So...whats for dinner?

Had unexpected house guests this weekend. DBIL and DSIL breezed in for two nights. DH and DBIL's eldest sister just had open heart surgery in a town near us and they came in to visit her in the hospital. Not a lot of time for meal planning but Friday night was a dry brined tri-tip roast with horseradish sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes with preserved lemon and garlic and steamed broccoli sauteed in garlic butter. The leftover broccoli and few potatoes went into a frittata the next morning for breakfast with some bialys.

Last night we made individual thin crust pizzas with roasted garlic and other roasted veggies such as tomatoes, peppers and whatever else we could find, Italian sausage, mushrooms, etc. etc. and a large Italian salad. Lots of good food and lots of leftovers. The beef will be rerun tonight with some sort of sauce and roasted smashed potatoes, plus something green. Perhaps a sauteed greens mix.

It's now quiet as guests have gone. It's rainy and gloomy today. I didn't sleep well last night (not unusual) so it's going to be a reading, lounging, coffee drinking kind of day. Looking foward to Downton Abbey tonight.

Luv, Galveston and that area had lots and lots of kolaches everywhere. When I was a teenager, I worked in a bakery and one of the things they had was kolaches. These were quite different than the ones I found in Texas. They were a square pastry that had an indentation in the middle that was filled with jam or a fruit filling. They never ever had meat in them. I hadn't seen that kind in years (still haven't) I was quite excited to find them in Texas and was a bit disappointed to find that they were not the same at all. Susan -- the noodle dish looks mighty slurp-worthy. I desperately need to make pasta.

I'm planning a food safari next week. May go to Columbia and visit all the ethnic food shops to replenish supplies and add to my stash. I need some more high gluten flour. There is a Halal food market and cafe there that's on my to-do list, as well as my beloved Asian market. I see pho in my future. There are also Filipino and Indian markets. Fun! The St. Louis area has just gotten a Fresh Market and is scheduled to get two more. I may try to go to the newly opened one next week on the Costco run. It's been years since I've had Dover sole and certainly haven't seen it anywhere. Not a lot of fresh fish markets in the Midwest unfortunately.

I hope you NE folks aren't buried in snow and/or ice. And I'm not sure what's going on with you Texas folks. I keep seeing different weather reports. Wherever you are, stay safe!

Sitting at the race track in the grandstand on the finish line. We drove into New Orleans this morning and camped out on the route of the NO marathon so we could cheer dh's cousin from WV when she ran by. Also her dh who came by much later. He ran the half marathon.

It's a beautiful day and we enjoyed watching all those runners of every description. Some were in costume. Cafe Degas was nearby so we treated ourselves to brunch. I had a crepe with lump crabmeat, wild mushrooms, and asparagus and a decadent cream sauce. Also good strong dark roast coffee.

The NO Fairgrounds was a few blocks away so here we are about to make our fortune betting on the horses. Dh plans to have a hot dog while he's here. The "famous" food at the concession stand is the corned beef sandwich.

Susan, I'm excited about your big trip.

Nance, I would love to accompany you on that shopping excursion.

Lacey, the pizza crust sounds like a great success.

Nancy, what a fun time you will have on that shopping trip!!

And Susan.....be still my heart! What a wonderful trip you have planned! Sounds like you should add travel agent as yet another side talent of yours. So exciting! And how lovely that your mom gets to go too.

Kale soup is made, and now before the sun goes down I need to try to take a walk...if I can find some boots with good treads...otherwise it's down to the treadmill. I have been so remis about keeping up with my exercise regimen since being sick, but the excuse in now passed.

By the way, on the 14th we are going to a chili fest? If anyone has a really special chili that they love, and would be willing to share, please do. I am never married to one particular chili recipe, so I have to make a decision here.....

Texas is variously having a blizzard next weekend or just cold rain. Depends. My local guru weathercaster who now teaches is on the fence and who can blame him almost a week out. I know that I will get dog food when I go to town on Tuesday just in case. Forecast says 80 for Wednesday.

Lacey I looked just now at weather channel and it has blizzard (! mark in red) for Monday night. Don't think I've ever seen that. You don't need bread you are the bread king. Just make pizza. Would it make any kind of thing for sandwiches?. I will look for 00 flour but no ethnic grocers in Ft Worth. We don't even have an Asian market darn it. Brookshires had KA whole wheat pastry flour - didn't even look to see how old it was - well more exact how soon it would go out of date. DH I think owes me some stuff on Amazon (wink wink) - maybe I'll look there.

Nancy - what a wealth of shopping places. I would just die and my pantry would explode.

Susan - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how much your French will help your Spanish. At least you have most of the basic words down just the French version. I had 2.5 years college French (+2 years HS) but learned Spanish on the fly in El Paso and some as hospice nurse. Must admit my Spanish does have a French inflection. But I bet most will want to practice their English with you so unless you are really, really off the beaten path much Spanish will not be necessary. Turkish whole 'nother ballgame. I bet your French would do there. Isn't French the international language? What they use at the Olympics? How will you bring home all the goodies I know you will buy? Inquiring minds want to know. But in all seriousness I know you will have a wonderful time. Can I sneak in your luggage?

Carole - hope the ponies are lucky for you today.

Thanks Special for the Reuben recipe. Sounds like something you can make and freeze extras. DH has (silly me only married 38 years) not liked sauerkraut. Noooo. I love sauerkraut so long as you rinse it well. I must buy a jar of Claussens for him.

Tonight is the remianing calzone (sorry deli bought) with a pasta/spinach salad from the grocery. No idea about tomorrow. Maybe chicken since Tues. is trash day and bones can go out. I did buy 2 sweet potatoes. Remind me what to do with them. Not something we eat as a rule. Also grocery had some of the best looking reg. potatoes I've seen in a long time so I bought 2 of those along with some greek yogurt (shhh don't tell DH).

Pancakes and bacon last night

Thinking frozen pizza that we bought yesterday and a salad!

Mommy, Lacey, Susan, Bedo? any else in the NE. Hoping that the snow is kind to you and all of you keep your electricity/water/roofs. Yes Jim Cantore is in Boston on the Weather Channel.

Carole - I fall in/out of love with my crockpot. I was usually afraid to leave it on and leave the house. I did a couple of times but decided it was just not worth my worrying about it. But I do love the new Reynolds crockpot liners. I get a tear occasionally in them but easy to clean up that bit on the bottom. Says they are BPA free too. I am bad and just don't plan enough ahead to use it. I passed up at a nice resale shop the appetizer size one, looked brand new. Wish I had bought it just for use for my church stuff. DD has a hunka crockpot lol, locking lid. I have crockpot envy. I inherited this one from my FIL who never used it. At least it has removable insert. The one it replaced did not, talk about a pain in the you know what.

I have no idea what we are having for dinner. Might be those 5-6 thighs put back in the freezer. I found a partial bottle of onion teriyaki in fridge. No idea how old - last year sometime maybe summer. Maybe make that with some broccoli and don't laugh but some orzo. Like I said earlier I think I have 2 pkgs of that, sometimes hard to find out here.

Bought bag of Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats. Have to cook them. Guess I'd better start on some for breakfast

Gosh I am so glad I am not in the Northeast today.  Hunker down ladies, stay warm, stay safe...  Am doing the turkey drumsticks today at my dads, as yesterday-he had a a black eye when I arrived to change his pain patch and we went to Prompt care at 2 and stayed until 5:30....INR was low, and he claims he didn't fall or bump into anything. Doctor said at his age, just rubbing the eye and being on blood thinners might have caused it.  Ice every 2 hours today to try to keep the swelling from closing his eyes....

He had a frozen lasagna for dinner and I ate a pimento cheese sandwich. 

I kind of agree about the crock-pot thing. I find it useful enough for several dishes, however, to justify it's existence. One is making large amounts of stuffing at thanksgiving. I also use it when I need a slow braise on something and I'm not going to be available to tend it. Speaking, of which Food and Wine has some very good looking braises. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/braising-rec...!slide=2?xid=DISH012315BraisingRecipes

I don't have access to wild boar, but i'm going to call the butcher to snag some pork shanks to try that recipe.

Speaking of little pancakes, today is going to be throwback Monday. I'm making crepes with some sort of chicken/spinach filling. Haven't make crepes in years. Hope I can still master them. If not, bechamel will cover a multitude of sins lol. Side will be a green salad with cucumbers and red onion.

Luv, I would never laugh at orzo

The crockpot version of oatmeal works well if you put it in a deepish bowl inside the crockpot. Less cleanup. Also doesn't burn as easily if left too long.

My work to-do list this weekend didn't go as quickly as I had anticipated, at all. A simple export of data took up my computer for 9HOURS!!! For 9 hours I couldn't work on anyone else's files. I twiddled my thumbs. I drew data diagrams. And then Sunday's project turned out to be far more complicated than I had expected. At 4:30, the time I usually start to prepare my mis en place, I told Mr. 02143 that someone else was cooking our dinner. We went to the only real Mexican restaurant around. We were good. We didn't finish our huge plates of food, knowing that this would become today's lunch plan. Last night I started some black beans to soaking, and then using the pressure cooker, actually made the beans before lunch.

Tonight I am making Spicy Orange Chicken from Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge using chicken thighs. And then I will do a seat-of-my-pants vegetable stir-fry to use up the boo chou, oyster mushrooms, mustard greens and napa cabbage. Serve with rice, and we have dinner and tomorrow's lunch.

We only got about 4" of snow in the last round but they claim that our area will get as much as 3'6" of snow, with 60mph winds. Remember? I am the first hill off the ocean. When the wind blows from that direction the whole house shivers. Whoohooo! Cars are properly lined up in the drive, and Mr. 02143's car is on the non emergency side of the street. Gas can is filled so the snow plow can be fed. Shovels are lined up. Snow boots and gloves have been located. We are as prepared as we need to be.

Trip planning update: We have an apartment in Paris. Spent a bit more than I had planned, but there is no way I am sleeping in a room with my snoring mother. Plus, I need some alone time. She is so energetic, and sometimes she babbles and babbles. I need an escape. The apartment is 7 blocks from one group of cousins, 5 from another, and only 3 from the other. My street market is 3 blocks in the other direction with some of the best shops in the arr. The metro is just steps away as well. My mother wants to eat out more than I do, so I will start researching restaurants. This area of the city doesn't have a huge number of good spots, so we might need to travel for anything special.

I do recall Michelle's trip to Paris very well. I should go back to read up. This will be my 9th or 10th trip to this lovely city but the first time I have rented a place to stay. Usually, I just stay with some cousins so the cost when the flights used to be cheap was always minimal. But, this trip, with a 77 year old mother, I wanted a different experience. Best for the two of us, on this trip.

*susan*

Well, here is a snowstorm serendipity....

My next door neighbor just called to say tomorrow would be a great day for us to make timpano...we've thought about doing this since last Spring when we had it at LaMorra's "Big Nite" re-enactment. YES! YES! Yes! What fun....and she is willing to fight the mobs at the store to get the ingredients we don't have on hand....a true foodie!

So after making lamburgers for our dinner tonight (DH just shoveled a path to the grill....he works for food;),I will make mini meatballs to include in the timpani.

Carole your food choices lately have been so mouthwatering!!

So we are officially now hunkered down, and even skipped our gym time and exercise class since the traffic was so awful. I must make it downstairs to the treadmill, and try to replicate the stretches that Sarah has us do.....especially if we will be eating like champs tomorrow!

Other fun news...DS2s Chicago girl got the okay from her bosses to transfer her job to "the bean" so I am very excited for them. She is coming at the end of next month after closing out her life there (yikes!) and he emailed me today to ask if we could all go out to dinner right after she arrives. Why, YES! We are both so amazed at how content and unambivalent he seems in this relationship....might be it! Yay for him!

Okay, candles and flashlights are out, cars full of gas (tho no driving allowed), enough food to survive for at least several days. Extra blankets in case power out ....tho last time that happened our heat and hot water never went off, so we may be fine there. I do never look forward to DH having to do some roof shoveling, but that will probably happen. I do not look forward to listening to to the media beat the storm to death which has already started. But I guess it beats listening to them carry on about the Patriots. I have not enjoyed being a fan of a team that is hated like the Yankees have been for many years. Guess it makes for higher viewing ratings on Super Bowl Sunday!

Be safe and warm everyone.....glad I'm not in a waterfront property!

Susan -- your trip is going to be outstanding. Sounds like a perfect location. Envious, I am. Lacey, the girl definitely sounds promising! Good luck with your Big Night Big Project. You are my idol.

Really hoping this storm turns out to be not at all epic and that your lives are not disrupted too much. Be careful on those roofs!

Stay safe everyone in the northeast.

Eric

Waiting in the ED with mom...possible pneumonia for her.....and I will be working tomorrow at 6am