So...whats for dinner?
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An Italian friend of mine (from Italy) makes her own sausage every year around this time and she gave me ten pounds (she is so sweet) and it is truly the best I have ever had. (am not a big sausage person but I love hers) She gave me 7 lbs of sweet and 3 lbs of hot. Tonight I will make my "one pan wonder" for hubby with two pounds of the sausage. He loves it. Sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic and potatoes all cooked in one pan. I serve it with some French baguette and call it a day. My husband loves this dish with a passion. I like it well enough and it is pretty easy although it involves a lot of cutting up of veggies. I use my very large electric skillet to make this and it works great.
I froze the rest of the sausage for use in spaghetti sauce and home made pizza.
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April - that IS a good friend!
Last night was lamb kofte with pitas, tzatziki and a Greek salad. I have an early meeting tonight, so a simple early dinner of cod sandwiches and a stovetop mac and cheese. New recipe from Serious Eats made with condensed milk.
Today is 80 degrees tomorrow 60 degrees. Good grief. We've had no rain for nearly 4 weeks so the leaves (mostly oak) are just turning brown and falling off. Not at all pretty like yours Monica.
Thanks for wine lesson Sandy!
I'm sorry about your friend Lacey -- that must be hard for you. How nice of you to to offer such comfort to her family. DH and I are both on jury duty until January. We rarely get picked for criminal trials because of our history in law enforcement and I despise the civil trials in my small town. The last one I had to participate in was a city ordinance violation trial where the defendent was acting as his own lawyer. His first statement to the jury was "I did it" then went on to offer his stupid reasons for doing so. When we adjourned for deliberations my thought was "this should be quick" as the guy admitted his guilt first thing, but oh no! All but two of us wanted to find him not guilty! Seriously??? We ended up hung and the guy then made a deal. Turns out my fellow jury members didn't want the guy to have a "criminal" record. For a city ordinance violation!!! My argument that we can't pick and choose which laws we want to enforce (in a perfect world anyway -- and this one involved animal cruelty-- and if you don't like the law, work to get it changed) fell on deaf ears. Such is life in a small town.
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Nance, how frustrating for you to serve on that jury! Coincidentally, I sent off a letter today asking to be excused from jury duty. I wouldn't mind serving on a jury but I am seldom picked because of my background as teacher and writer. Too much imagination, I was told by one lawyer who rejected me for his jury. My age (over 70) allows me to be excused but my main reason was my responsibilities to visit my mother at the nursing home. My sister and I have a schedule where I go on T, TH, and Sat. She goes on M, W, and F. Sunday is up for grabs with other siblings encouraged to visit.
I have dinner prepped. Pork tenderloin sliced into medallions, sweet potato peeled and chunked up for roasting. Salad will be tomato and cucumber and onion for dh.
April, lucky you to be gifted all that homemade sausage!
Missing Susan and updates on little Olivia.
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April....wow! So nice to have such a generous, "culinarily talented" Italian friend! I had to read your one pan sausage dish to DH since he loves sausages/onions/peppers. He was just about panting! But then, he decided he would eat so much he'd land in the ER....so I don't need the recipe. Whew! It did sound delicious!
Carole, I know you are back when I see thse pork medallions recipes showing up! Yum!
Nance,
I am stunned that you need to be on jury duty for such a protracted time!! I guess that shows the difference between states, small towns, etc. In our county jury system we can get called as often as once every three years, and the duration for serving is one day/one trial (which could go for three days, but that is not often). I am guessing that you have fewer trials? Do you get called in throughout that period when they need you....but not too often. If the process were not so serious, your story was almost comical....and frustrating!!
So today about 17 of us "jurors" sat and sat and sat for the entire morning waiting to learn if we would be impaneled for a trial. I met a woman from Brookline who wanted to find a Dunkin during our morning break, and while walking, we found lots we had in common, so chatted most of the morning away.
Just before lunch break we were called to the courtroom, and for an hour, we answered questions that might be disqualifying for individual jurors. At the end, it was determined that a large enough jury was not available, so we were all let go and no trial took place. I felt badly for the gal who was the defendant who now must return to try her luck again....and the three baby faced looking police officers who arrested her, and the three witnesses who took time off from their lives....work, etc. to arrive ready for the trial. Not sure how this happened thatbthere were not enough folks, to serve, but it was interesting to see how people presented themselves to the judge in ways that would make them seem too biasedagainst the defendant. Anyway, now I won't be called for another three years. My DH never gets called.....
Last night we had leftover grilled chicken, ratatouille, sweet potato, and greek salad. Tonight we had the meat lamejun (sp) I'd bought a couple of days ago, veggies and baba ganoush, and a tossed salad. We were in a rush to get to a "joints" lecture at the local community hospital. Enjoyed some cookies there.
Carole, I bet if you send Susan a PM plea to satisfy our Olivia craving she will share some adorable pix that she has posted on Facebook. She is such a cutie!
Tomorrow night we are headed into town to see the Celts for one of their last pre season games.....which means that we will need to watch the debate really late!! Or not......
Oh the frustration of finally updating my ipad to ios nine, and findingthat my numbers board now does not work?...no more exclamation points for me......hahahaha....
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I've done criminal jury duty once, and civil three times (twice at the Daley Center—the main courthouse in the Loop—and once out in Arlington Heights/Mt. Prospect). In IL we also have a one day/one trial system. But on any given day in any given courthouse, there are anywhere from 30-100 people in the jury waiting area. At the Daley Center there is an entire floor exclusively devoted to the jury program. At least now they have TVs and no longer confiscate cellphones unless we're actually empaneled to serve in a trial. They let us leave the premises for lunch—but at the suburban courthouse, there was nowhere to go but the crummy basement cafeteria.
For years, I was exempt because either Bob or I were actually parties to or representing a party in an active case on the trial docket. Finally, Bob got dismissed from a malpractice suit when the actually-negligent doctor’s insurer settled with the patient’s family. Bob then actually called the Jury Coordinator to tell him he was eligible again—he wanted a day off work to sit in the jury waiting room reading and have a nice lunch in the Loop. And the County obliged.
(In many malpractice cases, plaintiffs’ attys. will name everyone who ever saw the patient, even if they were not the the treating physician at the time, much less being on duty or on call. Once when I was an Asst. AG, I was assigned to defend a malpractice case against the U. of I. Hospital. There was a list of 27 defendants—including the nurses, nurses’ aides, attendings, fellows, residents, interns, medical students, everyone but the transporters who had been anywhere near the ER on the night in question. Sure enough, Bob was named—as were four of his fellow residents. Didn’t matter that none of them had ever seen nor been asked to see the patient. So I asked to be excused from the case. I found out that everyone but the hospital and the ER attendings were dropped from the suit….and the plaintiffs (the patient’s parents) ended up taking a voluntary nonsuit0.
On only one day was I actually called down to a trial courtroom for voir dire examination—twice, in fact. First time, in an auto accident personal-injury case, the plaintiff's attorney asked me if I'd ever represented a personal injury defendant. When I replied I had—years earlier as an Asst. AG defending a state motor pool driver--I was excused by the judge for cause. After lunch, I was called down for a property-damage case and this time the defendant's attorney asked me if I'd ever represented plaintiffs, and when I said I had, he challenged me for cause. The judge denied the challenge, and asked me if I could be impartial and not substitute my interpretation of the law for his jury instructions. I agreed I would. But this time the defendant’s attorney used one of his six peremptory challenges (i.e., “just because,” not challengeable, no justification need be given) and back upstairs I went and was immediately handed my $17 check (which wouldn’t have even covered my parking had I not taken the L) and sent home.
I was summoned again last year, but it would have been smack dab in the midst of radiation treatments. So my RO wrote a letter and the summons was cancelled. Just dawned on me that I never contacted them to say I was available again.
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We also have the one day system with a call every 2-3 years. There are two exceptions. If you are picked and the trial lasts longer than one day, you're on board for that trial. The other exception is the Grand Jury. For that you are assigned for 6 months or a year and may be called multiple times and at any time.
I've been dismissed for all but one short trial a long time ago but I've gone down every time. I only claimed an exemption once when I was in the middle of chemo. We don't have to serve over age 70 either.
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BTW - my eating is limited to perishables on hand since I'm going to Phoenix on Thursday. Today's linner was two toasted mini-bagels with cream cheese & smoked salmon and two small cookies. Tonight will be popcorn. (Yeah, I know it's midnight so popcorn will technically be tomorrow's breakfast). Tomorrow mid-day will be spiralized zucchini and tiny baby Dutch potatoes which I will boil & then maybe lightly saute w/butter & maybe garlic. Tomorrow night will be carrots, radishes & cauliflower dipped in Ranch dressing. If I'm still hungry, I'll have an English muffin with peanut butter.
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Bon voyage, Minus.
Dinner tonight, since it was possibly the last Indian Summer day we’re going to get, was a N.Y. strip steak grilled out on the deck, with baby haricots verts sauteed in olive oil with garlic and finished with orange sea salt. Dessert was flan.
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Minus, I hope you have a great trip and enjoy the time with your brother. I also hope you manage to get together with Eric.
I made an impulse purchase of a carton of lump crab meat today at the Winn Dixie, my local supermarket. So instead of the dinner I had planned to prepare, we're having crab cakes.
Go, Cubs!
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I bought a pound of pink Gulf shrimp yesterday—large-to-jumbo. I think I will make a stir-fry tonight with bean sprouts, snow peas, scallions and bell peppers. It’s Bob’s birthday, and he wanted to go to Fogo de Chao (a Brazilian churrascaria, which is Portuguese for “meat storm”) until he remembered he needed to watch a major event on TV tonight…no, not the debate, game 4 of the NCLS. So that’s why we’re eating in. Have a dry white and an off-dry Mosel chilling.
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Hey Minus have a great trip.
Been called to jury duty 4-5 times, always eliminated. too weird, I guess.Or maybe my background and job
For dinner I actually pulled my red carrots out of the garden and roasted them with Brussels sprouts- not the best combination but I had them on hand- with olive oil rosemary from the garden,garlic, sea salt and pepper
I'm taking it to work tomorrow. I love my job but can't wait until the new employee is oriented and I can go to 4 days a week.
I want to be one of those Grandmas that I see walking with the baby stroller at 8 am on my way to work . Can't wait until May!
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Bedo, you will have fun with your grandkid! No doubt about it.
Tonight was sautéed asparagus pieces and strips of lean pork (the rest of the tenderloin) tossed with soba noodles and a sauce made of brown sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sambal oelek, and corn starch. I'm not a fan of "Asian" and I like this sauce. The chili paste gives it a kick. The side was a salad of romaine, tomato and cucumber with sprinkle of white balsamic and CA extra virgin olive oil.
Come on, Cubs!
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This afternoon, I began the countdown of my last tomatoes of the season. 11 on the windowsill, 8 still on the vine (and when the temp dips to 40, in they'll come). Tomato #19 became insalata Caprese: homegrown basil, 12-yr-old real balsamic, California olive oil, domestic mozzarella di bufala (yup, they're making it in the U.S. from buffalo milk now, albeit not water buffalo), and Breton gray sea salt…from the little grinder dispenser bottle I bought in a Tuscan supermarket. Washed it down with a cappuccino and a little square of 70% dark chocolate.
Then Bob came home and wanted to go out to B'way Cellars for dinner…sitting at the bar, of course—one eye on the Cubs and the other on the Bears. Started with a shared salad of garbanzos, asparagus and baby lobster tail atop field greens. Then I had a big bowl of mussels steamed in white wine and olive oil, with the broth finished with cream and Dijon mustard. Accompanied both courses with one flute of cava; when it ran out I switched back to ice water. Bob had an apple cider-vodka martini, a regular martini and two glasses of Zinfandel with his half of the salad and then a grilled chipotle-marinated hanger steak with BBQ sauce, over chorizo hash and green beans. Walked home as the bottom of the 5th inning started, lest my presence continue to jinx the Cubs. (I didn't watch a single pitch last night, hearing only a little of the game as I prepped veggies and shrimp for a stir-fry).
Still burping as we speak.
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Cool here today and DH had been begging for chili, so that's what we had. With pinto and black beans, because we like them. Threw a couple of ancho and guajillos in for flavor. Turned out very delicious!
Carole, my new Cuisine magazine had a pork tenderloin stir fry in it that included asparagus. As I was reading it, I thought of soba noodles, which I dearly love. I use fish sauce on an almost daily basis in practically everything (including spaghetti sauce) and sambal oelek is a favorite too. Supposedly, my pasta maker makes soba, but I can't find buckwheat flour anywhere near me. I'll be near a Fresh Thyme in St. Louis next week, perhaps I'll try there.
Sandy, Broadway Cellarsseemss to have an limitless varied menu! How lucky to have such a place in walking distance.
Minus, have fun and see Eric!
Bedo, I have a mental picture of you pushing that grandbaby through the park.
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I'm slowly getting over what ever gripped me.... cough, sneeze, lots of tissue, a bit of a headache and not much energy. One of those "man cold" things, I guess. :-)
I've been staying away from my mom but I'm hoping I can see her Sunday..
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Eric, your man cold sounds miserable. As bad as a woman cold!
Nance, your chili sounds delish. DH and I both love chili. I like the ground beef version with tomatoes and beans and the white chili with white beans and chicken. I think I will cook some white chili soon.
I took out a rib eye and then put it back into the freezer, choosing a package of ground turkey instead. I plan to make turkey and spinach meatballs for dinner. I printed out a recipe to serve as a guideline. I'll cook them in the small oven and then sauce them with a Sal & Judy's jarred Healthy Choice marinara. That's a local product. The sides will be cauliflower mash and chopped kale salad.
I have cooked the meatballs before and they are very tasty. DH has a sore in his mouth and the meatballs should be easy to chew.
Is anybody a fan of couscous? If so how do you prepare it so that it has some flavor. I just threw away some that I cooked recently as a side for lemon chicken.
Susan, we miss you. I thought of you when I was watching the New Orleans news this week and the city council was deliberating about rules to govern renting out rooms in private residences. The AirBnB (?) is not legal in New Orleans. Apparently some people rent out their houses on a temporary basis and this has led to objections from people in the neighborhoods.
Happy Friday to all.
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Carol and Nance
Here's a picture of me grabbing a cat instead of a stroller
This was at Pickity Place with the ladies and luvRVing 3-4? years ago?
So ready to trade my job for a granny stroller, or maybe work one day a week. So excited
For dinner Miso soup and vegetable egg rolls take out
Have a great weekend everyone
Going to King Richard's Faire with DD
Eric, so glad you're feeling better
Carol, how do you make caulifower mash? That sounds good
Sandy, B'way sounds good. I will have to try it the next time I'm in Chicago
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bedo, let me know when you’ll be here! What a cute kitty, too!
Tonight, will pan-sear a pasture-raised pork chop (might honey-brine it) and pan-roasted Brussels sprouts. Due to having run out of Dexilant, I had a monster case of GERD last night that kept me from raising a glass to my Cubbies, and I’m not about to have anything stronger than water tonight. (Will even skip the lime in my seltzer). Just had half a container of Greek yogurt into which I stirred a Tbs. of Paleo Granola, a tsp. of no-sugar-added apricot spread, and a squirt of raw honey. Hope that keeps me away from the gelato.
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Love the pic Bedo!
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Haha, Bedo! As soon as I saw that pic, I "knew" it since I remember you cuddling the stray cats in the parking lot of Pickety Place! How delightful to be thinking of caring for your first grandchild!
Tonight I met with DF, her mother, and her sister, whom I met for the first time. We sat through the trying on of many dresses. But DF is quite particular, and none passed muster. So they will have more searching tomorrow...sans moi!
So then we went to a local restaurant for dinner, where I promptly fell on their slippery floor tiles after walking in with a slight bit of rainwater on my shoes...despite my careful wiping them on the inside rug provided for that. Yikes!! Can't recall when I have fallen in recent history, and it was embarrasing and not a way to start dinner out well. I needed a bag of ice in my foot...and will have a black and blue hip in the AM. But I don't think I broke anything save maybe one toe....maybe it is just swollen and bruised.
We had a nice meal....fried eggplant spears with an interesting white dipping sauce, sister had salmon with butternut squash puree.....mother, short ribs over mashed and a veggie, DF, a hamburger denuded of tomato and lettuce, and I had sliced marinated skirt steak over an interesting salad.
Now at home with more ice....and thankful that there are nobroken hips!
Glad you are feeling better, Eric.
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Ouch lacey! Hoping there is no damage done.
Fresh Thyme had fresh haddock yesterday, a rarity around here, so that's what's for dinner. The only side I know for sure is haricots vert. I plan to roast the fish in a cast iron skillet. No cabbage or I'd make slaw to go with it. I'll browse the veggie bin for something. Maybe I'll go a different direction and make corn cakes.
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Fighting off a nasty sinusitis—probably allergic, because my eyes itch too. Unfortunately, the local pollen count ended yesterday—no more till March so I have no idea which allergen is the culprit. Chilly out, too—just wasn’t up to the train commute down to the S. Loop today for an “open call” audition for a workout-dance scene immediately before the scene in the Bar Show in which I have a featured solo. (Homey don’t dance). The director says that given my dialogue, it’ll be even funnier if I don’t do the actual choreography but wearily flail my way through some perfunctory activity—now, that’s my kinda dancing, So I’m cocooning today, and will probably order out from Le Pita Fresh down the street for shwarma, falafel, dolma, Jerusalem salad, tabbouleh, etc. while we watch the Cubs tonight. Not gonna jinx it, though: as long as Bob & Gordy watch, if I don’t, they score, If I watch, they blow it. We left B’way Cellars Wed. night at the bottom of the 5th inning, and while we walked home the Cubs scored two runs. And Thurs. night, while I caught up on my stored DVR recordings, and hung out here online, they won big. The T-shirt worked that time.
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I hope you're OK, Lacey...and not sore...
Bedo, I remember seeing that picture. My cat wishes I'd do that all day and all the time.
I have an idea how you are feeling Chi....I'm still fighting whatever I have....It started to get better and then the improvement stalled. As for the allergies...Could it be some mold allergy? ..not the gross nasty house eating stuff, but the normal everyday stuff brought in from outside....
My mom has been following the Indians since she was 6 and she is thrilled that she will seem them in the World Series. ET (long time friend) is from de Kalb and is a huge Cubs fan. If the Cubs and Indians play each other, she and my mom will be "on opposite sides".
Tonight, I think I'll pull one of the turkey pot pies out of the freezer and give it a try. I should replace some suspension stuff on the car, but I'm just not finding the energy to do it. It's $127 worth of parts and $800+ for labor to have it done!.....It is a 2 day project, but not difficult...just "fiddly". Fortunately it's not critical if I do it now, or wait a week or two.
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Eric, we’ve had two “mold action alert days” in the past two weeks. Every time it’s rainy followed by wind, the mold count skyrockets. But the pollen & mold counts for 2016 ended yesterday, because it’s traditionally the end of hay fever season. The Chicago airborne allergen counts are done old-school: there’s an 86-yr-old allergist, Dr. Joseph Leija, who goes up to the roof of Gottlieb Hospital at dawn every weekday morning with a handheld clicker and counts actual pollen spores that have collected on his slides over the past 24 hrs. (molds are by extrapolation, as even a low count can have hundreds of spores). Then he Tweets the numbers. He used to phone them in to the various local TV meterologists.
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Bedo, great picture!
Lacey, hoping you don't have lasting effects from your fall. I fell on some ice two years ago and my shoulder is still a hot mess. Hope that you recover quickly!
Sandy, would love your honey brine recipe for the pork. That sounds yummy and I am buying pork chops this week or maybe some pork tenderloins as pork is on sale at my local butcher this week. Hope you feel better too.
Eric, hope that your cold is soon history. Enjoy your pot pie!
Tonight I am making a stir fry with beef and whatever veggies I decide on...maybe a pepper steak with mushrooms, onions and green and red bell peppers and snow peas over rice.
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Hi all!
bedo - luv the cat pic - that is a substantial specimen! What a nice memory recalling Michelle and your lunch together with our ladies!
lacey - eeeks! Stay upright woman! I hope things are not injured too badly!
eric - my DH had the "man cold" also, which I actually suspect was the flu. He was home in bed for a week, then returned to work with a z-pak and a host of cough meds, then spent the following week back in bed. Recovered enough to go up to SC to help his folks after the hurricane.
Tonight is rib eyes on the charcoal grill with two lobster (lobstah, lol!) tails, some fresh bi-color corn in foil with chili butter, and broccoli salad - which has bacon, dried cranberries, almonds, red onion, and a sweet and sour dressing.
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Chi...you can breathe now!
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Oh, YEAH!!! Broke the jinx—watched the whole game. Gonna buy the t-shirts tomorrow….if the stores don’t run out. Dinner will probably be at the local Jamaican restaurant: curried goat.
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Thanks for the many healing wishes re: "the fall". I am basically just sore in a few places (where I hit the floor) and have two discolored toes, so I feel really lucky! Ibuprofen has kept the soreness at bay. I am actually very happy that I did not break a single bone, and wonder if I could skip my next bone density test, since this was a good one! LOL
I can chime in with the others who are battling viruses. I've had this cold traveling thru my body for three weeks now, and I currently sound like Brenda Vaccaro...and cough a lot. I think I'll break down and call the doc on Monday.
Not sure if I mentioned in my recent posts that I envy you folks who can get gulf shrimp. I don't buy the foreign farmed kind anymore, and there is little else regularly available. I used to love it when DH would come home with a bag of Maine shrimp which he'd buy from men who would sell them near the commuter train station. They were small and so sweet.
Special, your lobstah dinner tonight sounds so delightfully summery. We are in a cold windy rainy pattern tonight, so I'm already feeling summer nostalgia.
We ate out tonight in a nearby suburb at a restaurant a few blocks from our former neighbors' new downsized home, which should inspire DH and I to get a move on! The meal was good (I had a scallops and veggie toss with capellini, which was delicious, and generous, so half came home) as was the company. I had worried I would not do well since I felt "off", given all my maladies, but really enjoyed the evening. Bubbly helped!
After dinner, we returned to their home and watched the "Cubbies"clinch the pennant. It was fun seeing Theo Epstein's delight. We loved having him in Boston. We also enjoyed seeing the delerious Cubs' fans celebrate since RedSox fans know that feeling of enjoying success after so many years. The WS should be interesting. We already have Cubs shirts that we bought last Fall there. And while I do not get excited about Cleveland sports at all, I respect their manager, Terry Francona, who helped the Sox win a WS, so I'm a little torn about who to cheer on. Hmmmmmm.....
Sandy, your account of the airborn mold allergen count method cracked me up!
Have a good Sunday, everyone!
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