Darienne

I've made lettuce soup before and we loved it. It's not really a 'meal' though.

It's not a digestive issue. The 'doctor' is an acupuncturist and it's a question of...well, I'm not really sure. He's not to have any raw food, nothing cold, because his body heat is ...well, whatever it is. It's a bit beyond me. He's drinking hot spicy teas...which needless to say he doesn't really like. We're giving this a good try and if there's no demonstrable change in 'x' number of weeks, then we might be back to square one. In the meantime, I'm faced with a now reduced glut of salad makings which I am using in a variety of ways so that nothing goes bad. So, for example, a huge package of mild red peppers is now roasted and in the freezer and ready for soups or whatever. Used some in a stir fry last night. Stir fries, believe it or not, are new to us. We are inveterate salad eaters. OK. Done.

Cherry tomatoes into soup: Ed is currently not allowed any raw vegetables and this dictum was handed down one day after his last large purchase of salad makings, including a gigantic clam-shell of cherry tomatoes. Has anyone made soup from cherry/grape tomatoes? You can't peel the little critters and so you are left with the skins in your soup. Is this acceptable? I've found recipes online to try, but would like to know of someone's experience doing this kind of soup. Thanks.

Wow! Does that look yummy...

With luck I will never again do this. I'm not counting on it or its fellows. Was making a confectionery treat using coconut oil which I melted in a small stainless bowl over a small pot of water. Took the melted coconut oil off the pot, put it down on the counter and promptly poured the hot water into my waiting mixture. Not good. after stirring it in for a couple of seconds, I realized my mistake, poured the rest out, added the coconut oil and extra walnut pieces to make up for the water problem. And crossed my fingers. The results are now in the freezer and soon we shall see what we shall see. I could always remelt the entire mass and add more carob powder. Yes, carob powder, coconut oil, stevia, salt, vanilla, walnut pieces. Doesn't really sound delicious and while it's passable. it's not scrumptious.

My favorite chickpea salad: rinsed can of chickpeas, grape tomatoes cut in half, green onions, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, lots of parsley and a substantial sprinkling of chili powder (the inexpensive grocery variety).

Where's the 'groan' button?

Alas, I still don't have the jerseys. Quite near the last minute, I backed out of this one. They live in the most Covid 19 - ridden area in Ontario and I felt that I just couldn't risk it with our son arriving later that week. Our son would be in the category called 'at risk' after the last four unexpected years of his life. Today he turned 55 and we are going out for French Fries for lunch at a local chip wagon which has picnic tables. Now that is fun.

It may be my imagination, but it seems that bean sprouts, which Ed buys regularly, are quite subject to recalls. Which leaves me with a very uncomfortable feeling...

But then institutions seem to have the same story.... Ed taught at a local high school for a few decades and for the first decade or so, the ladies who ran the lunch room were local and not part of any large company. The food was pretty darned good. Then somehow either to save money or from a directive from on high...which also would have been to save money...or placate some company which was in some or all the other high schools, the ladies were dismissed and a large company moved in. Good-bye decent food. Hello lowest common denominator bilge. @heidih; As for food in the hospitals when our children were born. I might have added that our eldest turns 60 in October and our baby turns 55 this week. Having a baby in hospital meant a two-week stay back then.

Had our third child in Montreal at the Jewish General. The food was outstanding. That's where I first fell in love with cheese bagels. Yum. We could buy them in Montreal. Then we found a Jewish delicatessen in Ottawa which made them. Then we moved to the culinary wasteland of East Central Ontario and I've never seen one since. That was 50 years ago. By heck, we are getting old.

Have a Scrapple story if I can be excused for inserting it into an otherwise legitimate thread. Friends came from Delaware to the Annual Dog Weekend with 2 huge blocks of Scrapple for us all to try for the Saturday morning breakfast. We are a very long-time and varied group from North America held together by our one-time ownership of Epileptic dogs going back into the 1990s and we meet every year with our current dogs in August and stay at the farm. Sheila cooked the Scrapple on her electric frying pan which she had brought along for that purpose and we all...dug...in...sort of.... OMG. What awful stuff. The dogs ate under the table very well that morning. They loved it. I will never ever eat anything which is grey and square.

Interesting topic. We live in a 150 or so year old farmhouse and Ed has rebuilt the entire inside of the house...it had no insulation. We've been in it for 25 years but won't be able to stay forever as we are both 80 plus (well, I'm still 79 but not functioning well any more). We have 100 acres and the land has been in production of one kind or another since we got here although we don't farm it ourselves. So the place needs repainting. The kitchen needs cupboard door refacing and counter tops also. And so on and so on. At this point anyway, we've decided to take a 'loss' at reselling instead of redoing what needs to be done. I'm on the side of those who want a basic structure and then to take the money they've saved in a somewhat lower price to refinish things the way they want to do it. That's my attitude.

This is so true. I'm mostly with Heidih. Cheap buns, cheap yellow mustard, sweet relish...but the hot dogs must be charred. And, of course, potato chips. Miss VIcki's please. Oh hot dogs, preferably Red Hots.

Good Heavens. Just looked up the Two Not Touch puzzles and am wondering if this old brain could do them. I still find most Sudoku above my happilly-functioning brain level these days. Never was any good at maths of any kind except for Algebra.

Of course you can't buy them anymore. It was just too good. However, LeClerc has out a new one. Célébration Finger Cookies. That's the one I like best, while Ed prefers their Butter Cookies. I hope they'll be around for a while.

As of yesterday, I do have a 'fun' thing on the horizon. A friend and her husband from the GTA are coming to dinner on the 14th. She is bringing me her castoff long sleeved jerseys to pick through...and her castoffs are better than my first runs. No, I am not a clothes horse. Last time round she offered me her castoff short sleeved tees. She brought...wait for it...79...SEVENTY-NINE... t-shirts, many of which had never been worn. I went through them. The neighbors went through them. Friends went through them. The Dog Weekend folks went through them. And the rest went to a women's shelter. What did she have left at home I wondered...

Alas. I haven't gotten any fun stuff...but I wish I had. Life has been distinctly lacking in fun recently. Although we did eat fish and chips today at a local chip wagon. We sat at picnic tables. Observing social distancing. Now that was fun. First time eating anything out in many months.

Ditto from me. Blown away. Amazing!

Gotcha. I have a friend who is a health care worker and sometimes a older client will give her his late wife's cookbooks. She is a dedicated non-cooking type so she passes them on to me. I then have called in friends and neighbors to take what they want (after carefully taking the best for moi-même ) and then the remainder, if any, goes to the library.

You are incredible Ms. Suzilightning. So generous. And, pray tell, why do you keep having reams of cookbooks to give away? I am really curious.

My summers were spent at camp. In fact, I was the only kid I knew whose parents sent their child away for the entire summer, year after year. I think there might be a message there. And then I became a CIT and then I became a counsellor and waterfront. In fact, I was a canoeing instructor. And just to prove it's all true, here's a photo of Ed, my husband of 60 years now, visiting me when I was a counsellor up at the YWCA camp. And yes the food at camp was always pretty awful.

Gotcha. 1941.

Sorry to read that. Most of the mods were always nice and polite...heidih helped me through a lot of gaffs on my part. However, I do remember a few shits who were mods when I joined. One in particular, who will remain nameless......

I have now made my very first mayonnaise, but using only lemon juice which is acceptable. It's anything fermented is out. So I'll look up the Tonnato sauce now. Thanks.