So what have you cooked lately? (Year three!)

i really want to try mark bittman's sausage/grape thing, but i fear the cholesterol.

all this while cooking up an Uber-lasagne veggie lasagne for tomorrow. Cooking really helps me completely forget work troubles (even if I am actually cooking some up)

also, marinated tofu with soba noodles and mixed veggies, which is a regular thing to make chez moi, because it's awesome. (soy sesame marinade)

oh, we made this great salad last week too--mixed greens with cucumbers, shredded carrots, goat cheese, dried cranberries, and slightly-candied almonds (you toast slivered almonds up with a bit of sugar so they stick together in little crunchysweet clusters). and easy homemade vinegrette.

Tomorrow: cuban sandwiches.

boil some lo mein noodles

then in a big frying pan:
fry some chorizo, then add - thin sliced onion, sliced garlic, a couple of teaspoons of taiwanese bbq sauce, an eighthed tomato, some soy sauce. Let that fry for a bit. after a wee while add to the pan a tin of smoked tuna slices and some ketjap manis.

Add the noodles to mix.

Top with a fried egg.

If I hadn't spent the weekend in San Sebastian, it would have been the tastiest thing I'd eaten in a long while.

I'm drinking a pretty bloody good Chilean cab sauv with it too, ahhhh bliss.

Had to come up with a starter special at short notice, and the walk-ins were nearly empty. Ended up cooking some lasagne sheets and cutting circles out of them, blitzing up a dressing of chilli, thyme and rosemary and making a sort of lasagne with slice of black pudding, layer of pasta, dressing, slice of goats cheese, layer of pasta, dressing, repeat. Quite nice, actually.

I'd make the Dipsea Cafe's eggs benedict tomorrow, but I've suddenly gotten paranoid in the last few days about my heart blowing up.

seven-grain pancakes with pomegrante sauce and a reduction of pear syrup
turkey-rice soup w. ginger & lemongrass
chocolate mint "frog" tort (aka I know how to use a cookie cutter)
congo bars
apple spice cake with molassas-bourbon frosting
apple-cinnamon cobbler
clementines and meyer lemon lemonade
christmas puddings with non-alcoholic brandy-butter (earl grey tea, spice sachet, lime juice makes a decent sub)
corn and cherry scones
cranberry clafouti
banana cream pudding in chocolate shells
cherry and sweet-cream blintzes
lebeküchen

at home i've been on a fake Poly-chinese kick, trying to emulate all the '60s vintage Tiki restaurant menus of my culinarily-deprived youth. So far I've done a decent (improved on citrus chicken) blood-orange squab with chow mein, a creamy, cinnamony, rendition of American strip-mall sweet-and-sour soup, some phony pork curries.

For Christmas presents, I made three types of catsup (Amish apple, smoky pepper, cardamom brown) two whole-grain mustards, and a vinagery BBQ sauce. They were mostly well-received, but apparently I made the mustards too spicy for my midwestern friends.

Tomorrow I'm gonna try to do a whole menu from Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite books.

I made a reasonable attempt at chocolate mousse for dessert on New Years Day. It followed Bream roasted on top of peppers and and potatoes tossed with thyme, the pan then swilled out with white wine and saffron water before being severely reduced for sauce.

But there was Sandbox ILC!

Also, any ideas where I can buy cheap duck or goose fat for confit? On a Sunday in Los Angeles? Surfas doesn't seem to have any... neither did the Culver City Whole Foods.

can't decide what starch to serve alongside. couscous w/mint?

Who follows their cravings when cooking? I had a fish craving bad, hence the pasta. I'm a big believer in listening to the body's cravings.

We were at our local fabulous asian market Saturday and got a 1 lb. slab (about 1/2" thick and 6"x8") of the most beautiful sashimi grade maguro. I sliced it in 3, coated with a mix of black and white sesame seeds and seared it in a blazing hot cast iron skillet for 2 minutes per side. It was divinely rare. Served with rice/green peas/toasted pine nuts as a side.

Marinated some top sirloin in lime juice, sriracha, and toasted sesame oil (no chipotles in the house and wanted some kind of spicy smokiness w/ the lime) for about 15 min, stabbing with a fork all over and flipping around 3-4 times. Dried off and grilled and was very spicily excellent.

smoked bacon & kale over pasta. the smokiness of the bacon is very overpowering, i may have used to much! hahaha like that's possible.

Mrs Coastaltown has just cooked plum crumble, which was throroughly fabulous. I'm susbsisting on butties at the moment, long work stint.

Happy culinary new year!

Oops look here instead. Stupid cut and paste.