Anna N

I had forgotten all about that discussion.

Honestly, I know I did not manage to communicate my feelings about the situation very well. I was filled with a mixture of pity and outrage. Being so close to them in both age and condition it felt as if I was an unwilling voyeur in some sort of freak show. I have arranged to be taken out back behind the barn and shot just before I reach their stage.

I did not fall at all this time but I have to say that the photographs and the ideas in the Martha Stewart book are appealing. I have a dead tree copy.

Yes you recognize them. They were extremely good.

Simplicity. Reheated leftover roasted vegetables and leftover roasted potatoes sliced and browned.

Thank you so very much. It sounds very much like the coleslaw that I have known as either Everlasting or Forever coleslaw but I seem to remember they all contain oil of some kind. I assume that yours has a reasonable shelf life when refrigerated? I’m thinking a week?

We had lunch at a Japanese style place today but I posted about it over here.

I usually post in the Ladies who Lunch topic but today Kerry suggested this might be more appropriate. Warning: before any of you get your knickers in a knot, please know that I am old and crippled and hence have earned the right to recognize others of my ilk. I will be 75 this week and walk, only barely, with a cane. As we arrived at the restaurant I noticed a bus clearly marked Non-emergency Medical Transport. I thought it just a little bit odd. This was not the kind of restaurant one would normally bring residents of a nursing home in a group. Oh how wrong I was in that assumption. As soon as we entered the restaurant, the server led us to a table already occupied by a number of people most of whom were even older and more crippled than I. Perhaps she believed that I was part of the group and had brought along my very own handler, @Kerry Beal. As those of us who are old and crippled are wont to do, my first stop would have to be the restrooms. In attempting to vacate the restroom and return to the table I was thoroughly blocked by a gentleman in a wheelchair and his female carer. While they had an interesting discussion about whether he did or did not need to use the facilities, his helper removed both of the foot rests from the wheelchair. She did not just fold them back, she literally disassembled those two sides of the wheelchair. So now I was blocked by a man in a wheelchair, his helper and the excess pieces of his wheelchair. (I cannot imagine anything more awful for an elderly man than to be taken to a restroom in a public place by a female care giver who is not a relative and did not even appear to be someone who knew him well.) After more conversation between the gentleman and his helper it was somehow determined in a manner that was beyond my comprehension that he did not need to use the facilities. Now began the process of attempting to reassemble the damn wheelchair. I could sense my warm sake getting very cold. I asked the helper if there was someway I could perhaps just squeeze by. She was very accommodating but I was now facing a very large, very able bodied, very athletic man who was on his way to use the facilities and didn’t need my help or anyone else’s help. Fortunately he grasped the predicament and backed off so I could escape. Back at the table it was obvious that this was going to be a long and painful ordering process. Until everyone had placed their order nothing was going to happen. Again we should have made our escape by paying for tea and sake and heading over to Popeyes. Kerry made some comment about hoping nobody needed CPR because she wasn’t feeling up to it today. Eventually service began. The other guests had not even the faintest idea of what to do with miso soup, the strange looking tea cups or how this whole affair was going to result in them getting anything at all to eat. When the chef began his spiel he was met with blank faces interrupted occasionally by horror as he conjured up flame and smoke. If he had had any idea in his life of becoming a standup comedian this would have persuaded him to take up hog wrangling instead. The only time he got any kind of smile out of anyone was when he took out his little squeeze toy to pee on the flames. I swear if he had jumped on top of the flat top and begun stripping he would still not have got a rise out of anybody (except perhaps me and Kerry). We missed a photograph of the pathetic salads but you all know what they look like. This was the miso soup served with a soup spoon which only frazzled the other elderly people at the table. I suspect they were also actually horrified that Kerry and I picked up our soup bowls and drank from them. Shared appetizer of shrimp and vegetable “tempura”. The mixed vegetables which were part of everyone’s meal. The flaming onion volcano. My plate with rice and vegetables and two dipping sauces before the steak arrived. To all my friends who care about me , when I reach that stage of old age and decrepitude which is just around the corner and you feel the need to show me that you still care, pick up a nice meal somewhere and bring it to my home where I can eat it in comfort and without embarrassment.

Chicken karaage and cucumber pickle over rice.

No oil? Would you consider putting the recipe in Recipe Gullet?

Almost as often as I care to indulge.

I was gifted some lovely products from Father’s and today I tried the Bacon Seasoning for the first time. Here. I’m surprised my neighbours were not breaking down my doors to reach that lovely smoky, porky smell.

I worked very hard this morning to prepare a breakfast worthy of being posted as well as being eaten. All went well…… right up till the end… The hash began with some Father’s Bacon Seasoning (a lovely gift) followed by some onions and then by some cubed cooked potatoes. The hash was carefully arranged on the thoughtfully chosen plate and then topped with the badly abused egg.

Reheated yorkies and gravy.

Wish I could have made it there but I did enjoy it vicariously and the leftovers were delicious.

I did not make it to the Workshop although I like to think I made a contribution from a distance (eating lunch at wineries while delivering supplies to the College is a tough job) but I did get more than an adequate share of leftovers of their Saturday dinner. If it was as good on Saturday as it was tonight when I reheated it, then everyone ate well. The gravy slid off the potatoes but it is visible beneath them. The roast vegetables (I snacked on these much of the afternoon and even cold they were delicious). The yorkie would have crisped up nicely if I had kept it out of the gravy. The part that was not submerged was delightfully crisp. I reheated everything in the Cuisinart Steam Oven at 300°F for 15 minutes adding the sliced roast beef for an additional two minutes just to take the chill off. Many thanks to @Kerry Beal, Chef Dave and the workshop participants who didn’t eat everything on Saturday night. Only one thing could’ve made it better and that would have been an opportunity to share it with @Chocolot.

It has been added both to my recipe book and to my list of things that must be done soon!

It’s true. There are times when I hate to admit it but it’s not the perfect tool for every job. Few appliances are! Still I persist in trying until I prove that it just won’t work.

I might be forced to steal this idea from you.

Nice to see they are not afraid of their chicken. No gloves required. No concern with cross contamination. Raw and cooked meat on the same cutting board. Oh my! Edited to add: and no constant and obsessive handwashing.

Sometimes dessert is served after dinner and sometimes instead of dinner. Another apple crisp. Not bad but a little too sweet.

Just a little something but it was very good. A chicken thigh that I boned, scored, flattened just a little, seasoned and sautéed until done.

Thank you so much. I could not manage all that you manage for sure. I get tired just thinking about it and for you to share it with us I think is a huge privilege.

Japanese rice soup again but this time with leftover broth from yesterday’s nabe with a few inclusions and an egg. Comfort food and comfortably inelegant.

Greek Saganaki. But it’s not cold I don’t think.