You Are What You Eat: April 25 through May 1
This past week featured four restaurants in one day, three new recipes and another successful dinner party.
Thursday, April 25 - Moosewood Favorites offered up another actual favorite of mine, the Moroccan Couscous Salad. It's quick to make and pretty to boot - the cookbook actually says that they routinely use it for events because it is so attractive looking with the different colors of the vegetables in it. Since it is also very tasty and be easily scaled to larger groups or provide leftovers, win-win.
Friday, April 26 - A team I've been supporting at work had a team lunch on Friday, and we ended up going to Ohashi in North Olmsted, which is one of the better west-side sushi options. I went with an udon dish. After lunch we walked across the parking lot to Dairy Queen, and I had a cookie jar blizzard.
That night M and I had tickets to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater downtown at Playhouse Square. We had a drink at Parnell's downtown, which I had never been to. We also learned it doesn't have food like the original Parnell's location. As such, after the show (which was excellent), we went to Prosperity Social Club for a late dinner, where I had a nice salad.
Saturday, April 27 - Back in March, I had friends over for dinner before going to see Captain Marvel. That worked so well that we decided to repeat the pattern for Avengers: Endgame. We had five for dinner, and served:
- Olivada from Moosewood Favorites. This is basically an olive and garlic and pine nuts paste perfect for eating on pita.
- Roasted Brussel's Sprouts, which my notes say I haven't made before this year, which seems improbable.
- Green Lentil Curry Masbacha from the Tel Aviv section of the new May 2019 Eating Well. This also tasted good on pita, and was made with a tahini sauce. We'll make this again.
- M bought some sorbets with fresh berries for dessert (not counted as cooking).
The dinner was a resounding success. The movie was fantastic. Good night. We're hoping to do it again for Spider-man: Far From Home.
Sunday, April 28 - I went all the way back to my first Supper Club in 2008 for the Baked Bell Peppers from Silvana Franco's Tapas cookbook. It was excellent as always, although M suggested seeding the tomatoes to reduce the amount of liquid.
Monday, April 29 - I've been making the Ethiopian-Spiced Chicken Stew since it appeared in the January/February 2012 Eating Well (but posted as 2016). M likes it as it has lots of red onions (she would eat red onions like apples if socially acceptable) and a pleasant spiciness from the berber spice blend. I'm genuinely shocked that this was the first time I'd made it this year.
It was joined by another brand new recipe from the May 2019 Eating Well that featured one of M's other favorite ingredients, fennel. This was the Broiled Fennel with Parmesan Cheese. I have a tendency to burn things when I broil them, so I was very cautious here, probably too cautious, on how long I broiled things. It still came out good, just took longer than it should have. We'll make this one again.
Tuesday, April 30 - Do we have room for another new recipe? We do. This time it's the Spring Vegetable Salad with Chicken & Buttermilk-Herb Dressing, again from the May 2019 Eating Well. This was a perfectly serviceable salad. I'd prepped the chicken on Monday night for both this recipe and Wednesday's recipe, so cooking here was cutting up some vegis and prepping the dressing. I accidentally added thyme to the dressing, but it still tasted good.
Wednesday, May 1 - When she bit into the Adobo Chicken & Kale Enchiladas on the table, M said "this is delicious." She'd said the same thing back when it was a new recipe in the November/December 2017 Eating Well, so I'm glad that worked again. From my perspective the only challenge was that there were no leftovers!
Totals For This Post
Days Covered: 7
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 6 / 9
New Recipes: 3
Leftover Nights: 0
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 2
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 2
New To Me Restaurants: 1
Repeated Restaurants: 0
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 0
Repeated Recipes: 0
Overall Totals 2019 (less January 1)
Days Covered: 120
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 85 / 109
New Recipes: 42
Leftover Nights: 5
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 41
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 16
New To Me Restaurants: 16
Repeated Restaurants: 8
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 11
Repeated Recipes: 4
Thursday, April 25 - Moosewood Favorites offered up another actual favorite of mine, the Moroccan Couscous Salad. It's quick to make and pretty to boot - the cookbook actually says that they routinely use it for events because it is so attractive looking with the different colors of the vegetables in it. Since it is also very tasty and be easily scaled to larger groups or provide leftovers, win-win.
Friday, April 26 - A team I've been supporting at work had a team lunch on Friday, and we ended up going to Ohashi in North Olmsted, which is one of the better west-side sushi options. I went with an udon dish. After lunch we walked across the parking lot to Dairy Queen, and I had a cookie jar blizzard.
That night M and I had tickets to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater downtown at Playhouse Square. We had a drink at Parnell's downtown, which I had never been to. We also learned it doesn't have food like the original Parnell's location. As such, after the show (which was excellent), we went to Prosperity Social Club for a late dinner, where I had a nice salad.
Saturday, April 27 - Back in March, I had friends over for dinner before going to see Captain Marvel. That worked so well that we decided to repeat the pattern for Avengers: Endgame. We had five for dinner, and served:
- Olivada from Moosewood Favorites. This is basically an olive and garlic and pine nuts paste perfect for eating on pita.
- Roasted Brussel's Sprouts, which my notes say I haven't made before this year, which seems improbable.
- Green Lentil Curry Masbacha from the Tel Aviv section of the new May 2019 Eating Well. This also tasted good on pita, and was made with a tahini sauce. We'll make this again.
- M bought some sorbets with fresh berries for dessert (not counted as cooking).
The dinner was a resounding success. The movie was fantastic. Good night. We're hoping to do it again for Spider-man: Far From Home.
Sunday, April 28 - I went all the way back to my first Supper Club in 2008 for the Baked Bell Peppers from Silvana Franco's Tapas cookbook. It was excellent as always, although M suggested seeding the tomatoes to reduce the amount of liquid.
Monday, April 29 - I've been making the Ethiopian-Spiced Chicken Stew since it appeared in the January/February 2012 Eating Well (but posted as 2016). M likes it as it has lots of red onions (she would eat red onions like apples if socially acceptable) and a pleasant spiciness from the berber spice blend. I'm genuinely shocked that this was the first time I'd made it this year.
It was joined by another brand new recipe from the May 2019 Eating Well that featured one of M's other favorite ingredients, fennel. This was the Broiled Fennel with Parmesan Cheese. I have a tendency to burn things when I broil them, so I was very cautious here, probably too cautious, on how long I broiled things. It still came out good, just took longer than it should have. We'll make this one again.
Tuesday, April 30 - Do we have room for another new recipe? We do. This time it's the Spring Vegetable Salad with Chicken & Buttermilk-Herb Dressing, again from the May 2019 Eating Well. This was a perfectly serviceable salad. I'd prepped the chicken on Monday night for both this recipe and Wednesday's recipe, so cooking here was cutting up some vegis and prepping the dressing. I accidentally added thyme to the dressing, but it still tasted good.
Wednesday, May 1 - When she bit into the Adobo Chicken & Kale Enchiladas on the table, M said "this is delicious." She'd said the same thing back when it was a new recipe in the November/December 2017 Eating Well, so I'm glad that worked again. From my perspective the only challenge was that there were no leftovers!
Totals For This Post
Days Covered: 7
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 6 / 9
New Recipes: 3
Leftover Nights: 0
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 2
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 2
New To Me Restaurants: 1
Repeated Restaurants: 0
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 0
Repeated Recipes: 0
Overall Totals 2019 (less January 1)
Days Covered: 120
Meals / Dishes Cooked: 85 / 109
New Recipes: 42
Leftover Nights: 5
Eating Out / Take Out Meals: 41
Eating Out Drinks/Dessert Only: 16
New To Me Restaurants: 16
Repeated Restaurants: 8
Parties / Friends / Family Cooked: 11
Repeated Recipes: 4