It's the end of April and time to look back at my kitchen adventures this month. I started the month in Evelyn’s kitchen in Fairfax, Virginia. In March when we were vaccinated against covid, we traveled to see our family there after the months of lock-down. Last month I documented what we did in Evelyn’s kitchen. As we were leaving, Evelyn packed up some spices for me to take home, as she had purchased them in large quantities. So the first image here shows an interesting Korean pepper blend going into a jar from her kitchen to my kitchen.
We returned home April 5, and spent a few weeks in our own kitchen. For the first time in well over a year we felt it safe to invite friends for dinner — only one other couple at a time, everybody immunized. I had to recall how to make a company dinner for four, rather than an ordinary dinner for two. This kept me busy, so I didn’t take too many photos. For the first dinner I served an appetizer of salad with smoked fish. For a main course, roast chicken, rice pilaf, and brussels sprouts. All with Len’s good home-baked bread of course. Our guests brought a fruit tart for dessert.
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| For the second dinner party, I cooked a whole fish, which was covered with herbs and lettuce, and also had some in the cavity. |
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| The cooked fish was also garnished with some sea scallops in a sauce (no pics of the scallops). |
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| Vegetables: broccoli and carrots. |
Both dinners were a lot of fun, We really liked visiting with our friends INDOORS!
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| Of course I cooked all our other meals too, like this split pea soup with yogurt and sriracha. |
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| I have brand-new refrigerator magnets this month. I like to change them from time to time, just for fun. |
The month is ending with a visit to my sister Elaine in West Lafayette, Indiana.
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| Elaine bakes the best apple pies! She made us one with some rhubarb and strawberries too. |
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| Elaine’s kitchen window. |
18 comments:
That fish looks delicious. Glad you have been able to do some life resuming with family and friends. I bet that has lifted your spirits.
The fish looks really good. Len is a great baker. His bread is unbeatable.
Your meals look wonderful! I am interested in trying to cook a fish like that.
Though we are fully inoculated we have not yet had anyone other than our Son and his wife here. I am ready to dip my toes back in the entertaining pool.
A great post. I like the fish cooked whole and that pie! Have a great day today.
Hmmm, broccoli and carrots! And the pea-soup! Do you give the recipe?
I like your magnets.
And despite I don´t like sweets... the apple pie looks tempting.
So nice to see your life goes a bit back to normal, socializing for real.
What a change from a year ago! So glad your life is full of family and friends again.
thanks for joining in Mae. how lovely to have guests for dinner. we haven't done that in a long time tho we have been out to restaurants (sitting outside) with friends recently. and then i caught a cold ... Keep well, and see you next month.
cheers
sherry
How nice to see that you have been able to share not just your own kitchen this month, but that of others, too. It was great to see you venture from home for the first time in over a year. Your soup looks delicious, the fish looks incredible, and the pie looks perfect, too.
About the soup: this is a no-recipe recipe because I was leaving town so it incorporated all the odd bits from the crisper drawer, like parsley stems, carrots, celery tops, green onions and more. I looked up the cooking time for split peas — that was the only recipe part.
mae
The first time I invited company a few weeks ago felt very strong. I had not entertained in over a year. I had to really try to remember which serving dishes, tablecloths, etc that I like to use. But it was fun. We had two other couples, so six double vaccinated in total. Glad you are circulating again and able to socialize somewhat.
How wonderful that you have been able to invite others over to eat with you! We've only done a bit of that as we still have some favorite friends/family who have not gotten immunized yet.
It's great to see friends again!
That is a BIG fish! It's great you can have get togethers again.
That looks like delicious food, no matter the kitchen!
It is so nice to be able to have friends around for dinner again! That fish looks amazing!
Your photos are beautiful, especially the split pea soup. What a nice way to keep track of the month's kitchen adventures. I take a lot of photos, but most of them end up going unused.
We haven't had company yet, but we have been invited to eat at a friend's house next week with two others, and if the weather is bad, our group of five will eat together INSIDE!
Isn't it wonderful to be able to cook for company! We had our first guests this past month as well. I know exactly what you mean about cooking for other folks and your fish looks delicious. Being vaccinated does give a measure of pre-pandemic freedom.
I am excited that you are vaccinated and able to visit family and have friends over for dinner. Covid has made socialising feel special when you learn how it feels to have it taken from you. Australia is really lagging with vaccinations and I worry for our country being so slow as we are so isolated with borders closed - I hope the vaccine might help us open up more. Lots of lovely food and must be nice to see views from others's windows. Best wishes!
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