So...whats for dinner?

Oh, Eric--fingers crossed, healing thoughts sent to you & Sharon for your MIL's recovery.

Last night was leftover steak & green beans. For brunch today, low-carb avocado toast with broccoli microgreens, chopped shallot & homegrown tomato over WF's Hatch guacamole (spicy!!!), topped by an olive-oil-fried egg.

Tonight Bob the hunter-gatherer stopped at Costco and brought home a rotisserie chicken and shrimp mega-cocktail. I reheated the rest of the green beans and his leftover brunch potatoes (which I spurned), supplementing them with the remainder of a seedless cucumber and homegrown tomato--which I tossed with basil, olive oil, champagne vinegar and flake salt. Dessert was Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries, crushed unsalted cashews, vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp. raw honey, and monkfruit sweetener. I will try not to give into post-midnight carb cravings--darn that paleo cereal, Cheerios, and WF's flour tortilla chips!

Tomorrow it will be warmish (70s) for one last day before the bottom drops out. Here by the lake, we won't get frost, but I expect that in the low 40s/high 30s much if not most of my basil will bite the dust. Will try to bring the more robust ones indoors to re-pot, and freeze the rest packed into ice cube trays with water. May harvest most of the mint & thyme too, and maybe the 3 little baby zucchini still on the plant. The rosemary is pretty hardy--it'll be the last to be harvested. All the tomatoes have been picked: down to about 5 cherry tomatoes, a small "Green Zebra" and medium "Pineapple" still on the sill. After that, it's back to buying 'maters again till next June or July.

Nancy, I'm drooling over that dessert!

Healing thoughts for your MIL, Eric.

Dinner last night was great northern white beans cooked as usual with onions, garlic, andouille sausage. Served over brown rice cooked the same as a week ago and yet the result was not as good. The rice was still crunchy. I added a little water and microwaved for a few minutes. The only side was cornbread.

Lost in familiar places here in NH. I seem to lose all sense of time and days when here, especially because since Covid we mainly stay safely in the house...except for occasional walks, and our Lobster Fest on the beach this past weekend. The lobsters, steamers, and king crab legs were all wonderful, and there were lots of extra steamers and small potatoes, so our neighbors/organizers suggested I bring them home. I decided to make steamer chowder, and there was plenty to share with them as a “thank you”. And then there were also a lot of extra king crab legs. So we brought some of those home. And the result of all of this ocean bounty was the experimental, but delicious steamer chowder, and a very generous crab salad over greens for our Monday night dinner. And that closes out our Seafood fest for this year,

Since then, we've been back to eating chicken dishes.

Nance, I'm so pleased that you have selected a new home. It sounds lovely, and you will no doubt become a great container gardner! We just had tree guys here for some major work, and if I could get myself in gear, we should really be following your example of finding a home that requires less attention. Instead we seem to remain stuck with maintaining two! Ugh! Downsizing in the Boston area is not an easy or easily affordable task, umfortumately.

Eric, I do hope that Sharon’s mother recuperates well and soon, and that she is able to access helpful care through this recovery time.

Special, what a relief that your DH found no retina problem. I recall having ocular migraines a couple of times, and it is definitely a weird experience...especially since I never have had headaches. But the symptoms can certainly appear to be related to retina problems...scary!

A few pix (similar to previous years except that we maintained 2020 style social distance!) from our Seafood Fest and the next day’s meal:

Kudos to DH for shelling all that crab meat. My hands hurt just watching him do it!

Oh, Minus, no word about the lumbar MRI yet. Not sure what the hold up is, but will chase it down once I return home if I on't hear in the next couple of days

Yum on the beautiful food pictures.

Last night's dinner was flattened chicken breast fillets breaded and quickly browned. Creamed spinach that was delicious, made with two packages of chopped steamed spinach, reduced fat cream cheese and full fat butter (!). The spinach was coarsely chopped, which made a difference. Ho-hum romaine salad made mostly for dh. I had a small portion and doubled up on the spinach.

Tonight's dinner will be pork roast and sweet potatoes. I bought a very nice small pork butt roast yesterday and will stuff it with green onions and garlic.

Once again there were no lamb chops at Sam's Club yesterday. I will have to make a trip to Fresh Market, which also has nice thick rib eyes.

minus - the interior of the bread is just the same as if I had used butter or shortening, the crust is crispy but not thick so it is a pleasant texture. I’m not a super crunchy person - I can’t do biscotti or chew ice cubes, lol! I buy frozen cooked tail-on shrimp from my frozen food peeps, your previously boiled shrimp should work. I usually thaw in warmish water for just a few minutes - works great for quick dinners

We had leftover enchiladas. Sharon's mom is now in a rehab facility. They told her that she would be there 10-15 days and then be discharged home. The doctors feel it is likely osteoporosis, which is already being treated.

We're going to go bring her cat over to our house as he is quite lonely with no one at home. It'll be an adjustment with TWO dogs that he doesn't know, but the dogs were happy to have Jessiecat around, so hopefully that will transfer. We're going to go buy a 'baby gate' with openings big enough for the cat to walk through but small enough to keep the dogs out and start out with Duffy (the cat) and all of his stuff in DD's old bedroom.

I'm hoping she'll be independent when she gets home, but I am a bit skeptical/worried. Her mind is perfectly sharp, so it will be up to her as to how she wants to handle things if she does need help. She absolutely, positively, certainly, completely,(etc.) does not want us to help, so if she does need assistance, it would likely be a choice between live-in care or an assisted living apartment.

Right now Duffy is hiding under the bed in DD's old room. This is certainly a huge change in his routine. After nearly a week being all alone, he was moved to a new place with two dogs. He has met the dogs when we took them to MIL's house and after awhile he would follow the dogs around, as if to make sure they weren't defiling his territory.

Tonight is spaghetti and homemade meatballs. Going to make enough meatballs so that we can have meatball subs another night.

Eric - yes, I agree, your MIL is lucky to have you both. Especially since you listen & let her take the lead instead of trying to take over & tell her what to do.

Sandy - glad you test was negative.

Mommy - Oh you've made my hungry for spaghetti & meatballs.

I made Florentine Chicken tonight - sauteed & then white wine & reduced & then heavy cream & cooked until thick, etc... The flavor was delicious but the 'sauce' was too thin. I think I'll try Carole's spinach idea and use cream cheese next time.

Eric, I' M hoping that your MIL makes good progress and upon her discharge from rehab, finds a satisfactory living arrangement. Not an easy transition. Tho I'm sure she is relieved to know that her cat Is being well cared for.

We are back home. Yesterday was a frenzied effort to finish housecleaning, pack clothes, then food, close up the place, and drive home in the rain. I am finding that those “return days" really exhaust me since reaching “old age". I must figure out a way to reduce the frenzy. But, we are back!

For last night's dinner, we ordered pizza from one of the local places we like....they make Italian style. One thing we miss at the lake is a reliably good pizza restaurant. So we enjoyed our homecoming pizza dinner.

Today on our walk, we took our mail-in ballots to the drop box in front of our town hall, then proceeded to the grocery store to pick up salmon for dinner. I was concerned that the wild caught coho might be a bit to strong tasting for me....so I marinated it in a honey/orange/garlic/soy sauce. It didn't matter. I could't get past the first bite. So I had salad (with an orange vinaigrette dressing), a sweet potato, and part of a baguette with a garlic/avocado spread. I'll know to avoid that serious salmon again! But will buy it for DH. 😉

Today, I also dropped my sewing machine off to a woman who services them. She owned a sewing store in our town and ultimately had to close it after 20 years due to high rent. I was happy to learn that she is available for machine servicing, since I figure I need to give mine some TLC. Also learned that she has started an online sewing subscription service which I might join to take some courses and maybe even finish a quilt that I started over 20 years ago!

Carole, I admire your tolerance for going out to dinner with a sister who sounds so opposite in thinking/life choices than you. I hope the food was wonderful! I would need to talk about the food the whole time to avoid conflict topics!

Rather than a pic of the too strong coho salmon, here's DH popping our ballots into the drop box at town hall. I am so deeply troubled about so many voters needing to wait in line for up to 11 hours to vote. I vacillate between feeling over privileged for our voting ease and being angry at the disgrace of expecting voters (often with the fewest resources) to wait so long. We have much to correct In our nation!
I hope everyone is remaining well as the Covid surges are predicted. I do believe the Thanksgiving gathering choices will certainly be critical to maintaining our health.

Oh, and Minus, I did get the radiology report on the lumbar MRI which indicates all sorts of (mild to moderate) issues I don't quite understand. Good news is no metastasizes! Will know how to proceed to do whatI can to make it more livable once I speak with my doc this week.

Yay for negative test, Sandy!

Lacey, my siblings and I have a text communication that helps us keep in touch. We share pictures and news. But we have to steer clear of any political discussion. It was the same in the past when we had fairly frequent family gatherings. My mother ruled in insisting on no arguments. She was a genius at changing the conversation if it veered toward contention.

Dinner last night was a leftovers buffet that was quite enjoyable. I made a stir fry of the leftover pork roast and brown rice. Warmed up the white beans and andouille with some brown rice mixed in. Warmed up the creamed spinach.

I worked in the yard yesterday and made some progress. More to do today.

Minus, I do not put onions in my creamed spinach. Two additions that are quite good are chopped artichoke hearts and water chestnuts. My original recipe calls for sliced water chestnuts and quartered artichoke hearts in the bottom of a greased casserole dish with the creamed spinach on top and bread crumbs topping all.

Lacey, when I was growing up we couldn't afford fresh salmon--besides, in my majority-Jewish B'klyn. 'hood, salmon either came in cans to be dumped on a plate of iceberg and unripe tomato slices, or cold-smoked: salty, or "Nova" (slightly less salty) lox. The day after our wedding, we moved to Seattle, where salmon was cheaper (we lived a few blocks from Ivar's Salmon House, where you could get a whole meal--wood-grilled salmon, wild rice, green beans & cornbread--for five bucks) and almost always wild. Now, I like both wild Pacific and farmed Atlantic (or farmed Chilean)--but to me they're like steak vs. chicken thighs. I've always liked "fishy" fish--back in my adolescence, sometimes we'd go down to Sheepshead Bay and buy the catch (usually striped bass) fresh off the boats. Now, thanks to Butcher Box, I have a freezer full of sockeye filets, and at least once a week I'll order out for grilled Atlantic.

Last night we braved the windy chill and ate in Cellars' open-on-one-side tent--our leather jackets helped a lot. We split a Caesar and a platter of calamari. Bob's entree was a root veg. "pot pie" (a stew of carrots, parsnips, turnips, mushrooms & cipolline onions topped by a large square of puff-pastry). I had gorgonzola meat loaf with mushroom glaze, green beans, and mashed sweet potatoes (instead of mashed white spuds). This morning & picked up brunch: my usual broccoli-cheddar quiche (I ate the crust, don't judge), and a bagel-lox platter for Bob. Tonight will be my leftovers for me, plus some rotisserie chicken breast and two more veg. (broccolini, perhaps, and cauliflower) for Bob.

Dinner last night was leftover roast chicken, with frozen palak paneer (Indian creamed spinach with soft cheese cubes). Bob had assorted Filipino dishes, cooked for the office by his medical partner---he brought some home for me: shrimp, marinated squid, and vegetable pansit (cellophane noodles). Tonight will be his belated birthday dinner: grass-fed NY strip steaks (grilled if it's not raining, cast-iron seared if it is), broccolini, cherry-tomato basil salad, and for Bob "Ancient Grains" and for me the rest of the leftover palak paneer.

Yesterday, my housekeeper brought over an entire quart of cherry tomatoes. Her neighbor had a bumper crop, with much of the vines hanging over the fence--and she allowed her to keep all those on her side of the fence, which was more than half a gallon. Hope my basil keeps up before it finally freezes.