Wordless Wednesday: Wishing For These Again

2012 scallops for dinner

Back to the Trough

We each had a long day elsewhere, and by the time we each got home it was nearly 4pm. No dinner was simmering away - not even the dreaded cream of mushroom crockpot stews. Both of us had been outside for a period of time and I had finished up my day by shopping at Target. I got Purple stuff! Now I just had to try it all on and make my mind up on what to keep and what to return. He felt he needed a new shower curtain with weights on the bottom.

Ok, back to Target. I return my returns and he got to look through the shower curtains and see that there was nary a one with weights. A discussion of a modification of his bathroom with tile and a glass door followed as I hoped it would. To be continued if I can make the closing arguments.

With a fractured week ahead, I said...Back to the Cheesecake Factory. Caramel Chicken for me.

I am always pleased with what I have and the servers couldn't be nicer. How about this massive serving of meatloaf.


He thinks the servers are all underage (!) but I know what youth looks like.It's just that we no longer have it! It's all a trade off, and I'm content and have lunch leftovers - even half a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. We each had a very good day and a yummy dinner of choice. Tomorrow I cook.

Dishing the Week

Last week. Somehow a lot of nothing got done yesterday, and that made it a damn good day. I feel so totally relieved not to be tutoring till January - maybe. As much as I love it, and I really do, it just got tiring. I think my student's constant yawning greatly contributed to that feeling. But enough about jails.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW - the sky is overcast and the bamboo is drooping.

I AM HEARING - the tick tick tick of the clock and the click of the keyboard.

I AM WEARING - my first Halloween socks of the season!! Oh yeah, other clothes too. Like black pants and the tan long sleeved t-shirt. It's almost a uniform.

I AM THINKING - that I should finish up the picture sorting today while I have the kitchen table free. The man has gone to the dentist and then has a meeting.

I AM THANKFUL FOR - all of it.


I AM CREATING - order, or at least I'm trying.

I AM GOING - try and catch up with my digital classes today.


I AM READING - The Children's Book. This was a slow start and boy does she love detail.

I AM HOPING - that all goes will this week for Bekah's BMT (bone marrow transplant).

FROM THE KITCHEN - there are good leftovers from last night's dinner and a halibut soup to be made.



ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS - lately is having Sebastian keeping me company in the studio. I know it's not me; it's the heated cushion but I'll take what I can get from this boy.

A FEW PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK - keep on keeping on with the classes, pack up the scrapping things for my trips to Baltimore, visit the Railroad Museum in Baltimore with Artist Way peeeps. Get myself to Target before the purple stuff is gone.

Wordless Wednesday

Jamie Oliver's Fish Pie Video (ok, almost wordless)

We stil Eat

Not necessarily the greatest meals or photographs but just some of the daily food round here. We seem to go through phases when only one of us is home at night for dinner, and while we have tried at times to have our main meal at midday that doesn't work out either. DH usually has work to do or a teleconference call or I'm just getting back in from tutoring. We also prefer our midday meal at different times. I like 1pm and he likes noon. But what we've 'et'

A very good breakfast of mine


This one is now a mystery meal. It wasn't mac and cheese but neither dh nor I can recall what it was other than good. :)

Some southwest pork chops.

A halibut curry for Good Friday. Lots of browned veggies in this one too and dh was very happy with his leftovers.
I have a very nice beef goulash ready for tomorrow and it looks like we'll both be home AND available to watch a movie. However I think dh will pass on "Rendition" so it will be me and popcorn which isn't too shabby either. Do you have a good rental movie to recommend? I'm open to suggestions.

Still wintery so wintery dinner

I had put this beef on to cook on Wednesday, two slices of beef shank with a good hunk of marrow bone. I added three cloves of garlic and one dried red jalapeno (pounded to death with my mortar and pestle). Boy did it smell good cooking, which I did on the cooktop. On a warmer day I might have continued with the crockpot but it was chilly so on the stove it simmered.

I served it last night, as most stews etc do benefit from the time to meld more, and Yes! it was good. I didn't know if dh was a marrow eater but he is. Those carrots came from the Asian market up in Glen Burnie, and were two bunches for $1. (You are looking at half a bunch per plate.) Amazing to get baby veggies at that price, huh? I scrubbed them well, and steamed them, and when they were cooked you could have slipped the skins off. I didn't.

The 3rd portion of the meal was the potato and bacon 'pierogis' we bought in Cleveland. The kind I still long for are the ones with a dough outside, and savory cheese inside. Another trip to Cleveland has to happen, as it's a bit of a drive to the western suburbs of Chicago for them. They did cook up well tho, after defrosting, didn't they?

Noticing

Love Friday

Yep, lovin it today. A quiet day, overcast and gray but the kind of day to swing from getting things done to puttering. Perfect.


While this lunch wasn't today, it was yesterday. Frenchtoasted ham and cheese.

Today included gettting some atcs off in the mail, along with a package to the grandchicks in Arizona and a return from an etsy buy. Somehow I got a duplicate item! No charge but...still not good karma to keep.

Bought some art supplies, got dh some cheese and meat at the Amish Market and ordered some postcards of my photos from WalMart. I'm anxious to see how these turn out as it will save me a bit of fiddling later on with both printing the photo and the backing cardstock. We'll see.

Dinner? Beef and broccoli with oyster sauce. I added a small pinch of home grown red pepper just to please dh. Not hot but with a bit of an after taste. Nice.

Tonight? Maybe a film from our cable days...Down in the Valley with Edward Norton. I luv that man! or perhaps just some reading. Whatever, just calm and quiet.

And your Friday? busy? home? away? Whatever it is, I hope it's been a good day for you too.

On My Desk...August 13

Well today is a mess.

But that is because yesterday, I finished up some ATC bases and then spent a long - a very long time! - trying to teach myself something in PhotoshopElem. Filling a single text character with images. I did at least finally figure out how to make a Brush stamp stick to the image I was working on... I seem to have misplaced my PE book also so it was a clear off the computer desk last night from the multiple printings and clean out a few piles of papers today.

Yesterday was a fun day despite my graphics-grief. DH had one of his Boys Night In dinners, and we started the day at the Tuesday 7am Farmers' Market. Not too many vendors on Tuesdays but enough to get what we needed.


He surveys the stalls.


Pretty maids all in a row...ready to be eaten!


Hippie Chick, as I call her, has great blackberries...with yoghurt and granola, a wonderful breakfast.


Sebastien is overwhelmed by the idea of 8 men showing up for dinner.


Dick works on the halibut as the rice and tomato/green beans wait.



A perfect summer evening.

There are even MORE desks to be seen over at the button on the right...On My Desk. That will take you to Kirsty's list of meme players.

This is...my perfect dinner party guest list

This week's theme comes from Lily and Agatha.

I have to say this one has had me stumped all week. I don't do dinner parties anymore, probably because I have a dh who works from home and so while I love to cook, I am doing more 'daily' cooking than I ever have. Plus, as life has gone on, I think I'd rather just have dinner with people I know and like. In the end, I came down to the decision that if I HAD to have a dinner party, it would be an open buffet with lots of the women I like. Mostly women in their 60s but a bunch of 40 yr olds thrown in. Talk would be REAL even tho there would be plenty of fluff to get the laughter going. And yes, in the end, as it usually is...there would be 'laugh till you wet your pants' howling about the perennial subject...sex.


What do they say???? "If you didn't laugh, you'd have to cry."

The food? Well, I've gone thru the vegetarian friends, the gluten free friends, so far no one who kept kosher but I suspect I'd make about 3 entrees, chicken, fish and vegetarian with a big salad...and choc raspberry bars and lemon bars. If it came down to only 6 coming, I'd FINALLY make molten lava cakes and have ice cream and homemade caramel sauce or dulce as a backup.

Now that I write...you know... I oughta just DO this! (and yes it would help if I could spell Silliness.....)

Back to the Kitchen

It feels as if I haven't done much cooking lately and I realize that feeling is accurate. Not much was done for the month of February, which is a downside to vacations if you like to cook. When it's a couple of weeks or so, I have to get back into an autopilot and that is best done by making a simple tried and true recipe. I know what it should taste like, I know we like it and any need for improv is handled by the veggies or sides. So today it was SharonCB's "World's Best Meatloaf". Sharon, who lives in the Canary Islands, did not invent this one but found it - from American Pro Football Player's Wife in 1963. How is that for round the world?

First came the veggies to roast. It's getting to the time of year that soon I won't want the oven on all afternoon so do it now!


Then get the meat all mixed up. The orginal recipe, which I will post, is good exactly as it is but we both like a bit of heat and/or Southwest flavoring. Instead of the Sofrito which Sharon does suggest, I used a combo of Sofrito and a medium Salsa today, mostly because I already had a partial bottle of Sofrito in the fridge. I often use a salsa instead of sofrito, but plain old tomato soup will do since you have a bunch of other flavors in the mix. I didn't have a green pepper but rehydrated some dried ones. As I don't like the taste of green pepper I wasn't too concerned. (Please don't let the flavor come out strong enough to taste!!!)


The vegetables are a bit over done but were still pretty good. Nothing like that caramelization to have you go...mmmmmmmm. I had a bit more carrots chopped than I needed so into the rice along with some parsley. I almost never flavor rice as we usually have much 'hotter' i.e. spicier food, but tonight I tarted up that rice.












DH was surprised I didn't make something else for myself. LOL...I'm not that much back into the groove. It'll happen - and there's still plenty left for him to have a couple of lunches. That's like money in the bank in my opinion, knowing I won't get the ominous question of "What can I have for lunch???".

World's Best Meatloaf via SharonCB @ GardenWeb

1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs - (tear up soft sliced bread - don't use fine crumbs as for breading)
1 1/2 lb ground meat (beef or pork & beef) (about 700 grams)
1 beaten egg
1 onion chopped fine
1/4 teasp dry Colman's (or similar) mustard
1/8 teasp ground sage
1/2 teasp ground thyme
1 1/2 teasp salt
1/4 teasp pepper
1/8 teasp nutmeg
1 chopped green pepper
1 tin condensed tomato soup (eg Campbells's) Sharon suggests using Sofrito instead
3/4 cup grated celery
3/4 cup grated carrot

1) Mix meat with egg, add onion and seasonings and bread crumbs, greens and carrots
2) Add half the tin of soup and mix everything well. Turn into greased loaf pan or glass casserole dish 8.5 x 11 x 2.5 inches and pour remaining soup over the top, smoothing it evenly over all.
3) Bake 350 F (177 C) for 1 1/4 hours.