We had lots of pork at dinner as feasting into 2021 flows on in !!

My friend always cooks up a storm .. .. ..


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Nasi ulam with bunga terlang ( blue pea flower ) for colour and udang nanas - pineapple prawns
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Satay babi - pork satay Peranakan style cooked with coconut milk
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Close Up of pineapple prawns
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Sayur lodeh
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Crab vermicelli
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Bakwan kepeting soup - crab , pork & .. balls soup , belinjo keropok on side for snacking any time

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Dessert : bubor cha cha , you can make out the sweet potatoes

The belachan & other sauces were amazing .

That looks delicious! At the risk of sounding completely uninformed, what cuisine is this?

It is delicious , alright !!
Peranakan , Straits Chinese cuisine with local ( Malay influences ) .. Straits of Malacca , down the west coast of Malaysia like variations found in Penang and Malacca / Melaka . Even Phuket and parts of coastal Indonesia .

Just look at the complex gravy and sauces

Fresh spaghetti with Rao’s marinara & meatballs
spaghetti with Rao’s marinara & meatballs
penne with parm & olive oil
meatballs
mixed green salad

Costco frozen italian meatballs are a big hit! Alas my days of making meatballs are probably over for now.

I didn’t eat the Calibur. I fetched it for my spouse and child, both of whom still prefer not to eat pork in general. Actually now my child wants to switch to a regular cheeseburger for next week. Next thing I know, it might become a bi-weekly meal; not really sure. Now I’m not sure when I’ve last had a burger myself, because in general I only have them when I’m grilling them at home. Ah well, I just won’t remember :-)

It sounds like your kid could use some much healthier food than cheeseburgers, fries and shakes. If you grill them at home it is going to at least be a little bit better .

beautiful dishes - it looks like there were 2 different table Cloths! How many days of feasting did you enjoy together?

in USA we are
in San Francisco, we are strongly discouraged from eating with friends that don’t live in our household. So when you mentioned about your friend cooking up a storm, it made me think that we can’t even do this here. It almost might currently be illegal although I’m pretty sure it isn’t prosecuted. So it’s a different kind of situation. Ok so now I’m thinking that outdoor dining could probably be okay. That’s a possible loophole!

We are allowed 8 guests at home .. or 8 in cafes / restaurants ..
2 tables - one to “ hold “ before serving at dining table

One dinner , with extra for dinner on Friday for few ( likely 2 from dinner & us ) of us .. need a “ breather or 2 “ in between !!


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A wine during dinner

Forgot in earlier post

Panko crusted sauted chicken breast with lemon goat cheese sauce
Steamed spinach with garlic

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Penne with white Italian sausage sauce.

Trader Joe’s chicken enchiladas
cheese nachos
mixed green salad

organic mandarins
blood oranges

Reminds me of some grade school cafeteria food.

It isn't a very good picture, but it's really good and very easy. I've already been informed that someone wants it for his next birthday dinner. Olive oil (or butter), Italian sausage, white wine, parm, salt and pepper.

I wish. I recall a lot of frozen and canned food, except for the homemade pizza (if you can call it pizza). And I remember, as a growing boy who played a lot of school sports, always being hungry about 2 hours later. I'd take that pasta!

i would take that yumminess for my birthday! Sweet or hot italian sausage?

Well , we had the couple at this dinner resume feasting on some of the “ leftovers “ .

Bubor cha cha & cake for desserts along with the mochi , photos in another thread . Also grapes ( mine peeled ) , persimmon and pineapple .
Iced water & coffees / tea ( to complete the meal )


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See part of the sayur lodeh , satay babi and buah keluak fried organic red & .. rice . New vegetable dish - Chinese boxthorn / Chinese wolfberry( goji berries somewhere ) with egg .
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Chye poh ( Preserved Radish ) omelette , nasi ulam and buah keluak pork ribs

how much white wine? Would cooking wine work? I never know how long regular wine will last for cooking but I have Pondered using 2 buck chuck for cooking :-)

Ham & Cheese sandiches

Either, but I like hot. I generally don't find that hot all that hot, but this had a kick.

8 oz. pasta, 8 oz. sausage, 1/2 C dry white wine (not sure about cooking wine) and one T butter or EVOO, 1/2 C grated Parm. Just simmer the wine in the browned sausage while the pasta is cooking. Drain the pasta, add the "sauce," mix in Parm, salt and pepper. (Add a little pasta water if too dry.) I doubled the recipe. Twenty minutes and delish!

BTW, I used a $2.99 bottle of of Bay Bridge Pinot Grigio. That way, if I don't use the wine up in a couple days, no great loss.

Please don't use cooking wine for anything. Cooking wine = stuff that's too horrible to drink. Why would you ruin your food with it?

You beat me too it. Seriously...never ever use cooking wine.
2 buck chuck is ok depending on what you are making. Or just buy splits if you don't think you will use it all. Do you not drink wine at all?
For that small amount if you don't want to buy wine just use some chicken broth or pasta water. In fact even if using wine, I always add pasta water.

This.

basmati rice (Kitchn recipe)
Sukhi chicken tikka masala
chana masala (from India)
spinach (from India)
lentils (Costco)
naan (both from India / Trader Joe’s)
chicken samosas (Trader Joe’s)
I bought several of the Indian dishes at an Indian grocer in March when a lot of supermarket shelves looked like Venezuela. Good to finally use them.

Next time I’ll also make chai. We’ve a lot of chai inventory!

i use cooking wine for sautéed onions and/or mushrooms and fish tacos.

dont drink wine. Barely drink more than water.
I use regular white wine for poached salmon.
otherwise I use cooking wine for fish tacos and onion/mushrooms. I’ll consider switching to 2-Buck chuck!

Cooking wine is crap plus it has a lot of salt and I know that you are very concerned about sodium. Why do you need any wine for fish tacos or onions--I don't know what purpose it serves.
If you don't care for wine, then use something else. You can actually use dry vermouth in place of white wine or just don't use any alcohol since it doesn't sound like you care for it.

Still somewhat travelling through our meals though not too sure where some ( items ) came from except perhaps the mochi from Japan .

Had fried golden pomfret , bbc , old cucumber soup with pork ribs as stock with stuffed beancurd & beancurd skin , .. followed by fruit - 3 Ps - peach , “ golden “ or possibly nashi pear and pomelo .
Continued with 3 scoops of 3 flavours of ice cream from the Daily Scoop , the selection of tubs seen in other thread - ‘ Today .... I (we) have been eating .... ‘ . Lastly , the mochi


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Macha and momo mochi
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Peach , pear and pomelo
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Amaretto truffle , coffee & tiramisu

All very gorgeous - where is The Daily Scoop? I have this idea that you’re in Singapore.

Yes , well done , am in Singapore ! ..
Hoping that some other FTers are here too , already at least halfway into quarantine or on “ green “ lane , so we can get the SIN DO going next Friday albeit in a hybrid format 🤞🏻

On white wine. Can also be frozen once opened (eg in ice cub trays/bags).

Exactly, the golden rule of cooking is don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink. The only time I’ve drunk cooking wine was in kalimotxo as a teenager on school exchange to Spain. It didn’t end well...!

I
Just the thought of drinking it makes me gag.
I also think it depends on how much wine you are using and what the purpose of the wine is. If you are just adding a splash I think it can be cheap wine. If it is the main part of the dish (like braising short ribs in red wine) then you need to go with something better.
Also salt is a preservative which is why it is in cooking wine. Salt doesn't reduce down when the alcohol evaporates so you are getting an even greater concentration of salt. And I am sure it isn't good sea or kosher salt...probably iodized.
In place of wine in many dishes, you can use broth, water, or juice.

Ooh excellent idea. Thank you!

ooh. Just checked and indeed 190mg per serving. Thank you!
i’ve used it for sautéing onions for years; plus when I first got fish tacos, the taco truck guy had mentioned cooking the fish in white wine and butter. I didn’t want to use butter but did use the remaining white wine from when I was poaching salmon; then when my spouse wanted a break from poached salmon (probably the stigma of using Costco frozen wild salmon!), I no longer needed to buy white wine so I switched to the cooking wine for fish tacos.

i return to Trader Joe’s around Thursday so I’ll start to get some 2 buck chuck as I’ll still want to finish using my existing white wine inventory.

more ham and cheese sandwiches!

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A funghi pizza from Gioia in Berkeley. A bag of TJs salad mix (taken out of the bag, and mixed) on the side.

How much was the pizza?

Dump the cooking wine but why are you even using anything like that to saute fish? Just saute it in olive oil and/or butter, broil or grill it, poach it in broth. I wouldn't even want the flavor of wine in a fish taco especially when you have toppings like salsa or avocado etc. I certainly wouldn't open a whole bottle of wine for tacos. And also...saute onions in oil, butter or ghee or all three.

Tonight was street concert night again so a bit early snack type dinner. Hummus, pita chips plus quesadilla made with chicken, avocado and lots of cheese topped with jarred salsa verde. 1 Peroni and 1 Blue Moon ( felt like I wanted a little variety).

Boeuf Bourguignon takeout dinner form Pasjoli. I probably should have added a slice of their devine Basque Cheesecake, but I'm having some bloodwork done next week and I'd like to keep my cholesterol level in check.

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https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6806cfb7df.jpgPoured the rest of the sauce on after I took the photogenic photo

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The salad dressing was outstanding. The potatoes super creamy and oozing butter. The beef was very good and falling apart tender, but I would have preferred a leaner cut that is made for stewing. While it had excellent flavor, it was missing the smokiness of the bacon which recipes that I've made in the past call for (it a major hassle to find a good pork free bacon substitute). I also would have like it to have more pearl onions. The lemon cake was dense, like a pound cake, and not as moist as I would have preferred.

That looks and sounds amazing (except for the shrooms). I happen to love short ribs braised in wine. And also lemon pound cake. Do you think you could duplicate the pear dressing---pear nectar maybe with sherry vinegar?

I don't think it was sherry vinegar, as the dressing was light in color, a pale yellow, and knowing Chef Beran, he probably started with fresh pears. I'll have do google to see if similar dressings were on menus of the Alinea Group restaurants where he used to work. My guess is that it is a classic french vinaigrette recipe, the one that is made with dijon mustard, with the addition of some poached pear puree and possibly a substitution of pear vinegar for the wine vinegar.

Grilled sausages (evergood hot links / aidell’s chicken-apple)
baked potato
baked sweet potato
baked steak fries
roasted onions
roasted Brussels sprouts

Ice cream (Haagen Dasz chocolate / Robbins rocky road)
Melona melon bar
aldens vanilla ice cream sandwich

My better half keeps a few "mini" bottles of Sutter Home chard around for when she needs a small amount of white wine to cook with. She will never unexpectedly find that I drank it without replacing :D

I’ve definitely seen / bought small bottles - it’s more a price factor. I’ll sacrifice a $2 buck chuck for a meal more willingly than a $4 small bottle; this is partly why I’ve used cooking wine.

plus that checkout factor - if Trader Joe’s had self-checkout, then I couldn’t buy any wine there. This is why I won’t get wine at Safeway or Costco, although both places don’t carry anything as cheap as $2 bottles. Actually I don’t even know if 2 buck chuck is even still available :-)