Tropicalsenior

Interesting, the meatballs look nice and moist for being turkey. What is the history of the recipe? Is it from your family?

That would be fun, and oh so easy to get carried away. Wooden spoon set, whisk, apron and oven mitts. Things that she will treasure forever.

Good point!

My grandson just let me know that he has ordered my bags. He was kind of incredulous that I was asking him to bring plastic bags to Costa Rica but he's getting them. Just the word from the horse's mouth, head office at Amazon, and this is a direct quote from him. "Keep in mind a lot of this stuff takes longer to get to me because shipping #$%^ is messed up right now Prime shipping or not". It seems that right now about half of my wishlist is in jeopardy. If you want to order anything for Christmas, order it now!

I liked the idea so much that I went to Amazon to see what they offer and I found this https://www.amazon.com/YIHONG-Produce-Reusable-Drawstring-Colorful/dp/B07G9T9JLK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=mesh%2Bshopping%2Bbags%2Bfor%2Bproduce&qid=1639090328&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1 I can't order things on Amazon here in Costa Rica because of the cost of shipping but I've got a grandson that works at Amazon and he's coming to visit right after Christmas. This has gone on my wishlist.

Ooooh! That's terrible! I love it. I think that's going to be my Christmas card this year.

I love that idea. I'm going to have to see if I can find any here.

I don't know why they don't all use them. It's faster, it eliminates the need for a separate bagman, it has a neat little area in the center to put items that need to go in last and it makes it so much easier to accommodate difficult people like me. They do it with a smile, at least I think they do. Hard to tell with the mask.

The store that I go to has something that seems to be unique in our area. It is a carousel that sits at the end of the checkout counter. The checker can hang five or six bags on it and rotate it to put things in the appropriate bag if necessary. I wish that I had taken a picture of it today. The people in this store are really something special. There is a store from this chain that is less than a mile from my house but I drive almost five miles to this one just for the service.

Oh, those plastic bags are just the worst. Not only are they getting cheaper and more flimsy, now we can't take off our masks to lick our fingers to get them open. Not to mention that our fingers just don't work as well. Did I mention, we have some of the best Checkers here. I've never come across anybody that doesn't bend over backwards to help once they know you need it.

I just got back from shopping, which I only do once a week. My blood pressure can't stand the shock of the rising prices more often than that. I realized that I have developed a system of shopping that accommodates most of my weaknesses. When bringing your own bag became absolutely mandatory here, I bought a lot of inexpensive colored bags. Now when I get to the checkout counter, I have three requests of the checker. First and most important don't fill the bags too heavy, second, put all the refrigerated things in the blue bags, put all the vegetables in the red bags and everything else in the green. I make sure that I separate everything on the conveyor belt just to make it easier for them. Everything in the blue bags has to go in an insulated bag in the car just to get home because it gets so hot down here. Then when I get home I know that I have to put everything in the blue bags away first, then the red bags and then, if I'm exhausted, I can sit down with a glass of iced tea, put my feet up and stare at the green ones without any guilt.

Then I love this company. In this day and age we need a good laugh. I see that it's an American company so it's not a bad Chinese translation.

If she got the recipe verbally from a friend I would go for Chives.

This can't possibly be for real.

As I took my casserole out of the oven last night I had to laugh at myself and think that I'm a poor one to give advice on oven protection. I just had to take a picture of my HotPads, as we always called them. I have no idea how old they are and they have sure been through the wringer. Yes, they are clean. They have even been bleached but they are just so old and stained that they can't help it. Twice I have gotten brand new pads and thrown these away. Both times I've used the new pads for a couple days and retrieved the old ones. I have five or six really pretty ones that would do the job but they're just too pretty and I save them to use as trivets on my glass top table. They say that old friends are the best. I guess that applies to HotPads, too.

Not very fancy but I just had a craving for tuna casserole. For those of you who have been following this topic no, I did not use this recipe. It might have given me the idea, though.

Remember how good the Pillsbury cook-off books were when they first started making them? Almost everything was made from scratch and from things that you probably had in your pantry and then they went nuts. They were nothing but exotic ingredients and 'start with this mix'. I guess I was living with hope but I just went on buying them.

This was so prevalent in all the cookbooks. Another thing that was popular was the canned Chow Mein noodles. Anything that they could top it with or stick it in was Oriental. Their idea of Mexican was also a little off. If they could put chili powder, cheddar cheese, or beans in it it was Mexican.

I know, I feel the pain, too. While I was searching to see if anyone had covered this topic I ran a cross it and read it end-to-end. He was truly a treasure. He was talking about the pamphlets that were put out by companies and some of them were hilarious and some of them were awfully good. I was a sucker for those and I was always lucky if I could find one recipe that I could use. But I still bought the next one. when it came out. They always put them at the head of the checkout stand were you could read them during the hours that you stood waiting to get out of the place. They were a real gotcha.

You are so right. I have 2 quart size, 2 two cupper's and 2 1 cupper's. I have a big complaint with a few of them. Some of mine are over 20 years old and the measurements are painted on the side. Those I can read just fine. Some of the newer ones have raised glass measurement indicators. When your eyes get older you don't see so well and sometimes these are almost impossible to read. As for grabbing things out of the oven, some of the Pans have edges that are hard to grip with an oven mitt. For that I use this. I have two of these and I gifted one to a friend of mine that has the same problem. I bought them in my favorite little Chinese restaurant supply store and they were labeled just Microwave Grabbers. They work great for pulling things out of the instant pot, microwave, or the oven.

I think I'll pass on the oven mitt soup.

Two beautiful books that I go to quite often are Steamboat Entertains by the Colorado Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Back Home Again by the Junior League of Indianapolis. They are both beautifully done and contain a lot of recipes from local restaurants.

How right you are. I found out that when I transitioned from the professional kitchen to my own I did change to pot holders. I just make sure that they are thick and well-insulated. That was for two reasons. One, as I worked less and less in the kitchen my hands were no longer heat-proof. At one time I could turn a steak with my hands. No more! Two, using an unlimited amount of side towels is great when somebody else is doing the laundry but when you have to do it, sometimes you think twice about it.

I know that this is an old one that has been around for a long time but I found it in an old church cookbook that was raising money for their missionary fund. Elephant Stew 1 elephant salt and pepper to taste 2 rabbits (optional) brown gravy Cut elephant into bite-sized pieces. This should take about two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over a kerosene fire at 465 degrees for about 4 weeks. This will serve about 3,800 people. If more are expected, two rabbits may be added, but do this only if necessary as most people do not like to find hare in their stew.

That seems to be an issue and so many of them and I think, yes, they just didn't want or didn't dare to offend other members. And some of the recipes were so bad that they had to have known that no one would cook them. They weren't just a product of the South. They were a nationwide craze. At one time I had cookbooks from all over the United States and some from Canada. Some were very well written and some were an absolute hoot. They showed so much about the organizations and the areas that they came from. I had one from a Country Club group in Seattle that was all caviar and lobsters. I had one from a small group in Missouri that was all Campbell's and Jell-O. They are truly a history of the people and the food of that time.