Naomi: Cooking for one and for friends



For years now, even before I wrote the recipes in what I think of as my "static blog," Fiftytworecipesfrommymother, at the request of my children, Sarah and Sam, Sarah had been urging me to keep a daily (more or less) record of my cookings--the meals I make for myself in my (surprisingly) solitary life as well as those I make for friends. For whatever reasons, I've never done it.


But, after months of wandering, I've finally begun. As I haven't quite mastered the art of cooking for one, and love throwing together grand meals at the last minute, I have been encouraging friends to call to check on what I might have on hand any evening for a quick meal. Instructions can be found in my entry for March 20th--What's in Naomi's Refrigerator.

This is primarily a record of the meals I prepare for myself and others, accompanied by "mug shots" of the food (when I remember to photograph before eating). Shot by my phone, with no styling, they may not capture their subjects at their best, but so be it.



Saturday, May 26, 2012

May 26. Driving North. In 'n' Out. Harris Ranch. Hudson's in Oakland

After a breakfast of sauteed onions and tomatoes with eggs, I drove to Linda and Gene's to head to Maya's wedding.  For the first time in eons,  I didn't drive north in the Camry, in fact, I didn't drive at all.  I was the passenger in Joseph's Mercedes.  And indeed, the back seat of that car was a good deal smoother than many others.
Our first stop was the  In'n'Out in Kettleman City.  Since it's debut years ago, it's my regular stop on my many trips up and down Route 5.  There used to be incredible lines, but now that others have appeared along the way, it no longer takes forever and begins to approximate its name.  I had a cheeseburger "animal style."  In secret menu land that would be extra dressing and grilled onions.  I learned about the secret menu from Sam at our first In'n'Out on Venice Boulevard (those were Sam's vegetarian years, but he loved to stop there for a grilled cheese, just adequate fries and a chocolate shake).  It wasn't long ago that Linda, had her first In'n'Out moment and was enamored of the protein style burger--that would be burger wrapped in lettuce minus bun, medium rare.  She and Gene were restrained in their ordering--sharing her minimal order (though I did happily share my fries).
Fortified, we drove a bit further to Harris Ranch (I've always driven by, glad to get past all those cow-packed, manure reeking feed lots).  (Had to go to  Wikipedia to get some muddled idea of where it stands on the righteous food continuum--needless to say caught somewhere between Michael Pollan and Temple Grandin).  Gene and Linda wanted to buy steaks as a gift for their hosts in Oakland--and inspired by the samples of well-seasoned rib-eye in the parking lot, I did the same.From there on to Oakland.  At Raph and Rinat's, the keys were waiting, as was a hungry cat.  Hilda had made reservations at Hudson on College Ave.   It's big and sprawling with a lively and noisy bar, but we were seated in a back room which was relatively quiet--and happily shared a pizza (we ordered the sausage with broccoli rabe as they were out of the clam pizza which had caught our eye), a Caesar salad, a fried cauliflower side and pork shoulder.  For dessert, we returned to Raph and Rinat's for the brown sugar cookies I'd brought from home.
Well-traveled cookies

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