h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My sister must have had a flash-back to 1973, when she was on a school trip to Greece for a couple of weeks. Her dinner choice was a Greek salad - and a very nice one it was - and Athenian chicken. Chicken breast stuffed with feta and spinach, covered with a tomato, oil and herb sauce. She also enjoyed samples of my escargots and my wife's crab stuffed mushroom caps (topped with melty cheese).

Our home Chinese meal on Saturday left quite some fresh vegetables. Before they could expire, I cut up some celery, carrots, red & orange & yellow bell peppers, a few radishes, and quite a lot of 2 types of mushrooms. And fed them all to the dehydrator. These things should last much longer and while never fully reconstituting - impart plenty of natural flavours to things.

For instance, I will roast a single strip of pork tenderloin for supper today. To accompany, I will low simmer the mushrooms, celery and carrots with some broth and fresh onions for a very tasty gravy.

Sunday supper will be a good olde classic, remembered from meals at the home of my best grand-parents.

A tidy and roughly 2.5 lb slab of beef rump roast. Lightly seasoned all over, seared all over, then cooked in a black iron Dutch oven. Carrots and potatoes to be cooked in with the meat. And there should be a really nice gravy from the roasting broth.

These meals sound so delicious that I am going to plan them for myself soon.

I find it fun to try creative combinations, something entirely new. But there are always times when the old classics are just what you need.

Speaking of new? I once had calamari based seafood cakes - in a Chinese restaurant in Dublin (with background music of the 1960s C & W). It was nice. So I recently ordered breaded & fried calamari with a dinner. Nice enough, but not something that I will likely do again. Something entirely new, such as veal steaks in mushroom gravy or shark steak with rice. were very nice and welcome again. But some things - once is enough.

Chicken minestrone, probably the best that I have ever made.

So far, only I have had the beef roast. Mrs Rev is laying around in the hospital again - this time suspected of having had some degree of a stroke.

Her gourmet offering for lunch was mac'n'cheese. And that seems a fine idea, so I found a measure of mine (with ham & onions) in the freezer for supper.

Wednesday supper was about as lazy as can be. I ordered in Chinese food.

Crispy shrimp spring-rolls.
Sweet and sour pork - bite size pieces with large cuts of onion, green pepper and pineapple, all tumbled in the sticky sauce.
Sweet and sour shrimps - full length shrimps in a batter for frying.
House special chop suey - with large pieces of BBQ pork, beef, chicken and mushrooms.
House special fried rice - with the same meats and things as the chop suey.
And for Mrs Rev - 4 tasty almond cookies.

Clam chowder with a scoop of cold minced avocado for a topping.

I'm eating out tonight. What I eat depends on where I go. A burrito place? A sandwich shop? I'm still deciding.

I finally tried fresh avacado recently - - - it does nothing at all for me.

And a sandwich shop is going out? Hmmmmm.

I had a chicken calabrese sandwich.

Everyone hates avocado the first time they try it.

If a garnish of butter or cheese works well, so does one of avocado.

I didn't hate the avocado, it just didn't give me anything to invite me back.

Now for a real shocker - I'm looking at a Sunday supper completely by the seat of the pants.

Two generous skinless & boneless chicken breasts. Trim, rinse, pat dry, then lightly brush with veggie oil. Dust with a little seasoned salt, garlic powder, black pepper, parsley, thyme. On a trivet, on a cookie sheet, foil covered, bake for 45 minutes in a 350F oven.

A number of mushrooms, sliced. Fry in a very little oil with light seasonings. Set aside.

Make a simple bechamel and build it up with 1 part milk to 2 parts table cream. Add a little chicken Bovril. When cooked, add the mushrooms and keep warm with occasional stirring.

Cook a measure of egg noodles to just tender. Drain, rinse, and mix with some of the creamy mushroom sauce. Cover with foil if needed to retain heat.

Serve chicken with some of the sauce available to add flavour and moisture, with the noodles, and perhaps chilled peas as she likes. Maybe soft and buttered bread rolls.

That mushroom sauce turned out awesome. If I used a little beef stock instead of chicken - that same sauce and egg noodles would accept thin sliced BBQ'd steak left-overs. Add a good dollop of sour cream at the end, and it should be a very satisfying stroganoff.

Supper will be the last serving of something I can't remember the name of .

Mrs Rev has been having a tough week, so for Wednesday - I took her out for dinner.

She opened with 5 large mushrooms stuffed with garlic butter and chopped crab, topped with a thick measure of melty cheese. Then a generous club house sandwich (sans tomato) with a side plate of garden salad w/Ranch dressing. Ending with a tall wedge of lemon meringue pie.

I began with 6 escargots baked in garlic butter and topped with golden brown edged melted cheese. Then my main was 3 slices of pork tenderloin, lightly seasoned and grilled, accompanied by 5 crispy breaded butterfly shrimps and 2 good scoops of mashed potatoes w/beefy gravy. And 2 cups of a very full bodied black coffee.

I forgot to mention that the pork was accompanied by very tasty sauteed mushrooms. And would have had a generous serving of broccoli & carrots - but I omitted the veggies and asked for the breaded & deep fried shrimps.

Supper for Thursday didn't quite happen, so it was made for Friday.

Simple cottage pie . . .

And because there was too much lean ground beef . . .

A separate dish with 3 salisbury steaks in gravy and onions.

I'm about to eat supper. It's the last serving of the original Mexican=-style pasta dish I made a while ago.