maison rustique

In Kansas City, if I'm not mistaken. EDITED: Not invented here. Invented in Chicago, but launched in KC.

I've heard from several friends who have evacuated and as of yesterday evening were anxious to know if they had a place to return to.

@small h, that salad looks delicious. I love parsley-based salads. I make one occasionally (with sun-dried tomatoes & other stuff), though I seem to like it more than anyone else. And the last few years, the critters and birds ate more of my parsley than I could harvest. Harrumph.

We have been socked in with ice and snow and frigid temps since the weekend. It isn't warming up soon, so snow isn't budging. Things have been shut down all week. Not a happy camper. I miss SoCal despite the fires. Hollywood and others, please be safe!

Going to pick up Lucky's ashes today so we can spend our birthdays together (mine tomorrow, his Jan 1).

Think what a wonderful world it would be if every person performed just 1/10th of the good deeds he did. RIP.

I absolutely adore that video. He is having the time of his life!

@splinky, the important thing is whether or not YOU enjoyed the trip down memory lane.

Aside from a bit of family drama at the very beginning, our dinner at Lidia's was fantastic. There was entirely too much food. First course was served family style: Caesar salad; a walnut, celery and cheese salad ( I lucked out and got the leftovers); mushroom arancini, beef and pickled veggie toasts; tuna on toast; salami; mortadella ; and bread with a hummus and avocado-something and olive oil. All were wonderful. As if that wasn't enough, servers showed up with huge pans of pasta---a rigatoni in Bolognese and butternut squash ravioli in a sage brown butter sauce. The ravioli had a touch of cinnamon and something else slightly sweet in them. Delicious! By the time my short rib arrived, I took one bite and left it to get packed up. It is fabulous and I can't wait to have it for supper tonight. Pete had manicotti that looked wonderful, Heidi also had the short rib, my sister Kathy had pork loin that was stuffed with bourbon-soaked prunes and Aaron had salmon that looked lovely. They brought 2 trays of desserts--pumpkin cheesecake, various biscotti, tiramisu and candied orange peel. I had a couple of bites of tiramisu, but honestly at this point I was on overload. We had a couple of bottles of a very nice red wine (Montepulciano of some sort, though I didn't pay that much attention) and a wonderful time was had by all.

We are going out this year--Lidia's. Their menu sounds fantastic. Was not a good year for me to host/cook and my sis felt the same. Oddly, our nephew and great-nephew who we had been led to believe are homeless, have said they are coming. Drugs figure largely into their lives and neither has attended a family dinner in years. They will either no-show or it will be an embarrassing 3-ring circus.

A chilling thought...

Thanks for the recommendation. That sounds delicious!! Going to save the recipe.

There have been water demons in this house from Day 1. I've lost track of the number of serious leaks we've had. Have a plumber scheduled for today--badly leaking toilet in the entry bathroom. The mechanisms have been replaced in it so many times and nothing seems to last more than a few months. The whole darned things may need to be replaced. So be it. I'd rather not be making a big investment since I want to be out of this place soon, but I can't be battling water all the damned time.

You're not alone.

I'm still not eating much at all. My sis and BIL were here yesterday and we went out for lunch. I had a burger and actually ate half of it. Then, naturally, I wasn't hungry for supper. So, supper was a nuked bag of popcorn (half of it) and a hunk of cheese.

Where did October go? I think I slept through it.

The Boston Celtics killed it in the season opener. I'm a happy camper.

Shaboozey--he appeared in the Celtics opening ceremony last night and was terrific.

My Medicare provider sends free meals after you've been in the hospital. Just tried one. They arrive fresh but you can freeze for longer storage. I am impressed with the varieties they sent. Just had this one. Was it great? No but it wasn't the worst thing ever either. Broccoli was crunchy and flavorful. And it was more than I could eat!

Did not take pix, but last night my sis made me meatloaf, mashed taters and roasted baby carrots. It was wonderful to have some real food. I even had a tiny taste of wine, but not much as I think pain pills and wine are frowned upon.

I might need their plates.

Mostly that I wanted to do a stint in rehab since I'd have had to be alone with many, many stairs if I came straight home. No one felt comfortable with that and especially since my blood pressure kept dropping and I'd get a bit dizzy. So, insurance took forever to approve the rehab, but finally got it done. Short stay in rehab until my sister could be here with me when I got home. She lives in Topeka and still works. She can work remotely much of the time but has occasional meetings and classes to teach. We're working to get things moved around and set up so that I can do on my own when necessary.

I'm home with my new hip! Spent 5 days in hospital and 3 1/2 days in rehab. So glad to be home. Lots of recovering to do. Lots of modification to stuff and routines ahead. Walker on every floor. Cane for back-up. My sis is here to care for me and the cat.

I had a chopped salad with Saltines and butter. Didn't have bread, so I went diner-style. I'd forgotten how much I love Saltines with butter.

I'm so envious. I'm terrified of canning. I have taken 2 classes and I'm still terrified. I think if I had someone to do it with (someone to confirm that I wasn't going to poison everyone), I'd do it.