Ambergris

Ingredients: Cooked beef, water, salt, sodium nitrite. 

Reviews: High

Well.

I found my big canner, the 23 quart I think it is, the one that holds two layers of jars. 

The bottom is round.  The pop-out plug is popped out and loose.  But mostly, the bottom is round, like the kind of kettle you hang over a fire.  It will never again sit flat on a stove eye.  It could possibly work somehow as a pot with a fire-ring to hold it up, but not by my hand. 

I tossed it.  

I think I will hide the little 16-qt canner.

In my case, it's a simple matter that sweet potatoes begin to thrive in an amount of heat that begins to give Irish potatoes problems.  After that amount, the more heat you have, the better the sweets do and the worse the Irishes do.  On the Gulf Coast, it's a waste of time to plant Irish potatoes after Valentine's day, and in the Ecuadorian mountains, Irish potatoes thrive all year.

Oxtail with rice.  

First thing I ever "cooked" was those big old butter beans.  Actually re-warming them from the fridge when my mother was sick in bed.  I had to get on a chair to read the knobs on the stove and stir the pot.  I was not in kindergarten yet.  My older brother and I argued over which number on the knob was the three.  I don't remember enough to say who was right, but I was the cook.

We have entire stores for Irish potatoes here (actually, not much bigger than a bedroom, but still).  Last ones I bought for eating were three pounds for a dollar, knobby shaped with white and purple spotted skin and flesh.  The difference in color can be tasted.  I love all these different potatoes.  

But being able to grow Irish potatoes so well means conditions are terrible for sweet potatoes.  They have some types that grow and form tubers, and I eat those a few times a week, but they never get enough heat while growing to develop the honeyed sweetness my Gulf Coast mouth expects.

Last minute packing, with charged electronics, this morning.  No purse.  Was given a suitcase with two nesting carry-ons that fit inside it.  Laptop won't fit into the smallest carryon, so the middle-sized one is my free-wheeler and the little one is getting stuffed with everything else I'm packing, and then is getting stuffed into the big one for cargo.  The "everything else" mostly includes my medication (apart from my one-week supply), tax software, and various documents I picked up last time I was in the US.  I will pick up more documents in the US and actually do the work next week while I'm there.

After lunch, H is swinging back by with Mr. H, who will drive us to the local airport, a few hours to the west on the other side of the mountains in a town called Catamayo.  This is a hot, dry area and has a reputation as a high-crime town.  I keep looking around corners for Clint Eastwood in a poncho.  Mr. H would not think of having H and me go alone.  We will most likely have a light supper there.  At 5:30 I will (I hope) take the last plane to Quito in the far north of the country, arriving around 6:30 p.m.  I have since been informed that taking the last flight is risky, as it might be canceled if not enough tickets are sold.  This weighs on me, but the other flights of the day are already sold out, so it's not likely to be under-populated. 

My plane from Quito leaves right before 11 p.m. tonight, giving me plenty of time to get through the processes with one nearly-empty suitcase and one roller-carryon, even if I get selected for extra inspection.  Do you have anything to declare? Yes, I have two tribal baby bracelets and half a pound of Amazonian chocolate.  I will probably eat again  as table rent at Johnny Rocket, one of the cafes in the airport, as it's pretty quiet and pretty comfortable there.

I should get to Atlanta with I think a little less than three and a half hours before my final leg.  Given the fact this is the Atlanta airport, that's basically a reasonably comfortable time to get across the airport to the vicinity of the next gate, get through the bathroom line, and get something to eat so I can have my medication.  Unfortunately, the good breakfast places won't be open when I land, so I'll take cookies or something from Catamayo for the pills and if the line isn't awful maybe get an egg and biscuit once the breakfast places do open, although I'd have to rush through my bag of food if I do.  I should get on home around 9:30 tomorrow, and be sitting down to brunch before 10:30.

If stretching your neck like a turtle (or a ballerina) several times a day for several days doesn't make a difference, it is likely not your neck.

Around here, the egg yolk is "the gold" of it, and a double yolk is "a double gold."  I bet the people are as every bit as grateful as they seem.

Happy day!

Miss you, John

Note that when this dance originated, underpants were generally sewn as more or less a pair of tubes connected up by the waist.  ONLY up by the waist.

This is the reason for my trip to Florida this week.

They set out a couple of seed trays yesterday, so I can plant a bunch of seeds today and come back in three weeks to seedlings ready to set out.  

I miss having large, cheap peat pellets.  Remember the "tomato size" for forty cents each?

Lima beans with sausage and a nice crusty cornbread is one of my all-time favorite meals.

Honey and silk and shellac.  Bring it on.

bump

Taxation of Social Security started in 1983 as part of Reagan's plan to save it after robbing it for years to fund other projects.  The plan was flawed as it did not adjust for inflation. In his day, the thought of benefits being taxable for people bringing in a total of $25k a year meant the same thing as benefits being taxed for people bringing in a total of $78k a year for our times, according to Amortization.org.  So while they planned to tax only the richest, now they tax right at half the people who get Social Security.

Some information I got today: Sealed guaifenesin tablets stay potent for an average of about seven years after their use-by date, per the FDA. "It's a relatively stable chemical," says Dr. Apgar. However, when guaifenesin is in liquid form, the label date is the real expiration date.

So this bottle I have that has a use-by date of Feb 2021 is unopened, so we can open it today and use it within the year while um, expecting normal results.

GD, offer to trade her a half-day of childcare for a day of heavy labor in your house, and see how she responds.  Put it in writing (like a text message) for extra laughs.

A phobia is not ridiculous.  It's real.  It doesn't have to be logical to be real.

I throw (or threw) a bone into soup or beans pretty often, which of course puts it off limits for vegetarians, 

Work party is heading up the hill.  I have been kindly disinvited, either because I slow everyone down so much or because they are afraid of me hurting myself up there.  Or both.  Actually, there was a wall of fixed grins and wide eyes, and a "you are coming with us?" when I came out dressed to go, which let me know the answer should be "no," so I said "no," and they were all clearly relieved to hear it.  At that point I was able to see into the lunch basket, and it was packed to feed the three of them, not the four of us.  Okay.

So I guess I am going to study plant profiles and do a little artwork today.  Maybe watch some episodes of Kosem.

I like to throw at least one bone or piece of cartilage (breastbone) into each jar even if it's naked, because it will thicken up the broth without adding thickeners.

There has been a fatality attributed to Alaska pox, which seems to be a variant of smallpox or monkeypox or ... mousepox?  Does mousepox exist?  Mousepox is my word, but that's what I would call it if I was naming it.

They don't know if it can be passed from human to human, but it typically spreads from small wildlife.

It has been tracked since 2015.

Most of the cases, which haven't been many, have been discovered near Fairbanks.

What else have you heard?

Supergeeks know the ides of any month is the 15th and the calends (from which we get calendar) is the first.  

After the applesauce with cinnamon debacle, they started looking into all the cinnamon, and found tons of nasty surprises.