I’m about to leave work and head over - google maps tells me it’s about 30 min. You’ll all still be there, right?
Thanks to TPR, Ethereal and Mudgirl for hosting. It was fun to meet everyone. Will post more when I’m home again tomorrow.
And it was great to talk to you wonderful guys and ladies! Dondra and I wish we could have been there so bad!
MamaZ, we both thank you for calling, and although I couldn’t really pick out the voices that well, I know your Typo Knig was there.
I’m sure our Norine knew y’all were there to celebrate her life and being a sister to such a great bunch of people: Y’all!
Y’all rock, and thanks for letting us be a small part of your celebration!
Bill and Dondra Craig
It was great meeting with everyone, and trying to show how much Norine meant to us all.
Triskadecamus, please post your story of when your newly-minted 2nd Lt boss went to the supply office for more “Azimuth”, since you had zero. I think this [thread=626509]IMHO thread[/thread] from earlier this month would be just the place. People of the greater DC area, the loud braying sound you heard between 5 and 6 PM was me laughing my ass off at this story.
Ooh yes let’s hear this!
Thanks to our hosts for opening your home to us! Thanks to all for the nummy noshes, altho I was on a sugar high into the evening. Thanks to everyone, including **Tris **and kopek, for the stories. While I wish we’d gathered for a different reason, I think it was a fitting tribute to someone who meant a lot to so many of us.
I was sorry to have arrived so late, but glad to be there. Norine was one of the few Dopers I had met before yesterday and I definitely wanted to participate.
Thanks to ThreadPirateRoberts, Ethereal, and Mudgirl, for planning and opening your home to us.
Bonus was it was a beautiful day to drive to an area I hadn’t visited before. I was treated to a few bursts of splendid autumn colors.
Now, who am I supposed to ask for the chili recipe? Yum!
Ditto!! We didn’t spend a lot of time reminiscing about Norinew specifically, but I would like to believe she’d be pleased with people gathering in her honor and enjoying each others’ company.
There are far too few such bright souls in this world.
A big ditto to both those thoughts.
Girls (TPR et al), ya’ll ever need anything, just PM. Can’t promise I can make it happen but I can sure give it a shot. Someone we all know was just grinning with pride over you all.
What kopek said. Girls, please let us know how you’re doing and let us know if you need anything. (If you don’t want to PM or post a thread, many of us have e-mail addresses you should be able to get to.)
And also, Tris, yes, you must post that story.
It was nice to meet everyone!
Posted the story in the referenced thread.
I also want to thank the girls for their warm and open hospitality. I am pleasently unsurprised to find those character traits in these fine young women, I see your mother reflected in them.
Thanks to all who came. Yes, let’s have the chili recipe as our soon to be newest poster comes to the Dope!
Tris
Many, many thanks to TPR, EFoP, and Mudgirl, and of course, Ray, for so graciously welcoming the “Horde of Dorkness”. 
You are the hostesses with the mostess(es), and just plain cool people. You made me feel right at home.
It was awesome to meet everyone, both Norine’s crew and the Dopers. With all the great food, great stories, and friendly people, I could really feel Norine’s presence there. I’m sorry I had to leave before gwendee arrived, but maybe we’ll see each other next time. And hopefully, “next time” won’t be too far into the future.
Maybe consider a Gettysdope for the spring?
Four score and 7 teeming millions ago our Unca Cecil met some necrophiliac from Chicago who asked ----------------
He’s the recipe I used for the baked beans we brought. I’m afraid I did not do them justice - they are much better when baked properly before serving. As opposed to hoping the crock pot heats them up in time :smack: The recipe used to be on-line, but my Google-fu is weak today.
Mama Zappa will often make a meat-free version with vegetarian beans and no bacon to events. It’s just the slightest bit less tasty, but still very yummy.
Ingredients:
3 16-oz cans of pork and beans
1 small onion, chopped
4-5 slices of uncooked bacon, chopped
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup ketchup
Drain and discard all juice from the pork and beans (and discard the tiny bit of pork fat in the can). Combine beans and remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Simmer for several minutes until the sugar begins to caramelize and the ingredients are well mixed. Pour beans into a casserole dish and bake at 400F for one hour, or until the edges of the beans start to brown (they are good slightly burnt on top, too).
The proportions of ingredients do not have to be exact - guess and dump is OK.
You can eat these with potato chips as a scoop. Not at all health food, but yummy!
Also, we djd NOT include bacon in the pot we brought last week - no time to precook anything, and I was afraid it would not get cooked enough.
It probably woulda stunk like shit, anyway, when y’all lit up, I mean.
Quasi
Thanks to one of you posting this awhile back, I make these frequently, now. It’s even better when you add a jalapeno or two to the mix. Tasty, tasty little morsel.