So...whats for dinner?

susan - I had totally forgotten stagefree (Ebru) was there - I read her posts often, how awesome you got to see each other, and what a wonderful sounding day you had together! Yay!

DH and I signed a contract today for solar panels.  He was more gung ho than I was and he usually has good instincts. 

We had delicious poboys today for lunch from Firehouse Poboys.  Brisket on wheat.  The bread is good and the meat is tender and really flavorful.  DH humored me and went to pick them up.

Nance, I love your nature scene at your house. 

I'll have to look for the Rao marinara recipe. 

Dinner will probably be dh's beef stew and rice, warmed up. 

I have a small Krups that I've had for a long time but never use. It makes pretty good espresso but I like cappuccino and the milk was a pain to clean out of the frother. Yum on the poboys and great idea on the solar panels.

Susan - wonderful that you got to spend time with ebru - she sounds like such a lovely interesting person. Your trip gets better and better.

I never cared much for gnocchi -- too doughy or something (which is odd considering how much I love doughy dumplings) until my DSIL made them with ricotta instead of potatoes. Not exactly sure what her process or recipe is but they are really good.

Bedo - thanks for the wedding report. Did you manage to avoid the ex-in-laws?

It's been a couple of days while I ate up leftovers, but tonight was the Rao's marinara with leftover turkey breast & artichoke hearts. I LOVE this gravy, and I don't like very many. I may have to save my nickels & dimes to continue purchasing Raos. Carole - if you find a recipe, please post. Nance - are you the one who mentioned the lemon chicken by the Rao's chef? I'd love that recipe too.

http://www.marthastewart.com/339001/raos-famous-le...

Minus, this link has the lemon sauce within it and if you follow to the next recipe, the marinara.

auntie - OMG - cutest baby deer ever!  I actually said OMG out loud.

bedo - yay for the excellent wedding!  I am firmly convinced that if either of my grown children ever gets married I will be a blubbering idiot.  I have a track record - I even cried when my son was awarded "Swimmer of the Year" when he was about 10.  Like, uncontrollably - although thinking back it was probably perimenopause that caused it, lol!

Susan, what a wonderful, exquisite and personally enriching day for you and Ebru. Sooo happy for you nd DH. Loved the travels around the palace! And who better to have a serendipitous chance to personally thank a chef than you!

Carole, lots of our neighbors have installed solar panels. You will probably be happy with that plan.

Nance...sooooo darling! You do have the best nature views!

I must check out the site for those recipes.

Tonight we ate in Harvard Sq. at The Red House. We had an assortment of small plates.....a pea tendril salad with goat cheese, a warm kale salad, scallops over shredded parsnip and carrots, calamari over mizuna (sp?) which looked liked dandelion leaves, so I was afraid to try it, and DH had a small plate of drunken lobster rigatoni. They were all good! We saw Mandy Patinkin in a two man vaudeville musical with Taylor Mac, The Last Two People on Earth. I was amazed at how perfectly they sang the lyrics to 30 songs without a break! I kept wondering how long MP had to practice them...and how tired one must be after a show like that.

An uplifting thing happened in the theater right before the show. Soon after an elderly couple got settled in their seats directly in front of us, an usher came up to them asked their names, and presented the husband with his wallet. He was baffled...and the usher explained that the restaurant manager from down the street brought the wallet to the theater after the man left it on the table. Apparently they had heard the couple talking about going to the performance. So the theatre staff looked up where the couple was sitting and brought the wallet to him. He was amazed and thankful, and really happy to see all of his credit cards and cash. For all of the bad behavior we hear about everywhere, it was lovely to see this act of honesty and kindness.

Early kindergarten class tomorrow due to a needed switch in schedule.

Bedo, lol at the Spanish conversation at the wedding!  Priceless!  Glad that everything went well.  Your in-laws sound like you're much better off with them in the "ex" category.

Eric, what a momentous project you undertook with your dd's auto.  I'm amazed at and impressed with your knowledge and motivation.  It's so much easier to shell out some $$ instead of going to all that effort.  Especially when you're such a busy man with your responsibilities. 

Nance, the fawn is adorable.  You definitely need some nature cameras set up on your property.  We once were partially surrounded by woods and saw deer but development has wiped out most of the forested areas.  We're left with many squirrels and I am seeing a bunny rabbit out in the yard.  I hope he/she is careful because we have hawks on the lookout for unsuspecting prey. 

Minus, in your situation I would probably just buy the Rao since it is so delicious.  There's nothing unusual about the recipe.  It's pretty much what we all follow to make our basic marinara.  The difference may be in the quality of the tomatoes but Nance and Susan have their home-grown tomatoes.  I can buy the San Marzano (sp?) canned tomatoes at Fresh Market and have done so but I have to question whether they're that much better than good CA tomatoes.

Lacey, your dining out experiences continue to make you our dining out queen!  There are definitely advantages to living in a major city.

The components for tonight's dinner, all out of the freezer:  4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, 2 cartons of cooked white beans, smoked sausage, small carton of turkey broth.  DH got the 4 qt. Crockpot down before he left to head for the golf course.  I plan to brown the chicken thighs and the smoked sausage and let all the ingredients cook in the Crockpot.  There is more cooked rice in the refrigerator from the delivered meals.  And some salad makings. 

Looking forward to another Susan post.

For some reason, today was a "my back is sore day" and then I worked it hard! We arrived at Aya Sophia at 9:20, just before the cruise ship passengers, and spent hours exploring this former church/mosque. I took so many pictures, and they take so long to load, I am going to have to pare back substantially, but here you go:

*susan*

Bedo -- lol -- perfect! You go girl!

Oh Susan, what pictures! Marvelous!

Lacey, what a nice story about the elderly couple. It does make you hopeful. Seems like the St. Louis news is nothing but murder and mayhem.

Busy day here. I started with ricotta. I wanted to try making it with 2% milk, mostly to get an idea of what the difference in taste and texture would be. Like you Carole, I did use cream. It turned out quite good. Don't know if I'll make it that way all the time, but now I know it still is better than what I can buy.

From there I moved on to the Rao's Marinara. It's such a simple recipe I really didn't have great expectations here either. I was pleasantly surprised at how excellent it is. Perhaps its the amount of olive oil or the tomatoes. I don't know, but I can heartily recommend the recipe. I did add fresh basil and oregano at the end, but I don't think those were the deciding factors.

Next was pasta. Nothing surprising here. I made enough for tonight's lasagna and enough to freeze for a couple of other meals. While I was all floury, I decided to make cream biscuits to go with some macerating strawberries I made yesterday. I set aside a small amount of ricotta which I sweetened lightly and added a tiny bit of vanilla, will serve it on top of the strawberries.

It took about as long to clean up all this mess as it did to make it. Whew!

DH, bless his heart, had the nerve to ask if we were having homemade bread with the lasagna. Really??!!

I may have to think about a trip to Istanbul.  The pictures are so enticing. 

Nance, I made my ricotta the same way:  2 per cent milk and cream.  It was delicious and creamy.  I have never eaten cream biscuits but they sound wonderful.  With or without strawberries.  Bread is one of my favorite food categories. 

When I read the Rao recipe, I noticed the large amt. of olive oil.  I'll have to give it a try without modifying.

Why yes, Minus,

"poor fa vor, day kay tar say los pan-till owns, E los pan till owns see ohs E see in toe say! lol, you can imagine the rest. I can't read Spanish. This is my guess at phonetic spelling. lol

I'm an idiotic

I hope to honor the Spanish language by leaning it and by becoming as fluent, as best I can, we are the only country that only speaks one language!

Enjoying the pictures, Susan.  Cannot identify with being a sultan.  It must have been nice for them.  I would probably have been in the servant class.

Took out a boneless lamb shoulder roast last night to thaw.  It's not oven weather but we need to eat the food in the freezer.  Will probably use fresh rosemary, garlic and olive oil as seasoning agents along with s & p.  If I were in top moving about and walking condition, I would use the outside gas grill as an oven but that would entail lots of trips to the patio checking on the cooking status.  Plus I don't have a disposable drip pan.  So I'll probably just let the a/c and oven heat duke it out.

Polenta will be an easy and delicious side.

Nance, I'll bet that lasagna was out of this world?

Susan, love the pictures. I find shopping exhausting under the best of circumstances. I must say though, I find the thought of a market just for spices thrilling. I'm a little sad the trip is ending. It's been a wonderful time, thank you for sharing it with us.

Carole, this is where a pressure cooker comes in handy. You could cook the lamb in a very short period of time with a small amount of heat.

The lasagna was mighty delicious. It was the first time I've made most of the components from scratch.

Looking forward to my pedicure today. Dinner is tbd.

Susan those pictures are so beautiful I almost feel as I am there! Thank you so much for sharing them. I feel as though my world has been expanded (as you must)

Here are some of the local fish sold at the local Farmer's Market on Saturdays and Wednesday afternoons.

Bluefish • Butterfish • Cod • Crab • Flounder / Fluke • Haddock • Littleneck Clams • Lobster • Mackerel • Monkfish • Mussels • Oysters • Pollock • Quahogs • Scallops • Scup / Porgy • Sea Bass • Sea Robins • Skate Wings • Squid / Calamari • Steamers • Striped Bass • Swordfish • Tautog • Tuna

I have a lot of exploring to do!

Although my landlords know a place to dig Quahogs. They won't tell me. People in Rhode Island would rather share their spouses than their Quahog digging spot.