Friday, September 19, 2008

Weekend 3-Way: 3 Squares

Please describe a day's worth of delicious meals. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. I was going to ask for one perfect day of eating, but I think I speak for Me, You, and Ellie when I say that we'd rarely have 3 big meals all in one day. You've got to skip at least one to leave space for the next one. I'm looking for specifics here, so if it's something you cook, please post the recipe. If it's a meal out, you must describe it in vivid detail. Photos are, of course, encouraged.

BREAKFAST

Jacquie:

Is there anything better than a messy plate of mexican breakfast?

This masterpiece is from Casa Guadalajara in San Diego's Old Town. This is their Guadalajara omelette, and you can't see inside but there are roasted California chiles in there. This meal was enjoyed with my darlings Mary Beth and Mark on the last day of summer. I tried to save half of this for another meal, but it did not hold up very well after hanging out in my car all day at the beach. Up top by the coffee is the pomegranite margarita I had for breakfast that fine day.

Beth:

Mmm, Jacquie, that first photo of your messy Mexican breakfast looks delicious! I do love those, but I'd have to say that my very favorite breakfast is one set in Mexico or another tropical local where the fruit is plentiful and fresh. I love lots and lots of sliced papaya with a little lime juice and salt, and a big fresh-squeezed juice to wash it down with. Yum.
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Ellie:

I like a banana for breakfast. What can I tell you? It's the perfect breakfast food. A giant banana. If there are no bananas, or if Mark Dowd is around, then I like a big egg-cheesy brekkie, with lots of spinach and veggies in there, Mark-Dowd-grilled hot italians (which he calls monkey dicks, yum) and 1/2 tortilla or other bread product. I don't have a photo of a Mark Dowd breakfast, but I do have this:
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New Year's Day, 2008. The mish-mash in the back is leftie sweet potatoes, leftie Bill's-famous-gorgonzola-garlic-smashed potatoes (recipe: just how it sounds) and leftie asparagus, heated up in an electric wok, at Gold Head Branch State Park, Keystone Heights, Florida.

LUNCH

Jacquie:

Would you kindly dig the lunch I had on 12/27/07?

The best thing about it is that I have a PHOTO, for God's sake. That's leftover prime rib on a crusty, horseradish shmeared french roll. The gravy? It's au jus with the leftover carmelized Maui onions. The pickle? Zesty dill.

Beth:

Jordan, at Tower 23 in Pacific Beach, has some good lunch options. A few weeks ago I tried the lobster BLT (served on toasted brioche with tarragon aioli). Really good; especially with a Hoegarten beer.

Ellie:

I love a good carne assada burrito. And we eat a lot of them on the road -- we call our well-traveled route between Fort Davis and San Diego The Burrito Trail.


This one is from none other than Cotixan, in San Diego. Up there among the best carnes along the Trail.

DINNER

Jacquie:

And this, my little feathered friends, is what we Coreys call a Lesbo dinner. We are Lebanese, and the best thing about being Lebanese, besides the skin tone and the hairiness, is the food.


At 12:00, we've got (what's the "real" arabic word, Ellie? answer my text, woman!), aka wada, aka stuffed grape leaves. At 3:00 we've got tabouli, at 6:00 is the kibee, and a shout out to my mom, the best 100% Irish - Lebanese chef in New England. At 9:00 is Kousa, mmmmmm. Stuffed summer squash. Dad does the greuling labor - scooping out a bazillion squash, making up their carniverous filling, then - hardest of all - allowing whichever grandchildren are in the area to fill and roll the grape leaves. When my girl had to do an oral presentation about a family tradition in 1st grade, her topic was making stuffed grape leaves with her grandfather.

Beth:

I'm going to have to go sushi for dinner. Lots of fresh fish. I'm especailly fond of salmon and albacore sashimi. Plus I've gotta have a plate of edemame. I prefer edemame warm, with lots of salt. I also like to have lots of cold, cold light beer on hand. Sapporo works nicely.

Ellie:

I, too, love a Lesbo meal. I especially love warak-a-ashe. (You're welcome, Jacquie). And I also love sushi.

But what I really love is being in the Florida Keys for the winter, having a wood fire already going in the fire pit, having tin foil and butter and garlic on hand in the Westy, and having fellow volunteer Bob Dylan Dillon stop by with two lobster tails he'd caught less than an hour before:

Ten minutes later: a succulent delight.

Bon Appétit!

8 comments:

  1. OMG all of that looks oh so yummie! I havent had stuffed grape leaves since i was a weeee girl *sigh* the mexican breakfast looked excellent .. and a margarita in the morning, youre my HERO .. then you went to the beach with all that in your stomach.. most def' my hero! One question.. is that salmon sushi RAW salmon.. for real? Please let me know the skinny on that.
    Love
    Madness

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  2. I love Lebanese food. I'm so lucky to have a Lebanese friend who whips up a feast every few weeks and invites all her best friends over to eat ourselves silly.

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  3. Alas, there is no Mexican breakfast here in Connecticut, at least that I know of. I will never forget my first, ever - it was one of those meals that sears itself in some special food-part of your brain. Las Manitas, Austin, Texas (where you walked right through the kitchen to get to the patio seating). Hungover, certainly. All the stuff in Jacquie's picture, except with fresh-squeezed orange juice rather than yet another Margarita. I just looked it up to make sure I spelled Las Manitas right, and OH NO! It closed forever a few days ago... very sad.

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  4. Coming to your site, and offering you an award that I know you DO NOT want, then seeing how you all cook, and I have diabetes....well, life is not fair. Come on over if you want a kick-ass award, which you've probably already been given. rats.

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  5. I take it that you were extremely hungry, or bored, or had no idea what to write about when you wrote that post.

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  6. OMG! When I lived in San Diego I LOVED Old Town. I used to go to Casa de Bandini. I'm getting the chills and everything just thinking about it!!!

    I'm STARVED right now,....thanks, bitches....

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  7. This all looked delightful! Well, with the exception of the pickle at lunch. I am fearful of phallic shaped food. I won't eat a banana in public. Weird, I know. You gals rock!

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  8. Bossy is now so hungry she is gnawing on the corner of her computer screen.

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