So...whats for dinner?

Hey Celia - nice to see you. "Hassleback' potatoes - my best discovery to date during the quarantine.

Special - I speed read "Production" specialist and was about to ask what he did in the movie industry. Well "Protection" specialist is another matter. What an interesting profession.

Ham & swiss sangys on Hawaiian rolls yesterday with potato salad. Potato salad for me again today - and tomorrow too. I think today I'll pair it with smoked oysters on the new "Everything" crackers I got at Trader Joes. And maybe a little guacamole to start.

For breakfast, I made slow-scrambled eggs with black truffle salt, white truffle oil, "backyard" parsley & chives. I made Bob a huge poppyseed bagel, schmear & lox with all the trimmings (yesterday, I had the much, much smaller keto sesame version--Great American Low-Carb Bread Co., which tastes sort of bland on its own but is a good "vehicle" for all the lox & such). We are down to one ripe and three little green homegrown tomatoes on the sill. Sliced into the ripe one for the bagels & lox. Will likely resume buying tomatoes later this week. The hydroponic basil in the window is hanging in there, as are my "pandemic scallions." The container basil & curly parsley are no more, but the chives are hanging on; the oregano, flatleaf parsley, rosemary, thyme & mint are going strong.

We decided to go out for Hanukkah dinner, and booked a table at RPM Steak, which the Chicago Tribune said was one of the city's restaurants offering a Hanukkah menu (brisket, latkes, etc.). When we got there (and paid the parking valet), we found out that only a couple of restaurants in the Lettuce Entertain You chain--Aba, Ema (both of which are Israeli-themed) and L.Woods (in heavily Jewish Lincolnwood)--were offering it. We did go non-trad (and non-Kosher) for the apps: Caesar salad with parmesan frico instead of croutons (Bob had a spinach-kale salad) and we shared an appetizer of "thick cut bacon," which was so thick it was practically a pork short rib. Bob had filet mignon for his entree; I had pasture-raised bone-in bison filet. Sides were broccolini & "millionaire's potato:" twice-baked, skin fried and then stuffed with the innards mixed with Fontina cheese with Alba truffle shaved over it. But we did have their fried beignet donuts for dessert, which is sort of like sufganyot (sugared donuts)--but the Boston cream dipping sauce and the giant bowl of cotton candy are (to put it mildly) a departure. I'm still waiting to come down from the sugar-rush.

Tomorrow night I will have my leftover bison, broccolini and (along with a couple of Carb Intercept capsules) the remaining 1/3 of the potato. (We did kill off the truffle shavings). Undecided whether to add some truffle oil to the spud. My black truffle oil has lost most of its aroma, and the white is still delicious but down to my last couple of teaspoons. To my chagrin, every brand of black truffle oil now has "essence," "extract" or "1% flavoring" (lab-created truffle aroma--chemically identical to the actual esters in the real thing, but still not the same); and only Urbani makes a white truffle oil without it. I had bought DaRosario's black truffle oil last year when they boasted of using nothing but EVOO and truffles; but now that my bottle of it is empty, I've found that they, too, have started adding "essence." The saving grace is that I never buy more than an ounce or two--so it won't go rancid. Chefs and food writers universally condemn truffle oil as fooling people into thinking they know what truffles taste and smell like (actually, white truffles have an insanely great aroma but nearly no flavor; black is earthy & nutty but none too aromatic). I've had the real thing (usually a few shavings of it in restaurants at this time each year), so I harbor no illusions as to whether the oils mimic the taste of it. I use it sparingly, and only as a finishing condiment.

My truffle salt does have actual dried truffle crumbles in it.

Sandy, you wrote that the white and black are distinctly different...I've had the black and was shocked that I hated it. Smelled like wet socks on a wet cat. I've never had the white...from what you experienced, the aroma is the same, but the white is milder? Or totally different nuances between the two?

We had the last of the birria-lasagna/enchilada thingie last night. Tonight will be grilled sockeye, pan fried potatoes and broccoli (I think).

Minus, LOL, I should have said wet gym socks on a wet cat. Feel free to quote it as you wish.

DH has the cilantro-hating gene. He can't define the taste but it revolts him. I worship it.

I like cilantro. A healthy looking plant is growing in my herb garden on the patio.

Dinner last night was catfish fillets and steamed broccoli. I breaded the fillets with Louisiana fish fry, sprayed with olive oil spray and cooked in 400 degrees oven. They didn’t brown enough for my liking so I turned on the broiler. That did the trick.

I used the microwave method to steam the broccoli and flavored it with fresh lemon juice and butter. Dh made his usual tartar sauce for the fish

To night will be pot roast leftovers.

...can never get enough cilantro... :-) Fortunately, Sharon and DD also like the taste of it.

I love cilantro, too--but unlike with parsley, never had any luck growing it. According to my 23&Me profile, I do not have the gene for aversion to cilantro. My mom hated it, though. As to truffles, I read something fascinating: fully 25% of the population cannot detect the taste of black or white truffle; but 40% have a powerful aversion to black truffles--comparing the scent to sweat, wet dog or dirty socks. But if white truffles have aroma but almost no taste, why are they so (relatively) popular? Because 80% of taste is actually smell! Even if there are few to no "umami" tastebuds on the tongue, there are olfactory receptors at the rear of the nasopharynx, just below the bottom of the nose. So if you like the "taste" of white truffle you actually like the scent!

AFAIK, there are no truffle oils on the market that rely solely on truffles for the taste & aroma! I checked the labels of the bottles I have, as well as the online ingredients lists for every brand I found. All of them (even those with truffle bits) list (usually at the very end) "essence," "aroma," or "flavouring" (sic). And all of those telltale words are synonyms for the lab-created ester responsible for truffles' aroma. Though chemically identical to the compound present in real truffles, it's still synthesized using who-knows-what catalysts, solvents or other ingredients.

Now, you may be wondering "why not just infuse the oil with truffles or extract the compound from the truffle itself?" Well, if you can steep truffle pieces in olive oil and then remove them, the aroma will be there but quite faint & fleeting. If you add fresh truffle crumbs that have not first been dried and leave them in the oil, unless the resulting oil is immediately refrigerated (which will make it congeal), it poses a botulism hazard. And truffles are so scarce and expensive that they are worth much more sold as-is, so subjecting them to an extraction process would be a monumental waste (and cause the chefs of the world to weep unconsolably)--same reason why CBN is so hard to find in dispensaries (it's made from degraded THC, which with the advent of legalization makes weed so popular that it flies off the shelves before it can degrade). So if you're going to buy the stuff, buy the smallest bottle possible, with "extra virgin olive oil" and "truffle" (black or white--the best will include the Latin name and percentage) as the first two ingredients. And use it extremely sparingly, measured in drops! (I read a review that complained it was "disgusting;" the reviewer went on to mention he'd used 1 tablespoon in a recipe for two people).

This is the anniversary of the day my BFF died in 2005. One of her old neighbors came over this evening to raise a couple of glasses in her honor. Gin & Tonics all around.

Sandy, I am accepting the fact I am average..more than ever. Wow, 40% dislike it...yet it is so expensive. Maybe I should be happy about that, LOL.

Minus, I am so sorry to hear about your BFF. I am with Illimae, I hope people remember me over drinks.

I ended up making brown rice in my rice cooker and a big salad to go with the salmon. As is usual, I bought too much food. I think we need to make the Sequim trip more frequently but with covid, we try for 1 to 1-1/2 months for stocking up. Too much temptation out there. Prices are starting to climb out here...small increments, but on more items.

When we lived in Seattle, we loved to take the ferry to Port Townsend--I remember there was a souvenir shop in nearby Port Gamble that sold rocks & seashells. Still have a bowl of those shells, circa 1975, on my coffee table. We also ate a few times at the Three Crabs. Minus, the Whole Foods around the corner from me has three flavors of RainForest Crisps.

I have not heard of the Rainforest Crisps; will have to locate some.

Sandy, Three Crabs was torn down and turned into a "wilderness/beach" area to its original natural orientation. Have not seen it but supposed to be a huge success.

Carol, I agree...too much clear cutting here. We live a block from DNR forest land and parts of it were clear cut 2 years ago. Sad. Not like "forest management" just outright swaths of cut...and the scotch broom has invaded. The Peninsual, in general, is gorgeous, but there are certainly pitfalls here...as all places have; no such thing as "the perfect spot."

Dinner last night was beef enchiladas made with TJ's almond flour tortillas and almond milk cheese, but still yummy. Accompanied by brown rice with adobo sauce mixed in and some refried beans with more of the non-dairy cheese, heated in the oven.

Tonight is burgers on GF buns and sweet potato fries. There was commentary/query some pages back about how to get sweet potato fries crispy - various methods include a hot oven (425 F.), soak them in cold water first and then dry thoroughly, don't salt until done, cut them fairly thin, toss in cornstarch and then olive oil, use parchment and don't crowd the baking sheet, and flip the fries half way through cooking.

minus - I just was in Sprouts a few mins ago and they have the RainForest crackers. I looked and there are some Sprouts in your area-ish, but if you go and they don't have them tell me and I will mail you some, lol!

Thanks the Rain Forest references. I'll try Whole Foods & Sprouts when I get to another side of town.

Anasazi beans tonight - simmered with onion, celery, garlic and some leftover ham.

I love roe/caviar. I always hope the fish I catch is a female! It is so tender and since it is "fresh" rather than salt-preserved, you can taste the beauty of the product without having to use a lot of stuff (sour cream, etc...) to dilute the salt.

I made 1-2-3-4-5 Ribs (a sort of Char siu). Turned out incredible. I cut the sugar to 1 tbs--someone reviewed it and left the sugar out altogether.. (it was 4 on the numbering list) and I ran out of black vinegar so used 1-1/2tbs rice vinegar and 1-1/2 tbs of 'everyday' balsamic. A definite repeater...first time I made it. Ribs were on sale and I managed to hack them into the required size. I can post the link if anyone is interested. Used the brown rice from yesterday and pan "fried" it with shiitake mushrooms and a leek. Broccoli from the microwave.

Leftovers tomorrow.