So...whats for dinner?

Mommy - if I get take-out chicken, original greasy KFC is my favorite. It's been over a year so I'm ready for some more.

Carole - I finally gave up on ham. I like it but I don't like the residual swelling. The closest I get anymore is ham hocks & beans or pea soup.

Oh Val, what a wonderful treat. And how interesting to discover and train for a 2nd career that you love at 50.

Tonight 4 or 5 of us are taking the husband of my friend & neighbor who died in March out to dinner for his birthday. He is choosing the place and it is a surprise, but knowing him it won't be fancy. Likely just large quantities for a reasonable price. I'm still having a problem remembering not to call her every couple of days. He disconnected their home phone, so that announcement is a rude shock when i forget and dial the number I've known for 30 years to share the little things that make up our days.

Val, what fun to have a chef family member in the house and cooking great dishes.

A restaurant near our MN summer location cooks broasted chicken, which looks and tastes a lot like fried chicken. Several times during the summer we order a box of 6 or 8 pieces and pick it up for dinner, usually with a side container of coleslaw. I like Popeye's fried chicken and some of their sides, too, like coleslaw and red beans and rice. In the distant past I used to cook fried chicken on a fairly regular basis. The crispy skin is what I like the best.

I've been a man of few words lately....uggh. The past couple of weeks have been busy and for the next several days, I'm doing my third job as a staff member for a training class...I'm printing out paperwork, packing uniforms and more. Compared to my regular work, this will likely be relaxing. I normally keep everything packed for a disaster deployment and bring enough stuff to fix the crack of dawn (all kept within the 60 pound limit). When I do a planned deployment, I pull out what I need, put it into a small bag and travel light. I'm probably not going to be up too much later as it's an hour drive to the airport and I need to be there by 6am.

Dinner tonight was Subway. Neither of us felt like even heating the already cooked food. Sharon's allergies have been driving her crazy.and she hasn't been sleeping well...whenever the weather is good, her allergies are bad...hopefully the good weather will soon end. :-)

I'm glad you're feeling better April....sick is no fun. Those peppers look awesome. For whatever reason, the green ones are about 1/2 the price of the red, yellow or orange ones, so stuffed peppers always are in green ones.

My dad grew up near Corbin, KY (home of KFC) and I've eaten in KFC's "home base" quite a few times. I like their chicken, but like anything else, too much of a good thing....isn't so good.

That's neat about your DD's fishing records. I would go fishing with my dad and it was a good day even if we only caught a sun-burn. :-)

Val, I know of someone who kind of went the other way...chef at a.big famous restaurant to firefighter paramedic. They other firefighters said the meals went from "OK" to amazing and that the guy had the shortest "boot" period of anyone they ever remembered.

I like ham and it doesn't bother me. Sharon like anchovies on her pizza. They taste good, but if I eat them, I'm thirsty all night and need to keep a gallon jug of water on the night stand.

I've never made dandelion jelly. I've made cactus (prickly pear) jelly and all sorts of jams. For the jellies, And it's not like I couldn't grow enough dandelions. Felicia looks like she's having a great time.

Hi to Susan. I hope things are going well. I've been reading all you've been up to..and maybe that's why I'm tired. :-) I was looking at the shoe pictures and it sure doesn't seem like Olivia could be a year old. Also, those pictures bring back a lot of memories from when DD's shoes were that size.

The dryer buzzed. I'm going to put a pair of jeans and a couple of shirts into my bag and go to bed. It's almost 8pm, Sharon's asleep and I don't think I'm far behind.

I've never been nuts about sirloin or round (too tough), and can even take or leave filet mignon (too boring, not beefy enough). I'm definitely a ribeye gal—especially bone-in “cowboy cut." If we go out, the two of us can usually share it and still have leftovers. Wouldn't turn down a Porterhouse or T-bone, either.

I pan-seared the salmon and did the aforementioned veggie stir-fry. Took it and a small glass of rosé out to the deck, where I was able to enjoy it under the stars for all of about 10 minutes, before the wind started whipping up. We're expecting severe storms to hit about 1 am—there's been a twister reported in Boone County, IL and the warning box now encompasses the Lake Geneva, WI area, headed towards Racine. We won't be getting tornadoes, though—just thunderstorms, high straight-line winds, heavy rain and perhaps large hail.

I have been cooking.... Indian masalas and other side dishes. Lots of vegetables. Big brunches for family. And then a few nights out to Sarma, a new Korean fusion spot called Meju, and then last night when the kitchen was in the 90º;s, our "Big Fish Night." Tonight was are grilling a massive salmon steak, cut especially for us. This will be enough for 4 adult servings and 1 for Olivia. She had her 1-year doctor checkup yesterday. She is 20LB and almost 30". Very healthy. Physically precocious but a bit behind on "communication." What does that mean in a 1- year old? I will learn more tomorrow. So funny since she is "talking" and telling stories all day long. We are the problem, not her! We don't understand her!

Cycle 3 began on Tuesday. No premeds! I felt almost normal afterwards, except for the Xgeva side effects.

*susan*

Had intended to make fish tacos tonight but realized too late that I have no tortillas. Not sure what plan b is but it may involve fish.

Yum to Popeyes (don't forget the biscuit) -- KFC not so much. To be fair, I haven't eaten it in years so I may be missing something. Not an Outback fan either. But boy do I love a ribeye (or porterhouse or t bone.)

Bon voyage Carole. Safe travels to the North country. Are you managing again this year?

Dad went to a nursing home Monday. After he finishes rehab he will remain there in long term care. The rehab is the result of a hospitalization for C Diff, leaving him very weak. The nursing home I found is 15 miles from where he lived but they allow him to have his own tv, lift chair, electric wheelchair and even a mini fridge if he wants one. This has made him very happy. So far, he likes the staff and the food and told me that he's glad that we chose this facility. I have no illusions that he will maintain this attitude but at least it's made the move less traumatic. The real test will be when he has to give up his single room and take a roommate. But the rooms are quite large, so maybe it will be ok.

April I'm so sorry you've been sick. I hate illness that lingers. My bout with noro virus left my stomach in such a mess that I'm just now getting back to normal (dad stress hasn't helped of course.) I'm glad you're feeling better.

The babies born into our group have grown so, it's amazing! Little Charlie will be walking around before we know it.

I sous vide(d) some small potatoes tonight, and then dumped the m into a ice bath before cutting them into quarters and sautéed them. Meanwhile, a salmon steak and asparagus were cooked on the grill. We made enough to have a lunch with Miss Olivia tomorrow. She loves fish!

Yea. I am still not eating much. Heck, I wasn't able to finish even this! I have to get my potassium numbers up. So potatoes are on the menu! I don't want to delay chemo for a lack of potassium after all.

*susan*

Thinking about having hubby get the grill out today and do some grilling.

Last night was smoked brisket, grilled corn, BBQ beans and a grilled potato at "Hard 8 BBQ" in Dallas.

Tonight is likely fast food hamburgers.

I ran 3 miles in Irving, TX, outside of Dallas...I looked like I did when I run in a heavy rain. :-)

My very first Broadway Play was My Fair Lady. I was 7 and Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison were doing one of their last performances before leaving. My uncle was a writer/critic in NYC and used to take me to see lots of plays and other wonderful events. When he asked me what the play was about after we left the theater, I said " They found a girl with a dirty face and when they cleaned her up, they found out she could sing!" LOL!

Remains my most favorite score of any. "On the street where you live" will bring instant joy to my heart every time I hear it.

Just you wait Henry Higgins, just you wait...

The Lyric Opera’s production stars a guy who was in Downton Abbey (which, sad to say, I never watched) and a soprano named Lisa O’Hare who played Eliza both in the last B’way revival and in London. Reviews are mixed—uniformly glowing for her, okay for him, and positive for the guys who play Freddy & Alfred. But the production itself has been slammed for having monochromatic sets that are too big for the cast (and the house itself is too big for a show like this—somehow, Carousel and The King & I were better “fits.” I saw the movie when I was a teenager—why they didn’t use Julie Andrews I’ll never know (at least for the dubbing, instead of Marni Nixon, who dubbed everybody in Hollywood but didn’t really “act” when she sang); when I was much younger, I saw staged excerpts re-enacted on the Ed Sullivan show with the original cast. (Didn’t see my first B’way show on B’way itself until I was in my teens and saw the fourth or fifth replacement cast of Oliver with my day camp—before that, it was just summer stock with my parents at Westbury Music Fair. Though we lived in Brooklyn, we rarely went into Manhattan).

Hubby said since it's much cooler he is in the mood for my Chicken Broccoli Alfredo dinner. I save loads of cooking time by cooking the broccoli with the pasta.

Bifurcated dinner last night—we managed to score walk-in seats at the bar of the 3rd floor Florian Opera Bistro pre-show (Bob already had an octopus salad near where he'd parked, close to Russian Tea Time and cabbed it over to have a martini). I had “spring tart" (kale-spinach-gruyere quiche) with a small salad and a glass of rosé cava. Show ran long, so we broke etiquette and left at the start of curtain calls to get into the cab line early and make it to Russian Tea Time only 10 min. late. (They had plenty of room, and we were neither the last to arrive nor the last to remain). With champagne, I had caviar & blini with the trimmings—Bob said this was my substitute Mothers' Day dinner. Should have gotten a clue from the low-ish price of an ounce that this was not their old caviar service, which featured choice of sevruga, osetra or beluga and had cost at least twice as much for even the sevruga. It was paddlefish, a relative of sturgeon. Delicious, but without the “pop" that you get from sevruga eggs or the complex taste of osetra. It came with loads of mini-blini and all the trimmings—since Bob polished off his borscht pretty quickly, we shared the caviar. Main course was a cold seafood platter: salmon roe (actually, my favorite “caviar"), crepes, lox, smoked salmon “pastrami," whitefish, herring, sturgeon, cucumbers, capers, red onions, carrot & potato salads, boiled red potatoes and chopped eggs. We ended taking most of it home—Gordy ate some of it late last night, and for brunch I had a couple slices of the salmon pastrami with a couple of slow-scrambled eggs that I finished off with a sprinkle of Sicilian caper sea salt (I bought it and orange flavor in Taormina on our cruise in Dec. 2015).

Not sure about tonight—will depend on when Bob gets home and how much of the smoked fish Gordy polishes off for his lunch. We do have some wine to pick up at Cellars tonight so might go for their lobster tail/chickpea salad.

Singapore noodles with pork and vegetables tonight. Might make a salad with a ginger soy dressing. On a whim I made some giant chocolate cupcakes to satisfy a chocolate craving I've been fighting all week.

Four more inches of rain last night that beat the hell out of the beautiful irises and peonies but really stirred up the hummingbirds.

Gotta say I love banana bread too but I can't be trusted around it. I can easily eat the whole loaf. If I have it around it must be kept in the freezer (although I'm not above eating a frozen hunk.)

Not a great pic of the hummingbirds. There were so many in a feeding frenzy and it was getting dark (plus I was shooting through the window.) I'll try for a better one.