Sylvia's Scenario

We had our first (extended) family gathering this Easter for the first time since February 2020 at my nephews house. Our last gathering was right before the pandemic when another nephew got married and we had a big family dinner at our house to celebrate that I wrote about here .  It's weird to think it's been over two years now.  Of course, we get together with Lauren, Nick and family almost every weekend for a family dinner so I am lucky to be able to see them often.  But a big group like this one is a very special occasion.  We were mostly excited for the grandkids to be able to play with my nephew's son who is close to their same age and they also have a much bigger yard than we do for an Easter egg hunt. So, it was perfect.  Because of the pandemic, all our holidays have been with my immediate family only, with Nick and Lauren but it's so nice to see the grandkids be able to play with other kids for a change and we've been yearning to have this experience ...

This is one of the best salmon recipes I've cooked in awhile.  I have a lot of salmon recipes on this blog but I think this is one of my favorites so far from   Hannah Freese, RD .   We actually had this recipe twice because I had so much of the sauce leftover so we saved it and then had it again with salmon a few days later.  And we still did not get tired of it.  It's the kind of recipe that you'll lick your plate to make sure you get all the sauce.  It is made from this Thai red curry paste so the recipe is very simple when you use this pre-made curry paste.                          I get it at Target, believe it or not.  I started doing online shopping at Target for a few items during "year one" of the pandemic.  I love shopping this way because all you do is walk into the store, go to the pick-up counter, show your I.D. and your bag is handed to you.  It is so easy.  N...

Since we've been home from Hawaii, it's been a sloooooooooooow process getting back into my regular eating routine by following  Hannah Freese, RD's  eating plan.  I was very proud of myself in Hawaii by sticking to the plan most the time.  I felt the best I've felt on a vacation in a long time, full of energy and very active swimming and going for daily walks with no aches or pains like I usually have.  I can tell my joint replacements are working well and I felt so strong and healthy in Hawaii  until I got covid.  Yep, I got it.  Darn it.  First, my sister and her husband tested positive and three days later I tested positive so I had to isolate for 5 days by not leaving our condo.  My sister and her husband both had coughs so they checked into a new condo to isolate.  Bruce, mysteriously never got it for some reason...lucky guy!  My brother and his wife were also there in another condo and they never got it, either.  Th...

Our third celebration of the month popped up over the weekend after my birthday on the 11th and Nick's birthday on the 8th.  I wrote about them here .  On Sunday, July 18th, we had our 40th anniversary.  We probably would have done something remarkable like take a fancy trip somewhere or take a cruise or go somewhere outstanding had it been normal times.  I don't feel like these are normal times even though the government has "opened up" everything again.  The cruise ships in Elliot Bay were all lined up this weekend to begin their cruises to Alaska again so things are trying to get back to normal.  We had to go down to the beach and see them because it was such an abnormal sight after a year of shut down.   I do not feel motivated to hop on a cruise ship just yet or to travel anywhere at this point.  Aside from covid still running rampant, I don't feel like going anywhere because this is the best time of the year to enjoy living in Seattle. ...

Are you running out of ideas for hot weather dinners yet?  It seems like all over the country places are having record breaking hot weather these days, as we are, too, in Seattle.  We are eating lots of salads and I just added this one to my list.  It's like a taco salad except it has a cheeseburger-take instead. And I like it better than just making a cheeseburger and wrapping it in lettuce as a bun like the paleo people do.  I thought this salad was a good idea.  I got the recipe from  Hannah Freese, RD  and we had it for dinner tonight and Bruce really liked it, too.  We had three days of over 100 degrees recently that broke records around here but fortunately we have air conditioning upstairs, plus a cool basement, and a big east-facing deck that cools off at night.  Less than 50% of households have air conditioning in Seattle so it's a big deal when the weather gets hot here.  People's houses get over 90 degrees inside and it can ge...

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I get to have a restful day while, at the same time, I get to eat good food.  What could be better than that?  Bruce got a salmon that we plan to barbecue and since Nick has been requesting teriyaki salmon, we'll marinate this salmon with my family favorite  teriyaki sauce .  I plan to make my last posted recipe  Persian Chopped Salad  because I didn't get enough of it last time.  Mother's Day is a lot like Easter when it comes to the menu.   So, Bruce suggested we have another popular dish,  Orzo with Mushrooms and Walnuts , that we haven't had in a long time.  The final item we're going to make is this Crispy Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus that we had on Easter.  We got a free bunch of asparagus at our local grocery store since this is asparagus season and the prosciutto turns it into a special occasion dish like Mother's Day.  I think for dessert, we'll do strawberry short cake which is something s...

Restaurants are open here at 50% capacity now but I can't even remember the last time I was inside a restaurant and we don't plan on going inside one anytime soon.  The coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 is in our county now so despite being vaccinated, they are still telling us to wear masks and social distance until they know if we could carry the variant and spread it to non-vaccinated people.  Sachiyo is the only non-vaccinated adult we are around now since Nick and Lauren have both been vaccinated for their jobs so we are still being cautious and following the guidelines of health experts.  We've been able to get our Asian fusion-fix without going to restaurants by making recipes like this one.   I've made this multiple times and love it every time and it's so easy.  It's easy because it uses bottled green curry paste that adds instant flavor.  I use this brand from Thai Kitchen that is compliant with my new eating plan from  Hannah Freese, RD .   ...