free milkshake

I'm standing there waiting for my two single cheeseburgers with jalapeño onion and tomato and side of fries while chatting it up with the girl with shaved hair except for the patch gathered into dreadlocks that hang down to her butt when she suddenly realized she prepared the same order twice for strawberry and chocolate milkshake. I'd buy one! But before I could offer to buy one she offered me one of the shakes for free. It's all timing.

But she did say to me, "Always a pleasure to see you come in here." 

She thinks I'm deaf. 

And she didn't say that to anyone else.

rice with pork and various odd vegetables

Rice is cooked a new way; soaked in cold water for thirty minutes then steamed lightly in the same amount of fresh water as rice for thirteen minutes. 

That's it for Tony's bbq pork. That was a bit expensive even on sale but what a great deal that turned out to be. Also frozen pearl onion and pecans. What the heck.

The rice is sweet and sour and steamed with a piece of kombu.

So additional sweet bbq pork and sweet onion and additional vinegary jalapeños and extremely salty olives causes the rice to be flavored overly intensely. It's gross. 

The onions and pecans and a soy sauce fixes it but only a little.

Fail.

duck broth miso with bbq porks

I mixed scant 1/8th teaspoons of selected spices into hot oil dumped too much sake to lift it and that made the broth and everything bitter and I like things mostly sweet so at the table I added honey. A lot of it. Twice. 

beans, rice, pene

I'm clearing out the pantry. And the refrigerator and freezer. And the cabinets. 

potato pancakes, applewood bacon, maple syrup

The potatoes have two types of chiles, pickled jalapeños and dried Hatch, and a lot of horseradish and grated Parmigiano. The combative strong flavors are blanketed by the starchy potato.

Applewood bacon and maple syrup is an insanely good flavor combination. The syrup's gentle sweetness and its flavor separate and elevate and sharpen the smoke flavor in the bacon to an acute intensity so that it seemingly cuts the mouth's palate aggressively while the chile peppers sit by tamed and innocent.

bbq beef short rib, mashed potato, roasted red bell pepper and tomato soup

I didn't so much cook dinner tonight as assemble it.

The potatoes have hot chile flakes and horseradish mixed with them.

While the potatoes themselves are some kind of flake version in a box. 

Turns out, they happen to be very good. Especially with hot red pepper flakes and horseradish sauce mixed in.

The ribs are deboned and honey poured over them before being reheated.

beef short ribs, seasoned rice

Ribs cooked at Tony's Market, frozen, then I had only thaw and re-heat them.

Rice is cooked a different way.

* soaked in cold water for thirty minutes

* steamed for 13 minutes

* 2 X 2 inch piece of kombu included with the steaming water

* 1/2 teaspoon sugar included with the steaming water

* 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar included with the steaming water

spaghetti with spices, whole wheat dinner rolls

Olive oil is heated in a pan with salt and pepper and that right there would be great sauce.

Instead, a lot of other spices are added to the oil that it amounts to an American curry.

Hamburger meat is fried in the oil and slathered with all the spices like a sausage would be.

Pasta water is added and, bam, there's your sauce.

Leftover tomato sauce from a tin was added.  

Bread made the usual careless way except with more whole wheat flour than usual this time. Because I'm almost out of all purpose flour. They're a bit dense.

hamburger with sweet pickle and homemade potato bun

There is a hamburger place, a good one too, just a few yards from our building's front door, maybe more than a few yards, still it's hardly exigent to do this. 

Chosen for its plump pomposity.

Tarragon. It's so bright. And it just sits there waiting to be used and I hardly ever do then finally concede and go, wow this is wonderful.

"I'd like to meat up with you sometime."

     "Ok. Now!" 

almond, carrot, ginger soup with white kidney beans and dumplings

Pacific makes the soup, I make the dumplings.

For a small batch of small dumplings.

* 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

* 1/4 cup all purpose flour

* 2 tablespoons cold butter cut into thin pats

* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper

* 1 teaspoon sugar

* 1/2 teaspoon smashed tarragon

The soup is sweet. To provide the soup's predominate flavor of sweetness some competition the following enhancements are provided the pure simple mostly sweetness with real character of generous cayenne and pequin and garlic. 

* cayenne chile

* pequin chile

* garlic

corn fritters

A tin of corn and a tiny tin of hot jalapeño peppers are the basis of this batter.

* 1 egg and 

* few tablespoons flour added incrementally

* baking powder

* milk

* sugar

* salt, pepper

* additional chile powder or flakes

* vanilla
* melted butter

These pancakes are very good. Much better than their humble ingredients suggest. 

Real maple syrup.

If the batter is thicker and made with half corn meal then the thicker batter can be dropped by the tablespoonful into deep fat and fried as hushpuppies. 

Win.

Club Philly sandwich, Taste of Philly green salad

They have an interesting menu here. The thing is, their jalapeño peppers used to be hot and now they are mild. Nine out of ten jalapeño eaters agree if they are not hot then what's the point? Nothing on the menu is hot no matter how fiery it's titled nor how scary sounding the ingredients. As if an order came down from on high that nothing shall ever be actually hot. And it's just a matter of telling suppliers to make the jalapeño peppers hot.  

Their salads are surprisingly good.

Tonight a footie pajama version of a furry flash mob occurred in my area at the moment I stepped out to get this. The whole neighborhood is saturated with young adults dressed in animal pajamas with feet and hoods with ears and tails. Mostly innocent woodland prey creatures. Some homemade versions of batman made in the same style and with a tail. I saw two of those. 

A bit frightening, having groups of teens and post-teens gathering in wandering groups just looking for trouble. 

Then I realized: They're in their pajamas!

They must be the sweetest little things. 

And it turns out they are.

A gaggle was gathered directly in front of the Taste of Philly door. They were trying to get their group together and now my presence caused an additional complication. They must move. That took a moment for the realization to sink in for them. Sweet little dears a bit slow on the uptake. Having a good time but not really knowing what to do beyond dressing up in pajamas and going out for a rave. They all needed leadership. They really are innocent woodland prey creatures. 

I love young people.

"Can I bring you out a little salad?"

"What?"
"What?"
"What?"

"I'm going inside. Can I bring you a salad?"

"Oh. Ha ha ha. No thanks. Ha ha ha. Good one. Thank you for offering."

See? Adorable.