So...whats for dinner?

I've always done the "normal sear" method. I'll have to try the "reverse sear" to see that will make it easier to time things. I have not reached the point of trying to limit the leftovers. I agree, that was quite the menu. I'll have to go run 5-6 miles to undo the gained weight while reading.

Minus, I keep ear plugs in my cars..just in case..and I'm not bashful about wearing them. I have some light tan ones for when I don't want to be obvious about it and so far, I've never been "caught". :-)

I'm glad everyone made it home safely. The weather sounds "not fun" for driving.

Susan, I hope the Xeolda is effective and has low SE. Hopefully there will be no need for "driving" or "riding" the porcelain bus or high powered hand and foot remedies.

I was at MIL's this morning doing electrical work (replacing light fixtures) and then setting up a new router (and WiFi) for her computer network.and now it's off to my mom's house to see her and to do some home maintenance.

I agree - we need to clone Eric.

Eric - Thanks for the earplug idea. I'm old enough maybe I could pretend they're hearing aids. Did you do traditional tamales?

Heard from luvmygoats. Luckily she missed the horrible tornadoes and is fine. She'll try to catch up next week.

No violent side effects! Some minor ones, which will ebb and flow over the next week I am sure. Mr. 02143 was gone all day working on insulation at the condo. But he left with a stern warning that I was to call if I needed him. The kids were off to his family's make-up Christmas, so I was left alone. Today was all about chemo and rye bread. The rye bread was not a total success. It is a 100% hydration dough, and it stuck to the banneton. This, after hours of careful tending. I am wildly disappointed in the rye bread recipe. This is the first time I have made it, and I can assure you, it will be the last. As usual, my stomach was the main complainer about a new drug. My day was divided by some really small, but required snacks, including a meatball at 9:30am. Who eats a meatball [singular] before lunch?

Have to agree with all the "girls." Eric is one standup kinda' guy! His MIL and mother are lucky to have such a capable and reliable person to help them as they age. I am delighted to hear that Luv didn't get hit by these storms. Minus, will you ever make that trip again? I keep imagining the din and atmosphere, and it just gives me hives.

Tomorrow, we must must must get busy with the great toilet search. Who knew choosing three toilets could be such a source of stress?

*susan*

Susan I'm hoping the bad SEs stay away.

O my gosh. Everyone's Christmas get together sounded wonderful.

I'm afraid mine was just ok. Just my DH and me on Christmas. And my DH spent 3 hours cleaning up one of the cats "presents" . We had been smelling noxious orders in the basement but could not see where anything was happening. Litter box was being used down there. The ultraviolet light didn't show any spots around. We'l on Christmas he decided to look for something under the stairs and found the mother lode. Let's just say shovels, garbage bags and lots of bleach were involved. Now nothing is under the stairs except plastic and a litter box. LOL. I just kept along making supper. A very unimaginative ham d Mashed potatoes supper.

The only different thing was breakfast. I had found some really good fresh polish sausage so we had it for breakfast. So Susan our version f meatballs for breakfast, fresh polish. LOL

Saturday was our family brunch and we went out as per the request of DSIL. All 11 of us. But i told them we had o open gifts at home as there were too many and too big items to drag to the restaurant. DSIL wasnt happy. But it was only bout n hour later and they and the baby left. So did everyone else within the next hour. I was ok with it because i was tired. LOL I didn't remember to t pictures o everyone though. But i did get the littles!

Much love to all.

Glad to hear that luvmygoats is ok. I've been thinking about her and hoping she would pop back into our kitchen.

Nance, the yeast rolls (Miz Inez Jake's recipe in the Bedico Baptist Church cookbook) were the best ever. I was a little concerned when I pinched off the dough and formed the rolls because the dough was dense and hard. I had used bread flour instead of all purpose because I had a whole bag of the bread flour and not enough all purpose for the recipe. It's such a convenience, making the dough the day before and letting it rise in the refrigerator.

I have become a "dislike holidays" person. Part of the dislike is being what my family would call contrary (kon-TRER-ee). I never post things on Facebook when instructed to do so. I don't pass along e-mails to ten close friends so that I can become an instant millionaire. I resent the obligatory element of holidays. And I feel sorry for all the people who strive for the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving and Christmas and fall short. Christmas puts a lot of stress on poor people whose children aren't treated as well by dear ole Santa as the children of people with money.

I heard about the approach some modern parents are taking on Santa and I really like it. They put a gift under the tree that is from Santa but the majority of the gifts are from mom and dad. I financed Santa for my great niece and great nephew when they were small children and other members of my family were generous, too, so that the two children were given too many presents. When they got old enough to question the Santa myth, they talked between themselves and thought there MUST be a Santa because their mother couldn't have afforded to buy all those expensive gifts.

My mother, who turned 93 yesterday, particularly enjoys Christmas. She is the force that brings our family together. Once she has passed on, the big get-togethers probably won't happen. For a number of years there has been "This might be the last Christmas our mother will be with us" mentality.

Minus, I wonder if your DS and his SO are turned off by the commercial excess of Christmas.

I do find it amazing that some people go to the expense and effort to create the outdoor decorations. I enjoy driving around and looking at the lighted yards and homes. Every year the local tv stations will highlight certain spectacular yards. The ultimate was the yard of the Chicken King who created Popeye's chicken. Of course, his neighbors weren't appreciative in the least. He's dead now.

Today I'm taking the same great nephew (12) and great niece (10) shopping. She needs jeans and he wants a new pair of shoes. They live with their dad now but are visiting their mother. There's another little great niece (6) with a different father who's in jail. The mom, my niece, is going shopping with us to use her JCPenney gift certificate I gave her for Christmas.

Dinner will probably feature one of my frozen dinners I made recently.

OMD Carole Your Christmas sounds just exactly how ours was. My DM adored Christmas. It was a enormous affair. DB/SIL, stepsisters with their kids and husbands, stepdad and the 3 of us. But all that ended when she passed in 2003. The 3 of us spent 2 quiet days at home. DH watched monster movies on ElRey some obscure channel on DirecTV. DD and I talked, I cooked, she napped. Low key. Don't think I could do the Christmas Minus did. I have a bit of hearing loss and all that combined would do me in. I would seriously run and hide. The camping trips to OK we do 2x a year are bad enough but no dogs/kids/screamers and no 3 hour drive in city traffic. DH and I do wonder if this might be the last Christmas DD will be living here. Yes she and Boston/Cambridge boy are still an item. Still discussion of where they might move. He will be down for lake trip in April.

I have seriously missed being on here. I have started a couple of posts and lost them recently. New computer and DH wants me to use a new browser. Decided I'm using what I want. Was using Edge which I think is the new Microsoft product. One slip and you've closed the wrong tab at the top. Back to using my good old reliable Firefox. There has not particularly been anything going on with me or us. I just have too many irons in the fire and we are semi seriously talking of moving maybe in 2017-2018 when DH retires. So that would require a major cleanout of this house. I planned to start today haha but DH is home instead of being off Thursday. We got 3" of snow overnight. It was not supposed to come this close to Ft Worth but early morning started sleeting which I think drove the temp down. So tomorrow I must start. Though I have taken several big bags of heaven help me underwire bras to Goodwill. Now I have 4 empty storage boxes under the bed empty.

The land I think I've mentioned b4 that sits just across the road from me sold and is being developed into 37 1 acres lots with expensive houses. I went to commissioners court meeting when it was platted and met one of the developers. He brought me out a plat a couple of weeks ago. I expect after the holidays it will ramp up seriously. Don't want to see it developed but again hope this might drive our house value up.

Susan - I hope too that there is no need for the seriously sanitized toilet nor the foot/hand special treatments. Praying that it kicks those little buggers in their proverbial a$$. Shopping for toilets. All I bought last year was 2 fairly standard toilets from Lowes and what a job. 3 toilets for 3 baths. I missed in those pages what happened with the house. I thought it was a reno job but this sounds more like total teardown/redo. I do have the bookmarks from when I stopped - had to be probably early October. But you are all a chatty bunch which I love.

Cooking - hmm. For Thanksgiving just the 2 of us. I made a Hormel little ham. dressing, cranberry sauce and my fake cheesecake. Perfect for just us. For Christmas I made a Honeysuckle breast, same cranberry sauce and dressing and the broccoli/dried cranberry salad so popular at church dinners. The breast was good but really disappointed on the amount of turkey meat on it. The rest was good. Made 2 small Hormel pork roasts in oven for Christmas eve. Sent bunches home with DD.

I will try better to keep up. And thanks to Minus for kicking me into gear. I had seen Nancy's post about our weather. It was very scary to watch it live on TV and on the net on tornado trackers at the same time. DH and I owned our 1st house in Garland about 5 miles from one of the damage sites - late 1970s. But back then most of that area was not built up.

Moon - adorable grand babies. My DH and I do very little together. Right now he's snoring on the couch - his favorite thing to do on days off. Biding my time until he retires but doubt it will change much in our family dynamic. Though he will be 65 in January he needs to keep working to keep me in health insurance until Sept 2017.

Serious food envy of what everyone cooked. It is use it up, clean it out, don't buy anything else for the kitchen time.

Oh, and I don't care for Edge either.

Love reading about everyones Christmas shenanigans and all the great food involved

Susan glad that you have become the "cruise ship navigator" I have always told my family that I am the cruise navigator and if everyone just listens and "follow my direction" no one will get hurt! haha of course that didn't always go as planned

I used Susan's potato recipe and it came out great...I always forget about that great Gruyere cheese. I had a great macaroni and cheese at my SIL dinner on Christmas day. It remained creamy after baking and hanging at the buffet...her response was that it had an egg in the mix. Hmmm? anyone aware of this? Said it was her grandmas recipe.

Me, hubby, 2 kids and future Dil decided to call ourselves the Christmas crashers...we hit up everyones family dinners (after the dinner) so that we got to see all friends and family. We just called everyone...asked what time their dinner was...and then showed up a few hrs later to chill have a drink and chat. Busy busy Kids all gone home now and it time to close the kitchen and let it rest. Leftovers till there gone.

Eric, amazing how hard it can be to find a decent estate lawyer. Here in Boston, we actually have many but they are very expensive. It is time for me to have a session or two with one. I am thinking that my real estate lawyer would be a good place to ask for a recommendation. Only lawyer I know that I would take a suggestion.

Moon, those grand babes are just gorgeous. They must give you much joy. Are you still watching them one day a week?

The weather west of here is just wild. Sadly, it may have made its way to us now. The temps are dropping and they are warning that we will have an ice storm tomorrow. The kids have to go to yet another funeral tomorrow north of the city. I really hope that the roads are not too slippery. The disaster rye bread tastes great! It has a beautiful crumb. Great sandwich bread. So I guess I should freeze the three extra loaves. Today's breakfast was half a toasted English muffin with some peanut butter. I think this is better than the oatmealDinner was a lamb stew from the magic freezer over some Jasmine rice. I ate more rice than lamb. My body is still figuring out these drugs. I thought I was stuffed after just a few bites, and now I am munching on some nuts. Giving yourself chemo is really surreal.

*susan*

Minus, ungrateful wretch. Did he win? And that potato sounds good...... what is it about chemo and carbs? *susan*

Minus,

It is only day 2. I have enough experience at this to know that my body will make some adjustments.... so far, my stomach has let me know that something foreign is irritating it. One bout of "explosive" diarrhea [TMI], a headache that requires Advil after each dose. I am having some "normal" appetite issues, but I do expect that to fade. HandFoot is already happening in my feet, but only because the last drug got me started. I bumped my hand against a metal tab on my bread forms, and actually was cut down several layers! I think that I need to make it full the whole cycle before I report anything definitive. Does that make sense? Each cycle is 14 days on; 7 days off.

Truly appreciate your concern and thoughts.... damn we need to have dinner again!

*susan*

Hmmm...on second thought, Susan, maybe that resource I mentioned to you several months ago may well have estate lawyer ideas. I am sorry that you are already experiencing those SEs, but am also hopeful that your prediction based on past experience will prove to be accurate, and your body will adapt in a very tolerable way. With ya in spirit.....

Hi all - have not been on the computer lately, but have been missing you all!

Had fun reading about everyone's holiday escapades and meals!  Ours was low key - DD had to work Christmas Eve, and then we wrapped gifts together - we are wrapping procrastinators!  We did gifts Christmas morning - just the four of us, the dog (who really enjoys Christmas and opens his own gifts, and those of the other pets!), and the new kitten - whose name is Flynn (finally!)  DD gave me a cake pop pan and book (hint, hint - the kid loves cake pops), and I got a new glass bowl with a scraper beater for the KitchenAid mixer, which I asked for from DH, also got a cookbook from DS - which I also asked for.  DD gave me the only "surprise" gift - other than the kitten - which was a YETI rambler cup - keeps things hot and cold for hours - and they are backordered to the tune of 12 million nationwide.  She has a friend who works for YETI and she asked him to express one to her - so I felt extra special!  Mostly I received the kitten and a new fridge for the garage, which I bought myself.  It was delivered on the morning of the 24th.  Shocking that my barely 4 year old Whirlpool was irretrievably broken by a catastrophic leak, which would have cost more to fix than it did to buy a new fridge - got a "garage-ready" one so hopefully our unmercifully hot temps in the summer - and apparently Christmas which was a record 85 degrees - will not ruin this one.

We had peppered pork tenderloin, red potato salad with sour cream dressing and dill, Asian cabbage salad for dinner on the 23rd, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, salad and garlic rolls on Christmas Eve, sticky buns (country biscuit dough, dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar - kind of like Monkey Bread), scrambled eggs with goat cheese, and home fries for Christmas breakfast - DD made "peach" Bellini's with prosecco, OJ, peach schnapps, and grenadine - after which I took a nap, and we standing rib roast, penne alfredo with pancetta, and sautéed zucchini on Christmas night.  I did not make a single dessert or baked good, other than caramel corm which I took to my in-laws on the weekend prior.  I have  managed to lose 5 lbs. since surgery on the 10th - but it helped that we attended no parties or gatherings and nobody gifted us with any sweets either.  Other than cake pops - haha, my family are not really dessert eaters - I didn't routinely serve dessert when my kids were growing up either.  Surgery tends to depress my appetite, so I have also been eating small portions.  I had done some backsliding and re-gained a few lbs., so this is a good thing.

luv - good to hear from you - I am also wondering about the goats if you move!

eric - yes, you are a gem!  Love the good care you give to your mom and MIL.

susan - hang in there, glad you are steady enough to prepare (the toilet thing made me laugh), and that you are figuring out your way with this new drug - and certainly hoping it does the job.  Also, glad to hear the rye bread tastes great after giving you some trouble earlier!

To all of our tablemates in the midst of weather - be careful, and stay warm and dry!

lacey - I like turkey burgers with spinach broiled, topped with cheese and eaten on a bun with condiments, or small-ish turkey meatloaves, baked and topped with a ketchup/brown sugar/dry mustard mixture about 15 minutes before they are done.

moon - precious pic of the babies!

Happy birthday BEDO!!!!! Guess you all are getting the weather we had in the Midwest yesterday!

Happy birthday Bedo and may your day be lovely!