I have recovered from the 5 year olds birthday party (just). I made mini pizzas ( not the fruit ones unfortunately) pinwheel sandwiches, fairy bread and chocolate crackles. Also mini lemon curd tarts. I forgot to take photos but did get one of the cake my DIL made which was a big hit. She relented and allowed treats with sugar as well as carrot, cucumber and celery sticks with hummus for dipping.

Dinner last night was rack of lamb quite rare which we enjoyed with salad and roasted sweet potato.

Cute cake!.

We both love a rack of lanb and chops and mince and ribs. Special occasion for the rack. Local is 40$ a pound. Imported is half that. Last rack purchased i cut in half for two meals, (froze half)

BLT's with beans and a side of corn on the cob

Excellent harvest quality right now with cooler nighttime temps. Thunderstorms every other day, usually at night. Beans have been a bit woody/earthy. More than usual. Probably the high temps up until a couple weeks ago. Most crops suffer in the temps above 85º

So good it is worth freezing a half dozen packets of each. My market sells parm rind so i freeze that as well.

I don't grow corn. The local farm stand has 4 varieties now, picked that morning, for 5$ a bakers dozen.

Last night i made something new. Pistachio crusted cod over, not new, a mixed grain. Side of my traditional childhood sucotash. Fresh basil at service.

Visited our favourite fish shop right on the water. Bought this Monkfish which I hadn’t had before. Happy to find it is a good white meaty fish. I served it with a sweet and sour sauce which included the coral off the scallops I had also bought. Asparagus is Australian grown, I’m glad to say.

We had the scallops for lunch and I cooked them in a brown butter sauce with garlic, lemon juice and parsley. They weren’t as big those ones you see in recipe photos but they were sweet. We’re all fished out for a while now.

I always see monkfish recommended for seafood chowders and stews being so sturdy when cooked. Tend to forget that when shopping.

A few recent meals...

Planning meals for weekend house guests end of the month. Sunday brunch sausage and eggs with a watermelon/mango salad. Feta, cucumber, fennel.

Nasu Dengaku. Miso baked/glazed eggplant. Mine was pretty until i added parm.

Another shrimp fried rice. Seems about once a week these days. A DH favorite and supper easy.

I did an easy prep but quite delicious dinner party menu last evening. It was a smoked salmon bowl supper meal, somewhat deconstucted.

on a larhe nambe platter arugula tossed with olive oil and salt topped with sliced hot smoked salmon. Garnishes were picked red onion (so pretty and the only visible evidence remaining), avocado, and cucumber slices that our farmer friend grew in our field. A glass bowl of mustard-dill gravlax sauce on the side.

Farro,

sauteed sugar snaps,

roasted carrots (fennel, coriander) and roasted pineapple (a small amount of the carrot seasoning bolstered with smoked paprika.

Then our best bakery’s 5 grain sourdough.

Definitely a lot of flavor for very little work.

I hope typing this menu will help me remember so I’ll repeat in the future.

Sounds delicious lisaam. Those pickled onions are a gorgeous colour.

I love shrimp fried rice. I actually like it with the tiny shrimp. Actually that’s where our different wording comes about. We call tiny prawns… shrimp and bigger shrimp … prawns. Lol.

We had medium rare steaks with a pepper cream sauce with a splash of brandy, quite rich and yummy.

For something completely different I had a bought from Aldi Belgian waffle with butter and maple syrup for breakfast. Not a great fan of sweet breakfast so this was total indulgence, so sweet and so delicious.

the rugged edges on that waffle are very appealing

The mini waffle has been trending. Can't show that to DH. His favorite lunch spot had the pretzel bun, WTF, then the waffle bun, WTF, with his favorite short rib sandwich. (after ten years using a good un-sweetened brioche). lol. Best to offer a choice of bread like my favorite littleFrenchBistro lunch spot, cup of soup and 1/2 sandwich...choice of bread.

They closed 2020 but my bistro is thriving. Best soups ever.

Last night an excellent Manhattan Fish Chowder, aka Fisherman's Stew.

Our fish monger has fresh 'chunks', his choice daily. Perfect for chowders and stews.

Stove-top cast iron sear, then into the oven to finish.

Another NoodleBowl

with shrimp and dumplings

Falafel

with tzatziki, flageolete-carrot top-cilantro humus, cumin and spinach roti

Rouladen or beef olives served with asparagus, warm potato salad and red horseradish.

Horseradish is pretty special. Nothing like it. I just dug up 6 big roots. I'll freeze it in 4-5inch chunks. Maybe grate a qrt flat pack for an easier use.

The falafel i made a few months ago freezes well. That batch made 3 meals. One that night and two for the freezer. All gone. DH always says, "write-it-down", (the recipe) but i have used this one for a while...link, .green falafel

I added carrot tops, cilantro stems, and celery leaves.

Last night another 'ye olde' favorite, Shrimp Fried Rice

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese

local bakery pumpernickel rye with three cheese and prosciutto

Getting another flush of summer squash with warm days/chilly nights. Letting some grow but can't keep my hands off the blossoms...

I had some fish in the freezer I bought a couple of weeks ago so had this with a lemon beurre blanc sauce ( DH liked it a lot ). Orzo and green vegetables including mini asparagus.

One other night we had sausages with mashed sweet potato, broccolini and corn… gravy too.

Braised Cabbage and Dukkah crusted Cod with a Mixed Grain

We have a house guest for a few days so serving a big bake at the table works great. Serve yourself and easy seconds. (guest has a huge appetite)

For some reason loving cabbage this year. A good thing having so much of it. Braised low and slow with a big white onion, then added garlic, leeks, red onion. A pint of grain....cod on top and into the oven to roast a bit.

I usually make three pints of grain but my pot will make 4. A pint under the cod. A pint for the freezer for a future stir fry and 4 1/2 pints for Fall soups....though left two 1/2 pints in the fridge for lunches and snacking. DH likes it with a tBsp of yogurt and parm. Or cottage cheese. Cooking a pound of chickpeas, white and black beans today for a big batch of various humus and some 1/2 pints for the freezer.

(house guest loves our humus)...he has visited a few times this past year

*Dukkah is an Egyptian spice mix with lots of seeds and nuts...recipe HERE

I used a miso/mustard glaze as the 'glue'.

Dashi bowl...

My falafel recipe to please DH...

(i just need a quick reminder for the recipe file)

When i make something just twice/three times a year i need some hints

Have to just jump in here and wave hello....was gardening withbaby then changed to girlsingardens back in the GW days and have missed you all so much....my girls have grown and are out of the house and the boys are playing football and a junior and sophomore in high school....what did I have for supper last nigh...nothing but the left over Annie's sals that I cnned thother night with fresh tortilla chips....Annie1992 I think of you fondly each canning season <3

Stacie, Although I was a lurker way back then, I remember fondly Annie1992’s canning adventures shared on here. I recall she had a canning camp and people from here visted her place to learn how to do canning, the photos and stories were great and very funny.

Made a quiche with onion, romano cheese and a few pecans.

Can these be reheated in an air fryer?

Grilled salmon with a dill lemon pepper compound butter over wilted spinach.

Grey mullet tonight

The fish and oven roasted vegetables look very good floral. Quite a large fish.

I don’t have an airfryer rob, so I couldn’t say about the reheating but I would guess so. Salmon looks good.

We had guests over and I made osso bucco with mash and green beans. I made gremolata to sprinkle on top but unfortunately left it in a container in the fridge.

For dessert we had fruit salad with a short bread biscuit.

We had lamb chops cooked on the BBQ, smokey flavour and still pink inside. Lots of vegetables because you know”eat your vegetables”

I sprinkled yesterdays forgotten gremolata onto the lamb for flavour.

Neely, I had to smile at the forgotten gremolata, I'm always forgetting something when I have guests.

Stacie, it's nice to see you here again. I'm still canning, did 22 pints of regular salsa and 14 of peach salsa, so far.

Sleevendog, are you on vacation? You never miss a whole week, LOL.

Here we're eating, but I'm crazy busy. The garden has just exploded, but I'm not going to complain about having too much, that's for sure.

I have two peach trees but they are the cling type, so need to be peeled with a peeler and then cut in chunks from the pits. My garage looks like this and I still have more on the tree:

So, I've canned 30 pints of peaches, have put gallon bags of peach slices in the freezer and today's ripe peaches became one of Elery's favorites, fried pies:

We've had some quick meals and I haven't taken a lot of pictures, but last night we had tomato dumplings with our garden tomatoes, some of the last green beans and venison loin medallions with sauteed sweet onions, gotta take advantage of all that garden!

BEfore that we had home grown chicken with my own canned BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, some cushaw squash and fried green tomatoes, all from the farm/garden:

Who knows what tomorrow might bring, LOL, but I'll try to be better about taking pictures!

Annie

What a great lot of peaches. Love all your produce from the farm/garden .Annie.

I made a large beef pot pie (no bottom pastry ) . The mince was quite solid from the thick bechamel/ brown sauce so held together quite well. Plenty of Worcestershire sauce made the filling quite rich.

It would be great if we could see or hear about others dinners.

Dinner for us was chicken fillet, with small potatoes and silver beet in a white wine and tarragon sauce with thyme as well.

Unfortunately, I had a brain freeze and deleted the photo and can’t get it to come back.

Edited to add that I finally found a way to get this photo back… don’t ask. Smile.

Neely, your beef pie looks amazing, I'd like that a lot, I think.

I've taken some photos, but just haven't gotten around to transferring them from camera to computer, I"ve been canning catsup and slicing those peaches as they ripen, so maybe tomorrow, after my dentist appointment and loading up the heifer calves I sold to a neighbor. Depends on how cooperative the calves are, probably, LOL.

Annie

I think most of the youger crowd uses instagram. As well as some friends our age. Mostly meals out and TJ's type fare. Not many cooking forums are very active anymore.

2020 i was surprized how many just don't cook at home at all...mostly take-out. Or rely on processed foods. Why i joined a friends and family group to encourage some easy meal prep at home. I like the no-recipe cooking...use what you have rather than a long list of ingredients$$$.

Food bloggers went monetized with pop-ups and lots of advertizing. Parroting other recipes to fill content. (endless amounts of photos to fill pages)

My iphone photos go straight to the 'cloud' and into my photo file immediately. Easy posting, no down-loading. So easy i've been starting files for 'holiday' meals and 'entertaining meals'...i can reference what works and what fails.

We road-trip North almost every weekend all summer. 2-3 days. Not far. (weather permiting)

Then a revolving door of house guests. One stayed and dog sat while we traveled South.

Back last week, i ordered deliveries to arriave the next morning. Driving home we planned the next few meals....

Argentinian wild red shrimp. So Shrimp rolls...

Then another BLT. Hopefully not the last of the season.

BLT

That is Row7 GARLEEK

I have been following Row7 for 5-6 years. Nice to see their efforts in the stores now...

Misfits has it as well as the one pound lump crab at a good price...(i stocked up)

Lemons are gorgeous and so fresh. Small but heavy for their size and thin-skinned. Like the small avocadoes. Heavy for their size with tiny pits.

First Misfits order in some time....

Greek Feta Bake

over some braised cabbage

served with some focaccia from the freezer

Last night a seafood chowder....shrimp, salmon, tuna, swordfish...

last of the focaccia from the freezer....good croutons

Tonight we made

- Beef short ribs with a red wine sauce

- Mackerel poached in miso

- Tempura

- Oyster with uni and salmon roe

- Nigiri, salmon uni and roe

- Seared scallops

- Roasted bok choy

- Something else, can’t rightly recall

It was the first serious group cooking effort in the work-in-progress kitchen and it (the kitchen) worked well

basic pressure cooker short ribs with red wine sauce

I alway add a little sugar to the sauce

mackerel poached in miso, with a mirin-soy-sake-sugar (teriyaki) sauce

soak mackerel filets in cold salted water, changing water 3x, to eliminate “fishiness”

DD made nigiri - H-Mart has improved its sashimi selection

tempura veggies, grilled peppers

and there were oysters but they were gone before I could take a photo

they made a dent in the food

Looks ambitious and delicious. Just picked up a Costco box of Pocky for Haloween treaters and holiday Dim Sum gatherings.

Made a batch of broth friday. Having soups, chowders, and rice/noodle bowls 3-4 times a week, and recent house guests, we go through it fast this time of years.

Seemed appropriate to make a noodle/dumpling bowl last night.

That looks amazing! Great eggs!

I’m so happy for soup weather.

Noodle dumpling bowl looks great., are those sushi pieces in there as well?

We had sausages on the BBQ for lunch yesterday and had some left over.

I made Sol’s zucchini pancakes and wrapped a sausage in them... served with tomato chutney. If I remember correctly, Sol put a piece of nice cheese eg. Brie in her original ones. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind my adaptation... miss Sol.

That is Korean Kimbap. Similar to Japanese sushi but mostly a breakfast/lunch snack. Our favorite coffee shop, opened a dozen years ago, has the usual counter offerings plus some others like empanadas, kimbap they call 'dogs'. Three varieties....vegan, vegetarian (with egg) and an odd tuna 'dog'...with tuna salad. Like you get with mayo from tinned tuna. Oddly good.

It has become a NY obsession.

We have a new HMart with an enormous food court that makes fresh. (The only grocery we like shpping in person together.)

I have read TJ's has it frozen and so popular they limit 2 per person. Not great reviews but if a family of kids that love it...what is not to love a mostly vegetable roll for the lunchbox or after school snack heated microwave or cold.

For 25-30 years, we would meet friends for DimSum. Once a month or two. And both our families visiting. And another Chinatown food tour for dumplings and noodle bowls. Another favorite for Vietnamese spring rolls and rice/noodle bowls.

Not sure what took me so long, but now am hosting DimSum at home. I now have 9 bamboo steamers. Started this tradition a year ago.

All friends and both families like marinated ramen eggs...I just make various 'jammy' and firm.

Does depend on the size of the eggs but the 10 minute eggs i turn off the heat and let steam for a few more minutes for my sister and mother that like them not so jammy.

I received a phone call while writing last time and forgot to post so here we are again.

I said that DimSum At Home sounded like a good book title.

For dinner we had our iconic lamb chops, peas and mashed potatoes with mint sauce.

Pretty plate!. I see same in my future. Rack of lamb in my freezer, and peas.

Excellent book title or International DimSum Café. I've recently started a DimSum photo file of new ones to try. So many using rice wrappers.

Still nice weather but threat of a first frost next week. Pulled in my meyer lemon tree last night.

Had to have another BLT

Had a rare for us hot dog treat. With kimchi and sauerkraut. Potato salad. Quick pickles.

Good locally made dogs

Salmon. Cast iron seared stovetop. Oven finished. Miso reumelaude glaze from chef Edward Lee's book i just read. He uses crushed pork rinds but i only have panko. (i can't keep pork rinds on the shelf. Love them, eat them)

Friday night we had a 'surf-n-turf' and veg noodle bowl. Healthy full crisper drawer. Steak and shrimp.

Last night a Beef and Egg Vegetable Fried Rice

I'm roasting trays of tomatoes today and a big stovetop miropoix for a 'Master Tom'. A master tomato marinera. Freezing in half pints for winter soups, pasta, added to fish chowders...

Time for a Winter forward posting 2024. Fall/Winter.

Go for it… look forward to seeing those trays.

Simple stuff tonight

Salmon lightly cooked in mirin-sake-soy-sugar (teriyaki)

Oysters from Waluppa (sp) Bay

Scallops coated in flour with onion and garlic and mushroom powder, sauteed

Beef short ribs, I tried first cooking then at 350F with full steam for 10 min, then did a sort of rub, let sit to dry, then broiled at 425F no steam 3 minutes. I’ve a new cooking toy, and trying to figure out how it works.

Fall! It is Soup Time!