So...whats for dinner?

No dinner tonight--Sharon has her Jenny Craig meal, DD went over to Scottsdale and I wasn't hungry. But, I did clean the kitchen yet again, turn the waterbed frame into lots of firewood and I made another batch of beef chorizo.

Moon, I'm surprised that you can't find a gasket for your pressure cooker. What kind and model is it?

Auntie, i didn't play the Powerball. I wouldn't make a good lottery advertisement, 'You can't lose if you don't play." While I would take the money if it were given to me, I don't know how well I'd deal with that much money. .Cheesecake! I was drooling on the keyboard when I saw that image. I love cheesecake but have only made it a couple of times. I've got the taste part OK, but I can't get rid of the cracks.

The key lime reference made me smile. DD wanted a key lime pie a couple of birthdays back so I made one. When I added up the calorie count from the ingredients....11,000 calories in a 10 inch pie!!!!! I must say it was good though!

I installed one of those timer/programmable thermostats. About an hour before we get up for work, the heater brings the house temperature up to 72F so we don't freeze while drying off after showering. The rest of the time, the heater thermostat sets to 50F, but the house rarely gets below 68 degrees.

My mom will be 98 in April.

Key lime pie is awful calorie wise because of the sweetened condensed milk, but as desserts go, cheesecake is less harsh on me (at least carb wise) because it doesn't have nearly as much sugar. It doesn't raise my blood sugar nearly as much as other rich desserts. I don't think you could ever consider it a low calorie food though. I might make two a year usually when I have guests.

Wow Eric, 98! That's amazing.

Got hit with reflux tonight so dh enjoyed pizza and I had chicken noodle soup and a few saltines. No cheesecake either

The raw pizza dough is in the refrigerator. I opted to warm up the lentil soup, make a salad and thaw/warm up a couple of the home-made buns (which are being eaten as rolls) stowed in the freezer. But obviously not forgotten! I think this will become a standard practice, making and freezing a batch of buns/rolls. They're so good.

I had a productive day and accomplished my two goals: wash my car and update the checkbook register. This afternoon I made the red sauce. And tonight I made a really cute hat while half watching and half listening to the football games.

Tomorrow I'm elected to take my mother to church since my sister's car isn't operational and my mother can't climb up into the giant pickup which is my sister's alternate transportation.

Minus, the domino party sounds like fun. We used to play dominoes in my family when my dad was alive. We also played cards and my mother really misses the friendly competition.

We play lots of chicken foot in this family. It's pretty hilarious, oh the drama that ensues lol! My family played lots of cards when I was a kid. It was a big deal when you were deemed old enough to play with the adults. The rule was you could play as long as you didn't cry. If you cried, it was back to the kid's table. Blitz was the game then, but I spent many a summer playing canasta during my teens. Later, after I was on my own we had a pinochle group in my apartment complex. We often played into the wee hours. Later, I had a group who played Whist. After DH and I got married we had friends with whom we played Spades and Hearts regularly. Oddly enough, I never learned Bridge. We have no card playing friends close now so the only time I play those games are on the computer. Not nearly as much fun.

Where is everybody today? Watching football?

I've been promising DH a German meal (his fave), so tonight is rouladen, sweet and sour red cabbage and fried potatoes. I guess you could consider the rouladen a German version of braciole.

We did have a great time at Pickity Place.

Had to put making dinner on hold last night--Bob called that he was leaving Holy Cross and wanted to go to B’way Cellars for dinner, sitting at the bar so he could watch football. So I put everything back in the fridge, and we went (driving--too darn cold to walk). Started with a shared julienned-apple salad with craisins & blue cheese. Bob had chipotle-chicken-noodle soup. For our entrees, we had grilled swordfish with petit haricots verts. Bob’s came with home fries--I subbed mine out for sweet potato fries. (We had leftover spuds to take home). Just had a low-carb choc. almond cookie and a cappuccino, so not too hungry (made a low-carb Caprese crostini 2 hrs. earlier, and woke up with 2 eggs fried over-easy in olive oil & 2 slices of bacon). Deciding what to do for dinner--better use the shrimp I’d defrosted yesterday. Maybe will stir-fry them and serve them over the shiratake; or we’ll order out from the pan-Asian place around the corner and Bob & Gordy can have regular Chinese or Thai and I can sort of “eat around the carbs," supplemented by my stir-fry).

What a day! It is just finished now. we left this morning in full sunshine to head to Newport RI to visit the summer "cottages." We made very good time and arrived around 11am. The tours during the winter are all with guides, so we waited for the next tour to start which was very quick. The tour of the Breakers took a little more than 2 hrs. By the time we made it to Newport, the sun was gone, but there was still plenty of light. We went to the car and ate the picnic I had packed in the morning. This seemed like a good plan so we could squeeze in two houses. Our second house was the Elms. Here the tour moved along more quickly, plus it was a smaller house. The kitchens in both houses were fabulous, and the butler pantries? Oh be still my heart. We were back in Somerville by 6pm, but we stopped at an "American supermarket." We had not fit in this essential tourist attraction and it was very important. I bought taco and fajita seasoning mixes to send to Paris as a gift. [They all love Mexican food, but only buy Old Paso boxes.] C. bought M&Ms and Oreos as gifts for her siblings... oh and Star War toothbrushes that light up and change color when enough time for tooth brushing has passed. She thinks her brothers will think this is very funny.

Once home, I made an omelette, salad, and pulled out some French bread. It was a very good end to the day. Except, I wasn't done. I then made a paste of garlic, rosemary and Esplette peppers and rubbed it all over the trimmed leg of lamb. The kids really wanted one more family dinner with C before she leaves on Tuesday. Tomorrow, C. will be on her own. I have to get back to work. I put together a list of everything I have promised before we left today and that sealed the deal. I have to work!

We have snow falling right now, which I do prefer to tornado warnings. Stay safe!

*susan*

A food thread, yay!

I made a stew with pork tenderloin, white beans and smoked paprika today, from Cook's Country. It was delicious, very easy and should be pretty low-cal. I have a whole chicken marinating in buttermilk to roast tomorrow; it's a Nigella Lawson recipe I saw in the New York Times. Next time I will have the butcher do the nasty work of cutting out the backbone for me.

So fun to hear about dominoes! My husband and I play with my parents--we start with straight dominoes then play 42. My parents are nutty, though--my mother forgets what trump is half the time, which makes my husband crazy lol. We play bridge too, but I'm relatively new to that so still struggle with the bidding.

Lacey: http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fc462c1bad8d56aba131d6ed3&id=bae1117b2e&e=bbcea1cdb4 Rain == Meyer lemons.

Fun to see that pic, Deb! As I recall we all took a turn with that fascinator... a new experience for me.

We had our share of football hours in this house this weekend, too. Then tonight, I heated up a few of our Mexican style chicken roll ups which were actually better on day two. Also made a huge spinach salad which I really enjoyed and needed since I have been feeling "greens deprived" the last few days. Tomorrow when we return from the gym, we'll need to hit the grocery store for some staples since the fridge is uncharacteristically "airy".

So, yes, the snow is falling here and I cannot get DH to stop trying to figure out when our consecutive record breaking snowstorms storms started last year. I think that he is starting to experience the effects of PTSD as we enter snow season, after falling from the ladder and breaking his hip last February while trying to deal with so many feet of snow on our roof. I guess it is still with us. He has been working really hard in his most recent PT sessions marking a year's worth of effort to gain strength in that side of his body. All that said, this weather sure beats tornadoes! On tonight's news it was reported that many of the people impacted by Florida's tornadoes today were snowbirds...a sad irony for those trying to escape the harshness of northern winter weather.

Thermometer is showing -1F. Sitting here in fleece-lined jeans, and a hoodie over a flannel shirt over PJ top. Wearing fleece-lined booties. My tastebuds are hankering for gelato. My fat cells are saying “no-sugar, low-carb frozen dessert." But my shivering body is craving real hot chocolate....with sugar. Think I'll have hot jasmine tea with a square of dark chocolate on the side.

But first, turning on the faucets to keep the pipes from bursting.....

Sandy - guess i'd better stop complaining since the low here was only 40. But my feet are freezing. Dinner was Triscuits with more salmon/cream cheese spread, some pear sauce that my brother sent (too thin to do much but drink it) and a big bowl of popcorn for my bedtime snack. I'm hungry for greens too Lacey, but tonight was not the night. Welcome Paxton. Where in Texas are you?

It's 0° right now here too. Was supposed to be -2 overnight. I didn't stay up to watch. At least the sun is shining but we're due for 4 more inches of snow tomorrow. CRAP. We just got rid of the last batch. Have I said I hate winter? I agree though that tornadoes in January suck!

Beautiful lemons. I wish the ones in the store here looked as good. They were pitiful.

I ordered the Amish pasture raised chickens this week. He'll start butchering in May. I hope I ordered enough to get through the winter this time. The Berkshire pig comes in March. I need to start thinking about how I want it cut up. This is the first time I've gotten half a hog so I'll need to figure out what I can have. Like you Carole, I'm sure I'll get lots of chops. Thick, bone-in chops. But I'm not sure what I'll have to give up for that. I'm more familiar with beef anatomy.

We used the last of the buns the other day, so I need to make some to restock. It's too cold for my taste to venture out today, so I might as well heat up the kitchen by baking. I need to make baguettes too, so I'll start those as well.

And to make certain I'm covered in flour completely, I have pie crust in the fridge waiting to be rolled out, so tonight is quiche and a salad.

Susan, how's the house coming along? No report in a while.

Pull up a chair and grab a cup Pax!

Dinner is starting to take shape. I will roast the marinating [dry rub] leg of lamb, and serve with steamed haricots Verts [capitalized to stop the autocorrect], roasted fingerling potatoes, green salad, and some rustic bread. Up for debate is a soup. If I do this, it would be a leek-spinach soup, put through a food mill to make it smooth, perhaps topped with some goat cheese. I wish I had the energy to make dessert, but this group is hard. Most of us enjoy lemon desserts, but one doesn't. Some of us enjoy chocolate, but three of us are neutral on that. And this is where I just sigh and say "no one really needs dessert."

Ah the house. It is still a dusty, allergen-filled space. But there has been progress. The heat is on, and all the plumbing has been done, and after one misstep, has passed the town inspection. Electric work, phase 1, has been completed as well, and also passed inspection. Wednesday the closed cell insulation will be done and we have to stay away for one day due to off-fumes. Final electric inspection by the end of the week and then they can start to "close it up." Yea!!!! The Great Sergio says 6 more weeks and we can have the kids move in.

*susan*

Great idea! No fruit in the house besides one aging apple and some cut pineapple. I don't think this makes a clafoutis. I need to replenish my dried fruit supply, since that would actually work if rehydrated with an alcoholic beverage!

*susan*