You Are What You Eat: July 3 through July 17
[1] We're up to 132 days without eating in a restaurant, and 30 days since we got take out.
Restaurant Stats
Just Me and M, or Just Me (non-concert, non-ballgame, non-travel): 8 (+0)
-- Twice in a Week Resolution Breaker: 1 (+0)
With Friends/Family (non-concert, non-ballgame): 7 (+0)
Concert/Ball-game drinks: 5 (+0)
Travel: 15 (+0)
People over for food: 3 (+0)
[2] The hot streak of new recipes continues, with nine in this increment to bring the total to 64 on the year.
- The July/August 2020 Eating Well has been pretty solid, with a lot of melon based recipes. We made one last time and three this time around. Unfortunately, the Herby White Gazpacho, was a rare total miss. I didn't care for it at all, and while M said she enjoyed it, we ended up dumping out some leftovers because she never ate them. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
- The second melon recipe from that issue was the Cantaloupe, Arugula & Goat Cheese Salad. This one was a tasty winner that we'll make again, especially since M loves arugula.
- The third melon recipe was the Spicy Thai Melon Salad. This was quick and easy and had a pleasant tang to it. I didn't like it quite as much as the cantaloupe salad, but it's still likely to turn up again.
- Continuing with the July/August 2020 Eating Well, I made a dessert! The dessert in question was the Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Blondies, which, unusually for a dessert, features rye flour. It was a perfectly acceptable blondie, but I wouldn't say it blew me away. M seems to be in the "this is nice" camp rather than the "this is great" camp, so I expect it won't be made again.
- Another baked item with olive featuring in the name was the Olive Bread from the Bread Bible. This was my first rise failure in a while. It was hot enough out that I attempted to let the bread rise on the porch (properly sealed up, obviously) and it didn't rise as thoroughly as I suspect it would have in my usual rising habitat of "closed bedroom with space heater." The resulting bread was correspondingly small and dense, but it did taste pretty good. I'll try this again some time.
- I made a new recipe from the first Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for the first time in a long while. I went with the Sweet Peas & Shells, which was conceptually similar to the Cacio e Pepe Pasta with Peas from last week. Like that recipe, this was fine, but not fantastic.
- Turning back to Eating Well, the July/August 2020 issue also offered up the Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Peanut Sauce. I attempted to grill these on the Griddler, which took far too long. I should have air fried them or baked them. On the plus side, the peanut sauce was pretty good.
- I went back one issue to the June 2020 Eating Well for the Farro Salad with Grilled Chicken. One challenge was that our usual grocery store didn't have farro, but I substituted bulgar and the texture worked pretty well. Grilling chicken on the Griddler worked much better than grilling sweet potatoes did. M likes this kind of grain salad, so it may turn up again.
- The red folder offered up the Chili-Lime Brussels Sprout Chips from the January/February 2019 Eating Well. I'm unclear on how I managed not to make this for months given my positive opinion of Brussels Sprouts. This was a fine, if not distinguished, contribution to the art of roasting Brussels Sprouts.
Restaurant Stats
Just Me and M, or Just Me (non-concert, non-ballgame, non-travel): 8 (+0)
-- Twice in a Week Resolution Breaker: 1 (+0)
With Friends/Family (non-concert, non-ballgame): 7 (+0)
Concert/Ball-game drinks: 5 (+0)
Travel: 15 (+0)
People over for food: 3 (+0)
[2] The hot streak of new recipes continues, with nine in this increment to bring the total to 64 on the year.
- The July/August 2020 Eating Well has been pretty solid, with a lot of melon based recipes. We made one last time and three this time around. Unfortunately, the Herby White Gazpacho, was a rare total miss. I didn't care for it at all, and while M said she enjoyed it, we ended up dumping out some leftovers because she never ate them. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
- The second melon recipe from that issue was the Cantaloupe, Arugula & Goat Cheese Salad. This one was a tasty winner that we'll make again, especially since M loves arugula.
- The third melon recipe was the Spicy Thai Melon Salad. This was quick and easy and had a pleasant tang to it. I didn't like it quite as much as the cantaloupe salad, but it's still likely to turn up again.
- Continuing with the July/August 2020 Eating Well, I made a dessert! The dessert in question was the Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Blondies, which, unusually for a dessert, features rye flour. It was a perfectly acceptable blondie, but I wouldn't say it blew me away. M seems to be in the "this is nice" camp rather than the "this is great" camp, so I expect it won't be made again.
- Another baked item with olive featuring in the name was the Olive Bread from the Bread Bible. This was my first rise failure in a while. It was hot enough out that I attempted to let the bread rise on the porch (properly sealed up, obviously) and it didn't rise as thoroughly as I suspect it would have in my usual rising habitat of "closed bedroom with space heater." The resulting bread was correspondingly small and dense, but it did taste pretty good. I'll try this again some time.
- I made a new recipe from the first Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for the first time in a long while. I went with the Sweet Peas & Shells, which was conceptually similar to the Cacio e Pepe Pasta with Peas from last week. Like that recipe, this was fine, but not fantastic.
- Turning back to Eating Well, the July/August 2020 issue also offered up the Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Peanut Sauce. I attempted to grill these on the Griddler, which took far too long. I should have air fried them or baked them. On the plus side, the peanut sauce was pretty good.
- I went back one issue to the June 2020 Eating Well for the Farro Salad with Grilled Chicken. One challenge was that our usual grocery store didn't have farro, but I substituted bulgar and the texture worked pretty well. Grilling chicken on the Griddler worked much better than grilling sweet potatoes did. M likes this kind of grain salad, so it may turn up again.
- The red folder offered up the Chili-Lime Brussels Sprout Chips from the January/February 2019 Eating Well. I'm unclear on how I managed not to make this for months given my positive opinion of Brussels Sprouts. This was a fine, if not distinguished, contribution to the art of roasting Brussels Sprouts.