So...whats for dinner?

topdubu

Do this! This near our camp at Khoton Nuur in the very far west of Mongolia, close to the Chinese border in those mountains just behind me. Because in these parts, most of the male population smoke, I took up a prop for this photo--they got a huge charge out of it.

ChiSandy

WOW!!!! No way any of us can top that---to add that to a bucket list would be presumptuous as all get-out. (Closest I ever got was the stereotypical tourist pose astride a bored horse next to an equally bored-looking guy in Mongol dress along the Great Wall).

I am ready to eat the next thing that moves, ans Bob's still full, so I just ordered out for tandoori chicken and palak paneer--no seekh kabob because I had beef three days in a row. Drooling looking at the pix of samosas, naan, roti, biryani...but I'm sticking to my diet. Will make my own raita (plenty of yogurt, half a cuke and a healthy mint plant) if they don't throw in a side of it. If Bob gets hungry later he can have some of the chicken breasts.

MinusTwo

Lacey - thinking about you out at your brother's memorial service. Hope everything is going OK with the SIL. I know it will be a difficult trip.

Dinner was really lazy. Left over cooked pork loin cut in medallions heated in a Rosa sauce made with Raos & heavy cream with a little can of mushrooms tossed in and dumped over penne pasta. Salad tomorrow. Bagged salads work for me since I live alone. Each bag is two meals but at least I get some variety without having to throw away 1/2 of the veggies I might buy that go bad too soon. Found a delicious Dole kit - "Spinach Miso Crunch" - with baby spinach, baby red chard, carrots, Japanese miso dressing, cashews, sliced almonds & won ton strips.

Working on the plans for a trip to my brother's step daughter's wedding in LA in September. I think I'll fly in to San Francisco, have dinner with my son, then take a couple of days to drive slowly down Hwy 1 by the ocean, stopping along the way. Hoping the road won't be closed with slides by Big Sur.

SpecialK

minus - I just did the Hwy 1 northbound (inner mountain side lane) drive from San Simeon to Monterey in May, the road was open. It had been previously closed by slides that took out some bridges. It is a crazy ass drive and requires focus for sure, but I was glad I did it - I took a friend who had never been before and she had fun taking pix out the window while I navigated the hairpin situation, lol! I had been a passenger before, years ago, going south (outside cliff lane), but driving it myself was a bit of a bucket list thing.

eric - "take your protein pills and put your helmet on" seems like good advice for every day... hope DD is faring well!

lacey - thinking of you.

MinusTwo

Thanks Special. I'll be driving South from San Francisco - so ocean side. I used to be very good at Hwy 1, but it's been a couple of years and before BC. Planning at least one overnight in Carmel & then to San Simeon since I've still never seen the Hearst castle. Was considering Morro Bay the night after my tour of the castle. Any recommends around there? Then on to Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village the next day for the wedding.

SpecialK

I actually toured Hearst Castle with my friend on this trip - same day as the Hwy 1 drive! It was a beautiful and clear day even though it had rained on us earlier in the morning. As we drove north we saw the sunset just as we got to Big Sur - it was great! I was intent on getting off the cliff side before it got dark. I went to college in San Luis Obispo, spent quite a bit of time in Morro Bay, but a lot has changed since then. I had looked at the Estero Inn and thought it looked nice and had good ratings on TripAdvisor when planning the trip, but we ended up staying in SLO at The Kinney. That was a last minute decision but it was inexpensive, well located,and they gave a generous credit for breakfast included in the room price, and the food was really good!

ChiSandy

We did Hwy 1 (started at 101 at Astoria, OR) down past Big Sur a couple of times when Bob was in grad school and I in law school back in Seattle. $10 motels were a luxury for us: we tent-camped at state parks. The scariness of the drive (in our little Datsun 1200) didn't faze me back then b,ecause I had lots of practice on twisting mountain roads in the Cascades--in fact, it was fun except when being tailgated by logging trucks. But when we went to SF and the Monterey Peninsula when Gordy was a toddler, it did sort of creep me out. (When he was a baby, we flew into Monterey, stayed at the Lodge at Pebble Beach and took the cliffside drive up to the Bay Area; second time, we did the medical course first and drove the ocean-side down to the Inn at Spanish Bay). I miss Northern CA!

Last night the restaurant called: they'd run out of spinach and paneer (cheese) and didn't have enough time to make some more before closing time, so they asked if okra stew--sans potatoes--would be ok. Well, it was delicious but "fuego city"--there was no rice, and I couldn't eat the included naan (white flour) to protect my intestines. The chicken was similarly spicy--far different from the dry-ish mild style our usual South Indian restaurants make (this one is Indo-Pak), I did allow myself a small slice of low-carb bread--inauthentic, but permissible and somewhat protective. They also threw in a small salad and a free mango lassi...which smoothie sat on the table, taunting me, till Bob gleefully took it off my hands. Today I rinsed off the ultra-hot tikka marinade off the remaining chicken and will brave it & the okra again. (Or, grill having been fixed, defrost a burger or salmon portion and see what the grill can do--it's gonna rain tomorrow).

eric95us

DD made it home...tired but very happy.

MinusTwo

Hooray. We'll look forward to stories in a day or two.

Dinner was leftover pork loin bites with Rao, heavy cream, mushrooms & penne.

SpecialK

eric - yay!

ChiSandy

Eric--hope she had fun! (And lucked out on the weather).

I have a fully-working grill again (with a clamp-on LED light on the way).

Speaking of cooking, I had a nasty "cookware adventure" with Amazon. Gordy & Leslie don't have good 8" & 10" nonstick skillets, so I decided to give them my gently used 8" All-Clad and 10" OXO Good Grips nonstick aluminum ones. They also need a stainless one for searing & pan sauces, so the plan was to clean up my 11" All-Clad stainless "French" skillet (curvier sides than a saute pan, but taller than a regular skillet). So I ordered a 10" stainless OXO Good Grips and a set of their aluminum nonstick 8" & 10" for myself (I'm giving the kids the spare 12" I kept in reserve but don't yet need), Put in the order on Sat., the set was supposed to come Sunday and the stainless one today. Sat around waiting Sun.--and then about 6 pm got a message the set would be delivered yesterday. Come Monday, the UPS tracking number kept saying "out for delivery" as I checked it every hour. The next time I clicked, though, it said "undeliverable, return to shipper." Went to the site, clicked on the item and saw "Sorry, this item was damaged and is being returned ti the shipper. Contact us if you haven't gotten your refund." Then up popped an e-mail from UPS: "Sorry we missed you, no adult was present to sign, will try again the next business day." Kept going round & round in circles to try to find where my refund would be, but no luck. Ditto no "contact us" link or button. Finally had to Google "Amazon Customer Service" to get a number to call.

First to answer was a sweet older guy with a gentle drawl, but when I told him about all the conflicting messages, he had no idea about which one was right or wrong or why. He asked if I want a refund or a new shipment. Seeing as how in the interim since I placed the order the #1 negative review was "arrived damaged," I said "refund, please." He answered, "OK, I'll e-mail you a return shipping label and you can send it back to us at no cost." I almost exploded. I asked through gritted teeth "How can I return something I don't have and never got?" He asked "Well, how could you tell it was damaged?" This time I yelled "BECAUSE YOUR WEBSITE TOLD ME SO!" He allowed as to how he was puzxled and put me on hold to "Logistics." (Uh-oh--anyone see John Oliver's piece on Amazon Logistics Sunday night)?

On came a young lady with a thick Indian, Pakistani or Sinhalese accent who asked me everything all over again, which I had to answer in excruciating detail--and explain even more painstakingly. Finally, after putting me on hold, she declared "The package was attempted to be delivered but was rejected by the customer." I had to avoid using the saltier part of my vocabulary when I replied, "That's a LIE! I'm the customer. I waited by the door all day. Nobody delivered anything." She paused and put me on hold again. Finally she said, "You can't prove it, but because you're such a good customer we're giving you an online gift card in your account." FINALLY.

Or so I thought. Woke up today to two texts at 9:37 am. First one said "Your refund has been processed and is now in your account.," followed by "We attempted to deliver the package today but nobody was there. Will try next business day." Oh, geez, not the stainless skillet too? I clicked on the tracking number, and got "Out for delivery today." Heeeere we go again. Called and this time was patched straight through to Logistics--again, somewhere on the Indian subcontinent. Again, a different young lady did not seem to understand a word I was saying, and kept chattering until I pinned her down. "Look, there were two parts to this order. I have the refund for part one. Thank you. But what's with the "attempted delivery" text that followed it? Is it or is it not out for delivery? She put me on hold for 10 minutes and returned saying "We don't know why you got that second text--it must have been about part one. Part two is definitely out for delivery today. We will have the driver contact you when he's getting near" (he didn't) "and will call you later to find if you received it." (She didn't). But blessedly, hot on the heels of the mailman, the Amazon driver came and laid a humongous box on my porch. Opened it, and sure enough, there was the stainless skillet, in a cardboard anti-theft bracket, lying on the bottom of the box...plus a small scrunched-up half-sheet of brown paper...and...AIR. It took seemingly forever to dismantle the cardboard, but thank goodness there were no dents, dings or warps.

Nope, from now on it's back to brick-and-mortar for me, unless delivery is the only way to obtain stuff. And I'm relegating Amazon to just e-books and groceries at Whole Foods. Amazon Smile's water charity won't be getting my money--I'll just donate directly.

Indian leftovers (again) tonight. At least I'm down another pound and a half this week--now several pounds lighter than my weight at diagnosis. My interim goal is to get my BMI down from "obese" to "overweight," and we'll take it from there,

eric95us

I will only buy on-line after exhausting all the local purchase options.

DD called last night and asked if we could get her at the airport because the roommate that was supposed to get her couldn't do so (car in repair shop). Sharon had an all night sneezing attack (allergies) and finally took some Benadryl around 3am, so I ended up going by myself.

DD said that she probably got 2 hours a sleep a night and I don't doubt that as she looked TIRED. Even a huge cup of coffee didn't seem to help. :-)

She got back into downtown Chicago yesterday around 2pm and her flight out this morning got changed from 6am to 7:30am, so she hung out with friends in downtown Chicago and explored until around she took a 4am Lyft ride (she wasn't sure about a 4am L ride) to the airport. She said the only annoying thing was TSA giving her 15-20 minutes of extra attention because they thought she was under 18 and was using an older sister's ID or fake ID.

Everyone else from DD's apartment complex took other flights, so they were only together while at the venue in Michigan.

One thing that DD did mention, with some pride, was that she got everything she needed for a week into a single normal sized and normal weight bag plus a small daypack while everyone else had to pay excess baggage fees for oversized, overweight or multiple bags. She said one guy in her group had a $249 round trip ticket, but had to pay $600 in excess baggage fees EACH WAY (!) and he still made trips to Walmart and Target to get more stuff. I think our backpacking adventures paid off in excess baggage fees. :-)

ChiSandy

Eric, that's why I fly SW whenever possible. 2 bags fly free, up to 50 lbs. each. I have to laugh about her friend's excess bag woes--I think kids traveling for the first time on their own often have no idea just how few outfits they'll need for a long weekend or even a week. There's always that "FOMO" feeling of "OMG, what if I didn't take enough? People will sneer if I wear something twice! What if something gets stained or torn or wet? Or why didn't I bring that one special outfit?" We managed to pare our bags down to 3 suitcases & 2 carry-ons between us for an 8-day Mediterranean cruise. We took entirely too many things with us on our first cruise--a 15-day Viking River Cruise. The biggest mistake--especially if you'll be in a city or suburb, is to bring full-size personal care stuff, one's entire vanity cabinet. Staying at a hotel? Leave the hairdryer home. Use the free shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion. They'll even give you a free toothbrush, toothpaste & deodorant if you ask. Buy travel sizes--or fill mini-bottles--of stuff like sunscreen or bug spray that hotels won't have.

I know she was camping, so there were no hotel freebies (except for those in the hotel in Chicago where she stayed briefly). She sounds like she has a head on her shoulders...and has paid attention to her efficient military Dad!

So what acts did she see?

BTW, I ditched Bendryl long ago. Despite having pollen, mold and dander (other people's pets) allergies, I do fine on Zyrtec & montelukast at bedtime and a squirt of steroid spray in each nostril at bedtime & on arising. Allergy eyedrops too in the morning on a high pollen-mold count day. None of those will make one drowsy,

carolehalston

Glad that DD is home safe and happy, Eric.

Congrats on dropping lbs, Sandy.

Dinner last night was crappie fish fillets, lightly breaded and fried in small amount of oil in a cast iron skillet on the outdoor grill side burner. A neighbor gave us the fish, which was caught this summer and frozen in water. DH made a large romaine salad with many ingredients.

Kitchen emergency! We are out of olive oil.

ChiSandy

The new clamp-on grill light arrived yesterday, and Bob came home early enough tonight that I could grill salmon. He needed a starch (which I can't have), so I defrosted an ear of corn from the freezer and grilled it. I cut up my last two farmers' market mini-tomatoes with homegrown basil, Ligurian olive oil (sorry, Carole!) and 25-yr old Balsamico from the Reggio Emilia region. Took a few leaves of rainbow Swiss chard (also farmers' market), stripped them from the stems, which I cooked separately. I let the leaves wilt in their own steam and dressed them with salt & EVOO; I chopped the stems and sauteed them with butter, salt, pepper and supermarket balsamic vinegar.

The salmon was more problematic, though. I figured that since it came skinless, grilling it directly on the grates would be difficult: the last time I tried (following America's Test Kitchen's protocol of scrubbing the schmutz off screaming-hot grates and oiling and re-oiling them 10 times), it still stuck and made it to the dinner table badly "maimed." So yesterday, in preparation, I dusted off and cleaned my hinged fish basket (not the one with square wire grids but the one with three fish-shaped sections). Even oiled it with coconut oil, figuring that the fish wouldn't touch the grill so I didn't need to season the grill grates. Bad idea--the fish-shaped basket squeezed the fillets and let them contact the grates. Came out to flip the basket and found to my horror that there was already considerable fish debris stuck to the grates. And once the fish came up to suggested temperature, it still stuck to the inside of the basket. Managed to loosen them enough to flip them on to an inverted plate, and though there were a few loose chunks, they still looked like salmon fillets. And they didn't overcook. Whew!

auntienance

Sandy, my DSIL gave me one of those copper cooking mats for the grill. They work great for things like flimsy fish and grilling vegetables. To my surprise, things brown quite well on it. I think they're pretty cheap.

Eric, so glad DD's adventure turned out so well. You've done a good job with her.

Well, the "stuff" has all been taken care of, we've met with the realtor (and really like her) and we're ready to roll. She's coming Tuesday to take pictures and list the house Thursday. Now all we have to do is maintenance (barring something unforseen God forbid.) I don't think my house has been this clean since we moved in.

Just the two of us for the holiday having typical bbq food - a small rack of baby back ribs, a couple of brats, corn on the cob and either cole slaw or baked beans. I'm leaning toward cole slaw so as not to turn on the oven - hot and humid here. I think dessert will just be some frozen yogurt and California peaches (which have been quite good.)

Carole, what I wouldn't give for some crappie - my favorite fried fish!

Happy Independence Day my friends!

SpecialK

auntie - hope the house sells quickly, what is the plan if it does?

4th of July food will include burgers, dogs, brats on the grill, made a veggie heavy pasta salad earlier, baked beans with onion/bacon/pineapple added, loaded deviled eggs, and had to choose between cherry pie or Dole Whip for dessert - due to the temps Dole Whip won! DD is out taking care of the horse, but will stop for mortars on her way home, my neighborhood sounds like WWIII on the 4th and NYE - gotta love Florida! Have a safe and fun holiday all!

auntienance

Special, the very loosely defined "plan" is to quickly find something to rent short term in the area where we want to locate while we search for something more permanent.

I want to come to your house for dinner.

Beaverntx

We are joining some friends at a home with a good view of the fireworks. Taking potato salad and a watermelon, blueberry and mozzarella balls dish. Hostess has promised sliders and ice cream sundaes.

carolehalston

Dinner will be brats cooked on the grill and fresh corn cut off the cob and cooked in butter in a skillet. Maybe a salad.

We rode in the boat parade with the owners of a very nice and well-decorated boat. Participation was down to about thirteen boats this year. The ride was pleasant especially facing into the breeze. Island Lake isn't huge so we were out on the water about 45 minutes.

The resort is full but there have been no problems so far. The children are well behaved and dogs have been on leashes.

It's almost drink time! Yay.

MinusTwo

Had a Spinach & artichoke quiche from Costco - accompanied by a lovely old vine zinfandel from Lodi called Mischievous.

Now busy prepping for tomorrow & Saturday. Onions & bell pepper cut & already marinating in the vinegar & oil for the 3 bean salad. Just have to add the beans. Celery cut for the lime jello and moving on the dicing the cashew nuts and then the avocado. All of the avocados in the store were less than ripe on Tuesday. The web said to put in a paper bag with banana or tomato or apple. Two days of that didn't help much so they've been sitting out on the patio table all afternoon in 97 degree heat. Hope they'll be ready to dice in a bit.

Beaver - your watermelon/blueberry dish sounds interesting. Will you share the recipe?

Nance - are you staying basically around St. Louis or moving far afield?

Happy Independence Day.

auntienance

Minus, we plan to go about 50 miles south of here to a county adjacent to St. Louis County.

MinusTwo

Thanks Nance. I think you probably told me before, but my brain didn't retain the information. Will it still be urban or will you be in the country with lake or river and trees? I think I've outlived my chance to move from my current house. Everything I see is considerably bigger and I want smaller, or at least the same (3 &2). Unless of course I go high rise closer to town, and that's well out of my budget. As long as we're dreaming, I'd love to live on the Pacific Ocean. Oh well - in another life.

Beaverntx

Minus, the recipe was just that--small pieces of watermelon, blueberries, and mozzarella cheese balls. Took a blueberry infused balsamic vinegar to pour over but many, especially the kids, just wanted the fruit (especially after they discovered the mozzarella was cheese and not marshmallows. Saw the combination on a TV show and decided to try it. Looked festive and tasted good!

eric95us

...heading out on a driving/camping trip around the western USA.....

Sharon ***HATES*** the summer heat here....

MinusTwo

Eric - have fun. If you have time, let us know where you land from time to time.

Magari

Greetings all!

I've been absent from the board for a while. Only read the most recent page, but it sounds like everyone has been busy and doing well.

We've been using the grill a lot lately. Leg of lamb steak with fresh rosemary and grilled zucchini. Leftovers used for shwarmas with tsatziki sauce. Made a really good farro salad with some of the zucchini, kalamata olives, olive oil and chopped fresh mint, oregano and parsley.

Tonight we'll grill a spatchcocked chicken and some corn.

Scheduled for implant revision surgery with fat grafting mid-month. So will make some things for the freezer this weekend.

ChiSandy

Was just going to wing it from th freezer or deli drawer, but when i went to WF to replenish some stuff, they had ground bison on sale. So I got a package of that (made 3 decent-size burgers), a liitle under a lb. ea. of wild sockeye (AK) and king (BC) salmon, and a couple of portabella caps. Grilled up a cheeseburger: bison, Tillamook cheddar (Target had a sale), lettuce, tomato, & red onion with the portabellas as a "bun." Of course, it got pretty messy due to one of the caps falling apart when I tried to roast it; so I wrapped the whole thing in lettuce leaves and then parchment. Lovely, drippy, gooey--no need for condiments! Shortly after finishing (and while doing the brush-floss thing), Bob called to ask if I wanted anything from the Italian joint where he'd stopped for a martini. Nope--I think my dinner was better than the pizza he had.

Defrosted a porterhouse to grill tonight--Bob promises to be home early enough. I now have a decent grill light, and the storms aren't supposed to hit till tomorrow. Gotta figure out veggie accompaniments ahead of time: making that burger last night took everything out of me. Got some pre-made fattoush salad, and I can always nuke him some instant brown rice (I can't have any more starch today, as I had a small slice each of low-carb bread with breakfast (ricotta "pudding" to make a faux cannolli) and lunch (tuna salad sandwich). I bought some garlic scapes out of curiosity (mislabled as "baby ramps") so maybe I can grill them as well.

Didn't go see any fireworks--too tired to go to Evanston (and walk nearly a mile from either the train or parking, or to deal with the crowds and traffic), so I ate my burger in front of the TV while watching "A Capitol Fourth" and listening to amateur fireworks going off all around the neighborhood.

There is a Ribfest a few miles s. of me on B'way (a short bus ride south), with Martha Davis & the Motels headlining tonight. But as I said, not into crowds, especially if I have to stand (and I blew my back muscles out again today). And as much as I love a good sparerib, I'd rather savor a great steak with a knife & fork than gnaw on bones these days.

eric95us

We're in Hurricane, UT (SW corner of Utah). We snacked about an hour ago and neither of us are hungry, so no cooking in the tent trailer for tonight. We're here for a couple of days to look around the town and go to Zion National Park. Then we will head toward US Hwy 89 and go north...unless we decide differently. :-)

ChiSandy

Weather got much cooler, my back is a bear (again) and Bob is getting home very late so he can accompany me to my dear friend & ex-boss' 90th birthday party up in Skokie early tomorrow evening.

But learned this morning that one of my few first cousins in Westchester County passed away yesterday (all his wife--still in shock, of course--could say was he had a "rare blood cancer" and then got pneumonia while trying to recover from a stem cell transplant). Since he and his wife are observant Modern Orthodox, he has to be buried as soon after Shabbat as practicable. Unlike here in Chicago, gravediggers in NYS do work on Sundays--so the funeral is tomorrow, with first night of Shiva (the week of mourning during which the bereaved receive condolence visitors at home) tomorrow night and thereafter till Fri. morning. Spent most of the day frantically exchanging e-mails with one of my other cousins (who lives in the Boston area) and my sis, who lives in the NoVA DC suburbs. Consensus is that I shouuld attend the party--how many 90th birthdays do we get to celebrate: especially for someone who battled back from a massive stroke only to lose his wife to a sudden heart attack, and who mentored me for almost 20 years after I resumed my legal career once Gordy was old enough? (He also is an elder at my temple who supplemented my religious education).

So instead of grilling or reheating the leftover (blood-rare) portion of the porterhouse, I pan-seared a wild sockeye filet and sauteed some snap peas. Allowed myself a dessert of berries with creme fraiche and an almond milk breve decaf cappuccino.

Will reconnoiter with my sis in the morning to arrange an affordable flight (she from Dulles or Reagan, me from O'Hare) so we can meet at JFK or (ugh) LGA, carpool, and share a room for a couple nights. Closest airport to my cousin is White Plains/Westchester County, but flights to there from Chicago on short notice & short stay are insanely expensive (try >$2000 round trip in Economy).