I followed Karen’s recipe pretty much to the T. I think the only pantry item I didn’t already have for this was the rice sticks and canned water chestnuts. I cook Asian style recipes or meals quite often, so I was luckily loaded up on all the delicious fermented sauces and pastes required. Rice vinegar is a must have even outside of Asian cooking. It’s great to throw onto cucumber slices just for a snack!

• Bacon; oven baked at 400 degrees until cooked to your liking, usually 16-20 minutes in our house
• Scrambled eggs; eggs beat in a measuring cup with seasoned salt and black peppers then cooked in bacon grease on a skillet
• Toast; sliced multigrain bread toasted in bacon grease on the skillet
• Mimosa; leftover New Year’s Eve prosecco with a saved mini orange juice from Chick-fil-a

Good Luck, Charlie

Growing up my mom would cook up a good luck meal every January first. This is just the version I made this year. Which unfortunately lacked potatoes. I still can’t believe I forgot!

I did a grocery pick-up for this batch of meals and my shopper made some interesting choices. The bone-in pork chops (always, and I mean always buy bone in pork chops – it’s the only way to avoid dry, chewy meat) were at least two inches thick and the collard greens bundle was on the small end.

However, we persevere. Or should I say reverse sear.

I mean to say I reverse seared the pork chops. 250 degrees for 50!!! minutes. Then I got my beautiful, amazing Enamel Cast Iron Braising Pan nice and hot (butter and olive oil combo, plus some garlic bulbs) and seared all sides of the pork. I should have probably let the pork rest longer but I cut it after maybe 10 minutes. I also cut it in half, to make it only an inch thick because it was disturbing in its original thickness.

While the pork was in the oven, I had the black eyed peas on the stove with onion and garlic, andouille sausage, and Emeril’s Creole seasoning that I almost exclusively use once a year for this meal.

I also used the the previously mentioned (beautiful and amazing) braising pan to fry a couple pieces of bacon. The collard greens were washed, dried, and roughly chopped before being thrown in the bacon grease with some onion, while the bacon was removed and chopped into tiny bits. Once the onion was translucent and greens starting to wither and burn I added two cups of water and some of the creole seasoning. Final step is covering the pan and patiently waiting.

The sauerkraut was from my beloved, Dorothy Lane Market. Shout out to Aunt TT for the barrel kraut hook up!

I was a stove-top rice maker for years. Then I saw the light thanks to my BBFL (best big for life), who made me the fluffiest, yummiest rice the morning after the Renaissance Fair. This little thing puts in the WORK.

For this dish I made white rice according to the rice cookers instructions and boiled an egg for exactly seven minutes (put egg into ice cold water when you remove it from the boiling water to stop the cooking). The seven minute egg is always soft and jammy but has cooked whites, aka heaven.

I had leftover bacon and my trifecta of Asian dish toppings:

• Bachan’s® The Original Japanese BBQ Sauce
• Trader Joe’s Nori Komi Furikake Japanese Multi-Purpose Seasoning
• Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp

Athmer Caesar Salad – with white anchovies

I’m willing to share almost every recipe, but I will unfortunately be gatekeeping my family’s Caesar dressing.

It’s a bold claim, but it is the best Caesar dressing out there. It’s peppery, garlicy, and somehow creamy and not at the same time. It’s gorgeous and was thoroughly crafted and tested by my grandfather.

In addition to the homemade dressing, I did homemade croutons too! I had the end of the whole grain loaf to use, so thought why not. I cut the loaf into cubes, drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with garlic salt and pepper. 250 degrees in the oven until they reach the firmness you like. It usually takes 20-30 minutes for me.

I had to use up the rest of the Boston lettuce from the chicken lettuce wraps, so I washed and cut that up for the bed. I also have a chunk of parmesan in my fridge, so I used my peeler to get nice big shavings of cheese.

When I was Christmas shopping I picked up a tin of white anchovies (not to be confused with regular anchovies) and added a couple of the fillets to the salad.

Topped with plenty of fresh dressing and still-hot croutons! This was the perfect post-gym meal.

I looked up their menu online and saw they had both Maine and Connecticut lobster rolls. But at $20 a pop, I could only justify getting one. Especially since I also wanted to try the lobster bisque!

I ended up selecting the Connecticut lobster roll, which is hot and dipped in butter. I was pleasantly surprised at just how much meat was on the roll! I actually ended up taking off a big clump of meat and putting into the bisque, which was very light on meat chunks. The bisque flavor was delicious, and with the added bits of lobster it was easily my favorite of the two lobster items.

Jackson is not a seafood fan at all, hence tater tots, but he still tried the lobster roll. Wasn’t for him, but that just leaves more for me 😀