So...whats for dinner?

auntie - thanks! Looks delish and I will try it and report back

Special, glad you dodged the storm "bullet."

Yummy plate, Illi.

Minus, nice to see you're in the construction home-stretch.

Lacey, hope you're continuing to recover from your concussion.

Nancy, nice to see you checking in here! My standard for Mexican restaurants is how well they do al pastor pork (tacos or bowl), ceviche or carnitas. Nopales salad is a plus.

Carole, I had never had real BBQ ribs all the time I was growing up in NYC and then living in Seattle. And for a long time after moving here, the only ribs we ate were "North-Side" style baby-backs: the only thing "BBQ" about them was the sauce in which they practically drowned. The way restaurants made them was to first par-boil them, then slather them in sauce and bake them till the meat fell off the bone. It wasn't until I learned about Hecky's (Evanston) and Leon's (South Side), and then the Smokey Bones chain that I tasted the real thing: spareribs (St. Louis), with the telltale pink "smoke ring" on the inside. Before that, I thought spare ribs could be found only in Chinese restaurants, tea-smoked and glazed cherry-red. Now the only ribs I'll eat are true BBQ--I like them to "fight back" when I bite into them, and if I don't use my fingers, to use a good knife as well as a fork. (St. Louis ones are often so meaty that three bones can make a meal).

Last night we started our dinner with salmon and American sturgeon roes (on sale at WF)--on blini for Bob, Atkins wafers for me. Then a green salad (Little Gem lettuces, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and red onion); sauteed broccoli rabe (garlic, lemon, olive oil, chili flakes; and our grilled leftovers from Artango. Tonight, I pan-seared halibut out on the grill (topped with pineapple salsa for Bob & chimichurri for me), along with grilled asparagus and an insalata Caprese. Ate inside both nights--too hot & muggy last night, too chilly tonight.

Sandy, I like some "bite" in my ribs, too. I don't want them "falling off the bones," which is the preference of some people. We like baby back ribs. I boil them with onion, garlic, some cayenne and s & p until I can easily stick a cooking fork between the bones. Shortly before we're ready to eat, dh puts them on the grill over hot heat with barbecue sauce brushed on the surfaces. We have a difference in choice of barbecue sauce. He likes the brown sugar sweet variety. I like the vinegar based. We mostly go with his choice.

Last night was hot dogs and Bush's baked beans. A summer go to meal that requires minimum effort.

Tonight will be leftover eggplant lasagna and salad.

Minnesota summer weather has returned this week. Enduring days of heat makes me really appreciate comfortable days.

Hoping the temperatures cool and the E ticket rides end soon.

The beets were delicious last night. The cucumber was good, too. DH added sliced red onion to his beet and cucumber salad. The meat was grilled pork steak.

Tonight we plan to celebrate our 52nd wedding anniversary with dinner at Necce's Italian restaurant in Park Rapids.

Yes. Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Carole - also wishing you a happy anniversary.

Son just left. Whew - 70 hours of non-stop 'honey'dos'. Well, we did sleep from 1am to 6am (eeek) but otherwise never sat down. Garbage can full & 6 more bags already lined up. Recycle container is full and 5 more boxes lined up. Car loaded with 4 boxes & 6 bags for shredding on Wednesday and will fill at least two more tomorrow. 12 electrical projects completed. Three pieces of furniture repaired. Entertainment system set back up - TV, VCR, DVD, Receiver, Record Player, etc. Backyard drainage project designed to test the problem. Lots of computer upgrades and lessons. Can't even begin to remember what else.

First night dinner started out as Laurie's Mexican chicken w/rotisserie chicken breasts, but I added sour cream and then forgot the melted cheese. Quite tasty. Served with wild rice & Olathe corn from the freezer. Second night we went out for Tex-Mex enchiladas- a requirement since that's what he grew up with. Last night he went to eat with his Dad - steaks at Perry's. I had leftover asparagus & rice. He refused home cooked breakfasts and went every morning to get breakfast tacos made with smoked brisket at a BBQ place. Dropped him at the airport a while ago where he will eat before his flight and I'm on my second rather strong cocktail. Bed is calling soon.

Oh dear….earlier today, I wrote a long catch up after doing a read catch up, and had to put it aside to attend to something else. IT IS GONE….and my brain is unable to rewrite it on a screen. Darn!!! I should have copied it before putting it aside like I sometimes do.

So I will post a few pix and hopefully reconstruct my lost post at a later time about our Ptown stay. We are home tending to medical appts before heading to NH to finally open up the lake house.

My attempt to recreate a meal we had at Mac’s Seafood. Not exsctly the same, but pretty tasty…a good thing since scallop purchases practically require a bank loan these days! These were on sale at $20 a pound. But really delicious!

DD2 brought his little crew on the Fast Ferry from Boston to visit one day to show his DW and little one the sandbar he spent hours exploring on Cape Cod Bay during our weeks there. Here DGD is with her favorite guys heading out to the sandbar to find more shells and cool rocks. Happy to see she has the beach gene!

Santa Fe Shrimp at Napi’s…very spicy and delish!

Portugese fish platter (not their stew) at Napi’s ordered by DH our first night. This restaurant is right near a popular parking lot (but in fact they have their own free lot behind the restaurant), so it looks like a tourist trap due to location and outside decor. In fact it has a delightful warm and kooky artistic decor inside and delicious ethnic seafood dishes. DH never misses getting their Portugese seafood stew, which we returned for later in the week. The host and most servers there were wearing masks, which the host told me, as we chatted, he was wearing more for his own protection since they have no idea where people are from and if they are vaccinated or not. WELL, was I glad for him after hearing on last night’s Boston news that there are now outbreaks of Covid in P-town despite the 100% vaccination compliance rate of residents there. Kind of hard to reconcile trying to keep financially afloat by risking your life serving unvaccinated “guests” from out of town. Upsetting situation.

We returned home early from Ptown to host my sister who travelled from VT to Falmouth to pick up two Springer Spaniel “brothers” who were recently surrendered on Martha’s Vineyard by a family who could no longer care for them. Then she drove back to our house for a few days. I would be challenged by these dogs too! They are handsome, energetic pooches who need a good bit of training, but certainly not the most challenging of rescues DS has had. Our house needed a good bit of cleaning after they headed up to VT.
DH and I are exhausted…and fully understand why we no longer have dogs.

I hope everyone is doing well, no longer experiencing earthquakes, healing from surgeries and allergic reactions, getting some decent summer weather (unlike the cold rain here) and enjoying some tasty meals!

I’m still chasing lingering concussion symptoms, (PT has been useful for the lightheadedness) but hoping they will remit over this next month….before our sons and their families arrive to visit us at the lake in mid-August.

Of course this ended up being way longer than intended and I will now tend to my headache.

TL;DR Petty rant ahead

What I really wanted for dinner: For my husband and I to make a nice dinner together, even if it was simple, like pork chops and roasted potatoes and canned beans heated up.

When it became clear he didn't want to cook, I hoped at least we could figure out something simple and I could make it and we could eat here.

Nope. He said he's going to either Five Guys or McDonalds and offered to bring me back food.

I reminded him how hard I've been working to eat right and exercise, and said thanks but no thanks and started casting about the kitchen.

He asked what he could make me because he could see the light fading in my eyes and he wanted to be helpful. After a couple of ideas that amounted to eating junk we have in our cabinets for him and my son, he asked if I'd like for him to heat me up some soup. (Dear Reader, here is where I really, REALLY should have known better...)

I said yes, please.

That man took a can of tomato soup out, put it in a bowl that was far too small for it, dumped a can of water in, and microwaved it in the microwave that is too high up for me to reach, that I've been begging him to clean for a month, and he didn't even put a cover on it.

I should have known better. I should have somehow known he would do that. How did I have visions of him taking a pan out of the cabinet and heating soup for me on the stove? How could I ever have imagined he'd use milk to make it taste good, like I always do? He has never respected food. I should have known better. I don't know who I'm more aggravated with right now -- him or myself.

I just stuck my spoon in it and it is not heated through and it's full of lumps. *headdesk*

Currently my dinner plan is blueberries and Triscuits. I can't decide whether I should eat this soup as penance and a warning to myself for future evenings, or throw it out because it is a bowl of disappointment and we all deserve better.

Saltmarsh, hoping you did not eat the soup. Having all that happen was punishment enough! And undeserved at that!

Dinners around here have not been anything to post about -- basically some meat or fish from the freezer, a starch and a veg (often from the freezer too).

Lacey, so good to hear from you and may you continue to heal.

Carole, a belated Happy Anniversary to you and your DH.

Greetings to all.

saltmarsh - Hopefully waiting to hear that you threw out the soup.

That tomato soup does NOT sound very good at all....... :-)

I like to cook and am not sure why more men don't like cooking.

More sourdough is in the oven. We were down to about 1/2 loaf of bread that I had put into the freezer before we left for Michigan, so it's time to "recharge". I'm amazed at how well the bread keeps when it's frozen.

Wow, some of y'all know how to eat! ChiSandy, I have never had a stuffed squash blossom but reading about yours got me fixing' to try.

Some of you will be happy to hear: I did not eat the soup.

Also, my husband cleaned the microwave today while I was at the doctor's.

Also, after the catastrophe that was last night, I decided today would be different, so after I walked the dog and made coffee this morning, I prepped potatoes to roast for dinner. And took pork chops out of the freezer and put them in the fridge, and threw a rub together in a bowl. So when I came home at the end of the day, all I had to do was coat the pork chops with the rub and roast everything! And while I didn't manage to make anything green or vegetable-like to go with it, I did serve these with unsweetened applesauce from the farm down the street. And my husband and I were both very happy with our dinner.

Good for you Sandy. It is so hard to keep my weight down as I am short and small framed. I am swimming now and trying to increase activity but know i can't outrun a bad diet.

Dinner was miscellaneous leftovers since I had an in-person meeting I had ro run out the door for. Crockpot pork barbecue, green salad and slaw. And some fettuccine bolognese from a local restaurant.

DH likes the store made brats with cheddar because they are moist. Yesterday I bought two variations. Cheddar and jalapeno and cheddar and bacon. We had the latter last night. They were good but I couldn't detect any bacon taste. Our side was a very large tossed salad.