So...whats for dinner?

Luvmymom  Thank you so much for the update.  Your mom has been such an inspiration to all of us here, she is the energizer bunny and I know that she is probably wishing that her body would do what her mind would like it to. Sad about the lake house...we all know how much she loves it there. Hoping for a good response with new drugs.  Please tell her everyday how much we love and miss her.

Susan  I wish I had your energy...hard work, but you will love having everything all ready to go when you want it...I really need to be your neighbor so I can pop in unexpectedly for all of those great meals!

No meals here...off to another graduation party that will feed us and that will be our meal for the day. 

Off to accomplish some housework before we go....this working stuff is killing me...I get nothing done during the week.

Susan, The best pies I ever made was when my SIL bought 1/2 a hog and didn't want the fat.  She gave it to me and I rendered the lard.  Wonderful stuff. 

Specialk, glad to hear she's doing better.

And the kitchen table analogy is exactly it. Sometimes you get news that isn't fun, but everyone is around the table to help support each other.

Dont know what I'll do for supper yet. But Breakfast/ lunch was George Webbs! LOL sausage scrambler ( because its on sale this month for $5.99) and coffee. It's an omelette with sausage, onion, peppers, hashbrowns, and toast. Yum.

LovingmyMom:

I read the post on here, and I feel helpless.  I know Michelle loved that lake house.  We talked about it when she was here in Cave Creek, when I had the pleasure of meeting her for lunch.  She's a lot of fun.  I'm like Eric, at first felt very overwhelmed reading the post, but I also know she is so strong and spirited.  Just her icon photo on here says it all.  A picture really does say a lot.  I am thinking and praying for her often, and all of you, and hope that this next treatment will provide much comfort and lots of time. 

Couldn't agree more Susan. We finally made it home late this afternoon after driving 10 hours yesterday and 7 hours today. Not up to much cooking after all of that. All this talk of blts, inspired me for dinner. I made them with my own bread and black krim tomatoes from the garden and apple smoked bacon from a local meat smoker. Not quite up to Susan's, but pretty satisfying.



The garden went wild while I was gone. I'll be roasting tomatoes this week for sure.

The guanciale is now curing. Pancetta next and then I am done with processing the pork. All the roasts, cutlets, bones, and bits/bobs are frozen. My pig seems to have had two livers.... guess I got an extra! I had really hoped to start the pate with unfrozen liver, but ran out of energy.

Tonight I am making a picnic for five. We are all meeting at Shakespeare on the Common [Two gentlemen from Verona], eating our meal, and watching the production. I am taking a short cut. Though I will make the salads, I am buying rotisserie chicken for the protein. I know I know.... but that is what I can manage today.

*susan*

Susan I think your choice of picking up the chicken is an excellent one....and not just because it helps me remember that you are human! 😉I'm kind of needing a tutorial for some of your homemade pig products. When you have time....

Hope you got the performance in tonight. It hasn't been pouring here, but not sure The Bean is so lucky.



Speaking of storebought protein, I made the mistake of picking up a butterflied lamb piece that was marinated. I could barely eat it since it was so salty. DH did a better job of that. Fortunately the sides were plentiful...a nice big salad with red leaf lettuce that we picked up from a farm down the street this afternoon, grilled fresh beets from the same farm (my new obsession....sorry to all those who can't stand beets), orzo with broccoli rabe, walnuts, and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar. So I am quite sated despite the yukky lamb. 😊



This weekend we saw two shows up here....tried out the local summer stock musical theater in Meredith. Had low expectations for their being able to do justice to Les Miserables. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! So, we've been humming Les Mis songs to ourselves since Friday night. Last night we saw Barefoot in The Park at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. It was cute, but I was tired after a long day and ended up falling asleep for parts of it.



Before the show Friday evening DH decided we should go back on the hunt for a good BLT (love your totally homemade version Susan!) for dinner. There's a faux Irish pub down the road so we checked the menu online and they featured my desire. Well, what a disappointment! It did have lots of good bacon (I didn't go for the rashers, but instead, hickory smoked) but then a big leaf of unhealthy looking romaine, two cardboard tomatoes, and two slices of onion (what!?), all piled on top of an open faced buttered hamburger bun...no mayo. The menu had described artisanal bread. So I asked if I could have two pieces of bread and some mayo. OMG! What came back was two little pieces of mini wonder bread, buttered up the whazoo and (fortunately) a tiny cup of mayo. I worked hard to make it work, but suffice it to say that I will remain on the hunt. There is a place in Meredith that is famous for their lobster rolls, and I recall having a lovely BLT there last summer (I think that started the obsession). So I think we'll be headed back there soon, even tho there is no real indoor seating, and we've been dodging mosquitoes given all this wet humid weather. OK....grousing over.



Not much of a beach day today, so we spent much of it on the deck watching the hummingbirds enjoy our feeders.



Sending caring thoughts to Michelle, her family and everyone else who is facing challenges and loss.



Oh, Laurie, loved your art work on the skateboard. Good decision!

For your friend's dinner, I'd do the thing you do the fastest so you can spend most of your time visiting! Have fun!

Hello to everyone.

I don't seem like I post much..I usually read the posts on my phone when I'm waiting for...whatever it might be to finish....  It's easy to read, but difficult to type on the thing.

I spent today at my mom's house replacing some garage door trip and weather stripping, trimming bushes, workin on her lawn's sprinkler system and cutting the dead fronds off of her palm tree.  I drank over a gallon of water and had still "lost" weight..which has since been "regained". 

Sharon cooked breaded port chops and I had just a little bit of that and a small piece of sourdough bread...After working in the heat all day, I usually don't eat much.

Nance, if you fee like it, another chicken marinade to try is a couple of onions,  a few cups of orange juice and a bunch of fresh cilantro (coriander) that has been pureed in the blender. It looks absolutely disgusting, but gives a very subtle lime flavor to the chicken.  A little bit of salt can be added if needed.

I'm hoping that Michelle is improving. Michelle, if you're reading this, Hi!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric

Lacy, hope you find a good BLT!



My favorite breakfast sandwich is ham and bagel veggie spread on raisen toast. For some reason, I love that!

Eric, sounds like you are doing a lot for your Mom. It's hard to take care of two houses! Glad Sharon is up to cooking though!

Susan, rotisserie chicken is probably one if the best bargains there is. Glad you found a good use for it. I like to make a raspberry dressed chicken salad with it. I take red wine vinegar and olive oil, melt an equal amount of seedless raspberry jam whisk together. So much better than most raspberry dressings. And easy. Served over mixed greens, swiss or parmesan cheese, or even blue, or feta, LOL. So good for summer.

Praying for Michelle and family.

Much love to all.

susan - you are off the hook for the rotisserie chicken, trust me...  I am still sitting here slack-jawed at the all Susan-made BLT!

moon - love the raspberry salad dressing idea!  I have been doing a lot of roasting chicken breast still on the ribs just to have the meat available for exactly the kind of salad you describe.  It is so hot here in the summer we often do not eat hot food.  I also like to do a greek salad with chicken or leftover steak.

Pages of posts to catch up on reading today, so I need a Lacey post full of responses  to ditto!  SpecialK, hope your daughter recovers quickly and is able to eat soon.  Bedo, you sound good.  I hope you've overcome whatever was wrong with you that caused you to stop working.  Moon, you sound like you're coping with your intestinal problems.  Susan, dealing with your half pig seems like a massive undertaking with such a variety of processing and preparations.

Eric, you're a wonderful son in addition to being a good father and husband.  I hope your family are doing things for you, too.

The news about Michelle just made me heartsick.  I hate that she's moving out of her lake house, hate that she's having to wage a new battle with different drugs.  Hi, Michelle, I'm thinking about you.

A cold front came through north MN and it felt like winter in July.  Wind blasting out of the north.  Temps. struggling to get into the low 60's.  DH and I spent most of the weekend in our camper, which, fortunately, is large and comfortable enough to move around and not run into each other.  We also have satellite tv.  I cooked a pot of chicken and sausage gumbo which was/is delicious and really hit the spot.  I had andouille sausage in the freezer.  We switched from martinis to bourbon old-fashions for our pre-dinner cocktail.  The old-fashions are winter drinks for us!

Today is lovely, sunny and in the 70's.  We ventured out into the resort canoe with our fishing gear and got a little practice casting.  No bites but we floated within 20 feet of a beautiful mamma loon and her two babies.  There was almost no boat traffic on the lake so it was very peaceful with just the sound of our paddles dipping into the water.

Now we're at the library using the wifi.  Tonight's dinner will be store-made brats, the plain kind.  The selection is amazing.  With wild rice, with dill pickle, reuben brats with kraut, with cheese.  These ingredients are ground up with the meat and put into the casing.  I'll steam the brats in beer until they're cooked and then brown them in the skillet.  Or dh might want to brown them on the grill. 

For sides tonight, I have a choice of veggies I bought at the Farmer's Market on Sat.  Yellow squash, green beans, pea pods, broccoli.  Also new potatoes from the supermarket. 

Hugs to all.

Hey Minus, it would pretty much be getting dark. I will go back to work in Oct.  I spent a total of 16months in Barrow on and off in an Eskimo village that you had to fly into with Polar bears -40 on the edge of the arctic ocean.  It was for a CDC grant screening for breast cancer of all things. The pay is good and they pay for housing, meals, flights, everything because only lunatics go there, so you can take time off when you leave. My friends say, "Oooooh I'm so jealous!  All those men!"  Yes, the odds are good, but as they say, the goods are odd! I guess I should talk.

I'm sorry about your recurrance.  I hope your doc comes up with an excellent plan and the Gods of health smile on you! I haven't kept up. Do you have a plan?

That gig sounds interesting Bedo.....I can see you lovin it!

Meanwhile, you got me stirred up about the tatoos....I noticed today that mine are totally visible when I wear a bathing suit! Not sure why I had not noticed this before you mentioned it....but it would be nice to get them removed.



So.....eureka! I finally found a very acceptable BLT on our drive home tonight. We drove thru Nashua since I decided to break the bank (again!)and buy the lowest level Vita Mix I could get for our NH house. I got sick of dragging the home one up there, and worried we'd end up dropping it and have to get another one anyway. So, on the way to BB and B where I got the Vitamix with a 20% coupon, (yay !), we spotted a Friendly's. What more likely place to serve that elusive (to me) BLT?! It was lovely....on a nice lightly toasted sour dough bread that was not too authentic, so it tasted like regular bread , the bacon was nicely browned, the tomatoes were actually tasty and lettuce was fresh and crisp. It did hit the spot. I still think the one I had at the lobster roll place in NH last summer was better...and exactly half the price of tonight's!



DH decided that we must access some really tasty tomatoes at our farmer's market, buy some excellent bacon, (can I shop at your house, Susan?;) homemade bread (not from this home) and maybe use our friend's Australian green leaf lettuce and make our own, with mayo I could easily make in my new VM! I agreed we will do that next. So enough about the BLT search!



Tomorrow is my deceased mother's birthday. She died four years ago after living a long life, and was one of the few sisters in her large Italian family who did not have breast cancer. My younger single sister who lived with her during her last years just sold the family house, and plans to move up North. I'll talk with her tomorrow since I suspect this will be an emotional day...as she plans to leave the house she grew up in with all the memories of her close relationship with mom.



((((((Hugs)))))) to all.....

Gardengumby - It's been too hot to cook much so we are having lots of reruns here too. I made spaghetti with alfredo sauce (Newmans Own jarred) Sat. Sunday put 8 chicken thighs in crockpot and made some sauteed potatoes/green beans. Yesterday it was chicken with leftover spaghetti. Tonight who knows. Maybe smoked sausage saute with peppers, onion, squashes. Maybe just finish off bits of chicken and alfredo. Going to be 100-103 for next few days. DM used to make chicken and cellophane noodles - assume that is much the same. I've tried it but mine never tasted the same and DH/DD did not much like. UMMM - fresh fish. What does DH fish for?

Michelle - I too hope your new chemo kicks those buggers. Thinking of you and your family.

Carole - I am entirely jealous of your weather. I can't strip too many more clothes off - LOL. I wish we had farmers' market here in town. Closest one is 20 miles and wayyyy too much shopping enticement there.

Went to Ft. Worth yest for mammo on lefty. Radiologist there and no problems. Love her. I always make appt on day I know she is there. Went to Central Market but spent only limited amount. Did splure on fresh figs and their coffee. I bought a Mr. Coffee French press coffeemaker yesterday. I'm sure I will like it; not so sure about DH but his loss.

Dinner tonight was Caeser Salad with sliced steak and French Onion Soup - I had an ecess of onions hanging around.  The good news - DD ate some of the soup - yay!

laurie - give me the skinny on how you handled the tonsillectomy patient!