AROUND AND ABOUT FROM 3-24-25 TO 3-30-25

  Hello Family and Friends, thank you for reading my around-and-abouts and letting me know by emails, texts and comments, that you enjoy them. It is enjoyable for me keeping in touch with you all, letting you know what we have been up to and in return, what has been going on in your world. Again, thank you!

Weather forecast from 3-31-25 to 4-7-25

A lot of food talk with pictures this week, so maybe you had better not look at this while you are hungry.

Monday, March 24th, 2025: I have just returned from the DMV, in a different area that our son told us about. He said it was a little quieter than where we were before, with shorter lines of people. Very true! We had an appointment and arrived early but were seen way before our set time. The process was smooth and we were out the door in no time. One thing I was surprised at, that although we got this Real ID well before the May 9th deadline, I still have to get it renewed again before my birthday in July of next year. This is when my ordinary driver's license would have expired. The process won't be as long though as I had to fill out extra forms today. Apparently the rules have changed.

No breakfast today but when we got back and for lunch, I told my dear other half that I fancied the same chicken sandwich that he fixed yesterday, plus the addition of a mug of tomato soup. Very nice! No photos of that one though.

Tuesday, March 25th, 2025: Again, no breakfast as we were discussing where to go for our weekly lunch and I was tired of MickeyD's. 

I suggested driving to Gregg's favorite, the Bahn Mi place, which I have shared before. They do the best Bahn Mi Sandwich on a French Roll that we have ever had, and it is consistently excellent. We always order the meatball sandwich which is nothing like the Italian-style meatball. They are made of ground pork and seasoned differently with Vietnamese flavorings. You can look at a recipe here to give you an idea of what is inside the bun. Not exactly the same as ours as we have more slightly and delicately pickled vegetables.

He had a longer wait for the first time ever and we arrived later nearer the lunch hour rush.  I was outside sitting in the car reading the news on my phone. 

The delay in the store was because they were waiting for a new batch of bread to be baked, which is all done on the premises.

 

He was in line for 20-plus minutes but once they had the bread, he was out of there in a few minutes, and we had our car picnic. That fresh-from-the-oven French roll was the best ever! (As you can see, he likes to send photos while he is waiting. Do we go together or what? The photo below is a cropped version of above, so that you can see a few of the different foods they have on sale. Looks like they had a recent delivery and were still putting boxes away.)

On the way home the man said something to me which I didn't hear. This had happened earlier at home and the second time I said perhaps he was mumbling. He then said no, it's your hearing, you need to go get your ears checked." I turned to him and said, "Well, someone may think me as deaf as a doorpost, but that someone needs to be reminded that the eye doctor said I've got better eyesight than he has and who knows, maybe even better hearing. Stop mumbling!" You'll have to read last week's account to get that one. He had a good laugh, which was my intent, always enjoys the banter and as he is practicing his French, "Touché" he said. And to add, Gregg has a pretty loud/clear speaking voice and so does our son. And yes, my hearing check is on the list because he may be right on this one.

Word of the Day? 

Touché (pronounced ‘tooshay’)

Example: when you pull a rare fast one on your husband, he just might say "Touché". 

The word Touché means, "You hit me with the tip of your foil" in fencing, or "Wow, that was a perfect retort, or “You made a really good point." or "Touché Denise, and stop looking like a cat who has just finished the cream!"

The foil is one of three fencing blades used in Olympic fencing. Who knew? Not me apparently.

Interesting information online, and I got all this from a website I found on my curiosity journey, all thanks to Gregg and his improbable mumbling and my probable unhearing, and his "Touché".

Gregg actually took fencing which was a compulsory class in his first year at the naval academy in 1965. 

Well, I made my 'point' that day, doesn't happen very often and yes, I am smiling.

(There is no rhyme nor reason to my posts. Jumping from one topic to the other is how I roll.)

Anyhow, he and our son met up in the afternoon. I was happy they got together, and I enjoyed pottering at home for a few hours. 

Later, Gregg had just gone upstairs for the night when I thought I heard some yowling not too far away. I was listening when Gregg came downstairs to tell me, and we heard it again. I opened the front door and peeked out just in time to see a fox on the opposite side of the road in my neighbor's front yard. It was trotting along, clearly visible in their door lights and only seconds in sight, but it was a lovely one. I wondered if it was the same fox our son saw on his way into the neighborhood the other day. There are several around. There is a creek and a wooded area not too far away, where we think there are dens. A nice ending to our day. 

Wednesday, March 26th, 2025: the sun is shining. Lovely! My breakfast was a late lunch of Weetabix with a cup of strawberries, 4 dates and pecan halves. 

Dinner: we made a new shrimp dish and were going to add scallops, but it would have been too much. The shrimp dish was outstanding. The seafood was purchased at Costco, frozen in large packets and I will share that dish next Monday. 

Snack: This you will have seen in yesterday's Monday Morning Recipe post. I had bananas and strawberries that needed to be used and found a recipe for Strawberry Banana Cake. That was another ten out of ten. I am still looking for nice meals to serve up when family arrives in the middle of next month.

Thursday, March 27th, 2025: another quiet day so far at 1:39 p.m: breakfast was the same as yesterday beginning with the letter 'W'. 

Lunch/Dinner: We have just eaten the scallop dish I mentioned yesterday. Another winner on our never-ending mission to eat more seafood - sautéed in a mixture of olive oil and a sauce of lemon juice and butter added. I will share it on here eventually. So easy, simple and fast! I served both shrimp and scallops with steamed broccoli.

Snack that evening: a slice of the Strawberry Banana Cake.

The sun is shining! The current temperature is 55 degrees F.

In the evening our son and daughter-in-law called.  They are in Los Angeles for a few days and wanted to let us know they had arrived. It is a semi business trip. 

Friday, March 28th, 2025 at 11.23 p.m: Gregg went off to meet his old friend for lunch. I spent my time doing a few chores, blogging and watched a show on Netflix called Tracker. I quite liked it but only watched one episode. It is about a man who finds missing people and I thought was very well done with good acting.

Breakfast/Lunch: I didn’t feel like breakfast until noon, and had a small slice of the banana and strawberry cake, with blueberries on the side. I froze the rest of the cake for another day.

Dinner: I had a single portion of a stir fry I found in the freezer. Neither of us were that enamored when originally made a few weeks ago, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. I liked it more this time round. It had ground cooked pork, shredded cabbage and carrots (a coleslaw mix), and baby corn you usually find in a can that also had beansprouts and sliced water chestnuts. Not bad and ate something fairly light and nutritious while not having to cook anything, but did not like the addition of the can. There was a brine taste that even after rinsing did not completely disappear. I won’t add that again. Normally we like stir fry a lot.

Gregg came home and told me about his day. 

Saturday, March 29th, 2025 at 8.40p.m: for breakfast Gregg picked up our weekly doughnut and my coffee which carried us through to dinner which was cheese on toast and a commercial beef and barley soup with veggies. It was another no-fuss-in-the-kitchen day today.

We drove over to Lowe’s, our home and hardware store. We are interested in getting a couple of chairs and a small table to go on the deck in the far corner.

My knee was acting up and I didn't get too far walking around, but I had a great time looking at all those open blooms. However, I didn’t see anything I liked enough to purchase in the way of outdoor furniture. 

A big truck was outside and the gentleman delivering said he was dropping off flowers and plants from North Carolina. Inside, the cash register was busy with over 20 people in line, but we were basically reconnoitering. I took photos of flowers with prices and loved looking at the different ones. I want to go through the photos quietly and decide which to get. Gregg is leaving it up to me to choose. I'll point to the spot and he will dig the hole.

Spending a quiet evening. We find ourselves with our head in a book more often than not. I completed the jigsaw puzzle below…

and sometimes play a game of scrabble. If there is anything I want to watch, my dear other half goes upstairs early and I may either watch an episode of something, or a movie. I enjoy ‘Dark Winds’ which is a series that takes place in the 1970’s. It is about the Navaho Tribal Police in the southwest and the acting is very good. I started the third series a couple of weeks ago. 

An early night is in order, we are both getting tired.

Sunday, March 30th, 2025: Very nice weather and sunny. It was 80 degrees F. according to our car thermometer. It didn't feel that warm but there was no humidity. No breakfast and nothing until we went out for a late lunch at Santini's, a submarine sandwich shop. Gregg ordered a cold cut, and mine was a steak and cheese. We shared a packet of fries. I take half of mine home with me and reheat for dinner. Gregg fixed himself spaghetti that night. This week has turned into something like a food fest, and I keep saying next week we should do better at not eating out quite as much. 

We had another lovely chat with my brother-in-law in Germany. Always lots to talk about and we enjoyed at least an hour on FaceTime. Such a fun guy to talk to, especially when we all get going and always a brother, not just a brother-in-law.

With our fox sighting this week, I started thinking of them and did a scribble sketch of a fox today. You can see the original that I chose to copy. 

Scribble, scribble, scribble, never perfect but fun to do.

And on that scribble note, thanks for following along on last week's daily journal…

and a very happy first day of the month!

MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - new post -

 This is another old recipe as I haven't made any new ones this past week. I am thankful to my old blog for being able to transfer recipes I haven't shared here yet.

Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches - serves 8

You can find the original recipe at Valerie's Kitchen, link here.

4 lbs. beef roast (rump, sirloin tip, or other)
1 (14.5 ounce) can or 1-3/4 cups beef broth
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup
1 (12 ounce) bottle beer
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 French rolls
2 tablespoons butter
Creamy Horseradish Spread:
           1/2 cup sour cream, light or regular
           1 tablespoon creamed horseradish

Add beef broth, French onion soup, beer, Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder to the slow cooker.  Whisk to combine.

Trim excess fat from the roast if necessary and add to the liquid.  Cook on low setting for 7 to 9 hours.

Combine the sour cream and creamed horseradish in a small bowl.  Cover and refrigerate.

Transfer meat from the slow cooker to a cutting board.  Slice on the diagonal and transfer sliced meat back to the cooking liquid. (I would chop the meat into smaller pieces for sandwiches.)

Preheat oven broiler.  Spread butter onto sandwich rolls and broil till nicely browned.

Assemble sandwiches by filling the sandwich rolls with some of the meat, spread with creamy horseradish to taste, and serve with the au jus for dipping.

Adapted from allrecipes.com.  

This was a keeper!  I served it with coleslaw. The rolls we used were Maiers Steak Rolls which toast nicely in the oven.

This is the second time we have had this meal as there were lots of leftovers from dinner last night. We will be having one more meal over the weekend and freeze the rest.  I will freeze the steak and the au jus separately.

For lunch today I sprinkled a little shredded sharp cheddar on the bread before toasting.  I also used the Horseradish cream minus sour cream.

MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - ROAST SALMON SANDWICH WITH CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE

I found my recipe here, at Season with Spice, hosted by Mark and Reese. My thanks to them for a very nice lunch. I think you will enjoy checking out this recipe blog, as there are some great dishes in here and the photos are great. 

Roasted Salmon with Chipotle Mayonnaise

Makes 2 sandwiches

1/2 salmon fillet

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Fresh lemon juice

1 avocado - sliced

Handful of arugua leaves or your choice of leafy greens

Slice of red onion

4 slices of your choice of sandwich bread (a dark rye is suggested)

Chipotle Mayonnaise

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt or sour cream

1 large garlic clove, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)

1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle, or to taste

1 teaspoon honey

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.

Line a baking pan with foil. Coat salmon fillet with a drizzle of olive oil and place it on the pan.  Season the salmon with salt, freshly ground black pepper and lemon juice.

Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until just cooked through (roasting time will depend on the thickness of the fillet and your oven temperature).

While the salmon is roasting combine all the ingredients for the chipotle mayo in a bowl.

When the salmon is cooked, remove from the oven and flake it with a fork into small pieces. Add the salmon into the bowl of chipotle mayonnaise and mix well.

To assemble the sandwich, add the chipotle mayonnaise-salmon mixture first, then top with red onion, avocado and arugula. Enjoy!

I thought this was a very tasty recipe, and very filling. I fixed this for lunch one day when Gregg was away for a few days. (This is an old recipe, before retirement. It has been made several times since and enjoyed each time.) 

I had half a portion for dinner and ate it minus bread with salad fixings. The salmon tasted really yummy even before adding the rest of the ingredients. In fact, even though I enjoyed the sandwich very much, it would be excellent with just salmon and salad. 

This time I used a crusty Ciabatta-type bread roll but I can also see how good it would be with a dark rye, as suggested by Season with Spice. 

MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - SANDWICH FOR ONE - EGG, AVOCADO AND MOZZARELLA CHEESE COOKED IN AN AIR FRYER

I have no link for this.  It was something I saw online. The page disappeared and I couldn't find it again. However, I remembered the directions. This is for an air-fryer. What I liked about it is that there is no butter or oil involved, and it fit in with my plan to eat a healthy breakfast.  

Gregg met up with an old navy buddy for lunch, involving an hour and-a-half drive there and back, and was gone for several hours. The time passes quickly, he enjoys his time and I enjoy mine. I do a tidy up of the house. Once that is done, I catch up on some computer time, I read, take photos of the birds and squirrels, look at the melting snow and ice and think to myself how nice it will be to take a walk once everything is clear again. I do a few other things, and before I know it, my dear other half is walking through the door. It was a fast day. 

And now for my lunch, a ‘sandwich for one’ cooked in an air-fryer. You could also do this in the oven but not sure on the timing. You probably have your own version but I like to keep even the simplest of recipes on here, to remind me to make them again if I like them enough.

Egg, Mashed Avocado and Mozzarella Cheese Sandwich in the Air fryer  

2 slices of bread - any favorite - my choice was wheat

1 large egg

1 small avocado 

1/4 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

Preheat the air fry to 350 degrees F.  

Mash the avocado. 

On one slice of bread spread the avocado corner to corner.  Place the second slice on top.

Using a spoon make an indentation on the top of the second slice of bread and crack an egg into the indentation. 

Sprinkle cheese around the egg so that it covers the entire bread but leaving the egg showing.

I put it all together on top of a piece of parchment paper, previously cut to fit the inside of the air-fryer.

Carefully, as that airfryer is hotter than hot, use a large enough spatula to easily transfer both parchment paper and sandwich into the air-fryer basket, and cook from 8 to10 minutes (I cooked mine for 8). 

What did I think? As you can see, I added a few cherry tomatoes to my plate.  

I made it with wheat bread and although I felt my sandwich came out too dark, it tasted great. It was crispy and delicious, but there were a couple of things I want to improve on. 

I made it twice last week. The second time I reduced the heat to 345 and cooked for 10 minutes. It still came out brown and the egg white wasn't all the way set, so back in for a couple of more minutes.  I am still not totally satisfied with the process.

I will try it a third time and use white bread instead of wheat.  I also thought of separating the egg from the white, just using the yolk. I know we're supposed to do this the other way around but the yolk isn’t the problem.  

I could cook it in the oven but would have to  experiment on timing.  

All this being said I thoroughly enjoyed the sandwich. It just looked too dark and I would like it more golden brown. There is definitely room for improvement.  

Here is an idea Denise.  Put the bread in your toaster, spread the avocado corner to corner on the toast and put a poached egg on the top of that. Voila!  Another go-to breakfast which I mentioned a few weeks ago. The new version was fun, just a little more challenging and I do love a good challenge.  

Maybe one of my blogging buddies has another suggestion.  I would love to hear any recommendations.

Thanks for stopping by, 

have a great day and 

Bon Appétit!

GREAT AMERICAN COMMUNITY KITCHEN AND A VIETNAMESE SANDWICH SHOP

Yesterday was an interesting day here.  It rained for most of the day and during the evening we were under a severe thunderstorm/tornado watch.  Neither came to anything and I am hoping no one else experienced them either, that they just disappeared up into the sky.  The last warning that did any damage around here was years ago when a tornado touched down two miles away, and shaved the front off a lot of homes, along with their roofs.  Before then I didn't even know we had that kind of weather in our area.  We know how devastating they can be from all the news reports.

Rain or no rain, we decided to go out and get lunch for a change.  We know of a Vietnamese sandwich shop called Banh Mi DC Sandwich.  It is about 35 minutes away, and we always order the same thing, a Meatball Banh Mi.  Gregg discovered it years ago when he worked in Washington DC.  It was about half-way home.  We don't usually have breakfast on such days, and eat lunch early-ish.  We arrived here before noon.  There is no sit-down area inside, which is fine as we always have a car picnic in the parking lot.  The sandwich is consistently excellent and in all the years we have been coming here, we have never been disappointed.  It is in a shopping area and the parking lot is filled with cars, but we always get a space in front of the sandwich shop as people are aways coming and going.

It was still raining on our way back, but in the distance I saw a yellow truck which peaked my interest. I wanted to look it up when I got home to see what it was all about.  This is a website you can read.  Another website I found explained further:

"To help feed those in need, Great American Restaurants has launched The Great American Community Kitchen. The Community Kitchen prepares and distributes meals for local hospital workers, first responders, those on the front line and those who are food insecure throughout our community during this time. Their goal is to reach those on the front line and those who are food insecure in our community."

I rarely post on the weekend, but this is a wonderful cause and I wanted to share it with you today.