So...whats for dinner?

eric - happens fast, right? I can't believe my firstborn is rapidly closing on 30! How did that happen?

Dinner was kind of boring - yellow rice, ranch beans, soft tacos. DH is watching the Clemson/Ohio State game, I am hanging out with the scared dog (fireworks for NYE - Florida is a weird place!) on the bed watching TV.

Minus, my DH loves the Menages, especially the midnight.

Speaking of which, happy 2017 my friends, cheers! 🍸 🍸 🍸

Nice picture, Lacy.

Sounds like a tasty spread, Minus. Is chicken foot dominoes also called Mexican dominoes? We used to play regular dominoes in my family, four people, two sets of partners.

Yesterday morning before I went to the nursing home, we got a phone call cancelling the NYE outing to a couple's house and then to a restaurant. DH and I both were so NOT disappointed. I immediately took a ribeye out of the freezer. We had grilled ribeye and baked potato for dinner. The ribeye was a tad overcooked thanks to a malfunctioning temperature fork but we ate every bit of it. I love baked potatoes with real butter. We also had light sour cream and some grated cheddar since it was NYE!

No champagne, just a very good Old-Fashioned before dinner. I had prosecco chilled in the outside refrigerator but we opted for home-made ice tea with the meal.

DH is in the kitchen putting together a pot of black-eyed peas with the usual mound of chopped onions, fresh garlic and ham. The hambones he buys always have excess ham on them so there is seasoning for two makings of beans or soup. He bought a corned beef brisket yesterday and we have cabbage, carrots, and potatoes for the corned beef and cabbage, another large pot dish he will make today. Black-eyed peas and cabbage are traditional southern fare for New Year's Day. We always had them at home. It was the only occasion the whole year when my mother cooked black-eyed peas, because she and my father didn't like them as well as other peas and beans.

I plan a lazy day working on an heirloom afghan I'm beginning. Every square is different. The project incorporates the full spectrum of crochet stitches. Exciting, eh?!! I plan to keep this one for myself so I bought yarn that will look nice in my living room. I'll drape it on the sofa that nobody sits on unless we have company. It should last our lifetimes at this rate.

Eric, I so enjoy your adoration of your DD. I would love to see a picture of her unless you choose not to put her picture on the internet.

One of my pleasures in life is knowing all of you through this discussion forum. I really must make a donation to bc.org.

Pork roast with roasted carrots and potatoes.

Carole - Chickenfoot is similar to Mexican Train but I think it's different than the one you mentioned since there are no partners and any number from 3 to 7 can play depending on the set you have. You draw tiles & start with the "double 9" in the center. The play goes around the table starting with a nine/something in each players hand, playing one at a time & matching up the dominoes in your hand to your line (9/3, 3/7, 7/5). If you don't have a match to play, you must draw to try to get the number you need or put up a penny. When there is a penny up, anyone else can play on that person's line to get rid of things in their own hand that they can't use. Winner plays all tiles first. Losers count up the point value of the dominoes left in their hands. We play for a penny a point and pay off each time so there is no need to keep score. Next hand starts with the "double 8", etc.

I grew up playing all kinds of games at home & played bridge for 40 years from the time I was 12. We never played for money but my folks let us put a nickel in a slot machine & pull the handle whenever we drove through Nevada and stopped for lunch. I'm not a fan of gambling because I get bored too soon & I'd rather spend my money on books. (no judgement intended - just my preference)

I'm going heavy on southern tradition this year even though I wasn't raised here. Black Eyed peas for luck. Cabbage for money. If I have to choose, I'd rather the first than the second at this point. Since I have deviled eggs ready in the fridge and my left over sliders, I'll probably turn my cabbage into coleslaw.

Me too Eric. In grade school we played with little white navy beans at our friends houses. And my college roommate and I had year long totals from playing 3 games every night. I can't remember but I think the yearly winner bought lunch for the other. (everything comes back to food again - LOL)

Happy, as one who grew up in the south, your dinner for tonight sounds yummy!

Ha ha Carrie, I know what you mean. We watch those house hunter shows and it seems like the guys are always cooks. I never once in my whole single life, met one of those guys.

We got the house "undecorated" today, which took all of half an hour. That's the joy of being a Christmas minimalist these days.

Dinner was grilled ham slices, hoppin' john and green beans with shallots. I'm very disappointed that I forgot to get greens at the store or we would have had them instead of the green beans. I also had planned to make cornbread, but forgot that too! Sheesh!

By the way Minus, some time back you mentioned that you have trouble using up buttermilk before it goes bad.. I wanted to let you know that I've started freezing it in one cup containers very successfully. I use it often but my problem is that for some reason, it's hard to find it here that's not close to it's sell by date.

I think tomorrow I'm going to try a new recipe for a Portuguese chicken dish that I came across (NYT?)

Happy New Year to all!

P.s. Nice picture Lacey!

Carrie, I feel the same way about the wish not to be the only cook in the house. I don't even think I knew a man who cooked until about twenty five years ago meeting a neighbor's DH who would come home from work and cook for his stay at home wife and the kids almost daily. I was stunned....and impressed! And vowed in my next life to screen for culinary skills in a DH. That said, mine is wonderful in every other way! Guess I'll keep cooking...

So last night we went to LaMorra for our dinner and had quite the delicious three course meal and dolce. I started with a roasted brussell sprout caesar salad that was topped with grilled quail and garlic bread, a very unique appetizer. For my next course I chose the squash gnocchi (very light and tender) with roasted garlic and parmesano crema, broccoli rabe and sage brown butter. For the next, I chose wood grilled skirt steak with mushroom and beef cheek ragu, rutabaga, roasted baby carrots (I had replaced for potato gratin) and salsa verde. I had not intended to have beef since I had it twice last week, but then saw this dish at someone's table, and quickly abandoned that thought! Dessert for me was two almond macaroons filled with a chocolate cream of some sort. I'm posting the menu with all the choices we had so I don't have to write out what DH had.....which was the char, the risotto, and the scallops. He enjoyed a champagne gelato for dessert. They were all quite the interesting, tasty choices....if a bit "over named".

So now the holidays are over and I must tend to the task of losing weight...and figure out which gym we will frequent. If we sign up to volunteer at the hospital to which our "former" fitness center is attached, we can still go there, but I am ambivalent about making a regular commitment for 3-4 hours weekly since I already have volunteer commitments. What to do... what to do.... I do have a free pass to check out the Y, so will try that out to see how it feels. What's most important is that I must get back into my "fitness habit". And hopefully the sciatica will cooperate!

Tonight we had grilled teriyaki chicken thighs, salad, brussells sprouts, and a nuked potato for DH. This is the way I avoid carbs for myself, so, he will be seeing a lot of nuked potatoes this month.

Growing up, I don't recall our family eating anything of special (superstitious) meaning on New Year's Day, but later, I recall my mother making the beans and cabbage (and, I think, pork) for all that good luck. I think she learned it from a newer friend of hers who was from the South. We don't keep any of those traditions....thus the chicken thighs and salad...but would the sprouts count for cabbage....and maybe a little bit of wealth?LOL

What a nice menu Lacey, I would be tempted by the duck poutine, although I'm not mad for poutine as are so many others.

I do have the powdered buttermilk here but I'm not crazy about it. I'd rather just do the lemon juice in milk. Neither have the buttermilk flavor I like, hence my pleasure at the freezer success.

Lacey - the entire menu sounds delicious. Nice to see the picture of you and DH.

Carrie - the clams casino sounds wonderful.

As for men cooking - my Dad was only in charge of the charcoal BBQ & grilling the meat growing up. His specialty was chickens cut in half and marinated with Trader Vic's French Dressing, or burgers - nothing else. My husband refused to enter a grocery store, let alone a kitchen. He didn't even want to grill but would watch meat on the grill if coerced. As a matter of fact, he didn't even want to pour his own iced tea that was already made in the fridge (another story). When I had to work late or travel, they went out. I made sure my DS learned to cook. He may not bake anymore, but he and my DIL make most of their meals together - sharing kitchen space quite naturally.

Nance - how is your Dad?

Eric - can you share the changes you see in your DD after the first semester "away"?

Yikes, reading your posts about men cooking makes me realize that I totally did not give DH credit for his grilling skills...and he is the best at clean-up. Mea Culpa! He grills throughout the winter...even during our record snowfall two winters ago....until he broke his hip falling off the ladder on the way up to shovel the roof! So we are always attentive to shoveling a path to the grill after each snowstorm. And, DH will also make morning eggs and pancakes whenever the "kids" stay over. I almost never eat such breakfasts, but appreciate that he does that. Nightly dinner is the issue. I sometimes suggest he make eggs for dinner, but that rarely happens. My cooking dinner is clearly our unspoken "contract". Both of my sons are capable of cooking, yet I have never seen DS1 lift a pot since there have been three other adults fighting over cooking tasks in his home. DS2 equally shares cooking tasks with his fiancée .....warms my heart! He spent a few summers during college working in kitchens at local golf courses so he has some good basic food prep skills.

Happy, glad you joined our table! And welcome Kawigirl!

Kawi...Where in the south did you grow up?

Forgot all about customs—still have those cans of black-eyed peas & collard greens in the pantry. We ate leftovers from our restaurant dinner party and the munchies everyone was still too full to eat after coming back to our place. Dinner at B’way Cellars was an amuse-bouche of tuna poke with avocado. App was shrimp, scallop & mango ceviche with house-made tortilla chips (which are like crack). Entree was barolo-braised brisket with roasted Brussels sprouts and mashed acorn squash. Dessert was dark chocolate terrine with raspberry coulis.

Found out why Bob didn’t do much about housekeeping after coming home from NY and while I was in DC. Though he first told me about his cold Fri. night when I called him from Reagan Airport and he was checking in to the Oak Lawn Hilton so he could get to work early enough Sat. to make our dinner & party, when he got home Sat. night he admitted he’d been sick since Tuesday night. And today he was diagnosed with walking (right lower lobar) pneumonia—so he’s on Levaquin and at bedtime, Phenergan syrup with codeine. (He can’t take it during the day because it’d make him too drowsy to drive, so he’s on Mucinex DM during the daytime). His one concession to “rest?” Canceling office hours.

Tonight, per Bob’s request, more antipasti (shrimp, prosciutto, salami, crudites, salmon roe, cheeses) and football.

april - That looks delicious!

My husband does almost all the cooking even when I was a stay home mom. I can bake, but cooking is different. He was away for 2 weeks once, and my younger daughter begged him to come home. She told him I was making "prison" food. Now she will cook dinner if she knows my husband wil be late.

His cooking started when we were in university. He was a poor graduate student. I would buy the food, and he would cook. It doesn't help that I've accidentally started kitchen fires. Twice.