I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #12 - Leftovers
creamy tomato soup with grilled Asiago and kielbasa sandwich
Today’s post is the 12th of “I eat, I read, I watch,” my column highlighting one of my solo dinners and my reading or Netflix accompaniments. Please treat yourself well at mealtime too. Don’t just eat alone - dine solo! You’re worth it. And it’s not hard to do.
Missed the earlier instalments? See the list at the bottom of the post:
I eat: Leftovers
In December, I hosted people for six different meals - a busy month for someone with a tiny kitchen and an even smaller dining area - and cooked myself a couple of other special meals as well. All of that I can handle though - it’s storing the leftover food that proves the most challenging. Much of it ends up bunged in the tiny freezer, labelled to the best of the ability of my worn-out sharpie. Here are my top five repeat meals.
You had a look at my mushroom shepherds pie a few columns ago. (See the link below if you missed it) I enjoyed it the next day with a side salad.
On Christmas Day, I roasted myself a pair of Cornish hens and glazed them with an mandarin orange sauce. I turned the bones into stock and then made a chicken stew with some green peas tossed in, a portion of which I froze. Tonight I heated up that defrosted stew, added some sour cream and some egg noodles, and topped it with arugula shoots. A great meal with a glass of Kombucha.
Not every meal is a winner: during the holidays, I made one of those "this looks great but there is no way anyone other than me would eat it" dinners. Stir-fried shrimp and quick-pickled veg (celery, carrots, mushrooms, beets, onions, garlic, and green beans) in a gochujang sauce on noodles.
I’d hosted friends on Dec 28. The next day, I had treats to use up. My lunch? homemade cream of tomato soup garnished with thyme from my garden aside a grilled asiago and kielbasa sandwich with a dollop of sriracha mayo for dipping.
On January 1, I looked at my fridge full of delicacies and decided on a Cobb-inspired salad: chopped rotisserie chicken, avocado, sliced egg, roasted tomatoes, fried sausage, and green onion on a bed of iceberg lettuce, with a mug of turkey stock.
Prep Time: Most of these meals took about 5 minutes to prepare.
Cost: Meal costs vary greatly but even those that include slightly more expensive items - shrimp, Asiago - in the quantity I consuming them, it doesn’t break the bank.
Tell me about your comment food. In the Comments below please!
I read: The Best American Food Writing, 2022 - “I recommend eating chips”
So there’s a title I wish I’d written! This is a piece in an anthology of food articles written by Sam Anderson, a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine.
Sam wrote this short essay during the pandemic when he used chips as a way to avoid the world. I can so relate but I don’t need a pandemic to find myself, as he does, “sitting here all alone at the kitchen counter, about to sail off into the salty seas of decadent gluttony. And then not as many minutes you might think later “reach[ing] the point, in fact, where it would be shameful to leave only what’s left.”
Reading a passionate account of eating chips is nearly as satisfying as eating them. But for this month, I’ve been trying very hard to reduce my trips into those salty seas. So thank you, Anderson, for feeding my need.
Got a reading recommendation that feeds some unmet need? Add it to the Comments below.
I watch: Uncle Roger (aka Nigel Ng) on Facebook
There is a lot of twaddle on Facebook as we know. However, occasionally you find someone how just makes you laugh. Uncle Roger is not a chef, but a comedic critic of chefs and he makes me laugh out loud.
He has a particular hate on for Jamie Oliver, whom I actually quite like, although I can see how he might get up the noses of some. Uncle Roger often criticizes of other chefs in relation to Jamie Oliver - “turmeric in butter chicken? Hyah! This is a Jamie Oliver level mistake.” Best line in his critique of Canadian Matty Matheson’s butter chicken video? “Uncle Roger rather be vegan than eat chicken breast.” Yup. I agree.
For a sample of Uncle Roger, click here: https://www.facebook.com/nigelngcomedy
What’re you watching? In the Comments below please!
Missed the earlier instalments of this column? Click:
If you like what you’re reading, there is no greater compliment than to become a subscriber. Sign up below with your email address to receive an email with my weekly blog.