July, 2018 ~ Dinnertime in the heat.....

When Charlie was living in Seattle, his complex had a small lake and Canada Geese lived there. I only visited twice and they didn't bother anyone that i know of but you really had to watch where you walked or else there was a mess to clean off your shoes before you went in the house. It was everywhere.

I only made some tartar sauce, no other sides.

I made three different recipes for an early dinner: A Greek marinated chicken and vegetable kabob, Lemon Rice and Strawberry Crisp

Norm, that looks delicious! That's what I WANTED to make. But the forecast was for our daily rain to hit around 3:00 pm. So, I came up with 'Plan B' ~ instead of chicken on the grill I'd make a 'Fat Fix' meal of Chicken Tenders, French Fries, Onion Straws ~ and I tossed in some steamed carrots just for the heck of it.

Of course, here's what the skies look like (and have looked like all afternoon) ~ ~




But I hate taking the chance of getting dumped on as I'm trying to turn stuff on the grill so maybe I'll be able to grill in a couple months.....

Thanks Beth. Your dinner looks great too. It appears that the Assistant Guesser at the Weather Bureau messed up this time.

Yup....I've always said it was a huge mistake not to major in weather-telling (same as 'fortune telling') when I got out of high school.....

Boy, that soup looks de-licious!

If I make tea I use a tiny bit of my simple syrup (I use 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, bring to a boil and allow to cool). It only takes half a teaspoonful to sweeten a glass of tea and it mixes in immediately. I've taken to buying the 'Pure Tea' brand because I use so little. It stays fresh and doesn't turn cloudy in a day or two. Worth the $2 to me.

Never been to a fish fry before. Sounds good and I don't like fish. They have lobster fests out here but they cost $150.00 or more to go. Too rich for my purse.

Poor Joe is still under the weather. That saline I gave him is still in full effect and still feels a little faint and nauseous. I went out and bought him some electrolytes to drink. Hope it helps.

It was strange here yesterday. It was 111 by 11am then we got some cloud cover, thunder and some rain. Instant steam. The temp dropped to 93 and then shot back up to 103.

Still eating junk. baloney sandwiches, chips and salsa last night. Went to the super Walmart for the first time and saw some interesting characters: 4 old geezers with long white beards and hair. They all looked like old miners and should be pulling a pack mule named Diablo ( pronounced Die-ab-low)LOL.

I guess you could call my mother's family hillbillies.  They all grew up in Arkansas and the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. As a kid, I remember going to a few family reunions and church picnics. Having a fish fry was common.  Catfish, perch and other fresh water fish was served along with hush puppies and corn on the cob.

I did not grow up eating any fish than salted herrings. The first fish we were introduced to in Canada were smelts in a local river/creek.  I was hooked on fish right away, but really learned to love them once we could afford to get different ones.  My sons grew up fishing in a creek, and on camping trips. Really, really small fish first, but there was also a large pond in a local conservation area which was stocked with trout.  Danny now has a 21 ft. fishing boat, and Lake Erie perch, bass, pickeral  are just about a 45 minute drive away.  

Yesterday there were only 6 of us. Danny made first french fries in the electric frying pan, then the fish. We had bass and pickeral, no perch.  I made veggies and dip, and a tartar sauce. We sat at the picnic table in their beautiful back yard.  Great family time................. it was better on the farm with their father there also, but life has to go on.  I am very blessed.

NormM wrote:NYT sends me an email once or twice a week with recipes.  They usually block one and tell me that I can have full access if I subscribe (and pay money). When that happens and the blocked recipe is one I think I might want to try, I just google the recipe and find one with the same name at another place.  This one is from Epicurious.  It is peanut noodles with shrimp.

That looks delicious, Norm. I get that same email but I haven't gotten the blocked one yet. Since I finally cleaned out my inbox and deleted the over 4,000 emails I hadn't deleted, I unsubscribed to many emails, the NYT being one of them. They're still coming so I have to do it again.

Niagara Visitor wrote:Thanks, there are definitely some things that I will want to see, but no matter how amazing the WWII museum is, that is definitely not on my agenda.  Remember, I'm German, and I heard all about it from my father.  However, he was a POW of the Americans in Paris, and he was treated very well.......... you 'mericans taught him to drive a truck for the army, eat peanut butter, and smoke cigarettes! LOL

I would not be looking for any particular festival, just want to experience the city and its food.

Well, Lore, it was an equal opportunity post, Lore, as I was bragging about my city to everyone here. Since April is one of our prettiest months, it's always nice for anyone who might come here to know the city is very CROWDED then because of the two festivals. Lots of Europeans come for two solid weeks so they can hit all 7 days of Jazz Fest. Now some even have started coming for FQ Fest and staying through Jazz Fest (most Europeans get more vacation days than Americans). And I'm really proud of the WWII Museum and am thrilled it's in N.O., as it's consistently ranked one of the top 5 U.S. museums to visit and I recently read it's now the top-rated tourist attraction in N.O. As you can imagine, it's quite popular with most European tourists, especially the British and the French.

My grandmother was German, and hence my father and my siblings and I are also part German. My parents lived in Frankfort for a year and a half or more, and my late sister was born there; of course, it was when my father was an American officer serving in Occupied Germany. I have several pieces of Garnet jewelry my mom bought while living there; she bought most of it with American cigarette rations, too, as she didn't smoke.

American cigarette companies dispensed cigarettes free of charge to servicemen and women throughout the pendency of that war and subsequent wars as well (my mom was in the Army Nurse Corps and served in Italy and North Africa, which is where she met my father who was an officer in the Army's Engineer Corps). Many Americans got hooked on cigarettes due to these "freebies." My mom said the Germans she dealt with preferred the American cigarettes to the ones they had access to, so she used to get a lot of things with them.

I love my garnet necklace and bracelet she got there, though the necklace is one I'd only wear with cocktail attire as it's too ornate for daytime use. The ring that went with the set was stolen from the office I was working in when I was a floating legal secretary at a law firm, when I took it off while typing at work one day and set it on top of the desk. I cried so hard as I had to tell my mom I'd lost it. Years later she gave me a beautiful garnet ring she'd found online that she thought would go with the set. I still wear that one regularly. The sad thing was I knew who stole the, as only one person went into that office when I stepped into the adjacent room as I watched him walk in and leave. But I couldn't accuse him because I didn't actually see him take it. A few months later, he was fired for stealing a partner's expensive shotgun. He was a court runner and did errands for the firm during the day when he wasn't busy driving to and from different courts. The partner personally told me he'd mailed it back to the company he'd bought it from to have a brass plate put on it with his initials. Several months passed and the partner forgot about it; when he finally called to see what was taking so long, they informed him it was never received. When that occurred and the administrator followed up on what happened to it, the court runner said he'd taken it inside his house when he got home that evening (it was all packed up for shipping so I guess he saw where it was being shipped), put it in a closet so no child would get to it, and then forgot he had it. Yeah, right. I even went to him when I realized after about 30 minutes the ring was no longer on my desk, and told him I'd lost my ring. I cried and told him how much sentimental value it had to both me and my mom. He offered to come into the office and help me look for it, as I must've just "knocked it off the desk." I quickly agreed as I assumed he would "find" it while helping me look for it. Nope. He just wasted 20 minutes "helping" me look for it. It was one of the few times I was able to keep my mouth shut, as I knew I would probably lose my job if I accused someone of stealing with no proof. It was my own fault -- I should never have taken the ring off, or I should've put it in my purse when I took it off my finger. I think of that ring every time I put on the one my mom replaced it with...

NormM wrote:Once when I moved, I had a really big garage and lots of extra room. I kept all the kitchen stuff in boxes in the garage and just got what I needed, when I needed it and then put it away in the kitchen.  After a year, I put everything else in a garage sale and I still got rid of some stuff I ended up wishing I had kept.

I had so many boxes marked kitchen when we moved here that the movers told me all the remaining boxes were marked kitchen and where did I want them put. The dining room table was already in the dining room (it's one big room with the kitchen) so I quickly put something on top to protect the table and told them to just stack the boxes on top of the table, which they did and put the remainder on the floor next to the table. My mom couldn't believe all the kitchen stuff I had and wondered where I had stored it all in the apartment we moved out of!

I obviously hadn't packed my kitchen stuff in an organized fashion as you had, Norm, as I'd have had to open a zillion boxes to find what I was looking for!

And Debbie, I feel sorry that you and your husband have to lift all those boxes to carry them inside to unpack them! Down here the movers give you a bid beforehand and keep at it regardless of the time, thank goodness! That would've killed us, as we'd have had to hire someone to get the boxes out of the garage into the kitchen for us.

bethk wrote:That looks like something the school cooks made in Ohio....it was called Johnny Marzetti.  I have no idea where that name came from.

But their's was a baked version.

I had a friend when I was young and that's what SHE cooked with the addition of canned button mushrooms (we didn't have those at home and I loved them; back then the groceries didn't even sell fresh mushrooms). Her mom would get all the stuff at the store and we would make it for dinner when I stayed over. She called it the Noo Doo Dish (noodles, get it? We were about 10.)

Jimmy, Tina's soup looked delicious. It's far from cold here but any time is chicken soup weather to me!

Norm, your kabobs looked yummy, too.

Beth, your meal you made that you called something with double F's looked good too. So sorry to hear of your friend Lyn's predicament with her father and his wife -- can't believe they're 99 and 98 and still trying to handle things themselves. Old people can be obstinate. It was hell when we just took my mom out of her home. She fought us tooth and nail but we physically just didn't take her back home. She was in a period where she kept falling and needed some help but I think she'd have made a bigger stink about leaving her home if she knew we had no plans of bringing her back...

Imelda, your chicken looked really good too. How far do you have to drive to see your in-laws. How nice you go once a week to see them.

I've been dying for REAL French fries lately -- ones cut from real potatoes. But, of course, I don't fry anything at home and don't even know of any place that makes their own fries anymore (Antoine's and some of the old line premiere restaurants make Souffle potatoes but of course, those are puffed -- while they're delicious, my hankering is for regular old French fries). If Brian and I stop at the Dry Dock by the ferry landing to have a cocktail or two (beer for him) and aren't eating or haven't had dinner yet, I've been getting an order of French fries that we share (I eat the bulk of them). I've been going there for 20 years and didn't think to do that until about a year ago -- I think I saw someone at the bar eating a plate with only fries on it and I asked one of the bartenders if they served just fries by the order. They make onion rings, too, so sometimes we get an order of those to snack on. They're good -- with a nice light batter on them and they're the big ones, too.

Dane is on his way home. Thank goodness (for me) we now have an app on our phones where we can track where each other is. I think he only agreed so he wouldn't have to take time to phone me to tell me where he was. But after the accident I'm more than a little apprehensive when he's traveling.

Last night's left over chicken got turned into an Oriental Chicken Salad. I didn't have breakfast or lunch so I ate supper at 4:00. It should hold me until tomorrow.

Jimmy, it's amazing she hasn't hit you in the head with a 2 X 4 !!!

You're just like a little brother who is always trying to irritate and stir the pot.

I invited my neighbours for dinner, so I immediately think "Gotta go to the store and buy something to make".  Then I thought about it, and they both love fish, so I will take several bits and pieces of fish in the freezer (mostly from fishing sons) and do them in the oven.   I have what I think is the last of the local asparagus, will make some oven roasted potatoes......... tartar sauce for the fish too.

I figure since Dane's been gone for over a month that he might just appreciate a home cooked meal. (and he might forgive me making mashed potatoes!)

So, I've got meatloaf, mashed potatoes and zucchini on the menu for tonight.

I have my vegetables prepped and ready to saute in the cast iron skillet.....

I decided to do them the 'Frugal Gourmet' way (what a 'Blast from the Past'!). Jeff Smith made his vegetables this way one time on his cooking program and I adjusted to my tastes and have been making them ever since. The onions are very thinly sliced on a mandolin. The carrots and zucchini are simply 'peeled' to the core or seeds with a potato peeler.

When sauted in a bit of evoo & butter, onions first, then carrots ~ and when they are both starting to get soft, then add the zucchini and cook to your desired finish. I season simply with a bit of s&p.

There were no complaints about tonight's supper. Actually, I think he ate enough to make up for yesterday when he didn't eat much at all. When he's traveling he doesn't like to 'waste time' stopping for meals. He only gets out of the car when he has to get fuel.

And that's why I don't go with him unless he signs an oath that he will stop when I want to and stay in a hotel for one night on the 16 hour drive.