So...whats for dinner?

Dinner tonight is leftover grilled chicken with Inner Beauty sauce, the leftover baked potato with stuff mixed in for a twice-baked, and a large salad with the farmer's market lettuce. Like Joyce, we are experiencing perfect temperatures with low humidity. If only we could have this weather every, single day, year round.

*susan*

Susan...the romper and Miss O on tippy toes...just precious!

First real produce of the garden this season:

Pasta primavera tonight! I think I may have to pull up a couple of zucchini plants otherwise I will not be able to keep up!

Things are going well here -- DSIL and DBIL were here this weekend -- lots of fun and food. I made pulled pork with a sweet and sour vinaigrette slaw, corn on the cob (the leftovers of which got recycled later in the weekend as fried corn with onions and peppers to go with fajitas), ham and cheese scones for breakfast, lots of fresh fruit salads including some outstanding local sweet and juicy peaches, homemade pizza and the aforementioned steak and chicken fajitas. Desserts were a cherry jumble and a blackberry/raspberry pie with ice cream. I haven't cooked this much in a while! Appetite is better. I'm on the last five days of the venlafaxene then I'm done. Finally! May have a few rough days but I think it will be fine.

Dad is doing well in the nursing home. We had a great visit on Father's Day. Dad wanted pizza so we picked a couple up at one of the local joints and ate them in a very nice little garden area at the nursing home. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the visit and the outdoor time. Today we found out he is being released from rehab for failure to progress. I spoke with his therapist today who told me that he tries very hard to do everything they ask of him but his body is just worn down and he's just not able. He will be moved from physical and occupational therapy into a daily exercise program though, so he'll still continue to receive some exercise and not lose mobility altogether. Since he will be moving to long term care, he will have to take a roommate. He's not happy about that, but the shared rooms are incredibly large so I think it will probably be ok. Dad has come to terms with his situation and knows that he is where he will stay and seems to be content with that. He likes the staff and the food (a lot) where he is this time, which has made a huge difference in his attitude. It also helps that he can have his lift chair, electric wheelchair and television. The nursing home also has cable with all of the shows he likes to watch, and he can even have a dorm sized refrigerator if he wants. So all in all, pretty good. I think he is relieved that help is available when he needs it, and it's certainly a relief for me.

We've been having the lovely weather too -- I too could take this all year long! My DSIL and I did major weeding on Sunday and the yard and flowers are looking good. My DSIL is a weeding machine. She cannot look at a weed without pulling it up. She's good to have around!

Special - I have not been to Key West yet, so haven't had the Key West Key Lime Pie. I will make key lime pie if I can find the limes or Nellie and Joe's juice, but we prefer a shortbread crust (not that I would turn down another kind.) Frozen sounds delish! What's a pie cooler?

I got a new shipment of dried guajillo, pasilla, cascabel and ancho chili peppers and now I want chili!

Sandy - I like Culver's fish (both cod and walleye when they have it) too. I don't get the cheese either. Except on the Mcdonald's it's the only thing with flavor.

Leftover chicken, green beans and a side dish

Nance - so glad you're on the mend. Wonderful to see the first produce. I am so jealous. And thanks for the update on your Dad. Sounds like things are really going well even if he does drop back to daily exercise instead of OT. And there's always a chance he & the new room mate will hit it off famously.

I may try cutting a key lime like Special describes & freezing the pieces separately. Do you recommend putting on the whip cream just before eating - after it's freezer time? I pretty much flash freeze everything on a cookie sheet now in individual portions. Once it 'sets', I wrap them separately and put all the pieces in a labelled zip loc bag.

Susan - what is 'inner beauty' sauce? I'm hungry for chicken.

Supper after my gin & tonic will likely be a big bowl of fresh raspberries with heavy cream. No calories of course.

Keeping up with you all though no time to post...kitvhen reno has me and it upside down...will post before and after pics...just wish I had taken before and after pics of ME...going to have a lot of new gray hairs after this project...just to give a hint as to how it is going...we are in to week 3 of cabinet installation....when we are finished I may decide big box would have been the way to go...in and done in a day or 2....we shall see.   

Happy anniversary, Sandy. We celebrate 31 years tomorrow and DH is home so that is nice!! 

Hope all are well and you are enjoying this "cool snap" if you have it- the  high here today was 80 with minimal humidity....lovely!

Susan - how frustrating. How come our time isn't as valuable as theirs? I never understood that, although some of my female docs are trying to hold the line. Well at least it sounds like you didn't get stuck with Nurse Karen. Weird about your numbers. Do let us know.

My supper of raspberries will be tomorrow. Somehow between the emails & the phone calls, I opened a can of black olived to go with my G&T and ate the entire can off & on over 3 hours. Oh well.

Mazel Tov to you too, HH!

RPM was more like OMG. Had been hesitant to return after last year’s dinner seemed underwhelming for the price. But this time, the relative influence of the partners (Lettuce Entertain You Inc.’s Rich Melman and original “Apprentice” Bill Rancic) had tilted more from the business to the food side, to great effect. For the bread service we chose the cheddar popovers, which were crispy, airy and hearty at the same time (neat trick). Appetizers were NZ oysters and sweet pea/Little Gem salad with pea shoots and Parm. Reg. Bob’s steak was a 12-oz filet mignon—I normally don’t like filet because I consider it bland, but this was nice & beefy. I chose a 20-oz. 100% grass-fed bone-in ribeye; despite the relative thin-ness of the steak, it was tender and very flavorful. (And much cheaper than the standard-fed version). As sides we ordered potatoes Oscar (sauteed with king crab and asparagus) and spicy broccolini; but because of the occasion they threw in a black truffle risotto (the truffles were Australian, which makes sense because it’s winter there, which is when black truffles are at their peak). Insanely wonderful. (And considering it was $48 on the menu, dang generous). Dessert was fresh vanilla-sugar yeast-raised donuts with “Boston Cream” dipping sauce. Yum! (Back to eating leaves, roots, twigs & berries, starting tomorrow).

Yum Sandy! Your meal at RPM sounds sublime.

Valstim, that is what I do. I take the classics from my youth and make them my own with fresh ingredients. Have been doing this for years cause when my kids were growing up, they wanted lots of processed stuff like Hamburger Helper so I made my own with real cheeses etc. Works great when you want to control sodium, fat and quality. I still make my own Chinese take out like Fried Rice and Lo Mein. I do love the full on fat egg rolls from delivery though. I can't get mine to taste as good. Oh well, once in a blue moon...LOL

Tonight I am grilling some London Broil that I will marinate for a few hours first. I am thinking Terriyaki or using a dry rub. It comes out tender on the grill if you slice it thinly against the grain and it was so cheap. I have been craving beef and steak is too pricey right now so this will work. I will make some grilled peppers onions and tomatoes in my grill basket and some mushroom and Spinach Risotto (in the kitchen) with it. I am hungry!

We have been ordering take out lately because I have painters at my house and they have everything upside down! They will be done Friday thank goodness. I am selling my home soon and we had to paint as it hasn't been done since we bought it in 2008!

Have a great day and Eric, try to stay cool. I cannot believe how hot it has been out west lately.

Dinner tonight is complicated. Italian family's plane is very late so they will arrive during our normal dinner time. Will need to delay, I guess. Grilled prime boneless ribeye, salad, and a baked sweet potato.

Had a long nap today. Totally knocked out. Guess that is what I needed.

*susan*

This Italian family is so cool!!! Communication is a bit complicated, but who cares? They are such nice people. The young girl has the best English. She and her Dad have a competition about how to use our language. He won the shower competition. Take a shower, vs have a shower. But I know that she is the better speaker of English. He does too.

*susan*

I got permission to share this recipe that Ruth posted on the Book Lover's Club. Her comment was - just eat it from the pan. No point it dirtying another dish because it will be gone before you can turn around.

Our own Val made it last night. I love her comments & she said it's OK to re-post. >>>>Ruthbru, what a dessert. We stood around the island and everyone ate from the pan. My dd3's husband is a finicky eater and he ate the most.... Oh boy!!!!! My grandson who thinks i'm the best ever anyway (ha) had chocolate all over his face.....

Sweet Potato Queens' Chocolate Stuff from the kitchen of Jill Conner Browne
Servings:4-6 Difficulty: Easy Cook Time: 30-60 min

Beat two eggs with a cup of sugar and a half cup of flour. Melt a stick of butter with two tablespoons of cocoa.

Mix the two and add 1 full teaspoon of vanilla. Add nuts if you want. Put in a loaf pan then set loaf pan in bigger pan of water and cook at 300 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

joycek - Shepherd's pie and penne sound good to me too!

Tonight will be bratwurst, roasted sweet potato chucks tossed in olive oil, S&P, and cinnamon and roasted, and a kale Caesar salad.

susan - glad you are enjoying the Italian fam - I will be curious to see what they think about their visit. Had they been here before?

chisandy - you have me beat - I can handle buongiorno, grazie, cappuccino, Peroni, and gelato. So... good morning, thanks, coffee, beer and ice cream! I could decode menus decently as long as they were not too complicated - but we are all probably pretty familiar with Italian food words, lol!

I had anemia (actually, around 10) back in Jan. 2013 at a followup after 6 weeks of dieting & Lipitor for high LDL & triglycerides. The upper endoscopy (a repeat of the one I had along with my 2011 colonoscopy) revealed some slight erosions “of probable chemical origin" (the GI doc's words). I was put on oral iron, yanked off oral NSAIDs (but not topicals, nor my heart aspirin) and told to eat more red meat, egg yolks, dark green leafies, and dark chocolate. The cause was all the Aleve I'd been taking for post-RTKR rehab pain and pre-LTKR bone-on-bone arthritis, so I wouldn't have to take opioids or near-opioids (like tramadol). Post-LTKR, I had to make do with no NSAIDs at all. (Took longer to wean off Norco & tramadol, but I did it). The diet (with a short vacation during my LTKR rehab to allow for a little bit of ice cream as my PT workout reward before weaning off Norco) and the effort of PT led to a 40+ lb. weight loss I was able to maintain until bc dx in Sept. 2015 and AI therapy starting New Year's Eve.

I never resumed the Aleve & Advil. I started taking celecoxib (and using Voltaren gel & Flector patches) in Aug. 2014 after I tore the head of my L gastroc. while hiking in Vail, and again in Feb. 2015 after I got bursitis and tore two glutes after a combination of shoveling snow and then walking through 3-ft. drifts (using ski poles to avoid falling) the next day to a Super Bowl party. I noticed the celexoxib kept me from hurting in general, so I continued taking it; and used the Voltaren gel on indiv. joint pains, and the patches for the bursitis during a trip to Spain in spring 2015 and again when I threw my lower back out this past Dec. My current deep muscle strain has been a real trial, with nothing to treat it but Baclofen, warm showers, and exercises. (And my topical placebos from the drugstore, mainly Traumeel arnica, Blue Emu and Bio-Freez).

Never needed any transfusions (except during surgery), but came close in 1996 while in rehab from tib-fib fx open-red. int. fixation surgery, when my hemoglobin dipped into the high 7s. But iron pills brought it back up.

With the “dueling opinions" by Bob & my PCP about whether my 13 ferritin level is low (Bob) or “low end of normal" (PCP), I will ask my MO (to whom I e-mailed all my latest test results at her request). She will be the “coin toss."

I recall my own mom’s first attempt to pilot one of those electric shopping carts at a Wal-Mart in Boca Raton. She careened happily down the aisle, bumping into shelves (and narrowly avoided taking down several endcaps). She normally got around with a Rollator (or for longer distances with someone to push her, a wheelchair). Thank goodness she decided she was able to use a regular shopping cart as a de facto walker at Target & Costco.

I’m defrosting some halibut, but if Bob wants to go to Cellars for dinner I will drive so we can take home the wines I bought last week. (No chance of DUI—I’m teetotaling till 7/16). If they have the softshell crab, I’ll order that. Or maybe the fish & chips (saving half of it for Gordy). The Palm has a 4-lb. lobster special, so that’s a thought too. Need to back off the red meat for a bit, as I had steakhouse leftovers two nights in a row after our dinner out.