HazelStone

So every year Grandma would make a lamb cake. It was most excellent and I have some wonderful memories of her showing me how to do the cake and make the frosting (Mom doesn't bake worth crap so seeing frosting not from a plastic can and cake not from a mix was enlightening).

Grandma sold her house over 20 years ago, her kitchen stuff went into an aunt's basement, and all her wonderful kitchen items got passed down to the cousins who lived closer by and I didn't get jack. So someone else got her wonderful cast iron lammie cake mold. And the...aww heck I'll stop griping now I guess.

Years later I worked in a bakery for a while and at Easter time every time I closed my eyes I could see flocks upon flocks of lamb cakes. Those molds were cast iron too (careful as you scrub them! *CLANG* OWW @#$%%^&!!!!).

I suspect that the aluminum pans don't have the mass to really hold the cake down since online recipes tell you to tie the molds down and I never saw that necessary with the cast iron.

However, I don't think my husband would be enthused about me spending $100+ for the cast iron.

So does anyone here use an aluminum mold to good effect, and if so, which one?

And, it went pretty well. I actually over-prepared. I might get it, I might not, but there is a reasonable chance at least. And there's a lot more skills to learn than the person who referred me in had told me about.

Some navigation issues, and I got thoroughly LOST downtown (parking garage's street entrance hard to find), but it was a beautiful warmish sunny day. Good for a hike. Though my feets are blistered now. And I noticed something amusing as I wandered. I passed by an enormous church done in neo-gothic style that is on the national registry of historic places. I'd walked by and driven by before, but I happened to notice something. Within the sharp angles where the windows poked out from the roof, small TREES grew there. I wonder if the pastors let them grow there as a lesson, or just couldn't pay someone enough to scamper up the 4-5+ storeys to take them out? Gave me a smile, anyway.

One of the only wise things I've ever heard Oprah say was to look UP sometimes as you walked through a/your city. Her studio was in Chicago, which is magnificent with lots of architectural gems. (And I've tromped around there plenty). She said she sometimes made a point to stop and look upward where she was and it was amazing the cool details you could notice. It applies to any city of size really.

Just don't gape too much with your head tilted back, it's bad situational awareness.

...this week, possibly tomorrow. It is for stuff well within my capacity to do (or learn) but I have to get through the intervew. Pay is **ehh** and commute is *ehh* but it's a job and a good stepping stone if I get it.

I've put dabs of peppermint oil on my temples before, and then took a short "whiff" ... it does help. I've never had migraines and seldom have headaches, but have used the peppermint oil when I had a sinus thing going on.

I will have to remember that. I still have a bunch of peppermint oil from the mouse problem

"Lacy." Is that the brown and crispy edging to sunny-side-up? Or is it the dry, papery stuff if you don't stir scrambled eggs quite often enough or leave them a bit?

A while back I did the latter, and Sweetie whined and pouted. I almost smacked him with my largest cast iron skillet. I had mis-timed the eggs with respect to the other things. I don't cook 'proper' breakfast very often, and it is just often enough to see why I don't!

From a large family with only two of us girls...we learned real quick how to cook. That's one thing Mountain Man says he loves! Just this morning though, our eggs got "lacy" and he said "was your skillet too hot or something, the eggs are lacy"...my response was "I guess so, hush and eat!" He just grinned and stuffed a piece in his mouth! LOL

Do they just not cook at all and constantly whine? Or do you already assign them a night and a dish to cook and they don't like the dish? Do they like to cook at all?

Starting from seventh grade or so Mom would leave notes for dinner when I got home from school: "Put the chicken in the oven, make salad and pick a side before I get home from work." etc. One sibling cooked, the other did the dishes.

Of course there is a learning curve, everyone forgets to remove the giblets bag at first if you're cooking a whole bird. If you delay, or forget, everyone suffers. And I do admit some passive-aggressive "forgetting" when it was a dish I despised! Sandwiches were preferable.

With time the notes graduated to "start up a stew from leftovers" orders to finally "eh, just pick something" from current fridge inventory and my having actual input at the grocery shopping- then if I wanted to do something specific, make my case with the weekly sales, etc.

Earlier Mom did show me how to evaluate deals at the grocery store- sales gimmicks, per item/unit cost...she's terrible at math but I'm really good at it (until you get to the engineering grade stuff!). If I spring her from math/marketing traps I had a much easier time persuading Mom to get a particular item I wanted that week. That might be the better place to start if time/schedule permits- they see how much stuff generally costs, they see the sales that are on for that week. Then it's not just thinking "Mom's being mean/cheap."

I am so sorry for your loss.

Listen to what the Holy Spirit tells you. If you can, give yourself some time and space. Wait a few months before making any long term decisions (financial or otherwise) if you can. Paying off high-interest debt is about the only exception to that I would make.

Anyone have any advice on knife sharpeners?

 

My knives are just so-so but they dull really fast. Especially when sawing through raw chicken on a glass cutting board for a few hours.

 

Good Lord. I'm glad my husband does not hang out here. He'd go Sweetie sharpens knives as a hobby. He's a bit of a knife snob, too.

Instead of glass, may I suggest one of these:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/epicurean-cutting-board/

Bed, Bath and Beyond sells them too. They won't kill your knives and they are still dishwasher safe.

For knives, Google Saber. They cost a bit less than comparable brands. They are German steel, but sharpened/finished in China (closely supervised). Sweetie bought a set of them...and for most things I like them better than my collection of varying grades of fancy brands.

Pay attention to country of origin though! With some brands you may think you are buying German make, but instead the knives are made elsewhere. I learned that one the hard way. And guess what versions the big box retailers usually stock...

Hmm, might forward this to an ex-bf

Maybe you can hide some meds in a piece of cheese for him.

 

This is exactly what I do to get my dog to take meds. Roflmao!!!!!

*singing* Just a spoonful of cheddar makes the medicine go down...

CGA, I'm rather impressed that you can eyeball the caramel. Soon after this attempt I did get it to work; I just kept a closer eye on it (and used the ThermaPen rather than the old thermometer)

If he is ADD and 'needy' then he will probably panic and hopefully see you aren't going to cater to him. I'm not calling him needy...it's just for lack of a better word!

 

'Needy' is an appropriate word here. Heck, part of the appeal of going to Mass regularly is to get some "me" time (heh). Church helps me keep on an even keel in general, but there is the added bonus....

I have said before "I am going. You are welcome to come to services with me and it would be nice if you went with, but I am not going to force you." If he doesn't come, he's left alone for a while, and whines. If he comes with me, he rips on the ceremony, and whines. And on the surface-level, aesthetic stuff yeah I agree with him. (ultra-modern parish). But he then gets offended if I tell him to pipe down at a part where it is really inappropriate to be talking. Not because he doesn't know offhand what those parts ARE, but that he gets offended on a polite request to can it.

My family always gets to church at the last minute so the only seats left are toward the front. Part of this really is mom also getting snit-y if Sweetie does flee to the back.

This year I may just take a harder stance and say "stay home. Drink some Bailey's. We'll be back when we are back and you should know by now that I can't give you a firm return time. Man up and deal." Reinforce that I am not "leaving him" to go to Mass, he is CHOOSING to stay behind.

Maybe I should put together a list of the things MIL has said in recent months where I did not rise to the bait to have ready against Sweetie's complaints. MIL is the opposite of me in political views and I have to suppress an eyeroll when I pass the old presidential campaign signs stored in her garage.

Or maybe I give SIL full permission to mess with his head this year. He's been getting the "new family member" courtesy through now... if he wants to be so stubborn my family might take the kid gloves off. And they are formidable in verbal battles.

Oh and when we have kids he says it will be up to me to teach them both traditions since he admits he didn't pay attention at all in Hebrew school. This could be FUN! Get schooled by your 5 year old in Scripture...

At least SIL agrees to a moratorium on "A Christmas Story" this year. Still gotta convince Mom though!

Gripefest ensues...

Christmas will be fun...

It is a 10 or 11 hour drive from my house to my parents' house. Every year we go there for the family celebration and my brother's family comes in from the City. This is assuming that there's no pileups on the toll road and the weather is good. Gas costs are not trivial.

As I am currently unemployed, we are "blessed" with a lot of leeway for scheduling. We usually take a week off for Christmas because I don't get to see my family at any other time. There is a wrench in the works though... my parents were having some remodeling done. It has gotten way, WAY behind schedule (because my parents can't negotiate their way out of a paper bag) and the house is not in a condition to accommodate guests.

So my parents have offered to pay hotel costs for the 24th and 25th. This is gracious of them, but it's also insane to spend as much time in transit as we would at the destination. My husband would use a different word, but this is a family-oriented forum...

So if we want to make the stay long enough to be worth the drive, we'll have to spend several days in a hotel on our dime. We could hang around my tiny hometown (hooray) or we can go into the City... this looks like the better option because everybody will be Busy right before Christmas, and no one is hanging about long, except maybe my niece. Sweetie has never been to the City and wants to see it so that is a great time to do it.

...except that he is concerned about costs. Our finances are conservative; when I got laid off it wasn't a case of "OMG how will I make the car payment." We're still cashflow positive and we have a decent emergency fund (thank you, Lord). The sticky point is that Sweetie is a government employee and so everybody is holding their breath about The Fiscal Cliff. Since most employment here is government-derived, every agency is suspending new hiring. The longer the government plays chicken on this, the longer I will likely be unemployed. And Sweetie might be on reduced hours, too. So he's being skittish on travel expenses.

Christmas/Hanukkah presents will be very lean/simple this year. Kids will get theirs, but the adults have decided we all have enough Stuff. We will also do a Hanukkah celebration with Sweetie's family.

While I have been accomodating/respectful of Sweetie's heritage, he has not been extending similar to me or mine. He refused to go to Christmas Mass with us last year; he says the incense sets off his allergies. In a small close-knit town, it doesn't look good but I wasn't going to force the issue. The choir, and its selections are not very good so that's another understandable pain point. He gets angry about the incense, asking why the heck the parish is trying to kill its members. (He is overly fussy on some things. Bleeping drama queen...).

Holy Thursday Mass was ruined this spring because he only registered this year that hey.... this Mass uses incense too! He keeps talking during Mass and isn't always respectful. I should point out for context that Sweetie suffers from ADD. Oh and he was angered at the rhetoric for Holy Thursday Mass. (Because Christians see themselves as the natural extension of the original covenant with the Jews and that ticks him off- "his people" were persecuted by the Church for centuries and now "you guys" claim that "you are just like us?!") Ruined that Mass and I went to Easter Mass alone (none of our friends here are Catholic). Then when I got back he was in a panic attack because I was out for so long and my phone was unreachable (I turn it off in church). Yes I told him this Mass would be considerably longer. He also won't understand that the length of a church service VARIES from week to week!

For regular Mass I just go alone. But I like to have company for Christmas and Easter.

Sweetie's short term memory isn't great (ADD). He exaggerates it, I think, just so he doesn't have to be responsible for remembering/ keeping track of everything. He wants every last thing to be logged on Google Calendar. My view is that as a grown man with a master's degree he should be able to handle a few things without crutches or shoving the tracking responsibility on someone else. In short, he acts like a lazy, spoiled brat because he got away with it at home.

Mind you, Sweetie is an AGNOSTIC Jew. I have pointed out that his claim to being one of God's Chosen People is rather shaky when he doesn't believe in God. Sweetie said he wants more direct evidence. I've argued that those who were given it did not lead easy lives...careful what you wish for! Especially madenning is that almost everything he knows about the Catholic Church and Christian doctrine in general is what I have taught him. This isn't even a case of a hostile person feeding him info first. He's twisting the explanations *I* give him, when he doesn't know jack...cowpie...about history either.

So basically he acts like a spoiled brat, down to complaining that the pews are uncomfortable and screw up his back (those 90 year olds over there are doing ok with it...)

He has also sworn that if my family leaves "A Christmas Story" on the TV while we're there, he's grabbing his stuff and driving home. He hates that movie with a passion. (I agree with him here, but just ignore it when its on). So if he tries to pull that card, I am in the unenviable position of having to rent a car/book a plane ticket to get back home later, or follow him in his snit. A married couple should be a united front, but this assumes being half reasonable in the conflict. Although, I have asked my parents to accommodate this point and they have refused to.

So I have the choice of undermining him in front of my family, or "giving in" to his brattiness and missing what little time I'd have with my folks. Everybody's family has practices or details that drive outsiders crazy. His family is no exception. Y'know what? I smile, act graciously, and keep my mouth shut.

I might wait until we're well past Cleveland before I tell him I wouldn't be accomodating any snit he gets into.

I actually broke down crying in frustration last night because my parents couldn't get their crap together AND I'm having to re-convince Sweetie to even head out there. And also that no one is sticking around very long so our travel to family time ratio is way skewed. Lots of family obligation, little actual benefit or face time.

If you've made it this far down, thanks for reading. I needed to vent and think aloud a bit. I still don't know how to play, this, though.

Is this a recurring thing or is it just a random case of sinus crud? I always got a nasty fall cold, and then an early spring cold. My parents had the same view of doctors as your DH- they didn't take us to the doc until it was constant green slime and keeping everyone up with coughing. Since, as you know, stuff that starts in the sinuses eventually drips/spreads downward.

I just thought this issue was my cross to bear. Then a couple years ago it got really, REALLY bad. And it wouldn't let up. Sweetie had been telling me for a long time to see an allergist and so I did...was so miserable that if you told me that dancing outside skyclad at the new moon would help...I might do it.

Turned out that yep, I had allergies. Other family members have them (and/or asthma too)... but my parents never got me checked out for them. (oh and the @#$%^! GP our family saw really should've spoken up...). My symptoms weren't as bad as other family members and so, somehow, I just must not have allergies. Thanks a lot, Mom. The allergist did the workup and put me on an inhaler and meds. I hate taking them but if I slack off, (surprise!) the symptoms come back.

So yeah...harp on "head of the family," "breadwinner" and "man up, you sissy" if you need to. Sometimes waiting it out won't work.

Ha- no danger here about that! It was a grilled turkey and all I could taste was Kingsford. A shame, too- it was an organic, free range bird and I shudder to think what it cost. The meat was wonderful from a texture standpoint and it was cooked to perfect done-ness.

And then I had to evade pleas to eat the leftovers. First World Problem, yeah, I know.

Other than that, the usual family stuff and stepping on toes over a long weekend. At least we didn't get stuck in much traffic going there and back.

Now if only the bleeping Fiscal Cliff would be resolved so I might get a bleeping job...

On the lentil soup...you didn't specify how much lentils to put in!

...and a pot encrusted with burnt sugar soaking in the sink.

I was using a standard candy thermometer AND a ThermaPen. The candy thermometer was the "in the ballpark" warning...and it was 50 degrees off! I tested the one against the other when making fudge and they matched.

I'll give it another go but dang that's frustrating. I want some nice gooey caramels!

Thanks, all. I just keep telling myself that this round of layoffs won't be as bad as those in '09

Oh bleep. I think I hit "report to moderator" somehow...

...it went well. I don't think I'd get an offer right now but they have other things coming. But an interview 2 weeks after layoff is good progress.

It also helps a lot mentally, you often doubt yourself after a layoff. Well I do. I internalize way too much...

Okay... for a while I've wanted to do up cookie/candy tins for friends and family at Christmas. Well, being unemployed I now have the time and energy!

This weekend I made the classic Hershey cocoa fudge...and am sneaking bites every time I'm in the kitchen. Shhhh! :wink (2): I will wrap up and throw at least half of it in the freezer for later but dang... I nailed this.

While the recipe uses "only" a half stick of butter, the stuff isn't getting any cheaper. For better inventory management I want to find out if there are any "shelf stable" fats that would work for fudge? (or frosting... but preferably not Crisco-ish stuff). Sweetie pushes back any time I try to stow lots of butter in the freezer. Or just knowing about alternatives is helpful in case of running out of the "usual" source of fat in a recipe.

In the debates about what kind of fats are "best," coconut oil comes up a lot. The cost is a little higher than butter but it is shelf stable.

Have any of you seen any info about using alternate fat sources in candy-making? 95% of any fudge recipes/write ups I see on the Internet are on the chocolate chip and condensed milk "method" for fudge. I'm just interested in other things I can rig up off the shelf should butter prices get worse or I find a great deal on different fat sources.

Ok, that first pic of the IV hanging off the chandelier had me scratching my head until I scrolled down...

I should drive down sometime...

 

People who have lived here all their life said they have never seen Lake Erie so violent. I'm in the Cleveland, OH area...far away from the storm???

 

http://www.cleveland.com/weather/blog/index.ssf/2012/10/upload_your_hurricane_sandy-re.html#incart_maj-story-1

Mom took some amazing pictures of the harbor "back home." Lake Michigan was crashing over the breakwaters like they were sandcastles. But that was just the snowy arm of the storm heading onward.

I recognize the spot where that billboard is...were I still in the area I'd have to turn around and look again. I hope that was apocryphal

All well here. Just a quiet day working from home...and staring at the trees buckling in the wind...