So...whats for dinner?

M0mmyof3

Homemade Chicken Parm and a salad

Beaverntx

last night was paella with lots of veggies and some chicken and shrimp. Tonight we are at our son's and it will probably be their usual pizza and movies Friday night.

MinusTwo

Splurged on two smallish lobster tails yesterday - on sale for $4.97. I'll broil them shortly

I met my nephew, his wife & 3 year old for lunch yesterday. We went to Govinda's - the vegetarian restaurant at the Hare Krishna temple. The food was delicious as always, but I can never remember most of the names. I know there was Saag Paneer (spinach), Dal Masoor (spicy red lentil dish), naan, and vegan Kheer (a rice pudding that was mostly liquid(coconut milk?) with some rice & golden raisins & pistachios in the bottom). We had the first day of sun in awhile and the grounds are beautifully landscaped. The 3 year old had a great time on their inventive, challenging playground.

auntienance

Count me among the uninspired for dinner. I took out two small ribeyes which we'll have with a baked potato (sweet for me) and a small salad. I did make some hot cross buns, which are baking and smell tantalizing!

eric95us

I made sourdough dinner rolls for DD.

ChiSandy

Good news: we landed in NOLA and after a 45-minute delay (which we were told would be 2 hours, in order to get us to eat an early lunch), we got a room with a river view. Bad news: The bathroom fan won't turn off even when the light is off. Roars like Niagara Falls—audible through the closed door. Maintenance says they can't fix it and the front desk says we can't be moved because the hotel has been booked full for months due to the American College of Cardiology convention. Ditto most good seafood restaurants. Wanted Jacques Imo’s, but they don’t take reservations and we’d be waiting for a couple of hours—likely in the rain. GW Fins, our first choice, was full till 11pm...and Bob’s first session at the ACC is at 8am. So I was able to get a 9pm at Redfish (in the Quarter), which I’ve been meaning to try.

Lunch was fried oysters, collard greens and sweet potato fries. Noshing on half a poppy seed hamantaschen I brought from home

eric95us

You could tell them the fan smells like it's overheating.... (evil grin).

SpecialK

mommy - yay for chicken Parm - one of my faves!

auntie - yay for Hot Cross Buns - childhood in a baked good

Dinner tonight was taco salad with roasted chicken breast, topped with avocado, yum!

illimae

DH made chicken curry with rice tonight, it was tasty and perfect for the 33 degree temps up on the mountain this weekend.

Unfortunately, our heater died after 5 minutes but I have warm clothes and plenty of blankets. Still, it’s very cold, so it’s hot tea and early to bed.

ChiSandy

Yucky rainy weather—ever notice that the coldest place on earth always seems to be anywhere it’s in the 40s & raining when you’d expect it to be warm? Vegas last month, NOLA now. In the 70s & 80s the day before we arrived from Chicago. Missed the parade—took too long to walk to the closest part of the route, and the parade was too short & moved too fast for us to catch up.

Dinner was at Redfish Grill (part of the Brennan empire) and it was excellent. Bob had redfish bisque. We shared fried green tomatoes topped with sautéed crawfish tails, (Dunno why the pic posted atop the text, but iPads are quirky, even with keyboards).Next came Bob’s crab & crawfish Mac & cheese with a blackened redfish filet on top.

I had grilled redfish with satsuma-ponzu sauce, over cherry tomatoes, broccoli florets and baby Brussels sprouts:

Sorry the food was partially eaten, but when courses arrive, my first instinct is to dig in, not snap a photo. (Can you tell I don’t do Instagram)? Anyway, waaay too much food. Luckily, we have a fridge in the room (will request a microwave); breakfast in bed tomorrow should prove to be stellar/

carolehalston

Sorry about the weather, Sandy. At least you're eating well.

Last night's pork and brown rice (sorta stir fried) was good. Maybe my best use of pork tenderloin. The pork pieces were juicy and tasty. I made an altered version of my sweet/spicy sauce (less sweet, less spicy!) and added some of it. Also added some green peas I had thawed. The dish would have been good with some additional ingredients like ginger, green onions, mushrooms, but I was too lazy to venture out to the grocery store or supermarket.

I turned most of a loaf of stale French bread into bread crumbs for some future use.

Tonight will be my free birthday dinner at our club. I made reservations at Morgan's, the more formal of the two restaurants. Another couple who are also members will join us. So no cooking tonight!

SpecialK, taco salad is what I usually order at a Mexican restaurant. I could make it at home minus the crispy bowl. Ta Dah!

Nance, I'm afraid I would just eat hot rolls and butter and forget about the rest of dinner if I made fresh-baked rolls.

auntienance

I never in my life ate a hot cross bun until I moved to st. Louis and found them in a local grocery store. I became a big fan (because it's bread after all) and eventually started making them, but not just on good Friday, although I usually only make them during lent.

Friends coming tomorrow for our annual corned beef dinner. (DH of course will have shepherds pie). I'll also make rye soda bread and a strawberry and cream Swiss cake roll for dessert.

But for tonight, it's baked canneloni - the last of the supply from the Italian market :-(. Sides will be a wedge salad and possibly some garlic bread.

illimae

Your posts look and sound great.

Beaverntx

Tonight's dinner will be at a friend's St. Patrick's day party. Promised dishes include corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie with chicken, mashies, Irish creme cheese cake. I'm taking Irish soda bread and Irish brown bread.

ChiSandy

Ice cold leftover redfish wasn’t as good a breakfast as I’d hoped, but Bob relished his equally cold mac & cheese. We asked for a microwave but there weren’t any. However, there is a communal microwave in the Marketplace on the main floor, which we’ll use tomorrow.

We ended up going to the Irish Channel parade (the main event of the weekend). Collected a boatload of various throws—among which were two full-size bars of Irish Spring soap, two cabbages, packets of baby carrots and a wrapped moon pie. We gave half the carrots, a cabbage and a bar of soap to a homeless person, who must have been a local because she specifically requested them (but turned down the moon pie). Coming home with over a pound of beads.

Tonight was an early dinner at Mr. B’s Bistro. We shared everything but dessert. Started with the crab cake and the gumbo sampler (seafood and ya-ya). Alas, we wolfed them down before I remembered to photograph them. Next came rabbit fricassee:

That’s Bob’s St. Patrick’s Day tie in the background. Desserts were chèvre cheesecake with Ponchitoula strawberries:

...and bread pudding:

DInner at Cochon tomorrow night. Not sure about brunch or lunch; maybe leftovers

MinusTwo

Supper was something I hadn't thought about in years - creamed tuna on toast. And the toast was San Francisco Sourdough. Served with English Cucumber sticks. Dessert was Haagen Dazs Raspberry Sherbert.

carolehalston

The bread pudding looks really good and I'm not a bread pudding fan.

My chosen entree last night was a special offering: fried soft shell crab with seafood stuffing, green tomatoes and asparagus. Three of us ordered it and all agreed that it was good. Three of us also had the turtle soup. It was good but not as good as the version made by the former chef. Who is coming back! Many of us are very excited about his return.

DH is in charge of dinner. He's making beef stew.

auntienance

My husband thinks Mr. B's has the best bread pudding on earth. (They all taste the same to me. Only the sauce is rate worthy.)

CeliaC

Sandy - That bread pudding looked scrumptious! Lucky you, in NOLA with all those luscious foods. Sounds like you and DH are having a fun St Patrick's Day. Have always wanted to experience it in Chicago and personally see the river dyed green.

A good friend in Buffalo posted a pic on Facebook of Niagara Falls all lit up green.

Made a "non-pasta" dish using my remaining jar of Trader Joe's Black Truffle Alfredo Sauce (seasonal, only around the Holidays) along with zucchini noodles, baby peas, sauteed baby portobellos (I love shrooms!) and leftover roasted chicken breast. Lots of lovely green in honor of St Patrick's Day. Will have leftovers for quick dinners along with roasted carrots or brussels during the week.

ChiSandy

In Chicago yesterday they dyed the ice floes green.

Breakfast was my leftover Redfish & veggies. Then we walked to Compère Lapin (in the Old No. 77 Hotel, where I stayed the last two weeks before my diagnosis in 2015) for late brunch. We shared an “Everything Donut” (a yeast-raised donut spread with cream cheese & “everything-bagel” seasoning—all the rage these days—and hamachi crudo) and conch fritters with green bean remoulade:

That’s salmon roe along the left side. Next, curried shrimp & avocado salad with tostones:

Then a chicken croquette with hollandaise atop a purée of cilantro & basil and sauce Bordelaise:

Mains were poached eggs with red beans:

...and three eggs scrambled in truffle butter, topped with black truffles shaved tableside and multigrain toast points:

No room for dessert (duh). Off to Cochon now for a late dinner

eric95us

I bought a whole chicken 2 days ago. Today, I took it out of the refrigerator and....eeeewwwwwww. It was bad enough that neither of the dogs, nor the cat, were interested in remaining in the kitchen. Fortunately it was warm enough that I could open the doors and windows to let the house air out. Unfortunately, it is warm enough that Thursday's trash pickup day might be too late....

So, I got out some salmon, marinated it in a soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, lemon juice, olive oil, brown sugar and S & P.mixture for an hour and then cooked it in a preheated cast iron skillet for 20 minutes in a 350F degree oven.

"Has potential. Next time, use less brown sugar."

illimae

I’m loving these food pics, yum!

M0mmyof3

The rest of the leftover chicken parm and a salad

ChiSandy

Dinner was at Cochon last night (the place has expanded since 2015 to take over the entire building, pretty much the whole block). Began with shared apps. First up was fried alligator with remoulade and housemade linguine:

Next was beef & andouille empanada:

Bob had green chile chicken soup, which he ate before I could photograph it. We split an entree of cochon de lait with turnips, diced pear, and “cracklings” (chicharrones):

It was bigger than it looks—between the two of us, we made it through only half. Sides were green tomato-crawfish casserole:

...and collard greens with Tasso ham:

Needless to say, the mini-fridge is full to bursting. Woke up too tired to get dressed and take stuff downstairs to nuke (and Bob had already gone to class), so breakfast was leftover toast from Compère Lapin and a little yeast roll from Cochon.

Bob wanted to get 15,000 steps in, so after a couple of sessions he walked to Pat O’Briens for Hurricanes with a side of crawfish etouffee. He got back just as I finished showering & dressing, so we decided to hit the Outlets at Riverwalk to get beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde. The line was very long, but I was able to get us a table while Bob ordered. Didn’t take pics, as there was powdered sugar everywhere and I didn’t want to use my phone with sticky fingers.

Had a bit of a crisis: the zipper of my purse got stuck on the cheap umbrella cover I used as an eyeglass case, as my dual case wouldn’t fit into my purse. The cloth was embedded into and around both sides of the slider. It took two bellhops and a guest who sews for a hobby to unstick the zipper—had to sacrifice part of the umbrella cover by cutting it away. Bob suggested I get a roomier purse (that would still fit into my under-seat tote), and actually admitted he could use some Levis and a new wallet. He found two pair that fit, and I went to the Coach outlet—where wallets were 20% off and the whole purchase was 70% off. Got a cute little pewter satchel that is roomier than the gold one I was using, and will still fit into the under seat tote; and three wallets for Bob. He is complaining that none of them will close with all the bills & cards he’s carrying, but he normally doesn’t carry so much. But he was able to pull out the ID holder and use it for cards he needs most often, and the wallet folds a bit more easily. (The leather is pebbly and stiff when new; the old one was RFID-proof, but literally falling apart).

I went to the Chico’s outlet looking for a brown jacket, but it’s the one color they’re not showing. Did end up with a below-the-hip stretch denim jacket—there was a cuter short one that exactly matches one of my pair of jeans, but it doesn’t close. Gonna be a challenge packing tonight—but that’s why I left extra room in my suitcases.

Gonna try to get into Jacques Imo’s for dinner, but have to wait till after I can check us in for tomorrow night’s flight and download boarding passes (or print them out at the hotel business center). They don’t take reservations, but Bob is willing to wait for a table, and those beignets were very filling. Meanwhile, he’s napping—he got dehydrated earlier after that long walk to & from the Quarter (and only 5 hrs. of sleep last night. The other docs at the conference probably aren’t familiar with the place, and it’s a Monday night, so we might not have too long a wait

Beaverntx

Nothing as exciting or gourmet as ChiSandy's! Tonight was four cheese sauce with mixed vegetables and the rest of a rotisserie chicken over pasta. It was tasty and filling. Also made a seeded Irish soda bread but it wasn't done in time for the meal.

MinusTwo

My meal was even less exciting. Three eggs over easy. Two pieces of sourdough bread lightly fried open face with Havarti.

ChiSandy

Went to Jacques-Imo’s tonight for dinner. Was told the wait would be an hour, but there was room to sit in the bar, and I nursed a ginger-beer. The wait was just a little over half an hour. Started with corn muffins slathered in jalapeño butter:

Appetizers were Cajun jambalaya (duck sausage & rabbit):

...and “boudin balls,” sort of like a cross between arancini (no rice) and Scotch eggs (no egg): a piece of jalapeño cheese rolled in pork blood sausage, which was then breaded and deep-fried, with remoulade on the side:

Here’s one I cut open:

Next, a “lagniappe” of a spinach salad with sesame vinaigrette and a fried oyster:

We shared a platter of fried chicken (legs & thighs) with a little bit of red beans & rice and greens:

The red tint was partly the lighting and partly the Crystal hot sauce I sprinkled on it. Dessert was vanilla creme brûlée, which we devoured before I could photograph it. (Everyone here doubtless knows what it looks like anyway). The other choice was coconut bread pudding, but we’re bread-puddinged-out. Had it been Southern coconut cake (a cousin of tres leches), I’d have been all over it—and without asking for an extra fork.

The check was ridiculously cheap—which explains why the place is so popular (mostly with locals). They hold prices down by not taking reservations (except for larger parties) so there’s no fee to belong to an online reservation system, using inexpensive serve ware & plastic tablecloths, having a tiny kitchen (through which diners walk from the bar to the dining rooms) and not putting their waitstaff in uniforms. It’s in a hipster-y area of Uptown (a couple blocks off the streetcar) which has only recently begun to see rising rents. The decor was wildly eclectic—paintings, photos, posters, stained glass, even a wildebeest presiding over the bar:

carolehalston

Within easy driving distance of Sandy's NOLA feast, we dined on linguine sauced with Rao's and turkey Italian sausage and a big salad with romaine that had frozen in the refrigerator.

Not sure why the refrigerator got so cold that it turned into a second freezer. One hint (not first understood as a hint) was discovering that the water spigot in the door wasn't working. Now we realize that the water was frozen. We turned off the refrigerator for a few hours and the water tube had thawed. We have dialed down the setting and will see what happens.

DH hadn't mentioned that the carrots he used in the stew on Sunday were frozen in the refrigerator.

Lacey12

Oh dear, Carole, I do hope your refrigerator issue resolves with just the temp adjustment. My favorite fixes are when I have a computer glitch and it gets resolved by turning it off and restarting. Every glitch remedy should be so easy!

Sandy, that is quite a tour through the NOLA restaurants....thanks!

Our next door neighbor's adult son let me know he loved the kale soup I dropped off recently, so I was inspired to make another batch. He'll get more and we will have it for dinner tonight with leftover lemejin (sp?) and baba ganoush from the local Middle Eastern market.

Last night we saw DS2 at the Celtics' game and he asked when he might be able to come over to set up a crib they were gifted. This “nursery set up” will happen in his old room. The room is currently loaded with bunk beds, and our storage....hmmmmm. Yikes....this baby is really coming and he seems so excited to have us be major players in her life. I really need to get organized! A great reason to stop procrastinating with clearing out the house. I've been feeling really old lately, and he assures me that being with their baby will be rejuvenating. Hope so!

A sad counterpoint to this baby excitement....today I will be visiting with a former colleague and friend who is in her last days of life after a long seige with metasticised breast cancer to her spine. I'm hoping she is alert enough so that I can share with her some wonderful memories of our early work days together. If not, I hope she at least feels my presence sitting with her. Her husband, a wonderful psychologist and friend, died suddenly two years ago, and I feel so badly for her single young adult sons who will painfully miss these wonderful nurturing parents as they experience their adult milestones. Life is complicated.....

Hoping everyone on our thread is having a chance to experience simple joys today and avoid complications!

auntienance

I'm enjoying NOLA vicariously through Sandy.

Nothing so exciting here. In getting ready to throw a pirk shoulder into the instant pot to turn into pulled pork for sandwiches. Leftover potatoes for Sunday will become potato salad. I also have half of a cabbage that will make a slaw.

I'm feeling old too Lacey. We've been working our butts off trying to get the house in shape for the tall estate market. I'm finding that I just don't have the stamina to be on my feet (or hands and knees scrubbing baseboards) all day.

Contributing to that "getting old" feeling is the fact that I've quit dyeing my hair (even though that feels like giving in.) I'm curious to see just how much gray there is. So far, it's patches on the temples and a couple of spots on the crown. If it was all white, I'd go for it. Not sure about this patchy stuff. Blondes don't always look good with gray. At least I can change my mind about this. I have a curious gene history - my mom was all white in her 30s, as was her mother. My dad had very little gray hair until his 80s and still wasn't white haired when he died at 92.