What's for dinner?

[Cammalu]

All you great cooks need to camp in YARC Camp next year. We can share.

For several years we did a lot of potluck style dinners in YARC Camp. In fact I think we did every night. Would be cool to start that up again.

OK, who is coming? This was tonight’s dinner

To the back is Minestrone soup and to the front is a brand new, to me, recipe I caught online somewhere. It’s a creamy macaroni dish that, instead of using cream, uses corn on the cob grated to get all the juice and corn off. It’s cooked up for a while with onion and a few veges. I used carrots, green beans, and zucchini, salt, pepper, garlic and tomato then mixed it in with almost cooked elbow pasta and finished it off in the creamy mixture. All that wasn’t added when I took the pic.

It was pretty good. So we had an all vege meal tonight and hubby’s daughter and son were supposed to stay a couple days but didn’t. I have a huge amount of leftovers...

 

[JDub]

All you great cooks need to camp in YARC Camp next year. We can share.

For several years we did a lot of potluck style dinners in YARC Camp. In fact I think we did every night. Would be cool to start that up again.

OK, who is coming?

What's YARK stand for?

 

[Cammalu]

What's YARK stand for?

It’s YARC. You Ain’t Right Club.

Way back in the dark ages of this forum a member who calls himself Popeye started the YARC thread. It really took off and was really funny. In order to get a You Ain’t Right Badge you had to tell the story of why you thought you belonged in the club.

It got to be hysterical after awhile. The thread is still out there although many participants went on to the other forum so it kinda just died down. It’s very good reading if you’d like to go see. Start in the beginning and read your way through.

PS. That’s how I ended up with “Monkeyfoot” in my signature.

 

[JDub]

*Sigh* Sounds as if I'd fit right in...

 

[Cammalu]

*Sigh* Sounds as if I'd fit right in...

Come on then. YARC Camp was pretty dead this year. Hopefully we will have had our shots and be able to socialize more by next winter.

 

[B and C]

It was my first year there. I must be the party pooper!

We had Mexican food last night (my treat). I think too many northerners are moving here and complaining about the spicy food. Restaurants are really taming it down. There is only one near here left but it is too pricey for me to feed the whole family. When I take myself, it is usually around $20-25. Last night cost me about $60 for the 7 of us.

 

[Ravella and X]

JDub, do come next year and cook for us, please!

Brian, I am certain that I'm the biggest YARC meal party pooper. It's the darned virus. Next year will be easier to navigate, I hope!

Cammalou, your pics make me both really hungry and glad I'm not with you rn, cause I have portion control issues with your food!

I'm making your fancy southwestern salad as soon as I get up from this afternoon lie-down. Its soo satisfying and every bit of it is right in line with my diet

 

[JDub]

JDub, do come next year and cook for us, please!
I'm making your fancy southwestern salad as soon as I get up from this afternoon lie-down. Its soo satisfying and every bit of it is right in line with my diet

I'll do it Wahine! Don't invite unless ya mean a local invasion!   Right now, I'm faced w a bunch of taco night leftovers soooo.... It's Taco SALAD Night! Yeah... Anyhooo. I've got some pretty good leftovers here but I'm missing things like corn chips and a filler so, digging around in stores I found a can of WM Chili Beans, and I have enough corn tortillas to make baked chips (see below). These are actually a pretty good sub for those high fat Frito lay things. Cut corn tortillas in quarters and bake @ 300 degrees for ~ 20-25 min till crisp. If you want a baked on salt flavor. make up a strong salt and water brine, dip your chips in before you bake, and WAYLA!! (that's French you know) and then bake (works GREAT). I baked up the chips nice and crisp, and heated all the leftovers and did a little chopping of the veggies (tomatoes, romaine, and leftover lime marinated onions), add some cheese and sour crema and you have a pretty DANG good leftover dinner ( Taco Bell Fire hot sauce here - can't do another morning of the Yucateca...  :s Still having probs posting any pix so I'll try to just post this.

Hope all you have eaten well tonight and had a tasty meal!

Aloha!

 

[XERTYX]

 Taco Bell Fire hot sauce here - can't do another morning of the Yucateca... 

Oh I love that yucateca sauce. The black one is my favorite. Green is pretty good too. After I had my gall bladder removed they said I could never eat spicy food again. They were wrong. Cuz I'm gonna.

 

[JDub]

Oh I love that yucateca sauce. The black one is my favorite. Green is pretty good too. After I had my gall bladder removed they said I could never eat spicy food again. They were wrong. Cuz I'm gonna.

They're all good. it's a quality product line and I've really enjoyed them for years. The Mayan version doesn't even look like a traditional hot sauce but will kick your petuties... I ran into very similar versions down in Guatemala (which makes sense since they're Mayan as well) (great country and people by the way). Some of the various versions I've seen include carrots since the true stuff is a dark grey (like Yucateca's) and the carrots give it more of an orange hue that Norte Americanos are used to.

Cheers!

 

[JDub]

Evening all!

OK, so tonight I'm doing a Japanese and Hawaii favorite - Ton Katsu - Deep fried pork cutlet - What I cook is often dictated by the rotation out of my freezers and I had a pack of frozen pork loin chops that needed to get eaten-which is why I'm eating a lot of high caloric and starchy stuff right now. In Japan and Hawaii there are actually specialty stores that sell Ton Katsu as a high art. Deep frying was introduced by Dutch and Spanish traders to the Japanese during the time of the Shogunate when Japan was closed and the very few foreigners were restricted to to enclaves in a few port cities. The Japanese adopted it right away, gave it a local twist and hence we have Tempura and Katsu (No Hue Hue) . In fact, a boneless chicken thigh based version is probably the most popular takeout food in Hawaii. Every single drive-inn in the state offers a version of this and my personal favorite back home is Richie's in Kalihi (let's just say Kalihi is somewhere you want to avoid at night), but DANG those people can fry some katsu and boneless chicken (gravy all OVAH).

Anyway, I pounded out the pork chops and did the breading thing - flour, egg wash, and panko crumbs- set them on a rack and tray in the fridge to let em chill so the breading wouldn't fall off in the oil. Then I pulled out some of the rice I steamed the other night and the dipping sauces (my Hawaii folk know EXACTLY what the stuff on the left is...) and I commenced frying in nice clean oil. To go with it? Traditionally you'd get finely shredded cabbage as a bed for this but to try and make up for this really BAD diet I've been eating, I made up a nice big bowl of tossed salad to eat for a week so I'm going w that (the dressing is a rice wine vinegar, olive oil, miso, shoyu, and sesame seed mix).

The verdict? Krispy, Tasty, Goodness! With plenty leftover for my very fave dish in the galaxy... Katsudon!!! Which will be manana's post!

Hope you all have a tasty and filling meal tonight. Stay safe.

Cheers!

 

[Cammalu]

Did u say you were camping at YARC Camp next year?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JDub]

If you can stand a smashed up old paratrooper's war stories!

 

[Cammalu]

We can stand it. I’m a vet myself.

 

[JDub]

"High Five"!

 

[Cammalu]

We are everywhere

 

[JDub]

We are everywhere

Like the "Pod People"!

 

[JDub]

Evening all,

had a heck of a last night. It was one of those thunderbanger express train nights. One after another and it was pretty spectacular lightning and noise wise. Woke up this morning to more rain but it began clearing by late morning and it's turned into a beautiful sunny day in the 70's. When I went out to survey for damage around the yard I got a nice surprise. My roses had bloomed despite the beating I'm sure they took last night (they're tough, they're just weeds really). They'll replace my late winter and early spring iris's which have given up the ghost in the last few days.

Tonight I had plenty of leftover katsu from last night so, I fixed my very favorite Japanese dish besides sushi. Katsudon. Translated it just means fried breaded pork or chicken cutlet bowl - these are a staple for lunch across Japan and in Japanese restaurants around the world. "Dons" are  just rice dishes with a variety of toppings. Fast, economical, and very tasty. This particular version originated in the 19th century at a restaurant in Tokyo which had been booked by a school to provide a fried cutlet lunch for a crowd. However, they got stiffed when the school cancelled at the last minute and they were stuck with a mountain of katsu. After some frantic improvisation by the cooks, they came up with Katsudon and it's become one of the top 3 most eaten lunch dishes in Japan (or anytime!).

It's really a very simple recipe. Leftover breaded pork is sliced and then sotayed (that's FRENCH u know) with slivered onions and green onions, then simmered in a sweet shoyu based sauce w sugar, mirin (sweet rice wine), and dashi (Japanese dried fish stock - not fishy at all. Lots of umami) till tender. Then it's topped with a swirl of lightly beaten egg and then covered and left to steam until the egg is soft set - almost like a savory omelet. Finally a good chunk is carved out and placed on top of hot rice in a big bowl (the "don") with plenty of the sauce, a shake of Japanese hot red pepper and you have an insanely good dish. Sweet, savory,spicy and hearty - perfect for cold and rainy days.
Probably my "last meal" choice if I ever have to choose.

Hope all of you are enjoying a great meal tonight wherever you are. Stay safe.

Cheers!

 

[user 30781]

JDub, I REALLY hope to be able to camp near you sometime. lol

edit: I'm having hot chocolate and toast. I got vaxxed yesterday and am having an awful case of the chills. No temp though.

 

[JDub]

JDub, I REALLY hope to be able to camp near you sometime. lol

edit: I'm having hot chocolate and toast. I got vaxxed yesterday and am having an awful case of the chills. No temp though.

My friends have nicknamed my house "Shay J's" (That FRENCH U know)... Hope you feel better today. First or 2nd ***?

Cheers!