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I will never again . . . (Part 4)

Darienne

By Darienne
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Tropicalsenior

Tropicalsenior

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Not to perjure myself further, between the bedroom and the living room I found three open bags of Rustichella d'Abruzzo bucatini.  I had been hoping to find spaghetti.

 

 

I would love to see a floor plan and an outline of your storage system. Or maybe not. It is definitely keeping my poor old mind active trying to imagine it.

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I would love to see a floor plan and an outline of your storage system. Or maybe not. It is definitely keeping my poor old mind active trying to imagine it.

 

As a precaution I moved all the open bags of pasta (that I could find) from the living room to the bedroom.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Tropicalsenior

Tropicalsenior

Posted
Posted
On 8/4/2022 at 4:45 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

My goals are twofold. First to curb my over buying and second, to use up what I have overbought. With kitchen cabinets, a walk-in pantry, two refrigerators and a chest freezer, making the inventory itself was a monumental task. (Fortunately there was nothing in the bedrooms or under the couch.) Having accomplished that, I am determined to keep it up.

After 2 days of cooking and one blissful shopping trip, I am still up to date. Maybe I should check back with you in a month and report how I'm doing.

@Margaret Pilgrim and @Darienne. I promised to report back on my inventory system and it is working like a charm. It has already become a habit to Mark something off as I use it and to indicate in my inventory when I need to put it on my shopping list. It saves me time making my list because I don't have to run all over the house to check my supplies and it has saved me money at the store because I can go directly to the items that I need and I don't go up and down the aisle and give in to impulse buying. I am extremely happy with the results. It is definitely a two-step process. First as I use things up and then on shopping day, reentering my purchases. Now, I just don't dare lose my phone.

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Darienne

Darienne

Posted
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Posted
11 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

@Margaret Pilgrim and @Darienne. I promised to report back on my inventory system and it is working like a charm. It has already become a habit to Mark something off as I use it and to indicate in my inventory when I need to put it on my shopping list. It saves me time making my list because I don't have to run all over the house to check my supplies and it has saved me money at the store because I can go directly to the items that I need and I don't go up and down the aisle and give in to impulse buying. I am extremely happy with the results. It is definitely a two-step process. First as I use things up and then on shopping day, reentering my purchases. Now, I just don't dare lose my phone.

Good for you. 

 

Still strange you should post this today when I am finally going to force myself to go to the cellar and tear apart the freezer and see just what on earth is in it now.  The past two months of our lives have been extremely chaotic...I'd actually say the worst I've ever lived through in terms of chaos (not in terms of life threatening things or anything dire)...and I've let all kinds of things slide...including keeping track of what's in the main freezer. 

I don't have a smart phone to keep track of my life...it's all on hard copy.  Which I have been ignoring.  At my peril.  In fact, I don't have a smart anything, including a smart brain which now seems to be missing.  

 

I'm now off to the cellar...

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
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14 minutes ago, Darienne said:

I don't have a smart phone to keep track of my life...it's all on hard copy.  Which I have been ignoring.  At my peril.  In fact, I don't have a smart anything, including a smart brain which now seems to be missing.  

 

I'm now off to the cellar...

I hope this doesn't mean that you are without a cell phone.    Our son has admonished me, "You live in earthquake country.   Your cell phone should always be within 6 feet of you."     I always take my phone when I go the the basement.    Or any other place where I might become compromised and want to call out.   Practicing paranoia is work.

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eGullet member #80.

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I hope this doesn't mean that you are without a cell phone.    Our son has admonished me, "You live in earthquake country.   Your cell phone should always be within 6 feet of you."     I always take my phone when I go the the basement.    Or any other place where I might become compromised and want to call out.   Practicing paranoia is work.

Good advice, assuming there’s a cell signal where you will be and that whoever you plan to contact is equally equipped. At my late mother’s house, there is barely any cell signal and certainly none in the basement so we needed other alternatives.
 

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Good advice, assuming there’s a cell signal where you will be and that whoever you plan to contact is equally equipped. At my late mother’s house, there is barely any cell signal and certainly none in the basement so we needed other alternatives.
 

That's why I now have a landline again for the first time in years.

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Darienne

Darienne

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Posted

Thanks for all the  advice.  I have no idea if the cell phone will work in the cellar or not.  Here I go.....

 

Just as I thought...no service.   There are still places on the first floor where there is no service also.     When I say we live in the middle of nowhere, I am not exaggerating.  (Well, maybe just a tad.)  And seeing as Ed doesn't carry a phone with him up at the Drive Shed...or anywhere else unless he's off in the car...which is where he was...I am out of luck.  We do have a portable phone which is tied into our land line but no one carries it.    

 

I did go down into the cellar and did clean up the freezer.  And now I'm as up to date again as I'm going to be.  And not making any soup as we currently have 34 containers already.  And I found strange bags of unmarked stuff...we're having one for lunch tomorrow.  Frozen foods are sometimes impossible to identify with many finished casserole packages looking approximately the same.  They fall out of their identified holding bags.   And a few packages of skinless boneless chicken breasts.  And a plethora of frozen spinach for something I was going to make and never did and now can't recall.

 

Didn't get back to this any earlier...Ed's now trying to do something about the quagmire the garage has become over the summer.  I'm called in to identify 'stuff' and what we should do about it.  What a fun day!

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Good advice, assuming there’s a cell signal where you will be and that whoever you plan to contact is equally equipped. At my late mother’s house, there is barely any cell signal and certainly none in the basement so we needed other alternatives.
 

A pocket sized bell isn't a bad idea in those cases.   

In our house, if you hear a rhythmic banging, a stop and repeat and repeat, go check it out.    Someone may be out of shouting range and in trouble or need of something.

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eGullet member #80.

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

A pocket sized bell isn't a bad idea in those cases.   

In our house, if you hear a rhythmic banging, a stop and repeat and repeat, go check it out.    Someone may be out of shouting range and in trouble or need of something.

An inexpensive wireless doorbell can be handy, though it takes some advance planning.  I put the button part on a lanyard that my mom could wear. I could hear the ringer anywhere in the house or bring it outside if I was working in the garden. 
That's overkill for @Darienne's cellar freezer trips but a relatively low cost option should the servant call bell system go out of commission at the manor 🤣

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
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16 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

should the servant call bell system go out of commission at the manor

Hate when that happens. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
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6 hours ago, Darienne said:

Good for you. 

 

Still strange you should post this today when I am finally going to force myself to go to the cellar and tear apart the freezer and see just what on earth is in it now.  The past two months of our lives have been extremely chaotic...I'd actually say the worst I've ever lived through in terms of chaos (not in terms of life threatening things or anything dire)...and I've let all kinds of things slide...including keeping track of what's in the main freezer. 

I don't have a smart phone to keep track of my life...it's all on hard copy.  Which I have been ignoring.  At my peril.  In fact, I don't have a smart anything, including a smart brain which now seems to be missing.  

 

I'm now off to the cellar...

 

I don't have a cellphone, but I do have an SOS device.  In addition it has a flashlight and displays the location of nearby restaurants.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
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46 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

If you could only program it to include lime vendors.

 

Better yet, press the SOS button to have limes delivered.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, rotuts said:

doesn't Amazon have a Button for that ?

 

Tide , Everclear , Limes , a young yet amusing Chablis ?

 

I could always ask Alexa.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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  • 2 weeks later...
JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I will never again use up the last drops of the Martin-Pouret Orleans red wine vinegar I was hoarding, thinking it was the Colavita white wine vinegar of which I have a case.

 

Good it was, however.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
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1 hour ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

er, how did you confuse the two?    

 

When red wine vinegar gets rather old it gets rather brown.  When white vinegar gets rather old it gets rather brown.

 

And the dining room was dark.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Darienne

Darienne

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Posted

I  really don't know if I should post my foolish action in this thread.  Of course I'm going to do it again.  Many times.  I wish I could keep from doing it again.  But I know it's hopeless.  That is, losing track of time when on the computer. 

 

I had some Blatjang which was too liquidy on the stove, and on a very low heat, trying to thicken it up.  It's a recipe from @JohnTfor a quick chutney to eat with Bobotie, my South African meal which I am making for friends next week.  So's the Bobotie recipe also.  And the Malva Pudding for dessert.  Then I sat down to answer a couple of emails.

 

About 1 1/2 hours later I went into the kitchen to find what was left of the chutney, black, thick as well, I don't know what is this thick.  I could not pry it off the side of the pan.  It's stuck fast to the bottom of the pan like nobody's business.  I hope the pan is not permanently ruined.  The chutney sure is.

 

Made it again.  And looked it up online to see if by some chance I could use cornstarch to thicken it.  Well, I could and this time I did.  End of that story.  

 

But not the end of losing complete track of time while on the computer....

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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