So...whats for dinner?

Except for wonderful appetizers at the cocktail hour, the dinner food at the beautiful estate in West Barrington was unspecial....pretty similar to that offered at the retirement dinner on Thursday. Steak, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable. However, the vegetable on our plates was bizarre.....a piece of dark cauliflower sitting in a brownish "smear" which evoked many questions/comments. So much for food.... The company, conversations and settings were all wonderful.

So we raced home on Saturday evening, and got up Sunday to hear a lyceum lecture by a church member who works for Homeland Security in Human Trafficking. He focused on American teenagers who are lured into these situations, and it was so frightening, especially to hear of ways kids are cyber lured. It was also appalling to learn about why the consequences for "johns" are not very deterring....too many men in power, in charge of altering those sanctions, who have a vested interest in remaining anonymous and keeping these young sex slaves "available". So troubling! Anyway, in some small concrete ways, our church members will be starting a team to support victims who are escaping such lives. I plan to join the new team.

On a happier note, we spent the rest of the day with DS2 and DGF, enjoying a neighborhood tour of beautiful restored victorian homes in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester. Fascinating and fun....and many stairs!

After, we retreated to their condo where we enjoyed drinks and chips and dips on their newly decorated roof deck (DGF definitely has the design gene , where DS2 grilled shrimp/chicken/vegetable kebobs. They were accompanied by a fresh grilled corn relish, and an arugula salad with grilled peach, goat cheese and balsamic dressing. It was a delicious meal! DGF made a birthday key lime pie for me, which she had trouble slicing, but we had noooo trouble eating...we just relabeled it 'key lime crumble'! It was a really nice day....

Am missing hearing about your northern adventures, Carole. Hope all is going well...

Susan, I do hope that your DD is finding some relief from the hive eruptions. What a scourge! I'm glad she is getting nurtured by your nutritious deliveries and emotional support. Hopefully a good allergist can be added to the mix

Sending peaceful wishes to everyone....

Happy Birthday. :-)

Happy Birthday Lacey. It sounds like a wonderful birthday.

Happy Birthday, Lacey!

I've been keeping up with reading posts but replies have all been mental. We are enjoying the temperatures here in northern MN. The first week our attire was jeans and sweatshirts. It has warmed up but the a/c has not been needed except for one afternoon. Today was/is gorgeous with high in the upper 70's. We biked 20 miles and then had a tasty lunch at Dorset House in the small village of Dorset. I had a grilled cheese on sour dough bread. In addition to gooey cheese the filling included fresh tomato and thin-sliced pickles. DH had a BLT that he proclaimed delicious. Dorset House is also an ice cream place with many selections. I had a chocolate ice cream soda and dh had a hot fudge sundae with Moose Tracks ice cream, his favorite.

Afterwards we shopped for groceries at Hugh's Family Market, which is a nice supermarket. It offers a variety of store-made brats, brats being a popular meat choice here. I selected Minnesota brats which contain blueberries and maple flavoring.

After all the calories at lunch, dinner will be a sandwich or some cottage cheese or yogurt.

Happy Birthday Lacey!

For dinner tonight I pan browned a pork loin dusted with flour and corn starch. I then put it in the oven at 350* for 1 hour. Removed it from the oven drizzled my k-up, honey and garlic sauce over the top and back in the over for another 15 mins. Along with the pork loin I baked a full cauliflower head drizzed with butter, and Monterey steak spices for 1 hour at 350* it was very yummy and my DH and DSIL's favorite!

Susan: But the pork loins freeze beautifully after they're cooked. I cook them for myself regularly. It they're the full loin, I usually cut in thirds & freeze 2 pieces. For the small center loins that come in two packs here, I season each one differently and cut in 4 pieces - freezing 3.

Hi to everyone else. Computer not happening tonight since my air conditioner went out at noon. It's only 93 outside, but VERY humid. And the night won't cool down lower than 79 so no way to open the windows.

Nuked some buffalo wings, cut up celery, and mixed some bleu d’Auvergne into generic blue cheese dressing. Too tired to do anything more complex, too afraid to sabotage my low-carb diet either. Walked to the Immediate Care Center earlier, to get the skin biopsy dressing on my back changed (I can’t reach it, am not allowed to try, and nobody’s home who can do it for me). The nurse there told me it looks infected. Now I’m waiting for my derm’s on-call doc to get back to me. Going on an hour now, no callback. I’m getting really tired of doctors not returning my calls. This morning, I got a call from my LE doc’s scheduler asking if I still wanted to make an appt. I told her that I had requested the appt. three weeks ago, and saw her boss last week. I am losing patience with apathy and incompetence.

Thanks everyone for the b-day wishes! I so appreciate it!

Joyce, what a lucky niece you have. Your birthday meal for her looks fabulous! Thanks for the beautiful visuals!!

ChiSandy, I hope you got some response from your docs. So frustrating....and scary to know an infection needs attention, but no one is listening.

And Nance, my thoughts have been with you as you cope with your dad's failing health...especially after his situation was looking more promising. No matter which stage of life we are in, this is always so very hard. Hugs to all of you. I know you must also be physically as well as emotionally exhausted.

Last night we went to Tasca in Allston, a favorite tapas restaurant of our friends who were back from California for a visit. We had many delicious tapas, a special deal on red sangria, and some sweeeeet desserts! It was great seeing these friends in a place that holds such good memories. So we got to make more!

Special, have you considered making an instructional video for self back dressing changing?? You continue to amaze!!

Dinner on my own tonight, so maybe leftovers DS2 sent home with me....and salad.

My thoughts are with my DS1's family today. DDIL's dad (who lives with them, does childcare, and is sooo close to my little grandson) is having lung cancer surgery at Sloan-Kettering. During recent pneumonia treatment, a large tumor was discovered, and now a lot of questionable scarring in his lungs, (noticed by S-K, not by his first pulmonologist, which has my DDIL surgeon crazed), so diagnosis is not clear, but not probably great. We are worried for him and all of them, but will hopefully have more facts after today.

Lacey, I hope all goes well for DS1's father in-law and the surgery. The worry and waiting for more information is a universal thing for caner.

Special, the image of the reptile tweezers, the dressings and backing up to the wall..gave me a huge laugh. I could just see alternating their use between dressings and their intended use. :-)

The trifle looks good. Is is "calorie laden"? :-) DD here likes non-cake stuff for her birthdays. Is there a recipe or general "do it sort of like this" notes?

My heart goes out to you Nance..you and your dad. I would imagine it is equally unsettling to him as well. I still remember my dad's...not sure what to call it....amazement, I guess....amazement and irritation....that his body would no longer do what he wanted. It bothered him greatly. When I'm doing stuff for my mom, I try to keep in mind that my mom probably *HATES* the situation.

Carole, I wish it was in the 70s here. This weekend it's very likely to reach 120F degrees with low temperatures in the low 90F degree range. The 120F heat is dry--kind of like standing in front of an oven--but the early morning temperatures are more humid than I like.

And, Minus, I hope the A/C gets fixed QUICKLY. The high heat and high humidity is tolerable if you can go inside to cool off..but if you need to cool off and you are already inside....uggh.... :-)

Chi, I hate the "constant forgetfulness" too. That is probably a problem with the office staff, but from a patient point of view, the office staff and the providers all blur together. I hate getting a new doc. It seems I find one that is a decent person and has a good staff...and they move or retire...so I have to go through the "try one, be bothered by the experience, try another" until I settle on a new doc...and then they move or retire.....

Moon, I agree with Susan, can't they "zap" the stones? I would think after a few days they would offer more than "this, too, shall pass" as a treatment.

The pork loin looks good Lori. The store here sometimes has a pair of them on sale for under a dollar a pound (!)..but it back to "regular price" if you have the meat department cut them up...Mom gave me a meat saw....so I cut them up into multiple "2 pounders" and freeze what I'm not going to immediately use. I've been experimenting with garlic rubs, rosemary rubs and pepper rubs and we can't decide which is better . II suppose when DD heads off into the world, I have to cut the loins into smaller pieces...so we don't get pork fatigue after the "20th meal of leftovers".

Doctor visit today for me. Blood pressure is OK but still not as low as the doctor would like and I'll find out about the cholesterol numbers tomorrow. Even with all my exercise, my cholesterol numbers aren't that great. When I know the cholesterol check is going to happen, I take my exercise watch (shows max and average heart rate, date, time and length of exercise session) with me to show the doctor. The doctor, as he clicks through the exercise readouts, raises his eyebrows a bit (he says my cardio workouts are on the extreme end of crazy high). Anyway, when the results show up, he says as long as I keep up my exercise, he's not going to recommend any cholesterol lowering pills.

April - hey there. Welcome to this thread anytime. As you know by lurking we're good people/.

Not only does that trifle look luscious but those beef filets in the background are gorgeous! Yum. My kind of birthday celebration.

I may have to try that cauliflower preparation. I'm not crazy about cauliflower. I haven't cooked pork tenderloin in years because dh doesn't like it. We've been cooking pork steaks on the grill following my BIL's method (he grew up in St. Louis, pork steak country). Low and slow. He perforates his steaks to tenderize them but I don't have that gadget. Barbecue sauce, if wanted, brushed on in the last minutes. Pork steaks are cheap as well as tasty.

Tonight we had chili made with ground beef and a variety of canned beans. It was delish with some grated cheddar on top and a few fritoes. Side was the house salad with a sprinkle of white balsamic and EVOO.

chisandy - funny that we are repurposing assorted reptile and fish devices to change bandages in difficult locations, lol! I have found that if I extend part of the tape across or down so that I can reach it, I can pull off the bandage. This is easier for me since I am allergic to topical antibiotics and adhesive all I get is Aquaphor, gauze, and paper tape. Tegaderm would be much more difficult. I will confess to calling my neighbor and having her re-dressing my back when DH was out of town.

carole - Fritos on chili - be still my heart

Well, not such good news here for DS1's family....

His FIL's surgery revealed cancer also in the lining of his lungs, of clurse unable to be surgically removed, thus stage four with the most likely plan for palliative care with chemo. I know very little about lung cancer, especially at this level, and did not want to bother my DDIL to explain much since she was managing his post -op care. Tho we just called DS1 who explained that they don't really know what his prognosis and treatment will be until the genetic testing of the tumor is back in a week or so. Poor guy, guess they gave him so much morphine, he was constantly vomiting, so DDIL was there and able to convince the staff that he needed to have that managed better, so he could stop being so sick. I feel so badly for DGS if his DGF has a really rough time since he has been DGS's daily active buddy for most of his young life. Fingers crossed here that he will be with us for quite some time, since the GM is all wrapped up in her DGD and not so much our little five year oldguy.

Between calls, I had an avacado and potato chips for dinner.

I have a good friend coming for lunch tomorrow, so I picked up some makings for BLTs since she likes them. So we will have that or go up town to one of the local restaurants.

I forgot in my last post to say how much I enjoyed Lori's and Susan's "meat pix". Yum!

The whole concept of "lizard tweezers" cracks me up. My sister had a chameleon, "Herbie", when we were young, but he certainly did not qualify for using something so serious sounding.

lacey - my dad was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, mets to spine. He was 82 at dx and had 6 rounds of Taxol palliatively to alleviate pain by shrinking tumors. He tolerated it very well, enough so that he did it again six months later. His original prognosis was 18 months and for much of that he functioned very well, with no real assistance, so hopefully DDIL's dad can have some good quality time even during treatment. If he is nausea prone he may not have that SE with Taxol if that is what they use, it is a less common SE with it than it is with other agents. Hoping for the best for him, and for all of you.

Thanks for that ray of hope, Special. We'll know more in a week or so. DGS's parents brought him to see his DGF this morning, and DGM told me she is concerned that he is not talking about his DGF, but is "acting out" instead (not sure what SHE means by using term, acting out). While we were talking we both teared up and she admonished me not to cry. Great! Now I guess we know why the five year old can't. No room for tears there! She can plan on more acting out! She did mention that next Monday at 2PM people are joining in sending prayers/thoughts/energy for this dear man. So, if anyone has the time/inclination, please join us. Thanks!

Today my friend and I had BLTs here and a nice long visit. Then tonight DH thought BLTs sounded good, so we had them for dinner too.....with potato chips, and an arugula/watermelon/feta salad. Tomorrow we are going to see "Matilda" with a dinner beforehand at a big unspecial Italian restaurant as a part of the package. It will clearly be a big carb night!