I’m getting VFYTs from you readers faster than I can process them. I apologize for my slackitude on this. So what I’m going to do is something I’ve never done before: publish a VFYT smorgasbord. Let’s get started, shall we? Let’s begin with one from le maître hisself, James C.:

Visiting a friend this weekend, and was invited to a dinner party at a big house full of traditionalist Catholic Oxford students. 5 courses, begun with grace chanted in Latin. Alas I was too busy imbibing and eating, in between conversation, to take photos. Also, the guests were a bit camera shy, and it would have been nigh impossible to keep faces out of shots.

But anyway, it ended with this [above].

This is a shot of the moules marinieres et frites that I had on the harbour-front at Courseulles-sur-Mer in Normandy last week – plus a rather good house Merlot. I was in Normandy with my dad visiting Juno Beach, where my granddad came ashore (with the Canadians) on D-Day. I’m used to getting about a dozen mussels when I order them over here in England – but that little cauldron contained well over fifty, all delicious!

Sitting in my recliner with a bratwurst I simmered in beer and onions for 20 minutes and then threw on the grill, on a bun w/carmelized onions and dijon mustard, and a gouda/edam mac-n-cheese, watching the LSU/Georgia Slugfest w/friends. And a huge Sonoma Zin.

A couple weeks ago I got back from an incredible two weeks in Portugal visiting my wife’s family (grandfather, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc.) for the first time.

One Sunday we went to her newborn cousin’s baptism, which was followed by an incredible meal at the gorgeous Casa da Insua, a 17th century palace that has been converted into a hotel, in Penalva do Castelo in north-central Portugal.

On my table – a stone wall – is my plate, which includes blood sausage, chorizo, and the best dish I had – chicken gizzards in tomato sauce. Sublime. My drink – a caipirinha, a nod to the Portuguese cousins across the pond.

After eating two (okay…three…plates) like this, my aunt-in-law advised me to pace myself, as these were just appetizers. The three-hour feast that followed was something else.

A lefty fan of your blog, I toasted you today with a Peroni over a sausage/mushroom/garlic pie at the inimitable Totonno’s of Coney Island.

My husband and oldest daughter visited a Korean restaurant today. On the table: thin Korean noodle soup, a pot of soybean paste stew with tofu and vegetables, and side dishes including kimchi, broccoli with Sriracha sauce, pickled seaweed, radish in kimchi sauce, fish cakes and fried potatoes. Very good food!

Here’s a great “fall-in-upstate-New York” view from my table. Yes, the winters are long and the taxes are high, but we have apples. 200 lbs. of organic apples + sweat of my wife and her friend/neighbor = 70 quarts of applesauce.

The reader says:

From a single guy