So...whats for dinner?
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Was pretty hungry by the time I finished all my errands today, and it was almost dinnertime. So I walked into the mall’s branch of 90 Miles Cafe, and had a Cuban sandwich, tostones, and a cortadita (short cappuccino made with sweetened Cuban espresso beans). Been years since I last had a Cuban sandwich and it was so crispy, gooey & good I ate it all (rather than packing half of it to go). The cortadita was not a good idea: I have completely lost my taste for any sweetener in my coffee or cappuccino. No room for dessert, of course. Because I was driving, I skipped any alcohol. But those blood orange mojitos sure looked tempting...
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Ribeye steak, baked potato, and salad. Always a winning meal and easy.
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We took Jessiecat back to the vet today for a wound check and the vet is very happy with his progress. The vet said he went, in one week, from "not sure if he's going to live past the weekend" to "healing nicely".
Someone here--don't remember who--mentioned freezing turkey carcasses until they are needed to make broth. I followed that suggestion and saved them for a day like today. I decided I need to build up my stock of broth...or is it build up my stock of stock???? :-) Anyway I have two carcasses simmering away in the *big* stockpot.
I found a couple of boxes of fairly old 12 ounce jars at my mom's house and am going to use those. I usually need broth in 8 ounce "chunks", and a 12 ounce canning jar looks like it will hold about 10 ounces, which is just about perfect. My guess is that I'll have 18-20 jars to put up in the pantry.
As for dinner tonight. I'm not sure yet. I'll figure out something.
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Eric, I freeze turkey carcasses. I'm sure others do too.
We are honoring the warm weather today by grilling pork burgers for dinner. Baked beans and cole slaw will be sides.
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And yay for Jessiecat!
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I went up to check the mail box...just junk mail and a bill from the lawyer I engaged to handle mom's legal affairs. Anyway, when I got back, the house smells wonderful. Jessiecat, Gypsy (yellow lab) and Franky (black mixed breed) are all in the kitchen. I guess they are guarding that white pot on the stove. :-)
Sharon and I ate a very late lunch, so I don't think any of the humans in the house are going to be hungry for dinner.
It's time for Jessiecat's antibiotic. It's a thick liquid that I have to get into his mouth. He hates it. Time for the towel. :-)
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Watched ATK today and saw the blitheringly simple recipe for pan-seared salmon. So I’m defrosting a coho fillet, will brine it briefly once thawed, sprinkle a nonstick pan (not my cast iron!) with kosher salt and cracked pepper, and sear it gently (med-high) for 6 min. on the first side, flipping halfway through and removing it when its temp registers 120F. Think I’ll have it with either sugar snap peas or broccoli rabe.
And—heaven help me—the Girl Scout a couple of doors down from me delivered my Thin Mints this afternoon!
Monday is the day the restorers begin work, at 8 am. Will spend the rest of the weekend removing, bagging or otherwise covering up & sealing off whatever ingredients, meds (we keep them in the kitchen because the bathroom isn’t the best environment for them), small appliances and utensils we haven’t already moved & boxed. They promise to put up zip-walls and tarp-and-tape the stove, fridge and all cabinets, leaving it there until all the sanding is complete. They’re also bringing in the HEPA filter. We’re moving the bar, chopping-block cart, Keurig & Nespresso, as well as some utensils and paper plates and nonperishables, into the dining or even the living room—and will keep them covered when not in use. Suspect we’ll be getting breakfast, if not most meals at Whole Foods this week. The kitties are not going to like being confined to the upstairs bedrooms. But the difference is that the fresh plaster dust will be a whole lot less toxic than the demolition dust, and there’ll be less of it for a shorter amount of time—and this time it’s not going to blindside us.
Tough part will be going through old Peapod and Whole Foods receipts for the past month, deducting non-food items, dividing by 30 and subtracting each day’s worth from each day’s eating-out costs. I suspect we’ll be reimbursed perhaps $100 for food—what we had to discard was incalculable, so State Farm wouldn’t reimburse us without an inventory list & receipts.
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Eri...so glad that Jessiecat's "haling nicely" !
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Sandy - what a pain that your food stores aren't going to be fully reimbursed (except for the deductible of course). When we lost power for 3 weeks during Hurricane Ike, I listed everything that was in my fridge & both freezers before I threw it away. The insurance company didn't need receipts, just an inventory & an estimate of cost from me.
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At the time we tossed all that stuff, we didn’t think we’d be filing an insurance claim so didn’t make a list.
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Bummer. Hope the next construction stage is less painful.
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Plaster dust is pretty amazing in its ability to migrate everywhere. If they do it right, and it sounds like they do, it shouldn't be too bad outside of the rooms that are being sanded.
I have two gallons (!) of turkey broth cooling on the counter. Once the fat can be skimmed off, I'll load it up in the jars and run it through the pressure canner. It's a cold and rainy day here...a perfect time to do this kind of stuff. :-)
Minus, I was deployed to Beaumont and Galveston for Hurricane Ike. The powerless freezers, after a couple of weeks, were "especially memorable".
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Gonna make myself a cappuccino (on the Nespresso Pixie and Aeroccino) and then start bagging, duct-taping whatever we won’t be using and moving everything we need out of the kitchen We will keep the crystal and wines under their own tarps. The vet says the cats are likely to put several rooms between them and the plastic zip-walls, especially while the HEPA is running. (Their litterboxes are already in the basement). If Gordy & I start wheezing anyway, we will decamp to the Hampton Inn (Bob wants us to go down to the Oak Lawn Hilton near Christ Hospital, but for Gordy suburbia would be a nightmare). Going to Cellars for dinner—our friend the chef-owner got an Oscar-review copy of Fences from a friend “in the industry” and is lending it to us. We downloaded Moonlight. That leaves Lion & Hacksaw Ridge, neither of which have a chance (except if the faves split the votes, Lion might sneak in as did Crash a few years ago). Bob likes the idea of doing double features at the Davis (which has on-premises a great little restaurant & bar that will pack your meal & drink on a tray and deliver it to your seat, as well as a neat field-to-fork restaurant and wine bar a few doors down). Unfortunately, he’s working late all week until next week’s Oscar party (and competition) at Cellars.
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Wow - more than 24 hours w/o a post. That has to be a record. Hope everyone is having a good holiday.
Brunch was 1/2 a leftover bagel toasted w/cream cheese & salmon. I didn't bother to cut up & set out all the garnishes since I was in the middle of changing the sheets, scrubbing the sinks & toilets, etc. All those fun house things that we all have to manage somehow, especially if we don't have housekeepers. When I worked full time I did treat myself to a cleaning lady every other week - but they never changed the sheets or did laundry. Social Security doesn't even stretch that far.
Dinner will be spiralized zucchini sauteed with garlic & maybe some sweet onion. And what else? Either a toasted English muffin with peanut butter or smoked oysters on Triscuits. I've lost track of time and it's almost 6pm, so I guess I'll have a glass of Pinot Noir while I decide - Chilensis Reserva, Estate bottled, DO.Valle Del Maule, Chile. Just another one of those Chile Valley screw top wines that are pretty good. It suits my budget & my taste buds.
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After getting the broth cool enough to go in the extra "beer keg" sized refrigerator (which has nothing else in it) so that I can scrape off the fat, I'm rewarming it do I can can it.
When cool, it's like Jello. It's going to be good. :-)
Dinner tonight is a ham.
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Had a flute of Gloria Ferrer Brut and a cup of black-bean soup with cilantro cream for dinner last night. This morning, got up early, fried an egg, nuked some hollandaise and put it on toast with a turkey sausage patty. Then the reconstruction crew arrived to set up and thoroughly tarp over everything in the kitchen. They also put up plastic sheeting over the doorway between dining room & kitchen (and cleaned up after themselves when they left a couple of hours ago). All I had to for lunch was a Girl Scout Thin Mint, saving my calories for dinner: heading back over to Cellars for a $5 cheeseburger & sweet potato fries (maybe they'll let me sub out a veg). Probably have a glass of pinot noir, though they also have local microbrews on special. The crew’s coming back tomorrow to set up, apply & sand one more skim coat and maybe paint—or wait till Wed. to paint. These guys did a fantastic job of protecting everything & cleaning up—the difference between them and the sledgehammer-wielding remediation crew is like night & day.
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Sandy - glad to hear you have a good crew. I need to get my house painted and some cracks filled, but I'm hesitant to trust anyone. Oh well, after my trip to the Pacific NW, that's the next task.
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Minus- had to laugh- "English muffin with peanut butter or smoked oysters on Triscuits"...seemingly at two complete ends of the spectrum. What did you decide?
Dinner for me was a grilled beef patty, collards and tossed salad. Perfect meal for a spring like day in Feb. (It was 75 here in SC today.)
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Happy - on my 2nd glass of Pinot Noir and haven't made a decision. Probably it will be that last Hawaiian Sweet roll in the package smushed & microwaved with cheese.
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Haha, Minus...yet another option. You sound like me...I look in the fridge and pantry and think....hmmmm, need a dart. Whatever it hits wins.
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Oh Happy - glad to have another random eater. I miss Bedo on this thread. She and I were rivals for the weirdest meals. It helps that neither of us has to cook for anyone else. Can you imagine serving a DH a big dish of sauteed zucchini spirals with an english muffin? Not so much. I'll get my protein by eating nuts for my bedtime snack.
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Minus...just have to say, I chuckle when you post as it strikes me as so funny....no, just do not think a DH would get it. Dinner tonight was from our precious next dor neighbors- I took fruit and a tossed salad and came home with the burger and collards to add to my salad. When DH returns the end of the week I will have to do better...haha!
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Burger with Gorgonzola, lettuce, tomato & onion, with a green salad instead of fries. Also a Jovino 2013 Oregon Pinot Noir. But I had to hang around the restaurant till Bob got there, and so while he ate I had dessert: Black Dog salted caramel and double chocolate gelato.
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Sandy, what an interesting meal! I'm such a plain eater. BTW, I don't do Girl Scout cookies anymore. I liked the old-fashioned sandwich cookies which they don't do it seems. And I was a Girl Scout for 11 years, even got my Curved Bar. Glad you like them though!
HUGS!
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Thinking of making BLT's for dinner
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Grrr I lost the post.
I processed 11 jars of broth and had 4 jars that did not seal. Normally, for broth, I'll have 1, maybe 2, "fails" per 6 or 7 dozen jars that I do.
These jars are much taller and skinnier that what I normally use...And that translates to a bigger change in liquid levels when stuff starts to boil. I'll take that into account tonight and see how it works out.
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Dinner was a chicken casserole: penne pasta, mushrooms, onions, cream, white wine, fresh dill, asparagus and chunks of chicken. Basically, I took my asparagus casserole recipe and added chicken.
No dessert. When my husband travels for work, it's amazing what combinations I find.
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Lots of "remains" in my fridge that need using. Think I'll start with the very rare end of the rib roast that will become a steak and soba noodle stir fry. There will be lots of veggies in it so it will probably be a one dish meal.
Lacey, where are you?
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They’re already painting my kitchen ceiling, with fans and HEPA filter going, so I think I will be cooking again by tomorrow. Before I went to bed, I brought some perishables down to the basement fridge, so I was able to make a cream cheese and smoked wild salmon sandwich on a slice of low-carb bread for breakfast. (Hadn’t thought to bring down the red onion, dill or capers, alas). May walk to Whole Foods’ wine-and-pasta bar for dinner. I think Tues. is either ravioli or panini night.
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auntie - is lacey's son getting married right about now, I seemed to remember that it was a Feb wedding here in FL? I was wondering if that is why she was not posting.
My BIL/SIL came for dinner on Sat and we grilled ribeyes - lots of them, lol! Took advantage of the use of the charcoal side of the hybrid grill and had DH do extras. We also had a field green/goat cheese salad, sautéed zucchini with red onion, red pepper flakes and a sprinkle of parm, and DH's great aunt's recipe for pilaf - which is rice and broken angel hair pasta cooked in butter and then chicken stock is added. Made a refrigerator ladyfinger cheesecake for dessert. Love that cheesecake as it is light since the filling is whipped then layered with the soft ladyfingers, and it is not baked so it stays light and fluffy. I topped it with cherries, but it is amenable to any topping - fresh strawberries or peaches would be great too.
Last night I sliced up a leftover steak and added it to cooked mushrooms and a sauce of beef stock and sour cream, I had a tomato avocado salad, DH had the rest of the zucchini, and we both had pilaf. I also made ham salad from the leftover ham from earlier in the week, which DH got in today's lunch - yay!
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