the partners of the other two. We were both surprised that these people had barely visited Limoges before. One couple has been here four and a half years, the other longer than we have. But they'd barely been to Limgoes either for sightseeing or for shopping. Seemed very strange to us.

Tuesday/22-Jul-14: Used the gooseberries I bought yesterday to make a half recipe of Gooseberry-Apple Crisp (Uncommon, p218). A nice easy recipe that could be done with other fruits. Should put this in the HandyBook also. While that was cooking, I roasted lots of veggies, mostly leftovers bits from the fridge—eggplant, zucchini, red bell pepper, carrot, and some asparagus from the Grand Frais. Served those with polenta. Then the crisp with a bit of vanilla ice cream.

Wednesday/23-Jul-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was (more or less) Spiced Fried Fish (RealCook, p120), with two filet of lieu noir (saithe?) cut into thirds. As a go-with there was Fragrant Rice (RealCook, p213; cookbooker). There's a problem with this recipe, which is supposed to serve two as a side; I made less than half and we had enough to serve four as a side. Then there was more of the Grand Frais bounty, two ears of corn. Very good, better than the ones we get at Intermarché. I forgot to note whence they came. Then a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some bramen (blackberries) from Grand Frais.

We drank a whole bottle of wine with the dinner, then sat outside, till the mosquitos got too bad, watching bats and listening to Ed's bat detector.

Thursday/24-Jul-14: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was a half recipe of Green Peppercorn and DIjon Chicken Cutlets (web). Good stuff and easy. Accompanied by butternut squash gnocchi from the freezer with a bit of sage butter, which really wasn't needed because there was  plenty of sauce from the chicken. And some Roast Asparagus with Long Pepper Gremolata (web). Long pepper is what was used by the Greeks and Romans for a peppery flavor before black pepper was available. Can't say I was struck by the flavor, but the whole effect of the long pepper, coriander seeds, lemon zest, and garlic was very pleasing. For dessert, I had the very end of a classic magnum while Ed ate the rest.

Friday/25-Jul-14: Oscar went to the vet a 8am for a biopsy.

Baked a cake this morning for a visitor this afternoon and for tomorrow night's picnic dinner, Chocolate Bundt Cake (web; cookbooker), a super cake. The visitor was Max, just turned 21, the son of long-time Dutch friends. We're not remembering when we saw him last, but now he's all grown up and it was a treat to see him.

The main course as dinner was Moroccan Spiced Lamb Shanks with Aubergine (RealCook, p127) for IHCC, but I don't feel like posting for it. Lamb shanks (souris) usually come in packages of three for some reason. I happened to find a package of four, so now have the extra two in the freezer. As an accompaniment there was whole-wheat couscous, made with the rest of a jar of chicken stock, plus Carrot and Cilantro Salad (WorldVeg, p618), a very nice little salad. I had a tiny slice of chocolate cake after. (Ed had two slices earlier.)

Saturday/26-Jul-14: This evening we went to a benefit picnic with music for the Children of Chenobyl, a charity that brings these kids to France (and elsewhere I think) to stay with local people so they can have a proper vacation in a healthy location. I made Greek-Style Lentil Salad (WorldVeg, p630) for our meal. This is a nice salad I've made before. Made some guacamole to go with corn chips. Managed to go off without the chocolate cake, that I'd hoped to share around.

Sunday/27-Jul-14: Fresh pasta tonight with Spinach and Tomato Pasta Sauce, Romagna-Style (MarCuc, p142). The sauce was good, but not spectacular. I used frozen spinach and a real tomato and some water instead of canned imported Italian plum ones with juice. And a salad. And some chocolate cake with a dab of cream.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes for IHCC, but not posted; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-May-14: Potatoes to use up? Broccoli to use up? The go-to recipe is Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). Since there was lots to use up, two of us ate a whole recipe. That's all.

Tuesday/20-May-14: Tamale Pie from the freezer for dinner, along with a little salad of avocado, tomato, and cilantro. That was all.

Wednesday/21-May-14: Yogurt on overday.

BIll arrived this afternoon. For dinner we had chicken noodle soup from the freezer, "enhanced" with some potatoes. Then a salad. Then a chunk of nameless cheese (I've forgotten the name) that I got at the market in Angoulême on Saturday. Then some eclairs that Ed and Bill bought at a boulanger on the way back from the train station.

Thursday/22-May-14: Lunch out with Bill today before Ed went to choir practice and Bill and I went shopping. For our evening meal we had fruit, cheese, and rillettes, followed by cream puffs Ed bought at our local boulanger.

Friday/23-May-14: Dinner out before a concert this evening. Not much happened in the kitchen.

Saturday/24-May-14: Yogurt on overday.

For a starter tonight we had Artichokes Stuffed with Shrimp and Green Goddess Dressing (TLAmer, p70). Then there was Escalope of Pork with Asparagus and Cheese (30MinCook, p187) for next week's IHCC, accompanied by boiled potatoes, buttered and parslied. (We were all full afterwards.

Sunday/25-May-14: For dinner Ed barbecued chicken thighs that had been stewing for a day in a marinade from the freezer, then basted with pomegranate molasses just before serving. For sides there was polenta and Green Beans with Garlic and Preserved Lemon (WorldVeg, p205), me declaring my preserved lemons "done" a few days before the appointed time. None of us felt like anything afterwards.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 2
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: 1

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Feb-14: Another dinner from TLQuint. For a main we had brik. For a salad there was Slata Mechouia—Roasted-Tomato-and-Pepper Salad (TLQuint, p102), which I liked, but Ed wasn't especially fond of. The bell pepper roasting instructions for last week's salad were better. For dessert, there was more Impossible Pie.

Tuesday/11-Feb-14: In the morning I made some Zucchini and Feta Salad (WorldVeg, p640) to take to a DORSOB get-together.

Defrosted some cooked lamb and smerged two recipes to use up the leftover brick. Sautéed onions, lamb, pine nuts, dried apricots, cinnamon, coriander, and parsley, then stirred in some yogurt; wrapped it all in brick and popped in the over to brown. Not bad, not great. Plus some steamed broccoli. Plus some leftover Zucchini and Feta Salad. We split a magnum classic for dessert.

Wednesday/12-Feb-14: Yogurt on overday. Sometimes it turns off properly sometimes not. Today was a good day.

First dinner from TLS&P today, Merluza a la Gallega—Poached Hake with Potatoes and Tomato Sauce (TLS&P, p21). Used smoked paprika instead of plain. Pretty good, nothing special. A side of steamed haricots verts, which went especially well with the tomato sauce.

Thursday/13-Feb-14: Woke this morning to find that the wind had ripped the tar paper off the roof of the shed. Argh.

Dinner was a half dose of Island Chicken Bites (web), which was easy and pretty tasty. Think it's meant a toothpick food with drinks, but was nice as chunks on the plate; might be good to flatten a kip filet a bit and broil that too. As a go-with there was some Black Beans and Rice (web) and some steamed broccoli. And some mini-magnums for after.

Friday/14-Feb-14: Valentine's day lunch at a very nice restaurant. Nothing happened in the kitchen

Saturday/15-Feb-14 - Sunday/16-Feb14: On our way to Amsterdam; nothing happening in our kitchen. We hope.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 VEG/FISH: 2
This month: #3 PASTA: no, #4 FotW: yes, #5 BREAD: 0