Journal

2022 - Week 37 Cooking Results

Sheet Pan Sweet-and-Spicy Chicken with Charred Cabbage

I really liked this. Even the Cabbage. It came together pretty well and was in the oven cooking shortly after I started prep. I liked the sauce? of this very much and eating the chicken and cabbage with the sauce was quite nice.

Jajangmyeon

I was going to make this Thursday or Friday, but I was also I was really tired cause it’s been a long week. So I’m gonna make this Sunday.

Griddled Tomato Sandwiches

Simple, pretty good.

Mahi Mahi

Unlike last week, I remembered to take this out of the freezer. I brushed them with a bit of soy sauce and seared them in the pan.

Brats

All pork hotdogs were on top of the pile so there we were.

On Sunday, we went out to Grade A Gardens to have a farm dinner. This one was chef’d by the chef de cuisine for Harbinger. The dinner was fantastic, with the Carrot & Fennel agnolotti being my favorite, of many of the wonderful dishes.

2022 - Week 36 Cooking Results

I was able to sneak out during the day on Friday and pickup my food coop order. When I was sneaking back in, I saw a construction worker delivering something to my house. After parking I found the notice that they are about to move down the road. Last day of work, excluding refinishing the road, is Monday 9/12, as they start on 9/13 for the next two blocks. It feels good to finally have an official end date and to know I don’t have to worry about getting in and our of the area, which is great, cause I start having doctor appointments this week, after a bit. The beeping may be around, still, but it’ll be down a bit and hopefully I’ll be able to drown it out.

Pork Fried Rice With Corn and Shishito Peppers

Added a bit of extra diced ham, extra Shishito peppers and prepped everything up and executed and it was pretty good.

Leek, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese Frittata

I was going to make this earlier in the week, but I forgot to pick up prosciutto, so I had to delay it until the end of the week. The day started with a trip to pick up eggs and some veggies, more tea that I used for iced team, coffee, Prosciutto, and because i was there, a couple of ham and swiss croissants.

By the time I made dinner, after a nap or two, I realized that I really hadn’t eaten anything but coffee and that ham and swiss croissant.

I used leeks from Grade A, Eggs from Ebersole and Prosciutto from the cheese shop to combine to make a delicious frittata. It made for a nice dinner and came together quickly. Note: skipped the basil.

Later that night, a bit over served by myself, I had another slice

Taco Salad

Extra beans in this one, and it was pretty good.

Mahi Mahi

We had eggs and ham on a bagel, because I forgot to take this out of the freezer.

2022 - Week 36 Cooking

While I was dong yard work on Friday, a gentleman from a few blocks away stopped to talk to me. We discussed construction and the impacts and water drainage. He mentioned that the last time he talked with the site supervisor they were hoping to be done by the end of this month, and that the underground work took two months longer then expected (sub-contractor?). I mentioned that I really didn’t want to place any mental limitations on when they would be done, as I don’t really want to get my hopes up. So it may be coming to an end? I’ll believe it when I see it. That being said, I prepped for another water outage on this past Friday, and it failed to show up. Which was perfectly fine.

2022 - Week 35 Cooking Results

Spicy Creamy Tomato Noodles

This came together very quickly, but, it was a bit too spicy for Shannon, so maybe only 2 heaping tablespoons, instead of 3. As a side note, i used the extra spicy version. It’s a good side, and I’m down to only 3 full packages of their noodles left.

Sheet Pan Chili Crunch Chicken with Corn

Easy to put together, I skipped the skin on part, as that is not generally what I buy, which doesn’t let it crisp up as much as it probably would, however, it still is a flavorful dish. I like the mayo chili-crunch combination as a flavor enhancers for both the chicken and the corn and onion combination. I chopped the onions to mix it more evenly with the corn. I still did the broiler portion, and it did add a bit of sear to the top of the corn and chicken which was kind of nice.

Rhode Island Dynamites

Mixing the meat with the water / baking soda, allowed me time to do the rest of the things This is a bit different then a sloppy joe, as it is a bit less sloppy, at least compared to mine, I guess. The only thing I didn’t really follow is the end and the low simmer of 45 minutes. I looked at the clock and thought, yeah I’m pushing the time frame. where dinner being delivered would be pushing it. So I keep the heat up a bit and cooked it for lest time. Still quite good. I had it with hot cherry peppers on top of it.

Chickpea Curry

Delayed a couple of weeks. Too warm again.

Chicken Orzo

Quick, easy and good use of a rotisserie chicken, I added more carrots and celery.

2022 - Week 34 Cooking Results

Brats

Still Good things.

English muffin bread, Bacon, Mozzarella, tomato and pea shoots

So this didn’t work quite the way that I was thinking, yes it had a subtle pea flavor from the pea shoots, but over all it was ok, it didn’t add what I thought it might, still good.

Pepper and Egg Sandwich

I got some mini sub Hawaiian rolls…however they seemed to stick to the bottom of the thing they came in, so i crumbled them up and threw them away. It was disappointing. We ate the eggs and peppers. I used cherry jalapeño salsa, which was a mistake.

Shrimp Pasta With Tomatoes, & Chile Butter

So if one were to follow the directions, it would involve shelling strip, and making a partial shrimp stock to use like half a cup and flavor the sauce and the pasta water. Did I do that? no. I used smaller shrimp that were deskilled and deveined. I did use some fresh cherry tomatoes, and gochujang. It turned out pretty good. I should’ve added a bit more gochujang, but other then that, it was pretty good, and really easy to put together, if you skip the whole shrimp stock, peeling and deveining part.

Sloppy Sammys

Good as always.

2022 - Week 33 Cooking Results

Construction continues, with a couple of downpours it changed the texture of the replaced dirt and dirt piles into a sort of silky rough texture. I found it interesting as I walked pass to get cars.

They are placing an intake, I think, for the storm sewer access partially in the empty lot between houses. So the hole diagonally across the street has grown in size. I am curious on what efforts they are expecting to do when this is over. Since I see scars on the road, that, given a coming winter, will turn into giant potholes given a chance. I still occasionally take breaks at work and sometimes I’ll sit outside for a bit to watch the workers. It can be quite loud though.

Brats

Good things.

Skillet Tortellini with Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes

I’ve made this before, and I think he last time I enjoyed it, but I used store “fresh” bland tomatoes. this added a bit of extra acid and brightness. I do like this and it is easy to put together.

Charred Cherry Tomatoes with Bell Peppers and Mozzarella

Cherry tomato season started, so let’s highlight some cherry tomatoes. This, was quite nice. I tossed off half a ciabatta , and then ran though this to make a wonderful dinner. I really enjoyed this and it was a nice mesh and distinctive flavors. I will have this leftover with rice. (Mixture of Blue Gate and Wabii-Sabi tomatoes)

Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice

it’s fine. Adding jalapeños or pickled ones would be a good idea here, it was a little under flavored I think. Adding some salsa or sauce made it better, but it could have been better if it was in there. A bit of cumin, some chipotle powder.

Ham and Jack Frittata

Pretty easy to put together, pretty ok to eat. I ended up having slices of it on bagels for breakfast.