So...whats for dinner?

Ditto on the beauty of rainbow chard! I have sauteed it like spinach, but more recently just love putting it in my smoothies...after enjoying looking at it!

Today we went to a family restaurant on the way to a park for the grandkids (after I fortified myself with a few motrin tablets, which worked great for the sore throat and headache:). Our lunch was a potpourri of appetizers and entrees which included fried calamari, arugula and mushroom flatbread, margherita flatbread, caesar salad, fish tacos, white bean hummus with (very fresh) pita bread, and a vegetarian club sandwich which was interesting, if not finishable due to the apps. We took things home...

Rode a fun carousel at the park and then spent a hair raising hour at this great (very busy) kiddie playground where it took all four of us adults to keep track of "our" two kids! What a fun place for kids and, unfortunately, kidnap prone pedophiles! On a positive note, the grands had a delightful time pushing their gross motor skills to the limit.

After our return home, the grands presented me with a happy birthday balloon, cake, and gift. The sweetest part, of course was hearing their little voices belting out "Happy Birthday Dear Nana".

Tonight after the kids were settled, we ordered a very late dinner from a nearby Spanish restaurant...a double order of seafood paella, and gazpacho. Both were delicious!  This was a big food day compared to my usual fare. Good thing we walked the local hills this morning.

Tomorrow, DDIL's parents return (they live here for childcare during the week) along with some other family members,  and we will be having a Father's Day barbecue and pool party. I always marvel at DDIL's ability to regularly entertain, attend to her extremely active kids, and run her busy medical practice. I get exhausted just watching!

So tomorrow will be Persian marinated chicken kabobs, lamb burgers (my idea), salads and Father's Day cake. This month I will have eaten more cake than I have had in the past two years!

Viv, I'm rooting for Iggy to make a quick recovery!

Way too much excitement for a tree removal - what a saga of Murphy's Law in action! Your poor yard and propane tank! glad things are semi-ok now and that there is insurance.

Lacey, oh how I  love paella, lucky you!

Special, I agree....it is very hard to find a gazpacho as good as one's own. I have a recipe I have honed to just way we like it, too...and last night's was a close second! Unfortunately, my overly sensitive "virus mouth" didn't totally appreciate all that spice like I usually would.

Things have livened up here now that DS1 is back from rounds,  live-in GPs have returned from a quick trip North, DDIL us back from the food store, and rest of the extended family about to arrive. I just finished making the lamb burger patties and condiments, after grand sitting for a couple of hours....and never washed my face nor got to my exercises. Now I remember clearly why I always carried that extra weight while raising my kids. One never gets out of the kitchen!

As of an hour ago, DS2 and his FIL got the pool perfectly warmed and cleared of pine needles, and started swimming with the kids while "us women" busied ourselves with kitchen prep. Suddenly, we hear baby Ava announce from the pool that she has a poopy diaper. Yep! And her live-in grandmother who doesn't worry about details had neglected to put her in a swimmy diaper. Hmmmmm. I may sit this one out....with everyone else!

Off to at least get my face washed!

Happy Father's Day to everyone who lives in that role, and of course, especially to you, Eric!

Can't beat gazpacho made with home grown vegetables. Looking forward to it!

Speaking of wonderful husbands and fathers, I have to show you the flower boxes my DH made for me. I don't believe they've ever looked prettier.

The Tree

Next page to get caught up, 

Lacey glad your BD celebrations went well even if you weren't feeling your best.

Carol, I hope the lesion will be removed easily with a minimum of discomfort.  

Bedo I'm glad your Dad could go with you. 86 years is a long time on earth. Glad he's well enough to be with family.

Bedo, not fun to step in poo, no matter whos! LOL . 

LMG, I hope the bad storms missed your area and all you got was a gentle soaking rain!

Special, I know you are worried about your DD and the boat. My DH would go out alone and I would always worry. With a boat not working properly it is even worse. Hope it gets fixed fast. 

Garden, I love salmon chowder. I always use the leftovers from our grilled or smoked salmon salmon in a chowder. Yum. 

Hi Seasude. Good to hear from you again. 

Eric, if the house is meant to be you'll get it. I'll keep my fingers crossed! 

We had our kids come on Saturday for Father's Day picnic. Dang it was cold. Temp barely made it to 70 but the wind was chilly! Hats and coats were the clothes we needed at the lakefront park. But if course we needed the sunglasses too. So it went well. Staple Brats and Burgers. Salad, fruit, hummus, chips. I brought dessert. Watermelon. AND, of course, a totally absolutely,  no redeeming qualities  at all, dessert. Rice crispie bars. LOL Yum! LOL

Think I'm caught up, if I missed anybody it was intentional!!!!  NOT!!!!! LOL

MUCH LOVE TO ALL. 

Nance, that window box is stunningly delicate in its beauty...could look at it all day.....the tree pic, not so much! . Loved the fawn-in-training story. Have been looking for the deer we usually see outside DS1's property fence, but clearly they have moved on to their summer food source!

Everyone here is ready to crash.....

I may even retire early tonight!

Just caught up on posts missed the last couple of days.  Nance, recounted your tree saga to dh who could identify with your dh watching the debacle.  Lacey, smiled at your description of the scene at your son's house and your activities with the grands. 

The car gremlin is back.  Two years ago when dh and I were ready to leave for the summer, I parked my car under an old shed at my mother's house to make it available for transporting her.  A tree fell on the shed in dead calm weather so the car spent time at a body shop in our absence.  Sat. night dh and I got into the car to drive a short distance to neighbor's house.  He had a lapse (no alcohol involved!) and backed out, forgetting the camper was parked on the far side of the pavement beside the house.  One crunch later, we jumped out to see the damage to the car trunk from backing into a corner of the camper.  Fortunately, little damage to the camper but the car has to go off to the same body shop again!  The neighbors, who were highly amused at the incident, offered to pick up the car from the body shop when it's ready and park it under our car port.

THEN yesterday when my mother and I came out of a restaurant after having lunch, the car remote wouldn't unlock the car!  For some weird reason I don't understand, the key doesn't unlock the doors of the car.  You have to use the remote thingy.  My cell phone was locked in the car!  No problem.  I borrowed a cell phone from a young man and called home.  DH didn't answer.  A helpful man took the remote and figured out the lock key was stuck.  So my mother and I got into the car and I stored her wheelchair in the damaged trunk, which fortunately still opens and closes. 

Since the sun was shining when we left her house, we'd left her electric wheelchair parked outside her house so it would be handy on our return.  It started to rain.  I said "this is a pop-up shower.  it may not be raining at your house."  Which is about 7 miles from the restaurant.  No such luck.  Her wheel chair was sitting in the rain when we drove up.  But all is well.  It still worked. 

This morning dh has to call the insurance company, call the body shop and arrange for the car's repair.  We're leaving Wed. so we'll the car will have to be repaired in our absence. 

Meatloaf and boiled small white potatoes for dinner last night.  Picked up the ground meat at a small neighborhood grocery on the way home.  $4.99 a lb!  Ground meat is no longer cheap.  Salad last night was cucumber and tomato.

Lots to do today and then apptment at the skin dr. tomorrow morning at 8 am.  It will feel good to climb up into the passenger seat of the big pickup on Wed. morning and head out, knowing that anything forgotten is just forgotten!

Belated happy father's day, Eric.

Carole, hoping all the gremlins stay in LA but mostly hoping they're done with their damage. Can identify with the memory lapse. I get the main driveway parking just outside door. But have backed out in a hurry and thought oh dear how close am I to DH's pickup? Even worse is when DD comes and parks out even further. My GM backed into the hydrant way, way off her driveway several times; we know she just paid for it and told neither of her DD's. Glad camper survived the mishap.

OK - no more gremlins for this group for a while.

I think today is a Zatarains mix with some frozen chicken. I'll add a little extra rice and some celery to counteract the spicy some. Carole I agree ground beef is no longer a cheap dinner. I buy the pkgs on clearance and divide/freeze when I get home. Chicken is cheaper than beef now. For the moment we seem to have had enough rain to get a 1st hay crop but I believe herd size is still very low. Wish we could get a nice tropical storm to come up thru west Texas. I can't remember the last time we had several days of rain enough to say STOP. Now I just say bring it on.

Wow - it has been gremlinpalooza! Not good!

I would think you could make a stuffed cabbage easily with those even though I've never done it. Sounds pretty much like the main ingredients for it. I think you lightly wilt the cabbage in boiling water just a minute. Make a nice stuffing consistency with the beans, rice, salsa, yes corn if you have it, cheese, maybe bit of onion, garlic (even powdered of those). Roll it up maybe secure with toothpicks, put in small glass dish and bake. Now temp I don't know. Better low/slow (275-300) than overbake hot dry. Maybe bit of water in the bottom so it doesn't dry out. ?Cover with foil while baking. Maybe not even roll up, more like layer it loosely. I would think a cabbage roll recipe would do just fine.

I've never had much luck with those ingredient recipe sites. I never can get the hang of what they want me to do.

Bug eyed? Like this?

++

Goats

I copied it and made it a favorite.

Thanks!

You won't believe the repair price on the 2003 Toyota Camry.  $2100!!!!  The good news is our deductible is zero.  Because of our good driving record!  Guess dh took care of that.  Tomorrow we'll take the car to the body shop and leave instructions for them to call our neighbors when it's finished. 

Tonight's dinner is a beef eye of round roast cooked the way Laurie cooks hers.  And the way Michelle cooked hers.  Side will be sweet potato fries.  And a salad of cucumbers and tomato.  Just like last night!   It's either cook the fries or throw them away.  I'll cook part of them.  The camper freezer is so full I can barely pull the big drawer open. 

Tonight was baked veal and spinach canneloni and salad.

The honey oat bread is terrific. Will be very good for sandwiches.