Motivation: We're all stuck indoors these days. For us, this means a chance to be more ambitious about what we eat which, in turn, means getting to cook out of those cookbooks which have been too-long ignored. We're particularly anxious to explore James Peterson's Glorious French Food, Joanne Chang's Meyers & Chang At Home, and Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. We're also rooting through old standbys like David Rosengarden's It's All American Food and Jean-George's The Asian Flavors of Jean-George.
Friday, April 24
Lunch: Starting off the week with a bang! Some more of Deb's wonderful Cream of Tomato Soup. More bang! The remainder of last night's hanger steak and the final bit of the leftover Mac and Cheese.
![Tomato Soup](img6/TomatoSoupApr24.jpg)
![Hanger Steak](img6/HangerSteakApr24.jpg)
Dinner: We were impressed with an anchovy pasta recipe in the Times but it turned out to be mediocre; the only saving grace was the sausage I added.
![Spaghetti and Sausage](img6/SpaghettiSausage.jpg)
Saturday, April 25
Lunch: When we don't have anything obvious on hand we resort to the freezer with its supply of our homemade Mama Chang's dumplings.
![Mama Chang's Dumplings](img6/MamaChangsDumplings.jpg)
Dinner: We were finally more than ready for that duck which wouldn't thaw quickly enough. We tried James Patterson's recipe for blueberry sauce (The Duck Cookbook) but with raspberries; it was a hit!
![Magret with Raspberry Sauce](img6/MagretRaspberry.jpg)
Sunday, April 26
Breakfast: We wanted a special treat this morning so had buttermilk waffles with pecans:
![Waffles with Pecans](img6/WafflesPecans.jpg)
Lunch: The tomato soup Deb made was such a hit that she decided to try the same formula for a beet soup. Sure enough, it was terrific, especially with the crème fraîche.
![Beet Soup](img6/BeetSoup.jpg)
Dinner: Tomasz has been learning about pasta preparations so we put him to work making penne al'arabiatta.
![Penne al'Arabiatta](img6/PenneAlArabiatta.jpg)
Monday, April 27
Lunch: We somehow never tire of having corned beef hash on hand. This almost finished it off.
![Corned Beef Hash](img6/CornedBeefEgg.jpg)
Dinner: That whole beef tenderloin we cut up a while ago is now history. The fries will be back soon!
![Tenderloin Fries](img6/FiletFries.jpg)
Tuesday, April 28
Lunch: We were quite happy to see that beet soup back on the table accompanied by my new fav, the flatbread you saw earlier.
![Beet Soup and Flatbread](img6/BeetSoupApr28.jpg)
Special! Deb was so impressed that her friend who doesn't cook had made no-knead bread successfully that she wanted to try it herself. In particular, she wanted to make rye bread so I clamored for the inclusion of caraway seeds.
![Rye Bread Loaf](img6/RyeBreadA.jpg)
![Rye Bread Crumb](img6/RyeBreadB.jpg)
Dinner: If there's a duck in the house, it won't be long before Deb makes the duck ragu from Lupa and I make pappardelle.
![Pappardelle with Duck Ragu](img6/DuckRaguPapardelle.jpg)
Wednesday, April 29
Lunch: Back to the freezer for another package of our homemade Mama Chang's dumplings.
![Mama Chang's Dumplings](img6/MCDumplings.jpg)
Dinner: Sorry to say that I must have left the camera's SD card in the iMac so the photos I thought I was taking of the terrific rack of lamb we'd cooked sous vide (129 degrees) in the vacuum-sealed package straight from Trader Joe's do not exist.
Thursday, April 30
Lunch: Deb went shopping again and brought back more pastromi so we could repeat our favorite Reuben sandwich which we could now have on her rye bread. I was so excited that I didn't remember to take the picture until it was almost gone!
![Reuben Sandwich](img6/ReubenDressing.jpg)
Dinner: Since this was shopping day, Deb brought back some lovely salmon which I decided to sear. The fried shallots on top are my latest fixation (close behind the flatbread, which we now have daily). Cook's Illustrated described a method of frying the shallots in the microwave; it works well but they keep cooking after being removed so get quite dark.
![Seared Salmon](img6/SearedSalmon.jpg)