suzilightning

INTRUDER!! odd - last month and this one i've started craving meat - pork, buffalo, ostrich, venison and stir fried vegetables. this morning it was a toasted ham and swiss sandwich for breakfast - hmmmmm wonder what i can scrounge up for dinner

bourdain - rerun chocolate show - don't know if i can get over him calling the piece of chocolate cloud cake "...a naughty piece of cake..." think i'll try making that for my husband when he gets home sunday

i have spent all day (at regular intervals) going out and removing the ice and snow we got yesterday- my mama always said that her daffodils had to be snowed on three times before they could bloom - my king alfreds now have been and they are up and in bud. my snow crocuses are now covered with snow with just the tips of the tallest ones poking out from the ice shelland my grape hyacints are totally buried - more ice glaze tonight cold with rain all week - now i see why they tell all the new people who move in around here don't put your pansies out till mid may at the earliest

SHOOT!! and here i was going to suggest you meet me at lou's place since my husband will be in the city at the faux genesis concert oh, well. tomorrow i work till 7 then i have a date.

is it time to play again?

corpus christi - take-out lunches from Vietnamese Restaurant. ok -- not highly spiced which made husband quite happy. spring rolls, summer rolls, stir fried rice with chinese sausage, vegetables, eggs and shrimps, chicken with vegetables, and shrimps with vegetables, extra jasmine rice. about 20 each day with leftovers for the next day's breakfast. the one night out we went to landry's on the water. 1/2 dozen shrimp appetizer - and no they don't get any of their seafood from the local fishermen but from a wholesaler in galveston. our waiter said the locals couldn't keep up with the demand - salad bowl, broiled platter for me, redfish with the victoria topping for john, two margaritas for him, glass of wine for me - 90 including tip and tax. ok but not remarkable.

well, jaymes - stayed at new braunfels - german dinner at oma's. fairly good and we found some good beers. we were thinking of going to greune but by the time we made it down from near tulsa we just wanted to settle in to the hotel and get some food. still haven't had any bbq yet since husband thinks the object is to bird as late as possible. i see another trip to the valley will be in order - probably for two months or so.

oh, yeah and check out the beard action he has going... but on topic the tarte tatin did look interesting

taking a break since prep is done and waiting for husband to come home with a glass of 1998 Chateau Souverain Cabernet. last night was beef in Guinness and champ - Laura's organic beef browned then cooked with carrots, onions, Guinness some fresh tarragon and parsley then baby peas added at the last minute. champ over the top. tonight sofrito clams with prosciutto and a whole grain baugette for starters with a Fredrich 3M wine - also used in the dish. then oven "fried"(baked) fish fingers made with haddock and a coleslaw with carrots, savoy cabbage and red cabbage. just trying to use up all those things in the fridge before we leave for texas!!

we are driving but want to spend most of our time birding in the valley. we will be hitting dfw around the 23rd or 24th of this month and have to be in corpus the 26th. after the confreence is overweleave the 30th to drive north and visit beautiful hooks,tx and see if the trailer we spent our first year of marriage in is still there any suggestions are welcome and there is this pit in texarkana i can't wait to get to. i am also under strick instructions to go to bryans near houston by one of the ladies i work with who grew up near there. the alsatian sounds intriguing - up near new braunfels, maybe? i also want some good mexican if i can find it. as always - thanks for any ideas and suggestions

jaymes - thanks for the tips. our time during the stay in corpus is pretty well planned out - field trips two days from 7am - 12:30 then papers till 5 pm, third day papers all day with a conference banquet that night. we're hoping to get from dfw to laredo on monday, bird our way down to brownsville then up to corpus. course john wants seafood since we're near the coast - i just want 'cue - good 'cue.

we will be heading for a conference in corpus (by way of west virginia, kansas and oklahoma - but don't ask). we are on our own for two dinners, one of which has to be sandwiched between two presentations. we will be staying down on the water so are kind of limited to that area that night. i came up with some places that sounded interesting and if any of you have an opinion on them i'd appreciate hearing it. thanks Grandview Restaurant and Bar Tokyo Den Wahooz Cajun Cave Yarkarm Restaurant Christian Katz 21

I ask Nick that all the time!! I think we are going to have to join the country club!! or maybe lou will let him borrow the kitchen at american grill and to think i got to sit next to him and eat steak sannies great words about your work nick - and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy

just as i saw the tips of my daffodils - another 3 inches. and forget my crocuses - they are under a 2 1/2 foot mound of snow i did just buy some morning glory, moonflower and dill seeds to start when we get back from texas in early april - maybe by june we will be able to put them outside both john and i have been looking at catalogs in our spare time trying to decide what new thing to try down near the lake that would be perennial and maybe give us a bit of privacy when we are in the hammock. my mom and her grandmother before her used to grow grapes - concords not wine grapes but while my greatgran's flourished mom's didn't. i don't know why. snowangel - i am soooo jealous. to be able to open all the windows and air out the house- ooooohhhhhhh. can't wait.

if you want a hamburger and fries with a beer but aren't ravenous- the service tends to be a bit slow- try o, sullivans! on rt 181 in jefferson when the weather gets nice - IF it ever gets nice. can't recommend any other places on lake hopatcong because after 19 years up here i have found the food is mediocre and the service is slowwwwww. if and when seneca lake fills in zoe's could become a great place to hang out.

lb - once hubby is back tdy casseroles, soups - probably something light since it's getting warm down in belvoir like a spring pea soup, since she is right next door one of the extra loaves of bread you're making for the kids. hooh-ha!

hot cocoa and white cheddar popcorn

maggie - would be happy to make it for you- or bring some back from our field trip next month to corpus by way of hooks and texarkana

what a neat question. the first cookbook was the better homes and gardens new cook book my mom gave me for my 14th birthday in 1968. i used it just the other week for their cranberry kuchen recipe i made to send up with my husband when he visited my in-laws. i also use the shelter island treasure of personal recipes the presbyterian church put out in 1982 - something she gave me as a wedding present. in between there was the paperback fannie farmer that went to undergrad and graduate school with me; is so ratty that i found another copy in a used book store and had it bound but always head for the beat-up one when i need refreshing on pancakes, potatoes or cornell loaf.

that's why the nights i work till nine both my husband and i take enough food to eat dinner at work. leftovers - good!! tonight was gratin potatoes and grouper en papailote - a layer of thinly sliced yellow squash topped with a mixture of diced kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes in oil, the last of the flat leaf parsley, some leftover roma tomatoes diced and a touch of evoo. the butterlied grouper steak a bit more of the tomato olive mixture and several asparagus tips. wrap and bake 20 minutes. tomorrow: chicken cordon bleu by request. sunday i work so will set up a ham the husband can put in to bake, some potatoes and some butternut squash. have his favorite baby mixed greens leftover squash will become a soup; ham bone and leftover ham will become split pea soup for sharing at work

at least in hooks, tx where we lived the first year of marriage the locals used a bag slightly larger than the mini-lunch size ones snowangel suggests in order to maintain your girlish figure. also remember that in that part of texas there were a)no beans, b) no tomatoes and c) no ground beef in chili. finely diced flank steak and dried chilies only to make a bowl of red. the thin fritoes and topped with onion and monterey jack cheese. made this last summer for husband's 20th anniversary party at work

there are both red and white but i prefer the red which also resided in the fridge

what is lillet? a french appertif made of red wine and herbs that is served chilled. also, why only lobster tails? what about the rest of the lobster (i obviously have a lot to learn on the omnivore front tails are the meatiest and work well in a risotto. with the claws - roughly chop 'em and mound them in a toasted new england hot dog bun(slit on the top of the bun rather than on the side) that has been toasted lightly and drizzle with melted butter. that is food nirvana. p.s. - those are an awsome pair of dogs holly dug up

Bloody Marys Campari lillet

red beans and rice blood orange mimosas sangria