So...whats for dinner?
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LuvRVing, Never eaten there. I rarely go into the city to eat. Will look forward to your report. And yes, that does sound too good to be true!
carberry, my husband will be happy to hear that he is not alone.
We drove today almost to the Canadian border to pick up our second lamb. We stopped in Lancaster to have lunch with my Mother at the Moombeam Café. This lamb was quite a bit smaller and only needed one box. And then we headed back South. We went through Nashua so we could stop at the Costco. Though we had also planned to stop in at Wilson Farms, it was already 6:30 so we grabbed a rotisserie chicken and some lettuce. Once home, I split some fingerling potatoes, crushed some sea salt with herbs from the garden, and roasted them. A very simple dinner to be sure.
If Laurie has headed North for Santa's Village, I am afraid that there will be rain tomorrow. It was pouring between Concord NH, through Nashua, and into MA. I don't often do 10 hrs of visiting, driving and shopping.
*susan*
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I'm thinking of going to the Pheasand Lane Mall Sunday to check out the Stonewall Kitchen Store, maybe do some Christmas shopping.
susan~I hear Wilson Farms advertized on the radio but have never been there.
Santa's Village, I can't wait to bring my grandkids there when ever that will happen.
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I was just reading--very quickly--the posts...been super busy....
Eric
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Our dinner last night at Bistro du Midi was excellent. My only disappointment was...Italian bread, not French bread! Really? When I asked the server she said, "well, this is Boston!" LOL! We had the forethought to order a chocolate souffle before we even ordered our entrees, and it really was fantabulous! For entrees, I had monkfish and Rick had a strip steak with peppercorn sauce and pomme frittes. Everything was delicious and I was really glad my entree was small because that meant I had room to enjoy the souffle. Even so, we couldn't finish it, it was so very rich. The restaurant was four blocks away from the theater and we were happy to be able to walk a little bit. Mummenschanz was a fun show, and would be suitable for children. It's the lowest tech show I've ever seen - nothing except for the lighting. It was elegant in its simplicity and we really enjoyed it. When we left the theater, we called the valet and by the time we walked back to the restaurant our car was waiting for us. It was a really good value if you want to have dinner and then go see a performance. Anything that involves free parking in the theater district is a good deal!
Deb - I've been to the Wilson Farms in Litchfield many, many times. We lived in Litchfield in the '80s and went their often for great produce. I wonder if it's the same company. I know they have locations in the Carolinas.
Eric - good to hear from you!
Yes, today would not be a nice day to go to Santa's Village. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny if chilly. My daughter and I are going to a "mini-Cooper marshmallow rally" that involves driving to the Loudon racetrack to see their Christmas light display. I've never done anything like that so it should be fun. I asked her what marshmallows had to do with it but she didn't know.
Speaking of my smarty pants DD, she passed the first tests towards getting her CPA - she found out yesterday and we are all so proud! Supposedly, this was the hardest portion and it's hard to pass it on the first try.
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Sorry to hear that the weather isn't good for Laurie's trip to Santa Village with the little boys. Weather can be so uncooperative. It was foggy here this morning but it has cleared. Despite the advice of my podiatrist, I'm going for a long exercise walk. Afterwards I'll ice-massage my heel (plantar fasciitis), take ibuprofen, etc. I NEED to walk off last night's delicious meal of Oysters Mosca and green salad with avocado and blue cheese. The scale was cruel this morning!
Tonight's dinner will be... I'll think about it while I'm walking!
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Michelle, your evening sounds wonderful, especially the souffle :-)
Did some decorating yesterday. Minimal, but once I get a couple of poinsettias, I think it will be festive enough. I think I convinced DH to put up the tree this weekend. We agreed that we would only put on the glass ornaments. We made the mistake of giving each other ornaments every year and 32 years of this behavior has resulted in a lot of tiny little individually wrapped things that make tree trimming (and untrimming) very time consuming and labor intensive.
Yesterday I dry brined a chicken using my new favorite spatchcock method. I usually marinate my chicken in buttermilk so I'm very anxious to see how this compares. I may rinse the salt off to see how the skin compares to the turkey. I don't know what the sides are going to be. Probably just some sauteed veggies.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!0 -
Michelle Hilarious on the video. Really though my DH is not like that at all..hasnt missed a day of work for illness since I met him 36 yrs ago. Sounds like you had a great night out...love it when it all works out.
Making big pot of chili today then doing some shopping for Christmas.
Bedo Sorry we couldnt see the picture.
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Michelle, Bistro sounds like a great spot to check out....funny about the Italian bread and waitress explanation tho. Nice evening....:)
That Mancold video is so relevant right now! DH came down with a whopper yesterday, and was snorting, hacking and kvetching all night....until I got up and administered two benedryl (I don't think they are meant for this sort of cold, but we had nothing in the house for cold symptoms). Well, it knocked him out.....perfect! I do feel badly for him tho since he is supposed to have his second cataract surgery on Monday and is worried this might cancel it. He is eager to get both eyes working correctly.
Just have to say it was a labor of love to get him that benedryl since at 2:00AM I was looking for it in the kitchen where several hours earlier I discovered some mouse droppings near our fruit bowl, then found an apple with a neat little circle of bites. I expected to run into Minnie on my benedryl hunt.....but fortunately didn't. We have not had any mice in this house for over twenty five years.....I guess our little schnauzers were the intimdation factor. I am not a happy sharer of space with critters.
Kudos to DD, Michelle! Nice accomplishment! Those tests are so stressful...... Our DS2 sat for the CPA exams, passing two, then failing the tax one, which he took on his way to the airport to catch a flight to Las Vegas with his cronies....really smart! I klept my mouth shut. Meanwhile, he was recruited out of the accounting dept to the asset mgmt side of his company where it makes no difference if he has those letters after his name....so he happily abandoned the process. I again kept my mouth shut.
Nance, you are ambitious with your chickens. Hope it is great. We also have way too many ornaments, and mostly DH decides what to put on the tree since he has been the tree decorator in recent years. It is fun to take the trip down memory lane as each ornament is unwrapped.
Speaking of memory lane, as I was engrossed in a major produce shopping effort at Russo's, yesterday, a woman came up to me and asked if I had worked at The Home For Little Wanderers...which I did, forty years ago. I immediately then recognized this gal who worked as a child care worker in our treatment unit, while getting her graduate degree. We were both in our early twenties then. I actually remembered her name as soon as I looked at her face (the long dark hair has transformed to short grey), and we had a good catch up. I'm still amazed that she recognized me so many years later...and amazed that I pulled up her name spontaneously, since I can barely retrieve my own these days.
The MO just called me to check on my meds issues. I hate these meds that impact my sleep, but can't complain about the MO who is traveling with me as I navigate thru it.
Yukky rain today...I think I'll cook...and keep an eye out for Minnie.
Yikes, way too long a post......0 -
Oh, also....DH was just checking out a site on "gravity defyer" shoes. Might that be useful for you, Carole, to take the pressure off your heels when you walk?
http://gravitydefyer.com/0 -
Michelle, Congratulations to DD! I really do understand what an achievement that is. I was in my 40's when I took the exam. I had only had three accounting and one auditing course but I was in a job that required me to deal with CPA's every day. I knew a CPA would give me more credibility with the industry CPA's and that I was at least as smart as any of them. So I took a six week cram course and passed it the first time. That certificate not only brought me instant respect but led me into the most interesting, challenging and satisfying job of my life.
I hope your DD prospers and finds the same satisfaction in her success as I did.
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Lacey, eek! We have not yet had a mouse in the house, but we get them in the garage, which attracts black snakes. I don't know which is worse. I'm happy they catch the mice but I'd rather they do it outside the garage!
Our ornaments have a lot of sentimentality attached to them too. That's why it takes so long, those trips down memory lane are time consuming!0 -
Wow.
Sharon is working. Chrissy is in the IB program (an advanced placement type of program with an international flair), so she's working. I'm working too.
So, when I do get home...around 7:30pm...there's lots of work to do. Add to that all the lower priority things that piled up when I was gone....It's busy around here.
Lacey, it sounds like you need a cat. They're good at keeping the critters at bay. If you get a Maine Coon Cat, they're also great lap warmers and big enough to handle the bigger critters too.
Sounds like colds are making the rounds...yucch. I'm not quite like the man cold video, but mine seem to last longer than Sharon's colds. I hate it when Chrissy is sick. It is the "she's feeling bad and I can't do much about it" that is the absolute worst.
Michelle, congrats to your daughter! My mom took some of the CPA exams "back when" and I remember her studying at the kitchen table, along with my brother and I.
I'm reading about all the shopping stuff here. It almost makes me wish I was called up now instead of last month...at least I'd have an excuse to avoid the shopping lines. Shopping is so-so, but I HATE the lines and the "stress" that everyone around me is displaying. Still, I'm heading out today to get a couple of things..then it's get the lights up outside (it's a cold 60F degrees right now) and pull out the fake Christmas tree. So, it will be a "slow and steady busy" today...which won't be too bad at all.
Just before I was sent to New York, I picked up a HUGE (over 500 pages)chicken cookbook from Goodwill for $1.00. Before I leave, I'm going to take a look and find something interesting. There's got to be something in there that can be done while we trim the tree.
Eric
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Here is the picture of bedo's granddog...LOL! Poor doggy!!!
Everyone - thanks for your comments about my daughter's success. She takes the next one in late January. She gets a pretty big bonus once she completes the CPA requirements so she's highly incented!
Eric - gotta try online shopping, it's really stress-free. 500 pages of chicken recipes - wow! When we moved from MO, I got rid of most of my cookbooks as I just search online when I want an idea. The one book that I kept (and actually bought a replacement on ebay a few years ago) is the Pillsbury Family Cookbook circa 1968. I got it as a wedding gift and it has a few recipes that I still use. There's a really good pan-fried chicken recipe that my DH loves, I just didn't make it very often when we lived in the midwest because you could find good fried chicken almost anywhere. Here in NH, it just isn't the same!
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I didn't get to the Christmas shopping yet, but I did give myself a Christmas present.
In the desert, we have the "water from hell". IThe hard water deposits build up amazingly fast. Usually it takes forever to clean the shower and I'm gasping for breath from the fumes before I'm done.
Ths time was different.
Earlier in the week I had stopped by a janitorial supply place and picked up a gallon of all purpose shower cleaner-soap scum-hard water deposit-mold-stain remover.
I was all prepared to do battle, but first I read the instructions. Harsh chemicals deserve that respect...and spraying was mentioned. I got an idea... I had a cheap garden "pump up" sprayer...I added water to the sprayer and adjusted it for a very "rain like" spray (so it wouldn't make too many fumes). Then I added the cleaner and sprayed away. Then I switched the sprayer back to the plain water to rinse the cleaner off the shower surfaces and took a quick shower....
In 5 minutes, the shower went from looking like an anbandoned ghetto gas station reject to somethngthat even my mother in law would approve of.
An edit....
Michelle, I guess you were posting while I was typing. If I had to (but ONLY if I had to), I would get rid of all my cookbooks except one...It's a stained, dog eared, falling apart, nothing to look at...and very special to me....paperback Betty Crocker Cookbook.
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Thanks Michelle and congratulations on your DD's success. Those tests are supposed to be really hard! She must be really smart!
Re my grand-dog above, why would my DD do this to her? You can see the embarrassment in her eyes. She is 8 years old in dog years so I guess she is middle aged (?) and does not want a Mohawk, which is what DD asked the groomer for.
I am searching the supermarket circulars for specials now before I decide my meals for the week
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"Make this STOP!"
Poor puppy dog.
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Lacey sent me this picture and asked me to post it, in light of Bedo's poor grandpuppy's mohawk.
"Couldn't resist sending this photo to post after seeing Sally's DD's dog.....
Every time little Daryan gets his hair cut the stylist (mind you!) insists on making him look trendy. It makes me crazy....but fortunately after a hair wash he just has a nice cut. This last one was more woodpecker-ish than the true mohawk look she gave him once. I do not recall ever having my kids pictures taken with a stylist, probably because I used to cut their hair! But I guess these two have a close relationship since he is turning 2 this week and has had well over 10 haircuts already. Hair is this boy's middle name!"
I must say, that is quite a head of hair!!!
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Thanks Michelle!
The irony of DGS having such thick hair is that he also has the bald gene from both sides, (I gave it to my boys
, DDIL passed hers on to him.....so maybe he might want to make a "piece" for the future from all his currently shorn locks.
So I guess pooches and little kids are at the mercy of the "adults" who raise them.
Don't let the pooch see herself in the mirror! Poor baby....
Great idea about the cat, Eric, but I'd have to move out! I think DH would too. I am allergic, and he is opposed to the feline idea. The cat would have a spacious home with an occasional mouse meal. This event does make me miss our little Lacey dog, who obviously intimidated any critters looking for shelter by her mere presence!
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Bet its a way to make haircuts less fearful for the wee ones.
I have my mother's BH&G red plaid cb I learned to cook out of and my own one I bought (or was given by her) almost 37 years ago when we were married. I treasure them both. I made many cookies out of hers along the way. Think I need to find something fitting to cook out of one of them for tomorrow. Tonight is easy Ragu spaghetti. I'll never finish this paperwork and it is beautiful outside; calling me.
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Awww Bedo, poor baby!
Eric, how clever of you!
What is the name of this miracle chemical?
My dog-eared cookbook is Joy of Cooking. In fact, I actually wore my first one out, which was ultimately replaced by DS.
Does anyone have How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman? I'm considering asking Santa for it.
Got the tree up and decorated in record time. We decided to put up just the top two sections instead of the whole thing (9 ft. tree) and set it on a low table, which worked just great. Just as I knew he would though, DH couldn't resist putting a couple of sentimental favorite ornaments on there which means when he takes it down, he'll have to dig out a whole separate storage box to put them away. The big ole softy :-)0 -
Santa Claus and Santa Paws - my smarty daughter's dog. Her vet did pictures with Santa today for a donation to Toys for Tots.
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Auntie, I think you are a too advanced cook for that book. It isn't a bad book, but lacks complex flavors. Some books just get some of a cuisine's flavor and others, the author really knows their own cuisine well. I would take the book out of the library before giving a book that much shelf space. It is huge and heavy! If you make it to Boston, you can have my copy. For a comprehensive, all cuisine, consider the Gourmet green book or the Essential New York Times Cookbook. Having cooked a lot from all three, I think those two are so much better.
Tonight I will make Pasta e Fagioli soup with some of the Thanksgiving turkey stock. Then I go into baking mode. I have two friends coming to "brunch" for a lamb dividing party. So tonight I will make the brioche so it can chill overnight. And some lovely scones. Not tell you what kind because she is probably reading this.
*susan*
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Thanks again Susan. I really don't need any more cookbooks but I read a review of his book and wondered about it. I will check out the other two though. I made pasta e fagioli last week too -- so satisfying.
I bet your scones are fabulous (not to mention brioche)!
Michelle, so cute! I so miss dogs . . .0 -
Bedo- He still looks cute ;-))
Lacey- What an adorable GS you have is that your DD? she is very pretty!
Michelle- LOL what a cute picture you should make post cards out of them. Did you sit on Santa's lap yet? hehe! Congrats on your DD passing her test!
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There is a Wilson's Farm in Lexington also.
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Poor dog, LOLOL
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I love my cookbooks. If I were moving, they would go with me.
Lacie, I have a mouse resident, too. Or some critter than stole the cashew nut I left on the counter last night, behind the toaster oven. I've been seeing droppings in that area. I've set a trap in the same spot where the cashew was placed. Nearby is a wicker tray with a loaf of bread, package of Engllish muffins. I didn't see any evidence of a the mouse chewing through the plastic wrappers. We had a mouse in the 5th wheel camper one summer, and the nervy little fellow got into our loaf of bread one night while we were still up and the lights were all on! He must have been hungry. We set a trap and caught him/her.
Eric, I have a large cookbook by America's Test Kitchen devoted entirely to cooking chicken. Chicken is one of my favorite meats.
I planted two satsuma orange trees and 1 meyer lemon tree this afternoon. My next planting will be some blueberry bushes.
Dinner tonight is warmed-up beef veggie noodle soup and salad.
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Wilson Farms is located in Lexington, MA and they also own land in Litchfield, NH. I try to go once a week to stock up on vegetables. They are so much better than the vegetables in regular supermarkets and a ton cheaper than Whole Foods. In the perfect world, I could go to Russo's in Watertown weekly, but it actually takes me longer to get there.
Soup was delicious. Threw in some parmesan rinds which adds such a nice underflavor.
*susan*
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Nance, I do have that Bittman book and really like it a lot....however two issues....it does take up a lot of real estate, ...and it is not the most efficient cookbook for me to go to when I just want a quick recipe....(and this probably says more about me and my distractibility than it does about his book!) he has so much interesting info about every food topic, that I get sidetracked reading, and take forever getting to the recipe I was originally looking for! I find it really enjoyable reading the book....written in a very conversational style which I like. He also has a 3 page list at the end of the book about cookbooks he could not live without....really interesting!
I think Santa would find a good deal on this from amazon if you decide to get it....;) I don't recall that mine was very expensive.
I would like to be able to part with many of my cookbooks.....maybe when I can part with Xmas ornaments!0 -
Susan, agreed....Russo's is a major pain to get to....but the crowds would defy that notion! They also don't have much organic produce there.....but lord is it fun shopping there, and the prices are good.
I never thought that Wilson Farms was that inexpensive in the olden days when I lived in Cambridge and Arlington and went there....of course I had no $$$$ then so probably everything seemed expensive..... and I am sure it is really fresh. We have a farm stand like that in our town that one of DS2's friends took over from his family. It is delightful and he and his sibs have made it a great place to shop......until you get to the cash register. I love this family, but have this penurious part of me that can't allow me to buy produce that is even more expensive than Whole Food's.They seem to be doing a booming business, so I suspect the younger affluents from surrounding suburbs are keeping them afloat, while I pay a rare visit for an unusual item Roche Bros doesn't have. I decided yesterday at Russo's that produce shopping is my drug of choice!0
