So...whats for dinner?

Happy anniversary Sandy. We’re in the land of never ending storms too. We have four skylights that are keeping me anxious in the heavy rains

Last night was good ole meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and some beautiful Amish sliced tomatoes with just a sprinkling of kosher salt. Lots of meatloaf left for sandwiches.

Tonight is skillet roasted lemon chicken with as yet unknown sides.

Lacey, I’m sorry you’re having such lasting effects from your fall. I certainly hope the PT helps your recovery.

We're home.

Tonight is leftovers. Too hot to stand over a hot stove.

chisandy - the party sounds fantastic and yummy! Fried chicken is my kryptonite.

lacey - when DD had the horse accident she went to the doc who runs the concussion clinic at the local university, also DD's alma mater. They put her through a gamut of cognitive tests and then sent her to a concussion specialty chiropractor connected to the neurosurgery department at USF. I saw my PS yesterday for a post-op and we discussed her son's concussion from a recent car accident - I was aware because the accident happened as I was in her exam room and she scooted out rapidly to get to him, so I inquired about him yesterday. She was particularly concerned about him as he started stuttering and blanking out on words mid-sentence, he is in his junior year of high school in AP classes with straight A's prior to the accident. He is improving but saw the same docs as DD to get a proactive approach - and he is improving and finishing his finals. Hope this resolves for you asap!

Dinner has been a mish mash for the last few days until last night - had NY strips cooked in a cast iron pan, pilaf, and Brussels with balsamic glaze. Tonight will be turkey burgers with mushrooms, bacon and Swiss, with cabbage ramen salad, and skin on fries. DD and DBF will come over - he is getting a haircut with DD's stylist (who is now handling DH and me as well - family affair!) in prep for a trip to AZ to for his mom's surprise b-day - DD will be meeting the whole fam for the first time. They don't want to grocery shop since they will be out of town and then will have the house tented for termites (argghhh) shortly after returning so didn't want to load up on food that will have to be removed anyway, so I have been trying to feed them. Sent them home the other night after they stopped by with a bunch of baked fusilli.

Hubby declared tonight will be a no fuss, no mess dinner as I have not slept well with this last heat wave. So I am under orders to make chicken sandwiches and fries! Had one more night of lasagna left but hubby said freeze it for a night when we want something fast and I don’t have the energ to cook.

My hubby knows how the heat kills me.

Tues. night we went to Mercat a la Planxa (founded & formerly run by Iron Chef Jose Garces, and just reopened last week) for upscale tapas--we had the "luxe tasting menu:" grilled octopus with roasted grapes, capers & olive-oil mashed Yukon Golds;"cinco jotas" jamon Iberico; pan (imported toasted Spanish bread) con tomate; serrano ham & fig salad; Ortiz tuna salad with aioli, peas & piquillo peppers; spicy roasted cauliflower with goat cheese & pine nuts; sliced grilled pork loin with grilled corn & wild mushroom blend; baby Colorado lamb chops with zucchini, and Basque "burnt cheesecake" with cherries soaked in sweet sherry. Yeah, we took home leftovers (the pork loin & octopus). Wed. I pan-seared corvina out on the grill--but in fiddling with getting the lid just right to keep the grill hot, the pan tipped and the fish flipped over to (over)cook on its side. Also grilled red knob onions and balsamic-marinated asparagus. Last night we had the Mercat leftovers, plus leftover filet mignon Bob brought home Wed. night from his drug co. dinner at Wildfire Oakbrook, and a defrosted hunk of last week's leftover prime rib from Wildfire downtown. Also stir-fried Shanghai bok choy and snow peas from the farmers' market.

Tonight we'll walk to Cellars--Bob wants to eat early but I'm not very hungry yet. Will likely eat just an appetizer but get hungry again before bedtime--which is the bane of my weight-control. Last night I carb-cheated again and I've been paying for it all day. Doesn't help that today begins 10 days without my HK--and naturally, I just discovered ants in the kitchen around Heidi's dish--and crawling in her kibble. (Thus far, knock wood, they're avoiding Happy's vegan kibble). As if feeding the kitties wasn't stressful enough...

Will have to try to find a dependable exterminator that uses pet-safe spray. Our last one, which we used for over 30 years, did--but during the pandemic they were erratic, with personnel quitting left & right till we finally gave up and fired them after they sent someone not just on the wrong day but without a mask.

Re-hired the exterminator, now that they have their veteran pet-safe techs again.

But my entire front-room A/V system went out last night (cat may have knocked plugs out of the wall, trashed the power strip--it won't reset--or both). As I contorted myself trying to plug the cords back into the wall, the TV fell over. Nothing will power on--not sure if the problem is the outlet (old ungrounded), the "cheater" adaptor, the circuit, the power strip or any or all of the above. Electrician will be over later today to check both the breakers (none appear tripped, most are unlabeled and I don't want to screw anything up any further) and the outlet. If both are intact, I will need to buy a new cheater plug before I can ascertain if the TV is ok once I power it back on (assuming I can). At the very least I will need a new power strip (that takes both AC cords and coax cables) and HDMI cables (which now appear to have been chewed and one's metal plug was so bent when the TV fell that it broke off). I may need a new TV too. But this time I'm not buying one I can't see and have demoed first, plus have professionally set up with my system--so no thanks, Amazon, Costco or the Albanian appliance store down the street that sold me the set in the first place.

Dinner was spicy shrimp salad appetizer followed by grilled salmon Caesar. Brunch today was spinach/tomato/chevre frittata with cucumber salad. Dinner tonight (solo, Bob's working again all this weekend) will be various leftovers.

Steak, rice and corn for dinner tonight

chisandy - ugh on the electric/electronics situation!

We traveled over to St. Pete (about 45 mins) to see my BIL/SIL and their kids and grands for several hours, then back home to sit with the fireworks averse dog. The good news about dog deafness - less aware of fireworks, but we were not comfortable leaving him alone. I am finding I am tiring easily - I am less than a month out from surgery, compounded by the allergic reaction. I need to factor stamina into my activity decisions for a while longer I think.

When we got home DH grilled some cheeseburgers and corn on the cob. Had some potato salad with that, and red/white/blue cupcakes leftover from a batch of cupcakes we took over to St. Pete. We had about an hour of neighborhood fireworks, which ended around10pm. Next year I want to go out on DD's boat to watch the downtown ones from the water. She is due home late tonight from AZ, just in time for a tropical storm!

Dinner tonight will likely be a Buffalo chicken salad - greens with celery, leftover fried chicken removed from the bone and tossed with Frank's hot sauce, blue cheese dressing with extra crumbled cheese. Easy, but yummy.

In hurricane prep mode - cleared stuff from around the pool and yard, outside freezer is full of ice trays, extra cubes from the ice maker inside, and bottles of water to freeze for the coolers. Moved any protein out of the outside freezer, and am charging my extra phone power banks. Just cooked a bunch of chicken breasts and am considering cooking some small sirloins. We are not boarding up or doing anything drastic although DH trimmed the big trees yesterday. He went in to the base this morning to do a few things but was supposed to leave at noon (mandatory) and not return until Thursday. Not sure if they will evac the base housing - the storm surge is supposed to be pretty high and with high tide could be bad there - it is very low and right on the water. We are quite a ways inland so not a worry for us. I’m glad we put hurricane windows in at DD’s house.We have extra propane in case we are cooking on the grill due to power outages. DD and DBF successfully returned from AZ very late last night and both had to work today. Hoping they will be released early as they have to cross bridges to get home. DD has to square away some things around her house as well - mostly with her boat.

The Mexican restaurant, Campaneros, was very busy last night as usual. The food was typical "Mexican" fare, melted cheese covering the plate. I had a tamale and chile relenos dinner with rice and refried beans. DH had a burrito dinner. I left with no intention of going there again soon if ever. One plus was the margarita especial. It was perhaps the best margarita I've had at a restaurant.

I will be making eggplant lasagna today.

Sorry I've been missing in action. Just wrote the final check for the contractor today after he completed the punch list. And hooray - one of his guys spent the last two days carrying in boxes for me - AND handing me what was in the boxes so I could put it on the shelves. I had intended to sort while unpacking to get rid of more stuff but I can always do that later. Couple of issues where the carpet meets the tile incorrectly, but I have a year's warranty with that company so holding off for a month.

Lacey - so sorry about your concussion. I hope things are going better. Nance - what did you end up doing for the 4th? Special - sounds like you're healing & HOORAY that the storm mostly missed you. Eric - have you tried Proper Meats & Provisions in Flag? Started out as a butcher shop & now 60% restaurant. They also have vegetarian options. Carole - I'm in the middle of trying to find a "decent" Mexican restaurant that's close to the house for my son's upcoming visit so I know what you mean. Mommy - hope you got some good sleep & have your energy back. Mae - food pictures are gorgeous & it's good that you're making progress on emptying your house. Hi everyone else. I've read but sorry I haven't responded.

Today's meal was the last of the leftover potato salad (sour cream & mayo, no mustard) and a large piece of lemon bundt cake. Can't get excited about cooking or even eating when there are contractors in the house. It's possible my son may come for a two or three days in the next week to tackle some of my 'honey-do' list. He hasn't been here since 2018 and I haven't seen him since August 2019. Hope he'll be able to make it. I'm not even going to try to try to get everything straightened - so it will be "warts & all".

Beautiful plate, Illimae.

I used the grill as an oven to heat the eggplant lasagna but had to give each serving a minute in the microwave. Side was a delicious tossed salad made with spring mix lettuce and favorite additions.

I also made a chicken salad yesterday to take to women's golf league this morning for the potluck lunch. So I spent hours in the small kitchen yesterday.

Glad for you that you're getting back to normal, Minus.

Special - glad you escaped much storm damage. I was worried about you. I sympathize with the stamina issues. That seems to be a persistent age related issue with me. Exacerbated I think by not being able to exercise much because of my crappy needing-replacement knee. Like you, in Mexican restaurants I order the stuff I won't make. I have made tamales but can't say I've mastered it. I judge a restaurant on how good the tamales are and whether they offer chicken tamales - my favorite.

Minus - so happy you're at the putting back stage. What a relief that must be. I can relate.

We had friends for a barbecue on July 2nd to celebrate the husband's birthday. I made ribs, huli huli chicken, german potato salad, baked beans and coconut cream pie. Consequently, we weren't ready for bbq again on the 4th so we had grilled hamburgers and plank fries with some Amish sliced (delicious) tomatoes. This is our first 4th here in this lake community. Last year fireworks were cancelled due to COVID. We are less than a mile from the dam where the fireworks are done and on a hill so we were hopeful that this year we could see from our house. We were happy to find that we could see the entire display from our front yard. It was the most eventful part of our 4th lol.

We have dedicated the month of July to cleaning out and consolidating our 3 storage units down to one. Even though the units are air conditioned, it's understandably minimal and it's hot work.. In fact, our last trip resulted in both of us getting slightly dehydrated as we stupidly didn't take water in with us. Won't make that mistake again. We have a young man friend in college whom we hire often as our "muscle". He's moving into an apartment next month instead of living in the dorm so we have offered him his pick of the various household items in the storage units that he could use. There is quite a lot of home decor - rugs, lamps, etc. that may be useful to him. I would be glad for someone to use them instead of the trash man hauling them off.

There has been food. The night we got overheated I made a pasta with nothing but fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil and freshly grated parm. It was just right. Last night was fish tacos with chipotle slaw and black beans. Tonight is to be determined. The freezer is full. Surely there is something to be had. Tomorrow we travel to our old town to purchase some freshly picked corn on the cob. I know what's for dinner tomorrow night.

Illimae - the pictures are gorgeous as always. I bought a tenderloin filet for DH for father's day and nearly fainted at the price.