Sunday Dinner

-Griddled pork chops
-Roasted carrots with thyme
-Buttered beets
-Cornbread stuffing

Pictures next time, we promise.

We eat on the floor

A light lunch served picnic-style. Ham chunks, homemade bread, radishes from the farm (perfect when dipped in butter, btw), a couple of cheeses, some salami (that moldy thing at the bottom of the plate). Yeah, that's dijon mustard. You got a problem with that?

Who wouldn't love a loquat?

As occasional urban foragers, we get the chance to play with some fun ingredients from time to time. One of the most successful of these was our discovery of a local loquat tree.

After a couple of days of munching on the often-overlooked plum/pear-like fruits, we came up with a plan for them: sorbet!

G went to go fetch loquats, and ended up w/ about 4 pounds total (the seeds are huge, so we expected a lot of loss).

After cleaning and seeding our free fruit, we simmered them in a simple syrup. We added lemon zest, lime (homegrown and from right down the street! thanks, guys), a touch of Cointreau, and a little bit of fresh mint.



Once the loquats were tender, a quick stick-blendering got us ready to go. Liquid was strained for skins:



Then into the ice-cream machine:



Though this picture doesn't do the final product much justice, the sorbet itself was a smash in the house and a frequent dessert for guests.

Whoopie!

Pumpkin whoopie pies from the Baked cookbook. We took these to a Superbowl party, and they were a huge hit. Easy to make, fun to feed to friends, and apparently, the dessert of the hour. And to think: we already had all the ingredients in the house!

Good bites - Parkside

Bar food with a nice upscale twist, Parkside on downtown 6th was the latest adventure.

A few highlights:





Oysters. I don't recall which of the several varieties we settled on. We forgot to take a picture before we had sucked them all down.





Roasted marrow bones and toast w/ a wilted herb salad. 'Nuff said.





Another appetizer. Sweetbreads with apple pickles on top. Surprisingly delicate.

Burger day

Because the simple things are best.

Good bites - Lamberts

"Fancy barbecue" joint Lamberts. Here are dinner highlights:





Above: brisket, ribs (bite of hanger steak in the corner of the plate), fried blackberry pie.