So...whats for dinner?
Comments
-
Wow. They're pretty quick on the work.
0 -
Yup—final coat & cleanup tomorrow!
0 -
Val: Will you please post your asparagus recipe? Sounds wonderful with or without the chicken.
Eric - interesting how the jar size changes the process. Can you freeze those that didn't seall & then pop them in a zip loc bag?
Special & Nance - oh boy the rib roast & rib steak leftovers both sound good.
I did hear from Lacey. Yes, she is trying to get ready for the out of town wedding in FL. Not only does she have to host the rehearsal dinner, but also a 'welcome reception' for 120. And she has been having computer problems. She will be back as soon she gets a spare minute. Hopefully with mouth watering descriptions of the food at the various wedding venues.
Also heard from Susan. I can't imagine how she has the energy to do everything she's involved in. The Airbnb is constantly full - and she is cooking & baking for each group. She watches Olivia a couple times a week, and what a cutie she is. Needless to say she's up to her ears in alligators. We all miss her but certainly understand that a granddaughter takes priority when time is limited
I sent a PM to LuvMyGoats but didn't get an answer. She was the one who knows all the Texas stores that I use.
Brunch at 2pm was a plate of raw veggies - carrots, cucumbers, celery, radishes. It sounds really virtuous since I resisted opening a can of black olives or stuffing the celery with pimento cheese. But...I swiped the veggies in Alouette Spinach & Artichoke spreadable cheese that was sitting open in my fridge. Dinner will be something with leftover pork that I froze as medallions. Unless I give in and make pasta - which is entirely possible. In fact, pasta w/garlic & butter & leftover Bok Choy...
0 -
Waiting for the workers to leave so I can shower,take advantage of this nice weather and walk to lunch. Still smells of paint (semigloss latex isn't odorless and I can smell it throughout the house even with the zip wall up) but hopefully it won't by tomorrow night.
0 -
Here is the asparagus casserole recipe. Hope you enjoy Minus Two
- 1tablespoon vegetable oil, for sauteeing
- 1medium onion, finely diced (or shallot)
- 1garlic clove, minced
- 1teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4teaspoon black pepper, fresh ground
- 1 1⁄2lbs asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2eggs
- 1cup heavy cream
- 2tablespoons dill leaves, fresh chopped
- 1cup gruyere cheese, grated
- 1⁄4cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 1⁄2cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1tablespoon paprika, smoked
- 4tablespoons butter, melted
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and garlic; saute until translucent and fragrant and season with salt and pepper. Add the asparagus and saute until just tender. Remove rom heat and let cool.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, dill and cheeses.
- In a separate bowl, add panko, paprika and butter. Mix well to combine.
- Place asparagus in casserole dish. Pour the egg mixture over the asparagus and top with the panko, spreading evenly.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake until casserole is set and the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
I just add cooked chicken. Not shredded but in chunks. I've used regular milk, and 2 % in this recipe. I've switched out Gruyere for white cheddar, or Swiss.
Val
0 -
Val - thanks. It really looks delicious.
0 -
Thanks for the update on both Susan and Lacey Minus. I appreciate you keeping track of our missing friends.
0 -
I have a selfish motive. I had such fun meeting them in Boston, and Eric in Phoenix and Sandra here when she brought her DH to MD Anderson that I want to meet more of you.
But Bedo - Iowa?? Really??
0 -
Val, that recipe sounds good. Wonder if it freezes since there's just me most of the time.
Sandy, glad the house is getting put back together! It's terrible having things in such disarray.
HUGS!
0 -
I guess, now that I think about it, the contractors would want to *go fast* so they can get paid. I wonder what I was thinking? :-)
Last night I did the ham, using maple syrup as a glaze and Sharon made empanadas. It was a bit of a challenge, two people and three 'projects' in the kitchen, but we managed just fine and now we're good for the rest of the week.
I did not do any broth tonight. My commute home was an hour and fifty minutes..and now I don't feel like doing much of anything..
0 -
Last night before DH returns from contract job in VA (YAY- he completed the job early and comes home tomorrow instead of Friday) Big tossed salad with turkey and a lovely herby Italian dressing. I actually am doing a "day trip" to Charleston to see DS2...haven't seen him since Christmas and so we will meet for lunch and then are going to the Aquarium for a tour and then out to Sullivan's Island for some sand and sea time before I head back home around 6. DS2 is in Food and Bev and is working as a line cook at The Macintosh on King St....they are gearing up for Food and Wine month so getting in time with him as I can.
0 -
Actually, they’ve gotten half the pay already—and have my credit card on file so I can just sign off on it tomorrow. State Farm has already paid me for everything but meals out (too trivial to put in a claim at this point) and either repairing or replacing my espresso machine (still no word on that yet, but it’s been gone only a week and there are a whole bunch of coffeehouses ahead of me in the pipeline).
By the time the painters were gone for the day and I'd showered, it was nearly dinnertime, so I walked to a new cocktail/small-plates/wine bar called Income Tax (named after a 1930s cocktail that tastes—acc. to Bob—like an Old Fashioned with diabetes). The limited menu is international (Spain, Italy, Germany, France) and has a few appetizers and an entree or two for each country. I went for the porchetta with carrot polenta and broccoli rabe; no Italian wines by the glass, but I did get a good Languedoc-Roussilon (SW France between Provence & Bordeaux) Mourvedre. Opted to skip dessert or cheese. On the way home I stopped in at Lickety Split for a decaf cappuccino and a pastry to go. Drank the cappuccino outside on my deck while I watched planes fly in from across the lake to O’Hare. I also bought a pastry called an “Alfie” (was jonesing for a whoopie pie, and that looked like the closest they had), which looked appetizing—a large petit four (petit huit?) covered in dark chocolate and filled with dulce de leche between two cookies. Tried it an hour later…meh. Had a couple of bites and put it in the fridge (which is apparently safe to use while no work is going on). Had one of a packet of two Mallo Cups (dark chocolate)—which contained very little marshmallow but were dense with coconut studded with coconut; that was pretty satisfying.
0 -
A new 12 inch nonstick skillet by Oxo arrived today. Oven safe handle. It looks really nice. Dh ordered it. The old one was not working as nonstick. I used it for searing fish fillets.
Tonight will be pork chops cooked in some non fussy manner. Maybe breaded and pan fried to make Dh happy. Veggie will probably be asparagus. Maybe broccoli.
I had soup and salad today after playing golf so am not feeling hungry. The soup was seafood gumbo over rice and was tasty. Salad was an assortment of components off the salad bar with the house dressing, a mustard vinaigrette
0 -
Hi! I am returning from among the missing! For some reason, the rejection of my attempts to log in so I could post, magically stopped today...go figure! I had stopped trying for this past week. So, hopefully I am logged in in the same way that I was before, so I can more easily post here. Yay! But I have been trying to keep up with reading everyone else's posts.
As Minus said, I have also been really busy of late. Special, you are correct about DS2 getting married in FL (Amelia Island...never been there, but a favorite spot of FDDIL who grew up in that area), tho not until April. But we are in the throes of trying to get things set that need doing now...and that does not even include my own dress shopping, which I better get started on. I still need to select food for the welcome reception. Hate doing this long distance. The rehearsal dinner is now set except for mailing the invites...and confirming some things with the restaurant owner. We are having it at a tapas restaurant in Fernandina Beach. I chose it since it should be very different and way more intimate than the resort they picked for the wedding, which is more "corporate".
The other issue that has been consuming my time is a forum I am setting up with some others in our town about Human Trafficking to educate suburbanites about this very prevalent problem. Creepy and important! I had no idea that it is a multi-billion dollar business!
So....meals.....we had a lovely meal on Valentine's Day.....a wonderful baby kale salad, and a petit filet mignon with an array of veggies since I did not want any potatoes.DH had a sea scallop dish with an interesting piled potato gratin and broccoli. We had complimentary chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. A serendipity of the evening is that our waitress was a delightful young gal who just moved to Boston from Maine. She is eager to pursue her passion of illustrating for childrens' books. Well, since I have one full and one partial manuscript that need an illustrator (for self publishing), so we exchanged contact info and who knows....???
For home dinners, I've been making a lot of fish, which I almost always serve on a bed of garlic and onion laced spinach....one of my favorite meals. Salads and sometimes farro pilaf with carrots and asparagus.
Then I tried to get serious about low cal meals, and made that WW cabbage soup to have before whatever protein I cooked...fish or chicken, and varied salads. Unfortunately, since I was not going to the gym with my spasming back during those two weeks, weight loss has been minimal.
Then of course there were those Valentine chocolates!! 
This week, I used chicken carcasses to make a nice broth in the slow cooker (sorry, Nance, I have still not unpacked the pressure cooker since my counters have been "full"!) then made my favorite kale soup which we have been eating a lot this week. Tonight, DH is at a business meeting, so I will heat up some of that soup and have it with a poached egg....maybe some salad since I have lots of greens on hand. Easy peasy!
Eric, glad your cat turned the health corner.
Nance, I hope you are feeling a ton better by now.
Minus, I look forward to hearing about those Dungeness crabs!
Special, loved the sound of that cherry cheescake!
ChiSandy, glad you are nearing the end of your construction woes.
Happy, FDDIL is having her bachelorette party in Charleston in a few weeks. I bet you know all the interesting restaurants there. If you have any ideas to share, I'd love to pass them on to her.
Hi to everyone else! Such a busy table....
0 -
Hey, Lacey, welcome back and glad you could come up for air! Dealing with your own health, gastronomy, a daughter’s wedding plans, and now activism (for such an urgent issue) to boot. You are amazing.
The kitchen looks great and once we have retrieved everything from storage and clean it up, I will get cooking again. Didn’t have breakfast today, and by the time I got around to having lunch (after waiting for the project manager and signing off on the work) in between picking up some glasses and topping up my gas tank at Costco, it was already 4 pm. On numerous friends’ recommendations, I decided to stop at the Israeli grill Naf Naf for either falafel or chicken shwarma. The falafel won, as sort of a farewell to carbs. OMG—I forgot how delicious a good pita could be, putting the supermarket and kebab joints to shame. This was yummy and pillowy—the best I’ve had since the Philadelphia Israeli restaurant Zahav came to town as a one-night-only “pop-up” inside the restaurant Cafe Spiaggia (the two chefs are friends). Plenty of Jerusalem salad inside as well, with savory tahini & both red & green hot sauces. Came home and made a cappuccino (still with the Nespresso capsules and Aeroccino frother—will call Cora Italian Specialties tomorrow to see what’s up with my prosumer rig). No idea about dinner or if I will even have it—maybe have a Caprese in a couple of hours & call it a night.
Tomorrow I’m staying over at the Oak Lawn Hilton with Bob, who managed to pick up an extra echocardiogram-reading day early Friday morning to make up income-wise for taking off Oscar Night. At our HHonors level, we get free drinks, appetizers & breakfast in the Exec. Lounge, but he plans to get there early enough to go to Cooper’s Hawk or Louie’s Chop House for dinner rather than having to resort to the in-hotel Whitney’s Restaurant. I may call my friend Maryjane who moved down there tomorrow (both to be close to her husband’s retinology practice across from Christ Hospital and to finally have a fully-accessible home with a large yard for her pooches—two rough-coat Jack Russells). She’s dependent on a walker & oxygen and so has given up driving, so I’ll ask her what she’d like me to bring for lunch or coffee. My housekeeper’s off tomorrow to be in the audience for the final Steve Harvey Show Chicago taping—and I hope they send her home with a boatload of free stuff (maybe even a vacation trip).
0 -
Lacey- yay, you are back! I have just returned from a day trip to see DS2 so only have a minute but YES I do have an inside track to restaurants in Charleston...competition is FIERCE and there are so many great places! The Ordinary- fab food and Exec. Chef, Mike Lata is a JBF award winning chef and he is currently up for JBF Restaurant award....The Macintosh's Exec chef, Jeremiah Bacon, is a JBF award winning chef- our DS2 is a line cook there- the food is delish and they have a great outdoor space in back for special gatherings as well as indoor space...PM me if you want more info about any places there...we have a lot of connections in Food and Bev there and can put you in the right direction depending on what they are looking for.
0 -
Hi Lacey...long time, no hear. You have definitely been busy and congratulations to your son.
Somehow, Chi, I'm guessing you'll be checking the toilet tanks a bit m
0 -
Not just the toilet tanks, Eric. Late this afternoon, four hours after signing off on the project I discovered an incipient crack in the newly-painted ceiling (only I don’t recall this area having been water-damaged back in January, though the entire kitchen ceiling was repainted). Directly above it would be my bathtub. Uh to the oh. I shot off e-mails to the restoration company (the mitigation & repair project mgrs.) with photos, requesting they visit and take an infrared moisture-gun reading. If it really is new water damage, here we go again. (And you can bet that I will be recaulking that tub six ways from Sunday regardless). Odd thing is that nobody on the reconstruction team—not the painters & plasterers nor the project manager—ever mentioned it to me. So I have the sinking feeling it’s new. It’s the bulge between the dining room entrance and the breakfast room soffit (the latter was not part of the project because it wasn’t leaking, just showing its age).
0 -
Hello again everyone,
Oh Sandy that does not look good
Eric, I sometimes freeze stock in muffin trays and then pop them out put into ziplock bags for when I need a small amount for something. You just know that it's going to be great when you get that jelly consistency.
SpecialK, I too like a fridge cheesecake, my two favourites are a super tangy, lip puckering, lemon one, or a Baileys Irish cream one.
0 -
I hope all is OK Chi...
0 -
Oh Sandy, fingers crossed for you!
Lacey, you are one busy woman! I think the wedding is going to be wonderful. A lot to plan though.
Cooking around here had been pretty un -exciting. If it were just me, I would be eating Minus style. My cough has pretty much gone, but my voice is still not completely normal. I'm beginning to think it may not get any better. Hope I'm wrong. I promise I'll get back to talking about food soon.
So far the new dishwasher has done an excellent job. It's so quiet you barely know it's on and the dishes really are sparkling. Fingers crossed there too.
Dad has had a bit of a setback. Nothing life threatening but certainly life style threatening. We see a specialist Monday so I'll know more then. It's a problem with his shoulder.
Good to hear from you Freya. Hope you are managing things.
0 -
Nance - sorry to hear about your Dad's set-back. Please do let us know after your Monday appointment.
Happy - the Carolina's have always been on my bucket list. Maybe I'll make it in 2018.
Sandy - sure hope it's not an ongoing leak.
Freya - good to see you. I freeze Meyer lemon juice in muffin trays.
OK - Special & Freya have my mouth watering. I don't know anything about refrigerator cheesecake. But wow - lemon. And Baileys? Please post recipes. It will be interesting to see if they're similar.
Back to my dinner decision on Tuesday - oops. A neighbor brought by half a dozen devil's food, chocolate, cake doughnuts. - called 'glazed old fashioned'. They're only available in one place and look sort of like crullers but very dense - roughly donut shaped & no filling. I immediately had two for dinner with a very large glass of Pinot Noir. This was 5pm so of course I was too full for a real meal. Dessert was 1/2 a bag of ridged potato chips at 9pm. Needless to say my weight is up a pound. So off to the gym!!!
0 -
Charleston. I love it. I've eaten my way around the world, but Charleston is my favorite. We drive down every year to get shrimp for the freezer. I live outside of Charlotte NC so it's not far.
0 -
hopefully pizza tonight, I brought home Angelos pizza yesterday, a large peperoni and a medium deluxe, the kids came over and I don't know if there's any left. my daughter even cleaned us out of doughnuts.
0 -
OK, y'all need to stop talking about donuts. You know how influenced by others food choices I am!
Savannah is actually my favourite but Charleston is second. So much good food to be had in that ares!
0 -
on the way home, I have to pick up a couple of cakes, my son in law's grandmother is having a birthday in Bartlesville Ok. too far for me to get any cake, just close enough to pay for them. a real nice lady though.
0 -
Cliff, how close do you live to Coffeyville and Dearing? I've twice done a weeklong artist residency for the Coffeyville Humanities Project and remember that King's Coffee in Dearing has great espresso drinks and meringue pies to die…no, make that KILL for. Used to drive to Bartlesville for great BBQ.
The project manager talked me down off the ledge this morning. He had freaked out when he saw the photos, because he didn’t see anything like that in the full bight midday sunlight plus the kitchen lighting. But he talked to the crew leader, who said that the crease is a joint between the original and repaired part of the ceiling—because of the lighting, he too thought everything was even contour-and-color-wise and therefore finished. I’ve been assured that is NOT water damage, new or pre-existing. They’re coming tomorrow to inspect, level the contour, and add a new coat of paint to that area of the ceiling to make it match the rest of the ceiling; and that I won’t have to relocate anything—they will cover and tarp. But I’m still gonna re-caulk the bathtub!
0 -
I live in augusta, quite a way west. we go near coffeville on the way to Bartlesville to visit or to Tulsa for a big gun show. have to try that pie sometime. we had a great pie shop, Furrs, but they all closed.
0 -
Chi, would it be worth getting a plumber out to check the tub plumbing?
Oh, the extra 1/4 inch space in the jars must have been the right thing to do. All 11 jar lids went "plink" as the vacuum formed. :-)
0 -
Eric, at this point we’ve been putting all our plumber’s kids through college. The tub & shower plumbing was redone eight years ago, to increase water pressure and install a shower with a diverter and separate handheld showerhead so that Bob’s elderly dad (who lived with us at the time) could shower while seated on a transfer bench in the tub. They went through the wall and installed completely new supply and drain lines. The project mgr. is going to bring the IR gun to check for water, but he doubts he’ll find any—the remediation project manager IR-gunned the entire kitchen and breakfast room ceilings before delineating the areas that needed mitigation.
0
