What God places in the heart, no one can take away. It holds purity, beauty, simplicity, detachment, love, and enchantment; it is strong, energizing, and powerful. When it is like that, it is His. He places it, He removes it, He cares for it. Peace and light.🕊

Went to Green Light Diner for lunch. It’s been about 6 months since I was there last.

It took a while to get a table. We left a phone number and checked out the new kitchen/cooking store not far from it downtown. That was interesting. They had huckleberry syrup that looked really good. I might try that in the future. They also had shakers, knives, pots, cookie cutters (tons of different shapes), seasonings for popcorn, popcorn mixes, tons of very concentrated flavor extracts (like vanilla, garlic, mint, rum), and more. Very interesting. We went back to the restaurant and waited a while. They seemed really busy. I ordered a tuna melt with a Caesar salad. On the menu it said it would come with fries. After a long wait, I got my sandwich. They said my salad and fries should be coming soon. I had to ask again about them. Eventually my salad came. They said it doesn’t come with fries. Not what the menu said. They asked if I wanted to add it, and I said no. My parent’s thing came with a pasta salad. I don’t think it mentioned that on the menu. She doesn’t like that kind of pasta salad. I had a couple of bites of it. The pasta wasn’t cooked enough. I had half of the sandwich. It was good. The salad was just ok. Halfway through eating, I ordered the ‘King’ milkshake. (I had a craving for a milkshake.) I thought it would come after I was done with the sandwich and salad. It wasn’t long of a wait for that. The ‘King’ milkshake was great! It had chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, bananas, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, and pretzels on top. I think I’ve had it one other time. My parent had to tell them we were ready for the bill. It was taking a while. I think other customers were frustrated with the service there. It wasn’t very good. We also looked at Crimson Cove, which was next to it too. They have a new name now, but the same products. I think it’s changed to Fjord Goods. My parent found chocolate covered cherries and nuts, I think. I love their smoked cheddar, but our refrigerator isn’t working very well. So, it probably will go bad faster than I can eat it. (This is partially why I haven’t been cooking much.) When we get a new refrigerator I’ll definitely get it. 

Cherry Tomato Tartine with Aioli and Smoked Salmon for dinner.

This was from The Fishwife Cookbook. My newest cookbook. I found it with the help of CookShelf. I was searching for sandwich recipes, and this was the first one that popped up. I’m rediscovering my cookbooks with it. I really wanted to get back to cooking. Especially after getting a new oven. (A new refrigerator helps, too.) Interestingly, I didn’t need the oven for it. Anyways, I think this might be the first time I’ve had a tartine like this. It has cherry tomatoes marinated briefly in flaky sea salt, black pepper, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. I used slightly less tomatoes. I didn’t fry the bread, but toasted some sourdough. I found an already made aioli. The only difference was the store bought one had herbs mixed in. I think that enhanced it more. I used less than it called for. It used their own Fishwife tinned smoked salmon. That was interesting. I’m not used to using fresh marjoram. They said if I couldn’t find that, I could use fresh oregano instead. It had me assemble it as the sourdough on the bottom, a layer of aioli, a layer of the tomatoes, a layer of smoked salmon, marjoram sprinkled on top, and finally some more black pepper on top. It looked kind of fancy to me. It said it was for either a very hungry individual or for 2 as a moderate lunch. I had the whole thing. I think it was a filling dinner, but not as big as I expected. A bit hard to eat. It was very good, though. I like my pic more than the one in the cookbook. Oh, and it was pretty quick to make.

This month’s Universal Yums is on the Netherlands

. I think they’ve done it before, but I think this one’s different. There’s a landmark map, and a snack review section on the other side. No stickers this time. There’s a booklet. I noticed there isn’t a trivia section this time. I liked the trivia on previous countries. For dinner they had AVG’tje. An acronym: aardappels (potatoes), vlees (meat), groente (vegetables). Breakfast: spread of meat, cheese, bread, butters, jellies, jams, and yogurt. Lunch: cold sandwich, sausage roll, or a salad of diced vegetables with mayo dressing. Dessert: apple fritters, apple tart, and Dutch stroopwafel. Yum: lekker. They discuss Global Spices That Define Dutch Cuisine: cinnamon, nutmeg, and coffee. Something on licorice. There are descriptions of each snack. The recipes were for Orsaderolltjes (Almond Rolls) and Stamppot (mashed potatoes with other vegetables and sausage on top). Both sound amazing! There’s a maze, which is pretty easy. I wonder if they’ll have something like that in the future again? There are nutrition facts and ingredients for each snack. I can eat them all this time. I’m a little weary of the licorice candy. I haven’t liked real licorice in the past, but I’m willing to try it again. Interesting there are Gouda cheese crackers. I think I might have had that before. There’s also cheese filled pretzels. Those I haven’t had before. Seems interesting. One of the potato chips is truffle flavored, the other one has rosemary. The car gummies don’t have gelatin, which is a plus to me. There are spice cookies. I think I’ve had the peanut cookies and lemon white chocolate chip ones. I think I liked them. There are cola candies. I’m not sure about those. I’ve had stroopwafels before, and it’ll be great to have again. 

My parent made osso buco with saffron risotto and gremolata on top for dinner

. I think it’s only the 2nd time I’ve had osso buco. The directions said to add more butter and grated parmesan at the end of the risotto. My parent said I could add butter and parmesan to my portion, since she doesn’t eat cheese. It was all very good. The osso buco was a little fattier than I’d like, but I found parts without those fatty bits. The gremolata was interesting. I feel like I might have given myself a little too much risotto. Despite loving it, I couldn’t finish it. My parent’s saving the sauce from the osso buco. We could have it with pasta in the future. 

Went to Isla Bonita for dinner last night

. I was going to get their banana daiquiri mocktail, but they were out of banana. So, I got the mango one. It was like a mango slushee. I got enchiladas, and you can choose your fillings and sauces. I got a ground beef one with ranchero sauce, and a cheese one with a crema sauce. I also chose white rice and rancho beans as my sides. I had half of everything. It was pretty good. Will make a nice lunch today. I got fried ice cream for dessert. It looked a bit different than the last time I had it. (I don’t think it had those cinnamon and sugar tortilla chips.) It was tasty too. 

Lemon Tuna Pasta for dinner

. This was inspired by a recipe on My Fitness Pal. Reminded me of what I used to do with tinned sardines. First time using the new pots, utensils, and induction stove. I thought I’d scratch it by accident. I got a jarred tuna that already had olive oil, garlic, and some salt. It was on sale at Central a while ago. The recipe in MFP used spaghetti. I decided on bow ties instead. Thought it would hold the ‘sauce’ more. I added more garlic, there was parsley, lemon juice, parmesan, salt, and pepper. There was a little pasta water added to the sauce. I wanted to use the whole jar of tuna, and it had 2 servings. So, I tried to double things. I added a little more parmesan after I plated it. It was pretty good. I’ll get to enjoy it again for lunch tomorrow. 

I also had round challah with raisins. I was surprised there were 2 different brands’ versions. Got the Macrina one. Felt more like the holiday that way. I’ll have a slice of Black Forest Cake for dessert soon. Something special and sweet for Rosh Hashanah. Might have an apple and honey tomorrow.