StephanieL

Chowder, with both potatoes and RG Alubia Blancas and using homemade fish stock and the liquid from a can of baby clams. N also bought cod filets, and cooked them separately from everything else so that they wouldn't overcook. (In the same vein, she also kept the clams separated out.) Sourdough baguette with cultured butter on the side, malva pudding (made by someone else) for dessert.

Bought one of these Spiced Apple Trail Toddy mixes when I visited Portland, and I made it this evening, using mostly Laird's Applejack with a little Maker's Mark 47 as the alcohol component. Warming and autumnal.

When she was checking an article summary I'd written that involved a discussion of smartphone apps, my boss questioned whether "Android" should be lower case.

"aka Mr. Chow", a documentary running on HBO about the poor art student turned actor turned restaurateur turned painter Michael Chow. I'd forgotten that Tina Chow, one of the first prominent women to go public with an AIDS diagnosis, was his wife.

Yes. I visited there many years ago.

South Africa won their 4th Rugby World Cup! All 3 knockout matches were won by 1 point--quite exciting.

N found baseball steaks at a reasonable price at our local butcher, so she seared those in a cast iron pan until medium rare and served them with sauteed oyster mushrooms, shallots, and broccoli rab.

Pizza beans, since N was having a craving for them. She used the RG Large White Limas (really good), red curly kale, and some mini orange and yellow peppers we had left over from a bean & lentil salad I'd made.

Finally bought Carpano Antica: $21.99 (with member discount) for a 375-mL bottle at Safeway. I don't use sweet vermouth often enough to justify anything larger than that.

Vieux Carré: 1 oz. rye 1 oz. cognac 1 oz. sweet vermouth 1/4 oz. Bénédictine 2 dashes Angostura bitters 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters Stir ingredients together in an ice-filled shaker, then strain into an ice-filled rocks or Old Fashioned glass.

N made a standout dinner for me last night, possibly to make up for the fact that she was sick during my birthday last week. Trout stuffed with lime leaves and a mixture of garlic, ginger, and lemongrass, then wrapped in banana leaves and baked; Thai curry sauce on the side Mashed purple sweet potatoes with coconut milk Sauteed Japanese eggplant (from our garden) and bok choy

And me. Cats are enough.

I put up some RG Reboseros to soak, thinking I'd make chili, but when I went to the butcher they had some great-looking garlic sausages so I changed plans. N cooked the sausages separately and sliced them up, then I cooked the beans (with the soaking water) in the deglazed Dutch oven. Because I'd ended up adding too much water, I threw in some buckwheat groats towards the end to try and soak some of the liquid up, but in the end it was still more soup than stew. On the side: rainbow carrots and romanesco broccoli that I cut up, tossed with olive oil, S&P, and dried thyme, tarragon, and rosemary, and roasted in a 400-degree oven for about 45 minutes. Kind of an autumnal meal even if I was wearing a T-shirt today and the forecast is saying it'll be 89 on Thursday.

Small comfort if you're the one who can't get back home. Or your child was kidnapped at a rave.

Bialys are not for making sandwiches. Per Sneakeater, you have them as is, untoasted, with sweet butter.

Never mind the ham--you sliced a bialy??

Chicken soup with mushrooms and drop herb dumplings.

A longtime friend of the family is in Israel right now (near Jerusalem), making her annual visit to see her daughter and family. She's supposed to be flying back to the US on Monday, but she's not sure if that's going to happen.

Ponied up lots of money to take an intensive 2-day coffee sensory course this weekend. Came down with a cold last night and now have a sore throat and runny nose, too late to cancel my hotel reservation without losing my 50% deposit. Also too late to get a refund on the course (in which I was going to be only instructee, it turns out), but I should be able to reschedule that.

I'm sitting on BART and I hear a loud crash 2 rows behind me. I think "oh, someone dropped something heavy". Two minutes later, the bottom of my bag and the soles of my shoes now have red wine on them. I suppose it could have been something worse?

That's because it is funny.

A really great Irish pub in Oakland is closing at the end of the month--the owners say it's due to a combination of lower foot traffic and higher crime. So, we celebrated N's good day with fish & chips, a Kilkenny Red Nitro for her, and a Doctor's Dilemma for me: poitin, green Chartreuse, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, and lime juice.

N passed her citizenship exam!! Naturalization ceremony is next Tuesday. And yes, she can keep her SA citizenship.

Or a stoner.

Roasted butternut squash cooked with kale, RG Yellow Eye Beans, and sweet Italian sausage.