The toughest decisions I’ve had to make in the last few days is whether or not to have one more glass of wine. My soulmate connection is having a best friend who enjoys good food and being a person who loves seeing people enjoy the food I make, and the kitchen remodel by my best friend’s partner means I am in cooking heaven. Since not much but cooking has been going on, please enjoy my homemade food adventures so far.
The first meal I made was my classic rainbow salad with my homemade dressing and stew meat paired with Chimichurri. There’s nothing special about the salad except its deconstructed look, which means your eyes (and my phone) always eat first. One great thing about making various kinds of fresh sauces is being able to go through whole bunches of parsley, cilantro, dill, or mint without wasting any. All the veggies are from the Sunday open market, which is under a highway here in Sacramento. My best friend and I go with a list and walk around diligently to price check each stall.
Ever since I learned how to properly cook salmon (a quick sear, a short bake and a trusty meat thermometer) I love to make it. I seasoned this very lightly and we put the leftover Chimichurri on it, which made this a home run. A healthy and delicious meal!
I don’t know why Shrimp Scampi feels like a meal from the 90s to me, but it does. I was shocked by how good this one turned out since I decided to use up one of the many bags of pre-cooked shrimp my bestie already had on-hand. It was buttery and sharp and had a highkey spice kick from a last-second extra shake of red chili flakes.
This meal turned out to be one of my favorites. I lightly seasoned and then baked some pieces of cod and then made a punchy butter, lemon and caper sauce to go on top of it. At the same time I sautéed some mushrooms with onions and garlic and then used the same pan to cook down some spinach. That was supposed to be the whole meal, but I felt like it needed something else, so at the last minute I found this lemon parmesan pearl couscous recipe and went into go-mode. With help from my bestie, who squeezed frozen Meyer lemons with cheese cloth, we made it to the table by dinner time and the couscous was a hit.
Here’s where shit took a turn. Every Wednesday, my bestie’s partner and her best friend take turns making dinner for Friends Dinner. This other bestie is an incredible home cook and I feel like I am striving to be as good as her. Since it was our turn to host, I decided to kick it up a notch by making homemade chicken gyros with 1) two kinds of Tzatziki (one with garlic and one without) and 2) homemade flatbreads. Sauces are my specialty, so I felt confident there, but I am a terrible baker! Baking requires precision, and understanding how climate or humidity or a butterfly’s passing might impact your rise. All that to say, I ended up standing at the counter with dough fingers and dough so sticky I was close to a meltdown. It was the first time I had to call in my best friend of nearly 20 years to the kitchen to bail me out. She added flour to my mess, put another pan on the stove for frying and generally followed my harried orders. In the end, we pulled off another good meal. I will not be making flatbread for the foreseeable future.
I feel very confident about my enchiladas. In fact, my enchiladas have moved up to my #1 husband-catcher meal (moving meat loaf, mashed potatoes and green beans down). So if I mention that I made enchiladas for one of these Bumble dates I refuse to go on, just know that I see future and I want to make him mine.
That’s all for now! Happy Summer!
I love everything about this. Oh flatbread, you exasperating minx!
“or a butterfly’s passing might impact your rise.” *snaps!*
That flat bread looked gorgeous!
“I feel very confident about my enchiladas.” *more snaps!*