So...whats for dinner?

Moon - congrats. Cute new grandbaby. My niece is due in January. I found a really cute "onsie" that says "I'll try a bottle of the house white".

I'd love to try pizzelles too. Guess I'll have to haunt some specialty food places, although they certainly won't be anywhere near as good as Lacey's.

It's fun shopping for baby clothes and small child clothes, especially for a little girl.  Boy clothes aren't quite as cute though they have improved the last few years. 

Dinner will be warmed-up turkey noodle soup and whatever else is in the refrigerator with a salad. 

Lacey, I think you're nominated Italian grandmother for all of us!  I will google pizzelles to see what they look like.  I love the name.  It's so "un-cookie like."  

It doesn't seem like Christmas could be just a few days away. 

Beautiful dish Susan, can't wait to try it. Thanks for the recipe.

Thank you everyone. I'm happy. I told my DD on Monday when I treated her to a mani pedi for her bday that she might not have it long. But she told me they don't remove it anymore. LOL. Guess I'm old. I remember that's the first thing they did was take it off. But now they use the oxygen monitor on your finger and don't need to remove. Whew! 35$ for 2 days would have been sad. LOL.

Susan I always thought pizzelles taste like a cookie ice cream cone..i love that. I love lemongrass in a stir fry..yum.

Ok. One more pic of Busia with her first grandbaby -

Felicia Rose. Promise I won't put anymore on here for a while. LOL They live about a half hour away so hope to see them pretty often..

Love baby pix, so yes, use up your Susan allotted quota, Monica! Lovely nana and child photo! Am assuming that Busia is a term for grandma, or is it what you will be called?

Today is our first grandchild's birthday. Four years ago it was exciting heading to Manhattan after hearing that he was about to be born. Same for our little August born granddaughter, two years ago. For her we got the call while in NH and they were then in NJ, so even a longer fast trip. I hope DS2 sticks around Boston if/when he becomes a dad, so we can make a fast run to a local hospital. Gettin' old here.....

Got the felt boards done and made lots of felt shapes for them...and ordered numbers and letters from Amazon, which will arrive when we are there on Saturday. Love that Prime! Way too instantly gratifying!

Carole, I agree about the shopping for girl clothes. As a mother of boys, it was never too exciting, even tho those Oskgosh overalls were cute. But I love seeing all the baby/toddler girl stuff. However, I am horrified at the store prices, so I often pick things up at a consignment place nearby, The Children's Orchard. I think they have franchises everywhere. They carry soooo many nice barely, or not at all, used clothes....a statement about our society overpurchasing! I can often get adorable dresses for about five dollars....and since my little sweetie has many clothes anyway, that is all I bring to her. I ask DDIL to just donate them if she doesn't want or need them, but I love doing the Nana purchase once in a while...if not mine, someone's grandchild will get to wear it, and I have not broken the bank!

Tonight I marinated chicken breasts in a balsamic roasemary garlic sauce to which I added tumeric since I figured we wouldn't taste it....we didn't. I feel about tumeric the way many people feel about kale. DH grilled them and we had arugula salad, and he finished up some potato salad from another time.

I was able to make a really pretty bath and beauty basket for the woman in the shelter who I sponsored for Xmas. Made me happy I save things, since I used several nice "recycled" items to complete the task. Tonight I organized all the gifts going to NJ, and will wrap them tomorrow, then get myself ready for this road rally. It has been quite some time since DH and I have gone to NJ for a visit, then CT to see my Stepmother, and then home all in one day/night. Sunday will be a sleeper, I suspect. Oh, and unless I get a burst of energy and a couple of extra hours tomorrow, the Frozen blanket for DGD will get mailed after the holidays, which might be just as well since we are actually going for DGS's birthday.

Hope to learn you had a wonderful anniversary dinner, Special!

Except for mine....baby pictures are great to look at.... :-)

You are all driving me crazy with the pho and noodle talk.

I smell something yummie coming from my Landlord's house.

I sent an email telling her she is torturing me. Hopefully she will get the hint and invite me over as it is Friday and the cupboard is bare

Susan - my Mother always needed & appreciated hand &/or body lotion. Sorry, I can't remember how active she is?? Maybe a gift cert for a mani/pedi? Does she still read? Magazine subscription? A lovely shawl for cold shoulders & necks? AhHa, if she doesn't yet have an Electric Throw, it's the best thing I've found in 3 years. I bought my own and have since given them to lots of friends. Available almost everywhere (Pennys, WalMart, Macys,Target). And both of my parents always loved getting their favorite candy. Oops, I didn't mean to get carried away but I'm wrapping the last of the presents as we speak. I'm determined to finish tonight but had to take a short break.

Susan, what a delightful description of your Bostonian mother.  You must have inherited some of your journalist parent's way with words.  I think it's great that she hasn't retired but is still involved in her profession, which is possibly her passion.  I think I remember your mentioning that she was a good cook in her younger days.  What about a sweater from LL Bean or Land's End?  We get those catalogs and they always have attractive classic styled sweaters that are much too warm for our winters.  A cashmere sweater would be so comfy and luxurious. 

Susan, Carole is right, L.L. Bean is the place to find those classic sweaters. You'd probably never have to buy another one, their stuff lasts forever. Very Yankee approved I imagine. As for me, I don't own a sweater. Waaaaay too hot. In fact, I'm going to an ugly Christmas sweater party Tuesday and an going to have to make something with my trusty glue gun. The best I can do is an ugly Christmas knit shirt.

Dh has gotten my cold so wanted sick day dinner of soup and grilled cheese last night. I'll try again with the stir fry tonight. He seems to be suffering more than I did (don't they always? Except for you Eric!) so we'll see how he feels.

Got a lovely surprise last night. One of my adored nieces sent a basket with two bottles of wine and a bunch of gourmet goodies in it. We've already polished off the Florentine cookies and Belgian truffles. Love her!

Carole, keep those beautiful days going for the next couple of weeks! Btw, sending you a pm.

Cleaning mode today for tomorrow's company. Did get a piecrust made for a custard pie.

susan, there are a couple of companies that have weekly menus and send out a box of prepped meals for the week. Maybe your Mom would like a subscription? At least one of the companies has a biweekly offering. 3 meals a week fir 2 people is bout 60 a week. You could gift a week r more. I'll see if I can in the site.

Susan - I am with you bemoaning the lack of "nice" sweaters. I love cardigans longish so that I lean over no gap between shirt/skirt, button up but they are the devil to find. I usually wear to church year round since it's always cold in there. I cannot imagine not using hand lotion in your climate. The ends of my fingers would split in 1/2 constantly. I see no reason a heated throw could not be used at her computer - just so that she is wary of the cord. And I, too, love your description of her. Wish I still had my mom to spoil.

Dinner will probably be soup/sandwich. No idea when DH will get home. I'm off to church Christmas special. Just ate the last teeny bit of meatloaf. Prob. need some boxed salad to round it out.

Nancy - you may be busy with guest preps. I have bought most of the ingred. for the black eyed pea stew. No slab bacon around here. Salt pork yes. I love the instructions to cut it into lardons - sounds like a perfect description of salt pork "lard". I bought multicolored chopped kale at WallyWorld. Toyed with the baby kale but ended up with the multi. The lardons bits look meatier than any salt pork we get here. I have some thick cut bacon too. Might use combo of both. I think maybe Monday for this.

DH was suitably impressed that freezer looks better. Thinks I am better managing budget - no it's just going to different places other than just grocery.

Tomorrow I think I'll make meatball soup. Maybe supposed to rain buckets but forecast looks more doubtful as the day goes on.

Chatted with a young woman in India today.  She works for Chase bank in the customer service dept.  I mentioned to her that I was reading a book on Indian cooking.  She said I wouldn't like it.  It was too spicy and oily.  Thought the "oily" comment was interesting.

Tonight I made another almost-Vietnamese dinner from the Momofuku cookbook. This dish was inspired, for me, by the ground pork and lemongrass languishing in the fridge. Here is an online version: http://momofukufor2.com/2010/02/grilled-lemongrass...

Our dinner was quite different. We ate a fraction of that meat per lettuce cup. For me Southeast Asian food is all about the balance, with each component playing well together. I made a little snow pea side dish. I blanched the peas, shocked them, and then dressed them with the fish sauce vinaigrette and a bit of sunflower oil. Nice crunch to accompany our lettuce cups.

I have purchased a sweater for my Mom. Not perfect, but nothing she will hate. I will head to Marshalls this week. The food section a the one closest to me always has some fun items, and then buy some of the Indian boxes at the local Indian market. I will hold off on the hard drive since that requires a trip North to "install." Now onto my sister.... the one who happily accepts gifts but never seems to give them. She is a bit of a hoarder who keeps an pretty messy house. I always mutter "she doesn't need more crap" so she might get something like a nice peppermint set from Penzey's. She is a hot chocolate kind of gal. My husband bought his primary gift today for me to wrap. We are way too old for big surprises, well except for the iPad Air I bought him last year.

Still no tree here, but I do have Christmas music going while I cook dinner. Tonight was the King's College Choir, one of my favorites.

*susan*

Can hardly talk this morning.  Not a problem since dh and I aren't big morning chatterboxes.  The hot coffee feels good flowing down my throat.  Reading about the food traditions of the Arab countries makes it seem even more unfortunate that those countries have been so disrupted by the political and religious conflicts.  The history is fascinating.

The navy bean soup with ham chunks (also diced onion, garlic, carrots, celery and small can of diced tomatoes) was tasty as was the wedges of corn bread with butter.  The leftovers will not go to waste.

Dinner tonight will be at a restaurant with another couple following the annual Christmas concert at St. Timothy's Methodist Church.  This musical event is always wonderful.  The choir is well-trained and there are always symphony musicians and soloists with beautiful voices.  It's probably the high point of Christmas for me along with the family dinner on Christmas day.

No Christmas tree here.  One red poinsettia, a door prize, and a gangly gilt reindeer Christmas card holder.  I bought him at Bed, Bath and beyond one year.  He's so homely and comical he makes me smile.  We haven't even bothered to get the lighted Christmas wreath out of the attic so far.   There are Christmas decorations elsewhere to enjoy and I won't have to dismantle any of them and pack them away. 

Susan, yay on the sweater for your mom.  DH and I both like to buy our own "stuff," so that cuts down on gift-giving at Christmas and birthdays.  He just made some major purchases, a new lathe for wood turning, a new set of Ping irons. I've asked him to help me select  bikes for my niece's three children, a present from a sister, a brother and myself.  He's making beautiful wooden pens for people in my family.  He likes to bake dozens and dozens of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to package up for the neighbors.  I would be interested in some other baking projects to provide some variety but it would hurt his feelings if I said as much.  So oatmeal cookies it is, whether the neighbors want them or not!