So...whats for dinner?

It is so lovely to read about the younger generation, going all in on life. Bravo and brava!!

Eric, unfortunately, for cancer like mine (lobular), the further out I get, the more l likely it can return.

wallycat, I’m a fan of Milk Street, too! I don’t follow their recipes exactly, but I love to get inspired to try new things. I also like Cooks Illustrated.

Tonight was a riff on a HelloFresh recipe: chicken breast with figgy balsamic glaze with thyme, smashed potatoes and lemony roasted carrots. Last night was a junk food night: Costco pizza and a salad, but Monday was a healthy leftover cedar plank salmon, basmati, brown and wild rice pilaf and peas. I like frozen peas but I tried a new recipe and it was a “miss”. I love lemon zest and juice on most veggies, but not peas! DH liked the peas but I think he was being kind.

Wally...uggh...with it getting more likely coming back as time goes on. I didn't know that about lobular cancer.

The weather here was in the upper 20C range for a few days (shorts and bare feet) but has gone back down to 10-12C range again. Sharon and I are hoping to be moved and have everything out of storage before our summer temperatures arrive. Moving heavy stuff when it's hot is not a lot of fun.

If I'm not busy, I'll watch both Milk Street and ATK (America's Test Kitchen) and, like "y'all", I tend to look for ideas instead of just copying the recipe. The ATK/Milk Street split was kind of messy, but now there are two shows to watch.

In the early 1980s, we used to watch the various cooking shows on the local PBS station while trying to copy down exactly what was needed/how to do it. After the show, the two of us would compare notes and try to make a coherent recipe from the notes. It usually worked. Sometimes we had to figure things out and we would add notes. Sometimes the neighbor's dog was the happy recipient of a "not fixable" meal. Sometimes it was such a spectacular failure that the neighbor's dog wasn't at all interested! :-) The internet has made it easier with the cooking shows as I can just go to the web site instead of scribbling notes that hopefully didn't miss something critical. The other show that we used to watch was the Frugal Gourmet. Before the books were all packed away, I'd pull one off the shelf to get a recipe and find a paper in the book with the 40 year old notes. I suppose I should scan/digitize them.

Dinner tonight will be at the music jam. Homemade chicken soup (even the chickens were "homemade") is the main dish for tonight with whatever the rest of us bring for side dishes.

Aussie, welcome! Oh, how I miss good fish & chips (especially those from the late great Broadway Cellars)! Still beating up on myself for my late-night carb-loading snacks--if I'd never given into those cravings I could occasionally have fish & chips, pasta, and even the crust from pizza & quiche. Instead, to my chagrin, the size 10 Ralph Lauren dress I ordered for Gordy's wedding (size 10 was what their "fit guide" told me to buy) will barely zip up over my waist & bust--even with a Spanx camisole. The photo on the site did not indicate a defined (extremely defined, fit & flare) bodice & waist. And they don't stock it in a 12, much less a 14.

Here the fish in a "fish fry" (usually all you can eat) is breaded rather than battered. I've never had a WI fish boil--the bubbling-over kettle and flames leaping out from underneath look dramatic, but the ingredients (chunks of boiled fish, potatoes and other root vegetables) seem unpalatably bland to me. North woods WI & the U.P. are not particularly known for imaginative seasonings or sauces that don't come out of a bottle or packet. Yooper friends of mine don't even like L. Woods Lodge & Tap (our local imitation of a WI "supper club") because the meats are "too spicy" and they serve green vegetables.

Gordy actually got his own apt. a few months after starting to date Leslie--he wanted to have some independent living skills under his belt before moving in together. He also took a few online cooking lessons.

Tues. night we went to Mon Ami Gabi for a belated Valentine's dinner. Bob played it safe with a filet mignon & salade Lyonnaise, plus a side of steamed spinach; I had the prix fixe special of lobster bisque with lobster meat, beef short ribs in cabernet gravy with celery-root puree and diced butternut squash. Mine also came with dessert: three large raspberry macarons, which we had boxed even before they were served. Bob had one at home. The other two aren't even tempting me.

Last night, en route home from the Ford dealership in Oak Lawn (he had a side-view mirror replaced) Bob stopped at the Patio BBQ. He brought home a tossed salad, full rack of baby back ribs (dry, smoked rather than the baked "Chicago style" swimming in sauce), grilled veggies (peppers, zucchini & yellow squashes, and onions), coleslaw, and brisket with mashed potatoes. I ate half the ribs, slaw & veggies.

Brunch (actually lunch because it was so late after I went searching online & my attic for dresses) was low carb avocado toast with homemade guac (so much better than Wholly), baby arugula, diced yellow tomato, cilantro, and shallot with a dry-"fried" egg.

Dinner (for me, in half an hour, for Bob just now) will be the rest of my ribs, short ribs, and whatever spinach & tossed salad Bob doesn't want.

I had the last cup of leftover creamed peas & potatoes served with leftover homemade guacamole w/tomatoes.

First meeting with my new LEPT today. I'm bandaged tonight. We'll see how it goes.

Lunch tomorrow with my ex-DH. He's partial to the fried shrimp at Pappadeaux. Luckily there's one close since he doesn't like to drive any distance. He and his wife (of 28 years) (we were married 20 years before) don't like wine so he is going to bring me the entire contents of their built in temperature controlled wine cellar/cooler. I'm guessing 40+ bottles. I'm assuming they've treated it correctly - at least I confirmed the bottles were stored on their sides. She loves to spend money, so there will no doubt be some expensive varieties On the other hand, there may be a lot of vinegar.

Welcome Aussie! And how bittersweet to see the names of departed sisters from your Australian group. I often think of Susan, Michelle, and the many others who added to the richness of our dinner thread. And yes, Minus…What fun it was to enjoy dinner with you, your friend, Pat, and Susan! I am reminded of that visit every time I drive to the Celtics’ games and pass the hotel where you and Pat stayed before continuing on your trip to NS.

We are preparing (bracing?!) for a few days with our little toddler force being here. So meals will include kid centric choices. She needs a high fiber diet, which we fortunately offer, but there is always the “broccoli is yucky today” factor that we may need to be prepared for, thus lots of variety on hand. She does love her carbs, and we will make some corn muffins and likely some cookies. She is mainly looking forward to us having “dance parties”, so DH will get his DJ songs out and we’ll be movin! Happy to have some decent weather the next few days so we can enjoy time outdoors, too. She needs to keep moving….sometimes a challenge for these oldsters! All of our 2+ feet of snow is amazingly gone!

I have my yearly DF visit with med onc on Tuesday. She’ll probably wonder why I look so fatigued.

Last night I made eggplant pizzas, which we had with salad. I’ve been adding fresh kale to our nightly salads, which we’ve enjoyed.

Tonight, DH will grill chicken breasts that I’ll have marinated, probably in an orange and balsamic or soy marinade I’ll make up.

While DGD is here, DH will make fun breakfasts that they will both enjoy…and I’ll just have a taste of, since I’m not much of a breakfast person.

I have over a week to get used to the idea that TD Garden will no longer have a vax or mask mandate when we return there for our next game. Since many fans ignored the mask rule already, I expect we might be the only ones wearing our trusty KF-94s in that crowd! 🥴

Carole - totally agree about how simple tax returns are in retirement & I think Turbo Tax is great. I have a can of artichoke hearts sitting on the cupboard but never thought of adding them to dressing. Good idea. Do you still add onions & celery? Or maybe I'll toss them with shrimp & pasta like I was considering.

Mae - I saw on another thread that today is your Birthday. Hope you have a great celebration.

Ah - Michelle in the bunny suit. Susan and the fresh cinnamon rolls. Good people gone.

Lacey - Hope you survive toddler week without getting too exhausted. Good luck with your MO appointment Tuesday.

Yes, I feel the same about going places that people no longer even pretend to wear masks. (those were the ones that stayed down on the chin & certainly under the nose). Consequently I'm still pretty careful about where I go. I miss plays & concerts. But interestingly I've found that I don't really miss eating out a lot. I've really gotten in the 'grove' of cooking simple meals at home.

So the wine 'donation' from my ex-DH...only 15-20 bottles but that included a new bottle of Baileys. Yum. I'm trying to find someone who would like 6 bottles of Chardonnay, since I don't care for Chard. The rest is pretty much a mix from White Zin to Barbera. Yesterday's meal was fried shrimp at Pappadeaux. Today's lunch was the leftover french fried potatoes from yesterday's meal.

It's still winter here - from 78 to 36 on Thursday. I baked a batch of brownies this morning. Also sliced onions & cucumbers - now marinating in sour cream & dill. I plan to saute asparagus for my dinner, served alongside the leftover stir-fried cabbage w/carrots, onions & sunflower seeds.

Nance - how are you feeling?

auntie - so glad you are feeling good! Yay!

illimae - Happy Belated Birthday! Hope you had a fun one!

minus - on our drive to CO from FL we stopped at the Pioneer Woman restaurant for dinner and had garlic fries, among other things - which were all good. They believe in LARGE portions in OK! We ate some at the restaurant, had some again later, and then made home fries with what was left by cutting the fries, which were big, into more bite sized pieces and cooking in a skillet with some onion. I haven't yet met a potato in any form that I didn't like...

lacey - how are you feeling, are you making progress?

I will prob do our taxes next week. They are a bit more complex as DH has a military pension, regular job, VA disbursement, and I have SS, and two houses, but it really is pretty easy. I actually itemize because I make a lot of donations and can exceed the standard deduction, so that part is time consuming, but worth it. I had done DD's taxes up to now, but with her LLC and annual offroad event it is now too complicated. I don't want to make any errors - so she now has a CPA. Yay for me!

I have been trying to winnow down my cookbook collection so that it fits into one skinny two level bookshelf between the kitchen and laundry room. My approach has been to look at every recipe in a book I suspect I don't need to keep, and photocopy the recipes I like, then donate the book. In some cases I have only liked one or two recipes, but these tend to be from older books with more outdated recipes, or ones that have ingredients I can't eat any longer. I had a whole slew of Southern Living Annual recipe books going back to the 80's! Got rid of all except for the books from the years my kids were born - thought they might want them - kind of like a culinary time capsule. I have loose leaf binders for entrees, desserts, etc. that the photocopied recipes go into. Takes up way less space and is more organized. That way I have a whole book of different recipes that are just salads, or just appetizers. Makes it easy to find something I might want to make instead of looking through 10 different books. Probably some of you would do this electronically, but I am old school! My problem is I have emotional attachments to quite a few of the books - military assignments, neighborhood fundraisers, books from my mom and MIL, gifts from others. Because people know I like to cook they tend to give me cookbooks - I have received three new ones over the last two Christmas holidays - does that happen to you all?

I have 800+ cookbooks that I moved from WI to WA and let me tell you...I still can't part with many of them. I'm working on it.

We had leftover rockfish and bok choy last night; I added brown rice. Tonight, I used the brown rice to make an egg-fried rice of sorts.

The asparagus looked decent so I used that, some napa cabbage and new-to-me, Lion's Mane mushrooms. Easy, quick and delish. Leftovers tomorrow. I may add some onion and dried shiitake to flesh it out.

Happy belated b-day Illimae!

Auntie, glad you are feeling better and home, enjoying home cooked meals.

Minus, 20 free bottles is still great. YUM on the Baily's and I agree, chard. for cooking.

Sandy...drool on your meals. I've never considered cacio e pepe with cauli...next time!

Lacey, I love the eggplant and it may convince DH to eat it. He's not a big eggplant guy; I usually make it asian or babba ganoush.

Such great ideas here.

p.s. I caved and shared a bag of potato chips with DH. Glad it is the only one in the house.

Eric - have you decided where you first (interim) move will be? Sounds like you're getting close.

Dinner was a riff on three different shrimp & pasta dishes - one from Jazzy on BCO. Sauteed shrimp w/onion & garlic in butter & EVOO w/a bit of chardonnay. At this point it called to add pasta, broth & milk and simmer until the pasta was cooked. I was doing my first trial of leftover gemeli pasta from the freezer, so it basically just needed to be simmered to heat. Then I tossed in some spinach & let it wilt. It missed the thickening aspect with the pasta being 'pre-cooked' so it was a bit soupy, but a good flavor.

Carole - I think you were the one who said we could freeze pasta. Thanks, It was as good as new.

I guess I missed that Illimae. Happy Birthday.

A friend owns a vacant lot, with full hookups, within an RV park in Congress, AZ, and they've said we could live in our truck camper there while we're looking for a new place.

Warm-ish yesterday & today. Heavy rain starting around 6pm. Gonna freeze way up north but not here. Our Snowmageddon will be Thurs. into Fri.

Last night was smoked shrimp remoulade over mesclun, and reheated cauli. cacio e pepe with a half-portion of Bionature whole wheat spaghetti (which pasta is definitely not "carb-worthy" IMHO--like all whole-wheat it goes from raw to mush with no al dente in between).

Lunch (after 2pm) today was avocado toast (homemade guac) with an olive-oil-fried egg. Tonight will be the rest of the cauli. cacio (no pasta), the leftover broth from the zuppa di pesce, and about half the leftover seafood. (Will put the other half on Bob's fettucine for him to snack on late tonight). For veg, probably will steam asparagus with lemon & garlic, dressed with EVOO.

Minus - so glad your treatments are working!

I’ve been a collector of cookbooks over the years. And yes, people still give them to me too. I had the Southern Living collection too. When we moved I got rid of a great many but I still have more than I need (including a couple of those Southern living books). Most of the recipes I use are printed out and stored in a rather large basket. No organization there - except I do have separate folders for holiday recipes, baking and pressure cooking/sous vide. I use Pinterest boards for most of my organization.

Tonight was the drunken noodles with Italian sausage. The noodles were pappardelle. Pretty good stuff

Glad your LEPT is helping, MinusTwo. Happy Birthday illimae. I haven’t had carne asada burritos and margaritas in ages. I should put that on my list. Nance, I have never had drunken noodles, so I’ll be googling that. ChiSandy, the cauliflower cacio e pepe sounds interesting. What does shiratake taste like

Tonight I made pork chops with a roasted red pepper mojo (Milk Street recipe) with roasted potatoes and plain peas. The red pepper sauce was something new for me, and DH and I both liked it. I made a half recipe, but we still have lots of leftover sauce. Any ideas on how to use that? Maybe put it in quinoa?

Tomorrow will be leftover Shepherd”s Pie from Sunday (no lamb, just ground beef) and a salad. I like the HelloFresh recipe that only has onions, celery and carrots with the meat. At boarding school, they made it with canned corn and I was not a fan of that version.