So...whats for dinner?

Well I had breakfast for lunch and leftovers for dinner. I bought some stuffed sole for dinner tomorrow. I would have cooked them today but had to eat the leftover stuff. Also bought some fresh polish at Sendicks to see if it's better than the Fox Brother ones. I have some cabbage I might cook with the potatoes to go with that. Or maybe I'll save that for the smoked sausage. LOL I have that frozen.

It was below 0 this morning but is supposed to warm up tomorrow. Our news in WI was focused on the Frost Quake heard in 3 or 4 counties. It's when the ground freezes hard fast and cracks the rocks below the earth. Read earth shaking and loud booms. Scared many people. And I've never even heard of that before. Frost heaves, but not quakes. Learn something new every day.

Oh Chisandy, it only takes about 20 minutes to get to Brown Deer. Sounds like you know Milwaukee. I'm about a half hour north of there. And yes, I'm showing my Midwest accent in using time to delineate the distance. LOL. For that, read 30 miles north of MKE. LOL

Much love to all

Monica, I have NO idea what the actual distance is as the crow flies between here and various suburbs--I, too, measure distances by time!

luvmygoats, you might not want to read further.

Bob (DH) stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at Midway last night--the snow on the S. Side was SO bad that not only couldn't he make it home from his office, he couldn't even get down to the Oak Lawn Hilton (he had to read echoes at Christ Hosp. early this a.m.) because Cicero Ave. hadn't been plowed or salted. Streets & San. was well-prepared for Sat.'s slush-storm, but last night caught them by surprise. Because he got an early start this morning, he wanted to go out to dinner tonight--and asked me to get a res. at Girl & the Goat. Best I could do was 9:30. Because I am no longer drinking enough to require an Uber or a cab, I drove. Now, these dishes sound bizarre (well, not the first course or dessert), but they were AWESOME.

We started with wood-roasted oysters in bacon cream. Next was duck tongues (!) with cracklings, tuna poke & arugula. Then roasted pig face (!!) atop veggie hash, topped with a sunny-side up egg. Next, confit of goat belly with lobster, crabmeat, crispy vermicelli, edamame & black beans in a bourbon cream sauce. Dessert was “blood orange surprise:" a frosted half-dome of orange cake infused with blood orange syrup, accompanied by a Greek yogurt mousse studded with chunks of blood orange and candied pistachios. I nursed an Italian brut rose sparkler all evening; Bob had a “Doctor's Choice" (bourbon, vermouth & ginger beer), a Rioja, and finished with an Uruguayan dessert wine (very ruby-port-like but much smoother). Coffee was Dark Matter's “Goat's Head" (they're a local roaster whose espresso beans I sometimes buy).

We were easily the oldest folks in the place--it was full of hipster foodies (as well as probably a lot of bond-traders-by-day who'd changed into comfort clothes after work)--at 10:30 all the young'uns deserted the place, probably to get home in time to make it to their jobs on LaSalle St. at 0-dark-30 tomorrow. The music playing was eclectic rock & melodic hip-hop--but half the songs were older than most of the patrons! We didn't bring home leftovers. But we'll definitely go back. (The secret is to go at off-hours on a weeknight).

Yup, Monica--Stephanie Izard is the chef-owner. Had we been unable to get in, we’d have tried its sister place, Little Goat Diner, across the street. Despite it being the coldest night of the year, it was packed and we had to wait 15 min. for our table.

I’ll be in London for 3 days at the end of March (then Lausanne & Paris). While in London, I’d love to try Fergus Henderson’s all-offal restaurant.

Tonight we had the pancakes and bacon!

Last night I made some of my Merguez sausage [found another bag in the magic freezer, YAY!] with a tomato sauce, and saffron bulgar. Tonight was fried chicken, vinegar cole slaw and biscuits. I bought a new biscuit cutter, and damn, if those biscuits didn't rise and get fluffy. Way more than usual. Very enjoyable. Oncologist in the AM, then off to pick up C in NH. We might just go out to dinner tomorrow night.

I would love to go to Chef Izzard's restaurants, but have passed on Henderson's in London.

*susan*

Dinner was poached wild caught sockeye salmon and some long grain & wild rice. Dessert will be another of those truffles from Harry & David. Yup - I've managed to stay with my plan to limit myself to only one each night.

Monday I went with a friend to Capital Grille. I know it's all over the country, but we wanted to check it out as a lunch venue since it seems most of them aren't open for lunch. They have "winter lunch plates" for $18.00. She had Tenderloin sliders & a field greens salad. I had grilled shrimp w/creamy risotto and clam chowder. HUGE portions. Both meals were good & the bread was excellent. While we probably won't go again anytime soon, it's another venue that my ex-DH will like, so I'll let him take me there. The only problem was I gained 3 lbs. - no kidding - literally. Eeek,

Tomorrow I'm meeting another friend at La Madelaine's. I'll have to decide whether to have the French Onion or the Mushroom soup, and the quiche or salad. Again, wonderful French bread, which I'll probably pig out on and skip the pastries.

All of your meals sound wonderful. Eric - congrats on your DD's birthday. I loved reading your memory of laying her in the scale. Susan - good luck at the oncologist. I'm sending you energy for the rest of your cousin's vacation.

Minus, I don't think we have Capital Grill.

Tonight we had leftover chicken. Yesterday I butterflied a whole chicken and cooked it following the recipe for Braised Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Olives from the NYT newsletter. Last night we ate the legs and the breast was left over. Tonight we also had creamed spinach and a salad. The spinach was a microwave in the bag and was quite good. I was surprised.

gotta make something quick for tonight, have to be somewhere that I really don't want to go to

chisandy - I haven't been to Capital grille for about 10 years - I can't tolerate aged beef - from any restaurant. With the info in your post I would avoid it for both reasons.

Sounds like all are eating some interesting (ChiSandy!) and hearty meals. Sunshine, your recent meal is right up my alley!

Minus I admire your restraint with the truffles.

Nance, I love the post snow wildlife reports. We've had two recent installments of snow, so I am enjoying the sweet animal tracks in the backyard....have seen no owls, however. I feel badly for the birds who still show up at the birdbaths just to find blocks of ice where they had been frolicking in relatively warm water until two weeks ago with our unseasonably warm weather. I wonder about a heated birdbath....but if it exists, would the little "guys" find themselves with frozen wings after enjoying a bath?

So, we had our small dinner party on Tuesday which just proved to me that I definitely inherited my mother's gene for doing everything the hard way. I ended up making chicken roll ups with a greek style stuffing (layers of spinach, feta, pimento, and black olives); couscous with diced onion, zucchini and yellow peppers; buttery, minted baby carrots, Greek salad, and no faux French bread since I ran out of time. But I guess since we were heavily involved in the Greek theme, there was no necessity to confuse people! For apps we had assorted cheeses, crudite and hummus, and dates stuffed with blue cheese and pecans. For dessert, I took Nance's suggestion to have gelato (talenti) with my anise and meyer lemon pitzelles, which worked well.

It was actually a lovely evening, and our older gentleman friend is such a vibrant and intelligent guy at 87. He has had such interesting life experiences and has so much knowledge to share, along with humility and curiosity about what he can yet learn from others, so it is always great fun to spend time with him. We also admire the fact that he moved into the local retirement facility from the North Shore, so that he could be close to his wife who has late stage Alzheimer's, and is cared for in the Alzheimer's Center there.

Meanwhile our other friend, who was not supposed to be eating red meat, (thus the chicken roll ups) since he is on a fairly restricted diet for weight mgmt during his major knee surgery recovery, managed to have a red meatapalooza last night when a mutual friend of his and DH decided to bring them three kinds of take-out barbecue meats, corn bread, slaw, and bread pudding (!) for a "guys dinner" at our friend's home. Ha! Next time, I'll make what I want! Bring on the Boeuf Bourguignon !

DH has been out the last two nights, so I've been having mini dinners (not necessarily healthy mini) of this and that from dinner party leftovers....unfortunately lots of the leftover cheese and dips, but tonight also a chicken roll up and salad.

I did not know much about Capitol Grill's ownership, but the one time we went to the one near us, with our friend from Paris, we were horrified at what a sports bar tone it had. We weren't expecting sports games on large TV's given the high-priced steak place. And that loud atmosphere made it difficult to have a conversation with our friend. Never went back. Many other individually or family run restaurants that are excellent usually get my business.

My recent obsession about avoiding red meat for our friend has me craving beef braciole!I may make it in the slow cooker one of these fine days. Last year, my neighbor and I made a timpano on the first day we were snowed in last January. Boy was that good! Maybe this year we'll do beef braciole! Or maybe both!

Lacey, we have a heated bird bath. Birds only seem to dunk when the temperature is moderate but they drink often.

No Capital Grilles in St. Louis only Kansas city.

Mini meatloaves tonight from leftover Swedish meatball mix. The recipe would have made a thousand of the suckers, which I didn't need.

Simple, easy dinner here.....Baked Sea Bass and broccoli. Chicken salad earlier, with crackers.

Waiting to watch debates. 9:00 here in Florida.....hope I can stay awake!

Today was my first post-Xeloda oncologist appointment. Dana Farber was on its best behavior today. Wait for lab work was moderate. Needle was painless. Oncologist was early [as was I.] She was out of sorts. My RX had not been done properly [and has still not been arranged for delivery.] My online portal was not populating properly. She forgot to add the tumor markers to my blood work. I joined two more studies which requires some extra blood during regular blood draws and some tumor tissue from the existing banked samples. Easy enough, yes?

I decided that dinner needed to be prepared by someone else. Claire went off on her own to visit a Harvard University museum and then to see the Isabelle Stewart Gardner which is open late on Thursdays. So Mr. 02143 and I went to a local chain for some seafood. It was fine. Not spectacular but good enough. We shared a calamari appetizer and then he ordered a White Clam pizza and I got the Lobster pizza without lobster. It was topped with fontina, wild mushrooms, grilled green onions, and [the start of the show] an egg. I was only able to eat a third of this very rich pizza. Someone will have a good lunch tomorrow!

I want braciole now too! I haven't made that in ages! Maybe I should do that this weekend..... great idea!

*susan*

OK - I had to look it up but it sounds marvelous for a cold day. I'll enjoy reading all your reviews.

I also had to look up braciole as well. I kind of accidentally made something similar awhile back.

There is a Capitol Grill here in Phoenix. I've had dinner there once. It was OK, but my impression of the patrons was that they were hoping to move from self important to important...but without really succeeding... :-)

Susan, I hope things settle down at DF. Mayo was a little disorganized with my mom when she started going there, but they must have done something to fix it as it suddenly changed to perfectly smooth.

Today I spent a hour with mom's primary care doctor talking about mom. I went in there kind of hungry and left with no appetite.