So...whats for dinner?

Very quiet around the kitchen table today. The silence is bothersome. Hope the dads and Susan and Moon and Special K are doing well.

The fish last night was delicious but not pretty. Once again I tried the cooking technique of oiling the fish and plopping it into a hot skillet. Once again the fish stuck. So cross that technique off. Didn't work with non-stick or stainless. Also, I've never mastered making good oven sweet potato fries. The skin was tough. DH didn't say anything but I could tell he wasn't wowed by the potatoes. I tossed them with oil, sprinkled with s & p and cooked them in a 400 degree oven for 20 min. Flipped them over and cooked another 15 min. Constructive criticism welcome.

Tonight's dinner will be chicken marsala with mushrooms, a romaine and spinach salad with additions, and a veggie. I have cauliflower and broccoli in addition to an assortment of frozen veggies. Green beans are appealing.

Shopped at Sam's Club today and was amused by a remark the check-out employee made. She asked if I had found everything. I replied I had found way more than I was looking for. She said, Your first mistake was getting a shopping cart. I bought two large chuck roasts and cut them into halves so now I'm covered for beef stew, beef soup or pot roast. DH likes all three.

It is gorgeous out today. DH is playing golf. I passed on golf since it was cart path only after Monday's down pour.

Last night I didn't want to stop for groceries because it was snowing and I just wasn't in a mood to clear snow off the car. So after my LE therapy and stress-reduction classes I drove straight home and parked in my garage. Got almost through ordering Chinese food (Peking duck, garlic Chinese broccoli & egg roll) on grubHub when I realized a) I was being too extravagant, especially considering that tax, delivery fee and tip nearly doubled the cost of the meal); and b) those egg roll wrappers and Mandarin pancakes were just too carby. So I fished around the beck of the fridge and found the remainder of a container of organic raw kraut w/caraway. Threw it, as is, into a pan (no bacon, as I'd had a strip with my breakfast egg) and laid a nitrite-free bratwurst & 1/4 of a kielbasa (both fully cooked) on top. Let everything steam 20 min. and ate it with some Dijon mustard. It was filling and delicious. Of course, I hadn't bargained for the raw kraut's probiotics making me such a “regular gal." (no Mg or Colace for me at bedtime).

For brunch I made Boston lettuce wraps stuffed with some tuna salad, and some tomato and basil. Went to Whole Foods and bought a 2-lb. bag of IQF peeled & deveined Key West shrimp. Defrosted a handful, chopped some baby bok choy, red & green pepper, added some snow peas and bean sprouts and sliced the top of a red spring onion. Then the phone rang: it was Bob, at Gibson's steakhouse out in Oakbrook for a drug company dinner. He asked me if I wanted him to bring me a filet or a NY strip. So I put all the stir-fry fixings into plastic bags and threw them into the fridge for tomorrow night. I'm weak, what can I say? He probably won't be getting home for at least a couple of hours, so I ate a hard-cooked egg to keep me from noshing and keep my insulin from spiking. (It was a gorgeous egg, perfectly cooked if I must say so myself).

Red, sending you lots of good thoughts. I'll post my dad update tomorrow. I'm too fried from a long day at the skilled nursing center.

The kid never ceases to amaze. Instead of contemporary knobs for her cabinet in the living room, she has chosen a knob that "matches" the antique glass knobs in the house. The main difference is the antique existing knobs have brass, but still!

*susan*

Susan - as ever I am exhausted just reading about all your errands. I don't know how you do it, even w/o the GI issues!! I do turn the ringers off on my phones when I nap, especially now that we in early voting for the primaries with robo calls all day long. Love the glass knobs. I saved one from the house I grew up in before the guy who bought it & swore to save it forever tore it down. And oh my, the soups do look wonderful.

California roll from the fresh sushi corner for dinner & popcorn for a late snack.

carole - wow - planes, trains and automobiles just to grocery shop!  I admire your combo of ingenuity and tenacity!

susan - love the knob!  Agree with minus, I am tired reading about all you do, don't know how you are getting it all done!

Last night was pork tenderloin, roasted cut up sweet potatoes and a saute of carrot, cauliflower, garlic and red onion.  DH is on the way home, I am considering spaghetti for tonight, with a green salad.

Another full day managing the house. Received a text at 11:30 from the tile guy. No schluter at Home Depot, he would switch to bullnose tile. Ummm, no. No, you are not! I stalled him and got on the phone. Found it in Saugus. A little while later, we were on our way to this "remote" city. Got there and there was NO schulter in our color even though when I called he claimed he was looking at it. Couldn't find an associate, so I called the store, connected to the right department and he hung up on me as I explained. I was in shock, and then he arrived. It was a long conversation as he explained to me that i was a crazy woman. No one would have said it was in stock since it clearly wasn't. But, then he zapped the bar code and his phone said "10 in stock." Then I heard how there was a delivery on Tuesday and it is ALWAYS unloaded the same day. After some encouragement from me, he headed to the back to "check but I am sure... blahblahblah." Ten minutes later he came back with a long box filled with all of Tuesday's order. All this to spend less than $10. Back to the house, work with the tile guy, who had me get way more tile, and then found a box which means we now have 20 too many expensive tiles. Can you tell that I am over this?

Tomorrow, we template the kitchen counters. The painter is starting to prime. Can the end be near?

For lunch I made Mr 02143 a meatball sub. I had some broiled meatballs with sauce on a plate. I made chicken tortilla soup for dinner. It was pretty good. Down to two avocados. Running out of avocado inspiration. Anyone?

*susan*

I have. Mr. 02143 HATES cucumbers. *susan*

Some extra tile is good, but at some point there can be too much of a good thing! :-) After hearing your stories, I am so glad I did the work at my grandparents' house. The door knobs on all the inside doors, except the basement door, were similar looking glass ones. I liked them. Your robo call story made me laugh. We have a home phone. There is a phone plugged into one of the jacks, but I disconnected the ringer. I think the last time the phone was used was to call 911 when my mom was choking. I have DSL service here for Internet access and if I could get DSL service without having a home phone I would do it. Everyone that we like to have us call, calls on our cell phones.

Carole, my mom preferred to walk/sit when we shopped, so what I could get by myself in 10 minutes would take the two of us about an hour. She's not interested in doing that any longer and I actually miss it.

Moon, have things calmed down any on the "rock" (stone) front? I hope so.

In a way, I guess I'm lucky Red as my mom has come around and is now at least moderately agreeable to the next door neighbor (a would be retired if it were not for us home health nurse) helping her. I wonder how I will be when I get to where I need help.

Special, did the remaining leaks get found? Is this landscape water piping or house water piping? If it's the landscape water supply, it's probably that flexible black pipe with a blue stripe down the side....I hate that stuff. It's nice to install, but a cross eyed look at the stuff will cause it to leak.

eric - I have to maintain a landline phone - because of building codes in Florida our house has a lot of concrete and is L-shaped, can't talk on my cell phone if I am in the house - no reception.  My house is a black hole, lol!  My leak is a house water pipe running under a hedge in the front yard.  The leak guy said to have the plumber replace it from the walkway all the way toward the garage wall - a span of about 6 feet.  He flagged two spots on the continuum and we all feel (me, leak guy, plumber) that it is probably the roots from the hedge that cracked the pipe.  The plumber also didn't feel that quality materials were used initially when the house was built and that the pipe was thinner than it should be.  We still have a 2 cubic foot hole which I have bailed out several times.  Don't know if the as yet un-replaced section of pipe is continuing to leak - he did a quick fix of what he could access that wasn't under the hedge and was gushing water to tide us over. It may also be that the collection of water is saturation - the leak was there for quite a while and it also rained a couple of times.  Each day it is slightly less than the day before, but it does keep refilling.  Plumber comes back at 10 am tomorrow to commence hedge and pipe removal.  The fun never stops...

Did not make spaghetti, but instead made chicken/pepper bacon/cheddar melts with avocado in pita for DH, I was not hungry. Am on antibiotics for the UTI so I am wondering if they are suppressing my appetite.  I'm OK with that, lol!

carole - I peel the sweet potatoes and cut them up roughly in bite sized chunks.  Toss them in oil (usually olive, sometimes canola) and salt & pepper, and sometimes a sprinkle of cinnamon.  I spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet - single layer so they caramelize a bit rather than steam.  Roast alone, or alongside meat, 375 F. for at least 30 mins - or until you can easily pierce them with a knife.  I usually make a bunch of them, then if I have leftover ones I put them in a shallow casserole dish and put a little brown sugar on top and re-heat them in the oven or microwave for another meal.

susan - hope you have no more frustrating days like today during the remainder of renovation! 

Yikes Special, I feel for you dealing with two "plumbing" problems!! The cracked pipe issue is more than annoying....big job! I recall having similar root invasion issues at my mother's house many years ago. She ended up having to replace the pipeline from the house to the street due to a willow tree seeking water and being successful given the type of waste pipes (orangeburg??) the builder used in 1952. I do hope both issues get resolved for you very soon!

Eric, have you ever considered writing a Mr. Fix It blog in your "spare" time?? Your knowledge/talent related to all things home, vehicle and food is so impressive, and you would, I'm sure, develop a loyal following of DIY folk!

Yesterday, we decided to spend the whole afternoon at the movies. Saw "45 Years" and "Joy". Very different movies and odd to view in the same afternoon. The night before, we watched "The Martian" which reminded me of any other space movie...more DH's taste than mine.

Made chicken marsala, linguini, and garden salad for last evening's dinner. Then I noticed the three very ripe bananas I'd meant to use for a quick bread. So, made one small loaf and several muffins of a banana, pineapple, walnut, coconut blend. They are flavorful and have a lovely texture. I will definitely use this recipe again.

Today, I am meeting up with Susan, the renovation gopher, in between her construction efforts, to do a meyer lemon pick up. We'll catch lunch at a place called "Strip T's". The founding chef has a sense of humor!

Orangeburg is the name of the pipe...you have a good memory.

It's basically paper mixed with a tar and made into a pipe shape.

It was a crappy pipe...pardon the pun....

Carole - hooray you were able to golf. Special - my son just had to replace the entire run from the street to the house (1925 pipes). Lacey - what did you think of '45 Years'? I plan to go Monday. So jealous of you & Susan getting face time at lunch!!! We'll look for a report.

Susan:Thought his article from the Washington Post about female coders might be of interest if you haven't already seen it. …female developers' acceptance rates were 71.8 percent when they used gender-neutral profiles — but dropped to 62.5 percent if they were clearly women

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/0...

Just read another article that women STILL only make $0.79 for every $1.00 a man makes. And that the discrepancy will not be resolved until 2059. That's well past the time I'll have to worry about it anymore but it still makes me mad. (Eric - nothing personal)

Carole, what kind of espresso machine do you have? I am a coffee geek (actually a member of the site coffeegeek.com) who used to roast my own beans before I decided I needed the windowsill space for my herb pots--and I have an award-winning roaster half a mile away. Over the years, I have acquired (not counting the stuff in my Basement Museum of Failed Espresso Devices): a “prosumer" heat-exchanger Andreja Premium espresso/cappuccino machine; a professional Mazzer Mini grinder I got for next to nothing from a cafe that went out of business; a little Nespresso Pixie capsule espresso machine (it fits in a tote bag and sometimes travels with me by car--and I use it at home when I don’t want to wait 20 minutes for the Andreja to heat up); a manual “Handpresso Wild" that takes pods and looks and works like a bicycle pump, which goes into my luggage along with a mini-kettle if I'm flying; and a “Handpresso Auto" that plugs into my car's power port so I can have espresso at rest stops without resorting to Starbucks. I also have the Nespresso Aeroccino Plus electric frother that came with the Pixie--but it's insanely picky, requiring that I cool it first with ice and using only 1% or 2% opened less than three days before. (Thank goodness for those little shelf-stable Horizon Organic 1% six-packs: if my Aeroccino “rejects" it--i.e., just heating it rather than making stable foam--I don't have to throw away a whole quart or more). For regular coffee, my guys prefer to use a Keurig; but I like to brew from whole beans, via either a manual drip pour-over or an Aeropress--which resembles a breast pump.

Today we had a massive area-wide power failure due to high winds, and of course I wanted coffee & espresso--so I had to go all Pioneer Woman: light the stove with a match to boil water, use the Handpresso (which took forever and a day to pump up to pressure but made a pretty good shot), and use a manual grinder to make drip. After all that effort I looked at my Fitbit: it said I'd climbed 12 flights of stairs in 10 hrs.

This morning before the power went out, I breakfasted on “egg faux yung." I beat 3 eggs with a dash of five-spice powder and 1/2 tsp each toasted sesame oil and low-sodium soy sauce. In an 8" omelet pan, I sauteed some finely diced peppers, zucchini & scallion bulb in garlic-ginger oil, then added the eggs and stirred. Then (instead of real rice) I sprinkled a small handful of cauliflower “rice" on top, followed by 1/2 c. fresh bean sprouts, a Tbs. of chopped cilantro and the scallion top, sliced on the bias. Turned off the heat and covered it while I made tea. Turned it out onto the plate and folded it. No gravy, of course. I think the five-spice and sesame oil was what made it taste authentic.

Tonight will be duck confit and brussels sprouts.

Thanks again, Susan for documenting our lunch/lemon drop off. Yes, I did enjoy my overly oily, but very tasty turkey reuben. I had intended to bring half to DH, but as Susan witnessed, I scarfed down the whole thing!

I could not even think about eating a real dinner tonight. So DH warmed up his chicken marsala and pasta, which he enjoyed with the leftover caesar salad that Susan (Thank you!) generously packed up for him. I decided to ward off any chocolate munchies that would probably arrive in about an hour if I ate nothing, so I prepared some brussels sprouts, which I had with the last cup of kale soup from this week's meals. That should get me through the evening.

Special, I'm glad that your leak was fixed....but one of my pet peeves is what you described....when workers come to fix a problem, do so, and in the process create huge messes for the homeowner to clean up....or even cause minor damage, when doing their part of a job. Glad your hedge is hardy. Our NH house has really high cathedral ceilings, and it has been total frustration when the electrician we needed once left noticeable, dirty handprints on the light walls, which are very difficult to reach.

Okay, I think I'll peruse some meyer lemon recipes while awaiting the Celtic's West Coast game. Such little beauties they are....the MLs, that is.

I hope things are improving for the father/daughter teams....