MAY 2017...Whats cooking for dinner ?

Your family love your pizzas, Jimmy. Been a while since you've made a batch! Tell Tina "Happy Mother's Day" from me......

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As I mentioned, we were invited to Don Shula's Restaurant at The Dolphin Resort at Disney tonight. Dane and I have never been there (and if you saw the $$ you'd understand why....) But it was absolutely wonderful!

I had the 22 oz. Rib Eye.....



We all shared the 'sides' - Baked potato w/toppings, grilled asparagus, roasted corn and creamed spinach. Bill & Dane both ordered the filet mignon and had a side of bernaise sauce, which he doesn't care for, so I got that to go with my steak. OMG ~ the entire meal was delicious. I ended up taking more than half my steak and the rest of the sauce home to reheat tomorrow.



For dessert Bill (Lyn's husband) had an apple cobbler and Lyn, Dane & I all had this......a Chocolate Martini !

Beth wrote:Yes, Debbie, it was an absolutely beautiful kitchen. I did get one pic that's not all that great....shows a slab of granite with some people standing around the other island and the gorgeous Wolf range. You can't really tell how large both islands were....they were identical. I think the ladies were cleaning up after putting away all the leftovers from the buffet meal they had set out.

Everything about this kitchen was 'top shelf' and done with wonderful taste, although I would think the corners of the islands would look better 'rounded off' instead of with the decorative carving (probably done a few years ago when that edge design was really in vogue).

Yeah, you're absolutely right about those island corners, Beth. You've got to be careful when straying from normal clean lines when designing as stuff like that has a tendency to look very dated in a couple of years. It would be an easy fix, though, since that edge design is outward, don't you think? The only thing disappointing I noticed was the room sure didn't seem to have a lot of natural light -- were windows lacking, or perhaps there was a huge awning or something off the kitchen which though wonderful while sitting outside, blocks natural light from a home. I love tons of windows (and we're lucky to have 'em, too) but especially in a kitchen, as it just livens up the space so much and you spend a lot of time there, too, so it's so important to me.

Loved your story about your travels with Lyn and really enjoyed not only your descriptions but the pics, too -- that French Quarter Tavern looked adorable, as did the food! You're too right about men wanting to set speed records in the car and the hurry up stuff that happens, even though I was always able to travel mind boggling distances without the need for a restroom.

Your stories about your trip with Lyn reminded me so much of my road trips with my friend Linda (in August, we'll have been friends for 45 years; I've known Linda and my friend Mary, who's not friendly with Linda but was the one who introduced me to her, both that long -- longer than I've known Brian!). I wrote a very long email to you guys about some of the hilarious adventures Linda and I have been on, including food references, and just now lost the message. Grrrrr! I really should go into Word when I find myself typing a long message, as when they get really long, I invariably hit something and off they go into computer oblivion.

Anyway, thanks so much for your recounting! There was a "blip" of some sort with cable today (the power didn't blink but the cable on the two TVs we were watching did) and of the four TVs in the house, one refused to get a picture afterwards and, of course, that's the one in our master bedroom! Miss Can't Sleep Through the Night and her dear close friend Miss My Back is Literally Killing Me reside in that bedroom -- my sad sack self uses that TV to not only amuse myself but also to distract myself from times when my pain becomes overwhelming and the opiods don't work for some reason -- you can't take another one so you just have to live with the pain until at least six hours pass and hope the next one will pick up the slack. The longer you go without taking a pain pill is best, of course, as the relief they give you then feels much much better. Though I've resigned myself to doctors telling me I will be on such medication for the rest of my life, the opiods for which I'm extremely grateful still scare the bejesus out of me!

Luckily, I'd just purchased two novels and zoomed through the second half of one this evening -- a good book for me, as I laughed a lot and then ended up crying of course. A good story without a pat ending. Just about to start a detective thriller written by a Brit who's a former cop and journalist, Paul Finch; the book is "Strangers" Are any of you big readers? Though I've gotten away from it in the last couple of years, I've always been lost without a book. Love having one in my purse when sitting in a doctor's waiting room, as I become very impatient but an hour passes very quickly if I'm engrossed in a book. Non-fiction is what I primarily read and enjoy -- I love a good storyteller!

But your lengthy email was just the medicine I needed (a "tonic" as the really old ladies would say). And though I lost my huge message to all of you, I had a lot of fun remembering those times with my friend and was certainly distracted from tonight's really intense pain. Tomorrow a friend is coming to do plumbing work on our non-functioning toilet in the master (first, it was running from the little holes INSIDE the toilet bowl, which my cleaning lady noticed; then it stopped filling at all, well, you can get a small flush from it about once an hour if you hold the handle down to flush it. So we've been flushing it for a couple of days with a large container of water.) Vincent, our friend who apprenticed as a plumber years ago, and the cable repairman can entertain one another, as they'll be here at the same time. Hope all will be functioning properly tomorrow evening.

In a final mention of food, we had eggplant smothered with ground beef and onions, garlic, celery, and diced poblano peppers; turned out really good and I beefed up the flavor with some concentrated beef au jus and some red wine; used dried thyme, fresh thyme and some red pepper flakes, too. Brian chopped everything for me, peeled the eggplant and made the rice we served it over -- so he made it easy peasy for me. We hadn't had eggplant for a while and we really enjoyed it; it will be even better tomorrow. I'll make a nice salad too as we have some very ripe homegrown tomatoes (we've been enjoying cherry tomatoes for well over a month but just picked our first larger tomatoes ruby red off the vine), cucumbers I bought at the farmer's market, a big beautiful head of variegated leaf lettuce, and some nice spicy radishes. I'm going to throw in some capers and make a creamy type vinaigrette dressing for a change.

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:I made some pizza for Son Jimmy's birthday that was the 10th. Also, for Mothers day.I will show some pics after I process them.

Jimmy, your pizzas looked so good I decided to replay them for us! Love that one piece somebody snacked on already -- would that be the photographer perhaps?!

Beth, your dinner at Shula's looked delicious. Love béarnaise sauce and though Brian's not an egg man except for fried, scrambled and omelets, he loves tarragon so I think he'd like béarnaise too. I recently got him to taste hollandaise sauce and he admitted he liked it so others such as béarnaise are only just an herb away.

Was Shula's a pretty place, Beth, or clubby looking or what? How sweet of them to take you but you really, really did a lot for Lynn and him during that episode so you deserved it! But it's so sweet to have a friend who acknowledges all the kind things you do for her, too.

Michelle, Shula's was lovely ~ it would be crowded if all the table were filled but we had reservations at 4:30 (old people, don't you know???) on Mother's Day.  The tables were all fully set on white linens and black napkins.  They have a long menu and when you are taken to your table they leave a football on a stand that has the cuts of steak printed on it....part of the 'show', I'm sure. I could have used a little more light to read the menu but Lyn just got out her phone to use as a flashlight so we could read the menu. The waiter thought a pair of 'cheaters' might help so he brought a spare pair to offer as assistance. But it was mainly the lack of light and old people's eyes......

The wait staff was wonderful ~ two waiters for each table as far as I could tell.  Ours brought a cart with all the cuts of beef examples (wrapped in plastic & on ice) to the table to show what the cuts were.  I was kind of hoping they would reassemble the pieces so it looked like a real side of beef but that didn't happen.

The 22 oz. rib eye was FABULOUS!  It was cooked exactly as ordered and very lightly seasoned so the taste of the beef was what you got.  I'll probably have the leftovers today.

After dinner they brought Lyn and I each a long stemmed red rose in honor of Mother's Day.

Of course, they had no idea how difficult the day is for Lyn since losing both her children.  But I keep reminding her that once a mother, always a mother.  She's mothered more than the ones she gave birth to and those women still send her love every day of the year.

Thanks for the offer, Imelda, but I think this jar will end up being my years supply....or more! Dane doesn't care for anything like that sprinkled on his food so it's all for just me.

You had me guessing about the calamansi....I had to google it. Found it's a citrus / kumquat type fruit. From the pic I was guessing a lemon curd like filling. Looks good!

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Dane knew I had another avocado in the refrigerator and was sure Mexican was in the meal plan for tonight.....so he had his mouth all ready and was looking forward to it.

SURPRISE!!! I fooled him and made halusky instead ~ fried noodles, smoked beef sausage, cabbage, carrots & onions. It's what I was hungry for! (maybe he'll decide to start doing some of the cooking if I don't make all his favorites)

Our dinner was Vietnamese chicken wings.

Every time I look at your dinner pics, Norm, I want to eat at YOUR house! YUM!

Dane left early this morning for Ohio. I just got a text from him that he had arrived safely and was going to fix himself a drink before getting something to eat and go to bed.

I've been changing sheets, bleaching some pillow covers & wash cloths and generally staying busy all day.

For the next few days I'll be cleaning up the leftovers before I fly to Ohio on Friday. I don't want to come home to a refrigerator full of really old leftovers.

Thanks Beth, for your comments. I posted something to you right after you said it but I must have not sent it like I thought.

Beth, your dinner looked delicious even if it wasn't Mexican!

BTW, you never responded to my question about garlic.  Do you just not use fresh garlic or do you guys just not like it at all and avoid garlic powder, too?  All these years and I never knew that!

Norm, like Beth said, your meals always look soooo good.  I noticed that jar of kimchi on the table, too, as I love kimchi.  I just don't like dealing with people who eat tons of it, as you can truly smell an odor about them.  It's not the odor of kimchi either but something much less pleasant!  It's particularly noticeable to me in the morning, too, and makes me wonder if some people eat it for breakfast say with eggs or something...

Imelda, I laughed out loud when I scrolled down after reading you made a Frosted Meatloaf as it did indeed look like icing at first glance.  Cut open it really looked tasty!

Jimmy, I can no longer stifle a laugh when you mention butter in any capacity in your messages.  No lie -- I get a big grin on my face and then I picture that piece of toast and I start giggling!  

I have a question for all of you.  Do any of you eat leftovers regularly?  Brian and I love leftovers but some of you seem to make just enough for one meal.  Or you doctor up the leftovers to make another dish out of them.  We do this occasionally if the situation warrants, say a pot roast or something like that.  But for the most part, we don't mind eating the same meal for two or even three days to use up what we cooked, as we both really like leftovers.  I'm just really curious about that so I hope you each will speak up!    

Michelle, re: garlic, years ago when we were newly married (well, in the first 6 years or so) Dane had an ulcer and I had to cut everything out of his diet that irritated it:  garlic, onion, salt, pepper(s), etc. He was on a bland diet for about a year ~ the most boring year of cooking as you can imagine.  After a while I was able to reintroduce spices and he let me know if he could tolerate them or not.  The only thing that bothered his stomach was the garlic.  He could eat hot, spicy peppers without a problem but the garlic was a real irritant.  

My dad loved to cook and would regularly pick our girls up from Nursery School when they were 3 & 4 and have them stay for lunch (he worked a 4-midnight shift at General Mills so he was home in the mornings).  There were days when I picked the girls up after having lunch with Grandpa and I could tell immediately he had fed them his garlic laden meals.  DD#1 would be reeking with the smell of garlic ~ it came from every pore in her body.  DD#2, who ate the same meal, wouldn't have a problem.  Poor Andrea.....even after a long bubble bath, would still stink.  You can imagine how upsetting it was to have a little girl, cute as she could be, all dressed up in her little pinafore dress.....and whenever she got within two feet of people they would say, "Phew!  You stink!".  Well, maybe they didn't say it out loud, but actions speak louder than words....LOL  But, truly, she 'Stunk like a Skunk'.

So, with two out of four unable to eat garlic, I just stopped using it in my cooking.  And, truth be told, it sometimes bothers my stomach if it's too strong.  We went to Tarpon Springs a few years ago and had some humus at a Greek Restaurant ~ I thought I was going to keel over from the pain.  But I think that garlic was just too much and raw ~ which is much harder to digest than when it is cooked.

But, even to this day, if Dane smells garlic cooking in the house ~ and there is a strong odor until it's cooked down ~ he swears it bothers him.  However, if he goes out to a restaurant and has, say, his favorite appetizer ~ escargot ~ which is nothing but snails, GARLIC and butter....well, he's just fine.  Last Christmas he went on and on about how good the kielbasa rounds were that we had at Lyn's ~ sausage with lots of GARLIC.  So, I'm thinking now it's just in his head but if he 'thinks' it bothers him there's no use in me using it if he won't eat what I cook.

When a recipe is really dependent on the taste I will use dried garlic powder, but I'm not a big fan of the flavor.

By the way, DD#1 (Andrea), is 43 years old and still 'reeks' when she eats a lot of garlic.  But she loves it and figures if she's going to stay home she can eat what she likes!  LOL

I try to eat leftovers but Charlie seldom does. I usually end up tossing left overs out.

I am up early making fried tacos for another day. While I was working I had to keep washing my measuring spoons and I was wondering: how many sets of measuring spoons and cups do you have and need? I was wondering if I should buy more.

I have three sets of measuring spoons, 1- 4 cup measuring cup, 2 -2cups and 1-1 cup.  I have an 8 cup measuring cup but I usually only use it for when I am raising bread dough because I can easily see when it has doubled and it has a tight fitting lid.

PS I usually use one set of measuring spoons for dry ingredients and one for wet. That way I don't have to dry one set all the time while I am in the middle of a recipe. The third set is back up.

I really cut back when we moved here and I 'down sized'. I have one set of measuring spoons, a 1-cup and a 2-cup measuring cup for liquids and one set of old Tupperware dry measuring cups. Now that I'm the only one in my kitchen I can find everything because I always put it back in the same place. I think before, when I had my girls messing around in my kitchen, things would get misplaced and that's why I had more 'stuff'.

The last thing I'd do is buy more. It just clutters up the drawers & cabinets. Just my opinion.

Leftovers....I try really hard to cook just what the two of us will eat. I have more problems with something like a stir fry and the other night's haluski....I always have leftovers of that stuff. Sometimes I repurpose and try to use the leftover stir fried veg in an omelet and the rice is easy to use for something else. The haluski, with the cooked cabbage, will wait until the next trash day to be tossed. Dane always says he'll eat the leftovers but unless I'm the one doing the eating the container just gets pushed to the back of the refrigerator until it's watery and icky looking.

There are some things I do try to have leftovers of. Pot roast for hot roast beef sandwiches. Meatloaf for cold meatloaf sandwiches.

I am trying to pare down my kitchen so if anything happens to me, Joe won't get stuck with all my crap. I think though, I will buy another set of measuring spoons. It always seems that one or more are in the dishwasher just when I need them.

I watched a feel good movie last night: A Street Cat Named Bob. A little bit hard to understand even though they were speaking English. Those Brits can have some really thick accents. If Joe would let me i would turn on the closed captioning.