So...whats for dinner?

Nance, I'm glad to hear that your dad is settled and that communication is on the upswing. Here's hoping things just keep improving and that he feels sonewhat content there

Thanks Redheaded, Eric and Susan for the window suggestions. My er "John" has been frozen and won't flush for two nights despite pouring hot water in the back and firing a hair dryer on the pipes. Finally put a space heater in the bathroom and success! TMI I'm going to price them out. Our future here is undecided with MIL's illness.

Nance glad about your Dad's improvement.

I made an actually good chowder out of surimi (fake crab) hope I'm spelling that right, with leeks, fresh dill, marjoram, milk, butter, flour, Worcester sauce,vegetable broth, salt, pepper and some hot flakes.

Kitties are attached to my body at night They love me so. Why did they not love me so last summer?

Our garden is meeting for a seed swap this Thursday. Summer is coming

Minus...what a delicious way to gain 8 lbs. Totally worth it! I could never recall all that detail, delicious as it sounds! Impressive!

Today was a good one for making soup...so I made two kale soups....pretty much same recipe except that one had mixed color lentils and one had cannelini beans. We had the one with lentils tonight which was really more flavorful than the one with beans (of which there is a lot). I also roasted a whole cauliflower with yogurt/Moroccan spice coating....and since I had extra yogurt mix, I baked some chicken thighs slathered in that, too. With these little items, fresh salads, and the leftover ribeye, we should be set for the week without me needing to create much. I'd like to get some sewing tasks done....but so often gravitate to the kitchen to take care o business there.....

I loved all the food you talked about. Just lost a humongous post due to bad luck. Sigh. With really long personalized notes for everyone. Honest! Really! I swear! LOL

Here's a quick update. Still have the dang thing and got a panicked call from the hospital that a Dr took a look at my cat scan and also my urine culture ( sorry if you're eating. LOL) showed infection so they wanted me on abx. Everything here is closed so I said I had just had my dentist pretreatment with a double dose and couldn't that be enough? No fever yet I thought i could Make it til the morning. I knew they were concerned because they gave me the super de duper private number to call if i get worse. Now ts 5 hours later and I'm going to sleep with no fever. LOL I know infection and told them I don't take chances but they don't know that. LOL

Good nite everyone. I think i can squeeze in another pain pill for bedtime.

Much love.

minus - wow on the Hawaii food!!

susan - love all the pics of the new home - looks great!

moon - hang in there, kidney stones are a bear.  One of my good friends had one removed when we were in middle school that was the size of a golf ball - what???  So weird and rare in someone that age.  She still gets small ones from time to time, they are no fun.  Hoping this chapter is over soon for you and be careful - I know you are an infection expert and will deal accordingly.  That is one upside of hard-won knowledge.

OK, today has consisted of needing the leakfinder guy to determine where the plumber needs to replace pipe outside under the hedge alongside the garage ($250), the plumber who replaced a section of pipe but still isn't sure if there is more repair needed because of the flooding from the leak - so will be back on Friday when things have dried out (already warning me that we are looking at $500 minimum), and for me, a UTI - yay! NOT!  Tomorrow is a PS appt for another fill, and a PCP appt for the UTI.  I don't want to make dinner at all, lol!

The OK visit was enjoyable. Thanks for your thoughts, Minus. I, too, brought home extra unneeded and unwanted lbs. We ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant on Fri. night. I had soft tacos with pork filling and beans and rice on the side. The salsa and chips were especially good. The guacamole also good. The margarita was huge but not remarkable. We ate lunch out the next day at a restaurant noted for its pies. I splurged and ordered a reuben that I enjoyed. We shared a lemon pecan pie with a warm sauce and scoop of vanilla ice cream. A guy next to me had a gorgeous huge piece of cocoanut cream pie, one of my favorites. With his permission, I took a picture of it!

We stopped at an Amish store where I bought a container of whoopee pies and another with one-layer carrot cake. Saturday and Sunday morning we had hot biscuits and sausage for breakfast. Sunday night was grilled ribeyes with the side fixin's. All in all there was too much eating of heavy food and no opportunity to feel hunger.

We made the return trip yesterday and our SIL came back with us so that she can accompany her mother to OK. We departed at 6:30 am and arrived home at 7:30 pm. The Baton Rouge portion of the drive was horrible with some stop and go traffic. This is the first time in quite a while that we've made a 13 hour road trip in one day. We were quite proud of ourselves that we got up this morning and went to the gym.

Dinner will be catfish fillets, turnip mash and... something else. Maybe roasted sweet potato chunks. I looked up turnip recipes and was surprised at the variety.

I am returning to WW so meals will be simple and boring to describe.

Moon, hope you get relief from your painful ailment. Susan, I'm thinking about you as you endure chemo SEs.

Our weather is spring like. The large tulip magnolia tree in the front yard is in glorious bloom. It's about time to order bales of pine straw for mulching flower beds.

Welcome home, Carole! I'm also impressed with your memory for the meals you enjoyed...however, I think I gained a few lbs just reading about all those luscious desserts! Lemon pecan pie with a warm sauce and ice cream??!! Be still my salivary glands!! I'm also impressed that you got right back to the gym. What a funny and true comment from your Sam's Club cashier!

Today, while I was out to lunch with the lovely social worker gal who replaced me the year I was on medical leave, DH was having (somewhat minor)oral surgery...the start of a long process of dental work which I hope to avoid in the future. So tonight he needed soft food, according to his oral surgeon's post op instructions. You have to know my DH and his eating habits to realize that if I did not know better ( I had a wisdom tooth removed a year or so ago, so had the same instructions), I would have been bamboozled into making him a regular meal with little regard for the instructions, and his stitches would have opened during the night!

Fortunately, I had lots of recently made soup for him, and made a huge baked potato, mashed with a variety of cheeses, and some chives. Unfortunately, I'd purchased a nice crusty baguette today, which called to him alluringly. So I cut off the delightful crust, and he "enjoyed" bread innerds with the rest of his soft meal. This was a tortuous meal for this guy who loves "high sensory impact" eating. Hope he can eat chicken marsala tomorrow which I'd planned to make tonight before realizing he was having more than a surgery consult today.

So, I had kale soup also, with crusty bread, and a nice fresh garden salad with beautiful red leaf lettuce I picked up today.

Earlier, I enjoyed my lunch at BGood, a health food oriented fast food restaurant...had a kale (Oh my! Double kale portions today!:)and quinoa salad with canadian bacon, apples, avocado, cranberries and a delicious light dressing. One does not leave this eating establishment feeling overly full, but definitely virtuous! Ha! It was delicious, but note to self...do not try to eat quinoa while chatting since those pesky little grains tend to fly everywhere.

Before dinner, DH and I took a nice long walk....it was sooo beautiful out today!! I think we New Englanders have a special capacity to appreciate ( and be thankful for) sunny mild (mid to high 40's) days like today...especially after the tundra-like weather we have so recently had. Such wild variations!! Saw lots of kids enjoying their schoolvacation days (the ones not fortunate enough to be in the Caribbean) riding bikes in their shorts. It's all relative!

Moon, I am hoping that you are feeling much better...and you, too, Special!

I'm looking forward to another lunch rendezvous with Susan on Friday during which time we will make a meyer lemon transfer! I'll bet that Susan's "stash" will be a lot more appealing than the sad looking ones I saw at WF recently. Once again, Susan is introducing me to a very interesting looking restaurant that I had yet to know. Will report back!

ok, here is one DAD update----today two therapists followed my dad and I to his house. They did a "home assessment". They basically were not impressed with anything he did---especially when they asked him if he would agree to getting rid of the "jumpsuits" he likes to wear, as they are a hazard for him falling when he has to take them down to sit on the toilet. He got feisty and said no--they are comfortable, I like wearing them, and they aren't worn out. Then we went to the kitchen and they saw the executive chair on wheels with several cushions it it that he used to wheel himself around the kitchen in and of course, did he use the technique we have used at home for years of backing the chair up against the table or the fridge to keep it secure when he stands---OH HELL NO, he had to show off and they wrote that up. Long story short, they pulled me into the hall, said that he needed 24 hour supervision, and would put Assisted living as a secondary option. So he tells me to go get him a disposable cell phone to have and I go to Walmart and the Rehab nurse calls and starts telling me how assisted living is where he needs to be and they want to discharge next week. I said, did you even look at the report from this a.m. Well no, she didn't know anything about that and the therapy director hadn't said anything about the assessment. She says my dad had agreed to assisted living when she spoke to him. I said well when I left the nursing home he said he would stay there. I told her yesterday I had set it up with the therapy director about him staying longer on a private pay basis to continue with 3 days a week of therapy and had also obtained the rate from Admissions. $282 per day..... I was feeling really low. Then the lady from the Assisted Living unit that is on the Rehab/Nursing facility property called this afternoon and it sounds like they could do a lot for him and the rate wouldn't even touch his savings, he could swing it with his monthly income. So I am hoping maybe this will work. if he can just not decline any more with his cognitive skills. Please keep a good thought for me.

I am still here, but just am so pulled and pushed, I haven't had time to post.GI issues have, perhaps, passed. Today I coded, drove out to Waltham and chose stone for the niches and jams for the bathrooms, then back to Watertown to return a jamb we didn't care for and picked up some tile that we had to order yesterday, then back to the renovation site to deliver the tiles, then back to Somerville [stopping for lunch at our Mexican spot], and to the fancy door hardware place. Picked hardware for the barn door and sliding door, door stops, and pulls for the TV cabinet. At this point, I was spent and we went home. Sat in my chair for a small nap, and 10 minutes later, I was already dead asleep, the phone rang. Damn robocall, but it was my specialty RX place. They made me, with a computer, verify MY identity even though the call came through as no caller ID. And then they put me on hold with disgusting music for the next available person. Hello???? You called me. You put me on hold. And then this chickie asked why have you called us? I vented. I am not proud. I will tell you, I let this thing have it. I said you called me. You woke me from my nap. You tell me what this call is about! Clearly, my current drug doesn't give them the same profit margin as the last drug. With that drug, I got personal service. That was the end of my nap. SHOOT! I kind of needed that sleep.

There was a dinner. It wasn't good. But, it was food. It was eaten. At least my stomach isn't as troubled as yesterday. Lunch however, was great!

I feel stupid to complain about GI issues when two of you are dealing with Dad issues which, to be honest, are far more substantial. Red and Nance, thoughts are with you.

*susan*

Another distraction came through my email. Three pages of soups!

http://www.spicesinc.com/c-39-soups-and-stews.aspx...

'Tis the season! Some of these look really good.

*susan*

Meat loaf (1/2 pork, 1/2 beef) for dinner with steamed broccoli and tossed salad. Last night's veggie was green beans with mini potatoes steamed in home-made chicken broth. The beans were whole frozen but hit the spot. Tonight's dinner is prepped. I gave dh a choice of meat loaf or meat balls and he chose meat loaf, which should be good for sandwiches for future lunches.

Susan, I like the glass knob. The soups didn't really appeal to me, maybe because it isn't soup weather here. I know you like soup year round.

Grocery shopping with my 93 yr. old mother turned out to be stressful. There were two electric shopping carts. I drove one out to the car where she waited. We were halfway through her list and in the middle of the store when the cart battery bit the dust. I got the other cart and drove it to her location, transferred the groceries. The second cart refused to move. A store employee came to help. I took the list and got the rest of the items with my push cart. My mother found me. She'd figured out how to make the cart work. Another store employee pushed my cart out to the car and stowed the groceries. So the customer service was good even if the equipment needed replacing.

SpecialK, tell me about your roasted cut up sweet potatoes. Prep, temperature, time.

Tonight's steamed broccoli was good. I recently discovered some microwave steamer bags in a drawer and used one of them. Followed the directions on the bag and steamed for 3 min. Dumped contents in a bowl and poured melted butter with fresh lemon juice over broccoli, sprinkled with s & p. I don't enjoy broccoli more than I enjoy it--too raw, too cooked--so this was a welcome surprise.

Susan, perhaps you've seen this

http://mobile.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/05/asian-cucumber-celery-avocado-salad-recipe.html

Oh but I love all the ingredients except the cilantro - so thanks Nance. I will save this one to try.

Susan I used to make Avocado-Mushroom Piquant often. Sometimes I added very thin onion slices.

1/2 c oil, 3-Tbl tarragon vinegar, 2 Tbl lemon juice, 2 Tbl water, 1 Tbl snipped parsley, 1 clove minced garlic, 3/4 tsp salt, dash pepper, 2 sliced avocados, 8 oz fresh mushrooms halved lengthwise.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a jar & shake to blend. Pour over avocado & mushrooms in shallow dish. Chill several hours, spooning marinade over occasionally. Drain avocados & mushrooms & arrange on platter. I usually served over greens like fresh spinach.