So...whats for dinner?
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Nance, we bought the two king cakes this year from a small supermarket in a nearby town. King cakes are available at every supermarket and at bakeries. The famous bakery that ships king cakes all over the country is Randazzo's.
Those home-made pizzas look delicious. And lemon meringue pie is one of my favorite cream pies.
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We had spinach & cheese ravioli with homemade sauce - really delicious. Sides of green salad, garlic bread & 2018 Michael David Freakshow Zinfandel.
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Dinner was fettuccine with jarred red sauce with veggies to which I added seasoned ground turkey and a side of garlic bagels. Wine was a Cass club wine, a red Bordeaux blend. Finally have propane so I could use the stovetop and the boil water advisory has been lifted so we are moving back to "normal", or as normal as it is with covid. One thing about dealing with all of last week's issues is that covid was not at the forefront of my thinking!
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Last night was grilled ribeye and microwaved potato.
I have now painted out the wall paper in the kitchen and dining area. Not a lot of surface but quite a bit of work. Saturday I applied oil based primer. Yesterday the color coat, a Benjamin Moore water based paint, a traditional blue that will contrast nicely with the white quartz countertops. Today I will use a brush to do touch up. Now we hold our breath and hope the wallpaper stays stuck to the wall.
The countertops installation has not gone well. Wednesday a different installer is supposed to bring the second set of countertops and install them the correct height and with better seams. DH has handled the problem.
Now we're shopping for decorative tiles to do a backsplash behind the stove.
I hope this downward trend of COVID cases continues.
Glad the Texas folks are getting back to normal. I read that this cold weather will result in more expense that the most expensive hurricane to hit the state. Also the Texas people were surprised to learn that the executives in control of the power grid do not live in Texas.
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Carole - good luck with the countertops on Wednesday. I too have to pick some backsplash tile, or something???
Dinner was 4 pieces of French Toast made with sourdough bread. Really - I rarely eat even 2 slices of bread in an entire week, but I covered it with syrup and it was delicious.
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We had those Ethiopian leftovers (lamb & chicken cubes, beef strips, spinach, red lentils) for brunch yesterday--I gave Bob the leftover injera; I used a fork, and had leftover mesclun salad on the side. Dinner was a seared grass-fed filet mignon and brown rice biryani for Bob; we both had canned lobster bisque and palak paneer (Indian spiced spinach with cheese), and instead of the brown rice I had riced cauliflower with sea salt & olive oil.
Today for brunch was a double-yolk olive-oil fried egg over avocado low-carb toast (with chopped shallot, tomato & cilantro). Dinner tonight (just me--Bob's working late) was a grass-fed cheddar cheeseburger (no bun) with grilled sweet onion & tomato; plus some more cauliflower "rice" with black truffle salt & white truffle oil.
Our fave restaurant, Cellars, is reopening for takeout, delivery & limited indoor dining on March 4!
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I made a quick run to Costco today to return some items and while there I picked up a meat loaf with mashed potatoes for dinner. Peas were the added veg. Meatloaf sandwfor lunch tomorrow
Our backsplash tilers are due in tomorrow morning. I hope it goes better than your countertops Carole. I’m ready for this project to be completed.
We finally got scheduled for vaccines locally on Saturday. Another project I’m ready to be completed. We had appointments for Thursday in our old area but it’s 90 miles from us and the new appointments are 8 miles. Worth the two extra days wait. .
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Wed. is my second Moderna shot, at the same Walgreen's out in Norridge as my first. On the way home (sort of, if I don't take the expressway) is a Polish bakery that does paczki all year round. One more till next Mardi Gras won't kill me. OTOH, I have no desire to hit the Kosher bakeries in search of yeast-raised hamantashen like I did pre-keto. (And the little cookie-dough ones that all the supermarkets around here carry don't float my boat--just not "carb-worthy").
Speaking of Mardi Gras, still have the tricolor beads hanging on my front door--too lazy to go digging around for the spring-themed banner.
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minus - I made French toast for DH on Sunday from thick sliced brioche, topped it with syrup, strawberries and whipped cream! Super naughty! French toast is a fave of his, as are Belgian waffles. Sometimes you just have to go for it - not to mention you, and your fellow Texans, have been dealing with adversity! French Toast reward!
I sympathize with the wait for kitchen stuff! My new cooktop was installed yesterday - it is so beautiful I am now afraid to cook on it, lol! I did boil water for pasta last night and it was hella fast! Still waiting on the oven/micro and fridge. I need to have a plumber come and run a new water line to the current kitchen fridge that will be in the garage. I am hoping it will be easy as the water source for the washer is right on the other side of the wall from where this fridge is going. Just had an estimate on replacing the massive slider in the family room and the glass regular swinging door that is adjacent in the kitchen, as well as converting the current bedroom slider into an inward opening French door. Eight weeks on the big slider, 12 weeks on the other two. Bleh.
chisandy - yay for Cellars!
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After my ocular onc appt. (all good!) at UIC, we went to Greek Islands for late lunch/early dinner. Started with flaming saganaki (the waiter's accompanying shout of "opaa!" is Greek for "holy crap, this is HOT!"); then tomato salad and grilled octopus. Main course was a grilled Mediterranean sea bass and dandelion greens. No dessert. Later this evening, grilled cheddar & tomato on keto bread.
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I just learned today that there are paczki...and then there are paczki. To celebrate my good eye scan results yesterday, and my second Moderna shot this morning, I stopped off en route home at a Jefferson Park Polish bakery that makes them all year long. They had the traditional chocolate-frosted custard, plum jam, lemon curd & raspberry varieties, but I wanted to take it to the next level (and Bob requested a boozy one or two--the only place around that does that). They ran out of my first choice--salted caramel--in half an hour. But I got one each passionfruit jam, rose petal jelly, vodka custard (vodka in the dough & custard) and chocolate-drizzled Jameson's whiskey custard. Just had the passionfruit: O to the M to the G!
So what's the difference between real Polish paczki and the kind made in German or American bakeries? The latter ones resemble jelly-or-custard doughnuts from Krispy Kreme or Drunken Donuts, only supersized: the dough sort of collapses when you bite into it and the filling often squirts. The real thing is more resilient but with a tender crumb, and the filling stays put till you reach it. The outside--especially the bottom--has a nice crunch to it, with an almost savory hint. (I suspect they use leaf lard or liquid oil rather than vegetable shortening). It's gonna take major league discipline not to eat the rose petal one today. (One no-no carb a day, if even that, till they're gone).
Also got a couple slices of ham & cheese quiche--their crust is very thin. If we don't have enough leftover sea bass and tuna poke for dinner tonight for the two of us, I'll give Bob the lion's share of the fish (unless he didn't have meat for lunch) and I'll have quiche & veggies. (Jews don't "do" Lent; I like to kid Bob that what he really gives up for Lent is Mass--but for the second year in a row, pretty much all Catholics in the Chicago area have had to do that all year long).
I might just for spits & giggles see who's doing yeast-raised hamantashen this week, but don't feel like driving out to the Kosher bakeries in West Ridge, standing in line, and wrecking my diet for something I'm not really craving. (I like only the poppy-seed-jam "mohn" ones anyway).
BTW, yesterday we jumped the gun by a week on "Greektown Restaurant Week." (March 1-7). Turns out that Artopolis, which I thought (from the name) was an art gallery, is a very-much-open restaurant & bakery. 7 restaurants are participating. So maybe on one of Bob's Union Health days, I'll pick him up for lunch and we'll try one of them.
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Sandy, if I ever find a Polish bakery, I know what I’ll be getting. Don’t know how you resisted the plum jam though. Yum!
Lamb and white beans tonight with a salad dressed with champagne vinegar, shallot and walnut oil dressing, this from a bottle from Stonewall Kitchen. I was given this one and a couple of others as Christmas gifts. For some reason lamb shanks are impossible to find around here except at Global Foods, the international supermarket, although all the other parts of the lamb are available at all of the stores near me. I got some lamb shoulder, which I’ve never used before so we’ll see.
The backsplash is in and looks great! The guy did a really good job. The only downside was having to listen to hiphop music from his radio for Six.Hours.Straight. My ears were bleeding by the time he left. I suppose Ishould be thankful it wasn’t rap or heavy metal. Anyway, will try to post some before and after pics (the kitchen not my ears) tomorrow.
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Nance - looking forward to the pictures.
DInner was a giant salad starting with Dole Sunflower Crunch mix w/bacon and adding tomatoes, mushrooms & cucumbers. Served with sourdough slices in the toaster & lots of butter.
Eric - hope you are OK - and Sharon & DD.
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Around here, Costco carries frozen cooked lamb shanks in sauce.
Bob didn't want the boozy paczki tonight, because he had a huge early dinner full of carbs (mac & cheese, fries). So he'll take them in to Union Health tomorrow & share them with his Polish nurse & echo tech. I made fish tacos out of the Greek leftovers and 2gm-net-carb whole wheat tortillas. As for the "plum jam," it's actually prune puree (which I've had in kolačky, Danish & hamantashen...meh). Not sure how much I'll like the "rose petal jelly," but if it tastes anything like rosewater-soaked Middle Eastern sweets, yum. (If it tastes like Choward's Violet candies, then not so much). I felt if I was going to indulge in paczki a week late, I might as well go for exotic. No danger of my repeating this during the year, because I have no reason to go out to the Jefferson Park 'hood (unless I have to go back to Walgreen's in Norridge to get the Moderna S. African-variant booster if & when it's available).
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All is well here. I gleaned about 750 pounds of oranges from the tree, juiced them and put the juice in the freezer. Also the plant nursery got some more gold spot euonymus plants, so I'm back to planting those. Two, maybe 3 more to go and I'm done with all that. These make some very nice hedges.
Today I "relaxed", sort of.
Test daughter's husband has been working 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week (that time of year) and his truck needed a new clutch, so her dad and I went over and took care of that. We worked about 3 hours today and it's about two thirds finished. We'll be back over there on Friday to finish up.
And, then I got to play a joke on MIL. MIL called and asked if I could come over to her house to take care of a stopped up toilet, so Sharon and I arrived wearing this... :-)
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eric - LOL!!!
Dinner last night was a burger with Vermont cheddar and some red potato salad with dill/sour/cream/mayo dressing for DH and nothing for me due to an iffy tummy. Feeling better today, but beginning to suspect tomatoes and tomato things like marinara and salsa are causing trouble for me as I connect the dots between what I am eating and how I am feeling. If so, I will be sad because I love all things tomato. Dinner tonight is looking like either pasta primavera, or penne in an Alfredo Cajun sauce with smoked sausage and broccoli, probably with a green salad.
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Well, Eric, now that Daft Punk have hung up their helmets, you & Sharon have apparently picked up the baton...
Brunch was a 2 egg/3 yolk (one egg was a double-yolker) omelet with sausage crumbles, cheddar and a cupful of assorted chopped peppers, 'shrooms & onions. I'm tempted to cut into the remaining paczki (rose petal jelly), except that omelet was just too filling. Feeling mildly crummy anyway, as the reaction from yesterday's second Moderna shot is setting in. Not really feverish (hovering in the upper 98s, which is high for me) but have a sort of gnawing headache--could be stress of trying to get a new primary care doc now that my new one--whom I'd seen exactly once after a four-month wait for an appointment--suddenly left not only her practice but her health system, w/o any notice. Tricky trying to send anything in my patient portal because there's no "assign me a new Care Team member" option. Only option is to choose one and then spend forever on the phone trying to reach them. I have an army of specialists, but no family doc, except for a nurse practitioner at a different system.
(Or maybe I'm just undercaffeinated).
Dinner tonight will be quiche & salad.
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Eric - 750 pounds? That's not really a misprint? Oh my. I sure hope you have an electric juicer. I'm sad that I only have 2 Meyer lemons left in the fridge. I'm sure my neighbor's tree was trashed at 15 degree for 8 hours.
I had a Zoom meeting with our divisional Police Dept tonight so dinner was something fast. Turned out to be quite good for my one on hand emergency frozen meal. Trader Joe's Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl. I'll buy it again. The police meeting was a presentation about auto theft. Very informative.
Oh Special, I sure hope you're wrong. Yes, it would be really difficult to be allergic to tomatoes & their wonderful products
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Dinner tonight, thanks to Eric, was our version of lasagna soup and the recipe is a keeper.
Oh, Special, the meals at our house would be changed dramatically without tomatoes! Hope you aren't having to give them up!
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Special, could the culprit be the seeds in the tomatoes getting caught in intestinal diverticuli? Just a thought, since the first time Bob's colonoscopy revealed diverticular disease, he was told to remove the seeds from tomatoes before eating them.
The rose petal jelly in the paczki was delicious--sort of like a cross between strawberry jam and almond paste (tastes much better than it sounds--though it looks like prune). I had half of one this afternoon and will have the other half tomorrow. Bob reports that the boozy ones were insufficiently boozy (he was expecting something like Ethel M's candies) but nonetheless too delicious to share.
Finally was able to rustle up a new primary care doc, part of the group my short-term one left. Very young--finished his training in 2015, but is board certified in family medicine and has good reviews from Gen-X & Boomer patients. The other two family practitioners were even younger--one's a DO and the other newly minted. Downside is that my records can't be transferred (not even w/in the same practice) and I can't send him a patient portal message until he sees me...earliest I could get is 3/9. In the meantime, if I have a non-specialty question or concern I either have to call the practice and hang on the phone forever, or have one of my specialists pass him a note. (His picture shows up in my Care Team, but his name doesn't appear yet in the drop down menu for "message your doctor's care team." Kind of ironic: I have three oncologists--six if you count the breast cancer surgeon, and the radiation oncs at Kellogg (breast) and UIC (who designed & built my brachytherapy plaque); a GYN, GI, vocal & ear ENTs and retinologist. An embarrassment of riches--but temporarily, no primary.
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Dinner tonight was Subway takeout. I did make some more sourdough tonight and I took a loaf over to the grocery store manager. She is one of those "all around wonderful" people and I thought it would be a nice thing to do.
Beav, I'm glad the recipe idea worked. Sharon found it "somewhere" and made it. I then decided to make another batch and freeze it for those nights when we get home late from hiking and don't feel like cooking. I agree with you on lack of tomatoes for cooking. I don't know what I'd do without them!
So, Special, I hope it's not tomatoes!
Seven hundred and fifty pounds.....I've got a Hamilton Beach commercial electric juicer. I put the juice into half gallon (2 liter) mason jars and freeze it. There's enough juice to keep us, DD and MIL supplied for a year. :-)
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Last night's dinner was chicken marsala with mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Really tasty. I had forgotten about chicken marsala. And I love mashed potatoes. I used up a few potatoes that needed to be cooked. I use a hand masher, add a few pats of butter, a splash of dh's fat free half and half, s & p. Easy and good. The chicken recipe is Emeril's and he includes the recipe for his seasoning mix that he sells.
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I am wondering if it is nightshades in general that are causing me problems - I often eat peppers and tomatoes together, especially in Horiatiki salad, so I need to experiment by separating them. I am not a lover of eggplant, so am ok with not having it. Don't eat a lot of spicy chilies, and can live without white potatoes. This seems to be related to both raw and cooked tomato things, grrrrr. I will be pretty sad if I can't eat peppers and tomatoes anymore! I too will be hard pressed to find things to cook without them!
chisandy - I don't like tomato seeds, so have always removed them, so it is not that. They have always weirded me out - no idea why, lol! Have not had a problem with diverticulitis/osis issues, but DH does. Little seeds are his nemesis, flax particularly. I feel your pain on the primary care - almost all my medical care is specialty. I am seen in Family Practice on a military base, when needed. For the last year the base clinic has been almost 100% devoted to COVID testing, and their patients were just farmed out to local urgent care. They are back to telemedicine and limited appointments now, but I am glad they only periodically manage my referrals to specialty care and I really don't need them for any ongoing routine care. I usually have active duty docs who rotate out to the next assignment before I have even met them. It is a bummer when you get a good one and they leave, but conversely if you get one that is not great, they will soon be on their way.
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Oh Special, I really hope tomatoes are not the culprit, life would not be worth living for me.
Speaking of tomatoes, chicken cacciatore tonight with salad and garlic bread. And of course a small side of pasta.
Here’s a pic of the kitchen. Nothing fancy and pretty small but I’m getting used to it. The floor is awful and more glaringly so now, and is destined to be replaced after a couple of other projects.
First shot today - Pfizer. So far so good!
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We certainly are tomato fans on this thread, right? My two fave cuisines are Italian and Mexican, so tomatoes are a must. Hopefully I was just in a digestive slump and can continue to enjoy tomatoes in every form. I have found that probiotics make a huge difference for me, so I’m hoping that will hold me steady.
auntie - kitchen is looking good! What is the plan for the floor? We put vinyl plank in the office of the downtown house and it is super easy and fast to lay down and durable and waterproof. I really like it and it comes in such a variety of colors. We chose a blonde oak look with a bit of gray in it.
I put some Traeger rub with extra garlic and brown sugar on a Boston butt and put it in a 250F oven mid-morning. Let it go all day until it was super tender. Had delicious pulled pork sandwiches for dinner with vinegar based NC style sauce and slaw on the sandwich, and some corn on the cob. I had pulled pork for the first time in Salisbury, NC in 1984 and that is the kind of sauce they used - I had never made it myself but it’s super easy. Just combined apple cider vinegar, some brown sugar, just a little ketchup, a little Frank’s hot sauce, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. So good!
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Definitely vinyl plank in a lighter gray color Special. Really hope the probiotics work for you.
Love Carolina bbq. I’m a fan of the vinegary sauces and dry barbecue.
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Special, I also hope it isn’t tomatoes!
Nance, love the kitchen! So light and crisp looking...and at least you have two opposite counters for two people to use if need be. That is gold!
I got my second Pfizer shot yesterday and am giddy with glee that I only have a sore arm, which is actually even abating already. What a relief! I now think the nurse from the last shot may have struck “something” that caused the inordinate painful arm paralysis for a few days. DH got his today and he seems fine so far. I feel privileged and relieved. Had my yearly onc appt this week and learned from her that she was surprised to see me on the DF list of invitees to be vaccinated since they were supposedly not including patients in remission. But she said they obviously received more vaccine and expanded the list. Made me feel like less of an imposter! In any event, I am vaccinated and thankful. I think the J+J vaccine roll out will really help the distribution of shots as we go forward now.
We had pizza from one of our fave local mom and pop delis tonight, and my typical salad. This place makes an Italian style pizza which is really good and brings us back to our NY and Philly roots. It was good.
After dinner we watched/listened to a Zoom a cappella concert from the local HS and some colleges, which was delightful. And now we are about to enjoy a Zoom Moth session coming from California. Now sure why DH thought it was a good idea to watch a 10:30 performance. Hope the stories are captivating!
This has been our weekend to enjoy and participate in Zoom performing arts. DH acted in Our Town last night, and I am in it next Friday and the following one. The director has arranged for each Friday night to feature one act. It went well last night. Hope for the same next week!
Minus and the rest of our Southwest crew... I hope things are getting close to beingback to “normal” for you now.
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I like the kitchen.
I think I’m probably the only one here who doesn’t do tomatoes but I do like salsa, marinara and salsa.
Just a salad for me tonight, not very motivated this weekend. All is normal for me here though, I’m back to flip flops and tank tops
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Thanks for the picture Nance. I'm trying to decide what to do about a backsplash.
Mae - Yup - I was in flip flops & shorts today too. From 12 degrees to 82 degrees in a week. Weird.
I decided I should start eating some of the meals I've been freezing. I will NEVER learn to cook for one, so I have a lot of good choices. Tonight was my previously frozen vegetarian "shepherd's pie" with lentils instead of meat. Delicious.
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auntie - the vinegar based sauce is so easy to make because it is really just pantry staples plus a little standing time to bring out the flavors. Don't know why I didn't make it sooner! I think you will really like the vinyl plank and the grayish tones are plentiful so you should have a number of them to pick from. When we did the office, which is a relatively large room - it was a carport in a previous life - I found more than enough flooring at Lowe's available for immediate installation at Lowe's.
It is HOT here today - shorts and flops for sure!
minus - I never cook for one either even when I am the only one here. I regard it as an opportunity to cook once and eat multiple times. I did it this morning, cooked a package of hot Italian turkey sausage and made a bunch of breakfast burritos with scrambled egg, cheddar, salsa, and home fries for DH and DD for the coming week. Put aside half of the sausage for flatbread pizza later in the week.
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