So...whats for dinner?
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Yum for all your recipes.
I have been eating a lot of fish trying to lose a bit of weight for my daughter's wedding last Sat. I tried Monk Fish, "the poor man's lobster" from Whole Foods
It was good. Unfortunately I cook it all the same way as I am not a good cook-broiled or baked with olive oil, S+P garlic and lemon. I want to try some of the less popular local fish.
Special I not only a blubberer but a babbler.
The feared former SIL turned to me in the in the buffet line and asked, "no wedding cake?" "No," I said, "they all do cupcakes now, they're popular" "interesting" she replied coolly, and turned her back on me. I stared at the back of her head.
Before, when I advised her that I wanted to try immersion Spanish (their side of the family is from Spain) she asked me if I spoke any and I panicked and replied, in Spanish "Why, yes! Please remove your pants and underwear and have a seat on the table! This will not hurt. Please pay up front! " and "How much is the black beans and white rice?" - I used to work in a male STD clinic and ate lunch across the street-it's the only two things that I can say. She was speechless for once. haha.
And yes I do like the beans and rice, but am trying to cut carbs, as that is all I used to eat it seems.
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Bedo, lol at the Spanish conversation at the wedding! Priceless! Glad that everything went well. Your in-laws sound like you're much better off with them in the "ex" category.
Eric, what a momentous project you undertook with your dd's auto. I'm amazed at and impressed with your knowledge and motivation. It's so much easier to shell out some $$ instead of going to all that effort. Especially when you're such a busy man with your responsibilities.
Nance, the fawn is adorable. You definitely need some nature cameras set up on your property. We once were partially surrounded by woods and saw deer but development has wiped out most of the forested areas. We're left with many squirrels and I am seeing a bunny rabbit out in the yard. I hope he/she is careful because we have hawks on the lookout for unsuspecting prey.
Minus, in your situation I would probably just buy the Rao since it is so delicious. There's nothing unusual about the recipe. It's pretty much what we all follow to make our basic marinara. The difference may be in the quality of the tomatoes but Nance and Susan have their home-grown tomatoes. I can buy the San Marzano (sp?) canned tomatoes at Fresh Market and have done so but I have to question whether they're that much better than good CA tomatoes.
Lacey, your dining out experiences continue to make you our dining out queen! There are definitely advantages to living in a major city.
The components for tonight's dinner, all out of the freezer: 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, 2 cartons of cooked white beans, smoked sausage, small carton of turkey broth. DH got the 4 qt. Crockpot down before he left to head for the golf course. I plan to brown the chicken thighs and the smoked sausage and let all the ingredients cook in the Crockpot. There is more cooked rice in the refrigerator from the delivered meals. And some salad makings.
Looking forward to another Susan post.
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Bedo: you've made my day. Love your spanish phrases & the perfect application. I hope you really DID tell those snotty ex-in-laws exactly that. Looking forward to more details when you get time.
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For some reason, today was a "my back is sore day" and then I worked it hard! We arrived at Aya Sophia at 9:20, just before the cruise ship passengers, and spent hours exploring this former church/mosque. I took so many pictures, and they take so long to load, I am going to have to pare back substantially, but here you go:
*susan*
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Wow....
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Bedo -- lol -- perfect! You go girl!
Oh Susan, what pictures! Marvelous!
Lacey, what a nice story about the elderly couple. It does make you hopeful. Seems like the St. Louis news is nothing but murder and mayhem.
Busy day here. I started with ricotta. I wanted to try making it with 2% milk, mostly to get an idea of what the difference in taste and texture would be. Like you Carole, I did use cream. It turned out quite good. Don't know if I'll make it that way all the time, but now I know it still is better than what I can buy.
From there I moved on to the Rao's Marinara. It's such a simple recipe I really didn't have great expectations here either. I was pleasantly surprised at how excellent it is. Perhaps its the amount of olive oil or the tomatoes. I don't know, but I can heartily recommend the recipe. I did add fresh basil and oregano at the end, but I don't think those were the deciding factors.
Next was pasta. Nothing surprising here. I made enough for tonight's lasagna and enough to freeze for a couple of other meals. While I was all floury, I decided to make cream biscuits to go with some macerating strawberries I made yesterday. I set aside a small amount of ricotta which I sweetened lightly and added a tiny bit of vanilla, will serve it on top of the strawberries.
It took about as long to clean up all this mess as it did to make it. Whew!
DH, bless his heart, had the nerve to ask if we were having homemade bread with the lasagna. Really??!!
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The zoom function on my phone camera isn't wonderful and I had to shoot the pictures through the glass because Mommie Deerest is a bit skittish with the little guy. I upped the contrast to get them to show up better that's why the pictures look a little funky.
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I may have to think about a trip to Istanbul. The pictures are so enticing.
Nance, I made my ricotta the same way: 2 per cent milk and cream. It was delicious and creamy. I have never eaten cream biscuits but they sound wonderful. With or without strawberries. Bread is one of my favorite food categories.
When I read the Rao recipe, I noticed the large amt. of olive oil. I'll have to give it a try without modifying.
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Carole -- they're great if you're not counting calories lol. They are nothing but self rising flour and cream. That's why I only made 2. I'm sure the 2% milk will balance the all the calories out ;-)
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Why yes, Minus,
"poor fa vor, day kay tar say los pan-till owns, E los pan till owns see ohs E see in toe say! lol, you can imagine the rest. I can't read Spanish. This is my guess at phonetic spelling. lol
I'm an idiotic
I hope to honor the Spanish language by leaning it and by becoming as fluent, as best I can, we are the only country that only speaks one language!
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After spending the morning at the Aya Sophia, we moved to the Topkapı Palace next door. I do NOT suggest doing both sights on the same day. Just too much, but we had bought the tickets so we ignored the back pain and continued. The Topkapı Palace was the last palace built by the Ottoman empire so there are lots of European influences. They have turned the kitchens into display areas for all the serving dishes owned by the palace, though one room had actually cooking utensils and pots. Sadly, they do not allow photos in that area. As you can imagine, Sultans lived mighty well as these pictures can prove!
Cafe where we had lunch on the edge of the Topkapı Palace.
Ceiling dome.
Sultan's couch in his Harem living room.
Tiles... lots and lots of tiles.
*susan*
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Enjoying the pictures, Susan. Cannot identify with being a sultan. It must have been nice for them. I would probably have been in the servant class.
Took out a boneless lamb shoulder roast last night to thaw. It's not oven weather but we need to eat the food in the freezer. Will probably use fresh rosemary, garlic and olive oil as seasoning agents along with s & p. If I were in top moving about and walking condition, I would use the outside gas grill as an oven but that would entail lots of trips to the patio checking on the cooking status. Plus I don't have a disposable drip pan. So I'll probably just let the a/c and oven heat duke it out.
Polenta will be an easy and delicious side.
Nance, I'll bet that lasagna was out of this world?
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6pm here, and we are sitting in our hotel-apartment having a cup of coffee. This was our very last day in Istanbul. In the morning we went to the Grand Bazaar specifically looking for gifts. I was thinking a scarf for the girl child and maybe something leather for the boy one. We walked, and walked and walked. I finally found something that I loved. It was an embroidered scarf with interesting colors. Once the discount was offered and the number translated, we were talking $700!!!!! For a scarf! The next one he showed me didn't have a color scheme I liked but was "only" $250. Do you think I left with a gift? Nope. For that kind of money, I could buy her two first-quality Le Creuset dutch ovens, or a refrigerator for goodness sakes! Very few of the shops sold anything of value though. Mostly mass-produced trinkets and baubles. It was exhausting. I decided that except for the aggressive beggars,I was simply going to be pleasant. I can't count how many times I said "No thank you" or "Not today" with a smile. It was exhausting.
We left with nothing. [The leather goods were all crap.]
So we went back to the Spice market in search of sour cherry syrup. None. We found none at all. Everyone stocks pomegranate syrup, but no sour cherry. So I finally settled for an artisanal sour cherry jam. And a cheap, cotton scarf with a very pretty pattern. We had lunch at an ancient restaurant which was perhaps overpriced, but the tandoori lamb was delicious and VERY filling. This plate of food with eggplant, potatoes, and lots of different vegetables had more butter than I usually eat in a week!
Tomorrow, a driver should arrive at 9:30 to take us back to the airport, and we begin our journey home. I think the flight is about 11 hours long. I think it will be a very long day indeed. My next installment won't happen until I am home once again, looking ahead to chemo for life.
*susan*
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Susan, love the pictures. I find shopping exhausting under the best of circumstances. I must say though, I find the thought of a market just for spices thrilling. I'm a little sad the trip is ending. It's been a wonderful time, thank you for sharing it with us.
Carole, this is where a pressure cooker comes in handy. You could cook the lamb in a very short period of time with a small amount of heat.
The lasagna was mighty delicious. It was the first time I've made most of the components from scratch.
Looking forward to my pedicure today. Dinner is tbd.
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DH and I prepped the lamb shoulder roast. It was enclosed in netting, as expected. I cut the netting off and unfolded the roast. DH chopped some fresh garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary picked off the bush on the patio. A liberal amt. of olive oil, s & p, and the garlic/rosemary mixture all over the interior. Then dh tied the roast securely with kitchen twine and it is sitting in the refrigerator. It has a nice fat cap that should help keep it moist when cooking.
It weighs 2.15 lbs so the cooking time at 40 min. per lb will only be about an hour and a half for medium. Most of the recipes online call for 325 degree oven.
Susan, the cotton scarf with the pretty pattern sounds really nice to me. I can't imagine paying $700 for a scarf that could be lost or damaged with use.
I ordered a deLonghi home expresso machine that gets a good rating from Consumer Reports. It was less than $100 so not a big gamble. I ordered my mother a bright red mini Keurig. It's called shopping from the convalescence chair! My foot seems to be healing well, for which I am thankful. Today I get to take a shower!
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Susan those pictures are so beautiful I almost feel as I am there! Thank you so much for sharing them. I feel as though my world has been expanded (as you must)
Here are some of the local fish sold at the local Farmer's Market on Saturdays and Wednesday afternoons.
Bluefish • Butterfish • Cod • Crab • Flounder / Fluke • Haddock • Littleneck Clams • Lobster • Mackerel • Monkfish • Mussels • Oysters • Pollock • Quahogs • Scallops • Scup / Porgy • Sea Bass • Sea Robins • Skate Wings • Squid / Calamari • Steamers • Striped Bass • Swordfish • Tautog • Tuna
I have a lot of exploring to do!
Although my landlords know a place to dig Quahogs. They won't tell me. People in Rhode Island would rather share their spouses than their Quahog digging spot.
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Great selection of seafood, Bedo. Digging clams seems like a fun activity.
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Oh Bedo - this list makes my mouth water!!!
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Carole, I love the way your DH helps in the kitchen! That lamb with polenta sounds wonderful.Will you have crutches to rely on soon? I hope you have an apron to use for transporting things room to room. If not, I can send you the one Dh used. It was a life (and marriage) saver!
Last evening I ordered pizza from Hearthstone....got a mid size so I could try two kinds...one had fig and balsamic with arugula and prosciutto on top...the other was with red peppers and green and black olives and mozzarella. Both excellent, and there was plenty for DH to eat once home since he did not get fed enough at his meeting. Ha!
Tonight he was out again, so I had my staple of sauteed kale, garlic and onions (no mushrooms in the house) with poached egg over. I do love that odd little dish!
I am in the midst of uber packing for our trip to the lake tomorrow. Opening the house is starting to feel onerous...especially since the weather is supposed to be pretty cold. We will have to rustle up some wood once there to keep the wood stove going for warmth We no longer order cords, so at times like this we need to go searching for good hardwood for the stove.
I Have been busy much of today trimming our corner hedge which really needs to be cut suddenly, but at least I cleaned it up a bit so no one gets poked when they walk by. Lots of frequent walkers past our house...
Also busy packing food since I can't even remember leaving anything much there over the winter. So lots of bags of groceries lined up next to the door.
Thinking of you Susan...with appreciation for the armchair travel provided you provided...and wishing you a safe and gentle flight home....I think you will be pleased with our weather!
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Wow Bedo, serious fish envy here!
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Lacey, I feel the same way about transitioning from the house to the 5th wheel camper for the summer. This year there's the added knowledge that we plan to leave the camper in MN. We'll be packing up to return home in the truck. DH has already advised me not to take more clothes than I will wear.
There is leftover lamb roast. The obvious way to use it--shepherd's pie? I've had a yen for pizza so maybe we'll get a take-out pizza from Isabella's. Or two individual pizzas so we each get what we like. A third option is to make our own.
Lacey, I've been moving around the house from the first day of the surgery. For 5 days I used a walker with a seat as a knee scooter. My instructions were no weight on the surgery foot. Since Monday I have been walking around the house in between bouts of sitting with my foot propped high. I use an ice pack quite often. So I'm ambulatory but am not overdoing the walking and standing. So far I have not been at all bored. In fact there's a sense of relief in knowing that not a lot is expected of me!
The pain pump lasted 5 days, getting me through the days when there would have been pain. Since then I am fine with Tylenol for Arthritis (lasts 8 hrs) and some ibuprofen. Tomorrow I will probably drive for the first time, but only the distance to my mother's house to visit her. About 20 min. While there, I'll sit with my foot propped up.
Once I don't have to worry about keeping the foot up, I want to finish sewing my place mats. Plus I have two more patterns to make and will buy more material!
It's actually cool enough here this morning that I opened the kitchen door.
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Carole - I agree - I found the relief that nothing much was expected of me an interesting side benefit of BC. And goodness knows it's been a treat since most SEs are negative. It took me awhile to learn to scale back my expectations of myself. Now maybe I'm overdoing the "loafing" a little?
Chickenfoot (dominoes) this afternoon. We never "assign" food so it's an eating adventure. One time everyone brought sweets. Another time 3 people brought cut fruit. Could be anything from chili con queso to cold boiled shrimp. Whatever appears, I know I'll be too full to worry about dinner.
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Bedo I had bluefish in Cape May, NJ. It was lovely. Can't get it here in IL
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Love bluefish, Red,......but ate it frequently enough that I developed allergy symptoms to it.
Hate my allergies and their rainbarrell effect). We used to go out on fishing boats to catch them at the Jersey shore...and more recently on the Cape in August warmer water. I dare not eat it now...sadly. DH eats it in restaurants whenever it is offered.Carole, I'm so glad that your recuperation has gone in a way that has allowed for you to be so moblle. Yay!
I might have benefitted from a limit of clothes to bring to NH....however the weather forecast was not helpful for that! It is expected to be freezing tonight and by Sunday, beach weather. Oy!
We took forever to get here today....partially because we had to head towards Winnipesaukee to find the cable co we now use, to get some digital adapter (important to DH) for the TVs.
But we did make it here after Mem Day weekend traffic delays and a slow jag to cable co, ....and upon our arrival, what always makes my heart smile, is that our house was exactly the way we left it save one small dead fly on the kitchen floor. Always amazes and pleases me!
For dinner we ordered take out from a local Greek place instead of the local pizza place. I had baked scallops with broccoli and salad, and DH had spinach pie and a salad. The combo (we shared) was delightful....and we had baklava for dessert.
The really great news is that after several tries the fire is a blazin' and it needs to be.
Am thinking about your long flight home Susan, and hoping that you are able to sleep during that with wonderful dreams about your fabulous adventure!
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It is most certainly a fend for yourself night as far as dinner is concerned.
We're waiting on one more part (should be in Tuesday) and the car will be done. Since DD isn't able to drive the car and the weather has been really nice, we took the time to do some low and medium priority, but *very* time consuming maintenance work on the car. The dealers have a book that says how long it should take to do most anything on a car...that's how they can estimate the labor costs before they even start the work. Most of the time the book is fairly generous. The book said the work we were doing should take 10 hours...it did......
The doctor called up yesterday and said he needed to see me for a quick BP check before they would honor the mail order pharmacy's BP med refill request. BP is fine, 122/82, on the current dose so I'm good for another 6 months. Without the meds it runs 138/88 to 140/92 so a very minimal dose of Lisinopril takes care of it nicely.
I feel like a broken pretzel...most of the maintenance care work required crawling into the trunk and basically holding a plank position for 20-30 minutes at a time for most of the afternoon... I guess the gym workouts come in handy! :-)
Sharon is done for the summer except for two days of teacher meetings, and DD finished school yesterday..3.4 gpa this semester..2 honors, 1AP and regular class, so "she did good". She's now a high school senior....wow... :-)
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Enjoy the completion process of DD's "wheels" as well as the anticipation of her senior year, Eric.... a punctuated time for sure!! That car completion seems to be a great metaphor for her life stage....
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It was not easy, but we are home. The plane was 3.5hrs late, and then there were only 3 counters open for passport control with a USPassport open in Boston. It was 10pm by the time we made it through both immigration and customs. Thank goodness they had no interest in opening my bags. Explaining the huge number of nigella seeds I brought home could have been problematic. And, My dear Cousin Anne's pear preserves would have been even harder.
Woke at 4:30 which is really pretty good considering the 7 hr time change. Should be back on schedule by Monday.
Here is a pictures of the Grand Bazaar. Not great pictures... the number of tourists was such that it seemed almost offensive to be taking pictures.
Now we need to stock the fridge and I have a ton of coding to do this weekend.
*susan*
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What did you declare?
Spanish saffron [fine], Spanish saffron [especiale], Spanish smoked paprika, Spanish hot smoked paprika, Turkish smoked paprika, Turkish saffron, nigella seeds, Urfa peppers, Aleppo peppers, some mix that the guy talked me into, Turkish turmeric, and Spanish olive oil.
Not shown is the sour cherry jam, and some roasted nuts.
*susan*
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Wow Susan, quite the treasure trove!
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Ha! That IS a treasure trove of fine treats Susan! So did you bring an extra suitcase for these....or did your DH toss his underwear as you travelled, to make packing room....like my DH did in Italy? Glad you made it home well, and that no one challenged your delightful treasures! Code on......
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