Right this second I’m sitting on the porch of my (rented) condo down at Gulf Shores, eating boiled shrimp and crab claws, chasing them down with Smirnoff blue label screwdrivers, about to switch to Bloody Marys in a jiff. Is about 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity, sunny with clear skies. Sunset inc! What are you having for dinner tonight?
We’re going to have grilled hotdogs on toasted buns with minced onions & homemade pickle relish, and roasted corn on the cob with a pat of butter. We may not be able to take a vacation to the lake, but at least we can eat as if we’re on a campout!
Last night (Sunday) I had a yummy chicken and coriander thingy with steamed rice and some home-made bread.
A nice heaping helping of jealousy. 
I had chicken fingers and soggy fries from the place across the street.
Sammiches. I got a bunch of deli stuff. It was supposed to be sammiches out by the pool with friends but it got so damn hot this afternoon, everybody gave up and headed for the AC. So, I’ve got sammich stuff and tater salad. ACBG (da squeeze) and I just had big ol’ turkey, provolone, ham, lettuce and tomato sammiches with tater salad. It was good. Oh and some watermelon.
Spaghetti, with sausages in the tomato sauce. Garlic bread would be overkill, because there’s only one of me tonight.
Hurry up, dishwasher! I’m starvin’!
Mr. SCL always takes his patient to the patient’s parents house on Sunday, and they always insist that he eat with them. He’s so stuffed right now… I’m having fried green tomatoes.
We’re hoping to squeeze in a trip to Fort Walton this summer to visit Mr. SCL’s side of the family (we did mine last summer). If they don’t hire some more nurses for the case he’s working on, we may not be able to do it.
Chicken Kiev and potato pancakes I bought from M&I on our afternoon outing to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. For dessert I have a selection of cheap and ripe fruit I bought from the green markets there.
We also bought potato veriniki with onions, eggplant salad, mushroom salad, several kinds of sausage, Russian rye bread, goat cheese, lox, pickled red peppers, lamb shashlik, four kinds of Russian chocolates, some really cool beer and a lemon lime soda that looks pretty neat.
I am happily anticipating several truly excellent meals.
Just had a homemade dinner of grilled Cajun-spiced catfish, grilled skewered shrimp with Old Bay spicing over a tossed salad, and sauteed green beans.
If I weren’t on a diet I’d have had the catfish over yellow rice, and washed it down with a nice India Pale Ale.
As it was, it was plenty delicious!
Well tomorrow is my birthday and I knew I wouldn’t feel like cookin’ so tonight I made baked ziti and meatballs. All from scratch (except for the actual noodles).
Right now my oven timer beeped so it’s time for chow!
Yesterday’s dinner was equally good.
It was the day after my birthday so we went looking for a special place to celebrate. Unfortunately the first restaurant we tried did not accept the Entertainment book. The second place was out of business.
So we walked into this Italian Trattoria in Upper Montclair that looked pretty and promsing. Our instincts were right. The amuse bouche was fresh tomato sauce, a deeply flavored cheese wafer and a little mound of goat cheese.
For an appetizer I had the frito misto. The expertly fried plate included zuchinni slaces, an artichoke, a potato cake and a rice ball. My husband licked his plate of fennel salad.
As a main course I had the veal parmagiana with the most perfect tomato sauce. He had the best potato gnocchi I’ve ever picked off someone’s plate with a glorious mushroom cream sauce.
We topped it all off with great coffee, cookies and conversation at a nearby Starbucks. A very worthy birthday meal.
I bought a cast iron tortilla press yesterday! I’m making homemade corn tortillas and then enchiladas with queso freseco and roasted chiles verdes, and a sauce of chiles anchos and poblanos. Topped with a bit of queso blanco and alongside a couple cold cervezas mas finas and you’re good to go. 
We had grilled boneless pork chops with a very simple, very delicous mango puree (1 mango, seeded & chopped, juice of 1 lime, a couple dashes of salt and a good healthy pinch of cayenne) and a whole grain and pecan pilaf out of a box. (That was a mistake. I could have made something much better from scratch, but it was on sale and I was seduced by the pretty picture on the box. When will I learn?) Oh, and some green beans.
Roast Beef, roasted with carrots & onions, & a side of mashed potatos.
And a mighty fine piece of beef it was, too!
And some left over for sandwiches later this week.
Nothing fancy. A ribeye on the grill and fresh asparagus from the neighbor’s garden.
Just a grilled hamburger on a wheat bun and some tomato salad–Atomic Garlic tomato salad, I call it. Just tomatoes, salt, and raw pressed garlic. Pretty tasty.
Pastrami! Pastrami Woooo!
Finaly found someone that makes it RIGHT, in ultra huge 3/4" thick slabs, replete with juicy juicy FAT, none of this lean crap other people call pastrami…
So pastrami sandwiches all 'round. And a beer. Or three.
I would remiss if I failed to mention the homemade brownies my friend’s brought over earlier today. They left us some. Two warmed up brownies, some vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce makes for some fine dessert eatin’. 
Y’ever had steak au poivre?
Here’s a list of ingredients:
Steak
Crushed peppercorns
Beef broth
Chicken broth
Onions
Cream
Butter
Brandy
Lemon juice
Realllly hot skillet
Food of the gods.
We mashed our own potatoes, too.
Hmm, interesting…the recipes I’ve seen use demi-glace. After going to every store in a 20-mile radius, I discovered that no demi-glace was to be found. Are the broths a good substitute? If so, that’s going to be my dinner in a few days. 
Tonight’s dinner: field greens with gorgonzola and walnuts, tossed in balsamic vinagrette, and grilled prime strip steak.