So...whats for dinner?

Rain here too, 6 inches yesterday! French onion soup today with fresh baguettes. Rh1, I'll send you a couple ;-) 

Gonna be getting that rain that is out in the Midwest. We do need it.

Leaving dinner up to hubby to decide for once. Brain is just too tired to think!

I like to watch Ina  (Barefoot Contessa)  One day she made these mustard roasted potatoes---cut the red potatoes into quarters and put them on a baking sheet with olive oil and salt and tossed them, then she squirted dollops of whole grain mustard in a few spots and got her hands in there and tossed them again and roasted them in the oven.   They are really good. Roasting is my favorite way to cook a lot of veggies.... I kind of enjoy that caramelized, almost burnt quality I sometimes get....

Yum! I like the sound of those mustard coated potatoes and the fish.

So I am just getting on my computer ( hardly ever use this) after walking up town with my next door neighbors and DH to have dinner and compare notes on our Italy trips. They did a week long cooking course in the  Umbria region, and said it was great but way too much eating. I agree that one or two days is optimal.

So, since I don't have my pix entered into the computer yet, I will do some narrative tonight and get some pix in later.

Oh, first of all, Redheaded, I had lots of flavors of gelato..mainly liked the pistachio, with peach a close second.

Last time I wrote about the trip, we had just finished our stay in Rome.The following AM, after a hearty Italian hot and cold buffet breakfast we had a very confusing time in the Rome Train station, before finally boarding our train.
There was no one to assist ignorant English speaking travelers (i.e., us!), so when some young girls offered to help us enter our info into the computer ticket machines, DH went along with one...however, an older man later came by indicating to me that we should not be letting them "help" us, and said to DH, "gypsies". He showed us how to get to our train, which was VERY far away (and at that point we were late), and pointed how far we must run, which we did with all of our luggage (thank you Sarah, our trainer!)...DH offered the man a euro for his help and he scoffed...but he took two euros, and off we went. Later learned from another woman on the train that they had the same experience, but their man "helper" demanded twenty euro, which they gave. Guess we were lucky...and we made our train.

We rented our car in Chiusi. It was supposed to be a stick shift small Ford, but ended up being an automatic Audi wagon...drove like a road hugging sports car. I loved that...and the fact that we had a diesel automatic going up the hair raising mountain roads to our villa. I found it really scary driving on roads we did not know with road signs we did not understand with most all other cars going 140 kms.  Could not find the road signs key on any maps we had! I kept thinking about our travel agent telling us of all her clients who got expensive tickets (after returning home)for obscure road offences. I was a set up for that! I'll be checking our mail carefully. We had planned to stop for lunch in a village on the way to Pariana...however, there seemed to be no such place that had existed in our minds. So, after an hour or so, we randomly got off the auto strada, and found a small hotel with a restaurant attached where we had lunch. I had a greens salad, (very light and fresh) and DH had a pasta dish...I actually hardly recall anything but the cute kids who came in with their parents, and chowed down on their pasta.

So, back on the highway towards Pescia and Collodi, the towns, next to our remote village. Collodi is named after Carlo Collodi, the author of The Adventures of Pinocchio. Who ever knew that Disney had not created that little fella! There is a whole village devoted to him; sort of a small time theme park...but not as accommodating to tourists, since the full service restaurants adhered to the Italian schedule of not serving dinner until 8PM, which was a problem for us the next day. 

So, late on Saturday afternoon we made it up our hair pin hill and Danny the landlord was waiting for us at the village, showed us where to park, and after showing us the many quirks of the house, took us back down the hill to Pescia to food shop. I could tell by the cut of the kitchen (tiny, with no prep surfaces and a propane fueled stove the tank of which  he required to be turned on and off whenever we used any burnersl), we would not be having many meals at home, so just bought yogurt, fruit, cheeses, veggie snacks, etc. Danny could not hide his horror at my selections. LOL. I think he expected me to be cooking up a storm in the villa....HA! So we were then dropped off, left to figure out how we would cope with no heat on a very very cool night, and no communication (no WIFi, minimal intermittent cell service, no house phone since the line was cut by the men who were digging up the village roads for the new heating system) with no English speaking folks in the village. So we decided this was going to be an adventure, had some cheese, crackers and wine and retreated to bed. Froze that first night.. glad our neighbor here advised us to bring lots of clothing layers.

Sunday we first took a walk beyond the village, wondering where this road at the top of the mountain would end.....at the village cemetery of course! It was really interesting to gather some history there and talk to a partially Eng speaking elderly woman who was refreshing flowers at the gravesite of her late husband and son.

We later ventured down the hill and explored Collodi, a charming village all about Pinocchio. as an aside, I found it odd that Pinocchio merch was featured heavily everywhere in Rome, Florence and Lucca. Patron saint of  fabricators? I did ask a young cabbie in Rome, why there was so much Pinocchio merch featured, and he responded, "maybe because they lie so much"!  

Late Sunday afternoon we tried to have dinner at any number of restaurants, and learned that none were serving until 7:30 or 8PM. I was not feeling comfortable, yet, taking on our hill after dark, so we opted to have a more casual meal at a bakery type spot, we had  bruschetta and a calzone type pie. Gelato there was not as tasty as the ones in Roma!

This is way long already, so I think I'll wait until tomorrow to report on the cooking class, which was delightful.   

SK -- more Roo!

Nancy, we will definitely get together while you're in LA and MS.  That menu is fabulous.  It must be $$$$$! 

I did a lot of cooking today.  I roasted a large pork roast for tomorrow's Sunday dinner at my mother's house and made gravy out of the drippings.  The roast is stuffed with chopped green onions and garlic.  I also made eggplant lasagna for dinner tonight.  And made turkey carcass soup for whenever.  Just as I was finishing up putting the lasagna together, dh called and reported that the Shrimp Man was out.  Did I want to buy some shrimp.  Naturally, I said "Buy 10 lbs." 

So we headed the shrimp, which were large (16 to 20 to a lb), and I bagged them in portions for freezing.  When they're frozen in water, they taste like fresh shrimp when they're thawed and cooked. 

Oh, and I prepped green beans to cook tomorrow. 

Lacey, I loved your travelogue and look forward to another installment.  Many years ago dh and I went to Europe for the first time for 5 weeks.  We landed in Portugal, travelled in that country and in Spain, through southern France, through Italy and across the water to Greece.  Mode of travel was 1st class Eurail.  We were "helped" twice in Italy.  A man approached us at the Milan train station and offered to guide us to a hotel.  We had no advance reservations and were relying on a guide book we'd purchased in the US.  We took the man up on his offer and followed him on a circuitous route to a hotel.  I think the hotel probably hired him to lure stupid Americans to the hotel!  As I recall, the room was ok.

Our next "helper" soured us on Italians!  Our Eurail passes included boat passage from Italy to Greece at a port called Brindisi.  I think that's the correct spelling.  On our arrival in Brindisi, a man offered to lead us to our ship.  He took us to a ship and we boarded it.  Eventually we learned that it was an Italian ship not a Greek ship, which we expected to board and sail to Athens.  This ship, which dh called a cattle boat, was jampacked with people and we were not given a little stateroom which we believed we were entitled to.  Plus this ship didn't sail to Athens but to some remote landing spot on the Greek coast.

I thought dh might have a nervous breakdown over the whole experience!  He's a merchant mariner and was highly critical of conditions on the ship.  When we went ashore in Greece, buses were waiting to take us on a trip to Athens that took a whole day, as I recall.  But the scenery was gorgeous.  Plus when we stopped at one point to stretch our legs and take care of body functions, I had the opportunity to use a primitive Greek toilet!  Eventually we got to Athens.  After a week there, we flew home and had another noteworthy experience:  one of the stewardesses on the plane was drunk and spilled trays on the passengers.  It was bizarre! 

I really should locate the journal I wrote while on this trip.  DH and I were truly Innocents Abroad.  It would be fun to do the trip again.

Carole, you must be happy to be back in your kitchen with all that cooking! Sounds delicious!

Oddly enough, the reveillon dinners are very reasonable. This one starts at $57 per person (probably depending on whether you get the lobster or not.) Most are in the $47 range.

Dinner tonight was interesting...today I resisted going to the food store...again(!) in our dreary weather, so I shopped in the freezer, finding some ravs filled with artichoke and asparagus (I think we got them at the Farmer's Market a couple of months ago). I was also determined to use up some red kale I had in the fridge, so I made a sautéed bed of that with onions, julienned carrots, garlic, and red pepper flakes, and placed the cooked ravs on that, sprinkled with some mozzarella cubes, and a bit of parmesan and broiled the whole thing in the caste iron skillet. It was yummy! Made a salad of rocket and grape tomatoes and red onion...most everything I found in the fridge now that it is empty enuf to see everything that is in there. As I said to DH, not going to the store helped me be more creative and economical in using things we had languishing in the fridge! There's a way to rationalize any lazy behavior!

Minus,

Here is the recipe I promised....hope the copy and paste works from my computer...

Well, it worked after a lot of help from DH, my in house tech support.

He wants to watch "The Knick", so probably no more Italian posts from me tonight.

Carole, I so identified with your "helpers" stories! Lessons learned, eh?

wow! Lots of adventures! And lots of food. 

I used not to eat Lima beans, then I found the baby butter beans. The tiny ones are real good. The texture is so good. Still hate chickpeas though! LOL

I'm freezing here. It's only about 40 degrees and damp. The trees are turning so fast and freezing inland tonight. Ugh. I have about 20 cherry tomatoes on my plant still not red. Hope they don't freeze tinite. Shouldn't as we're on the lake but if I pull them in the garage tonite I'll forget to put them out til later tomorrow. Maybe I'll just pick them and ripen them inside. Really never got too many tomatoes. Oh well. 

Someone wondered what to do with brat leftovers. I cut them up and add them to a simple soup with carrots, potatoes, tomatoes,  beans any leftovers in the fridge. Even leftover spaghetti sauce is added. It's real good. My problem is I used to cook for 8 to 10 people every nite. So just for me is hard. LOL.  I can't make any less than 5 q's of soup or chili. LOL

Much love to all.

The real countdown begins. Yesterday, bridezilla moved in. Not a darn word that came out of my mouth was not greeted with totally hostility. She huffed. She did every passive-agressive maneuver that I have ever seen. This morning? We had a chat. It was reasonable. It was mutually supportive. My daughter has returned. Thank goodness. I was ready to ask Lacey if we could move in with her for a few days.

Today I made canapé breads.... very cute. They are still cooling so haven't tasted yet. I used a King Arthur pumpernickel recipe specifically designed for these tubes. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/canape-...

So the dress. I have chosen the one that fits the best. The kid bought me a lovely scarf when she was in Turkey that compliments nicely. And I have bought some boots that do look like I could kick some butt. The kid has given her seal of approval. In fact, she was astonished by how fashion-ey I am! [That is a joke.] Anyhow, here is a link to the dress: https://www.serengeticatalog.com/itemdy00.aspx?T1...

Dinner last night was tandoori chicken which my husband grilled outside in the rain with some lentils and rice. Tonight will be the leftovers, with a fresh dal. This cold is still hanging on, and in fact, I am exhausted. Time for a nap.

*susan*

Dinner was Shake and Bake boneless pork chops, tomato and cucumbers and a pasta side.

Minus,

The wedding is this Thursday. Made the gorgéres and canapé breads today. Wednesday is my next moment, so I will finish all the "nibbles" then. I am exhausted, and today, was a no-billable-hour day. Well, might pull off a few hours tonight.

*susan*

luv, let us know how the salsa chicken turns out with the peach salsa. Sounds good. 

Susan. Hang in there I'm praying everything goes smoothly.  My DD actually had one of her friends assigned to keep me "calm" -in other words - anywhere she wasnt! LOL  well, maybe not quite that bad. LOL.  Pretty dress. I'm sure you will look wonderful. Post pics! 

Mommy of i haven't had shake and bake in years. With just me most of the time the most I cook is a chicken breast or 2 if I need it for another meal. LOL

Minus, I'm doing well. My knee gets stiff yet, feels swollen a bit on and off but overall good.  The worst part is they upscheduled my Tramadol med. It's now scheduled 2 and I need an actual script every renewal. And there is a 30 day limit. All so the druggies won't get it. Of course oxycodone has been schedule 2 for years. That didn't stop abuse of that drug, did it? Sigh. Tramadol doesn't make me woozy and before they moved it up I used to be able to work using it. Not now. Well, if I worked... LOL:) dorry. Didn't mean to rant. 

Much love to all

I made the chicken-Jasmine rice dish.  My 96 year old mother has had 6 helpings of it.  :-)

Here's the link

chicken jasmine rice