So...whats for dinner?

Adding my anniversary wishes Mae. Breakfast is my favorite meal and yours looks delicious. Lacey - so sorry to hear your back is still bothering you. And 'boo' for the specialist offering no help. Eric - I love the fact that there was enough whiskey left for you and your brother to have a toast. What a wonderful history. Special - my son is flying cargo only - mostly Asia & the South Pacific - & will be in Guam again today & tomorrow. Unfortunately they are escorted & confined to their hotel rooms after landing, so all he can see is the beach from a window, but the pictures look lovely.

Non traditional year for sure. Yesterday I made potato salad for Christmas Eve (go figure...) and had a tuna sandwich on pumpernickel. I was inspired by Carole's beans so today I opened a can of Pinto beans, drained & added chicken broth, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, garlic. It will simmer while I'm walking and I may or may not add Hatch Chili after tasting. I know - it's after noon & I try to walk in the morning, but it was 41 degrees here at 9am and a 35mph biting wind. The sun's out so I need to get going.

I had planned to treat myself & pick up a large Seafood Cobb salad from Pappadeauxs for Christmas Day (shrimp AND crab), but I've also been hungry for meatloaf. Since it's cold & I have a ton of potatoes to use, I'll have the salad on Boxing Day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone - and also raising a glass to those of you who celebrate alternate holidays.

Merry Christmas to all. Happy Anniversary Illimae, Eric, such a neat find.

Keeping a small Chrustmas. Just my DD2 and family. and DS1 with his wife. Didnt make any cookies, but bought some from a great Amish Bakery nearby.

May you all enjoy the holidays, whatever flavor you favor!

Auntienance, the roast and veggies sound delicious and beautiful.

Minus and all, Happy Festivus for the rest of us!

Anniversary dinner ended up being Chinese takeout eaten in the truck but I was pretty good and I’ll be finishing my chicken fried rice for lunch.

Tonight will be cheeseburgers and salad with cherry or apple pie for dessert.

Eric, what’s in it, I gotta know

It was Christmas morning, 1981 when my grandmother made it for the last time. "Gramp" had died that September, the day before their 70th anniversary, and after that many years, I'm sure making it brought back a lot of memories. Mickey (Denice) and I watched her carefully and made notes as she made it from memory.

Even now, when I make it, I remember Mickey and I making it several times to "figure it out and get it right". I also remember DD, not quite 4 years old, nearly drooling, while eagerly awaiting for it to come out of the oven. And, 19 years later, it's not much different. DD had the oven mitts, pastry knife and trivet ready to go for when the pans came out of the oven. :-)

Sweet story Eric ❤️

The roast came out an absolutely perfect medium rare all the way to the edge. I wish I had taken a picture of the vegetables - they were lovely. DDIL made a pumpkin cheesecake with cinnamon whipped cream for dessert. It was delicious. We were all too stuffed to eat anything else yesterday but this morning was another story.

This morning I made Ina Garten’s baked blintzes that we had with some of my DSIL’s home grown strawberry jam. DDIL brought the fixings for and made cherry scones with orange glaze. We had lox, everything bagels and cream cheese with the usual tomatoes, onion and capers. I fixed a couple of sausage patties for DH as he wouldn’t touch a bagel or lox if he was starving. And if that wasn’t enough, we had grapefruit and Cara Cara orange sections. We were all so full that after the kids left, lunch was just a late fried egg sandwich on a piece of toast. There is enough roast left for another meal for the two of us but I think it will be tomorrow night. Tonight we may just snack on the charcuterie and cheeses that we didn’t eat yesterday. I wish I could convince DH that buttered popcorn would be a suitable meal tonight but he wouldn’t go for it unless it had meat in it.

I have done nothing the rest of this day except read and soak up the sunshine coming in my living room window. It’s lying though - it’s19 degrees outside

All the food sounds so wonderful. I can’t emphasize enough how much I’m enjoying eating and for the first time since I was about 10 or so, calories are unimportant, only content. I’ve maintained my weight for 2 months with no effort and I can’t believe some people are lucky enough to live like this.

Breakfast was the leftover half of the omelette I made yesterday with a few fried potatoes chunks. Lunch was fancy crackers with garlic/herb cheese spread and a apple/orange/pineapple fruit salad.

Dinner will be a big, somewhat greasy cheeseburger on a sesame bun with salad and I’m really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow we head home from the beach for some downtime before restarting treatment. Not sure if I mentioned if but I was off meds for the last week at least but got the all clear from cardio to resume.

Merry Christmas my kitchen table mates - or Happy whatever you are celebrating, and agree - toasting to all here and absent friends, well said eric. Interesting recipe - my MIL made fruit ones.

I actually remembered to take photos of today’s food! Brunch was sticky buns, fruit, and sunset mimosas. Dinner was standing rib roast, loaded scalloped potatoes, and asparagus with toasted hazelnuts and 2015 Cab from Castello Di Amorosa in Napa. Dessert was lemon cheesecake. I’m out of order, but what else is new?

Everyone's meals look lovely!

I didn't prepare any holiday meals as it is just me this year due to covid but I made some fudge that I sent out as gifts to family and Mexican wedding cookies for myself. Dinner was baked wild salmon and turkey sausage and kale soup mixed with a variety of chicken noodle and I had the cookies for desert.

May this have been as merry and magical a Christmas as possible in these trying times.

The kids ordered us (online, from the ranch in TX hill country--not Houston, as I'd mistakenly thought, for us to pick up) prime rib dinner from the Palm. "Gigi" salad (iceberg, green beans, bacon, shrimp, hard-boiled egg with vinaigrette), and sauteed mushrooms as sides. One piece each of flourless chocolate torte and cheesecake. Took us 2 nights to eat it all. For brunch, I made omelets (Swiss & cheddar, Hatch & Fresno chiles, red onion, green bell pepper, shiitakes) for brunch. Made 5 slices of bacon--Bob had 4 of 'em. The kitties were overjoyed to get the cheese crumbs that escaped the intended trajectory of the rotary grater.

Again, I want all the food here, looks so good.

Chisandy, we haven’t been to Fredericksburg but friends have and rave about it, lovely place for romance and German food.

Minus, we’re at Quintana beach near Freeport.

Heading home soon, got see’s candies waiting at my door, yum.

I,too, forgot to take pictures! Dinner was roasted pork tenderloin with raspberry chipotle sauce, roasted mixed potatoes ( sweet, red skin and russet) with onion and garlic, and broccoli. Available for dessert were four kinds of freshly baked cookies. Wine was a California Rhone blend. Just the two of us but today DS1, DDIL1 and DGDs 1,2,&3 are coming. Planning to make meatloaf so we will have some for sandwiches.

Blessings to all, whatever holiday you celebrate or not.

Mae - thanks for the Bubble & Squeak recipe. I expect you ate at the one time great Brit restaurant, which went downhill and then sadly closed forever - The Black Lab. And I loved Cezanne, the jazz club upstairs. I looked up the beach park where you were. They have cabins to rent for those of us w/o campers. Hmmm. I particularly love the beach in winter when it's not so hot & crowded.

Nance - did you get what you need at Home Depot? They didn't have what I wanted the last couple of trips I made. Even though there's one w/in 5 miles of my home, I try to hit the competition - Loews.

Carole - the potatoes were so easy. Line a baking sheet - I used alum foil. Slice potatoes 1/4" widths but not clear through. I rolled them in EVOO and garlic & placed on baking sheet. Half way through cooking when they start to 'fan open', I drizzled with melted butter, more garlic & rosemary. All the recipes say cook 425-450 for an hour, but I wanted to cook with my meatloaf so I did 350 for and hour and 450 for 20 minutes to crisp them. For reference I was using new red potatoes. I expect Russets might take longer. There are a ton of variations - including bacon or putting a cheese slice between each fan space.

Moon flower - what is your wreath made of? Beaver - yup, meatloaf sandwiches tomorrow. Tonight was the leftover pinto bean concoction with french bread.

Bob's working late every night through Thurs. (but plans to be home before midnight on NYE) because the guy with whom he trades call took his family (14 in all) to Mexico for vacation. My guess is that this rough late-night week may stretch into almost 3 weeks, because his colleague will almost certainly have to quarantine upon his return (unless he figures that being a doctor, having been vaxed--and that nobody's enforcing post-travel quarantines--lets him go back to work). Bob says some hospitals are making symptomatic doctors come in to work unless they test positive--so they're being discouraged from being tested, since the staffing situation is so dire!

Last night's dinner was a Caprese over arugula, and a nuked frozen keto chicken Cordon Bleu. Tonight, probably more salad, and nuke a couple pouches of Indian food (lentils & palak paneer). Looks like dinner for one until further notice.