So...whats for dinner?
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Sandy, the closest Costco and Sam's Club are in Fargo, a drive of 1 1/2 hours or more because of current road work. We are not Costco members but may become members when the first Costco in our area in Louisiana is completed. It's under construction and is about a mile from Sam's Club.
I made the eggplant lasagna yesterday. We'll have it tonight, heated on the outdoor grill in oven mode. Last night was a pork steak, cooked perfectly on the grill. Sides were boiled new potatoes and cucumber salad.
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Carole, it sounds like we are in the same Costco/Sam's Club "situation". It's about 2 hours drive for us to get to one. However, we do keep the membership up for Costco...for when we go to Phoenix and the 2nd card is used by our daughter in Michigan.
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Hugs for your furboy. You might want to ask the vet about a transdermal appetite stimulant gel called Mirataz (you apply it to the "pinna"—upper inner surface—of the ear). It made Happy ravenous during his final week, though he still couldn't hold food down or in. Not giving it to Heidi, as she's not "inappetant," just has a dainty and maddeningly picky appetite. (She eats enough kibble overnight, along with her copious drinking, to satisfy her caloric needs despite only nibbling a teaspoon or two of wet food every few hours; I watch her and it seems her tongue and mouth push the food away till she can't see it on the plate. She has lost a few teeth over the years by now).
The ants seem to be responding to the pet-safe spray, knock wood.
I dropped the ball on tonight's Hooked on Fish order: clicked on "1 lb" for Arctic Char but forgot to click "Add." So I brought home only lox, Spanish anchovies and frozen crawfish mac & cheese. Took some ono/wahoo out of the fridge, but it turns out to be a steak, which is my least favorite cut of fish to cook. Too similar to swordfish, which I hate but Bob likes. I dunno—if the rain holds off for awhile I might defrost and grill it. We have three rib tips left from last night. Bob had a large lunch at Pompeii today; all I had was his leftover Georgian cornbread cake in the morning before leaving for my ocular-onc appt. & scans (all good, whew) and an unsweetened oatmilk breve cappuccino around 5 pm. We're arse-deep in homegrown tomatoes—they've all seemed to ripen at the same time, and I'm getting tired of Caprese salads. Bob doesn't want to get off the deck, otherwise we'd look to go out. Personally, it's not the cooking that's tiring me out—it's the cleanup. We can afford to have restaurants do that for us, especially since we still are in physical shape to enjoy it.
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I would gladly accept some of those home grown tomatoes, Sandy, if I were your neighbor. Here in northern MN, the tomatoes are just starting to appear at the Farmers Market with jewelry store prices. I love tomatoes and we will be buying them, whatever the price. I'm looking forward to our first BLT of the summer with tomatoes that taste like tomatoes.
The eggplant lasagna was delicious last night. The sauce was a little sweeter than Rao's. We had wonderful salads made with freshly picked lettuce in Mary's garden. She had some empty space and I bought a couple of packets of lettuce seeds. I slice off the lettuce with scissors and it continues to grow. The gift that keeps on giving.
We plan to go out to dinner tonight at Blueberry GC restaurant with Dorothy and Carl, who are a few years older and live on Long Lake during the summer on a wonderful property that Carl inherited. They are both from Chicago and have a lot in common with dh, who grew up in a Chicago suburb. First we will go to their home for a cocktail to celebrate our 54th anniversary. We haven't been to this restaurant since the building burned down and was rebuilt, but Dorothy has heard good reports on the food. We met this couple through golf.
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I'm thawing Italian sausage and will cut it up as "meatballs" with spaghetti; maybe toss in some broccoli to the pasta sauce.
Vet tomorrow to do the ugly deed. Sigh.
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Hugs, Wallycat….and soothing pets to kitty……
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Thank you very much, Eric.
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Oh Wally, I’m so sorry. Hugs to you and your kitty.
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Wally, hugs for you & your dear kitty. By adopting him and taking him off the street, you gave him ALL nine lives.
Dinner was a Caprese and some thin sliced wholegrain sourdough (delayed, due to temporarily losing my appetite as the sirens went off and we hunkered in the basement till the tornado warning expired). Dessert was a half-square of Alter Eco 90% dark chocolate (ATK's Jack Bishop's fave), which tasted better than I thought it would. Bob had a massive lunch at a steakhouse down in the SW suburbs between hospital rounds and visiting a sick and increasingly disabled colleague; so he didn't want dinner, just took some chips & queso.
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Wally - you're in my thoughts.
Carole - happy anniversary. I loved the original wedding meal that you posted on another thread.
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Thank you all.
We are having leftovers (pasta sausage stuff). Tomorrow is our 30th anniversary and we may do a fancy takeout pizza or who knows yet….
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Happy anniversary Carole and Wally.
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Thanks for the anniversary happy wishes.
The take out broasted chicken last night was pricey but very tasty. The side was a box mac and cheese that wasn't the best. It didn't match the picture on the box.
I'm seeing evidence that we have a mouse intruder in the camper.
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I was working at a 2-way radio site and found the "resident mouse catcher" in the act of eating a mouse.
I opened the door on a radio cabinet and there was a rattlesnake laying on a warm spot in the cabinet. A mouse tail was hanging out of its mouth.
Somehow, I don't think that would work well in your trailer. :-)
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We are doing a take-out duck thai curry to celebrate.
Emptied the house of all scratch posts, cat towers, etc. Loaded up all the food (OY, nearly $500 worth of cat food) and odd/end toys and we'll drop it all off at the humane society tomorrow. I obviously had hopes he'd make a turn-around, but it is not to be.YIKES, on a rattlesnake!
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Eeeuw, Eric! At first, when I read "mouse catcher," I thought you meant "cat." If I saw a rattler, you'd have to peel me off the ceiling.
(((Wally))). Know that you gave him a great, long loving life. I still haven't brought myself to donate what remains of Happy's food, meds & toys. (Heidi is uninterested in any of it). We'll probably bring it all to Felines & Canines up the street. Offered the "super-senior" (Purina One 11+ chicken/beef pate) to our BFFs, who are in a financial bind and have one remaining kitty of indeterminate age (last year, foster home said 4, vet thinks more like at least 12). But they forgot to take it home July 4.
Last night Bob wanted something simple, so en route home from my MRI & X-ray I stopped at Trader Joe's. Got their sous-vide boneless/skinless chicken thighs, which I nuked and paired with steamed green beans and sauteed crimini mushrooms (butter, shallot, parsley, sea salt & Madeira). He had the last of the crawfish mac & cheese.
Brunch today, per Bastille Day, was French toast: Trader Joe's keto bread (the best of its kind I've tried so far), an egg, FairLife milk, cinnamon, a grating of nutmeg, salt, pepper, vanilla and King Arthur "Fior di Sicilia" (the extract used in panettone and cannoli filling); topped with Lakanto maple-flavored keto syrup (the best by far of the "pancake syrups," diet or regular. Almost tastes like real maple, with a similarly-thick viscosity.
Bob got home around 6:30 tonight. Since it's Bastille Day, we wanted to go out for French food (alas, no such places in our neighborhood); the earliest we could snag Mon Ami Gabi (where we'd get or redeem Lettuce loyalty points) was 9:15, which would have been fine (he has tomorrow off), but for the fact that severe T-storms were predicted to roll in around 10. So we got a 7:30 at Cafe Touche, a bistro on the far NW side of town in the relatively affluent Edison Park neighborhood (whose residents are mostly first responders who must reside w/in technical city limits but choose to do so as far away as possible from those they "serve & protect;" Sauganash & Beverly are the other two such neighborhoods).
We split a salade Lyonnaise (they gave each of us a poached egg) with frisee & lardons; confit de canard (dark quarter of duck over red cabbage); and for our entree, bouillabaisse (mussels, Manila clams, calamari, scallop, grouper in a saffron-fennel broth). Portions of everything were huge. There was a lovely cheese plate we might have ordered for dessert, but we were absolutely stuffed to the gills. We didn't beat the rain home, but we did beat the storms (which sort of fizzled out before reaching here).
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Wally, I agree with Chi. Bringing a kitty home from the street or a shelter is a good thing and very much appreciated by them.
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If we ever adopt another kitty, we'd look for an older but not senior cat (and make provisions for its care "down the line" just in case). We might not outlive a kitten; and the circumstances leading us to adopt would be too fresh a wound to be willing to go through such loss again should we adopt another senior.
Tonight we didn't go anywhere. Bob brought back quiche & salad from Beard & Belly (where he had a chicken hand pie & salad) and then spent the morning & afternoon doing medical records, reading EKGs & echos, telehealth visits, and entering prescriptions. I was dealing with the usual weekend house stuff. So I threw together a tapas platter: four Spanish cheeses, Marcona almonds, olives, charcuterie (jamon Iberico, salami, coppa) and pan con tomate (toasted slices of last night's leftover baguette rubbed with a ripe tomato). Dessert was a fresh apricot.
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No more kitties for us; valid points on aging and emotional pain. That and any trips for treatments or travel require finding someone.
Leftover thai curry duck.
Hope to make a lamb with gigante beans for tomorrow with enough leftovers for Monday's long day into Seattle.
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On our arrival at the Farmers Market yesterday, our vendor neighbor in the site behind us, handed me a bag of green beans fresh from their little back yard garden. I cooked them with tiny potatoes, sadly not new potatoes, that we had in a basket on the counter. The side was a salad with more of the spring mix lettuce from Mary's garden. It was washed and stored in the refrigerator.
Call me mouse killer. I set a mouse trap Saturday night with bread and peanut butter mushed together. I made sure yesterday morning that dh got up first. Last night I set a peanut on the counter to make sure the mouse didn't have a companion. The peanut was untouched this morning. Obviously there's a mouse route to the inside of the 5th wheel so we'll have to be on the lookout.
I empathize with dealing with the passing of elderly cats. We had two males, brothers, who were flea infested when we adopted them as kittens. DH named them Pat and Mike. One was white with black spots. The other was a yellow tiger cat. They both grew to be very large and were always the best of buddies. They died about six months apart when they were 13 or 14 years old. We entered a stage of life with a lot of rv travel and chose not to be pet owners. Encountering other rv travelers with pets, mostly dogs, definitely didn't change our minds.
We've been looking after the resort owners' three cats while the owners are on a trip. We never see the cats because they hide when we enter to add food to their bowls and water to their individual water bowls and remove the feces from two litter boxes. Ghost cats. I don't know what made them so leery of people.
Dinner tonight to be decided.
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Hi all - we have been eating, but I have not been cooking a lot in the last few days. I had two skin cancers removed from my right shoulder on Thurs afternoon, and this is my dominant arm, so haven't really been able to use it much. I did make spaghetti last night with jarred marinara (augmented with onion and ground beef) for DH, I just did parm and pepper for my pasta. Also made him a wedge with dressing and gorgonzola, and some frozen garlic knots. He worked all day on the house so was hungry after a cool-down swim in our pool. I have mostly been staying quiet, but did some one-handed laundry, and emptied the dishwasher yesterday. I think I will be ok with painting trim tomorrow - small brush strokes and I can sit on the floor, lol! These incisions are about 3-4 inches across - bigger than I thought they might be, will get stitches out at the end of the month, and do the third location at that time. Interesting thing happened during the surgeries - both spots - I required more anesthetic multiple times. In separate questionings, once by the nurse and once by the doc, I was asked if I was a natural redhead. I have the skin type, but was a blond child, and my natural color is now definitely totally gray, lol! The reason for the question is that redheads have a genetic component that can cause them to metabolize anesthetic faster - so apparently, I have the soul of a redhead…
carole - DD did indeed appreciate having a nice house to be in, and we are happy that she had the opportunity to move over to her boyfriend's house and we could get this one on the market. That was the understanding between us - she needed to move out, and we needed to sell, before her dad retires at the end of the year. None of us could have known at the time of purchase how much real estate could appreciate in the time since the start of 2020 when we closed. The shortage of available inventory has driven prices up here - and they have stayed up. We should get our investment back, and then some, and have been working on getting the house ready to justify the asking price. Anyone looking at the listing, when it comes out, will be able to see what we paid just 3.5 years ago, and I know that can be off-putting to some buyers. Our blinds have arrived and the install is scheduled - that is the last project. We will be done right as the second shoulder surgery happens, and I am ready to be complete and get listed, but we also want to make sure everything is up to snuff. We have been on the other end of the pricing situation - when we bought the house we live now in the price had doubled in the five years from the time it was built. Being a military family for so long we have made money and lost money in pretty equal measure - real estate is not always a foolproof investment, I have discovered, lol!
If anyone wants to make that One Step choclate cake I linked a few pages ago I forgot to mention that the batter is super thick - like, you might think something is wrong or you forgot an ingredient. Not the case, it is just a heavy batter but that makes it super moist too. I have sliced that cake and pinwheeled (not a word?) on a platter for parties and it doesn't dry out.
wally - so sorry about your kitty, it is hard, right? I am still struggling with the loss of our sweet dog last Feb., it hasn't seemed to have gotten any easier, but it will.
eric - eeks on your resident mouse catcher! We have a wide variety of snakes here, which somehow always shocks me when I see one even though I know they are around!
Dinner tonight is already in a low oven - stew beef with a package of Lipton onion soup sprinkled on, followed by a can of cream of mushroom smeared on top, followed by a layer of thinly sliced onions. Old recipe of my mom's, definitely comfort food. If I have fresh mushrooms I usually slice those and add them too, but I don't currently have any. I will do some frozen mashed red potatoes and steamed green beans as sides. For some reason I had a really large package of stew beef in the freezer - I had gotten it at the warehouse club and froze it without first dividing it - so DH will have lots of lunch leftovers. Or maybe not, if DD and beau come for dinner tonight, I am not sure of the plan at the moment, but I am ready for any contingency!
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Well for some reason I’m no longer getting notifications of postings on this thread. Good grief. I thought it was unusually quiet.
Belated happy anniversary wishes to Carole and Wally!Broasted chicken is my favorite and supposedly better for you since it requires much less oil during the pressure frying. (Can’t imagine something that tastes that good could be good for you lol. ). Regardless, I plan to have it for my birthday dinner next week.
Yike on the mouse catcher Eric! I’ve seen lots of snakes, including copperheads, but only one rattlesnake. It was crossing a nature trail I was on in Texas and it was the biggest snake I’ve ever seen. Scared the bejeesus out of me.
I don’t know about the pet loss sadness getting better. My dogs died a week apart 12 years ago and I’m still brought to tears thinking about them.
Tonight was Buffalo wings, corn off the cob and sliced produce stand tomatoes. Of course we also had the obligatory celery sticks with blue cheese dressing.
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Dealing with Gordy & Leslie having caught COVID (again) during the second week of their PNW vacation. First week was with his BFF (who's also my godson and the best man at their wedding—the boys were born 8 days apart and classmates from 3rd grade through high school). But second week, in the San Juan Islands, was a villa shared with her parents, sister & BIL. Parents probably brought it with them from Houston—they felt ill on different days but recovered w/in a day or two (a true cold lasts 7-9 days). Her sister was suspicious, so tested upon her return to Anchorage—positive. Gordy started feeling feverish Fri. night and was sweating bullets by the time they got to Sea-Tac. He masked up through the airport, during the red-eye to O'Hare, and all the way home. Tested when he got in the door: positive. Leslie, though she's feeling fine and didn't test, also got a Paxovid script as a precaution. He's had asthma since age 4, and this awful air quality isn't helping matters. They did get grocery delivery…including 2 qts. of Whole Food's chicken-noodle soup.
Brunch was the remaining cheeses, jamon Iberico and olives from last night, plus an olive-oil-fried egg (keeping the Catalonian vibe going). Tonight we walked to Regalia, where we shared (2/3 for Bob, 1/3 for me) a Mediterranean salad, lobster ravioli with asparagus, and a veal chop Marsala (Bob had the Vesuvio potatoes). Proprietor sent over an amaro from Calabria as dessert.
Tomorrow I'll hit the farmers' market. Dinner will be rib tips from Soul & Smoke, plus sauteed zucchini & yellow squash and a Caprese with our ripening-too-fast tomatoes. Will also pick up peaches, strawberries, broccolini, tamales for Bob's Tues. lunch, a bag of medium-roast Anticonquista (Guatemala) coffee beans and a jar of kalamata olive tapenade from the olive-oil stand. Tuesday's Hooked on Fish order will be a half-lb. each of Alaskan halibut and swordfish (Bob requested the latter), plus some prosciutto from Iowa.
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Nance, I didn't realize broasted chicken is available elsewhere. We don't have it down south, as far as I'm aware.
We had stewed or "smothered" chicken legs last night, a method I learned from my mother. I cut the two large chicken legs into thighs and drum sticks, coated them in seasoned flour, browned in butter and olive oil. Poured out excess fat and added chicken broth. Simmered until very tender and a chicken gravy had thickened. Side was mashed potato salad. Definitely comfort food.
I'm mulling over how to use up the assorted leftovers in the refrigerator including the two chicken legs from last night. When we don't have enough of any one leftover for a meal, often the leftover ends up in the garbage after it has resided a while in the refrigerator.
SpecialK, good luck with the sale of the house. You and your dh have invested quite a bit of labor and have earned some profit.
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Carole, not sure what you have in the fridge, but the chicken legs you can always shred the meat and that opens up for tacos, chicken/rice/beans with melted cheese and salsa, chicken stir fry (add rice), if you have flour tortillas, you can use bbq sauce and cheddar and make a quick "buffalo" pizza, on and on…love leftovers.
We are having my leftover lamb and gigante beans if we are hungry enough when we get home from Seattle.
Sandy, hope your kids feel better soon. Swedish is still requiring masking. I may wear a mask on the bus; we think we'll park at Bainbridge terminal and do walk on to the ferry, bus to hospital. Then walk back to the ferry and drive home once we're back on bainbridge island. Hope we're not waiting too long for anything…doctors, tourists, construction, blah, blah.
Nance, happy early birthday!
Special, hope you make a killing on the house sale once it is put up.
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On the "eek" side of things. ET texted this morning and said she had to use a 6 iron (golf club) to get rid of a scorpion in the shower…but she didn't notice it until she was drying off.
I probably didn't help because I sent her a bunch of Far Side cartoons regarding scorpions. :-)
Chicken is one of the favorite things to use when cooking. Somewhere along the line on this thread I posted the onion-chicken-jasmine rise dish. For what it's worth, I still remember the trepidation I felt when cooking chicken for the first time around the end of December 1979…thought for sure if I didn't just about turn it into charcoal, I'd get sick. :-)
Special, I hope your house sale goes as smoothly as our two sales. Both were zero drama with no delays or detours.
I still fondly remember all the dogs and cats I've had in 62 years.
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Carole, broasted chicken is not readily available here either. I mostly find it in rural restaurants. This place even advertises it as fried. I only know it’s broasted because I asked about the preparation method. It may be that places don’t want to invest in the pressure frying equipment. Too bad.
Tonight was take out Singapore noodles and two mediocre egg rolls.
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I didn't sleep too well last night, with my throat scratchy from the "unhealthy" AQI; not to mention knowing I'd have to get up early for my MO appt. All the way up there & back, my nose & throat were going nuts with all the lawns being mowed. Had a good appt., though. Before I left home for the appt. I rapid-tested: negative. (The FDA's extended expiration date was 7/14, so I don't fully trust it). I realized that my frame of reference may be blurry, as I hadn't had a cold since early 2019 (so I can't tell the difference between its symptoms and COVID). I'd say allergy or air pollution, but my throat's gotten progressively scratchier even as the AQI dipped into the "Good" category. Feeling a bit chilled (and no fever), but that could be due in part to all the ice water I've been knocking back.
Brunch was avocado toast on a thin slice of wholegrain sourdough, with a couple chunks of leftover chicken thigh. (The toast piece was too small to be topped by a fried egg).
I went to the farmers' market, but my appetite began to wane as my throat got scratchier due to postnasal drip ramping up. The BBQ truck wasn't there, so I got Bob a couple of tamales; and from the bakery, a poppyseed croissant filled with spinach & goat cheese, a mini-quiche (tomato & feta), and a loaf of wholegrain sourdough. Struck out at the produce stands: no more strawberries, no shallots, no broccolini yet. So I got 3 peaches and a couple of cucumbers. Decided against a jar of Greek olive tapenade due to its likely high salt content. Did buy a pound of medium-roast coffee…roasted this past Friday. (I am getting spoiled in that regard).
Bob had a huge lunch so I opted not to drive to the BBQ joint to pick up rib tips. I was considering some wings and a Caprese, but I'm not that hungry—just insanely thirsty. Might make an omelet later. The only things that appeal right now are starchy…nope.
May re-test in the morning, with a different (and unexpired) brand. (Or, contrary to Bob's advice, go to NShore Immed. Care for a rapid PCR COVID/flu/RSV test). Already canceled tomorrow's dental appt., as even if it's just a cold I don't want to breathe it all over the hygienist.
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Ended up rooting around for food as we spent the better part of the day
driving or ferries for DH's Seattle appointment. Now we have to keep 4
feet apart for 3-4 days as he is radioactive. UGh. He forgets and feels
offended when I remind him. Sigh. Just glad that construction, tides and
tourists didn't make us late. The pharmacy doling out the limited
supply of Pluvicto had us delayed. Curse them. Seattle "only" got to 75
today and back home, it was a gorgeous 66 and small-craft warnings with a
nice, heavy ocean breeze. It is 62 in the house and I am in bliss. A
nice welcome home, minus our furry-baby.Tomorrow will be the leftover lamb and beans.
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Last night was Nathan's wieners cooked in Bush's Original baked beans and leftover mashed potato salad. Easy and heavy on carbs.
Chicken is my favorite meat. The dark meat, which we prefer, is cheaper than the white meat. Thighs are our favorite. You have to work hard to make them dry and tasteless. It's easy with breasts. LOL.
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