So...whats for dinner?

Enjoy your trip Debbie!!



I tend to waaaaay over pack when we go for our week at the beach each year..... I scale back every year and am getting closer to wearing everything I bring but still not quite there...lol



Best advice I ever got on packing was right before the cruise we took in November.... Pack 1/2 the clothes you think you'll need and twice the amount of money you think you'll need... Worked out pretty well...



It's a cold, gray day here... Would love some Hawaiian sunshine about now!

Debbie  I know you left room in that suitcase for me..right?  Have fun and send us some of that sunshine!

Kay Happy Birthday! Got a new perspective of you from the drunk story...too funny....never argue with a drunk they will always win..ha ha

Ok soup for a cold? not working  Today I am going to move on to pizza with some veges and turkey peppperoni

Carrie, hope you recoup very soon...the pizza ought to do it! DH and I have a long time joke from when we were first married. He caught some bug and felt really awful. So, after he slept most of the afternoon, I asked him what he felt like he needed (you know like tea, saltines...) and he pathetically uttered, "cake". I think I actually gave him some! We always laugh about that being the ultimate viral remedy. So pizza should work just as well for you!



Today I got up and just needed to do something with my newly made ricotta cheese. So I made orange ricotta pancakes (was going to do lemon, but didn't have enuf lemons). They were so light and delicious. Definitely something to make again. Now I think I will find something else to do with the rest of the ricotta (maybe a cups worth).....maybe cookies that don't have to be consumed immediately or this culinary creativity will pack on some pounds.....:(



Laurie happy to see that it is a lovely sunny day to be by the water....even tho our temp is not exactly Hawaiian! Debbie have a safe and wonderful time!



I am using a stylus with my ipad to see if I can eliminate all the typos I manage on this sensitive machine.



Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday. I had to stop and think before saying that since my days run into each other now that I don't have a work schedule....not too crazy about that....but just need to be more self-directed!

No, and I'm worried.

debbie - It does sound like possible food poisoning, but we all had the reaction and ate different things - even different steaks.  I had the same thing happen another time after that eating aged steak at another very reputable restaurant, so I think I am just sensitive to long aged beef!  Have a great trip and I hope you can relax and enjoy! 

Deb - she's still there...look for Mary Bryde Stevermer.  I have a bad feeling...

Debbie - LOL at lugging wine and crown in your suitcase!  I have a vision of exploding bottles...that would be a disaster!

Ricotta pancakes - lovely idea. 

I bought my first iPhone5 today.  I've been firmly entrenched in the Android world and decided it was time to join the rest of the family on the Apple platform.  I had paid $30 for a buyback program, so the phone including a new buyback program was $60.  Best Buy gave me $120 for my HTC phone, that was a pretty good deal I think.

Carrie - one of my favorite "cold" treatments is popcorn and orange juice. 

I'm getting better at packing.  I wore all but one thing I brought to Las Vegas.  And I brought just one pair of shoes other than the ones on my feet!

Store bought tomato basil soup, home made buttermilk cornbread and home made cheesecake.



The cornbread is the real stuff. There is no sugar in it. It's not the overly sweet corn flavored cake that seems to be the norm in the restaurants here.





Michelle, how do you like the Iphone5?



Eric

Oh geez SpecialK, that would have been the plane ride from hell...



Had a somewhat similar experience on, of all times, our honeymoon! We went to Aruba and all was well until we decided to 'get off the beaten path' and eat at a local place in town... Wellllllll... thank goodness it was toward the end of the week because Montezuma definitely got his revenge and he was reeeeeallly ticked off! I couldn't get more than 5 feet from the bathroom for 2 solid days... I was in a bit better shape on the flight home but, it was still touch and go.... Wouldn't wish that on anyone.....



Michelle,



Congrats on the new Iphone! Sounds like you got a good deal... I am really trying to think nothing but good thoughts for Apple but, like you, am just not having a good feeling about this... Not being on facebook I don't get all the same updated information that you all do.. I appreciate the updates here from those who are connected via facebook!



Nancy,



Never heard of pizziocherie... Sounds very interesting.... If you make it let us know how it came out....



Carole,



I still am in awe that you are a published author!! If I were to look for that book, is it published under your real name or a pseudonym?

Eric - so far I've made 3 calls and worked on setting up the v-mail and a few apps.  I'm going to like it, I'm sure, especially the Face Time app.  Learning which button to push to do things - I know the function is there from having the Android, just figuring out how to get at it on the iPhone.

It's really hard when people stop posting and no one knows what's really happening.  It's not that we're nosey, I know we are all just concerned.  There is a gal on the TN thread who was having a rough go, and she has just disappeared for about 3 months.  At this point, I can only assume the worst.  My daughter will post for me if ever I can't.  I should probably give her a list of all my blogging IDs and passwords. 

Luv:  that is a good idea to give our blogging id's and passwords - I should tell my DH also.

So, Nance and others who will make your own ricotta....you end up with yummy cheese and a lot of whey, so unless Miss Muffett lives at your house, you should decide how you want to use that....and some sites say that pouring it down the drain is not so safe for septic systems or pipes. Oy! Anyone know anything about that?



I might use it to bake some bread tomorrow....and make Lydia's version of Italian lemon ricotta cookies with that last cup of cheese.



Michelle, that is a very important and thoughtful point about all of us asking/designating someone to communicate with everyone who is mutually concerned. It was extremely helpful to hear from your daughter when she communicated for you. Thanks!

Debbie  Now that I know what you actually packed in that suitcase, I know yo will have a good time!!  Have one for me please.

I feel a Dr. appt coming on tomorrow,  dont like it when it settles in my lungs and I have so much fluid in my ears I cant hear a thing (ha ha not even my DH) Decongestent not working...I swear I have taken everything I can find in the medication cabinet..not all together though.

My girlfriend who lost her husband to cancer this past year is having such a difficult time because apparently he had several computer accounts and such with passwords that he never shared with her and she cant figure anything out. She keeps getting mail notifications and things showing up that she cant do anything about...it makes her so angry that he didnt share these things, she calls me crying out of frustration.

So lessen learned...share those passwords and account infor.

I think those ricotta lemon cookies would be devine.

Lacey  So..why did miss muffet eat her curds and whey? Sounds yucky

I got DH a nifty little password notebook for his stocking and also got one for myself. It's like a little address book but has lines for the URL, username and password, in addition to any other notes you want to make. It's small enough to take with you but I lock mine in the safe when we leave. Very useful.



We had a late Chinese lunch today (ugh, still full), so I think a chef salad is in order for dinner.

Is it only in the south that whole chickens fall into two categories?  Fryers and baking hens.  I've heard of capons, which I think are roosters but have not seen a capon in the poultry case.  Before the popularity of boxed chicken broth, many cooks used baking hens for making chicken gumbo and chicken and dumplings. Word had it that the older bird made a better broth.   I have gone this route in the past.  But the meat isn't as tasty as a fryer.  So now I use a fryer and substitute chicken broth (either home-made or bought) for the water.

I assume some people bake baking hens!  Just for the heck of it, take a look in the poultry section and let me know whether you discover any baking hens.

Auntie, I checked out that recipe for the unspellable pasta cabbage potato dish, and it sounds delicious.  Did you come up with buckwheat lasagne noodles?  Yesterday I watched Mary Ann Esposito make traditional pastas by hand and I am "almost" lured into giving it a try.

I've had my first smart phone, an Android, for a couple of months now and am getting used to it.  I just downloaded a free app that lets me hover the phone above a photo in Cooking Light mag and the recipe appears in full on the phone!  I also have a new Kindle Fire and will download another app that will allow me to receive the entire magazine on the Kindle in addition to receiving the print copy.  Amazing, technology.

Has anyone made gnocchi?  Lidia made it with her grandchildren on a recent tv show and it looked really easy. 

My pseudonym is Carole Halston.  My romances were all paperbacks and are out of print, but I think Amazon has some used copies. 

Even though it's not recommended to use the same usernames and passwords on multiple accounts, dh and I both do it and we know each other's favorites.  However, I just quizzed him on my username for my Vanguard retirement acct. and he flunked the quiz!

Back to WW tomorrow. 

I have a word document on the computer with the passwords and a printed hardcopy that is in the file drawer behind a non-related file so it is sort of hidden.  In that document are all the passwords to every account for DH and I, and some of the ones for our adult children's accounts.  During chemo I thought I had lost the hand-written hard copy (this was before I created the word document - you will see why I did it) and blamed chemo-brain and felt terrible.  DH was mad thinking all our passwords were now floating around in the world somewhere.  I looked everywhere, in every file in the big 4 drawer cabinet that I could have touched.  I changed the passwords for the user names I could remember and started a new list.  This was winter of 2011.  DH just put his innaugural year (1996) BMW Z3 up for sale - guess where the password list was?  In HIS car file that I have NEVER touched!  He picked it up off the desk (where I had last seen the list) and somehow mixed up the papers with car stuff and put it in the file cabinet.

Yes, the cross-country flight that I spent in the tiny airplane bathroom was pretty horrendous, but now makes a funny story 6 years later!