What are you eating?

[NikF]

Damn... The time where we are is almost midnight. I've just said the word 'cheeseburger' aloud, to which the leggy bit next to me replied "I'd love a cheeseburger right now".
Note to self: never again read this thread late at night when without cheeseburgers or even the makings of them. Woe.

[Mookalafalas]

I'm in diet mode. Lots of Big salads with chicken breast or tuna on top,  protein shakes (made with soy milk, not water), and oatmeal (with cinnamon, non-fat milk, peanut butter, kirkland fake sweetener, and [initially] frozen blue berries].  5 meals a day, but losing weight dramatically.

[Sergeant Rock]

No one's been eating? Mrs. Rock whipped up a delicious meal this evening: chicken with a sherry/cherry sauce (seasoned with tonka bean, Sichuan pepper, black pepper and salt); mashed potato/parsley root, topped with fried mushrooms; and Chinese cabbage. We drank a Châteauneuf-du-Pape.




Sarge

[SonicMan46]

No one's been eating? Mrs. Rock whipped up a delicious meal this evening: chicken with a sherry/cherry sauce (seasoned with tonka bean, Sichuan pepper, black pepper and salt); mashed potato/parsley root, topped with fried mushrooms; and Chinese cabbage. We drank a Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Hi Sarge - dish looks great!  Don't drink much Rhone wine anymore but use to have a great collection from the area.  We are still eating well these days, just have not been taking pics or reporting back here - 

A few afternoons ago, we did a local wine tour and an early dinner at a local favorite Thai restaurant - shared the shrimp fresh rolls and the two dishes shown below - quite delicious - had a Thai beer (Singha).

Last night, I grilled up some lamb burgers (meat mixed w/ minced garlic, ground cumin, fresh mint, and salt/pepper) - cooked to medium and served w/ a minted yogurt sauce + a simple side salad - wine for me a Columbia Crest Merlot from Washington State - quite tasty!  Dave

[Sergeant Rock]

A few afternoons ago, we did a local wine tour and an early dinner at a local favorite Thai restaurant - shared the shrimp fresh rolls and the two dishes shown below - quite delicious - had a Thai beer (Singha).

Mrs. Rock makes great shrimp rolls but it's been quite awhile since she last made them...I'll have to put in a request.

Last night, I grilled up some lamb burgers (meat mixed w/ minced garlic, ground cumin, fresh mint, and salt/pepper) - cooked to medium and served w/ a minted yogurt sauce + a simple side salad - wine for me a Columbia Crest Merlot from Washington State - quite tasty!  Dave

I love lamb burgers. Mrs. Rock's recipe is similar to yours. We have a Turkish butcher close by (in the next village); high quality freshly ground lamb is always available.

Sarge

[Brian]

I love lamb burgers too but never, ever with mint - my mom belongs to the Turkish minority who totally swear off the lamb/mint combination! Instead, a lot of sumac finds its way into the yogurt sauce for mine.

No one's been eating? Mrs. Rock whipped up a delicious meal this evening: chicken with a sherry/cherry sauce (seasoned with tonka bean, Sichuan pepper, black pepper and salt); mashed potato/parsley root, topped with fried mushrooms; and Chinese cabbage. We drank a Châteauneuf-du-Pape.




Sarge

Good lord this looks good. And Châteauneuf-du-Pape?! You lucky dog.


...should I post vacation-to-Montreal food pics?

[SonicMan46]

I love lamb burgers too but never, ever with mint - my mom belongs to the Turkish minority who totally swear off the lamb/mint combination! Instead, a lot of sumac finds its way into the yogurt sauce for mine.

Sumac - we've not used this spice (or is it a herb since made from berries?) - just bought dozens of spices/herbs at a new store (wonderful to just walk into the place!) as replacements and new ones, including Baharat - have you used the latter and if so in what ways?  Thanks - Dave

[Sergeant Rock]

...should I post vacation-to-Montreal food pics?

Yes 

Sarge

[Brian]

Sumac - we've not used this spice (or is it a herb since made from berries?) - just bought dozens of spices/herbs at a new store (wonderful to just walk into the place!) as replacements and new ones, including Baharat - have you used the latter and if so in what ways?  Thanks - Dave

I've never even heard of Baharat! Here is a great article about sumac - the comments include some of my favorite uses.

My favorite way to deploy sumac, though, goes something like this:

TURKISH WHITE BEAN SALAD
2 cans of great northern or cannelini beans
2 Campari tomatoes
part of a red onion
olive oil, red wine vinegar, sumac, parsley
OPTIONAL: black olives

1. An hour or so before eating, open the cans of beans, drain thoroughly, and put the beans in a bowl. Add red wine vinegar to the bowl enough to soak the beans, but not enough that it looks like a stew. Let the bowl sit, stirring occasionally.
2. When you're good and hungry, drain the red wine vinegar out.
3. Add very finely diced red onion, tomato slices, and black olives. (I use pitted, but my mom doesn't.)
4. Mix it all up!
5. Drizzle with very good olive oil as your dressing. The other half of the dressing is the red wine vinegar, which has been soaked into the beans.
6. Garnish with a generous, ultra-colorful dusting of parsley and sumac.

BONUS TWIST: SPANISH WHITE BEAN SALAD

Pretty much the same, but add a bell pepper and a can of tuna.

[Sergeant Rock]

TURKISH WHITE BEAN SALAD
2 cans of great northern or cannelini beans...

Sounds great; I'll have to try it...if I can find the beans here.

Sarge

[Brian]

Sounds great; I'll have to try it...if I can find the beans here.

Sarge

White beans with a mild flavor and you should be OK. I think "Great Northern" is a US marketing term.

http://www.cookthink.com/reference/988/Cannellini_beans_vs_Great_Northern_beans_vs_Navy_beans

I treat them interchangeably. Maybe that's a mistake but...whatever!

[Ken B]

A salad my better half improved:

2 cans black beans
one fennell, chopped
ground cumin
lime juice
fresh Italian parsley or cilantro
some hot sauce (we use Frank's Red Hot)
optional: sliced avocado

[Brian]

Yes 

Sarge

Sardines at Taverne F, a Portuguese bar conveniently located just around the corner from the Montreal Symphony's concert hall. Paired with a Grand Marnier sour cocktail, made candy-like by a splash of port.



Smoked sturgeon sausage at Les 400 Coups, a modernish French-Canadian bistro in Vieux Montreal. Broccoli was marinated in something acidic and citrusy; sauce is mustard-based.



Maple suckling pig at Les 400 Coups, my main course. With field peas and pear jam. Sunchoke puree around the edge of the plate. Maybe the best thing I ate in Canada. We paired this with a grenache-based Cotes du Rhone ("Le Canon," Dom. de la Grande Colline) which was, just as the waiter warned us, very au naturel - unfiltered, untouched by modern technique, with a bit of fizz and delicious after a nice wallow in the decanter.



The everything bagel at St Viateur Bagel, which has been slinging garlic-heavy everything bagels since 1958. Just $1.50 Canadian with cream cheese.



Our meal at an Egyptian (!) restaurant, La Folie du Koshary. Koshary is an Egyptian comfort/hangover food where you put pasta, rice, lentils, and chickpeas into one big pot, then top 'em with tomato-vinegar sauce, a ton of garlic (the green thing on the right is garlic sauce), hot sauce, and fried onion bits. I had never experienced this before and it is pretty tasty. As a man of simple pleasures, though, my favorite bowl was the tomato and feta.

[Sergeant Rock]

Sardines at Taverne F, a Portuguese bar conveniently located just around the corner from the Montreal Symphony's concert hall. Paired with a Grand Marnier sour cocktail, made candy-like by a splash of port.

I've never eaten fresh sardines but I've seen people at Spanish restaurants consume the entire fish. Did you eat the bones too? The other dishes all look great. Suckling pig...I always feel guilty but then I think, it's really their own fault: if only they didn't taste so darn good they might have had a longer life 

Sarge

[Brian]

I've never eaten fresh sardines but I've seen people at Spanish restaurants consume the entire fish. Did you eat the bones too? The other dishes all look great. Suckling pig...I always feel guilty but then I think, it's really their own fault: if only they didn't taste so darn good they might have had a longer life 

Sarge

our slogan this trip was All Cute Animals Must Suffer. We also ate duck, goose, venison, rabbit, and probably some other ones I'm forgetting.

I don't remember any bones in the sardines. Definitely wasn't a whole fish.

[Artem]

Great pictures, Brian. Montreal serves some of the best food in Canada.

[Sergeant Rock]

A salad my better half improved:

2 cans black beans
one fennell, chopped
ground cumin
lime juice
fresh Italian parsley or cilantro
some hot sauce (we use Frank's Red Hot)
optional: sliced avocado

Mrs. Rock will love this (she has  a fennel and avocado fetish).

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Dinner this evening: salmon, scallops (with garlic and spring onions) and a rice salad with pomegranate seeds and a balsamic dressing. We drank a Crémant d'Alsace brut rosé.




Sarge

[Bogey]

Dinner this evening: salmon, scallops (with garlic and spring onions) and a rice salad with pomegranate seeds and a balsamic dressing. We drank a Crémant d'Alsace brut rosé.




Sarge

THAT I could eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a midnight snack!

[lisa needs braces]

What a thread! You guys live the life!

Unfortunately, I have been eating horribly most of my life, with too much fast food. I'm determined to eat healthier by making all my meals!