So...whats for dinner?

I hope you witness it Susan! Since you seem to be a very organized person, I am sure you will have lots of doable tasks written down so that the relatives will know exactly what to do during their nurturing visit! I can hardly believe you were at the stove as soon as you returned from the hospital. Get to bed and rest!!! Glad things went well.......:)

Susan - just don't do anything - if you act helpless they'll probably take care of you.  If you act like you've got everything together, then they'll sit on the couch and say "don't do anything, I'll take care of that" - but they won't.  (Speaking from experience, obviously.... )

gardengumby:  Wherever you decide to go, rent something there for a year to see if you like the area...a lot of things can change in a year's time.

Got all my shopping done for my dinner on Sunday.  Tomorrow we going up to see DS and his family about two hours north as he will not be making the trip down for the dinner.  He's put on a new deck and redone his kitchen and baths and wants us to see it.

I think dinner tonight will be something quick...I'm not in the mood to cook for some reason.

Stupid Susan.

I overdid. I wanted soup for dinner. And then I really wanted some pasta in my soup. And then... well you get the idea. I made pasta. I diced vegetables. I stood over the stove. I am totally wiped out. And through all of this my mother just kept talking. Tomorrow night there will be 6 people for dinner and we are getting takeout. I can't do 6 people when one bowl of soup for three wiped me out.

Bedo, all the best with your 6-months. Hope you are well at the end.

*susan*

Laurie, DA didn't grip me either for a couple of episodes which gave me a chance to appreciate the characters. We both ended up loving it.....but, of course it is just really a soap. I also just loved Maggie Smith in her role. An amazingly talented actor!

OK....my dinner last night was a mystery meal...I had taken two containers of something out of it's box and stashed them in the freezer, then forgot what they were..lol!  Turned out it was chicken and vegetables florentine with orzo....not too bad!  My BF stared it down, but ate it all and never complained...love it!  I rewarded him later with two mini cupcakes and ice cream while we were watching "Zero Dark Thirty"...a good movie...very suspenseful!  That and "Argo" are two of the best I've seen so far this year!

Apparently Bedo shared some health news in the post she deleted.  I hope she's ok.  I always enjoy her posts.

Nancy, tell me about toasted ravioli, please.

After my BMX/Recon, I did nothing but sleep, eat sparingly, watch tv in my bedroom or in the living room, and ease around the house.  DH was a wonderful, caring nurse.  At first he emptied the drains.  It made me nauseated to even watch him so I looked away.  Some of our neighbors made out a schedule to provide dinners the first week.  It wasn't a matter of deciding to sit down or lie down.  That was all I could do.  By the 2nd or 3rd day, I was back on the computer communicating with supportive friends on bc.org.  They understood what I was experiencing because they had chosen the same surgery and immediate reconstruction. 

We had steamed artichokes last night.  They were very good and I have two left over to enjoy.  They were on sale at Winn Dixie for a dollar apiece.  Avocados were the same price.  Asparagus was 2.99 a lb.  So I bought all of it and a gorgeous yellow bell pepper and an orange one, too. 

I'm enjoying the smoothies with veggies and fruit and a T. of the chia seeds tossed into the mix.  I make one for breakfast or for lunch.  It's a change and, for now, a novelty.  If the smoothies become a regular part of my diet, I may buy a better blender but the old one is doing a pretty good job, albeit not as fast as a high-powered model. 

A gloomy day here so far.  Hope dh doesn't get rained on during his men's golf tournament today.

Happy Saturday to all.

Toasted ravioli is a st. Louis phenomenon. we have a large old Italian community in south st. Louis known as "the Hill." (Joe Garagiola hails from there.) The story has it that a Hill chef accidently dropped an uncooked ravioli into the deep fryer (some versions have him drunk) and it became an immediate hit. It's served dusted with parmesan with marinara sauce for dipping. It's a delicious (if unhealthy) fried treat. Virtually every Italian restaurant here serves it either as an appetizer or as an entree. There are a couple of local distributors, so I never make it from scratch. I usually buy it and veal Cannelloni at the Italian grocer I get to a couple times a year. They make their own. Now that I'm making my own pasta, I may try it some time.

There are a number of really good Italian restaurants on the Hill; Charlie Gitto's, Cunetto's, Rigazzi's, Mama's, Favazza's, Giovanni's, to name just a few.

Wow! Prime Rib.....right at the hotel? They must have known you were coming, Michelle! Enjoy! So glad that you are feeling better today.oh...I hope you and Eric and Sharon can meet.



Laurie, I'm happy that you mentioned DA, since I had ordered a kindle version of "The Downton Abbey Unofficial Cookbook" and with my Tamox fog totally forgot to look for it on kindle. You jogged my faulty memory, and I just spent a delightful hour going through all the recipes. Can't wait to try a few on some victim friends!



I'm not too fond of toasted ravs, but I sure would love to hit that "Hill" area of St Louis for some good Italian dining! I was in St Louis for about 12 hours in August of 1995, in 95+ degree heat, with humidity that I bet you know! We were running around Wash U's campus trying to keep up with an adorable co-ed giving the tour. I actually thought I would die going so fast in that heat! We never got to any restaurants since we headed to the airport for Chicago, right after our tour. The plane had terrible turbulence, and I ended up receiving a shower of coca-cola after the drink of the man sitting in front of me hit the cabin ceiling.

So I arrived in Chicago sweaty and totally sticky with DH and DSs dying to get to a steakhouse to eat. Quick pit stop at the hotel to wash my face and arms....then

It was one of those times I just said....I will never see any of these people again, sucked it up, went out with dried coke hair and had a big old steak! Guess I was lucky the guy wasn't drinking bourbon!



Have a good day everyone....

Ah yes, the famous st. Louis heat and humidity, I know it well. All I can say is, you should have been here last year, with record temps most of the summer. Ugh!

Today, DH and I went to a wine tasting at Volante Farms (site of the famous chili cook-off), since they were the first establishment to receive a beer and wine license in our town which just overturned its "dry" status. While there, I picked up some great looking tuscan kale, which is calling me to creatively use it. That will be tomorrow, because we also saw and bought a large duck breast which I prepared with a cherry/shallot/ port wine reduction.We also had a rice blend (can't recall the name, but I think they are rice sprouts), persian/ red onion/cuke salad, and roasted Brussels sprouts. It felt so special to prepare duck since I hardly ever do....and it is tres cher, so I wanted to get it right! I would definitely do this again, maybe with asparagus and sweet potato puree?



On my way home from my walk late this afternoon I stopped in to see my neighbor who recently returned from Haiti.She has the same diagnosis of IDC as I.

However she is not yet 60 years old. We were talking about our meds regimens and she was on Tamox (with minimal side effects...lucky her) for two years, and recently placed on an AI for the next three years. She is having muscular skeletal,pain in her legs with this med, and plans to ask her MO (at same facility where I am treated) to put her back on Tamox. So, I wonder if meds of choice has less to do with age or diagnosis and more to do with the standard protocols/ philosophy of the treating institution, until someone does not do well on the prescribed meds, and then it gets altered for quality of life issues. And who ever knows how much these decisions are related to the institutions' close connections with the pharm industry. Just a little cynical note to end on as I prepare to end my Tamox vacation Monday. I have been feeling and sleeping better and better.