November, 2021 ~ Holiday Planning has Begun!

I’ve been playing around with recipes for my small Christmas party. I decided to do simple French since it’s going to be very small and I didn’t want to do the full menu originally planned for 25 people. So I want to do coq au vin as our main dish and I wanted to play around with it. It came out good….but I need to do a few things differently for the party. Thankfully I have made the other stuff I’m serving so I don’t have to mess around too much.

Channeling Julia!

Looks good enough to eat!

Last time I made it I ended up with a much darker, almost 'purple' chicken. Could have been the wine I used ~ I'm not much of an expert when it comes to picking the right one. It was tasty but the color was a bit off-putting. LOL

From Lore:


"Dinner Tonight. I thought son had put his boat into winter storage. Not so, fresh Lake Erie perch tonight and a bean salad. Beans were garbanzo and red kidney that I boiled. The light coloured ones are lupine beans out of a jar. They were supposed to be ready to eat, but it’s good that I still have good teeth. Salad was beans, red pepper, onion, parsley and mint salt/pepper/oil/lemon juice. Lupine beans were so-so, fish delish."

Sorry I'm making you envious of the Lake Erie Perch. I'm pretty sure there won't be many more this year. Apparently there are so many perch in that lake, there's no limit on the number they can catch.

We had an early birthday dinner for D, his birthday is tomorrow, I cooked some Rib-eye steak, I used reversed method, seasoned with salt and black pepper, baked in the oven for 30 minutes (275'F), then seared in a very hot oil/butter, one minute for each side to get the beautiful crust, the steak was perfect and so tasty, from now on I'm going to cook this way. I made some fried rice noodles ( vermicelli ) with green beans/carrot and shrimps, cooked some asparagus in the microwave and I made some grape salad ( read about grape salad Beth made numerous times), I added bellpepper, tomato, onion, chopped spinach and canned corns with mayo/sour cream/honey/lemon dressing, it was so good. For the birthday cake, I baked some Bundtinis ( copycat of Nothing Bundt cake ).








The last picture was from Nothing Bundt Cakes page

From Lore:


"Dinner Tonight. Stir fry of noon, garlic, red pepper, pea pods, shrimp and scallops. Served with a bit of cream on angel hair pasta. I prefer an egg noodle but didn’t have any Pasta was fine though!"

I have some ground beef and pork defrosting, hopefully to make some cabbage rolls....................... But, I got distracted with my plants. I have a lot of plants, and have been basically ignoring them except for a little water occasionally. Some are looking really sad, so I am repotting, cutting off dead stuff etc. My get up and go for cabbage rolls, I think is on its way almost out the door. I think there's something leftover calling my name from my freezer. LOL

Shrugged shoulders for todays meal.????

Supper was a success! One of us (NOT me....) had seconds. He said it was like a 'holiday' meal! I do think the beans were extremely tasty ~ what is it about crunchy panko that makes any vegetable seem special? The excess crumbs (and, yes, I did probably add more than suggested) were pushed on top of the second half of my cabbage and really made that 'special', too.

Sunday, was naked cheese burgers, french fries, and fresh steamed cauliflower.
It was good, but would be better with a bun; for me that is. Just trying to cut down on the carbs.

From Lore:

"Dinner Tonight. I will never make cabbage rolls again! Had a head of cabbage in the fridge, so I thought that cabbage rolls are popular. I will make some. Lol. Did them according to a recipe on the net. Stuffing was actually quite good, but I don’t like the cabbage enough to ever do them again. Made a lovely sweet potato to go with the cabbage rolls and started to eat before I took the picture. Sorry!"

Tonight, it was pork steaks braised with onions and potatoes. Spinach
wilted, and it all hit the spot.

bethk wrote:Hey, Cyn!


         HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!    


(Our Revere Beach Friend is celebrating today!

Thanks Beth... Yes, I am still here... been very busy.. now I am kind of free...

I mean busy... fighting the city, for the residents in my building... we won.... somehow got into the political mess ---election year...

Becoming kind of an activist in here.. not me, but I did it because it was wrong.
Now, I joined the Food Committee in here! Not so impressed.
Some people want me to run for Tenants Association office... bit for me....

Having my own issue with a bully in here. Yikes--it never ends..


Not cooking much.. but I read...

When i do cook, it is the easy way out...

Sunday, I had a package of chicken thighs which had to be used. I did an easy chicken part. Just grabbed some of Lydia's Jar Sauce---so good, poured over the chicken... added some grated some Parm cheese---and grated my thumb also... yuck..

Stuck it in the oven... It came out really good.. I have one thigh left.. may freeze it....

Yes, on the beach. It has been very cold around here. Today is nice and warm--in the low 60's... I had to scrape frost off my car, Sunday morning.

Had the painter come in last week to scrap, paint the windowsill, and the window frame, and radiators.
So many paint chips, then the dust from the sanding!

I did my fall cleaning, including moving furniture; in 2 days... walls included... really exhausted, back aching quite a bit..

Supposed to go out for lunch with my cousin, today... not sure about it.. have to check it out---there was a downed transformer near their house---truck accident..

If not, I think I may go out for supper.

I am on a diet... I have to lose weight.. a lot.. I got hypnotized for it... not sure if it is helping..

Yes, I have been busy... also computer issues.. so.... and car issues... but that is life...

Thank you for the B-day wishes.....

love to all....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CYN!