Welcome to Chez Corona, my friends. Tonight, the menu is set by the chef. We hope you enjoy the experience.
To start:
Store-bought hummus that technically went past its “best by” date a few days ago, but it smells okay and… Fine, we can scrape that off. It’s fine. Also, we don’t have pita bread so I’m going to fry up some of these parathas. It’ll work, trust me.
To accompany: Inexpensive white wine from Whole Foods, non-vintage
To continue:
Arugula salad with julienne tomato and lemon-mustard vinaigrette. We have too many lemons and the arugula isn’t getting any younger. No, I do not mean that to reflect on you. YOU LIKE ARUGULA AND LEMON. You must, considering the duffel bag full of them you brought back from Costco.
To accompany: Inexpensive white wine from Whole Foods, non-vintage
Entrée:
Leftover chicken meat stripped from the roast chicken we had on Sunday, fried to a crisp with onions and the rest of that bell pepper we had after making red beans on Monday. Okra from our garden with canned tomatoes and a couple of half-wilted chile peppers also from our garden and also yogurt with cucumber and what was left of the dill from that bunch I bought a week ago at Hong Kong Market. YOU LIKE DILL. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE DILL. THAT IS A NORMAL COLOR FOR DILL. Should I add some olives? I thought we had feta. One thing I know we have for sure is goat cheese from the massive logs you bought at Costco. Did you get a time-share agreement for a condo in Ft. Walton with that purchase? Love you too.
To accompany: Inexpensive white wine from Whole Foods, non-vintage
To Finish:
Chocolate ice cream made by our daughter who really wanted to add more cocoa powder to the base and then, when the ice cream was finished, said that it was, “too chocolatey” and now won’t eat it. No, I know it’s not your fault that she dumped that much cocoa powder into it, I’m just saying it tastes like Oreo dust and it’s a damn fine thing we have so much room in the freezer that the death by chocolate ice cream has a place to mature as though it were a wheel of Camembert.
To accompany: Did we finish the wine?
The above is a lightly fictionalized account of the menu we consumed chez Peyton this evening. The okra, chiles and herbs did in fact come from the fecundity that is my garden. I did fry some leftover chicken near to death in a cast iron skillet with olive oil, onion and bell pepper and we did drink inexpensive white wine from Whole Foods. We did not run out, but it was a close thing and it may require me to venture forth soon to resupply.
The ice cream was a bit chocolate-forward, but otherwise fine and my daughter has not refused to eat it. She “will try some later.”
I would like to hear your quarantine menus, too. Please leave a comment or email me, if you would be so kind?
