Rob, my son would be thrilled with that "Manwich"! Great pictures Annie. Ellen, dinner sounds so tasty.

Last night we were out for dinner, an Italian place in Toronto we hadn't been too before. We started with a shared bruschetta, very thin and crispy bread, different but good. I had a Caesar salad , Clive had a Caprese. My main was homemade gnocchi with sage butter sauce and veal saltimbocca, it was excellent. Clive had wild caught salmon and asparagus ravioli, he seemed very pleased.

Great meal!

Tonight we are going to Sara and Doug's. I'm making BBQ ribs which is one of her favourites. She wants mashed potatoes and gravy, I'll do slaw and baked beans for the rest of us.

I'll be sure to take my camera so you can all see how well she is doing!

Ann, what I wouldn't give to have some of your veal tenderloins.

Lee, very interesting sounding Ethiopian dinner. Have never had any and doubt I would be lucky enough to find any in my neck of the woods.

Sharon, what does the Italian sauce on the hake consist of? Looks really good and so does the pisto.

Rob, that pork "manwich" sure looks good.

Annie, all that food is making me hungry. The fish with the green salsa looks and sounds wonderful. I have some edamame in the freezer and wondered what I would do with it as it is something I am not very fond of, so guess I will try it with beet greens this weekend after hitting to the farmers market.

Ellen, your ahi dinner sounds fantastic. Fish and seafood are my favorites.

Our quickie dinner last night was goulash soup; dessert, a piece of blueberry/cream tiara cake from the other night.

Marigene, I bought a frozen bag of those shelled edamame, intending to use them as snacks. I didn't like them very much that way, so I've been tossing them into things. They're passable in a salad but I like them better sauteed with some greens and I made a vegetarian chili last week with fava beans, cannellini beans, corn and some of that edamame, along with onions, peppers and seasonings. It was not bad and I didn't even notice the edamame after it cooked for a while with everything else, LOL.

I'd rather have the cake, though.

chase, I'm going to really be looking forward to THOSE pictures, with or without BBQ ribs!

Now, although it's only 9:30 a.m., I want some of Ellen's ahi, after all, it has orange juice so it's a breakfast food, right?

Tonight the girls, the grandkids, Elery and I are leaving for Ohio. I haven't met his brother yet, or several aunts and uncles. We're having a wedding "celebration" with his Dad, stepmom, sister, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, kids, etc. Stepmom owns a restaurant in Lebanon, Ohio called the Houston, as well as the Kirkwood Inn right across the street.

So, we'll be eating out the next few days, and the kids are all going to King's Island Amusement Park tomorrow and after the dinner on Saturday, since we're eating at noon.

Annie

Lee, I love Ethiopian. I'd be happy to share that platter with you.

Rob, great looking sandwich.

Sharon, I love the pictures of your neighbourhood. So beautiful.

Annie, you sure have been eating well. I'm looking forward to more "wedding celebration" photos.

Marigene, it is still cool here and your Goulash soup would really hit the spot.

We had Veal Stroganoff on Tuesday, Wednesday was Grilled European Hot Dogs with homemade fries and tonight I have Sharon to thank. I had Moe take some prawns out of the freezer for dinner tonight. I was thinking of making pasta. But then I remembered Sharon's post about Tempura and I realized I had everything on hand that I needed. Along with the prawns, we had tempura mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli and zucchini.

Sharon, I cannot wait to see Sara! What a sweetie you are to take her favorite foods!
Marigene, that blueberry tiara cake looks great, what's in it? The blueberries here have been outstanding. Lunch today was peach soy yogurt with fresh blueberries.
Ann, those hot dogs would satisfy a craving I been having for a grilled hot dog. The only thing stopping me is memories of previous indigestion! What makes those "European Hot Dogs?"
Annie, how exciting! I can't wait to hear all the details about the relatives, the food and fun! Are you caravaning? I don't imagine all of you are going to fit in the jeep!

Tonight's dinner continued on a seafood theme. The temperatures here are over 100 in our part of town. Too hot to really cook or eat hot food. So after work I headed to the produce stand and bought DH some fresh corn, and then to the market for some salmon to poach and chill. I picked up a pint of gazpacho soup to eat while the fish was cooking & chilling. I also made a dill mustard sauce as an accompaniment. We each had a glass (or 2!) of chilled white Lillet, a sweet aperitif. Perfect in this hot weather. Dessert was sorbet, all good choices on a day like this. Unfortunately the weather is due to continue until Sunday, but the good news is that I'll be cool since our school graduation tomorrow is held at the local yacht club at the Marina near Lars!

Went out to eat last night since we're finally out from under our financial black cloud (long story). He sold the blue car for cash and so it was prime rib, mashed potatoes, and a glass or two of Joseph Carr. It's a really good Cabernet if you're into that kind of thing. We'll probably have spam on cornbread since my poof/poop challenge was supposed to be until tomorrow morning. It's so tempting to spend more of the money, but the smarter thing to do is save it. Dang, I hate being responsible sometimes ;D

So many great looking dishes. We had grilled ribeye, baked potatoes and salad last night. Strawberries with balsamic vinegar for dessert. Went to take a picture but my camera needed to be charged.

Tonight is bone-in chicken breasts on the grill. I haven't decided what to have as sides yet.

Dixiedog, my husband would have been over the moon with your meal!

Rob, glad celebrations were in order.

Ellen, you thinking of opening a high end restaurant? Your meals have been sounding outstanding!

Ann , love the look of that dog...my idea of heaven is a European style dog. I really enjoyed the tempura, hope you did too.

Marigene, Meredith would have had triple of your soup she loves goulash soup.

Annie have a great few days!

As mentioned earlier, I took a rib dinner to Sara and Doug's last night. Could not believe how much she ate. Spirits are great, still some discomfort but she seems to be managing it but says she is bored to death. not in the pic baked beans and slaw.

To keep things honest I took a pic with the food on the table! LOL

and here's dessert

You can still see some paralysis in her face and that darm right arm just doesn't want to "get on with it"...but all in good time.

Oh my gosh Chase, it's so great to see Sara smiling that big smile.... you go girl!

ANn, that stroganoff loooks delicious!

sharon, thanks for the pics of Sara- it's hard to believe what she's been through and so recently. She's such a beautiful girl and you can see the spirit in her eyes...I wish she could come down and be bored with us for a couple weeks...we're just about to start the lazy hazy crazy days of summer...:-)

Stacy

Oh, Let's see. Food. We'll probably have a corn dog and a sausage sandwich with peppers and onions - and some fries with lots of salt and vinegar - tonight for dinner - at the carnival...

I've missed reading this thread, but I haven't been cooking -nor eating- all that much either.

Sharon, Annie emailed me (thanks AB!) about Sara, and I'm thankful she's recovering so quickly, and thrilled to see her happy face. You've all been in my thoughts from the onset of Sara's ordeal, and I've tried emailing you, but I've given up. If you could send me your email addy at: memories in the baking @ yahoo . com (omitting the spaces) I'd appreciate it.

Thank you Rob, for asking about me and Lou.
I tried emailing Lou a while back, but haven't gotten a reply. Maybe he's on vacation; I only hope he's having way too much fun to check here.
As for me, I've been fairly busy with work, although now that school is out and Thumper is home, I've quit working at the shop, and am now working out of my home, and I prefer this arrangement much better[G].

Btw Rob, I've also been busy with a food blog. And -according to my blog and website statistics- most of the folks here visit both on a regular basis. Some even check it several times a day (you know who you are! :-Ã), which is why I never bothered linking my blog to this forum.

But if you're ever wondering where the heck I'm at, you will find me here:Memories in the Baking.

To reiterate, cooking has taken a backseat lately. Life is funny that way. Michigan's weather, however, has been remarkable and I've been enjoying it - aside from one pesky tornado a few weeks ago, that took down one of the largest pine trees lining our driveway, life has been pretty good.

Here are pictures of the few treats we've enjoyed lately - even if most have been simple healthy, fresh salads, ice cream and cookies ... in case you were wondering, I am a non-conformist.

The line-up includes, Orange Chicken, Walnut Bread, Walnut Bread with Labneh and Crème Fraîche Ice Cream.
Incidentally, some of these recipes you'll find on the blog.

Happy weekend.

And AB, I hope you have the time of your life with your troops. And thank you friend.

Sol

Sharon, thanks for sharing the photos of Sara. You must all be relieved to have the surgery behind her. From that smile I'd say she was enjoying your dinner.

Sol, my dear, you have been missed. I enjoy your blog so much. I just bought some walnuts. I think they are destined for your Walnut bread.

Greek for dinner last night.

Geez, I'm hungry just looking at these wonderful photos. I can't wait to check out your blog, Sol.

Sharon, Sara is so beautiful - a smile to light up a room!

Thursday night was another "vegetable plate" - baked sweet potato, homemade applesauce from the freezer, Claremont salad and cornbread - and very tasty, too! Friday night was...cake, Lemonade Cake to be exact. I just got in the mood to make a simple cake (from a mix). Two pieces satisfied my cake craving and served as a late dinner since I went out for Chinese for lunch.

Tonight is.....anyone's guess.

Mmm I'd like to try some of Ann's tempura vegetables as well as the stroganoff.

Sharon it's great to see Sara's smile again. So lucky that it is now all over and she is healing.

Sol your food looks wonderful and that's a smart looking blog too. I love your soft diffused light on the strawberry jam & ice cream.

Well our weather is getting quite warm and we've just come home from picking up a few groceries with the car and having a lunch conveniently next door to the supermarket where a new restaurant and cafeteria opened recently. I'll post pics tomorrow. Some of our dinners the past days....Our Wednesday out to the Botanical Garden restaurant after a recycle drop off with the car, where Wolf had his favourite ham omelette & salad and I their garlic & shrimp spaghetti, which they do so well. Sitting outside on the patio under a large umbrella. Thursday I made pork sausage, hashed brown potatoes & veg with fried eggs. Yesterday baked salmon with wild rice and salad. All meals outdoors in the wonderful balmy air.

The Opuntia cactus is in full bloom in our back garden and as each flower is thick with pollen, the bees are having a wonderful time. Some of them are so loaded up with pollen on their legs they can hardly get up and fly away. I was having a wonderful time also, trying to get them in macro without getting stung.

Have a good Sunday everyone.....and with fine weather too!

SharonCb

I forgot which thread Sara's picture was posted on and instead answered on the TGIF thread. Suffice it to say that she looks wonderful! Like Sharon, I'm so happy that the worst is behind her now.
E

Sharon, Sara is just beautiful! Congratulations on her recovery! Glad that it's behind her and she is on her way! That's really fantastic! She's an amazing kid!

I'll never catch up here but everything looks so good as usual. i check in to see what you're all having but haven't had much time to post lately, nursery school is ending and camp is starting! I've been shopping online at Amazon for days to restock the baking room for all new stuff for the kids. Nice to spend other people's money on fun kitchen stuff!

Sol, I love your blog!

We did eat a great dinner finally! I got Bobby Flay's new book, Grill It! I really like the recipes. We tried Grilled Chicken Breasts with Tangerine-Maple-Black Peeper Glaze! Really good, except next time I won't use tangerine juice with calcium. It was all they had at Trader Joe's. Kind of chalky. Used thighs and drumsticks. With fresh corn on the cob and Ina Garten's Guacamole Salad!

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Glaze cooking down on the stove.
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Finished glaze, strained and Soy sauce and Maple syrup added.
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Great photos! Carol, I've got to look up that guacamole salad. and your chicken looks great.

Sharon, amazing bee photos!

And Ann, I love the greek photo.

Sol, your blog looks wonderful - I love that ice cream photo, especially...

Well, like Carol, I actually cooked last night :-)

Tried a new recipe that was "outstanding". I will post a separate thread. We had grilled halibut, salad and Absorption Pasta with Garlic Scapes and Wild Mushrooms from Stephencooks.com

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We're finished with the pantry/poof/poop challenge and so I cooked all weekend. I mostly just got a headstart for the week, but it was quite pleasant to dream about cooking on Friday night and go on a leisurely shopping trip on Saturday. Although, I got home and didn't have sausage for gumbo?! Silly me.

Sol's Gumbo
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Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting in the middle and chocolate icing on the outside.
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That looks delicious, Robin. Shopping trip sounds nice. I have been chained to the garden chores, so no shopping lately (well, internet..got some Peggy Karr plates, so pretty!)

Carol, the chicken looks excellent. I am like Jodie, only white meat for me..

Stacy, what the heck is a garlic scape? Second time today someone spoke of it. Dinner looks excellent! Glad you got to cook again, and I am sure your family is too!'

Ann, the greek looks good!

Sol, , wow, you came back with a bang. Love the bite out of the bread.. And I would like a bite of that bread..no..a whole slice ..or two..lol

Has anyone heard from Lou? I haven't been here all that much, but I haven't seen any posts from him. Hope he is ok!

Last night we had corned beef, it's not just for St. Pat's Day you know! Cole slaw instead of cabbage...

And tonight we had a dinner salad, walnuts, feta, bacon, etc. and chicken...

And... "As the garden blooms"..not like Sharon's paradise pics, the domestic version..

So good to see Sara's smiling face, she looks beautiful to me..God bless her!

Marigene, I bet there aren't too many of us who have the Tiara pan, collector's item. The cake looks WONDERFUL!!

Heck with the food, I love the flowers!

Sharon, the bee collecting pollen is great, you are so good. I've been meaning to tell you that I did paint the picture of the guy in the parade that you posted a few months back, he was fun. Thank you.

Kathleen, your garden table is perfect and the lilies are exceptional. I have big buds on my Stargazers but nothing open yet.

Sharon, Sara looks great and it's wonderful to see that smile. The ribs look darn good too!

Carol, you are making me hungry for grill chicken. I do a soy-maple reduction to glaze salmon with, might have to try it with chicken.

Robin, sure would love a piece of that chocolate cake.....Thank you very much!

Stacy, Absorption Pasta sounds really interesting, looks great too!

We went out for dinner both Friday and Saturday nights, nothing great....:(... but I was tired.
Sunday we grilled some pork chops, I forgot to take a picture but they were really good.
Tonight we had Fish Taco's. Walleye lightly fried in olive oil, shredded cabbage, tomatoes, avocado's, sour cream with lime juice and cilantro and mango salsa. I took the picture before I folded it up. I've never made fish taco's before...but I will again.

The fish taco's look great, Nancy! I just had them for the first time a couple weeks ago and now I am hooked! Yours look great!

Kathleen, beautiful table as always! you set the prettiest tables! Dinner looks great!

Rob, the gumbo and cake look so good!

Ann, we had Greek the other day out in a restaurant, and it didn't look half as delicious as yours :)

Stacy, when you go back to cooking, you really cook, it looks fantastic! I never saw garlic scapes around here, but I did find a Farmer's market that is not far and I'll be on the lookout, that pasta looks so good!

After looking through the thread again, I see SharonCB's tomatoes, Nancy's taco's, Ann T's salsa, I've been using them but I've noticed them missing in the restaurants lately. Had a salad out tonight, no tomatoes. Ordered Saganaki at the Greek place, usually has tomatoes. None. I missed them :)

Thanks y'all.

I just had to tell you, I really liked OhioMom's chicken stew (got it off of your blog, but I can't find it again? It was around the same time as country chicken chowder???). It has the best balance of herbs, creaminess and vegetable ratio. Perfect. Even hubby who is herb shy loved it. It has basil and thyme with s/p. We had that with BLTs (to take advantage of tomato season, yum) and fresh fruit too.

Ok, so I just couldn't quit thinking about it. Found it. And it's rosemary and basil, not thyme. Here's the picture and recipe. At least I got the Ohiomom part right!

Carol, that grilled chicken looks to be done perfect and looks really nice on that platter. Oh, that bean salad reminds me that I have everything to make one!

Stacy, your halibut meal sure is making me drool....wish we could get good seafood here in the middle of the country.

Rob, I'd take a bowl of gumbo any day. Love the lilies next to the good looking cake.

Kathleen, what a pretty place settings, especially the hydrangea one. Where have you been, lately? I always check to see what your place setting is each day. I love corned beef, which reminds me, there are a couple packages in the garage freezer.....maybe next week. Beautiful pink lilies and oh, those hydrangeas! I had to do some deep digging in a couple boxes in the basement to find the tiara pan....thought I might have given it to my daughter-in-law when we moved from Phoenix!

Nancy, can you believe, as much as I love seafood I don't care for fish tacos! It certainly does look very good, though. Maybe I should try one again seeing it has been years since I last ate one.

Last night we had chicken livers sauteéd in butter. I had a craving for them so now that the craving has been satisfied, on to something else!

I also made apricot/raspberry jam. Next time I think I will take the time and seed the raspberries...would make a prettier jam.

Not done much cooking lately - heat and being busy.

Sara looks fantastic! Thanks for posting those pictures Sharon.

Sharon in paradise (Canary Isles), your use of a variety of fruits and veggies always inspire me. Especially the fruit salads, yummmmm.

Sol, your orange chicken plate is so beautiful. I never think like that, let alone execute such plates! I'm a plating moron.

After Pilates last night I went home and did laundry, watched a Korean soap opera and ate fried eggs on top of instant microwaved rice with soy sauce and sesame oil, sesame seeds. Some spicy Korean vegetables from the market aside. Sangria as beverage. DH went to play table tennis and ate at Arby's, ugh! LOL. That's just how it's been since we're doing all this table tennis and stuff.

I have to figure out what I can make 2x a week that will make good leftovers for the rest of the week. I've been depending on Costco rotisserie chix.

Off to look at Sol's blog now...

Sol, my friend, your pictures are beautiful, as usual.

My weekend in Ohio went well, but I got only one food picture, if you can imagine. I ate at Ohio's oldest inn, the Golden Lamb. The food was expensive and mediocre, the service abysmal. I had roasted duck, it was overcooked and the rice was from a package. It would have been acceptable except that it was over $20 for a leg/thigh quarter, slaw and rice.

We had a very good meal at Elery's stepmom's place, The Houston. Bourbon glazed salmon, au gratin potatoes, green beans almondine, prime rib and all the salad bar we wanted, their salad bar has 120 items or some similar number. Carrot cake from Costco for dessert because we assembled all the family and realized we'd made no arrangements for dessert, so Elery and I actually had a cake to cut.

The kids went to King's Island, we all came home on Sunday. Last night we had pork tenderloin, asparagus with sesame and some jalapeno/cheese bread. We spent the day on the farm with Elery's three grandsons, ages 6, 4, and 2 along with Makayla and Bud. The kids all got to ride the horse, see the calves, feed the chickens, gather eggs. They rode on the tractor, drove the mule, caught frogs in the pond, and David gave everyone a ride on the 4 wheeler. They'd never even SEEN farm animals before, poor little city boys, but they may never eat another egg now they know where they came from! They live just a couple of miles away from Disneyland and go there regularly but Xander, age 4, told me my farm was WAY more fun than Disneyland. (grin) I agreed heartily.

tonight I have lamb marinating in Jessica's lime chipotle marinade, Elery will grill some shishkebabs and we'll have them on the run as we go to work in the garden. I have tomorrow off, I'm thinking maybe some walleye.

Sharon, I'm so happy to see Sara's smile and I don't notice anything about either side of her face, she's just beautiful! I just want to hug her. And you. Another prayer answered, she's perfect.

Annie

Carol....I would love to taste that chicken with tangerine maple glaze. It looks wonderful and I like that you show the cooking stages of the sauce. It always gives a better idea of how it was made.

Stacy....I envy your grilled halibut. I must look for garlic scapes. Don't know if they're sold here though.

Rob .....I like the look of that gumbo...and the chocolate cake ...wow...better I don't look!

Kathleen.....it's been ages since I had corned beef. Nothing like it here and yours looks so appetizing. Love your hydrangea table setting...really pretty as are the pink lilies and your healthy looking grass and hydrangea bush.

Nancy....I'd love to see a pic of your painting of the carnival fellow! He was so colourful and I bet you did a great job of capturing him.
Fish tacos....mmmm.

Marigene ....Wolf would just love those chicken livers in butter! They look so good.....I usually make young beef liver here.
But those green beans look so deliciously fresh and tender too.
I can imagine how good your apricot/raspberry jam must taste on a warm piece of toast!

Annie ....I'm sure Elery's grandkids had a wonderful time at your farm....and of course the real thing is so much better than Disney animals isn't it!

I'm far behind and have lots of photos which I'm going to put over in the Gallery seeing as we were out to three places since I last posted and I can't stop snapping everything I see.
As this thread is getting very slow to load I won't weight it down with more than one open photo and will put the rest over there where activity is a little slow these days and there's more room.

Just one pic over here of another fruit salad we had last Sunday, with fruit yoghurt topping and a slice of lemon cake from the bakery.

SharonCb

Here is a link that might be useful: WFD post in the Gallery

Sharon, that looks so fresh and delicious!
Two nights..
London broil, baked cauli..grilled pineapple..
Shrimp in wine sauce....

Have to run...appt . and some shopping.

Sara looks wonderful! Beautiful and happy! My smile was as big as hers when I saw the picture. Do I remember you saying that she will spend some time at your cottage this summer?

I am loving all the summer salads and grilled foods here.

Annie, how was the Lime Chipotle mariade on the lamb? I have some shoulder chops to marinate and grill and that does sound good, or else a marinade with pomegranate molasses in it.

All the summer salads and the grilled meats look fantastic to me. I made the same bean salad that Carol did - just a little different put together since I didn't want to blend the tomato slices and the avocado chunks into the salad to be mushy as leftovers (which I knew we would have). Also had Andouille sausage, started in red wine in a skillet and finished on the grill and strawberries and ice cream for dessert.

I'm off to take DMIL to pick up hearing aides - an event to celebrate.

Lee

Annie, hope you'll come back and tell me how the lime chipotle was on the lamb. TIA

lsr, boy does that salad look good.

Last night was Shrimp Fajitas with the works along with a corn and black bean salad.

I will use the leftover grilled shrimp tonight and make a salad along with crusty bread. That will be enough as it is very, very humid here today.

Kathleen, I love your lighthouse table setting, perfect for this time of year.

Lee, what a great looking salad....I'm sure it tasted good too.

Dixie, Shrimp fajitas....oh my, that sounds good.

Last night we had beef tenderloin, off the grill. My pic's didn't turn out very good...but what the heck.

Nancy

Dinner tonight was chicken and pasta with tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, yellow squash, mushrooms and red onions. Dessert was a chocolate feather cake with buttercream icing.

Gosh - a person can gain ten pounds just looking at these cakes, banana split bread, and jam! I have not done too much cooking this week due to office lunches 4 days out of 5. I even had a breakfast to do on Wednesday. Tomorrow is the big Shareholders' lunch and then we are done until next year. We had to hold the meeting at a local university as the number of shareholders' has grown beyond our own office facilities.

Yesterday my caterer made the most delicious Tuna Nicoise salad - I swear I could eat it every day during the summer:
new potatoes, tiny green beans, large white beans, cherry tomatoes, capers, olives, hard cooked eggs, plenty of fresh thyme and grilled fresh tuna all mixed with a shallot vinaigrette and piled on a huge oval platter - heaven on a plate! Lunch tomorrow is tarragon chicken breast with roasted portabello mushrooms, roasted cherry tomatoes, grilled summer squash, roasted fingerling potatoes, tiramisu, and key lime pie.

See why I haven't cooked this week?

Lee, the lime chipotle was very good on the lamb. I don't like lamb very well, so it has to be a strong flavor to cover up that "lamb" flavor so I can eat it.

Elery does like lamb and he loved it with the lime chipotle, then skewered and done on the grill. I have a picture, but I haven't downloaded it yet.

We wrapped the lam in flatbread and made a homemade tzatziki type sauce with my homemade yogurt, cucumber and basil instead of mint (which I also don't care for in savory dishes). Yeah, I know. I'm picky.

Definitely try the marinade with lamb, Elery says he's always going to do his lamb that way from now on.

Annie

Thanks, Annie. I got home too late to do the lamb tonight so I'll probably do it on Sunday. I thought the lime chipotle marinade sounded as though it would be really good and I'm glad that you and Elery confirm that.

I took DMIL to get her hearing aids today and I think they are wonderful. She thinks they help "a little". But she did not say Huh? once the whole day and could hear all of the front seat conversation from the back seat. She was also able to decrease the volume on her TV to a much more normal setting.

We just had leftover pasta for dinner.

Lee

Wow, this was on page 2 again. And it IS loading slowly. We might have to restrict WFD threads to 50 posts - what do you all think?

Anyway, last night we had a big salad with avocados and tuna. Ice cream with berries for dessert.

Where the heck is that man Lou?

Everyone sure is eating well. You all know that I don't care for salads, but even I would be tempted by Lee's beautiful salad and Sharon's gorgeous fruit salad.

This is what we ate this week.

Roast chicken dinner on Monday night.

Tuesday was Grilled sausage, Wednesday was Shepherds Pie and last night we had Spaghetti and meatballs. I made the meatballs and put them on to simmer on Wednesday night so dinner was easy to put together after work last night.

Where is Lou? Vegas?

I miss sheshebop's and craftyrn's dinners too.

I have to report on a dinner success. Jessica was kind enough to bring me a wonderful can of 6 in 1 tomatoes from a local store. I used it to make a chicken cacciatore of sorts, with peppers, onions, garlic, eggplant, spinach, chicken sausage from trader joe's and chicken. It was good and the tomato sauce got notice from my husband without my usual fishing for compliments. The tomatoes were rich and fresh tasting, worth a trip across town to buy. I served it with oven baked presliced yukon gold potatoes from trader joes. I thought that they would be a time saver, they were just fair. I don't think I would get them again.

Thank you Jessica.

Here's a picture of that lamb, with steamed sesame asparagus:

I picked the first of the radishes from the garden and we had some of those today:

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Along with fresh local strawberries, just picked. I was going to make shortcake but I made a batch of jam and then ate them as snacks and with my homemade yogurt until I knew I'd better get the rest into the freezer!

Yesterday Elery and I went to a local restaurant and had their special, a quarter pound water buffalo burger from locally grown water buffalo. I didn't have my camera with me, darn it, but I'm wondering if it was the water buffalo that me the dirty looks last year. (grin) If so, I got my revenge. It was good, like a very lean steakburger, not gamey at all.

Annie

Denise, I miss Sherry and Diane's posts too.

Annie, I'd be very happy with your lamb. And I wouldn't turn down a Buffalo burger either.

I picked up some fresh local strawberries, thinking I would make strawberry shortcake for dessert. Changed my mind though and made a Strawberry Meringue Roulade.

Dinner was Parmesan Crusted Halibut (posted by Hoopysmom)

Well trying to catch up on reading this thread but can only go back so far:)

WOW, beef tenderloin, mango chicken, chicken pasta, chocolate feather cake (which looks heavenly), tuna nicoise, avocado & tuna salad, grilled sausage, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken caccitore, lamb with lime chipolte, strawberries (which are beautiful plus an excellent PYO price), halibut and last but not least....a BUFFALO to boot (with an evil looking grin)!!!

Last night was just appetizers type stuff for dinner as it was very humid. Jumbo lump crabmeat dip with crackers and bagel chips, raw vegetables, deviled eggs and tropical fruit. A hodge podge I know but it worked fine for us.

No cooking for me tonight or tomorrow, Going to a 50th B-Day BBQ party for a good friend of ours - can't wait as he's from Texas and loves to BBQ.

Tomorrow night to a couples house that we are good friends with and I do not know what is on the menu but I'm sure it will be good. I'm responsible for dessert and I haven't decided yet what to take. Needs to be something that can travel in the car in humid weather for 45 mins. w/traffic. UGH!

We're having fresh caught fish [all our family's men went a'fishin' today courtesy of my brother who bought a trip for the dads and sons for xmas, he loves fishing!]

I figure a squeeze of lemon and a turn of pepper is all these fillets need. I did however turn black plantains into a pie/tart - mashed tains with swtned condnsd milk, walnuts, coconut, and chocolate chips!

Ann, I don't like fish, but I would try yurs just for the hellibut....and the dessert, wow..

Great looking strawberries Annie..

Nancy, that cake sounds like one to try..like you said, what could be bad...

Marigene, that cake!! I just had my sigar free choc pudding cup, but a piece of that cake would be wonderful!!

We had country style ribs last night, 99 a lb. and the napkins I got in WmSOnoma Outlet, 4 for 1.79. I only tell you because I know you don't care..;)

Where's Lou? Anyone heard from him??

And the chandy my son was throwing out. I sprayed it black and dh hung it in the gazebo..food related, it is over the table..Can't decide if I will use it with the globes or w/o, going to use candles in it...

So now I'll be quiet..;)

Kathleen, you won't get much light if you use the globes, since they aren't clear, but you might need them if you have much wind. Otherwise, it would look much nicer without them. I used to belong to a camping group that had members who would bring a gazebo and a chandelier to the campsite and hold high tea. Their chandelier was similar to yours, but without the glass.

We had Burmese take-out food yesterday because it was too hot to cook - we could have barbecued, but DB has a bad cold/sore throat, and so I thought it wasn't worth the effort. We went to an excellent Halal Burmese market/delicatessen and got curried goat, chicken tikka, egg rolls, samosas, some stuffed bread, tofu salad, and mango drinks. If you need pictures, visit this review. The goat curry was the best I've ever had, and I will go back just for that. It came with jasmine rice, curried vegetables, naan, and a very interesting cole slaw/salad made with cabbage and tiny slices of jalapeño, which really livened it up. While at the market I bought some tamarind paste (since I was out), and some instant fried noodles from Indonesia. I usually get both of those at an Indonesian market (not far away), and so I was surprised to find the same items at a Burmese market. I would like to recreate the salad. I think it had cabbage, onion, jalapeño, lime, and maybe some powdered shrimp.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Yelp reviews

Your dinners look lovely everyone! I've not been cooking much lately, but I have been baking a bit. I haven't taken any pictures, though. I made peanut butter and jelly bars and a double batch of scones for our HAM radio field day weekend. I did make a pizza though, that counts as dinner! My first ever. My dh said he'd keep me but only if I promised to make the pizza again. :)

I didn't cook today (I have a rule about cooking on my birthday) but I did have a very nice mesquite salmon fillet with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Not a bad meal at all.

Sorry I've not been around much lately, we're drawing to the end of school and I've been swamped. 15 days 4 hours to go! :) Good to "see" you all again!

Bri

Lars, I think I will devise something with clear votive cups, it is breezy here...

Happy Birthday, Bri! Hope it was a good one..
Chicken with wine sauce with orzo, snow peas and carrots...
More Wm SOnoma bargain napkins, and hot pink hydrangea from one of my bushes...

Where is everyone???

Hey Kathleen! Lou would say it was a nice table setting if he was here :( I like it too. Everyone is going places for the 4th??? I dunno.

No pictures, been way too busy. BBQ chicken (this time I used Lakeguy/David's recipe, another good one, more savory) the other night, made jambalaya with the leftovers last night (one of the few things leftover chicken is just fine in, loads of spice I guess) and had tart cherry cobbler since I gipped the guys on real cobbler the other night. I'll probably make tarragon chicken on linguine with broccoli tonight since I can't stop thinking about it. And tomorrow will be grilled pork chops with dirty rice since that's what hubby asked for.

Happy Birthday Bri - you know you should be celebrating your BIRTHDAY WEEK! Isn't pizza you make at home just the best.

We had pizza last night too, it was take out, but still good. Just a simple salad of greens, fresh orange slices and avocado with a raspberry/balsamic vinaigrette. I did my cooking for the day when I finished making the small batch strawberry preserves.

Tonight I need to do something with chicken and would love to know how you make the Tarragon Chicken, Rob. And how you made your Chicken in Wine Sauce, Kathleen. Both look and sound delicious and I think pasta needs to be in the picture tonight.

Annie, I'm saving your picture of the perfectly rare lamb in Lime Chipotle marinade - it looks fantastic and you have already said how goood it was. I put my lamb in the freezer but it will come out at the end of the week when I buy more limes.

If I could get wonderful halibut like Ann's I'd be trying the Parmesan Crusted Halibut (posted by Hoopysmom). That looks fantastic.

Lee

Lee, I actually found the recipe in Saveur magazine, but here it is off Williams-Sonoma's website. Really simple. Or good in its simplicity.

Thanks Rob, that is going to be dinner tonight. Looks very good and very easy.

Lee