February 2018; What's for Breakfast? / Lunch ? / Brunch?

Tina picked up a Challah bread today.
Tomorrow, Eggs and toasted Challah bread with butter!

Ohhhh, my FAVORITE bread for everything.

Is there anything more decadent than toasted Challah slathered with butter?

LOL

I used the left over chicken to make a nice chicken salad for my lunch......a blast from my past!

Greek yogurt and fruit salad for me this morning.  I have to get back into a better eating routine to get rid of those 8 pounds which have found me after my loss last year.  Planning a trip to California after I'm done jury duty, and some of my clothes are feeling a little tighter again.

I admire your resolve, Lore. I've all but given up. The only way I'll lose the 40 pounds I want to is if I find a surgeon willing to take my left leg off at the hip......((sigh))

Even my doc disagrees with me, says ''Studies find that 'older women' are healthier with a few extra pounds". I could deal with a few ~ but I'm past feeling comfortable. That should be enough for me to drop weight. When I was younger it was no problem. Now I just pray the scales are malfunctioning.....

It's my Brazilian neighbor, Ana's, birthday so another neighbor and I took her out to lunch at her favorite restaurant.....a sort of Japanese Steak House, the one where you can be with a group and sit around a big grill and the chef cooks in front of you.

But instead of sitting at the grill table, we sat in a smaller booth and didn't have to watch the guy cook our meal like a dozen other times.....we got to sit and chat. Isn't that what old women do so well?

The food is always fresh and it comes with a crisp (small) salad, a bowl of clear soup broth and an entree with meat, veg & fried rice. I had steak and Ana and Jeanie had shrimp. Everyone was happy with their meal and we used our iced teas to toast Ana!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Tina picked up a Challah bread today.
Tomorrow, Eggs and toasted Challah bread with butter!

I adore Challah, Jimmy! When I see it at the grocery (they make some occasionally only), I usually buy a good bit. It makes super bread pudding, too, so I never worry about getting too much.

Crybaby wrote:

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Tina picked up a Challah bread today.
Tomorrow, Eggs and toasted Challah bread with butter!

I adore Challah, Jimmy!  When I see it at the grocery (they make some occasionally only), I usually buy a good bit. It makes super bread pudding, too, so I never worry about getting too much.

Yeah! I like it too. The one she bought, finally went to the feeding pit for the birds. It was about 4 inches long, but it was sticky. Sticky from the egg wash and sugar, and if I had some feathers, I could turn it into a chicken!

BTW... relieved to see you here; posting! T and I were worried.

Reading about Challah bread reminds me that I used to buy cheese bread for my B&B guests.  I haven't had that since we stopped having those guests.  Toasted cheese bread, some avocado and/or sliced tomato.............. food for the Gods!

Niagara Visitor wrote:Reading about Challah bread reminds me that I used to buy cheese bread for my B&B guests.  I haven't had that since we stopped having those guests.  Toasted cheese bread, some avocado and/or sliced tomato.............. food for the Gods!

Cheese bread surely sounds good!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:BTW... relieved to see you here; posting! T and I were worried.

You and Tina are really the sweetest people to worry about me, Jimmy. Yeah, both Brian and I have been having a lot of pain recently, and poor Brian is just about to finish up his third week of his third bout with radiation, so it's always a bit tougher for us when we're both having a lot of pain at the same time. But we're coming out of it, and at least I'm feeling a lot better lately. I think I told you that another vertebra in my back cracked, I think that's number 9, and that always sets me back completely for two or three days and then the really intolerable pain subsides and I'm back to my normal level of pain. It's kind of amazing really what kind of pain you can get used to. It's not easy by any means, but I do get used to enduring it eventually.

Last night I went back and tried to read all the messages I'd missed in an effort to catch up with all you guys have been cooking and talking about. I made mental notes (and a couple of jots down, too) as a lot of it was in January's threads which, of course, have been closed. I wanted to comment on lots of what you were talking about, as you know what a talker/typer I am. I had to laugh as I realized without me here gabbing, most of you remain on topic, something I'm not too good at, which I'm again proving RIGHT NOW!!

The first thing I just HAVE to say is how freaking beautiful Tina is looking! I stared at that photo you posted of her for a good while just smiling at how good and how happy she looked, and had to agree with Beth's comments I read later on about how Tina actually appears to be aging backwards! Please tell her how flattering her new hairstyle is -- she looks absolutely amazing. And I'm not being nice just 'cause she said that photo of me looked like I was 52 either (I'm never going to forget that day as you guys made me feel like a million, even with Beth hysterically pointing out that "the eyes are the first thing to go" -- fun and funny all at the same time)!!

And the photo of Liam and the flip phone was adorable as well. It's so neat to hear he's not a destroyer of things -- truly amazing at the age he's at. He's headed into what everyone calls the terrible twos, but my favorite age to deal with kids is when they're 2-1/2 to 3. They're just starting to talk there heads off and I'm always laughing at the things they say and where the heck they come up with them! He is truly an adorable kid and he has truly benefitted from all the people he's been exposed to, as he seems so wonderfully good natured. I predict he's going to be an amazing little boy and probably an endearing man as well.

Again, tell Tina to continue doing whatever she's been doing and how super we think she's looking. Really something considering she's taking care of yet another aging uncle -- she's really a saint and her family is so lucky to have her. I'm so glad that surgery she has had helped her feel better and eat a little more, too. Laughed that she stopped eating that meal you talked about being fatty -- maybe it was fettucine Alfredo? -- it cracked me up but I was so tickled she was able to handle that meal, as it sure sounded good when you recounted it.

Thanks for checking up on me, too, Jimmy. You're a very kind man and we're all really lucky to have your good funny self here all the time, as we'd be lost without you and there'd be a lot less joy in this forum without your input that we all look forward to every day, even days we're not here.

Niagara Visitor wrote:Reading about Challah bread reminds me that I used to buy cheese bread for my B&B guests.  I haven't had that since we stopped having those guests.  Toasted cheese bread, some avocado and/or sliced tomato.............. food for the Gods!

Mmm, that does indeed sound delicious, Lore. The only thing that surprised me was that you bought the bread, as you're always making something delicious yourself. Another bread I never had growing up that I starting enjoying in my 20s was egg bread, which I haven't had in years.

I'd love to get into bread baking now that I have a standing mixer which could do all the heavy kneading for me. I've been thinking a lot about bread recently as Brian's appetite has waned once again. He always seems to feel so exhausted when he's getting radiation, and it's even more exhausting when you're in pain and have to get up early and get to the hospital every morning for weeks with just weekends off (lovely he has a four-day weekend now due to Carnival season and Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday). It's hell getting up and going early but it usually means there's more of a chance he's taken quickly than when he went around noon at the start of this bout of radiation. The delays usually add hours to his waiting and of course when you're in pain (his usual back pain combined with the hip, leg an knee pain which prompted more radiation), the end of the day usually means you're tiring even faster.

At any rate, he's such a bread lover that I've been thinking of making some of the loaves he liked in my bread machine. I'm still one who held onto mine and we still use it occasionally though it's been a while. I have a recipe I got from a cooking echo (prior to the Internet, the forums were called echos) for Orange Cranberry Bread. It's just too easy to assemble the ingredients with your only concern being the order in which you dump them in the bread pan! This bread has a wonderful crumb and it makes fantastic toast, too, another thing he loves. I'm thinking of putting together a batch when I head down in a little while to begin our early dinner, as he says he's up for some downstairs time today so he'll keep me company while I slowly putz around the kitchen. I've also a recipe for egg bread in the machine which you made me think of. I've made cheese and Jalapeno bread in it, too -- you've got me thinking of all the calories I can get in him with bread, Lore. The smell of it cooking will help get him in the mood, too.

He could use the calories as he has lost tons of weight over the last couple of years, some of it good but at 6'4", he can't lose much more. But the man loves his bread and will even eat a big slice of bread (homemade bread is so much bigger) or a slice of store-brought bread alongside a meal (when he will indeed indulge in eating a meal, that is).

I'll bet being a guest at your B&B was a real treat for people, with breakfasts probably being one of their favorite memories of their visits. One day you're going to have to tell us some of your most popular breakfasts or anything else you shared with your guests that they loved. I've loved it whenever you've talked about your business and running it. Brian and I laugh at how many people "dream" of opening a B&B -- they have no clue how much work they're in for, which is what amuses us the most.

Thanks for making me think of bread for Brian -- my new campaign to combat his thinness.

I'm talking so much and so much is off topic that I'm going to try to go to one of the proper areas to yak. I hope you guys really look at all the messages posted here that aren't in the monthly dinner and breakfast threads, as I'm not sure how most people here read the messages here.

I actually log onto this site and then click on "view posts since last visit." The only time this works to ensure I get all the messages is when I stay long enough to read them all or make a note of where I left off before logging off, or else my "last visit" will have changed when I come back. Then I try to go into each area under Home and look for recent dates in the threads of each of those areas. I know there were some posted I missed as there were a lot of new threads there but I had to close my computer shortly after coming back here yesterday to read and answer a private message I received, of which I was advised via email.

Heading down to the kitchen to begin early dinner for the two of us...

Another day without cooking......it was the neighborhood Bowling Tournament that Dane always signs up for. I played the first year we were here, fell and messed up my knee pretty bad and haven't played since.....yes, I am a WIMP! LOL

But tonight we're suppose to go down to a neighbor's for Pizza to find out the scores for the bowling. No one takes it really seriously so it's just a fun time.

By the way.....you can post where ever you want....no rules about subjects ~ glad to see you back!

I tried a meal kit today. Like Blue Apron except instead of it being delivered to your door, a local company and it's delivered to a grocery store and you pick out the one you want to cook from a refrigerated section. It was Jerk Chicken with mango cucumber relish and roasted ranch potatoes. The time they gave for the potatoes was too long and the chicken was too short. They said to cook them in pyrex and I used clear pyrex. Both seasonings burned on the bottoms and I'll use parchment of non stick foil if I do one of these again. Charlie knows a lot more about food from that part of the world and he said it was good but it wasn't Jerk Chicken. I made myself a salad to go with it.

The meal kits remind me of when my friend and I thought we would buy a Dream Dinners Franchise. We got as far as the interview and 'find-out-what-this-is-all-about' in Washington state. It turned out to be a bigger investment than we were prepared to make but I still like the concept of 'bulk break down' meals. The meal kits of today are a more sophisticated version of the Dream Dinners concept.

I had a 'hankerin' for a knockwurst w/sauerkraut and had it for my lunch

The chips have been in the bag in the pantry for a couple weeks, probably should have tossed them last week, but I decided to take a chance and warm them a bit in the toaster oven after I took my knockwurst out. They came out fresh tasty and crisp. Gotta remember to do that more often!

Someone I know who is truly a great cook, has started to order from one of those services.  They travel a lot, are gone for a few days at a time, then back a few days, and they say that ordering still gives you the "made fresh" taste without having to have all the gourmet ingredients on hand.  Apparently it stops waste.

I had a chance today to practice making a nice B&B style breakfast.  And for me to say I had the chance is actually silly, because obviously I can do it often, or whenever I like.  My sis came over and instead of going out, I made brunch.  Grilled grapefruit, oven baked mini potatoes and "canadian" bacon done in the oven, scrambled eggs, tomato slices and copious amounts of coffee.  

I used to make grapefruit in the oven many times, I'd section it after it's cut in half. (Leave it in the peel)  Sprinkle with brown sugar, then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, it's delicious.