So...whats for dinner?

One of my husband's favorite students of all time is named, oh let's call her C. She went on to Julliard and now lives in NYC eking out a living singing some gorgeous songs, and playing her cello. I guess she also has a gig as a graphic designer. The standard freelance life for a young woman still finding her way. Every few years, she stops in on her way to visit her parents in NH. She will have her instrument adjusted, get a fresh rehair, and hang with my husband. Generally, her Dad brings her after he picks her up at the bus station here in Boston.

She came on Friday with Dad, with the plan to return today to pick up her instrument. Via Facebook I learned that all three of them, i.e. Mom, were stopping by for this pick up. First I offered coffee, so we could catch up. But then discovered that they were driving all the way to NY, and [I am weak!] I offered a light lunch. Yea, I know. So at 8am, I was off to Whole Foods to buy a few provisions. First I made some lemon-ginger scones, and then a Spanish tortilla [eggs with potatoes and onions], fruit salad, smoked trout mousse, and because we have "hundreds", some sliced tomatoes. Oh it was wonderful. Her Mom is a good friend of mine, her Dad is terrific, and C is my husband's most favorite student of all time.

Was this a light meal? No. I don't think so. Did I whip it up in no time? No, I don't think so. I am I happy that I sliced out a few hours to see old friends whom I love dearly. Yes. Sometimes I have to remind myself to actually live the life that I am fighting to keep.

Meanwhile, the kids met with the Justice of the Peace, and hired her, and drove all the way to the Cape to have her first muslin dress fitting for her dress.

I have prepped the ribs.... 24 hrs of aging. 12 hours of salting, and now 12 hrs with their rub. We are going to smoke out the neighborhood tomorrow!

*susan*

OK, been reading everything and I have one Question[

How am I supposed to get skinny reading all these scrumptious food ideas/??? LOL>

Carol- Grand Marias is lovely.   One of my favorite vacations was at a cabin up the GunFlint Trail about 40 miles from Grand Marias.  I was there in July and had flannel sheets on the bed and fire in the fireplace every morning. I could hear the owls and the loons, and the timber wolves at night.  It was heaven.

When I cook a pork roast, I freeze sections for later.  Tonight was left over cold boiled shrimp for starters, wonderful sliced pork sandwiches on Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, and I'll have Tuscan melon for dessert.  This is the best cantaloupe melon I've ever tasted.  Happy holiday to everyone.

Edited to add the culinary details - pork roast was rubbed with sage & basted with apricot chipotle sauce.

Susan - YOUR ribs sound divine.  We all know who does the work.  I've been really hungry for ribs lately and even cut out a "new" oven baked recipe for when it gets cool enough to turn on the oven.  Sorry to hear about your hands.  I know how frustrating that is.

Eric, hope you heal quickly....and are able to keep those germs to yourself as you hope. This afternoon I heard the guy next door yelling across the street to another neighbor that he STILL HAD HIS COLD (!!!) from yesterday! Couldn't help but think of the video.....;). I wonder how more vulnerable you are since you drive the kiddie germ petri dish?

Susan, first of all, I loved hearing about your wonderful visit with your old friends (the music student's family). What a way to spend your day! Would be great to be able to bottle such visits. Secondly, I totally get the "grilling attribution" annoyance factor. Yes, YOUR ribs sound so delectable. I knew where your post was going right after reading the first "I". Been there, felt that annoyance! But, mind you, with much less effort on my part compared to your "totally from scratch" style...but way more than my DH's effort for sure. I have mainly made piece with the situation (most days) by being thankful that he totally cleans up every day. Love that! Even tho my rheumatologist suggests that warm water dish washing would be helpful to my pained hands. Ha! I'm sorry that yours are such a continuing problem for you....I totally appreciate how painfully debilitating that pain feels.

Last night ate a combined dinner with neighbors at their house...grilled chicken and beef kebabs, garden fresh green beans, my leftover, added too, Greek salad, small pasta shells with roasted tomatoes and fresh basil, and a yummy local apple pie for dessert....really way beyond limits for me. So we walked a lot this AM! But only after  meeting some other neighbors for coffee and a video viewing of the night scavenging of our local wildlife, which a neighbor records with a night camera, after leaving scraps on a rock near his garden. The main purpose of this activity is to attract foxes which will eat any chipmunks who would otherwise destroy his garden. It was pretty interesting to watch the various animals (opossum, skunk, foxes, and a mouse) compete for the food morsels.

Then we spent a glorious (SUMMERY!!!!!) day at the beach and on the lake, and finally got our swim in the middle of the lake from the boat in. Oh so beautiful! Might do the same tomorrow as the temps will stay high here. It felt good to be retired and not have to trek down the highway to MA like most of our neighbors...certainly all those with school kids. Tomorrow the beach and lake will be pretty quiet.

Dinner on the screened porch (which is sort of like a tree house so it is great for bird watching) this evening was balmy and beautiful. "We" grilled teriyaki chicken, made a fresh Greek salad, and had leftover shells with roasted tomatoes and basil. 

Carole, love your pit stop for pie as you relocate! It is wonderful that you will again visit a bc.org friend who walked a difficult path with you. So much meaning in those special relationships! 

Eric, hope you are getting back to feeling like yourself.

Today was warm and humid and threatening with showers for much of the day, so after my sweaty walk I did a lot of personal admin work and phone calls, then we went to the beach briefly at the end of the afternoon. We kept a few ducks company since all of the families in the neighborhood who populate the beach are long gone. It's a different place entirely without the families....both ways are nice. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny (still quite warm, yay!) so the beach and probably the boat will be at the top of the activity list. We might have all seven miles of the lake to ourselves!

Ate on the balmy breezy porch again.....had grilled shrimp and scallops that I'd marinated in a teriyaki sauce, local corn that was good, if not great (my dad used to refer to this part of the growing season as producing "cow corn"), and a cuke salad with red onion, diced red pepper, black olives, grape tomatoes and pepperocini for an extra bite. DH picked up some "skinny cow" ice cream bars for dessert. Guess he's ready to jump back on the wagon, too. They were actually good....I didn't read the chemical content.

Bedo - sorry about the cold.  How's the new job?  Had to laugh about your "marching orders".  At least they didn't specify the kind of flowers (yet).  20 brownies?  Like one pan with 20 pieces or 20 pans?  Do you get to choose your own additive? (haha)  When is the wedding?

Speaking of our offspring thinking we're dumb - I've been told that maybe I could be left alone to take care of my DIL's perfectly healthy dog that they've had for four years for a couple of hours if they went to the movie, but looks like I'll have to pass a very intensive exam first.  Still not allowed to walk the dog alone.  Oh well.  Probably a good thing they live across the country.

Excellent "organic egg sandwich" today at Ruggles Green.  Open face sourdough bread, thin sliced "all natural" ham, cheddar & swiss cheese grilled w/two lightly fried local organic eggs on top.  Popcorn for dinner tonight with a lovely Russian River Pinot Noir.

Eric, glad you are on the mend, and Bedo hope your virus is a fast moving one!

Minus, I am so happy to see your food descriptions! You clearly are able to enjoy food tastes again, yay! 

And isn't it amazing how incompetent we become (not!) after raising our children to be responsible adults! Obviously you would do some terrible and irreparable damage to that poor dog in a matter of a few hours! LOL! DS and DDIL obviously don't have enough on their plates yet to appreciate parental help....

I can recall leaving our young lively sons and our dogs with my dad (who had traveled for his job and had never been involved in our childcare) and his wife (who never had a child or a dog) for a day and evening while we attended a wedding not far from their CT home. When we returned, the kids were contentedly asleep, and the dogs were happy and groomed! I was so thankful to them for giving us that day, and in subsequent years continued to thank them profusely for helping us out at that chaotic time in out lives. Not sure I would be so happy to get two active boys and two matted schnauzers for a full day! When we had dogs and two kids (and no local family support), we were more than happy to share them with any willing relatives. And how lucky we were that Dad and his wife were so intrepid! I bet things change with DS if his family situation expands. You will become so much smarter!

Arrived home last night, and DH had a business dinner, so I put some of my roasted tomatoes on a piece of french bread, with mozzarella and parmesan, and called it a pizza night. Boy, those roasted tomatoes are so rich with flavor! 

Having "packer envy" as I see my next door neighbor taking one carry-on sized suitcase to Italy today. Wish I could borrow her packing sense. I always take too much due to my indecisiveness.....and I hear it is uncharacteristically wet and cool there, which means my plan to bring just a few light cotton skirts is shot! Oh well, I have until the 16th to work this out. I am a bad traveler....took too much to every place I went this summer. On a happier note, we will take a cooking course one day in Lucca, and DH is participating too. Yay! Maybe he will come home able to cook some dinners for us! Our next door neighbors are taking cooking classes for the whole week they are in Umbria. Her DH (who also only grills) should be quite the competent cook when they get home.....the future will tell!

Lacey, I'm a chronic overpacker too. I like to be prepared for everything lol! Looking forward to your Italian food reports!

I'm limited in what my phone will let me type, so I'll just say hi to all!

Susan....software stuff?????

Eric - Good for you letting your DD find her wings & supporting her.  I remember when I used to have that kind of energy.  Not in bed yet at 1am and back up at 4am for a strenuous day.  No longer. The kayak trip sounds wonderful.

I couldn't sleep last night and was reading when we lost power around 2am.  So to report my latest culinary oddity - I decided a snack was in order and decided on garlic naan bread with Bailey's Carmel Irish Cream to drink.  Assembled and eaten w/the aid of a flashlight.  I read w/my flash for awhile but power didn't come back on until 6am. 

Hello susan minus and all!

Minus, that sounds like the food I used to eat (unbeknownst to me) when I foolishly took ambien for a week.

Eric the Kayaking sounds wonderful.  I want to see wild horses

In bed most of yesterday with cold searching the web and finding out things that I put out to be products of my family's "active imaginations" were true...Sorry Grandma, chickens really do sit in trees, we are probably part Cherokee, Mom, I guess you really did only have one dress now that I see the part of Appalachia you grew up in, and OK brother you really did graduate 11th in a class of 240. Missing my family that is gone

Feeling grumpy as I finish my current job Oct 8 and start the new on Oct 10 with only the week end off.  I did promise my interim job that I would stay to cover maternity leave even if it meant giving up permanent job at university. I'll work 8 month out of the year with summers off. I hope it doesn't drive me nuts

I made 12 black bean burgers yesterday and froze them and now am getting ready to leave the house and collect zucchini and squash. I want to make them with sautéed almonds and parmesan and cut them up like match sticks.

DD's wedding is in May. I explained that my sunflower and zinnia bouquets in mason jars which I give to everyone won't be ready in May. She said that I could use Hydrangeas.  I don't have a hydrangea bush and I can't picture one in a mason jar.

Sorry for the grumpy post. I think that's what staying inside all day does to you.

Hello to all I missed too

Special, I want your daughter's job

Carol, it seems my  little Nissan won't pull a tear drop. decisions decisions, RVing sounds like fun!

Hi Nance!

Been reading a book called Practical Paleo...... called the nutritionist and asked if she had seen it, she hadn't but I summarized it and she said it sounded like what she wanted me to do.....So I went to the grocery store, and if anybody who knew me had seen my stuff on the checkout lane, they would have died laughing and asked me who I was trying to kid....... Honestly, I spent 54.00 and there was no meat in the cart and 2 boxes of Mac & Cheese (my comfort food). and rest was produce, almond butter, almond milk, etc.

I am now staring at a lb package of black eyed peas thinking I will put them in the crockpot with onion, garlic, jalepeno (or maybe green chilies)  and then add some kale the last 30 minutes.  But, of course, I didn't buy an onion or a jalepeno at the store.   I got a ton of root veggies that I am going to roast in olive oil and herbs. (fennel, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, turnips).....OH and Got the really big container of Greek yogurt to use instead of milk in my smoothies....yeah right..... 

Yay for the return of Laurie! Makes my heart smile.

So I never did make the Thai chicken cakes today....definitely tomorrow since I bought the ingredients for making them.

Busy day with an ortho appt to have the pained shoulder checked before we leave stateside, then a trip to get new sneakers, which was a pain since the style I always get for good arch support was changed, so not comfy anymore....but I did settle on another pair. Then off to get a compression sleeve for my arm so I don't take any risks for lymphodema on the long flight. That is one bc condition I have so far avoided, and hope to keep it that way. Then off to the store to get some ingreds for the "chicken cakes", then home to pick up DH for a walk to our polling place since it was primary day....then we walked to another store to get the rest of the recipe ingredients....then took dH's car to our mechanic in the next town, then stopped at another store to see if they had any good looking corn to go with dinner....nada. 

While in the store, it was nearing the dinner hour, and we ran into our next door neighbor who we have hardly seen all summer given our away schedules, as we chatted she mentioned they were having lamb burgers tonight, so DH and I (feeling starved at that point) decided to defer the chicken cakes until tomorrow, and go for the lamb burgers tonight. 

I was dying to try Susan's version of embedding the feta in the lamb burger instead of adding it under the bun which is messy. Yes! Thanks Susan! So I added my rosemary powder, fresh minced garlic, some crumbled dried mint, black pepper and a bit of salt with a prize chunk of feta in the middle. OMG! These were good, especially with lettuce, fresh tomatoes, red onion and a bit of ketchup. We had asparagus and an arugula salad to complete the meal.

So, along the lines of the young love theme, on Friday DS2 and Chicago girl are coming here for dinner. Not sure what I will serve, except probably we'll grill, and one appetizer will be the watermelon, basil, feta skewers. They were a hit with our transplanted Cali friends.

Minus, your palette is not only back but in descriminating style. Yay for you!