So...whats for dinner?

Mommy, Lacey, Susan, Bedo? any else in the NE. Hoping that the snow is kind to you and all of you keep your electricity/water/roofs. Yes Jim Cantore is in Boston on the Weather Channel.

Carole - I fall in/out of love with my crockpot. I was usually afraid to leave it on and leave the house. I did a couple of times but decided it was just not worth my worrying about it. But I do love the new Reynolds crockpot liners. I get a tear occasionally in them but easy to clean up that bit on the bottom. Says they are BPA free too. I am bad and just don't plan enough ahead to use it. I passed up at a nice resale shop the appetizer size one, looked brand new. Wish I had bought it just for use for my church stuff. DD has a hunka crockpot lol, locking lid. I have crockpot envy. I inherited this one from my FIL who never used it. At least it has removable insert. The one it replaced did not, talk about a pain in the you know what.

I have no idea what we are having for dinner. Might be those 5-6 thighs put back in the freezer. I found a partial bottle of onion teriyaki in fridge. No idea how old - last year sometime maybe summer. Maybe make that with some broccoli and don't laugh but some orzo. Like I said earlier I think I have 2 pkgs of that, sometimes hard to find out here.

Bought bag of Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats. Have to cook them. Guess I'd better start on some for breakfast

Gosh I am so glad I am not in the Northeast today.  Hunker down ladies, stay warm, stay safe...  Am doing the turkey drumsticks today at my dads, as yesterday-he had a a black eye when I arrived to change his pain patch and we went to Prompt care at 2 and stayed until 5:30....INR was low, and he claims he didn't fall or bump into anything. Doctor said at his age, just rubbing the eye and being on blood thinners might have caused it.  Ice every 2 hours today to try to keep the swelling from closing his eyes....

He had a frozen lasagna for dinner and I ate a pimento cheese sandwich. 

I kind of agree about the crock-pot thing. I find it useful enough for several dishes, however, to justify it's existence. One is making large amounts of stuffing at thanksgiving. I also use it when I need a slow braise on something and I'm not going to be available to tend it. Speaking, of which Food and Wine has some very good looking braises. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/braising-rec...!slide=2?xid=DISH012315BraisingRecipes

I don't have access to wild boar, but i'm going to call the butcher to snag some pork shanks to try that recipe.

Speaking of little pancakes, today is going to be throwback Monday. I'm making crepes with some sort of chicken/spinach filling. Haven't make crepes in years. Hope I can still master them. If not, bechamel will cover a multitude of sins lol. Side will be a green salad with cucumbers and red onion.

Luv, I would never laugh at orzo

The crockpot version of oatmeal works well if you put it in a deepish bowl inside the crockpot. Less cleanup. Also doesn't burn as easily if left too long.

My work to-do list this weekend didn't go as quickly as I had anticipated, at all. A simple export of data took up my computer for 9HOURS!!! For 9 hours I couldn't work on anyone else's files. I twiddled my thumbs. I drew data diagrams. And then Sunday's project turned out to be far more complicated than I had expected. At 4:30, the time I usually start to prepare my mis en place, I told Mr. 02143 that someone else was cooking our dinner. We went to the only real Mexican restaurant around. We were good. We didn't finish our huge plates of food, knowing that this would become today's lunch plan. Last night I started some black beans to soaking, and then using the pressure cooker, actually made the beans before lunch.

Tonight I am making Spicy Orange Chicken from Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge using chicken thighs. And then I will do a seat-of-my-pants vegetable stir-fry to use up the boo chou, oyster mushrooms, mustard greens and napa cabbage. Serve with rice, and we have dinner and tomorrow's lunch.

We only got about 4" of snow in the last round but they claim that our area will get as much as 3'6" of snow, with 60mph winds. Remember? I am the first hill off the ocean. When the wind blows from that direction the whole house shivers. Whoohooo! Cars are properly lined up in the drive, and Mr. 02143's car is on the non emergency side of the street. Gas can is filled so the snow plow can be fed. Shovels are lined up. Snow boots and gloves have been located. We are as prepared as we need to be.

Trip planning update: We have an apartment in Paris. Spent a bit more than I had planned, but there is no way I am sleeping in a room with my snoring mother. Plus, I need some alone time. She is so energetic, and sometimes she babbles and babbles. I need an escape. The apartment is 7 blocks from one group of cousins, 5 from another, and only 3 from the other. My street market is 3 blocks in the other direction with some of the best shops in the arr. The metro is just steps away as well. My mother wants to eat out more than I do, so I will start researching restaurants. This area of the city doesn't have a huge number of good spots, so we might need to travel for anything special.

I do recall Michelle's trip to Paris very well. I should go back to read up. This will be my 9th or 10th trip to this lovely city but the first time I have rented a place to stay. Usually, I just stay with some cousins so the cost when the flights used to be cheap was always minimal. But, this trip, with a 77 year old mother, I wanted a different experience. Best for the two of us, on this trip.

*susan*

Well, here is a snowstorm serendipity....

My next door neighbor just called to say tomorrow would be a great day for us to make timpano...we've thought about doing this since last Spring when we had it at LaMorra's "Big Nite" re-enactment. YES! YES! Yes! What fun....and she is willing to fight the mobs at the store to get the ingredients we don't have on hand....a true foodie!

So after making lamburgers for our dinner tonight (DH just shoveled a path to the grill....he works for food;),I will make mini meatballs to include in the timpani.

Carole your food choices lately have been so mouthwatering!!

So we are officially now hunkered down, and even skipped our gym time and exercise class since the traffic was so awful. I must make it downstairs to the treadmill, and try to replicate the stretches that Sarah has us do.....especially if we will be eating like champs tomorrow!

Other fun news...DS2s Chicago girl got the okay from her bosses to transfer her job to "the bean" so I am very excited for them. She is coming at the end of next month after closing out her life there (yikes!) and he emailed me today to ask if we could all go out to dinner right after she arrives. Why, YES! We are both so amazed at how content and unambivalent he seems in this relationship....might be it! Yay for him!

Okay, candles and flashlights are out, cars full of gas (tho no driving allowed), enough food to survive for at least several days. Extra blankets in case power out ....tho last time that happened our heat and hot water never went off, so we may be fine there. I do never look forward to DH having to do some roof shoveling, but that will probably happen. I do not look forward to listening to to the media beat the storm to death which has already started. But I guess it beats listening to them carry on about the Patriots. I have not enjoyed being a fan of a team that is hated like the Yankees have been for many years. Guess it makes for higher viewing ratings on Super Bowl Sunday!

Be safe and warm everyone.....glad I'm not in a waterfront property!

Susan -- your trip is going to be outstanding. Sounds like a perfect location. Envious, I am. Lacey, the girl definitely sounds promising! Good luck with your Big Night Big Project. You are my idol.

Really hoping this storm turns out to be not at all epic and that your lives are not disrupted too much. Be careful on those roofs!

Stay safe everyone in the northeast.

Eric

Waiting in the ED with mom...possible pneumonia for her.....and I will be working tomorrow at 6am

eric - oh no!  For both of you!

Eric - so sorry to hear about your Mom. Hope they can get her on some good meds to knock this quickly.

Sending positive healing thoughts your and your mom's way, Eric.

Susan definitely calling you if/when my stove ever gets dysfunctional! Hunker down.....

Tonight made meatballs for the timpano, and the hard boiled eggs. The lamburgers we had for dinner were particularly tasty. I tried someone's suggestion of adding the feta in the burger (along with minced garlic, Rosemary powder and chopped onion) rather than on top like we usually have. Poor DH had to work hard fighting the driving snow for this grilling effort. He never complains about very bad weather when he grills, but this storm is obviously even too much for him.

Saw a Facebook post about how to turn your shoveling efforts into lunges, squats, etc. so we may be doing that in the morning!

oh eric also sending you and your mom strong healing wishes...

Hahaha, Susan. I guess I neglected to mention that on Sunday, I witnessed a similar new cultural phenomenon in my town.....the grocery store was totally out of lettuces and KALE, yet had plenty of hamburger and sub rolls. In years past, produce was relatively untouched and bread products gone. I did notice that there were plenty of brussels sprouts tho! I smiled at the kale shortage.

I rarely use my slow cooker....mainly to keep soup warm if I am bringing it somewhere.

We are really snowed in....so I have to find some sled dogs to get me next door with my component parts to the Timpano. Not eager to eat hard boiled eggs and meatballs here....need to cook up and cool the ziti. Neighbor made the crust, doing the sauce, cheeses, cured meats This will be fun if we can scale the snowdrifts! Fortunately, no heavy wet snow so power loss has not been an issue.

Hope everyone else in this white marass is safe.

And I hope your mother is responding well to her treatment, Eric.