So...whats for dinner?
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Greetings all! Sorry to be AWOL for so long. We took a not exactly impromptu but sort of hastily decided on trip to Greensboro, North Carolina. DH's older sister has dementia and is in a residential care facility there. Her memory is deteriorating rapidly so the other four sibs and spouses decided to go see her for what is very possibly the last time. Four flew out and DH and I and the DBIL and DSIL with whom we are closest drove. Our niece (older sis's daughter) lives in High Point, NC so the trip naturally included visiting her and her family. It was a good, if bittersweet, trip and I'm glad we went. I don't think SIL recognized me at all but she at least did call each of the siblings by name at least once in the two days we visited.
Unfortunately, the food was unremarkable since with nine people with different tastes and dietary needs we ended up in mostly chain restaurants. I didn't even get to eat barbecue in North Carolina just because it was logistically impossible. I did get it in Kentucky on the way home but that's a different barbecue philosophy altogether. Anyway, it was all fine and all about the family on this trip.
One thing we did do one morning was go to Replacements, Ltd. Don't know if you're familiar but, they have pieces of practically every china pattern ever made. There is a rather large showroom that has new and estate pieces and warehouses that measure eight football fields filled with people at computers who do nothing but enter china patterns and take orders from people trying to find some. Large tents are set up inside where they take pictures of each and every pattern that they stock. Over the years, I've bought several pieces from them. I had no idea what the operation really looked like. Of course, I've gotten rid of all of my "good" china but I still managed to find something to buy lol.
Meals here have been unremarkable as well, consisting mostly of grilled meats and lots of summer's bounty of fruits and veggies - tomatoes, corn, squash, peaches, melons, green beans, cucumbers, salad greens, etc. It's been wonderful and I'll miss it when it's gone.
Carole, I don't blame you dreading returning home. Missouri is striving to be the most backward state and suffering because of it. Ugly city council meetings over masks are common. People have lost their minds. I've resumed mask wearing when I'm out too. It makes me so angry.
Special - love your Toby! What a good boi!
Eric - When I was a young woman, I was a vegetarian for about 7 years. I found it to be a lot of trouble. Back then, there weren't a lot of options for non meat eaters ("vegan" wasn't even a word!) I could probably do it now pretty easily.
Sandy - I'm sorry to hear about Cellars. I know they must feel like family.
Illimae - wonderful pics as usual.
Dinner tonight is all local - corn, tomatoes, green beans and a grilled pork chop.
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Nance - Great to hear from you and about your family trip - even the the reason for the journey is sad. I too have ordered things from Replacements, Ltd in the distant past. It was interesting to hear about their operation - even if I too have gotten rid of the "good" china. ANd I agree about being a vegetarian since that's what i eat 95% of the time. But I could never go full-on vegan and give up my milk & butter & cheese & eggs.
Mae - cleaning out your fridge is much more interesting than cleaning out mine. Dinner was left over chicken & rotini with fresh asparagus - half sauteed & half steamed. I have to eat the last of the Hatch chili scones from the freezer tomorrow since I've ordered some fresh from the new crop to pick up Tuesday.
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Good to have you check in, Nance.
Last night was lamb burgers and pasta salad made with the leftover rotini pasta.
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Tonight was a new Cod recipe, which was easy and pretty good with seared sea scallops, Brussels sprouts and sautéed sliced zucchini.
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The very best of summer
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Mae - I have some cod I need to use. Would you be willing to share the recipe?
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Illimae, no wonder the leeks were stringy--most chefs don't use the green part except to puree into vichyssoise (or julienne and "frizzle" them in hot oil as a garnish). The cod looks yummy though, as do the scallops. Last week's Hooked on Fish order was sable (black cod) and dry-pack day boat scallops. Made it all over last week. Thurs. night was salmon at Cellars. Fri. night we ate at Remington's across from Millennium Park, where we saw an outdoor concert. Apps were lobster deviled eggs and oysters Rockefeller. Entree was crab Louis, a nod to our 7 years in Seattle (it'd have been more authentic with some bell pepper rings). I indulged a guilty pleasure Sat. night--grilled a hot dog and had it on a keto bun. Supplemented with tomatoes, basil and roasted okra. Sun. night, the leftover veggies from Cellars, plus 3 hot wings. Mon., peppers from the farmers' market and an insalata caprese.
Yesterday was our weekly Hooked on Fish order--barramundi and lox spread. Sauteed the fish in a little grapeseed oil, finished with butter, lemon juice, and a sprig each of tarragon & basil. Grilled broccolini. And a red-and-purple tomato-basil salad. Bob had brought home a big boiled shrimp platter from Costco. I'll remove the tails and whip up a remoulade sauce, and serve the whole thing over arugula & romaine. Will also roast the remaining okra (rinsed, dried, sliced, tossed in olive oil/cumin/salt/onion & garlic powders, half-sharp paprika) in the toaster oven. And more tomatoes & basil, of course. Dining on the deck--the only way to keep the kitty away from our food. (Speaking of al fresco, on Sun. morning I ate brunch indoors, as I was being visited by too many yellow jackets and a hornet trying to camp out on my water glass).
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Sandy, I didn’t know about the leeks but I understand why.
Linner was a seafood boil bucket with apps of stuffed jalapeños, boudin balls and a shrimp cocktail. DH and I split the bucket and we’re both very full but it was so good. This was in celebration of my name day, which in Hungarian tradition is like a birthday.
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Mae - happy name day. Celebration looks delicious. Thanks for the cod recipe. It's on deck for this weekend.
Linner was two ears of corn and half a pumpernickel bagel with some salmon spread I whipped up. I had to eat up the last of the marginal plain old Texas corn because Kroger finally has Olathe corn today. I hope they got a bunch in since I couldn't get there until tomorrow. I like to strip the ears & freeze a bunch for the rest of the year.
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Happy name day Mae.
Internet out here is very poor.
The campground host has an "ice cream social" each night and dinner the last few nights has been ice cream.
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Eric - are you still in Cortez? I'll bet the nights are lovely.
Today was north route 'errand' day - gas, post office, library, grocery store, Total Wine, Costco.... I was able to snag a few ears of Olathe, CO corn at Kroger - but they have very little this year and several stores are not being honest about the product. Texas corn is NOT Olathe Corn. Just tell us you couldn't get it - we're not stupid about the labor needed to hand pick & the truckers needed to transport. I got 10 ears and cut kernels off 8 for the freezer. I'll enjoy the other two even if it's not at it's peak of freshness.
Dinner was a Waygu beef patty and new potatoes.
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In Leadville, CO.
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Last night's dinner was pork roast cooked in the slow cooker outside and sweet potatoes baked in the grill in oven mode.
We've been promised rain today and cooler temperatures for the weekend. Fingers crossed.
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We are at a place called Willis Gulch and the internet is marginally better than where we were before. I don't have to hold the phone over my head and be in one spot in the campground to get a connection.
Tomorrow we will hike up to Hope Pass (Colorado) and help with the ultra (100 mile) marathon (Leadville 100) aid station up there.
Dinner tonight will probably vege burgers.
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Thanks for name day wishes 😁
Tonight was sautéed chicken in a garlic, onion, mushroom and wine sauce with spinach, Lima beans and a zucchini/squash medley.
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Pardon my ignorance, but what's a "name day?" It's not a tradition in my faith. Anyway, I hope yours was happy.
Here's what we had at Cellars' wine dinners Thurs. & last night:
I'm gonna lie back down--had a 100.8F fever this morning about 12-15 hrs. after yesterday's booster shot. 2 Tylenol knocked it back down to 98.6 w/in a couple of hours; but I'm still feeling a bit cranky (pollens are awful today, and it was >24 hrs. since my last hit of caffeine) after going out on the deck in the heat, squinting up & craning my neck to see the Blue Angels perform. Took a shot of espresso and some ice water. Also kind of upset that our DTV service is utterly useless, what with the company's satellites being erratic even when the skies are blue. Lost most of the stuff I'd recorded since Wed. night. (few things are as frustrating as going to the playlist, hitting "play" and immediately seeing the message "do you want to delete this recording?" Gave up and added HBO to our cable. DTV tech is coming Wed. to see if it's any of our equipment at fault (at this point, it's looking more like it's on their end, especially when I read the downdetector.com blogs). After that, I'm going to Billing and demanding a credit--for the past few months we've had outages more than we've had signal.
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Preparing stuff for the week. Made another 3 bean salad since my nephew & family kept the last one. Made a Ramen noodle crunchy slaw salad w/almonds & sunflower seeds. I added mandarin oranges & I hope that doesn't make it too sweet. Fixed some deviled eggs. Have a spinach/artichoke quiche ready to pop in the oven.
A couple of months ago I read about a Success Rice new product - boil-in-bag Quinoa. I haven't been able to find it in the stores but I did find NorQuin Golden Quinoa boil-in-bags w/Lemon Pepper seasoning. Looking forward to trying that.
My BFF is in town for several appointments & will spend the night. Belgium Waffles for breakfast. We're considering going out to Laurenzo's house of prime rib tonight to celebrate our joint B-day later this week. I called and the employees do wear masks - however they are letting customers make their own decisions. And this is Texas, so we'll see.
Edited to add - oh and one day I'll fix Cod with Mae's recipe.
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I Googled "name day," and realize why most of my people never heard of it: Judaism doesn't have "saints" per se (the term gets used in the Talmud to describe the ultra-righteous of the earth, but they don't perform miracles--Moses notwithstanding--nor do we pray to them). And in our traditiion (at least Ashkenazic), we don't name kids after either saints or people still living--rather, after beloved dead people (usually relatives). Illimae, congrats on having two celebrations: one, your birthday; the other in honor of the saint after which you were named.
I don't have an appetite today--even though I don't have a fever I ate & drank so much stuff I shouldn't have that it's coming back to bite me (at least, guilt-wise). Might make an egg later. If I feel well enough for brunch tomorrow, no alcohol--it can make side effects worse.
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Thanks Sandy! I don’t know if there’s a saint ilona but the tradition is still fun. I was actually named after a great aunt and share the name with a queen, a writer, vlad the impaler’s 2nd wife, an actress and a porn star, lol
The great aunt (in-law) was one of 3 sisters brought to the US by ship to New York and sponsored by my grandfather’s brother Bela (who was married to another sister around the time WW2 broke out. ilona was a popular name back then, not do much now but I like it that way.
Dinner tonight will be a basic stir fry.
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I have not been posting because I have been painting! I am really, really tired of painting and now realize why people downsize, lol! When we moved into this house it was five years old and except for the living room, which was baby poop gold-ish brown, everything was builder's beige. We had the living and dining room painted professionally because they both have very high ceilings - too scary on the ladder. They are now slightly darker shades of beige. The kitchen is latte colored and was just repainted with same on this latest project. We have an accent wall that runs the length of one side of the house and is shared by two rooms as there is an arched opening half way down the wall and it was a shade called fennel - a light sage type green. It is now sea salt - a Sherwin Williams color that is a cross between gray and pale aqua. It goes with the throw pillows and art that are with the new sectional and rug in that room. We painted the back room, aside from the accent wall, a light cool toned cream and hung 2" slat blinds in place of the drapery - three blinds across the openings since they are 100" across, and also painted some other small spaces that had that original color - the small hallway between the two guest rooms and guest bath, two walls of the primary bathroom, the butler's pantry. I have also painted several miles of baseboard, lol! I am over it. The great news is that my third and final new glass door arrived and now all I am waiting for is the install date - yay! I had some trim guys come and work up a quote for crown moulding in these newly painted rooms, but they haven't sent the estimate yet. The front half of the house has crown, back half doesn't - don't know why... They will also make me some crown topped wooden valances to replace the fabric ones I tore down that don't match any of the new furniture. Now if I could only get the new fridge I bought in January... latest word is November. Good thing I have a fridge that works, right?
Still playing my own version of "Chopped" as I have not really bought any groceries (too busy painting) other than a stop at the brand new Aldi for a few produce items and to use the Grand Opening coupon before it expired. I was underwhelmed and prob won't go back. I have some bulk spicy turkey sausage I need to cook - might put it on the cauliflower pizza crust with pesto, artichoke hearts and cheese.
illimae - Happy Late Name Day! I like your list of name sharing peeps - pretty eclectic!
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Well, I found out why, even though my temp had dropped below 98.6 and I'd been hydrating and (finally) caffeinating, I still had a nagging dull almost-headache: I hadn't eaten since 9:30 last night. So at 5 I had an egg and a piece of toast, and now feel normal again. Bummed, though, that the I ❤️ NYC concert in Central Park was suddenly cancelled midstream due to lightning & thunder (an outer band of Hurricane Henri).
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Last night's dinner was chili made with a variety of canned beans. Side was a salad with tomato, cucumber, avocado, blue cheese and kalamata olives. Very tasty. Leftovers for another meal or two.
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Special - I almost painted a bedroom "sea salt" but ended up with "trade winds" and the rest of the house is "beach house". I'll bet you're ready for a vacation. Glad the last door is 'in' but my goodness the wait for a fridge is crazy.
Mae - interesting about your ancestors. Thanks for sharing. Supposedly one of my ancestors was in the boat rowing George Washington across the Delaware.
Eric - many happy memories of Leadville. My ex-DH grew up in Salida (the end of the valley to the South) so we spent most summers wandering around the back roads & tops of the mountains - sleeping in the back or our 4 wheel drive truck.
Carole - your salad sounds great. I need to PU some blue cheese. I had leftover deviled eggs for breakfast & will have leftover salads for linner.
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minus, “beach house” sounds wonderful. Lots of family stories, one being that my grandfather was a count but occupation and invasions ended the monarchy and I’m told some were actively being sought out, which is one of the reasons they came to the US. I’ve seen photos of a family estate, not nearly as grand as the English ones but information is so hard to find to to lost or destroyed records and not speaking or reading Hungarian myself. The same grandfather was an engineer for RCA and had a repair shop in Manhattan until the mob burned it down for a 2nd time.The stories are fun though.
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At lunch-time I prepped tonight's dinner: rice balls (half in yuzu furikake; half in umeboshi), and a rice/tofu dish with a homemade Tamari/ume vinegar/fresh ginger dressing.
My kiddo loved it. (Hurrah!)
My husband thinks he's coming down with something and had OJ and multivitamins for dinner. (Boo!)
I decided I'd eaten enough of that at lunch while I made it, and that after the tornado scares today, I needed comfort food, and I made myself breakfast for dinner (a fried egg with onion and grilled bagel).
SpecialK, as someone living in a house she hasn't gotten to repaint/update since purchase, I'm so happy for you that you have gotten to paint your house!
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So it's the "eat tomatoes before they rot" phase of summer. We never had such a bumper crop (even with 6 plants in years past rather than the 5 we have now), and never had such a weird growing season. Nothing ripened till the second week of July, and we barely had many green ones till the end of June. But the fourth week of July saw sudden simultaneous ripening, and 2/3 of our potential crop has been harvested by now. We usually have a few ripening on the windowsill, after growing season has ended, into Oct. or even early Nov., but at this rate everything may be gone a week, maybe two, after Labor Day.
So my brunch was a quick & dirty "pizza" made of a slice of low-carb toast, half a Cherokee Purple, a bunch of basil and a slice of Provolone on top, nuked for 20 seconds. Dinner will be a "Caulipower" brand chicken/broccoli/pesto bowl, with the rest of the tomato (and maybe part of another ripe one) stirred in with extra basil. (Yesterday's brunch at Cellars was avocado toast--sourdough--with fried eggs and a cucumber salad; dinner was a nuked beef hot dog on a keto bun).
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I finally satisfied my desire for Clancy's broasted chicken. Last night we drove the mile to the restaurant and had dinner there. I had two pieces of dark meat chicken with baked potato and green salad. Everything was good. On a Monday night the restaurant wasn't busy so I might have been able to get take-out chicken. But it was pleasant to eat there with our neighbors Mary and Lyman and Mary's daughter, who was visiting them.
They're returning early to Florida and are packing up. Lyman's lung cancer has returned. The infusions he has been taking weren't doing the job. They have more confidence in the cancer center at Ocala than in his health care options here.
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ChiSandy, I, too, have tomatoes -- and also green peppers -- to eat before they rot. A minister friend whose church usually feeds 200 on the weekends only had 100 show up, so she had a ton of produce to give away.
Using those and recipes for Enraged Penne and Chicken-Soppy-Joe-Bake as jumping-off points, I'll be making a garlicky, spicy pasta, chicken, and cheese tomato sauce dish tonight. Hopefully I can wing it to deliciousness. But really, if the sound of it keeps my DH from heading to McDonalds or Five Guys yet again, I'll consider it a win!
What to do with all the green peppers, though? I have no idea. My kid hates the taste of peppers, and my husband won't eat them if he can see them unless there's a dip to smother them in.
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Saltmarsh: You can freeze the peppers. I have cut them in slices, placed them in freezer bags and later used them in Chicken Cacciatore, chili, etc.
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