sparrowgrass

When my kids were younger I would hide things in the crisper drawer--who would expect to find something yummy hidden under the nasty green celery?

Oh, poor snowangel--I remember well trying to grow tomatoes in Ely. I got a couple of cherry tomatoes one summer--had to fight off the chipmunks, as I recall. I am buried in tomatoes--picking about a half bushel a day. Made two gallon batches of salsa yesterday, gonna try my juicer today. Okra is coming on, I have enough white pumpkins and orange pumpkins for every kid in Pilot Knob, I think, and somewhere out there in the weeds are some Sugar Baby watermelons, and the squash are still piling up.

In Indiana, you can get beer at the convenience store/gas station, but only warm beer. For cold beer, you have to go to the liquor store. In Kentucky, many convenience stores have a cooler full of ice and single beers right next to the cash register. Silly liquor laws--let's repeal them all.

I have done wild grape wine--it is fun, and mine was drinkable. Wild grape jelly is tasty, too. I better go check and see if mine are ripe.

I used to raise rabbits for dinner, long time ago. When the does got too old to be productive, they were butchered, boned and the meat put into the pressure cooker. Served with some barbecue sauce on buns, we called the dish "Hoppy Joes".

Pickles, I make my own soap occasionally, and have used olive oil. Commercial Palmolive soap=coconut oil (that's the "palm" part) and olive oil.

I have baked pies for more than a few men--does that make me a pie slut? My food philosophy--food is love.

Wow, just look at all the chicken ranchers on this site!! Add me to the number--I have a mixed flock of about 20--buffs, black stars, leghorns, barred rocks, Rhode Island Reds. I also have one duck who lays an egg for me almost every day. It is "australorp" if you are trying to look it up on the 'Net. I wash the eggs that are dirty, in water just a bit warmer than the egg--cold water causes the egg to contract, drawing the dirt into the shell. I refrigerate if I have room in the fridge--if not, they may sit on the counter for a couple days til I use them or sell them to friends at work. (Nothing prettier than my big blue ceramic bowl full of half a dozen different shades of brown. ) Commercial eggs are washed in a sanitizing solution--I forget what is added to the water--and some, not all, are oiled lightly after the wash. (I worked for a mercifully brief time as a USDA poultry grader, both in an egg production facility and Tyson chicken plant.) Commercial eggs can be kept for up to a month in cold storage before they are packed, but that didn't happen often at the plant where I worked. And I keep my own eggs for a month before I hard boil them--they don't peel otherwise.

My ex-in-laws bought a little house to fix up as a rental. They kept smelling something nasty in the kitchen, but couldn't find it. Finally figured out it was the broiler pan--used, probably repeatedly, and never washed.

It is eating-over-the-sink time here on Sparrowgrass Hill. Corn, of course, picked 5 minutes ago and dripping with butter--it is sweet enough to skip the butter, but. . . I eat it left to right, typewriter style. No ding--that is time wasted that would be better spent eating. And eat I do--sometimes only corn for dinner--5 or 6 ears. Huge, sloppy, bacon and tomato sandwiches, oozing out of good home made bread. (From the bread machine, of course, who in their right mind would heat the kitchen up during a Missouri July?) Peaches--my mom and I split a half bushel of clings the other day (clings are so much sweeter than freestones), and they have been growing riper and sweeter and softer by the second, til one bite sends juice down your chin and over your wrists and right onto the nice white shirt you donned to wear to work this morning, and so you have to change before you go back after lunch. MMMMmmmmm.

I make Dilly Beans--I don't like them , but they sure go over well at potlucks. You can use the same recipe for little okra pods. Dilly Beans For 10 pint jars (you can cut this recipe in half, if you want.) Snap beans: young, straight, stems removed, enough to tightly fill 10 pint jars (about 5 pounds?) Garlic: 1 or 2 cloves per jar Red pepper, hot, whole, dry: 1 per jar or 1 tsp red pepper flakes Dill heads, fresh: 1 head per jar, or 1 tsp dill seed per jar. Brine: Water: 5 cups Vinegar, cider or white: 5 cups Pickling salt: ½ cup Brine: Bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Assembly: In each canning jar (use wide-mouth jars) place a good-size dill head in the bottom. Pack whole beans (tips trimmed) vertically in the jars over the dill head. Pack the jar rather tightly. Push a peeled clove of garlic down the side of the beans about half way. Use 1 or 2 cloves, the second one on the opposite side. Similarly, push a dry red pepper down the side about half way, using 1 or 2 peppers. The tightly packed beans will hold the peppers and garlic in place, adding to the appearance. Pour boiling brine over the beans to cover. Cap the jars tightly and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Went mushroom hunting in the rain, and left a large clump of oyster mushrooms in the pocket of my raincoat. Stuck my hand in there about 2 weeks later--shooey!! A smelly, slimy pocket o' goo. My mom was rummaging thru her freezer and set her 20 pound turkey out on the shelf so she could get something out from the bottom of the pile. A week later I came over to visit, walked out on the back porch and almost died of the smell. Did you know that lots of old folks lose their sense of smell? She said, " I smelled that, but I thought maybe a mouse had died back there.

Dates stuffed with half a pecan are my favorites. Also, I use chopped dates instead of chocolate chips in oatmeal cookies.

andiesenji, every time I read one of your posts I am astounded and amazed!! Will you adopt me?

Thanks for all the ideas--I have green beans coming out my ears from the garden. Mostly I do 'em Southern style--onions, garlic, ham/bacon. If I want a complete meal-in-a-pot, I add the potatoes and lots of ham, and thicken the broth with flour and butter. I am particularly fond of shelly beans, sometimes called hully beans. Wait to pick the beans til some have big beans inside, and the pods are too woody to eat. The semi-mature beans add a nice meaty taste and texture to the snap beans. Better get out and get the last of those beans picked. Anybody wanna help? Beans make me itch.

I'll buy one, Pickles!!

When I was pregnant with my first son, I craved those hot dogs that roll around on the gas station grill for hours. The harder and saltier, the better. Haven't had one since, I don't think. Now it's a diet coke/pepsi and something crunchy salty--cheese popcorn or pretzels. If I am desperate for a "meal"--I will eat the pizza from those spin-around cases. Round here, sometimes the best/only restaurant in a little town will be in the convenience store--meat and two plates, daily specials like chicken and dumplings or kettle beef.

Dribbled over a well baked sweet potato. .

Oh, lordy, I love saltines, too. In my family, there were always saltines alongside the chili--I don't think they had invented tortilla chips yet. I can see my dad right now, laying a slab of butter onto his saltine. The rest of us were eating margarine--the "real" butter was Daddy's. (I don't remember feeling deprived--the butter was hard to spread.) On top--sardines in tomato sauce , or tuna salad, or butter. I could eat a stick of butter and a tube (not a sleeve) of saltines right now. Edited to add: We had a tin, too, and it had Spanish on one side, which fascinated me. I now have a "Georgia Crackers" tin, that I bought a long time ago. Those crackers were a Ritz type, as I recall.

I just bought a Roomba--a robotic vacuum cleaner, and I love the little guy. Looks like an oversized CD player, or maybe a plastic trilobite. He is cute AND useful--cleans up the dog hair while I take a shower or cook dinner. Greatest gadget yet to be invented--a Roomba who mops.

I could have written JSD's post. I ate at my first Indian restaurant last year, loved it all, and have been trying some recipes. Sign me up as a willing student!!

Barely burnt popcorn.

Dogs can't eat raw salmon--it has a critter in it that does dogs in. Cooked salmon is perfectly fine for dogs, and they will love you.

I have a wooden cutting board that is made of various hardwoods that are cut in about 1 inch strips and glued together. I washed it one day and set it flat on the counter, and the damp side swelled and warped the board. I just washed it again, turned it over so the swelled up side was on top, and waited till it had straightened out. However, if I read your post right, the sections are warping independently. If that is true, I would follow Goodeater's advice and pitch it.

Whoa, I wish I could get $3 a dozen for my eggs!! I'd be rich, or at least I would cover my feed costs. If I don't collect the eggs promptly, or if it is rainy and muddy, my eggs can be dirty and I have to wash them. I don't think I have ever seen any blood, however.