So...whats for dinner?

carolehalston

Thanks for posting the pictures, Joyce. It seems like such a long time since Michelle left us. I will always remember her in the bunny suit.

Always get pleasure from Olivia's pictures.

My meals during dh's absence have been monotonous but enjoyed. I've been eating burgers and home-made wheat buns. Today it was a turkey burger for lunch with crispy bread and butter pickles. Breakfast was a warmed bun with butter and raspberry jam.

We are having an unseasonably cold June. The sleeping is wonderful under a soft fleece blanket and light-weight comforter. Today I wore jeans and a sweatshirt until this afternoon when I changed into a long-sleeved shirt.

DH should be returning tomorrow early afternoon.

MinusTwo

Carole - I know you'll be glad to see DH AND the car.

Linner was my beef for the month. A delicious Rib Eye served with Brussels Sprouts. And a lovely zinfandel called "1000 Stories" (aged in bourbon barrels). Nap time.

eric95us

I got the garage door opener all installed and two remotes are now recognized by the opener. Two more remotes to go and I'll be completely done. I drank nearly a gallon of water in the few hours I was working. It will take 2 people to do the other two (one in car and the remote on the house) so I'll wait until it cools so Sharon won't be baking in the "pizza oven".

I'm cooking a pork roast on the grill...It's 116F outside right now and I didn't feel like heating up the kitchen--no sense paying for heat *AND* paying to cool. Sharon is going to cook some corn and I have a cream cheese pie cooling down in the freezer. I'd cook more but the heat suppresses my appetite.

ChiSandy

The Norske Nook’s bathrooms were labeled “Ole” and “Lena.” Uff da (the Nordic equivalent of “oy vey”). The gift shop was full of Ole & Lena jokebooks too. Since June was “dairy month,” I was offered free ice cream for my pie (which was probably about 1000 calories and loaded with dairy as it was). The waitress thought I was crazy to politely decline…after all, it was free. And it was ice cream. (Vanilla, of course. Meh. Not worth the extra calories & carbs).

illimae

For our Sunday dinner and TV with friends, DH made beans and fajitas for the 2nd season premier of Preacher. So excited!

susan_02143

Dinner was supposed to be the leftover grilled chicken, baked tater and a salad, but it took them over an hour to take the Subway home after the Red Sox game. And then we all headed to the condo to talk about patios.... too late to start the potato. So we went to a spot I have been dying to try. Commune Kitchen which has had rave reviews for their breads, toppings, and pizza. You know, we liked it. Really casual. Good doughs and breads. Homemade ricotta. Overall, under seasoned but lots of potential. I got a "tactine" which I would have preferred on the pizza dough instead of the rustic bread. Why yes, they would be happy to make me a pizza with those toppings. Will we travel to have this meal? Probably not. Will we stop in if we have been hanging with the kids right across the street. Absolutely!

eric95us

Those bunny pajamas make me smile.

MinusTwo

Mommy - I like German & Scandinavian food. I don't eat heavy meals very often anymore, but sometimes it's a real treat. So I'd probably like your Norske Nook.

As for the bathrooms, well I live in Texas so you can imaging all the "cute" little representations of cowgirls with big hair & big boobs on the doors. Or Senors & Senoritas. We have to remember each part of the country has their own traditions.

My Grandpa used to sing us a song when we were little: "My name is yon yohnson. I come from visconsin, I vork in the lumberyards there. and the people I meet, ven I valk down the street, they say - vot's your name? and I say.....My name is yon yohnson I come from visconsin....." ad infinitum.

We used to drive my parents crazy singing it in the car. Better than "Found a peanut".

eric95us

At a dog show I attended, the restrooms were for pointers and setters.

MinusTwo

LOL !!!

ChiSandy

“Yon Yonson” and “Found a Peanut” were the two songs with which we tortured countless day camp bus drivers back in the day in Brooklyn. “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” was another one (though Shari Lewis’ “This is the Song that Doesn't End” was the one for when millennials were kids). In 1996, though, on the WXRT Rock & Blues Excursion to New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest, a bunch of us adults (plus Gordy), led by DJ Tom Marker, did regale the shuttle bus driver with a spirited rendition of Monty Python’s “The Lumberjack Song,” in harmony. The driver, being a NOLA native with countless drunken Fest & Mardi Gras passengers to her name, was unfazed, even when we got to the latter verses.

At Bub City Crabhouse & BBQ’s original location in SW Lincoln Park, the restrooms were marked “Heifers” and “Longhorns.” In the vestibule of the ladies’ room was a life-sized mannequin of a cowboy relieving himself, facing the corner.

M0mmyof3

Minus, you would love the Norse Nook!!!!!!

I remember being in JROTC as junior in high school and we took a field trip up to Boston for the day. We got to see the USS Constitution, Quincy Market and one other place. We sang Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen all the way up to Boston, bus driver and the adult chaperones we had (one being the colonel who was in charge of the program!!!) crazy with the song!!!!!

M0mmyof3

Chicken, baked beans and corn on the cob

MinusTwo

Appetizer - herring marinated in sour cream & onions. Don't know what will be after water aerobics class.

susan_02143

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*

SpecialK

I have weather envy! Hot and rainy here - typical Florida summer weather. DD is leaving for Seattle tomorrow for a week for work, she just returned from a week in Salt Lake City, where is was very hot.

We went out for dinner on Sat, Sun was chicken paillards with field greens salad. I spent today cooking (for us and for my friend) and made bean soup with kielbasa and lots of veggies, Greek salad, a greens salad and chicken with an Asian style dressing, acorn squash stuffed with sausage, onion and apple, chicken paillards with the same salad for her, pork tenderloin with quinoa and dilled green beans, and a noodle salad with some chicken. I have a ton of the bean soup so I think we will eat that tonight with a green salad and cheese bread for DH, and maybe key lime pie for him.I cat-sat for a friend who went to the Keys for her dad's b-day and she brought me two key lime pies - one with whipped cream and one without. We all have pie coolers (those of us who pass the best key lime pie shop located in Key Largo on any kind of regular basis!) so she iced them and they were still half frozen when she got here. I had a stroke of genius and before putting them back into the freezer I cut them in 8th, individually wrapped the slices and put them back into the containers. Individual pie servings on demand - yay!

HappyHammer

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

ChiSandy

Cool-ish (high around 70) and sunny today. Since we’ll be going out to RPM Steak tomorrow night for our anniversary (#46), and had meatloaf yesterday, despite that open bottle of Barolo I was not about to have red meat 3 days in a row. So after my workout/physical therapy session, went to WF and saw they had a surprise (that store only) less-than-half-price sale on some fresh wild-caught Chilean sea bass steaks. I’m not a big fan of fish steaks—I prefer filets. But most sea bass around here is previously frozen & thawed, so I pounced on this. I seasoned this one with ground pepper and caper-infused sea salt, and pan-seared it in a little olive oil. Squeezed some lemon over it on my plate. Bonier than I’d have liked, but still rich & juicy. Had some stir-fried broccolini & peppers with it, and a glass of WA riesling. For dessert, maybe a ball of mochi ice cream &/or some Rainier cherries.

Only bummer is that after switching on the range hood and ceiling fan to lessen the lingering fish smell, I tried to turn off the ceiling fan—and the stupid chain broke off in my hand, all the way up at the fixture itself. So I will have to find the breaker and shut off power to the fan & light kit before I dare try repairing the chain.

auntienance

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.

auntienance

Btw -- happy anniversary Sandy!

M0mmyof3

Leftover chicken, green beans and a side dish

ChiSandy

Thanks, Nancy! Dinner tonight will be the best steak we can share at RPM (and likely will bring home leftovers). As to homegrown produce, our herb garden is fully functional now, we have plenty of black raspberries ripe & ripening (Bob likes to nibble on the way to the garage), and the first tomatoes are beginning to appear.

MinusTwo

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.

SpecialK

auntie - Nellie & Joe's is the lime juice to use! The pie cooler is a squared styrofoam cooler that can hold multiple pies and ice. These pies are pretty big so the cooler has to be wide. If you ever have a delivery from Omaha Steaks their coolers make good ones for pie. The ones from Blonde Giraffe don't seem to have a truegraham cracker crust, they have more of a cookie type, like you described.

Minus - the whipped cream was already on one of the pies, but because the pie was already frozen it seemed to hold up if not super tightly wrapped. Because the pie pieces go back into the original containers, they have an extra level of protection and stability, sonthe whipped cream topping does ok. DD likes hers plain.

Chisandy - happy anniversary, enjoy your RPM dinner!

susan mentioned Inner Beauty - I like some spicy food, but that level of hot sauce scares me, lol

HappyHammer

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_02143

What a day! My first appointment at Dana Farber was at 7:45. Second at 8:30pm. I arrived at 7:15; early as usual. 45 minutes for the blood work to come back. 1 1/2 hours for my infusions. But today I wasn't done until 12:30PM. Ugh. They just don't respect our time at all.

Dinner.... well, my stomach was not happy with the DF lunch so I just wanted soup. We went to our Chinese restaurant where I had some hot and sour soup and scallion pancakes. Mr. SMT ordered the lamb with cumin with some rice. Perfect meal actually. I ate the soup. We ate half of the scallion pancakes. He ate most of the lamb and I assisted by eating about four pieces of lamb. This week, my potassium was just barely okay. Sodidum is way too low. Lost 3 pounds. Blood pressure is ridiculously low. I probably need to see my primary totally about blood pressure. My numbers are bizarre.

Love out current AirBNB guests. Tomorrow an Italian family with limited English. I really hope that they "get" my house and that we can find a way to communicate.

*susan*

MinusTwo

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.

CeliaC

In Greenwich CT for vacay with DS. DD came out from NYC for dinner last night - fresh Maine lobster, grilled asparagus & sauvignon blanc. Went into downtown Stamford for a movie, Paris Can Wait, tonight - entertaining movie - with wonderful wining, dining & scenery on a road trip from Cannes to Paris, so had to have French for dinner. Chez Vous Bistro - DS had french onion soup & gorgonzola potato croquettes with provencal sauce and I had warm lentil salad & sauteed spinach, we each had a glass Cotes du Rhone Rose and split an order of wild garlic shrimp & dark chocolate mousse for dessert. Heavenly!

ChiSandy

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).

Valstim52

Ah SpecialK, you make me yearn for the days I lived in Boca Raton. We would yearly trek to the keys in January (ah never in the summer) . We would come back with a pie cooler. They freeze wonderfully.

Dinner last night was a remake, of the 1980's chicken rice casserole. Instead of frozen peas, carrots, and canned mushrooms, I did fresh. Instead of cream of mushroom soups, I made a slurry of low sodium chicken broth and white wine. It turned out fantastic. I sauteed fresh green beans with garlic for the side.