Oct 19 Menu

I will have to take a brief pause from menu writing until after the closing of our new house - Oct. 31. So, please check back sometime in mid-November.

I am sorry to all my fans. I know you're out there. Don't try to deny it.

Oct 12 Menu

On Sunday, I had the bitter-sweet opportunity to have dinner at our friends who will soon be moving to Los Angeles. Bitter because they're moving to Los Angeles. Sweet because we had some great braised chicken, broiled acorn squash, and steamed artichokes. The chicken was pot braised with thin slices of ginger and a hoisin like sauce, which I didn't ask but will next time. The acorn squash was put in a bath of water until tender and then baked high with butter and brown sugar, making a nice crystalline crust. The artichoke was simply cut, steamed, and delicious.

Well, this week, I have to continue relying on some impromptu cooking as I continue to trudge through the purchase of our home. We finally did arrive at a P&S and now the going really gets going. We need to budget, budget, and budget, and the banks don't want to have any fun in this. They are as straight laced as they come and in fact BofA reneged on their offer to me regarding an FHA program. A program that promised all the goods but a program that couldn't deliver a closing date. What good is a program that can't deliver on the closing date? So I am in a scrambling mode, trying my best to piece together the pieces so that I can find a lender.

Tonight, we have some oxtail brewing in the slow cooker, so you can bet that is tomorrow's dinner. On Tuesday, I'll take advantage of the local farmer's market and bring home some hearty vegetables, ala our friend's dinner this Sunday. We'll also be having some fried fish and korean side dishes, as that is in our fridge. And of course, I have thinly sliced beef for the favorite gyu-don.

Oh, and going forward, I'll be bringing lunch to work now, to save money for this house.

Oct 5 Menu

Are we buying or not? That is the question that has been putitng me into knots for the past week. Our offer to purchase a 2 family in belmont was accepted about two weeks ago and still I don't have a signed P&S. The sellers have been less than straightforward is all I can say and they are lucky we're still around. I'm practically bending over backwards for them. If we don't get anywhere soon, I'm going to have to part ways and search for another - it's ridiculous that at this point in the negotiation, the Seller is not laying down their cards and calling a spade a spade.

So all of the above, of course, is another excuse for not having a menu for another week. It is tough, I tell you, to juggle a daughter, work, and house buying. And then on the weekends, we're trying to spend as much of it as possible with our friends who, much to our dismay, will be leaving for the sunny shores of southern Los Angeles. I think I'm still in denial.

And to top it all off, we went to HMart again this week. That means a lot of stuff was bought, much of which only my wife knows what to do with. HMart was packed, even on a Saturday night. But it seems the taste testers were not out and the grand opening sales have fallen off a bit. The food court vendors still had ridiculously long lines - for $15 short rib plates. A bit too steep for my taste.

What will this week bring? Lots of gyu-don, oden (fish cake) noodle soup, oxtail soup (not sick of it yet), and perhaps a pasta dish with the mushroom and beef.