So...whats for dinner?

I know Minus, wish she would check in.

I use Clabber Girl exclusively. I like the can.

Off to make pie crust for pot pies. I would take the easy way out and use puff pastry but I need a crust for a couple of small pies to use up some leftover pumpkin and pecan fillings. I will try to freeze the finished product or give them away since I have plenty of leftover pie. The pecan is too good to throw away because I made it with maple syrup instead of corn syrup and the pumpkin is made with cream instead of condensed milk. Definite upgrades on both.

Lol Bedo, you're the only person I know who is happy about pneumonia. Hope the antibiotic does it's job and you're well soon!

Thanks Chi!

That's exactly what I've been doing. Got actual chicken soup from the neighborhood Kosher deli. And some Campbell's and some eggdrop. I don't usually eat chicken- never actually-except when I'm really sick but the tiny pieces don't upset my stomach. You lose the enzymes needed to break meat down if you don't eat it for a while and it makes you really sick, but so far, (with adding fish a few years ago, after being vegetarian since 16,) so good

You are making me want to steam up my face and hair, and yes, I did pick up some Mucinex and pseudoephedrine from the store=which is kind of a funny story as I didn't have my ID to buy it, only my work ID and they wouldn't sell it to me, and I asked the lady behind me if she would buy it for me if I paid her, and a young man outside as well and they both looked at me and said. "NO" and "I can't do that"

I asked the pharmacist indignantly "Do I LOOK like I'm going to go home and make Meth???"

Unfortunately when I got home Stringy hair-check sunken eyes check asking strangers to do illegal things check

I did get my license and the sudafed.

All set

Careful with the Sudafed if you have hypertension or glaucoma! Friend of mine had a stroke in her 20s when she treated a cold with Sudafed without knowing her blood pressure. She forgot the words to the songs she’d written and had to relearn to play guitar. She came back better than ever, though--and the parody of one of her songs she wrote when she couldn’t find the original lyrics became one of her biggest hits!

If you get laryngitis, here’s a tip from a friend of mine who sings in the Grammy-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir: hot & sour soup. If you can’t get the real thing, you can fake it by beating an egg into simmering chicken broth and adding a dash of soy sauce or tamari, white pepper and apple cider vinegar to taste. If you have some dried mushrooms, so much the better. And if you stir a slurry of cornstarch & water into it before serving, you’ll get that thick & glossy Chinese-restaurant texture as well. I tried it (without the cornstarch) and the next day I was able to play a two-set gig!

Bedo...get well.

What’s a “Moth Slam?” Is it anything like a poetry slam?

Brunch was low-carb whole grain bagel w/cream cheese, lox, tomato, red onion, dill & capers. Tonight was pappardelle alla bolognese with grated Parm Reg. and Pecorino Romano. Dessert was double chocolate gelato. Raining too hard out to grill, and the steak was still frozen.

lacey - made your link live.

http://themoth.org/about

bedo - feel better asap!

Also, adding my worries about carole and her DH, and the pig pickup.  It is a pig, right?

chisandy - I used to live in the NOVA/DC area and ate many times at the Tyson's location of La Madeleine - small world!

auntie - your pie extravaganza from the previous page is beautiful!

Yay Carole! Glad to hear from you -- we've been kind of worried. Glad your visits were good even if the travel wasn't. I'm drooling over your description of, not the food, but the new kitchen!

I'm a few days behind the thanksgiving leftover thing so last night we had turkey potpies. I made small pecan and pumpkin pies with the leftover fillings. I'll freeze the pecan and keep the pumpkin. I'll have to eat the thing myself since DH doesn't care for it. After a turkey sandwich lunch, we're ready for some BEEF! I thawed a flatiron steak that I'll grill with some zucchini, summer squash, onions and colored peppers.

The carcasses will go into the oven overnight for stock. As I said, I'm behind everybody.

Yay for Carole's safe return. I love the visual of the neck falling out of the turkey.

Nance - oh nooooo, Mr. Bill!!! (Sorry couldn't resist the off hand reference) You'll have to eat the pumpkin by yourself. Don't I remember you made it w/cream instead of milk? Be still my heart.

Lacey - will be looking forward to the "Mothra" critique. (sorry, couldn't resist again, weird mood)

Susan - still have fingers crossed & sending hugs.

Red - can't believe what your RO told you. Think about JOY? As if we wouldn't want to be "joyful"? Sort of like the nice old doc who used to pat our hands and say "everything will be fine dear, just don't worry your little head". Grrr Sadly I too have no motivation & don't even have the excuse of Arimidex.

I emailed my DS and said I hope he got a good dinner somewhere for Thanksgiving. He's a pilot and was away on a 4 day trip. He answer was - turkey & dressing panini at an airport Starbucks.

Thanks for the Moth link. We don’t have storytelling slams in Chicago (at least none that are publicized), but there are two major storytelling festivals in IL: the IL Storytelling Festival near Peoria in Aug. and the Fox Valley Folk & Storytelling Festival in the western ‘burb Geneva Labor Day weekend. (I’ve played there every year since 2002, except 2007 when it was flooded out and I had a gig in Little Rock anyway). We get storytellers from all over N. America and the UK there.

Carole, so glad you missed the awful ice storms and made it safely home. Had to laugh about your south suburban hostess the “turkey-virgin,” About a month after we got married, I decided to roast a chicken for the first time (supermarkets in Seattle didn’t have rotisserie chickens back then--I’d only seen them at the kosher takeout shops in Brooklyn). I too was clueless about that packet of stuff inside the chicken--at first I thought someone at the butcher counter had made a terrible mistake. I’d heard of “giblets” but had no idea what they were!

Dinner tonight's gonna be a grass-fed hormone-and-antibiotic-free NY strip on the gas grill, with green beans sauteed with garlic, lemon and chili flakes. No, I didn't forget to mention a starch. Went to my primary care doc today to check on Super Zit (TMI) and an earache (strictly allergy), and when the nurse asked me “did you want to check your weight?" and I replied “NO" a bit too quickly and emphatically, she made a note. My doc (who was DS' Chief Resident back in the day when they were both at UIC Med Ctr), gently told me that although my BP is still okay, it has crept up commensurately with my weight. I'm about 3 lbs. thinner than the last recorded weight but a year and a half ago I was 25 lbs. thinner. He said, “Rome and the cruise in 10 days? You're gonna need to save some of your carbs for that. So how about laying off the sugar & starch till then? And walking more." I sheepishly admitted I'd been comfort-eating but that things had been very stressful.

He replied, “Ya think? I'd be worried about you psychologically if you didn't feel stressed-out. But let's agree that's out of your system by now--and you don't want to keep the estrogen factory pumping." He disagrees with my MO about when to start Femara--instead of Jan. 1 he'd have had me start the day after my last radiation treatment. I mentioned she was okay with Jan.1 so that I wouldn't get aches & hot flashes walking through Italy & Spain--so we compromised: I will fill the scrip before I leave and start it Dec. 23d, the day after I get back. But he also disagrees with her about bisphosphonates or biologics for osteopenia--he doesn't think mine is that bad yet and that studies have shown that weightbearing exercise worked better at slowing bone loss than either drugs or calcium/magnesium/D3. (He still wants me to take those supplements, but start walking yesterday).

Might have some Beaujolais tonight with the steak (although a Cab or Zin would go better). Tomorrow I poured 3 oz. but drank only 2. And our tree is up and lit. (DH and housekeeper are both Christian, and we’ve had some sort of tree every year since the first year we were married--we just keep the ornaments secular. And we celebrate Hanukkah too--only this year, the traditional deep-fried food will include artichokes in Rome’s Jewish quarter. At home, zucchini latkes for me, to keep it low-carb).

chisandy--your doctor that said that about the bone drugs must be pals with my MO.....he said the same exact thing to me, and pointed out that we lose the most bone mass in the 2 years after menopause, and that since I had a surgical one at 46 I had lost the most, and if I kept walking and doing my calcium supplements we would just wait until things looked like it was warranted.....

Carole---is 75 mg of Effexor a small dose? Did you take it what time of day? Any funky side effects with it?

I too have been sleeping in. This morning they said we would have snow overnight, but it didn't start till about 9:00 a.m. I went to a crazy sale where they sell all the stuff that the kids couldn't sell in their fund raising efforts dirt cheap....It was a zoo. You go in and everyone snakes through all the tables until you hit the check out lane. its just stocking stuffer things for the most part---I did pick up a sil pat for my cookie sheet for 1.50 and a couple of kabuki brushes in little zippered cases. and two tubs of frozen cookie dough---Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal and White chocolate cherry.... I hope it keeps well thawed for a while--otherwise everyone I know is getting a huge cookie tray soon....and some zippered wreath bags and a notebook to store website addresses/passwords, and good heavens, 22.00 and two bags and 3 hours later I was at my Dads. Where we are still trying to consume a 12 lb turkey.....NEVER AGAIN, but I have said that before....I am ready to pull it all into small pieces and feed it to the stray cats...HA---He loves it but is just not up to messing with it, so I am gong to shred some up so he can make a open face sandwich with gravy and maybe some turkey salad sandwich spread and maybe it will be gone soon.

Carole, I'm sure you're aware of the effects of missing doses of venlafaxene. I accidentally skipped three days once and had the weirdest effect. People described them as "brain zaps" which I scoffed at, until I experienced them. I only take 37.5 mg but I plan to ask my doc the best way to stop after I finish my letrozole next year. It's been invaluable for the hot flashes though.

Was planning to eat from the freezer tonight but dh and I ventured out to Amish country to buy some pickles that my dad likes to give him for Christmas. On the way home we stopped for lunch and had very large tenderloin sandwiches. We are still stuffed so it seems like dinner will be scrambled eggs and toast.

Tomorrow is a dad day. We'll spend the night in the city so I can have blood drawn on Friday, then do some shopping before we come home.

Had lunch with my exDH today - my treat since he installed a hose holder in a brick wall that had to be moved because of a fence extension. I was willing to pay for a lovely piece of fish or a premium steak, but he had other errands to run in a different direction so we just ate BBQ. This is Texas - so of course he ate brisket with a ketchup & mesquite based sauce. I had a lovely pulled pork sangy with vinegar based sauce ala North Carolina. So tonight it's chips & dip.

I really need to pull in my plumarias since it will be 39 again later this week - so tomorrow's the day. First cut off the leaves, then dig up from the ground, then wash the dirt off the roots & toss in the garage to "overwinter". Nothing else could be this easy!!!

Still waiting for my test results. I am actually getting irritated and a bit worried. I need to look at our route on a map. We went through towns I didn't even know existed, and I know NH pretty darn well!

Looking at cabinets was actually fun. We chose our vendor, and are now finalizing the floor plan. Funny, I sent an email to the folks we didn't choose and got thank you notes for my email and 'honesty.' Human connections are good.

Going back to the house in the AM to proof a couple of measurements that don't make sense.Dinner was the other half pound of Harrington sausage, biscuits and a cheese omelette. We were unable to eat all the sausages and biscuits, so if I want breakfast tomorrow, it is already there!

Carole, so happy to hear your are home. What an epic journey! And the neck falling out is rather surprising the first time it happens. Given the chill they have even fresh turkeys, it kinda sticks inside the bird and when it pops out, it is startling.

Pies. Those are about the most gorgeous pies I have ever seen!

Oh yea, we ate the last of the turkey breast today for lunch. The leg is in the freezer waiting for my mole ingredients to arrive. Can't imagine when I will have time to make such a thing. The home rebuild is taking over! Can I crawl into the fetal position until Spring?

*susan*