So...whats for dinner?

My physical medicine doctor recommended intermittent fasting as well. I’ve also been doing the 12-13 hours and getting nowhere in the last few weeks. Wallycat, you’ve inspired me to try again.

Tonight was leftover rice and burrito filling. I made tostadas instead of burritos so it wasn’t a complete repeat of last night.

I’ve been doing spring cleaning in the evenings. One room a night is all I can manage. I’m doing walls, ceilings, windows….the works. This is the first time I’ve had the motivation to do deep cleaning since I was diagnosed. (I had some help during treatment so the house wasn’t a complete disaster.). It feels like life might be almost normal again. What a blessing! I’m going to cherish this time as much as I can.

Last night's dinner was pork piccata with quinoa instead of the usual brown rice. And a large tossed salad.

I cannot do fasting. I'm borderline diabetic and feel like I am going to pass out when I get really empty.

Carole, I am prediabetic and I have had reactive hypoglycemia since my 20s. If I do not eat anything, my blood sugar will not react. Once I start eating, all hell breaks loose. If I push breakfast out, my body seems to be OK with that. After breakfast, if I don't eat regularly, I can literally get shaky and sweaty from the reactive hypoglycemia. A real pain when I am out on a walk. I always, ALWAYS carry food with me.

Last of the open-enchilada and I'll flesh it out with a side of slaw.

Our oncologist told DH to use iodine ointment or an iodine footbath...that is what her DH uses for his toenail fungus. Generic listerine is the same ingredient list. I'll mention this to DH..looks less messy. I still prefer the vicks. Easy and zingy.

At Regalia tonight, we split: grilled octopus with caponata & arugula; tuna tartare with jalapeño; house Mediterranean salad; and a trio of tournedos (tenderloin filets) with truffled balsamic glaze, over sauteed spinach & grilled eggplant. Could have had blueberry mousse for dessert, but Bob wanted to spend his calories on brandy (Christian Bros., which I consider worthy of only setting on fire) to hang with our favorite bartender (who used to work at Cellars, Pumping Co--which burned down--and Hugo's/Gibson's downtown) who recently moved to Regalia. When we got home, I had a Delta-8 peanut butter dark chocolate truffle (no sugar, just monkfruit) from the health food store. Will let you know tomorrow how it affected me.

The Delta-8 truffle gave me major munchies until nearly 3am, so never again. You know the munchies are major when you find yourself eating plain shmura matzo (the "bread of affliction" for which you pay through the nose to be afflicted) and savoring it...nibbling one "row" (between perforations) at a time. At least I ate mindfully instead of gobbling. Not eating today till at least 1:30, maybe 2. (See below).

Brunch this aft. will be keto lemon ricotta pancakes. I add an egg (separated, white whipped and folded in), a T. of whole milk ricotta, and a squeeze of lemon juice to 1/3 c. mix and 1/4 c. water or unsweetened vanilla almond milk. May grate in some nutmeg before griddling the batter in a large skillet greased with coconut oil. (I use a small ice-cream "disher" to portion the batter). Will sprinkle on Lakanto granulated or powdered monkfruit rather than syrup, which would deflate and cool the pancakes. Maybe a few blueberries too.

Bob is working late, and we didn't bring home leftovers last night (we were hungry and we shared). So I will make soft tacos or burritos out of almond-flour tortillas, leftover guac from yesterday's toast, creme fraiche or Greek yogurt, chopped lettuce & tomato, and Niman Ranch sauceless pulled pork.

Heritage red rice as the bed for a "poached" cod in cream/soy sauce along with wilted baby spinach and mushrooms (just canned buttons--didn't think far enough to use some of my dried beauties). New technique I used, mainly to prevent smell of fish since we are having guests in a few days but also, my cod didn't thaw completely. I set the pieces on a plate and added 2 or 3 TBS of sake over them and let them sit in that for 1/2 hour or so. NO smell. And the fish...like butter...the creamiest, tenderest fish I've ever made at home. I'll have to try this again to see if it was the sake or the cream as a poaching medium.

I had too much going on today to cook before a friend came over at 6pm for a G&T to get away from her husband for a bit. He is NOT recuperating gracefully from his torn meniscus surgery. So late afternoon I downed a bowl of cottage cheese & canned peaches. Then I had a snack as I watched a Mercury play a Mozart string Quartet & a Mozart Clarinet Quintet - radishes, 1/2 an English cucumber & a handful of black olives. I'm so grateful that while the orchestra is performing in person again (this concert was set in the Museum of Fine Arts), they are still live streaming all the concerts. Probably 150 people sitting right on top of each other and only 3 or 4 wearing masks.

Tomorrow I'll make the shrimp fried rice I had to skip today.

Leftovers tonight.

DH's brothers are flying in tomorrow for a few days. I was so excited until I saw the covid rates going up again. They are all getting up there in years and with DH's condition, wanted to see each other..well...in case...so no idea what the meal plans will be for next week.

As an aside, I'm re-doing my labs tomorrow and having some meltdowns. Oh to be brave, like some of you ladies.

Carole, I don't know if there are any Popeye out here; I'll keep my eyes peeled. I think Anthony Bourdain said it was his fav mac and cheese from there.

Sandy, hope no tornado touchdowns or floods. I remember the midwest summer storms.

Eric, best wishes to you and Sharon as you begin a new chapter. I look forward to your sharing some of your future experiences.

I had Popeye's leftovers for lunch yesterday and wasn't hungry for dinner. DH fended for himself and enjoyed pasta leftovers.

Tonight's dinner will be a frozen eggplant lasagna and a tossed salad.

I need to inventory the much-reduced contents of the freezer as May 19 gets very close.

Oh Eric - I hope everything went smoothly. We're all waiting to hear about your new excitement.

And Mae - are you settled in the mountains?

I heated up the rest of the large cold boiled shrimp tonight with pasta & butter. Dessert was an apple. Thanks for the tip that leftover pasta freezes beautifully. Can't remember if that gem was from Carole or Special K. I'm still looking forward to Naan pizza. I actually took the Raos out of the freezer a couple of days ago, but I still have to finish the leftover shrimp fried rice tomorrow.

Avocados on sale today for $0.67. Of course they're very small specimens. What really blew my mind was greeting cards. Trying to find Mother's Day cards for my nieces and there was not one under $6.99. WOW.

Meeting a friend for lunch Thursday that I haven't seen in a year. Her choice was P.F. Changs. They're OK, but last time I went I thought the quality had gone down hill. In any case, it will be great to see my friend.

And to round out this rambling missive - I HATE the new hearing aids. Hard to get in. Fall out easily. Impossible with a mask & not great with glasses. The fit has already been 'tweaked' once and I go again next week - and that's before we even talk about sound or volume. URGH. I would like to just flush them down the toilet.

Now, back to the balsamico. I always keep a bottle of the supermarket stuff (Lucini is better than the Pompeiian or Alessi "industriale" fake balsamic dreck, the "balsamic glaze" is thick because it's mostly a tart sugar syrup, and the IGP stuff is okay if I didn't have the DOP) for cooking & grilling, but I like to dole out the occasional droplets of real DOP tradizionale balsamico on a Caprese, strawberries, Gorgonzola or a few chunks of Parm-Regg. IGP is aged only up to a few years and can have up to 6% acidity--and it's made in Modena. DOP tradizionale is made only in Emilia-Romagna (inverted tulip-shaped bottle) and Modena (round bottle with a square or rectangular base). Both types of DOP are sold in bottles no bigger than 3 oz. The Emilia-Romagna stuff is aged 12 yrs (orange label), 16 yrs (silver) or 25 (gold); the DOP from Modena is either 12 yrs old (vecchio) or 25 (extravecchio, gold cap). Bob said it was okay after 3 yrs. to get a new bottle, so this time I went with the Modena version, 25 yrs old. (If I'm gonna spend and dole it out like caviar or fresh truffles, I get the best I can afford--and unlike caviar or truffles, it keeps for years if you store it away from heat & light).

One thing about my soon-to-be-empty Emilia-Romagna bottle has always puzzled me. The similar 12-yr-old bottle I had before that (for >25 years), was so thick it was basically crystallized sludge. I didn't know about heating the bottle in hot water, so like an idiot I diluted the sludge instead. When I got the Acetaia Dodi bottle in Jan. 2019, it came with not only a glass-topped pouring cork with a tiny cork plug, but a strange glass bulb-shaped thing that fit over the top but didn't seal--it just sat there loosely, in danger of falling off & shattering in case I were to carelessly nudge it. Its capacity is scarcely bigger than a tablespoon, but I had no idea what it's for--never saw another before or since. My new Modena bottle came with the same pouring-cork and tiny plug, but not the glass bulb.

I went deep into the Internet rabbit hole looking for answers but came up dry. I deduced that maybe it's s "tasting" glass--it is slightly pointy on top so you can't set it down until you've knocked back what you poured into it. A couple of Italian sites featured ceramic tasting spoons (like for caviar, metal other than vermeil is a no-no); it's called "balsamico" because it was traditionally sipped as a health tonic. So maybe I'll try tasting it that way--though to me it's too costly to try to sip straight. One thing I won't do is cook with it--you should never heat tradizionale balsamico lest you ruin the unique taste.

Why is it "tradizionale?" Well, the way it's made (from unfermented cooked grape must) is akin to a sherry or Madeira solera system: decanted over the years into ever-smaller barrels of different woods, the set of which is called a "batteria" which used to be part of a 19th century N. Italian bride's dowry. (The stuff was not produced for commercial sale till the 20th century). Every year the largest barrel gets topped up with that year's batch, and so on down the line. There's a lot of evaporation through the wood's pores, called the "angel's share" (much like when aging Cognac or Scotch), so the contents get thicker as they age. It must have less than 3% acidity to be sold as a tradizionale DOP A 25-yr extravecchio requires a much larger batteria than does a 12-yr old; there's an intermediate product from Modena called "saba" which is usually aged up to 10 years but is understandably less viscous. The cheaper but still decent-quality IGP-designation gets aged but not progressively decanted. The supermarket stuff can be diluted with red wine vinegar; and the cheapest "industriale" stuff is essentially sweetened red wine vinegar.

We signed the paperwork yesterday.Technically the house is ours until the sales deed is recorded, but we left as soon as the real estate agent checked to make sure we had not accidentally left anything.

We spent last night at Fools Hollow State Park (near Showlow, AZ) and we will be at the park until Thursday morning.

Dinner was ham and cheese sandwiches.

Wally - I bought some black rice a couple of weeks ago but haven't cooked it yet. Thanks for reminding me.

specialk, sorry to hear of your dental/bone issues. I hope you don’t have too much pain.

Last night was baked salmon, roasted cauliflower, asparagus, and scallion mashed potatoes. Tonight will likely be leftovers with tilapia instead of salmon. I have a lot of leftover roasted cauliflower that I’ll probably modify with some crumbled feta and parsley. Last night I parboiled the entire head and then basted the head with a Dijon, honey, garlic and olive oil dressing before roasting. The recipe called for balsamic vinegar but I forgot to add it since my cooking was derailed by a tornado watch that ended up just being a thunderstorm. Another option for the leftover cauliflower might be to purée it into a soup. We’ll see what strikes my fancy come dinner time