So...whats for dinner?

SK - what a lovely outdoor living space! I would spend the entire winter out there.

GG! Great to "see you"!

Monica -- love the hat and the adorable grandbaby. Too cute!

Chi - I would LOVE that oil and vinegar shop.

Carole - we really must take that streetcar ride to Mandina's -- it's one of the places where I want to eat and never seem to get there. We are seriously thinking about NOLA again this Christmas for Reveillion. In fact, we have reservations already for Beau Rivage although I haven't found a NOLA hotel yet. If we do go, I hope we can meet again for lunch at least.

Lacey - sounds like a lovely anniversary date and I send you and your DH my best wishes.

It's been a busy few days. Monday was dad duty again -- taking him shopping and to a doctor's appointment, plus a few other errands. A friend went with me this time and we decided to make a night of it, staying in the city then going to the new St. Louis IKEA on Tuesday. It's been years since I've been to an IKEA and she had never been, so off we went. It was fun and interesting, although the only things I bought were a couple of kitchen gadgets -- a nice stainless steel expandable pot rack and a small stainless steel baking pan that is the perfect size for lasagna for two. I also grabbed a couple of jars of lingonberries, which are much cheaper there, and some frozen Swedish pancakes. There wasn't much else that interested me (since I'm already fully furnished lol) and I won't need to visit for many more years. Oh, I forgot -- I also bought some of their fresh cinnamon rolls for DH which were pretty darn tasty.

Last night I made country style ribs with potatoes, onions and sauerkraut in the pressure cooker. It was really really good. The meaty ribs were really tender, the whole peeled potatoes were perfect and everything flavored by the meat. I'm loving the pressure cooker more and more. I've been doing some reading about pressure cooking and decided to try hard boiled eggs in it. They came out perfect and were easier to peel, the fresh fresh eggs are very difficult usually. About 6 minutes start to finish. I came upon the egg instructions while looking for instructions for cooking potatoes for mashing. I'm going to try that next. Mashed potatoes is one my least favorite things to make but DH considers them an essential food (I don't). I like pressure cooking so much, I'm really considering upgrading my cooker. I would like something that cans too, but I can't decide between electric or stove top. Research is called for.

This morning I ground some chuck for chili tonight. I still have a few peppers from the garden that will go into it. I made a small investment in a meat grinder and sausage stuffer on e-bay. It is by no means heavy duty and would not suffice for the amount of meat Susan processes, but it suits my purpose for the small amounts I do. I seriously doubt that the motor will last all that long, but I bought it just to get my feet wet with grinding and sausage making. If I decide I like doing it, I'll invest in the attachments for my mixer, which are considerably more expensive. I have enough chuck left to use in the lasagna I plan to make Sunday. That will be pasta and sauce making day as well, in addition to the ricotta.

Sorry for those I missed - Susan I DO hope your real estate venture concludes successfully SOON!

Hello to the new folks! Hope you find our company enjoyable. I'm always learning something here!

Monica, re: carrots, if they were older or more mature and "woody" I can see that they might not tenderize, but otherwise that's a mystery. I usually have the opposite problem, they turn to mush.

The carrots... I had this problem just last week. I have decided that I need to steam them before roasting when using commercially grown carrots. And that includes commercially grown carrots that are organic.

Wrinkles in our Master Deed keep popping up. I really, really hope that we actually close tomorrow.

*susan*

The garden is closed. Squid and a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream for dinner. 2 pieces of pizza for lunch one, with puttanesca sauce,one plain and gatorade for lunch. Coffee for Breakfast. I am on vacation and degenerating rapidly. My grand-dog on my lap inherited my hair. Will write tomorrow- am in ice cream stupor.

Too much ice cream. Ice cream stupor. Will write tomorrow.

My scary pumpkin and the way I feel

Hey Lacey - this one's for you!

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/08/kale-parmesan-fried-egg-tartine.html

Bedo I love the picture of you and grand puppy. What kind of dog is it? Good luck on your labs.

I am trying to resist going to a used book sale this a.m. No more shelf room at home......

I've dry-brined a turkey breast to fix today. DH insists on dressing (of course) so he will have that and I will have baked corn. The main reason for fixing this rather large turkey breast is to have leftovers for sandwiches. Last week I made buns so that should be good combo. I'm also making a couple of mini pies - spicy pumpkin for me and peach for DH.

Tomorrow is Geezer Brigade day to load the truck to move DH's sister and her husband to North Carolina. It will be bittersweet and nostalgic (not to mention hard work), considering their poor health. No doubt we will have dinner with the fam tomorrow.

Awwwwww, so cute!!

My granddog is a holy terror, sadly and much to my great disappointment. She is untrainable (and there are not many dogs that I believe are untrainable), hyper, spastic, crazy and difficult to be around. The kids adopted her from the Animal Protective Association when she was a previously failed adoption. It was abundantly clear why she was returned, although for some reason they couldn't see it. It may have been better if they had worked at it a little harder when she was a pup but they didn't. So now they have a dog that is not much fun and because of that, she gets ignored a lot. As Elizabeth Woodhouse said "I can train any dog in 5 minutes. It's training the owner that takes longer."

This is a nightmare!!! BoA stopped the wire transfer. The pat answer "fraud" concerns. Five hours after the request was made, the money is finally moved, but the Registry closes in 20 minutes. Oh my goodness!!!! Such a total nightmare. Fingers crossed my fellow eaters!

*susan*

DONEDONEDONE!!!!! It is ours..... all recorded and paid for. The girl-child is dancing.

*susan*

Cool!!!!!!!!

Red - dying to hear the results of the book sale. I can't pass up going & I can't pass up buying. Just ordered books for Christmas presents. I do have a Kindle, but I prefer to hold a real book in my hand - so yes I'm drowning in books too. I started a project 3 years ago to get rid of books I'm never going to read again so I could move one of the floor to ceiling bookcases that backs up to the guest bathroom tub access. Original plan was to re-do shower. I probably gave away 200 books, but it turned out I started re-reading many of the others & decided I wanted to keep them to read again when I'm 80. It would be embarrassing to count the books I have, but maybe instructional. Or frightening.

Garden - glad to see you around more.

Susan - WOO HOO!!. I bet this will be the absolutely last time you'll want to discuss houses. Just tell your daughter they have to live there for the rest of their lives.

Nance - I've heard of a number of dogs on tranquilizers. Have they considered that? My granddog is also a rescue dog w/lots of emotional & physical issues, but my son has been resolute about who is boss. The turkey sounds just about right for comfort food.

Lacey - Hope you have fun with the kids. Good luck with the dog sitting.

Book sale was a bust..... I bought one cookbook from one of the larger churches here in m y hometown and a unopened 2 disc "lullaby" CD set---midnight sonata, claire de lune, etc. I was proud of me. It is a fund raiser to provide benefits for people who are down and out, but the sale was pretty down and out today........and I was there when they opened.... kidn of sad.

Just home from having Dad to the café for the all you can eat Friday Walleye..... he "skipped" lunch so he could pig out... and he ate 3 huge pieces of fish, a pile of green beans and a helping of coleslaw and a soda....brought the rolls home. I had the fried chicken, which was excellent.....

Yeah Susan!

All you readers, I'm going to face the librarian today and see what the fine is for my unreturned books. I recently read " A walk in the woods" but my all time favorite was Cutting for Stone. But maybe I'll head over to the book thread

Minus, yes I am on a 4 day vacation- we finished an project that management got themselves into and I'm trying to take some days, as I can only carry over 40 hours into the new year.

I have decided to stop being everyone's solution after giving out $10000s of dollars to family and working over time for the company and answering their questions on my day off. My daughter is married now and brother on SS. Landlords raise the rent every time I ask for something to be fixed-like the door with holes in it. Landlords raised the rent for a 2d time this year after repairing- the door, in essence making me pay for it- I told them, OK I'll look at apartments-turned out they said never mind their Squatter son was the issue-he wouldn't leave or pay rent on one of their condos ."we don't want to lose you My boss texted me yesterday morning with a question and I answered with a single word. "yes" then added "going hiking in the mountains will be off the grid until Monday. A wee lie. If I'm "on call" that's fine but pay me on call pay. Sorry. Rant. Finishing coffee.

I am going to make hummus for carrot sticks and celery for work Monday, and 2 big pots of the worlds best rosemary and split pea soup-one to give to a friend today.

Then go online for more hanging glass planters. I'm making them for everyone for presents with air plants and sea glass and a few other things.

Going out with friends, seeing DD tomorrow. Ended 6 year sometime next year relationship. He is a dear but it was time.

Oh, and getting my Atlanta house ready to sell in the summer to get ready to retire-so the real estate saga will return.