So...whats for dinner?

Special - I go to the grocery store every other week and I ALWAYS wear gloves with my mask. People may look at me funny, but I find it reassuring. Actually anytime I have to push a basket I wear gloves. So if I'm going into Home Depot for one set of 96" fluorescent bulbs and don't need a basket, I just sanitize when I get back in the car.

Plumbers have been here 2-1/2 hours so far today and only dealing with three 'drops'. The galvanized pipes are full of rust & sludge. Should be able to start running lines soon. Next - installing the water heater. Maybe I'll have hot water tonight. Then on to a new gas furnace in the attic on Friday. And next week will get quotes for re-piping the rest of the house.

I only go to Target or Whole Foods for my (increasingly rare) shopping trips--Bob goes to Costco on his Union Health clinic days. All three stores disinfect carts and direct shoppers to those which have been disinfected. I've seen a video by an ER nurse about gloves when shopping--and you're actually safer washing your hands and using sanitizer. I use gloves only when cleaning the litter boxes, handling raw proteins, or pumping gas (the latter only every 6-8 weeks these days). But I will don a mask even to go out on to the porch to pick up mail or grocery/food deliveries. (My deck is a different story, unless I will be talking to our landscaper).

Had my ocular-onc appt. today. Bad(-ish) news is that we don't have a path report because the location & minuscule size of the tumor made it impossible to safely harvest enough cells to assay for markers w/o risking spread. (But I'd been warned that was likely). Good news is that the tumor has shrunken by 10% (in 3 months). The onc. says that's excellent, and it should continue to shrink (albeit more slowly) over the next 3 years, possibly to only 40% of its original size (which was 2.6mm). My vision has improved with the new progressives prescription: I gained 2 "lines" at the bottom of the chart in the L eye and lost nothing in the R. The onc. says there will be a staff meeting at UIC Hosp. this week, which will probably result in a decision to cancel all elective procedures (i.e., those not for life-saving purposes). So no cataract or retina surgeries till the "curve bends" down sufficiently. Think I'll defer rescheduling my allergy challenge test too, which is as "elective" as it gets. I will likely keep next week's mani-pedi appt. so long as the salon is allowed to remain open. (Our state's new "Tier 3" mitigations under the "stay-home advisory" are less strict than those in force during last spring's "stay-home order"). Bob says Christ Hosp. has already canceled electives--and may actually include heart valve replacements, LVADs and Watchman implantations in that definition. We dipped below 10K new cases today for the first time in well over a week, but deaths & hospitalizations are up.

Dinner tonight will be leftover roast chicken, with pan-seared balsamic asparagus, sauteed 'shrooms, and a caprese with the last of the basil & tomatoes. Did make French toast (1 egg, unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla & fiori di sicilia) with the keto bread this morning--wished I'd used a little real maple syrup instead of the Stevia version, but it was still pretty good. Had a toasted onion-flavor Mikey's keto "English muffin" with my cappuccino when I got home--to me, the taste & texture are very much like cornbread. Also had the 4 leftover shishito peppers--all of which were nicely spicy.

Hi, Moon. Good to have you check in.

Checking in to say hi. We returned yesterday from a week with our kids & grands at Lake Tahoe. The kids all had fun playing in the snow. I made two dinners - lasagna one night & a beef roast with potatoes, gravy & green beans the next. My DD & DIL made the rest of the dinners. It was nice to share the planning & execution so I didn't have to do it all.

The COVID cases in CA are increasing but at a bit slower rate than the rest of the country. Our governor got caught having dinner with two dozen people indoors with none wearing masks nor social distancing. Included among the guests were two executives from the California Medical Association. There were profuse apologies once they were caught & the photos published. What were they thinking? You can't fix stupid.

made a big dinner fir my DD2 to take back home to my DH, hers and the 2 kids. LOL. Kept a bit for myself. I love my Ninja Foodie. I did pressure the potatoes and carrots, while I started the meatloaf in the microwave. Then, after I took out the veg, and drained them, put the meatloaf in the foodie to brown the top. So 3 lbs of meatloaf, 2 pkg of carrots and 4 lbs of potato cooked in about 50 min. Im glad she

brought 10 of my pans and containers home this morning. Just sent her home wit 3 of them. LOL the picture was my portion. LOL. Much love

My younger sister, whose birthday is today, called yesterday to say she was cooking dinner on Thanksgiving and we are welcome to come. She has invited her son and daughter and their children. The son and wife and child recently had Covid. Two of the grandchildren go to school. We are not inclined to go. My sister repeated her outlook on "not living in fear of getting sick, blah, blah..." She and her dh are devout Evangelicals who embrace the "when it's your time to die" philosophy. I usually refrain from suggesting that humans were endowed with brains and reasoning ability.

Last night's dinner was a pork tenderloin marinated in seasonings including dry rosemary. Cooked in 400 degree oven. Side was halved brussel sprouts browned on the cut side in a skillet and then steamed briefly. When they were done I added some grated romano. Salad was typical garden variety.

Tonight's dinner may be a roasted chicken.

Carole, the CDC is on your side with yesterday's advisory to not travel for Thanksgiving. In our case we would not have been the travelers. However, we had already told both sons that however much we would like to see them we did not feel it would be safe. If they came there would be 14 of us and no way to stay at a safe distance. Stick to your guns (and your restraint), girl!

Last evening was meatloaf, buttered boiled potatoes and green beans with eggnog for dessert. Comfort food, anyone? Tonight may well be a repeat as there are leftovers.

Leftovers: my salmon & veggies from last night; roast chicken stir-fry (snap peas,mushrooms, scallions) for Bob. Supplemented with an heirloom tomato-basil salad (dressed with lemon white "balsamic," blood orange olive oil, and orange sea salt (from when we visited Sicily in 2015). Dubouef 2020 Beauj. Nouveau went well with it. Bob will bring home a tomahawk ribeye, more 'shrooms, and Cabernet from the Palm ("Slab & Cab Kit"). I will defrost a container of collard greens for the green-leafy component.

Think I may defrost a large heritage pork chop Monday night (when it'll be hard to find a place that delivers). We should still have leftovers from tomorrow Sunday night. I still have a bumper crop of rosemary (very hardy, as is the mint and even some thyme). The basil, OTOH, is a distant memory.

Must have worn myself out on healthy-ish dinners this week. Tonight was delicious takeout pizza washed down with jam jar shiraz, my favorite sweet red wine.

I'm with Eric on the "when it's my time it's my time "philosophy but do not believe it's wise or even biblical to rush it. 😷🤗

I made a shrimp scampi. Served with Kibun refrigerated "natural noodles" imported from Japan - gluten free, sugar free, fat free, dairy free, cholesterol free, etc. etc. Very boring noodles. No taste, no texture. Definitely made the shrimp blah even though I added some red chili. Should have done linguine. This is the second time I've tried these noodles. The other two packages are going directly in the trash in spite of the starving children in whatever country my Mother would cite now to get us to clean our plates.

Bob didn't have to go in to work today (elective stress tests are canceled) so we didn't order for pickup from the Palm. Brunch was gyros from the stand around the corner (didn't eat the pita). Dinner was Tex/Cal-Mex: fish (tilapia) taco, al pastor bowl, "southwestern" chopped salad (beans, corn kernels, chicken breast, avocado). We have enough leftovers for tomorrow night's dinner (will freeze the free fries that came with the gyros).

Oh Beaver I love breakfast for dinner. Yum!!! And I do have a bunch of eggs in the fridge.

Special - we were admonished to clean our plates of every day "normal" foods. Or if my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I loaded up my plate and then didn't finish. Things that were new & weird (then) like asparagus or Brussels sprouts - we were only served & required to eat one bite to taste it. Fortunately my Mother didn't like & never cooked liver.

When I would come into the house after sifting gravel, the dust on my clothes would "follow me" inside and the tile floors felt like I had spilled talcum powder on them.

So, today, we decided to clean the house. It's sort of like the joke, "If it moves, salute. If it doesn't move, paint it.". All the furniture has been moved and every bit of floor has been vacuumed and mopped. The floors feel a lot less slippery. While waiting for the floors to dry, we've been dusting. Fortunately the vacuum cleaner has a bag designed to pick up, and more importantly, hold, plaster dust, so we should "gain" on the dust--if only for a few days.

I'm still not done with the dirty work as I'm still working on landscaping, so this will likely need it again....it was just driving us crazy....

Dinner tonight is going to be the left over rice and BBQ chicken.

I remember being given brussels sprouts for dinner and not liking them. Mom decided I'd sit at the table until I ate them. They went to bed and I was still at the table. :-)

Leftover Mexican food from last night.