So...whats for dinner?

Special...what is your trick for peeling boiled eggs?  Would love to know!

Ah yes, bread. One of my favorite snacks is a slice of rye toast with real butter. I think I could give up pasta before good bread. (Well, maybe.)

Tonight was a pork chop and rice dish in the pressure cooker that was only moderately successful. I've had a moth attack in my brown rice supply (in spite of my traps! AACK!) Therefore I was forced to use white rice. The result was that the pork chops could have used a few more minutes but the rice was overcooked. Brown rice would have worked perfectly. The result was edible, but that's all. I did have some lovely asparagus that I got today along with a beautiful artichoke. I'll have the artichoke later in the week.

Sandy, I'm enjoying your culinary adventures.

I have loads of cookies that need to be disposed of too. It seems I've had at least two cookies a day and they are still so many. I expect I'll just grit my teeth and pitch them. I have to have bloodwork done Monday, so we'll see how much damage has been done.

We did get my dad moved without incident Minus, thanks for asking. He was very glad to be home. I hope it lasts for a while, but he seems to be bordering on frail so well see.

Some friends were to come for homemade pizza and movies tomorrow night, but now one of them has got the dreaded respiratory bug so now I don't know. Could be a quiet night, which would be alright too.

Breakfast this morning was a leftover deviled egg & beignet from Bayou Cafe (yesterday’s breakfast) along with some of the Hyatt Place Arlington’s daily “breakfast potato skillet” (potato wedges, onions, peppers, and ground beef). Lunch was chop chae and Korean fried chicken legs at Bon Chon in Arlington—and I took another leg along with me to the airport, where I ate it along with a glass of rose cava as I waited to board my plane. Got home to a real mess—my housekeeper got strep and an ear infection while visiting her son in Alabama for Christmas (she left before we left for NY) and won’t be able to fly home for at least another week. And my husband and son (though I love them dearly) have never had to fend for themselves—my son lives with us, my husband lived with his folks till our wedding day, and whenever I’ve been away our housekeeper cleans up after them. So as soon as I got in the door, it was load the dishwasher (my husband tried unsuccessfully to wash dishes), go through the fridge and toss out stuff I’d bought as long ago as Dec. 20 (pretty sure that roast chicken wasn’t gonna be safe to eat), clean the litterboxes, go through all the mail and phone messages, make seltzer and refrigerate whichever fruit gifts that arrived during the week hadn’t started rotting yet. (What part of “perishable” did my guys not understand)? Rewarded myself with a persimmon and a decaf cappuccino.

Gotta get up early—replenish some perishable (perished) staples, finish at least straightening (if not hard cleaning) because after dinner at B’way Cellars, we’re walking back and having at least a dozen friends over for champagne to ring in the New Year.

Beef is on the menu for tonight again. Made a tenderloin roast on Xmas day and tonight are gorgeous club steaks (aka rib-eye) with mushrooms and shallots in a red wine reduction and shrimp risotto with saffron and a tomato blush (just a hint of gorgeous san marzano tomato) and spinach salad with walnuts and goat cheese with a vinaigrette.

We were going to go out, but DH's son and fiancée are coming over earlier for our Xmas since they did not make it on Xmas and by the time they leave it will be a bit later (they have dinner reservations at 7 and are going to a party so they are leaving here at 6:30 and we don't like to go out to a later dinner on NY Eve cause of the drunks on the road) so I will cook.

Happy Holidays to all!

April, we posted at the same time, so just saw your NYE menu.....WOW! Sounds soooo delicious! Enjoy!


If we had not discovered the LaMorra gift card, DH had planned to cook tonight....lobster paella. He makes a wonderful dinner....the only two selections in his repertoire, the paella, and rack of lamb. He's made each about three times....and always a big production (and I have to stay out of the kitchen, since it is chaos), with great need for fanfare. But the end product is always wonderful, and a way we have spent some recent NYE's.
Unfortunately, the last time he made paella was on a Christmas Day, and as we were opening gifts, I walked into the kitchen to replenish my coffee and got a terrible waft of gas. He had left the stove burner on so low that it was just emitting gas with no flame. I ran around opening all the windows and doors, and banned him from cooking for a while. ;/ We were lucky not to be one of those tragic holiday house explosion stories! Recently, we've decided he can make one of his famous paella meals again....just with better supervision by the head chef. And then.....he discovered the gift card! Lucky us!

Eric, that made me laugh! It has been a couple of years since I posted here, but I think about this forum a lot. Good to see a lot of the "oldtimers" are still here. My daughter (a freshman in college) has been a vegan for 2 years now. It was a new year's resolution 2 years ago. I never thought it would last, but it did. She is home for winter break, and today we went to a restaurant called V Street in Rittenhouse Square in Philly. It is all vegan. There are 2 other vegan restaurants in Philly owned by the same guy (Rich Landau and his wife Kate Jacoby). V Street is the middle one, Vedge is a bit fancier and there is a new cafeteria style one. V Street is marketed as street fare. It has a very urban, chic feel. We had their take on a bagel with lox. It was so delicious, tasted better than the real thing (which I don't really like). A beet sliced very thinly posed as the lox, and some kind of a dill flavored spread the cream cheese and some fresh tomatoes. Also had a French dip with mushrooms standing in for roast beef. I think what makes his food so scrumptious is his broths. The mushroom broth for the dip is just heaven. Also had a shawarma sandwich with seitan. I am not a big fan of seitan though. But even so it was very good. We each ordered one and shared everything. Had some biscuits and gravy with it too that was the absolute best I have ever tasted and a carrot salad which was truly delicious. What a treat it was.

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope 2017 brings only good health and wonderful blessings for all. Kay

eric - happens fast, right? I can't believe my firstborn is rapidly closing on 30! How did that happen?

Dinner was kind of boring - yellow rice, ranch beans, soft tacos. DH is watching the Clemson/Ohio State game, I am hanging out with the scared dog (fireworks for NYE - Florida is a weird place!) on the bed watching TV.

Minus, my DH loves the Menages, especially the midnight.

Speaking of which, happy 2017 my friends, cheers! 🍸 🍸 🍸

Nice picture, Lacy.

Sounds like a tasty spread, Minus. Is chicken foot dominoes also called Mexican dominoes? We used to play regular dominoes in my family, four people, two sets of partners.

Yesterday morning before I went to the nursing home, we got a phone call cancelling the NYE outing to a couple's house and then to a restaurant. DH and I both were so NOT disappointed. I immediately took a ribeye out of the freezer. We had grilled ribeye and baked potato for dinner. The ribeye was a tad overcooked thanks to a malfunctioning temperature fork but we ate every bit of it. I love baked potatoes with real butter. We also had light sour cream and some grated cheddar since it was NYE!

No champagne, just a very good Old-Fashioned before dinner. I had prosecco chilled in the outside refrigerator but we opted for home-made ice tea with the meal.

DH is in the kitchen putting together a pot of black-eyed peas with the usual mound of chopped onions, fresh garlic and ham. The hambones he buys always have excess ham on them so there is seasoning for two makings of beans or soup. He bought a corned beef brisket yesterday and we have cabbage, carrots, and potatoes for the corned beef and cabbage, another large pot dish he will make today. Black-eyed peas and cabbage are traditional southern fare for New Year's Day. We always had them at home. It was the only occasion the whole year when my mother cooked black-eyed peas, because she and my father didn't like them as well as other peas and beans.

I plan a lazy day working on an heirloom afghan I'm beginning. Every square is different. The project incorporates the full spectrum of crochet stitches. Exciting, eh?!! I plan to keep this one for myself so I bought yarn that will look nice in my living room. I'll drape it on the sofa that nobody sits on unless we have company. It should last our lifetimes at this rate.

Eric, I so enjoy your adoration of your DD. I would love to see a picture of her unless you choose not to put her picture on the internet.

One of my pleasures in life is knowing all of you through this discussion forum. I really must make a donation to bc.org.

Pork roast with roasted carrots and potatoes.

Carole - Chickenfoot is similar to Mexican Train but I think it's different than the one you mentioned since there are no partners and any number from 3 to 7 can play depending on the set you have. You draw tiles & start with the "double 9" in the center. The play goes around the table starting with a nine/something in each players hand, playing one at a time & matching up the dominoes in your hand to your line (9/3, 3/7, 7/5). If you don't have a match to play, you must draw to try to get the number you need or put up a penny. When there is a penny up, anyone else can play on that person's line to get rid of things in their own hand that they can't use. Winner plays all tiles first. Losers count up the point value of the dominoes left in their hands. We play for a penny a point and pay off each time so there is no need to keep score. Next hand starts with the "double 8", etc.

I grew up playing all kinds of games at home & played bridge for 40 years from the time I was 12. We never played for money but my folks let us put a nickel in a slot machine & pull the handle whenever we drove through Nevada and stopped for lunch. I'm not a fan of gambling because I get bored too soon & I'd rather spend my money on books. (no judgement intended - just my preference)

I'm going heavy on southern tradition this year even though I wasn't raised here. Black Eyed peas for luck. Cabbage for money. If I have to choose, I'd rather the first than the second at this point. Since I have deviled eggs ready in the fridge and my left over sliders, I'll probably turn my cabbage into coleslaw.

Me too Eric. In grade school we played with little white navy beans at our friends houses. And my college roommate and I had year long totals from playing 3 games every night. I can't remember but I think the yearly winner bought lunch for the other. (everything comes back to food again - LOL)

Happy, as one who grew up in the south, your dinner for tonight sounds yummy!

Ha ha Carrie, I know what you mean. We watch those house hunter shows and it seems like the guys are always cooks. I never once in my whole single life, met one of those guys.

We got the house "undecorated" today, which took all of half an hour. That's the joy of being a Christmas minimalist these days.

Dinner was grilled ham slices, hoppin' john and green beans with shallots. I'm very disappointed that I forgot to get greens at the store or we would have had them instead of the green beans. I also had planned to make cornbread, but forgot that too! Sheesh!

By the way Minus, some time back you mentioned that you have trouble using up buttermilk before it goes bad.. I wanted to let you know that I've started freezing it in one cup containers very successfully. I use it often but my problem is that for some reason, it's hard to find it here that's not close to it's sell by date.

I think tomorrow I'm going to try a new recipe for a Portuguese chicken dish that I came across (NYT?)

Happy New Year to all!

P.s. Nice picture Lacey!

Carrie, I feel the same way about the wish not to be the only cook in the house. I don't even think I knew a man who cooked until about twenty five years ago meeting a neighbor's DH who would come home from work and cook for his stay at home wife and the kids almost daily. I was stunned....and impressed! And vowed in my next life to screen for culinary skills in a DH. That said, mine is wonderful in every other way! Guess I'll keep cooking...

So last night we went to LaMorra for our dinner and had quite the delicious three course meal and dolce. I started with a roasted brussell sprout caesar salad that was topped with grilled quail and garlic bread, a very unique appetizer. For my next course I chose the squash gnocchi (very light and tender) with roasted garlic and parmesano crema, broccoli rabe and sage brown butter. For the next, I chose wood grilled skirt steak with mushroom and beef cheek ragu, rutabaga, roasted baby carrots (I had replaced for potato gratin) and salsa verde. I had not intended to have beef since I had it twice last week, but then saw this dish at someone's table, and quickly abandoned that thought! Dessert for me was two almond macaroons filled with a chocolate cream of some sort. I'm posting the menu with all the choices we had so I don't have to write out what DH had.....which was the char, the risotto, and the scallops. He enjoyed a champagne gelato for dessert. They were all quite the interesting, tasty choices....if a bit "over named".

So now the holidays are over and I must tend to the task of losing weight...and figure out which gym we will frequent. If we sign up to volunteer at the hospital to which our "former" fitness center is attached, we can still go there, but I am ambivalent about making a regular commitment for 3-4 hours weekly since I already have volunteer commitments. What to do... what to do.... I do have a free pass to check out the Y, so will try that out to see how it feels. What's most important is that I must get back into my "fitness habit". And hopefully the sciatica will cooperate!

Tonight we had grilled teriyaki chicken thighs, salad, brussells sprouts, and a nuked potato for DH. This is the way I avoid carbs for myself, so, he will be seeing a lot of nuked potatoes this month.

Growing up, I don't recall our family eating anything of special (superstitious) meaning on New Year's Day, but later, I recall my mother making the beans and cabbage (and, I think, pork) for all that good luck. I think she learned it from a newer friend of hers who was from the South. We don't keep any of those traditions....thus the chicken thighs and salad...but would the sprouts count for cabbage....and maybe a little bit of wealth?LOL