What Are You Eating Today? Part 5

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Rita and I did little getaway on Thursday to a Guerneville B&B with a noted restaurant, to celebrate our 31st anniversary, and had one of the best meals of our lives: http://www.dineatapplewood.com/dinner_tasting.html

Great place to stay, too, 1920s vintage private estate, art deco , glass sculptures, etc

[Valerie]

Happy Anniversary, Guys!! glad you had such a good dinner!!

i've been on a baked potato kick lately. i love filling them with tasty morsels. basically, i start by wiping truffle oil all over the clean skin before baking. most of the items i add consist of: butter, sour cream, green onions, capers, anchovies, Daikon radish sprouts and Thai chili sauce. just yummy and always tastes like more. last night i steamed some carrots to add to the meal. am loving rapini and brussels sprouts as well these days.

[jazzbluescat]

I made a hamburger steak with a bit of worcestershire sauce, hashbrowns and green peas.

I found out bread flour is different than self-rising. My bread came out flat.

[clinthopson]

I made Hamburger Lindstrom from a recipe I stoe from a departed and lamented Scandanavian restaurant, Gustav Anders. Home ground beef, roasted beets, capers, shallots and sauteed. It's one of our faves.

The classic is raw beef, but this works very well.

Tonite, grilled perfectly cooked, 1 1/2" New York strip with red pear and arugula salad plus heirloom tomatoes on the side.

[Valerie]

I made Hamburger Lindstrom from a recipe I stoe from a departed and lamented Scandanavian restaurant, Gustav Anders. Home ground beef, roasted beets, capers, shallots and sauteed. It's one of our faves.

The classic is raw beef, but this works very well.

Tonite, grilled perfectly cooked, 1 1/2" New York strip with red pear and arugula salad plus heirloom tomatoes on the side.

i'm curious (because of health and age issues), Clint, why you eat so much beef/meat?!?

[clinthopson]

i'm curious (because of health and age issues), Clint, why you eat so much beef/meat?!?

I am a dedicated carnivore.

Actually, I am just trying to use up some of the stuff in my freezer.

Tomorrow, I'm making my version of spanokopita.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Pad Thai and then a combo plate of sushi and sashimi along with a bomber of Kirin Ichiban beer. Not to mention the requisite pre-dinner martini. Good eats!

[jazzbluescat]

...... Not to mention the requisite pre-dinner martini....!

Heaven forbid!

In sticking with my diet that calls for only one "normal" meal per week, it's last Sunday's leftovers of Hamburger steak, hashbrowns and peas, along with freshly baked (white) bread.

Am going to try my aunt's bread recipe using mayonnaise instead of regular oil; I know it's spectacular for making cornbread.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

​Sunday morning breakfast was baked eggs with cheddar, parsley, salt and pepper along with rye toast and java.

[stonemonkts]

I made an omelet using local farm eggs (the ones most people buy in the store are very different, these are rich with almost orange yolks). I sauteed some chopped white onlion, added some good imported swiss, some leftover ham, and a little Cooper American cheese. Rye toast. Before following this thread I never imagined eating rye toast with eggs. For the past few years, I have used rye toast. Yum. I'm also an excellent driver.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Yeah, Pat, farm fresh eggs are nice. We are fortunate in that we can walk to a small local farm which is not far from our house in Vermont. The owners are super nice and they have fresh eggs for sale. And you're right, the yolks are a deep orange and the shells vary in color depending on the type of chicken that laid them. The shells are white, brown, green, blue and shades in between.

http://www.redrockerfarm.com/Red_Roc...m/Welcome.html

[stonemonkts]

Jimmy, exactly. The ones I used this morning varied from light green to brown. The shells tend to be a little softer too, less brittle. Not that it matters.

Currently slow cooking a beef stew.

[jazzbluescat]

You city guys....talking about eggs. My family, and later I raised chickens until a pack of dogs wiped me out. I remember selling eggs to my friends for 75¢ a dozen, up until the mid 90s. Anyhow, you can't beat farm fresh eggs!

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Went to Cask Republic in New Haven for dinner tonight. The joint is known for its many beers on tap as well as in bottles from all over the world. Got me some fish & chips with beer. Joanne had a serious hamburger on an English muffin with bacon, lettuce and onions along with fries. We both enjoyed malt vinegar with our fries. On the money.

[jazzbluescat]

Went to Cask Republic in New Haven for dinner tonight. The joint is known for its many beers on tap as well as in bottles from all over the world. Got me some fish & chips with beer. Joanne had a serious hamburger on an English muffin with bacon, lettuce and onions along with fries. We both enjoyed malt vinegar with our fries. On the money.

I luv fish & chips with vinegar, especially if the chips are made from fresh potatoes.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Went to a local place tonight that I've been hearing about lately. I was intrigued by this new joint housed in, of all places, a local suburban Marriott hotel in neighboring Trumbull, Connecticut.

So I "dragged" Joanne to the place because I happened to peruse an online menu which, I found out later, changes every few days. Parallel Post touts themselves as being a "sustainable locally sourced organic non-steroid humane yada, yada kumbaya" restaurant. I'm not one to join in on the latest and greatest thing, but my instincts led me to believe that whoever was running this enterprise cared about food and cooking. That being said, I'm there.

Since I didn't feel the the need to make a reservation we showed up unannounced. The place was packed so we opted to go to the bar and sit at a high top. I never had a bad meal sitting at the bar. So there, I'm letting those of you that haven't figured it out yet that the short route to a great meal and attentive service is more than likely at/in the bar of a restaurant. Long story short, we had one of our best meals in recent memory.

Joanne: App - Celery Root and Pear Soup with Jonah Crab. Entree - Grilled Flatiron Steak, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Winter Vegetables, Rosemary Sauce. Dessert - Raspberry Ice Cream.

Me: App - Paella Stuffed Calamari, Spanish Pepper Sauce. Entree - Braised Short Ribs, Roasted Fennel, Creamy Shitake Mushroom Farro. Dessert - The remainder of the bottle of Cab we had with dinner ($23.00).

The service was hit or miss but the young servers were eager to please and more than willing to hear my crticisms, including the young head chef that stopped by for a chat.

In my opinion, the final tab was a bargain. Good show all around.

http://parallelpostrestaurant.com/sample-page/

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I scored a gallon container of kimchi today. That will be my lunch all week. I also got a pound and a quarter of scungilli. I just finished making a huge scungilli salad which will be my dinner all week. The salad consists of thinly sliced scungilli, onions, celery, and garlic. I also added a can of black olives that I cut in half. All those ingredients go into a big mixing bowl along with evoo, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, chopped parsley, dried oregano, thyme, marjoram, etc. Some healthy grinds of black pepper and sea salt are added just before I toss the whole deal to mix all the good stuff together. I let it sit in the fridge and occasionally bring it out to toss some more so that everything marinates nicely. By tomorrow it will be perfetto and ready to melt in my mouth. Can't wait.

[jazzbluescat]

For my big, normal meal of the week, and today, it was baked honey teriyaki marinade chicken breasts, collards and leftover-from- last-weekend bread.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Dinner tonight will be a slow simmered red sauce with San Marzano tomatoes to which I added sweated garlic, onions, quartered baby bella mushrooms, and a pound of sweet Italian sausage. The sauce will be used to top Colavita linguine. I got a nice chunk of Parmigiano - Reggiano ready to be grated over the pasta. Add a bottle of Francis Coppola 2010 Diamond Collection Cabernet Sauvignon and we're good to go.

[stonemonkts]

Oh, baby. That sounds GOOD.

Jimmy, Is Colavita similar to DeCecco?

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Oh, baby. That sounds GOOD.

Jimmy, Is Colavita similar to DeCecco?

Pat, yes. Colavita is on par with DeCecco. They make many different products in addition to their pastas. Their olive oil is expensive but one of the best.

http://www.colavita.com/pasta.htm

[stonemonkts]

Thanks Jimmy. I'll have to check it out.

Last night was pan seared shrimp tossed in DeCecco linguini with sundried tomatoes and arugula. Healthy shavings of Locatelli romano. A simple dish but still one of my favorites. Wine was a decent white blend called "Conundrum" 2010.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Thanks Jimmy. I'll have to check it out.

Last night was pan seared shrimp tossed in DeCecco linguini with sundried tomatoes and arugula. Healthy shavings of Locatelli romano. A simple dish but still one of my favorites. Wine was a decent white blend called "Conundrum" 2010.

Actually, I prefer Pecorino-Romano over Parmesan and Locatelli is a good one. I also like Grana Padano but it's hard to find at my local stores. If I happen to see it I snatch it up.

[steve(thelil)]

I also like Grana Padano but it's hard to find at my local stores. If I happen to see it I snatch it up.

I saw a stripper do that once.

[clinthopson]

Last night, we went Eastern Europe, slow simmered sauerkraut, Alsatian style, using hard cider instead of Gevertz, kielbasa from the local smokehouse, Yukons, haricot vert.

Tonight my ragu, Lucio Garofalo spaghetti, Parm Reg, baby lettuce with lemon olive oil dressing.

Tomorrow, grilled shrimps with New Orleans style remoulade and braised endive.

[jazzbluescat]

Man! Y'all must not have a weight problem.

[clinthopson]

Man! Y'all must not have a weight problem.

I've dropped 60 lbs over the last 3 years by not eating large portions and avoiding a lot of sweets. Went from a 46 to a 38 waist.

Plus I'm really old and have diminished overall.

[jazzbluescat]

I've dropped 60 lbs over the last 3 years by not eating large portions and avoiding a lot of sweets. Went from a 46 to a 38 waist.

Plus I'm really old and have diminished overall.

Congrats! I'm in the same boat. Dropped 50+ lbs. the past two years. I stay away from fried foods, especially junk foods, and sweets, too. I have one "good" meal per week, the rest is low fat and drink lots of water, orange juice, 2% milk.

I'm pushing 70 yo, peeing can be a chore.

[clinthopson]

I eat anything I want and have three smallish meals a day, very minimal sweets though. Lots of fruit and vegs It has worked very well.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

For breakfast I had some Bánh chưng that a Vietnamese co-worker brought in. He explained that it is eaten all year but especially made for Chinese New Year as well as Tết.