So...whats for dinner?

Happy belated Moon - you all look so wonderfully happy.

Happy travels Lacey - so looking forward to hearing about it all.

I am a size 9.

Actually got my robo boot fitted today.  No full weight bearing for another month.  But doc is happy with my healing.  I reckon its because I eat well and do not have processed crap.   Also been upping the protein and its seems to have worked.   Least with the robo boot I am able to steady myself with the foot.

Not sure what MIL is cooking - but sure smells good

It is no fun with a broken ankle.   Although I do not have no weightbearing for 12 weeks.    Will likely be six weeks in total - I am hoping.  Isn't it debilitating?

Tazzy. My sister had ankle sx 2x and used a knee scooter to get around the house. And she hated not driving. As I did with my knee Ugh. 

Lacey have a great time check in if you can. Safe travels. 

Specialk  driving by the kids is always jnteresting. Especially since they claim that I make them feel crazy! LOL

To a much love. Supper tonight was Arbys. LOL

Did a Family Dinner last night... a spatchcocked chicken on the grill, potato and scallion rostis, green salad with bowls of toppings like carrots and radishes, and steamed green beans. It has become clear that Monday and Wednesday nights are the nights that my daughter simply can't cope, so we will help out as we can. Probably one night per week. I am still burning the candle at three ends, and it looks like we will have to head to my mother's house again this weekend to help pack. I don't really have the time for this, but, in spite of all her flaws, she is my mother.

Lacey should be enjoying coffee and pastries in Rome by now. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Off to another session of training slightly spoiled, but smart, brats at a client office. 8 hours of training is a lot of training. I was exhausted after doing this on Monday. Next week we start the real work-- getting in the data!

*susan*

Wrote this Thurs and earlier today (Friday)...terrible time with hotel internet...glad to be able to post at all. Don't expect to in Pariana as of tomorrow....tech rehab for sure.........

Quick check in....wi-fi is pathetic here, when even available, and we have to be up with the birds for a walking tour of "Old Rome". Up at 4:30 this AM to make it over to the Vatican very early (way to avoid the crowds in Sistine Chapel) to meet our tour group and guide there. Guide was great! Only one other tour grp in Sistine Chapel with us which was amazing.

Took a very. long. nap. this afternoon, after a hop on/ off bus tour, and a casual lunch (mediocre mushroom omelette for me, saltimbocca for DH). For breakfast, hotel had packed us yogurt, fruit, and pastry since we left before breakfast started, so in my opinion we could have skipped this lunch stop...but good we were perched at a table under a canopy when a massive, but fast moving, rain storm occurred. Just as quickly, it dried up, we finished lunch, and then returned to our top deck bus tour enjoying the warmth of the sun. Must be brutally hot and humid here in the summer. Note to self and others...never come to Rome during summer! Good weather news .... rainy forecast for Tuscany has totally changed to sunny for next week. Hope it holds.....of course I came prepared with lots of long sleeves and sweaters.

Tonight we ate (a lot!) at Otello alla Concordia....DH had a caprese salad and I a grilled vegetable plate for appetizers. Then we shared a delectable pasta dish of Paccheri with pesto. The pesto was perfect in my opinion, and I make a good one myself. The pasta was a wide tube noodle cut into square shapes, al dente, of course. Really delicious! Since I saw lots of allergens dotting the menu, I settled for an entree of chicken with mushrooms...rather pedestrian, but very well prepared tender chicken breasts and no need for my epi-pen! DH had a grilled fish plate with large prawns, tuna and calamari. Gelato on the walk home filled the last space in our tummies. I will really need to walk the hills of Tuscany very soon!

Tomorrow we have breakfast here (looks like a nice hot buffet), tour early, then come back to hotel for a rest......then early dinner before attending an aria concert with performers in costume. DH is great at ferreting out these performances which we always enjoy. Will attend a similar concert in Lucca next week.

Extra info...it is amazing we are still alive with the wild drivers and motorcyclists on the narrow irregular cobblestone streets here. Glad we will not have a car until out of the city limits! Also, we have enjoyed meeting some interesting people during our tours, at restaurants (with close seating !;) and here at the hotel.

All right, doing my midnight oil burning thing....

Susan, good luck with your smart, entitled millennials' training session. DH just mentored the son of friends of ours who sounds like he could easily be in that group. Sounds exhausting even without all the other events you are tackling.

Thanks all for the good trip wishes....it's going well so far.....;)

Friday...Never was able to post this last night since the hotel guest server was out...so it is now Fri mid-afternoon, and we are having a mini crash before our next event. This AM we had a lovely hot buffet breakfast here before heading on foot to the Colosseum area for our tour of that and the Roman Forum. Three and a half hours of walking on irregular cobblestone, lots of stairs and high rocky pathways. Glad I have strong quads and knees these days. Not sure how any people without sneakers did not turn ankles on these challenging paths. It was also hot and humid today, so when we were finished our tour, we headed to a local al fresco dining spot got cold drinks and shared a caesar salad and mushroom / prosciutto pizza, which should count as dinner....unless DH gets hunger pangs after the aria concert.....a distinct possibility.

Going to try to get some shuteye before heading to the concert......

Later...concert was pretty good....high quality (mostly) young opera singers in a less professional environment. After, we walked several miles back to hotel and stopped when almost here to get some gelato. Feels good to skip dinner. Breakfast awaits in the AM, after which we take a train to Chiusi where we rent a car for the rest of our trip to Pariana, Lucca, Tuscany.

Caio!

Arrrrgh  Matey's I see you've been busy with yer lootin and plunderin!  Good for ya. I've been pirating the seas an been too sacked to put the note in the bottle.  This ship will pull to the island in 3 weeks -or maybe not- cannot let you know my location because of the booty. .. by then me mates an me will have time to drink the swill and count the booty before the next attack. ya, you old bilge rats carry on. I see you been up to no good.  

lacey - sounds Wonderful!!

Bedo - we'll be waiting to hear about the booty part.  Especially the shaking part. 

Played dominoes this afternoon so lunch & dinner both were "snackies".  Excellent guacamole.  Good hot dip w/spinach & bacon in Velveta.  I made gingerbread - but I cheated & used a box instead of scratch.  However I did take whipped cream.  I had intended to have leftover pork roast "sliders" tonight on Hawaiian rolls, but just too full from snacking.  So I'll settle for popcorn.

Just created a little Google map to see where Lacey and her husband will be traveling. Looks like they will be heading north, through the Chianti region, Florence, and into the Tuscan hills. I am sure there is a reason that they are not taking the train to Florence and then picking up the car. Florence is one of the Italian cities I would like to investigate someday. Their villa is not that far from the ocean. I wonder if they will be able to get some wonderful fish and other goodies from the sea?

I have no idea if this link will work... but see if it does for you.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pariana+LU,+Italy/...

Oh - and for the foodies - pork sliders for breakfast on Hawaiian sweet rolls.  I know, weird, but I had to use the last of the pork loin immediately.  Maybe I'll do French toast for dinner.

Basil oil is just basil and enough oil to make a paste. I use it to make pesto, slip into soups, slather on bread, and of course, toss with pasta, especially tortellini. Simply wash and remove the leaves. Throw into the food processor with a tiny bit of oil, and then as the processor is whirring around, pour oil into the machine through the feed tube. I only use really high quality olive oil since the oil is one of the two flavors. I then freeze in quart freezer bags, and break off chunks throughout the winter as needed. I used to do ice cube trays, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. Some years I add garlic to the basil oil, but for whatever reason, this year I didn't.

*susan*

Mo!!!!!! What a delight. A good burger is a good burger. Pretty darn delicious and in my opinion, a treat. Hope you are well.

*susan*

Lacey your trip sounds divine.  I am happy you are sharing it with us.   The food sounds delightful too.

Well DH did a bbq pork chop and green salad.   I am not going to complain if I get that every night - as long as he's cooking for me :-)  Tomorrow we are going to go to our local pub - gets me out and him out of cooking

Hugs everyone xxxxxxxxxxx

mo ! nice to see you ... i too miss the chatroom ... 

jenni

Last night we smoked a turkey breast on the grill and I served with a mushroom risotto and some roasted green beans. The goal of the turkey is to provide all of us with lunch for the whole week. Tonight I made a pan-roasted salmon with a tomato jam and bulghar. Leftover tomatoes with the tomatoes will be my lunch tomorrow with a bit of feta.

Still haven't shopped for a dress for the wedding, or arranged the transportation. However, I was able to move my mother's kitchen, create her network map, and fill a ton more boxes. Just seems a little unfair that both generations need me at the same moment.

Thinking of Lacey in Tuscany.... sounds wonderful to the ear.

*susan*

Greetings all!  I've been following posts but haven't been able to do many of my own. Seems like some kind of cooking going on here everyday.  Last weekend we visited my DBIL and DSIL.  Since DSIL is working, I took a very large pan of lasagna made with sausage and beef and a bechamel instead of ricotta. Wow -- way good. I may not ever use ricotta in lasagna again. 

I've also been working on perfecting my French baguette. Since I've never been to France, I will never know if I've achieved the goal, but it's been fun trying! So far I've managed crackly crusts with big holey insides, but I think I'm hampered by my lack of a bakers couche. I think I'll have to remedy that soon if I'm going to continue this pursuit. 

For the first time in several years, we managed to get a bushel of apples from our trees that the critters didn't eat. I took the remains of last year's frozen applesauce and made apple butter and the new apples have been cut up and frozen for pies and many new containers of sauce. I also made lime pickles, dill pickles, sweet relish and pickled peppers.   The beets are about ready to harvest so I'll pickle some of those as well.  Today, like Susan, I'm freezing tons of basil in olive oil and garlic.  I'm not sure exactly when I turned into Suzy Homemaker.

The garden has nearly petered out, although the squash and zucchini are still going strong. The peppers suffered from lack of pollination but produced enough to eat. They're still setting fruit but we've had several nights in the 40's which have made them a bit unhappy. The hummingbirds are nearly gone 

Sounds like Lacey is enjoying her  trip. I so envy those that can fly long distances without trauma.  And oh the pasta and the gelato!

Susan, you have your hands so full!  It sounds like you're handling things admirably and still managing awesome meals!  When DH and I got married (in our 30s)  we of course, planned and paid for everything ourselves. Even though it was quite small, I decided that whatever one had to pay for a wedding planner was probably well worth the money!  When DS got married, I was thankful that all we had to do was write the check for the rehearsal dinner. The worst part was trying to find a dress. I regret not taking more time to do so. I really didn't like the one I ended up with.

Bedo, I hope the new job is going well. I've been trying to figure out what your mystery plant might be. Pattypan squash? Wish I could see a picture.

Tazzy, hope you are on the mend. Enjoy others fixing dinner for you. It was the one of the few upsides to chemo, even if I couldn't enjoy it much.

Carole, Minnesota must be getting chilly about now. Your summer sojourn sounded wonderful and I loved reading your posts. We love the Northwoods!  DH and I are coming to NOLA for Christmas and plan to take in a Reveillon dinner.  Do you have any recommendations? We'll be staying in the French Quarter.

Luv, have you benefitted from any of the western rains? I hope so.

Monica, sending you a very belated birthday greeting. Great family picture!  And dahling, I must say, you look mahvelous!

SK - a hundred flavors of gelato?? Be still my heart!!! I'm getting ready to try my hand at frozen greek yogurt. May have to try gelato too.

Tonight is roast beef with a squash souffle and applesauce (of course.)  I'm sorry for the long post -- my apologies to those I've missed.