So...whats for dinner?

Thanks all for the concern for DD - she is doing fine, has not even taken any meds other than Tylenol.

chisandy - Florida is a no-fault PIP state. Each driver that has an auto policy issued in FL is required to carry $10,000 of PIP coverage, so actually your own insurance covers your ER or medical bills, and lost wages up to that $10,000 limit. The other driver would be responsible for anything over and above that with their body injury liability coverage, and the repair to the vehicle (if there is any - there is no visible damage to her car, she drives a tank with a trailer hitch) would be covered by his property damage liability coverage. DD is unlikely to miss work, other than today - but even if she did it would still fall under her own PIP coverage, and she is so low-wage that it would take a while to accumulate any real dollars there, her pharmacy co-pay was less than $5. She is also salaried, so I am not sure if it even matters if she misses a day or two. We were in and out of the ER quickly, not sure what that bill will be, but I doubt that it, plus any lost wages, will exceed her PIP coverage. The other driver's insurance folks have already been in touch and they have accepted full responsibility, and our insurance has also been contacted. She has instructions to take her vehicle to an approved garage for inspection, so things are progressing along. I don't think it is a situation where the other insurance company will offer any type of settlement voluntarily due to the PIP, and it is unlikely, at least at this point, that she will have any need for a PI attorney. I appreciate your advice and will keep it under advisement.

Well - I'm fortunate to still have no water, but amazed at the macho men who had to drive right out to see what was happening. One lost his car to flooded roads & was lucky to get out before it was swept away. I'm perfectly happy sitting at home for a couple of days. We did loose power this morning, but it's restored now.

So I indulged in a totally worthless guilty pleasure from my past for lunch. Whipped up some Hidden Valley Ranch Dip w/my extra sour cream and pigged out with a bag of Ruffles. I'll try to be more reasonable for dinner with a chicken breast that is waiting.

Special - so glad your DD is OK. We too have required PIP insurance in Texas and I'm not a fan of calling the lawyers on top of that. My grandparents lived by a hospital. At age 88, my grandfather was knocked down crossing the street by a pregnant young woman in labor trying to make it to the emergency room on her own since her husband was in the military overseas. My extended family all agreed the girl would have enough punishment remembering the thud as her car hit his body and nothing could bring him back, so it was pointless to sue. Money was not going to change our memories.

Carole - so glad you're getting out and about some. I read in an obit today for a lady who just died at 91, who took an Old Fashioned to her MIL in the nursing home every afternoon. That's service.

Joyce - sounds like you've jumped right back into the routine. Was there snow or had it melted? I've driven all around the US and I'd have to vote that I thought Boston has the most challenging city for driving (with apologies to Lacey & Susan)

Bedo - so glad to 'see' you and hear that your summer job is set. Will you sell the Georgia house to fund your retirement?

Susan - hooray - inspection finished. Now can you slow down? The breads & buns sound delicious. I'm partly keeping my weight down by not having bread in the house. So since I can't drive & i can't really stir stuff in a bowl, I'm not eating any. But I think about it LOTS - pumpernickel, sourdough, cornbread, blueberry muffins, etc. Going out to lunch tomorrow (if the restaurant wasn't flooded) to a nice steak place with delicious sourdough bread. I expect to make up for the last two weeks w/no bread. Who cares about the steak.

Nance & Redhead - good thoughts for your Dads.

Joyce, I'm so glad that you are back as the pleasant weather has arrived. And yes, driving in NH is pretty much of a breeze!

DH took a quick trip up to the lake yesterday to pick up his stored convertible. He has this ritual where he takes the bus up, our neighbor who stores the car for him picks him up and they have lunch, then return to her house for him to get the car, he checks on our house, and home he comes. Meanwhile, our neighbor fills him in on all the neighborhood and town news that she learns at the local grocery store where she works. As you might imagine, not much news since so few people stay there over the winter. But he did notice at our house that there is a thin tree resting on our power lines to the house, so we have a call into Ever Source about that. Always something......

Nance, I am thrilled to hear that you are getting that garden going! I was worried that you would not have a moment's time to tend to any of it. Yay

Argh indeed Susan! I was looking up bahn mi....had you heard of it being called Vietnamese hoagies?? Being from Philly area, it caught my eye.

Tonight's chicken was marinated in evoo, balsamic vinegar, garlic and rosemary powder. Made a mixed green salad, and an orzo blend with mushrooms, garluc and onions. I had planned to avoud eating that little carb, then couldn't, after tasting it.

DH's maiden voyage with the new grill was disappointing in that the placement of the handle of the top is such that the instinct one has is to grab the steel right below it (looks grabable and is a closer reach). Unfortunately that piece is very hot and he burned his hand superficially. The handle is actually placed way too high (imo) and thus the design faulty. He had to keep reminding himself to grab higher to avoid being burned. Great! We had a heated (pun intended!) discussion about whether he should register a concern to the store and to Weber. He'd prefer to not make waves...I'd prefer to avoid a future trip to the ER! And you'd think Weber would want to avoid lawsuits.At least the chicken came out well.

A lb. of ground lamb is thawed and ready to be shaped into lamb burgers. I may slice up some cabbage for a slaw. I also have some frozen sweet potato fries. I think I'll cook half the bag in the toaster oven. They're supposed to cook at 425. Silly to run the a/c and heat up the kitchen with the big oven. I do like sweet potato fries.

Tonight is a vodka martini night after several nights of abstinence.

I persuaded my mother to go to the bingo game this afternoon at the nursing home. She has been resisting the idea, stating that she doesn't care for bingo. The cards are large and each number has a transparent "shade" that you pull down when that number is called. Really clever. No need for little extra disks to cover numbers. We got two cards. One card was a bingo winner the first game. My mother's prize was a crisp one dollar bill. Then the other card was a winner for the 2nd game! It was funny. I have no clue as to whether she enjoyed the experience or just indulged me. We sat next to a tiny little lady who has lived there for three years but in a private room. Most of the rooms for permanent residents have two occupants. I am very pleased with my mother's progress in the rehab program.

hsant, I think you have joined our little troupe of cookers after I posted my lamb burger recipe. I do put a chunk of feta in the center of the lamb burgers and that is good stuff! I buy two whole lambs every year, and treat myself to lamb burgers on an occasional basis. Here is a link to my recipe. And, obviously, riff away.

http://www.pepperplate.com/sharedrecipe.aspx?id=ac...

I find Mirin a real crap shoot. So much of it has nasty sweetners, so I often increase the sake and add a bit more sugar to compensate. But your recipe above has a ton of sugar already, so I probably wouldn't add more. I have a lovely teriyaki sauce recipe that is more Japanese than Japanese-American in one of my Japanese cookbooks. I should look it up to post so you can compare.

Dinner tonight was tandoori chicken wings, dal and rice from my local [and terrific] Indian shop.

*susan*

Bob & I walked to B’way Cellars for dinner (and to watch the Cubs’ & Jake Arrieta clobber the Reds with a 15-0 no-hitter). Shared an apple salad. He had linguine with duck sausage, I Gorgonzola meatloaf with green beans, gravy & mashed potatoes (took all the spuds & gravy and half the meatloaf & veg home). We split a dish of double chocolate/salted caramel gelato.

The lamb burgers were delicious. I scanned Anne Burrell's recipe and took the scissors out to the patio to snip oregano, thyme, mint and dill. The dill was for the yogurt cucumber sauce. I chopped the other herbs very fine and put them into the ground lamb along with a slice of wheat bread soaked in milk, s & p, and granulated garlic. The mixture was a little soft. Divided into four burgers and cooked in cast iron grill. The cabbage slaw hit the spot, too. Sliced fine and dressed with light mayo and white balsamic, lots of fresh ground black pepper. The frozen sweet potato fries were overcooked a little and crisp. I enjoyed this meal a lot. Two left over burgers.

No thoughts yet on dinner tonight. I admire those like our founder Laurie who plan out a week's menu.

Susan, the mint, oregano and dill all survived our mild winter. I recently planted the thyme, a rosemary plant and a chives plant.

Bob’s working late tonight, Gordy has a show, so no First Seder tonight. Nonetheless, I might drag out the food processor and make a little charoset (which Bob adores all Passover long). Will start with a little chicken broth with a few “mandlen” (little choux paste puffs made with ultra-pulverized matzo meal) to keep it lower-carb than matzo balls. Entree will be some gefilte fish & horseradish. Probably have the leftover green beans from last night; since Gordy didn’t eat the meatloaf & mashed potatoes from last night (he went for Bob’s duck sausage linguine instead) and since there are breadcrumbs in meatloaf, I’ll freeze that. Since it’s not a Seder, I won’t have wine (or maybe I’ll chill the kosher-for-Passover methode-champenoise brut from the Galilee, pour myself a couple ounces and put the rest in the fridge with a champagne stopper). If I have dessert, it’ll probably be sugar-free kichel (bigger choux-paste puffs) or macaroons with berries on the side. Tomorrow night’s Seder will be at temple, the whole 9 yards: matzo ball soup, charoset, greens, fresh horseradish (might bring swim goggles for that), hard-boiled egg half in saltwater, roast chicken, potatoes & carrots, with macaroons & fruit compote for dessert. They usually provide both grape juice and a dry Israeli rosé. (Bob even likes the old-school sweet Manischewitz Concord, but I’m drawing the line at that this year--too much of both alcohol and sugar).

All this talk of lamb burgers, and I am weak. They are all assembled and in the fridge chilling. I found some mint already up in the garden, so I was able to add some mint to the dill I knew was already in the fridge. A quick tzaikis sauce is done and flavors are "melding." Pickled red onions, and then a huge lettuce salad. Mr. 02143 didn't remember that we had already bought a bunch of lettuce and came home from Whole Foods yesterday with his special milk and yet another big bunch of lettuce. I have made him a tomato and feta salad as well. At this point in the cycle, tomatoes are off my personal menu. He is going to grill them outside which is always more tasty.

*susan*

Su

Sushi has always been “Pesadich" for Sephardic Jews despite the rice, because their tradition includes the use of some grains and legumes as long as they're served whole and can't self-leaven the way flour & water can. I'm not sure Ashkenazic rabbis would approve--though sashimi (made from permitted fish) is kosher for Passover. (Not sure about soy sauce or tamari, however).

One year at Seder I served gefilte fish with wasabi-flavored whitefish roe instead of horseradish. (Still had the horseradish on the Seder plate).

Matzo balls are indeed dumplings. But because it contains nothing but wheat or spelt flour and water, kosher-for-Passover matzo itself really has no flavor of its own unless baked till well-done. (That’s why I prefer Yehuda and the handmade “shmura,” or “guarded” matzos because to me they have some flavor).

Thanks, Susan. Most of us Jews here are secular, Reform or Conservative, so that’s a welcome development. The Orthodox (especially Hasidim) probably won’t change their rules. When I went to the Sephardic Seder in Madrid last year, they made sure to assure us they would not serve “kitniyot,” so that Ashkenazic Jews (travelers and the few Ashkenazim among the Spanish) could freely partake. I’d have loved to experience some of those traditionally Sephardic kitniyot dishes. Even so, some of the non-kitniyot Sephardic versions of Seder foods were different. (Babaghannouj, charoset that instead of being a relish was so finely ground it was pressed into little truffle-like balls, beef stew seasoned with Moroccan spices rather than the usual brisket, etc.).

Minus that sounds like an extremely delicious dinner. Might I suggest Edy's fruit bars (strawberry) with sea salt? I am glad you are driving

Carol, up here it's time to put in the sugar snap peas-must get in by May 1st in this zone. I will planting mine this weekend at the organic community garden and then helping my daughter and her husband next week. I will be in town Boston and Jamaica Plain for three days next week for a contraceptive technology conference and will be staying with them. Unfortunately I won't have time to meet anyone, Lacey and Susan

Susan and Sandy, I became addicted to Borscht and lox on bagels with cream cheese, red onion and capers and tomato slice through my first live in whatever he was lol- a nice guy

Carol I enjoyed reading about your Mom 's Bingo,sounds like fun. I want to be the lady with the private room -fat chance

Hsant those sushi pictures sure look good. I hope they find some way to make your Dad more comfortable

For dinner tonight Sprite in the "green room" I've been diligent and 5 of us have been asked to play onstage with the "real" musicians. Fiddle/violin. I stink as always.

Enloy your weekend everyone. I am buying cheap clothes to ruin at camp.