So...whats for dinner?

Kathy, as far as I know, Susan is the only one here that has that attachment and could give you advice. My manual one worked perfectly the only time I've used it - sorry.

I had a chance to get a sous vide unit with Amazon gift cards given to me for my birthday and seriously considered it. Instead I opted for a single serve coffee maker (not a Keurig) that uses k cups so I can enjoy single cups of decaf and my stomach doesn't complain so much. I got a nice assortment of decafs to go with it and I'm pleasantly surprised with how well the coffee turned out.

Tonight was a mixed grill with ribeye, smoked sausage and an assortment of veggies mostly from my garden - tomatoes, zukes, peppers, onion and some sweet corn. We've gotten 4 ½ inches of rain this week. Woohoo! I must pick beans tomorrow, they will be cranking on again.

I've found that sometimes my Paderno makes little crescents, sometimes one long continuous strand. Seems to depend on the shape and circumference of the zucchini—small ones sit up high on the studded anchor and not enough of the surface engages with the blade plate. Put it on the anchor too low and the center corer doesn’t engage and the veggie falls off. (The mixed-length thing happened tonight—I mixed half zoodles and half Dreamfields spaghetti with some tomatoes, basil, olive oil & Parm-Reg/pecorino I grated together). If it's any consolation, if I'm lazy and buy the pre-spiralized bowls at Whole Foods (impossible to open neatly, impossible to close completely), half the time there are mostly just short crescents. Their butternut squash and sweet potato spirals tend to be more noodle-like.

Eric - thanks for the picture. Bryce & Zion are on my list. Love the levis & sweat shirt. No way once you get home!!!

Made homemade meatballs yesterday. Had spaghetti and meatballs last night. Enough meatballs left for meatball grinders

Looks yummy, April!

This afternoon, we went downtown to 900 N. Michigan for Bob's haircut from his favorite barber. I wasn't all that hungry, having eaten a leftover waffle for breakfast, but Bob insisted on lunch so we went to Hugo's Frog Bar, which is part of Gibson's steakhouse. Bob had a big bowl of Bookbinder's soup and a crab salad; I took a little of the salad and had half a dozen raw oysters (MA, two WA, PEI, L.I. Bluepoint, and BC). He had passionfruit sorbet for dessert, and I ordered a slice of “chocolate mousse pie" and a take-home box for dessert, intending to eat half and take the rest home. Yeah, right: I'd forgotten that Gibsons' portions of cakes & pies are gargantuan. The waiter brought out 1/4 of a 7" tall chocolate mousse cake—almost all dark chocolate mousse with a little bit of chocolate crumb crust on the top & bottom. The whole cake had to have been at least 10" in diameter. The waiter sliced about half an inch off the side—and it took two of us to eat even that little bit. Hope Gordy likes chocolate mousse…

Bob wants some of the chianti tonight we bought last July in Tuscany, so I’m defrosting some grass-fed ribeye to grill. Will have it with the Brussels sprouts & rainbow carrots remaining in the crisper, and the guys will have some brown rice on the side. Will probably eat at about 9:30 or 10. We finished lunch about 5:15, it’s 7:30 already, and I still can’t even look at food. Might even cook only the one smaller steak and let Bob & Gordy divide it, and I will eat veggies…if I can.

I'm still kind of tired...and I have to go back to work tomorrow. I have a performance review tomorrow and I'm fighting the excitement at letting my boss know I'm going to put in my retirement paperwork. I'll let them know Tuesday or Wednesday. :-) :-) :-)

Since I'm only 56, I know I'll get some "must be nice" comments from the folks at work...and I'll agree with them. We 'saved hard' all of our lives so this could happen...so why not? :-)

The three week vacation, not counting vehicle depreciation...costing less than $1,000...is an example of not going crazy with spending.

We were much too superficial in our visits to various places. Next time we will do fewer things, but with much more detail. Even the smallest of state and national parks deserve a few days time to take it all in. But since DD needed help moving the big stuff from her apartment by July 31 and Sharon and I both needing to be back July 31, we had to "hurry".

The trip changed from a get there pretty quickly, spend time with Sharon's family and quickly drive home--with only a couple of days camping to camping just about every night and seeing a lot of things.

Let's see. We drove into Canada and followed Highway 17 from Ottawa, Ontario to Thunder Bay, Ontario. This road follows along the north shore of Lake Superior and is both absolutely beautiful and wonderfully rural. The highway is 2 lanes with lots of passing lanes and a 55mph/90kph speed limit. For what it's worth, once you get an hour west of Ottawa, the traffic drops to "see a car or two every few minutes" so the engineer in me thinks there is no need to add lanes. It took us 3-1/2 days to make the 1.000 or so miles around Lake Superior and we tent camped each night in the provincial parks.

We came back to the USA at the "twin cities" of Thunder Bay, ON and Grand Portage, MN and we camped west of Duluth at a deserted (It was Sunday evening and we were the only ones there) county park along side the Mississippi River. At this point the river was about 75 feet wide and 3-4 feet deep, which was smaller than the mosquitoes. :-) As a joke, someone posted along the highway one of those yellow diamond shaped warning signs (just like the ones warning of a curve on the road) except on the sign had an image of a mosquito flying off with a human...at least I think the sign was a joke. The only place I remember having more/bigger mosquitoes was outside of Eielson AFB.

We stopped at the beginning of the Mississippi River (Lake Itasca) and waded across the river. It was about a foot deep and probably 25 feet wide--a humble beginning to a big river.

From there we drove to Bismark and camped in a KOA campground.

We then stopped at the "Teddy" Roosevelt National Park and took that in. There were lots of prairie dogs and we had to wait about 20 minutes for a herd of bison to move across the road. A big bull (?) bison kept watch on us and a couple of other cars while *his* herd passed by us. We thought it was great, while another guy kept complaining about how long this was taking! I guess he thought the park service should install walk/don't walk signs, or something. :-) The prairie dogs were interesting in how the lookouts were stationed and at the sign of a predator, a loud chirp/bark and they all scurried into their burrows.

We then drove on to Hardin, MT and camped again. In the morning we went over to the Little Big Horn National Park (Custer). The first President Bush signed the bill that renamed the park from General Custer National Park and authorized the installation of a monument to the Native Americans that fought/died at this place. One of the interpretive rangers is a recently retired high school history teacher and he gave a wonderful talk about the battle to about 20 people.

We hadn't planned on going through Yellowstone because that is something that can not be done in one day (none of the other parks should be done in one day either...just saying) and planned on going back there another time, but we discovered that US Hwy 89 (we had decided to take the US Hwy 89 as it actually saves time compared to the Interstate 15 and is much more scenic) goes right through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Since we are going back there, we just drove through, stopping a few times to look at the steam vents. There were severe thunderstorms in the area, so we drove a bit longer and (the only time) "moteled" it in Idaho Falls.

We then drove on to Bryce Canyon and got the last camping spot within the park. The park is much smaller than the Grand Canyon, but just as interesting.

We talked with the rangers a bit and then moved on. We got to Page, AZ and spent a couple of hours wandering around Glen Canyon Dam. The Bureau of Reclamation (as a lifelong desert dweller, I still can't see why the area needs "reclaiming", but that's me) now does tours of the interior of the dam and with both of us being engineers, we couldn't resist.

We got home around 8pm to an excited DD, an excited cat and two excited dogs.

Sharon and I took a huge number of pictures, but we really haven't gone through them yet.

Meals...we only ate one meal in a restaurant..a 5 Guys somewhere in northern Utah. Since we didn't want to heat up the stove/pans in the morning, it was bagels and fruit for breakfast. Lunch was various sandwiches made at rest stops. Dinner was kept simple (hamburgers, beef tacos, spaghetti, etc.) so we could minimize the number of dirty dishes and empty food containers.

Eric - thanks for the trip report. Sounds like a wonderful journey.

Dunch was leftovers from the freezer - 1/2 breast of rotisserie chicken on top of a serving of leftover "Ancient Grains". This is a delicious mix of rice, bulgar, barley, wheat berries, red rice, oats & quinoa that I found at Costco. I also steamed a bunch of spinach before it went bad.

Here's the link for the Food with Purpose rice & grains mix.

http://eatfoodwithpurpose.com/product/medley-rice-...

Eric, sounds like a dream vacation. With places and scenery like that, who needs luxury? When I moved to Seattle in 1971 in the depths of the Boeing recession, the city was gorgeous but jobs were scarce and poorly paid. My cynical friends back in NYC would say, “yeah? Well you can’t eat Mt. Rainier.”

Yes, you can.

Dinner tonight was more of Sharon's baked ziti. DD is living at home for a few weeks until her apartment lease starts (the old place wanted folks leaving to be out by July 31 and the new place isn't letting new people in until August 15) and her appetite is noticeable. Sharon baked a 10 by 13 by 4 inch dish of the ziti and 90% of it went into the refrigerator for later meals......there was barely enough for tonight's supper. :-)

Chi...go with the mousse.. :-)

Eric,

That is one BIG road trip. We have not done anything like that since we left Montana in 1986. When we criss-crossed the country, if we were headed to New England, we always enjoyed traveling through Canada until Toronto, and then would dip south. When we were headed to Georgia, the route was far less interesting and inviting. Thank you for sharing, and I suppose that congratulations are in order for your impending retirement. How will you fill your days?

*susan*

Eric,

Ah. So you are not retiring at all! You are simply amending your daily commute.

*susan*

The round trip commute time, at its best, is 2-1/2 hours and during the winter months is over 3 hours.

So even just amending my commute is a huge deal!

Did my training & cardio tonight because I realized that tomorrow night I'd still be too loopy from the conscious sedation I'll be getting for my EGD (scheduled for 2:20). We worked on hip flexors, my lower back & waist (ouch ouch ouch) and the toughest stuff of all: balance. Who knew that a 44lb. kettle ball dead lift would be easier than holding a broomstick over my head (I can't even reach that high) and kicking one foot each forward & back 10x without touching down or falling over? I’m glad I don’t drink & drive, because I would definitely flunk a field sobriety test...stone cold sober.

Walked to & from the gym, carrying an umbrella as rain insurance (to make sure it didn't rain). Didn't feel like walking into Whole Foods with my gym bag and having to pay for a shopping bag to carry home a roast chicken or food from the hot bar, so I made low-carb (Dreamfields) spaghetti in the microwave “Fasta Pasta" with marinara, to which I added basil & parsley from my garden, a little red wine, chopped roasted garlic, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Then some chicken liver pate on whole wheat matzo with Dijon mustard. For dessert, a couple of frozen mochi (chocolate fudge and black sesame) balls. Comfortably full, and it's only 11 pm. Supposed to be NPO after midnight tonight, but that's standard advice for anyone having anesthesia the next day, usually in the morning. Bob says I'll be okay if I stop eating by 1 or 1:30 a.m. and maybe even have some clear coffee or tea in the morning. (May have one shot of espresso to keep caffeine withdrawal at bay). I can take my BP med in the morning with a sip of water and bring the rest of my daytime meds with me for when I "come to."

Housekeeper's not happy about having to stay with me the whole time (Bob's working, Gordy doesn't drive, they won't even let me take a taxi home by myself), because we probably won't be home till 5pm and her knee is bothering her. She's seeing the orthopod next week but refuses to have knee replacement surgery. It's not the time off—we'll pay her; but rather the ordeal of recovery (she got me through it twice) so soon after recovering from bunion surgery.

chisandy - hope all goes well today - will be thinking of you and hoping for answers of the best kind.

Have been AWOL - attended DH's 40th HS reunion last weekend in Miami, but only have a few good food adventures to report. DH and I shared two awesome pressed sandwiches at a little Cuban café in Coral Gables when we arrived. This place used to be located in Little Havana, but moved to CG relatively recently. We had a Cuban, and another pressed sandwich with shredded chicken, cream cheese and a spicy sauce - they use baguettes instead of soft Cuban bread. We also had iced café con leche - OMG, delish. Attended the Marlins/Cincinatti game that evening, but just drank beer, lol! Next day had a kale Caesar and some awesome fried green tomatoes and a spicy buttermilk sauce for lunch with my MIL's BFF, no dinner - the icebreaker had a BBQ but it was buffet and it got rained on, so, um ... no. On Sat DH went out on a boat with friends, I stayed in the hotel room in my pajamas because of the stitches in my shoulder and needing to stay out of the sun - watched cake decorating shows and cooking shows and drank too much coffee and had some banana chocolate chip bread. Dinner at the reunion was typical hotel fare, also a buffet - I had a poached chicken breast in a creamy herb sauce and some salad, pretty forgettable. Next day had some good gazpacho at a waterside restaurant with college friends of DH, and a nice dinner of marinated steak bites, half a baked potato (split the dinner with DH as we had eaten lunch a couple of hours earlier) and a decent house salad with balsamic vinaigrette with DH's younger brother and SIL at another waterside restaurant. Drove home late Sunday night. I have been trying to stick with my Virgin diet food choices and did manage to lose 2 lbs. while on this trip, so yay!

On a strangely coincidental note - DH's dad passed from acute leukemia last November. MIL had some dizziness last week so went to the doctor - had a CBC, which showed a hemoglobin of 6, and very low platelets. Can't believe she was ambulating with Hgb that low (she is 86), and she had a bone marrow biopsy and one unit of blood. The prelim info shows she is just a few percentage points from what is considered leukemic, but she will be there sometime soon - so it looks like she will go the same route my FIL did. He had vacillating blood counts for a number of years before becoming acute, and he passed 6 months later at 91. She will likely refuse treatment, possibly including transfusions, not sure yet. She has her appt. with the onc/hem tomorrow.

max - hello! Both sandwiches were super - I like the baguette rather than the Cuban bread because it is slightly smaller and less fluffy. I felt like it allowed the sandwich ingredients to shine. That is quite a story about your DH and his sister! I am adopted and know I have at least two natural siblings out there somewhere. I have had DNA testing, but the closest relative I have have found is a 3rd cousin. My DH was a bit disappointed in the turnout but we had checked in advance with the friends had hoped to see. We had a nice time, but I'm not sure we will go again. My 40th was three years ago, and because my adoptive parents and only sibling have all passed away, I enjoyed being with people who knew me as a child.