So...whats for dinner?
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Freezer-foraged last night (Bob had fried chicken at his office): two BBQ beef bao (steamed buns), four chicken potstickers and a chicken egg roll (heated in the toaster-oven on its "airfry" setting). Couldn't find any duck-sauce packets (we used to have tons of 'em from takeout), so I made my own from honey, marmalade and sriracha. Had eggs Benedict (poached eggs on a toasted whole wheat English muffin, tomato slices, basil leaves, coppa ham and surprisingly good prepackaged Hollandaise imported from France) for brunch. Just now, a big mug of hot chocolate (melted Petrossian drinking chocolate stirred into steamed & foamed milk). Tonight I'm gonna order out if Bob doesn't bring something home. Or maybe nuke various Indian foods in the pantry (lentils, eggplant, palak paneer, rice, frozen naan).
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Two of 9-1/2 boxes of oranges that I've picked. Each box has between 70 and 75 pounds of oranges. There are probably 3 more boxes of oranges left on the tree, but I can't reach them.
The orange juicer is very busy.
Bedo, enjoy the trip.
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Eric - wow!
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Holy moly, Eric! So much for my wondering how I'm gonna work my way through a 3-lb. bag of Cuties before they rot (or I get sick of tangerines).
Path of least resistance: awaiting GrubHub delivery of suppli, eggplant parm and linguine al pesto Genovese. It was either that or phô and Saigon crepes. Rude awakening is that in Chicago, GrubHub appears to have dropped PayPal as a payment option--it's now just ApplePay or cold cash.
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Eric, how do you use all those oranges?
Sending warm thoughts to those of you experiencing the super cold.
Tonight was leftover campfire chili DH made yesterday. I didn’t want to camp out after H & P treatment (maintenance chemo), it was spicy butpretty good.
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Eric, I agree, wow!
Tonight's dinner was winter time comfort food ( not nearly as cold here as North of us but still cold to us!): Porcupine meat balls, scalloped potatoes and oven roasted green beans.
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Beaver, that looks delicious! Porcupine meatballs are a childhood favorite of my husband’s. Stay warm, Sandy, Nance and any other midwesterners that see this.
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The power went out as I was cooking the pork and the soba noodles last night. Dh was making a chopped salad. We lit candles and got the flash light and got the meal on the table. Ate by candlelight. Dinner was very good. Love soba noodles. Sat in the living room a while with the fireplace providing heat. Texts from family members established that the outage was extensive.
Went to bed and read our Kindles. Then the power came on but we were already comfortable in bed. So it was an early night. Learned this morning that the clouds kept the temperatures from plunging as low as forecast.
Another day. Another repeat of the question: What's for dinner tonight?
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That's a good question Carole. Yesterday DH requested oven fried chicken strips for dinner tonight. But that will require a trip to the store and since it's -9° with a wind chill of -35°, that trip is questionable. But the sun is shining - yay!
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I did finally made the chicken noodle soup over the weekend. OK - I cheated and used boneless/skinnless chicken breasts - but they were on sale BOGO & the partial inspiration for the soup. I used a combination of what was on hand for broth - Swanson's chicken & Knorr Bouillon cube. I had added so many onions, carrots, celery & noodles, that I needed more broth for the left overs. Mixed and added some "Better than Bouillon" roasted chicken style from my fridge. Today will be the last of the leftovers.
Went to an 'old fashioned' Tex-Mex restaurant with a friend Sunday after a play. I'd read that this is where super chef Hugo Ortega goes when he wants good old basic home cooking w/no hassle, so it's been on my list for awhile. My friend had a combo platter - choose three. I had shrimp quesadillas and they were delicious. And a $5.00 margarita. It's located on the way to/from the medical center so I'll be stopping again.
My omelette leftovers (onions, mushrooms, spinach) were great rolled on flour tortillas. doused with green chile salsa & sprinkled with Mexican Cheese.
The scattering of my SIL's ashes will be at their ranch SE of San Antonio on 2/17 - her B-day. The drive is 3-4 hours for me. I'm told there will be a large crowd so I made reservations at a Comfort Inn not to far away (well in TX - 30 minutes of open road is close). I'll go a day early to help my niece with the cooking, but their house is just too noisy for me to stay - polished concrete floors, all open plan, two story high ceilings, no rugs or draperies, several rambunctious children under age 5, and five dogs. I got a 40 point inspection on my 2003 car today, tires filled & fluids topped off so I'm good to go.
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Been thinking about all of you who are dealing with the extreme cold, and hoping everyone is staying safe and warm...and that your power remains on Carole. We are just expected to have some of the deep freeze for a day, tomorrow, then temp will supposedly really warm up. Crazy winter!
Minus, I’m sure your niece will appreciate your help, as well as just being there to support her through the memorial process. I totally understand your decision to stay in a hotel while there. I’m fascinated by young couples’ preferences for totally open concept homes. When we were househunting, I remembered from open concept ski chalets we’d stayed in how loud the noise could get throughout an “open” house, so I was careful to select a house that had distinct separation between floors. When we had our lake house built, I changed the walls a bit and had them insulated so that we managed to have bedroom “quiet” despite a living area cathedral ceiling...best of both worlds imho, in a pretty small house. When we visit DS1 and family, I’m always struck by the noise level...totally open concept, all hard floor surfaces, no drapes, busy children, etc. Conversely, I’m sure they all feel like they are gasping for air when they visit here. LOL.
After a busy day of errands, yesterday, I stopped at a Middle Eastern market and picked up some lemajun (sp?) which I heated up for our dinner. Also heated up chicken soup that was in fridge, and made a salad. Tonight we’ll have leftovers of the sheet roasted chicken and veggies from a couple nights ago, and I’ll make another salad. Need to use up all the greens I have in fridge before we head West. Three more dinners here...
BTW, I recentlylearned from a woman shopping at Trader’s that once avocados get ripe, they can be refrigerated to stay fresh for several days. I am delighted to know that. It seemed that I always ended up with one avocado going bad on the counter. How did I not know this?! I was so excited to retrieve and use two perfectly ripe avocados from the fridge last week!
So what happens to the leftover high hanging oranges, Eric? Impressive yield you have there!
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Lacey, I recently started refrigerating avocados too which has greatly reduced the waste factor much to my delight. It breaks my heart to have to throw one away.
We did brave a trip to the store, foolish people that we are. The temperature reached 0 so we were feeling bold. It was great - no one was there! I had the store practically to myself. DH stayed on the car keeping it warm, so I got door to door service. No frostbite here. In fact, I had so many clothes on by the time I left the store I was sweating.
So DH will get his chicken tenders, I will have legs and wings. I will make oven fries for DH, broccoli for me. He wants cole slaw too, so I'll add that. The bird parts are now marinating in buttermilk and hot sauce.
All day I've been watching a group of four deer on our hillside. During bad weather, they frequently hunker down in the valley in the snow. Today, they changed spots with the sun. They've really been struggling for food with all the snow cover, the snow melt in the coming days should help them too.
Looking forward to the heat wave this weekend!
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Eric - did you say all those oranges are going to juice? Wow.
Has anyone else read about the BreadBot introduced this month? "Mixes, kneads, bakes & cools w/o human assistance." It can make up to 10 loaves an hour, 235 a day if you leave enough time for a human to pour in the ingredients. The only thing a human has to do slicing after the loaves cool.
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All but a few are being juiced, put into 1/2 gallon mason jars filled about 3/4 full and then frozen. We run out sometime in late July or so.
I'm having to use dry ice in an ice chest so the juice is frozen before I put it into the freezer. Putting too much room temperature orange juice in the freezer would likely cause the already frozen foods to thaw out until the freezer could "catch up".
I do keep some oranges on the tree that are low enough for me to reach up and grab for when I want a "peeling orange".
As for the oranges I can't reach. They eventually fall to the ground. I pick them up each morning and evening so I don't have a food source to attract rodents (roof rats) and so the dogs don't bring them into the house to eat...the dogs love oranges.
For those that are in the middle of the mean and nasty and ugly weather....I won't bore you with the weather details here.
Carole...I'm glad the power came back on. I'd probably do like a winter camp situation....the winter sleeping bags and a "two dog, one cat night". :-)
Beav and Illimae, both dishes look good. We are trying to eat down the left overs as we are leaving early next week to go meet Sharon's cousin in one of the Carolinas. Otherwise I'd be using the ideas!
I've never heard of the BreadBot. I prefer to not use a bread machine as I like the feel of the bread as it "changes" as I knead it, so I don't think I'd be using a BreadBot...besides I don't eat that much bread!
I'm going to go run. I haven't run this week and I'm missing it.
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Dinner tonight was red lentil/pumpkin soup, flavored with curry powder. I served it with nice crusty bread. Dessert will be a clementine or two. The best part is leftovers for tomorrow
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My wonderful DH made us Turkey Pot Pies tonight, isn’t he the sweetest 😍
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Cold pizza. Started out hot, but got cold on Bob's 2-mile drive home. Not my preferred style, either (instead of the wedge-cut Neapolitan we usually order, he got a thin crust "party-cut," aka hacked into little square-oid pieces--which cools off quickly even in good weather, in order to hold in one hand and grab a beer with the other). But any port in a storm. At least it was one of the few restaurants open tonight.
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Illimae, awww!
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Illimae, I agree with auntie.
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illimae, me three!
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Sandy, at least he made it home. The pictures on the news make Chicago look miserable. Stay safe!
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Ilona, what a sweetheart! (Your DH, too)
Glad Bob made it home okay--he said there was almost no traffic, and his office hours were canceled so he just had to visit two hospitals. He was able to sleep in today, too. Maybe tomorrow if Union Health is closed again--which it might be because it'll be much colder tomorrow morning than it was this morning. And snow is coming (sigh). He does have a patient who drives his own stretch limo--he may call to reserve it tomorrow for Fri. morning. It'll be much more expensive than a rideshare or a taxi, but he's very dependable.
61 degrees in the front room...with the thermostat set at 80! We've caulked all air leaks, but it's still the coldest room other than the basement. I'm in there right now, wearing 3 layers on top (T-shirt, long sleeved stretch cord PJ top, fleece hoodie), 2 below (fitness leggings under the PJ pants), and UGGs. (Socks and sheepskin clogs werren't cutting it). And for awhile, before the letrozole "warm glow" kicked in, a poly-fill quilted jacket too. Indoors. (I knew estrogen depletion was good for something other than starving tumor cells). Upstairs it's toasty enough to ditch the leggings & PJ top, and sleep in the T-shirt beneath the tropical weight comforter.
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I always put the avocados in the veggie drawer in the refrigerator as soon as they are slightly soft to the touch. Have been doing that for years. Never thought to mention it. We tend to buy at least three and sometimes more.
Food is beginning to be more appealing as I feel more like myself. Any inactivity at this point is laziness. I would rather work on the 1000 piece puzzle spread on the coffee table than do needed grunt work in the house. I continue to wait for a knock on the door or the peal of the doorbell and a house cleaner standing there wanting a job cleaning my house.
Dinner tonight will probably be a prime rib eye that has been living in the freezer.
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Carole, my sentiments exactly! I wish I had a puzzle to work on. (It's not like I don't have a three page checklist of things that need to be done before we list our house.) If that house cleaner shows up, please send him or her my way. I did commit myself to vacuuming the downstairs today, even though vacuuming is normally DH's thing. I bought some new thick house socks (I'm habitually barefoot except during the coldest weather) and in spite of several launderings, they have left a trail of black fuzzies wherever I travel.
It's a whopping 6° right now and I'm strangely happy about it. Sandy, I'm feeling your {{{brrrrs}}}!
I took out thick pork chops for dinner tonight, although this horrid drainage (which I'm beginning to suspect is a sinus infection) is dampening my appetite. The plan is to reverse sear the chops and make a cider pan sauce along with fried apples. I'll also sous vide some golden beets.
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It's 3 above the donut and feels positively tropical! 24 hrs ago, with the thermostat set at 80, it was 60 in the front room downstairs: had to wear leggings & a T under my PJs, plus UGGs, and a hoodie and jacket on top. Tonight it's 70, and I'm typing barefoot.
Went to the Cellars wine dinner (chickened out and took a Lyft the 1/4 mi., walked home). Started with a scallop crudo with honeydew-cucumber granita and Fresno chile garnish; then a veggie slider with polenta fries and a spicy aioli; then strawberry soup; next was veal shank with lentilles du Puy; finally spiced chocolate pot de creme. I am fooded-and-wined-out till we get to Midway and through the TSA tomorrow morning. No dinner plans, though Sat. night Gordy & Leslie are going to Rao's at Caesar's before seeing Van Morrison.
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Last night dinner was cream of vegetables and pork chops.
I had surgery (breast reconstruction) on Wednesday, and I am staying at home recovering. I have a great cleaning lady who is about to show up.
Today I am going to cook some spaguetti squash.
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Tonight's dinner will be shrimp from the freezer. I buy them fresh, usually 10 lbs, take the heads off and freeze portions in water. Not sure how I will cook them. Our favorite shrimp meal is shrimp scampi with linguini. Butter, olive oil, garlic and lots of grated romano. You can't go wrong.
Last night's prime ribeye was very good, but dh didn't think it was worth the extra money to buy prime. The 1 lb. steak was $21 at Fresh Market.
LaughingGull, best of luck with healing and recovery. Lucky you to have a great cleaning lady.
I am enjoying our unusually cold winter weather. We love lighting our little fireplace (natural gas) at night for cheer and warmth.
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Tonight is a meatless meal of Northern White Beans, Sautéed Spinach, Asparagus and Quinoa.
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I did meatless too. Large salad with all the veggies in the fridge and one french roll - defrosted from the freezer and baked. Actually I baked two but was strong enough to put the other one aside for breakfast tomorrow. And two glasses of a nice Estancia Cab. Well, nice for me. I rarely spend more than $10-13 on a bottle of wine. Higher prices just don't fit my budget and I think some of what I buy is quite good.
Got my 6th Prolia shot today - 3 years. My MO feels I should continue for a total of 5 years and then take a one year holiday before resuming.
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Went to Katsuya in the SLS for omakase dinner—can’t even imagine wanting breakfast tomorrow! Sushi, sashimi, gyoza, Kobe ribeye, mochi ice cream. Yum. Took all four of us to finish
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