So...whats for dinner?

Glad to see you back, Special! Lucky girls to have you feeding them on their fishing trip.

Another cool, cloudy day at the lake....but no complaints about that. The hummers have been our main entertainment, and I have been taking slo mo videos of them at the window feeder....it is not obvious that the video is slo mo at all until they fly away at a normal bird flying speed. These guys are just so cute...little jetsons!

I took a grass fed london broil out of the freezer and hope I can move the defrosting process along quickly since there is no delightful Ethiopian restaurant down the street from us here!! That meal sounded great, Sandy. Our second option will be local pizza.....meh! Oh..... but I am just remembering that we learned about a new pizza and salad restaurant about six miles from here that is reported to be quite good. If DH's back feels well enough for a car ride, that can be our alternative. You can tell I am not feeling confident about the london broil defrosting.

lacey - it was fun hanging out with the 20-somethings for a bit, and feed them! Here is a quick defrost trick for your London broil:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/food/

One of my co-workers is retiring and Friday is her last day. So tomorrow (to throw her off the scent) we are having a going away pot-luck for her. She adores my spanakopita and tiropita (spinach and cheese pies) so even though it is bloody hot, I cranked up the oven and made them for her because she is worth it. I am Greek and so I make this a few times a year, usually Christmas, Easter and my son's birthday because he loves them so much. I just pulled them out of the oven. Here they are cooling off. The one on the right is the spinach and feta(spanakopita) mixed with the ingredients and the other one is cottage cheese, feta and parm (tiropita) mixed together with all the other ingredients.

Oh my, how delicious looking!

Minus, I will share the recipe later..no problem. Kind of beat right now so going to watch some mindless television (Master Chef)

Susan, my family has always liked a thinner version and this is a family recipe. I have had thicker, and of course, I have made the individual triangles (traditional) many times as well but we all prefer the sheet pan version. I think it is because everyone loves the phyllo dough the best! LOL

April - I'll look forward to the recipe tomorrow or this weekend if you're busy at work.

Susan - thanks for adding a bit of "sense" on the privacy issue. I'm not particularly well versed, but I think there's lots of "trashing" going on, and some folks who want waaaaaayyyy more than they're paying for (considering BCO is free). As you might remember, I don't do facebook.

Special - I agree about the keys in August. Been there - done that. You are special. Enjoyed seeing the Tarpon feeding clip. Does you daughter have her own boat now?

Bedo - oh wow, fresh fish. You'll have to make us all jealous with your meals.

So, have been fasting and having some protein shakes since returning from the free for all of eating and drinking in Atlanta last weekend.  Had grass fed beef burgers on the grill tonight with local organic green beans and streamed local yellow crookneck squash.  It's so hot here...today was 97 with "feels like" temp of 108.  Good gravy- we need rain and relief from the oppressive heat.

Speaking of baking - my friend Pat, who still bakes cakes & pies once a week, has recommended Wilton Baking Spray. Apparently you do away with not only greasing & flouring the pan, but no need to use anything else. Nothing ever sticks & it comes out perfect every time. Has anyone else tried it?

Minus, it's been a long time since I used the stuff but I didn't like it either. Maybe it's gotten better.

What is the name of the boat company in Florida. My dear friend who has a place in Stuart is looking for a boat for fishing. Chances are, they will be looking for a used boat, but I would love to pass this information along.

This friend is amazing. She is 60 years old and goes out into the Atlantic almost every day of the year to fish in a kayak. She is the one who provides me with striper bass!

*susan*

susan - the boat company is Beavertail Skiffs, here is a link. These are nice, lightweight skiffs, meant for inshore fishing. DD is a rep for them in case your friend would like a wet-test. DD's model is the Strike - it is small and agile enough for her to handle solo - she loads and launches by herself. If you open the link and put your cursor on the tab "Our Owners" it will also show "Our Guides" she is the only female, easy to find.

https://www.beavertailskiffs.com/

Wow, three pages of posts to catch up on!

The flooding in Louisiana has been awful. Our house has not flooded nor have the homes of my family. We are still in northern MN and have winced at pictures of flooded areas within easy driving distance of our house. My mother is high and dry in the nursing home but my younger sister was unable to visit her for a period of days because of highways (including I-12) being closed. Mother Nature can be wonderful but also a b**ch. This sister flooded in the last hurricane and her house is now raised, but her pastures flooded and animals waded in water.

DH and I bicycled 20 miles yesterday. We had lunch at Dorset Café and I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw on the sandwich. The bread was a hoagie bun, blah, but I was hungry and the food tasted good. The temperature was low 80's and it was humid so I sweated a lot and suffered with leg cramps for a few hours in the afternoon despite drinking glasses and glasses of water, consuming yellow mustard by the spoonful (advice from marathoner cousin), and swallowing a couple of potassium pills. My dad sweated profusely and I must have inherited that tendency from him. He also suffered from cramping.

Before quinine became unavailable here in the US, it worked really well in preventing cramps. I used to keep it on hand.

Tonight's dinner will probably be brats and packet potatoes with sliced onions. Also a cucumber salad.

I have a boiled egg in the refrigerator. I'll chop it up and make a coarse egg salad to spread on a thick slice of toast for my breakfast. A small glass of Atkins chocolate shake for swallow pills.

I keep a batch of boiled eggs on hand for breakfast and protein snacks. I used the common method of covering the eggs with cold water, bringing to a boil and letting them sit for 15 minutes. Then rinsing in cold water. They always peel easily. Older eggs only. Most of the time they don't have the green ring around the yoke.

So good to see your post, Carole. You've been on my mind with all that terrible flooding in Louisiana, even tho I knew you were still up north. I'm glad your family is safe. Impressive biking!

Special, cool boats, and darling, adventurous daughter! How nice to be included in some of them! And thanks for the egg peeling tips!

We tried a new restaurant last evening.....mixed results. This is a brand new place featuring interesting pizzas and salads, some other entrees, and few desserts. It's near a small ski area that has struggled over the years, but is reported to re-open this year. If this winter is anything like last, they will be opening for folks to ride scooters down the hills.

Anyway, I was warned by a Yelp review about the very inadequate parking lot....it did not disappoint! We ended up finding a clearing at the end of a charter school's driveway, down the hill, next door, and boldly parked there. As we walked back up to the restaurant, a guy in a truck pulled into the clearing, we stopped, looked over, and he called out, "It's okay, you can stay here, I forgot to put up the 'No Parking' sign". We thanked him, and stayed. The restaurant is quite popular, yet has lots of kinks to work out. New barn like atmosphere, with picnic tables and plasticware. Half the tables were inside and half outside overlooking the highway below. Small kitchen with wood fired oven clearly struggling to meet demand of the hordes.

The live music indoors was so loud we were happy to be seated outside.....until the mosquitoes arrived. We'd ordered an arugula salad with tart apple, goat cheese, and an egg on top, with a light balsamic dressing. It was fresh and tasty. The pizzas looked interesting and we ordered a shrimp scampi one. I got up to take a sunset picture, and returned to see DH munching on a short rib pizza! The young waitress came over to apologize for bringing the wrong order, and brought the shrimp one. She suggested I try the short ribs pizza so I did. She offered for us to keep both, but we hardly needed to, so I suggested the staff might enjoy it and had her take it. We started to eat the shrimp one and by then the mosquitoes were dive bombing our heads....so we decided to take the pizza home and enjoy it there. Delish!!

If this place were closer than 20 minutes away, it would be my favorite for pizza take- out!

Tonight we'll be grilling that london broil.

So good to see your post, Carole. You've been on my mind with all that terrible flooding in Louisiana, even tho I knew you were still up north. I'm glad your family is safe. Impressive biking!

Special, cool boats, and darling, adventurous daughter! How nice to be included in some of them! And thanks for the egg peeling tips!

We tried a new restaurant last evening.....mixed results. This is a brand new place featuring interesting pizzas and salads, some other entrees, and few desserts. It's near a small ski area that has struggled over the years, but is reported to re-open this year. If this winter is anything like last, they will be opening for folks to ride scooters down the hills.

Anyway, I was warned by a Yelp review about the very inadequate parking lot....it did not disappoint! We ended up finding a clearing at the end of a charter school's driveway, down the hill, next door, and boldly parked there. As we walked back up to the restaurant, a guy in a truck pulled into the clearing, we stopped, looked over, and he called out, "It's okay, you can stay here, I forgot to put up the 'No Parking' sign". We thanked him, and stayed. The restaurant is quite popular, yet has lots of kinks to work out. New barn like atmosphere, with picnic tables and plasticware. Half the tables were inside and half outside overlooking the highway below. Small kitchen with wood fired oven clearly struggling to meet demand of the hordes.

The live music indoors was so loud we were happy to be seated outside.....until the mosquitoes arrived. We'd ordered an arugula salad with tart apple, goat cheese, and an egg on top, with a light balsamic dressing. It was fresh and tasty. The pizzas looked interesting and we ordered a shrimp scampi one. I got up to take a sunset picture, and returned to see DH munching on a short rib pizza! The young waitress came over to apologize for bringing the wrong order, and brought the shrimp one. She suggested I try the short ribs pizza so I did. She offered for us to keep both, but we hardly needed to, so I suggested the staff might enjoy it and had her take it. We started to eat the shrimp one and by then the mosquitoes were dive bombing our heads....so we decided to take the pizza home and enjoy it there. Delish!!

If this place were closer than 20 minutes away, it would be my favorite for pizza take- out!

Tonight we'll be grilling that london broil.

Lacey, hard cooked eggs, new or old, in the pressure cooker come out perfect every time and peel easily. A cup of water, set eggs on the rack, set on manual for 6 minutes, turn off when timer goes, after one minute release the pressure (cover it with a towel to catch steam). Crack the eggs and put in an ice water bath for 10 or 15 minutes, the peels usually slip right off. I usually cook a dozen eggs at a time. It's the only method I've ever used that lets you use very fresh eggs.