Sounds fun (Palm Springs). I'm in New Jersey. Flew here today for my grandmother's funeral. She passed away last week, at 105 y/o. Her life was very full and long, her last year had been in a sort of gently fading twilight, and her death was, it seems, pretty peaceful and painless, at home with no tubes or machines. So her passing was as gentle as it should have been. Life was kind to her, and at the end no less. Laying on the couch, lights off, thinking about this house and the things left over from fifty years of being my grandparents' home. There are photographs, my grandfather's calligraphy scrolls, my grandmother's needlepoint art. Those will be taken, I suppose many have already been over the past couple of years. Then there is the random daily stuff that has no value, but that I recognize from fifty years of visiting and sometimes living here. Old toys and books, dishes, things like that. I suppose it will all be disposed of, except for a few bits that people might take for sentimental reasons. Then the house will be sold, as a fixer because it needs a total remodel, although in a nice neighborhood with a good sized lot. And that may, I think, be it for New Jersey, for me. My aunt and uncle and one first cousin live here, but without my grandparents, my connection to this place, a place I never liked much, will be done. I think I'm going to cook dinner tomorrow at my aunt's. She has a nice Bluestar range and that is where most of the family will be. Her daughter, my other first cousin, is flying in tomorrow. She lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where her husband works for the United Nations. I don't think they like it as much as Switzerland, where they lived for the last several years. But the UN HCR (High Commission For Refugees) moves its senior staff around every several years. They don't get permanent cushy posts in comfortable cities; they have to go where the refugees are, so Ethiopia was, I think, better than some places they might have ended up. There isn't much scope for home cooking as an expat in Addis Ababa, I'm told. Especially with young kids who are adapting from their previous Franco-Swiss diet (and life). So I figure she might like a dinner at home, at her mom's home anyway. Menu undecided but I'm thinking about chicken marbela. I also have a hankering for ceviche. They may not go together, but tough. Otherwise, no interesting cooking recently. I have spent the last month on back to back to back business trips. So I've been eating like crap - airport food, hotel food, restaurant food. Occasionally a good ramen or other street food in New York, but mostly crap. As the weeks of this have dragged on, and I've gotten fatter and flabbier, I've started skipping restaurants altogether and going to grocery stores and delis to get "healthy" things to eat. So my diet has mostly dwindled to Greek yoghurt, canned sardines and tuna, bread and cheese, fruit, takeout sushi, and coffee. It's not a bad diet but there isn't much cooking or variety involved. Although I have discovered that canned tuna plus Greek yoghurt plus a little salt or soy sauce makes a creditable and oh-so-healthy tuna salad. And that chopped raw salmon, Greek yoghurt, and one of those super-miniature bottles of hot sauce that you can filch from restaurants makes a reasonable spicy salmon filling. When I get home on Monday, I don't have another trip on the calendar for months. I'm going to cook up a storm, enjoy being home on weekends, re-acquaint myself with bicycling everywhere, lose this travel flab, and appreciate springtime in Portland.

No cooking this weekend, no interesting cooking anyway. Took daughter to school for her Speech & Debate tournament at 6:30 am. I was not happy about getting up at 5:30 am on Saturday. By the time I got home, it was still dark, but it seemed pointless to go back to bed, so I put on bike gear and went to ride laps up Mt Tabor, our local hilltop park. The "mountain" in Mt Tabor is a very miniature one, it is really just a big hill that used to be a volcano way back when. There are a couple different roads that lead to the top. They start in pretty neighborhoods then climb up through trees and past fields and reservoirs for about a mile, though some are shorter and steeper while others are longer and easier. On my first ride up the hill, I watched the sun rise through the tall trees, and that really made my morning. I kept climbing to the top, circling the peak of the hill which became more sunlit on each lap, descending through the fog and mist, turning around at the bottom and trying a different route up. On one lap I saw a familiar jacket ahead and caught up to it. When I first took my bike to Mt Tabor a few years ago, I met a guy who rides laps up the hill every day. On weekdays he does a few laps as part of his bike commute, on weekends he does laps in the mornings. He'd explained to me that severe arthritis runs in his family, and climbing hills on the bike was the only way he could stay pain free. His mother had both hips replaced, his sister has had one replacement and is needing another, but he is still fit and mobile on his original equipment. I was so impressed that I started riding Mt a Tabor semi-regularly, and have done ever since. But not like this guy. He's ridden up the hill over 40,000 times. When I first rode up the hill it seemed awfully hard, even on a mountain bike with very low gears. I struggled and my heart pounded as I gasped for breath. Now I'm better at climbing, so I ride a road bike with fairly high gears and can have a conversation while climbing, as I did today with this guy. There are much steeper climbs around Portland and I am still not a good enough climber for some of them. The idea I had a few months ago is to make my Mt Tabor laps more difficult by only using the big chainring (that is, forcing myself to use the harder gears) and pushing so that I am struggling on my last lap. I hope it works like weightlifting, where you get stronger by pushing your muscles to failure, and that I'll do better on the steeper climbs now. If I really wanted to be a better climber, I'd lose 20 or more lbs. The best climbers on a bike weigh 140 lbs. But they don't hang around the Cooking Forum either. When I was done, it was still early. I rode to a Saturday farmers' market where they were just setting up. One stall sold breakfast burritos, and I got a duck and lamb burrito (only in Portland). It came fat and hot and wrapped in foil. I slipped the burrito in one of my jersey pockets and it kept me warm on the ride home. Unfortunately, when I got home I was so hungry that I ate the whole burrito and raided the fridge and didn't stop until I'd eaten what I estimate was 1,600 calories. It wasn't even 10 am yet. Talk about undoing all the morning's good work on the bike. And that is why I am not cooking this weekend. I think I need to not think about food for a couple of days! This post was edited by johnliu on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 23:45

TGIF indeed, I'm clinking with a cup of peppermint tea. Johnliu, I really like turkey, although I'm not a fan of stuffing. In fact, we had smoked turkey for supper and will have turkey again next week. Are you having visitors, or only the family? I say make whatever they like best and they'll be thankful! Rob, that IS exciting, mostly the visitor, I'll be watching to see who it is. I had to smile at the thought of The Boy, dropping parachutes off the deck. Ashley climbed up onto the roof and dropped eggs, her project was to make something that would protect the egg from breaking when dropped from varying heights. Yeah. Bubble wrap worked really well when I sent that dozen farm eggs to dishesdone in New York, and it worked pretty well for the project, but she eventually made a foam rubber "nerf" type container. What will that contribute to her knowledge as an adult? Darned if I know, LOL. Dedtired, good luck on those walks. Of course, walking in snow up to your armpits does burn a lot more calories. (grin) Lars, I'd definitely go for the free fish. I thought my herbs were finished here, we've had snow a couple of times. I knew the sage would grow through the snow and I'll have rosemary for some time, but parsley and thyme are both green and growing too, I didn't realize they were that cold tolerant. Diane, the second week of deer camp is the most wonderful time of year. (With a big nod to Da Yoopers, LOL) It's cold here and we're supposed to get anything from an inch to 9 inches of snow this weekend. A woodstove would feel good. Alexa is probably partying right now, I live a boring life... Today we raked the yard and cleaned the house well, we have our first potential buyer looking at the house tomorrow. I have all my fingers and pretty much everything else crossed. So, we're going to the farm to check on the calves in the barn that are being weaned and we'll insulate the pump house before it gets too cold. I'm hoping to negate the problem of the pump freezing if it gets more than 20 below zero without running a drop light out there. I don't know if it will work, but if nothing else the insulation will help the light keep it a bit warmer. It's completely underground, it'd make an awesome root cellar if I didn't have a well in there. Tomorrow we are projected to have a high of 24 and a low of 18, plus snow. I guess it's time to break out the hats and gloves... Annie

I will jump in and help with the dinner threads but I warn y'all I have a terrible memory about coming back! So I am sure everyone is having a wonderful meal. Tonight I am cooking a pot of fresh okra stewed with onions and tomatoes, one of our all time favorite things. A very nice neighbor has too much okra and I am glad to help him out by taking as much as he will give me! In the oven I have 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts with cut up baby red potatoes and cut up farm store carrots, seasoned well and drizzled with olive oil nicely roasting away. It is smelling wonderful in here. OK what's cookin!