Wednesday and I am back

I came home Tuesday late. My neighbor, Jim and I had dinner at a local restaurant. Jim picked me up at the airport and immediately showed me his severed thumb from cooking. I have warned everyone who enters my kitchen that my knives are kept in restaurant quality sharpness. When all hell broke loose in IN, we had just returned from shopping. There were things that would not keep or could not be frozen. I went over the recipes and marked in red how he could make them simpler in order to keep the food from going bad. He started with the prosciutto-wrapped scallops, p. 74 Bon Appétit, June. Cutting into his thumb to divide the scallops created the wound. I have told him over and over to cut into the board. He said, “I knew you would say that and could hear you as I bleed all over.” He did not make the sauce, but called to say it is really time consuming, but good tasting. Next he had to make the grilled Asian Chicken with bok choy, shitake mushrooms and radishes. He did not again make the sauce and this only took about 4 phone calls. Tonight we had the remaining grilled bok choy, radishes and red pepper as I had to either use it or toss. After that, while I was gone, he went out to our club or was invited to dinner by friends that took pity on him. Tonight I was praised for Costco salmon burgers and Chilled Avocado Soup with spicy breadcrumbs.
After writing about the disappointing salmon sliders from Wegman’s a follower wrote to say the salmon burgers from Costco are delicious, and they are! I topped mine tonight with lettuce and pickled ginger. These are a winner on the grille. We had grilled the bok choy, radishes and red pepper. I sprinkled with a little lemon olive oil, salt and pepper. Grilled for about 4 minutes. The soup is as follows:

Soup
1 large ripe avocado, 11-12 oz, halved, pitted, peeled, diced (forget the diced, it goes in the blender)
1 ½ C vegetable broth or more later
¼ C heavy cream
2T fresh lime juice (I whole lime)
Generous pinch of kosher salt
Put all in a blender and puree until smooth. Transfer to a 4C measuring cup and add more broth by ¼ C at a time tothin soup as desired. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.
Breadcrumbs
1 slice of soft white bread with crust
1T butter
¾ t paprika
¼ t coarse kosher salt
¼ t cayenne pepper
Using a 6” pan melt the butter. I put all the rest of the ingredients in a small blender and ground fine. Add all to the butter and cook stirring until crumbs are crisp. It took mine about 4 minutes. I put in a bowl to cool. This was to serve 8-1/3 C servings as an appetizer. I served it in quarters and Jim ate three.
This meal was so simple and I was praised to the high heavens. Jim said that what I consider simple and fast took him hours.  I think the reason we've been married for 45 years may be the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
Just to follow up my sudden departure and stay in IN. My Aunt passed away Sunday night. She and my Uncle have been a great source of comfort as my Mother has passed into her own world. I will miss her dearly. My Mother had a great deal of difficulty recovering in the hospital from her surgery and is now in rehab at a nursing facility. Only time will tell whether rehab, or continued nursing, will be her life from this day forward. My two remaining aunts came from Chicago to visit their two sister-in-laws. My cousin Rita drove them down. I have the most beautiful photo of my mom smiling up at her two sister-in-laws taken by my cousin. Aunt Fran was right; she knew exactly who you were. I could tell on her face.
Jim lived. He even made Max’s meatballs while I was gone. Max ate Jim’s prized tomatoes off the vine one day from perfection while I was gone. Yes, I got a call about that also. We also got hit by a golf ball for the first time and a window shattered.  A young man hit the ball 400 yards off the blue tees, but unfortunately he sliced it. They are replacing the window and Jim congratulated the young man. If it had gone straight, he could be on the PGA tour. It wasn’t just a grounder, as it had to clear my neighbors screened in poach with a very tall roof.