So...whats for dinner?

Carole - yes, I've probed. The "kids" don't feel marriage is necessary since they have chosen not to have any children. They live in a state where health insurance is covered for your domestic partner so that's not an issue. They bought a house together several years ago in this community property state and have a good legal agreement to cover that purchase, since real property can cause some problems w/o marriage. I've chosen to accept what it is after 14 years. There's only so much we can do w/o alienating ourselves from their future, and I love my son, so I've chosen to embrace what's there.

My best friend died of pancreatic cancer in 2005. I sort of inherited her grown son since he doesn't have a dad. He did choose to get married and I was an honored guest, but they too have chosen not to have children.

So I went to the Christening for my niece's first child a couple of weeks ago, and will be an active out-or-town 'aunt'. And will do the same for my nephew's baby when 'it' is born in October.

Speaking of birds - one of the highlights of the ShangriLa Gardens was the "heronry". There must have been 200 birds - all kids of herons, egrets, spoonbills, etc. nesting on dead Cypress trees in a secluded bayou. They had built an ingenious blind and you could actually watch all the mothers interacting with the babies in the nests. Really neat.

DH buys 50 lb. bags of black-oil sunflower seeds in the winter and keeps three feeders filled for the finches and other seed-eating birds.  But when spring arrives, he figures his "welfare" birds can forage for food that nature provides.  The doves and squirrels and the chicken from next door clean up on the ground underneath the feeders.  We have bluebirds that feed on bugs they spot in the lawn.  There are always cardinals and blue jays and mockingbirds around.  Blue herons and white herons are common In the area.  Also hawks and owls. During the summer in northern MN, we enjoy seeing eagles flying across the sky and loons on the lake. 

Eric, the yogurt cream sauce was very good.  It reduced quite a bit as I was making sure the diced shallot cooked and I added some white wine.  I also added s & p and cayenne.  DH liked it.  A good way to dress up boneless skinless chicken breasts which don't have much flavor on their own. 

This morning I plan to bite the bullet and venture out into the yard to do mulching with pine straw and more weeding in the front flower beds.  There was a time when I enjoyed yard work and considered gardening a hobby.  The duration of work will depend on my foot.  When it hurts too much to continue standing and walking, I'll call it quits.  Usually about 2 1/2 hrs. 

This afternoon I plan to make spaghetti sauce for tomorrow's dinner at my mother's house.  The meat base will be ground chuck and Italian sausage made with green onions.  Tomorrow I will also cook steamed asparagus with butter and lemon for those of us who eat green food.  That eliminates my sister's dh, her son and the son's live-in girlfriend.  It gets very boring to cook for people with such a limited palate.  It's no wonder my sister doesn't enjoy cooking, which for her means cooking meat and potatoes.  Their favorite place to eat is Texas Longhorn and they always get the same thing, ribeye steak with two sides of baked potato.  They split the dinner and also order one of those deep fried onions.  Imagine a shudder here!  LOL. 

Our dinner tonight will be home-made pizza.  The frozen whole wheat dough is thawing.  My recipe makes enough for two pizzas so I freeze the extra dough.  DH likes a red sauce so I will probably humor him and use a small amt. of the spaghetti sauce.  Other toppings will probably be Italian sausage, sautéed cremini mushrooms and sautéed yellow bell pepper, Greek olives and grated cheese.  Love pizza!

Carole - there are both, right? Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse

You might as well call them Texas Steakhouse, they're practically identical.

Bedo, I hope you post some pictures of the wedding party.

Yes, there are two steakhouse restaurants, Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn.  We have both of them.  Also Outback which never seems to lose its popularity.  My favorite steaks are cooked here at home on the grill.  DH does a great job.

The spaghetti sauce is made.  I even made Ghirardelli brownies for tomorrow.  The hardest part was opening the box! 

ATK made gluten free pizza dough and cookies today.  I wonder how long that food trend will last. 

Carole - I like steaks best at home too, but had an excellent fillet courtesy of my exDH at Ruths Chris last fall. Usually if I eat beef out I prefer something like Prime Rib that's too big for me to cook for one.

This is my "eat out" week I guess. Fuddruckers hamburgers on Wednesday & previously reported bus trip on Thursday. Dominoes group Friday w/lots of munchies. Going to a chamber choir concert downtown tonight and will eat at Cafe Ginger - excellent sushi & Asian food with no MSG. Tomorrow afternoon I have play tickets and not sure where we'll stop for dinner. Everything comes at once and then I have 2 weeks to recover and drop the five pounds I'll gain.

Hey, those Ghirardelli brownies are awesome, box or not!

Bedo, I'm sure you will look great in whatever you choose. What a happy occasion! Your May day celebration sounds like big fun too. I would take something simple like a fruit salad or pasta salad with spring vegetables. Something like tabbouleh would be good too.

Bedo, the wedding will be fine. You will be gorgeous, with or without those 6 lbs.

Our landing in Seville was a bit rough. As always happens, the third week of my Faslodex cycle brings some tummy issues, and that only gets worse when you are traveling. Succumbed to some really mediocre tourist food before I stated that we simply had to save energy to walk to decent places at the end of the day. Success!!! Two nights of really excellent fare at very fair prices. I have been walking between 6-8 hrs per day and instead of getting stronger, I seem to be loosing strength with increasing pain at the injection sites. This has me quite worried. I had attributed my lack of stamina to not moving enough all winter, but maybe this is permanent? Made it through THE two lowest days of the cycle [friday and saturday] sleeping over 8 hrs at night, plus a siesta, and things should now look up.

The big sites here are magnificent. I am way behind on sorting photographs but will throw up a few random shots for ambiance. Tomorrow morning we head to Valencia, and the walkup apartment. FIVE STORIES. It was cheap. If I can't do it, we will book a hotel. I have never once thrown away $200 but this might be a first time.

*susan*

Real Azahar, with gardens. By this time the sun was too high to get nice shots. Notice the water passageway in the steps.

That's it. I want to go to Europe again. Those pictures are so gorgeous.

Susan,I think Auntie is right. As I get older, I do find myself getting tired more easily and on my days off almost always take a nap. I don't think that I could walk 8 hours a day. I hope you are enjoying your meals again.

Could we have a pic of one? If it doesn't make you feel self conscious taking the pic?

Thanks for the reassurance on the wedding all. DD says I'm obsessing. She will take my mind off it when we fold 1,000,000 napkins and pot 5,000,000 herbs next Saturday for the tables?. This is a DIY event.

I'm afraid of my ex SIL. She's mean. She doesn't like me. She's in politics and 1/2 the time I can't remember who the vice president or Secretary of State is. She makes me feel dumb by always asking me about politics or something. My ex MIL thinks I'm "stuck up" because I can be quiet. It's been decades. I think it's true that when you see family again or in laws in this case-you revert to your old roles and dynamics.

I think the tabbouleh thanks Auntie. I'm afraid I would eat the brownie dough haha!

Susan - pictures are absolutely breath taking. I doubt I could have walked 6 hours a day when I was 25 and in top shape. Glad you're on the upswing from the SEs. What a fantastic trip. And you're right - dump the stairs if they're too difficult. $200 is a small price to pay for more comfortable circumstances on this magical vacation.

Bedo - oh the ex-in-law issues. Ugh! But Susan's right. Pick some obscure issue and dwell on it. (the effect on SAT scores of reading to 6 month old babies, the dangers facing Monarch butterflies?) Or just put your nose up in the air and smile and say 'how lovely to see you, you look wonderful, etc.' then say 'excuse me for a moment please' and move along. I agree, it's hard not to revert to old dynamics.

bedo - I think people who make themselves feel superior by making others feel inferior are really just insecure - keep that in your head when dealing with your former in-laws.  If nothing else, just remember that we all think you are fantastic and wonderful!

susan - excellent pics!  FWIW - I am amazed that you are walking as much as you are, don't feel bad - you're doing better than most of us!

eric - love it!

Eric, too cool!