La Quinta, California: Our lives are no longer our own, activities are determined by the race schedule in Tokyo. The morning track & field events are able to be watched on NBC or USA at 5p (our time), but to watch the evening sessions, we need to be up at 3a. Some races can be recorded; some we watch on the laptop. Some, we sleep through and watch the replay on the laptop - avoiding any/all social media so as not to learn the results prior. (My Instagram feed is filled with food and runners, food and runners, handbag, food and runners, food and runners, handbag.)
Between heats and semi-finals, here are a few fun things cooked this week:
I've made this before. No recipe, just coat chicken thighs and garbanzo beans in purchased Harissa sauce, let it marinade for a few hours, then roast. Again, I served it with couscous and tzatziki sauce.
One day, I marinaded fresh peach slices in lemon juice and olive oil, then served them on a bed of butter lettuce with a blob of burrata cheese. Basil garnish. Dang! Made this a few weeks ago when the kids were here. Big hit.
This (half-recipe) main-course salad, Tomato-Green Bean Salad With Chickpeas, Feta and Dill, only required blanching a few green beans. Everything else was fresh (and I was able to use the other half of the can of garbanzo beans from the Harissa chicken).
We had saved/frozen the bit of red sauce from poaching the meatballs last week, so I served it under two eggplant "steaks" that I had salted/weighted in the fridge all day (like pressing tofu), and again made Eggplant Parmesan. It still isn't pretty, but we both really love this dish.
More chicken! Butter Chicken, just because it is so delicious.
We golfed twice this week, in spite of 100+ degree temperatures. With so few residents in town/golfing, we can get through 18 holes in three hours. I have a new fairway wood (which is, of course, not made of wood), and I think it is improving my game. Finally. Still shooting over 120 though. Truth is: the older we get, the less distance we will be getting from our swings.
Such a pretty vista from the 14th green... also the first time in over a week that mountain hasn't be topped with billowing thunderheads! We had a few wind storms and a few more sprinkles this week.
We have officially been living in this house for a year now, and the fountains on the 18th green are finally repaired. Something about not being able to get a part for a pump? See the condos behind the falls? This country club has 400 homes and about 40 (?) townhouses. They are very nice - 3-bedroom/2.5 baths - with their own HOA and their own pool. We liked them, but did not like the stairs... deciding to only purchase a single-story home... in our advanced age. We can both go up and down stairs all day if needed - now, but I do not miss the three-stories in the house we sold in Oregon.
Speaking of our new house, it can be seen from the 18th green.
For the first time since the pandemic began, I went to our local Trader Joe's. It was way too exciting! So many wonderful foods at such wonderful prices. I found frozen organic Italian pizza crusts and a bag of grated cheese with "pizza" herbs, so combined the two with a little red sauce. It had been too long since we had a pizza on Sunday.
Instructions called for using the crust frozen - DO NOT THAW - and to top it as you please, then bake for 6-7 minutes at 420°. This pizza required about 12 minutes. The crust was good, but we did not like the "pizza" flavored cheese. There are two crusts in the package, so will try it again with "cheese" flavored cheese next time.
Who's living the best life? The grandkids are in Hawaii, eating shave ice, snorkeling, surfing, hiking and eating poke with their parents.
And though he looks like a teenager all of the sudden, this boy will be 10 tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Leo!
Ten years. That reminds me - time for another T-DAP injection.
Also on Monday: the first rounds of the men's 1500m will be on NBC at 5p pacific. Please cheer for Duck alum Matthew Centrowitz. He's the target: the Olympic gold champion from Rio.
NOTE: The recipe re-build continues. Appetizers, cocktails, soup and salad are complete. Poultry is happening. Having a bit of trouble due to the tech I hired/fired in 2019. I swear, if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic and I wasn't pushing 70, I'd board a plane to a subcontinent and give him a piece of my mind. (Inject Scarlett O'Hara: Oh, if I just wasn't a lady, what would I tell that varmint.) Each recipe has it's own page, and a link at the bottom for a printable pdf file. Please be patient and if you do come across an error, send me an email: terry - at - rvgoddess.com. Thanks.
Until my next update, I remain, your "way too much screen time" correspondent.