So...whats for dinner?

ChiSandy

Brunch was quiche (I broke down and ate a third of the crust) and salad; dunch was a small tuna salad sandwich. Bob didn't get home till after 10, and inhaled the bagel & lox platter; I had a decaf breve cortado (between a cappuccino & macchiato), a keto peanut butter cookie, and a square of sugar-free dark chocolate with almonds.

Went to bed about 1:45; was woken up at 5:30 by one of those awful tibial cramps and Bob's snoring; using earplugs caused the pulsatile tinnitus but white noise generator failed to drown out the snoring. So I went downstairs and had early breakfast: Cheerios (allowed once in a blue moon) mixed with paleo "granola" and almond milk. Watched the final "Chicago P.D." and went back upstairs, having taken the other half of the 0.5 Xanax. Bob had stopped snoring so loudly, so I put in the earbud, fired up the "brown noise" (thanks, Judy!) and put on the combo headband/sleep mask. Kitties woke me up 11:15. Finally had brunch at 1--a 2-egg bell pepper/provolone omelet.

Was going to roast the pork tenderloin tonight, but Bob called and said he will be bringing home a boatload of fried chicken about 9pm. So I'll have some (peeling off the breading) along with my leftover salad and maybe a small Caprese. Just had a breve cappuccino to tide me over.

SpecialK

minus - yay for Estancia! We have their Pinot Noir often! Their winemaker is a Cal Poly grad.

chisandy - boatload of fried chicken - I’m on my way...

I spent the day, actually last two, removing the slipcovers from my exceedingly large sectional and washing them - took five loads, drying them in the dryer until just damp and then air drying so they didn’t shrink, ironing them, and then putting the covers back on. The cushions are down and difficult to put the covers back on. Kind of like putting shoes on babies - they don’t help and you kind of have to mash their little feet in, lol! I definitely broke a sweat and had to have a sit down afterward, lol! But, it looks great!

Dinner tonight was chicken stroganoff and a side of yellow squash.

Today was Florida’s first day of reopening. Since I haven’t left the house things seemed pretty much the same to me. DH is still working from home this week, not sure about next week. My dentist reopened today - DH has an appt on Wed., I had one in April that was rescheduled for July. They have a protocol that will be followed, will be interesting to hear about it.

We are having our pool resurfaced this week - not looking forward to it. Fortunately the city cuts you a break on the cost of water to refill it. Wish I could donate the water they will drain out, it’s literally money down the drain. I need all the power washing trucks with those big tanks to line up outside and we will fill them up, lol!

carolehalston

Chicken stroganoff. A new thought.

Last night was navy beans cooked with smoked pork over brown rice. The only side was cornbread with butter. Instead of Jiffy, I used a Martha White mix that makes the same size small pan of cornbread. I found it to be better.

I have a dentist appointment today which will probably lead to an expensive crown. The tooth has a horizontal crack line near the top. The procedure is to call from the parking lot on arrival. I will be admitted and taken directly to the exam room.

CeliaC

Regressed into childhood for early dinner today. Macaroni & cheese, with baby peas & tuna mixed in. Lots of carbs, I know. Cool & wet here today. Went out at 7:30 am with mask & all to grocery shop & felt like something warm & comforting.

SpecialK

celia - sometimes you just want comfort food, right?

Dinner tonight will be a salad trio - Waldorf (apples, celery, walnuts), tricolor rotini pasta salad with a plethora of vegetables and roasted garlic dressing, and a classic chicken salad, possibly with curry powder added to the creamy dressing.

DH had a late breakfast of fried rice with extra scrambled egg. Fried rice was his pre-flight breakfast when he flew in the USAF - I have never gotten a clear explanation of the origin other than they flew a B-52 at low level, not what it was designed for - it is a high altitude bomber, but they flew it low to evade radar - and often crew members got nauseous due to jet exhaust entering the crew compartments. Fried rice seemed easier on his stomach, although he is not a puker. All that to say, he didn't want lunch so took a break to go to CVS and get sparkling water, cashews and macadamia nuts, and shop for wine on sale - I had coupons that were expiring!

M0mmyof3

Pork chops, mashed taters and corn

auntienance

Guac, sheet pan fajitas with colored peppers and onions and tomalito. Cheese, sour cream and pico de gallo on the side.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

ChiSandy

Roasted a small heritage pork tenderloin (marinated for 15 min. in olive oil, S&P, and herbes de Provence). Nuked Bob some Seeds of Change Spanish-Style rice (had quinoa & a bit of corn in it), plus an insalata Caprese. Even though 1/3 of the supermarket basil I'm keeping in water under a plastic bag had croaked, the rest was still okay. Tomorrow we will be ordering from Chez Simo, a French bistro a couple of neighborhoods to the southwest that is falling on tough times (they've started a GoFundMe) and has requested customers call rather than use GrubHub. Will order onion soup, moules marinière, frisee salad and duck breast. Thurs. Bob will pick up either from the Palm or Greek Islands, Fri. we'll call Cellars, Sat. eat the leftovers, and call them again for brunch on Sunday.

Togethertolearn

for Cinco de Mayo tonight I made cinnamon tortilla chips, beef empanadas, and Mexican pizza. Now I'm tired

Reader425

No Cinco celebration for us. Hub went shopping during senior hour this morning and picked up nice bourbon glazed salmon so we had that, baked potato and baked baby tomatoes with a little butter, Italian seasoning and fresh parmesan sprinkled on top.

MinusTwo

One each - Zucchini & yellow squash spiralized together. Steamed a bit and then I added a small can of mushrooms and some spaghetti sauce. It made a full 1-1/2 Qt Corning dish, but I managed to eat it all. Zoodles may look like pasta, but they don't taste like pasta. Sigh - well they are healthier.

Finally found some Vit C today. And got to the nursery with 'samples' to figure out what was causing the leaves on my plumarias to roll up and the leaves on my gardenia to turn yellow/brown and fall off. Two different problems - each solution cost $20.00.

Been working on my property protest. I'm almost done except I can't remember how to customize the photos with text & symbols. I only did it once and that was a year ago, which I think is a perfectly valid excuse. I have a "tutorial review" on the phone with my son tomorrow afternoon.

Lacey12

We really like Estancia wines too. Those Paso Robles red blends are nice. But I am also really s fan of the $6 Sangiovese we get from Wegman's. Their “six buck chuck", I guess.

So despite the mini hype about Cinco de Mayo, it alluded our kitchen today. I Was really hankering for oatmeal and walnuts with a dollop of cherry jam for dinner, so that's what I had! For DH, I heated up a recently made chicken parm with rotini, with a side of cuke, red pepper, red onion and black olives in a balsamic dressing. Would love to have salmon tomorrow, so if DH is willing to head to Wegman's that could happen. But we'll see...

Things are pretty boring here...Tho our being lucky for that is not lost on me. Just waiting for a good rain to reduce tree pollen so I can take a walk. Our across the street neighbors who rewrite motivational messages on boards placed next to their hedges this week advised, “Make your bed...It really helps!". I agree.
What also helped this week was an adorable video of little DGD-2 discovering her early morning shadow, and trying her best to figure out what was going on with it, why its head felt like the wall It was on, as did its hands, etc. Very entertaining and sweet. We so appreciate DS2 sending usvideos of her milestones that we must miss.

Minus, I don’t recall what your property protest is about.

MinusTwo

Lacey - The local (county) appraisal districts re-value everyone's property every year. Since Texas has no income tax, a large portion of all revenue comes from property taxes. (think all schools) Of course the values & thus the taxes go up every year. You have to file a formal protest & likely go to a hearing if you don't agree. That means spread sheets for how equity values compare with your neighbors and spread sheets for market value of last years sales. But of course, no one has to disclose the sales since everything's a secret. I think I can prove my house is unfairly valued for both equity & market. And then you have to send pictures to show your particular condition issues.

My niece has been sending me videos too of her 3 & 5 year old boys. Fun stuff.

And last but not least, I've decided I'm against making beds. Oh I straighten the covers, but leave the sheet & blanket turned back at a jaunty angle for airing.

Special - I've love fried rice for breakfast if I have leftovers. No way would I do all that chopping early in the morning. But then I like pizza leftovers for breakfast too. Where's Bedo when I need her to weigh in on strange eating habits.

carolehalston

One of my breakfasts is leftover brown rice heated in a small skillet in olive oil and topped with two fried eggs, yolks runny. I had that yesterday.

We had beef filet steaks and shared a large baked potato last night. The grill ran out of gas when the steaks were almost done to medium rare. So we ate them more on the rare side.

Tonight will be chicken.

Togethertolearn

I've tried several recipes using sun-dried tomatoes and they don't come out well. Tonight I'll try to find something to use with a can of fire roasted tomatoes. I love tomatoes and am exploring the different types.

MinusTwo

Together - welcome the table. We're always interested in what's cooking. Personally I don't use sun dried tomatoes. I'll be interested to hear how you like the fire roasted.

ChiSandy

Minus, here in IL we call those protests "property tax appeals." I've done more than a few of them (residential), though not for myself--I checked records and noticed we were underassessed relative to many neighbors. They are a PITA--but I guess less so now that one needn't plow through microfiche and there are sites like Zillow that list home sale prices. Back in the day I had to take Polaroids (later, print out photos from a digital camera) of "comparables" and explain the mistaken assumptions the Assessor's office made about the subject property. I did win most of them, but results were pretty much luck-of-the-draw depending on which Commissioner heard my arguments.

Tired--was woken up early by a sharp tummy-ache, which turned out to have been due to having had too many foods sweetened with "sugar alcohols" (one keto cereal didn't list them on its Nutritional Facts label, but simply listed "monkfruit" in the ingredients. Been eating more fiber than usual too. Of course, as soon as I felt that mid-epigastric pain my mind went to some pretty dark places. First thing I did was take my temp, then my pulse-ox. OK, COVID out of the way, so then I wondered if that recipe calling for an internal temp of 145F for that pork tenderloin resulted in foodborne illness, or if I hadn't washed the basil in the Caprese well enough. Nope--Bob felt fine. Then, I recalled how his intestinal obstruction a couple of years ago started--but he said I was passing gas so it wasn't that. Turns out I was just "full of..."

My voice teacher's wife slipped and fell on wet leaves yesterday while walking the dogs--she just came out of surgery about an hour ago. Broken ankle and torn ligaments. She was recently furloughed from her job as a travel and event planner. The hits just keep on coming...

Magari

Minus - I fold back my bed covers back every morning to air out, with the window open, while I take a shower. Or longer. At some point I pull them back up and plop the pillows on top. That is "making the bed" for me, until it's time for my weekly linen change.

Still waiting to complete my contact tracing training and be put to work. I think things have been delayed because UCSF, which is providing the training and running the project, is rolling the training out on a statewide basis as of Monday and is thus extremely busy.

UCSF Partners with State to Develop Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 Response - Training Developed for San Francisco Will Be Offered to Counties Across California https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/05/417346/ucsf-partners-state-develop-public-health-workforce-covid-19-response

My husband built a raised bed for our backyard and we got some of the veggies we wanted planted on Sunday. So far we have lettuce, sorrell, spinach, Italian parsley, bunching onions, tomatillos and a few varieties of tomatoes. We also bought a very pretty semi-dwarf lemon tree. I am hoping to find starters for radishes, carrots, scallions, marigolds, and possibly radiccio and tarragon when we make a second trip to the nursery. Which has been open all along during SF's shelter in place. It's so interesting what each state or county designates an "essential" business!

I'm calling it our Victory garden.

I cut my husband's hair yesterday. It looks pretty good, especially when you take into account the fact that it was my very first attempt.

Cooking: I made halibut "acqua pazza" (a brothy marinara-type sauce) with grilled bread a couple of nights ago, which turned out quite nicely. Last night we made little pizzas using flour tortillas as the crust. Tonight we're having belated Cinco de Mayo: guacamole and carnitas tacos. Perhaps with spicy margaritas!

MinusTwo

Dinner was five spinach/cheese raviolis with a little bit of leftover red sauce and a lot of butter. Quite good and another thing moved out of the freezer.

Thanks for the link Magari. Most interesting. Hope you get a call soon. Love your garden. Are most people in SF wearing masks? I talked to a friend today with a daughter in Palo Alto and she said most people are not. Weird since that's a bastion of science & education.

ChiSandy - I've found that if I eat much past 5pm in the evening or a large meal, I'm awakened by the "need to go". Most annoying. Been up since 2am this morning with exactly that issue and unfortunately I had things happening all day so didn't get a nap. I will be in bed SOON.

Carole - can't find it now (maybe another thread?) but I was impressed by your description of Drury's sanitizing procedures. When are you heading North? Somehow I have in my mind that it's June 1st.

Reader425

Tummy issues must be in the air or on the thread tonight.....hubby had some this evening but with a most definitive cause: Delicious corned beef and cabbage (and potato and carrot) simmered in the crockpot all day. He made it! Later he said "Boy I'm tired. I had a busy day, cooking and..." i smiled and trailed off at that remark! I sense a new appreciation 😉

Polished it all off with a tasty red wine from the other night. Forget the name.🍷

ChiSandy

Magari, I'm envious. Here in Chicago, we can still get frost, snow and even a hard freeze in May...all three on the way late tomorrow night into Sat. morning (nothing is supposed to stick, though). I shouldn't have bought those tomato seedlings yet--gonna have to bring them indoors at night so long as the lows dip below 45F; turns out that planting season here isn't supposed to start till 5/15, if not Memorial Day. My parsley & mint should be winter-hardy (as are my strawberry runners & raspberry canes), though.

Also remembered that my bedtime snack was 3 prunes. D'OH! (and DUH).

We ordered out tonight from Chez Simo--they didn't have a driver and I didn't want GrubHub to grab any part of their revenue, so Bob & I drove over to pick up the food. Portions much bigger than I remembered, so we shared: soupe à l'oignion; moules marinière (in a white wine cream broth, insanely messy but delicious--had to shoo the cats off the table because the broth had shallots); salade Lyonnaise (field greens, lardons, croutons and two perfectly-poached eggs); and half a duck (mid-rare breast, confit of leg, mashed potatoes, red cabbage & julienne carrots). Oh, and a freshly-baked big honkin' baguette. We still have leftover duck & bread, so I'll make Bob a prosciutto & provolone baguette sandwich to take to Union Health and nuke for lunch. The less yummy bread we have in the house, the less I'll be tempted.

Tomorrow, he'll be bringing Greek food home. I told him to surprise me (but that I will still stick to the straight & narrow).

carolehalston

Last night was a slow cooker main dish with chicken thighs, cream of chicken soup, green peas, brown rice flavored with curry powder. Side was a tossed salad.

The multi cooker is still out on the counter. I will put it to work today with a hunk of pork roast, half of a pork butt.

What a lovely garden! One down side of summer in MN is no garden veggies at the farmer's market until August. August! The tomatoes are delicious when they finally ripen. Same with the green beans.

Togethertolearn

last night ended up my first time making baked spaghetti, I hyped it up to my picky son, telling him kids love it (the recipe stated they did and he ate it just fine. I found it not a yummy dish, he can have allthe leftovers.

MinusTwo

Today's meal was a delicious Dole spinach salad 'kit' with Miso dressing. And my first bread in a couple of weeks - two Cheesecake Factory Brown Wheat Rolls. (or rather from Kroger, but supplied to grocery stores by the Cheesecake Factory) Served with the last glass of Estancia Meritage. I'm too full to breathe. Should have stuck with only one roll.

carolehalston

Cooking the chunk of pork butt in the slow cooker looked doubtful during the day as I peered through the glass lid. But turned out a big success. I sliced the cooked pork, returned to cooker with barbecue sauce for another hour. Delicious. The barbecue sauce was Cattleman's, which is not icky sweet, the kind dh prefers. I am not a fan of shredded meat. Prefer slices with a little chew.

Two sides. Small baked sweet potatoes with butter. Beautiful composed salad with avocado, compari tomatoes, cucumber, Kalamata olives, blue cheese.

Last night I dreamed about turning leftover navy beans into a soup with tomatoes and a few noodles. Hmmmm.

auntienance

Tonight I’ll grill the pork tenderloin I’ve put off for the last two nights, due to large lunches eaten later than normal. Last night was grilled cheese and tomato soup, the night before cheesy scrambled eggs and an English muffin. Sides tonight will be bi color Florida corn on the cob and parmesan colored peppers.

DH likes the sweet bbq sauce too while I prefer the vinegar variety. Lately though we’ve agreed on a Heinz product - Memphis style. It’s sweet and vinegary so seems to please us both. I normally use the Carolina flavor which is very vinegary. I usually avoid commercial bbq sauces because of the prevalence of high fructose corn syrup but these do not list that.

Carole I’m facing similar dental issues. Just before the lock down I lost part of a filing that took a piece of my tooth with it. It hasn’t bothered me until this week other than having to carefully chew. But of course the dentist is limiting patients. I did manage to get an appointment but not until the 19th and in one of his other offices several towns away. The preferred treatment is a crown I’m sure sigh 😔 I just hope naproxen keeps doing the job .

CeliaC

Carole & Auntinance - I am also facing dental issues. Had an infection in one tooth dentist has been "watching" in latter part of March - infection cleared up with 10 days antibiotics, but not sure what else may need to be done. Very hesitant about going to the dentist anytime soon, even if they will make an appointment.

We just finished early dinner of roast chicken, homemade gravy (I always add a splash of white wine to it), steamed cauli/broccoli/carrots tossed with some herbed butter. DH likes to eat his "big meal" early afternoon (throwback to British "Sunday Lunch", since he is a Brit). Lots of leftover meat, so will make a curry with riced veggies (cauli, broccoli, carrots), spinach & shrooms in a day or so. DH will have some basmati rice & sauteed onion w/garlic as add ons.

BBQ Sauce - I like the Carolina style. Never tried Memphis style, but it sounds like a good mix between traditional & Carolina. DH is not a BBQ Pork fan, but I am. Homemade BBQ Pork was one of the things I requested for my retirement luncheon last summer. Does anyone put coleslaw on top of their BBQ? Never had it this way until I moved to greater Cincinnati area.

SpecialK

minus - ah yes, the morning pizza - hungover college student Breakfast of Champions!

together - I find that I have to jazz up the baked spaghetti with extra stuff - spicy sausage, black olives, sautéed onions and peppers - otherwise it can be bland.

I have a pork butt in the freezer from my last shopping trip - mid-March - all that was left in the meat department along with corned beef, so I grabbed one and threw it in the freezer. I like to use the crockpot for them, and then shred the meat either for BBQ sandwiches, or for carnitas. For the latter I spread the meat out on a sheet pan and broil it to get it a little crispy. I have sometimes added pineapple if I have put OJ in with the pork for al pastor style soft tacos. My MIL made pork butt in the crock pot with a bottle of BBQ sauce (also Cattleman's) and a can of Coke or Pepsi. Unusual, but DD loves it that way and she has eaten a LOT of BBQ!

celia - I am a California girl who never had southern BBQ growing up. The first time I tried it was in North Carolina when I was a newlywed, at College BBQ in Salisbury. They serve it with slaw and vinegar sauce - I am ruined for it any other way, it was that good.

M0mmyof3

Tonight was chicken nuggets and fries. Tomorrow is lasagna, with salad and garlic bread. Sunday will be leftovers from tomorrow night.

MinusTwo

I too like the Carolina style BBQ sauce w/vinegar best too, but I'll look for the Memphis to try.

As for big meals, at the turn of the last century - so early 1900s - most of the working men or farmers had their big meal midday. My Mother tells of her Dad walking home every day for "dinner". My grandpa's "supper" at night was bread & milk and some fruit. Of course there was nothing like cheerios and it was my Grandma's homemade bread, so probably healthy enough.

I don't think "dinner" at night became prevalent until after WWI - and then probably in the cities & not on the farms. My dad, for example, took a train to an office "in the city" and never got home before 6pm. So that's when we had the main meal of the day - "dinner". Fascinating data below from Wiki...

Lunch, the abbreviation for luncheon, is a meal eaten around midday.^[1] During the 20th century, the meaning gradually narrowed to a small or mid-sized meal eaten midday

Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the largest and most formal meal of the day, which many Westerners eat in the evening. Historically the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner.^[1] In Western cultures it gradually migrated later in day... However, the word "dinner" can have different meanings depending on culture...In particular it is still sometimes used for a meal at noon or in the early afternoon on special occasions, such as a Christmas dinner.