The dairy ingredients in the other dishes would keep me away. There’s cream in that sauce. I’m not a kale fan but would be open to the pesto. The texture of raw kale gives me the willies, cooked only slightly less so.

I'm making Beef Braciole tomorrow for dinner.

Mr. CE's Indian'ish lamb and rice dish. I feel as if we're in a dining rut so I haven't been posting lately....too many repeats!

Reminds me of this old Lewis Black routine I've always loved: https://www.cc.com/video/w04ul2/come...black-sunblock

Tonight I made breakfast for dinner: omelette (plain), bacon, slice of toast with butter and jam. I also made a salad but didn't want it after all.

Trader Joe’s chicken enchiladas
nachos with jalapeño and hatch chilis
quesadilla
guacamole

minneola citrus
Girl Scout cookies

Last night was movie night. Home made popcorn, followed by a milano salami and mozzarella pizza with salad, and then some Gu mini salted caramel pots to finish. The only let down was finally watching the Wolf of Wall Street which had aged badly and simply doesn't compare with fairly standard Netflix output nowadays. Last week was White Tiger - so much better.

There's a butcher near me that does outstanding meat, but their real permission to shine is the snags they do. We were having a bbq at mum's tonight and I took 12 chicken and white wine and 12 pork, fennel and white wine. I usually hate "gourmet" sausages because they just taste boring but these are so amazigly good. The fans all loved them. 10 people nothing left. And these suckers were big.

Overall, a pretty good dinner. The bagnarotte tasted like a Russian dressing that was a little more peppery. Very good on the shrimp (3 big shrimp each). The kale pesto was stirred into the cauliflower, and the dish was quite good. It kind of made the cauliflower taste like a hybrid of broccoli/cauliflower. I didn't taste kale specifically. Brisket was a little chewy but flavorful. The grits seemed more like polenta to me. Carrot cake was very moist and the star of the show.

We signed up for the next 3-meal subscription yesterday. That will be our last, mainly because restaurants are slowly opening back up here, and hopefully the foot of snow on the ground will be melted by the time the next subscription is over.

You are throwing gatherings with 10 people ?? :eek:

Dinner last night was cauliflower crust pizza. Tonight will be leftover beef stew - appropriate for an icy day.

Here in IL, some counties' guidelines allow gatherings of up to 25 people and some are up to 50. Private home gatherings are less precise, with the guidance being "allowed with public health guidelines". And I believe the poster isn't in the US, so I'd guess life is closer to normal. Hopefully more normal for us too by the end of the year.

Ground lamb (formed into patties), seasoned with salt, cumin garlic y Moroccan mint, roasted carrots seasoned with cumin, garlic and honey, and some cumin papads.

Perhaps many or all have received their COVID vaccines?

Wow--I had no idea that some places in Illinois where allowing gatherings of 25-50 people. :eek: I assume "with public health guidelines" means masking but if food and drink are served, the masks come off.

I live in Illinois and I had no idea but that is so far out of my comfort zone that it really isn't relevant to me.

Doesn’t bensyd live in Australia?

Google tells me that for SYD:
Up to 30 visitors from any number of households may visit another household on any day. The total number of visitors includes adults and children. (A member of the hosting household is not counted as a visitor.)

No more than 50 people can gather outside in a public place which includes public parks, reserves, beaches, public gardens and spaces.

A maximum of 300 people may attend a wedding or a funeral subject to the square metres rule applicable at the venue.

I think Cook County is up to 25. I haven't been to a gathering that large. We've also happily dined indoors at restaurants a couple times since they re-opened, and again this weekend. I feel much more comfortable in a restaurant spaced at 25% capacity than I do rubbing shoulders with people in any of the crowded big box stores and supermarkets that have always been open.

Yeah. The current restrictions are 30 people in a house. There hasn't been a case here in NSW for 26 days. I think it's been 4 months since someone died. ETA: there's been 5 deaths since reopening in mid-May last year.

The thing about supermarkets and Costco is that you are only in the same space as another person for a very short amount of time unlike restaurants. I didn't realize that you have indoor dining now too. Here we are still at only outdoor or takeout.

Masks also tend to be required at regular stores (depending on where one lives and the store), which helps too. Meanwhile, it's kinda hard to eat with a mask on. :p

Do they have plastic shields between tables? I guess in Chicago in winter you can't have outdoor dining and unless the government supports every restaurant then they have no choice but to let them open up.

Procedures vary depending on the restaurant. We are not comfortable eating indoors and the one place where we somewhat regularly eat outdoors has a ton of propane heaters, while still being fairly open. (Tented roof and a couple sides enclosed but a lot of ventilation.) that said, it really varies from restaurant to restaurant. We ate on a patio a couple weeks ago that was much more enclosed than our regular restaurant, but far colder because of a lack of heating.... Nothing about the situation made us comfortable. I think there are some restaurants that have plexiglass dividers between tables. But at this point we're not eating indoors.

After posting yesterday that we were in a bit of a dining rut, I realized we had frozen pierogies, so did pierogies with caramelized onions, bacon and sour cream for dinner. Very tasty!

Gentle moderator's note....
 

Good evening!

Let's return the thread to the topic :)

Discussions of current restrictions et al might be best done in the Corona Virus forum.

Thank you :)

cblaisd, Moderator, Dining Buzz

Tonight was a perfect medium rare Kansas City strip steak, sourced from my favorite local butcher. Combined with a traditional baked potato and creamed spinach. Washed down with a fine Amarone.
I love bone in steaks. Adds much more flavor IMHO.

Homemade chili served over Fritos and accompanied by homemade corn muffins

What an awesome circle back to the very first post in this thread over 18 years ago.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/2152945-post1.html

Spaghetti with ks meatballs and Rao’s marinara
mixed green salad
assorted Girl Scout cookies
Trader Joe’s citrus

Chicken tikka masala with cauliflower and rice tonight. V-Day dinner at a restaurant on Saturday.
Sunday, the nephews are staying overnight, so spaghetti and meatballs with salad and garlic bread. At least the meatballs will be homemade :).

we are getting carryout at a nearby spot tonight - I want dessert despite having boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Suggestions please:


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5bfb707a1.jpeg


mega yum. I’m still loving your carrot cake.

Satsuma cheesecake doesn't sound so good. Citrus and cheese?

Why not just get what sounds good to you rather than what sounds good to some random internet stranger? :confused:

This.

It's raining and cold (for Sydney in Summer – 19 degrees lol) so I'm making neopolitan ragu. Haven't done it in ages. It's a fair bit of prep but its now got 6 hours on the stove to get tasty and it means I can hit the pub up with the lads for a few arvo beers. And look like an absolute hero when I get home and dinner is ready to roll. ;)

Salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, kalamata olives, citrus vinaigrette. Had them leave off the feta.
babaganoush with carrots and celery.
My splurge was a cup of seafood bisque with shrimp and crab.

Takeout Jamaican:
Jerk chicken
Goat curry
Rice and beans
Plantains
Mac and cheese
(Meat patty for later)

Tom Yum Goong slightly modified with added noodles and spinach.
Homemade pan fried pork gyoza.
Going to try out the new commercial range extractor hood that I spent days installing. What a bunch of work.

Because it is the lunar new year & I had most of the stuff, I decided to make a big bowl of Chinese chicken salad. Lettuce, chicken, cilantro, green onions, slivered almonds, chow mein noodles.

CNY Reunion Dinner
 

A bit behind .. Lunar / CNY Eve dinner
Sorry , not sure why some of the photos are wrong way round .

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7e9c482df.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...41a221520.jpeg
Vegetarian yusheng with added fried fish skin
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4995f0ba5.jpeg
Vegetarian yusheng before adding the crackers , fried fish skin and abalone mushrooms
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2809965de.jpeg
Chawanmushi with shiitake mushrooms , prawns , etc
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3df092689.jpeg
2 types of satay babi , special fried leek & tau kwa , chap chye , Samy ‘ s fish cutlet , nasi lemak with pandan & bunga terlang , chawanmushi in cup
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c0b4b8a63.jpeg
One of the home cooked satay babi & special fried leek & tau kwa ( bean curd fried version ) by my sisters - in - laws

my spouse changed their mind from the Front Porch fried chicken & southern dessert, and we ordered carryout Chinese at a place I’ve enjoyed since 1995. I know it’s lunar but i didn’t expect such a huge carryout queue. That said, everything was utterly delicious and I’m glad to be back home after waiting for 30 minutes in 50-degree weather. $88 plus 20% tip.
Veggie moo shoo with 2 extra pancakes
Crab Rangoon
won ton soup large
Eric’s cakes with peanut sauce


Kung pao chicken
Mapo bean curd
Spicy Smoked Pork


2 / white rice

both bourbon pecan pie and mandarin cheesecake sounded great. Nobody here is a Big stranger to me. I appreciate guidance and endorsements. We all eat really well here.

Zahav cookbook's chicken albondigas. Fast, easy, and good.