So...whats for dinner?

Actually I celebrated tonight with two (2) gin & tonics. That was after my supper of 1/2 a turkey & Havarti sandwich on 7 grain bread. Dessert was a largish slice of grocery store bakery Raspberry Cream Cheese coffee cake. The accompaniment to the gin was a bag of pretzels to tweak my salt stores against the hot weather.

Thanks everyone for celebrating my happy news w/me.

Eric - I saw it was 106 in Phoenix today. So...you're over the heat wave? I always wondered if you can really cook an egg on the sidewalk.

Here comes the P-town food porn....

Dinner at Cafe Heaven:

Citrus salad......................................lobster martini (lobster salad over arugula and avocado in martini glass

Their version of bouillabaisse...DH loves this, but hoping tonight for a more Portugese base that Napi's offers.

My wonderful warm steak salad with roasted vegetables within the greens and a lovely balsamic dressing and drizzle.

For dessert, we had a take out piece of multi layered lemon olive oil cake with creamy lemon icing. Wish I'd remembered to take the pic! Alan, the owner and pastry guy made it.

I keep losing the photos, so will continue this in another post

Oooh! I think I’m gonna defrost some langostinos and make a “lobster-oid” salad--I have avocado and arugula, and it’s been awhile since I’ve used our martini glasses. If you ever find yourself in Nassau County on LI, there’s a wonderful Portuguese restaurant on Mineola Blvd.in Garden City called Heart of Portugal--great caldo gallego, grilled sardines, bacalao and cazuela.

I have been reading, but haven't found the wherewithal to post. Food has happened in between lots and lots of laundry, cleaning, and vacuuming. All the things that I like not at all! There has also been bread making, granola creating, and last night, an emergency vegan muffin session. So far, I have liked all of our guests.... which seems really unlikely, doesn't it? My efforts mean that my listing now has five stars [out of five stars] so I think I will be able to raise our rental price soon.

As for us, our meals have been built around seasonal vegetables. We are now getting local carrots, peas, zucchini, spinach, lettuces, and tons of herbs. Thursday night was our every-five week date at Sarma. They were spot on. My HFS wasn't too bad that day, so we were able to walk back and forth. Last night I sautéed some chicken breasts and then made an almost-picatta sauce. Mr. 02143 isn't a caper fan, so I just left them out. Tonight, I made the harira soup. I modified my recipe a bit, and it was fabulous. In fact, it was so good I wrote it down in pepper plate so I can do it again! Tomorrow night we are having dinner with the "kids." We will head to their house and order take out.

Lacey, your time in P-town has me envying your culinary life. What a special time you have had. The weather has been very odd hasn't it? Our house is cold and damp. Last night's guests used both duvets and the blanket!

All of you who are hot should consider a visit to Boston right now. We have enough cold to share.

*susan*

..eating camp food this weekend.....Sharon and I drove 48 high school kids to a weekend summer camp up in the "cool country". We're only 2 hours from Phoenix, at over 6000 feet elevation and it's a nice 70 degrees right now.

Typing on a phone..uggh....

My guests has left. He is a total geek, getting his PhD. specializing in robots and just returned from Houston where he was an intern in NASA"s jet propulsion laboratory. Yea. That kind of geek. So, he has been playing the new PokémonGO game on his phone. As he was leaving today, he told me that my front yard is a PokeStop! This explains all the millenniums hanging out by the Windmill Plaque [which looks like a gravestone] in front of my house while staring at their phones. Needless to say, I am downloading the game to figure out what they see in my front yard!

*susan*

Susan - how funny. At least it's good to know why people are lurking. I am astounded that you can keep up with all the cleaning & washing of the B&B, not to mention still working & cooking creative meals regularly, & taking meals to your DD. I don't think I could do 1/4 of that much anymore.

Tomorrow is the 9th anniversary of my last cigarette in 2007. I'm going to eat an elegant Italian dinner down town with a friend. My mouth is watering for one of their specials "Shrimp Damian". Then she'll drop me off at the Wyndham Medical Center where I'll spend the night. No way I could get to the hospital by 6am Tuesday otherwise. My ex- husband will pick me up after surgery & take me out for a steak if I've come around enough to appreciate it. Or maybe rainbow trout? Can you tell I'm hungry?

It's easy to tell what food group is of premier importance to me just looking at my cupboard. Sitting waiting: garlic Naan, soft flour tortillas, pumpernickel bagels, raspberry/cream cheese danish, English muffins, sourdough bread, Hawaiian sweet rolls... Guess I'd better have a salad for dinner.

Bedo - I have serious camp envy except for the swimming tests. I can swim enough to save myself but heaven help anyone else needing saving other than a good shove to the ladder.

I will take any cold weather anyone wants to send us and I bet Minus agrees. Though today it is only 94 but feels like 101 per WC (I think it feels not quite that bad). We had an inland hurricane last night torrential rain 3" and 45 MPH winds. Lots of stuff down N of Dallas. We have appt with insurance adjuster for next week to check our roof from the last windstorm.

Cooking?? Last night was canned soup because the ac was off d/t the lightening and didn't want to heat up much. Tonight might be chicken breasts or they might just get cooked and back in fridge for tomorrow night. I had a big salad about 2 and DH had a sammie so neither of us is really hungry. I really haven't cooked much but this week will be a bit different. Taking dinner to friend/husband Thurs night after her hosp procedure. Chicken and potatoes - her 2 favorites. Maybe a jello salad for coolness. Have to make an ice cream topping for Sat - have a boozy (bourbon) caramel sauce recipe that sounds very good. Might make a cake and take it to the fire department this week. I've been in the police building but that was to get fingerprints for nursing license when they added that requirement. The fire dept. is just down the road and the bays are usually open. I figure either one is good to go for me to express my appreciation.

Oh my Lacey I cannot imagine all the different foods you get to eat. Hope you had a good drive back.

Welcome back Vivian. Tell us more about what's happening with you and your family.

Minus I agree. I've never met a cracker or a bread I didn't like. One good thing about goats - they will eat the leftovers. We bring all the dead chips home from the spring/fall camping trips and they get to enjoy them. Congrats on the 9 years smoke free. Will be praying for an easy port removal and esp. for no further need for one.

Susan - sounds like your Airbnb is doing great. I agree with Minus I don't know how you keep up with everything. I just barely understand what Pokemon Go is. I know it's akin to geocaching which I've never done but read about. No doubt if we ask a youngster they will know. It has a detailed Wikipedia listing.

The Great British Baking show is about to come on. No idea why I watch it, like I'm going to bake anything they do. Dump cakes etc are more my style lol.

Minus, sounds like you have two good dinners coming up. And I'm sending along my best for a very easy and successful port removal. Yay for you! I enjoyed reading the second list of cupboard foods! HaHa! I would be happy to serve as your goat to eat leftover cookies with those descriptions.

We left the foggy Cape tip this morning and had a rather slow but tolerable drive home. We arrived back in time to check out our farmer's market, which was sparse with vendors, but we got some nice kale, pinkish tomatoes (that won some award....they were good!), English cuke, some yellow squash, and some wild mushroom raviolis to make for dinner (ironic since we were so careful to avoid pasta in our meals in P-town, which DH realized as we sat down to dinner!;) Susan, the ravs were from Deano's Pasta, Somerville. Do you know them?

So, for dinner I made up a weird recipe that we both loved....even with my mistake of burning the kale (!) while sauteeing it.

I cooked the wild mushroom ravs, while sauteeing small pieces of the yellow squash, sliced kale, and diced scapes that I almost forgot I had in the fridge. Once the sauté was done, I added the cooked ravs and mixed it all together with a light creamy sauce, and topped it with a bit of melted mozzarella. While the saute was finishing, I forgot to turn down the flame, and as I was putting together a cuke and pink tomato salad, I realized that the kale was burning a bit. I decided to not worry about it, and in fact, we both loved the slightly charred kale taste with the rest of the ingredients. I would definitely make that again, but will have to find scapes.....so maybe not until next Spring! They are a very tasty addition to a sauté. The ravs were delicious, and pretty since they are made with striped pasta.

So Susan, I saw your note on Facebook about your home being a PokemonGO spot, and I, too, am ignorant about such things....but am very happy for you! And it sounds like the AirB+B is going really well! Maybe you can raise your prices sufficiently to hire a laundry service for the linens and towels! That is a lot of thankless work, the cooking is the fun and appreciated part.

Luv, wish we could send you some cool air.....tho I hear we are soon in for a heat wave of sorts...nothing to be compared with yours, however! Is your daughter still dating the guy from here? I can barely imagine whatbit must be like to have an entire subdivision being built in my neighborhood!

While we were gone, a notice arrived about the home builders across the street requesting a variance to put in a three bay garage. They originally tried to put two doors (one double, and one single) in the plans that were the equivalent of three bays, and were rejected by the town for trying to sneak it by that way. So now they are going for the variance. DH would love to attend the public meeting to protest (as some of our neighbors are) but we will be away that week. I am concerned that they are planning this three car driveway on a very "accident prone" corner, and it just does not make sense...especially when their kids get their licenses. The builder doesn't seem too bright either for doing this when the drive could be on the other side of the house away from the trafficky corner. However, that said, this builder is a long time local and will get the variance through so we will be calling 911 constantly once this lovely property is inhabited. Oh give me the beautiful open dunes of P-town.....rather snotty attitude, I admit! But I tend to appreciate it when folks use common sense.

Hello again,

I've done a bit of catching up and am glad to see everyone (name ) that I remember still doing well. See a few new names also, welcome.

My kids are doing well. Oldest son is working, taking a hiatus from school. Middle son is about to start 10th grade next year. He is involve with Marching Band, Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra. He has MB practice almost everyday and is on a health kick, he is pretty efficient in the kitchen so he comes up with his own concoctions(currently the Military Diet is the fad). We actually had about 4 days of him being a Vegan after watching a film in Health class towards the end of the year. I have tried to explain fads, but he is not doing anything dangerous, so I figure I am going to let him learn. My daughter will be going to 7th grade. She is in a Vocal Magnet, sings mezzo soprano, plus has dance classes on the outside for ballet, lyrical and acrobatics. Just finished the big end of year show, so now I get to relax a bit from chauffeur duty. My boys are more laid back, last minute types, B&C students, my daughter is the straight AIA in school and everything must be perfect and done early.

My biggest struggle is losing weight and keeping it off. I have got to stay away from most carbs and exercise more. When I do I feel so much better, so why can't I just continue.

Why do I have to love food so much, I am salivating from looking at the pictures, yummy.

V

susan - how did you make the zucchini cakes? Everything sounds so yummy.

We had spaghetti carbonara made with corn pasta and kale Caesar salad.

Welcome Valstim!

Yummy sounding dinners, folks!

We had one of our marathon gym sessions late this afternoon. I had planned to make stuffed portobellos, but was less enchanted with the idea of several steps, after so many steps at the gym! So while I gassed up my car for the trip to the lake tomorrow, DH stopped at the grocery store to pick up some bison meat. We had bison burgers which, this time were prepared with crumbled feta, rosemary powder, black pepper, and instead of minced garlic, I diced up two of our scapes, adding them to the mix. Love those scapes! Made a toss salad with mainly local romaine, and we also had corn on the cob.

Susan, I still am not sure how PokemonGo works, exactly, but it seems to be all the rage on the news....and has been working here for only four days?!! Some people seem to be excited that a tech game is getting people to move. I suspect that will change after the first death of a pre-occupied jaywalking "Goer", which seems to be one of the more serious concerns with the game. And I do hope that having your house "on the map" is not causing any untoward events for you. Fascinating stuff

Special,

This is the basis of what I do. My variations are generally about what I have in the fridge, but I think the feta is essential. For the fresh herbs I have used dill, thyme, and mint. I always use some lemon zest.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-symon/z...

I first used the recipe when I purchased Michael Symon's cookbook, but lately, he has simply released his recipes to the world. Preparing the zucchini, for me, requires some decisions. Do I spiralize? Julianne on the mandolin? Or shred? Tonight I used the spiralizer, salted to drain, and then wrung out in a cloth. I actually liked the texture. In the past, I have done the julienne thing, also salted to drain and squeezed of water. For me, the shredding removes all the texture, so I have stopped doing the prep this way.

I had originally planned to add slightly cooked local spinach tonight, but a conference call scheduled for 4 was delayed until 4:45 cutting down on my dinner prep time.

Oh, and I cook in non-GMO sunflower oil. I don't want to taste the oil at all, and this is the most neutral oil I own with a high smoke point. And thus ends my treatise on zucchini cakes!

*susan*

Sloan and her DH are visiting their kids & grandkids in Chicago, so I drove over to pick them up, show them a bit of the city (the North Side) that the tour buses usually don’t, stop chez moi for some cappuccino & latte out on the deck; and then we had a wonderful Catalan dinner (tapas & paella) at Cafe Ba-Ba-Ree-Ba. (They graciously insisted on treating me). We started with rosé cava, and a platter of pinxtos--bacon-wrapped dates, beef montadito, sausage & piquillo pepper, huevo diablo. Then cabrito al horno (goat cheese baked in tomato sauce and spread on garlic bread), roast vegetables with pine nuts, and a trio of sausages (iberico, morcilla, chorizo). Finally, we shared a wonderful seafood paella with shrimp, clams, and monkfish. Dessert was an ethereal chocolate truffle cake (more like a mousse) with whipped cream striped with caramel.

I am the one in love with the IP Lacey. I use it several times a week. That's a great price!