Mabelline

How about a big ole sign outfront warning: Beware of FALLING INDIGNANT DINNERS! (?) Works for me.

fifi, if you have one of the pricklies with a yellow bloom, you have got one of the rarest of opuntias to come across. Don't baby it, whatever you do. Stick it in some substandard soil with drainage and leave it be. I kid you not! Cactus thrive on neglect, and kudos to nephew for bringin' you that ground.

Although I was brought up thoroughly schooled in cuttlery usage, I find it outmoded and very prejudicial. If you were serving a Chinese Ambassador, for instance, would you sign him out to the outlands because of his knife knowledge or skill? I feel a skilled server would quietly and confidentially inform that guest that they surely would prefer to keep their specially selected steak knife? Now on a different front.I go to a lot of powwows and rendevous' where people tote the sharpest knives I've ever seen. I love watching them in use.

I bypassed the corned beef yesterday because we ended up at the food bank for a while. We ate Thai food takeout instead, pork larb, shrimp pad thai, and shrimp spring rolls. But I have the brisket in the oven already. Instead of my usual boiled beef, I decicded on an oven slow cook. The spices are already making it through to me, which amazes me because we burn frankincense and myrrh all thru the holidays, with some white sage at special times.And it's 19* with snow advisory. Tonight is supposed to be -4*. Come on corned beef with bisquits!

rooftop1000, I know what you're talking about. Acini de pepe means frogs eyes, though, and I never had a lot of frog eyes experience till I ran a harvest crew in Hooper Colorado, which has a considerable Basque community. I was introduced to a proper salade Nicois, as well as frog eyes in breakfast, dinner, and supper. Good food, them Basques make.

It is still cold and brittle here, but we've got the white stuff moving in. Yee double haw. The chowder is history, and the antelope mostly went to the firehouse with DH. I now have a carrot pudding put by, 8 quarts of corn relish made up for gifts and eating, chicken all taken apart and in freezer for future enchiladas... Today I'm thinking about a corned beef brisket, for I have beautiful vegetables from the Good Earth for braising--brussels sprouts, parsnips, potatoes, carrots. Look out...I feel a drool factor coming on.

Tater Tot Casserole! Frito Chili Pie! Porcupine meatballs! And I second Patti's dirty rice! These are all good groceries! OMG, I forgot tamale pie!

mini-runzas with bisquit dough. Brown you up some meat with onions, garlic and finely shredded cabbage. Open up the cylinder of bisquits, spread some flour and roll each one out to about 1/4" by 6-8 inches. Stick some meat mixture on each. Fold over and crimp edges with a fork. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or so. Eat.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can smell that food cookin'! Drool factor kicking in. That ole Riley is a fortunate critter...although I'm quite sure he thinks YOU are the fortunate ones..but that's doglogic for ya!

A specific dessert tamal I remember in AZ every year was sweetened bean with a raisin in each one. I did not like them, as I always wanted green corn with green chile and cheese. But you had to eat one before going to church on Christmas Eve. Boy howdy, does that bring back memories---Feliz Navidad, Sra Cano and family!

I have to weigh in with andie's suggestion about Creamette macaroni. It makes the nicest texture, and their recipe from the box for macaroni salad is one I still make use of during grilling season. Welcome to eG, gestalt768. May you eat better for the knowin' of this melange!

Hummers up here.

Oh, Marlene, I know from your participation you'll just make a hand at Northern/Southern Gal-Dom! Just remember, when you get 'flustered', wing it! That's how chicken-fried steaks came into being. Looking forward to many enlightening cookin sessions!

Jeepers, that is monstrous cold! I wish you were close enough to cart over for a feed! I do indeed love elk...actually any wild animal meat that is not like say possum or muskrat...although I reckon they are good cooked correctly. But my preferences in order are antelope, bison, elk, venison. I have recently gotten into venison recipes that are Persian and Indian that are fabulous. VERY different from your usual hunter's recipes (red wine, etc.). Anyway, it's still cold, the roast's roasting, and I am feeling some clam chowdah coming on. I'd been thinking potato-corn chowder, but hey, my food cravings have been seafood-centric, so now I'll run with it.

fifi's recipe that she mentioned was killer. Last year I had a bison hump roast and a skin from a ham. Combined the two and used her recipe to slow bake the roast, covered with the ham skin, and it came out excellent!! I would do it again in a minute, because I got so many compliments, but there's no bison this year This is a virtual slamdunk pork recipe...for those who grew up with the overdry pork a lot of people grew up eating, it is a sublime taste awakening. And in my opinion, there cannot ever be enough onions or garlic in a meat dish.

Trinidad and Guyana were also home to very large populations of Indians, brought there as cheap labor by the English, and bringing with them their own curries and masalas,etc. to add to the mix. So those two places at least have an added culinary element to the foods.

I had a very good friend, Roger Waters (NO not the Pink Floyd R.W.) who was a very excellent butcher, so look his name up, sweetheart, and ask if they are still in meat. Do not be put off by rude turndowns. You want good meat-----chase it!!

Dang, those sound good. I bet some of my elk and pork chorizo would work, too. There is an advantage to highline. I would never have had an antelope. And that's truly a divine food. For anyone who has never tried or had the opportunity to eat antelope; I pity youall. It is the best wild, free meat I have ever had. The texture and the delicacy of the the offering is UN believable. If you ever come across it, eat it. You will agree, some day.

Yeah, it's been awhile, but I brought some horses through there in '99, and I did recognize landmarks. Be smart. Graze some cow babies on the greens. Heads up. You live in a nice area that's always had good groceries. Don't be shy.

Oh my gosh, that reminds me of my daughters' favorite ornaments, which I had to search all over for to get three of: Yosemite Sam: he drew on you, then growled Merry Whatever Partner. Bought them in Las Vegas at the NPRCA finals.

Nah, it's not that so much as folks not into what you are gifting them with. If I show up with Ferrero Rocher they go Whoopee but they don't know what making pralines mean. And I ain't a teacher...I just ate the extras with DH. Thank the Great Spirits he's a Southerner in his soul.

Livermore is a fine town. Don't be apologizing for it. Many years ago we ran cattle by Mendenhall Reservoir, and my daddy worked for the Rowells. It's a good honest part of California, with beautiful scenery. And less people than outland.

My pralines last Christmas time were a success culinarily, but they are sad up here. It's just not the same, youall understand...

I used to come in from school and have a butter sammich, sometimes with sugar, sometimes with banana and whipped cream -toasted- and sometimes I would have hack with my grandad (actually, step-grandpa, but the person whom I spent my toddler years growing up around). And I must admit, I have always called hack "tartar"because I was too young at the time to remember it's correct term, until I read it on a thread here. I still eat raw meat. If I die from some brain disease in 5 or 10 years, so be it. Like John Whiting said before; I've had a good life--and I will not give up those things which give me irrational happiness, for the sake of a medical scare. Beside that...we eat our own beef. And we are very careful about our game animals (By the way-have you ever thought about that Anglo term game? There is no Native American term that is comparative. Animals that are eaten are considered our brothers, not a game. But I digress.) Yeah, so I have this nightmare of waking up dead, and the big guy tells me that what did me in was a Junkfood meal 8 1/2 years ago when I was bummed out and grabbed some fast food.

We are having just an obnoxious cold dry spell. It's 39* right now, with high wind advisories for this afternoon. But not one flake of snow. 50 miles from here, at Red Lodge, my inlaws are skiing in 18" of powder. Not fair! I like the cold much better with snow. But anyway, I slow-cooked carnitas yesterday, have a roasted chicken to pick clean, and am thawing out an antelope roast for tomorrow. There's supposed to be a possibility of snow tomorrow as a front moves in. I like stuff I can work on all day, with a lot of tactile involvement. Am also finishing up the Christmas cooking--down to corn relish now. I've been painting a bunch of ceramic ornaments and temporarily burned out on them. The crockpot thread got me thinking about a steamed pudding, too.