Journal

2021 - Week 18 Cooking Results

We, as a couple, went out for the first time with the purpose of meeting another person. We met up with Dave & Jo at Blank Park Zoo and their Wild Lights Festival. Starting at 7:PM and heading on, we were looking forward to it. The weather going into the weekend seemed like it would be pleasant, however it took a damp chilly turn. Even so, we wondered about, looked at the light displays, saw a few animals that were out and about on a cold chilly night. The goats were hiding under the over hang, except one that was under the steps, who we watched walk up, walk over the bridge and headed down on the other side to the over hang. It was a nice display and it would’ve been nicer had the weather not gotten damp (cold would’ve been fine). It was nice. We talked about our next game night (probably 2-3 weeks after Dave’s second dose). I’ve been practicing being places (a time out meeting people, spending extra time at places I go to, that sort of thing).

Turkey Burger With Sriracha Mayo

Hunh. I t appears as if Serious eats has chosen to break links from their old version to the new one. I would figure they’d leave redirects around for a bit. They redirected enough to keep it to the right category (turkey), but I can’t imagine how many links are now broken-ish. Odd choice.

Anyway, these came out pretty well, I only vaguely paid attention to the recipe, as I sometimes do. Keeping the mayo, and the burger close to the guidelines, and skipping the scallions. Good, shortened and tightened up a bit.

Chicken with Penne

So uh... Perhaps tex-mex would be better. I couldn’t bring myself to put “Mexican” (style or no) as the actually title. I think perhaps a better title would be Cheesy Smokey Spicy Pasta. Anyways, I doubled or so the chipotle, corn, cheese. It was ok I added some Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce, which I think added quite a bit to it. Other than that, i twas a bit meh.

Pasta Alla Zozzona

Delayed!

Ramp and Sausage Risotto

I asked Shannon if she wanted Risotto the night I made it, and she jokingly said, “I guess” then we both laughed. I’m a fan of this recipe. I used a bit more ramps then called for, but it was good. I would’ve gotten more ramps this weekend, but the idea of working from 11:PM to 1:AM (accommodating someone else’s schedule) then waking up for the market, didn’t sound like fun to me, so not so much.

Ramp and Sausage Risotto

2021 - Week 17 Cooking Results

With the pandemic still going on, and my recent angry bone spurs, I debating for a bit about going to the Downtown Farmers Market. I drove to get the cash for it, along with money for a haircut, but even after all that, wasn’t sure I wanted to go. My Saturday has turned into a sleep in, exercise, then do things. I ended up deciding to go late that night, but I think I won’t go every week. The vendor booths were about once every other normal booth space, no ready to eat food, no musicians (not always bad). The vast majority of people were masked (though I did smell someone smoking), and overall things seemed fine. It was nice to see my vendors again, and I completely understand the whole going or not.

I did notice the kick in the pants on the budget, for not going to the market every week last year ($80/week in cash, sometimes more). The leftover money from the haircut, and first market’s $100 went pretty quick. I scrambled with my last $9 (all 1’s) to pay to get that hunk of cheese, effectively on my way out.

It felt good, perhaps normal, to be there. Things were spaced out enough, and people were, for the most part, not crowding together. Attendance was quite down for a normal market, which is probably for the best, at least for the early risers. It feels like a start to return to normal. Also, ramps.

Next week I am on call between 6p and 1:30a (Friday into Saturday) for about 20 minutes worth of work, So I’ll clearly not be going.

Macaroni and Cheese with Ham and Peas

Sometimes you skim a recipe and think, clearly the person that wrote this didn’t have to do the dishes. This is not like that, trying to keep it to one pot. However, I upped the speed by using two pots, so I could make the béchamel sauce while the water came to a boil, reducing the time between combining the two. I had about 8 oz of bread that I had chopped up and stuck in the fridge. I had whole milk that I accidentally ordered instead of my normal 2%. I adjusted up the powdered muster (maybe 2t instead of 1.5t). I swiped out the cayenne pepper with chipotle chili morita and used probably 4 times as much. I also swapped out the Monterey jack with pepper jack. I used what I had left of the (free) ham I got with a gift certificate from work, and used a whole bag of peas, instead of just a cup. After all those adjustments, the bread crumbs got a bit to dark (not distasteful, but not pleasing looking) at 5 minutes of broiling time, but at 3 minutes it was way too little. So probably some part of that probably around 4 minutes would’ve been just right. Pretty good, after my adjustments.

Gochujang Chicken and Tortellini

So uh…this was easy and quite tasty. I am working my way though that tub of gochujang (I’ll probably buy another when I make i through). I may have aded the entire bag of the cheese tortellini (what am I going to do with 4 oz of tortellini). I should have probably adjusting things up because of that, but even so, had that fermented, savory cheese flavor coming out and dancing across my tastebuds.

Anda Bhurji

I will admit that I’ve had a bad experience with garlic and eggs in the past, so I had a light head with the garlic. I apparently missed the mart of 3 green chile peppers, so I added jalapeño powder instead. So i guess it really wasn’t that close to what it was supposed to be, but it was tasty.

Turkey Burger With Sriracha Mayo

Shannon wasn’t in the mood, so we ordered out instead. I will do these today.

2021 - Week 16 Cooking Results

I really enjoy kimchi mayo (previous week). I had it with a number of things this past week.

Street Toast

I forgot to add the ham. I skipped the sugar to, on purpose. But otherwise it was still a delicious quick meal. I double it to make one for me and one for Shannon, but with the bread I had (local bakery), they were a bit smaller then most loafs. So I made 3 sandwiches with he doubled recipe and split the last one. Good, other then the prep, pretty quick. Oh and real cheese, Prairie Breeze, not American.

Cheeseburger Mac

I looked at the block of name brand “cheese”, looked at the ingredients, set it down. Saw the generic one a bit later at the store, ended up putting that down too. I couldn’t do it. I ended up shredding some Holy Cow and Prairie Breeze and adding some corn starch (one tablespoon, I think). It worked out. I ended up skipping the onion, because, well, I had put the onions on my lunch salad earlier that day. I added a bit more Worcestershire sauce (forgot that it was as runny as it was).

Cheeseburger Mac

Beef and Broccoli With Oyster Sauce

Neither beef (un-ground) nor broccoli are on the list of Shannon’s favorite things. While from time to time, I make something truly for me, this was not that, but it was a way where I thought I could get away with using the flank steak that I bought for something else, but ended up not using. It turned out pretty well. I ended up with a bit of leftovers that I used some of the leftover bulgogi sauce in it as well.

Ramen with Chicken and Soft Boiled Eggs Scallions and Chicken (Saturday)

I got the Momofuku version of the sun noodle ramen. I sous vide eggs to a soft boil. Added some leftover herbed butter to some chicken tenderloins that are slated and peppers and sous vide that next. Then quick cooked the Korean ramen, tossed them in the sauce and then put them over on the eggs and chicken. While it tasted pretty good, it was not quite what I was thinking in my head. And maybe that was just my general experience and expectations that I’ve had. Anyways, it was a lot of cooking time, but the first time, I headed down to Peace Tree to pick up some beer (eggs) and the second, chicken, I took a nap. Still pretty good, filling and a nice Saturday cook.

Sloppy Turkey Sommys

Came together pretty well, not so random mix of spices, onions, tomatoes and turkey.

2021 - Week 15 Cooking Results

Yellow Fin tuna

Brushed with a bit of soy sauce, baked, served.

Street Toast

Shannon had a bit of a day, so wanted something a bit more comforting, so I headed down to Lachelle’s to pick up dinner. Delayed!

Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Potatoes

Once again a good breakfast for dinner. I had a lot of leftover potatoes after the fact, which made for some good meals. Covered with some chili crisp. Good things.

Grilled Korean Bulgogi Burgers With Kimchi Mayo (Saturday)

I made the Bulgogi as directed, and the Kimchi mayo, too. However, to allow Shannon options, I let her add as much of the bulgogi as she wanted. It added a nice layer of savory salty sweetness to the dish. With the kimchi mayo, and the bulgogi it was quite nice. I suspect the daikon might add a bit to it, but really, I didn’t feel up to the effort.

Taco Salad (no meat)

Pretty much the same, except double beans, no chorizo. Good. I added a bit more spices to max up for the lack of chorizo, and it worked out pretty well.

2021 - Week 14 Cooking Results

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

I don’t think this was quite right. Unlike the other variations of the stove top mac and cheese, this one used 8oz of macaroni instead of twelve…and it really seems like it needed 12 oz of pasta. I tried my best to get it to work, but ended up with over cooked pasta. I still tasted ok, but the texture was off.

Yellowfin tuna

Delayed! didn’t take it out of the freezer until Wednesday, we’ll have it tonight.

Deviled Ham Salad Sandwich

Simple, food processed, and done. I used leftover buns from easter dinner to serve them. It was pretty good.

Pasta alla Norcina

This was quite good. I suppose it would have never been different had I made the sausage, instead of the standard Italian sausage that I used. Even so, it was a nice creamy sauce, with a rich flavor and quite a good dinner. Paired, by suggestion, with Uni White from Stolpman Vineyards. Good meal for a Saturday night.