So...whats for dinner?
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I have been lazy on cleaning…not my favorite thing to do. Feels like a necessary but thankless job.
Hey, ladies, I drink wine EVERY night. So there.
Carole, those chops sound incredible. Do you dislike all soy sauce? Have you tried tamari? There is also a white soy sauce which I have never tried, so I cannot comment on taste.
I made a braised goat neck in a red wine/balsamic reduction. Sweet potato and steamed cauliflower. Leftovers tonight.
The winds are howling here again; hope we don't lose power. That is the bad thing about living on the straits.
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books: Kathy Reich (the Bones series from the TV show she also helped create).
Sue Grafton, the murder by alphabet…I was so sad when I heard she died.
DH reads so fast it is mind numbing. I'm slow and cannot sit still for long periods…takes me forever, unless it is non-fiction. For some reason, I can whip through non-fiction.
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The horse purchase is in advance of the expected loss of the oldest horse at some point - her high school horse that found his way back into her life years later. He is mid-20's now and has Cushing's and anhidrosis. He is doing well though, at this point, but is prone to pop-up issues. She got horse #2 to keep him company and protect him from bullying when they were all boarded in a group situation, but she has discovered that he has pretty severe separation anxiety. So badly that if she takes him somewhere she has to also trailer horse #1, and the anhidrosis issue makes that a potential issue in the summer months here. So, horse #3 is to keep horse #2 company, both generally and for later when she expects horse #1 to cross the rainbow bridge. So far, as she has mixed them together horse #2 seems to be protecting horse #1 from horse #3 - the dynamics are very interesting. They are all geldings but horses 2 & 3 seem to be flirting. Horse #1 could not care less, which makes the whole acquisition of additional horses kind of amusing except for the expense. Horse #2 just needed eye surgery for a squamous carcinoma less than a year after she bought him. He has changed hands multiple times but she was able to trace him, and he is a papered horse. Horse #3 was pretty easy to trace because she has his papers and she spoke to his former owner (he was bought at auction from a third party) and got his full history since he was a single owner horse, so that was great.
maggie - DD's original horse was an eventer and dressage specialist - he is a beautiful and gentle guy, very lovey and totally bombproof. The two of them went through sheriff posse training here, so you can shoot a gun or land a helicopter next to him - he cares not. Unfortunately, DD is squeamish about vet stuff, even with her zookeeper experience. She takes horse #1 to get acupuncture for the anhidrosis and she has to sit down because she gets lightheaded. If the horse needed shots or stitching, guess who would be doing it? Lol! Where do you come to in FL in the winter?
I am glad I was with my BFF - she did need the help and told me numerous times she could not have weathered the storm without me. OF course, she could have, but I am glad it was easier with me there. One silver lining to the amount of surgery I have had is being able to speak to the doc and the nurses on the post-surg unit from an informed viewpoint. I stayed with her in the nursing unit other than to go home and sleep a few hours, and I am glad I did because they were often busy and not in the room while she had the PONV. She was flat on her back from the spinal repair patch for 36 hours, which is not an optimal position in which to vomit… I will say those little bags that look like a windsock are a genius invention though!
minus - I am not sure how DD is taking care of all these animals either, and she doesn't even have any kids! She does work full time and has an hour-long commute in each direction, but it sounds like your niece has a LOT on her plate!
carole - I too have lessened sense of taste and I can't attribute it either. I am B12 deficient and loss of taste can be a symptom of that. Might be worth a check. I have also wondered if my taste buds have just aged, because that is also a thing. I did 23&Me DNA testing quite a while ago and they are often adding new trait and medical stuff to my profile as they develop testing. I logged in recently and found that they have done some drug pathway stuff - like the metabolizer ones for Tamoxifen. One of my results is that Plavix will not be effective for me - which I thought was really valuable info.
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My younger sister, 65, likes quarter horses. I think she currently has nine. I always enjoy seeing the babies. Occasionally there are tragedies, a part of animal ownership. We saw the quarter horse races in New Mexico one year and that was a hoot. They're off! They're crossing the finish line! In fast succession.
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Special - my niece's horse #1 is also an elderly 20. She got him in high school, did dressage & then took him to college on a Polo scholarship. Recently she's taken up jumping competition with one of the younger horses. I am always impressed with the mounted patrols - officers & horses.
Interesting about the B-12 and taste. I am also low and just started supplements last month. As for aging taste buds, there are some things I crave occasionally but usually I don't care enough to bother eating regularly or much.
Thanks for the book recommends Wally. Like your DH, I am a very fast reader. If I decide NOT to clean house (because I am retired after all), I can easily read a book a day. BTW - I clean sinks & toilets regularly and tend to ignore the dust & vacuuming. Good-oh on the wine. The nights I don't drink a glass of wine, I drink gin (or bourbon in the winter). I'm going to start paying attention to the 5 oz pour that Carole mentioned.
Had my yearly onco visit today. She says everything looks good. I'm still "wearing" the Allergan 410 implants at 10 years. I haven't had any problems and the last breast ULS shows no signs of leaking. Sure don't want more surgery at my age.
Finished the last of the egg salad for lunch. Maybe a big salad for dinner? I did buy some chunky Litehouse Blue Cheese dressing again. Haven't had it for ages & recently read it was top rated for pre-made dressing. Or maybe I'll have the left over half of my patty melt from yesterday?
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Reader, That apple cider martini sounds delicious. I'll have to come up with a way to cook chicken in something similar.
Carole, Coconut aminos is a low sodium gluten free stand in for soy sauce that I had to use on a GI diet at some point and kept using for the slightly different flavor. It's strange how tastes can change. DH will sometimes stop eating a food he has always liked when he decides it no longer agrees with him.
Wally, I hope you don't get blown away. I like listening to the winds howl outside but always worry about tree limbs coming down.
Minus, Celebrate your uneventful onc visit with some good wine.
Special, We go to Wellington to watch the showjumping and dressage; DH competed in showjumping there in the 80's when we lived in AL. We also trailered to eventing competitions near Gainesville and at Rocking Horse Ranch in Altoona. His best eventer was a Hungarian horse, descended from the cavalry horses Gen. Patton brought back to Fort Riley after WWII. He would jump anything and had gorgeous gaits but was bombproof only on course. Looking back I'm amazed at how much could be fit into a day. Both of us worked full time, I coached a swim team, and our two kids swam competitivly but rode just for fun. The competitive swim and eventing seasons didn't overlap so I was available as chief groom. Horses get into your blood. DH grew up on a farm in Ireland. As a young child he rode the work horses in from the field (used longer there due to lasting fuel shortages from WWII) but his dad wouldn't get him a pony. He made up for that as an adult and roped me into riding, too.
Dinner tonight was Angus strip steak and sautéed asparagus.
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My reading tastes drift toward flawed heroes (eg Jesse Stone, Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, John Milton et al.) I read other fiction as well and am always looking for recommendations. Like Minus, I read a lot.
I spent a bit of time with horses when I was a kid. One of my best friend's dad raised quarter horses. We rode a lot then. Haven't been around a horse since then. I used to love horse racing until a horse injured a leg and had to be put down on the track right in front of us. I always knew it was a risk but the reality was pretty traumatic.
Tonight was Illimae's crockpot chicken legs (they were delicious) with buttered noodles and corn.
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Nance, I've had that experience at a racetrack, seeing a horse go down with a broken leg. That definitely destroys enjoyment of the sport. I do like being at the track, though. We were at Saratoga one year on opening day of the season.
Tonight's dinner will be pan seared catfish fillets and cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce.
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Had a can of clam chowder. We stopped for a burger for lunch after our costco shopping and still pretty full.
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DH rode his last horse (a talented but difficult Dutch warmblood) at a dressage show at the Saratoga racetrack. There were no races scheduled but horses were being exercised right next to the arenas. His horse did an uncalled for 360* turn during one test when a couple of thoroughbreds galloped by.
Dinner tonight was baked salmon with Carole's Dijon/honey glaze (very good) and sautéed squash.
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Dinner was crabcakes at Avery's Maryland Grill in Frederick, MD. :-)
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oh Eric, I am so jealous, I LOVE crab cakes
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Yum. Crabcakes.
Glad you like the honey/mustard glaze, Maggie. I've been adding the cold salmon to other foods for lunch.
Last night's dinner was delicious. I seared the catfish fillets to blackened and squeezed lemon juice on mine. The cheese sauce was modified by omitting the butter. A tablespoon of flour in a cup of 2 per cent milk, cooked until thickened, then addition of 3/4 cup of shredded Mexican combo cheese. Poured over steamed cauliflower and broccoli. The recipe called for 1 per cent milk and reduced fat cheese but I used what we normally have on hand. I seldom drink milk and dh likes the 2 per cent.
I'm thinking tonight will be a white chili with white beans, canned chilis, green enchilada sauce and chicken thighs. It was cool enough last night that we opened windows and put on extra cover. We didn't get up until almost 8 am.
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Scrambled eggs with refried beans, spinach, topped with salsa. Such comfort food!
I'm putting this out here for help with gifting because I am REALLY bad at it. DH and I don't really "do" xmas so here is the issue/situation:
We just learned that the nice dentist at the hospital has been seeing DH weekly for followups post surgery and not submitting it to medicare/medical. THe dental office is part of the hospital for the underserved, but since they are so connected to the whole of the hospital, if a doctor sends them there as referral, they don't check financial need. I guess to make a long story …well…long…I would love to do something for the whole of the office (maybe 10 people). I've done this for my eye doctor's office when I lived in WI and when I did it during the holidays, they had so much food/gifts/blah-blah, that it took away from their enjoyment (IMHO).So…what can I do for these folks to include everyone, not cost a small mortgage and not overload any other gifts/stuff they may or may not be getting from folks? Any thoughts are welcome.
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Eric, Yum on the crabcakes. Those along with steamed blue crabs and Old Bay flavored potato chips are what I miss most from living on the Eastern Shore.
Dinner tonight was creamy chicken with spinach and mushrooms.
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Although this is certainly not in the same category….Coscto has advertised mini crabcakes on sale next week. Anyone ever tried them? Not sure, but may be in the frozen section.
Dinner was tuna on a Hawaiian roll and 1/2 an avocado.
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Wally, You could provide baked goodies or snacks for the dental office but do it in the new year after the holidays. I’m sure they will appreciate your gratitude then and it won’t be competing with all the rest.
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Wally - a friend of mine went to Sams and found a Christmas tree shaped box with a dozen round ornaments, each filled with a different kind of hot chocolate. She's taking those to the local police station so everyone get something to take home. Otherwise agree with Maggie. Do something for President's day or Valentines Day.
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I like the idea of a New Year gift. Maybe fruit sculpture. A yummy lovely creation.
The white chili was/is very tasty. DH liked it, too. The green enchilada sauce is definitely a good ingredient. We used a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro. I'm looking forward to having a bowl for lunch.
Dinner menu???
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wally - I have taken cupcakes to the PS office, packaged in individual plastic cupcake boxes, but I think they have traditional cake boxes that hold one cupcake at craft stores like Michael's. Like these:
Polka Dot Cupcake Box with Handle - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading
I have also taken caramel corn in individual see through holiday bags to the MO's office, and I used the recipe below, but add smoked almonds.
Amazon.com : cellophane treat bags
Caramel Popcorn
5 qts. freshly popped popcorn, 1 1/2 c. smoked almonds (or nuts of choice - I would avoid peanuts for a large group), 1 c. butter, 2 c. brown sugar - packed, 1/2 c. dark corn syrup, 1/2 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. vanilla.
Place popcorn and almonds in a lightly greased roasting pan with high sides. Melt butter in a sauce pan (I use non-stick) stir in brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 mins., stirring often. Remove from heat and add baking soda, salt, and vanilla. The mixture will foam up. Pour over the popcorn/nut mixture and toss until you get the ingredients coated. Bake at 250 F. for 1 hour, stirring every fifteen minutes. After the hour remove the pan from the oven and turn the popcorn mixture out onto waxed paper to cool, breaking up any large clumps. If your baking soda is fresh, this is a foolproof recipe - I have made it many, many times.
Similar to the ornaments with hot cocoa, I have also made mason jars with a cocoa mix for DH's office as a holiday gift. You can make labels with the directions for how much to use with hot water or milk, or attach a tag with it written out and a cute ribbon. Here is the cocoa mix recipe. You can leave a margin at the top and add mini marshmallows. I like this gift because you can buy a case of 12 mason jars for under $12 from Walmart.
These are all good "winter" things rather than specifically holiday things that you could wait to do in the New Year. These ideas are all fairly inexpensive, which is a consideration when you are making lots of individual gifts. You can get the clear bags for the caramel corn with non-holiday decor, and you could use any kind of ribbon on the hot chocolate mason jars.
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Thanks, ladies. I'll mull it over with DH. It is so hard to please everyone, isn't it?
Pink salmon (from our catch this summer) for dinner.
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Dinner tonight was shepherd’s pie. The recipe used ground lamb, leeks, parsnips and white wine rather than leftover sliced lamb, carrots and peas. Of course there was mashed potato topping.
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Today's meal was a giant green salad with 5 or 6 other vegetables included, a sliced hard boiled egg and some bacon crumbles. Desert was a warmed piece of raspberry coffee cake with lots of butter.
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Hotel breakfast this morning, and likely dinner with older "test daughter" & family.
I have 74 hours on my time card for last week and the expected time this week is going to be around 70 hours…so a day to relax will be nice.
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Dinner was trimmed ribeye cut into strips and sauteed with yellow pepper and onion. Side was sweet potato. I've always eaten sweet potatoes with butter but they are sweet and enjoyable without the butter. In general I'm a fan of enjoying plain foods for their flavor but WW definitely nudges me in that direction.
Today I will incorporate thawed pot roast into some dish, soup or chili. Probably soup. Maybe both. There's a lot of pot roast. My neighbor, Mary, in MN cuts beef roast into portions that serve two because her dh doesn't like eating leftovers. I may need to stop cooking enough for a family when there are just two of us and we eat less than we once did.
Maggie, the shepherd's pie sounds good. I like leeks but have cooked parsnips maybe once or twice.
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Surprise! Both cartons I took out of the freezer weren't pot roast. Just the small carton. The other larger container is chicken sausage gumbo. Hurrah. Dinner tomorrow nice with some freshly cooked brown rice.
The beef vegetable soup is simmering on the stove. More vegetables than beef suits dh and is good for me since my recommended portion of beef on WW is 3 oz.
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Eric, Enjoy your well deserved rest and eating meals you have time to savor.
Minus, Raspberry coffee cake sounds delicious.
Carole, I ended up buying a small crockpot since we eat less than we used to and the kids are gone. I'm happy when freezer contents turn out to be a nice surprise.
Dinner tonight was leftover shepherd's pie. There was enough for two even though DH had some for lunch.
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We finished the salmon (and sorry, it was a coho not a pink). Yesterday, I opened a bag of terra sweet potato chips. YUM. Today I roasted frozen brussels sprouts and microwaved a can of corn to go with.
I'm going to try a Milk Street tofu recipe tomorrow.
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Wally, Those Terra sweet potato chips (and the veggie chips) taste really good.
Dinner tonight was oven fried chicken and zucchini.
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The tofu (tweaked the recipe) is super easy and a winner for us. Leftovers tonight.
Howling winds expected with blizzard conditions in the mountains. I'll love looking out the kitchen window to see the snow peaks.
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