Pat

It was brave of you to go and try this out. I pass it all the time and have not taken the plunge. When they were first doing the buildout (it was a barber shop on one floor and a tattoo parlor on the other), the online menu went even more all over the place than it does now. But, in that time period, I used to see someone in chef's whites on site. They have an actual chef. They narrowed down the menu and somehow got permissions for their alcohol requests (though they might have scaled back hours, not sure). The owners run a non-profit on the same block that provides services to low income people. My brain is not recalling the name of the business, but they had a bad fire a number of years ago. The restaurant seems to be part of their effort to build community. I love the concept and what they seem to be trying to do but have not stopped in yet.

The liquor license applications went up a while back. There is one government form still in the window and I didn't think to check what it was. A man in there today came out and talked to people outside. He's hoping they open by the end of next week.

There was still some of the coconut curry salmon left. The fish itself has been excellent, despite the sauce not being quite what I hoped. I reheated the remainder of it in a new sauce, which my husband loved. I did an impromptu take on my favorite vegetable dish from the late Red Sea in Adams Morgan, collards with spiced cottage cheese, more an homage than anything faithful. (I can never remember the name of the dish, but I'm seeing it called Ayib Be Gomen, so I guess that's what it is.) I made it with spinach, which I simmered in the last of the coconut milk I had open, with the (mostly drained) cottage cheese, and a couple splashes of heavy cream. I seasoned it with berbere and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Once that was well along, I put the remaining salmon into the saute pan, curry powder side down, so the curry also seasoned the sauce. It all simmered together for a while. The timing was basically that I wanted to make sure I lifted it out before the fish fell apart, and I managed it. There was a little too much liquid (again, but probably due to the lite coconut milk being thin), but it was delicious. I made myself a salmon patty with the excess pieces of salmon I'd previously broken into chunks to use in tacos. That was also excellent. Curry powder on salmon is really good. I would probably never have come up with that myself. We had this with toasted Pain de Campagne and green beans amandine

Last night was guacamole and tortilla chips, salad (green leaf lettuce, cucumber, grape tomatoes, red onion, radishes, and Marcona almonds), leftover stuffed mushrooms, and stuffed focaccia. I sliced the last of the herb focaccia horizontally and topped the inner halves with sauteed button mushrooms, salami, fresh basil, and goat cheese and drizzled with evoo. Then I put them back together. Pressed the bread down panini-style with a bacon press, wrapped tightly in foil, and heated in a 425 oven for 20 minutes. It came out pretty well, except cutting through it was complicated a bit by the salami slices. Maybe a pizza cutter would have been better than a knife. It was a reasonably successful experiment.

It took a lot longer to make a taco spread for dinner than I counted on. So much for planning an easy meal out of leftovers It didn't even use all the leftovers 🤷‍♀️. And I made a ton of guacamole for some reason. I hope it keeps a few days. Chicken Tacos Salmon Tacos Cilantro, radishes, Frontera tomatillo salsa, chopped tomato, chopped scallions, guacamole, sour cream, and flour tortillas Brown Rice Pinto Beans

I made the Chicken and Vinegar again last night, same as last time except for going to the full 6 Tbsp. vinegar. It was a bit too much. I'll be sticking with 4 Tbsp. in the future, but this recipe is a keeper. We had it with leftover brown rice, Pain de Campagne from Ravenhook, and cornbread stuffed mushrooms. I'm not even really sure what I did with the mushrooms--a little of this, a little of that. I was trying to use the rest of some bacon cornbread that had been in the fridge for some time, most recently just as crumbs I was adding to things. That wasn't using enough, so I decided it would make a good mushroom stuffing, just large white mushrooms from Costco. The most daring addition was pickled jalapenos. They didn't come through as a distinct flavor and blended with everything else, so I guess I used the right amount.

Tonight was leftover fettuccine, herb focaccia from the Ravenhook stand at Eastern Market, and a salad (green leaf lettuce, grape and pear tomatoes, sliced red onion, cucumber, radishes, Marcona almonds, and croutons made from the last of the baguette).

I made a version of this Coconut Curry Salmon last night. I omitted the garlic butter sauce, which seemed like gilding the lily (and a lot of extra fat), but I added some garlic into the sauce with the ginger. The Costco fillet I had was 1 3/4 lbs, so I coated and broiled the whole thing for 5 minutes and then cut half of it and put in the sauce. Will do something else with the mostly cooked other half (or maybe finish it in the remaining sauce, which I kept). I scaled back the sauce ingredients (largely due to the enormous amount of sodium) but went a little too hot on that. It was still good, but the consistency was wrong. That was probably because I used lite coconut milk instead of the full fat called for. While I like the concept of the recipe, and it mostly came out well, it wasn't a raging success. Some of this is obviously because I deviated from the recipe. It was very pretty on a platter, garnished with cilantro. We had this with yet more baguette, leftover brown rice, and baked sweet potato.

Leftovers tonight (salad, curried spinach and tofu, more baguette) plus newly cooked brown rice. My husband also had some Costco lobster bisque.

Years ago (like close to 40), I used to make a version of Fettuccine Alfredo with sour cream that I saw a recipe for somewhere. Then I began adding some vegetables to it for a hybrid Alfredo primavera. I had not thought of it or made it in many years and recently got the urge to make it. Apparently I never saved a copy because I could not find the recipe anywhere in my files. So I browsed some recipes online and relied on my memory for the rest. It came out really well! I used peas, two colors of carrots, and broccoli. I had heavy cream so used that in a 1:2 ratio with the sour cream. I tried to go as light as I could on the super heavy fats and managed to get the right amount and consistency of sauce. I garnished it with parsley and toasted sliced almonds. (I always used the almonds for the primavera.) We had this with a baguette and butter and a big green salad.

We had stuffed portobellos tonight, roughly based on this recipe. The filling was ground turkey, seasonings (garlic, cumin, dried oregano, cayenne, chili powder, ancho chile powder, and sweet paprika), and Trader Joe's Autentica Salsa. The original recipe called for 14 oz. of crushed tomatoes. I only had a larger can and didn't want to open it, so went to the salsa, which matched the flavor profile of the seasonings. It was in the refrigerator and mostly full (probably 10 - 11 oz.) I added a couple of ounces of water to the jar to clean it out and get closer to the right amount of liquid. Stuffed mushrooms were served with leftover brown rice and garnished with minced celery leaves. This was spicy--very good and definitely spicy. The rest of the meal was chickpea salad, pita from Yellow, and caramelized onion hummus from Little Sesame. Two totally different cuisines but it made for a great meal.

I love putting together meals like that. And it feels virtuous making sure nothing gets wasted. Last night I made a recipe from the Dinner: A Love Story blog. For some reason I had stopped reading it in recent years, but I've always found solid recipes there. This Chicken and Vinegar was delicious. I made about half a recipe (which was 4 thighs). I only used one onion but kept the other sauce ingredients the same, except for using only 4 Tbsp. vinegar. Instead of making a kale salad, I chopped up half a bunch of kale I had and tossed that into the pan right at the end for a few minutes, along with a generous splash of chicken broth. I had the broth out to prepare the brown rice that accompanied the chicken, and it upped the amount of liquid in the dish by just the right amount. We also had sourdough whole wheat bread.

Last night was salad (iceberg lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, plum tomatoes, and red onion), whole wheat sourdough and Kerrygold butter, and a sausage and kale soup with gnocchi.

Last night we had leftover pot roast, a meal I apparently didn't note here when I first made it a few days ago. It was a 4 lb. piece of chuck from Costco that had been in the freezer for a while cooked in the InstantPot with yellow carrots and various aging potatoes. (Basically this recipe, adjusted for the size of the roast.) The broth was really good. I reheated it with some peas and riso pasta added. We had this with whole wheat sourdough bread from Le Pain Quotidien and salted Kerrygold butter, as well as a salad (iceberg, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, plum tomatoes, red onion, and Marcona almonds) with TJ's fig balsamic vinaigrette.

I mostly go to Cameo for coffee and Slice Joint for pizza, but I like the Red Apron as well. They have a bodega with breakfast tacos, etc. early in the day but I haven't tried that. It's a pretty good mix of places. Lots of people camp there during the day working on their computers. Definitely a notable addition to the Hill. (I have trouble with my phone, vision, and QR codes, so that aspect can be a problem for me. I've had no problem getting an employee to use their Toast app terminals to order me a pizza, though.)

Last night: Spaghetti squash casserole with turkey meatballs & leftover sauce from braised turkey thighs; grated Parmesan Leftover mac and cheese

For New Year's Eve: Cornbread Endive Spears with White Bean Radicchio Salad Instant Pot Braised Turkey Thighs Rice Pilaf New Year's Day Dinner: Cornbread Collards with Black-Eyed Peas and Salt Pork Macaroni and Cheese I used some cornbread crumbs to top the mac and cheese. The cheeses were Vault No. 5 Cheddar from Jasper Hill Farm, the last of a piece of Port Salut, and a few oz. of Monterey Jack left from making nachos a few days ago. It was a really good, melty combination. The Port Salut stood out just enough to give it a distinctive flavor. I will have to remember that one. Did the collards and peas in the InstantPot. I used 2 bunches of collards and probably should have only used 1-to- 1 1/2. I made the turkey thighs for NYE that I couldn't find for Thanksgiving. Whole Foods now has a bountiful supply. Go figure 🤷‍♀️. This was the recipe. The sauce was too good to discard and there's quite a bit left, so I'm going to use it over some spaghetti squash later in the week, I think.

I had saved the liquid from my Christmas InstantPot lamb shoulder. It cooked down to perfect gelatin with an easily removable fat layer on the top. So it became the base of lamb stew for lunch. I used dried onions but everything else fresh: rosemary, garlic, turnip, gold potato, white sweet potato, and previously roasted carrots. Remembering Dean Gold's advice about how San-J Tamari adds flavor, I added a couple of shakes of that, as well as a couple of squeezes from a tomato paste tube. It was fantastic. We had it along with pita from Yellow and WF roasted garlic hummus.

I made quesadillas with most of the leftover Christmas lamb for dinner last night. Cheeses were chevre, feta, and mozzarella. I seasoned the mixture with some Calabrian chili oil and gochujang and added sliced radishes as well. We had this with more of the leftover Belgian endive salad. The quesadillas came out great. Emptying the dishwasher before dinner, I set one of my favorite Corning casseroles (from a set-- in the 80s, I think?) on what turned out to be an unstable surface😖. Now I have to decide if it's worth buying a replacement used at a steep price. The lid crashed to the floor too and is perfectly fine, so I don't have to buy one with a lid. Have too much kitchen stuff. But that's such a useful little casserole...

Christmas dinner reprised the wine, cheese, and crackers/bread. We also had roasted eggplant soup from a recipe I've made several times this year. The meat was an Instant Pot lamb shoulder (with anchovies in the mix) and more of the rice pilaf. More cookies for dessert. I'd planned a salad but got behind (even though it's a quick prep), so that got moved to last night, along with the last of the wine and cheese. The main was leftover broiled cod with mixed vegetables and rice pilaf. The salad was Endive Spears with White Bean Radicchio Salad, from Sunset Magazine. It makes a lot more filling than I had large endive leaves, so we'll be eating it for a while, but it was quick and delicious. Finding the endive and radicchio in a store was the hardest part.

Christmas Eve menu: Where’s Linus Rosé 2021 Jasper Hill Farm Conundrum Cheese Atwater Rye Crackers Rice-Stuffed Grape Leaves Bacon-Wrapped Filet Mignon ~ Quince Mustard ~ Sautéed Mushrooms & Shallots Rice Pilaf Christmas Cookies & Meringues The wine was from DCanter. We had it at Thanksgiving and they kindly ordered me some more because they no longer had any in stock when I went back to resupply. I had originally stumbled upon it when I was in there and asked if they had anything they'd recommend as a Fall rosé. Being most definitely not an oenophile, I had no idea if such a thing existed. They pointed to a few and I picked this one because I liked the name (), label (), and price point (about $25). It hits a perfect spot as a lighter-bodied red wine. It does not look like a rosé and is not sweet. My husband's family traditionally has the grape leaves at holidays, but I haven't made any in quite some time. I picked these up at Wine & Butter, and they are a worthwhile substitute. The family also always has to have pilaf for holidays. I made a very large batch and added pine nuts as well as the noodles. I usually just add noodles, but it's Christmas! The beef was from Harvey's at Union Market and was excellent. I brushed some of the mustard (from the same order from Jasper Hill as the cheese) around the center of the tenderloin roast and used that to adhere the bacon to the meat. That more or less worked but adding a toothpick or two would have been a good idea.

Last night was Caesar salad, sourdough bread, broiled cod loin (w/seasoned lemon butter & various cracker crumbs), and...frozen mixed vegetables, the last of a package I keep around for soup. Kind of fell down at the finish line there. Cod from District Fishwife was, as could be expected, excellent quality.

Tonight is low effort. Salad. Pre-cooked shrimp to use the last of the cocktail sauce. Beef burgundy from the freezer over buttered pappardelle with chopped parsley. Roasted romanesco with the last of the pesto from the last romanesco I made.

Moe (Maureen) Tkacik is a writer I have read for a long time. She is a leftist labor activist and feminist. Her writing is awesome. As best I can puzzle it out she used to work at Fiola Mare as a server and her husband was a chef there. It sounds like quite a stressful place to work.

Last night I made a recipe I found a few years ago via Joy the Baker, for a pasta dish with braised chicken and mushrooms. It's quite good but takes a long time to make. There are too many detailed steps, and at some point a while back I was trying to find a way to streamline the process. It just doesn't seem like it needs to be as complicated as it is, but it's delicious. (I buy the Pipe Rigate pasta at Whole Foods. Cool shape.) We had it with a strange but good salad of marinated gigande beans over celery leaves, and we also had whole wheat sourdough bread. Tonight I am making pork again because I bought apple butter at the farmer's market last week before it closes for the season and had seen this recipe. We will have leftover cheese grits with it and fig walnut bread.