A slice of whole wheat bread with Kasseri. I'm cursing myself for going out hard last night when tonight is New Years. Oh, my head.

To say goodbye to 2006, I whipped up the Pan-Roasted Tournedos with Wild Mushrooms and Pepper Sauce (it's pimped-up Steak Diane) printed in the 12/27/06 WaPo (recipe from Tood Gray at Equinox). As a side, I made my take on Bittman's Roasted Brussell Sprouts with Garlic that was printed in the Minimalist column in the NYTimes awhile back (I can provide this if necessary since you have to pay to access it). A bottle of 2005 Bigfoot was consumed prior to prep and a dinner bottle of 2006 Stone Old Gaurdian enjoyed during cooking and with dinner (yay Viking gene!!!). Her indoors (i.e. my wife) had 2003 Testal with dinner, whilst I had the barleywine. I can see both working with the meal, but I gotta say the beer won. The pepper in the sauce matched so well with the brashy hoppy bitterness compared to the oak and peper in the wine. Granted the beer is from a world class brewery and the wine was an impulse purchase at Whole Foods (plus, I doubt the vintner's status in the wineworld (good robust red table wine, though)), but still. Add another to Garrett Oliver's win column.

For dessert, we had some Kahlua truffle barlike thingies my stepsister-in-law and her muy guapo hombre made. A dram of Dow's 10 Year Tawny Port was enjoyed along with, mostly because I didn't feel like finishing off the majority of a bomber of Stone's Imperial Stout all by myself (her indoors gets drink off of 1 drink (damn you, reverse of the Viking gene!!)).

I've been working from home a lot more recently. Lunch usually consists of ramen noodles (I don't know why I've suddenly developed a craving for the stuff), english muffin with cheese or PB&J, or apples & cheese. All very quick, minimal effort foods. For the work-at-home crew: what's in your lunchbox?

"Black" pork sausage smuggled in from Sicily by my ma-in-law . Amazing stuff

I am SO envious!!!! What is this stuff exactly? I really want to go to Sicily. Did she bring back any other food?

a pan roast made with oysters and shrimp. so comforting...

Similarly low-effort: when I work from home, I'm all about throwing a sandwich on the foreman grill. Usually some sort of decent cheese with basic cold cut and mustard. Occasionally I'll get more fancy, but generally it's the basics when I'm actually trying to do work.

The item at the bottom of this page is what I have. I had a kilo, but I've gone through about 1/2 of it in the last week. We also scored some excellent EVOO.

Almond Angel Food Cake topped with Lemon Curd and Crème Anglaise.

Scrambled eggs and avocado on toast. Yum.

cornbread that my buddy cooked while i was working on my beer-chili. he's in the kitchen making his chili now. battle is on.

That's some great Engrish on that page, even if it's technically from the wrong part of the world!

"The organolectic values are a fundamental requisite of the nutritive quality of our products, in great part binded to the selection of the natural ingredients, the handwork and in special way to the drying of our products, thanks to the exclusive microclimate in this part of the Nebrodi (Sicily)."

And anyone who uses autochthon in a sentence gets a thumbs up from me.

I just finished the last bit of steak from Vidalia, over some curried rice. Exactly what I needed.

Filipino shrimp stew, w/ eggplant, spinach and squash in a coconut milk broth

Trader Joe's freeze-dried, unsweetened & unsulfured mango. Not quite sure about them -- I think I like the regular-dried (semi-dried?) mango better. Yesterday, I also tried TJ's new toasted and lightly salted freeze-dried apple slices. Not quite sure about those either, but I did somehow manage to finish the whole bag.

Not eating it this exact moment, but a b-day present recently arrived from my brother: a half-dozen thick-cut packs of Benton's hickory-smoked Tennessee bacon. Ohhhhhhh yeahhh!

A blogger's tour of Benton's here.

Simply Asia Spring Vegetable Rice Noodle Soup Bowl

I will not be purchasing this again. Although it has a very slight bit of taste to it, I wish it didn't. I erred when I chose it over instant oatmeal.

Baked shortribs from Greek Deli: worth standing in the cold.

bad pizza of indeterminate origin...

a bad hot dog from the fake Brooklyn deli across the street

Tater Puffs (Whole Foods can't just call them "tots") from the bag with NBR Business Report.

I tasted tater tots tonight too!

Tonight is a fab tot night. I tickled them with some oilve oil and they cooked better than ever (no overbrowning). Mmmm. Heinz. salt, television, wine. The life!

I could not wait until Mardi Gras... beignets!

Oh, no you didn't! I'm eating those beignets, too.

Nibble of Touluse Sausage that Waitman is grinding up for a cassoulet he's planning to make on President's Day weekend. Very tasty. I'm not bragging or anything. I would be bragging if I made it right?

Brownies made with valrhona and sprinkled before baking with fleur de sel. Stunning. And I made them, so I am bragging.

You girls are KILLING me!

a nice piece of chocolate from a talented... artist... flavored with Elijah Craig 18 year old bourbon.

Hmmmm, I might have to try this. So, you just drizzle olive oil over and bake as usual?

Whole Foods popcorn. The whole bag is only 700 calories

Thai curry & coriander crisps. Brilliant. I love my country, but the USA is sorely lacking in the category of interesting potato chip flavors.

"The autochthons of Washington, D.C. were pond scum."

Before there was the internet, there were Italian notebooks. I have one with a retro image of a young woman in a tight sweater wearing a pencil skirt, bobby socks and holding a bowling ball in one hand as she looks over shoulder, coyly, at you. The text reads:

On topic: cube of crystallized ginger.

A nice, big, hot bowl of oatmeal topped with milk, maple syrup, and light brown sugar.

To counter the 40 degree weather (I thought this was f*&#@& Florida!), I have a tomato basil soup simmering and will add to that a smoked mozzarella grilled cheese. Don't get too excited, a friend came in from Tampa with the mozzarella. That's right, I have resorted to giving friends shopping lists.

Comté cheese I'm supposed to be grating for gougères.

Buffalo wing flavored Doritos dipped in ranch dressing.




help me

Yech.

Big bottle of smart water and about 3 handfulls of raw almonds.

Is that the one with the extra colorings, additives, and trans fats?

Mmmm... additives...

I did a little market research and had a roast beef sandwich from Balducci's. Oddly gamey tasting...

just-baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies...well, one, so far.

I had a terrible Italian sub from Paisano's in Chantilly. Didn't someone just recommend this place? Nothing like low quality meats to make a sub not worth eating. I should have had pho.

Yeah baby. The ranch dressing was from Whole Foods, so it was a little lacking in additives. I am still not sure what the f*ck possesed me to buy the Doritos.

Rancho Gordo popcorn popped in duck fat and dressed with fine sea salt. So delicious.

Cabrales, with an apple and a little leftover rose.

Leftover wheatberry pudding from the other night. I love this stuff.

I just finished a cup of Trader Joe's Matcha Green Tea lowfat yogurt. More green tea flavor than I expected, but less than I was hoping for. I'd get this again. It's a nice treat around lunchtime.

Quinoa with roasted cauliflower, lentils, sauteed mushrooms, and shallots. Crazy good.

Roast beef sandwich (home-roasted beef, dubliner cheddar, homemade mustard), twice-fried frites in my new deep fryer, cut with my new Borner v-slicer. Kitchen gadgets are great when they yield stuff this good.

ETA: I love working from home.

Can I work from your home?

Currently cooking for immediate consumption: Whole roasted Organic Chicken, Wild Rice cooked in chicken stock and Frisee salad with oil cured olives and smoked mozzarella.