So...whats for dinner?

Congrats Deb!



Moon thanks for the fridge advice. DH wants to start the hunt tomorrow. We'll see.

Glad you had a nice meal out!



Ditto on your thoughtful comment, Seaside.



Thanks all, for the well wishes and food ideas for my stepmom. She has been a very healthy 85 year old, so I hope that can continue. The path report will be of huge importance for her since she lives alone, no children, some extended family not too far away but all working, so dealing with chemo, if needed, will be a challenge. I have always been impressed with how well she has coped with her many family losses as well as the deaths of so many of her close friends over the years....a strong lady who we're rooting for.



DH called his cousin tonight and sadly his wife is still in terrible shape, and the hospital has removed all medical treatment. He is finding the hospice procedure in their state to be difficult and exorbitant, so is looking into one the hospital recommended in NYC. We are stunned that she is still alive, especially since she has in the past few weeks become at peace with her fate. Another strong woman. Talking with him was so very sad. Life is precious for sure.



Sorry for the morose entry.....I should be feeling grateful that I get to take my Tamox tablet tomorrow!

I'm thinking of having fried squirrel for dinner. I've chased the same young squirrel off my bird feeder a dozen times this morning. The bb gun doesn't faze him. I hate starting my day with violence.

Chasing/Killing Squirrels and nurturing goats! Love this thread!



Nance, I do have to say that those pesky squirrels can be the most annoying forces around bird feeders.....I always wondered how we might harness their ingenuity and determination! We won't be putting any feeders up except for the hummingbirds since I am "gunshy" about attracting any other rodents after our "Mickey" visits this past year. Anyway, we would just have to wage the ongoing pacifist battle with the squirrels since we can't shoot at them here.....and they have always won that battle. Good luck Nance! I'll be watching your dinner menus very closely!



Luv, your baby goats must be so much fun/work! Good luck with the vet adventure.



We just finished researching refrigerators online....and before we headed out the door, I decided that we should defer this purchase, get someone to fix/replace the icemaker and see if our 19 year old fridge can make it until we get around to moving. I hate making that big investment for a refrige to fit into this space and then might or might not fit into a new space when we move (I'm laughing at myself as I write this since it may look like I'm prepping to move.....who knows, maybe this will provide me with some motivation....the fridge clock will be ticking;). I am just thankful that I happened to be walking past the refrigerator when this leak sprung without notice. Jeeze, had we not been home, we would have had a major flood to contend with! Hate to even think about the damage. Dodged a bullet there.



I saw Michael Symon make meatballs today, and was fascinated that he puts ricotta cheese in them. Makes them lighter? Does anyone do this? I never make meatballs anymore since we rarely eat ground beef or ground pork, but it is very tempting to try.

Makes me think about an amuse bouche idea of a small Michael Symon meatball sitting in that greek yogurt mix that starts with tz, and garnished with mint leaves. Love that The View and The Chew joined forces for a cooking competition today.

Never tried freezing the garlic cloves, but my DIL's mother always peels hers and has them in a tupperware container ready for use in the refridge. Coincidentally, I have been having that same problem with my garlic bulbs becoming a plant way to soon!



Michael Symon also uses generous amounts of parm, but adding the ricotta sounds so interesting to me.

My mom is an expert with squirrels. During the Depression, she said that bacon was sometimes beyond their food budget and that when that happened, it was her job to "find" and "convert" squirrels into a bacon substitute.



Shooting in the city was illegal, but.....according to her, if she shot .22 short ammunition from her rifle and stayed about 10 feet back from the open window....no one heard a thing...... :-)



She mentioned that while it was illegal to shoot in the city, they had no issues with chicken coops..so they always had enough eggs to eat and to barter for milk, flour and salt.



I wonder how much I'd be griping if I had to experience the same thing!



Eric

UMM - homemade meatballs.  I've never made them.  DH likes his spaghetti plain but they sound yum with ricotta in them.  Found a container of bean soup in freezer and have OH at least 3 loaves of bakery bread frozen from day old sale so guess what we are having.  Goat wrestling over - 3 disbudded which sounds cruel but mine are pets so horns are a no-no (and pretty much if you show them).  All back with mamas who thought they smelled funny but let them nurse.  I've had a cheese sandwich and warmed up coffee.  Good to go.

I'm the garlic cheater.  If I had to peel/mince it prob. would not get done so I use the stuff in the jar.  I do actually have a garlic press somewhere.  Do you think your bulbs have the spring spouting urge?

Eric - I do think the need for meat at one time drove my BIL to hunt squirrels.  That and an excuse to be out hunting since no season on them.  He was a backwoods Kentuckian. Does make me think what would we exist on; I would have to be starving to eat one of my goats.  Now milking I could do.  Even in the city of Ft. Worth hens are allowed with a limit on population but I think no roosters.  My SIL has pansy munching rabbits.  Oddly enough we don't have a deer problem though no roses.  I think there is so much out here to eat they don't need to bother.  Have found them eating dropped peaches/plums.  Cow next door likes them too.

Lacey - I think you decision about refrig. is sensible.  If the rest is working fine and moving is in the near (relatively) future I say save your money.  You might be able to sell it with the house even if it is older.  Your ice maker might just be a compromised water line.

We ate squirrels and wild rabbits when I was growing up in the boonies.  My mother "smothered" them in a big iron pot with onion and garlic and made a dark brown gravy, to be spooned over white rice.  Recently one of my brothers brought my mother (90 yrs old) a couple of squirrels to cook.  Now I wouldn't find squirrels appetizing.  They raid our bird feeders and are such scroungy looking little animals.  Not plump like midwestern squirrels.  Very smart, though.  They figure out some way to raid the feeders.  And they're very acrobatic.  I shot at them with a bb pistol for a couple of years, but they were pretty safe.

I took a gorgeous ribeye out of the freezer this morning but dh isn't feeling good so he just had Greek yogurt and fresh strawberries.  I'm sipping on my 2nd glass of wine.  My dinner will probably be warmed-up pizza.

OMG Deb,



That last pic looks like a cross between a squirrel and the green bean munching rabbit.... lol. Too funny!!

Seaside, I suspect you may be right about the dog scent "repellant". One year we tried fox urine as a deterrent, and I think it worked well, tho kind of grossed me out.



If you want a way to ease into parsnips, try them in a cake.....delightful!

I did leave the cloves out, tho, since I'm not crazy about them, and it was plenty flavorful.



http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Parsnip-Spice-Cake-With-Ginger-Cream-Cheese-Frosting-Epicurious

When my son was about four years old we stayed at a resort on Longboat Key in Florida.  We were spending some time at the pool while my ex-husband was golfing and my son, who was always pretty talkative with strangers and now, 21 years later is in sales, took up a conversation with a woman in a nearby lounge chair.  The next thing I knew he said something that made my mouth drop open in shock.  He told her that when we got home he and his daddy were going to go squirrel hunting and make squirrel pie for dinner.  

He said it in this perfect Southern drawl (and he typically didn't call his father "daddy").

To this day I have no idea where that came from!  My ex-husband was a hunter but when I asked him later on if he had ever suggested going squirrel hunting (which would have been ridiculous with a four-year old) and making squirrel pie he said "nope, I've never said such a thing."

Out of the mouths of babes...

I've read that Michelle, think I'll try that.

Okay, I love those squirrel pictures!

I know squirrels are naughty.  And rabbits.  But will you consider just putting a bowl of green beans out for that bunny?

I had a squirrel outside my window when we lived out West -- I'd put carrot curls on the windowsill, and sesame sticks coated in almond butter -- and in the mornings he started knocking on the window with his hand, waiting for me to bring him breakfast!  That's how I kept him out of the bird feeder.  But it became its own little job!

Hmm.  Dinner tonight -- pizza party at our friends' house.  I don't like pizza anymore... I will have soup when I get home.

Right now I'm making 'beer bread' -- two cans of beer, self-rising flour (I just make up my own), 2 tbsp. sugar, poured into a buttered loaf pan.  It's like soda bread.

The rabbit fence DH made is plain old chicken wire. I have raised beds so he constructs the fence from the ground around them so they can't just squeeze under easily. The bean bed is the only one that requires a fence although the deer will occasionally eat the pepper and tomato tops.

Love the squirrel feeding stories...and between the squirrels and the chipmunks doing that tomato taste thing last summer, we had to harvest any we wanted to use while they were green and ripen them in the basement. That taste and reject behavior is really so annoying! Oh, and I do always sprinkle red pepper flakes around my vegetable plants...forgot about that.

All this gardening talk does make me realize that our cold gray days will be a thing of the past, hopefully soon. It has been good walking weather, tho.



Laurie and Carrie where/how are you? Just really busy I hope.

Carrie, you must be excited about Syracuse!



Assuming we'll see more of you, Kay, after Easter?



Take care everyone.....