suzilightning

we celebrated johnnybird's 50th birthday saturday at one of his favorite restaurant, zoe's by the lake. his requirements - a good whiskey sour(since the owner who handles the bar had worked at the rainbow room not a problem) and salmon. funniest thing was him asking me what the green stuff on his salmon was - first of all it was not green but he is colorblind. i tasted and said black olive tapenade afterwhich he smeared it on the salmon. dessert was at home - 100 year old bottle of grand marnier and some truffles

last night the starter was a light vegetable soup then 2 cycles in the jacuzzi . main course and sides were lemon rice, zucchini sauteed with olive oil and garlic and chicken saltimbucco. john has decided this one is a keeper. tonight - reservations for john's 50th birthday dinner.

As an example of an unfortunate (to me) exchange…: this past weekend, I attended a bourdeaux tasting at a local wine shop. The person pouring was very nice. I announced that I didn’t know much about bourdeaux and would appreciate any comments about the 5 wines that were being served. I inquired about the blend of a particular wine, and I was told that it was “probably cabernet sauvignon”. At that point I knew I was on my own. I read the supplied notes. tommy - i'll go you one better. went for a bite to eat at a local restaurant. they are advertising a wine tasting with appropriate apps on weds. 11/17. they call it a red and white tasting. asked the bartender do they have a list of which wines are being tasted. no, he said but it's the third year they have done it and it's popular. hello!! can't remember the name of the importer doing the program. then there was the time the waiter at harlequin cafe when i asked him which wines were served by the glass did the old red or white to which i answered all. he still couldn't name them so i asked for the list. ordered a 1999 pinot grigio and he brought the wrong bottle - said they were out of the one i had ordered. then he wanted me to choose two bottles since he didn't want to take the time to go back to the cellar again - he had customers to wait on.i drank water rather than deal with him any more.

Hmmm... maybe if i feed him enough bread, etc. but still keep in shape he'll have a heartattack and die then i'll be rich and can buy a boytoy. the only down side is i still have to have sex with the beached whale do i ever have an attitude problem tonight... hillvalley - can we post this character's picture so we all can take a whack at him? personally i was thinking of printing a picture off and using darts and al dente be careful...be very careful... can you tell it has been a bad day at work? but i'm feeling better now.

i'm at work tonight but pulled some breasts out to make chicken saltimbocca tomorrow to serve with lemon rice and zucchinis

thank you susan- though i don't think i would have ever thought of toast dope on popcornn i love the "medication"that you and russ share. many times i'll have johnnybird open a bottle of wine for me and pour me a glass while i'm prepping. the shrimps and black beans look wonderful... since we are both working tomorrow night late it is leftovers . gotta figure out something for friday - hmmmmmm shrimp again am working on a new cocktail with ginger liqueur and toast dope...... edited to say johnnybird also caps his beer... usually with one of my wine or champagne capping devices

[Has anyone here ever had the Pol Roger Churchill? My husband had been looking for it for a long time. Finally found a bottle in a wine store in New York (think it was a '96) - but it was $170 <yikes>. The sales person at the store said for that money - one could do a lot better. If you've tried it - what do you think? Robyn ←

our traditions have, of necessity, changed over the years. the first year we were married and living in hooks, tx we rounded up all the strays from johnnybird's class at red river army depot and had them over for a traditional dinner in our single wide. there were 9 of us and we had a blast. once back in the northeast and up till i lost my mom 13 years ago we always went out to shelter island for my sister's birthday which we celebrated on thanksgiving day. then it was out to a restaurant. now john goes up to poughkeepsie thanksgiving morning to his mom then out to the reeds to catch up with the rest of the clan. since i usually have to work on friday and saturday i stay home. i always send up several loaves of portugese sweet bread and oatmeal bread(two things we always two days before while i was growing up, the oatmeal from my greatgrandmother's cookbook), some sort of coffee cake and usually a dessert for him to take to his aunt and uncles. sometimes it is black forest mousse pie, sometimes winner's circle pie and last year it was fudgy bourbon brownies. i ususally make something i want that he doesn't eat - like succotash the worst year i remember, though, was 6 years ago and john came back from a business trip with an infection that moved into his lymph gland. all he could eat was pureed things so we had leek and potato soup, mashed white sweet potatoes and chocolate mousse. later i threw some of the best pot roast i had ever done into the blender - and johnny ate it

we got some down in the keys when we were down last march. i made a key lime pie and the juice was really good in gimlets and margaritas

COOL!!!! susan and russ.... no more 52 branch pickup any toast dope in the blog future? seriously love all your food and can't wait to read.

johnnybird's "half day off" from work meant he worked 6 hours today the stock is done for a ming tsai hot and sour soup with shrimps instead of pork - used vegetable stock i had in the freezer instead of chicken, shitake mushrooms, shrimps and will add julienned snow peas. main course will be boiled parsley red potatoes, flounder lightly dusted with wondra and seared and zucchini and yellow squash saute. thinking a german reisling or a pinot grigio for the wine. also using up the broccoli, smashed potatoes,chicken breasts and garlic gravy from the other night. cooked up some carrots, added some chicken stock and thickened. voila - chicken veg shepherds pie to take to work with us the next two days

today... at the hawkwatch... buger with bacon, cheddar and fried onions...pickle... no chips or slaw warehouse grille ... i'm the third person ordering that but the only female with a must have craving

ok- don't know about anywhere else but recently the regular place i went to started to charge for refills on iced tea. hello- 6 tea bags and hot water for a pitcher of iced tea???? it wasn't like the hand squeezed lemonande thing but ... after 6+ years of eating there for lunch at least once a month they started charging for each glass no explanation... no nothing to the reqular customers and all the wait/bar staff have been replaced.....reigned or moved on to better jobs if they are allowing 1.00 cockage fees and charging you 4.00 per glass on iced tea i would talk to the management about alowing a 1.00 thermos fee (who freakin' cares what is in the thermos) now when i go out i only ask for water and not bottled....

curlz- it sounds wonderful but it's easier for us to get to cloves than trekking all the way to saffron from nw morris count(remember american grill is 20-30 minutes for me). though it is on the list for my favorite eating partner and me. may fit it in with a visit to trader joes..... remember those of us who are out during the day tend to lunch east and cut out so we don't have to deal with the westbound traffic after 4 - or go later for dinner so we don't have to deal with the traffic. since you are going the oppposite way after dinner it may/ may not affect you.

we're short two people at work this morning(luckily the first hour and a half tend to be slow for us) so quickly ate some of the leftover bison chili i had brought for lunch with the corn bread. looks like we won't even get our 15 minute break today on the other hand we may do delivery and take turns taking 5 in the main office with a sandwich or pizza think i can get stinger to bring those potts dogs?

funny, every saturday at work now, when stripping the papers, i always give a quick check in the nj section to see if jason has another piece. nice, jason

eunny - your first spatchcock was as success!! looks succulent and delectable quick semi change of plans tonight. johnnybird was supposed to go up to poughkeepsie this afternoon to do a quick family birthday celebration with the immediate family(julie my sil's birthday is the 2nd of november; john's 50th will be the 6th). wellllllll..... as per ususal he didn't get out of work (i'm only down for 2 hours) till 4:30 so decided to stay here for the night. dinner will be bison and ostrich chili(toned down quite a bit), pimento cornbread(was going to be serrano cheddar corn bread) and a green leaf salad with heirloom tomatoes(was going to be a nicely vinerary carrot and jicima salad). it will be fun to have him home another night before the drunken baccanalia in rochdale(anyone near pok. stay away unless you WANT to go to jail ). course for tomorrow i do have some really neat hot sauces for the leftovers think i'll drag something easy on the stomach out of the freezer for sunday since i am sure he will be recovering - some poached chicken with noodles maybe - very bland...

we use lactaid exculsively since johnnybird is very intolerant. i bake with it with no noticable change in texture, etc. lactaid makes pills and there are several generic equivalents out there as well.

not quite back as far as you perhaps but i remember watching Yaz playing high school ball. i want the cubs and red sox

sorry but i'm having a problem typing through my tears( sorry my mom and grandfather aren't alive to see this happen). first of all - honors to the yankees(even though i suffered enough snide remarks from your fans) who went to 7 hard fought games and the cardinals who fought as well to seven to win their division (pojouls IS the player of the future) sunday when(if) johnnybird survives his early 50th birthday party we will be having a celebration: stuffed clams, lobster roll, baked beans and brown bread - most of them from my greatgrandmother's recipes(she was from rhode island) ok maybe i will throw in some salad for balance. congratulations to all the teams who compete though it is wonderful to be a winner(finally).

got off the hawkwatch and wanted to use up some roasted root vegetables. sauteed some leeks in olive oil, added cut up red yukon potatoes and vegetable stock. simmered for 15 minutes, added the roasted veg(carrots, parsnips, white turnips and butternut squash) for another 10. whiz up in the blender and served topped with sauteed asparagus tips and a blt made with greenleaf lettuce, turkey bacon and yellow heirloom tomatoes. john's dessert was a riff off his grandmother's apple kucken - with plenty of vanilla lactaid ice cream

apples raisins shallots celery salt miracle whip chicken nuts doesn't get better than that

last night i baked boneless, skinless chicken thighs, made saffron rice and red pepper pilaf(snuck some green peppers and curry into that) and served garnished with a tomato and cucumber salad. dessert was something called charleston pudding i got from one of my cooking lights. this got the most praise from johnnybird and i'm thinking how i can get the toast dope into this tonight is spaghetti and meatballs with foccacia.

tonight was baked boneless, skinless chicken thighs with herbs, curried rice pilaf and creamed kale. dessert was a charleston pudding from some food mag that johnnybird loved and i have to figure out how to adapt to include Johnnybird's Famous Outrageous Toast Dope. since the original recipe calls for 1 cup of brown sugar i figure about 1/2 cup toast dope and 1/2 cup of regular brown sugar should work