So...whats for dinner?

Lacey12

Illimae and Special, how lovely to read about your DHs' second mothers. I always appreciate the many nurturers who impact our lives beyond biologic parents, important influences even when we have caring parents!

Hope your meet up was great fun, Special, Eric and Sharon! Was Sharon in the military?

Nance, such a beautiful lemon meringue pie! I haven't made one for many years, but always enjoyed how gratifying the beauty of the finished product was.

We are back home, after a visit that went as well as it could have gone (and a trip that amazingly went like clockwork in every way!) so I'm back in the kitchen slinging food. But I must mention that for our last meal out, in Calabasas, I had a sous vide skirt steak entree, with basmati rice, cactus, and a sauce I couldn't identify, but was delicious. Now I think I appreciate the value of that cooking process...tho I will not be buying any new machines to create that lovely tender food since I obviously don't open new optional kitchen appliances! Oh, but DH did just open a new Vitamix blender 48 oz container, sent by Vitamix after a recall from which we benefitted. Happy also to have a container that now fits under the kitchen cabinets!

For our first meal back, DH grilled chicken breasts that I'd marinated in a lemon/garlic/white balsamic/rosemary marinade. They were quite tasty. Sides were sweet potato and salad with my horseradish vinaigrette . I am glad to return to my own salads....no slimy out of bag baby lettuces sneak into my salad bowls! Tonight we'll have the grilled chicken leftovers after we return from a choral singing contest taping at the Boston public TV station, where we will be in the audience, NOT in the choral group.

I hope the weather warms up for everyone. Given the unusually cool/cold southern CA weather (including rain and heavy winds) during our trip, we don't have to re-adjust to the winter temps here. So that's strangely good.

Have a good week everyone, especially our sistersstill in active treatment.

SpecialK

Had a fun dinner with Eric and Sharon! So good to put faces with the names and share some time together!

auntie - your pie is a masterpiece - lemon meringue is a personal fave!

lacey - welcome home!

auntienance

Eric and Special - yay for meets!

Tonight is peri peri chicken, roasted on top of potatoes. Probably broccoli will be the green portion of the meal.

The pie was (is) really good and carb laden, which is why it doesn't get made very often.

Welcome back Lacey - ice and sleet here, hope your weather is better than that.

MinusTwo

Illimae - I love the report of the $25.00 SHORT bourbon & coke at the Florida restaurant on another thread. Wow!!! Since that's not even 1/2 a can of $0.25 coke, the bourbon must have been from an old, deep cellar.

Lacey - good to see you home safe but even with the trauma, I know you're glad you went. RE: choral contest - you always have the most interesting things going on. Hope this one is fun.

A neighbor & I went to a wine class & tasting yesterday afternoon - pairing wine & chocolate. There were various kinds of Godiva chocolates and 8 different wines to taste. They were each specifically paired - like milk chocolate with a Moscato, Hazelnut milk chocolate with a cream sherry, dark chocolate with a Zinfandel & a port, and a true Champagne with a dark vanilla chocolate. They had trays of cheeses & crackers, fresh fruits, veggie trays, charcuterie, pulled pork sliders & more. We decided to skip dinner afterwards and came to my house to taste a couple of 'after dinner' potions - Amarula (a lovely cream liquer made from the Marula fruit of the sub-equatorial plains that the Elephants love) and Tuaca (a fine brandy with vanilla & orange originally a renaissance recipe enjoyed by Lorenzo de Medici)

I asked the major difference between Champagne & Prosecco (other than the terroir and the grape) (and of course the price) I thought his answer was magical. Having different a fermentation process (think bubbles), Prosecco explodes in your mouth while Champagne dances over your tongue. I could really feel the sensation of dancing bubbles.

eric95us

Sharon and I had an awesome time seeing Special. We got to talking and...suddenly (hours later) the restaurant was empty.

MinusTwo

Eric & Special - Hooray. This is the absolutely best thread on the entire site!!! Special - I promise I'll get to FL soon.

Dinner was a sort combination between clean the fridge & a winter salad. Cauliflower, radishes, celery, cucumber, leftover peas, black olives, shoestring beets (yes, washed before adding), carrots - forgot what else but the bowl was so full I didn't add any lettuces - just spread some HEB Ranch Dressing on top. And I baked 1/2 a loaf of Boudin San Francisco Sourdough bread defrosted from the freezer. Had two large slices with my salad. In addition to 1-1/2 glasses of Kirkland Malbec wine. (well I had to finish the bottle) I'm full as a tick (if that saying might resonate with anyone).

SpecialK

eric - that is exactly what happened! I looked around one minute and there were people, then it seemed like a moment later and we were the only ones there, lol!

minus - agree - and I await your FL trip!

Magari

Hi, all! Have been away from this thread for far too long to catch up on all the updates. But I will say that that is a gorgeous lemon meringue pie....

I've been dealing with fairly severe intestinal gas and bloating that is physically uncomfortable over the past few months. I finally got in to see a GI specialist about 3 weeks ago, and he prescribed a low FODMAP diet for 4-6 weeks. I am 3 weeks in and finding it boring, but doable for a limited time frame. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be helping much.

I made spicy carrot ginger soup with harissa last night. The garnish of toasted pumpkin seeds, lemon zest, parsley and olive oil really made it.

We adopted a new dog a couple of weeks ago and are getting her trained and settled in. She's a 14-month old Australian Shepherd mix, and super sweet and smart. We took her to the beach yesterday, which was extra exercise for me!

MinusTwo

Magari - so glad to see you posting. And sorry about the GI issues. I looked up the FOMAP diet. Sounds complicated. Sorry it doesn't seem to be helping so far. Your new dog sounds delightful & will be a handful from what I know about the breed. Again - so glad to see you back. Magari is another one of the 'dinner' posters that I've actually met. We had a lovely lunch in San Francisco.

eric95us

Sharon stepped out of the "outhouse" and I pointed out the cheering section. :-) It was trying to rain all day, so I didn't have my phone with me...so this is her snapshot.

I'd guess the 'gator was probably 20 feet away from where she took the picture and since they don't seem to be terribly ambitious, it was safe enough to stand there and watch it for awhile.

MinusTwo

Glad you had the outhouse at hand to retreat if necessary since they can be very fast sometimes.

ChiSandy

Ilona, one of my fave restaurants in Boca was La Vielle Maison downtown on E. Palmetto Park (the owner passed on, and I think the place is now called La Nouvelle Maison). We adored Bistro Provence, but the owners retired. (They had Gordy practice his middle school French whenever we'd go there with my mom). Sapori in the Royal Palm Plaza area is really nice N. Italian. And if you want a kosher-style deli fix, there's also Toojay's in the Polo Club strip mall. A bit further north just over the city line in Delray on Jog Rd. (near the Morikami Gardens) is Henry's, a wonderful American bistro. (The Wagyu burgers are incredible, and all desserts used to come with a side of cotton candy--maybe they still do). And anything in the Boca Raton Resort along the Intracoastal waterway is magnificent...albeit very pricey.

Oh, and I've decided that for me, prosecco is good for spritzers and mimosas. But for drinking straight I prefer bubblies fermented in the bottle--not just Champagne, but also Cremant d'Alsace or Bourogne, good cava, trad. method Italian bubblies (Ferrari, Franciacorta), California branches of the major Champagne houses (Mumm, Chandon, Roederer, Carneros--which is Taittinger), and Argyle from OR and Gruet from NM. There's even some good trad. method sparkler coming out of England! I find the bubbles in prosecco (and Gerrman sekt) too coarse and flabby and the taste too sweet/sour compared to trad. method bruts.

carolehalston

Last night's dinner was a skillet dish with pork tenderloin cut into bite-sized pieces, leftover brown rice, diced green onion and celery and my trusty home-made spicy/sweet sauce. The result was quite tasty and easy to make. DH made a tossed salad with iceburg, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and blue cheese.

Tuesday night was pasta with Rao's and Italian sausage from the freezer (probably made with ground turkey. The package wasn't labelled in detail.) Side was a tossed salad similar to last night's.

DH has still not recovered from his cold/bronchitis ailments. He has coughing and congestion and head cold symptoms. I am much, much better with some manageable cold symptoms.

We are invited to dinner tonight at the home of friends. It will be the four of us. I believe rib eyes and chocolate covered strawberries are on the menu. So I don't to answer the What's for Dinner question tonight! Yay!

Here at home in Louisiana we miss our diner breakfasts that we enjoy once or twice a week in MN. Yesterday morning we tried the Fat Spoon, a breakfast and lunch restaurant about five minutes from our house. Very un-diner like, new and sterile, but the food we ordered was quite good. No pancakes on the menu! In MN you can choose toast or "cake" with your breakfast.

Lacey12

Hope your dinner at friends was fun, Carole! We decided to have a nice dinner at home...filet mignon which is rare for us since we don't often eat mammals. So our VD menu was filet mignon; roased lemon/garlicpepper/parnmesan asparagus; bib lettuce salad with pears, mushrooms, carrots, and my vinaigrette; homemade garlic bread, and a tiny chocolate mousse cake for dessert. It was all good!

Wow, Eric....not sure I'd be so eager to exit and see what's on the other side of that “bathroom" door! Makes dealing with snow feel quite tame.

Magari, nice to see you posting. I hope your intestinal issues are resolving well. That can be so debilitating.

For all of you who who know our founder, Laurie, she just said goodbye to her family's giant 14 year old dog, Eli. He was a sweet loving dog who “helped “ her raise her boys, so it's a significant loss for her. Hope you can all keep her in your thoughts.

Special and Minus, I hope you two can connect in FL!

I hope everyone enjoyed a “lovely" Valentine's Day!

Tomorrow I head to DF for my yearly oncology visit. Hoping for boring....

auntienance

We stayed in as well. DH had a filet too, I had a lobster tail and red shrimp. Twice baked potato for each of us. I also made some dark chocolate covered strawberries that were a nice treat.

Three fast moving snow storms heading our way on Friday, Saturday night and Monday. It's the winter without end.

auntienance

Sad about Laurie's dog. They leave such a hole in your heart.

auntienance

Sad about Laurie's dog. They leave such a hole in your heart.

ChiSandy

In Oak Lawn for the Hilton’s V-Day package (Bob has to be at work at 7 am tomorrow). Room came with chocolate-dipped strawberries, a bottle of so-so but drinkable CA bubbly, breakfast buffet in the morning, and dinner for two tonight. The dinner promised way more than it delivered: a “bruschetta flight” turned out to be four little identical tomato crostini. The shrimp bisque was OK. Surf & turf was so-so: broiled lobster tail was slightly over-cooked but still edible; but my “medium-rare” prime rib came out medium-well-to-well. Ugh. They were nice about taking it back. But the only accompaniment was a scalloped potato terrine—no veggies whatsoever. Listed desserts were tortes: cannoli or Key lime. Key lime turned out to be lemon curd; and they ran out of the cannoli torte an hour into dinner service. So we got flourless chocolate cake to go...but the rooms have no fridges. And they didn’t give us utensils so we couldn’t eat it in the room. The whipped cream’ll melt, but the cake should be ok overnight. I have to keep reminding myself to lower my expectations when it comes to “fine dining” in the south suburbs (the Hilton in downtown Chicago is a world away in terms of elegance). Call me a snob—guilty as charged. But for the same price we get much better food in my N. Side neighborhood, which is not particularly upscale

BTW, it took me 2-1/2 hours to get here! Brutal traffic downtown—Auto Show is in full swing—and I-55 was crawling the whole way, because people have apparently forgotten how to drive facing a setting sun, since we haven’t had sunshine in a week. (Going home on surface streets Saturday afternoon took all of an hour—hope it works for me tomorrow afternoon). I can’t imagine how Bob deals with this horrid commute every day.

illimae

Hi all, I’m back on land. The cruise was great, I loved Labadee, Haiti and we will definitely be going back to The Bahamas for a longer visit.

Sandy, thanks for the Boca restaurant tips, we’ll probably check them out next time.

Dinner this week was mostly seafood.

MinusTwo

Lacey - please tell Laurie we all still think of her often. How old are those cute boys anyway?

My VD dinner was munching on a grilled cheese sandwich as I pulled an all-nighter composing an Income & Expense report from 1999-2019 for our neighborhood (yup - 20 years). Unfortunately I couldn't just cut & paste since it involved several different computers over the years, not to mention a couple of different management styles - each with their own set of GL numbers. Literally, I turned out the lights at 5:30am. I can't remember doing that since I was in college. Well, there were some NY Eve nights we partied all night, but working with small numbers & trying to balance ... not so much.

Had to get up since my 'other' son and his wife were supposed to have arrived in town for a couple of days sometime last night in transit on their move from HI to Panama. I'm going to take them to lunch this afternoon before I head west tomorrow for the scattering of my SIL's ashes. How come everything happens at once??? I've promised to take at least two salads & a dessert. More later.

carolehalston

I remember how Laurie planned a whole week's meals. That so impressed me and made me wish I could do the same and not have to face THE QUESTION daily, What's for dinner? Tonight will be a pasta hot dish with leftover Rao's marinara and a liberal amount of grated romano added to bowtie pasta. Side will be a lettuce salad with our favorite additions.

I downloaded Turbo Tax yesterday and filed our federal tax return. Did NOT notice any benefit from the big tax bill. The larger standard deduction was offset by elimination of the individual deduction.

Magari

Hi, all! We pay an accountant to do our taxes, but the worksheet he makes us send him along with our paperwork still takes a couple of hours to complete.

Our fish CSA delivered opah yesterday, so I pan seared that with a sort of tapenade type sauce and made parsley rice to go with it. Homemade peanut butter cookies using Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour came out pretty good!

It's been raining hard and endlessly for days, so I'll making more soup over the weekend. Probably using my Instant Pot.

Our new dog was adopted because our last one (a border collie/heeler mix) finally died in August at the age of 18. He was truly the best dog ever, and we miss him every day. We knew we wanted another herder, thus Ella joined our family!

auntienance

When DS was living at home I planned and posted menus a week at a time. He enjoyed anticipating upcoming meals and did help me when I was working. Now I deal with the daily question too, often not deciding until a few hours before dinner. DH asked me the other day if it would be helpful to plan ahead (I think he enjoyed seeing the menus too) but I don't think so. Things often don't appeal to me or my appetite fluctuates too much on any given day anymore. DH isn't much help - he will eat anything that involves ground beef and will state as much when asked what he wants for dinner.

That being said, tonight is one of his favorite non burger meals - kielbasa, saurkraut and mashed potatoes. Even though we had cornbread recently, I think I'll make some cornbread sticks - mainly because I have a lot of buttermilk on hand.

Friends are coming tomorrow night for dinner and a movie. The menu is reverse seared ribeyes, oven roasted tiny potatoes and bacon braised green beans. Friends are bringing the dessert.

Minus, I am in awe of you! I couldn't pull an all nighter anymore if my life depended on it. And especially not with a full day ahead of me. You go girl!

Illimae - nice seafood!

Lacey12

I'll let L know the thread crew is thinking of her and remembers how impressed folks were re: her meal organization...she substitute teaches a lot in her sons’ elementary school. They are very cute kids.

Minus....i hope your trip goes well, and that you can catch up on a bit of rest somehow!

Nance...even when my boys were young, I planned meals by the day. I'm just more spontaneous than organized, I suppose.

Carole, I’m impressed that you have tackled your taxes already. DH does ours (was formerly an acct) and I always feel for him as he labors through it. Tho I guess this year will be easier (and more expensive) with deductions removed.

Onco visit was pretty boring as I'd hoped, and we did talk about how I can work out a better gym plan since the center we frequent has rigorously upped their classes, in which I am managing to irritate my rotator cuff tear, my back, and arthritic wrists. Ugh! MO actually suggested the program some of you go to at the Y. Will look into that. I need to get back to a regular exercise routine in which I don’t hurt myself. Old body blues...

I was really tired yesterday (I am such a night owl that I could have easily kept you company during your night marathon, Minus;). After going into Boston for the med appt., then to an interview session with some engineering students at Olin College who were gathering ideas and feedback for a project (an invention) on which they are working, I was NOT interested in "asking the question", nor completing the task, of making dinner. So, we ordered a chicken kebab dinner with Greek salad, mashed butternut squash and a spanakopita from our former fave take out Greek restaurant. "Former" because the owners' "kids" have taken it over and the food quality is down but the prices are up. We will be finding a new fave Greek spot.

Magari,,,best of luck with Ella! When we said good-bye to our last pooch (16 years old mini schnauzer), we decided not to get another, (I was in active bc treatment and working a demanding full time job) and over time made peace with that decision. While we miss having a dog, when we see people walking their dogs in the middle of snow or rain storms, we know we made the right decision for our current life stage. And while we always enjoy caring for our DS1's Scottie when they need it, once he goes home we feel relieved of the responsibility. Of course he could never live up to our memories of our sweet pooches.

Illimae, what great pix! Yum! Glad you had such an enjoyable cruise. I wasn’t aware that cruise ships stopped in Haiti. I have friends who travel there twice yearly on medical missions, and have always felt connected to that struggling island through several amazingly strong families I worked with in my last school who came to Boston after losing everything but their lives in the earthquake.

Today, I’m making my fave kale veggie soup (maybe with farro in it if I get to Trader’s to buy that) to have on hand for the week. And for tonight’s dinner I will do a stir fry with chicken breasts, peppers, onions etc.

illimae

Lacey, Labadee is a cove/resort privately owned by Royal Caribbean. It was fun but I’d really like to spend more time in the Bahamas, maybe a week.

auntienance

Lacey, yay for boring onco visits!

I did our taxes and for the first time in many years, got a (very) small federal refund, which we received in a record 3 days. This seems to be the extent of our big middle class tax break.

Dinner tonight is a grilled ham steak with applesauce, leftover tiny potatoes and a few remaining green beans from last night's "dinner and a movie" with friends. The ribeyes turned out perfect and there is quite a bit leftover there too that will find it's way into a steak salad or stir fry later in the week. We demolished the popovers that I made with only one left - a sad little golf ball that didn't "pop". Don't know what went wrong there, the others rose beautifully.

Another crappy cloudy, windy winter day after a night of freezing drizzle and light snow. More on the way Tuesday. One bright spot - my orchids are blooming.

auntienance

Lacey, I share your feelings about dogs. I love them and we were heart broken when ours left us a week apart. But they do tie you down somewhat. Right now we have enough peripheral dogs in our lives (grand dog, friends dog, neighbors dog) that I can get a doggie."fix" when I need one. When we move closer to civilization, I would like to do short term fostering for a rescue organization.

SpecialK

lacey - It is always good to be "unremarkable" at the onc's office, and remarkable everywhere else!

I shop with some vague menus in mind, but try to have a variety of freezer, fridge, and pantry staples on hand to make assorted combinations for dinners. I usually make extra dinner and that serves as lunch for DH the next day. I too planned more when I had kids at home - and both were involved in sports and had voracious appetites. When DS was a high school swimmer and cross-country runner he usually had an appetizer of a complete McDonald's meal in the car on the way home, then ate a full dinner. Thankfully, baseball season didn't work up quite as much of an appetite! DD is more of an I have to eat NOW person, so I always had to have some ready to eat things going on.

DH was not hungry most of last week after getting home from some late work nights so I didn't cook much. Had made some stuffed shells, and chili so those stretched out for his lunches. Last night we grilled some mahi and chicken and had mashed loaded cauliflower (defeats the purpose...) and sautéed carrots with thyme. Not sure what we will have tonight - need to think about that. DD wants to start some mindful eating - some version of keto/Whole30/Virgin, and I just rejoined the gym today and worked out - yay!

ChiSandy

Uneventful doctors' (especially MOs') appointments are a wonderful thing!

Had an unusual dinner last night. There is a group that holds pop-up dinners where the food is infused with CBD, and in Dec. I went to one of their cocktail receptions at a CBD shop and had a great time. Turns out this meal was infused with a potent strain of indica (THC), so much so over all but the first of 5 courses, that I got very, very wrecked--first time since a New Year's Eve party back in 1975-6. The people were nice, the food great, the music too loud and a genre of which I'm not a fan; but this has confirmed to me that I do NOT like to get high, period. Only this afternoon is it wearing off, much to my relief. I am glad to get my brain back.

But the dishes were delicious: an African cucumber-tomato salad (sort of like fattoush) in vinaigrette, with fried plantain chips. (The only "virgin" dish, BTW). Next was a sweet potato soup with creme fraiche, basil and bacon. Sorbet intermezzo never froze, so it was served instead as a pineapple-mint slushie with berries. Entree was brined & blackened chicken breast over Jollof rice and roasted root vegetables. Dessert was supposed to have been an eggnog creme brulee, but there wasn't enough room in the small kitchen to put together and torch 20 ramekins; so it was a devils' food birthday cake (in honor of the host and one of the guests) instead.

carolehalston

Lacey, you often mention marinated chicken breasts. Do you use bottled marinades or make your own? Would love some info. I bought a lemon/pepper marinade and used it with some thin chicken fillets but dh and I were under-whelmed by the flavor.

I have never owned or wanted to own a dog. We had cats who were interesting pets, especially two brothers we called Pat and Mike. You would never guess they were related, judging from their appearance but they seemed to be very fond of each other. They grew to be very large cats and had sweet dispositions. If we reach the point of staying home year-round, we might think about getting another cat or maybe a dog.

Tonight's pork roast is filling the house with a wonderful aroma. I don't have anything exciting for a side but will probably heat some frozen kernal corn and add some butter. I thought of going to the supermarket and buying a butternut squash but didn't get around to it. We'll also have a lettuce salad.