naan
cantaloupe
braised lamb shoulder chops and merguez sausages (the gravy this made was excellent)
baked potatoes

A beautiful evening to eat outside!

Gin and Tonic (fever tree)
Homemade spinach-green pasta with pork sausage ragu (a Mario Batali recipe)
Nectarines

Sort of did the same thing given the way my Sunday goes when I begin work early and don't have time for lunch until after 2 or 2:30. So, beginning at 3:50 PM waiting for the bus:

McChicken sandwich from the $1 menu
Yellow watermelon salad w Israeli feta, red onion & mint
Last of the watermelon, plain
Arugula salad w shaved Parmesan, golden and red beets
Scrambled duck egg on buttered Struan toast
2 grapes

Who/where are your duck eggs from?

Banana peppers and stuffing tomatoes stuffed with lamb, oregano and thyme sausage baked in homemade tomato sauce. Finished with a layer of Blue Ridge Dairy mozzarella and a few minutes under the broiler.

Heirloom tomato, basil, and mozzarella

Wish I had splurged and bought some berries yesterday

Pizza with bacon, tomato, and burrata

Pets of someone I know.

Cf. sign displayed by Tom of Waterview who occupies very little space in the parking lot of Dupont Circle's farmers market, squeezed right between Clear Springs Creamery on one side of the fence and Buster's within the parking lot. He promises duck eggs for sale some time in the fall, a season only two weeks away no matter how much hillvalley wishes it were not so.
* * *
Dinner tonight:

Pork chops w pan-sautéed peaches, pimenton and sherry vinegar-glaze
Noodle pilaf
Pole beans w basil and lemon butter

Vanilla ice cream w figs and raspberries

Last night a bowl of homey, comforting beef stroganoff before I again start pulling the traces of my wedding fitness wagon.

Pizza with bacon, tomato, and burrata

Blended gazpacho
Watermelon/feta/mint salad
Merguez meatballs (beef)
Spiced tomato marmalade
Basmati rice

2006 Penfold's Koonunga Shiraz/cabernet

Applewood-smoked pork chops
South Carolina mustard bbq sauce
Grilled corn off-the-cob
Green and yellow zucchini with roasted garlic and lemon

2006 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel

Kabocha squash and ground chicken simmered with sugar, soy sauce, and mirin
Steamed brown rice

cantaloupe wrapped in proscuitto
turkey meatballs stroganoff

The meatballs had a mushroom sour cream sauce but were served over spaghetti rather than egg noodles, so it was sort of a stroganoff-tetrazzini hybrid.

Pork spare ribs (long and low in the oven with dry rub, brushed with bbq sauce near the end)
Israeli couscous salad with nicoise olives, minced shallot, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, lemon juice, evoo, s&p

Someone please shoot me the next time I agree to go to some "Happy Hour" serving really bad $1.95 potato skins and other "bar food." Ugh. Am definitely paying for it tonight.

Last night:

Red and yellow heirloom tomato, mozzarella & basil

Charcoal roasted Eco-Friendly chicken, herb-brined and spice rubbed
Gratin of Yukon Gold potatoes and charcoal-roasted eggplant*
Lacinato kale braised with onion and pancetta, dressed with balsamico

2007 Domaine de Mirail Rosé

*I had roasted eggplants and peppers in the Weber Kettle the night before, while I was grilling pork chops. I had planned to use the eggplant for ratatouille or baba ghanouch, but on impulse I used the roasted eggplant flesh as a layer in a gratin of thin-sliced potatoes and shallot. When it came out of the oven, crisped on top, I garnished it with fresh lemon thyme. Jonathan was VERY skeptical, because he loves potatoes and dislikes eggplant, but we both loved the creamy sweetness of the eggplant with the earthiness of the spuds. An inspired improvisation I plan to repeat.

Sounds great. Description reminds me of one of the reasons I am fond of Suzanne Goin's gratin of heirloom tomatoes, caramelized onions and thinly sliced potatoes, the eggplant, in your case, softening the way her tomatoes do.

While I generally adore eggplants, the one combo I can't take is eggplant and egg as in tortillas, especially.

Panko-crusted skate filets
Thai green curry aioli
Barley-corn salad with lime juice and zest and chopped cilantro
Leftover lacinato kale

Cashel blue cheese and kadota figs from a neighbor's tree

2004 Terre di Orazio Dry Muscat

homemade buttermilk white bread (James Beard recipe)
broiled flounder filets; lemon, s&p
green beans
leftover Israeli couscous salad

Toriniku-dango (chicken meatballs) seasoned with ginger, garlic, and a bit of tobanjan (spicy miso paste)
Satoimo no kurogoma miso ae: boiled taro root, peeled and mixed with a black sesame/brown sugar/miso dressing
Miso soup with shiitake and wakame seaweed
Steamed rice

Wild Turkey Rye Manhattan

First Course:
"Glutamate Platter (or: Le Plateau d'Umami)"
-Sliced heirloom tomatoes drizzled with balsamic reduction and thyme
-Parmigiano-Reggiano drizzled with truffle oil and black pepper

Laphroaig QCS

Main Course:
"Veal Marsala"

-Pan seared veal chops
-Golden brown and delicious lobster mushrooms tossed with thyme in marsala and veal demi glace, reduced until sweet and sticky, then mounted with butter

Pint of Guinness

Dessert:
-More Guinness

...

(snicker... "mounted")

Last night:
Steak and pepper sandwiches--
spice-rubbed rib eye, pan seared and sliced
sweet yellow and red Italian peppers and poblanos that had previously been roasted over charcoal, mixed with
slow-cooked, caramelized onions cooked with fennel seed
served together on toasted baguette with Reggiano Parmesan and fresh basil

Ripe peach

2006 Colosi Rosso

Flounder stuffed with crabmeat
Sauteed bay scallops with onion and shallots over wild rice blend
Broccoli

The flounder was leftover and I was unsure how to reheat it without drying it out completely. I made a crab stuffing with claw meat, mayo, bread crumbs, onion, celery, and mushroom and layered the two fillets with the stuffing in a gratin dish. I drizzled a small bit of beurre blanc over the whole thing, covered with foil, and heated in a 350 oven while the rest of dinner cooked. Foil came off near the end so the top could brown a bit. It was pretty good--and moist. Now I have leftover flounder stuffed with crabmeat .

Last night:
Fritatta with pancetta, zucchini and soffrito
Marinated lentil salad
Leftover barley-corn salad
Oil-packed tuna on mache with aioli
Sungold tomatoes
Chile-spiced olives

Ripe peach

2008 Montes Rosé

Sanma no shioyaki -- salt-grilled saury pike
Miso soup with eggplant and myouga ginger
Iburigakko -- smoked pickled daikon radish
Steamed rice

pain de campagne brushed with garlic olive oil, toasted with cheese (coolea or fontina), topped with applewood smoked bacon, garden tomatoes, Malden sea salt, and parsley or basil
lemon cupcakes with lemon mascarpone icing

Pizza!

Sauteed chicken breast seasoned with Penzy's Red & Black spice
Okra Stew with okra, tomato and onion from the 14th & U market
Seared jalapeno (trying to recreate the ones at Hells Burger)

Kibbeh Saniyeh
Cucumber slices
Goat's yogurt

Watermelon

Recipe from Claudia Roden who promotes the dish by noting it takes no time at all, unlike most labor-intensive versions of kibbeh. Process a peeled quartered onion as the oven heats to 375 F. Add a lb. ground lamb, salt, pepper, t cinnamon, allspice (skipped latter), pulse till paste. 2/3 c rinsed, drained FINE bulgur. Pulse. Pat into well-oiled pie plate, cut into wedges and brush top w more olive oil. Bake 30 mins. till golden brown.

Meanwhile, sauté 2 huge onions, sliced, till golden, adding salt to encourage process. Add 1/3 c pinenuts, 1/2 t cinnamon, pepper and T pomegranate molasses. Use this as topping. Can be served cold as mezze, but quite good straight from oven.

Much as I am a fan of just about everything that Paula Wolfert writes, I am finding Arabesque very inspiring since most recipes are similarly parred down and doable. Lots of inviting photos.

Last night:
Tomato-bread soup with fresh dill and chives
Garlic toast
Merguez meatballs (lamb) with minted yogurt sauce
Roasted golden beet and cucumber salad
Leftover marinated lentil salad
Chile-spiked olives

2007 Dom. de Mirail Rosé

Tonight:
Roasted eggplant gazpacho with chopped cucumber and dill garnish
Garlic toast

Charcoal roasted, herb-brined Eco-Friendly chicken
Fresh corn puree
Green beans with roasted garlic and lemon

2005 Dom. des Michelons Moulin-a-Vent

Last night

soft tacos (ground beef and pinto beans; scrambled eggs w/ shallots, cholula sauce, pepper jack)
leftover spare ribs

Tonight

tuna salad with celery, radishes and shallots, on 12-grain bread with romaine and tomato
buttered corn on the cob

Spanish tortilla-style quiche with soffrito, potatoes, eggs and P'tit Basque
Braised chard

2007 Chandon Rosé

Did you read my shopping list this morning?

Last week, I got a huge sack full of red and yellow pepper "seconds" from Toigo, for 99 cents a pound. I roasted them on charcoal when I was cooking a chicken. Soffrito is a good thing to make with roasted peppers.

Dinner tonight:
Guacamole and chips
Eco-Friendly pork braised in roasted red chile-tomato salsa
Refried beans (La Costeña) with grated cheddar
Yellow and green zucchini with garlic
pico de gallo
warm tortillas

Hook & Ladder Backdraft Ale
Magic Hat Fat Angel

Dinner for the week: Roast chicken buttered with tumeric, cinnamon, sea salt, and pepper, with a root of ginger in the cavity, accompanied by carrots, corn on the cob, potatoes, and japanese yam. Love comfort food on a not-so-good day like today.

Football Sundays generally mean something is cooking and making the house smell amazing. Yesterday, I made spaghetti with meatballs and for dessert, gorgonzola blintzes with a concord grape reduction sauce. The grapes were from Papa's Orchard at the West End Alexandria farmers market.

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Last week while vacationing in Cape May, NJ, I hit up a few of the many farms and farm stands just outside of town. The tomatoes were amazing, but the corn, not so much. So, instead of eating the corn off the cobb, I mixed it up with bell peppers and fresh lima beans to make succotash.

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I bought fresh limas at the Dupont market on Sunday, so succotash is in the offing--probably tonight.

Last night:
Sharlyn melon with prosciutto
Heirloom tomato with mozzarella di bufala
Olives
Gigante beans in tomato sauce
New potatoes with aioli
Leftover spanish tortilla
Mesclun with mache and cucumbers
Carr Valley Creamery Mobay (sheep and goat with a seam of ash in the center)
Toasted baguette

2006 Dom. Manoir du Carra Beaujolais-Villages

Tonight:
Buttermilk-marinated pan-fried Eco-Friendly chicken
Fresh lima bean succotash with pancetta
Cheese grits

2007 Tittarelli Torrontes

An atsuaage (deep-fried block of tofu), rinsed of oil, cut into triangles, and simmered in a stock of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin
Shiitake, nameko, shimeji, and enoki mushrooms, steamed in sake and a bit of soy sauce. Served with grated sudachi peel.
Hourenso no kurogoma yogoshi -- parboiled spinach, cooled and mixed with a black sesame/soy sauce/sugar/sesame oil dressing
Steamed brown rice

A night that called for soup:

Ribolitta
Peach and Nectarine in red wine

2006 Castello Monaci Piluna Primitivo

Simmered minced chicken and kabocha
Miso soup with enoki mushrooms and wakame seaweed
Steamed rice
The first batch of cucumber pickles out of the new bed

Petit Delice triple cream bloomy rind
Baguette toast

Charcoal grilled garlic/herb marinated rack of lamb
Orzo with roasted eggplant and red pepper, haricots verts, capers, olives and feta

2005 René Bouvier Gevrey-Chambertin Le Chepitre

Geez. I don't even know what that IS.

Beef tenderloin roasted in a salt and herb crust
Fingerling potatoes boiled in a saturated salt solution with scallions and butter


With thanks to Alton Brown. This was amazing.

Cheese.

Rosh Hahshanah dinner last night:

Raisin challa
Fuji apples
Honey
Smoked whitefish gefilte fish with lemon horseradish aoli
Lemon grass consommé with shitake, leeks and matzoh balls
Nach Waxman's beef brisket
Pumpernickel, chestnut and wild mushroom stuffing
Oil roasted potatoes and fennel
Cinnamon glazed carrots with dried apricots and toasted almonds

Apple cake

Seared shrimp in a lime juice, cilantro, and shrimp butter sauce. Tomato, avocado garnish. Too summery for the weather, but I made some shrimp butter last week and needed to use it for something. WF's season-defying produce availability means I could pick up tomatoes and avocado, but neither were terribly good. Shrimp and sauce were great, though.

Curry rice using organic brown rice
Spinach salad with dried cranberries and sliced almonds
Homemade rice-bran pickles

Seafood stew: squid, shrimp, mussels, clams, halibut and some tiny new potatoes in a rich tomato base with pernod and orange peel. Got all the goodies at BlackSalt, and picked up a container of their own clam broth rather than take the extra time to make fish stock.

Haricots verts with roasted garlic and lemon

2008 Montes Rosé

Sshlllurrpp!