Dinner tonight - or last night.

I've had straitened money circumstances (health and killer insurance costs, yada yada) affecting me a long time now, and I already liked cooking, which is a good thing or I'd be in a giant problem vortex. I eat out maybe once a month.

They talk about the poor eating stupidly but some of us can be smart. I should write a book or blog, but nah. Or at least not right now.

So... I rarely buy packaged goods, as I can make the equivalent for a lot of that, or am not interested in making cherios. I've explored chiles and spices and herbs here in New Mexico, way different than in my past experience, but they are fun to play with and fairly cheap. Still a lot to learn, but local.

I'd like to see real anchovies.. freshly marinated anchovies, so good. Memories of Santa Monica food places..

Use what you have. Create. That is why the French got to be so Great. These modern chefs who think that they can't make a dish good without every ingredient being fresh top shelf dont have any skill.

Back before chefs got to be mostly useless there was a common test, tell a guy to go make you a bowl of soup out of the leftovers in 20 minutes. A good chef would make you something awesome no matter what he had to work with.

But you know this.

Rare. I know only one place in the last few years that did this. And they stopped. Really good though, you know your way around food Osso. But then you know that too.

We concur, re anchovies.

Mark that down!

I am almost positive that I remember Santa Monica Seafood having fresh ones. And that that was where some now gone smart place in SMonica had purchased them. SM Seafood, I'm not sure they are still there or if they are, how good they are - used to be a fantastic place. I think I have read since that they moved a few blocks away, and that they are big distributors.

I know a lot, miss stuff, and forget a lot.

I was a cranky kid, not liking anything that wiggled. That included spaghetti, any egg white, mushrooms in cream of mushroom soup, which I used to spoon out.
Diane and I talked about this today, lots of laughs.

It's a testimony to my fortitude that I tasted eel in a japanese bar and liked it. It was good. I stopped at raw sea urchin.

I did a mash - up of Mr. B's and Emeril's BBQ shrimp recipes, Grits, and Brussels sprouts roasted with onion/garlic/celery/ balsamic/wine vinegar/ Creole Seasoning

Very Nice.

Last evening I ate a few homemade spinach garlic ravioli with butter. Good, but not just right. Likely a matter of both me and the recipe. I'm going back to my long ago italian teacher's easy dough recipe, so there! Either that or I'm going to switch to making empanadas.

Last evening, my lady-friend, Deanna, made sprouted tofu (pan sauteed in tamari) and then plated it with my cooked quinoa to it. What made it taste great is that it was made by someone else (her). Nothing tastes better than a meal made by someone else.

Afterward, for dessert we had cold unfiltered (nigori) sake. We both have become recent converts to this lovely potent potable.

Yesterday night:
Two Philadelphia rolls, one eel and avocado roll, and one miso soup. #yummy

Is it true that vegans hate food that tastes good?

Last night, a small porterhouse from a home raised grass fed Red Dexter Cattle. These portions are just human sized and not thoise outrageous 48 oz (thick cuts) of an Angus .
Viscount corn on the cob (A late producing very sweet corn still in development for broader markets and northern farms)

Salad from our garden with onions (homies) and maters (ditto)

dessert was a homemade punkin roll made from neighbors punkins.

I cant eat like that any more. I find that today I feel loagie and bloated.

Meats are now more for flavoring (except for clams or duck)

Even salads , I just use a sweet rice vinegar and herbs and no oil)

No idea as I'm not a vegan. I do play one on TV, though.

I don't think that vegans taste good.

All kidding aside, we ate this particular meal due to my g/f and her having a gluten allergy as well as other food sensitivity issues (think almost like Celiacs disease). She has to limit the types of grain ...partic. wheat) and other foods she has or she has a bad reaction. In fact, I had the quinoa, but she didn't.

There were people making their own tofu back in the area I used to call north north (Arcata/Eureka environs) but I've only bought it packaged at average grocery stores. People were crafty around there.. lots of locally made soaps and jams and knitwear from local alpaca wool, not to mention wordworking geniuses.

Best tofu I ever ate was at a chinese restaurant in LA - fairly big cubes stuffed with
lap chong, crispy on the outside and ladled into a good broth. Ah, memories.

This is a brand of sprouted tofu carried by Trader Joe's (their own house brand). Frankly, I could not detect a difference in any taste from reg good tofu.

However, a side-effect seems to be that a tofu bush is appearing through my belly-button.

Excellent! You'll now be able to make your own. An outstanding example of sourcing food locally

making faux chicken parmesan with the chicken tenders I brought home from the grocery deli counter last night

smelling marvellously garlic garlic garlic garlicky yummy

In honor of the Cubbies I'm grilling brats with sauerkraut.
Potato salad with peas and sliced hard boiled egg.
Go Jays!

woot woot woot

oh

the faux chicken parm was good!

I snuck in extra tomatoes



Set doesn't know how healthy that meal was



it was served with