I don't know about you, but now you've got me hungry!

I decided to treat myself to a root canal for lunch, so tonight I am eating Ramen, not sure what brand.

Ice cream. Edy's vanilla bean with hot fudge, sliced bananas and chocolate chips.

simple roast chicken with sauce made from the drippings. i oversalted the skin, but otherwise, pretty tasty, even for a safeway-bought bird.

Finished my bowl of butternut squash soup with collard greens, pinto beans, corn, carrots, bacon and a small amount of red pepper. Paired with a hunk of bread and a creamy brie like cheese. I love the start of autumn.

On a windy and chilly day, with no food in the house, I decided to go back to comfort food from waaay back. I boiled two eggs and cooked up a cup of rice in the rice cooker. I mashed the cooked eggs into the rice with ghee, mustard oil, chopped green chilis, and salt. It's an old Indian standard for a simple home cooked meal. Quick, tasty, and filling.

Grilled lemongrass pork bahn mi from Ba Le in Rockville.

Gentlemen, you can stop reading right now...




Ladies, it's a VERY bad idea to buy Halloween candy when you have PMS. If you know what I mean.

Ramen noodles at 11:08 p.m..

Humbolt Fog on a homemade baguette and some medjool dates

Big time comfort food (acquired southern style): Oven braised Carolina pork shoulder BBQ. Once the BBQ/ vinegar smell kicks in: patience until until it is fully cooked. Got a balsamic/dijon non-mayo cole slaw workin, just have to wait it out from here.

Batali's turkey/porkey polpettine. Yet another reason to buy his cookbook. Wow! And so simple.

my second free chipotle burrito of the day.

i'm apparently such a sucker for free food that I will go to lengths to eat as much of it as I can, past the point of really needing it.

So much Halloween candy tonite. Have consumed the following, some in multiples, but all in minis :
Reese's cups
Snickers
Kit Kat
Nestle Crunch
Fast Break
Yeah, I think that's it.

Bucheron and...Ak mak

And apparently, I am the only one who admitted to it!

Utz pretzel stix in the country store container. Just a bit too salty but satisfying.

Gai Pad Kaprao, from the Thai Market on Thayer Ave in Silver Spring. Spicy enough to give me the hiccups.

goldfish crackers, cheddar (why have they started putting penguins in with the goldfish? )

A piece of bleu d'auvergne and baguette de campagne.
That is super-sucky, btw.

I'm currently munching on Uncle Henry's Extra Dark Handmade Pretzels. Sweet lord, are they tasty.

mallomars

Just finished up eating lamb loin chops using the recipe in today Food Section. I went to find a rack of lamb and, of course, my local Safeway didn't HAVE any. Since I already had the Grade B maple syrup (Thank You, Trader Joe's), I figured it would work with the chops. It did.

Beef omasa for Hollywood East. Cold, juicy, chewy, and delicious.

Oh - what is omasa? Not a term I had heard before. Merriam-Webster says it is "the third chamber of the ruminant stomach that is situated between the reticulum and the abomasum".

Super tasty roast turkey breast sandwich made from one of those fantastic kosher 1/2 turkey breasts from trader joe's.

On a cheap-ass burger bun.

A tellegio chocolate truffle and a piece of kamata olive and white chocolate bar from Vosges Haughte Chocolat

Nothing. And that's a problem.
I'm hungry.

leftover meatloaf and roasted potatoes

A taste of a lamb tagine (Paula Wolfert recipe) that I am cooking very slowly.

Chicken Broth, tea, and jello. The fever's come down a little but still no appetite.

I hope you're feeling better. For any kind of respiratory flu, I like hot and sour soup (and have been known to make my husband go out of his way to pick some up ). It seems to spur my appetite when I don't have one, and the heat opens my sinuses.

I'm going to reheat some vegetable soup for me soon, and my husband gets the leftovers from last night's meal at Bebo.

Pumpkin blintzes with maple syrup.

Since somebody asked... here's how I made the pumpkin blintzes.

First, make crepes and set them aside. (I use a Julia Child recipe, but a crepe is crepe, pretty much.)

Second, in a bowl combine fresh ricotta cheese (the soft kind), pumpkin from a can, confectioner's sugar to taste, a pinch or two of salt, and any other flavorings you like in sweet pumpkin things, like cinnamon and ginger and Jack Daniels. Mix well.

Amounts? I dunno. I kept adding and tasting until it tasted right. About equal volumes pumpkin and ricotta. I think.

Add a good heaping spoonful of filling to a crepe, and fold one side over, then the two adjoining sides, then the last side, so you have a tidy little leakproof envelope.

Fry gently in butter until lightly browned, flip, and brown the other side.

Serve with maple syrup.

Acornbread.

The day's eating begain with a cheese board with five types of cheese, an assortment of crackers and fancy cheese sticks. We've decided not to start drinking till noon-3 more minutes to go!

We're kicking off the feast with Bisque of Clam & Chicken from the Williamsburg cook book. I'm also warming up some scallion pancakes that I grabbed at Wall o' Fish last night, just because.

Lunch today is roasted rack of lamb, balsamic glazed vegetables and gorgonzola ravioli. I love leftovers!

Will someone please take away the pumpkin seeds I toasted? Put them on a high shelf and lend your ladder out.

Lemon Chess Pie

(Thanks Geeky!)

i'm eating this ooohhh..."limited edition" caramel apple light yogurt from safeway. it's actually pretty nasty.

popcorn, the old-fashioned bad-for-you way: popped on the stove in oil and mixed with melted butter and salt. The last time I did this was near the beginning of the year, when I had a craving and went out and bought the corn. Before that, it had probably been a couple of decades. I've been having the craving again. I ate half and am putting the rest in a ziplock for my husband after he gets home from work...unless I eat it first

Lion Gold coffee and Cream of Wheat with honey and butter.

London broil
Braised savoy cabbage with nigella seeds
Greek yogurt horseradish sauce

Peanut Butter Power Bar
Diet Mountain Dew

Hangover cure?

My wife's oatmeal pistachio chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm.

guacamole and chips, leftover from last night

Peter Chang's cooking, for the first time. Nearly 700 miles away, but finally I understand. The most accomplished Chinese cooking I've had within US borders, including at the embassy (although not recently during his tenure), and he's cranking it out with lightning speed at a strip mall location in Georgia, where the Changs are finally business partners. Incroyable.

Well in a couple of hours:

Roast Leg of Icelandic Lamb
Zolferino Brans with loads of garlic
Salad
Ridge 1974 Petite Sirah

Whole-berry cranberry sauce mixed into plain yogurt along with granola, all homemade.