euphrasyne

My favorite conversations are ones that meander and reveal fond memories.

No worries. My only suggestion is that if it happens again, maybe let people know as soon as possible so we can save posts/threads before the delete.

It doesn't matter how you raise them, people will do what they want to do and sometimes they need to face consequences so they can be responsible. It is good for them in the long run.

The van I had in the early 2000s didn't have anything fancy like my current one does. We would remove the right middle seat for more floor space and only had 1 kid for most of that time. She would go in the left middle and we could take turns sleeping on the back row. She could play on the floor during stops or the really bad traffic back-up by Hoover dam. (It took us 3 hours of traffic to go 2 miles). We just packed everything into a cooler. I'd make extra ice for days at the house and put it in old bread bags until I had enough to put in the cooler so we could save on store ice. PB sandwiches, bananas, and chips didn't require any refrigeration, and lunchmeat, eggs, cheese, and strawberries usually lasted fine in the cooler. Spaghetti was an easy meal to cook in a coffee pot and the noodles and sauce were shelf stable. Chicken nuggets were easy to heat on an iron after thawing in the cooler and could be added to the spaghetti to make chicken parmesan or chicken parmesan sandwiches. Lots of homemade granola and trail mix to tide us over too. Those were the days.

I'm making a thread here so as to not hijack the what are you doing today thread. I dated my first husband a year, engaged a year, then married 12 years. He was very bad with money no matter what I did. I worked the first 6 years we were together, one of which he was unemployed and I supported us. Then kid19 came along, was sick in the hospital constantly, so I quit working and stayed home with them--who was never sick again. Right choice. Because money was so tight, I had to do everything on a very tiny budget. If we went to visit family (which we did several times a year) we drove for hours or days (we did a 27 hour straight van trip from Vicksburg to Vegas to see my Mom and steps). I would pack a picnic for car meals and snacks. If we needed to get a hotel, we stayed somewhere inexpensive and I was creative with the meal plan and we cooked with what was available. I'd pack the food and a can opener as well as a few dishes which I'd wash in the bathroom. I finally left him because he cheated on me so many times that it was obvious forgiveness had become permission. I'm lucky that I'm in a much better situation now. Dated DH 2 years, married 9 years anniversary in less than 2 weeks. He works hard, I mostly control the finances, and everyone is super happy. I no longer have to do weird things to get by since we are in a very good place now, but I enjoy the creativity of food preparation and I still do some things for novelty, fun, or learning experiences. Things I have that I can cook in currently: (when i say cook, I mean make chicken or rice) Double oven (stand alone not wall, the top is just 1 rack the bottom 2 racks, but I can heat them at different temperatures) Gas stove attached to oven Microwave Double coffee pot that makes single cups on one side and a carafe on the other 2 round crock pots 1 oval crock pot 1 mini crockpot (2 cups for dips or appetizers) 1 giant turkey roaster (basically an enormous metal crockpot. ) Instant pot (electric pressure cooker) Deep Fryer 2 Gas fireplaces 3 showers that run very hot water. Dishwasher on high heat Washing machine on sanitary cycle Dryer on high heat. (bread rises great in a dryer that has been run and emptied. ) portable heater (I'd probably only use this to heat sandwiches or melt cheese, no meat.) Sterno cans for chafing dishes. (again I may heat things but I'd start with tinned chicken instead of raw.) Lots of lighters, matches and fire starters to set things ablaze to cook with. Perhaps some of those Amazon boxes as fuel. 1 plastic crockpot for paraffin. It goes up to 300F. Bottle warmer (it will heat water which will poach whatever or put a jar of premade food or soup in it. ) Mid sized blowtorch (it belongs to the husband) Extra large gas grill with a side burner for pots. Metal fire pit for roasting weenies and smores Metal burn barrel with hole in bottom so it gets HOT. Just set a grate over the top and it is a rocket stove. Around 20 huge trees to provide various types of wood, though I think 2 of them are poisonous and I'd not use them. Car engine Car dashboard (this is basically a solar oven. Use aluminum foil. Standard and usb plugs in van to plug any of the above in. Car converter to run car battery to a plug that any of the above can plug into. Works as long as the car is on. I could probably come up with more, but I haven't had my caffeine yet. I have been looking at hot plates vs tabletop grills with hotpots. I want to have fondue night once a month and do Korean hotpot/ BBQ at home. With a hot plate, I could just put any of my pots or cast iron griddles on it. The electric grill are set up for multiple people though. It is a hard decision and I keep wavering. I'll probably make a decision by my birthday or Christmas and get one then. If I get a hotpot, I was looking at something similar to one of these: SEAAN Electric Hot Pot Grill Removable Shabu-shabu Pot Grill Detachable Barbecue Grill with Large Capacity Baking Tray Non-Stick BBQ Pan Adjustable Temperature Double Flavor Hot Pot 110V (amazon.com) Amazon.com: Hot Pot with Grill, 2000W 2 in 1 Electric Hot Pot Grill Cooker with Dual Temperature Control for 1-8 People, Multi-function Smokeless Shabu Korean BBQ Grill for Simmer, Boil, Fry, Roast (Black) : Home & Kitchen *I forgot to add in the toaster oven. Its the flat rack type, not the pop up type. Pop tarts, toast, leftover pizza, etc.

I was born and raised in Pearl for over 20 years. I lived in South Jackson for a bit and Vicksburg for a decade. My immediate family is still clustered in Pearl/Brandon and Vicksburg. I think my uncle is in Brookhaven. Ironically we live about 20/30 minutes from the beach here and never go because we hate the beach.

homemade yogurt, sour cream, quark Salad dressing like ranch Soup (cheese & milk with meat and veggies) pudding, custard, flan pudding pops (make pudding, freeze it in paper cups, ice cube trays, popsicle molds, or silicone muffin pans.) Ice cream Fudge Scalloped/ Au gratin Potatoes, macaroni and cheese Rice Pudding or various savory rice dishes using milk (mostly Thai) Cornbread or regular bread pancakes, waffles, french toast chocolate or strawberry milk, milkshake, smoothie, in coffee or tea Milk or sausage gravy, alfredo or bechamel sauce You can turn milk into SCM by adding sugar 1/4c sugar per 1c milk and cooking it slowly for about an hour. Evaporated is to double the milk and cook it down. Then you would have the ratio for the pie you like. Fat makes things creamy so that is the reason why 2% isn't. To make 2% full fat, 1T melted butter and milk to make 1c. Half and half is 2T butter per cup 2% or 1T per whole milk. If you have cream, you can do 1/4c cream to 3/4c whole milk to make half and half. So to use cream and 2% to get whole, you would need to do more like 2T cream and 2% milk to make a cup to get whole milk or 6T cream and milk to make a cup for half and half. Using these substitutes, you can make whatever you want. To incorporate the melted, cooled butter into the milk, use a stick blender or a regular blender. I usually do a stick blender in a wide mouth mason jar for ease of use.

MS is on the Gulf coast also. hehe. I've been to FL to visit relatives during various seasons, and I'd take a FL summer over a MS summer any day. I'd take either of them over VA because I'm freezing my tukus off.

Heh! I have cans of Ravioli and SpaghettiOs here as well as lots of ramen. I have teens and we eat redneck at least once a week. If you are sick of microwave, here are some alternatives: 1. Cold food like sandwiches and salad 2. Your coffeepot is basically a see through crock pot. Wrap a towel around it, put some water in it, turn it on and poach chicken, fish, or whatever. You may need to run the cycle a few times if it doesn't stay on to 'warm'. If you don't want to poach it in water, then make a casserole with lots of sauce. Cream soup, canned chicken, veggies, seasoning do well in a coffee pot. I've done this on vacation. 3. Your iron is a grill. Do not leave it unattended ever. Turn it on, balance it hot side up in something metal where it will not move--like a pot or a metal drying rack or something metal. Place a skillet on top of it. Ta-da. Cook whatever you want in the skillet. You can even dutch oven bread this way but it uses a lot of electricity and you have to watch it the entire time because of fire hazard. 4. Buy a hot plate. Its temporary so it doesn't need to be fancy or long term. Amazon says I can get a cheap one by Thursday for $16.99. You can make anything on this and a deep cast iron pot (dutch oven) really does act as an 'oven' to bake things. Use camping recipes if going that route. Vayepro Electric hot plate, Single Coil Burner, Portable Hot Plate 1200W, Kitchen Cooktop with Non-Slip Rubber Feet - Perfect for Outdoor Cooking (amazon.com) If you want specific cooking or food category recipes you can make in a hotel room, let me know. The most delicious shelf ramen ever: Take 1 ramen cup, add the packets and water ( I usually use spicey or kimchi flavor ramen). Add in a tablespoon dehydrated mixed veggie soup or veggies--whatever you have. Microwave 3 minutes. Cut up 2 hot pickled okra and add to the cup. Roll up 3 slices thinly sliced lunchmeat and use scissors to cut strips. Add to cup. Let sit 3 minutes. Yum. Very spicey but delicious. Sometimes I omit the dehydrated veggies and add some fermented kimchi with or instead of the okra. Texas Pete or Mt. Olive are my go-to brands. Mostly because that is all I can buy in this unspiced Yankee-ridden place. All in love. I irritate the stew out of DH by calling him a Yankee. I'm not an (expletive) Yankee! he screams back. Then he tells me I wont like how hot it gets in Florida. A) I've been to FL, I've been to TX, NV and CA and all the states between MS and CA by car in summer multiple times, so I know how hot it gets. and B ) I'm from MS for decades. 98F with 120% humidity--it doesn't get hotter. Anyone who thinks the humidity cannot go over 100% has never been to Mississippi. Also the 4 seasons there are Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas. My roses used to still bloom in December. I'm over here freezing on the East Coast. My only issues here are the lack of food seasoning and the cold weather, otherwise I love VA and we will be here at a bare minimum until DH retires from the Department of the Navy. DH is amazing at his job and they hand out awards when they go 'above and beyond.' He got a $1K (6 to 10X the usual award) award yesterday and came home telling me he bought himself a happy that was around $160. We usually talk about purchases over $100, and he was worried I'd be upset. I was not. He is such a sweetie. I am so proud of him.

That is a good idea to clean fabric. I need to try that on some of my pillows. Thanks.

Friday DH took me grocery shopping to the Food Lion in Suffolk. It is only 10 minutes away, but it is further than the other FL. It was much better stocked than the 2 closer to me. I got a lot of junk food and easter items as well as DH's beloved chicken biscuits. I still want to eat down the pantry, but taking stock we are doing well in that vein. I intend to replace the commercial items with healthier options and do as much scratch as I can. My health is finally starting to recover to a point where I can be effective in the kitchen again. I'm considering buying a whole pig from Central Meats for $400. Its 116lbs meat broken down into : 2- Sugar Cured Hams - cut in half with their center slices. 2- Pork Loins cut into - 2 Roasts - 2 Country Style Ribs - Center Cut Pork Chops 2- Sugar Cured Picnic Shoulders 2- Slabs of Pork Spare Ribs 10- 1 lb. Packages of Sliced Bacon 10- 1 lb. Packages of Mild Country Sausage 10 lbs. of Assorted Seasoning Meat I need to make room in my freezer first so I'm thinking about defrosting the turkeys and canning them as cooked turkey or turkey sausage. That would free up an entire shelf. In that vein, I was watching one of my favorite youtubers can turkey. I love the way Becoming a Farmgirl cooks because it is extremely similar to the food I grew up with and some I currently make.

I do not keep chickens, but my Papaw did. He was wheelchair bound with one leg cut off above the knee and one below the knee so everything had to be super accessible for him. He had a portable chicken coop. His looked like a much more redneck version of this: (562) Pinterest I think he used an old bicycle for the wheels. He had a large metal ring on the front of it by the coop part and he would attach that to his electric wheelchair with a chain & clip and just move it one length every day.

Squeeeeee! I love goats! I like to hug them and pet them and watch them and eat them in a stew. Also goat milk soap and goat based paneer are awesome. I have discovered Skyr. It is Icelandic yogurt that is thicker and creamer than Greek with less sugar. It is delicious. Unfortunately it comes with a delicious level price, so I have to use it in moderation. DD2 is into everything dinosaur. I have a dinosaur sandwich cutter I have to use to get her to eat sandwiches and I have to shape the rest of her food as Jurassic things. Stuffed and plastic dinosaurs cover every surface and she keeps trying to make them chase and eat my stuffed desk goat. RAWRR! she actually growls it. It is so cute. The new 'sit still happily' movie is The Good Dinosaur. No songs and everyone has a Texas accent. I'm more sick of it than Encanto. Today's plan is to get the van inspected and go grocery shopping with the hubbie since it is his day off. Office work is to pay bills, plan next week, and make a meal plan. DH is smoking a 7lb pork butt on the grill with some dry rub I made and gave to him for one of the holidays. He is almost out and wants more with less brown sugar in it, so I need to research and compose a new recipe for dry rub. This one featured garlic and paprika heavily along with a few other spices and brown sugar. He says he loves the flavor, just less brown sugar. I cannot find where I wrote down what I did though. Meal shakes--I had GI surgery back in 2016 and tried all the shakes. Premier Protein shakes are hands down the best. 25-30g protein, all the vitamins and tasty. I like the chocolate and coffee flavors. DH likes the banana. We still drink them. Even the baby likes them--I give them to her in a sippy cup instead of juice or milk when she is being super picky and not eating properly.

I make my fried rice in a very similar manner. We have it about 2-3 times a month with stirfry for dinner. I usually add in garlic and MSG instead of salt and I omit the sugar. I had not thought to add hot sauce to it. I will have to try it your way and see how the teen likes it. I love my hot sauces. I have an asian crunch chili sauce that is super spicey called momofuku chili crunch. It is toasted sesame seeds in a spicy chili oil base. I add a baby spoon of it to my meals that need spicy and crunchy. If it just needs spice, I use korean gochujang for asian dishes or cayenne based hot sauce for american dishes. For vegetables, I serve with a spiced pepper vinegar. I have several types including homemade. My Papaw always made his homemade and his was so much better than mine, but he died without passing on that recipe. If anyone has a great recipe for homemade pepper vinegar (spicy type) please pass it along! I remember that the peppers Papaw used were small and green and he grew them, but I don't remember what type they were. He also added other things than vinegar but I'm not sure what he used to make his so delicious.

I've seen him do the story in various venues and different clips and it always remains almost identical. He is very talented.

I like reading older works of literature. Epic of Gilgamesh, The Tale of Genji, The Illiad, Beowulf, Shakespeare, etc. The changes in language of the day fascinate me in various translations. One of my pet peeves is from Romeo and Juliet. "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo Montague?" She is NOT asking where he is. She is asking why he is a Montague. Along those lines, there is a comedian who does the 3 Little Pigs in Shakespeare. It is about 10 minutes long, but completely worth it. I made all my kids listen to it.

Tonight's Dinner to clean out the fridge: Cheesy Southwest Soup 1/2 brick Velveeta (off brand) 2 c shredded Mexican cheese 1 qt chicken broth leftover chicken soup homemade (*1.5c) * 1/2 c black beans cooked *1/4 c leftover field peas leftover chicken fajitas diced (chicken, onions, peppers) leftover roasted veggies (carrots, onions, peppers) 1 leftover chicken apple sausage cooked and sliced up Fajita and Cajun seasoning Crockpot all till done. * 6 hours on low. Oriental Salad lettuce chopped leftover small 1/2 side salad mandarin oranges leftover beef fajita meat cut in half chow mein noodles Oriental Salad Dressing toasted sesame oil apple cider vinegar (out of mirin) soy sauce minced candied ginger lemon juice brown sugar honey maple syrup minced garlic Eyeball all amounts into a mason jar and shake, shake, shake. Refrigerate 2h+ before using Homemade Garlic Breadsticks I'm having issues shaping because of my bad wrist, but they tasted good.

My grandfather and his brothers used to make and sell moonshine back during prohibition in Alabama. That probably influences my preferences in vanilla extract. They made it in a car radiator in the woods and sold it all over. It is actually not that hard to make.

That is a georgous quilt!

I agree that everclear works extremely well, but I don't cut mine; I keep it straight. About two decades ago, I made up batches of cordial (one was vanilla extract) that were identical in 8 types with 2 jars each. I turned 8 jars once every two weeks for a year and the others I just let sit there. The ones i turned were much more flavorful than the identical ones I did not turn for every flavor. I stored them in the same place. Your milage may vary, especially if you are using a 50/50 mix of everclear and water. Blueberry everclear with sugar is smooth as the most expensive vodka after 2 years. blueberry infuses excellently.

We went to see Ginger Billy comedian last night at the comedy club here. It was a very late but fun night. Today is housecleaning and I need to go through the garage furniture and see if I have a twin bed for River or if I need to buy one.

Shaking makes it stronger. The recipe for cordial is roughly the same as with vanilla extract except with any item (fruit, nuts, etc) and some sugar. I usually turn it about once a week --no vigorous shaking, just turn the mason jar once.

Today we pick nicked and bought the baby new shoes. Then I ordered 100 credit card sized magnifying glasses off of amazon because I cannot read fine print anymore and I'm tired of looking for my larger magnifying sheet that is apparently 'somewhere.'

There is a chili cook off tomorrow at DH's work and he asked me to make some so I made about 2 gallons today. Chili for dinner, chili for work. and chili for the freezer. Columbia Gas stopped by and said that they would be updating our gas line next week and I'd be without gas for several hours. I'm still trying to get out of this funk, so nothing much productive is happening.

We went through that with DD141. All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth! was the theme for the year. So cute!