ktmoomau

So- I am going to see my Mother who is older. But I feel very lucky as she has a really nice front porch, back porch and she has an old fashioned house which has a whole house fan which draws fresh air through the house and up through the attic. So my Mom and I have put in a protocol- if some of this is helpful for you. I generally try to quarantine the week before I see her. I make only absolutely essential stops along the way- for these I have my mask and disposable gloves, wipes and throw the wipes/gloves away when exiting. I wear my mask when inside with her, or outside if I am worried we might not be as distanced as we should be (esp with kids I think this is good, it's what I do with my nephews- when they were up Mom wore her mask as you never know when someone was going to get hit by the other and come screaming, crying into your arms). I have a bunch of masks. I sleep upstairs with windows open, so that my air goes out and doesn't populate her space and I can have my mask off all night. We try to be outside as much as possible. When making meals, I keep one side of the sink with warm, soapy water, anything I touch goes in there, and then I put it into dishwasher (I avoid things that can't be dishwashed, except knives that I hand wash). I wipe down the kitchen and bathroom frequently with wipes and use a separate bathroom than her. We try not to touch each other and have no purposeful touchings- which is so hard. I put all fabrics that I have used- towels, sheets, blankets in washing machine when I leave. We have assigned seats in her home, so that I have certain seats and she has her seats. Etc. Etc. There are a few more things, but you generally get the point. When my brother and his family was up, my Mom stayed up the street at my Aunt and Uncles house and they stayed at my Mom's house and she came home a few days after they left to let fabric services decontaminate, and then wiped down all the other surfaces. And they all saw each other outside. Don't know if you have other family up there and could do something like this. It is a fair amount of extra things to think about, but I found writing down the protocol I would have and sharing with her, my aunt and uncle, etc, made us all feel better, and we all know the rules. It is so hard with kids. Now that I have done it twice, we have the protocol down more and it is easier.

Scratch that... Well we decided that post-Corona we are going with our good friends to Croatia and Austria. It's good to have things to look forward to, even if it might take a while.

It's bad out there. I don't know what the solution is. We are trying to do take out/delivery a few nights a week. But I also don't want to drive a really far way to do pick up either just for a weeknight- because Hubby and I have been working crazy hours and are tired, as well. Add on to that then if I want to see my Mom, I am trying to do stay at home pretty thoroughly for a week before I go. I wish we had better leadership across the board to think of creative solutions. And I am not just talking about the national level- I am talking all the way down to the local level.

Well I accidentally got a double order of sausages from Stachowskis (I know this is just terrible, right?). So we have been eating a lot of sausage. Last week I made pasta with kale, sweet Italian chicken sausage, onion, in a garlic, butter, lemon, white wine sauce. We also took half smokes/german white sausages over to a friend's back yard with slaw and watermelon. I may have then repeated this for another dinner with our renter on our back patio. I also made "beef and broccoli" with venison tenderloin. I might be a little sausaged out for a few days- so a lot of them went in the freezer.

No, def not provolone, I think Emmental is likely, but it didn't seem to be your generic one is all, it just seemed like a thicker slice of something that was non like grocery store quality.

I went really far down on the menu and got a Fat Molly pita, that was tasty, but it is a fork and knife kind of pita. But it was tasty.

I made some granola bars because I had a bunch of pecans, but I don't love them. I would like them to be crunchier and I want another spice besides just cinnamon and vanilla, maybe like a graham masala or something??? Ideas? All the crunchy ones had flaxseed meal though in the recipe, and I didn't have any of that. They are fine, but I want them to be better next time.

It was gooier than I thought most swiss cheese was... It definitely wasn't run of your mill sliced swiss, it was gooier and more yellow, with the tang though of swiss.

The past three days lunch has been everything bagels from Bullfrog Bagels, with smoked salmon spread from Cold Country Salmon with either roasted beets or some grape tomatoes from the garden. Or leftover hot dogs. Lunch is kind of a reoccurring theme: leftovers.

That Funky Cuban was really good! If they did the pressed bread with a little crunch, oh man! But even without, the pork was really juicy, I liked the pickle, and it seemed to have really high quality cheese? Was that just my imagination? It seemed like really good cheese.

Just made it because I was in a hurry- julienne sliced fennel, apple, added goat cheese, chopped bacon, and put some balsamic vinaigrette I made on it. In the past I have followed recipes, but it was pretty darn good just like that.

Last night was cedar plank salmon with caesar salad. Saturday night was hot dogs and half smokes from Stachowskis on the grill with an apple/fennel/bacon/goat cheese slaw and watermelon. Friday night was soba noodles with carrot, cabbage, shrimp and a soy/chili sauce. Tonight was leftover salmon with the soba noodles.

Oh a positive note- I posted it elsewhere on the board- I had a very positive dining experience outdoors at Lena's Oasis. Their staff are wearing masks (and gloves if they are touching plates, etc). The tables in the "Oasis" are spaced REALLY far apart, their are partitions and plants. We had a corner table which was even more spaced from others. There are straws if you are worried about drinking from the glasses. Etc, etc. It made me feel as safe as one can right now, and a wee bit normal. It was lovely. I can walk there from my house, so I didn't have to worry about driving or getting in an Uber. I don't know that I am ready to take the plunge at a lot of places, but I felt like they were very much thinking of my safety. I also had my mask on until drinks/food came. And put it on when the server came to take our order (your mask protects me, my mask protects you). Michael our server was just too nice. We had friends that went to Whiskey & Oyster. There were a good amount of people sitting outside, and there were only two occupied tables in the whole indoor space, so they sat inside instead as they felt they could be further away from people that way. So everyone has their own comfort level. But I won't go somewhere if staff isn't wearing masks. That is a personal choice for me.

Tonight was chicken thighs with a Penzey's rub. Rice- which didn't turn out how I wanted, but was fine. Kale salad with lemon, tahini, parmigano cheese dressing. The other night was salmon packets with green beans on the grill.

It wouldn't be bad, if the servings were a little bigger, but the high prices, plus the serving size being a bit small just for a take out experience was difficult because we were eating with friends, and you can't just order more food. Plus for the price, why not just include rice?

We've been getting delivery from Market 2 Market, they have great online beer selection, their Italian subs to me are better than the Italian Place, I need to try the Cuban! We also have been getting bagels, chicken salad and other items. We haven't had a miss yet on the food, although one of eggs we ordered in the dozen arrived broken, this definitely gets a pass. I am hoping that the location of St. Elmos opening up in North Old Town will have some Market2Market sandwiches available.

We got Kung Fu Kitchen delivered the other night. I thought all the dishes were good, although it seemed a little pricey for the amount. But it is kind of hard to find non-American Chinese food close to our house, so it really hit the spot. We got the jajiang noodles, dumplings (forget which), twice cooked pork, bbq buns, and the braised pork belly. I liked the noodles, the dumplings and buns were fine, and I thought the braised pork belly was good. As a note, we didn't think about it, but if you want rice, you need to order rice. I just didn't realize it didn't come with the order.

My office has been getting Lost Dog delivered about once a week the last couple weeks. It is generally very fast delivery, they label things well, and they have a selection my office likes.

I tried my first outdoor dining experience at Lena's Oasis. I thought the whole thing was pretty incredible. For those not familiar, they put a large tent on their parking deck- with a floor, lots of potted plants, partitions, etc. The tables are incredibly well spaced out, and you feel like you have a lot of personal space. The wait staff was wearing masks, gloves at times delivering items. The food was fine- I got chicken parm- it wasn't the best or the worst, but it sure was nice to go to a restaurant in a way I felt safe.

It's me again! Surprise, surprise. Monterey continues to be one of our normal rotation local places to get delivery from. I will say I like their gourmet pizzas better than just a plain pepperoni. The other night we got the General Santos. This seems to be one of the neighborhood favorites, as I often see their delivery car in our neighborhood in the evening. The pizza of the month with banana peppers and salami is good too.

I have made bakewell bars with apple jam and craisins, and family pie (a little like a cobbler/clafoutis), oh and corn muffins (but when you are using Jiffy Mix, is it really baking?). I made a pizza crust the other week, but I thought it was a little thick, I needed to stretch it more.

Cheerios of the honey nut variety last week. Now I am out of Lactose Free milk. So this morning was macerated strawberries and some juice mixed into plain greek yogurt, which was quite tasty. I have one more serving of that tomorrow. At this point, I feel a bit like a hermit, I am not saying I haven't been outside, or to work. But I haven't been inside a store since early March- grocery or otherwise. At this point, it's not that I don't feel safe going into some of the small stores, it is just mainly I can acquire anything from take out or delivery. And I have just thought- why put my loved ones at risk if you don't have to. I kind of want to eat outdoors at a restaurant, will do that soon likely. And I am getting my hair did this week- so I will finally go in a place.

Hubby and I have both been crazy, crazy busy at work, but I have cooked just a few meals. Last night Hubby smoked ribs, and I made a nappa, carrot and spring onion slaw with a bbq/mayo/honey/cider vinegar dressing. We also had the last of some Texas caviar from a previous Sweet Fire Donna's order. We also made venison burgers with potato wedges on the grill. At some point I made softshells... they were delicious, pan fried over a rice pilaf, with sauteed squash. I made roasted beets and miso roasted root vegetables up at my Mom's to go with some delicious pork chops. Other than that, I have mainly just been carving together meals with leftovers. Tonight was leftover Goodie dip from Chop Shop to which I added some brisket from Sweet Fire Donna's roasted beets, a few chopped grape tomatoes from my garden.

I have not been on DR as much recently between work getting really busy and then just spending so much of my time for work staring at a screen already. Last night was- apple, turkey summer sausage/bologna, swiss cheese and crackers. The night before was shrimp and veggie skewers on the grill with a lemon, garlic, butter marinade/sauce. With grilled potatoes by from our renter. We had a nice dinner to celebrate his girlfriend being able to go do her residency. Although we will miss having her around. Saturday was leftover "bbq" chicken sandwiches with bacon, provolone and a spicy aoili I made, and the last of the greens. Last week was the aforementioned oven "bbq" chicken thighs (rubbed with bbq seasoning and then basted with bbq sauce while cooking. Mac and cheese and cooked greens.