Testing to see if my post comes here. It seems that once again I am unable to start a thread or even continue the one I started about Europe. I’ve been posting about my trip but nothing seems to be appearing.

I cut up some boneless lamb this morning to marinate for kebabs. Will serve with pilaf and Greek salad. This is the marinade I used.

6 T. EACH red wine and red wine vinegar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper

1/2 tsp. dried oregano or rosemary

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 T. olive oil

For anyone interested, this garlic spread from TJ’s is good with grilled lamb or chicken. Be advised it’s very garlic-y with a nice kick of lemon.

Neely, I see your post here!

Nothing new yet in your Europe thread. If it took your posts but didn't post them, they're probably flagged for human review, probably because you're posting from a different place. It might take a few days, or threw the weekend, from my experience.

"probably because you're posting from a different place"

But she can post okay in this thread. And I've often posted from different countries without any problem.

I did a test in the Europe thread and it went in. (Then I deleted.)

Asparagus vichysoisse with cilantro oil

Flank steak marinated and grilled, sauced and topped with chimmichurri.

Neely, We are traveling. (family reunion). One bar cell service. Annoying on and off. Stopped attempting to post a few days ago. Enjoying dead silence. No TV or music. No computers open. Just the shore birds, windows open. Walks on the beach.

Remote NationalSeashore protected. (near my family home). All local seafood all week...blue crabs, oysters, shrimp.

John, the flank with chimichurri looks so good. Two of my favorites!

@chloebud - first grilling of the year!

Butternut sage risotto

We went to a newish sushi place tonight, in downtown Portland. It was a pleasant evening, and there were people strolling and going in and out of restaurants.

Downtown is an odd place nowadays. Most of the offices are vacant, the crowds of office workers are gone, the little lunch spots and dry cleaners and other businesses that catered to the 9-to-5 set are struggling or gone. The city has cleaned up the tents and driven out the campers and dealers. With them gone, people are coming back to downtown to shop, eat, drink, but not so much to work anymore. The ground floors of buildings are lighted and used, the upper floors are dark.

It is oddly pleasant, even if it also feels and is unsustainable. Eventually the class B and C downtown office buildings, many of them lovely pre-war buildings with ornate detail and classic design, will go into foreclosure and be sold for twenty cents on the dollar, to new owners who will find new uses for them as . . . maybe residential conversions, maybe very inexpensive offices, maybe live-work lofts or creative spaces. Hopefully not as demolished vacant lots.

Anyway, this sushi bar is an all-you-can eat omasake place for $100/head. The review said the fish was good. It was. Really good, some was the best I’ve had in ages.

This is steelhead, Hokkaido scallop, squid, and mackerel. The scallop was excellent and I now want to go to Hokkaido.

This is a deep fried shrimp head with the raw body.

This is an egg custard with roe and uni. I’m going to make this.

This is lean ahi, toro, uni, and waygu. The uni was the best I’ve had in many years. The toro was like mousse.

After the omakase part, which you’ve just seen (less a few plates I forgot to photograph), you are invited to order as much as you want of anything. We had big plans, but after eating for an hour and a half, you just get full from the sheer time at the table. So we could only manage some more ahi, toro, saba, and waygu, plus an order of karage and a mochi dessert.

Spring is happy time. One of the very early harvests from the garden is hostas. Tender, delicious shoots, with shrimps.

dcarch

I am so behind

‘blue crabs, oysters, shrimp’ sounds like wonderful seafood Sleeve. Safe travels.

Great food as usual Annie

Floral ‘butternut and sage risotto sounds like you’re here in Italy too. It seems to me the Italians like to use sage quite a lot. A meal I had was sea bass with sage potatoes and there were huge bunches of sage for sale at the local fruit and veg market. Also let’s not forget veal saltimbocca and sage.

The sea base was first presented as whole cooked fish sizzling on a platter and then filleted to serve like this with no bones.

John your asparagus vichyssoise with cilantro oil sounds amazing and that sushi place, well just so good.

Your marinated lamb kebabs sound very good chloebud.

I’m afraid our climate is no good for growing hostas dcarch

I have tried to start a thread again but no luck. If anyone has some time perhaps you could start a thread for me, perhaps Neely’s Food in Europe or something like that. I would be so grateful as I have quite a few food and travel stories I would like to share.

Done, Neely. Your thread is posted. So sorry about your forum That fish sounds great, and I can't even eat fish!

ETA: They took it away!

I've made another attempt with a more cryptic title.

I was thinking ploughman's lunch, but couldn’t face the hot carrot pickles this early. so, short of that, it was an interesting new peppercorn cheese, and the new loaf is breakfast radishes and same size and shape carrots, coin sliced. Nearly forgot the seasoning, but it seems to have distributed evenly (salt and citrus alium pepper). It had good legs in the baking bowl. Great crumb. The radishes melted more than the carrots, thus the voids, but there are pink spots, plus a few soft pinky pieces. Mostly, it’s just nice bread, with spots.

ARG!! Neely, they really, really, really don't want you to post. I didn't even mention you in the World Food Explorers thread but poof! It's gone. I don't know why, but I did try. I had thought it was an overactive AI, but it seems to be more than that. I don't know why....

ETA: There's something wrong. The threads aren't reordering in the index as they're added to. I did a test post and it did post. Sat at the top for a few minutes, then disappeared. So, unless I'm flagged for trying to make a thread for you, it's not you!

Burro è salvia is one of my favourite ways with pasta. Very simple. Worth a try if you see it, Neely. I use quite a bit of sage, which I grow, especially with anything porky.

Friday night: chicken, spinach and potato curry.

Donkey? Floral, would you please explain what's in it?

Dinner in bags: A smallish store-type bag appeared at my door. Inside was a paper shopping bag. Inside that was a giant plain plastic bag. Inside that was a whole lobster, red from the pot, I want to say "swimming" but it wasn't alive, in butter, large chunks of garlic and some red spices I would call "cajun sesasoning". No cracker. I have two seafood crackers and a nut cracker. I could draw pictures. But I don't think I've seen them for years and they're not where one might find such things. The lobster, which was personal sized--not mini, but not one of those giants they parade around restaurants on show--and it was all for me (I didn't pay much attention to the rest, though there was for sure fried shrimp. as in shells removed) but it wasn't cracked open the way it's served in a fancy restaurant. It was whole, and hard.

So I carried what I could find into the dining room: A funnel style nut cracker, a metal meat mallet and bar sized cutting board, and my kitchen shears that have a toothed curved part for cracking nuts. Th mallet was least useful. It softened up some parts enough to use the scissors on, but not much. The funnel cracker was the only thing that worked on the thumbs. The cracker part of the shears was only sized to fit the knuckles but it did that really well. the part that meets between the cracker part and below pierced the claws enough to be able to break and cut the claws open enough to get the meat. The carapace took brute force, but the meat was mostly pulled away and it was just about getting it out. The most useful part was a little pickle fork! Not the stab out of the jar kind, but from my mother's old kitchen stainless which is meant to go on the relish plate, or for stabbing sliced meats off the serving platter. Both the fork and the tail as a pusher, did a lot for the cause.

Never fear. The company held up the conversation while I worked--and I mean worked--my way through the whole of that bug! Deep into it the spice made my nose run and sneeze, but it was delicious! The spice didn't overwhelm the lobster flavor at all. The garlic in the lobster bag was the only vegetable to be seen. It was crunchy and good, not burny, but I don't think I ate enough of it to count. I'd put together a green salad for a midnight snack, but I'm still full. Tomorrow is another day.

Very jealous of the lobster.

Neely is in Italy, not Spain, Pillog! Burro è salvia is incredibly simple to make. No donkeys required. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/may/29/recipe-for-pasta-with-butter-to-save-and-salve-pasta-al-burro-e-salvia-by-letitia-clark

Okay, so pasta with butter and sage, not pork? It looks appealing, even if I can't figure out what it is.

No. No pork. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I was just saying that sage goes well with pork dishes. Not that pork was involved in pasta with sage and butter. There's no figuring out really. That's the recipe. Pasta, butter, sage and some parmesan if wanted. All triggered by Neely's remarking on the amount of sage she's seeing in Italy.

Thanks! I'm not usually so dense. I totally missed the caption with the picture, in all those times looking at your post. The dish truly looks like chicken legs and spinach! I was trying to reconcile the pasta dish with the picture. My only excuse, a flimsy one, is that I was overworked and underslept all week. Thank-you for your patience, Floral! I also didn't know ”burro” was butter in Italian (it's ”manteca” in Spanish). One would think it would have floated by me on restaurant menus and recipes, but if so, I missed it! We eat burros, as in donkeys, all the time here (in the way that ”dogs” or ”hotdogs” are sausages). Burros are full sized versions of burritos, which you probably know are sizable wheat tortillas loaded with a pile of goodies and wrapped like an egg roll.

On restaurant menus, they call often the big ones “burrito” too, or ”burrito grande” to get the idea across to the general populace, and it's common all around to just say ”burritos”, I'd guess, in fact, that ”burrito” was the original form. They used to be like pasties or saussge rolls, walking foods that were meant to warm the hands and stomachs of workmen. When my mother was young, the schoolbus stop was at the main rancho. The kids, like the workers, would go into the kitchen, where the tortillas were in a warmer on the range, and big pots of beans and chili were keeping warm on the back burners, balance a tortilla on their palm, ladle on a pile of beans, etc., and fold them up into burritos, then go wait in the bean fog (like golf course fog) for the bus and eat them to keep warm.

Burros are made with giant tortillas, and sometimes two, overlapping, served on a plate, and usually ”wet”, with sauce and toppings. There's an in between, very common size that's made in a large but normal sized tortilla, kind of two hand size, which might be eaten wet or dry, often lifted like a sandwich, but not a walk down the street size, which is usually called a burrito, but sometimes a burro.

Which has nothing to do with any of your post, which is why I was asking if your word mean donkey.

The picture was the curried chicken legs with spinach which I had for dinner. Nothing to do with the completely different dish involving sage which I was recommending to Neely.

Yeah. That's what I just figured out this morning, after a good, garlic-scented sleep. I literally didn't see the “Friday night: chicken, spinach and potato curry.” before, in many looks at your post. Apologies, again. And further thanks for your forbearance.

😂

OK, now this is Saturday night. Scallops followed by baked salmon and vegetables.

I love crab but I've never had soft shells. Are they always deep fried in batter? When are they in season?

lovely seafood, both fin and shell.

Soft shell crab are typically fried, not necessarily with batter. Can be simply dry rubbed then pan fried in butter. I’ve never tried boiling or steaming them.

EasterShore blue crabs are almost always battered and fried or cast iron pan shallow fried. Even in NYC Jpanese restuarants. I find they need that high heat to crisp the shells or they are way too chewy. (i don't mind the chew)

Similar to shrimp heads. My grandmother would gather all the shrimp heads and tails during a boil-up, batter and fry for pop. My brother and i loved them as well.

The season started now through the Fall. Depends on the water temps and where you are up and down the coast.

They freeze well. We will pick up a dozen one they way out of town tomorrow.

Usually the older generations that don't understand the advances in flash freezing. I've read it takes about 3 minutes for most proteins, especially seafood, to freeze solid. Something like 40 below but don't remember the details.

An interesting documentary on YTube showing the process. They put the crabs in shallow holding tanks and watch them all day to catch them within minutes of shedding their hard shells.

Not clear in the pic, but they are served on toasted boule, open faced. DH and brother had theirs full on sandwiches. Top and bottom toast.

A couple days ago i made Oyster Po' Boys. More common on the EasternShore, DelMarVa, are oyster fritters on burger buns. Po'Boys more common south, especially New Orleans

Creole remoulade at the table. The red stuff is chopped Kimchi on the oysters. Missing is a good thinly sliced crunchy lettuce but made due with what i had.

A couple brunch sandwiches...

Fiddlehead fern come around now, but only for a few days, then you will have to wait till next year.

Made fiddlehead and drum sticks on asparagus from the garden.

dcarch

Musical!

Does anybody know whom to tell that the forum is broken?

Exhausting day. No oomph to cook. Cental American grilled shrimp and vegetables take out. Really good and effortless to eat.

I tried posting this on my Europe thread but it’s gone crazy again. So hope you don’t mind I’ve posted here in WFD.

John you asked where we were in Venice. We stayed just around the corner ( or 3 plus a bridge ) from the San Angelo vaporetto stop. We thought it was the perfect location… walking distance to St Marks square and as you know the vaporetto ( water bus ) will take you everywhere.
I loved Venice it was so beautiful but exhausting for me. Really as floral said it is a walking and water city.
We went a lot of places including the Gardens of the Biennale Architecture 2025. We went for the opening of the Australian Pavilion which was great with an indigenous dancer and the exhibit was a rammed earth wall our theme was HOME. Went into your (USA) exhibition pavilion and thought it was very good. Fantastic use of wood and your theme was PORCH. Visited many countries exhibitions. Tried to get into the Russia one as we were curious to have a look
but the man at the door said “Madam we are close ed” . There were people inside but they weren’t letting other nationals in, unlike all the other countries.
Below Exterior Australian Pavilion

Below. Interior Australian Pavilion

Below
The exterior of the USA Pavilion

Below
The interior of the USA Pavilion

The English Pavilion was very well done

Below
Exterior Gran Bretagna

Below Interior English exhibit

Went to the 1700C Cafe Florian on St Marks Square for breakfast. We had salmon and spinach quiche and it came served on a silver tray.
Below Breakfast at Cafe Florian
Exterior

Below Interior

Below
Salmon Quiche and Cappaccino

Lunch the first day in Venice was squid ink spaghetti with a mixed seafood ragu. Below

Hope my WiFi issues improve at next place. The Houzz IT don’t seem to like me changing countries do they ?

Nice first leg of your trip. Post more pics when better internet!

@john. I want to make that as well. A savory custard. Came up in my NYTimes feed just after you posted...

Managed all my hometown favorites. I want another oyster Po'Boy and an oyster Pan Roast so will pick up shucked jars of select and reg to take home.

Saturday we had a big boil-up. Half bushel blue crabs steamed by the fish monger, (too much old bay but rinsed off my dozen), a couple pounds of jumbo shrimp, and 6 dozen oysters. (6$ a dozen). Only my brother, DH and I like raw oysters but the three dozen we grilled with a lemon miso butter everone loved, (bummer).

Yesturday day was a big DimSum day...all day. Thanks to Misfits i only made crab and shrimp Shumai. Rest of the crab i made ravioli this morning for lunch.

I brought a two tier steamer basket and Mom for some reason has a larger three tier, (i know she has never used). Bringing that home with me. That increases my steamers to 15 now. Our favorite way to entertain the past couple years. DimSum is a first for my family. All obsessed with ramen eggs and all of it. Especially the Mille Fuille and of course the Spring Tonic i made every other day all week.

The times are just loose timings i did last year for friend gatherings at home.

Best thing i have been doing every visit is having Misfits sent to my family home. Three big boxes this time with so many people around...a full house. (why we rent a beach house nearby).My parents, the past couple years, have a group of caregivers. A dozen or so in rotation with a head 'Mother'. 2 hours in the morning 7-9 and two hours in the afternoon. Not nurses but they clean, laundry, everything. Then an overnight nurse. They make breakfast, lunch, dinner. Simple things....they don't eat much.

One thing they don't do is my Dad's favorite mixed grain. A half pint heated with an over easy egg for breakfast, with salmon for dinner. I've been trying to stock their freezer but everyone likes it.

Lundberg is Sacramento Ca. I think Arrowhead is Texas. Annie, the panko is the best i've ever had. Seems silly but so chunky and chrispy. A new company 2020 made in Chicago. I run it through the spice grinder or cuisinart if i want a finner mix. I stocked up. The best-by is 2-2026.

My home master stock is running low so ordered for family...

Another heads up for Annie. Misfits has kimchi and sauerkraut. Elery would love. USA made but i can't find location. So glad i ordered double for family. (brother, wife, older sister are staying till the end of month. Niece flying in end of month so i might zip back down. DH has had enough, lol). ...too many people all taking at once about nothingness. 😂

The BangBang sauce is a new to me company from Clearwater Florida. Purchased at the local fishmonger. I bought three different ones....a treat for the family. Excellent with shrimp. I'm more interested in ingredients so i can make my own once home.

Unfortunately my favorite wine vinegar is from italy....i thought it was a California product. I ordered a couple cases last month, 12 bottles. (tarifs)

Another Misfits sellection i rarely purchase. All their chocolate covered this and that. Dried fruits i do like. Nut and seed and dried fruit mixes for road trips. Kept mixes on the table 24/7 all week....my crispy rice crackers with wasabi dipping sauce...gone in minutes.

I don't make sweets or cake....Misfits saves the day once again.

Looking forward to my own bed at home...sister going through chemo back in the ER last night.

Lots of good food and cooking for the family Sleeve

Here’s some more food from Venice.

Below

Fancy croissant from cafe/bar in the morning on way the PeggyGuggenheim Museum.

Below…Coffee, supposed to be Cafe Latte. This photo is not how we drink our coffee in Australia, we have it much stronger with a little hot milk

Below…Mozzarella and tomatoes for lunch

Below… Buffalo Mozzarella and roasted vegetables for another lunch

We went to Harry’s Bar for another lunch. This is an iconic restaurant on the Grand Canal near St Marks square and part of the Hotel Cipriani.

Below

Had Steak tartare and squid and shrimp tartare.

Below…Had creamed salted cod and polenta a speciality of this restaurant and Venice in general

I never liked polenta and now I do.

I never tried another speciality which was calves liver and onions but did have the Sour Sardinas

below

Had ravioli… can’t remember what sort.

Dessert

More later as WiFi keeps dropping out and I want to get this posted.

mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm

DD made a lamb ragut and a truffle cream pasta.

The “truffle cream“ was actually a sauce velouté, from whence came a sauce allemande, and finally a sauce régence blanche. Yes, she was playing with a book of classical French sauces. I shall have to try making some of these sauces, it looks interesting.

Thanks, Sleevendog, I will be making a Misfits order soon because it's not garden time yet. I bought that Lundburg wild rice blend last time but haven't used it.

Neely, everything looks amazing, wow, I'll keep watching for more.

John, your DD is really branching out from camp cooking!

I've been MIA, the Princess graduated from college this weekend and we had a family party, and it's garden time, so I've been occupied and out of trouble. I do have pictures, here's the graduate! Fuzzy picture because she was pretty far away. Thank goodness for telescopic lenses!

Annie

Annie, wow. Princess is grown up and starting her career. (now a life-time of nightmares having failed to attend a class singned up but forgot)...😂

She is beautiful.

sleeve

I’ve got to catch up on the food but WHAT?! College graduation?! I forget that internet people age, too.

Sleeve - Funny about the dream; I had no idea that was so common! I hate that one.

Congratulations, annie!

Yes Neely, now that you can post again, please show us more!

On Sleeve’s dream - I was a rather casual student, and actually did that. Three times.

In high school, I told my dad I was bored by some of my classes, he said I didn’t have to go, so I didn’t, and finally the school ordered me “suspended until he returns to class”. This was in my junior year. I dropped out of high school and started college.

In my last quarter in college, I signed up for some class, got bored, stopped attending, missed the midterm, missed the final, got an F. Didn’t care, had been accepted to grad school already.

Much later, in B school, I absolutely hated the “Organizational Behavior” class, and stopped attending after the midterm. I showed up for the final to see if I could pass by just making stuff up. I got a ”C” so at least I didn’t have to repeat the class.

Ah for the days when you could just piss off and there were no consequences!

A cousin was loudly obnoxious and told the professor off from the middle of the lecture hall seating. He didn't graduate but was accepted into the graduate program he wanted on a ”10% nuts factor”.

Annie, congratulations!

Through one thing and another, I haven't actually cooked anything for days. Tonight I made a bought salad, that was just tender greens, look good (sorry- I keep forgetting pictures) by making it polka dot. There were toasted panko crunchies and pink thin but opaque vinaigrette, so those were the dots. Just dots all over like some primordial variegated plant. It was really cute! And just enough of both. I used about 2/3.

Away from home walking in Wales.

Looking forward to our next road trip North. We always stop day one for Lobster Rolls. day two is Fish and Chips. Something i never make at home. Having panko crusted baked cod tonight.... close as i usually come to fried.

😂, Last nights dinner conversation was all about HighSchool and College stories. Recent nightmares since 2020 have been all about work. Never having what i need for a task....i'm very organized.