Shelby

Yeah, @HungryChris I love fried clams. I can't remember the last time I had any and they certainly didn't look like yours. Envious.

Everyone's stuff looks so good!!! I'm not counting my chicks before they hatch, but the garden here looks so much better than last year. I really really hope the tomatoes keep on keepin' on. You can't tell the scale by this picture, but some of the 'maters are almost baseball sized already. I can't wait for red ones! Just a quick snap of half of the tomatoes.

Attack of the cucumbers! How many did you plant? I think I have 5-6 that survived the various storms. I've only picked one so far, though. I hope more come on or else Ronnie is going to be without pickles and I don't know if he can handle that lol. Did more green beans yesterday. It went a lot smoother which must mean I felt more comfortable with my pressure canner already. I really enjoy not having to lift the jars out of the boiling water bath.....so much so that I might use the pressure canner for tomatoes (if I get some).

How did I miss this until this morning?????? What a WONDERFUL treat to read as I sip on an iced coffee. I had so much fun perusing each menu and then carefully deciding what I would have ordered. It was like I was having a mini vacation in my kitchen I would be in Eataly for eons and eons. I would have to probably be dragged out, kicking and screaming with my arms full of cheeses, meats and assorted kitchen wares. I would have had to order the burrata (I've never had it, only seen it online and it looks so good), the frito misto de pesce and the ragu arancini. But, then I scrolled down and saw your meat platter and I might have had to order that, too. Ohhhh that farmer's market looks so fun. Those jars of pickled mushrooms really caught my eye. I am pea green with envy over your visit to the art institute. Art museums .....well, lets just say I wanted to be a painter or some sort of artist when I was a kid. Then I realized that what they say is true...you don't make much money doing that until you're dead lol. So, I nixed that dream. I LOVE the Manet painting. I haven't been to a museum in years and years and years. Girl and the Goat looks fun. My order: Soft shell crab and the pig heart (unless someone would eat the pig face with me and then that would have been my pick) LOVE the lights at The Publican. Razor clam ceviche and the pork rinds for me there. And definitely, to drink, the house made Lambic Doux. Also love the ceiling in Dusek's . Choucroute for me along with the Nasketucket Bay oysters and that ramp pasta dish (yeah, no way could I eat all of that but a girl can dream). Wow. I really wrote a book here--sorry. I just had so much fun Thank you so much for taking time to do this! I am hungry now but I know that when I open my fridge, nothing will look near as good as what I just saw from your trip. Sigh.

@rarerollingobject I'm very sorry for your loss. @Kim Shook Your meal looks wonderful. I'm going to have to try Norm's wings. @Captain Now that's a steak! Hot wings for us last night

Right now I want nothing more than to have a slice of this with butter...or plain...it looks fantastic.

I can't even begin to hit the like button on this because their mistake only prolongs your stay in that hellspital...I mean hospital..

When I was young my Grammy and I would have either nachos or just salsa and chips for dinner while watching movies.....my stand out memory of that is the first time I watched Gone With The Wind.....nachos with salsa and extra green chilis from a can with tons of cheese. Heavenly and still one of my favorite movies.

Your meal looks lovely. You and your father are in my prayers and best wishes.

For the first time in my life, I think the heat of summer is affecting my appetite. My air conditioner is all fixed and running like a champ so I don't know why I'm feeling this way, but I am. And it's not even that hot here yet. Anyway, I wasn't hungry for anything yesterday except I craved cold shrimp cocktail. So, my wonderful husband trekked to the big city and got me some nice shrimp. So, cold dinner last night--except for the cheesy toasts

UGH LIUZHOU!!! I'm so sorry!!! Hurry up and get the hell out of there!!! The chairs next to the tv look far more comfortable than the hard plastic ones that I've had to sit in. After a couple of hours my backside falls asleep and I walk like I'm 120 years old. If you feel well enough, I'm sure you're bored silly. Can someone bring you a few books? Can you download ebooks on your phone? Hospitals....I can barely make myself go visit someone...they scare the crap out of me for some reason. But, when my father in law and mother in law were/are in there I have to. For meal times they are given a menu of choices--one for people with diabetes and a regular menu. I've seen decent meals --a surprisingly good looking chef salad--and horrible meals--a totally inedible plate of what they called beef stroganoff (I took a tour down the hall that day and all the stroganoff meals were being reloaded on to the carts to be dumped). Your pork buns look very good, actually. I'm surprised they don't offer some kind of juice to drink or tea? And, yeah, like Lisa said, if I were there I'd bring you ice. Big hugs from over here in Kansas and I'll be checking on here regularly for your updates.

I do that a lot and I'm still breathing

Ann T's lemon pepper garlic wings

Venison burgers last night

Oh how I love Hot Springs. I think I probably have been to the Italian place.....I can't remember the name but the food was amazing. I had house made ravioli that I can still taste it was so good. Sorry that it was disappointing I definitely know the breakfast place and they do make a damn good one. We went there before the races a lot to eat. The German will awesome I bet. I never made it over to eat there and I wish we had.

Welcome!!!

Venison steaks

Ronnie wanted venison steaks last night. 125F for a couple of hours and then seared.

Is the meat ground up? Like a hamburger steak?

Thai ground pork lettuce wraps, egg rolls and noodles last night. Nice on a super hot evening. Lettuce, cilantro and basil from my garden.

What would I do without you?? Thank you so much!!! Well, I know what I would do...I'd be scrubbing the hell out of that heavy canning pot with no results happening lol.

It is aluminum!!! Thank you!!!! This was driving me crazy. So, if I do that next time will it take the black away? Edited to add that unless I missed it in the instruction book--and I could have--I didn't see anything telling me to do this. They should at least warn a person that the pot will turn black lol.

I used my pressure canner for the first time yesterday. I hope it gets easier as I get more used to it. I had a hard time adjusting the heat just right....the instructions that came with it said that the thingy should only jiggle 1 to 4 times per minute but when I would adjust it down the pressure would go down--I needed it to stay at 15 lbs. Anyway, it was exciting and I'm thrilled to have some beans from my garden done However, I screwed up and I don't really know what I did wrong. I rinsed the pot and the lid with warm water and a bit of soap before I used it. I didn't scrub it hard, just washed it with a sponge. After I was all done I looked inside and it has turned completely black up to where the water line was! It isn't greasy and it doesn't smell. It's just black. I tried to scrub it and I can't make a dent. It's not burned. Just black. I don't mind it I guess as long as it's not leaching some weird chemical into my canning lol.

Green beans from the garden! Along with other stuff.