So...whats for dinner?

Wow, ChiSandy, you have your homework done on allergies/asthma! Fortunately, the doc who follows me for my allergies is great and we have a good plan going forward, unless my breathing needs more attention. So far so good....

Susan, I feel for you with this heat. We left to return to the lake mi-day today. I was stunned to feel the 96 degree humid heat as soon as I stepped out of the house. Almost the same here, except for a bit of a breeze, especially on the lake. A plus is that the house was air conditioned "au natural" when we arrived, so we kept it closed up until just a few minutes ago. It's about 70 here now.....heaven!

We visited friends from home who always rent a house across the lake. We drove our boat over and DH took many of my friend's 8 grands out for lake tours while we were there. We also got to enjoy her 8month old granddaughter. Such a sweetie pie!

We had planned to go out on the lake with friends tonight to check out the meteor showers, but DH's back is really painful, (he's having a therapeutic massage tomorrow) and I was tired, so we stayed home. For dinner, I sliced up leftover steak, put it on garlic bread with a topping of shredded mozzarella, and toasted it. Served it with terra chips, and a big plate of fresh fruit. Not bad for a last minute effort!

Here's hoping that things cool down a bit.....

Tomorrow evening I'll probably make or go out for BLTs before seeing a play at The Winni Playhouse. The BLTs were supposed to be tonight's menu.

It's actually "nice" here. I had a bunch of mom stuff to do with the accountant today, so after driving the school bus, I took the rest of the day off. On the way home, I stopped by my favorite meat market and got an apple wood smoked ham, some semi-wild chicken fryers and three USDA Prime Porterhouse steaks. DD is wanting some fruit salad, rice, beans, guacamole, and twice baked potatoes to go with the steaks.

DD will be moving into the dorm on Sunday, so tomorrow is her "last day" here. We are already "staging" things that she's going to take with her. I'm pleased to see that the "pile" is actually quite small.

Across the street from the meat market is a Starbucks that used to be a grilled chicken place. We ate there in the late afternoon...by the next morning we were a trio.

Sharon has started teaching at the new school and is loving it. Last night was the "meet the teacher" night and she knew many of the parents (and students) from when she was at the nearby elementary school. It was kind of amusing watching the parents' reactions when they realized they knew her, figured out she was the new science teacher, but didn't also realize she was more than "just" a bus driver. Some of the folks audibly gasped when she put up her qualifications on the screen....OK, I'll brag... :-) Bachelor of Science nuclear engineering, navy officer, maritime (shipboard) engineer, taught nuclear physics and radio-chemistry to navy and civilian reactor operators, nuclear fuels engineer, and six years of teaching high school physics..

Off to do more dorm shopping..

Sorry about the abnormally high temps you all of you in the east & mid-west. I've gotten used to them and I expect my blood is thinner. But our heat index values this week were 117. Eeek.

It's still too hot to turn on the oven. I've been eating watermelon, green salads, rotisserie pre-cooked chicken split up into stove top pasta dishes & meals like tortilla roll-ups where cheese is melted in the micro, take-out California Roll, spiralized zucchini w/garlic, and nuked corn on the cob. The best thing this week was a $15 strawberry cream pie from Flying Saucer Pies. My Mother used to make delicious strawberry pies so it's a once a year nostalgic purchase for me. They're a bit sweeter than hers, but similar. I took large sections of the pie to 3 other friends so you don't have to imagine me scarfing down the entire thing directly from the pie pan. But it was tempting. And this week raspberries are on sale for $0.98. WOW. I bought two boxes so will be dining on those.

Lacey & Carole - I'm so jealous of your lake places.

We're enjoying a cool spell--mid 80S and 60% humidity (or what we call "a little humid".) Lucky us!

Finally, a day of cooler temps.....albeit a very wet one. At least the heat did not accompany the rain. I cannot imagine how you are managing in that rainy, humid heat, Susan! I hope it breaks.

We are spending today trying to deal with DH's back pain. He is really struggling with muscle pain and finally called his doc who prescribed two treatments, one which needs "approval" from ins. Unfortunately, the office that approves these things is a Mon-Friday operation, so he jumped through lots of hoops to try to work it out. Fortunately, his healthcare career prepared him for this. I would not have a clue!

More importantly, while my DH is just dealing with a bad back, I just received an email from the sister of a good friend at home whose DH died suddenly while exercising Wednesday morning. I am heartbroken for her. They both retired this past year and had been spending a lot of time visiting their children and grands in Cali and in DC. The most distressing thing about this to me is that my friend, as a twenty something, also lost her first husband in an unexpected way, shortly after they were married. He died suddenly of cardiac failure while water skiing. I'm sorry to be learning this terrible news while away, but know that her whole (out of state) family is with her now, and she will need support a plenty when the "crowd thins". So sad....

I keep thinking that I will be making BLTs for dinner and plans keep changing. I will shortly get up and make exactly that before DH changes plans again. We are supposed to see "Footloose" at a local community theatre tonight. I suspect DH will be the one sleeping in the seat given the flexarill (sp) induced drowsines.

Today is DGD's 4th birthday! DDIL called to Facetime with us while she opened her BD gifts, which she did with gusto! Her birthday (pool) party is being delayed until she can return to swimming. Last weekend she and DGS jumped in the pool together, banged heads and she ended up with a lacerated cheek. Fortunately, DS's best friend is a plastics guy, so she is all stitched up, and knowing her family's focus on facial beauty, I'm sure she will be followed by him until the cheek shows no evidence at all of that mishap! I'm always amazed that those two active kids have not been injured before this.

Pre-mishap happy face after she got her "four year old ears"pierced.

Face with gash must still be in my text file.

Lacey - Sorry about the gash. Honestly I've been fortunate to see & have great plastic surgeons and you really can't see any scars. She's certainly a charmer with those huge eyes & long eyelashes.

Supper was "homemade" (from the deli) rye bread, buttered & pan fried & served open face w/sliced avocados on top & dripping with melted, mixed cheeses. Enjoyed with a lovely glass of Malbec. Yum. In the spirit of the South (and since I need something cool tomorrow and the fresh fruit is almost gone) I just completed making cherry jello, slightly gelled and then whole, sweet, dark, pitted cherries folded in. I'm not from the South, but jello salads were a constant staple of my youth in CA. Maybe it's a comfort food thing?

I made the mistake once of trying to make cacio e pepe with shiratake capellini--yikes, what a globby mess! (Worked well with spiralized zucchini, though--as well as with both Bionature whole wheat and Dreamfields spaghetti, though the Dreamfields cooked up to a better al dente texture).

This morning (actually, afternoon, since I didn’t fall asleep till 5 am), continuing my clean-out-the-fridge task, I discovered some low-carb bread about which I’d forgotten but was still not yet moldy after more than a month. I was all set to make an avocado BLT with the avocado from which I’d taken one small slice Thurs. and put in the front of the middle shelf; but it was nowhere to be found. I was going crazy, emptying out crispers, rearranging shelves, to no avail. Both my guys are late-night noshers, but a naked avocado just isn’t either of their styles, and neither would’ve discarded it. Before I decided to have myself committed (had I imagined that I’d even cut one?), I asked Gordy as he got ready to go to teach his improv class. “Yeah,” he replied, “It looked nice and fresh and I wanted guacamole, so I mashed it up and ate it with Doritos.” (Of course, not-quite guac: he hates tomatoes and didn’t know to squeeze lime juice into it). So I made a BLT, on which I used mayo rather than avocado. And I fried a jumbo organic egg in olive oil.

Bob got home at 5, so we walked to dinner at B’way Cellars. We had a rolling wine carrier (the 2-wheeled kind with a strap rather than a telescoping handle) for bringing home the 3 bottles each of Brouilly & Sancerre we’d ordered last month at the Bastille Day dinner. It was still humid out, a definite appetite-suppressant, so we each had an app-sized spinach/garbanzo/asparagus/lobster salad as our entrees. But because the lobster was only half a “slipper” sized tail, for “dessert” we shared a crabcake appetizer. We had quite a bit of difficulty lugging the wine carrier home without scraping the bottom on the sidewalk (when we’d bought it in Napa in 2013, we never had to drag it any further than a rented luggage cart--and that was the last time we’d used it). When we got home I went online searching for it, and discovered we were towing it the wrong way (it was supposed to be oriented horizontally, with the long strap nearly at the bottom for better leverage). I told Bob that’s what we’ll do the next time. He said, "nope, let’s just use a folding shopping cart.” I asked "what about when we travel to a wine region?” He replied it was worth paying shipping costs to avoid having to schlep the rolling carrier (or pay an extra bag fee if we’re not flying on Southwest or in business class).

In Rome, they tend to make cacio e pepe with either dried spaghetti or a similar house-made extruded or hand-cut rougher-textured squarer shaped and thicker pasta called tonnarelli, which is like a slightly thinner version of bucatini but solid rather than hollow. It is thick enough not to stick to itself, but has enough surface area with just the right texture to “grip" the butter or oil, pepper grounds and cacio Romano Pecorino without it clumping together. Cappellini (no matter what it's made of--whether durum wheat, semolina or engineered tofu) is too fine and smooth, and the cheese, fat & sauce just slide off and clump up in the interstices.

Just like the “annellini” pasta rings (no doubt the inspiration for Spaghetti-Os) we had in Palermo last December, I’ve been unable to find tonnarelli here in the U.S.--probably because it isn’t commercially made in a dried and packaged version.

Sandy and April, good to know - thanks! April, feel free to jump in anytime!

I normally use a thicker spaghetti but I had an opened package of cappelini I wanted to use up. The sauce didn't clump so much as the pasta was just a little mushy. Should have known better.

Hi April.

Two hours to "dorm time". DD is both excited and nervous.

Thanks for the Amazon links, April. The annelletti were listed as “currently unavailable” then, as they still are. The tonnarelli price is given as “zero” euros, so it too is unavailable. I scoured the aisles at Eataly and couldn’t find either of them. The closest to tonnarelli I can find is the fresh pasta counter at Whole Foods, in that they sell sheets of fresh uncut lasagna and may have a coarse-spaghetti cutting plate for their machine through which they can run the lasagna (or I can just roll it up and hand-cut it). My one hope is perhaps those mom & pop Sicilian & S. Italian grocery stores in Elmwood Park.

Beacon Street, the street that has our favorite Chinese restaurant, has been torn up for months. We decided that we would ignore the lack of pavement tonight, and park illegally in the supermarket parking lot. Sadly, as is often the case on Sunday, the A chef was not cooking tonight. Our usual order was too salty, and one dish was so poorly cooked that it was inedible. Really disappointing. They took the salt and pepper squid off the bill, but of course, we tipped based on the full amount. The meal was disappointing, but of course, we will return. Good thing that this was not our first visit!

I use my pasta extruder so infrequently, that I am not sure what my setting are. I should take a look!

*susan*

I enjoy reading about all of your pasta adventures and searches tho I so rarely prepare or eat it these days. In fact, DH mentioned today as I was anout to head to the drug store for more back items for him, then to the food store to shop for dinner, that we haven't had pasta in a while. Hahahahaha! Does he live with me?! We have rarely had main course pasta in three years!! Anyway, I agreed to make an orzo side.....but then found some nice salmon, local salad greens and great looking corn on cob....so I totally went back on my word. No complaints. Maybe tomorrow we'll have that orzo......with lots of vegetables and a chicken dish.

Eric, I so hope your DD launch went well! Please tell!

Bedo, where you are, it is totally a lie (lay) around day....

Back to the salmon.....I pan cooked it....for the first time ever, given that the oven was not going to be put on in this heat, and DH was not grill able. I have rarely seen such spatter....and did a major cleaning of a large part of the kitchen during clean up. That will not happen again.

Sandy, I followed a recipe that called for a tablespoon of olive oil, and high heat.....spatter city once the filet started to cook I think I would use the same non stick pan with no "loose" oil if I ever do that again. Maybe just rub some oil on the filet. They were tasty.....guess I really hated the extra clean up since I'm back to doing both "creative" and "maintenance" with DH laid up.

Another way I do fish is in parchment. Brush filets (salmon, bluefish, branzino are my favorites to do this way) with olive oil, brush parchment too. Sparingly salt & pepper the fish, then add fresh herbs (tarragon, basil, thyme and flat-leaf parsley), tomatoes, julienned peppers, red onion. Fold parchment over the fish and crimp the edges closed. Cut a small slit in the top of the parchment. Nuke on high 1 minute (at most, 90 sec.). Open packet carefully, as there will be steam. Squeeze lemon over the fish if desired.