So...whats for dinner?

Big kitchen move is complete. Still have some boxes to unpack, but a good start to be sure. At least they can sauté some chicken breasts, make pasta, and steam some broccoli. My living room is full of the boxes that the professional moves will deal with tomorrow. This is what I found when I went downstairs just a moment ago. These cats are a bit concerned, guarding their boxes, and creating their own cat trees.

They will move Monday night. My amusements will leave with them. But get this!!! I have been asked to sit with them at their new house on Tuesday so that they don't feel abandoned. :-)

*susan*

Baking an uncured smoked ham, it is not precooked so will bake it. Traditional scalloped potatoes, baked asparagus drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper. I am making a pineapple chutney, son will slice the pineapple.

Husband and I totally ignored Easter Sunday. In fact, Mr 02143 was shocked that his favorite bakery was closed today with an Easter sign on the door. The ACE hardware was also closed so he ended up doing two Home Depot runs. Sunday "brunch" was simple scrambled eggs with an English muffin. Dinner was the rest of the lamb stew with some Amish egg noodles. Darn, I love good egg noodles. I love them with butter and some sea salt. Since I am on day 5 of the Xeloda, the stomach is headed South and I was unable too much of the tomato. I was able to eat the noodles, however. The kids headed to his family's Easter dinner. Very few of them actually go to church, but they celebrate Easter every year at his grandmother's house. Sounds like this year a few items were actually made in house! Usually they get a pre-packaged supermarket "Dinner in a Box."

Mr. 02143 did a ton of work at the house today, finishing a lot of the punch list items so the kids can start their new life tomorrow. Movers arrive at 8am tomorrow morning. Tomorrow night the cats will ride in their carriers, and the four of them will be gone. I will love having half of my pantry storage space back. I will totally miss hearing about their daily lives in such detail.

Hope everyone enjoyed their special Easter meals!

*susan*

Got a call about 5 this afternoon. Dad was vomiting dark blood and was taken to the ER. He has a gastric bleed and is going to be in icu for a while. He is doing better and we will go see him tomorrow after my doctors appointment. One step forward two steps back . . .

Oh Nance, thinking about you and your dad. Nothing is easy on this path....

Susan, of course the move has to be bittersweet....but I do hope all goes smoothly tomorrow.

We ventured into Dorchester for "Easter Dinner", and to enjoy the lovely decor that DS2 and DGF have completed in their new condo. It is open, yet homey, elegantly understated, yet punctuated with meaningful pieces and family pix (including our one ! wedding photo as part of a gallery on the staircase landing to the roofdeck). They love it their space and so do we. DGF was working hard making the dinner... Baked chicken breasts with panko and parmesan with a cheese sauce, a mashed potato casserole, roasted carrots (courtesy of DS2...I so loved watching him cook), and the garden salad and vinaigrette I brought. Our table place markers were pretty bags of our favorite candies....mine, pastel M+Ms, DH's gummy worms, DS2's jelly beans, and DGF's starburst. I'm very happy that DS2 remembers such important personal facts about his parents! LOL

After our early dinner we took the pooch for a good long walk along the harborside...then back for tasty blueberry cobbler with ice cream. Oh my.....we drove home with very full tummies!

Hsant, thanks for that meyer lemon recipe. It looks delightful! The banana bread is made Hawaiian with the addition of pineapple, walnuts, coconut. Also recommended is maraschino cherries, but I just like them on ice cream. It is a very moist and tasty bread.

Bedo, best wishes with your surgery, and recovery! I'll be paying close attention since I may be headed in that direction when I can no longer nurse along my ailing left knee. Good luck

Nance, praying for your father.

Susan, it will be good to get back to your own life but I know you will miss the kids too. We've had my DD 2x, a nephew, and a Niece with her 2 kids live with us. The shortest stay was 1 year. LOL

Eric, sometimes not knowing everything about your DD exploits in college is a very good thing. LOL

Bedo, I hope your surgery goes well and you heal fast and strong. I'm always glad when the surgery is over its just the waiting. LOL

Lacey the remembering of the favorite candy was a sweet (no pun intended) touch. Kind of a little hug.

Guinofrm, that sounds like a lovely meal.

I had just a bean casserole, Ham, and roasted baby potatoes with my DD2 and DGD1. She looked adorable in her dressy clothes. After dinner we changed her into comfy clothes. My DD got all the pictures on her camera in the good clothes. By the time i got my pic she didn't want to pose but I'll share this one anyway. LOL.

Much love to all.

((Nancy))--hope the ICU can put your dad on the mend.

No dinner last night--instead after a Big Bus sightseeing tour we went to late aft. tea at the Lanesborough. Tea sandwiches (incl. salmon & caviar and truffled egg salad, pastries, scones, hot cross buns, a tea list longer than some wine lists--and of course champagne):

Next, the teapot--they even had a "cozy" for the handle!

Check out the detail on the spout!

Here are a couple of shots of the display in the lobby (they sent us home with some little milk-chocolate-truffle eggs):

Of course, E.T. phoned home, but from her cell, not from:

Too tired to eat afterward--packed for a 5:30 am departure to London City Airport for our flight to Geneva. But about 3 am I was awakened by a rumbling I could hear through my earplugs, with the bed shaking. (No, not "Magic Fingers"). Turns out we were being visited by Storm (eventually "Hurricane") Katie. Nonetheless, Swissair's site assured me that all flights out of London City were on time. Got there, and my Paris traveling buddy was denied a boarding pass because her passport expires in 3 weeks (which is 2 weeks after the end of the trip). She was able to enter the UK, but neither Switzerland nor any mainland EU country--which require that a passport be valid for at least 90 days after border crossing. Nobody had warned her--neither the Bar Assn nor airline (both online and at check-in at O'Hare). Probably didn't raise a red flag with United since she booked back in Nov with six months left on her passport. (Shouldn't passport expriry dates carry a warning to renew 90 days before that)? She was told that unless the US Embassy could overnight her an expedited new passport, her only options were either to stay in the UK up till the passport's expiration date, or go back home now. She went back into the city, only to find the US (!!!) Embassy closed for the Easter Monday bank holiday. Rather than stay in London and try again tomorrow, perhaps salvaging 2/3 of the CLE course and the Paris leg, she decided to go home today. GRRR--there's a special place in Hell for snotty border guards, bureaucrats and clueless airline ticket agents.

Meanwhile, got through even more intrusive security than TSA, only to find out group's flight had been cancelled because of the storm, as well as all flights to Switzerland out of London City & Gatwick. But there were still flights from Heathrow--by the time I could get a Swissair booking agent on the phone (the ticket counter desk line was at a 2-hr. standstill) every flight but the 2:30 was sold out, and I was lucky to get that. (So much for the motor coach we all paid for to get us from Geneva Airport to our hotel in Lausanne). At least the airline paid for van taxi to get us to Heathrow, a 90-min. drive. Went through security again (this time Fast Track, but my knees still set off the metal detector and I had to take off my shoes and get the pat-down. Killing time here in the business class lounge till our plane--now delayed till at least 4pm--leaves. Had a nice free lunch, cappuccino, & prosecco, though. But so much for seeing a doctor today, either. (And there is no OTC antibiotic ointment anywhere in Europe or the UK any more--and I don't want to start taking my emergency Keflex unless I absolutely must).

Gonna try and get some shut-eye till the wheelchair attendant picks me up in a little over an hour for the long schlep to the gate. Not easy--the lounge is packed. Can't imagine what a zoo the regular boarding area must be by now!

Wow, Moon, I am stunned (but maybe shouldn't be....time flies!) at how fast your darling granddaughter is growing up! I feel for the little ones who are constantly being asked to smile for the cell phone in our current "can't get enough pix culture. That said I enjoyed this one!

On that topic, DH and I are starting to become very uncomfortable about the posed head shots of our three year old DGD that are constantly being posted on Facebook. DH has been reading recent articles about the research of effects of social media on young girls and it IS distressing....and not just because we are old farts! DDIL's culture is very focused on physical beauty, so I doubt that she and her mother will be slowing down on these pix anytime soon. I have stopped "liking" them...and maybe the relatives will ask what is going on with me. Oy!

I am going very light for dinner tonight....maybe just salad. There are a variety of leftovers for DH.

I happened upon a LOT of neat kale recipes on Pinterest today. I could waste hours perusing and saving the thousands of recipes on Pinterest. Yikes!

Lacey - not to mention safety!!! My niece & DH are both police officers. my nephew is w/the FBI and his wife is an attorney w/the criminal courts. They are all adamant that NO pictures of their children are ever to be posted on facebook. In fact they actually stopped sending pictures to one DH's mother entirely because she kept posting. Boy was that a fight.

Sandy - thanks for sharing your adventure, though it sounds arduous. I loved the tea pictures.

Susan - fingers crossed for an easy move today. I love that you're going to 'cat sit' on Tuesday.

Nance - So sorry your Dad's taken another turn. I hope the solution is an easy one.

Eric - Hard to believe your DD is graduating. Arizona State!!!. This is such an exciting time in life. I'm glad she's going to live on campus, at least the first year. I think that is so important.

Moon - what a cutie.

Bedo - sending good wishes now for Thursday in case I forget later this week. I LOVE "me" time, and am getting more & more selfish about it every year.

Carole - thinking of you always. Hope your Mother is getting settled and coming to terms with the work of rehab that's ahead.

Cottage cheese & canned peaches for dinner yesterday. Popcorn for 2am snack. Both are quite an improvement over the crackers or soup I've been eating the last 10 days. Maybe I'll graduate to french toast tonight with some of my leftover sourdough bread.

With my mother in the nursing/rehab facility, we didn't have the usual family Easter dinner. Last night dh and I each had a steamed artichoke and the main "course" was eggplant casserole out of the freezer.

This morning I sprinkled seasoning on a pork roast (The Pig) and plopped it into the smaller slow cooker. It was cooked when I got home after 4 pm. I wrapped four sweet potatoes in foil and they are roasting in the toaster oven. The au jus from the roast in in the de-fatter. I will thicken it a bit and warm up slices of the roast in the resulting gravy. I may make a green salad.

Today I'm trying to get back on track with the WW plan.

Tonight I poached salmon in white wine. I wanted to make halibut, since it's in season, but my grocery store hadn't received any today..

I reduced 1/4 cup of wine and 1/4 cup of white winevinegar with chopped onion, added heavy cream and chilled butter, salt and pepper for a beurre blanc. I was short 2 tbsp of butter, so it was a little on the thin side, but tasty. I gave my dad leftover mashed potatoes as a side and I had steamed broccoli.

Moon, she is adorable! Her outfit is so cute!

Bedo, my mom used to make that fruit salad back in the day. She would put mini marshmallows in it.

Nance, prayers out for your dad.

Sandy, those pastries look delectable! I hope the rest of your trip is easy breezy.

Eric, My DH has used a mechanic once in the last 15 years to replace a clutch on his 1997 BMW 318. Otherwise, he does all the work on the cars himself. We rarely use a plumber, electrician, etc. He does the majority of fix-it work, which comes in handy (pun intended). Congratulations to your daughter.

Carole, the end of Sunday dinners for you has hit me hard. I just love that you kept this tradition alive for so very long. We gave up Easter dinner when the "older" generation [i.e. my grandmother and great uncle] died. As you know, I have kept the Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions alive. My daughter wants to take on that mantle which is wonderful.

ChiSandy, that passport thing has been a thing for at least 10 years. Air France and British Airways even warn you when you make a reservation, but it is a generic warning that doesn't actually look at your passport. Still really too bad for your companion.

Lacey, I will be in touch.... do you want a tour of the house this week?

Eric, I am so proud of your DD. I think she is good people with a balanced and grounded head on her shoulders. Not too surprising given who her parents are!

The kids are spending their first night at their new home. The cats are exploring. I spent several hours unpacking more of the kitchen today, but came to the end of what I was "allowed" to do. When I arrived home, I fell asleep in my office chair for a full hour. My stomach has been unhappy and I paid the chemo price. Dinner was a bit of take out and a bit of home cooked. I made some basmati rice and we got some Bombay tandoori wings from our local Indian restaurant. Mostly, I ate the rice. I needed a BRAT diet item tonight. It is odd to have such a life-less house. There are four beings missing. But, you should see all the empty pantry shelves! I will be able to reorganize in a way that works for us. This is a new phase, which will come to an end when the P'nut is born, and then we will start another one.

*susan*

Special, hsant my younger son loves old BMW's too. He has a 99 M3 and a 1970 2002. Does all the mechanics himself. The oldest one only comes out in summer.

My pineapple chutney is easy. One chopped pineapple, hard apple cider 2/3 C, red onion small chopped, a cinnamon stick and pinch of red chile flakes. Bring to boil and simmer about 15 to 20 min.

Took a container of ground turkey "dressing" or stuffing out of the freezer. Leftover stuffing for colored bell peppers that I made recently. Breakfast and lunch were a little high on WW points so the side will be Indian spiced cauliflower and potato mash. The recipe is on the WW site and I thought I would try it. The spices are cumin, coriander, turmeric and cayenne.

T. S. Eliot, American poet, said in one of his poems, "April is the cruelest month of the year." In Louisiana, late March comes in the same category. I have been sneezing and blowing my nose and taking allergy meds with no relief.

Black humor mother anecdote. My mother said to one of my brothers yesterday that she sure hopes she doesn't do all this therapy and then up and die! Never an exercise person, she is working hard with the therapists to build strength in the hopes of going back home.

Carole -- funny from your mom. I agree with Minus -- good for her! The cauliflower dish sounds good.

Eric, add my congratulations to DD for her achievements. You are right to be proud of her.

Susan, I'm sorry about the stomach issues. Crappy that you have that to look forward to every cycle. Your house must feel quite empty for a while.

Long day yesterday, first with my eye doc who removed a weird cyst from the corner of my eye (has a long name that I promptly fogot). Now I have a bb sized hole there into which I have to put antibiotic ointment 3 times a day. I must say, I look rather odd with eye makeup on one eye only lol! After that it was off to the hospital with dad. It turns out that dad has esophageal ulcers caused by severe acid reflux and exacerbated by Plavix. He is being given more proton pump inhibitors and they ran some more tests today. It's going to be tricky trying to treat the ulcers. They want to take him off Plavix but then there's the vascular issue. I still don't know what all of this means in regard to his rehab and release. I do like the hospital he is in now way better than the other one and he is now in the Intermediate Care Unit. He desperately wants to go home from there instead of going back to rehab, but I don't know if the hospital will go for it.

I'm thawing some thick cut pork chops for dinner. Recycled green beans from Sunday, as well as the scalloped potatoes turned au gratin, will be sides.