So...whats for dinner?

Susan - is my memory correct & this is your 3 week treatment again? Hope you're doing OK. Hard to believe it's been three weeks since I met Susan & Lacey in Boston.

Monica, really love the picture of you and the bear lol!

I have my dad's old fashioned meat grinder. It grinds well but it's kind of a pain to clean. I actually like trimming and cutting up whole pieces of meat -- chickens, large cuts of beef, etc. I've gotten better at it with practice. Perhaps I should have been a butcher.

Minus, you are right. This is my "off" week. Strangely, this is my lowest energy week. But, this cycle, though I am tired, I haven't napped much. Three weeks since we had dinner together? Hard to believe! Next week I have my monthly blood work, and my "oncologist" meeting, though this month I see a PA I have never met before. Next month, I see my onc again at her new workplace.

What a day we have had. We all signed a P&S. I might add a P&S that I worked very very hard to complete, and the Sellers have signed as off about 5 minutes ago!!!! But, the kitchenAid was troublesome. I wanted to make Mr. 02143 some cookie. While creaming the butter and sugar, the paddle was hitting the side of the bowl rendering it unusable. So, I pulled the kid's machine from the basement and finished the cookie dough. We will figure out the problem tomorrow. The dough has to chill and when it was ready, i turned on the oven and weighed the dough. When I put the cookie into the oven, it, well, started a fire! The damn element was on fire! At a loss, since Mr. 02143 was sleeping, I opened the Breville Oven box which arrived two days ago [my b-day present from my Mom], prepped the box, and then cooked the cookies. Not as even as the manufacturer states, but it is a decent oven!

What a day. I don't think I want one like this for at least a full week. Except, we have a purchase and sale! Next step, the Master Deed.

*susan*

lacey - my mom had a hand cranked meat grinder - wish I could have brought it back to my home but it was so heavy the shipping would have been ridiculous!

susan - yay on the real estate deal!  Yesterday we drove over to the condo (3.5 hour drive) removed all of our staging materials, which filled my decently sized SUV, and did some superficial cleaning. We were there as long as it took t get there, then we drove back again!  Long day in the car and I discovered with all that sitting that I do indeed need to continue with physical therapy on my hip. The owner of the furniture that was still in the condo (our friend had left the contents to him) had two guys come and give estimates for whole lot, as the real estate agent indicated that the new owners have modern taste and will be having a decorator come and "do" the whole condo prior to them coming down to stay in it from NY.  Closing is in 9 days, DH will drive back over for that.  Also, apparently, in addition we have weird fires in common, lol!

Ha ha Minus, I don't think I could cut up people. I have a hard time watching the Knick and Grey's Anatomy when they're operating.

Steak and soba noodle stir fry tonight. Oh, and some bear claws I just took out of the oven.

red - oh no!  Hope you are ok! 

Red, I'm glad (hopeful?) that you're OK. I remember a few years back on this thread suggesting that "Velcro cable management" be checked out with an Internet search engine.

The crud has found me and I've been hiding in my hotel room hoping that I won't pass it on to anyone else.

Eric - sorry the crud caught you. I've been wondering how your "duty" is going. Not fun!!! Hope you feel better soon.

Red, I really hope that your fall has not done much damage. Falls really do scare me.... Please continue to let us know how you are recovering.

Eric, oh yucko! Crud away from home is such a drag. Perhaps it won't hang around for long. Are you able to work while the crud resides in your body?

Minus, so glad that you enjoyed the concert. Original instruments is a real speciality. Once upon a time, some of us just faked it, but it has become a career. You do modern or ancient, but very few do both. There is something about great music that just lifts the soul.

Cookies tonight were done in the "real" oven. I waited for the "kids" to return from NH before baking. The "kids" went to NH and called in my mother and both sisters. They all showed up, and they told them about the "peanut." Tomorrow, they will see the boy's family and then I am allowed to tell the world that they are having a baby! My mother is excited, but as always, her happiness is tempered by real concerns, like finishing school, paying for a new house, etc etc.... haven't heard a word from my sisters yet. I suspect I will need to call them. They are pretty remote these days.

The "kids" stopped in NH at a mall to buy my new mixer. The salesperson made a BIG mistake. She gave us the 20% one item discount even though this KitchenAid was on the exclusion list. Whooohoooo!!!! Parts to fix the old mixer have been ordered. Eventually, we will have a mixer with no home. I will either gift it to a young cook, or sell it on Craigslist. I have thirty days to determine if this machine will have the power that I need. Over the next month, I am going to make this mixer work hard to earn its place. Who needs some bagels? Ground meat? Pasta?

I started some bread tonight, and threw it into the fridge to rise overnight. Two hours later, the damn dough has already doubled in size! Whoops. Had to roll it out, add the cinnamon swirl, and now the second proof is underway. I won't get to bed for hours. Thank goodness I had a great nap today. The mixer audition has begun.

Lacey, not sure how I feel about this pink crap.... well, the fact that I used the word crap is an indication. How does this help? Who is the audience? It was a chilly and damp day today. Glad you did not freeze!

*susan*

Mr. 02143 could not resist and has cut into bread no 1. He states that though a smidgen misshapen [rolled the dough too wide and then had to scrunch a bit to get it into the pan] that the flavor is delicious. The new toaster oven performed well when he made his bread into toast. October 2015 is becoming the "appliance month." I plan to send one loaf of bread to the boy's parents' house because I have to make other harder-to-mix items. This mixer has to earn it's place in my kitchen.

*susan*

Carole, what's for Sunday dinner today?

Where is Bedo???

Susan, that bread looks good. It sounds like you need one of the 1950s vintage "sits on the floor" Hobart mixers. Que up the Crocodile Dundee movie's, "That's not a knife" line. :-)

It sounds like good news for everyone on the property front. I've only been involved in 3 real estate transactions my entire life and each time I was *SO* very glad when they were done.

Red, they make computer cable management stuff that can be found (cheaply) at the big box home improvement stores or very likely at the local hardware stores. The stuff does a good job at keeping the cables out of the way of peoples' feet and chairs' legs. You don't want to have the ER doc have to remember to keep a calm face when they look at your ankle X-ray....

Auntie, I hope you get some smiles from/with your dad. That is probably the most difficult, most emotionally draining...and most rewarding thing one must do....especially when a smile appears on their face.

Thanks everyone. I could tell I was going to get a cold by Wednesday and it sort of stayed away until Friday night. Several folks I'm working with went into Washington, DC yesterday to see the sights and today they're going on a train ride to look at the changing leaves. I decided to stay in hiding so I wouldn't pass it around. Sometimes giving isn't the best option. Yesterday I slept on and off (mostly on) and remembered more than my fair share of both weird and not so weird dreams. Today, I'm watching TV and wandering around on the Internet on the laptop. I'm feeling way better than yesterday, which I like very much.

So, this has me pondering my KitchenAid history. I never would have bought such a luxury item, but my friend Laura, a very rich friend, developed RA and was no longer able to lift the bowl. So, since she is both rich and generous, she gifted me her machine along with many of the attachments. I was able to buy the pasta roller/cutter set at a no-longer-in-business store called Kitchens Etc which carried great brands at good prices. [The online store of the same name only bought the name, but has a totally different business model.] This mixer changed my life, seriously. But, I was grinding meat one Sunday and engine oil began to ooze out of the head. Not good. I literally ran to the Williams-Sonoma in Copley Square to buy a replacement. I mean, I had 10 lbs of meat that needed to be ground. They told me that this Wiliams-Sonoma, and only this one offered a lifetime guarantee! Three years later, this replacement machine died during a difficult bagel kneading session. Again, into the car, into Copley Square and they did replace it!!! They didn't want the stripped-gear machine back, so I took it to Salem, MA to the KitchenAid guy and paid $90 to have it completely refurbed. So now, we had two complete machines, plus all the add-ons like paddles for three. The machine that broke the other day turns out to be machine 2, the kid's machine. She says that screw has been missing for several years. Why it didn't matter until Friday? I have no idea. Machine No 2 has been repaired [gotta love ereplacementparts.com] by Mr. 02143 several times. So in fact, I have not killed as many machines as I thought. But, they keep breaking, and of course, they only break when I am using them, mid-project.

Bagels are on the agenda today. I will make 24 mini-bagels and the kid will take a bunch to work tomorrow for her colleagues to enjoy. The cinnamon bread is delicious. The second loaf will go North with the kids to his family.

*susan*

Nance, today's Sunday noon dinner was stewed chicken and gravy, white rice (cooked in my mother's rice cooker), fresh okra and tomatoes (canned) cooked with garlic and bacon, and a nice salad of mixed lettuces and additions. It was raining this morning and dark in the bedroom so I didn't wake up until almost 9 am. I leapt out of bed and went to the kitchen. DH retrieved the two chickens from the outside refrigerator and I began cutting them into pieces. The stewed chicken is made by coating the chicken with a seasoned flour and then frying it in oil. I poured out the oil and cleaned the big pot. Cooked minced onion in butter and a little grapeseed oil in the same pot, added the garlic and some flour and cooked the roux a few minutes, then poured in a carton of chicken broth. Returned the chicken to the pot in the liquid and simmered until the chicken was done and a nice gravy had formed. The browned flour cooks off the chicken.

I skipped the gravy and rice and ate some chicken, which was quite delicious. I have one chicken, minus the legs and wings, left and also the backbone of the other chicken. I'll simmer this raw chicken tomorrow to make broth (stock?) and will use the chicken meat for chicken salad.

My mother cooked stewed chicken the same way back when she was feeding a big family.

Minus, the concert sounds special. I enjoyed your description.

Eric, what a shame that you missed the excursions. But how thoughtful of you not to go.

Susan, I'm just glad that bread wasn't within reach. I'll bet the aroma was heavenly.

Red, please follow Eric's advice about fastening the cables. You don't need those bruises.

Lacey, good to hear how much you're enjoying the company of the 30 somethings. It says something about your youthful spirit.