What do your meals look like (show me pictures)....

acpgee

Starter of caprese with roasted paprika. Main of wings tossed in Vietnamese caramel fish sauce, oven fries from the freezer, and crudites with blue cheese sauce. The stuff prepped in advance were roast paprika that we do in big batches and put in jars that keep for a week, the caramel fish sauce is non perishable so keeps for months in the fridge, the blue cheese sauce was a leftover from the weekend.

cmsienk

Tuesday dinner: Visiting a friend who's moved 3 hours north of me and now lives on a beautiful lake. Tonight we broiled salmon in garlic butter and made garlic parmesan smashed potatoes and a broccoli, cauliflower, apple salad

This morning's sunrise:

acpgee

Pan fried sea bass, sauteed spinach, baked potato started in the microwave and dried in the air fryer.

acpgee

So yesterday afternoon I was told at work that all the contractors need to go on furlough for 3 weeks over Christmas. We booked tickets to Bangkok today for the furlough period and will figure out where to go in Thailand later. Flights pricier than normal, as we usually book long haul airline tickets 3 months in advance. I made Thai chicken green curry, and som tam (spiralized carrot and apple as a substitute for green papaya) with rice in anticipation of going to Thailand.

takinitalloff

Chicken poached in a ginger-onion dressing, plum tomatoes, romaine lettuce, radishes, red bell pepper, carrot, almonds, toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and cilantro. I was so happy eating this big bowl of crunchy, juicy, delicious salad.

takinitalloff

Raspberries & blueberries from the freezer, and a couple pieces of English white cheddar.

takinitalloff

@acpgee Your sea bass looks scrumptious. I hope you have a great time in Thailand. I look forward to seeing some of your meals
@cmsienk Thank you for sharing that lovely sunrise with us! Looks so peaceful.

takinitalloff

It's not much to look at, but this really hit the spot yesterday. A mix of fridge clean-out and "I want all of these things and I'm just going to throw them in a bowl together" A jammy egg, black forest ham, plum tomatoes, romaine, mayo, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast.

acpgee

@takinitalloff

Thanks. I will try to post some meals from Thailand.

I have got pan fried sea bass down dependably nowadays. I dry the fillets with some paper towel, brush the skin side with a little olive oil and salt. On a hot non stick pan I fry the skin side two minutes and meanwhile brush oil and salt the flesh side. Flip and fry flesh side one minute and serve. Scoring of skin optional. I normally do the fish after everything else is ready and being kept warm.

acpgee

A colleague who stays in a hotel near me when she is in London overnight recommended a modern Middle Eastern restaurant in the neighbourhood. It was as good as famous places such as Ottolenghi.

takinitalloff

@acpgee OH YUM that Middle Eastern food looks amazing, would you be willing to share the name of the restaurant?

acpgee

@takinitalloff
The Middle Eastern restaurant is called Amber near Aldgate in London. Their website is poor (menu button sends you to a blank page) but you can see a menu on some delivery sites. I really think they are on par with Ottolenghi and Morito, which are much more famous.

cmsienk

Friday dinner: roast chicken and broccoli with rice in a cheddar cheese sauce

takinitalloff

@acpgee Thank you! Sounds fabulous. I like to cook and eat Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food... you saying "as good as Ottolenghi" sure caught my attention! If I make it to London someday I will check them out.

acpgee

@takinitalloff
Food at Amber is every bit as creative as Ottolenghi at about half the price. The hubby prefers Amber to Ottolenghi where a lot of the dishes are same-y with pomegranate, sumac and labneh. If you are in London and like that modernized middle eastern Ottolenghi style I would recommend Morito too. They are just as good as Ottolenghi but cheaper. I think Morito might have a cookbook.

https://www.quandoo.co.uk/place/amber-58537/menu
https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pub/media/contentmanager/content/Sample_dinner_menu_SPI.pdf
https://www.morito.co.uk/todays-menu.php

acpgee

@takinitalloff
One last thing about middle eastern restaurants if you are ever in east London. Don't miss the Mangal 1 and Mangal II restaurants in Dalston. Mangal 1 is a traditional Turkish grill, very cheap, and BYOB. If you scroll down the front page of the website, they have endorsements from Ottolenghi and Sam Clark (owner of Morito). Mangal II is owned by cousins with a very different vision of elevating Turkish food to fine dining. They get great reviews and have prices similar to Ottolenghi. I have been to Mangal 1 many times but never Mangal II. But be careful because Mangal, meaning BBQ (the event, not the cooking technique) features in the name of a lot of unrelated Turkish restaurants.
http://www.mangal1.com/
https://www.mangal2.com/menu

janicemlove

Leftover soup and peanut butter eggo waffles before the gym. This soup is butternut squash soup I made in the instant pot and it turned out absolutely amazing.

acpgee

I found out this week I need to take a mandatory 3 week furlough around Christmas, so we booked flights to Bangkok on Friday. Will decide later where to go exactly. In anticipation off going to Thailand I made Pad Kra Pao, a very easy ubiquitous street food lunch dish.

cmsienk

Saturday brunch out with friends... by the time we got our table it was almost 12:30: basted eggs and bacon, gf French toast and a latte (no, I didn't finish it all)

cmsienk

And... Saturday dinner was really a snack (because brunch was so big): chicken "slider" sandwich with baby Swiss cheese and a side of garlic parmesan green beans