So...whats for dinner?

SpecialK..those cupcakes are adorable!! Love them. Think I might attempt that for my grand twin daughters and grandson!! I need to get moving on that thought...I leave for Cancun on Halloween. So looking forward to a real trip away since diagnosis.

Oh, no! how will the _02143 family survive without cumin seeds? (teasing springing from deepest sympathies--I have a cabinet of spices from Penzey's that I really need to sort through.)

Carole - I am horrified that LA doesn't have a Penzey's. Too bad you didn't have a chance to go while you were up north. Ordering is good but actually walking into a store & getting to smell samples of everything is a fantastic experience. Have fun with your order.

Just did a google search and no Penzey store in the state of Louisiana.

The sausage was pretty crumbly, which is to be expected given the lack of emulsifier. The harissa from this book is not going to be a keeper. For now, I am going to be sticking with Ana Sortun's version from Spice. Served with some leftover saffron rice. Since, my workload is on pause while various committees confer, I know that I won't be working all that much this weekend. [Hence making sausage today.] So, we went to costco and bought hunks of beef. Bought a package of flap steak, and as I was looking at the chuck, Mr. 02143 noticed that the short ribs were $.50/lb cheaper! Score! So one of each. I have processed them into chunks and tomorrow I will grind. Two and half pounds will be 5-alarm chili, 5 lbs will become meatballs, and the rest will burgers for the grill [I think.] Tomorrow I will start some cut oats so I can have oatmeal bread this week for my Sunday breakfast at noon. Yea, I am on a cooking tear. I know that the work is still there. I know that I will get slammed. The magic freezer could use some new entries.

Never made it to Penzey's today, but will head there tomorrow. I now need ancho peppers for the chili. The kid's new house [assuming the lawyers stop yammering at each other and get me a document] will live just minutes from Penzey's. It won't be such a "voyage" if there is a grand baby to visit. Speaking of that grand baby, they had their first midwife appointment today and have been given a preliminary due date of May 8th. By my calculations, this grand baby was conceived in Copenhagen. Great start don't you think?

The stories here of Dads in decline are just so very hard to read. I guess I was lucky. As my father receded from reality he remained kind, gentle, and interested. The fact that he didn't remember what you said 10 minutes ago didn't change the underlying feature of his personality. He told stories of companies bought and sold, about his college buddies, anything at all. He was grateful when good food was put in front of him. He always said thank you and please. What I learned in those last five years was that, my father, was a truly kind and gracious person. He hadn't pretended to be someone else during his lifetime with filters.

Carole, There are a few things that I think Penzy's does particularly well. I like buying my Indian spices [whole] from them since they check for lead levels. They stock some excellent versions of Mexican chills and herbs. I think their sesame seeds and the like are far superior to the supermarket variety. In fact, my biggest issue with the supermarket is how long has a ground spice been sitting there? In general, if it is a spice that can be easily ground at home, I am going to buy the whole seed. If you would like suggestions on specific herbs and /or spices, I will let you know if I think Penzey's makes a superior product.

If work doesn't pick up again soon, you will all get very tired of hearing from me!

*susan*

I have a "fragrant" cabinet in my kitchen where I stored the jars of ground spices and seeds I purchased when I was reading about mideastern and classic Italian food. I have some other things I use fairly often in that cabinet and when I open the door I inhale the fragrance.

Good point, Susan, about shelf time of the spices we buy in supermarkets. If there's no cut-off date of when to buy them, they probably sit there indefinitely. The more popular items are undoubtedly fresher.

Dinner may be chicken salad eaten about 6 pm (early for us) before we drive to Abita Springs for the Abita Opry tonight. The important thing is to be sated so I won't be tempted to visit the concession stand. Fortunately the audience is so packed into the Abita town hall that there's hardly room to eat anything. The couple who sit on our right have aisle seats and buy an extra seat that's always vacant. The concessions are junky (and tempting) foods like hot dogs and brownies. The Abita Brewery root beer is full sugar and very good.

A pork butt roast is thawing. I will stuff it with chopped garlic and green onion seasoned with salt and cayenne and pop it into the oven tomorrow morning for noon dinner at my mamma's house. I will also make a lettuce/veggie salad and cook some green beans out of the freezer. My sister Michelle is also doing Atkins. She will have to provide a carb side dish for her dh which my dh and my mother will also eat.

I'm off to the farmers' mkt in Covington this morning. Last Sat. there was a good selection of vegetables and I didn't buy much because my refrigerator was already stocked with veggies from the supermarket. The young guy was there with his beautiful oyster mushrooms and range chickens. He had already sold out of the chickens. I bought one of them last year and it was huge.

Have a great Saturday.

In the middle of picking the remaining chicken off the rotisserie bird, I happened to think, "Susan would make stock with these bones." So I threw the bones into a pot with some onion, garlic and celery and now have an ice tray and some small cartons in the freezer, all filled with chicken stock or broth. It smelled really good simmering away.

I bought eggplants, tomatoes, bok choy, cucumbers, okra, and arugula at the farmers' market. Also feta cheese and a spread called skordalia with the subtitle "Ancient Greek Garlic Aioli." When I looked it up back here at home, all the recipes had a mashed potato base. I'm hoping this one doesn't since I'm avoiding white carbs for the short term. You don't use much of the skordalia anyway because it is very garlicky. I used some of it in the chicken salad.

One does not save $$ shopping at a farmers' market, not around here. The gallon Ziploc of arugula was $5 and the skordalia was $8. Teensy carton of feta cubes was $5. You just take a fistful of bills and hand them out.

The Boston Butt roast is stuffed and awaiting roasting tomorrow morning. And when straightening the refrigerator, I discovered fresh green beans to cook tomorrow. They seem to have snap left in them.

A man at the farmers' market bought numerous eggplants, volunteering that he planned to make baba ghanoush. I would like to make some, too, but was wondering if it would be good eaten with a fork. Without carb scoopers. Maybe just some raw veggies like cucumber slices or celery. Also, America's Test Kitchen had an interesting eggplant dish today that involved baked eggplant slices used to make rollups with a cheesy filling. Eaten with a tomato sauce.

Nance, I make the sausage with leg of lamb as well. I break down a boneless leg carefully. There are those huge and lovely muscles which are turned into kebabs, and then the other stuff which you have to remove silver-skin and those odd bits of cartilage or whatever it is. And that is what I grind. I think it might be even better, and works for us since a whole leg is just too much food for us at one time these days. I used to get all my Indian spices at the Indian stores, but there was a report about the lead amounts in those imported items, and that is when I switched to Penzey's.

Carole! Yes! Stock is good stuff and you are right. I make stock from that carcass, though I use the oven method so that I don't have to tend it. I eat Middle Eastern meze, of which baba ghanoush is a wonderful portion with lettuce leaves and cucumbers, and a fork [or if I am not in a restaurant, a spoon.] I like to have something with a bit of acid alongside the baba ghanoush. Lately my favorite items has been these Turkish lightly pickled beets that are shredded and mixed with some thickened yogurt. Sometimes I don't bother with the yogurt and just eat the beets alone. Add a bit of bulgar either in a salad or a simple bulgar pilaf and you have a complete meal. I admit that I generally have a bit of Lebanese flat bread on the table, but it appeals to me less and less.

Chili is made. All the beef is ground. Now I need to grind up some pork to make a pile of Italian meatballs which means a trip to the market after dinner. This morning, I arrived at Penzey's 15 minutes after they opened and the place was packed! Usually I am all alone in the store.

*susan*

Poor Mr. 02143. He has filled and emptied the dishwasher about 6 times in the past 2 days, plus washed dutch ovens, blenders [twice], roasting pans, nose en place bowls, countless cooking spoons, grinding parts [three times], and who all knows what else. And that is in addition to our regular meal dishes. But in return, he has 10 lbs of sausage, 4 qts of chili, and after tomorrow, 6 lbs of meatballs. The oatmeal bread I am trying for the first time is started, and I will do the rises in the AM. Will let you know if it is any good and possible to make before our Sunday lunch at noon. So tomorrow am I will finish the bread, and start on the meatballs, while the lamb bones [from the shoulder meat I used for the sausage] roast and then turn into stock. And then I will be delighted to get back to some coding which is much easier on my feet and back! Mr. 02143 doesn't think I need to make up for three months of simple meals in two days, but he is mighty excited to be stocking the magic freezer.

Special, I think you are going to have a deal and sell this condo! Our P&S was delayed [again] until Monday. Closing, as far as I know, should be around November 6th, but the real date will be based on the electrician completing the permitted work.

Okay... must go Clorox the countertops. There has been a lot of raw meat in the area today.

*susan*

Whew Susan!

specialk... Those are beautiful tile and granite selections!

SpecialK, not only are you a super organized chef/caterer, you're an interior decorator! The outdoor kitchen sounds beautiful and I'm sure it will be functional. I loved your having three possibilities for dinner at 5:30 pm!

Susan, your dh is a great guy for washing all those dishes and doing his part for stocking the magic freezer. Funny to have you say you're ready to go back coding and get a rest! Do you keep a written list of contents of the magic freezer or just remember what's in there? In general, what goes into the Italian meatballs?

At 7 am this morning, snuggled under the covers in a chilly bedroom, I wished my mother liked to eat Sunday lunch around 1 or 2 pm instead of 12 pm by the latest. But I got up and put the roast into the oven. My sister cooks her fresh pork roasts in the crock pot but I prefer the oven cooked. My sister has zero interest in cooking. It's a necessary nuisance for her. Now feeding her horses (and now her beef calves) is a different matter!

The Abita Opry last night was wonderful entertainment. I had a cup of dark roast decaf with some cream and sweetener and sneaked just a glance at some yummy looking desserts. The food is always prepared by a club as a fund-raising project. Last night was the Ladies Progressive Club founded in 1947. I am curious as to what kind of club that is. Progressive is a dirty word in this conservative country, a synonym for liberal. To be called a liberal is about the same insult as having your mother's legitimacy questioned.

Eric, I admire you for preparing your meals while you're away from home. It would be so much easier to eat in restaurants.

Lacey, I continue to be amazed that you eat out so often and manage your weight.

Happy Sunday.

Okay,sort of an emergency post...time sensitivity wise. Will respond to other comments later.

We discovered this very large round fungus in our yard this weekend, next to a smaller not so distinct one. Here are the pix:

The top one is around six inches in diameter. So Apparently it is a "puffball", which is supposedly safe to eat and one site even shows some interesting recipes. Has anyone ever eaten one of these? I am so torn since we will undoubtedly never have one again (it arrived this week from nowhere!). Would Love to try it but am recalling my awful night last weekend! Whaduya think? I do not plan to even touch the other guy...it is a small one with that reverse umbrella look.

It is freezing and I am mired in clothes management/switcharound once again. Better get back to it or we will have to sleep under a ton of summer clothes! Just wanted to ask my "critical" question.

That would be fine if you hated to have to cook! I hope you can find some interesting spots to eat.

Lacey, I've never eaten a puffball but know people who have. Keep in mind that even non poisonous mushrooms can cause problems in people with sensitivities. With your allergies, I wouldn't risk it.