Armchair Dining on DP

I also am not big on breakfasts. I simply am not hungry. If I do have breakfast, it is usually on the weekend or on vacation and it is eaten more at brunch time (late morning) and ends up substituting for lunch. I drink that same amount of hot tea that you drink in coffee in the morning and that is what gets me through the morning.

 

I am lucky in that I am able to eat most anything. Sure, I have preferences and likes/dislikes, but I find it to be a big advantage that I can, in fact, pretty much eat any food without big issues or concerns.

However, like you, I like certain pastries (like pies, cakes, etc.) with no toppings (other than whipped cream which goes great on most anything. E.g., I like pie and I like ice cream; I do not like ice cream on pie. Same with cake. I absolutely love nuts but do not like them baked into cakes or other pastries.

Looking forward to your next post. I have to go eat now...

 

Yes, and eating breakfast is also essential when dieting. All of the nutritionists say for health and weight maintenance, "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." Unfortunately, I do the reverse and most of my consumption of food is later in the day.

I don't like coffee and need caffeine in the morning, so it's tea for me...

 

Working on shifts for many years now I've grown a habit of not having habits. I don't know if I'll be able to catch a meal at 10 in the morning or 3 at night - I just eat when I'm hungry. But indeed I am well aware of the proper eating habits, the importance of breakfast and everything. That's why I always say that if there is a complete opposite set of rules concerning food - I am their top follower Eat quite a lot of junk food, stuff myself mainly in dinner time, don't chew my food enough, neglect whole food groups etc. ...yet I can't gain a kilo, always have been on the slim side and quite healthy so far (knock on wood!)...

...now, as promised, I will be getting back on track with the food sharing.
Something very, very common here and super easy to make (probably one of the first things I made myself with my mom's supervision) - stuffed peppers!



What do you need for those beauties? You get the raw peppers, cut their stumps (I call them butts ), remove the seeds and stuff with either rice (vegetarian version) or rice+minced meat (precooked a little, of course). Those go directly in the pan and into the oven. There are a variety of sauces that are added to the final dish - it can be something gravy-like, a combination of flour+yoghurt+eggs, or a white bechamel sauce. Come to think of it, even without a sauce, you can just put yoghurt on the side and they are already great.

Now, little princesses like me actually remove the pepper afterwards and eat just the filling but 95% of sane people here eat the whole thing

 

I have to tell you, the stuffed peppers really, really hurt me tonight. They look so good and I was already a bit hungry from dieting today...now I am starving...

I would definitely favor the minced meat version and the béchamel sauce sounds really good, too. And, as much as I would enjoy these stuffed peppers, my wife would go over the moon with them. Peppers are just about her favorite vegetable. And she claims to be able to taste the difference between green, red, yellow, and orange peppers while they mostly all taste the same to me. She would absolutely prepare them with red peppers (her favorite) as you show them above.

 

Yeah, here we almost exclusively have green and red peppers on the fruit/veggie markets anyways and this stuffed version definitely goes best with the red ones. This dish (the rice only version) is actually often one of the 7 traditional meals we have on the night before Christmas (where all 7 have to be meatless). Common ingredients and so easy to make - no wonder all the housewives love it

 

Is seafood allowed on Christmas Eve? And, would the stuffed peppers ever be made with rice and seafood (shrimp immediately comes to mind?) it seems to be a very versatile dish in that a number of ingredients could be substituted...

 

You know, I've never even considered the rice/shrimp combo in the peppers but now that you mention it - sounds really great! Will surely try it next time I feel like cooking some.

As to the question - no, I am pretty sure that no kind of meat is traditionally allowed. That is the Orthodox church tho, might be different in other variations of Christianity. Still, not much of a religious junkie myself and being such a hardcore fan of meat you can imagine how strict I am in those traditions

 

In the Catholic religion, "no meat days" allow for fish. That is why many Christmas Eve's in Catholic families feature fish dishes, though I am not sure that Christmas Eve is still a "no meat day" any more. The church really cut back on those days, I believe.

And, by the way, eating only fish some days is no problem for me. I don't eat enough of it for my preference because my wife is a real "meat and potatoes gal" and does not cook seafood. Plus she is highly allergic to shellfish. So, I really only get seafood when I eat out.

 

That really got me thinking (and Googling). Boy, I love learning new things. First thing I learned is that this particular period is called Nativity Fast, and fasting in general (+1 Vocabulary Skills). Now I do know, that it lasts for around 40 days and Christmas Eve is where it ends. Searching about the Eastern Órthodox Church, here is what I found:

"In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the fast traditionally entails fasting from red meat, poultry, meat products, eggs, dairy products, fish, oil, and wine. Fish, wine and oil are allowed on Saturdays and Sundays, and oil and wine are allowed on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

So I was correct that fish is also not allowed, but seems there are exceptions and on the weekends you can go all in with seafood. Don't know what happens if Christmas Eve is on a Saturday/Sunday but I guess that should be an exception from the exception

I rarely cook fish myself, especially since I started living on my own but some days I do get sudden cravings for seafood and I run to a place nearby. I've always been sceptical towards more mushy things like calamari or sephia but I frequently get pleasantly surprised. Last year I had some baby octopuses (octopi?) and simply LOVED IT!

 

Wow, 40 days is a loooong time when it comes to fasting.

I have tried a lot of seafood and pretty much like all of it. One of the most unusual, for me anyway, was Conch, which I had out in the San Francisco area many years ago. It is a big snail/mollusk that they dive 60-feet or more to harvest. In the dish I had, they flattened the meat with a hammer (or something) and then breaded and fried it. A bit greasy and oily, but it was okay. Not worth the tripling of an average entrée cost at the restaurant, but worth trying once, I suppose, just to say I did try it.

 

Okay, this week I want to post about a very traditional New England shellfish: oysters. Our northern Atlantic oysters are known for being saltier and tastier than those harvested on the west coast. Oysters are so popular that we actually list several varieties, based upon the specific locale that they are harvested from. I cannot say that I can tell the difference between them, however. Oysters are sweeter and juicier than clams and are priced much higher, too.

One of the most common ways oysters are eaten is "On the Half Shell" which means that they are eaten raw with a little lemon juice squeezed on them and possibly dipped in seafood sauce just before being eaten:



I have eaten them this way and you really taste the freshness and the ocean in them, but it is not my favorite way to eat oysters. My favorite oyster dish is called Oysters Rockefeller:



The oysters are cooked in sweet cream and butter. There are other ingredients, of course, but the cream and butter make this a fantastic seafood dish. I have even had a variation in which it was served chilled after being cooked and it was really, really good, too. Highly recommended!

 

Oysters Rockefeller look absolutely mouth-watering. Love cooking practically anything with cream so that won't be an exception

 

The best Oysters Rockefeller that I ever had was many years ago at a very fancy birthday party for a senior executive at a company that I worked for. It was an oyster casserole in which the cream sauce was gray-colored and it was served chilled. I still remember it decades later.

 

This is a snack food that was invented outside of New England (Pennsylvania, apparently) way back in the colonial days. However, my first exposure to it was in Rhode Island where we actually have a roadside farmstand that cooks it up fresh in the summer. Kettle Corn Is a sweet and salty popcorn that is popped in a light-colored sugar, salt and oil mix. It looks much like typical popcorn because the sugar coating is near invisible, so it is only when you eat it that you recognize that this is a different snack. Our roadside stand does cook it in a humongous kettle, so it is a really authentic snack here.



The combination of sweet and salty makes this snack the type that you do not want to stop eating after a handful. And if you get it fresh out of the kettle, it is really, really scrumptious. One final note: one time I had it and the vendor had added butter to the cooking mix and, though not traditional, it was fantastic!

 

Kettle corn is amazing! They sell it outside of the Home Depot by my house.

Speaking of Rhode Island has me thinking about Del's Frozen Lemonade, ever had it?

 

Yes, Del's is a local icon in RI. Now, in the summer, I can drive through my town and see a few Del's roadside stands selling it. It is a summer job staffed by teenagers all over the state. I am not a big fan of lemonade, in general, but Del's is quite good and is great in the heat. But I am not aware of it being sold outside the region. How did you come to know about it?

 

I have a summer house in Jamestown - right across from Newport.

I used to visit every single Summer, sometimes for several months at a time.

However, my wife and I just had a baby and don't want to fly until he gets a little older.

Can't wait to be back

 

Wow, that is a great location! I have not spent much time in Jamestown but drive through it regularly on my way to Newport.

By the way, as road warrior, I know that St. Louis has some great local dishes and foods. Would love to hear about some of your favorites, etc. I have not spent a lot of time in Missouri, so my knowledge about its cuisine is pretty limited and would like to learn more!

 

I know everyone from Saint Louis will expect me to talk about the "famous" Saint Louis pizza:

Imo's pizza is good, don't get me wrong. However, it's extremely overrated AND overpriced.

Just last week I ordered a large supreme, house salad and order of hot wings. The price? $55.00!

I only eat Imo's a couple times a year, if the craving strikes.

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Next up, which used to be very rare outside of Saint Louis, but is now found in several cities across the county is called Toasted Ravioli.



It's basically a regular beef ravioli only deep fried instead of boiled.

It's served with a side of marinara for dipping - amazing!

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Something that is VERY hard to find outside of Saint Louis is something called the Pork Steak:

Basically it's just a steak cut from the pork shoulder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_steak

They are pretty tough, slow cooking and lots of Sweet Baby Rays for marinating is the key to an awesome pork steak.

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Another popular food item in Saint Louis is Provel Cheese.

This stuff is simply amazing!



As you can see, it's a mixture of cheddar, swiss and provolone cheese.

I can't really describe the taste, but it's super creamy and goes perfectly with just about anything.