So...whats for dinner?
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Simple meal using up what's fresh. Steamed asparagus, boiled baby red potatoes, deviled eggs. Salad tomorrow. Having a great time reading from my piles of books.
Edited to say - a critical shortage for me would be books!!
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Tonight we had a surprisingly satisfying dinner featuring leftover grilled chicken thighs. We started with an Alessi Sicilian Lental soup (I really love those packaged soups, which are a cinch to cook up) with a splash of balsamic. Then we had the chicken thighs with sides of beet/kale farro (another delightfully easy Alessi product....no I don't work for them but buy them at a local discount store, and love having them in my kitchen cabinet), and a cuke salad with scallions, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, with a balsamic dressing.
I did get to mashing those overripe bananas, this afternoon and baked a couple of loaves of banana/orange/walnut bread.
Speaking of books, Minus, today, I read baby DGD her favorite board book during our Facetime and was thrilled that she came right up to the screen to show her delight, smiling and squealing at the familiar illustrations. Thank goodness for technology during this self-distancing!
As I mentioned in my last post, tons of people are walking past our house daily now. Before we left for our walk, I noticed our across the street neighbors outside doing something in front of their hemlocks. Guess they decided to share a bit of hopefulness to the many passers by:
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carole - so sorry about your SIL, being unable to gather in remembrance must be a frustration complicating your loss.
chisandy - I just did the acetone/cotton/foil thing for my nails - took longer than I thought it would and required some patience. I have been doing dip over my own nails for the last six months and they seem stronger now that they are “naked” than when I did acrylic. Last time I removed the acrylic was right before chemo, so it’s been a while. I polished them, but they look and feel weird to me, not used to them yet. My hair salon has closed, not sure when they will reopen - so gray roots it is! My husband goes there also and the person who does his hair contacted him to offer to cut his at her house, or ours. Not sure what his plan is. I suspect he would like to just let it grow, his 38 years of military workplace has meant a regulation haircut, but he’s working from home now!
Dinner was cheeseburgers, oven roasted red potatoes tossed in olive oil and taco seasoning, and some baked beans with BBQ sauce and pineapple. Last night was pork tenderloin, really sweet corn on the cob, and Caesar salad. Trying to minimize any grocery runs, have enough in the freezer and pantry, should only need produce in a week or so - hopefully, or can also do without.
minus - your eggs for TP trade made me lol
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Cellars isn't delivering brunch, so I made avocado toast topped with lox. Dinner was leftover Chinese food: shrimp with black bean sauce and "seafood delight" in a white sauce. Bob had it over white and fried rice--I went starchless.
The key to making matzo brei is to soften the matzos just enough--some soak them, but I hold them under warm running water just till they start to flex. Also--the milk-egg batter needs a dash each of salt & sugar, a twist of black pepper from the mill, and cinnamon. (Freshly grated nutmeg if you've got it--ground won't do). This is the first year I can't have any--I wasn't low-carb yet last Passover. But Bob will definitely want it. No Joyva Passover candies (choc. covered maple marshmallows, cherry marshmallow twists, and jelly rings) or choc. covered egg matzo either. Will have to figure out keto latkes using ricotta, an egg, almond & coconut flours (the Birch Benders keto mix has baking powder). May try the trick my mom used for matzo balls: using seltzer instead of water.
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Last night we had the pan seared catfish, steamed broccoli with a drizzle of melted butter and lemon juice, and our Signature Salad. We used the last avocado and are almost out of compari tomatoes. Same with blue cheese.
The local Winn Dixie is restricting the 8 to 9 am shopping period for seniors. We've missed it today.
Today is my walking day. Because I've had feet problems in past years, I'm taking my exercise walks, 2 miles maybe a little more, every other day. I'm also working in the yard and, surprisingly, have enjoyed the labor. There is much to do so I'm not likely to run out of work any time soon.
Lacey, it's so good that you're able to keep up family relationships with computer technology. My sisters and brothers and I have a text message thread that helps keep us connected since, even in normal times, we don't get together now that our parents are gone. The family home was once a meeting place.
What's for dinner? The ever present question.
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Special - I expect we'll all be on the "shaggy" side by the time this is over.
Meals this past few days have been homemade cheese pizza and a ground pork, bok choy and udon noodle stir fry. I had to grind the pork myself due to limitations on meat at the grocery store. I used a pork butt that had been in the freezer. The rest of the ground pork that didn't get used will join some ground beef in becoming meatballs today.
Don't know what's for dinner but my guess is it will involve meatballs.
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Lacey, I hope the stomach issues resolve without additional medical intervention. I'm grateful my diagnostic mammogram was a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't want that hanging over me in the midst of all this.
Speaking of in the midst of all this, we had an offer on our house. Too low but we'll see how it turns out. Not sure how I feel about it all.
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Heading home tomorrow. Won't be surprised if that doesn't last long.
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I have been using my time at home to clean and organize - I’m silly that way. Deep clean of bathrooms, also organized my printed recipes - I have a bad habit of printing recipes I find online and tearing out magazine pages. I had loosely organized them previously, but now home punched and made binders separating by type of recipe. Much better and I will be able to find what I’m looking for now. I have another large binder with cut out recipes and some that were typed.
Don’t know what is for dinner. I have half of the pork tenderloin from this weekend, so I will have to turn that into something. I do have some low carb tortillas, and cheese and red sauce, so could do enchiladas if I shred the pork. Could also make a kale salad with it, adding pineapple and some pickled jalapeños - kind of an al pastor deal. Not sure.
auntie - I’m fortunate that my hair is basically one length with sideswept bangs. I can cut the bangs myself so my main issue is the gray stripe on top of my head! I have root spray so that will have to do! Things would be more problematic if I had an actual hair style!
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About 6 months ago I took the radical decision to stop dyeing my hair. So at least that no longer is an issue (even though it felt like throwing in the towel) and to tell you the truth, hardly anyone noticed. But I do have a short style, if you can call wash-and-wear hair a "style"`, that requires cutting about every 3 weeks. Both DH's and my hair grow fast so we shall see.
I still have pizza dough left so DH requested calzones for dinner.
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Stopped dyeing my hair in June 2015. It was needing touch ups every 3 weeks. Salon "lifted" all the color & then applied light blonde color, which was then toned & highlighted until my natural silvery white hair grew in gradually. Took a little over a year & was done before BC diagnosis. My sister went cold turkey & just stopped dyeing! I have shoulder length hair with bangs & while the ends could get dicey, will trim the bangs myself. DH is overdue for a trim, but we will improvise at home.
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When my hair grew back from chemo it was my first opportunity to see the amount of gray I had since I had been coloring it for many years. It is totally gray and did not come back curly or thicker - it is somewhat thin and limp, and totally straight, just like it was. I can't quite bring myself to quit coloring, but may rethink when DH retires as it will be something I can cut as an expense. I'm hoping that is still five years away... One SIL is doing the cold turkey right now, hers is pretty gray also. Other SIL did the same, but she is a bit more salt and pepper, and has a great thick head of hair cut in a cute short style. Me, not so much... I color mine highlighted blonde (was a blonde child) to mask the gray roots.
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Just for kicks, here's a photo from when I dyed my hair close to it's once upon a time, auburn color. (Was observing an AF One landing at CVG when Bush was President - grabbed the best looking Secret Service Agent on duty for a photo opp.)
And, here's a photo showing my silvery white hair. (Sailing on Long Island Sound, near Greenwich, CT)
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celia - regardless of your hair color your smile is the same! Beautiful
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Brunch was 1/2 cup fresh raspberries in heavy cream and one hot dog. They had some in the store last week as well as fresh buns and I haven't bought hot dogs in ages. Supper was one gin & tonic and a couple of deviled eggs.
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Celia, you look great. I'm still too vain to stop dyeing my hair, but I get it done far less often than I used to--as much as 3 months between touch-ups, same day as the keratin. (Actually, this time for me it was 4 months). I have more "salt" than "pepper" in my gray now, with one or two natural straight platinum streaks that look like I paid good money for highlights. (They are resistant to the blonde dye). I'm also too vain to revert to naturally wavy-frizzy. This is the color hair I had till I was about 8, when it began to darken to medium brown. As a kid, my hair was baby-fine and straight, but the darker it got the frizzies began setting in. And my first grays were lone, wiry and yellowish.
Dinner tonight was the last of the Chinese leftovers (by now, the veggies were downright limp). Took a starch blocker so I could have 1/2 c. of fried rice to sop up the sauce. Meh. I'm not really missing anything by going low-carb--but the cauliflower in my fridge is green Romesco--which would have made rather disgusting "rice." Bob had fried chicken and spinach salad at the hospital. We'll probably order out tomorrow--either from Cellars again or maybe Indian, Persian or Middle Eastern. I could go for some chicken shwarma or beef kebabs. Used up the last of my hummus & baba ghannouj yesterday lest it go bad.
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I've been mulling over going gray again. It took me a year when I stopped coloring 7 years ago, age 70. The color on the front half was nice, even with a silvery streak, but the back was still darker. I felt older so went back to color. I recently had a cut but probably will not go back unless the corona virus dangers have lessened in five weeks.
I enjoyed last night's dinner, featuring chicken breast fillets, flattened and spread with brown grainy mustard, then heavily spinkled with bottled Italian grated cheeses. I pressed the cheese into the mustard and cooked for a short time on either side in a hot skillet until browned. Delicious. Side was cauliflower mash and coleslaw. DH dressed the coleslaw with a bottled dressing and mayo and the result was tasty.
Tonight may be filet mignon and baked potato.
I woke up about 5 am for a trip to the bathroom and didn't go back to sleep because of thinking about this current health situation. Things are always so troubling in the dark.
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Right with you Carole. I'm definitely NOT a morning person. I'm often going to sleep at 2-3am. But I was wide awake at 4am this morning. Guess I was thinking about getting to the grocery store for the 7am opening on what appears to be the last day before total "shelter in place" in Houston for everything but non-essential businesses. That will dump a lot more people into the grocery stores.
I was at Kroger at 6:45am and was #30 in line. They were only letting 10 in at a time. Managed to get what I needed, but since I've always bought in bulk it was only a few fresh things. I considered going out to Total Wine, but I unless this lasts past June I should be OK with both wine & gin. And rumor says liquor stores will be essential businesses anyway. That's serious here in Texas. It took years to finally get beer & wine in the grocery stores but you still can't buy any hard stuff except at a liquor store.
Joyce - the ribs sound delicious. I know you're anxious to head North. What a difficult decision.
Cancelled my eye doc appointment tomorrow & re-scheduled for the end of May. That means two more months without glasses SIGH. But even if the doc was safe, I didn't want to go try on glasses at the optometrist to find something I liked and then sit 1 ft away while they tried to measure the progressive line. At least I have my WalMart cheaters so I can sit & read and totally escape all the news except in small doses.
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i realized i havent been on here since Jan? Where does the time go. Oir Governor put in place Safer at home. Translation, shelter in place without fines if you are out. Wimp
I hope everyobe is feeling ok. I need to read about 10 pages here to catch up. Supper is whatever i can find enough for 6 people, as we are watching the Grandkids while my DD2 works at the clinic nearby. Ill try to oist what i decided on.
Much love to all
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A bummer situation with the glasses, Minus.
I called the Rouses supermarket that is closest to our house to find out about order and pickup. The manager answered the phone and was very helpful but said they were booked through this week. I asked if the store was busy at the present time. He said no so I hurriedly got dressed and drove there. Sure enough, it wasn't busy and the few other shoppers kept their distance. I wore salon gloves. The only "iffy" situation was checkout, which was handled by two teenage girls who seemed to be newbies at the job.
There was not a single paper product nor an egg in the store. I didn't have the former on my list but I did want to buy eggs and egg beaters. So I went next to our small Piggly Wiggly and, lo and behold, it was well stocked in the egg department. And was not busy. So we should be fine in maintaining our pudgy weight!
Rather than freeze the pricey package of ground beef and another package of ground pork, I will make meat loaf tonight, a main dish that should make dh happy. If the sides are mashed potatoes and peas, he will be in diner heaven.
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Celia here. Thanks for the complements on the silver hair. What helped my decision was younger women purposely dyeing their hair my colour, so I felt like I was being "trendy" (LOL).
We tried Kroger delivery yesterday and got some items. No milk, bread, orange juice, dill pickles (DH eats these with his daily cheese & crackers), raisins, AAA batteries, to name a few. We are good on paper products, so did not try to order. They substituted on some cleaning items ordered even though we specified no substitutions. Now have several unwanted cleaning products totaling around $20 that cannot be returned. Given the price of delivery & tip, less than pleased with results. Guess you have to just buy whatever you can find in this current climate. We will try to go out to a normally less used grocery this evening before closing time - hoping not too many other shoppers around.
Currently roasted spatchcocked chicken with herbs/lemon from TJs for late lunch/early dinner. Will have along with some cooked frozen veg, since fresh very hard to find.
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Eric - did you get home? Hope you'll be able to stay there for a few days anyway before another assignment.
Oh and Moon - great to see you. Glad you are all OK with that crowd around.
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We should have had a conference call lol. I was up at the exact same time as Carole for exactly the same reasons. It’s the third gloomy day in a row here which doesn’t help.
A trip to the grocery store was quite depressing. Shelves were empty and the employees looked exhausted. I found myself having to buy larger quantities of things just because that was all that was available. They are out of the oddest things - waxed paper for example. Why? At least eggs were available this time. There will be egg salad for lunch. I don't know what people who actually need toilet paper are doing. There is not a roll to be had in this town.
Tonight is "shore lunch" for dinner. I have leftover boiled potatoes that need using so it will be cod fillets in the air fryer, fried potatoes and applesauce from the freezer.
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90 more minutes to home.
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Tonight was burgers and chips.
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Monica, your former Gov. would likely have encouraged folks to go to restaurants & bars. No state or city is enforcing even its strictest "shelter in place" orders, at least not yet. (Though Mayor Lightfoot said she's not ruled out using the CPD if & when necessary).
Carole, it's the eggs that are keeping me from getting pudgy again. (Although nothing's gonna get rid of my muffin top--nothing short of cryotherapy followed by surgery, neither of which are gonna happen even long after the pandemic ends. Where are those 19th-century lace-up waist-cinchers when you need 'em)?
On the way home from the union HMO, Bob went to the drive-through at Pompei in Little Italy and brought home chopped salads and sausage & peppers--for both of us. (The place is known for its arancini*, pastas, pizzas and calzone-type "strudels"--so I'm surprised he didn't mind going near-keto tonight). They threw in enough Italian bread to make nearly a loaf, though--so that's gonna go into the fridge for him to toast & nibble when he wants it.
*Ohhh, how I miss arancini! When I was a teen, our landlady was Sicilian and used to send some upstairs to me all the time. And when the Brooklyn College Chorus went out caroling one near-0F Christmas Eve, she fried up extra "feast of the Seven Fishes" stuff too. My grandma was living with us at the time, and reached for the shrimp and calamari. My mom was about to explain to her that it wasn't kosher (before Grandma moved in with us, she kept kosher), but my dad jabbed his elbow into her side and whispered "she's 87, let her eat what she wants." Dad, BTW, brought home fried seafood every Fri. night, and introduced me to raw clams & oysters.
Both parents were raised in kosher homes but eagerly abandoned the practice when they grew up. At our house, Saturday breakfast was bacon & eggs, with bagels, lox and other smoked fish on Sundays. Sounds like a paradox, but the "appetizing stores" where we bought our smoked fishes, cheeses, pickles, olives and candies were "shomer Shabbos" (ergo, closed Saturdays). We had blue laws back then that allowed only delis, appetizing stores, newsstands, luncheonettes and bakeries to be open Sundays. Fortunoff's dept. store was open, in violation of those laws...with a line of police cars out front (no doubt to collect "protection" money).
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I spent the day filing - not exciting, but necessary. These are actually new file boxes for DD, and her files. The papers had been in a somewhat inaccessible area of the garage so she wasn’t yet able to take them with her and because her roommate is a flight attendant they are both trying to stay away from me - so I decided to file and set up the boxes, DH can deliver them to her when he has to attend a meeting on Thurs., which may not happen if they lock down the base - yet to be decided. I’m trying to do one major task a day - I find that it’s easier for me to be home, potentially for quite a while based on my WBC, if I am spreading out the tasks and putting less pressure on myself to get more done. Dinner tonight was pork and pineapple soft tacos with some pickled red onion, shredded cabbage, and goat cheese. We had some brown rice with added sautéed yellow pepper and shredded carrot, and parsley. Today was my husband’s first day working from home. He seemed to do ok - he did go for a walk half way through the day. He was talking on his phone and trying to work on the laptop and I suggested he use his Powerbeats so he could be hands-free, he was so happy! I also learned he talks to himself while reading emails, lol!
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It turns out that having decided not to go to Folk Alliance Int'l's annual convention in NOLA in late Jan. was probably the smartest thing I've done this year. Only a couple of weeks later were Carnival parades and Mardi Gras--revelers cheek-by-jowl, and officials are calling it in retrospect a giant incubator. For all we know there might have been a carrier as early as late January (though I haven't heard reports of any of the FAI attendees coming down with the virus--but not everyone in the folk music scene is active on social media).
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The supermarket scene is an interesting one. We decided to stop and get some necessities and maybe some salmon (since that’s an easy dinner fix) on our way back from our walk this afternoon. There was lots of produce and some fish, ”safely” packaged rather than in the open case. Again,, no paper products, and this time no clothes detergent. I was struck by how empty the store was and how bored the cashiers and baggers looked. When we arrived at the cashier, the unhappy looking college-age cashier firmly told me that he would NOT be touching my canvas bags. So another safety step to protect the stores’ workers...initiated today! Now I know! I wasn't even allowed to bag our groceries myself.
For our dinner last night, we had a pasta and white bean soup, some interesting vegetable pouches from Traders that I had in the freezer, with a ‘made by me‘ soy-ginger dipping sauce, and my every night salad offering.
Tonight, we ended up not having the salmon after all since DH decided to go back to the store to pick up a roasted chicken (they were on sale) which we had with Alessi risotto,(not as tasty as their farro), basic salad, and crusty bread. Very uninteresting dinner. Tomorrow I’ll bake teriyaki salmon. Carole, I like the sound of your chicken breast dish. Must try that...thanks for the description.
Monica, I admire your energy to care for the grands though this ”stay at home” time. Also envy you being with them! We really miss our local sweetie and if we weren’t the “vulnerable oldsters“ in the family, would definitely be helping her parents managing all of her motor activity while they work in the same space she occupies. Not sure how so many parents are managing homeschooling while distance working for their employers! Yikes!
Eric...hope you are happily home by now for a respite!
Minus, yes, probably a good plan to avoid the optometrist. So many glasses surfaces that have been touched. Hope your cheaters can carry you through! Actually, Charlie Baker (gov) closed all the non-essential businesses today, and I bet optometrists fall in that category....unlike liquor stores! Ha!
Celia....Cute pix! I wish I could go gray with that blondish look, since I am tired of coloring my hair every third week, but that is not in the cards for this brunette. Decisions, decisions......
A local group met via Zoom tonight, and I learned that our town hospital might be interested in having locals sew masks for the staff to wear over their N-95s to extend their usage. Not even sure if that’s best practice, but as in most hospitals here, the PPE supplies are inadequate, so the staff soldiers on in whatever ways they can. What a mess! Anyway, I will plan to make some masks once I get the okay and the specific pattern and fabric choices they want to be used. I’d so rather contribute to this effort than clean out closets or the garage! I keep thinking that after people are back out in circulation, there will be loads of cars transporting clothes and household items, books, etc. to donation sites. My guess is that the sites will be screaming “Stop!!!” like many did after the country was Kondo-ized. Let’s see!
Stay safe and healthy everyone
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Glad to hear from everybody. Lacey & Moon- thinking of your little ones made me remember this quote - and I figure we can all use a laugh.
A woman is talking with her neighbor asking how the home schooling is going.
The mother responds by saying, "I started out with three. Now one is in detention & two have been expelled."0
