annzeepark914

Chicken curry & rice for dinner tonight and it was quite good. I experimented a bit and tossed in some chopped apple and chopped sweet potato. Since some bad weather is supposedly on its way to the Mid-Atlantic area, this might be a good time for soup (and grilled cheese croutons!) Geez laweeze--a nor'easter and maybe Hurricane Joaquin right after? You'd think in this day and age, scientists would've devised a system to divert this nasty wet weather to our friends in California.

@ALenore: Happy Anniversary! I love champagne with cake--it's so festive with those bubbles :>)

Funny! I didn't pick up on that since I have a little pot garden of herbs on my deck as well (and nothing illegal in those pots! ;>) Easy supper tonight: grilled smoked pork sausages from MI and I made potato salad. Now investing my time watching the lunar eclipse (well, we watched the moon slowly disappear and hope when it emerges bloodred, that we'll be able to see it...lots of clouds out tonight).

Count me in with those who enjoy hearing "You're welcome". It truly bugs me to hear "no problem" or "sure"...especially voiced by people interviewed on TV news programs (I'm not referring to the man/woman on the street type interviewees). A columnist for the Washington Post once asked his readers for their pet peeves (yeah!!!). Someone mentioned the missing "you're welcome" and others wrote in that saying you're welcome sounds too haughty, that it makes a person feel as though they're being condescending to the thanker.

Dinner last night was Cottage Pie (Shepherd's Pie made with ground beef) so I could use up some leftover mashed potatoes. I remember loving this as a kid. I've got so many leftovers now in the fridge that tonight's supper will be (in Mr. P914's words) "a free for all".

Never had Ripple wine but I do remember Lake Country Red, Lake Country White & Lake Country Pink which we had to buy (it was a NYS wine) whenever celebrating an associate's birthday when I worked for an upstate NY congressman back in the day. I don't know how I ever drove home but my roommate always knew there had been an office party when she'd come home and see me lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. That stuff was (at first) like drinking Kool-Aid so you never knew you'd had too much until all of a sudden...uh-oh!

@harrie: Is it possible to make with ground beef instead of lamb? (by the way, I'm still thinking about lobsters!!)

Once again, it's Ina's Eggplant au Gratin with some thin spaghetti on the side w/ extra sauce + a tossed salad. Hope I don't get sick of this eggplant dish cause I just love it.

@pandora spocks: My best wishes to you for a successful and peaceful recovery. Get all the rest you can and don't feel guilty about missing any visits. Your focus should be on your own recovery and not being a hostess for visitors. (I learned that from my mom who was director of volunteers at a large hospital and would be upset when she saw exhausted patients trying to "host" all the relatives who'd show up and hang around the patient's hospital room forever).

One thing that has helped me survive hot weather is Shower to Shower talcum powder (after my shower ;>) I think it's the cornstarch (?) in it that makes it feel so good and prevents my skin from feeling miserable. If they ever stop making this product I'll definitely have to move to Hudson Bay!

@Qoass: Thank you so very much for making my day so early in the morning! Love this ;>)

So far, my favorites have been Grey Gardens and The Thin Blue Line. Why wasn't Bill Hader in the Al Capone festival episode? (or was he and so cleverly disguised I didn't recognize him?) Just couldn't get into the festival folks (IMO it would've been funnier if they'd gone to some small town in northern Minnesota but maybe they didn't want people to think they were copying Fargo).

Love love love the pet peeve about certain sports! @pandora spocks...you have made my day ;>) I deeply resent how a couple sports have taken over TV (college & pro) so much that other sports barely get coverage at all. And, why in the world do the daggone whistles have to be amplified by microphones? Drives me crazy (which is why football can only be viewed in the basement TV room). Ugh.

I took a shortcut for tonight's supper...a bag of Bertolli's chicken & penne. If you sprinkle some Mural of Flavor (Penzey's) over these bagged frozen dinners before they start cooking, they're pretty decent. My favorite is shrimp & asparagus w/ penne but I can't find it in any of my supermarkets (the sauce is delicious).

Hmmm...I'm just an ordinary ice cream person. I've always preferred vanilla (I have gotten daring a few times in my life--Hagen Daz coconut, the only ice cream I ever ate out of the container...one time...while I was all alone--why don't they make it any more?). Nowadays, I only buy Blue Bunny No Sugar Added vanilla which IMO is wonderful. It tastes very vanilla-y and best of all, when I get it home it's still hard as a rock (cannot abide when the container can be squeezed and the ice cream is softening). It's also light but to me doesn't taste as though I'm missing out on anything. Love to pour pastel sprinkles all over it too. I guess I'm not an ice cream pro.

I might have to give Heaton's show a peek 'cause her recipe for Italian meatballs is very good (found it in Parade magazine a few years ago) but I can't stand her politics and her obnoxious comments (e.g., critical remarks re the Georgetown law student). Or maybe I'll just check out her recipes at the FN site...then I won't have to watch her show ;>)

Big peeve: neighbors who have garages but don't park their cars in them (cause they're over-loaded with stuff). One car in driveway, the other parked at the curb across the street in front of someone else's house. We have barely any street parking in our cul de sac (due to restrictions) and our driveways are sort of short, so it makes it difficult for us garage users to provide available parking space on the street for our guests.

Has anyone been watching Pizza Masters on the Cooking Channel? I just discovered it last week. Two Italian-American cousins, Fran & Sal, from Staten Island (complete with heavy NYC accents) travel the country in a big, old Caddy, trying out different pizzas and local favorites. They own some restaurants in the NY area. The other night they went to Graceland and also the Italian restaurant that Elvis loved, to sample bbq pizza. They're fun characters. They have a new season episode on 9/23 at 9:00 PM.

I loved these skits (maybe because I never knew people like this?) and thought the writing and acting were outstanding. You don't see this type of dialogue on today's shows, unfortunately (where every script seems to be: snarky comment, pause, and then the characters stare at each other). Vicki Lawrence was amazing as Mama because she really became that "old woman". It was always a bit of a shock in close-ups to realize that she had no wrinkles!

I'm late to the umbrella discussion...count me in as an umbrella user and one who has wondered for years why I'm the only one (it seems). I see people scurrying into the stores from the parking lot, shoulders hunched (yeah, that'll protect ya). Umbrellas are so small today once you fold them up that they're not really an inconvenience. Of course, I'm not walking in congested downtown areas with my bumbershoot so I don't worry about poking someone's eye out. Maybe if I were there, I'd wear my hooded raincoat and leave my umbrella at home.

Funny, stewedsquash! And, bilgistic, you're so right--fire is a dry heat. I want to smack folks who like to say, "But it's a drrrrryyyy heat" when talking about temps over 90 in certain sections of the country not being so bad. Hot is hot!

That be moi ;>) Wow...you're lucky to have it on 72 or 73 (when my husband is out of town, the thermostat goes down to 72 or 73). I've found that the ceiling fans really help so that when the thermostat is on 74, I'm ok. But let it be sneakily shoved up one degree? Yikes. I'm just burning up. I have friends who keep their thermostats at 78 and I can't go to their homes in the summer (they bring sweaters when they come here). We had some windows open today to air out the house since it's so beautiful and cool outside. Yay - autumn is getting closer!

@ALenore: What are Indian-style green beans? Are they in a tomato type sauce w/ Indian seasonings? I love Indian food!

@chessiegal: The Washington Post had a wonderful article in Sunday's paper about traveling across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary II. Made me want to pack my bags! https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/cruising-cunard-cross-the-atlantic-and-the-dance-floor-like-royalty/2015/09/10/86f7edec-4cf0-11e5-902f-39e9219e574b_story.html

Give me my AC in the summer...as long as it's warm outside, I've got it running + the ceiling fans. I always have a sweater nearby in case I'm someplace where the AC is running too high (like Harris Teeter supermarket...I take a sweater, that I keep in the car, with me wrapped around my waist and once I'm chilled, I put that wonderful sweater on). We keep the thermostat on 74 in the summer (unless Mr. P914 tries to sneak it up to 75 and I can tell almost immediately...I start feeling prickly and my face burns). If they ever outlaw AC (due to climate change), I'll have to move to Hudson Bay, Canada! Just call me Nanook of the North ;>)