So...whats for dinner?

eric95us

I've seen two folks wearing N95 masks and neither was wearing it correctly. One person. a lady, had only her mouth covered and the other, a man, was wearing his with a full beard. I'm sure they bought a ton of the things even though they likely don't need them....and will waste them by wearing them incorrectly...sigh....

MinusTwo

Dinner was 1/2 of a cucumber, 5 radishes, 1/4 or a cold rotisserie chicken breast - all dipped in the last of a lovely ranch dressing from my restaurant that closed. Desert was 6 small star shaped short bread cookies encased in dark chocolate from TJs - served with 4 oz of San Gregorio old vines Garnacha.

I actually ate two meals today. Brunch was five 1/4 - 1/2" slices of California Roll sushi with a dot of Lemon-Wasabi on each one.

I didn't follow the new recommendations to buy canned & preserved foods this week. I actually bought a bag of Dole Pomegranate salad mix (delicious BTW, as is the Sunflower Crunch & the Asian Sesame), bok choy, spinach, mushrooms and cucumbers. It remains to be seen what I'll do with this bounty in the week to come, but plenty of meat, chicken & fish in the freezer. Nor did I buy toilet paper, water, etc - since I always keep a month's supply on hand. One neighbor who shopped this week said there's not even any bottled water in the stores. I generally use my Brita pitcher at home, but do keep some bottled water for the gym.

ChiSandy

My brunch was a Belgian waffle made from Birch Benders Chocolate Chip keto pancake mix (recommended by my weight-mgmt. NP who has celiac). Because it's grain-free (only almond & coconut flours), the texture is on the moist & delicate side so I have to put it in the toaster-oven after removing it from the waffle iron. It was extremely filling, though. I think for waffles I will use the plain keto mix and save this one for pancakes.

Dessert tonight was a pour-over decaf, a handful of mixed nuts, and a small piece (1/32 of a bar) of Lily's Sugar-Free 70% dark chocolate.

auntienance

Why the bottled water? Are water supplies expected to be disrupted?

Dinner was tikka masala with brown rice and naan.

I'm scared too Sandy and reluctant to go anywhere much. Our area has one small hospital that I can't imagine is equipped to handle such a crisis.

eric95us

Chi, I'm keeping Bob and you in my thoughts.

Minus, it sounds like we are doing similar things for "the big prep".

Auntie, I'm guessing the bottled water is being sought after for the same reason as for the toilet paper. I do keep several gallons of deionized water in bottles in the pantry. I keep them for the iron, for car batteries in my old Jeeps and when we go on a long trip, I'll put a couple of gallons of water into the car...it's happened that a stretch of freeway will be closed most of a day because of a fatal wreck and it will be in a place where the terrain makes it impossible to turn vehicles around...so one just has to wait.

Oh, I approached the lady with N95 mask just over her mouth and asked why she didn't cover her nose as well..."Oh, it's too hot if I do that. I'm breathing through my mouth, so it's OK". I'm afraid my opinion of her intelligence was not charitable. :-)

DD spent the weekend over here and all of us cooked...and we ate well. We had a very late lunch of vegan tacos (spiced and baked tofu with cabbage) that I doubt many would realize was not beef. It was quite good. Tofu is one of those "blank slates" that takes the flavor of whatever spices are used when it's cooked and when it's baked, it takes on the slight crunchiness of fried hamburger.

Last night was a cashew sauce on macaroni noodles. It comes close to a cheese flavor, but doesn't quite "make it". That's OK though. To me, trying to make vegan dishes taste like meat/cheese dishes is sort of like trying to make French cooking taste like Chinese cooking...it's a totally different style, so just go with it.

The day before that was a chickpea salad that is quite good...several people have tried it and thought it was a tuna salad.

I've also been scanning pictures. I've found several pictures of my mom at age 3, which dates them to 1921. I also have some images where my grandmother's maiden name is on the envelope and the store was in the town where she lived right before she was married. "Gram and Gramp" were married in 1916, so those are older than 1916. I've got almost 200 images scanned and, if I do them all, another 12-15 thousand to go. It is quite amazing that the negatives and slides are, in most cases, perfect condition and it's even more amazing to be able to look back into time like that. Unfortunately my grandmother didn't start listing the photographs in her diary until after she was married, so the early ones are somewhat of a mystery. After that, her record keeping is impeccable, so I can quickly cross reference pictures to "who, what, when, where, why".

I haven't done them yet as I've got to figure out how to do them, but there are two tin-type images with men in Civil War uniforms...one USA and one CSA and they look like relatives. My family was "split" during the Civil War, so it's likely they are related, but I haven't yet figured out who they are...perhaps in my mom's extensive genealogy records there will be an answer.

ChiSandy

Wish I could trace my roots that far back, Eric--it's a miracle that a French genealogist (hired by the estate of a dead relative in Paris I never knew I had) was able to trace my dad's side back to 1880s Poland & Austria. Diaspora Jews weren't able to keep many records in the Pale of Settlement due to so many pogroms destroying homes, and that local gov'ts never bothered to count non-Christians. (And of course so much of who and what remained behind was lost in the Holocaust). When they were able to emigrate, Jews living in the Pale of Settlement often had to leave in a hurry, taking only necessities and a few heirlooms they could stash in their bundles. "Family Bibles" (in which Christian families recorded important life cycle dates) weren't a "thing" for most Diaspora Jews because the Bibles & Torah scrolls were located in synagogues and the libraries of yeshivas (religious academies). Ironically, my childhood family's Bible was a KJV, because that's what bookstores carried in English. (My Reform Jewish family was not literate in Hebrew).

My neighborhood Whole Foods is fairly well-stocked, but those at other groceries (especially Jewel & Target) look like S. FL in the days ahead of an impending hurricane. It's not so much to hoard against expected shortages, but to minimize near-future trips to the store (which they fear will be virus incubators). We have a water filter, plenty of canned fish & veggies, wine cellar, and a couple of full freezers (I dread having to resort to rice, beans, and pasta which would pack the pounds right back on).

carolehalston

Not sure what tonight's dinner will be. Maybe pork tenderloin from the freezer. I may make a piccata dish. I need to use up the freezer contents. May is fast approaching.

Sandy, I am concerned about you and Bob because of his exposure to ill patients. It's ridiculous that physicians wouldn't have masks. Several of the employees at my primary care physician's office always wear masks because they don't get the flu shot. Same is true in the local hospital.

Eric, I agree with you that it seems silly for vegans to try to make dishes taste like "something else." Enjoy the flavor for what it is. Says a meat eater!!! I can tell you how to raise children, too, having never raised one!

eric95us

I'm not sure if I can say I'm vegan or not. DD talked Sharon into trying it and I'm going along to make it easy for meals. If I'm out alone, I'll eat meat, eggs and milk without hesitation. :-)

It's resulting in a very slow (and welcome) weight loss for both of us...and it's an opportunity to try some different cooking styles.

Edited to fix typos

nonomimi5

Dinner is Ma Po Tofu 2 versions - 1 vegan, 1 with ground chicken; rice; stir fry vegetables.

Scheduled to go to the East Coast to visit colleges at the end of the month with DD but some colleges have already banned people from State of Emergency states to come on campus or cancelled the tours to all. Ugh. Amherst is sending students home after spring break to continue studying on-line. Getting really nervous about this trip. Not sure if I can cancel since I bought non refundable air tickets.

eric95us

Just got airline tickets and hotel reservations for later today...so, it looks like I'll be gone for awhile..... "See" you all when I get back.

auntienance

Again, be safe Eric!

MinusTwo

Eric - good luck with your deployment. Nice that you have a hotel and won't be in a tent. Again & again - thanks for your service. Take care.

SpecialK

eric - thanks for what you do, stay well!

chisandy - I too am worried about your DH, and you. Will be sending positive thoughts for you both - hang in there.

On a similar note - my DS is a paramedic at an Army base in Virginia, and they have a diagnosed case, a Marine. He sent me a selfie in his hazmat suit, which looks ridiculous of course, they must have been doing a drill. He is actually going on leave in a few days for some snowboarding in Colorado (location of his new squeeze also) so I hope he has fun, but I’m a bit worried about him traveling.

The whole thing is unnerving.

No idea what is for dinner. I realized that I took meatballs out of the freezer so they need to be used. Thought I had sauce but it turns out it is at DD’s house. So.... now I have meatballs, no sauce, no canned tomatoes, no tomato sauce. Hmmm..

auntienance

I gave DH an ancestry kit for Christmas plus an additional short subscription for additional records. It's amazing what he has turned up and how many records are out there. He's spent the past six weeks busily copying and sharing with his four siblings. The most interesting to me was that he discovered a familial relationship to William Shakespeare!

Made yet another trip to the store today and while there was plenty of bottled water and toilet paper there was not one disinfectant wipe to be had. Fortunately, as a practicing germaphobe, I'm always well stocked.

I'm so angry about the shortage of protective gear. This lack of preparation is absolutely inexcusable. I don't even know how it's being addressed or if it is. We can surely do better. Wishing Bob and you the best Sandy, as well as all of those on the front lines.

Tonight is smoked sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach for contrast.

MinusTwo

Special - we could share. I took the red sauce out of the freezer yesterday but forgot the meatballs. How about whipping up a brown gravy & serving meatballs on mashed potatoes? Or a cream brandy sauce and serving on wild rice? Keeping your son in my thoughts.

Nance - I am in complete agreement. The national lack of preparation is horrid. (I was going to say unbelievable, but ... you know...sigh)

Beaverntx

Eric, Sandy and Bob, may you all be safe and stay healthy. So may we all...

Last night was turkey breast, baked beans, and fruit salad (apple, banana, red pear and Mandarin orange drizzled with honey and lemon juice). Tonight was layered enchilada casserole, which should have been done yesterday as today was a bit too warm to have the oven on! Not really ready for Texas heat again.

MinusTwo

Dinner was the remaining 1/4 Costco rotisserie chicken breast placed over 1/2 cup of brown rice w/quinoa and topped with a brandy cream sauce. Those chicken are so large, just the breast is 4 meals. The side was all the greens cutoff from the top of my bunch of bok choy, sauteed & steamed in a bit of EVOO w/ bit of water. The rest for another time. WAY too much food.

I put aside 3/4 of the white sauce before adding the brandy, so more excitement later this week. I'd like SOS if I had the chipped beef. Maybe creamed tuna? Maybe creamed peas? Oh, maybe a dill sauce for salmon? I have a bag of spinach in the fridge. Any body else have ideas?

ChiSandy

Brunch (egg foo yung omelette--with mung bean sprouts & scallions) wasn't till nearly 1pm, nothing but coffees after. Dinner was Greek salad over microgreens, romaine and arugula. (Toppings: tomatoes, feta, tricolor peppers, olives, anchovies). Then Bob's small piece of leftover salmon & about a tablespoon of sauteed spinach. Still hungry, so had a couple tablespoons each of chopped liver (with red onion) and tuna salad. Dessert was 1/4 oz. each of Midnight Moon (CA goat cheese), a French raw sheep milk cheese, mimolette, and Roquefort; followed by a small square of 80% dark chocolate and sugar-free halvah (yup, it's a "thing," made in Turkey) washed down with a decaf espresso.

carolehalston

Now we have six presumptive corona virus patients in Louisiana, which is the result of finally beginning testing people. If you don't test, you don't have cases. Five are in New Orleans and one is here on the north shore in St. Tammany Parish, my parish. All those blase people may find this "liberal scare" a little more real. Especially people with elderly folks in their families.

Yesterday I took out a frozen half pork tenderloin and then put it back in the freezer. Instead I took out two slices of smoked pork ham hock and a package of Camellia brand dry small limas from the pantry, chopped up some onion, smashed some garlic cloves and cooked a pot of lima beans. So we had beans and brown rice and tossed salad for dinner. The beans were delicious.

Tonight may be leftovers buffet, heat your plate in the microwave.

The cleaning angel comes today. I will make myself scarce by spending time at the gym.

ChiSandy

Bob reports several elderly patients had symptoms, but tested positive for Influenza A (they hadn't gotten their shots). He assures me he wears mask, gloves and a paper gown when he makes rounds. Advocate Christ is considering not allowing physicians older than 60 to work in the ER or visit febrile patients or those showing any respiratory symptoms. His partner learned that her breast cancer is Luminal A (yay) but that the stereotactic MRI found another spot to biopsy elsewhere in the same breast--she's awaiting path results before going forward. Bob doesn't know if she's told her retinologist boyfriend, who lost his wife to a long battle with COPD/broken hip that ended in sepsis less than 3 years ago. (He & his late wife have been close friends with us since our sons were in first grade together--he as Bob's colleague and she as a fellow day prep school mom & board member).

We're going out to Cellars tonight...because we can. Probably have seared scallops (over spinach instead of risotto), salmon or roast chicken. It's important to support our local restaurants; besides, we have four bottles of wine to pick up from the last winemaker dinner. (Next one is Tuscan-themed, 3/25. I can eat everything but the polenta & dessert).

Still waiting to hear whether the LCM Hosp. Phys. Awds. Dinner set for 3/26 is still on, as well as this Sat.'s Audra McDonald concert at Dominican U. Things are being cancelled here left & right.

MinusTwo

Lacey - worrying about you two. You have been so sick off & all this winter I imagine you are more at risk for the virus. Hope you are both OK - and of course the GD, although I also worry about you passing germs back & forth.

Lacey12

I just spent the past hour half sleeping, half reading, while catching up on the thread. And it ended with your post about me, Minus. Thanks for your kind concern. I have to say that for the past five days, I have felt URI free! Not even coughing at night...neither has DH. Yay! That could also be due to our recently putting an air purifier in our bedroom. What a literal breath of fresh air! So, I am quite relieved that we are not still feeling like the walking wounded given the germs that surround us waiting for a warm lung to inhabit! Yes this is all scary. And yes, our stores are out of TP and sanitizers, etc.

Eric, my eyes were in perpetual roll reading about the erroneously masked folks you ran into. More thanks from here, too, for your efforts to keep our citizens safe. Please keep yourself safe!

And same for your Bob, Sandy. My DH actually cancelled some meetings this week, which I thought made sense, but he is not on the front lines of health care, so he has options. And I think this last long bout with infection was a good wake up call for him.

Carole, I think I also missed your birthday. Belated wishes!

We had DDG here over the weekend and she was exhausting fun. She does often present as a little germ factory tho since she goes to a home daycare where she catches everything from the other kids in this, her first year on earth! DH and I were very happy that this time she transmitted nothing to us. It’s weird to be the “old folks” who DS2 worries about, and asks how our immune systems are doing before agreeing to expose us to his little germ factoryette.

Mimi, sadly your college visits do sound vulnerable at this point. Mass is cancelling college classes throughout the state, and many of the campuses may look like ghost towns...not a very welcoming sight. I hope your airline will refund your fares given the extraordinary situation/crisis, if you decide to postpone the trip. Good luck! This pandemic is altering people’s lives in many ways, and this is only its early stage.

Because we had been feeling not up to par for quite a while, I kept putting off making any plans for social activities, and am glad now since many things have been cancelled, and the “crowd sitting” ones, I would not dare to attend. We actually did go to a couple of Celtics games last week, and were trying to decide what to do about this Friday’s game (which DS2 asked us to skip in an abundance of caution), when the NBA made the decision for us. So we will hunker down for the weekend with movies instead of basketball. Tho empty arena NCAA games might still sate us. What is way more concerning than our missed entertainment is the lost income of all of the workers at TD Garden, and surrounding restaurants. I worry for how so many of these families will economically survive this crisis.

Tonight we decided to order Chinese food for dinnersince those restaurants have suffered from low business. We enjoyed spring rolls, hot and sour soup, moo shi pork, and vegetable fried rice...really similar to our favorite menu from the eighties. There is still a lot for leftovers tomorrow.

Yesterday I bought some ground turkey to make chili for later in the week.

The good news here is that our weather has been stunningly beautiful for the past week, with temps in the 60s and 70s for several days.

I hope everyone is able to keep safe from this virus, and can avoid going to hospitals, which are bound to be overloaded soon with very sick people.

ChiSandy

Went to Cellars--wasn't deserted, but let's just say there were enough empty tables for "social distancing." (To be fair, it was an hour before closing). Had an avocado-grilled asparagus salad with cherry tomatoes over arugula & field greens; and short ribs with root veggies (no potatoes) and Brussels sprouts. Bob had gumbo ya-ya and the $10 half-chicken special (peas & root veg--subbed for the usual mashed spuds). We were so stuffed that we brought home leftovers. What we did eat was delicious. The root veggies were a veritable umami-bomb--in fact, they're also featured in a vegan pot pie.

carolehalston

DH and I decided to stop going to the gym since it is the place where we encounter a lot of people. I have been wiping down machines before and after using them, making use of the dispensers of sanitizer, and washing my hands in the rest room. Others are visibly doing the same. Still I feel some anxiety. I will start taking exercise walks and do Silver Sneakers exercise routines at home but dh relies on the gym for his exercise. Sigh....

I will inventory the freezers before deciding what's for dinner.

M0mmyof3

Tonight is chicken, salad and side.

eric95us

Fast "food" the last couple of days.

I'm staying in a Residence Inn, with a kitchenette, so I'm hoping I can get some real food at a grocery store and do up stuff "at home".

ChiSandy

Eric, so sorry about having to eat "food-oids." Hope you find some fresh stuff to cook. Made room in my freezer to stock up on frozen veggies & berries. Gonna buy more salad greens as well. Found out some shiitake 'shrooms have been recalled because of listeria risk (check origin labels--the offending batch is from S.Korea, aka "ROK").

Brunch was shakshuka: 1 jumbo egg simmered (till nearly set) in a mixture of 1/3 c. Rao's marinara & 1/4 c. Mina spicy harissa sauce, 5 sliced kalamata olives, a sprinkle each of Penzey's Za'atar seasoning and Aleppo pepper, finished w/2 T. of feta crumbles.

Dinner will be Bob's leftover chicken & peas, and a Jerusalem salad (w/tahini).

nonomimi5

I obviously cancelled our East coast college tour for Spring Break. All the colleges are going remote. JetBlue gave us credit but AA gave us a refund. Waiting nervously to see if my son's college in Maine will do the same. My DD’s high school is now doing remote.

Worried about Tamoxifen availability for future refills.

Tonight's dinner is Chicken pot pie with lots of non traditional vegetables like broccoli and Swiss chard inside. Resting the home made puff pastry. Carrot and Ginger soup. Salad. I am upping the nutritious value of the meals in hope to stay healthy.

Carol - stopping the gym is a good idea.

Lacey - thank you for your well wishes. I am thinking of postponing my colonoscopy until this all dies down.

Eric - thank you for your service. Hope you can find something good to eat at the market.

ChiSandy - praying your DH will be safe.

eric95us

For some reason, I counted them today..Getting "undressed" from the "outer clothes", has six hand wash steps.

Chi, I'm sure Bob is familiar with that... :-)

ChiSandy

Yup. We're going through a lot of hand lotion these days lest we get chapped.

The Audra McDonald concert is postponed indefinitely. With our Governor banning all gatherings >1000 people (and urging cancellation of those >250), for the first time I fear for our son's job with VividSeats.com, even though he's not on the sales & customer svce. side. With the market tanking, I was worried we might outlive our retirement fund; but with the likely triage practices if hospitals get swamped, we oldsters would likely be "sacrificed" to save the younger ones--especially those caring for kids or their own elders.