I am hooked on an omelet I have enjoyed repeatedly at one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, Gitan Bistro Cru. It’s so simple, yet it’s something I crave at least once a month. Yes, we still walk on over to Gitan, but we also now make this caramelized onion, spinach and goat cheese omelet at home. We usually always have the ingredients on hand, so it’s a great impromptu meal, especially on a weeknight. Open a lovely pinot noir and, if you are feeling energetic, toss together a green salad with a bright vinaigrette.

Dinner is served.

Our wine choice this evening was a 2005 pinot noir from the Balletto Vineyards winery in Sonoma County. Although it might be somewhat unusual to age a pinot noir, this hearty version held up beautifully. It was balanced and soft with hints of leather and even tobacco leaf (I think, anyway). Did it pair well with the omelet? Who the hell knows? I am still working on that part. The wine was fun to drink. The omelet was fun to eat. What more does one need?

I am a big fan of duck. I am more than comfortable searing up a duck breast and coaxing out all that quack fat to reveal crispy, crackling skin. So, I thought it was time for me to tackle the whole bird.

EPIC FAILURE! UGH! It sure seemed like a good idea at the time.

I put birdie on a vertical beer can chicken roaster. My theory? Birdie will roast standing up, the fat will drip away and we shall be left with beautifully lacquered, crunchy skin and tender meat, right?

Wrong. Although the duck did look delicious, I clearly roasted him too long at too high a temperature. The fat didn’t get the chance to render properly so we were left with piles of greasy, gooey duck meat. Now my house smells like old duck. It may be awhile before I attempt this again. Ah well, at least we had good wine.

A shout-out to my husband for grilling this fabulous tuna to a perfectly rosy rare.

Tuna with Livornese sauce is easy, healthy and one of my favorite summer meals.

Southern comfort. Eastern European. Thai. Julia Child French. Kuala Lumpur street food. And now Korean. What do these all have in common? Well, not much really, except they have all been past themes for our Supper Club events. This Supper Club group just rocks if I do say so myself — and, we have managed to hold it together now for over four years.

So on Saturday, dear husband and I hosted a Korean-themed event. I made the appetizers and main course and the remainder of the group brought the rest. I believe each one of us went back for seconds of everything — and more than one person raced into the kitchen to swipe hunks of crispy, crunchy, heavenly pork skin. Oink! Clearly a success!

Korean Menu: 

Snacks

Caramel shrimp shots: essentially stir-fried shrimp in caramel sauce. Technically more Vietnamese than Korean …

Tteok Kkochi (fresh rice cake skewers ) recipe from the blog Beyond Kimchee. Everyone loved these skewers. I made over two dozen and they just about disappeared. The only changes I made were in the sauce — I used my own homemade ketjap manis in place of ketchup and my own concord grape jam in place of strawberry jam. 

Korean Rice Cake Skewers

Main Event

Momofuku’s Bo Ssam: a big ass pig part, cooked for a very long time. If you dig pig, make this dish. The beginning of the recipe even reads, “This is a recipe to win the dinner party sweepstakes.” Enough said. 

Accompaniments:

Ginger-scallion sauce

Ssam sauce

Soft boiled 3-minutes eggs

Kimchi

Korean sticky rice

All the fixings for lettuce wraps with the pig.

 Vegetables

Eggplant veggie rolls with mayonnaise and spicy sauce: fresh and delicious

Eggplant Rolls

Dessert

 Mochi cake: ADDICTIVE! I cannot ever have this in my house again. Not EVER. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my oyster-slurping fest at the Baltimore Seafood Festival over the weekend. After sampling quite a few, I have to say my favorites were the Chesapeake Gold from Hoopers Island Oyster Aquaculture Co. Briny, chewy, sweet — delicious! Just like licking the bottom of the ocean, in a good way.

Slllurrrrp!

My husband and I also enjoyed the charred octopus from Mare Nostrum in Fells Point. So much so we went back for seconds and considered thirds. We are actually headed back to this restaurant next week to further indulge.

Charred Octopus

Back in my own kitchen:  We feasted on Vietnamese and Indian dishes (different nights of course) and enjoyed them all. Clearly, however, none of them are even remotely photogenic …

Grape Raita

Indian Chicken in White Sauce

Eggplant with Chickpeas

Vietnamese Caramelized Lemongrass Shrimp