New, New Chat Thread

[Ron61]

Warren,

They are doing great with the new diet, but Ken said it may take months for all of that to get out of their intestines. The way prices are going up here I won't need a diet. In another month I won't be able to afford any food. It is actually cheaper for me to eat out than buy stuff and bring it home now.
As for the weather, it is still cold and windy here but no rain in the forecast. I watched the national weather news yesterday and they showed it raining here and it was as clear as it can be, just a cold wind blowing all day. Don't tick the Mt. Shasta Goddess off. Be sure to post some pictures of you shoveling the 10' feet of snow you are going to get.

Ron

[trularin]

Ron, I have noticed the same thing.

If I purchased all of our food, we could eat out cheaper.

They marked Campbells small can of condensed soup, ON SALE for a little over a dollar.

And when was the last time you saw Corn Bread for over 50 cents???

Dang.

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by 392cobra

It just doesn't seem right to be passing laws that would cut into the Ho Sister's income when they go to all the trouble of a "special visit" with you.

OMG - the Humpin' Ho Sisters has increased. I think that the blue one must be a she-male ... humpin' on her banjo buddie.

But turtle says he is man enough to take on two or all three. He has had so many "Ménage à trois" relationships, that he says it should be called

Ménage à turtle

But he still likes a one-on-one relationship. He really hopes at least one of the Humpin' Ho Sisters is really a magical princess, so when he kisses her, poof ....



I really think that turtle has a eye on the original sister since they both hate termites.

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by Ron61

In another month I won't be able to afford any food. It is actually cheaper for me to eat out than buy stuff and bring it home now.
Ron

Only if you like McDonald's. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I've spent about $3500 for groceries this year, just for me. I eat at a restaurant maybe once a month. I do not buy cheap stuff. I buy what I like. But that is only about $10 per day. I would find it difficult to eat a healthy diet on just $10 per day. And I know I could probably cut another 10 to 15% off my grocery bill by shopping smarter and using coupons.

When I first retired, I was spending about $6K a year on groceries. But I switched to a lower priced supermarket and I only spend about $4K a year now. It helps that everything I spend goes into Quicken. Its real easy to compare what I spend by categories per year.

Hell, I spend more on internet access/cable TV thru Comcast each month than I do on food.

[Ron61]

Warren,

In your case you are probably correct but I don't eat 5 meals a day. I normally only eat one time and then snack if I get hungry. And what you can buy in the market there for $5 dollars is at least $10 here at our cheapest markets. And I eat what I want when I go out too. Besides if you ever tasted my attempts to cook, you would swear off home cooked food for good.

Ron

[wtm442]

Just got a heating oil delivery. Only $3.29 a gallon 172 gallons for a bill of about $570.00. This is one bill I always pay immediately because they give you 4% off if paid within 15 days.

The last delivery before this one was in April, and it was $2.55 a gallon.

Thankfully I only use about 500 to 600 gallon a year.

Time for some homemade dinner. A big salad and some American chop suey.

Ron - cooking is easy. You just have to try. Right now I have some thin-end brisket corning on the back porch. Corned beef dinner over the weekend. Ummmmmm. One of my favorites, especially the leftovers.

You want my recipe? I have a ton of them in Word.

[trularin]

Warren, what are you using for the corning?

[wtm442]

Just a salt brine. Cold water ... add a potato and stir in regular table salt until the potato floats. Put the beef in the brine for 3 days, and one more day in plain water (no salt). I learned from my father. He owned a grocery store/meat market, and was a butcher. Of course, I worked in the store from the time I was 12 to about 18 years old.

[wtm442]

Homemade Corned Beef Dinner

Ingredients
• Thin End Brisket - if you ask the butcher for corned beef, it will probably already be corned (gray color), and nowhere near as good as you can do it yourself. Make sure you ask for a good "thin end brisket", which has very little fat as compared to the thick end. They will usually trim off most of the fat. The THICK end brisket is cheaper, but there is way too much fat and the taste is nowhere as good as the thin end. Please remember that a 5 lb brisket will only weigh 2.5 lbs after it is cooked, so get a big piece!
• Common Table Salt (¾ to 2 boxes – depends on the size of pot you use to “corn” the beef)

3 or 4 days later ……..
• Potatoes (peeled)
• Onions (skinned)
• Carrots (I prefer the peeled baby carrots in the bag)
• Cabbage (quartered - cut in 4 pieces)

Corning the Beef
About 3 to 5 days before cooking, fill a big pot about ½ to ¾ full with cold tap water and add one unpeeled potato. Add a lot of salt and stir for at least 10 seconds until the salt dissolves. Stop the water rotating in the pot. See if the potato just slowly starts to float up from the bottom of the pot. You want to keep adding salt and stirring until the potato just floats on the surface. Remove the potato. Add the beef and cover the pot. Store pot in a very cool place for two, preferably 3 days. If you do not have a cool place to store it – make some very big ice cubes using some plastic storage containers or a zip lock bag. Occasionally you can throw in a BIG block of ice which will keep the brine cool. After 2 or 3 days, throw out the brine. Wash beef under faucet with cold water. Refill pot with fresh tap water and let the beef sit in the water for another day in a very cool place. Add ice if necessary

Cooking the Dinner
Discard water and rinse beef under faucet on more time. Rinse pot. Put the beef back in the pot and fill approximately ½ to ¾ full of water, leaving room for the veggies. Bring water to a boil and turn down the heat to a very slow boil when pot is covered. Let the beef cook for about two or three hours and then start adding the onions, potatoes, carrots and cabbage.

If you do not have a big enough pot, cook the beef in one pot and all of the veggies in a second pot.

Cooking Time (covered)
Beef – 3 hrs (but don’t forget it will probably take 30 minutes to get the water to boil!)
Onions – 1 hr
Potatoes and Carrots – approximately 45 minutes
Cabbage – 30 to 45 minutes


Remove everything from pot and cut the beef across the face using an extremely sharp knife (better yet, use an electric knife). If you use a dull knife and the beef will crumble because it’s so tender! Refrigerate any leftover corned beef in one piece and then cut it into thin strips when it’s cold for grilled corned beef and cheese sandwiches! Umm good. Or chop up all the cold leftovers for corned beef hash! No matter what, please remember to call me when supper is served!

[trularin]

You are fortunate your dad shared that with you.

My son was published in a couple of news papers. I am a bit proud.

Winter storm warning????

What winter? Is winter here already? What did I miss?

[392cobra]

"Very cool place" ????

You don't mean a fridge ?

You have to remember,that as bad a cook as Ron claims to be,I regard him as just one step below Julia Childs.
(As compared to my abilities.)

[trularin]

Gee Fred, I though you were the "eat out often" type of guy.

[392cobra]

Nope,not me.

I'd rather waste the money on other things.

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by trularin

My son was published in a couple of news papers. I am a bit proud.

Congratulations. Is your son a writer? What was published?

[wtm442]

Celtic 104
Knicks 59



Say goodnight Isiah.

Must be the Belicheck factor at work.

[Ron61]

I wasn't kidding when I said I am a bad cook. You know some people just have no aptitude for certain things and cooking has to be at the top of my list. I can burn water trying to boil it. Since I have no car I can enjoy the luxury of eating out when I want and also no mess to clean up. And I just have to drive about 1/2 mile to a great place we have here and their prices are very good compared to going to Redding. But to make Warren happy I can get it take out and eat it at home.

Ron

[Ron61]

Warren,

With the new higher limits in the gallery can you now get down enough to load pictures? Maybe put some of your larger pictures on a diet.

Ron

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by Ron61

But to make Warren happy I can get it take out and eat it at home.

Ron

Some of the best cooks in the world know the value of take-out. Around here, there are probably 25 restaurants that will DELIVER to my house. Cooking by telephone ... I've done that often!

[wtm442]

Good morning world. Supposed to be sunny but really cold for the next few days. But the Mt Shasta Goddess that sent the bad weather to Tru is coming my way. Prediction is for 1 to 3 inches of that ugly white stuff on Sunday night.

Got my 3rd Christmas card in the mail yesterday. The first one arrived the day after Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll start getting them next year on Labor Day?

[Ron61]

Well we still have sunny days but that cold wind is blowing as usual. Get out the snow blower, you are going to need it soon. I told you to not insult the Mt. Shasta Goddess. May you be blessed with an abundance of the pretty white stuff.

Ron