Roger Federer and hot dogs 3/5/18

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Beebamom

Last night John and I went to see Roger Federer at an exhibition match at the SAP Arena in San Jose, CA.  Called the Match for Africa 5 Silicon Valley, it benefited his foundation which funds early childhood education in 5 southern African nations. It was is a fun event with lots of trick shots and, of course, Roger won in his match over Jack Sock.

Greatest of All Time, Roger Federer

And now from the sublime to the ridiculous…we did not have time for dinner what with the match starting at 7 PM and the commute traffic so we settled on some hot dogs. We got them from a place called Show Dogs at the arena and they were served on poppyseed rolls. I had mine New York style which is basically with mustard and sauerkraut and John had his Chicago style, “all the way.” Chicago style has lots of weird ingredients to me like tomatoes and pickles and hot peppers. It was a great evening.

Hot dogs with sauerkraut and mustard (from the Internet)

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Unsuccessful fried rice. 3/4/18

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Beebamom

I tried a new recipe for chicken fried rice made with a Thai twist and it was not very good. Along with the rice, chicken, and vegetables we put in fish sauce and basil. Squeezing some lime over it helped but not enough. We are leaving Wednesday on our trip to Italy and I was trying to use up vegetables. I would have been better off making soup or a stir fry.

Thai inspired chicken fried rice

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Shrimp in Pernod sauce. 3/2/18

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Beebamom

On March 1 we went to our son’s concert and just picked up a burger at In ‘n Out afterwards. This is the iconic California fast food joint. If you are ever going to one my advice is do not order the fries because they are horrible IMHO. They are not fried twice so have a bad texture.

On Friday we got back to cooking and made the very delicious Shrimp in Pernod sauce.

Shrimp in Pernod sauce

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Manga! Spaghetti Bolognese. 2/28/18

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Beebamom

In anticipation of our trip to Italy next week I made Spaghetti Bolognese. This is, of course, my same old pasta with meat sauce that I make almost every week. As usual it was super yummy and there were hardly any leftovers!

Spaghetti Bolognese

 

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Afghani lunch. 2/27/18

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Beebamom

Today my daughter and I went out to lunch since it was a workday in the office for John. We are always on the lookout for someplace interesting or new and settled on an Afghani restaurant. I ordered mantoo. It is Afghan styled dumplings stuffed with ground beef, onions and spices, topped with a yoghurt sauce, ground beef and split peas.

Mantoo, Afghani savory dumplings

Daughter ordered quablili pallow. The menu said it is Afghanistan’s most famous dish and consists of baked brown Basmati rice with seasoned lamb shank, topped with raisins, almonds and julienne carrots.

Quablili pallow, lamb shank and basmati rice

Both dishes were served with a delicious potato and we had more than enough to eat on Tuesday plus bring back half of each for lunch another day.

What a successful adventure! The food was very tasty and the owners were charming. I will be taking John here on another day.

 

 

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Chicken Monday Classic. 2/26/18

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Beebamom

Our classic Chicken Monday plate always reminds me of Thanksgiving and is a real comfort dish for me. John sous vide the chicken breast which we split between us. I made the rutabagas in the Instant Pot and mashed them. The broccoli was steamed. The dish was finished off with a packet of chicken gravy.

Chicken breast, rutabagas, broccoli

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Thai basil eggplant and tofu. 2/25/18

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Beebamom

Sunday is often when we take a break from cooking and order Chinese food but we decided to make our own Asian cuisine tonight. We are  trying to perfect this dish and we still have not got the sauce to taste quite the way they make it at our favorite Thai restaurant.

First, there is a lot of chopping but afterwards the cooking goes quickly.

Glad my tendinitis is better because there is a lot of chopping!

Pressing the extra firm tofu to relieve it of some of its water is essential. Also getting Chinese or Japanese eggplant makes the dish much tastier than using globe eggplants.

It is basically just a stir fry with a complex tasting Thai sauce. We served this with some rice and a small green salad with a sweet dressing.

Thai basil eggplant and tofu with rice and salad

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Instant Pot beef shanks. 2/24/18

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Beebamom

On Saturday we decided we would make a stew out of a couple of beef shanks we had and then save the stew until Sunday to eat. That did not happen. We ate it right away.

First we browned the shanks and afterward cut them into smaller pieces. This technique is much quicker and easier than browning a bunch of smaller pieces! I sauteed up onions and mushrooms while John cut up the meat. We layered the the rest of the vegetables into the pot, put the meat on top, and added liquid (a can of diced tomatoes, a cup of red wine, and some beef stock) until I could see the liquid but it was not covering the meat. Then we selected pressure cook for 16 minutes. The pressure went down on its own.

Best part of the stew? The shank bones we added that still had marrow in them. We spread it on bread. Yum. All in all an easy, quick dish!

Beef shank stew

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Sausage cacciatore. 2/22/18

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Beebamom

Due to the tendinitis of my left hand I still felt on Wednesday that cooking was too hard and we ordered a pizza for delivery. On Thursday, though, things were improving so I suggested we defrost a couple of sausages and extend the cacciatore sauce with additional olives, peppedew peppers, and V8. So we prepared a non-traditional sausage cacciatore.

Sausage cacciatore

I think I should be able to start cooking on Friday. My hand is feeling a lot better. I also have a lot of vegetables in the refrigerator that I need to use before they turn to slime!

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Chicken cacciatore on a bad day. 2/20/18

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Beebamom

Today was not a good day. I got a cortisone shot in my knee (ouch!) and a splint for my left hand due to de Quervain’s something which is like tendinitis. I woke up with a lump on my hand and it was very painful to move my thumb. On top of that it is cold and the furnace stopped working. Sigh.

Anyway, no chopping for me. We had defrosted the chicken so it needed to be used. John streamlined the dish. There would be no polenta or additional vegetables. So we had the chicken and it’s sauce which was good and I thank him for making it. The chicken and some veg got a bit toasty on top but it still tasted good.

Tomorrow we will just get take out. There is definitely going to be less cooking until my hand heals.

Chicken cacciatore

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