Maison Rustique

My sis brought me 3 tins of these fish meals--the Moroccan, Barcelona and Provence. Can't wait to try them! https://freshemeals.com/

@rotuts, I got a taste and they are delicious! They are service with wedges of crispy polenta which was also fabulous!!

My wonderful sis and BIL came in last night (so we could get an early start packing today), and we went to the best local place here that I've talked about previously. Osteria Bianchi We ordered way too much food. Focaccia there is to die for. Made in-house and served with an olive oil-parmesan dipping sauce. I swear I could just eat that and be happy. We also ordered a mortadella pizza as an appetizer. BIL ordered appetizers meatballs and shrimp panzanella as his meal. Sis & I both ordered spaghetti carbonara. Had a lovely chianti with. They shared a chocolate torte while I tried an after dinner glass of italicus rosolio di bergamotto. It was tasty, but a little sweeter than I'd hoped. I doubt I'd drink it again. Got to chat a bit with owner Kelly Bianchi about her vintage stemware buys on eBay. My drink was served in vintage Moselle which my BIL went ga-ga over. Sorry, once again we took no photos. Got home to the raccuties on the deck entertaining us with their usual antics. Nothing cuter than baby wildlife.

Dang it! I wish TJs would open nearer to me. I want chili rellenos!! Maybe I'll get some take out from the Cuban place to console myself.

This was actually Saturday night and we failed to take photos. My sister and BIL took my other sister and I out for dinner at Jasper's, a long-time Kansas City favorite. Only during the summer during tomato season, you can get table side mozzarella and tomatoes. It is a ton of fun. I had Veal Valdostano, my BIL also had a veal dish, one sis had a chicken entree and the other had cannelloni. We all went home with a ton of leftovers. I had some of mine last night, but still have enough veal left for another meal. It would have been my husband's birthday on Saturday and this week is the countdown of his final days, so was nice to be out and doing something fun. We toasted him several times.

I wasn't really hungry. Started with some chips and salsa. Then had some sliced peach and half an almond croissant from my neighbor's daughter's bakery. Stuffed!

No recent pix from me either. Like @liuzhou, I simply don't feel like eating much when it is this hot. I eat a lot of fresh tomato with cottage cheese or just a small cheese sandwich. Weather is supposed to cool down a little next week so in anticipation, I bought some baking potatoes to eat with various toppings. I did pick up my first fresh peaches of the summer yesterday (only 2) which I will likely eat with some brie, either a cold plate or a grilled cheese. And one of our oldest Italian restaurants in the area are having a take-out special on Tuesday with around 20 entrees available for $15 each. I am planning to pre-order an eggplant Parm and go early to pick it up so I can sit in their friendly dark bar with a glass of wine to wait for it.

Imma do a sammie...

@rotuts, GBP??? Nevermind--green bell peppers--just figured it out.

In the US, it seems that most cutlery sets sell only tablespoons and not the true soup spoons, so most of us grow up not knowing the difference and considering them interchangeable.

I fear I'd starve to death if I lived in China. Do the Chinese never get debilitating arthritis in their hands? I could not eat with chopsticks--even if I tried to stab with them. I can't hold onto thin utensils/items. All my pens and pencils have soft rubbery grips on them and even that is difficult if I'm having a bad day.

My sis and BIL were here yesterday to help me with moving chores. Once again, they brought me a huge quantity of home-grown tomatoes. We went to a fairly new Cuban place for lunch. It was delicious and it is very near my new house, so I will definitely go back. They both had sandwiches and I had tacos that were delicious. Lots of leftovers. Anyway when I got home and it was normal supper time, I wasn't really hungry, but had gotten lectured about not eating right/enough, so I sliced up a little of the Wild Morel & Leek Jack Cheese I picked up at Costco last week ($6.97/lb.) and cut up one of the tomatoes. Had it with a glass of pinot grigio and it was more than enough.

I used to go to SLC every year for a business conference. I'm surprised I never heard about it--I'd have made a point of going, for sure! Mind you, I always drove there and back, so I wouldn't have been buying any of those things to transport back to KC.

I can recall years back finding blends of beef and pork--and often veal--sold for making meatloaf, meatballs and the like. Sometimes they were be separate types packaged together so you could mix it to your liking. Haven't seen it sold like this in years.

That's a lotta feta!!

OMG! I can't wait to see what you make. I am all about pastry. Anything in pastry! This is a book I just might need to get. Sigh.

Elsie, that looks wonderful. Oh, how envious I am that you have the deep pan!! Darn those Box people!!

Ditto!!

This reminds me...during the pandemic, when some restaurants first opened and partitioned off tables, sanitized everything, etc., one of the things was they put no salt/pepper or menus on the tables (you had to look online). So, my sister bought me the tiniest s/p grinders ever to carry in my purse. I did and I kept them in a ziplock bag, but somehow, pepper ended up getting out and into my purse. To this day, I will pull something out of my bag and it smells like pepper. Cracks me up!

I finally remembered to take this over to the new house since I don't have cookware there yet. A few days ago I bought a package of the pork egg rolls at Aldi that I really like. (I hadn't taken this yet.) I nuked one for lunch while I was there and it was soggy and horrid. So, I brought "The Box" and I had one today that I heated in it. Put it on med/med hi, egg roll in, covered. I turned it several times. It wasn't quite as hot as I wanted it to be, but it was at least crispy and I had with some Aldi Thai Chili Dipping Sauce. Much better than the soggy mess the other day. Sorry, didn't think of taking pix since I was in a hurry. Just wanted to report that it worked just as desired.

@Smithy Maybe you need to start traveling with some coffee packets. That's nuts!!

Thanks for asking that so I didn't have to. 😆

I ordered a rolling island yesterday and it will be here next week. Then I have to figure out how I'll wrangle the package 100+ lbs. into the garage until my sis and BIL are here and can put it together for me. I did have a 15% off coupon from Wayfair and used that which paid for their 5 year protection package which will cover replacing various things that might go wrong. So, if the rubber wood top splits or warps, they will replace it free.

I can't wait until I get time to go to TJs. I really wish they'd open one nearer me. I seldom go during the summer anyway--35-40 minutes each way and even with a cooler, I'm leery of buying anything frozen.

@blue_dolphin Thanks! I hadn't thought of Wayfair either. I've never shopped them, but I am pretty sure I got a discount card in the mail from them at the new place. I'll look to see if I kept it when I get over there today.