So...whats for dinner?

All this talk of sunsets (and the beautiful photo) makes my mind go back to my favorite sunset memories. Picture this: Pensacola, FL, driving home to the beach and a little cold from waterskiing in Bayou Texar after working a shift at Sacred Heart Hospital ...driving across the 3 mile long bay bridge, sugar white sand, with a startlingly orange/pink sky with a perfect sprinkling of clouds, reflecting on the glasslike pink water... sublime. Then, there were the nights in Boundary Waters, MN during that August of canoeing/camping ...with rich purples and dense clouds and the loons singing their unique song... unforgettable. Makes me feel mushy inside just thinking about it.

Tonight will be the red beans and rice my son has been begging for, and tomorrow I'm feeling good about seared pork chops and roasted broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Last week I had the unexpected pleasure of a trip to a local Waffle House with DH for a quick cup of coffee while the kids were at church youth group. I indulged in a piece of chocolate pie - Sara Lee, no less! - and it was so delicious I'm still thinking about it (have I just not had enough desserts lately?). I'm even dreaming about a pecan waffle now that I've been bitten by the Waffle House bug after all these years! Any other Waffle House fans out there? I hadn't thought much about it since my cheap college days, but I may have to visit more often?

Think I am going to take out a couple of the Mediterranean style Chicken Breasts we got at Omaha Steaks recently and pair it with a rice side dish and some veggies.

oh minus, where?! I like patty melts

Steak and soba noodle stir fry with baby bok choy. Used up the last of the sous vide NY strips. Really good.

Illi - it's truly an old fashioned cafe on Hempstead right by 34th. A bunch of people in my Silver Sneakers group who have eaten there for years recommended it and warned me not to get hung up on the way it looks outside or the parking lot. The police & the firefighters eat there. The name is Angies Country Kitchen. Philly Cheese steaks, patty melts, 3 specials every day on the steam table. Breakfast starts at 6:30a & it closes at 2:30pm. A real old time Texas country kitchen & nothing fancy at all. Oh, but they have kolaches.

http://www.angiescountrykitchen.com/

DH likes patty melts. I always enjoy a good hamburger but never with onions, raw or cooked.

The sunset picture reminded me of a view from a restaurant on the Oregon coast, which is rugged and beautiful. The state rv parks all along that coast are wonderful if you can manage to stay in them. They're very popular with Oregon residents.

Dinner tonight will be at Sal & Judy's, an Italian restaurant that has been in business for many years, even after Judy split from Sal and went elsewhere. The menu has good seafood selections. One of my favorites is oysters and spaghetti in garlicky olive oil sauce. I buy the jarred Sal & Judy's marinara available in all our supermarkets in the area. It's good but not quite as good as Rao's. I bought a couple of jars of Rao's recently for $7 a jar, on sale at Winn Dixie. I like to have it on hand as a back up.

Cherry, I cook eggplant slices lightly brushed with olive oil on top of the stove on a smooth grill pan to layer in an eggplant parmesan dish. The fried eggplant dish I want to replicate is a traditional and popular southern dish. The purple eggplant is peeled and sliced in rounds, usually salted and left to sit for a half hour or so. Rinsed and dried. Dipped in beaten egg and milk mixture, breaded with Italian bread crumbs and fried in hot oil until brown and crisp. It's delicious but absorbs a lot of oil. I seldom bother to salt a good fresh eggplant with no dark seeds. The seeds are an indication of shelf age.

Another popular eggplant preparation in southern cookbooks is called eggplant dressing. Peel and dice the eggplant, boil in salted water until tender. Drain well and mix with browned ground beef cooked with onions and garlic and possibly green bell pepper. Add some bread crumbs and maybe some beaten egg. Cook in the oven in a casserole dish.

DH and I had the patty melts at Angie’s today with a mix of fries and onions rings. It was really good, can’t wait to go back and try something else. Tonight was ramen because it’s chilly inside and rainy outside.

Illimae, I love how you got right down to Angies! I’m surprised to hear it is chilly and rainy down there!

We actually had a beautiful day here today, with sun and almost 60 degrees (warm for us New Englanders!)tho apparently we are in for some rain tomorrow and Friday. Originally it was forecasted for Saturday, but now it looks like we will be clear then which makes me happy for our neighbor who has a huge neighborhood coffee and egg hunt...rain, snow or shine! Hopefully our leftover snow piles will be washed away by then.

The sunset picture and associations by many of you were delightful to read. It conjured up my memories of Cali sunsets, northern and southern; FLA west coast sunsets, and Indiana dunes trips we took when I was in South Bend in college. A trip we had to lie about on our sign out sheets! As oldsters we enjoy gorgeous sunsets in Provincetown each July, and then from our boat on Newfound Lake in NH. A fun activity there is enjoying a sunset from the south end of the lake then driving the boat to the north end to enjoy yet another sunset behind another mountain range. On many evenings, one of the girls camps has a bevy of campers sitting on a huge lakeside boulder singing songs as the sun sets. Cocktails and two sunsets with song.....priceless!

I have had a really busy week which is an anomaly for this relatively lazy retiree. I promised the principal and social worker I volunteer for that I would unearth my test taking anxiety management presentation to offer to their students, and they jumped at the offer (free presentation that will help the anxious kids do better with the tests). Unfortunately, the principal gave me a date and times without checking/telling the teachers or specialists about the change in their schedules. Yikes! So before I gave my presentations, I had to trouble shoot for his error so that the teachers and kids (most of whom I know now) didn’t hate me! Definitely in the category of “no good deed goes unpunished”! In the end, it went really well, but I had to do a lot of prep since I had not given this program for several years, so wanted to update it and make handouts, etc., etc. AND.... I had to be there really early, for me. So that was my third day in the week of volunteering at that school...a bit much for my current resistant to structure lifestyle! Glad I did it (the kids were adorable and engaged!) but will be happy to reduce my volunteer time so I can get some things done around here!

Our pizza fundraiser for our local rep was good, with so many interesting pizza toppings and great crust. Check out Hearth Pizza, MA. However, I clearly need to stop with the heavy foods! It doesn’t help that we are having dinner with our former beloved trainer this Friday. Under her tutelage, I lost at least 25 lbs and got strong....none of that person still exists. Maybe I will get more motivated to lose weight and get strong again. My recent fall and resultant bruises have been terrible for my gym attendance these past three weeks.

Tonight I heated up the eggplant casserole and asparagus which was served with a huge romaine and green leaf lettuce garden salad with our fave horseradish dressing. Tomorrow we will have chicken cutlets with a lemon mushroom sauce, brussells sprouts, and, of course, salad.

Cherry, I hope you start to regain some energy, and are able to enjoy your trip to Paris! If you justrelaxed in your hotel and enjoyed croissants, with a few trips outdoors to stroll, that could also be fun! I hope you have a good visit. Such an amazing city!

Tonight was curly kale salad with strawberry vinaigrette, additional strawberries, blackberries, sliced chicken breast, and slivered almonds. I had a small portion so I find myself hungry now, but not sure what I want, if anything. I just ate an orange, but that didn't seem to help.

lacey - our Farmer's Markets here in FL start early and end early! The growing season is short due to the heat - strawberries and tomatoes are almost out of season now, lol! That is a rough situation for this California girl - grew up having a wide variety of local fruit and veggies all the time! My dad had an organic garden long before it was the thing to do - he grew a ton of stuff right in our suburban backyard. Miss that!

Steak, scallops and grilled squash & zucchini

Avocado halves filled w/tuna, cucumber 'sticks', a handful of black olives and two TINY slices of sourdough bread.

Oh boy does that steak & scallop dinner look wonderful. Carole - the trout with toppings sounds delicious too.

Lacey - your energy & dedication astound me. Thank you for going to the march.

I've been working in the garden, going to Silver Sneakers twice a week and walking on the treadmill two days a week. Not enough I know, but I got rid of 3 pounds since the New Year. If I stick to one meal a day and eat it before 4pm, I can probably maintain. Not fun.

Tonight DH made pan fried pork loin chops, sautéed Brussels sprouts and carrots. The Brussels sprouts are so darn tasty!

Happy Passover! I ended up not putting together a late Seder for the four of us--Mon Ami Gabi (and all the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants in Chicago) are serving traditional Seder foods (but w/o the ceremony)Fri. & Sat. night. Leslie had never been to a Seder, and Bob & Gordy weren't up for the whole Haggadah-reading ritual (and I wasn't up to making the trad. stuff like charoset, fresh strips of horseradish root, eggs & saltwater, putting together the Seder plate, etc.), so it was perfect. We started with whole wheat matzo, chopped liver (chicken & vegetarian, but paté), then chicken matzo ball soup, housemade gefilte fish (needed more onions & salt, but the freshly grated horseradish took care of that), and braised brisket with haricots verts and a potato pancake & applesauce. Dessert was flourless chocolate lava cake with fresh berries.

Bit of a complication, though: Leslie is not observing Lent, but Bob has been surprisingly strict about doing so, especially since it was Good Friday. So he chowed down on the gefilte fish and vegan chopped liver (I think they used walnuts, green beans and chickpeas) and was able to substitute tomato soup for the chicken matzo ball soup (he couldn't have the matzo balls because they had chicken fat and were simmered in chicken broth rather than plain water). And they let him sub out Dover sole instead of brisket for an upcharge (which was nearly as much as the meal itself). Totally worth it, though. And I now have leftovers from that, as well as Thursday night's roast half-chicken with chardonnay gravy, peas and mashed potatoes (Cellars' $10 Thurs. night special, the white-meat portion of which I had immediately boxed to go before the rest was served).

Eric - what a fun place for a wedding. I always liked Newport. Have a great time.

My Easter treat was to drive clear across town to the only one grocery store in the 4th largest city in the US that still has a See's Candy counter inside. Sees in their wisdom closed both of their stand alone stores shortly before Christmas last year. I was raised in CA so See's is the BEST candy - of course only for special occasions. I get really hungry & nostalgic for the taste. I'm mostly a salt person instead of sweets, but I've been waiting 2 years for this treat. Bought a Pecan Roll (although they're only half size now), a medium box of Peanut Brittle, a bag of Toffee-ettes (who knew they don't have Victoria Toffee all year anymore), and half a pound of pick your own - which turned out to be all Butterscotch Squares with the exception of two Bordeaux in honor of my Mother. Dinner was 4 pieces of candy. Heaven!!!

Great, now I want See’s but have none 🙁

Eric, have fun! I grew up next door in Huntington and love it there, at least the beach and weather.

Late lunch/early dinner was Olive Garden while DH and I were out shopping.