A Light Dinner And A Snag With The Pump!

Johnny had to go back early on Sunday Night to catch the bus out of Philly back to DC, so we ate an early dinner.  This fit into Grandma Noel's scheme of things .......she is visiting us in Ocean City for a few days and is used to eating early at her retirement village.  It was a rainy day so no beach, unfortunately.  Kind of a lazy day had by all since it was a LATE one the night before.........my insulin pump was not reconnecting properly after a shower and I was freaking out along with the husband.......luckily my new best friend, Judy is vacationing down here for 2 weeks and she has been on the pump for 10 yrs.....she graciously came over in 2 seconds once she was called and helped us out.  It turns out that there was a malfunctioning piece on the stupid thing and it wasn't our fault - 2 hrs later I was good to go and all I wanted was a Rum and Tonic with a niceeeeeee lime.......

So on Sunday evening we had Fish Tacos with Peach Salsa......I am taking advantage of the abundance of peaches this summer....the recipe from Cooking Light called for Mango and I substituted Peaches.  To that you add tomato, red onion, cilantro, lemon juice, pepper and chili powder.  I sprinkled some tilapia with Old Bay and broiled it for 6 or 7 minutes.  We put it in a whole wheat flour tortilla which we warmed in an oiled frying pan and added the peach salsa.  We also had some corn on the cob OF COURSE - it's summer isn't it?

Johnny texted me at 1030PM that he was back in his apartment safe and sound.......it was a fun wknd.

YIKES

Today I finally got the Insulin Pump. YIKES!!!! It is a bit daunting to have something mechanical attached to your body - like having a pacemaker or something - what if it malfunctions?? I figure there are a lot of idiots out there with the same thing and if they can figure it out I can! It comes with a DVD and a LOT of literature and I had a 3 hour training session today with a trained pump therapy woman and my husband, Harry was right by my side - I would advise everyone who is signing up for this thing to have someone with them to be a second ear - there is a lot of info in 1 session and I was getting cross eyed with all the numbers and equations and different functions of the pump - it's like a computer... I'm sure I'll get the hang of it - AND I can't feel sorry for myself because as I'm attaching it to my abdomen and thinking how the hell did I get here - I look over and the woman training me is a diabetic as well for her WHOLE life and she isn't feeling sorry for herself - she is moving on........and so will I.

So I get back to Ocean City by around 7PM and it's a good thing because I was feeling shaky up in the civilized world and it had nothing to do with the Pump - it's just too green and frantic up there.......my people (meaning my brother Larry and sister-in-law Teresa) had a Pina Colada waiting for me in the frig and a hamburger hot off the grill......NICE.............

Eggplant Parmesan

So a great thing to have in the summer is Eggplant - especially if you're growing it in the garden and even if you're not it's readily available at all the farmers' markets. It's unfortunate that the name of this gorgeous veggie is EGGPLANT because I know it turns a lot of people off - namely my very own sons and nieces and nephews!! I didn't even like it when I was younger!

I took 3 eggplant....peeled and sliced them in 1/4 in discs.....salted them and put them in the colander to drain the bitterness out for around a 1/2 hour.......rinsed and patted them dry - here is where I DON'T bread and fry - I skip the egg and batter step and just saute in olive oil till they are brown......eggplant tends to soak up A LOT of oil so resist pouring it on....put on paper towels - get a big baking dish and pour some red sauce on the bottom (if I was at home I would make my own sauce but I'm at the shore so I PURCHASED Roselli's and it was tasty - 26oz jar) also, I youtubed this process and an old Italian lady uses Tuttoroso's green can - this is great because it's cheap and very tasty! Then layer the eggplant slices - next put slices of fresh mozzarella and some shredded parmesan - then some more sauce and some more slices and continue till all gone topping with the sauce and some parmesan - Bake 400 35 minutes covered with tin foil - it can sit for a while or serve right away - freezes well too!

A funny thing to do is YOUTUBE how to make eggplant parm - you get a variety of options and some pretty funny videos of random people in the kitchen...a riot!

We had this last night with grilled chicken (for your protein) and some jersey corn and garlic bread - We were graced with my son, Mike's presence and he skipped the egglpant as did the other kids - he hasn't been around much this summer so we were just glad to hear him tell some stories!

We also had some CRABS!!!! There are always crabs to be had around here - beautiful tasty blue crab claws!! Not good for the manicure......

Seafood Esperanza

Tonight was the annual "Seafood Esperanza" - It all started on the boat this morning setting out the crab traps. Events moved on from there and when we all convened at the end of the day we had strawberry daquiris enhanced with actual strawberries from Dave (and for this he got the HUGE glass).......Teresa made her blue cheese special salad but this time it was with the tomatoes from Jim across the alley who brags his PENNSYLVANIA tomatoes are the best and they actually were delicious! We had shrimp with plenty of Old Bay and Clams and THE CRABS that my niece, Catherine cannot get enough of......not to mention the Jersey corn that was out of this world........

This was actually a nice meal for a diabetic who wants to spend her carbs on the DAQUIRIS........

A nice way to spend a saturday evening in August in Ocean City, NJ

friday night nothings

It's a laid back night on the porch in Ocean City......it's 810PM and we've been snacking on left-over bruschetta and cheese and crackers and smokehouse almonds...now for all you people who don't have a dinner planned this is the night to clean out the fridge.......meaning the kids are serving up pancakes with the buttermilk left over and many fresh blueberries not to mention my niece Moira's french toast with a little bit of vanilla and cinnamon.........the adults will enjoy the steak and pesto noodles with salad from last night.

Tomorrow is another day and it's expected to be a beaut in Ocean City...My brother, Larry has  the crab traps out and we are hopefully, going to enjoy a seafood ESPERANZA on saturday night.....

Good Night for now

A Night With Aunt Nancy

So Aunt Nancy is coming to dinner. She is 83yrs old and in her day, a fantastic cook. We decide to give her a nice night away from her house on the bay where she has been held captive all summer...she is not able to get around anymore and at the beck and call of her family including many grandchildren, outlaws and inlaws and her 5 grown children.......we start with a nice drink or beer on the front porch as the sun is setting in Ocean City, NJ - not a bad place to be on a thursday in August! Nicole, her daughter-in-law has supplied the DELICIOUS bruschetta made from jersey tomatoes and basil - ummmmm.........we discuss current events, who is working where this summer on the boardwalk or on the beach....at the ice cream place or at the surf shop and even one grandchild who is stocking shelves at the local CVS....we get the kids situated on the back deck and my sister, sheila.....my sister-in-law Teresa and I proceed to serve the dinner.........Sheila has marinated TWO flank steaks in soy sauce, honey, oil and ginger overnight and has grilled them to perfection ......Teresa has made a magnificent tomato, cucumber, blue cheese salad and I supplied the homemade pesto made from the fruits of my husband, Harry's garden - plus we purchased some delish dried tomato fresh crusty bread from our favorite morning spot down on 1st street in ocean city.........It was a gorgeous summer meal enjoyed in the air conditioning where aunt nancy could her hear all our chatter......I think she enjoyed herself. After dinner we brought out the fresh peach and blueberry cobbler that I concocted from a Cooking Light recipe earlier that day along with some old pictures of my mom and my aunt nancy in the early days - the 1950s and later - it was nice to hear the commentary of what was happening in each picture - you only get that with the older generation - ask them questions now because they won't always be with you and believe me, you will miss them..........It was a nice night.