Maison Rustique

A hot day meant salad--topped with crispy pepperoni and I added shredded parm after the photo--and a sage-thyme croissant from my neighbors' baker daughter.

Been having this for dessert every evening (until last night when I had the cream cheese with a croissant). I love this cream cheese!

I have everything in this house needed to make meatloaf. Did I make one? Nope. I bought one from my local milkman. I am definitely getting lazy in my old age. It is quite tasty and I did not think $9.99 was a bad price for an 18 oz meatloaf that was ready to pop into the oven. I roasted some potatoes and brussels sprouts to go with it. While I was prepping that, my neighbor popped over with a couple of croissants that their daughter (who owns a bakery) left for me. I had one later with the Peaches & Cream cream cheese from Trader Joe's.

Thank you! I plan to move to a new house in a few months and will look into those when I do.

I seldom like the taste of tap water and mostly don't trust that it doesn't have something in it that I don't want so for years I've used Brita filters. Now I hear that Britas don't remove anything from water except the chlorine taste. I'm not sure what I want to do about this. If anything.

Yum!! That meatloaf looks great!

I had the good fortune to have a couple of meals out this week. We have a new place in my little area. I met friends at Osteria Bianchi for Happy Hour the other night. I had their Pizza Finnochio and it was fantastic. Took home half, which I had for another night. Yesterday after we decorated family graves, we had a late lunch in Independence at Ophelia's. I did not take photos but had a delicious brunch item It was a thyme and cheddar biscuit that was topped with cheese, coconut chicken, thick crispy bacon, an over easy egg and drizzle of hot honey. It was delicious and enormous. I'll be having the rest for a supper. We followed lunch with cocktails at a little place on the Independence Square. The Sentinel Room is a very small intimate bar in the old newspaper building. Delightful people and delicious cocktails. Did not take many photos but here are my BIL's smoked old-fashioned and my sister's champagne cocktail of some sort. That is my older sister in the photo who would be horrified that I put that photo of her on the internet.

Yep! Only spaghetti. And in fact, spaghetti and egg noodles for chicken and noodles were the only pastas that existed in our house. Mom was a great cook and she made a lot of different things--we always had lots of different veggies and dishes, but she was not known for her international cuisine.

@Shelby So glad you are OK. We sure have had the storms this month! The food looks fantastic. Hope you enjoyed your Mom's visit.

It was spaghetti sauce in my house growing up, too.

I'm not sure jarred hot dogs are any stranger than jarred Vienna sausages, which I'm pretty certain have never been to Vienna.

I have never seen or heard of this brand. I must be stupid because I've also never seen marinara sauce referred to as tomato sauce. Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee this morning and I did get up an hour early, but I was confused.

I always make a couple of pounds, then slice it up and freeze in portions for future sandwiches. Nuthin' better than meatloaf sammies.

Once when my husband and I were in Paris, we'd spent the day shopping and were exhausted by mid-afternoon, so sat down at an outside table to enjoy some wine and olives. A group of ugly Americans (3 couples who apparently were doctors and their wives in Paris for a medical event of some sort) were seated at the table next to us. They ordered pizza and proceeded to sit there complaining about everything they'd experienced so far in Paris. We'd been speaking French with the server, so continued to speak French and apparently they thought we were French because they also began making remarks about the French people sitting around all day drinking wine instead of working. When their pizzas arrived they were horrified to find that they were nothing at all like the pizza back home. We were dying laughing the entire time. And of course we made sure to speak English loudly as we were leaving so they'd realize that we heard and understood every word they said about us.

A friend brought me potatoes au gratin so I made a meatloaf sandwich to go with for supper. I like my meatloaf sandwich the way they made them at Marie Callender restaurants. With mayo, sharp cheddar and plenty of salt and pepper. No photo of the sandwich, but here are potatoes.

It was over 90 degrees yesterday (and more of the same today) and I didn't really even feel hungry. I had a cold chicken thigh with a little side salad. Avocado lime dressing over the whole thing. Glass of pinot grigio. It is too early for it to be this hot.

OMG! They would have to drag me out of that place!!

Why? How very unappealing.

I have not heard of this, but am anxious to hear. Always an issue for me, too.

Sandwich of chicken with artichoke/lemon pesto and a little side salad.

Wow! My mouth is watering just thinking of all the flavors in this!

@Nancy in Pátzcuaro, glad you are recovering and hope the ablation does the trick for you. My sis had one this week, too. I'm not sure she even had food while she was there. She had some complications and was in ICU for a couple of days.

Oh, it could have been really horrible. When you first said Big Mac taco, I was thinking you buy Big Macs and crumble them up into taco shells. That would have much too far! What you did doesn't look bad at all.

@Kim Shook That is some of the best-looking hospital food I've seen. So sorry you had to go through th is. It is amazing what coughing can do to us. Many years ago, my severe coughing fractured all my ribs. Definitely not fun. Got me to quit smoking!

I seem to recall being at an event or restaurant where they served olive oil ice cream that was quite tasty. A real surprise!