Topic: What are you eating / What did you eat.

[6pairsofshoes]

Fresh cream scones and marmalade.  Earl Grey tea.  not particularly exciting, but at least predictable.

[6pairsofshoes]

Breakfast.

[6pairsofshoes]

Lately, I've been chopping enough vegetables for 2 dishes when I do, storing half in the fridge.  This morning I got out the remaining vegs and started making soup.  It's only 9 a.m. and the soup is already cooking.  I usually wait until 4 pm or so, and have the end product for dinner.  For some reason, I jumped in early and will put it in the fridge until later after it's finished.

Right now I just feel like going back to bed, since I got up too early, but I can't leave the soup on the fire while I'm sleeping, so I am on here. 

[8ullfrog]

While food shopping online I discovered that you can buy pickle juice. Sans pickles!
Also a deli platter of sliced veggies for burgers is a bit rich for regular food shopping, but priced well for a BBQ.

Had a PB&J for lunch, exciting, I know.

[6pairsofshoes]

I lived on PB&J sandwiches one year as I was working in a place where I didn't have access to a fridge or to a reasonably priced lunch place.  The whole wheat bread with good peanut butter and decent jam kept me going all day.  It was amazing how I basically never got hungry.  Probably due to the fat and proteins in the peanut butter.

I'm making "shake & bake" chicken with just bone in thighs and a McCormick rub sprinkled on the skin, along with small baked potatoes.  That's about my speed these days.  I had a small salad so I could make it for the hour it takes for them to cook.  I'm amazed at how expensive chicken is getting.

[8ullfrog]

I had a marinated hatch chili chicken bag I was really looking forward to, but when I opened it, the whole thing smelled horrible. Right in the bin. Shame when that happens.I was going to make enchiladas.

[6pairsofshoes]

That sucks.  I just baked some maple walnut muffins.  I have to wait for them to cool a bit but they make pretty tasty snacks or a nice breakfast food.

[6pairsofshoes]

I made persimmon cookies yesterday -- they were like sweet little bricks.  Not a great recipe.

Now I'm roasting asparagus and getting ready to heat up some butter chicken and rice to go with it.  Taxes done, so I'm going to pour a glass of wine and spend an agreeable evening being stupid.

[6pairsofshoes]

I'm tired from traveling so I went to the grocer's to pick up a rotisserie chicken.  I nabbed one of the two packages in the hot chicken area.  I get home and see that I've managed to get a large rotisserie chicken breast for twice the price of a whole chicken.  They had changed the packaging so I was confused and purchased the wrong item.   And we don't really even like white meat on the bird so I'm trying to figure out what to do with this slab of bird meat.  Maybe curried chicken salad?  Soup?  White meat chicken basil sauce?  The idea was to come home and do nothing more than heat it up.  Now I have a project.  I guess I shouldn't grumble since there's plenty of people who have to do without, but I could use some more energy to deal with it.

[8ullfrog]

When the tub chickens didn't sell we turned them into chicken salad.

[6pairsofshoes]

Last night I used less than ¼ of the meat to make a tomato based sauce with basil and diced chicken.   It was nice over pasta and made enough for 3 meals for the two of us.  We'll probably heat some more chicken meat tonight and have with a salad or vegetable on the side.  It's reasonably moist and tender so given how many meals we'll get out of it, it wasn't hideously expensive, all things considered.  I thought of making curried chicken salad for lunch but I'd like to make it with mango chutney and we don't have any in the pantry so I made egg fried rice for lunch with the vegs that were getting older in the fridge.  Stir fry with eggs and rice.  It wasn't magical but it was economical.

[6pairsofshoes]

I had some leftover pizza for lunch.  We've been lured to a local place by the $3/slice Wednesday specials, but they just aren't as good as the transcendently wonderful cheese slices you can get at some places in NYC.  At least they don't charge for seltzer and don't look at you like you have 2 heads when you ask for it.

There are certain foodways typical of the Northeastern US that are reassuringly simple but good.  I'm sure there's got to be good pizzarias in RI but it will take a little exploration.  Given the strong mafia connections of this area, good pizza is a necessary part of the culture.  Finding it is another thing, however.  The local place has some simply bizarre additions on its pizzas.  Mac and cheese, tortellini, tortillas for their nacho toppings.  Got some food?  Put it on the pizza.  That seems to be their culinary ethos.  Needless to say they put all kinds of meats on there:  sliced steak, sausage, chicken, "hamburg" and pepperoni.  And of course, pineapple is essential on some.

[smokester]

Last night we had decided to get a takeaway as a little treat. It didn't go so well as happens every time we decide to do this. The problem is that by the time everyone has negotiated with everyone else on what to eat and where to order from, you realise that you are going to spend well over £100 and you may as well eat out. TNG was probably the only one who wasn't phased as he had to survive the prices in the U.S for a couple of weeks so £100 was a bargain in his eyes.

Anywho. After all the toing and froing had finished, we decided to go to Asda and get a crapload of stuff from the street food section. We spent £50 and could have fed the 5000 and it was delicious. Sort of a mixture of Japanese and Korean.

[6pairsofshoes]

I had to look up ASDA and see that it's a WalMart subsidiary.  Some of the Walmarts in the U.S. have a reasonable food selection with a deli that sells lunchmeats and rotisserie chickens, that sort of thing.  They also have frozen foods but nothing that would fit the description of what you were able to buy there.  Still, we have Trader Joes and they have some really good offerings of frozen ethnic entrees that won't break the bank.  Eating out can be expensive and if the food isn't great, it's a real disappointment when you realize you could have stayed home and enjoyed the meal for a fraction of the cost.

[8ullfrog]

I'm sorry for your pain smokes.

For my birthday, I negotiated DOWN. Instead of a fancy dinner I just wanted a burger and fries. So, we went to culvers.
I got the double bacon butter burger. Burger was fantastic, bacon sucked. I got the cheese curds because crinkle fries bless'ed suck, most of the other guests got the fish dinner.

I actually gave my aunt some light razzing about that when we came back home. I said how mom always orders off the "odd menu" and my aunt realized she got the same thing as mom. (Cod Dinner)

Culvers are known for their butter burgers, cheese curds, and custard. Both of them ordered fish.

Aunt's BF got the Colby double burger and custard. I skipped the custard because I was super full.

As to the cheese curds, they're good, but they fry them with the fish. I don't care for fish, so I was only able to eat half the curds.

All that being said, a casual, VERY BASIC dinner will always trump a fancy, you have to get dressed up dinner. I had to shave my head before the dinner, and it's a little shorter than I'd like. I usually use a 9mm comb, but the mover broke it, so I'm on a 6. When I pulled the hat off, my aunt was shocked.

In high school I was a longhair, I could headbang with the best of them. a 6mm comb does not allow for a long mop.

I did the sopranos joke when I took my hat off "They took the bleachers out last week." Mom and aunt grew up in NJ, nobody got the joke.

The dinner discussion was lively, and Aunt's BF is sharp as a tack. I brought up anti-dog sentiment because there was a service dog in the dining room. Mom and aunt weren't aware of it, but he was. He's got a lovely pit, and has to be on top of such knowledge. (her name is Peewee and she is a sweetheart).

My aunt wants to buy me a new convection oven because she knows of our woes. I find it a bit embarassing. Many years ago, she promised me "The Cake" from Portal, and it hasn't happened yet.

Many years ago, a different aunt had booked a beaucoup Italian place. We'd gone there the previous year, and honestly? Not impressed. Birthday came, we're all formally dressed, which I hate, and they're just straight up closed. (There was a reservation)

My favorite burger joint, which I TRIED to get aelthric to come visit, was right behind fancy pants italia.

So, we went to Angelos. I loved Angelos. But it wasn't good enough for aunt and uncle. My grandpa, who was normally a center of calm, channeled his rank from the 1950's, and said the dinner was still going to happen.

So, we all ordered, got our bags, and walked another block to the American Legion. They LOVED Grandpa at the Legion, he spent a lot of time there. They opened the dining room for my birthday, and we all enjoyed burgers. That aunt and uncle were clearly not having a good time, but no one gave a golly. It's a fantastic memory.

Anyway, I'll take a cheap decent meal over a fancy one any day. Culvers delivered but the curds were a little fishy, and the bacon was dry.