So...whats for dinner?

The meals look good, Moon. It seems that you enjoyed both.

My mother, dh, cousin and I went to my early birthday lunch today at Pontchartrain Poboy. I had weighed in at the WW meeting at 9:30 am where I was thrilled to learn I was down 4 lbs. Yay! I splurged on the lunch and had a 6 inch oyster poboy made with French bread, crunchy New Orleans style. It was delicious. I also had a small helping of my mother's side, dish macaroni and cheese. So no dinner tonight for me. I may have some plain yogurt with fresh blueberries and strawberries. Tomorrow night I will celebrate my birthday with a Grey Goose vodka martini.

Hope everyone is doing ok.

Quiet kitchen table here....so I thought I might share a nit of food porn from our Sat night dinner at The Farm House. DH and I both had a beet salad with greens and pistachios, then an absolutely delicious scallop entree with a variety of mushrooms and broccoli. The dish probably included something else that I have forgotten, but it was all good! As was the classical saxaphone quartet concert we attended. Here is the scallop dish. I had to take the photo because the surrounding sauce was so artfully done!

Last night we had baked salmon with sauteed spinach and onions, butternut squash, and a garden salad. It all felt so healthful....especially after spending two hours at the gym. Maybe a bit too healthful....so we both enjoyed a small eclair for dessert!

Tonight we're going to a group tour/event at a local microbrewery ...and eating there. The food sounds pretty limited, and since I am neither a beer nor "wings" fan, I suspect I will be eating their pizza offering.

I am hoping that our Texas and gulf friends are staying safe today. We are getting into Spring temp mode here. 70 degrees tomorrow??!! Where am I?

Happy birthday Carole -- hope you have a wonderful day and that you find your salmon dinner. And congratulations on the weight loss! Yum to the Oyster Po'boy.

And good afternoon to the rest of my fellow diners! It's a beautiful 70 degree day here too although our penalty is 4 straight days of rain starting this afternoon. We took a brief tour of the garden this morning and things are budding. I hate for them to be too early because we're notorious for late freezes but still, it's heartening to see. The birds have been thinking spring for a week or better and I love that it's warm enough to open the door and window to hear them. Yesterday, I watched a male bluebird from my window start preparations in one of the five houses we have set up around the property. A good sign! And unlike last year, I have my seed potatoes already. I hope to get them in by the end of the month instead of May this time.

Saturday with dad was a good visit. He is getting stronger except now he's developed a kidney infection. I don't know how that's possible with all of the antibiotic he's been taking but there it is. He's allergic to sulfa, as am I, so I'm not sure how it's being treated. I'll talk with him today to find out more. We're taking him to the foot doctor on Monday. I'm hoping he can walk on his own (with the walker of course) so we don't have to ride the ADA bus with his wheelchair, but can go in our car instead.

Monica, the meals look delicious and decent sized portions. Thank you for reporting!

Lacey, what a pretty dish, looks good enough to eat ;-)

Speaking of salmon, yesterday I started curing a small piece. Farmed I'm afraid -- no wild stuff here. In fact, it's only recently that you could get any kind of fresh salmon here. I usually get mine at Costco. I also started the process of making a "fauxstrami", a piece of corned beef cooked then crusted with pepper and spices then cooked in a low slow oven. I used lots of smoked salt but I have no illusions that it will taste like pastrami. But there is corned beef aplenty around right now so it was worth a try with this small piece. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Last night was a really good pressure cooker meal -- thick pork chops spiced then browned in butter, cooked on a bed of browned pearl onions and granny smith apples with a small amount of chicken stock. I deliberately did not brine the chops because I wanted to see how tender they turned out in the pc. They were so tender they cut easily with a dinner knife. We'll definitely have this one again.

DH wants pizza (doesn't he always). My lack of enthusiasm translates to frozen TJ's crust instead of homemade with ho hum toppings -- Canadian bacon and green pepper for him and Italian sausage and crimini mushrooms for me. Yawn . . . Carrie - my DH suffers from the illusion delusion that I'm running a restaurant too.

Hope Minus is enjoying her trip. Red - how is the assisted living going? Susan, if I neglected to say so earlier, congratulations on the tumor markers - great news!

Loving all the pictures!! Keep 'em coming!

Has it really been 6 days since I posted on my food thread? Oh dear. I am not a good kitchen table participant. It has actually been a pretty rough 6 days, both medically and energy-wise. Somehow, we did manage to eat, though I have been getting assistance from all the small ethnic shops in the neighborhood. Way too much of my energy has been going to following up with companies and people who are simply NOT DOING THEIR JOBS. Pottery barn screwed up a shipment, and each call to customer service took me farther and farther into the abyss. My computer had to go to Apple, and came back in worse shape than it left. Turns out that three logic board replacements triggers special treatment. I have a new machine coming next week. But going three days without my production machine was hard. The HOA insurance company can't screw up more than it has. This guy has tried to commit fraud, stating that the condos are occupied. Well, they aren't.... and so it goes. Yesterday, I spent [this is NOT an exaggeration] seven hours on the phone with various customer service departments.

My mother visited this weekend. We spent some time at the MFA and then had a family dinner at Pasha in Arlington. It was a wonderful evening, though my Mother totally exhausted me. I might have been a bit snippy. Our food was wonderful! So great to have a restaurant that everyone in my family can enjoy. They have great vegetarian options, a decent wine list, and it turns out, a good beer selection. We started with some soups, well most people got soup. I had the lentil, while others had the tomato. Next up were two appetizer plates. My favorite, the Cold Vegetarian Meze plate and a hummus. They serve this with beautifully cut vegetables and a thicker pita cut into triangles. When we needed more bread, a plate of freshly baked bread appeared. So delicious. The kid and I shared a kofta plate which arrived with 5 of these sausage shaped items. She ate two, I ate one. My mother got the ground lamb skewers which she loved. Mr. 02143 had the gyros which were surprisingly delicious, the kid's man had the stuffed eggplant, and my sister had the vegetarian dinner which had a salad, bulghar, falafels, a yogurt sauce, and some grilled vegetables. We did do a dessert. I brought some candles, and the restaurant propped one up on a baklava and sang happy birthday to my mother, who was both embarrassed and pleased. Some had tea.... and three hours had passed.

<another endless house update> The second floor is done [almost.] Rooms are painted. Electricity has been established. I need to wash down the floors and we have one missing door. Otherwise, done. In fact, tomorrow I believe that we will set up the P'nut's room. Downstairs, we are a bit farther behind. Long story, but the living room has been painted in the color we wanted. The 1/2 bath just needs some tweaking, well, like a toilet installation. It is painted and is waiting for countertops. The kitchen is getting there. Today I drove to Western MA and got the missing filler piece from the cabinet folks. Tomorrow that will go in, along with the island counter plates. Almost all of the crown molding has been painted. We are still missing some crown molding. Will have to check on that tomorrow. I am going to guess that we are about one week out from DONE.<end another endless house update>

Tonight's dinner was pasta with meatballs. For Mr. 02143, I made a tomato sauce. For me, I made a garlic butter. Tomatoes don't make my stomach all that happy right now. It was easy. It was the most I could do.

*susan*

Susan, Happy Birthday to your mother. Your post exhausted me. I will be glad for the condo to be done and the kids moved in so that you can relax and concentrate on Susan. No, I do NOT want the lbs back!

Minus, good to hear that you're having a wonderful time. Your food sounds dellcious.

Nance, If you can stand having your kitchen smoke-filled: http://www.amazon.com/Stovetop-Smoker-Original-Cam.... This is what I own for indoor smoking, but it is no longer available: http://www.amazon.com/Emeril-Pre-Seasoned-Cast-Iro...=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

*susan*

Naan has made it to south Louisiana supermarkets. Shows you how Middle Eastern food has gone mainstream. I picked up a package of multi-grain naan, read the nutrition info and put it back down. I'm eating very little bread these days. It has to be well worth the WW points to tempt me.

Minus, a year or two ago, you received a gift of Cocowine as did we. Well, we finally got around to opening it and it is delicious! The idea of chocolate and wine was just strange. Today I bought a bottle to have on hand. At the same store there was a display of healthy looking herbs for only $1.99 each. I bought thyme, chives, two kinds of basil and a variegated sage. When the gale winds go away, I'll plant the herbs in pots on the patio where I already have oregano, mint, and dill that survived drought, freeze and other types of neglect. My rosemary shrub has a few tendrils but is in serious decline.

Dinner tonight will be the two stuffed pepper halves that were left over from the first serving a few days ago. There will also be a veggie and a salad not yet decided.

If it doesn’t rain tonight when I get home from my support group, I’ll grill too. (Probably defrost some salmon, and soak a cedar plank before I leave for the meeting). Got an e-mail from Williams-Sonoma about a hydroponic indoor herb-garden system (including light) and might buy it if it’s not too pricey. Been growing the basil and rosemary we dug up from the yard last fall--but the basil’s getting leggy & pale and I may supplement it with some new plants. Never had any luck getting packaged fresh-cut basil to root in water, only soil. Used some basil on a frozen cauliflower-crust mini-pizza: a disaster, as it stuck to the greased toaster-oven pan and was mushy on top--but even mushy cauliflower parmigiana was tasty. And I used my panini press to make a panino with prosciutto, lomo Americano, aged provolone and freshly-picked rosemary on low-carb whole-wheat bread. That was a success.

On the fence about having the gardeners plant tomatoes in my yard this year. Had far better luck with the ones I started in containers on my deck from plants bought at the grocery (Whole Foods & Fresh Farms). Will probably concentrate on squash, herbs and raspberries (red & black--this time wearing long sleeves, a heavy glove on my right hand, and picking them with my left) for my yard. And of course, my Concords, which are perennial. I can’t stand their taste unless I turn them into jam, but I get lots of leaves to stuff. May see if any nurseries around here have any Riesling or hardy hybrid budwood I can graft--would take 3 yrs. for them to yield fruit, though.

Though I was prepared to find something to eat from our magic freezer tonight, Mr. 02143 really wanted a taco, so off to Rincon Mexicano we went. He ordered three of those marvelous braised pork tacos. I have no idea what the spices are, but this stuff is addictive! The taco is topped with some pickled onions and cilantro. So perfect! I tried a sausage and egg torta. I won't order this again. It was HUGE! And I didn't care for the sausage or the cheese or the size. It arrived with a large side of fries, which was a total surprise. We didn't eat any of those. My appetite is on the decline, so I could only manage eating half the sandwich most of it without the bread. I love this place. I decided to try something new. Turns out, I don't like this dish, so I will continue to investigate the menu to find more gems that I love.

I love grape leaves stuffed, but not when the leaves have become too mature. Those baby leaves are really special. The Greek guy who grew grapes down the street has sold, and the buyer tore out all of his grape plants and removed the arbor. The cost of gentrification.

*susan*

Nance, with temps in the 70's [!!!!!] we need to start grilling more regularly again. Girls were wearing tank tops and short today in East Somerville. Unheard of in Boston. This time of year we should still be wearing three layers plus a down coat. Maybe I should grill some Asian lemongrass chicken for a variation. Or some swordfish. You are right, the best thing about any meal that doesn't satisfy is that tomorrow, there will be more meals! That is one of the lessons I have tried to teach the kid's husband-- so what if something you make isn't great, you get to try again. Such a hard lesson if you fear failure.

*susan*

My brother lives in Arlington and he and his family had dinner outside this evening. Here in south central Texas that's normal for this time of year but even by our standards this has been a really warm winter

Speaking of herbs . .

Here's a picture of my winter herb pot. It's done so much better this year than in previous winters, probably because of more sunny days and I actually gave them some fertilizer this year. The pot has served me well this winter with lemon and globe basils, thyme, oregano and Italian parsley. My poor 5 year old rosemary plant didn't fare as well. It finally died. I can only seem to get them to live for 5 years in a pot. They get pretty woody by that time so it's just as well, except now I don't have any rosemary! I think next time I'll plant some Thai basil instead of the lemon (although mine doesn't really taste or smell like lemon but it's a good grower). It would be nice to have the Thai during the winter for pho. I'll move the pot outside when it gets a little warmer and it will be useful until the big herb bed gets going. Plus it will be right outside my door instead of having to go down the stairs to the big bed every time I want a sprig of thyme.

I have some leeks languishing in the refrigerator and it's a rainy chilly (relatively) day so I think I'll make potato leek soup and serve it in some small sourdough bread bowls. I didn't make the sourdough but Panera has started selling some of their breads frozen so I picked these up at the grocery. I'll try not to eat the whole bowl or else it will be a carb heavy meal. I'll probably add a salad to lighten the carb temptation.

Minus -- your trip and food sounded lovely. And what a beautiful place to walk!

Carole - did you get your birthday Pacific salmon?

After today our 70 degree weather is supposed to return albeit with clouds and showers. Things are popping up all over and a couple of days ago the spring peepers started their evening chorus. I love that sound. It seems early to me for all of this but the hummingbirds have arrived on the gulf coast right on schedule. I better start stocking up on sugar.

WF had a sale on fresh wild-caught mahi-mahi, so I stopped in and bought some plus jicama-red bell pepper “slaw.” Brushed the fish with some teriyaki marinade and placed it on an oiled piece of foil. Placed it on the grill with the lid closed (but the foil open) for 15 min. Turned out perfect! Sauteed some snap peas, and had some of that jicama salad on the side. Bonus: the kitchen didn’t smell of fish.

Hello to all - Sorry to have been awol but the hard drive on our computer frazzled (not a technical term...) and we just got a new one installed, and things back up to speed. Fortunately did not lose all our photos. Too many pages to backtrack so I will start from here! Tonight was sole with tomatoes and capers, quinoa with diced carrots and a romaine salad with scallions and a creamy sriracha dressing

Haven’t decided yet whether to make non-breaded eggplant Parm + sauteed broccolini, or “zoodles” cacio e pepe (grated pecorino Romano and fresh black pepper with butter) plus tomato-basil salad. I want so much to use real pasta, but I don’t dare!!!