Crab omelet

Best of all, you don't need fresh crab meat for this.

Canned crab works fine--in fact, better, as the stronger taste comes through more.

I first had this in Annapolis, MD, and I've been making it at home periodically ever since. It's your standard omelet--eggs, maybe some milk or cream, seasonings like fresh parsley and/or chives. With a can of drained crab meat mixed in, as well as some Old Bay seasoning.

Cook just like a standard omelet. But it'll have a wonderful crabby flavor, like a breakfast crab cake.

Beef broth from marrow bones

My parents are visiting this weekend, and to celebrate, I took them out to dinner at my restaurant Friday night. We got burgers, duck fat-roasted fiddlehead ferns, and bone marrow. It was all delicious; there were plenty of leftovers, as those are filling burgers, so we all took doggie bags home.

I also brought home the cleaned-out marrow bones, to use for broth. Three big marrow bones, plus assorted vegetable scrap, plus a little salt, plus water. I let it simmer on low all day, and was rewarded with a deep, rich broth, the color of French onion soup. And man, the house smelled good.

I'll freeze that broth and use it for soups and the like. Close to a gallon of beef broth, for the cost of just taking the bones home.

Knockwurst from Hewtin's Food Truck, Providence, RI

While walking around with my parents yesterday, showing them the city, we happened upon Hewtin's Food Truck, run by Chez Pascal.

These guys make their own sausages and charcuterie, so naturally I had to get something. We pooled our meager cash and collectively bought a knockwurst, topped with baked beans, cole slaw, and a strip of bacon.

Naturally, it was delicious. The crunch of the cole slaw and the tang of the baked beans went really well with the sausage, and of course, you can't complain about anything topped with bacon.

So, A+, Hewtin's and Chez Pascal.

The Cilantrojito

A mojito, but with gin and cilantro instead of rum and mint.

That's what The Cilantrojito is.

Take a few sprigs of fresh cilantro, and chop very fine. Combine with 2 oz gin, 1/2 oz simple syrup, and shake well over ice. Strain and serve over ice, and top with soda water.

Wine from my collection: Montlouis-sur-Loire "Les Bournais,” François Chidaine 2008

Another bottle of wine chosen from my restaurant's wine list; at cost, $20, so around $40-45 in stores and $60 in restaurants.

My notes: Crazy acidity; really well-balanced, a first burst of fruit which is then wiped away by the acidity. A great food wine.

Notes from a fellow server:

"Like Scarlett O’Hara this wine is a demure little Southern belle with an undercurrent of determination and power. It is definitely feminine and it has a delicate honeysuckle bouquet. It starts with a touch of sweetness that bobs like a flower petal on a raging river of riveting acidity. It tastes of honey and peach skins with a tinge of bitterness like citrus pith and a dense stone minerality.

This wine is all about the subtle balance of opposites: it may be the perfect Chenin Blanc. It is an amazing wine at $63."

Mushroom and prosciutto pizza

I had some button mushrooms that were starting to look a little shriveled, so I used them to make a mushroom and prosciutto pizza.

Mushroom storage tip: don't store them in plastic. Plastic makes mushrooms slimy. Take them out of the plastic as soon as you get them home, and put them in a brown paper bag. They'll last for weeks that way (although they'll start to look a little shriveled after a while).

I sliced the mushrooms and browned them in a little in some butter. I used half on a spinach salad, and the other half on a pizza.

This pizza crust + tomato sauce + a smear of ricotta + cooked mushrooms + a few pieces of prosciutto, torn into bits + healthy sprinkle of parmesan + dried basil (in that order); bake at 475 for 15 minutes.

Seafood pasta

I discovered another perk to working in the restaurant on Sundays (in addition to the free leftover food, which I'll write about in a minute).

I usually work doubles on Sundays, brunch plus dinner. For brunch, they bring in a selection of newspapers for people to peruse, including the New York Times and the Boston Globe. They throw away the inserts, so I helped myself to the coupons and the sales flyers.

Between the coupons and some judicious shopping at CVS, making full use of the ExtraBucks program, I scored $120 worth of stuff for $45. So you can bet I'll be snagging the coupons from now on.

(Disclaimer: I don't usually shop with coupons, because generally coupons are for over-processed name-brand crap food; the kind of stuff I don't buy. But, if you can combine a coupon with a store sale, and/or some other sort of store promotion, like Double Coupon Day or CVS' ExtraBucks, you can walk away with some amazing deals. So I'll start using coupons and watching sales for things I'll buy anyway, like shampoo and toothpaste. Don't worry, I still won't buy frozen pizza or Lucky Charms, even if I can get it for free.)

The other good part of working Sundays, as I've mentioned, is that they throw away all the unused food on Sunday nights, and I'm welcome to help myself to any of it. This week was an especially good haul. I got three large pieces of Tasmanian sea trout, a container full of cooked mussels and whelks, a container of squid ink anchoiade, some scallions, some lemon juice, and some ramp puree.

So I whipped together a seafood pasta, using all of those things.

I cooked some penne and caramelized an onion. To the onion I added a little of the squid ink anchoiade and some of the pasta cooking water. To that I threw in the mussels and whelks, then the pasta. When everything was mixed together, I added the Tasmanian sea trout, cut into large pieces. Then I turned the heat off, added chopped parsley and scallions, and waited until the sea trout was just warmed through.

Then I ate it. It was awesome. Free food never tasted so good.