So...whats for dinner?

Peggy, don’t fret. There are plenty of ways to cook without lifting or bending. The “no bending over” rule (acc. to my ophthalmologist) should be gone by Holy Saturday. You can lift up to 5 lbs on the recently operated side, and as much as you usually do on the other. Plan out what you want to cook. Then, before surgery, move pans & ingredients to where you can easily reach them w/o bending over (squatting with your head level is okay). But if you’d rather not cook for a crowd (wink, wink) by all means play the cataract card.

Bob’s almost home. Making Greek branzino en papillote, defrosted a couple of sweet potato latkes, and stir-frying sugar snap peas as I did earlier this week. Pouring a Grechetto bianco from Umbria.

This afternoon I went with my SIL to see a brilliant performance of Shuberts "Death & The Maiden" by Mercury Baroque. The original quartet (in D Minor) was adapted for a bit larger string group - actually 13. This guy is my favorite conductor. He always shares the story behind the music. (imagine a maiden tripping along in the spring when Death comes up and says 'you're next'). He is so involved in the music you can't sit still in your seat if you watch him. And the concertmaster & the principal 2nd violin & even the lady Violone player. They perform only with period instruments - the strings are gut rather than steel and they often utilize a Baroque bow - shorter & more curved.

Dinner was problematic. My SIL chose a place because she wanted a steak. I only go there at lunch since the dinner prices are prohibitive. Never the less, I gulped three times & asked the waitress what was served with the smallest steak, a 6 oz fillet. Well, at dinner, nothing. Ala Carte for $37.95. Their steaks are good but I think not THAT good. I settled for two appetizers. Unfortunately my choices didn't meet up to their usual standard. French Onion Soup was pretty much the consistency of half-set jello. And the fried asparagus w/lump crab meat was fried in such a thick, hard batter that it was difficult to cut. So I peeled off the breading, but the asparagus was stringy. Ah well. My gin & tonic was good.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to a show called "The History of the Blues". No food involved.

Dinner tonight was good but unremarkable...steak, roasted veg and salad.  However, after a 4 mile walk at the Greenway in Charlotte with friends, went to OMB (Old Mecklenburg Brewery). Gorgeous day- sunny and temps around 70. Had a delish piece of salmon over a salad of arugula, walnuts, apple and papadew peepers with a berry vinaigrette. Simple and yet so yummy!

My mushrooming project has come to an end. This is, however, the way I get myself into trouble. So, as you recall I had 1 pound of ground beef left from the meatball explosion. Meatloaf, I thought! Ah, but no bread crumbs. So I spent a day making French country loaves. And since I had some time, off to the market to buy 1 pound of pork to mix in since the beef had absolutely no fat. Then I had to make the bread into bread crumbs which means removing the crusts, breaking up the bread, throw it into a low oven, process in the food processor, back into the oven, back into the food processor until they were dry enough to turn into anything resembling crumbs. I have at this point devoted almost two days to bread crumbs. Then grind the pork, review recipes, make the meatloaf mixture, shape the mini-meatloaves, and finally bake. While all this was going on, I was also making a batch of rye bread rolls for the AirBNB. I hit a serious wall..... but it all did get done.

To be honest, by the time all this was done [in addition to making lunch, and prepping the leg of lamb for tonight's dinner] the last thing I wanted was to eat any of this! So we went to our Mexican spot and I had a bowl of soup. The best $3.99 value you can imagine!

This is my week "off" and my body sure does need that. Each week has gotten just a bit more difficult.

*susan*

I get projects like that. For me, though, it's usually some plumbing project.

Dinner last night was prime rib at a dinner theater. The performance was "Jesus Christ. Superstar."

Today, I'm working on the back yard that has become a jungle. I've been so busy with mom's house that my back yard was left to go out of control. Some of the weed "trunks" were an inch in diameter and several feet tall--I needed a tree limb cutter to cut down the weeds. The weed pile is big enough that I'll be using the business sized trash dumpster at my mom's house.

Cut, pick up, rake, pick up, "weed eater", mow, rake, pick up.....

What's the buzz, tell me what's a happenin...what's the buzz...

So ladies, you all make me tired with your culinary feats! This Sunday will be a smaller group for Easter (9 of us)so I will handle it and not be so pooped! But, as usual, making too much food..LOL

The usual leg of lamb (Greek Easter is just not in the cards for my kids this year as they are both busy so going to do both this weekend) with my Mom's baked orzo (made with the lamb drippings and beef broth almost like a risotto but in the oven) and spanakopita and tiropita. Dyed eggs in a koulouri basket and of course plenty for the "egg game" which the kids love.

PLUS, baked ham, kielbasa, potato salad and fresh roasted asparagus. I will also make pastitsio if I have time on Saturday because my son looks so forward to the Greek part of Easter and hubby loves the Ham part of it!

I have this week off so will bake and get a head start on things on Thursday and Saturday (busy on Friday) and be ready to roll.

Have a great week ladies and Eric!

It's been interesting to see how the husband of our friend who died two weeks ago is dealing. He has always wanted to eat out at least twice A DAY, at least 5 days a week, so they weren't used to staying home. He's pretty much still going out by himself every noon. Most evenings he calls people to go out with. I was settled in my sweats for a peaceful evening with a bowl of soup when he called tonight. So three of us from the Chickenfoot group went with him to have fried shrimp or catfish at a semi-fast food fried fish place. Priced cheaply but tasted like fast, fried food. I couldn't find the shrimp in the breading. Last week a bunch went for Chinese but I was not available. He doesn't want friends to bring food and he doesn't want to come to our houses for dinner - just go out. We all understand where he is, but it will be difficult to back off from some of these outings. I really prefer to eat at home most of the time. And when I do go out, I don't like to spend my money or waste my calories on just "average" or below food.

Minus, I find that fried shrimp are a gamble unless you know your restaurant. I like fresh shrimp lightly breaded before they're cooked. If the price is cheap, the shrimp probably arrived in a large truck in a plastic bag pre-breaded. And possibly from a foreign country. Oysters are safer because they aren't suited to the pre-breaded frozen treatment. Plus the high price lets you know they're fresh!

We have local seafood places that are safe bets for fried shrimp, oysters and catfish. And I do love them all but my WW points steer me away from them. Speaking of WW, I wasn't looking forward to my weigh in yesterday, thinking I had blown the week on Sunday night with ribeye and oven home fries, but I was down enough for a 5 lbs total loss since I started on my newest "journey." The average has been about 1 lb a week and that really is a reasonable loss.

Last night was a yummy meal. Lamb burgers on home-made wheat buns out of the freezer. Burgers dressed with yogurt/cucumber sauce and romaine lettuce. Side was fresh beets sprinkled with champagne vinegar for me. DH added onions to his beets and chose his own vinegar.

Tonight will be a skillet meal with zucchini, Rotel tomatoes, and ground beef. I have regular ground chuck and some grass fed that I bought yesterday to see if there was any taste difference to justify the price difference.

Instead of going to the gym this morning I will do yard work. My schedule is tight with the hours spent at the nursing home 3 or 4 days a week so I have to squeeze in the weeding and mulching somewhere.

Carole - I agree. I don't usually order anything fried - and prefer shrimp cold boiled or sauteed. It will be a challenge since this guy like everything fried - chicken fried steak, fried eggplant, fried cheese, etc. Let us know the results of the 'grass fed' test.

After 3 straight days of yard work last week, my muscles were still sore when I went to Silver Sneakers class today. Probably because I did no stretching over the weekend.

Dinner was scrambled eggs loaded onto two flour tortillas w/cheese & green chili salsa. Doc appointments tomorrow & a meeting tomorrow night, so I may eat linner on the way home from the medical center.

I was too tired to cook last night so I heated up the last frozen eggplant dish and made a good tossed salad with romaine and additions. The eggplant was delicious. I'll have to make a few more. At this point I'm using up freezer contents before we head north in late May.

Tonight we'll have the zucchini skillet dish.

For Easter dinner at my younger sister's house I will probably cook fresh green beans. It will be my job to get my mother there and she will want me to pick her up by 9:30 so I won't have a lot of time Easter morning.

Dh will make macaroni and cheese. He will drive separately in his truck. It looks like we will have a crowd.

More yard work today on my usual golf day

Susan, I too will be making hot cross buns this weekend. I toyed with the idea of making the candied orange peel but as my food interest and energy is still limited, I decided to use golden raisins instead.

DH caught the stomach bug so we both have limited appetites. I think tonight will be a very light pasta dish that includes asparagus and a small salad. I have a doc appointment tomorrow. She'll be happy about the weight loss, if not the reason for it.

Count me among those who will only eat fried shrimp from a trusted source. I like mine the same as Carole does. But then, I like it just about any way.

Strong biscuit envy!

Have never eaten hot cross buns. They sound like dessert bread with the candied citrus.

Poem that my mother used to 'chant'. I well remember hot cross bun. And yes, they are not sweet.

Hot-cross buns!

Hot-cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot-cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons;

One a penny, two a penny,

The recipe that I actually use for Hot Cross Buns has even less sugar! It is an enriched dough [butter and milk] but very little sugar. The sponge is sponging as we speak.

*susan*

Tonight's dinner requires almost no prep, for which I am grateful. Dh will grill lamb loin chops. We will have a baked sweet potato and salad as sides.

When we entered the YMCA this morning, there was a sugary spread of sweets on one of the tables in the visiting area. I managed to avoid the temptation. Dh had a brownie.