So...whats for dinner?

moon - oh no! Yay for the good news, but sheesh for your poor DH, and you by association. Praying for a good outcome for him, I am sure you are so nervous, sending you a hug, several in fact.

minus - congrats on the still not smoking, I am proud of you and you should be proud of yourself - way to celebrate with a French Dip, I like your style!

DH just left this morning for a weekend with his sisters in the mountains of NC. I sent him with yummy orange scented Florida candles in a tin for each of them, plastic screw top flat containers that hold a full bottle of wine (last time I got hem insulated stemless wine glasses with their monograms -- they flipped out - do you sense a theme? Lol!), and a whole batch of caramel corn with smoked almonds - my one SIL calls it caramel crack corn due to the addictiveness. They will have fun - they are working a water station at a marathon on Sat to get a free entry into another race, and they will eat and drink and chat. I am on pet duty since DD is at a fishing trade show this week, but I have nobody to feed - other than the pets - so I may eat Minus style and consume some random things at random times of day, including popcorn for dinner.

auntie - good luck with your houseful of company and Happy Birthday!

chisandy - how are you feeling?

carole - are you home in LA for a visit with your mom? Is she doing OK?

Hi, all.

So Sorry to hear about Moon's husband's injury! Hope the halo does the trick and that he heals quickly.

Glad to hear that Sandy is on the mend.

We had a lovely date night dinner over the weekend at a little Italian place within walking distance of home. Shared a delicious house made nettle fettucine with morels, spring peas and cream - simple but perfect. And a pizza with proscuitto and arugula, and an IPA for my husband and a glass of Montepulciano for me.

We grilled a whole butterflied chicken on Sunday and used some of the leftovers to make shwarma-style sandwiches with tzatziki last night and topped Greek salads with it another night. I made penne all'Amatriciana Monday.

Tonight I am trying a new recipe for a cacio e pepe dutch baby. We'll have salad to go with it.

Thinking pancakes and bacon for dinner tonight.

"Tunnel of Love" and "Human Touch" are two of my favorite Bruce songs--I always think of them as sort of related despite being 5 years apart. I think the "Tunnel" tour was the only one I missed since beginning with "Born in the USA" the summer I was pregnant with Gordy. (He likes to say that was his first Bruce concert). QTIPs and Estate & Gift Taxation? Mine eyes glazeth over (taxation & finance were my least favorite subjects in law school).

Made avocado toast this morning--was able to hack some cilantro & shallot into a semblace of a "mince." Sliced tomato and basil on top. Another successful egg-cracking, producing the fried egg that topped it. Messy eating but yummy. Dinner was leftover fish & chips; steamed some skinny asparagus and marinated them in citrus vinaigrette, seasoned with Penzey's Pico Frutta spice.

My food intake yesterday was not interesting enough to report. Minus would say, "Yuck!" Today I'll buy lunch for my mother and myself at Crabby Shack. I'm thinking I'll have a salad topped with fried shrimp. Maybe Caesar salad. For her I'll get a fried shrimp meal. The problem is the side. She doesn't care much for fries, the usual side. Their potato salad is chunky and for her potato salad is mashed potato salad. I don't think baked potatoes are on the menu. Oh, well. She'll enjoy the shrimp.

She has gained weight at the nursing home, thanks to eating three meals a day. When she lived in her house, she never ate that many meals. They serve her supper in bed since she gets into bed by 3 or 4 pm.

The strange thing about being home alone is the quiet. The only tv service is in the living room, operating off an antenna in the attic. We turned off our Direct tv service for the summer. I play the radio very loud, also in the living room, tuned to NPR, when I'm in the other parts of house. There was a time when I didn't mind quiet but living with dh all these years has changed me.

Hello, all. Enjoying reading about your yummy foods. Sandy - Glad to hear you are on the mend - Scallops and broccolini sound great. Made some chicken salad with tomatoes and cukes earlier today - craving cold foods due to the extreme heat in the greater Cincinnati area.

Burgers on the grill, corn on the cob and baked bean

Last night I gave in to the Dark Side--a scoop of double dark chocolate gelato with a squirt of whipped cream. (Had to give Happy a dollop of the latter). The One-Armed Chef made herself brunch today: a bastardized version of chilaquiles (scrambled eggs with chopped red bell, poblano and cubanelle peppers, topped with Frontera salsa verde & crema atop a bed of stale WF tequila-lime tortilla chips), guacamole toast, and magnificently ripe red heirloom tomato slices with Maldon flake salt. Bob had already gone out for steak & eggs and "poinsettia" cocktails (prosecco topped with cranberry juice to taste). I'm sipping grapefruit-melon seltzer--might add a dollp of grenadine. We have some leftover ahi & calamari from last night--might grill a small steak and broccolini to go with it for dinner. (Or go out to Cellars for dinner and World Cup final--I know the result but Bob is trying to avoid finding out. Lest anyone here be similarly inclined, I will forego the spoiler).

Tonight (and it will be the same the rest of the week) was college cafeteria food. Sharon is attending a bluegrass music "camp" in west Texas and I came along "just because".

It is OK, but I'm glad that when I was in college, I lived in a house and learned how to cook for myself.

I had a wonderful weekend with my BFF (Pat - who Lacey & Susan met in Boston). She flew down from Dallas Friday. She's juggling two houses as she's tried to help her grown daughter through a series of nasty & so-far unsuccessful surgeries over the last 18 months. We went from the airport to Brio in the Woodlands and had the late lunch specials at 3pm. We both had a delicious wedge salad. My main was Shrimp Risotto, she had Chicken Milanese. And of course a ton of their wonderful bread. Friday night we stayed at her place in Arlington so she could check on her house & mail for the last 2 months. At some point they had lost power & it blew the compressor on the freezer. Everything had melted and even seeped out onto the floor. Peeuew!! Thanks heavens there wasn't any fish & not too much meat. We got the old freezer out into the garage, but it was still nasty to clean up the room. And of course there was also a smoke detector beeping, which required a 10 ft ladder to change the battery.

Saturday we drove to downtown Houston and checked into the Hilton 'Inn of the Americas' over by the ball park. Town was mobbed with fans for the Astro's games. Her niece's son was getting married in the historic Church of the Annunciation (1869 is very old for Houston). A shuttle took us from the hotel to the wedding and then to the Parador - an old hacienda style reception hall south of town. Open bar & appetizers while we waited for the wedding party pictures - delicious things like coconut shrimp on skewers, also skewers of a tiny circles of toast topped with a cherry tomato wrapped in bacon, and fried plantains and chimichurri sauce. Dinner was catered by Michael Cordura - a renowned South American chef - can't remember the names but there was both a beef dish & a chicken breast, nice salad, rice, and excellent vegetables. There was a DJ and since there were lots of little ones for the 2:30 wedding, everyone danced alone, together, with the kids, etc. I was so glad to see Pat out dancing with everyone. This is the first wedding she's been to since her husband died in 2015, not to mention the first time she's danced. The bar stayed open from 4pm - 9pm. Oh my - the wines & whatever mixed drinks you wanted. The bride was drinking Moscow Mules. The groom was drinking Wild Turkey 101 and sprite. (??)

Sunday afternoon we went from the hotel to Stages Theatre to see 'Ring of Fire' - a great musical 'guitar play' about the life & music of Johnny Cash. Then ate at old Pappa's Seafood, where Pat and her husband used to eat - more memories. Fresh wild caught halibut was just in so we both had that sauteed - Pat's with brown better & mine with lemon & olive oil. And more good bread. She spent last night at my house & I just dropped her off at the airport at noon. Needless to say we did NOT eat breakfast. I'm not sure when I'll ever eat again. And the 3lbs I gained confirms that. Geez - a pound a day. I did stop at the store on the way home & picked up a small sushi roll for later.

Still college cafeteria food here.

The last time I was here, DD was 6 months old, so it's been awhile! This time I'm exploring the place at lot more and have found it a fun place. I love the library and today I'm going to go to the science/engineering building to look around.

It's been cool enough and there's enough grass (softer for running) that I've been running 3-4 miles each day.

South Plains College.

Hers one at the hosp before we left.

And, since this thread is about food, ive had to watch what we eat, as he has trouble choking with the halo. Swallowing can be hard. Beliw is obe of my Home Chef meals. No, its not my pic, but I was too busy serving it to take pics! LOL. Hiwever it is indicative of the meals he can eat, the broccolli was cooked, um, a lit more! LOL. Almost to mush, but he could eat it. LOL

Much love and please keep praying!

Monica, continued prayers that he continues to improve w/o surgery and if surgery is necessary it’ll be successful,

Not gonna invite you all to my one-week-post-op pity party—gory details are on the Drinking thread. (Typing is truly a chore with this EXOS cast-brace). My complaints pale by comparison.

In NYC tonight (timeshare vacationette w/presentation we must both attend). Flying with arm elevated was, uh, “interesting.” Dinner tonight at Rue 57: shared a salad Nicoise and sashimi roll; Bob’s entree was pan-seared branzino with artichokes & cherry tomatoes: mine was duck a l’orange with wild rice, cherry sauce & wild rice. Leftover wing & leg are in the hotel room fridge for breakfast

Nice day yesterday. Breakfast was leftover duck leg & French bread. Got a haircut (trim) and style, then bought a new carry-on spinner (Brics) with a U-shaped handle that won't let my tote bag flop around—fancier trim (leather) than my Rimowa (which we'll check, full of laundry—we each get two free bags but that still makes only one each). A few oz. heavier than the Rimowa, but will still fit overhead, has the same zippered interior covers, with zippered pockets the Rimowa doesn't. Bigger wheels, but will still roll as smoothly. And $200 cheaper (half the price) as the Rimowa Salsa Air (my current one, with that monopole handle) and 1/3 the price of the Salsa, the next Rimowa up (with a less secure interior section—one half is open with only elastic strap, so some stuff could tumble out if I put it on the luggage rack wrong side up, which is a pet peeve of mine with almost every other hardsider of any size and brand I’ve ever owned except the Rimowa base model Salsa Air line).

Bob walked to Times Sq. and got tickets to “Come From Away.” WOW! Best show I’ve seen since “Tommy,” maybe better. (Springsteen was $1K—we’ll wait till autumn, and spend some of that lump-sum backdated Soc. Security check I just got—they decided to start my benefits as of January 1, rather than now). Had he come back with “SpongeBob” tickets, that might have been grounds for divorce...just kidding...maybe.

Pre-show dinner, before the leisurely mile walk to the theater, was at Pazzo Notte: huge tricolor salad, pizza Margherita (Roman/New Haven style, oblong, hand-tossed, shatteringly thin crust), and spaghetti Bolognese—we shared all three courses and still had leftovers! After the show, for old times’ sake, we went to Junior’s for cherry cheesecake and a chocolate egg cream. The latter wasn’t as good as I remember from childhood—modern Fox’s U-Bet is too sweet and not chocolatey enough—I make mine with Hershey’s; and made according to directions marked on the glass (syrup first, then milk, then seltzer). I put the milk in first and then pump the syrup into the center or down the side of the glass, as the soda jerks of my youth did—keeps the milk & syrup from mixing until you start adding seltzer and then stirring, which makes that iconic pristine white latte-esque head. As to the cheesecake, even though we shared it we still have leftovers. Breakfast was one small slice each of cold pizza, no room for cheesecake.

Heading down the block for the timeshare presentation. We’re practicing: “no, no, no...”