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Lunch - The Mid-Day, Polyphonic Food Blog


Anna Blume

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I had yogurt and half a banana. My husband had the last of the quinoa with kale slaw and white beans from last night and finished the potato corn chowder (and the rest of the banana).

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Crudite. 

Leftover Kohlrabi leaf soup w/Asiago and Fontina but no sausage. The cheese is a superb addition.

Can of Genova yellowfin tuna in olive oil w/cocktail onions, stuffed green olives, homemade mayo.

Every time e open a can now, Spot thinks is is Pizza Time for Spot and he meows loudly and blocks our steps from the klitchen to where his bowl is. Then come the dirty looks. We made a deal with him: wash the dishes and we will increase your pizza ration. So far.... He has some sort of excuses: no opposable thumbs and to fat to jump on kitchen counters. As if!

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My husband had a leftover hamburger on a roll and Cape Cod potato chips for lunch. I had a toasted half roll with butter and raspberry preserves. Another banana, split 🙄 .

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Dinners have been taken care of the past three nights care of Rose's, for lunch we have had an assortment of fridge things: Chili that was defrosted from the freezer, cereal with fresh strawberries, leftover sausage broccoli pasta, a variant on pad thai with shrimp, cold yakisaoba, lebanese bologna sandwiches, wrap with leftover tandoori chicken and yogurt.  Today is likely kale salads.

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I made cream of broccoli soup this morning, from an old Craig Claiborne New York Times Cookbook recipe. I used to make this fairly often but it's been a while. It's intended to be served cold, but I usually serve it warm.

That was the centerpiece of lunch, along with more whole wheat toast and butter, the last of the quinoa grain bowl with tahini dressing, and yogurt with blueberries.

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Last of the dashi, cabbage, tofu & mushroom soup.

Big plate of roasted and grilled veggies with three flavored mayos: fish sauce & red onion; Sakura cherry blossom soy, key lime juice & zest, & mint; home fermented mustard w/wasabi & kraut juice. 

Spot had a nap. But he did actually beg for cat treats wih both paws off the ground. His diet is working! 

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Chicken noodle, rice, and vegetable soup plus breakfast burritos (potato, roasted red pepper, black beans, asparagus, scrambled eggs)

The chicken soup had both noodles and rice because I added leftover rice pilaf that had vermicelli noodles already mixed in. Two for one. In addition to some chunks of chicken, the soup had broccoli, carrots, and roasted parsnips. The stock/broth for the soup came from the carcass of the chicken I roasted several days ago.

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We had some Restaurant Depot romaine that actually was several weeks old. Thanks to gladd storage bags, damp paper towels and a good fridge, it was still mostly in edible shape. We made a huge salad with an avocado. red onion, goya garbanzos, homemade spicy mustard mayo, garlic & rosemary olive oil, red, balsamico & sherry vinegar. Very filling and quite good from what surely could have gone into the trash.

Dessert: a small serving of the strawberry tequila sorbetti. Next time just onc cup tequila instead of the one plus a splash. After than a quality control bit of our

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lastest

3.5x vanilla. Still a little soft but incredible.

Spot came out and complained at the chow in his bowl. In an effort to reduce the puking, we are putting out all his dry food in the AM. A hour before pizza time, we pull any dry food left out. Then he gets his pizza at his reservations time {please finish your pizza in less than 2 hours and fifteen minutes, please do not be more than 15 minutes late or we might give way your pizza; we are trying to get his credit card number to guarantee his reservations but all he does is hold up one claw. Does this have some special cat meaning? Or is his cat express number just 1. And why the middle claw?} 2 hours after pizza time, we give him back his dry food. He gives us a piece of his mind for the rest of the evening.

He got a new brand of cat treats and he is willing to stand on his hind legs and gently hold my hand in his paws, claws retracted, in order to take it. 

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Broccoli fried rice for lunch today, made from the leftover broccoli and rice pilaf leftovers with a couple eggs, garlic, ginger, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, and a splash of homemade chicken stock. Topped with cashew pieces.

We also had small salads of iceberg and grape tomatoes with TJ's sesame soy ginger vinaigrette. Mine had some crumbled blue cheese.

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Thursday lunch:

From our profish order, we enjoyed 1# of stone crab claws. I just wish I acted on these sooner when I could have paid 60% of their current price. Amazingly sweet! We had a trio of dips: lemon juice, homemade roasted garlic mayo, a blend of cherry blossom shoyu and bottled yuzu juice. We wound up dipping on one of the citrus sauces and then the mayo. 

Salad: last of Spring Valley's super salad, can of sacha brand heart of palm {TJ's current brand and really superb quality,} Goya romano beans, avocado, red onion, the remaining trio of dips from the crab, roasted rosemary & garlic olive oil served with toasted atwater whole wheat sourfough to slop up the dressing and avocado bits.  

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I cubed some marinated tofu and fried it up in a skillet (with the marinade added back in) and served that today with leftover mung bean dal and brown rice from last night. It was good.

The tofu was TJ's super firm high protein, which is great because it doesn't hold a lot of liquid. While I like firmer tofu rather than softer, this is just a bit too firm and I find it a little tough. I really like the store brand extra firm tofu from WF, but this suffices when it's what I've got.

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We made a cold soba style dish based on Zaru Soba. I boiled fronzen soba noodles. After pulling the noodles from the water, I cooled tham in running water and served with a dipping sauce of bottled soba noodle sauce, grated daikon, sliced spring onion. 

salted Indian cukes & asian pear marnited in persimmon vinegar, soy, mirin, rice syrup, fish sauce

Frozen dumplings, boiled & served in the soba cooking water flavored w/soy & black vinegar. On some of the Asian street food videos we wach on YouTube, they are served "noodle water" on the side. Taking inspiration from this, I tried it and it was very good. 

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We had BLTs for lunch today, with duck bacon, butter lettuce, and Campari tomatoes, on homemade bread. On the side: homemade cole slaw and potato chips. I sliced some of a loaf of French bread I made yesterday in sections and halved and toasted them. My husband's had the last of a tahini - vinaigrette spread on it and I had mayo.

 

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Wednesday lunch:

Rice cooked in the rice cooker flavored with Thai fish sauce, ponzu, sesame oil. I added a handful of 13-15 shrimp from Restaurant Depot straight from the freezer. When I bought this bag, I did not know it was TSP added. They tasted great but shrank to the point where I thought them to be like 25-30s. TSP allows seafood suppliers to charge you shrimp pricing for water. I also sliced up a local eggplant we got from Spring Valley. The eggplant was particularly good that way. 

I had a couple of steamed eggs {8 minutes, then shocked in ice water, so the yolk was translucent and on the border of hving a liquid texture.} With salt, pepper and salt rub. I love keeping a container of cooked eggs in the fridge for a quick bite.These eggs were farm aggs and just too fresh as they stick like crazy. I will buy 2 dozen this week so I can age one for hard boiled eggs. 

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Lunch today was the last of the pappardelle with mushrooms, plus I threw in all the cooked leftover peas as well. My husband had a leftover baked chicken thigh in addition to pasta.

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I was out getting my Profish order. A former customer wanted me to make him 8 orders of fresh crab pasta and this was the first week I could get local crab for less than 2 times it's usual price. But on the way back I detoured a little to Lotte Plaza and got a gimbap and some jeon. I ate the jeon in the car and split the gimbap with Kay. Pretty good haul for under $10. 

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Yesterday's lunch was a little more labor intensive than usual for mid-day but worth it. I simmered the last of the baked chicken thighs in canned tomato sauce with several chopped supermarket tomatoes and lots of rapidly aging fresh basil until the thighs were falling off the bone, then shredded the chicken and returned it to the sauce. At some point during the simmer, I added dried oregano, dehydrated onions, salt and pepper.

Even though I had pulled the skin off the thighs before I started, there was just enough fat on them to add a nice flavor to the sauce. Served over angel hair pasta with grated Parmesan.

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Friday: Romaine Salad w/anchovy, balsamico & olive oil dressing.

Saturday: Romaine salad w/Genoa brand yellowfin tuna, marinated artichokes w/green olives, black olives. lemon and olive oil dressing.

This was one massive head of Romaine from Barajas. A great $3.00 purchase!

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Monday and the fight to atoning for our over shopping of last week is nearing the end. Today's lunch was garbage salad. In other words, we put stuff in there to clear it out.

Our salad contained lump crab, a red tomato & a Mr Stripey both from Spring Valley but from different weeks. cukes spring valley, snap peas from Barajas, spring onion, cherry belle & french breakfast radish & asparagus from Linda Vista, with a dressing of homemade ramp pesto, homemade roasted garlic mayo, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, home made sichuan peppercorn, mint & garlic spiced olive oil. Amazingly delicious and quite filling. A slice of Atwater wheat to sop up the dressing and an Atwater double chocolate chunk cookie fill it out. The cookies are truly amazing. 

Spot, still a little worse for the wear after his catnip debauchery yesterday came out to join us, nibbling on his dwindling supply of chow. Hw complained loudly and was rewarded with greenies. He has been having a lot of trouble keeping his comestibles in his mouth, dropping them and then leaning down to recover and eat them again. It seems like he counts each try as separate food so it works for us. He seems to think he is eating 50% more food that he is. I will charitably assign it to the 'nip rather and intimate in any way our cat child is not brilliant. 

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The Castelmagno being all gone, we turned to the freezer and steamed some shrimp. I love the quality of the sustainable shrimp I get at Restaurant Depot. The other day, my usual brand was out of stock so they had another brand that was BAP certified which is very good certification for farmed fish. When I got home, I noticed that the bag has TSP added. TSP is a cleaning agent, banned in California, that is allowed in some fish as it causes the fish to absorb water. The chemical is flused with all the water, supposedly, as you cook it. Since I steam the shrimp in a steamer basket, I am sort of OK with the TSP from a health point of view, but the water gain is rediculous as you lost it all in cooking. So these shrimp, 10/13 raw size cook up like 25/30s. What a rip off. At least they taste good.

Steamed shrimp with Kikoman ponzu {It is a lazy day when I use bottled ponzu for dipping fish!} Wasabi.

There will be raw Kohlrabi, radish and such later.

I finally have it figured out: lunch ends with the first cocktail, wine, makkoli, soju or sake of the night. Then it is dinner. Any food put out before the booze and finished with the booze is just a snack. 

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We had salad left from last night topped with the leftover pesto-coated salmon, along with duck BLTs and fresh local strawberries. These strawberries are small and juicy and perfect. The meal was very brightly colored.

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For lunch today, we both had arugula salad with sliced tomatoes, avocado, and vinaigrette. My husband had lettuce soup topped with creme fraiche and halved strawberries, plus some leftover macaroni and cheese, while I had yogurt with sliced strawberries and banana.

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Cold leftover Valentino's Pizza: a Valentino's special, well done. Gosh was that good. 

One observation: red chili flakes on a cooked pizza are an inefficient means to heat. You experience far fewer percieved Scovilles on the way in as compared to the way out. 

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12 hours ago, deangold said:

One observation: red chili flakes on a cooked pizza are an inefficient means to heat. You experience far fewer percieved Scovilles on the way in as compared to the way out. 

We used to have  a Thai pepper eating contest as part of our staff potluck.  I ate 4 and suffered, a colleague from India beat that with no suffering. 

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No hot peppers in today's lunch: leftover chilled lettuce and pea soup topped with sour cream and strawberries; yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, and banana; and grilled cheese (provolone) with duck bacon and tomato.

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23 hours ago, MarkS said:

We used to have  a Thai pepper eating contest as part of our staff potluck.  I ate 4 and suffered, a colleague from India beat that with no suffering. 

When I lived in Chicago, there was a burgeoning Thai community. A Thai mom opened a restaurant called Little Thai Home cafe with about 4 tables. She got on in years and turned things over to the kids who put in another dining room and it sat maybe 40. Mom owned the building and she was willing to give it to her kids but they had to work one night a week each in the restaurant {I think there were 8 of them or so} And they couldn't sell the building for a number of years. By the time I started going regularly, two of the kids mostly ran the place and the others popped in more out of love for the business than actually working. There was a son running the front, and his sister, a former MD, was in the kitchen. I learned to come in very late or at odd hours of the afternoon so avoid the lines and the bro and I struck up a friendship. He finally gave into to my questions and let me know about the dishes listed in Thai on the wall. I got the "you won't like them" routine but each one was better than the next. These were dishes from Issan where they were from. And he was impressed with my spice abilities. But there was one dish he refused to tell me about. His sister would only shake her head no if I asked her.

But one late night, I brought him some beers and he finally relented. "It's called Jungle Curry. No coconut milk and really hot! It is my favorite!" So I got to order it and he said if I couldn't handle it, he would eat it but I'd still have to pay. He figures he was getting $6 and a free curry. He was wrong. His eyes popped. 

Soon our meals together were 2 jungle curries with a larb Thai hot. Any Thai customer or family member would be brought over to see me eat this incredibly hot dish. One day, he brought out the chili tray and added some red chili and some chili in vinegar. I was honor bound to add some. As we ate, he was clearly impressed as he could barely handle the extra heat and I added a second spoon of each.

This went on and each time I added more and more chili to get my chili high. One day I was up to about 8 spoons of the toasted red chili and 2 or 3 of the peppers in vinegar. he stopped talking and said "You'e fudging crazy! My Uncle in Thailand doesn't even eat it that hot." Just to make sure, he dipped his spoon in my bowl and he howled when he tasted it.

Then his mind went to work. I need to take you to Thailand and get you into a chili eating contest. You begin to drop out, we bet a lot more money on you! Then you go back to eating and we clean up! We will pay for the trip in no time!" Alas, it never happened. 

And, apparently, betting money on who could eat the hottest food in his hometown was a well honored profession, and his uncle was a top gun chili-shark. I no longer can eat food that hot, but many here will tell you I can put chilies away with the best, even now. Or more likely, they will say I am "fudging crazy!"

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12 hours ago, deangold said:

"It's called Jungle Curry. No coconut milk and really hot! It is my favorite!" So I got to order it and he said if I couldn't handle it, he would eat it but I'd still have to pay. He figures he was getting $6 and a free curry. He was wrong. His eyes popped. 

This was a great post. It prompts me to recall two other threads:

Pilin Thai (DonRocks)
Spicy Food (no1uno)
Bonus: Burapa Thai

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Yesterday:
Leftover chilled lettuce soup with sour cream
Leftover macaroni and cheese
Leftover black bean, pepper, cheese, and tomato frittata

Today:
Leftover chilled lettuce soup with sour cream (still a lot left!)
Tuna salad sandwiches on whole wheat toast

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Stopped off at Eden Center on our way back from Westover Farmer's Market. Bought a Banh Mi & Iced Coffee with Condensed milk from Banh Mi So 1. Everything about it was outstanding from the bread to the cold cuts to the mayo & veggies. But it lacked the funky pate spread of the one last week from Banh Mi DC. Iced coffee was super.

Bought 1/2# Roast rib and a plastic container's worth of spicy tripe and stewed gizzards which were both fabulous and quite funky, Kay was less impressed.

When we came back home we rushed to check on spot. He was excited to see us. Well not exactly excited. Let's face it, he was asleep and gave a short meow to let us know he was greatly inconvenienced at our disturbing his nap. He then stretches and yawned to show off his claws of death and his 14" long fangs. I am not quite sure how he can open his mouth to 4 times the size of his head and hide those fangs in his dainty-sized head when not intimidating Cat Mom and Cat Dad.

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Very carby as I was fighting off a severe low blood sugar attack. Snickers frozen bar, Cadbury candy bar, a couple of fried Indian snacks, and Gim Bap from H Mart. Plus some fried snacks from the India Bazaar flavored with lime and cardamom. All medicinal. 

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The smoker took too long on Tuesday night, so we had dinner for lunch on Tuesday.  I smoked a small (3 lb) pork butt and then made corn bread w/ the pulled pork.  We don't generally have Cholula sauce on hand, but we like Marie's and sriracha sauce, so I mixed those together for the hot sauce rub and for the corn bread drizzle.  I think I may have over baked it by a couple of minutes but it still tasted delicious. 

IMG_20200617_120103935.md.jpg  IMG_20200617_122045262.md.jpg  

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I scored some soft shells live from Cold Country Salmon. I am making crab pats for a couple of Grotto customers to pick up tonight. Contactless pick up of course.

So we decided to quality control the crabs as soon as we got them. We took two, I cleaned them {cutting the face off a live crabs always gives me the creeps} and coated them in a mix of flour & Grotto spice mix. I pan fried them in olive oil and they came out pretty deliscious. It was good to get back into cooking crabs as there are some adjustments I will make in how I handle them tonight.

Very juicy, very heavy, lots of meat. I mixed some homemade fermented hot sauce and some homemade roasted garlic mayo for the sauce.

Hearing eating sounds, Spot came out and ate some dry food. His look he gave us told us he is up to something. His so far 3 hour cat nap tells us he is too lazy to implement his great plan even if he could remember it.

 

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My husband's lunch was ground turkey, brown rice, and corn stuffed peppers from the freezer and some leftover chicken breast with honey bbq sauce from a few nights ago. I had a little of the chicken and cottage cheese with blueberries.

The peppers were somewhat soggy but held up well. They went into the freezer Dec. 26, 2013. It's like a frozen time machine in there...

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Made this all-veggie pad thai last night, but didn't read the whole recipe through initially.  I'm not a fan of tofu that tastes like tofu.  You marinate it, stir-fry it with a sauce, bake it, etc, it's delicious.  So once I realized that the tofu was not cooked or marinated, I decided to let it sit overnight in the hopes it would absorb some of the sauce.  It did taste better at lunch, and it makes for a good cold dish, but I'll definitely do more with the tofu next time I make it.

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