So...whats for dinner?
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So many stories to respond to, and not enough concentration to do it right.
Moon, I am so glad that your granddaughter is giving you so much pleasure. Spending time with her each week will give you such purpose and joy. I am always baffled by your spouse, moving closer, moving farther away, disappearing. I know that you have decided to live with this uncertainty, but I sure wish it didn't need to be that way. And, I wish that you were being supported, both emotionally and financially, in a way that you don't have to worry about food and basic needs.
Pat, funny how the most independent folks become "different" when they are forced by their bodies to become dependent. They are in pain. They are angry. They can't actualize what their brains are telling them they want to do. They get grumpy. The weeks that I cared for my mother loom large in my memory as very long weeks. You will pull this off. But, you do need to get relief. My mother used to take Tuesday and Thursday mornings for herself, and all day Saturday when caring for my sister. For the 6 years that my father declined while living with her, it was only Tuesday mornings. She just needed a break. See if you can arrange something like this for yourself.
Red, best healing thoughts to you. You must have taken quite a tumble! But, I admire your clever workarounds in the kitchen. Nothing like a determined woman to find the alternate method to accomplish any task.
The English muffin bread has been quite a success. This is my third Sunday in a row making this bread. Everyone likes it. It is not as good as my actual English muffin recipe at all, but I can start it at 8am and be eating bread at noon with my Sunday eggs. The kids like it. The husband likes it. I like it. But, it might be time to try your recipe.... see what another version might do for us. [I will say that the simplicity and speed of this bread is one of its key attributes.]
Vacation planning has taken over. I am so darn OCD about finishing something before moving to something else, that work has taken a real back seat. We now have an itinerary: Malaga [hotel 3 nights] -> bus -> Granada [hotel 2 nights] -> train -> Cordoba [hotel 2 nights] -> Seville [apartment for a week] -> plane -> Valencia [4 days] -> train -> Barcelona [apartment for a week] -> plane -> Istanbul [still looking for a place to stay.] -> plane -> Boston. So I have bought all plane tickets, have places to stay everywhere but Istanbul. Hard to believe how much time this has all taken. Now, I need to figure out the renfre, train website that makes it almost impossible to buy a ticket, buy tickets to Alhambra, and the bus from Malaga to Granada.
Finding an apartment in Istanbul has turned out to be really hard. You think you have found a perfect place and then it turns out to have a 2 ft wide spiral staircase for 5 floors, etc. Or it is on a street that looks like a war zone. Or, or or.
Today, I am breaking down a leg of lamb. The lovely whole muscles will turn into lamb stew of some kind, and all that other stuff will turn into Merguez sausage. I think the sausage will be supper, served with some bulghar, and a salad.
I have missed a ton of people... sorry....
*susan*
oh yea. We have at least 15" of new snow out there, and it is still coming down hard.
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Hahaha....as nice as it is to see the sun shine after this last 18 inch white load, it's keeping me busy mopping up water in the window frames that are getting leakage from the ice dams. So I am amazed at how ice can be melting when the temps are between 10 and 20... But I guess in between the window fram it is at least 32!
Am turning into a real Nurse Ratchett with so much multitasking. I get to act it out by pushing DH to do the PT exercises he finds a bit difficult....of course that is how I got my shoulder and and knees better...so Nurse Ratchett knows best!
Off to make DH his next food item....tuna on a bulkie with lots of lettuce. He is so more food oriented than I0 -
Oh....and tomato soup out of a WF box! So uninspiring....but efficient so I can get back to the windows...
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Geez Lacey -- it never ends, does it? You are a trooper with a capital T!
Susan, don't know if this is significantly different than KAF's. Btw, I don't use rapid rise yeast, so it usually rises in an hour or so. I usually make a double batch and bake it in the pullman pan. Makes for a nice square toast.
English Muffin Bread
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 pkg rapid rise yeast
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
cornmeal
1. In large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda; stir in milk and water.
2. Stir in remaining flour to make soft dough.
3. Grease 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan; sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough in prepared pan; sprinkle with cornmeal.
4. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Bake at 400 degrees 25 to 30 minutes or until done.
6. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.
I'm braising some lamb shanks with garlic and Indian spices. Boy does the house smell good. I'll serve it with some Israeli couscous and green beans with shallots and lemon.
Carole, hope you enjoyed Endymion. I'm making a King Cake with a lemony cream cheese filling. I've made lots of king cakes, but this is the first time I've made a filled one. It's the hardest dough I've ever worked with! You have to roll it up like a jelly roll and the filling kept trying to squeeze out. I was covered in cream cheese filling! We'll see how it turns out.
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24" of blasted snow! on top of whatever was still there. Incredible! [she says with her best French accent.] Male people blew and shoveled lots of snow. Now the wind is blowing the snowbanks back into all the cleared spaces.
Lamb stew is in the oven. Sausage mixture is co-mingling and ready to grind. I am covered in splatter and will need another shower. The kid made beef stew at the same time so the house smells wonderful.
Nancy, funny! That is almost exactly the same as the recipe I have been using with a few minor changes. Gonna try this next weekend.
*susan*
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Happy Mardi Gras!
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Nancy, how delightful your king cake is! And I may just have to "try" making your English Muffin bread recipe tomorrow...mainly because we are clean out of bread! So much for scrounging for kale nefore a snowstorm!Distressing for DH! I actually gave DH the tuna sandwich today on a "dated" bulkie roll. Not sure I can manage that (morally) another day. So after his lunch, and my clean up (please understand, in our house I am creative dept., and he is maintenenace dept.) our neighbor came over to snowblow our walks and driveway (which also involves clearing and moving the cars to our "Timpano" neighbors driveway...they are in FL). Well, since I am currently ablebodied, albiet tired, I figured I may as well help him, so I donned five layers and headed out to do the front walks, the edges of the drive, and the back walk and grill area which was totally re-covered since I did it yesterday.
I have to admit, I have less of a problem with Mother Nature covering my handiwork than I do with the town employees or contractors who bomb past you with their plows filling in every place you have painstakingly just shoveled. Oh well...if I blame MN it feels softer.
Tonight, after I returned to the warmth of the inside, I heated up the rabe, chicken and squash medley, and made a nice salad to go with it, and it was just delightful (maybe shoveling appetite?).
Also had a fun Facetime with DS1, DDIL and the "little buggers" when I came in. Learned that DDIL is starting her own GYN practice, after being with a group OBGYN practice for a several years. Her malpractice reduces by half once she will no longer do OB...and a scheduling coup for a mother of very young kids! I am always impressed with the confidence of the women of our children's generation. I think "our" generation were "transitioners" for them! I am excited for her. She texted us after Facetime to say that DGD told her that, her hip hurt...that she had a boo boo like PaPa's. Kids are amazingly impressionable. I have yet to seriously start my picture book based on DGD about her love of tutus and how her DGM buys her lots of them from a consignment store and she fantasiizes about who wore them and what they did as they grew up (that's the fictional part), Need to work on this a lot, (once my familial multitasking job is done!) and I love the theme.
Oh, while I was out shoveling, a woman walking her dog stopped to chat. It was great to meet a new neighbor, who, as it turned out, bought the house of someone I know a few blocks away. That is one of the things that is great about snowstorms (or many in succession!) in Boston ...you connect with unknown (yet) neighbors. Turns out her DH hails from a town near where I grew up....and they have a place in Ocean City NJ where I spent my formative young adult summers...unlike the " Jersey Shore" of TV.
Susan, I have no idea where your "guys" put your new snow unless they truck it away...
Hope you all manage well in the newly forecasted weather trend for this week. Seems we will just get the end of it...but I worry for those in the midwest. Stay safe!
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PS Susan....love your French accent!
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Lacey they were putting it in dump trucks at work to clear the parking lot and taking it ?????
I got a message from the community organic garden today. We will have our "Spring Meeting and seed swap" in 16 days which is the beginning of the "Spring Season" Hahahahaha!
On the positive side, I will get to be on the 'Bee Team" this year, as I've always wanted to learn bee keeping.
We will have a mushroom expert come from a local mushroom "farm?" and give a talk, so there should be plenty of mushrooms and recipes.
Minestrone soup for dinner.... and brunch. and for dinner tomorrow night. Am such a pig about cheese that I gnawed down the leftover cheese rinds that went into it.
For once I am glad about this tiny place, as it will feel like -25 tonight per the forcast.
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I finally got the computer going again. It would not connect to wireless networks with a capital letter in the SSID (network name)...Once I discovered that, I checked around and found it was a known issue. Going back one version for that part fixed it....sigh...
The thread has been busy with all sorts of less than great news..broken wrists, falls, leaks.. I hope this nasty damaging (to people and houses) weather stops soon and it warms up *slowly* enough that it doesn't flood.
Moon, I like the picture of you and your granddaughter.
Dinner tonight was a quick "put chicken in the dutch oven, add corn, beans, a couple of chilli peppers, and crushed tomatoes....and cook until done."
Sharon, DD and I spent nearly all day cleaning up/out the back yard and trimming things and then we went over to my mom's place and did the same thing over there on a smaller scale. When we got back, no one wanted to cook and we all were too stinky to go out to eat, so the simple dish above.
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Eric, good for you, solving the computer problem. For me, it would be, "Take the laptop to Best Buy," and pay a small fortune. That's what dh did recently and I think he paid about $200. I told him to trash his laptop and buy a new one. He doesn't always listen to me!
Nancy, what a pretty king cake. I'll bet it tasted/tastes good, too. I'm looking forward to the end of king cake season.
Not a clue yet what dinner will be.
Happy Lundi Gras to everyone.
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well I cannot blow my hair dry or use curling iron looking wild and wooly today. need some gelee in it to make it a style, right dr nurse called, had cacellation so I arrive at 930 now for surgery at 11. thanks for sending my angels back and being in my pockets
I hope they feed me something good when I am awake...I could kill for breafast
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Good luck with your surgery Red!
King cake was so so. A bit on the dry side in spite of the filling and not much flavor. I might try it again with an almond paste filling (next year.)
I know it's red bean and rice day, but tonight is chicken, okra and smoked sausage gumbo with a baguette. We got 8 inches of snow overnight and bitterly cold. Ugh. So ready for spring.
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Thinking of you Red..
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fingers crossed Red!
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Gorgeous! More!
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Queen of Endymion. Having bit of trouble managing photo and text in phone post.
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Flambeau carriers. The flames are fueled by butane gas. The men carry the bottles strapped to their backs0 -
Carole - great pictures. Assume that's you and DH? Other than the fact you need more beads (ha ha) - handsome man & lovely lady. Looks like you had a good time.
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Ladder with seat large enough for two small children. Many of these on parade route. Kids make out like bandits, get lots of loot.
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Eric - I can sympathize with the tires, sore & dirty. I worked outside most of Thursday pruning roses, mowing up old leaves, trimming bushes. I had sore muscles that I didn't even know I had. But ... I think we'd better keep it 'sotto voce' in deference to our east coast friends. Hoping you all back east will get some relief soon. Bedo - I like the idea of spring seeds.
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Minus, we collected two large tote bags of beads. We kept one and our neighbors took one. I keep some of the nicer beads for decorations. We take the rest and give them to kids at the resort in Mn.
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Eric and minus, if only . . .
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Dinner tonight was roasted turkey thighs and a sweet potato mash with Moroccan spices: ground coriander, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, and red pepper. We both like sweet potatoes a lot and usually just put butter on them. This was a nice change. The recipe called for peeling, dicing and boiling but I roasted the whole potatoes in the skins. They peel very easily and roasting enhances the sweetness.
Red, hope you're comfortable tonight.
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The dogs got into some glucosomine chews--all 2 months worth. The vet wasn't too concerned, but said it might upset their stomach and to keep them well watered. It did....upset their stomachs. Think a gallon of ipecac, taken a few ounces at a time until gone....... Wow.....enough said.......
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Oh Eric, poor babies and poor you!
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Both couches were "impacted". I guess we can bring in the 1960s vintage chaise lounges from the lawn, sit them down in front of the TV, binge watch "Walking Dead" and drink from Red Solo Cups.. :-)
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Red, best wishes for you. By now you are in post-surgery mode, probably still woozy from the drugs, and unable to type a bloody thing. Hope you heal quickly.
Eric, one word: YUCK
Carole, okay.... those pictures are flamboyant! If I didn't hate crowds so much, this would be on my list of places/times to visit. But, I do hate crowds. Thank you so much for sharing those pictures. Almost like visiting myself.
Minus, you could trade gardening for snow removal. I have some extra you could practice with!
I fear that Lacey is in caretaker-hell. Snowed in with a husband that she is trying to do PT with. Sincerely hope that her DD2 was able to come yesterday to give her a hand. Unfortunately, she lives just a bit too far away for me to bring her some food [and a large bottle of wine.] The roads around here are still pretty treacherous. And it isn't the snow that is the problem, it is the other drivers. Can't believe how edgy people are being behind the wheels of their car. Just ridiculous how much honking and playing-chicken on these narrow passageway I am seeing.
We have over 70" of snow out there. Probably a bit closer to 90". I really need to force myself to get on some warm clothes so I can take a picture of the sheer quantity of the stuff. Last night, we ate the braised leg-of-lamb stew that I made the day before. I served it over some oven polenta with a big pile of green peas. Since I used the large muscles of the leg, there was no fat in the braise. It certainly cooked differently than a shoulder stew for example, but is very delicious. Tonight, we will have another round of this dinner. The rest goes into the magic freezer.
Who did I miss this time?
*susan*
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