Kevin's Watch

As people might know by now I'm all for homemade stuff. I even think you should make your own pasta, at least for special occasions. But every once in a while I like to indulge in this incrediably yummy and as-good-as-homemade fresh pasta.

Giovanni Rana´s Tortellini Tartufo & Fromaggio


Giovanni Rana's Ravioli Porcini


Just cooked in a bit of water, tossed in sage butter and a bit of parmsan on top - pasta can't get any better.

OMG, those look tasty.

As I just found out the Giovanni Rana brand is coming to the US as well.

dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10 ... ea-market/

Doc Vader wrote:As I just found out the Giovanni Rana brand is coming to the US as well.

dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10 ... ea-market/

About 5 hours away from me by car, but still -- worth thinking about if/when I get back up to NY. And who knows? Maybe they'll open a DC outpost eventually. Thanks!

SD made dinner tonight, and although it was cold enough for a light dusting of snow to stick, he was out at the grill anyway.

grilled steelhead filet with alderwood smoke
steamed artichoke with mayonnaise for dipping
and for those not low-carbing, home-made garlic bread
(although I had a slim sliver, as it smelled so good)

The pre-grill seasoning on the steelhead was a misting of bourbon, followed by granulated garlic, kosher salt, dill and cayenne.

Artichoke was pressure-cooked, not steamed.

Menolly had two slivers of garlic bread.

Served a chardonnay with this meal.

Dam-sel and I finished it off with dark chocolate dipped macaroons, which do not conform to Menolly's low-carb way of eating. Her loss; more for us.

Last night was eggplant parmesan with my home made sauce sans meat.

Tonight was:

Chicken picatta (I think I nearly have the methodology perfected at this point. It's only the third time I've made it, IIRC.)
Tossed salad with roma tomatoes and Haas avocado. Individual choice for dressing
Garlic and rosemary roasted red potatoes for the Dams

I have got to remember to snap pictures when I am happy with the way things come out; although my plating isn't nearly as artistic as Vader's.

It's the taste that counts.

Dinner tonight is Unstuffed Cabbage. I tweaked it a little by adding a third of a cup of brown sugar, since I like my cabbage to have a sweet and sour flavor, and used dried cranberries instead of raisins, since that's what we have. I prefer to use sour salt to lemon juice, but don't have any of that here either, so used the juice of one lemon.

I have the feeling I may want some more sourness myself, so will add some lime juice to my servings at table, if needed.

Will rebuild what's left of last night's tossed salad to go with.

Tasty...but as you suggested at table, next time the cabbage can be shredded much more coarsely. I did not notice a need for greater sourness, but a light sprinkle of what we refer to as "essence" brought the heat up nicely.

After three scrumptious nights of Menolly's cooking, I will be preparing tomorrow's meal. Current thought is trout (dressed fish on special at the local grocer) baked with lemon and garlic.

Being erev shabbes, last night was a kashered-style whole chicken, first rubbed with lime juice, then olive oil. Seasoned with a mix of granulated garlic, fresh cracked pepper, dried dill weed and



Then roasted in the Showtime.

Baked whole cauliflower with lemon caper dressing served along with.

Today the Dam's are off on errands and then are going to see Dam-et at school. After that, they are going to the holiday wrap-up party for SD's work, which is scheduled to run until midnight. So, I am going to use the day and evening to explore some of the community by bus. I have emails from several places for birthday freebies which I'll bring along with and see if I can make use of them.

With birthday freebie emails in hand, I had lunch at IHOP of their bacon and eggs breakfast with hash browns and all-you-can-eat pancakes before hitting the sidewalks for the day. I decided to pass on California Pizza Kitchen, even though I have never been, as I think the Dam's will like to go there as well sometime. I wound up going to Goldberg's Famous Deli (B"H for a little touch of NY Deli here!) for dinner. I had a (regular size) pastrami reuben with cole slaw and sour pickles on the side, and two cheese blintzes with warm blueberry compote and sour cream for dessert. Dessert was from a birthday email. Yum!

Today George is going to do something with a sausage link. Since it is my birthday "weekend," I'll hit WOE again come Tuesday. I am leaving dinner for my actual birthday tomorrow up to the Dam's to choose, although after seeing Ruth's Chris (another place I have never been) yesterday, I know where I would love to go, but there's no way I am going to demand it. That will be a treat for myself once I have some discretionary income of my own to spend...

"...going to do something with a sausage link" turned out to be an andouille, mushroom, green onion and banana pepper pizza with anchovies on only 2/3, as Dam-sel does not care for them.

As for "after seeing Ruth's Chris...yesterday, I know where I would love to go, but there's no way I am going to demand it", it is prudent that it will not be presented that way. No matter how strong the desire, phrasing it as such would be a bad move. Dam-sel and I have a nice place in mind and I think the birthday girl will be adquately pleased.

...still no idea WFD tonight.

Today has involved yummy foods!
My hubby (w/ his team of 3 sous chefs in our various phases of training) made an awesome chickpea curry. The veggies included:
onions, sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage...
...and it was made with lots of tomato juice, cilantro, and lots of garlic & fresh ginger, and served over brown rice.

Menolly wrote:So, I am going to use the day and evening to explore some of the community by bus. I have emails from several places for birthday freebies which I'll bring along with and see if I can make use of them.

Hey, that's creative! (and a cool excuse to explore a new place)
Never thought of trying to plan for birthday freebie e-mails...

Linna Heartlistener wrote:

On Saturday, Menolly wrote:So, I am going to use the day and evening to explore some of the community by bus. I have emails from several places for birthday freebies which I'll bring along with and see if I can make use of them.

Hey, that's creative! (and a cool excuse to explore a new place)
Never thought of trying to plan for birthday freebie e-mails...

The birthday freebie capitalization continued today, her actual birthday. I had to work, but Dam-sel had the day off, so the two of them went and had brunch to take advantage of more free-for-birthday offers.

Will give Menolly a chance to tell of dinner...which was decidedly not free, but very good nevertheless.

Dinner tonight was at a new-to-me place called The Keg. I had the rib steak cooked "Chicago Blue," served with mushrooms, roasted asparagus and red pepper, and a twice baked potato. A complementary desert for my birthday of a very nice mocha ice cream pie was included. I would like to try either the escargot or baked goat cheese next time, but we wisely passed this time, as the meals were huge.

A very nice birthday dinner indeed.

Tonight was pork with apples, onions, and (c)raisins. I dilled up some peas, and we all shared a small cup of apple sauce.

Was a nice simple meal, after the extravagance of last night.

Last night I tried Dreamfields pasta for the first time. Made my typical long simmered meat sauce and served it over spaghetti. Wanted to see if their hype about fitting in to a low carb lifestyle really worked for me.

My glucose didn't spike, and I dropped a little in weight, so yeah; if I can find various shapes I can see pasta making a return to my weekly dinner plan.

I have a semi-boneless leg of lamb in the oven at 150 degrees. Put some slits in it and then rubbed it with lemon juice and a paste of garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Will roast to about 145 and then cover with foil to rest while oven comes up to 500 degrees to do a final sear. Same way I do a standing rib roast.

Mint jelly is in the refrigerator cooling, and sides will be determined by the grocery happy hour run tonight.

Raclette.