So...whats for dinner?

Oh Bedo - this list makes my mouth water!!!

Wow Bedo, serious fish envy here!

Carole - I agree - I found the relief that nothing much was expected of me an interesting side benefit of BC. And goodness knows it's been a treat since most SEs are negative. It took me awhile to learn to scale back my expectations of myself. Now maybe I'm overdoing the "loafing" a little?

Chickenfoot (dominoes) this afternoon. We never "assign" food so it's an eating adventure. One time everyone brought sweets. Another time 3 people brought cut fruit. Could be anything from chili con queso to cold boiled shrimp. Whatever appears, I know I'll be too full to worry about dinner.

Love bluefish, Red,......but ate it frequently enough that I developed allergy symptoms to it. Hate my allergies and their rainbarrell effect). We used to go out on fishing boats to catch them at the Jersey shore...and more recently on the Cape in August warmer water. I dare not eat it now...sadly. DH eats it in restaurants whenever it is offered.

Carole, I'm so glad that your recuperation has gone in a way that has allowed for you to be so moblle. Yay!

I might have benefitted from a limit of clothes to bring to NH....however the weather forecast was not helpful for that! It is expected to be freezing tonight and by Sunday, beach weather. Oy!

We took forever to get here today....partially because we had to head towards Winnipesaukee to find the cable co we now use, to get some digital adapter (important to DH) for the TVs.

But we did make it here after Mem Day weekend traffic delays and a slow jag to cable co, ....and upon our arrival, what always makes my heart smile, is that our house was exactly the way we left it save one small dead fly on the kitchen floor. Always amazes and pleases me!

For dinner we ordered take out from a local Greek place instead of the local pizza place. I had baked scallops with broccoli and salad, and DH had spinach pie and a salad. The combo (we shared) was delightful....and we had baklava for dessert.

The really great news is that after several tries the fire is a blazin' and it needs to be.

Am thinking about your long flight home Susan, and hoping that you are able to sleep during that with wonderful dreams about your fabulous adventure!

Enjoy the completion process of DD's "wheels" as well as the anticipation of her senior year, Eric.... a punctuated time for sure!! That car completion seems to be a great metaphor for her life stage....

What did you declare?

Spanish saffron [fine], Spanish saffron [especiale], Spanish smoked paprika, Spanish hot smoked paprika, Turkish smoked paprika, Turkish saffron, nigella seeds, Urfa peppers, Aleppo peppers, some mix that the guy talked me into, Turkish turmeric, and Spanish olive oil.

Not shown is the sour cherry jam, and some roasted nuts.

*susan*

Ha! That IS a treasure trove of fine treats Susan! So did you bring an extra suitcase for these....or did your DH toss his underwear as you travelled, to make packing room....like my DH did in Italy? Glad you made it home well, and that no one challenged your delightful treasures! Code on......

Oh I am another one who loves bluefish. And I really, really love smoked bluefish. This is not a fish for people who don't like fish though. Much like mackerel, it is a "strong" and oily fish with lots of character. After smoking, I like to make a bluefish mousse to serve as part of an hors d'oeuvre platter, or make bluefish-herbed cheese toasts, or as a part of a breakfast, or as a substitute for lox on a bagel. When eating it not smoked, I like to grill it and serve with tons of lemon, and perhaps something like a dill-butter or Romesco sauce. In fact, now that I think about it, I have two fillets from last season that my friend caught off Cape Cod. It is a short season, so you have to eat it during the short window of time.

Carole, I am so pleased that your foot recovery is coming along so very well. Something about feet.... too often recovery is neither fast nor full. Such complicated bone structures in the foot, and far too many surgeons that are not up to the task.

Eric, your DD should drive this pieced together car with great pride. How many seniors drive a car that they built with their Dads?

We did not throw out underwear. We left travel books and gifts of maple syrup. Our bags were lighter coming home than going to.... and I am a tad lighter as well. I had lost more in Barcelona, but Istanbul included some wonderful food with the family and a friend but less walking. Mr 02143 was at Wilson Farms this morning at the opening and bought some great looking vegetables, eggs, and chicken along with some plants [dill, parsley, chives, tomatoes.] We are on our way to having a stocked kitchen once again. Made an omelette for lunch. Funny how different the food tastes here!

*susan*

Susan, your trip sounded amazing. I was particularly interested in Istanbul because our next trip to Sicily includes two one day stops in Istanbul.

Welcome home.

Mo37

Welcome home Susan. Passport control is never fun. I did make one lady behind the counter smile for just a brief instant. She probably got fired for that severe transgression.

The spices look great.

The car is temporarily done. The last part, the front passenger side headlight frame, had to be ordered from the main US Volvo warehouse and has not yet arrived. Tonight while DD was asleep, I spent about 5 hours and made one assembly from the broken parts of four other frames. It looks weird, but it's perfectly safe and will work fine until the new parts arrive. Tomorrow morning it will be interesting to see her reaction when she realizes she can drive the car.

Bedo, boo hoo on the blue fish being sold out.  I wonder if the red fish you bought is the same red fish that we have here in Louisiana.  It's a favorite fish for sports fisherman to catch.  It has to be cleaned in a certain way to prevent a fishy taste. 

Eric, I had a nice Volvo sedan once that I bought new and drove it for my usual 12 years.  When I traded it in, it looked so good that it was driven onto the used car lot at once.  My only complaint was the a/c.  The heat was more than adequate. 

I've been leafing through a stack of Cooking Light magazines with some Bon Appetit mixed in and cutting out recipes to keep.  So far the collection of keepers is small.  I will probably let the CL subscription expire.  The trend now is dishes to cook fast with shortcuts.  I can pretty much do that on my own. 

I found an easy recipe for Leftover Lamb Curry yesterday.  It is non-gourmet and fit the bill for a prep that didn't require a lot of standing.  Ingredients were apple, onion, celery, garlic chopped in food processor.  Cooked in some butter and olive oil with curry powder and ground thyme.  Addition of tomatoes and chicken broth.  Simmered with lamb cut into pieces and seasoned with s & p. 

DH loved it  served over polenta enriched with a little butter and grated parm/reg.  I liked it, too.  The recipe will go into the notebook.

Nance, I have liked the lamb I ordered from the IN farmer and will probably order again in the fall.

Minus, the green V-8 I bought some time ago tastes ok.  Kind of like apple juice, but it is so unappealing in its color that I will probably dump the rest of it.  Life is too short to drink something that barely tastes ok and is ugly to look at.  Unless it's medicine that's necessary.  I would rather drink water with breakfast to swallow my pills! 

Happy Sunday.

Carole - thanks for the green V-8 review. I'll leave it off my list.

The first car I owned was an old humpy back Volvo - 1958 maybe. It had over 100K miles when I bought it Wonderful car. Of course no A/C but I lived in NM then and it cooled off at night. The only problem was a tendency to vapor lock. I always carried a gallon jug of water so it wasn't a major problem, but it really shocked people to see me jump out, pop the hood & poor out water to cool when I was 7 & 8 & 9 months pregnant.

Eric - I can't tell you how great I think it is that you are spending time with your daughter to pass on some of your auto skills (not to mention your cooking skills). She will value the car because of the work she put into it, but even more she will value the time with you. My Dad also taught by letting us do it, whether it was wallpapering our own rooms, changing car oil, tying a fishing lure, roofing a house, installing a new toilet, etc. He had so little time away from work but so much patience. We'll look forward to hearing your DD's reaction when she sees the car is drivable.

Readjusting has been hard from SOME members of this family. I poked my head into my husband's work studio around 5:45 last night to see if I should start dinner and he was fast asleep. I check every hour until 10PM when I decided I was simply too hungry not to eat something NOW. I made a bit of bulghar and was just sitting down to eat when he emerged. Don't think he ate anything, but was in bed with me at 11PM and claims he went right to sleep again. He woke at 4:15, and I was up at 5:30. So, I slept 30 minutes later today than yesterday. I have just learned that he ate a huge bowl of granola at 5am since he was starving!

Tonight is family dinner.... tandoori chicken thighs, lentils, rice, and I think I will try to make a spinach dish of some kind, either a "curry" or a saag.

My first car was a 1968 navy blue beetle. It cost me $400 and died within three weeks and I didn't have the money to fix it. Dumb mistakes kids make.

*susan*

My first car was a faded red 62 VW beetle. I paid $325 for it and it required another $250 of work, which I could ill afford. After two rebuilt motors, I replaced it with a 63 model with slightly fewer miles on it. I had two more VWs after that, one a microbus. I finally got tired of having to scrape the windshield from the inside during the winter and having one foot freeze while the other burned up. I married dh, who had a Ford. That's not why I married him but it was a point in his favor. He also had a washer and dryer. That's why I married him ;-)

Nance - I love the point in your DH's favor. Washer & dryer true story. My son had a condo with a washer & dryer when he first met DIL. She lived in a tiny walk-up with a Murphy Bed so she went over every weekend & he did her wash. Fast forward 14 years. Two years ago I was visiting and they had purchased a front loading washer & dryer the year before. I wanted to run a load so asked DIL to show me how. She said she she didn't have a clue. DS always does the wash and she had never even touched the units.

Salad Dressing question - does anyone have a good Roquefort or blue cheese dressing? I'm looking for the creamy, fattening kind maybe w/mayo or sour cream, not the oil kind. Thanks in advance.

Rao's update. I just ate the leftovers of my first Rao's meal (cooked turkey, artichoke hearts, black olives). I meant to add mushrooms but never got a round tuit. I think Carole's right. It is economical for me to buy this wonderful sauce since I got two full meals out of 1/2 of a jar.