So...whats for dinner?

Thumbs up for you Susan! And I love that you think of this as you safety zone during the roller coasting. Unfortunately, I am a complete dunce about the blood count issues. I have been trying to decide if my WBC at a 4 needs any attention....being on the cusp seems unsettling...and goggling to get the info does not soothe one! So I will just stick my head in the sand until I next see one of my too many docs.


Nance, nice bounty! You really bounce back well judging by tonight's menu! Yum! Does your DH have shellfish allergies, or just not like them


I spent the day doing some much needed cleaning before our neighbors arrive tomorrow. Somehow, we only have compulsive friends, and I just could not let her look out my very unwashed slider window....to say nothing of the last few years' accumulation of mold on the lower track (tract?). So with toothbrush in hand, I got it all out. I must thank her for motivating me to take care of this! I also rid the porch of all the very high cobwebs.
Shopped for tomorrow's meals, (seemed like it took forever compared to what little food DH and I have been buying here this week), and now am starting to make the salads, marinate the meat, and will probably fall into bed.

My red cell distribution width and mean corpuscular volumes are always elevated. They thought it might be connected to the anemia, but none of my docs ever seem to be too worried about it as long as the hemoglobin and ferritin scores are ok. It defies explanation to me.

"Forced"? Good heavens no! We're all in this together, so we might as well hold hands.

Lacey - it is important to note that the ranges for lab tests are for adult males. It is not unusual for women's lab values to be on the low end, mine usually are too - at the low end or slightly below.

Susan - it is possible that all of your elevated values - which all can be connected - are normal side effects of the drug therapy, low B-12, or low hemoglobin. Your RBC may be high trying to compensate for lack of oxygenation - the size, width, and number all related to that. Young cells are usually larger and can skew the size related values. Is your oncologist concerned or is there a tolerance to a certain point

I'm impressed with all the knowledge of blood chemistry. I always look at the column that gives the normal range and check my numbers against those numbers. I'm still waiting with fingers crossed for the MO's interpretation.

The grill looked good on the outside. It is obviously a cheaper model by a name brand manufacturer who produced it for a big box store. The grids are enamel coated and need to be replaced. But good luck on finding parts in this throwaway culture. DH and I decided pretty quickly that the grill wasn't worth $95 to us. We were about to back out and depart. The owner, a pleasant fellow in his 40's, asked what it was worth to us. I said $50 and he didn't hesitate. The gas bottle is probably $30 new and the electric ignition still works. So we have a $50 grill that we won't mind leaving here over the winter. There's a cover that came with it.

We transported our bikes and rode a section of the Paul Bunyan bike trail from Merrifield to Brainerd and back. About 18 miles. For lunch we ate at Harpo's Bar in Merrifield where we had eaten on a previous bike ride a couple of years ago. We shared the Extreme BLT, a triple decker, and fries. We each had a cold draft beer in a frosty glass. No sharing!

Dinner was eat-whatever-you-want. I had a cup of decaf from the Keurig and a cinnamon sticky roll with pecans baked by the Bread and Pie Lady. Later I had some chllled watermelon chunks. DH ate leftover linguine cold. Yuk. He also had a couple of double fudge cookies, also from Mary Dodge's oven.

Meanwhile we'll be going to the gym this morning with the grill in the back of the pickup! DH needs another guy to help him get it down.

Carol Yay for fresh veggies! Our community garden always puts out veggies for pickup by the Camp Street Ministries on Thursdays. Looked like today there should be enough for many many dinners.

Yay on the good news Susan!

I am officially on vacation until the 17th. Yippee!

Now here's a cooking idea for a lazy person that I would do..., unfortunately I don't have a dishwasher.

https://www.yahoo.com/food/does-dishwasher-cooking-really-work-your-125858003251.html

Major thunderstorms here for the last two days called weather cells, like almost tornados with towns with outages and still working on it.

Does anyone know what I can make with Old Bay Seasoning? I think it goes with fish and shell fish?

Bedo, Old Bay seasoning is used with seafood.  

Happiness is unloading your laundry at the laundromat and finding your preferred triple loaders available.  Takes a while to put that many quarters into slots.

Last night's dinner was good.  Flattened chicken breasts dipped in egg and milk, breaded with whole wheat panko and pan fried to crispy brown.  Creamed spinach made with Greek yogurt cream cheese and sour cream.  Salad of tomatoes, cucumber and perfectly ripe avocado.

Have no idea what I'm making for dinner

Oven roasted chicken with carrots, parsnips and brussel sprouts here. Finally a day that's cool enough to run the oven. Plus homemade pear sauce for dessert.........again. Have spent most of this week making and freezing pear sauce. It's good, but I may have eaten my limit for awhile.

No, it is like applesauce but made with pears. We just put it in a bowl and eat it plain.

Special, I don't know what pear sauce is. I'm on vaca! I'm having beer and cherry tomatoes from the garden for dinner. I have some lovely big purple ones. No sauce, nothing.

MOmmy you crack me up.

My DD wants me to "Come and cook for me Mama" on my vaca. She want's something with cheese. I suggested mac and cheese, She said, "No a summer cheese dish" Is there such a thing?

Susan, I think I did not get my advise exactly right, but I hope you are doing OK and have some suggestions on regaining your energy.

Watching DGD (Darling Grand-dog) this weekend.

During my violin lesson today we didn't even play, just discussed theory which I have completely forgotten

Here I am with my hacker group playing for free but get in free with comp tickets for friends and all the soda and chips I want in the green room

I have decided to take private lessons

I've decided to learn to read music -I used to play viola which is a different clef and stopped for 35 years. Haha my group didn't know that I play by ear until the end of our last lesson.

I'm the first one coming on stage holding the music stand and being pulled by the shoulder on the right and hiding behind the bass player.

My silly hobbies, cooking, gardening and violin- it is so nice to spend time doing things that I enjoy but can proceed at my own speed with no pressure, I guess that's what hobbies are about. :}

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNVKTS1qKT4

Bedo, happy vacation! Do those things you love!

Pan fried giant Costco pork chops tonight. Gosh they were good, very thick and juicy. Bedo, I use Old Bay on lots of stuff besides seafood. It's good on chicken, pork and veggies, especially potatoes.

We have an abundance of Cherokee purple tomatoes and Asian cucumbers, so we had some of these with fresh basil and olive oil.

Talk about guilty pleasures. I've been playing around with baked donut recipes. Don't ask me why, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Today I made buttermilk chocolate with a chocolate glaze and sprinkles and some raised donuts with a vanilla glaze. The good news is they don't taste anything like their fried counterparts. The bad news is that the cake donuts are way too easy to make.

My illness has now turned into a monster sore throat but the cough has abated. I still feel like crap, but no temp. Anybody have any sore throat home remedies? I'm using warn salt water which helps some. I don't know what this is, but I'm so done with it. Go away already! I woke up this morning with my eyelids stuck together.

Nance - I'd like a baked donut recipe if you've found an easy one. My favorites are blueberry & devils food chocolate, but I could live with plain buttermilk.

Bedo - what a fun performance/fiddlers/dance. I'd love to join in - but I'd for sure want a gnome cap. Hope you have a great vaca (hmmm - I seem to remember from fifth grade that means cow in Spanish?)

Some friends "forced" me to go out to Mel's Diner for lunch. Everything is Texas down home cooking. Specials today were fried catfish & King Ranch chicken. Also fried chicken, chicken fried steak, chicken tenders, etc. Hard to find anything not fried, but I had a cheeseburger with a side of onion rings. Much too full for dinner.

Thanks Nance. I like the texture of baked doughnuts. Since I don't have the requisite pan, I wonder if I could make them in muffin tins and have a similar result?

Bedo, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy vacation time. Advice you don't need, I'm sure! Let us know when you figure out the summer cheese dish.

I like the regular fried doughnuts but rarely eat one because I steer clear of them. I like the cake doughnuts, too. Wish I had a doughnut right now to eat with my coffee!

Happy Vacation Bedo!