So...whats for dinner?

Yesterday, at the bottom of a pile of frozen leaves that had fallen since our lawn service had gone into hibernation, my friend found a leather glove I’d dropped a week ago after paying a cabdriver and wrestling my suitcases up my stairs after a week’s vacation. I remember having immediately seen its mate on the grass just before dragging my bags upstairs, stuffed it in my pocket, and when I realized the other pocket was empty I simply assumed the glove had been left in the cab; and since it was a pleasure trip I didn’t ask for a receipt and I had to pay cash because (as happens all too often) the credit card reader “doesn’t work”* so I couldn’t call the cabbie or his company. (Made me wish I’d waited for an Uber at Midway).

*although it’s the law that all Chicago & NYC taxis accept credit cards, I’ve often encountered Chicago cabbies who tell me their card readers have broken, or maybe they intentionally disconnected them—so they could be paid and tipped in cash, with no record of the tip—which goes straight into their pockets (the fare is stored in the meter) and their fleet owners are none the wiser. The taxi lobby here has much more clout with the City Council than in other cities in which I use both cabs & Uber, and due to increased regs & fees to bring it closer to parity with taxis, Uber isn’t as much cheaper than cabs here than it is in, say, DC.

Minue2, I actually do cook. I just have done very little of it since I arrived in Spokane in June. All my energy has been turned on getting moved in, getting the house to my liking, some remodeling, and then the holidays. I moved to be near my youngest DS and DIL and my oldest DS and DIL came for Christmas - first time in 22 years we've been together. It's too bad that DH couldn't experience it (he died Sept '15). Now I can see where things may assume some normalcy so I can start cooking again. I also have bought pork loins and divied them up. I have crockpot pot roast in the freezer (amazingly my house came with a freezer in the garage!). I love my crockpot and want to cook more using it. I have a ton of recipes I've collected so I'm set. I gave away most of my cookbooks since I knew I wouldn't have room for them all (along with the 500+ books I gave away). Downsizing is such fun...NOT!

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

HUGS!

Gonna order out (or nuke a frozen dinner) again. When my son went outside to deliver some mail next door that our dyslexic substitute mailman delivered to us, he took one step on to the sidewalk…and walked back upstairs and inside. I know whereof he speaks: ice is the one weather phenomenon that terrifies me, upon which to either drive or walk. Especially now, with my post-op/pre-treatment baseline DexaScan indicating osteopenia, having now had a year on the drug, and a friend severely disabled for life by a broken hip.

Anyone else here frustrated that we have to wait 2 years after our previous (pre-treatment) DexaScan for another one to see how an AI is deteriorating our bones, or how well bone drugs are ameliorating the situation, for our insurance or Medicare to cover the scan? Not to mention not getting our estrogen levels tested to see how well the AI is working (for its intended purpose)?

Got lazy and cheap: nuked some hot wings from the freezer, knocked back some diet ginger ale, followed it up with a couple slices of salami and one of provolone, and finished with a decaf espresso and a couple of almond windmill cookies (from the only sealed box in the pantry, so I know there was no dust on them.

I think I will file a claim, because the more I read the more I fear that living here until ALL dust is eliminated—which might mean discarding all food in all cabinets, deep steam-cleaning first floor furniture and maybe even trashing some older small electric appliances—might cost us (including the cats) our lives. That ceiling was last painted in 1985 when the prior owner remodeled the kitchen, and again in 1989 after a toilet leak. But who knows if the pre-1985 paint beneath was lead, or if the plaster contained asbestos? We will need to find pet-friendly temporary housing, for heaven knows how long—and if it’s too far from public transit for Gordy to get to his theater, he might have to move in with a friend.

This is a nightmare. We might already have started down the road to lead poisoning, irreversible lung damage or even worse. Please talk me down off the ledge.

Well, we’re using a water & fire restoration company rated A+ on Angie’s List. At this point, I’m mostly concerned about the possibility of there having been lead paint dust in the plaster dust. The crew said they had originally planned to sand the bubbled & stained paint & run hoses to suck out the water before drying out the ceiling, but when they called when they were ready to start, the project manager said that there was too much water for that and to demolish down to the studs. Wish I’d known that and talked to the project manager before they swung the first sledgehammer, so I could delay enough to tarp and tape over everything in the kitchen. We can finally run the dishwasher now (the heavy equipment was blocking it and we were afraid to blow our circuits), so every dish & glass in the cabinets that can go into the dishwasher is in there now; the other stuff has to be hand washed. Inside the kitchen cabinets there’s so much dust that you can see where the dishes were. We are throwing out all open packages of food in the pantry cabinet and everything that can’t be washed off. We will replace these staples with the bare minimum until we find out what the next phase will entail and how long it’ll take.

Sandy, Please quit looking at all the worse case scenarios. Just move out, assume you, DH, DS and the kitties will be fine. Think positive! You must be feeling terribly overwhelmed (nothing like stating the obvious) to be so negative, that just isn't you. Find the extended stay that's pet friendly. Get the house repaired and while you're twiddling your thumbs waiting for it all to be fixed, decide if you want to stay in the house or sell it and move somewhere else. That will definitely keep your mind busy. I seem to recall that you have been halfway thinking about moving "eventually." Maybe this is eventually. From what you are saying, I get the feeling you may never feel safe in your home again. If so, definitely move. Mull it over and see what feels right for you and then do it. And as with BC, once you make your decision, don't look back! Good luck!

HUGS!

Selling at this point is not an option—we’ve accumulated so much stuff that winnowing & packing would be a nightmare. Bob loves to sit out on the deck at night, unless it’s snowing, storming or subzero. He also intends to keep working till 70. (he turned 67 last fall). If we were to move into anything cheaper than either a small urban condo or a smaller newer house or townhome in a far suburb, we’d likely need to take out a mortgage. Assuming the dust abates, it’s livable for us in the meantime but probably worth at least $150K less than if we repaired all the other stuff that would make it solid enough and look nice enough to be salable.

I will see what the reconstruction inspector says Tues. about the extent & duration of what needs to be done to restore the kitchen ceiling, how to prepare for it, and whether to file a claim. If we do, State Farm would put us up for as long as it takes. Gordy would probably be able to stay with our best friends (whose son just moved into his fiancee’s apt.) in their condo (they already have 3 cats in a 2-BR/1-bath apt) while we could stay up the street in the hotel and board the kitties (or my housekeeper might take them in—they adore her and the feeling is mutual; we have a cat-loving friend who has a large apt., is down to just one senior kitty and might be willing—but he collects Carnival Glass and displays most of it out in the open. Not sure if our two would steer clear of it. And he smokes). There is a pet-friendly older apt. hotel (above a hair salon) in trendy south Andersonville (abt. 2 mi. south of us) for twice the price of the Hampton Inn, but boarding the cats could be just as pricey.

Oh Sandy, there just doesn't seen to be any easy answers. But here's a ((hug)) anyway. I really hope your life can get back to some kind of normal soon.

Today I dragged out the pressure cooker, the pasta maker and the turkey carcass and made turkey noodle soup. It was pretty satisfying -- the pressure cooker makes such a rich stock.

Not as much sleet and ice here as St. Louis has, we may get hit harder later.

Btw, where is Lacey?

Love weekends! Gives me time to try new recipes. I am going to try this savory no yeast, no knead bread recipe that I found in one of the many food blogs I am drawn to these days.

Sandy, an extra squishy hug for your nightmare of a problem!

http://www.recipetineats.com/cheese-herb-garlic-quick-bread/comment-page-2/#comments

No Yeast Cheese, Garlic and Herb Bread

10 mins

40 mins

50 mins

A bread made without yeast with swirls of herb and pockets of cheese throughout. Slices well and especially great toasted!

Recipe type: Bread

Serves: 8

Cheese and Herbs

• 4 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used a mix of dill, rosemary, parsley and thyme) (Note 1)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 5 oz / 150g block cheese (cheddar or tasty), cut into 2mm / 0.1" thick slices (about 10 to 12 slices) (Note 2)
• Butter for greasing

Dry Ingredients

• 2¼ cups plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

• 1¼ cups buttermilk (See Note 3 for substitute)
• 2 eggs
• 2 small garlic cloves, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
2. Grease a bread tin (21 x 11 cm / 8" x 4") or small cake tin with butter.
3. Mix the herbs and olive oil in a small bowl.
4. Sift the Dry Ingredients into a bowl.
5. Combine the Wet Ingredients into a bowl and whisk to combine.
6. Make a well in the centre of the Dry Ingredients. Pour the Wet Ingredients in and mix until just combined.
7. Pour ⅓ of the batter into the bread tin. Dollop half the herbs across the top then use a knife to "swirl" it into the batter up and down, and also turning the batter over (refer photo below).
8. Use half the cheese slices and push them randomly into the batter. Push some all the way in and leave some poking out of the batter.
9. Pour the remaining batter over the top. Dollop and swirl the remaining herbs, then randomly wedge in the remaining cheese, pushing most of it below the surface of the batter. Even out the surface.
10. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Remove from oven and cover with foil, then bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes (total baking time of 45 to 50 minutes). Check to make sure the centre is cooked by inserting a skewer - it should come out clean.
11. Turn the bread out onto a cooking rack. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

1. You can substitute the fresh herbs with 2 tbsp dried herbs.

2. You can substitute with pre sliced cheese but I found it did not work as well because they are slightly thinner so they sort of disappear when baked. Cutting it yourself means you can cut them slightly thicker so you will end up with some ribbons of melted cheese in the bread.

You can also substitute with grated cheese. If you do this, mix it straight into the batter just before pouring it in the tin.

Tasty cheese is a common type of cheese here in Australia. A great all rounder and very good value. You can use any type of melting cheese with flavour / salt that you wish. Colby, Monterey Jack, cheddar, gruyere are all great! I don't recommend Mozzarella - it does not have enough salt or flavour for this particular recipe.

3. You can substitute this with 1 cup + 3 tbsp milk at room temperature +
1 tbsp vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes until the surface of the milk curdles. Then use the milk, including the curdled bits, as the buttermilk in this recipe.

4. Store in an airtight container for 3 days (4+ days, keep it in the fridge and toast to freshen up).

3.4.3177

Save this Cheese, Herb & Garlic No Yeast Bread to your "DELICIOUS FOODS" Pinterest Board!

And let's be friends on Pinterest so you can see all the delicious recipes I'm pinning!

Jealous that you are grilling and we are making soups in crock pots to stay warm...LOL Enjoy your cheeseburgers! I can close my eyes and taste them. It was warm for a few days anyway...sigh.

val - haha! I was thinking the same thing - NC gets some variable weather! FL less so, but we did get below 40 recently. I have lived all over the country, with more than a few winters in snowy climates, so it makes me laugh when I see folks here in FL break out the leather jackets and boots when it drops below 70. I am so glad to see you on this thread!

april - I miss the change of seasons - I would love to be baking and making soup at least part of the year!

Path of least resistance—nuked a Lean Cuisine spaghetti with meat sauce. Ugh. Sauce tasty but pasta mushy, awful, untwirlable. Bad jr. high cafeteria flashbacks. Needed a popcorn chaser. This morning, wanted to make bacon & egg (fried another double-yolker, third day in a row). Only low-carb bread left in the house (and safe to eat) was a couple of slices in the freezer. Bacon had been thawed out from the freezer, and did not nuke up very well w/o its special microwave pan (which is in the dishwasher after having had the plaster dust washed off it)—under a paper towel on a paper plate, 1 minute nearly incinerated it. So I put the egg on a slice of toast, topped it with the last of the prosciutto, nuked a hollandaise packet, and had a Benedict & coffee.

Helped me feel a bit better, but lungs still phlegmy with post-nasal drip. Also scared that the dust has permeated my skin: hands feel chalky; when I wash them (whether or not with soap or drying them), they feel really sticky & tacky before they dry chalky again. First real shower since Mon. last night was unnerving: lathered up with my favorite shower gel, but I smelled more of the plaster dust (& the scent of paint chips) in the suds than the gel's normal citrus verbena. No matter how long I rinsed, it felt like I had a film of soap on my skin (like showering out in the boonies with very hard water). Applied my moisturizer, but instead of feeling silky, it went on sort of glue-y and didn't seem to sink in fully: when I awoke my arms still smelled like CeraVe (not unpleasant, but they usually don’t smell at all the next morning). I fear I might have to go to some sort of detoxing schvitz (hope it doesn’t cause an LE flare) to get everything out of my pores again. Might consult an environmental medicine specialist on Wed. (Mon. being a legal holiday and Tues. being recon-inspection-and-estimate day).

Well the bulk of the ice storm missed us and thankfully, we're left with only some light freezing rain and glazing only on flat surfaces -- the trees made it mostly unscathed. We haven't had sun in several days and aren't expected to get any until Wednesday. That's too long -- I need some sun badly!

Got a wild hare (hair?) and decided to make fried chicken for dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy and braised greens. Is that comfort food or what?

Making roast beef (sirloin tip roast) mashed potatoes, gravy and haricot vert (green beans) with breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese and a salad with balsamic dressing. One of those Sunday dinner "Mom" meals that makes me nostalgic for my family.

Nance, I thought getting a wild hare would result in hasenpfeffer. :-)