EllieH

Steaks and eggplant on the grill, with broccoli roasted in the oven, and leftover birthday cake

Tonight was a medley of leftovers -- Thai food from Friday and pasta with sausage from Thursday, followed by plum cake, made today. I'm looking forward to leftover cake (with a bit of greek yogurt) for breakfast tomorrow, it should be even better with a little more time for the flavors to meld.

Oh yeah, we brought a bunch of those! It actually wasn't as bad as I'd feared, there were a decent breeze in the upper deck for most of the game. Got to see hit #2,999 and did not go back today to see #3,000, but were watching it at home.

We're going to the Rangers game tonight, are we going to see... A) Beltre get two hits, for 3,000! Woohoo! B) Beltre get one hit, so close! C) Beltre get no hits, rats! D) Doesn't matter, I will die of heatstroke during the 1st inning?

We like it! We've had TJ's spring rolls or potstickers with it before too. Its a meal we've tended to keep in the freezer (ie re-buy it the next time we go to TJs after eating it) but at the same time don't have it super often.

Trader Joe's Orange Chicken and fried rice

Any recommendations for Sydney, Australia? We'll be there in July!

I tried Trader Joe's canned Mutter Paneer yesterday and do not recommend it -- despite all the spices listed in the ingredients, it was completely bland, really quite tasteless.

Baked potato and a roasted beet, quick and easy

We love Trader Joe's! Its moved into the Dallas area in the past few years. Its great for staple items and good sizes for a two-person household, as @spiderpig mentioned above. Favorites of ours include the mandarin orange chicken, chicken fried rice, lasagna, stacked eggplant and macaroni and cheese, plus staples like sourdough bread and greek yogurt. We'll buy wine on occasion, Italian soda, random cheeses (brie bites!) and crackers (love those gorgonzola ones). They had a frozen grilled zucchini and eggplant side we had a bunch of times and then it completely disappeared, though we keep checking to see if it'll be back. And while I love lots of their chocolate snacks and items like the little "hold the cone" ice cream cones, I try not to buy them too often, so I'm not snacking on sugar all the time (i.e. eating them all in one day)... but I think I am going to have to pick up the multi-flavor Joe-Joe's, thanks for reminding me of them, @MargeGunderson. Last night we had TJ's butternut squash risotto with dinner, fiancé liked it but I was fairly meh on it, not sure if we'll buy it again.

Vincent or Thomas, because why not?

Wednesday or Thursday (pending travel timing), I'll be baking an apple-cranberry-candied ginger pie, which has become a tradition with my family over the years. I'd like to bake my great-grandmother's roll recipe as well (so much butter.... yum) but that got vetoed as we are having Thanksgiving with my future in-laws and they want to use their bread machine. I'll just have to make the rolls at home soon!

If you like cherry ice cream, you should see if you can find Tillamook's Oregon Dark Cherry where you live, its amazing!

Someone put a box of Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Twinkies in our breakroom at work yesterday, naturally I needed to try one. While it had a nice pumpkin spice smell on opening the package, I'd describe it overall as fairly tasteless, with a slick, chemically mouthfeel afterwards. Its been a couple of years since I've had a normal Twinkie, and my memory of them is more of a spongy cake, whereas this one was more dense.

Thai food (pad see ew), with delicious leftovers for lunch today!

The fiancee and I both have a love of canned corned beef hash, and cooked in the oven until it gets crispy is delicious! Back when I worked at a bagel place in the summers during college, I got hooked on potato chips dipped in vegetable cream cheese. Super greasy potato chips make that the best! Also, peanut butter sandwiches with mini chocolate chips instead of jam or honey, so good! I've brought that to work before and had coworkers make fun of me.

Chicken Parmesan, with eggplant on the side.

Corndog and a beer, at a baseball game!

It was squirrelly for me too, not advancing me every time. I think I voted for all of them though, nothing on that list jumps out at me as one I missed.

Despite the fact we don't have children yet, it ended up as 'kids food' night -- chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and spinach.

Roasted beets and butternut squash with balsamic vinegar, and goat cheese biscuits with honey

Exactly! No need to migrate again!

I finally got around to finishing off the last few episodes of the season. I enjoyed the season and found it quite interesting, despite it being quite different from season 1. Season 1 of Serial was a show I'd be up and listening to each Thursday morning while I got ready for work, and one I talked about with friends and got my family hooked on during the drive to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving that year. Season 2 was more like This American Life/ Stuff You Missed In History Class/ Stuff You Should Know -- shows I often let a couple of episodes stack up before getting around to listening them. And Season 2 never really came up with my friends, though I was thinking I should ask two of them who were really into it last year if they listened and what they thought.

Orange chicken, rice and broccoli -- quick and easy Sunday dinner

I watched this on a flight this weekend and echo the above sentiments on how good it is! For those of you who have read the book, is it worth reading after having seen the film? I had no idea it was based on a novel until the closing credits.