So...whats for dinner?

SpecialK, a few years back I went to an awesome Cuban restaurant in Coral Gables—the lechon asado, saffron rice & beans and tostones were heavenly. We have a mini-chain of Cuban joints here called 90 Miles—they do great Cuban sandwiches, and one Thursday a month is "Paella & Flamenco Night." I had a pretty good one at Sox Park (uh, "Guaranteed Rate Field," but everyone who doesn't call it Sox Park calls it "the G-Spot") a few weeks ago. We went to Bob's 50th HS reunion in June, in Melville, LI (though the school's in Queens).

Today's EGD revealed only a hiatal hernia, so we still don't know why I'm anemic. GI doc is pretty sure, given my normal WBC & RBC, that there's still a bleed somewhere, so next step is to, um, go in the other end—first appt. I could get is Aug. 31, but the GI doc says it's not urgent (and that even though the last one—which showed nothing but hemorrhoids—was in 2011, I wasn't due for a repeat one till 2021; but six years isn't too short an interval given the current circumstances). Meanwhile, I'm starting on iron till then. My hgb is somewhere in the 11s, and ferritin levels low, so they're pretty sure that the problem isn't in my bone marrow. But I'm stepping up my red meat (grass-fed), egg yolk, green veggies, raisins & dark chocolate intake.

max - beautiful! I can't grow anything in FL, very short growing season, then it is too hot and rainy. I resist kale smoothies too - liquefied vegetables are not happening for me, but my DH swears he can't taste them, but I can! I like sautéed kale in a frittata and kale Caesar salad, I wonder if you could do a kale and artichoke dip like you would with spinach - bet it would be yummy! I also have a recipe I like for a kale and citrus salad if you would like it.

Yet another trial on a variation of Brandy Cream Sauce for dinner. This time I used chicken broth instead of beef broth, which I found just a little too strong when I'm pouring over delicate pork loin slices. It was so-so. Since I'm usually using pre-cooked meat or chicken (read leftover) it's hard to get that zing when you only saute onions & mushrooms.

Specialk,

When you have time I would like the kale and citrus salad recipe, thanks.

By the way Max and Otto are 2 cats who think they own our house.

I'm Kathy

Sandy, that's how I make kale but I'm overloaded with it. Tonight I grilled the sea bass, lightly brushed with oil and seasoned from a mix from the Spice House.. It's a freeze dried mix of dill, shallots, scallions, chervil and parsley. Among the spices I bought from them is Grains of Paradise; I couldn't resist the title.

Could I pm you about the Cuban restaurant. We are going to Stephenwolf tomorrow and

It might be nice to try the cafe. I was in Cuba a few years ago and liked the food.

Kathy

max/otto - cute kitty names! Love it! Here is a rundown on the kale salad. I usually use curly kale and slice it pretty finely after tearing it off the stem, but this would work with any kind of kale. To a bowl of the cut up kale, add a segmented orange, or some mandarin oranges, some slivered almonds, and some crumbled goat cheese. Make a standard vinaigrette, but sub orange juice for half the acid you would normally use if you like, maybe a teaspoon of sugar, and add a generous tablespoonful of Greek yogurt or sour cream. Alternatively, I have used Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing and added the OJ, sugar and Greek yogurt to it, but you could use any bottled vinaigrette.

Max_Otto. I like whimsical cat names. The first cat that adopted me, while I was in college, received the name of "Pest".

My friends thought that was a terrible name...until they spent the night on the couch.... 3am MEOWWWWWWWWWWW, followed by a cat on the couch and the feeling of a paw on their nose.

By the way, your garden looks amazing. I live in Phoenix, and non-desert plants have a hard time here. My "work around" for that is to put the plants into huge pots and then move the pots around--sun in the winter, shade in the summer and under cover when it freezes.

That looks look my "Mr. Poo". Poo was a jet black short haired tiny (less than 5 pounds) cat. One of Sharon's co-workers found this kitten at their apartment complex and asked if we wanted a "new" cat. Pest had disappeared a few months earlier, so we said yes.

Poo had two favorite activities. Inside, it was sitting atop the dot matrix printer and watching the print head buzz back and forth. Outside...the next door "bunny" would come through a hole in the wall and Poo and "bunny" would play together. We had a Belgian Sheepdog at the time and he (dog) would keep watch over the two "kids". We had Poo for 17 years.

Eric, when you were wading in the Headwaters of the mighty Mississippi, you were 15 miles from Pine Hollow Resort, our summer "home." It would have been fun to meet you and Sharon. We always have lunch at the old lodge restaurant at Lake Itasca when we take visitors to wade in the headwaters. There's also a biking trail in the park that we've biked in past years. Congratulations on retirement!

One of our neighbors, Hugh, is an employee at Itasca State Park. He lives in one of the two condos at Pine Hollow.

We have been eating meals. Last night was turkey burgers on home-made wheat buns and a salad of tomatoes (from a farm stand), cucumber from my neighbor Mary's cucumber plant, perfect avocado, and chunks of blue cheese. My dressing was a sprinkling of white balsamic vinegar and a dribble of CA extra virgin olive oil.

The weather has been perfect with the temperature sinking down to low 60's or high 50's at night and warming up to mid 70's during the day. The only problem is getting up in the morning when it's so comfortable under the covers.

Summer is more than half over with the calendar flipping to August!

We have the Create tv channel here and I have been watching a very silly woman cook some interesting Lebanese food.

I love animal naming stories - I have had several pairs of litter brother cats - in college Bud and Beeb - no idea how they got those names. Beeb fell off my boyfriend's desk next to the open window two stories up and blew out his knee - fitting since he fell out of the football player's dorm. Bud was short for Buddy, and he loved to ride in the car - would sometimes get into roommate's cars and they would discover him half way to wherever there were going - he scared several of them. Later came Truman and MacArthur - they liked to fight and get into trouble regularly. Growing up we had Archie and Mehitabel. Our last Siamese was Simon (DH named him - not very original, but then again they had a cat growing up names Puss. Um...what? Our current Siamese is Flynn, not named after the fired NSA advisor, but rather my dad's bff when he was a kid in Australia.

Had a yummy dinner last night - made some stone ground corn grits with water and salt. Added some almond milk, Earth Balance, and parmesan when they were done. Added cooked shrimp to marinara with a generous amount of red pepper flakes, kind of a fra diavolo - spicy but good, over the cheesy grits - delish!

Not sure what is happening for dinner but I think it will involve chicken that needs eating.

I wish I had known you lived that close to the headwaters of the Mississippi. While the trip started out differently, it became a "let's drive until we see something interesting" trip. So, from one day to the next, we weren't sure where we would go, other than "closer to home".

Chi, Pest was a jealous cat with regard to other cats....I don't think she would have cared if a cat named Buda was hungry or not...they would have been chased away. Humans, on the other hand, were always welcome

Tonight's dinner was some of DD's leftovers. School starts next week and she is now back in Tempe...so we ate her leftover taco filling and some cubed baked potatoes and spicy sausage....both were really good.

Today I told everyone at work that I'm retiring in mid October. I got lots of "must be nice", lots of "congratulations", a few "I'm jealous" and one whispered, "Don't tell anyone, but I'm one month behind you" comments.

I'm looking forward to not spending 3 or more hours a day in the car and getting stuff (including cooking) done around the house.

Helluva day at Dana Farber. This is a doctor day, so first to the 2nd floor for the blood draw. She accesses the port and .... NO BLOOD. She has me do some dumb breathing thing. NO BLOOD. She has me lean forward. NO BLOOD. She has me breath deeply and then cough. NO BLOOD. She has me stand, breath deeply, cough and NO BLOOD. Then she had me lie back in the chair, with my legs up and NO BLOOD. NO BLOOD. And so, after 25 minutes of this humiliation, she accessed my arm. She had the gaul to suggest using my hand, and that was when I lost it.

There has been so much food. Food, food, food, and yet my weight went below that magic number. But then I made some ice cream with lovely local peaches. A bowl of that last night brought my weight up to just enough. And the sodium and potassium numbers were at the bottom of normal, but that means normal. I got my drugs [which are taking a toll now] and then went home.

The irony was, after she drew the blood by arm, she checked the port and the blood flowed out like there was no tomorrow.

*susan*

Tonight was fried rice in olive and a little sesame oil, made with peppered bacon, peas, brown rice, green onions, and added roasted chicken breast. We also had some pan fried pork potstickers with a soy and honey sauce.

susan - eeesh on the port issues, sorry that happened!

Bob says that his patient’s family is passionate about growing zucchini, and that gargantuan one we got was nowhere near their largest. We’re always told that smaller tastes better and has better texture, so this one turned conventional wisdom on its head—it (the squash, not the wisdom) was pretty tasty and not at all fibrous.

Breakfast was an egg Benedict, with coppa standing in for the Canadian bacon, on a small piece of sourdough toast with hollandaise topped with chopped tarragon and a dash of cayenne.

Panino tonight: sliced peppers (red, poblano, banana) & red onion, 1 slice jamon Serrano, fresh rosemary, olive oil & 1 slice provolone on a ciabatta roll, grilled in a panini press.

Joyce - glad to see you are joining Bedo & me in eating weird meals. I'll cook for a day or two and then eat leftovers in interesting combos.

Today for lunch I ate radishes while I was cleaning the fruits & veggies from the store. Then tomatoes with cottage cheese & cantaloupe on the side. I think dinner will be 2 ears of Olathe corn with the last of the 3 bean salad. I was going to make Chicken Cacciatore but I want to eat this wonderful corn while it's still available. I expect this is the last week so I bought 6 more ears to strip off the cobs & freeze.

The Hatch Chile festival starts today at Central Market. Everything Hatch for 10 days. One of my favorite is Hatch Chile scones. I rarely buy anything prepared, but the Hatch Chili Salmon burgers sound good. And the Sushiya Roasted Hatch Roll. Oh, and a Hatch seasoned rotisserie chicken, and Hatch pepper cheese. Can't forget the Hatch Green Chile corn tortilla chips. Since Fri/Sat/Sun are our tax free shopping days in Houston, I will NOT be going to or near any stores. My Hatch fix will have to wait until next week.