So...whats for dinner?

The mahi-mahi was still frozen. Gordy’s at rehearsal. Bob is working late. So the heck with it: I made a tuna salad sandwich with lettuce, tomato & onion on low-carb hi-fiber bread and a glass of seltzer. (Had just a fried egg and black coffee for late breakfast, and made myself an unsweetened coconut-almond milk latte when I got home from the shrink). But I’m nervous enough about tomorrow’s mammo that I will have a small glass of that Mumm’s unless it’s too flat to enjoy. Wish I had a dessert I like that I could cheat with. Plain Greek yogurt, one square of dark chocolate, and berries just don’t comfort me at all. I will stop at Hoosier Mama on the way home from the mammo and NP tomorrow...and eat half a slice of pie--unless the fro-yo parlor refilled the non-fat no-sugar “Eurotart” machine since yesterday.

eric - I sympathize with the bank thing - my folks were Depression era too - they would both be in their deep 90's if still with us. My dad had certificates of deposit all over town and it was a process to consolidate them. I had to do all of this even though my mom survived him because she was severely disabled and cold not leave the house except after using a hydraulic lift, a wheelchair, and an equipped van that she could be rolled into. We saved that for doctor visits, which were infrequent, or she left in an ambulance - several times a year for lengthy hospitalizations. I could sign everything so I ran around handling all of this stuff - the only issue was I lived 3,000 miles away... I accumulated an enormous amount of frequent flyer miles.

Oh, eric, stay indoors and stay safe!!! Only upside is that you can cook outdoors on a piece of tinfoil on the patio without using any fuel (only partly joking).

Okay, gonna do a dinner reboot. The fish still has ice crystals, so I took it out of the fridge and am finishing the defrost on the counter. Don’t feel like going to WF, so will marinate it in oil, lemon, and tarragon, sear it, and then steam it on a bed of bell pepper strips. And whatever Bob feels like drinking, ‘scuse me while I go pour myself a little of that Mumm’s: today’s mammo was A-OK!!!

Well, I gave up on the mahi-mahi and stuck it back on the freezer--still has ice crystals after being out on the counter for half an hour. Having a half flute of Mumm’s (still bubbly after a week) with a slice of nice, ripe Brie to celebrate the mammo. Earlier, had heirloom yellow tomato & basil over baby greens with orange balsamic vinaigrette. May have a little cauliflower-crust pizza later, with some peppers--or nuke some palak paneer.

Glad to hear that Sandy. Always a good cause for celebration!

Tonight I ended up making Shackshuka with feta. We both enjoyed it...have been meaning to make it for several months since seeing the recipe in NYT. Made a garden salad and garlic bread to accompany it. Of course dessert is awaiting on the counter...the cherry pie is calling me.

Susan, glad your maiden voyage into AirBnB is starting off well. In fact, I bet yours would be a great spot for Tufts, Harvard and other school parent/teenage hopefuls to rest their tired heads. You will probably meet many interesting folks!

Nance, I'm really glad that you have a relative to help you navigate this particular nursing home system. Sustainedhugs to you as you manage your dad's needed care.

Variant on my 'cold pasta salad' (our usual being rotini, chicken, vegetables on hand and dressing of some sort): tonight being salmon, asparagus and pesto.

Well, and the rotini.

Battening down the hatches, Lacey. Hope we aren’t in for the kind of stuff that hit Texas not so long ago.

Venting a bit tonight. Figured that with the mahi-mahi being a no-go, I would have a low-carb bagel and lox for dinner. About to put the bagel into the toaster oven, I foraged around in the meat-keeper drawer and.....no lox. Last Thurs. I bought two packages. Okay, cold cuts....nope, empty package from sliced turkey and a slowly petrifying slice of mortadella from the “Italian trio” I bought last week. Had to settle for a chicken bratwurst atop some sauerkraut, and I was lucky to come up with both. Of course, my freezer and pantry is full of stuff I’m not supposed to eat, bought for my guys who requested it.....and then they go and eat MY stuff and don’t bother to tell me when they’ve eaten it all that we need to buy more. And ferpity’s sake, would it KILL them to put opened packages into ziploc bags??? At least they don’t drink milk out of the bottle.....because unlike me, they’re lactose-intolerant.

I walked with my neighbor last night and DH went to the gym so dinner was different for all! DD went to get Taco Tuesday with her friend, I had leftover steak and sliced it thin, quartered some mushrooms and sautéed them, then added the sliced steak and added some beef gravy and put it over buttered wide egg noodles with parsley for DH, then put it in the fridge for him with some cabbage crunch slaw from WF. Had enough to pack the same for his lunch today. He heated the entrée up when he got back from the gym. I walked (my first since surgery) five miles, but we didn't leave until 8:15 so I had a tomato, 1/2 an avocado and peppered bacon sammie on whole grain bread when I got back.

The other day I took everything out of both freezers and put it all on the counter. I find that my side by side freezer gets out of control easily and then I can't find anything. I re-organized and now have a better handle on what I have. I decided that after losing the garage fridge/freezer at the holidays I would only put bread, any ice cream, and a few vegetables out there - if I lose those it would be less painful than filet and shrimp! I used to keep a list on the freezer door of what was inside and then cross off when I used things - I should go back to that. So, now all the protein is in the house freezer but it is better organized. Frozen fruit for shakes on the top shelf, veggies on the next one, meats on the next, nuts and ground meats on the bottom, seafood in one drawer and meatballs and asst sausages in the other.

We didn’t get anything stronger than drizzle this morning (guess the south suburbs got slammed), but it’s getting dark out (an hour earlier than last night) and there’s faint rumbling going on. Whoops--not so faint. The chair cushions are in, the deck umbrella’s shut. Good thing I didn’t light the grill for the pork chops I bought--looks like pan-seared salmon and various salads for dinner instead.

Weird thing has been happening. I bought a dozen Vitality Farms Pasture-Raised Jumbo eggs, as I usually do for frying, poaching, or soft-boiling (I buy Amish large brown organic eggs for recipes, ordinary omelets, & scrambling). Sat. morning I made a classic French rolled omelet, which requires two eggs plus an extra yolk. Cracked one open--a double-yolker. Cracked the second--ditto! Two in a row! Then yesterday, I cracked one to fry....yup, double yolk again. My housekeeper cracked a couple for my son--both doubles! And this morning to fry......you guessed it! SIX in a row! I looked up superstitions surrounding it--except for the old Norse mythology of it being an omen of an impending death of a friend or family member, they all have to do with either fertility, an impending marriage or good fortune. Well, I did get good news yesterday. But as to fertility? The boat’s sailed for me, and my female cat is a spay. Marriage? Gordy isn’t seeing anyone. Maybe I need to buy a lottery ticket......

There is a scientific explanation. Normally, the odds are 1 in 1,000 eggs. The exceptions? “Adolescent” hens who release another ovum before a shell can form around the first one. (Just like fraternal-twinning being commoner in pregnancies among both young and perimenopausal moms). And there’s actually a breed that does that on a regular basis.

Went to B’way Cellars Italian 20/20 wine tasting & buffet. I managed to steer clear of the pastas, arancini, risotto, pizza and desserts and stay fully low-carb: Caesar (skipped the croutons) and antipasto salads, insalata Caprese, salumi (capicolla & prosciutto) and cheese (provolone, Parm. Regg., gorgonzola), portobello mushrooms, olives, sausage & white beans (carb, but the good high-fiber kind), and whitefish piccata. Wines to match, as well. For dessert, I waited till I got home and had an apricot and a couple of large strawberries.

Dinner was the last of the chicken - sliced and piled on toasted pumpernickel bread. Dessert was pretzels. Let's hear it for the salt replacement for these hot climates. Popcorn would have been better but I was too tired after PT to even make that.

Like Eric, I'm trying to clean out both the fridge & the freezer. Meals have been interesting, to say the least. The only fresh things i bought at the grocery this week were: a head or red leaf lettuce, a couple of tomatoes, 5 limes, and a personal sized watermelon.

We're playing dominoes this afternoon and i made a Lemonade Pie. It sounds delicious. Hope it tastes the same. I'll report back later.

SpecialK, I'm so sorry to hear of your neighbor's young son! My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends!

Of course, I have added them to my prayer list. 🙏🙏🙏

Had a low-carb (4 gm net) bagel with cream cheese, lox, tomato, onion, dill and capers at noon. Tonight was our rabbi’s last service before retiring and becoming our second Rabbi Emeritus (our first, who still teaches, just turned 100 and his wife is 101). I knew I had to eat early but didn’t feel like making a full meal, so I had a few Marcona almonds and baked a frozen cauliflower-crust mini-pizza in the toaster oven (topped with basil from my garden). This time I baked it directly on the rack--it didn’t stick, but never got crispy either. Meh. At the Oneg Shabbat after the service, I skipped the cakes and cookies and had some cheese, fruit and a sliver of dark chocolate. Just had a scoop of tuna and Jerusalem (diced tomato/cucumber/onion/parsley) salads--didn’t mix any tahini into the latter as I usually do. Have an early morning--gotta get Bob up in time for an 8am emergency dental appt. (he chipped a tooth), and I have to be out of here before 11 am so I can be in w. suburban Bartlett by noon for setup & soundcheck for a 90-min. outdoor gig from 1-2:30 at the Festival of the Arts. Hoping the stage is covered. We have to provide our own P.A. system, but we are getting paid. (Best kind of gig--built-in audience that gets in for free, we get paid no matter what. Those don’t come along very often). It’s supposed to get up near 90 tomorrow, with it getting muggier by the hour. Showers starting out there by 6 pm (I’ll be long home by then) and 8 pm here. Storms by midnight. Looks like I’ll be grilling indoors.

Had two fried eggs and black coffee this morning before heading out to Bartlett to play an outdoor concert --where I guzzled two bottles of water. It was 96--not that hot to you in the S. and SW, but the hottest we’ve had in Chicagoland this year. Cranked up the A/C on the way home and drove with elbows out horizontally, so the cold air would blow on my armpits. For lunch I had heirloom tomato, basil, a mozzarella “pearl” and baby greens, with aged balsamic and olive oil. Tonight I defrosted a bone-in loin 1/2” pork chop, seasoned it with both alder-smoked and espresso sea salts and ground some black pepper. Grilled it, along with a sweet potato, which I cut in half and seasoned with a little salt & cinnamon (ate half the sweet potato). Sauteed some Brussels sprouts in olive oil--finished with supermarket balsamic and black truffle salt. Had a Maryhill Rosé of Sangiovese. Ate out on the deck, watching the planes fly in towards O’Hare, the fireflies flitting, listening to fireworks being set off in Andersonville, one neighborhood south, for Pride weekend.