Tuesday

Lunch:
Two Egg Sandwich on sourdough

Dinner:
Hickory Grilled Honey Glazed Shrimp
Hickory Grilled Lemon Thyme Tuna (with a Soy Ginger Parsley Dipping sauce)
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Monday

Lunch:
Quick Stuffed Shells with leftover lamb ragu and cheddar

Dinner:
Skipped it, while attending the Pink Martini show in Portland

Sunday

Lunch:
hearty bowl of ramen and vegetables

Dinner:
Linguine (not mine) with lamb ragu
Steamed corn
sourdough

I heard a photographer last night speak about tension and flow in a composition, and, as I am wont to do, I immediately associated this with flavors in a a perfect dish. A single flavor doesn't make for food; even Jello has a complex flavor, no matter how unrefined. True taste artistry requires a principled blending of tones, very similar to chord structures in a musical arrangement. Think of salt (and crushed black pepper) as a bass note, an anchor. Think of citrus or vinegar acidity as timber or reverb or the highlights in an image. Think of the Maillard caramelization reactions as gamma values that temper the blandness of individual raw proteins and sugars in the target food. Think of texture as musical timing, allowing you the ability to listen to the Beer Barrel Polka OR Take Five by Dave Brubeck. This is what separates dining from eating and cooking from microwaving. This is where the secrets of the universe are kept. Be good to your taste buds. Live through them. Don't limit them.

Saturday

Lunch:
Grilled 3 cheese sandwich (idiazabal, cheddar, goat cheese)

Dinner:
Fresh Homemade Pasta (thick wide Fettucine)
Ragu with Lamb and fresh Herbs
Fresh Sourdough
Edamame

On re-learning the process for making homemade pasta, I remember that its a very tactile process. You simply can't leave it to a Kitchenaid or the like. You have to have it in your hands ultimately to judge the density and flexibility. You have to exert physical force to extrude out your dinner. You have to manually separate each strand of pasta from its mate to dry properly before cooking. Its not difficult, unless you are afraid of interacting with what you are going to eat. But the most rewarding sort of meal...

Friday

Lunch:
Fresh Sourdough and Goat Cheese sandwich

Dinner:
Fresh Homemade Wheat Pasta with my Quick Puttanesca
Steamed English Peas
Sourdough

A break in the weather, meteorologically, philosophically, socially, mentally, emotionally and with regard to the preparation of glutenous treats. You want the pasta? You can't HANDLE the pasta...

Thursday

Lunch:
Chicken Salad on Sourdough

Dinner:
Chicken Salad
Crackers

Wednesday

Lunch:
Leftover Risotto with Edamame
Sourdough Bread Butt

Dinner:
Herb roasted Chicken (with lemon thyme and basil)
smashed potato
steamed string beans
Fresh Sourdough

Tuesday

Lunch:

Purple Hull Peas

Cathead Biscuits

Dinner:

Homemade Wheat and Basil Fettucine with Herbed Oil and Onions

Risotto with Edamame

Much happiness. The Pasta cutter is in perfect shape. Time to stock up on the durum again...

The long hiatus

The long hiatus requires no explanation. There's only so much of the right stuff to go around. There's only so many hours in the day. There are only so many electrons to fire off the right synapses and get words through fingertips and into the public record. The well does indeed run dry at times. When one reaches a moment in which one is spending more time writing and composing about the meal than one is actually enjoying said meal, the time has come to get affairs in order.

And thus, it begins again. Rest assured, anonymous readers, that I was eating well and contentedly in the past three weeks of the absence I took from these notes. And I return happily and ready to record the substance of the sustenance.