So...whats for dinner?

Minus- had to laugh- "English muffin with peanut butter or smoked oysters on Triscuits"...seemingly at two complete ends of the spectrum.  What did you decide?

Dinner for me was a grilled beef patty, collards and tossed salad. Perfect meal for a spring like day in Feb.  (It was 75 here in SC today.)

Haha, Minus...yet another option. You sound like me...I look in the fridge and pantry and think....hmmmm, need a dart.  Whatever it hits wins. 

Minus...just have to say, I chuckle when you post as it strikes me as so funny....no, just do not think a DH would get it. Dinner tonight was from our precious next dor neighbors- I took fruit and a tossed salad and came home with the burger and collards to add to my salad. When DH returns the end of the week I will have to do better...haha! 

Sandy, what an interesting meal! I'm such a plain eater. BTW, I don't do Girl Scout cookies anymore. I liked the old-fashioned sandwich cookies which they don't do it seems. And I was a Girl Scout for 11 years, even got my Curved Bar. Glad you like them though!

HUGS!

Grrr I lost the post.

I processed 11 jars of broth and had 4 jars that did not seal. Normally, for broth, I'll have 1, maybe 2, "fails" per 6 or 7 dozen jars that I do.

These jars are much taller and skinnier that what I normally use...And that translates to a bigger change in liquid levels when stuff starts to boil. I'll take that into account tonight and see how it works out.

Lots of "remains" in my fridge that need using. Think I'll start with the very rare end of the rib roast that will become a steak and soba noodle stir fry. There will be lots of veggies in it so it will probably be a one dish meal.

Lacey, where are you?

auntie - is lacey's son getting married right about now, I seemed to remember that it was a Feb wedding here in FL? I was wondering if that is why she was not posting.

My BIL/SIL came for dinner on Sat and we grilled ribeyes - lots of them, lol! Took advantage of the use of the charcoal side of the hybrid grill and had DH do extras. We also had a field green/goat cheese salad, sautéed zucchini with red onion, red pepper flakes and a sprinkle of parm, and DH's great aunt's recipe for pilaf - which is rice and broken angel hair pasta cooked in butter and then chicken stock is added. Made a refrigerator ladyfinger cheesecake for dessert. Love that cheesecake as it is light since the filling is whipped then layered with the soft ladyfingers, and it is not baked so it stays light and fluffy. I topped it with cherries, but it is amenable to any topping - fresh strawberries or peaches would be great too.

Last night I sliced up a leftover steak and added it to cooked mushrooms and a sauce of beef stock and sour cream, I had a tomato avocado salad, DH had the rest of the zucchini, and we both had pilaf. I also made ham salad from the leftover ham from earlier in the week, which DH got in today's lunch - yay!

Yup—final coat & cleanup tomorrow!

Waiting for the workers to leave so I can shower,take advantage of this nice weather and walk to lunch. Still smells of paint (semigloss latex isn't odorless and I can smell it throughout the house even with the zip wall up) but hopefully it won't by tomorrow night.

Val - thanks. It really looks delicious.

I have a selfish motive. I had such fun meeting them in Boston, and Eric in Phoenix and Sandra here when she brought her DH to MD Anderson that I want to meet more of you.

But Bedo - Iowa?? Really??

I guess, now that I think about it, the contractors would want to *go fast* so they can get paid. I wonder what I was thinking? :-)

Last night I did the ham, using maple syrup as a glaze and Sharon made empanadas. It was a bit of a challenge, two people and three 'projects' in the kitchen, but we managed just fine and now we're good for the rest of the week.

I did not do any broth tonight. My commute home was an hour and fifty minutes..and now I don't feel like doing much of anything..

Actually, they’ve gotten half the pay already—and have my credit card on file so I can just sign off on it tomorrow. State Farm has already paid me for everything but meals out (too trivial to put in a claim at this point) and either repairing or replacing my espresso machine (still no word on that yet, but it’s been gone only a week and there are a whole bunch of coffeehouses ahead of me in the pipeline).

By the time the painters were gone for the day and I'd showered, it was nearly dinnertime, so I walked to a new cocktail/small-plates/wine bar called Income Tax (named after a 1930s cocktail that tastes—acc. to Bob—like an Old Fashioned with diabetes). The limited menu is international (Spain, Italy, Germany, France) and has a few appetizers and an entree or two for each country. I went for the porchetta with carrot polenta and broccoli rabe; no Italian wines by the glass, but I did get a good Languedoc-Roussilon (SW France between Provence & Bordeaux) Mourvedre. Opted to skip dessert or cheese. On the way home I stopped in at Lickety Split for a decaf cappuccino and a pastry to go. Drank the cappuccino outside on my deck while I watched planes fly in from across the lake to O’Hare. I also bought a pastry called an “Alfie” (was jonesing for a whoopie pie, and that looked like the closest they had), which looked appetizing—a large petit four (petit huit?) covered in dark chocolate and filled with dulce de leche between two cookies. Tried it an hour later…meh. Had a couple of bites and put it in the fridge (which is apparently safe to use while no work is going on). Had one of a packet of two Mallo Cups (dark chocolate)—which contained very little marshmallow but were dense with coconut studded with coconut; that was pretty satisfying.

Hi! I am returning from among the missing! For some reason, the rejection of my attempts to log in so I could post, magically stopped today...go figure! I had stopped trying for this past week. So, hopefully I am logged in in the same way that I was before, so I can more easily post here. Yay! But I have been trying to keep up with reading everyone else's posts.

As Minus said, I have also been really busy of late. Special, you are correct about DS2 getting married in FL (Amelia Island...never been there, but a favorite spot of FDDIL who grew up in that area), tho not until April. But we are in the throes of trying to get things set that need doing now...and that does not even include my own dress shopping, which I better get started on. I still need to select food for the welcome reception. Hate doing this long distance. The rehearsal dinner is now set except for mailing the invites...and confirming some things with the restaurant owner. We are having it at a tapas restaurant in Fernandina Beach. I chose it since it should be very different and way more intimate than the resort they picked for the wedding, which is more "corporate".

The other issue that has been consuming my time is a forum I am setting up with some others in our town about Human Trafficking to educate suburbanites about this very prevalent problem. Creepy and important! I had no idea that it is a multi-billion dollar business!

So....meals.....we had a lovely meal on Valentine's Day.....a wonderful baby kale salad, and a petit filet mignon with an array of veggies since I did not want any potatoes.DH had a sea scallop dish with an interesting piled potato gratin and broccoli. We had complimentary chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. A serendipity of the evening is that our waitress was a delightful young gal who just moved to Boston from Maine. She is eager to pursue her passion of illustrating for childrens' books. Well, since I have one full and one partial manuscript that need an illustrator (for self publishing), so we exchanged contact info and who knows....???

For home dinners, I've been making a lot of fish, which I almost always serve on a bed of garlic and onion laced spinach....one of my favorite meals. Salads and sometimes farro pilaf with carrots and asparagus.

Then I tried to get serious about low cal meals, and made that WW cabbage soup to have before whatever protein I cooked...fish or chicken, and varied salads. Unfortunately, since I was not going to the gym with my spasming back during those two weeks, weight loss has been minimal. Then of course there were those Valentine chocolates!!

This week, I used chicken carcasses to make a nice broth in the slow cooker (sorry, Nance, I have still not unpacked the pressure cooker since my counters have been "full"!) then made my favorite kale soup which we have been eating a lot this week. Tonight, DH is at a business meeting, so I will heat up some of that soup and have it with a poached egg....maybe some salad since I have lots of greens on hand. Easy peasy!

Eric, glad your cat turned the health corner.

Nance, I hope you are feeling a ton better by now.

Minus, I look forward to hearing about those Dungeness crabs!

Special, loved the sound of that cherry cheescake!

ChiSandy, glad you are nearing the end of your construction woes.

Happy, FDDIL is having her bachelorette party in Charleston in a few weeks. I bet you know all the interesting restaurants there. If you have any ideas to share, I'd love to pass them on to her.

Hi to everyone else! Such a busy table....

Lacey- yay, you are back!  I have just returned from a day trip to see DS2 so only have a minute but YES I do have an inside track to restaurants in Charleston...competition is FIERCE and there are so many great places!  The Ordinary- fab food and Exec. Chef, Mike Lata is a JBF award winning chef and he is currently  up for JBF Restaurant award....The Macintosh's Exec chef, Jeremiah Bacon,  is a JBF award winning chef- our DS2 is a line cook there- the food is delish and they have a great outdoor space in back for special gatherings as well as indoor space...PM me if you want more info about any places there...we have a lot of connections in Food and Bev there and can put you in the right direction depending on what they are looking for.