So...whats for dinner?

Oh Eric, I sure hope you're drinking lots of water. That's scary hot.

We walked to brunch at Broadway Cellars, per Bob’s request. He & I had the “Quiche Cubano” (a quiche made with pulled pork shoulder, peppers, onions, ham and Swiss) and a mesclun salad; Gordy had the “Loaves & Fishes” (a huge bagel/schmear/lox platter). I had a Virgin Mary, Gordy coffee & a screwdriver, and Bob a bottomless Bloody Mary & two glasses of prosecco. (Hey, it’s Father’s Day and I was driving). Went up to LensCrafters in Lincolnwood.....and they screwed up my glasses big-time, reading an “8” in the L eye axis prescription as a “European zero.” So I have to go back tomorrow. We went to my friend’s son’s house for the shiva Minyan, and caught up with her son, daughter and especially my former boss (her widower), with whom I hadn’t spoken since our last case together before we both retired from law four years ago after his stroke. (He still comes in occasionally for the property-management side of the business, which the kids will continue to run).

En route home, I had a jones for “eurotart” (non-fat, no sweetener) frozen yogurt....but the shop was out of it. I had a much smaller portion of vanilla instead--the sugar-free strawberry was just too cloying. So no square of chocolate, sweet potato or cup of berries for me tonight. Dinner will be surf & turf: whatever leftover steak from last night Gordy didn’t eat, and mahi-mahi I’m going to grill, along with tomato-basil salad, asparagus and broccolini. Bob brought home an Entre-Deux-Mers from Whole Foods yesterday, so it’s chilling in the fridge. (Would have made salmon if he didn’t insist on drinking a white).

Kind of a sad fathers day. Dad went into a nursing home Friday. He's very blue and I'm not sure he's getting the best care there but we had very limited choices. One positive is that if he continues to improve, he can still go to assisted living but I'm not sure how much he will. They don't seem to do much for them at this nursing home and he's pretty pessimistic. Carole, you're very fortunate your mom could stay in the same place. I wish dad could have, but they had no long term beds available. This next week will be spent cleaning out and moving stuff from his apartment. Since there is a possibility that he will need some of it, it will have to be stored at my house, even though I have no room for it. And so it goes.

Lacey, what sad news about the FIL and your friend. My heart goes out to them and your DGS.

Minus, yike! Hope you pass all your tests and medical procedures with flying colors.

Susan, your rate is a bargain. As Lacey said, it won't last long when your talents become known. Your space looks like a perfect sanctuary that any visitor would appreciate.

I made dh cupcakes for father's day and I'm now going to eat one. Maybe two. It's been that kind of weekend.

You all have made me crave lobster!

Oh Nance, I am so sorry that you and your dad are having to go through such a difficult time. It is so distressing indeed to witness him not get the level of care you would hope for. Hugs to you both! I am keeping you prominently in my crowded caring thoughts.

And Sandy, I forgot to share my condolences about your former office manager. So sad.... I do hope her DH is able to gain the care he needs. I developed a serious mistrust of the anti-estrogen and estrogen altering drugs purely due to my own body's response. I think it is so specific to each women's chemistry, but maybe one's age is a factor, too.

I was guzzling water...and eating some food to keep the hyponatremia away. I ate enough food that I wasn't hungry tonight, so all I did was bake some sourdough bread (using the grill as an oven) for lunch sandwiches. Oh, it's still 105F and it's 10:20pm....

Nance, I'm so sorry to hear that your dad is moving to a nursing home. I looked around at nursing homes for mom (before I found out the neighbor was a "semi-retired" home health nurse) and all were as you describe.

Susan, that looks nice to me. From looking at the map, it looks like you're close to a lot of popular places. I don't think you'll have a problem keeping the place full, even if you do raise the rates to market level.

I'm being called....

Lacey, Eric, et al., thanks for the kind thoughts. Unfortunately, so many of us here have either gone or are going through the same thing. Although, I hate that any of us are dealing with this, it's nice to have company. As luck would have it, my dad's BIL is in the same nursing home so at least I will get to see my cousin more often. She and I are the same age and grew up together. She is like a sister to me. Her dad's been there for over a year so she's helped me a lot "learning the ropes" so to speak (like how to hide dad's kindergarten scissors that he uses to open things so they don't take them away from him.) I plan to talk to the DON when I go there Wednesday to iron out some issues.

Trigger fingers are funny -- I had a trigger thumb thing going on about the time of the carpal tunnel stuff. It wasn't terribly painful but was damned annoying. It mysteriously went away of it's own accord. I expect it to make an equally mysterious reappearance somewhere down the line.

We are on our third week of 90+ temperatures with no rain whatsoever during that time period. It is bizarre to see how stressed the vegetation is in June, normally a lush month here. I'm managing to keep the garden and a couple of newly planted trees alive by watering but I just can't water everything. Three of my tomato plants are normal sized and are putting on fruit like crazy, but everything else is pretty stunted. It's nearly as depressing as the three weeks of daily rain we had this spring. Eric -- yike! You seem to know how to deal with the inferno, but it must have felt good to come inside after you finished working. Please be careful out there.

Our meals have been like yours Carole -- pretty minimal. Tonight I'm fixing a couple of pork cutlets with some haricots verts and new potatoes from the garden. If it doesn't rain, there may not be many more potatoes.

Nance - thanks for keeping us in the loop on your Dad's issues. Aging parents is just heartbreaking as they try to adapt to something they never wanted. Hope your cousin will have some tips.

Met my SIL for lunch today at a restaurant called Brio. It's mostly "tuscan", but they have an extensive gluten free menu for her. I had chicken piccata. It was just OK. Served w/mashed potatoes (too heavy & thick) and assorted veggies that were just marginal. so I didn't eat either. The best part was the fresh bread & the creme brulee. My SIL had white bean soup and a flourless chocolate cake. 19 year old niece from NM that I don't really know had grilled salmon salad. The plate would have served 3 people.

Starting PT for the arm tomorrow.

The mahi-mahi was still frozen. Gordy’s at rehearsal. Bob is working late. So the heck with it: I made a tuna salad sandwich with lettuce, tomato & onion on low-carb hi-fiber bread and a glass of seltzer. (Had just a fried egg and black coffee for late breakfast, and made myself an unsweetened coconut-almond milk latte when I got home from the shrink). But I’m nervous enough about tomorrow’s mammo that I will have a small glass of that Mumm’s unless it’s too flat to enjoy. Wish I had a dessert I like that I could cheat with. Plain Greek yogurt, one square of dark chocolate, and berries just don’t comfort me at all. I will stop at Hoosier Mama on the way home from the mammo and NP tomorrow...and eat half a slice of pie--unless the fro-yo parlor refilled the non-fat no-sugar “Eurotart” machine since yesterday.

eric - I sympathize with the bank thing - my folks were Depression era too - they would both be in their deep 90's if still with us. My dad had certificates of deposit all over town and it was a process to consolidate them. I had to do all of this even though my mom survived him because she was severely disabled and cold not leave the house except after using a hydraulic lift, a wheelchair, and an equipped van that she could be rolled into. We saved that for doctor visits, which were infrequent, or she left in an ambulance - several times a year for lengthy hospitalizations. I could sign everything so I ran around handling all of this stuff - the only issue was I lived 3,000 miles away... I accumulated an enormous amount of frequent flyer miles.

Oh, eric, stay indoors and stay safe!!! Only upside is that you can cook outdoors on a piece of tinfoil on the patio without using any fuel (only partly joking).

Okay, gonna do a dinner reboot. The fish still has ice crystals, so I took it out of the fridge and am finishing the defrost on the counter. Don’t feel like going to WF, so will marinate it in oil, lemon, and tarragon, sear it, and then steam it on a bed of bell pepper strips. And whatever Bob feels like drinking, ‘scuse me while I go pour myself a little of that Mumm’s: today’s mammo was A-OK!!!

Well, I gave up on the mahi-mahi and stuck it back on the freezer--still has ice crystals after being out on the counter for half an hour. Having a half flute of Mumm’s (still bubbly after a week) with a slice of nice, ripe Brie to celebrate the mammo. Earlier, had heirloom yellow tomato & basil over baby greens with orange balsamic vinaigrette. May have a little cauliflower-crust pizza later, with some peppers--or nuke some palak paneer.

Glad to hear that Sandy. Always a good cause for celebration!

Tonight I ended up making Shackshuka with feta. We both enjoyed it...have been meaning to make it for several months since seeing the recipe in NYT. Made a garden salad and garlic bread to accompany it. Of course dessert is awaiting on the counter...the cherry pie is calling me.

Susan, glad your maiden voyage into AirBnB is starting off well. In fact, I bet yours would be a great spot for Tufts, Harvard and other school parent/teenage hopefuls to rest their tired heads. You will probably meet many interesting folks!

Nance, I'm really glad that you have a relative to help you navigate this particular nursing home system. Sustainedhugs to you as you manage your dad's needed care.

Variant on my 'cold pasta salad' (our usual being rotini, chicken, vegetables on hand and dressing of some sort): tonight being salmon, asparagus and pesto.

Well, and the rotini.

Battening down the hatches, Lacey. Hope we aren’t in for the kind of stuff that hit Texas not so long ago.

Venting a bit tonight. Figured that with the mahi-mahi being a no-go, I would have a low-carb bagel and lox for dinner. About to put the bagel into the toaster oven, I foraged around in the meat-keeper drawer and.....no lox. Last Thurs. I bought two packages. Okay, cold cuts....nope, empty package from sliced turkey and a slowly petrifying slice of mortadella from the “Italian trio” I bought last week. Had to settle for a chicken bratwurst atop some sauerkraut, and I was lucky to come up with both. Of course, my freezer and pantry is full of stuff I’m not supposed to eat, bought for my guys who requested it.....and then they go and eat MY stuff and don’t bother to tell me when they’ve eaten it all that we need to buy more. And ferpity’s sake, would it KILL them to put opened packages into ziploc bags??? At least they don’t drink milk out of the bottle.....because unlike me, they’re lactose-intolerant.

I walked with my neighbor last night and DH went to the gym so dinner was different for all! DD went to get Taco Tuesday with her friend, I had leftover steak and sliced it thin, quartered some mushrooms and sautéed them, then added the sliced steak and added some beef gravy and put it over buttered wide egg noodles with parsley for DH, then put it in the fridge for him with some cabbage crunch slaw from WF. Had enough to pack the same for his lunch today. He heated the entrée up when he got back from the gym. I walked (my first since surgery) five miles, but we didn't leave until 8:15 so I had a tomato, 1/2 an avocado and peppered bacon sammie on whole grain bread when I got back.

The other day I took everything out of both freezers and put it all on the counter. I find that my side by side freezer gets out of control easily and then I can't find anything. I re-organized and now have a better handle on what I have. I decided that after losing the garage fridge/freezer at the holidays I would only put bread, any ice cream, and a few vegetables out there - if I lose those it would be less painful than filet and shrimp! I used to keep a list on the freezer door of what was inside and then cross off when I used things - I should go back to that. So, now all the protein is in the house freezer but it is better organized. Frozen fruit for shakes on the top shelf, veggies on the next one, meats on the next, nuts and ground meats on the bottom, seafood in one drawer and meatballs and asst sausages in the other.