I'm having a dinner party today to celebrate a friend's mom's all-clear cancer tests, so I'm not eating much during the day, while slaving away in my tiny Manhattan kitchen. (Some leftover pizza from Lil Frankie's maybe).

On the menu tonight:

Fried squash blossoms
Chilled seasonal squash soup
Hungarian veal goulash
Jersey peach compote

Growlers of beer as my friend(s) are Czech and somehow allergic to wine.

Breakfast/Lunch - Huevos con Chorizo at Dona Raquel's in Pompano Beach
Dinner - it's Lester's Diner Pea Soup night! (I'll choose an entree from their specials)

Tonight's dinner actually vaguely based on the best BA Club World meal I've had so far ...

anyway:

- salmon fillets with toasted cumin
- coconut and (fresh) turmeric sauce with chickpeas and chilli
- steamed spinach
- coriander rice
- baked cauliflower in garlic oil

seemed to go down quite well

I stopped at the Farmers Market on the way to work this morning. If I get home at a decent hour, dinner will include a salad featuring fresh tomatos and lemon cucumbers as well as a pot of green beans and red potatos.

There are a lot of healthy eaters out there; I am impressed and inspired! I have no idea what I am going to eat, other than cucumbers straight from a friend's garden, and lots of white nectarines and blackberries from a farmers' market. I used to buy fish from a man who flies a small plane to Maine and back every week to get things straight from the dock. His prices, though, have become prohibitive, and I now wait until I go to a good restaurant to eat fish.

Cumin mixed with olive oil (and some sea salt, lemon pepper and dill) is one great marinade for fish fillets! ^ I would just put a few garlic cloves into the frying fat/oven.

Celebrating my birthday today (actual birthday is tomorrow) so there will be lots of good food and drink at the party. It's a beautiful day so we're going to have a huge BBQ. We're grilling, brats, chicken, pork, NY steak, and hamburgers. We're having the stuff to make tacos (fresh home made guacamole, salsa, tortillas, etc) and the fixings for the hamburgers, brats, and hot dogs. We're also having a lot of appetizers and different side items. Lots of good wine and cold beer, champagne and then making my signature cocktail...martinis!

For dessert, a beautiful custom made tiered birthday cake! So I am hardly eating until tonight.

BBQ beef brisket on ciabatta bread! Don�t laugh, the crisp crust is a nice combination with the tender beef, and since the bread is thin there�s not a lot to get in the way of some good �cue.

Where did the brisket come from? From my smoker grill!

Good brisket starts the night before, with some hand mixed rub. I use sea salt, chile powder, sugar, cayenne pepper , black pepper and cumin. I like to use coffee mugs sometimes when cooking. This one here is from yet another exotic travel destination.






This brisket is about 7.5 pounds, with a really nice slab of fat on one side. This is a must to get the meat tender and keeping it from drying out.







The bottom side is trimmed lean. This is the enamel pan I like to use, since it has low sides so the smoke gets to the meat easily, but still holds all the juices.







OK, I�ve added the rub so it�s time to put this bad boy in the fridge overnight.







Let�s light this candle! The last thing you want to have happen during a day of cooking brisket is to run out of charcoal or mesquite chunks/chips. I think I�m well stocked to make a huge carbon footprint.







And here we go. The coals are white and a few chunks of mesquite are smokin�, so let�s put the pan in. The rest is relatively easy if you are familiar with your grill or smoker, since they all have their own personalities. Just add more charcoal and wood chunks all day long, but manage the vent on the smoker box and the flue on the chimney to keep the cooking area from getting too hot. Don't forget to do some basting every now and then as the juices accumulate.

This particular smoker did not have a thermometer when I bought it over ten years ago, so I added one. A lot of guys say you can�t really trust those thermometers, and I�m inclined to agree, but keeping this setup at 250 degrees indicated seems to be the sweet spot.

The hardest thing during the day is to keep people from lifting the lid to see what smells so good. �If you�re looking, it ain�t cooking!�







And about 7 hours later we�re done. Oh noes, it looks burned to crisp! Actually, the sugar in the rub had caramelized onto that thick layer of fat a bit. I probably did let the thing get too hot a couple of times while adding charcoal throughout the day. Let�s take it out, let it sit for about 15 minutes and see what we have.







Oh, is this tender! ^ Those pink edges are from the smoke and loaded with flavor. No sauce needed, but you can add some if you want. I have a few recipes for ketchup based sauce that are good with hickory, but I need to track down a good one for mesquite.

Braised lamb shanks (rubbed with sea salt, coarse ground black pepper, & rosemary, browned in olive oil, removed, then a mirepoix of onions, celery, garlic, carrots, red bell pepper, reduced Merlot, a little stock, then thickened with roux, covered and baked for 2 hours @ 300F) , orzo and fresh sugar snap peas. A small salad of baby spinach and sliced avocado with a lime/green chile vinaigrette. Sliced peaches which have sat with a bit of brandy, powdered sugar and a little lemon juice for a few hours, topped with creme fraiche, accompanied by a crisp lemon wafer.

Choice of homemade Sangria (pretty dry) or a dry French Rose'.

Thursday evening is a traditional "cooking" evening for us.

Well I had buko panda ice cream at the village creamery in Niles, IL.

Kind of a continuation on some quasi-Moroccan shanks I cooked last week. Braised them with carrots and onion, coriander, cumin, chickpeas and some stock. Pressure cooker, actually. Just got it and have been experimenting. The oxtails I made a couple weeks ago (cooked the day before, chilled, chipped out of the fat and finished on the grill) was some of the best food I've ever made...but I digress...

Tonight's dinner was chicken thighs marinated in the lamb juices. Grilled them, served with pan roasted cauliflower and carrots.

Looks like I am going to have grilled hot dogs or grilled steak for dinner. I hope for steak.

Delta747

Kettle chips and cranberry nut snack mix. Yay for shorthaul F
catering on US.

Location: UK - Hampshire - home
Meal: Lunch

Chicken pie and mash potato and a bottle of champers because I was a bit sharp with her earlier and I feel guilty.

What has everyone else been eating today ... and where?

Location: Canada - Montréal - home
Meal: breakfast.

Has 3 eggs scrambled, 2 breakfast sausage, toast, OJ and coffee with rice dream as milk sub