What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?

Onions

I feel a bit like Forrest Gumps friend.

Onions were on special a while back and I was low on cash. So my immediate choice was to buy about 10kg of onions.

So far Ive done airfryer onions (not too bad as a side dish), lots of caramelised onions, that also led to onion marmelade, then onion soup, I pickled some of the onions, Ive made onion pastries and stuffed onions.

Im just happy I dont like my coworkers, because they definitely dont like me anymore.

Drop your fave onion recipes because I just went shopping and they were still on special.

In Lisbon, There's so many baked goods to eat.

Will report back at the end of the week when I am 62kilos heavier due to said baked goods. Suggestions welcome.

Winter is Tea time for me.

Normally, in the warmer months, I kind of go full on alcoholic and tend to drink beer every night, but as soon as it starts to get cold, my longing for beer craters and all I want is to down heaps of tea in my evenings. So I've been currently drinking a lot of Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Original, Caffeine Free, which is just so damn good. But I have several other types that I really love as well.

As for what I've been cooking, it's been pretty all over the place. But I'm very excited to be moving into Fall and Winter, because soups and stews are my absolute favorite things to make and eat. That said, I'll be making Red Beans & Rice this evening for dinner, as someone got the thought of Rice and Beans stuck in my head the other day and now I'm craving Red Beans and Rice.

This is going to be a bit out there, but my views on Hamburger Helper have been changed recently. My husband has asked for this for his birthday every year becausehe loved it as a kid. I have tried to fulfill this with homemade versions instead or his family planning for something else. Maybw I've viewed it under a rather harsh lens due to some bad associations with it, but I really wanted to make my husband's birthday this year by making it.

Y'all, if you use good quality beef (I know this defeats the cheapness of it) and saute up a sweet onion to add to it, it's surprisingly good! Not exactly something I want to eat all the time l, but it was honestly tasty and it made my husband happy!

But tonight is a braised white beans and greens type of night to help detox eating that and other heavy good this weekend. I have a Parmasan rind to throw in for added flavor and a drop of chili-crisp adds the best fusion flavor!

I am excited about a carbonara with meatballs recipe that I found today. I have been in a recipe rut for a while. When I want something new, I usually just google "new recipe" and see what looks good. Once I have picked a dish, I search for it and try to find the "best" version of it.

Does anyone have a different recipe finding strategy that works well for them?

Sunday I started making cold brew for myself. I figured that since I spend $X a week on store or coffee shop cold brew anyway that I could try out making my own for a month.

I knew making my own would be cheaper. That was never a question in my mind. What really surprised me was two things: firstly, it is waaay better tasting in my opinion. Store bought just doesn’t taste as good in my opinion. I can drink my own cold brew completely black and enjoy it. Secondly, it’s actually significantly more convenient (for me personally). I can grind the coffee beans whenever works best for me, let them steep, and then have a massive amount of cold brew ready for myself without needing to stop by Starbucks or a grocery store. Plus, since it actually tastes really good black, I don’t even need to worry about buying half and half or heavy whipping cream when I run out. I can just enjoy it as is.

There are other benefits as well, such as being able to control how strong it is, and being able to choose which roasts I use, but I think the two above points capture what really stood out to me.

I guess I’m one of those coffee snobs now…

Soup. Lukewarm soup for days. And for many more days to come! Took my tonsils and lukewarm soup is my new soul food.

I’ve had persistent digestive issues for about 15 years. I’ve tried every approach/test and a few things have helped but nearly everything else has not. After a recent period of stability I have slowly been introducing foods back into my diet. Happy to eat garlic and onions again but the real surprise has been the benefits I am getting from adding lemon juice and peel to nearly every meal.

Lemon isn’t really known as a significant dietary aid but it is crucial to me now. Also makes my dishes so tasty, adding that acid. Also, a pot of chrysanthemum tea at a dim sum restaurant has shown me that it calms my stomach as well as anything.