Looking back – how history will interpret the MMP

Woo hoo, two down, three to go! :slight_smile:

And boy are those some sexy shoes, Haze, as are you. grins

Everybody in my family is okay, nothing damaged, but the tornado hit pretty close by to my cousin in Suffolk; another cousin (2nd, I think) in Colonial Heights was in the Wal*Mart when the tornado struck there; she’s pretty freaked out. Glad to hear that our Mumpers and Dopers in that region are okay as well. Whew, those things are very dangerous and very destructive!

I’m not feeling too well today; I’ve got a lot of congestion and my head is hurting (sinuses); I’m gonna go lay down for a bit and hope I’ll be able to rest some.

Haze, as usual you are a fashion inspiration. Hot shoes! I am now fighting the urge to go shopping because I need more shoes like I need a hole in the head.

(oh wait… I was just threatening to shoot myself a few minutes ago… which would mean a hole in the head… which would mean new shoes are okay. SWEET!!)

(why yes, my degree is in philosophy… why do you ask? :slight_smile: )

It’s QUIT O’CLOCK. And that means I’m outta here!

vrooooooooooooooooooooooooooom

LOVE those shoes Haze.

I spent the morning working, the afternoon grocery shopping, updating the recipe blog, making cookies and playing Guitar Hero III. That doesn’t sound productive at all.

I swear Vista hates the MMP. Every time I try to post, Firefox isn’t responding. Cow.

Just got the phone call that my glucose came back normal. I shall celebrate with a cup of my Ben & Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio!
I’m tired, and I didn’t do much today. I didn’t sleep well last night at all. I forgot my purse (With my bottle of Tylenol) in the truck and Jim took it to work with him. So I suffered all last night with a nagging headache. Normally sleeping will take care of it, but this was the headache that wouldn’t die. I was up at 3 am barely able to open my eyes, and when the alarm went off for the kids, I’m assuming the pain was so great I yanked it out of the wall. When Jim woke me at 8:30, I asked him if he brought relief in pill form. It was quickly fetched.
I had an odd dream about going to a dance at my old high school with the friend I went to prom with, we were crowned King and Queen and I looked up into the bleachers and Jim and the kids were up there applauding me. I still keep in touch with the guy, I’ll have to email him and tell him about it.

I haven’t contributed to the recipes yet, so here’s one from my grandmother, who was phenomenal in the kitchen:

Blue Berry Torte

2 cups Flour
½ cups sugar
1 cup Chopped Nuts
1 cup butter

Blend like pie crust and press into 9x 13 pan.

Bake 12 minutes at 400’. Crumble while still warm and press back into pan.

Filling Blend Together:

1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla

Whip 2 packages Dream Whip until firm. Add to cream cheese mixture. Spread on crust and top with Blueberry pie filling.*

• Or any other kind of pie filling of your choice.
• Chill at least over night.
• This recipe belong to Grandma Bronson

Break time again. We made a big ol’ batch of meatballs because future SIL thawed out a buttload of ground beef that really didn’t need to be thawed. After they baked, I put them in the crock pot and dumped some BBQ sauce over the whole mess. I’ll let it all slow cook for another hour or so, then find a spot in the fridge.

We ran to WalMart because the kid needed some shorts and I decided to get the cheese-n-crackers for the reception - one less thing to worry about. Future SIL should be here soon and I’ll be going with him to retrieve his car and bring the kid’s car home. After that, it’s an evening of doing not much, although I might finish packing the unneeded kitchen stuff.

I hope to get another good night’s sleep…

If swampy was a dog…

I’m home and more or less caught up with the MMP. Today was less frustrating, only because I actually got several things done that I’d been wanting to do for ages.

Those salads sound good, Nava.

I’m sure it’s more surreal to you, FCM, but I can’t believe your kid is really and truly about to get married. It seemed like it would be forever before it happened back when they got engaged. (And that pic made me giggle; thanks!)

Hmmm, I think my grandma gave us a similar recipe, NoLa. Yum.

Excellent shoes, Haze. I would trip over and break my ankle in them, but they look very nice on you.

Glad everyone seems to be safe after the tornadoes. The damage looked awful.

And I think I forgot to comment on your evening shift, Bobbio. Amazing!

I, too, loved the ice cube tray story, doggio.

Welcome, Sherm!!! Don’t suppose you want to start up an MMP anytime soon…? :smiley:

Sounds productive to me, McUne: you re-supplied your pantry, made cookies, made blog entries, made music (and moved around and stuff). I’d be tired.

I don’t remember seeing an aquarium like that when I visited the Shedd in September, gotti. Of course, I’m sure I missed stuff. It’s an amazing place to visit, though. (I wanna go back!)

Well, guess I need to figure out what I’m doing for dinner. I’m also making asparagus and 'mater sallit for tomorrow’s and Thursday’s lunches. I’m inventing as I go, but will share the recipe when I’m done.

Back eventually.

GT

Don’t be ridiculous! Why, I wouldn’t be caught dead in that collar! ICK! :smiley:

Glad the tornado passed by everybody.

Oh, and just to clarify, I was at the brewery four months and yes I will still drink Miller Beer. It ain’t the beer’s fault the human types were so wishy washy after all.

I made a good supper tonight. MMMMMMMM… Cubed steak and gravy, rice, collard greens (they were in the freezer, just heat and eat!), steamed squash and corn bread. We finished off the last of LiLi’s cake with some strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. We’s stuffed!

Howdy new folks! Set a spell. Take your shoes off.

Haze the shoes are f-aaaaaa-bu-lous!

There are ants on the reference desk. ** Ants.**

The only thing worse than ants are ticks. And the only thing worse than*** ticks ***is nuclear holocaust.

So, are there uncles in the stacks?

For me though, it’s “The only thing worse than auditors is ticks.”

No idea re the aquarium–I didn’t go with the kids (and thank god). I like the Shedd, though–somehow it’s not as frantic as the other museums.

Kewt shoos! But too high a heel for this fuddy-duddy. Dinner is in the oven and I’m back from the store. If your grocery bill is $140, should you spend $20 more in order to get the $10 off coupon on an order of $160 or more?

THESE are the problems that no math class helped me with. Answer me and I’ll be eternally grateful. I did not spend the extra, because I found out too late (ie after it was all rung up). I never know what to do with that sort of thing.

I spent the last 2 days watching Harry Potter films. I ran out of them. The more I watch them, the more flaws I see, but I also see subtle touches.
I got a call from my former site supervisor. She has my evaluation. Erp. I somehow forgot about this bit of things. I so don’t want to see it. She said something that struck the fear of god into me: she didn’t like the eval form they sent her, “I didn’t need some of the blanks, but for others, I needed much more room.” This cannot be good… I’m a bit freaked out about it all, frankly. :eek:

Home.

The Boy is stuck working late (again), so I’m reheating some leftover Persian eggplant and chickpea stew that we’d stashed in the freezer. Add rice and I’ve got meself a bowful of nom nom nom.

Anyone want to come over and empty my litterboxes for me? I’m just not in the mood to deal with smelly cat poops, but if I procrastinate much longer, we may face a containment breach of the stink and that’s just bad.

Rigs, yes, I would have spent the additional $20 to get $10 off. Just buy stuff that you use and won’t go bad before you use it. It’s free groceries. That’s how my brain works anyway.

Speaking of groceries, the last two times I’ve been at Hy-Vee getting groceries, a manager had to come over and approve the sale. Today I asked why. Apparently if you use more than $3 in coupons, then a manager has to clear the purchase. The manager was really nice and fast, I don’t mind, I just wanted to know. Plus he commented me on my savings. Before coupons my total was $40 and after coupons it was $24. Works for me. I need to go back and stock up on a few things, I have more coupons I could have used, if I would have planned better. Good thing the store is close. Also I forgot to look in our checking account first before going shopping to see how much I could spend. :smack:

Future SIL has his car and he’s very pleased. I just finished some cuke salad - it was yum. Daughter is out doing pre-wedding girly stuff with one of her attendants. I’ve got the place to myself. I expect to crash early tonight, I think.

According to FCD, Taz has taken to peeing in the dirty laundry basket. No idea why, but this is a recent activity. I worry that he’ll do more destructive peeing while we’re gone… stoopit cat.

I miss my sweetie. I’ll be glad when he gets here tomorrow.

Home, dinner on the stove, wathcing the stars/Sharks game.

Neat shoes,Haze!

Good thought for rig’s eval form.

Feeling any better, Rosie?

It’s really cool to hear you say you miss him, FCM.

Everyone has a different approach to eval forms, rigs. Hope things go well. (We can have a little talk with her if you like.) :smiley:

Where’s beebs?

Hope you’re feeling better, rosie.

Hi doggio!

I know I’m missing someone. Hugs if it’s you I forgot. And even if it’s not. :cool:

Finally, some recipes:
Note to future archeocyberists: Food is very important.
Honey-Nut Smokies
This one is from one of my gardening friends. She brings it to our Christmas bash every year and says you can make them with either pecans or walnuts.

INGREDIENTS:
1 package small cocktail wieners
2 packages crescent rolls
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the honey and brown sugar, stir until melted and smooth. Add the pecans and stir.
Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
Unroll crescent rolls.
Cut each crescent roll into thirds, making 3 small, long triangle strips.
Starting at one end, roll hot dogs in crescent.
Place in baking dish, in honey nut mixture
Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Apricot Coconut Squares
I made these for the cookie exchange I participate in every year. They were my favorites of the 20 or so varieties in the exchange.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dried apricots
1 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). In a medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, and 1 cup flour. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
  2. Bake for 25 minutes in preheated oven. In small saucepan, bring apricots and water to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes. Drain, chop, and set aside to cool.
  3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and brown sugar. Stir in 1/3 cup flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and lemon juice. Fold in nuts and chopped apricots. Stir in coconut, if desired. Pour over the prepared crust.
  4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm. Cool, and dust with confectioners’ sugar before cutting into squares.

My comments on the squares: It’s probably useful to note that I made this recipe 3 times for the exchange and that each batch is supposed to make 2 dozen, but I cut the squares a bit smaller and got a few extra per batch. Amounts: One pound of walnuts is enough for 3 batches. Also, 3 batches use less than 1/3 bag of coconut. 2/3 cup dried apricots is about 4 ounces. I used one 15-oz package for 3 batches (yes, 4 x 3 is not 15). I forgot to get a lemon, so I used orange juice instead. Recipe says the top layer should be firm. I’m not sure what that means. I baked until there were little bubbles in the batter and the edges were just getting brown. I used white sugar plus a drop of molasses instead of brown sugar and reduced the sugar from the original recipe because I read comments about them being too sweet. I mixed the shortbread layer with a pastry cutter. Measured all the chopped ingredients out into amounts needed for each batch. Used a spatula from the point where it said to fold in nuts and apricots. Coconut flavor is just barely there, but very nice.

Nana’s Pineapple and Cheese
Similar to swampy’s Little Ol’ Lady Casserole, but with CHEEEEESE. Yum. This is from Far-Away Best Friend’s grandmother.

1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Ritz cracker crumbs

Drain pineapple. Reserve 3 tablespoons juice. Combine flour, sugar and
juice. Add cheese and pineapple. Spoon into quart casserole. Combine
melted butter and crumbs. Spread over top.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20-30 minutes until slightly browned.

I’m hungry now.

GT

Home at last! Home at last! Thank God I’m home at last!

Today was a loooong day. After work, I had to stop and buy an HDMI cable for the PS3. Hubby wanted to get a PS3 since the new GTA came out today. The stupid thing came with ONE controller and no HDMI cable. For what you have to pay for the stupid thing, you’d think they could include that shit.

Anyway, I came home with the cable and a car charger for my new cell phone and there was our friend waiting on me so we could all work out together. I took my first “bye” since February. My back is killing me and I just didn’t feel up to it. I’ll make up for it on Thursday.

Welcome Sherm! You’ll find us to be a nice bunch o’ people.

I’m glad to see that none of our Mumpers or Dopers were hurt by the tornadoes in Virginny.

I sent of my daughter’s enrollment fee and her acceptance for enrollment at UW-T today. I still can’t believe she’s going to college next fall.

I also found out my daughter’s senior ball is being held at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. That’s over 40 miles from here. We were thinking of doing the limo thing, but I dunno, that would be pretty damn spendy.

I guess I’ve got nothing much else to say. I should work on some clean-up around the house.

Low(er) carb Helen’s beans

I made this up after my gastric bypass, when I had a craving for my mom’s beans, but had an aversion to the metric buttload of brown sugar. This recipe makes a smaller batch than the other one (4-5 people, vs. ~20)

2 cans (regular sized) of pork and beans (get the kind without the tomato sauce; just pork and beans)

Ketchup, maybe a cup (lo carb, if you can find it)

1 cup Splenda

½ cup sugar free maple syrup

2 t garlic

1 t dried mustard

1 t onion powder

2 T dehydrated chopped onion (fresh onion may be used; I was lazy)

1 t Worchestershire sauce

½ t liquid smoke (optional)

½ cup chopped ham bits

Mix everything together except the ham. Adjust spices to suit your taste, and put the ham over the top. Bake at 350F for about 2 hours. Mom always used bacon, but I never liked the grease, hence the ham.

If you’re doing Atkins, and are more careful about all kinds of sugar, be warned that standard ketchup has a lot of corn syrup in it. There are brands of low-carb ketchup available, and I liked the Atkins brand because it tastes like the stuff Mom used to make when we were kids.

The Splenda and SF syrup combo is a poor man’s replacement for brown sugar. Sugar Twin makes a substitute, but I’ve not found it around here. (Update: Splenda makes brown sugar blend, but I’ve not tried it in this yet)

The results were mighty close, BTW.

Here’s a recipe that I’ve had for years and it is really tasty. I don’t remember where I got it from, so I don’t know who to credit:

Grown-Up Macaroni and Cheese:

1 pound macaroni
1/4 cup butter
3 tbsps flour
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup of Sherry (not cooking sherry)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded fontina cheese
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup shredded Emmenthaler cheese
1/8 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs 1/4 cup shredded parmesan

Boil the pasta, undercooking it just slightly then drain.

Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook stirring until you have a nice Roux (about a minute). Gradually whisk in the stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil it for one to two minutes. Whisk in the sherry and cream, and bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in the fontina, emmenthaler and gruyere cheeses until they’re melted.

Season with the nutmeg, thyme and salt. I usually season to taste, so take the above measurements with a “grain of salt”. Hah! I slay me.

Pour the mixture into a 9X13 baking pan. Sprinkle it with the bread crumbs and parmesan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Okay, just READING this thread is going to make me fat. :eek: