That relish (the intense green coloration) isn't a staple in the US but it is iconic and a requirement for a Chicago dog.  Other areas use a less green version.

What is a Chicago Dog?:

"The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" due to the many toppings."

Also usually served on a poppyseed bun.

Peter

The sushi looks delicious...I haven't made hand rolled sushi with nori in probably 30-35 years. Thanks for the idea, I think my bamboo roller is still hanging out in the kitchen drawer. 

Hi,

This is not going to help you in particular, but I made Nigiri, Maki (...) many times with raw fish. I trust my sources, local Fishmongers on the "farmers market". Same with their oysters and so on. We love to get some oysters and a glass of wine or champagne while shopping fish ...

Personally I think you're much more likely to find some shady/iffy things going on with convenience type or grocery store take-out Sushi than when you get a nice raw salmon filet from a trusted source.

Then again, our favorite city has quite the relationship with Japan, many people from Japan living there and so we also have some prime Sushi places/ Japanese restaurants that are really, really good and frequented by them. It's always a good sign, so we go there before ordering from one of the overall many places that offer "Sushi" ...

Kind regards,
Oliver

Dinner tonight was braised short ribs with polenta and broccoli rabe:

Tonight's dinner was ...................

    Sweet corn ravioli , with crumbled chicken apple sausage, ricotta , roasted red peppers and balsamic olive oil drizzle.

The sweet corn ravioli looks to be a homemade pasta. If so, maybe we need to establish a menu section along with the saw blade section on the FOG.    I’m all in for the recipe section. I’m also all in for the corn ravioli recipe.     Looks delicious. Haven’t made home made pasta in 4-5 years, but it literally melts in your mouth.

Truly, nothing finer...

I've been behind in posting food/cooking pics.

Last Wednesday I attempted to make cheese curds from scratch.  It was pretty much an all day process that ended up being a fail.  The curds look good I guess, but they were not at all squeaky (which is the whole reason why I wanted to make my own).  I believe something went wrong in the cheddaring process - specifically the curds being too high above the whey.  I was only monitoring the temperature of the whey and not the curds themselves during the cheddaring process.  The finished product was more like a very firm tofu or more like paneer.

















I used the curds to make Poutine:



Last Friday I made a fried scrapple and scrambled egg sandwich for breakfast.



Last night we made Sichuan Cuisine: Sauteed Morning Glory (water spinach), Mapo Tofu, and "Water-Cooked Fish"

 Baby back ribs just started:

Sunday Dinner - Grilled Salmon.

I don't think I've posted images of the Kamado grill I'm using, a Golden's Cast Iron, perhaps only a link to their website. Anyway, here's the beast -





Salmon and Roasted Cauliflower (roasted in the oven yesterday, being reheated) out on the grill -





And plated, served with some fresh from our garden Cherry Tomatoes and Basil w/ Balsamic and Basil EVOO. And of course a Sam Adams -







Thanks for checking out today's dinner!

Regards,
-Dom

Spaghetti with meat sauce and salad for dinner tonight.  For dessert we had what I'm coining "orange Jello delight."

Weird - I just noticed that 3 of the images didn't post.

The pictures were taken with the "food" mode - I've been trying to use that setting for the pictures I post since you said they look better.

The lighting should be the same. Usually we just have the ceiling fan light on.  Occasionally we'll turn the recessed ceiling lights on, but that usually puts too much light down.

Bagel with smoked salmon for breakfast.

Looks delicious. It's so bright red. All the smoked salmon I use has a more brownish cast to it. Like this. What's the difference?

It also adds a blur effect to blur out background items on the table, but I turn off the blur.

When I discovered that you can change the color temperature I moved the setting toward the blue side, but then couldn't remember exactly where it was before.  I think it was closer to the yellow side of the spectrum.  That's where I moved the slider back to for this picture.

This is smoked sockeye salmon from Costco - I think the fact that it's sockeye salmon is why it's so bright red.

The blur effect is known as bokeh in the photography world. It's the reason people spend thousands of $$ on lenses just for the bokeh. When done right, the subject of the photo will pop even with a busy background.

The color of the food will determine the best light temperature to use. Raw steak looks better with cooler (temperature wise/red) light while cooked steak will look better with hotter (temperature wise/blue) light.

I'm going to check into smoked sockeye salmon. Thanks...   I do know that fresh Copper River is the reddest salmon I've seen.

Taco Tuesday tonight - really more like tostados, but I still call em tacos.  I learned this style from a friend's mom.  Before we'd always buy the taco kits that come with the hard and soft shells, taco seasoning, and taco sauce.  She fried her own corn tortillas flat, used mashed up black beans that were seasoned with cumin, and also used olives and white onions as toppings.  Tonight I just used ground beef because we end up with too much leftovers when I make both ground beef and the black beans.   As shocking as it may sound - I think I prefer the black beans to the ground beef.  This is our first time trying this salsa out.  It's got a little heat to it, but it's really lacking in salt.  Too bad - the last newsalsa we tried was really good, but I wanted to keep trying new brands.

I had a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens before.  I kinda forgot I had it when I sold my old camera including the bag and its contents.  In hindsight I probably should have actually kept that lens.  I should buy another prime lens, it's only like $125.  I think what I didn't like about it - was well the fact that it's a prime lens so I can't zoom, which is what I like doing the most.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing your taco pictures soon.

The pickled jalapenos give it a nice little kick.  I only buy Mrs. Renfro's brand.  They're the perfect balance of acidity and heat.  Not too spicy.  I've only been able to find them at Safeway.  I think one or two other grocery stores carry Mrs. Renfro's green salsa.  It always deceives me every time since the jars and the contents look very similar from afar.  I actually dislike cilantro (with the exception of the green spicy sauce you get with peruvian chicken).  I always have to request no cilantro when ordering pho.  It's usually sprinkled on top of Indian dishes too, but that's relatively easy to scrape off.

The raw white onion is a nice touch - only problem is it lingered on my breath the rest of the night.

The rice was Near East Rice Pilaf Spanish Rice.

We really like Xochitl chips.  I'm always in search for some what I'll call "artisan chips."  These are the best that I've found so far.  I'm always looking for something like you'd get in a Mexican restaurant, same for the salsa.  That being a very thin chip and the salsa being kinda on the thin and watery side, but with a fresh taste.  Unfortunately I think none of those characteristics are conducive to a commercially sold product.  The chips can't be that thin or they'll end up broken up and you'd have a bag of chip crumbs.  The salsa must also have to be cooked in the canning/jarring process to keep it shelf stable.  Those El Burrito Mercado chips look like they're on the thick side is that the case?  I don't think I've ever seen that brand in the grocery stores around here.

Thanks for that suggestion.  I'm not a fan of the smokey flavor.  I bought a bottle of the Chipotle Tabasco sauce and didn't like it.

Speaking of hot sauces - I finally caved in and bought the Truff Hot Sauce after I kept seeing the ads for it on Facebook. 







I'm not really sure why I saw so many rave reviews for the hot sauce.  I didn't care for it that much.  The taste of truffles was too overwhelming and the hot sauce was too sweet.  Sriracha is far better and so much cheaper.