So...whats for dinner?

Finally feeling better. KB,. I do a lot of baking, especially with sourdough, but have never made a pizza crust.

Well, Miss Olivia was fussy today. This is the first time. She is pissed that her walking isn't more advanced. She has begun screaming and crying when there is something she wants and can't get to. Needless to say, her grandparents didn't take to this well. We followed her parents' choices... and ignored her or put her to bed when it became intolerable. I couldn't decide if she didn't feel well or if she is in a developmental moment. I am happy to say, that she was her happiest when we fed her. Today she ate a chicken tender which was sautéed with some angel hair pasta with parmesan cheese melted on top. This made the pasta stick together so that she could feed herself. She then consumed 1/3 a banana, cut into bite sized pieces. Her third meal was 1/2 cup of lima beans simmered in chicken stock, potatoes that had been cubed and crisped, and two slices of cheddar cheese. She ate those limas in succession.... ten seconds between beans. She preferred them to the potatoes.

Us? I was not up to cooking. I made all three of Olivia's meals plus a banana bread today, so we went to our Portuguese fish market and had their fish and chips, cole slaw, and Mr. SMT had a side of fried shrimp which he just loves. We ate early so that he was home to watch Duke at 7:15. I am a b-ball widow for the next few weeks.

I really do dislike St. Patricks Day. Even at that early hour, there were tons of people driving who had clearly been drinking. Ugh.

My port is healing though I still don't have full lateral motion. I was allowed a shower today, and I took full advantage. How wonderful it was to get three days of being human washed away. It is the small things, isn't it?

Sharon and I attended a camp style Dutch oven cooking class...It was lots of fun, but both of us are exhausted.

It's the kind of ovens with legs and charcoal, wood or a fire is used as the heat source

While we are feeling better from the flu, we still don't have all our energy back. I'm alternating between the couch, the bed and the recliner chair. Sharon is tired enough that she's not moving from the bed. Had this not been the last class of the year, we would have changed to another class.

We were split up into groups of two--with Sharon and I in different groups so we would be exposed to more than just one set of recipes.

My partner and I made a cake, chili rellenos, and the fixings for fish tacos. Sharon and her partner made pulled pork, chili cornbread and "monkey brains" (an apple desert dish).

I had picked up a couple of camp dutch ovens awhile back and this was a good chance to learn how to use them.

Last night we went to Pasha, the Turkish restaurant, with the kids, Olivia and the two of us. Olivia ate rice, hummus and celery with gusto. Spears of cucumber turn out to be too slippery and flew out of her hands. The eggplant dip was not accepted with grace and the yogurt dip was not a hit. She sat for a tremendously long time without fussing. We were even able to have some Turkish tea! Half my tea, Mr. SMT took her outside to get a change of scenery. We then got to help her take her bath. She LOVES bath time and plays with delight in the water. I collapsed when we got home.

Tonight we are grilling up some lamb chops with a few extra so we have at least one meal already made for tomorrow. We have Olivia all day and I will be anxious. Not sure what I will serve with the chops, but I will figure that out soon enough.

Today I had my cleaning people over for coffee. They are assembling some numbers for me in case I need their help preparing the AirBNB rooms for a guest. I hope not to need them often, but I will sleep better knowing that I have a backup plan.

Probably, unless Bob comes home in time to go out to dinner, will roast a couple of duck confit legs I defrosted and serve them with sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts (might cook the sprouts in the duck fat). Made a nice 3-egg (2 sm., 1 lg.) omelet this morning with red, orange and poblano peppers, scallions and Emmenthaler cheese. Just had a tomato stuffed with tuna salad.

Am going to a military wives' reception tonight at the Dep. Commander's home with light refreshments so am making some Bolognese sauce now for DH since he will come home from work before I get back. We might make it home at the same time as he will go to the gym between work and dinner, but it will be nice to have the sauce already made. If I only have to cook the pasta that will be quick and I have salad stuff all done too. Not sure if I will eat at the reception, or wait until I get home at this point. I made breakfast burrito filling (sage sausage, roasted red potatoes and cheddar) yesterday so I have on-the-go breakfast for him for the next few days.

Everyone in the house has some infection or another—Gordy caught his cold at a wedding, passed it on to Bob and even our housekeeper has it now. What I was afraid was an abscess or ONJ has turned out to be a sinus infection—the aching eased up after the storms passed and the barometer rose again. Not sure about dinner tonight—last night made broccolini & a sweet potato with duck leg confit; saved the fat for Brussels sprouts tonight. Might do something with frozen crawfish tails—stir-fry, perhaps? Or just go with the flow and nuke some chicken wings. This morning was my second double-yolk egg in a row., from a Vital Farms carton. (Pricy, but the flavor is amazing. And the hens are treated humanely—they get pasture all day whenever the weather permits and sleep in a cage-free barn overnight).

Wow. It's been quiet. The banks are open until 7pm here and I got *most* of the stuff done. I've got a couple more hours and then all the signature stuff is done.

Last night I made stuffed peppers. This is another one that my mom and grandmother used to do and also goes back to my college days.

Steam the cleaned out bell peppers until "slightly tender" so they don't need to cook as much in the oven and for the stuffing...an equal volume of cooked rice and hamburger, a sauteed chopped onion and a sauteed minced clove of garlic, a chopped tomato, a big squirt of ketchup, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, all mixed together.

After I stuffed the peppers, I put a squirt of ketchup on the top of each stuffed pepper and cooked it in the oven until the stuffing was done--about 40 minutes at 350F for my peppers. Also, I used Jasmine rice for my rice and cooked it in turkey broth.

It is pretty close to the way I like it. My "next time try" note would be to add fresh oregano and maybe a serrano pepper.

Using the rest of the leftover chicken I cooked last night

Pontiac - all things considered, she is actually doing fairly well. She cooks, cleans, takes herself to appointments, etc. She has short term memory issues, and gets a bit boggled in dealing with the paperwork generated by the estate and the death of my FIL, so she is a bit unreliable as far as info goes. Also, FIL assured all of the kids that he had everything in place - turns out there have been surprise insurance policies, surprise Certs of Deposit - all good problems to have, but these have needed some coordination. This has been complicated by spotty communication between the sibs, and a case of too many chiefs. All of this is coming from a place of love and concern, but having handled three estates now, DH and I have more practical experience. Things have calmed down a bit and he and his brother seem to be handling the lion's share and all is now going fairly smoothly - aside from the occasional complication of lawn mowing (a first world problem, for sure!), and the sudden realization that since the cancellation of FIL's Medicare supplement health insurance and prescription drug coverage, MIL's was also cancelled since it was tied to his, so we had to get some asap!

Dinner tonight was blackened rockfish. Onion powder, some salt, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, red pepper, oregano, basil. I went with a couple of teaspoons of onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon of everything else. Drag the fish through the spices and cook, in a very hot cast iron pan with melted butter.

A big sigh.

Mickey in 1981. Mom had the picture stashed away.

After two weeks in the hospital, my mother is back in the nursing home and very happy to be there. Without going into a lot of detail, she has signed up for Hospice care. She will get extra care and the nursing home isn't required to send her to the ER with any episode that occurs.

My mother is not ready to die and is hopeful about getting stronger and back to wheelchair life. If she opts to go to the hospital at any point, she can revoke the Hospice contract with a signature. I had not known that Hospice is now a commercial operation rather than a charity service.

My life has centered on caregiver duties. No golf and some skipped trips to the gym. I have managed to cook dinner with thinking ahead to menus. The stuffed peppers in the freezer have come in handy.

Last night was stuffed pepper half and a chopped salad with added perfect avocado. Dh had a bowl of warmed up chicken and dumplings made yesterday morning for my mother's lunch.

Tonight's dinner is an unsolved mystery at this hour.

I have not been successful at WW and have missed two meetings

Carole, many patients improve tremendously on hospice. She may very well meet that goal. Wishing her and you the very best. I know you must be very stressed. I'm glad you have siblings to share the emotional load with.

Special...I think we all worry about how much our parents are doing and then we find out they were doing twice as much.

Carole, I've noticed that too about hospice. It used to be all non-profit and now, at least around here, the for profit places outnumber the non-profit ones. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but then I'm OK with a funeral home providing a living for a family......so maybe I'm the one that's inconsistent.

Hugs, as this is *NOT* an easy time.

I guess dinner tonight will be the roast I pulled from the freezer the other day. I'm not sure if it's a "roasting roast" or a "pot roast" and I'm not sure how to tell. My guess is that it's a pot roast. It's a cheaper cut of meat, it's more raw material for my experiments and when I get a *good* cut of meat, I cook it right away.