So...whats for dinner?
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I ended up grilling a delicious RibEye and freezing the 2nd one. I ate the entire thing - which is unusual for me. Just one vegetable side - leftover cooked cauliflower & carrots mixed with newly cooked English peas. Sunday will be leftover lo mein and a salad.
Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. I am determined to finish tonight so I can clean up the mess that has been spreading through out several rooms over the last two weeks. Only my niece's family left to do. Tomorrow night a friend has invited me to a 6pm concert at one of the large churches in town. Since she'll come back for a "sip of cheer", I really need to tidy & vacuum.
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Spent the day making pimento cheeses and several varieties of compound butters to give as "neighbor" gifts....there are about 8 families who live beside and around one another and eat together etc so we exchange small "remembrance" type gifts at Christmas. I made buffalo pimento cheese and jalapeno pimento cheese along with cranberry orange butter and garlic herb butter.....putting each in 4 oz jars and labeling then packing in a cute gift bag with an explanation of the dishes each might be good to use with....DH will be home after 2 weeks on the road and will add his toffee candy to the gifts and we will deliver all on Friday. So excited that DS2 will be with us from 12/25-29. He is a sous chef at a very popular restaurant (The Macintosh) in Charleston, SC....so usually has little time off during the holidays. Yay that he will be able to enjoy time with our little family and friends as he loves that and of course we LOVE having him here! It will be a merry if not extravagant holiday....which are usually the best!!!
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I had my second EC infusion today and even if I felt like so full of it the new anti-nausea meds seem to be doing their job because I came home and cooked the dinner. DD1 and her BF were home and I wanted to outsource it to them first but then I was hungry myself, needed to warm my soup, one thing led to another, and I made burgers with shredded raw potatoes added to the meat, which I usually do for Persian ground meat patties, so I even made some rice in case DD1 wants to eat them as patties. When I started to fry the burgers the BF came and asked me are doing hamburgers again? I was trying to recall with my chemo brain when I made those last time. So meanwhile DD proudly was telling me what a great sandwiches she made for breakfast, with avocado and Swartzwälder ham, I saw that the BF does not have any memories if his breakfast anymore. DD said that they were heading to a restaurant later to dine with friends so she did not know whether she would eat anything now. This is when the BF assured me that he did not know whether she would but he definitely will) I keep telling my DD1 that one shall feed the men otherwise they either starve or run away.
I myself ate Chinese chicken soup with tomatoes, it had a lot of flavour earlier, today it tasted nothing, I could chew sand instead of chicken. Kale chips still tasted ok Cherry.
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More hugs to you and family, Special. And yes, it is a (rather daunting) milestone to become the “elders" in the family. I hope your DMIL's service is beautiful. Sounds like she was.
We are up in the air about Christmas plans (which were out of the ordinary) still since DDIL's dad is failing slowly, and of course, that is DS1's family's total focus. We'd expected them to come here on the 23rd and DS2 would also be here then (he flies out to join his bride at her parent's home on Xmas eve morning). This weekend I texted DDIL1 about my idea to do an inexpensive yankee swap on the evening of 23rd since it would be the only time we'd all be together, and it would be fun for the kids to learn/do. She then told me her dad's condition had gotten worse and that they would probably not come until Sunday. I'm actually thinking that we may not see them at all given the situation. And if he passes, we may end up in NJ at his funeral. Soooo....we are continuing our Christmas planning, knowing that plans may change on a dime. Her dad's condition is so sad....but deteriorating slowly. The good news is that relatives from near and far are traveling to visit him, which is keeping his spirits up.
One complicated issue is that our (half) season ticket package for the Celtics includes a game on Christmas, and hearing that, DS1 bought premium seats for his family to the game, so our plan is/was to head there on Christmas afternoon. So we are hoping that we can sell our tickets if we need to race out of town. I have to remain unconcerned about how DS1 will dispose of his four tickets. But it is such times that I wish sports tickets in this town were priced a bit more reasonably.
Yes, Sandy we are subscribers, and at the mercy of our ticket package schedule. We are even going to a game on New Year's Eve. We are fans....just wish the Boston traffic wasn't so insane these days...the trips into town (12 miles) can take from 35 minutes to an hour and a half! And that is without snow
Cherry, I grew up in a neighborhood with two Swedish families, who always celebrated the feast of Santa Lucia....we loved their ritual, and their stunning daughters were so beautiful in their costumes. I really admire your continued efforts with interesting meal prep while dealing with chemo!
I have curtailed my volunteer activities this week and have started some cookie baking...so far just pizzelles, and will need to make more from the looks of the yield. Here's a pic.....and in case I don't get a chance to post again before the weekend, I hope everyone has a meaningful time celebrating your holidays with family and friends!
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Lacey, I had to google the pizzelle, for some reason I thought it was small pizzas, but those are called pizzettes. So, when I saw your I first thought of stroopwaffles, I never tasted pizzettes and Italy is one of our favorite vacation destinations. Maybe because I cannot see anything as soon as I see cannoli. Right now I cannot take anything at all and they will provide for themselves in the kitchen, I have been in bed with nausea, the meds are not helping much Cherry
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Having leftover chili-mac for dinner
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I wanted a burger or something like it but opted to skip the fast food chains on my way home from treatment. Made a patty melt instead on seeded sourdough. I fly to San Francisco Saturday to meet up with DH for our anniversary (x mas eve) and drive back to Texas. It will be a food tour too, lots of favorites from California that I haven't had in many years. Warning, there will be many food pics!
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We took Gordy and his girlfriend out to the Palm last night. (She is delightful, BTW--and Minus & Ilona, she's from Houston). I ordered a bone-in mid-rare ribeye, ate a couple ounces of it and brought it home (along with the family-style hashbrowns & spinach leftovers, as well as part of a massive piece of devil's food layer cake with which they comped us). I had about 3 oz. of my steak, all the spinach (abt. 1/4 c.) and 1/2 c. of the hashbrowns along with a fried egg for brunch. Bob left over about 1/3 of his filet mignon. Waste not, want not--looks like it's gonna be steak for dinner too. (The medium-well, aka overdone, ribeye, a couple of grilled shrimp & a scallop Bob brought home from a drug co. dinner Thurs. are still in the fridge--might thinly slice that steak and freeze it for salad or stir-fry and have the seafood as my app. tonight). Bob also brought home a calamari salad Fri. night (while I was up in Madison performing). Meanwhile, still have an eclair-and-a-half I brought home from Madison.
I never order a steak any more cooked than mid-rare at best (maybe even rare), because I know I'll have to reheat leftovers. I've found the only way to keep from overcooking leftover steak is to wrap it in foil and heat it gently at 250F in the toaster-oven for 20 min.
I am classifying all this steak as treatment for my anemia.
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...bring on the food pictures... :-)
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Illiemae - another coincidence. I was raised on the SF Bay area. Where are you staying? I'm looking forward to your restaurant reports. Will you go South to LA first or cut diagonally across the country? We went to New Mexico on the way to Texas.
Took a friend to the airport today to go see her daughter, son-in-law and 4 grandchildren in Abu Dabhi. SIL is from Sri Lanka and educated at Stanford & Harvard. My friend recently returned to her Catholic roots & has found a place for midnight mass over there. Not sure what her daughter will think since she long ago converted to the Muslim faith.
Dinner was munching since it seemed too much trouble. First was leftover Boursin cheese on RainCoast Crisps - Lesley Stowe's from Canada. This selection was "Rosemary raisin pecan crisps.". Not sure you'll ever find them, but they're worth looking for in your specialty delis. Next was the remains of a bagged salad that was ready to turn with the addition of San Marzano mini tomatoes, an avocado & sunflower seeds topped with grapefruit vinegrette. Desert so far is a custard cup of Jelly Bellys while I finish my Malbec wine.
Lacey - sorry about the confusion of your holiday plans and your son's FIL. I talked to my sister in law tonight & our Christmas dinner plans have changed yet again. No point in reporting now since I'm sure they'll change several times again before Sunday. Good thing it's only me. I can make any amount of changes as long as I can drive home before dark thirty.
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Minus, I don’t remember the hotel DH has us at but he said it was really nice, which means it’s too fancy for me (I’m cheap) but he drives a tour bus for rock bands and I arrive on the last show day, so they’re paying for it. The rest of the trip, we’ll live on the bus. I know we’ll be at the Far East cafe on x-max eve before heading south to L.A. I must stop at a shakeys pizza parlor for pizza, fried chicken and mojo potatoes along the way. I’ve also been craving some California Mexican food, so there will be tacos. Then out to the high desert and Palm Springs where there’s a Hungarian place I want to try and finally the Grand Canyon before heading home.
Tonight was a grilled tuna steak, brown rice and Brussels sprouts, so yummy.
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Sounds like a wonderful trip. I haven't thought about the Far East in years. Interesting that they still have booths - just like Tadish Grill down on California by Market. Have a great time.
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Illimae, I’d love to know the name and location of the Hungarian place. My grandmother was born in Budapest and came to New York as a little girl. I’m really proud of my Hungarian heritage! (I’m also Irish, Dutch and English!)
MJ
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Thinking pork chops for tonigh
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Have to share amusing this story. I was raised in the SF Bay area. There are 3 things I always, dearly miss: SF sourdough, See's candy & Dungeness crab. My son lives there and doesn't really care about bread, doesn't eat sweets & won't touch crustaceans - so of course doesn't think about me stuck here in Texas w/o these culinary delights. I finally decided to splurge for the first time in 20 years and ordered an assortment of Boudin San Francisco Sourdough Bread - 30% off $30 but they only ship 2nd Day air. Two round loaves, three long loaves and 6 sandwich rolls - which is more than a year's supply. It's supposed to arrive today. Yesterday a box was delivered from my son for Christmas. You guessed it - Boudin Bread. It was the clam chowder & bread gift pack. I had to run to the store this morning to get some large freezer bags.
As most of you know, I'd rather eat bread and butter than any other food. I try not to even keep bread in the house. So much for not gaining weight this holiday.
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Tappermom, it’s Chef George’s Piccaso in Bermuda Dunes, lots of good things on the menu but sadly no dessert, I was really hoping to get the fruit/walnut crepes topped with powered sugar, I don’t recall the name of it but man, are they fabulous!
My fathers parents both came through New York too with my eldest aunt and uncle born in Austria on the way out of dodge, my father and his older twin sisters were born in Manhattan before moving upstate. My mother is English, German and French and I married Irish (got the “O’ “ clan type name too).
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Crusty artisanal bread is my favorite food--sourdough, whole grain, seeded, you name it. Whole wheat "pain au levain" (like Poilane but fresh & domestic) is my favorite. I cook with sweet butter, but there's nothing like a good cultured salted butter for bread!
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MinusTwo-- for Christmas last year I ordered the monthly Boudin's sour dough (the gift that keeps on giving). So one weekend a month we have bread for lunch and dinner.
And always have to order See's candies for Christmas!
And, am jealous when Illimae mentioned she was going to Shakey's for pizza, chicken, and mojo potatoes.. yummy!!
Thanks for the memories!!
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For all you Cali peeps - by some miracle from the chocolate gods, there is a See's kiosk in the mall here in Tampa!!! I had a small fit when I saw it and proceeded to buy a whole bunch of it - my personal fave is the Bordeaux, but I also love the Molasses Chips and any milk chocolate buttercream flavor. Be still my heart...
minus - girl, I can hook you up...
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Sees! I’m sure my parents will have some. I love the little flat chocolate covered toffee things!
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illimae - those are the Molasses Chips! They are so unique and delish - I want some right now.
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See's peanut brittle is good, too.
And their toffee-ettes are good
And their butterscotch lollipops
And their ..... hmmmm, I see a trend. I like See's candies.
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I have friends obsessed with See's chocolate lollipops. I never appreciated See's when I lived in Seattle--back in NYC, Barton's & Barricini (especially around Hanukkah & Passover) were the "finer" brands that were most common (a cut above Whitman's & Russell Stover), and I missed them so when I got married & moved to Seattle. Then there were the Joyva dark-chocolate-covered delights: jelly rings, marshmallow puffs & twists, and halvah. (I managed to find Joyva halvah here in Chicago, at the kosher-style deli in the little drugstore where I get my letrozole). In mid-20th-century Brooklyn, they were sold in bulk at "appetizing" stores (sort of like delis, but with various pickles, olives, cookies, crackers, smoked fishes & kosher cheeses instead of meat--the stores were Kosher-dairy-and-pareve, or "neutral"--neither dairy nor meat). We can find Barricini sometimes around Jewish holidays (mostly Passover) in the Kosher sections of larger Chicago-area grocery stores.
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Funny story about the bread bounty, Minus! I am a fan of bread, too, and like to bake bread and buns and rolls. The problem is weight gain.
I have to smile at someone living in Texas going to CA for Mexican food! One food that was new for me when we went to CA was fish tacos. It was an odd concept at first but I liked them when we sampled them. Now I see fish tacos on menus in other places around the country. Of course, the quality of the fish counts for a lot.
I made a crab dip for a party tonight at the home of a golfing friend. I used a lb. of lump crabmeat. I looked up a recipe for cold crab dip with cream cheese and sour cream and a few other ingredients. It's a bit bland but does taste like crab. I didn't want to go with strong flavors since lump crab is delicate.
I peeled shrimp this morning for a shrimp mold that I'll make for Christmas day. It's a great favorite with my family. It will be spicier than the crab dip.
Christmas dinner was supposed to be at my younger sister's house but all the recent rain has turned her yard into a bog. The transport van we've hired to bring my mother from the nursing home couldn't drive across the rear yard to the ramp. So the dinner is at my house. In one way it will be easier not to have to transport a lot of food. The younger sister will be transporting her contributions and so will a brother. There will be 17 of us, I think.
Hugs to everyone taking treatment. My Christmas wish is that the individual treatments are working one hundred percent.
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Amen, Carole.
I never knew till recently that there were so many different Mexican cuisines--Tex-Mex is different from Cal-Mex and Southwestern, and there are hundreds of restaurants run by Mexicans that specialize in various regional styles (Michoacan, Oaxaca, Yucatan, Jalisco, etc.). And of course we're lucky to have three Rick Bayless restaurants. (He catered my voice teacher's wedding reception down in Puerto Vallarta, and it was awesome).
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I grew up with Baja style Mexican and love fish tacos! No offense to those who love Texmex but I find the quality of the meat very low, scraps and fat blobs, blah. I usually go with Fajitas because they’re pretty safe but CA Mexican is just much more to my liking. Locally, I’ve found that Berryhill Tamales is the only place with a comparable fish taco, it’s just about the perfect food.
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After having lived in New Mexico for 7 years, I prefer that style of Mexican food. Flat stacked enchiladas, hatch green chili, dark red sauce (most Texans would find it bitter), sopapillas w/honey. This is food of the Conquistadors combined with food of the Native 'indians'. It's hard to find that in TX and virtually impossible in CA.
Illimae - we moved to Texas when my son was 3 & he was raised on greasy Tex-Mex. That's what he misses. I agree with you now. When he's here, I join him, but only have something like cheese enchilada or guacamole.
Dunch was 3 one inch slices of Boudin SF sourdough bread. I baked one long loaf, cut it in two and took half to a shut in neighbor who loves any kind of bread. Don't think she'd ever tasted SF sourdough. That leaves me the remains of my half - plus all the loaves I froze. I'll have to ration myself or I'll gain 1-2 lbs per day.
Hooray - my "other son" in HI (only son of my BFF who died in 2005) sent me Royal Riviera Pears from Harry & David. Another wonderful treat.
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There used to be a nearby restaurant owned by a gentleman from the Mexico state of Jalisco. His style of Mexican food was my favorite.
He died in his late 80s and there was no one to continue the business. So, now I have to settle for the more az-nm-tex-ca style of food.
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Prime rib. Yum.
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This second EC is no easier than my first one was and I am just laying down after my wbc shots. I did though worked for two days, and did some cooking and washing. I also got my turkey, smoked lamb leg, made the hazelnut fudge and brined my salmon aka gravad lax. For Christmas Eve we plan to fry traditional meatballs, cook a turkey for Christmas day with potatoe gratain, sliced smoked elk meat, smoked cheese, marinated herring, for dessert a zebra cheesecake. I have no idea if I will be able to stand up on Sunday but it is time for my eldest to step up, we have an agreement)
Here is my lox in da making
Cherry
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