LEFTOVERS LUNCHEON LAGNIAPPE with HARLEQUIN ROBOT
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A PIECE OF TAIL FOR 12:00 SATIATION
lunch of Romaine lettuce with Kashmiri masala curry paste/rice vinegar dressing and Alligator, breaded with spicy organic white corn meal, then fried in garlicy oil with ground red peppers.......topped with Louisiana remoulade of chilis, capers, lemon juice and creole mustard...........
A new, favorite afternoon 'Southern Style' hors d'oeuvre, without a 'follow up' meal......tuna salad with dill, soft-poached quail egg, panko bread crumbs, stone-ground spicy mustard celery seeds, sliced scallions, diced 'yard' onions, marjoram, thyme and lemony mayo on crunchy corn/sweet potato tortillas, with bitter parsley......
I was hankering for a juicy filet mignon, but am 'settling' for some skinny green beans and tiny sliced yellow potatoes sautéed with mushrooms, rosemary-seasoned sea salt, and garlic, with tofu cubes, cooked in yellow curry & pulverized dry scallions and cabbage cole slaw with fresh dill and 'Frisco' sauce.....
PISA TO BUGLAND
mid-morning wake up.....Thai-seasoned 'otherwise Italian' meatballs, in a tangy, highly-spiced South Indian marinara....with dissicated, then toasted, Parmesan/Wasabi Ranch green peas.....a simple enough inspiration from having watched the first 'Chopped' challenge, ever.... to have had no one eliminated before the 'dessert' course.......and, Maneet Chauhan, I skewered the 'balls', to spare your virtual fingers...... since the kitchen was already a 'mess'.....I made a 'balancing act' vegan 'meat'ball, stacked on some leftover fragrant, spicy collard greens, drizzled with Prelibato white balsamic vinegar, then surmounted by a single red curried flatbean square, topped with shredded aged Asiago cheese... . . and, the teatime crusty 'pie' ...polite ladies version and weirdo, jeweled, bug-laden version.....
A 4 am featureless 'gourmet's hunger attack' seldom leads to beautiful, table-ready cuisine........Here.... an odd, clumsy concoction of pastry, curried vegetables in a creamy, asiago cheese sauce with coriander and mango/pear chutneys, pickled beets, walnut powder and the last of the fig preserves and shavings of Membrillo Casero Quince Paste.....To ensure the creation of creative pre-dawn dream sequencing....which, not having been notated, is already forgotten......
A relatively languid day....and, since I'd just cleaned and organized my kitchen....it was time to make another big, tasty mess...... Without soaking, add long-grained brown rice to cold water and bring slowly to a simmer, adding sliced chile-spiced mango, sliced chunks of crystallized ginger, as much garam masala as you wish, some thin slices of dried Thai papaya spears, a handful of yellow raisins, a few slices of dehydrated garlic, a tiny bit of sea salt and some very coarse-ground pepper. While this is cooking, saute some tiger shrimp, crabmeat or lobster in toasted sesame oil, sprinkling in a dash of hot rasam powder to achieve a bright, edgy aroma.....toss in some cashew nuts and some sliced scallion greens......cool the cooked shrimp to a few degrees below room temperature and pile the shrimp onto the shaped and formed rice...... served upon a salad of favored greens and broccoli sprouts lightly flavored with fine rice vinegar......in concert with a cup of chilled cream...
HOMELY FAIR FOR A 'NOT MUCH THOUGHT ABOUT IT' LUNCH........
potatoes, green beans and meatloaf with tomato sauce ......the 'standard' fare at a high school cafeteria... Sometimes, the 'old familiar' fills one's gut as satisfyingly as haute cuisine....... (or you've run out of things to cook, after not having gone grocery shopping is a while)
shamed by my lack of discipline (all those desserts for the last few days), I decided to dine at the Thai restaurant....up the street.....raw fish and sushi......A film production crew was lined up at the 'bar', ordering sushi and sashimi......(on an expense account).....The young 'producer' who was sitting next to me kept ordering food items as she texted and cruised the internet on her phone, while her companions downed their food...in a rush to get to wherever they were heading out to, later......Abruptly, they bolted, paid their tab and left the restaurant.......Oddly...to me anyway.....the woman ate not a bite of her largess of 'luncheon specials', and, as the waiter was about to clear her 'place', I asked "are you going to eat all this untouched food?'.....He replied, "No, I'll toss it in the trash!".....I hate waste......(here comes the rationalization)......So, I asked if I could have her dishes......He replied, 'Yes...
Mu Shoo Evolution
my take, from 'memory', of the first Mu Shoo Chicken dish that I had, at Trader Eng's, upon arriving in Atlanta....over a half century ago,......4 quick steps.....smashed red potato, cooked with chopped garlic and various spices and herbs from my kitchen counter, slices of roasted chicken with ginger, crushed sesame seeds, and creamed, mashed sweet potato with brown sugar, tumeric and chopped cilantro.......topped with duck sauce, mixed with pulverized, dried hot peppers, Thai Chili sauce and powdered, dried shitake mushrooms.....
A thrift store run, five years ago, today, to find a hotplate.....on a busy holiday......Finding only piles of leftovers and a mask, that Ryan Lambert left, unpurchased.......I did bag a chipped pillar candle and an old Janis Ian CD........
Is it the destination or the journey from wherever one thinks one is to wherever one thought one was going, in no particular order........No, wait, 'they're putting out some new Stuff on Aisle 7; turn the shopping cart around!....I think I see 'her' putting out an 18th C. Georgian paste belt buckle on that old mannikin, over by the Brides' Maids' dresses, next to those chenille robes with peacocks on their backs......pick up one of those....yes, that pink and yellow one.....while you're over there......Did you notice that "Society's Child" was autographed?
AS A CHILD IT WAS "THE BANANA SPLIT, SLATHERED IN HEAVY WHIPPED CREAM AND A CHERRY...STEM ATTACHED" OR THE BROCCOLI & ASPARAGUS SOUFFLE' WITH DILL, SOUR CREAM TOPPING.......NOW, IT'S THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE THAT SATISFIES....
Just after swearing off pastries and sweets....less than a week ago....I was torn between two late bruncheon preparations.......even the beautiful fork in the 'wholesome' one could not deter my inclination to chow down on yet another cheesy, buttery, walnut concoction and some wow dark coffee with whipped heavy cream.......at least, I avoided the temptation to drizzle honey or maple syrup over 'lunch'....
WASTE NOT.......AS THOUGH A HOMELESS PERSON, LIVING UNDER A TARP, UNDER A BRIDGE, DINING ON REFUSE FROM THE ENORMOUS 'TRASH' CONTAINERS BEHIND WHOLE FOODS.......HEY! DON'T TOSS THAT JAR OF SOURWOOD HONEY....THERE'S STILL SOME STUCK TO THE LID, YOU KNOW!
Having just watched the BBC Interview with David Attenborough, wherein he was asked what his 'advice to the World' would be....David replied, 'Don't waste.....anything!'.....Minutes later, I cleared some items from my fridge.....the last of a box of fresh blueberries; a banana (with a couple of 'dark' spots); some toasted almond slices that were behind a single egg, in it's 'carton', marked "best used before Sept 30, 2020"; a cupful of 'yoghurt drink'; the last of a bag of toasted, grated coconut; a stick of frozen butter that was hidden...for a year....behind a package of frozen bread yeast......; the last of the ground cinnamon that had fallen behind the expresso machine; and, the last of bags of almond, pecan, and walnut 'flour'......the combination of which 'made' a perfectly round pancake that fit, exactly, within the inner cobalt blue ring of an old Dansk dinner plate that I retrieved from 'under the s...
MORE INSTRUMENTS FOR "SERVING & EATING"
I can't remember the last time that I roasted a baby lamb...well, never, actually!......but, as a collector of antique serving 'instruments'.....i couldn't resist.....this Boxed Set, seems to have had little use in the past century........It will be good 'barter' for some other, more unusual silver implement...such as a Jugendstil Art Nouveau Sterling Silver Casket or a Gorham, for Tiffany & Co, Aesthetic Movement silver chalice, covered with gold arthropods and indigenous reptiles.......
During a phone conversation this morning with a contemporary that was concerned about 'weight gain'.....as the majority of Americans 'ought to be'.....I was having a breakfast that I'd just cooked in my kitchen, with as much attention to visual presentation, eating instruments, china and glassware, lighting, music and table decor.....as to the 'food on the plate'......we decided to send one another photos of what we were 'having' for our b'fasts.......After viewing one another's photos, my friend commented: "you don't 'work', so you have time to make b'fast......I, on the other hand, have to 'catch' something on the way to work, and don't have time to lollygag, like you, in the kitchen!"......Whoa!....I figured that it took my friend ten minutes to drive to McDonalds, 5 minutes to 'get' that trashy 'meal', then another 5 minutes of rush hour 'out-of-the-wayness' before arriving...
5am......I awakened from a dream...in which I was a 'contestant' on CHOPPED.......the challenge: a dessert, made from Braunschweiger, Orange Sherbet, Cilantro and Pickled Goat's Ears in Tangerine Brine.......Whew!......I don't even have any goats' ears in my fridge, so I settled for toasted green tomato and onion ciabatta with a thick slice of chub liverwurst and a cup of java with goat's milk......the sun is coming up, and the birds await those toasted ciabatta crumbs that I tossed into the driveway for them......a reason that I have a bagel-toaster with slide out crumb tray.......lucky wrens.....I thought about using the crumbs to make some fried eggplant....but reconsidered...after reading the caloric count for that liverwurst!
