It's MAY 2021...What's cooking?

Wonderful pictures, Beth. I love to see people flying their country's flags. We had a 20 ft. flagpole on the farm with our Canadian flag which could be seen from almost a mile down the road. We also had a German one for special occasions, like when family came from Germany for a visit. We'd raise that flag for the first day, just as a welcome and then the Canadian went back up. My son and his wife who is from Sieux Falls, SD, have both flying on the corner of their house.

Canadians generally do not fly flags very often.

I love your bird of paradise. I know they grow wild in the south. We had a large plant on the farm which I sort of "inherited" from my late friend's greenhouse. We had it outside in the summer, and dragged the huge pot into our bedroom in the winter. Bedroom had a south facing 12 ft. window wall, and it bloomed for me in January/February for the 7 years that we had it.

Now back to cooking. I had forgotten that I have a slow cooker. Took that today and put some chicken cacciatore that I had in the freezer into it to re-heat. The chicken originally was a little undercooked, so I think this will be good. I think using the slow cooker is better than the micro. Will make some pasta in my thermos again!

I made Philly cheese steaks. 10 more minutes, and it will be bite, chew, and swallow; as soon as they crisp up in the oven.

All three of us got seafood dinners.....

I like to order something I don't normally cook at home. So I had clams & mussels on linguini. It was really good ~ good once I removed the 7 mussels that weren't open. I don't take any chances. I just wish they would remove the unopened shellfish in the kitchen. I can't believe they think they will open up on the walk to the table.....

But, it was tasty and I had more than enough to eat.

bethk wrote:All three of us got seafood dinners.....

I like to order something I don't normally cook at home.  So I had clams & mussels on linguini.  It was really good ~ good once I removed the 7 mussels that weren't open.  I don't take any chances.  I just wish they would remove the unopened shellfish in the kitchen.  I can't believe they think they will open up on the walk to the table.....

But, it was tasty and I had more than enough to eat.  

Beth, I thought it they don't open, don't eat them.

That's right. She was being funny when she said "they think they will open on the walk to the table." If they are open before cooking, don't eat them, and if the closed ones don't open with cooking, don't eat them.

I didn't eat the unopened mussels.....but still had plenty that did open ~ and all the clams were fully opened and very tender.

I have no sense of adventure with shellfish ~ if it ain't open it isn't anything I want to chance!

LOL

From Lore:

"Dinner tonight. Grocery store rotisserie chicken, broccoli and two cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers."

Dane went to his sister's today to help out on a problem she was having. He took her out for a late lunch so there was no need for me to cook a supper.

I ended up having the two leftover chicken wings, leftover cucumber/onion salad and a good tasting peach.

Within an hour I was still hungry so I ended up snacking on some Club Crackers with peanut butter and grape jelly. Boy, it's been YEARS since I ate something like that.

It was pretty good.

Katie made an alfredo sauce with smoked salmon. I looked at her hand written recipe and said "Something looks wrong. There is way too much parmesan." the recipe said 3 1/2 cups grated parmesan and 1 cup heavy cream. She said she has made it several times. I backed off and let her mix $18 worth of parm into the cream. She simmered it to make it thicker. She then took a taste and spit it out. Way too much cheese. She tried to save it by adding more cream but I stopped her, got another pan, poured about 1/4 of the sauce into it and then added another cup of cream.
Perfect. So I poured the rest of the unusable sauce into a freezer container and froze it. She has enough sauce base to make 4 more meals. That is about the only real cooking I have done in months.

LOL I think you would have needed a pail full of cream to save it all! But, speaking of parm, Our COSTCO has opened what they call a business center. They are selling the same things as before, just everything in even bigger quantities. I think about the only thing they haven't made bigger is the TP! There was a huge wheel of parm for $29.95. I thought they must have made a mistake. I know that when I get a wedge that is about an inch, it's at least $10.00 here.

I just took a rack of ribs out of the freezer to thaw in the refrigerator for tomorrow.

I was sitting here pondering what to fix for supper tonight when Lyn called and asked if we want to go to a burger restaurant, Square 1, tonight.

OK ~ pondering over!

LOL

Son called just as I was pondering also. Do I want to come over for a sausage on the barbecue???? My pondering is over also. BUT, I will take some "stuff" to make it more of a LORE type bbq. I am defrosting some very large shrimp, will oil and spices and put on skewers. And two very small steaks which will become shish-ka-bobs also. Both great as leftovers if they are not all gone. (unlikely)

No clue yet! Still in our jammies with the heater on.

Debbie ~ it's good to know Katie is stepping up to the plate since you're still recovering. It may not have been the tastiest sauce in the world but at least she gave it a try. Good thing you were there to save the day.

********

Lore ~ great to not have to ponder anymore today, huh? And don't you think, just maybe, the kids knew you'd want to surprise them with a couple dishes as your contribution? LOL

I'm sure it will all be a wonderful meal and lots of good conversation, just what we all need in this time of isolation from just about everything. Have fun!

Well, we just had another prime example of 'No-Good-Deed-Goes-Unpunished'.......

We went to Square 1 for burgers with Lyn & Bill. They go there regularly as it's got a good assortment of sandwiches/light meals and a full bar and it's close to their house.

Dane & I go there maybe once a year ~ burgers aren't my favorite and we usually end up somewhere closer to our house.

The restaurant has a 'Loyalty Program' where if you register with your phone number you can earn $$ off your meals. Since we don't go often, when we do go I try to remember to write Lyn's phone number on our check so they get credit for it. And that's what I did tonight when our checks came. The waitress we had was so sweet ~ when she brought back our credit card slips to be signed she mentioned (as she looked right at me)....."With tonight's meal you earned $10 Off so it just deducted it from your check."

I looked at Lyn and she looked at me and we both started to laugh out loud.....

Poor Lyn got HER discount taken off MY bill!

And that's the story of her life.....if it weren't for bad luck she'd have no luck at all......

The waitress was trying to think of how to rectify the error and we just told her not to worry about it. At some point I'll buy lunch for Lyn and we'll be even again. And if not, it's not the end of the world.....

I was just trying to be nice and it sure back-fired on Lyn!

I'm back. Brought some leftovers home. Some of the shrimp, DIL doesn't eat them, son had some as well as DIL's dad. Lisa's (DIL) brother was there and I assumed he'd have some, but apparently he's allergic to shellfish so he didn't eat any. That's OK............. more for me! Lisa had sausages and a pasta salad. So, all is well.

THey are definitely not into grilling like we used to be. Danny had never done shrimp he asked me how long to do them. I said three minutes one side, flip them then three on the other. Perfect. Then, of course he had to be careful to keep the shrimp in a particular spot on the grill, away from anything that Mark would eat, and not use the same tongs etc.