Valentine's Day Wednesday! Our Daily Dinner

Valentine's Day Wednesday!

chuckieb 6 years ago
Good Morning Everyone and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I ended up picking up a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir from the Russian Valley in California for Jim as well as two craft beer and a bag of his favourite wine gums. :) Jim, Benjamin and I travelled through the Russian River area when Jim was working in California and have very fond memories of vineyards that we visited there.

Not quite sure of our plans yet. Jim is still snoozing. We had talked about going to the movie "The Post", but the first showing is after 4 p.m. and that might not fit in well. We're going to BBQ some tenderloin steak for dinner along with four lobster tails and probably some asparagus on the side and I have two remaining Cinnamon Jello shots for dessert. :)

Wishing everyone a fun day! Michelle, do kids still bring Valentine's for their classmates these days?
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LindaLMT 6 years ago said:

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

I love Valentines Day. I love holidays that are just simply fun and too it's our anniversary. Married 10 years now. We won't be doing anything "special" today, thought about going out for dinner but after the experience of being rushed when we went out New Year's says to me "don't do it".
Sitting on the fence still with what to make for dinner. I have a piece of chicken left from last night that I really want so I may heat that up for me and grill a steak for DH.
Dinner last night was so good! All I did was cook chicken breast in the crockpot with the homemade cream of chicken condensed soup. Made a rice side with green beans and carrots. It would have been nice to have cooked everything in one pot but I didn't because I wasn't sure how it would all turn out. Next time.

Our neighbor fixed our screen on the lanai this morning so that's done. When we had the hurricane the screen punctured and since it wasn't horribly bad I duct taped it. After the storm screen was hard to get and I was in no hurry to get it fixed but today was the day. I think we are caught up now with home repairs/projects.

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Got a newsy message from Benjamin. He is off to Hanoi his tomorrow morning, our this evening (they are 12 hours ahead of us time zone wise). He and his friend Jon went to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels yesterday, the network of underground tunnels that the Vietcong lived in during the Vietnam War. They got to crawl through some of the tunnels which he said were quite claustrophobic even for him, who is smaller than the regular guy. He said it was interesting but if he had a do over he'd have gone to visit the Mekong Delta. He ate fried frog, BBQ pork ribs and fried noodles with seafood at a Vietnamese style beer garden which he said was fantastic. He said his favourite discovery so far is a green dipping sauce that comes with most grilled meats. He says it's much more spicy than Sriracha but has a lovely basil/coriander flavour. Jim and I are very envious of his food forays. :)

Sounds like you got re-stock in the veggie department Karen. Is it the "Cutie" oranges you got? I'm always up for Rotisserie Chicken. :)

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

SP Linda! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO YOU AND YOUR DH! Congrats on 10 years! I saw your write up on the Crockpot Chicken in IMI11. Having never made that homemade condensed soup I'm thinking that Cream of Chicken would likely turn out the best, but the condenses Campbell's soup that I use the most is Cream of Mushroom and I don't know if a chicken bouillion base would work with that as well, although I see on Keni's recipe page that Michelle I think has done it before. I also see that that Crockpot Chicken and rice recipe calls for Condensed cream of celery soup. That's one I use in a recipe by Points for Celery soup in addition to a bunch of other things. That's great your lanai screen is all fixed now and you're pretty much back to normal after the hurricane.

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

Love your Jell-O shot pix on FB Janet. Pinot Noir wine is always good. Did you live in California at that time? Wow on Benjamin's food finds. The tunnels must have been scary. A friend of ours was in Vietnam war and his job was to infiltrate the tunnels. He is not a small guy so it must have been claustrophobic for sure. Yes, we have fresh veggies....yay! Won't be home to fix them today bec we have church service tonight, or tomorrow bec of Wayne's appts.

Hi Linda! Valentines Day will probably be crowded so I can empathize with your decision to stay in. We would if it wasn't for the fact we will be traveling this evening. We thought of leaving early and having an EARLY dinner before the rush. If it is too crowded, plan B is to wing it!

I still plan on making the condensed cream of chicken (or celery) soup, but grabbed a couple cans to have on hand for lunches....his buddy will be working here next week and sometimes tuna noodle casserole is the choice. Egg salad sandwiches work well, also.

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LindaLMT 6 years ago said:

Benjamin's adventures are very interesting Janet. He is seeing so many great and historical things and enjoying some pretty awesome foods. I can't imagine being in those tunnels. I'm claustrophobic and have anxiety just thinking about it. LOL!

Hopefully Michelle will pop in an elaborate on how to season a cream of mushroom soup.
I picked to make cream of chicken because that was easy for me and I knew how I wanted it to taste. But yes, how would you season mushroom? Celery I can see seasoning with celery seed or celery salt.

Travel safe Karen and I would think if you got to a restaurant early enough it won't be a problem to eat. Especially because it's mid week and people work till 5:00 p.m. and wouldn't go out until after.

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

SP Janet.

I agree the cream of chicken is the choice. Don't use cream of mushroom as much because daughter has food allergies and I also don't care for the canned version as much. But the celery

Was watching Today, but Megyn Kelly is on and next and Iher format doesn't fit with the rest of the show.....personal opinion only. Tee Hee. So it is time for another cup of coffee and a quick breakfast.

See you later.

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mommyluvs2cook 6 years ago said:

Omg, I had typed so much and lost it!!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Enjoy your wine and beer tonight Janet. The kids do pass out V-day cards still. For Caiden's class we had to make a decorated box with the top cut out so the kids can slip their cards in it. Bri just passes out some candy, since they don't do it in class at her age. Sounds like Benjamin is having a blast, I'm envious of all the food he is trying too! I have tried broccoli, celery and mushroom soup and all turned out well :)

Happy Anniversary Linda!! Too cool to celebrate it on this day :) Glad your chicken in the condensed soup turned out well, sounds delicious.

Got the kids off to school and now I need to get everything ready for the games Bri want's to play at her party. Lot's of typing up and printing stuff!! She's doing Truth, Truth, Lie (I think it's a version of truth or dare?), Would You Rather, Name the Song, Candy Pass, and she's doing a time capsule type thing where each girl will write her a letter or something and she'll put it in a box and open in 5 or 10 years lol.

We are going to dinner tonight with my parents for Bri's birthday. Since it's Valentine's day we are going early, probably around 4:30? Then we will all go to Caiden't Ninja class since they have been wanting to watch him. Poor Michael has to work :( We did find out though that he is done with the straight nights on Sunday! He will have a few day's off then go back to his regular shift. SO HAPPY!!

Wishing everyone a great day!!

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mommyluvs2cook 6 years ago said:

Sp! Hi Karen :)

Being a little more specific Janet, I'm pretty sure I used chicken stock in all of the cream of soups I made, I rarely have vegetable broth on hand. I have only used S&P and a little garlic powder to season and I think it still taste yummy, but I'm sure you can season with whatever you'd like!

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Good4U 6 years ago said:

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!
Happy Anniversary, Linda!
Happy Birthday to Den!

Your avatar is adorable, Janet. Wow on the tunnels that Ben crawled through! I hated that War as much as I hate any war. Glad he is enjoying himself.

Very pleased you had your screen repaired, Linda. It is nice to get house repairs out of the way.

Enjoy your dinner out with Bri and your parents, Michelle. Too bad Michael will miss it but nice to hear his grueling long hard shifts will be done soon. Cool on Bri doing a time capsule. Lol, that should be fun to open in years to come. I bet Caiden's Ninja class will be fun to watch.

Den is working away putting tiles on the floor. Later on, he has a dental appointment b/c he lost a filling in one of his molars. He is hoping he doesn't have to have freezing put in but I am thinking he will. We will go out for dinner or lunch later on this week. No idea at the moment what we are having for dinner. I have been summoned to go look at something. Be back later. I hope.

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LindaLMT 6 years ago said:

Wow Joce! Den's birthday is on Valentine's Day. That's so cool. Happy Birthday to Den.
What type of tile is he laying? Oh-No on loosing a filing but it's gotta be fixed and I'm thinking he will have to numbed to drill out what might be left of the old and filled with the new.

I'm not a Megan Kelly fan either Karen. No reason, not really a fan of any of them.

That's really cool on the time capsule thing for Bri's bday Michelle. It'll be hard to wait to see what was written in the letters and maybe even harder to see years later how much might change. Enjoy dinner out with your parents. How is your mom feeling? Perhaps get a dinner for Michael to go so he can still kinda enjoy the time too. Awesome he will be coming off of straight nights soon.

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Karen, Jim ran a branch of the company he was working at in Sunnyvale, CA for a couple of years. We had it built into his contract that he could bring me along 6 or 8 times a year, can't remember which now. He'd work in Ottawa, then fly to California and then a little later it also included Cambridge, England. So we'd go for two or three weeks at a time. I'd get to go play and Jim would have to work although we'd do day trips on the weekends. We bought Benjamin a flight to join us one time we went to CA and we did the Sonoma Wine Route. So awesome. Hope you manage to find somewhere to eat out tonight that's not too crowded.

Gonna have to go through the rest of the posts when I get home. We're heading into town to do errands. Will postpone the movie 'til Friday and just come home and do a hot tub then dinner. It's GORGEOUS out right now and actually above Zero!!! Yay!

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

Hello again!

Isn't SP wonderful -- NOT! Ha. Ha.

Janet, a friend of ours used to work in the Middle East -- Saudi Arabia I think! He tells a few stories about it that make me just as happy I wasn't ever traveling there. But his wife was allowed to accompany him. I don't know what company etc. or what they did but it was a cooperation between it and a Saudi one of some sort. Not my area of expertise! Anyhow, it must have been great traveling and visiting England etc. I remember you describing the places you got to see! Cool!

It is 59 F, to reach 60-ish today. Tomorrow it is to be a it warmer. Friday it will be a high of 35 F! Crazy weather! They were calling for badly needed rain but it is now taken out of the forecast. Grrr! We need some good rains.

Just cleaned the counters and they are much better. The island still has groceries to put away. Sweeping hurts my back so I had to stop for a bit. But they floor is almost ready to mop. It could use it for sure.

Cool on the kids time capsule, Michelle! The valentine dance pictures were so cute on FB!

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

Hi Linda. Wayne likes Today, I don't care one way or another, but Honda cracks me up! I do get bored with all the constant baby stuff --- but I guess it is liked by someone or they wouldn't have it on. Ha ha. I really like Kathy Lee Gifford. I think Megan should be at the end of the program, so I don't have to find something else to watch while she is on.

However, to each his / her own.

We plan on a three day RV trip in April. Probably will return a day early so we can avoid leaving Fritz in the RV for too long. He does well, though, and likes his walks around the park, esp if people see and talk to him.

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MissouriFarmWife 6 years ago said:

Hi Joce!

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Benjamin is having an absolute whale of a time Linda. The cousin of my Mom's that we visited in Uxbridge last week has PSD as a result of the Vietnam War and so it adds an extra element of interest for Benjamin when he's over there. Benj said that as horrified as he felt for the U.S. Soldiers who had to fight that guerilla warfare, he felt equally bad about the conditions that the Viet Cong lived in in the tunnels. As you said on my FB post. War is just so horrible. Jim and I got three Duck breasts on sale at Costco today. Jim's going to go through some Vietnamese recipe books and see if we can replicate one of the dishes Benjamin had. I think I'm going to buy a jar of Better than Bouillion Beef AND Better than Bouillion Vegetable when I try Keni's Condensed Soup recipe.

Happy Valentine's Day to you too Michelle. The beer is all for Jim. I despise the stuff. :) Fun that Caiden handed out VD cards.I kept one of Benjamin's boxes of cards received from maybe Grade 3? It's a decorated pizza box full of all the Valentine's Day cards he recieved. I LOVE the idea of a time capsule for Bri's birthday party. How lovely! Have a lovely dinner out with your parents and have fun watching Caiden's Ninja class. Poor Michael having to miss it but great he will be done night shift soon.

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Happy Birthday to Den Joce! What a great day he got for his birthday! It is SO nice out there. People are literally basking in the sunshine. SO good for the soul. Is it a stick on tile Den is using or something trickier? A shame he had to go to the Dentist on his birthday and I agree, I suspect he'll have to have freezing unless it's just a temporary filling.

Yes Michelle, How is your Mom feeling these days???

Take it easy with the housework Karen. Fun on the April RV trip. Always nice to have something to look forward to.

We got all our errands done in town. Jim bought me a dozen roses at Costco which are beautiful and I also found this box of 24 Greeting Cards for $16.99 which works out to .70 cents each. I'm ecstatic! Jim and I don't buy cards for each other anymore because they're ridiculously priced but I still like to send them to my Aunts, Jim's cousin's girls, etc. It is an assortment with mainly birthday cards but some other occasions as well and the cards themselves are gorgeous.

Jim's just going to wash the road salt off the car and then we're going to go for a Hot Tub. I'll start to tan with weather like this. :)

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kimmer 6 years ago said:

Good afternoon and hello to all. Happy Valentine's Day to all! Happy birthday to Den, Joce and Happy Anniversary to you and hubs Linda. Does sound like Benjamin is so enjoying his trip. And I get what he means by the horrific conditions on both sides of the war. Fun on the RV trip Karen. I think I used to have more fun with the Valentines for school then the kids did Michelle! It's 79F here right now but with a nice little breeze. Sun shone brightly for us today too.

Dinner tonight will be some baked chicken breasts, mashed potatoes and corn. Mainly making mashed as Benny is in the middle of a root canal right now and mouth is sore. He had a dental appointment today as well. Told him I could puree his chicken like I used to do when he was a baby, lol. He just gave me one of "those" looks, lol!

Hope all enjoy the rest of the day.

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chuckieb 6 years ago said:

Happy Valentine's Day Kimmer! Bet all your treats were well received today! Your dinner sounds lovely. Poor Benny having root canal work. Ugh. Pureeing his chicken is really quite a good idea despite how distasteful it might seem to him initially. :) LOL.

I've PVR'd a silly, romantic Hallmark Valentine's Day Movie to watch after dinner. :)

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laurieg 6 years ago said:

Hi everyone.
Janet I love when I find that box of cards at Costco. They never have them anymore. I used to give the box as a gift to the kids teachers at Christmas. Something different. Plus I hate paying so much for a card. I got frank a valentines card and some of the. Were $7:99. Crazy!
We had this bbq chicken that was premade from Trader Joe’s. I was going to make The Sicilian casserole but I did t get home until later. I had to pick up Becca from work her car is in the school’s repair shop. One of the perks of going to a tech school. Lol
We are going to go out to dinner on Saturday night to Seasons 52. We have never been but the menu looks pretty healthy. Frank wrapped up a bottle of Fire Cider and gave that to me as a gift. It’s a amped up version of Apple cider vinegar.

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