Wow!! Flattery will get you everywhere! thank you---what a nice thing to say. Gosh. :D

Lol..you and Bama are making my day. Thank you, too!

I looked in the pantry and freezer and some “use by” dates were approaching on food I bought in anticipation of corona- inspired shortages. We already ate the first package of frozen Armour meatballs and decided they might be super balls left over from the 1980’s. The Mezzetta sauce was thin but tasted fine. The green beans are from the garden and the gnocchi had wonderful texture and took on a fragrance and flavor from the sauce and made it their own. Half a crusty loaf came from the freezer and of course shaved Parmesan improves everything.


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What's for Dinner
 

Grilled pork ribs, crab cake and sides.


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Greek salad (inspired by a recent trip to Athens). First try, pretty good if I may say so!

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Sous vide (pan finished) salmon with broccoli, marinated carrots, wood ear mushrooms, and brown rice.
Mrs. CoffeeTraveler requested salmon for dinner. Came out nicely.

It did!! What is on the salmon?

Trader Joe’s pineapple teriyaki sauce. Just a couple tablespoons added to the pan during the finishing steps.

Leftover bakery pizza:
arizmendi balsamic / walnut white (today)
black jet baking sourdough sausage (Friday)
big mixed salad with BEC croutons


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What’s for dinner? Probably nothing. I didn’t have a dinner plan and we were out shopping at 1:30 and realized we were hungry.

Our go-to dive bar downtown is owned by a Chicago native who imports all his food from back home.


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Italian Beef for me, Chicago dog for Mrs BV. Plus I get her hot peppers. Anyone who doesn’t want to see a half eaten sandwich should look away. I just wanted to show it wasn’t all sweet peppers. Beer and wine not pictured but they brew about 10 beers on the premises.

I do not eat Italian beef sandwiches, but I've lived in Chicago long enough to know that that sandwich looks very dry. It should be dipped!

It really wasn't dry but I had a styrofoam cup of au jus. Not pictured.

Chicken / udon / bok choy soup - I bought the bok choy today :-)


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$1.29. Getting closer and closer to that price point sweet spot of 99 cents. Of course that was Canadian, so you still have a ways to go.

Crab claw, crab cake, osso buco and veggies
 

The main

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The salad

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My great grandfather was a lobsterman, so we like lobster in my family. I used to have a stranding trade with my late aunt -- my lobster tail for her claws. I've never understood while tail meat is considered a delicacy and no one mentions that claws are far, far superior.

I suspect it's related mostly to texture or perceived portion size. I don't have a specific preference (sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't) but there is a textural and taste difference for me.

I met a girl in college whose family was in the lobster business. I guess it can be a boom and bust business. She said there were times growing up when the only thing in the refrigerator was lobster. I tried to be sympathetic. Then I realized she must have meant there was no butter.

leftover Eric’s, Sf ca
kung pao chicken
veggie moo shoo
white rice

bok choy - steamed with rice
seasoned radish

my family got the Eric’s via DASH last Tuesday while I was getting wasted at book club. I can’t believe how much was leftover. I still have 2 days more of this. I should have eaten some last week. Mega sigh.



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lol it’s not going to happen for me. I’m not seeing below $1.29 for any bok choy. Sigh. Only Canada gets it at $0.89/lb C$

Wonton soup.

I think you're right -- he died long before I was born, but sadly it drove my great-grandfather to suicide.

This was last night...grilled halibut with cilantro pesto.
Tonight will be grilled lamb chops.
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Arizmendi pizza and cheese focaccia
mixed green salad with BEC


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As delicious as that meal sounds, a little nitpick-- it's bergamot or bergamot orange, not bergamot lemon.

Did you get to try a raw one? I had one at a Dean & Deluca years ago, and have craved it ever since. Steep some Earl Grey for inspiration.

Up until now, I did not know what a bergamot was. I've heard the term and assumed it was an herb of some sort. But because of this I decided to look it up. Is it possible the chef called it a "bergamot lemon" because it had ripened to the stage where it was yellow? Sometimes the translation to english (especially for people who have english as a second language) is literal or sometimes the term they use is how they translate it themselves.

A good example of this is lobster.... You will often see french people (from Europe) calling it homard lobster in english. But homard is actually french for lobster (well, european lobster). But that's how they translate it. Not quite the same as bergamot, but a bit of a tangent.

It might drive you a bit batty, but I don't think it's intentional.

In France bergamot is considered a sweetish lemon. Bergamot Citron. I think from the same family as the Persian sweet lemons.

I have always used it for cooking and not to eat as an orange.

Likewise. Don't get me wrong, I love both the tail & claws, even the knuckles, when generously dipped in butter; the larger the lobster, the more I'll prefer the claw. I find the claw meat more tender & flavorful, whereas the tail tends to be a little chewy. Again, with extra bowls of butter, I'm good go for the entire lobster--prefer the lobsters ranging from 3 - 5 lbs.

By the way, not sure if it's an American lobster thing (even with my love for animals, I don't know much about marine life), but my lobsters always has one claw much larger than the other? Is that normal or just the way they are on our shores?

I'm from the plain lobster camp. I tried butter before, but maybe it's because I never had the good stuff, but I've never liked dipping lobster in butter. Maybe a (very) little salt but straight up lobster for me. (Same for crab legs)

I am with you on loving the claws (not that I would turn down a tail) so you can imagine how upset I was when I had the great freezer failure of 2021 and had to throw away several 3 lb bags of lobster claws. I get choked up just thinking about it.

There is such a camp? No lemon? Do you not care for butter (and who are you??)

ditto. I enjoy my shellfish out of the package. nothing needed for me. I also prefer caviar with a spoon. Nothing else needed.

I love butter on bread. I’m sure great bread can be eaten solo and I prefer it warm and buttered.

lol. I salt the water a bit but my preference for lobster is to let the sweetness of the meat shine by itself. Don't get me wrong, I like butter (especially the freshly churned stuff) but my preference for most shellfish actually is naked. I might use a bit of lemon on a raw oyster (or conch salad) but yeah, shellfish has a beautiful taste on it's own. A small bit of butter and salt on corn or asparagus is good... grilled cheese is great... a small pad (which you can't find anymore) on kaya toast is very tasty... Trust me. I go through my fair share of butter.

I've only had real caviar once... a little too pricy for me... but that aside.... I hope the spoon is plastic or glass (or wooden). My understanding is that something in the caviar medium (I don't really want to call it a liquid) reacts badly to metal spoons that will affect the taste (that's why they used mother of pearl covered spoons before). I know certain other acidic dishes have the same issue (like fresh made kuthu roti... the peppers don't react well to the spoons)

Just to be clear -- browned butter is the best way to go. Few restaurants offer browned butter, which is one more reason to only eat lobster at home.

Before what? :) I have a mother-of-pearl caviar spoon in my utensil drawer!

I’ve only had caviar at restaurants where I’ll only eat it with the provided spoon. Every December I think about buying it at Costco and then it’s gone from the shelves. I buy the king crab legs and Dungeness at Costco or Whole Foods. Always delicious as from the package. But I offer the expected toppings for the table. We were having king crab legs every Monday during a big part of the pandemic until we just stopped.

I had my choice of leftovers. The fridge is chockablock with boxes and bags and tubs. I chose the freshest leftovers; Chinese from last night. I finished my Meals on Wheels chicken pot pie at lunch.

Mrs BV will be eating little sandwiches for days. She attended a lunch today and everyone brought a dish. I warned her not to bring too much but she made 24 sandwiches (on Kings Hawaiian rolls) and brought home much more than half. Saying it on FT gives me the pleasure of “I told you so” without jeopardizing marital bliss.

Old fav: Charlie Bird farro salad with salmon made in the air fryer

Well, I don't think those airlines that serve caviar are giving away mother-of-pearl with their canapes. :) I'm guessing plastic or bamboo spoons. What they had before mother-of-pearl I don't know. Way before my time.

Ha! My mom used to "collect" airline silverware back in the day.

I don't know anyone who flew in the really before time that doesn't have "something" from an airline. Silverware, not so much anymore, but it's interesting what you find in old boxes.

Rigatoni with Italian sausage and peppers and onion. Covered in grated pecorino.
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Gorgeous - is that also tomato?

In my view, quality caviar should be enjoyed on its own and, as has been mentioned, with a non-metallic spoon, ideally mother of pearl; plastic is fine too, in a pinch. At least in my experience, most restaurants offer the lesser quality stuff, and this is where the condiments come in handy--it's sort of like a bit of sweetness does wonders to hide a bad vintage, whereas the high quality stuff is best enjoyed dry, for its purity of taste.

As I'd imagine with most growing up, I absolutely hated the taste of coffee, alcohol (still can't drink beer to this day) and caviar--all the stuff my mother assured me was an acquired taste. So, to get me to eat it, she used the little pancakes, sour cream, chives, eggs and whatever else in effort to trick me into enjoying it; and, it wasn't well into adulthood when I had finally begun to enjoy good caviar on its own, and almost after 1/2 a lifetime, finally had acquired the appreciation for its strong flavor, texture and after taste.

PS - Exception to the sweet knock would be a Sauternes, e.g., d'Yquem

thank you.
Yes...about a half can of fire roasted tomatoes and also red wine. Actually, I think what you think is tomato is red pepper. I used red, orange and yellow.