I kind of like sloppy joes, but only if they’re made with the Manwich stuff. That powered sloppy joe mix is just…not good. I top my manwiches with a slice of cheddar. It makes them taste yummy.
It’s still hotter 'n the hubs of hell out there. Blech…
*mmmmmmmmmmmmm * fajitas del mar! Estoy stuffed!! Muy yummo! (betcha din’t know I talk Espanish so good! :D)
I just spot cleaned a couple of non-clean spots on the carpet. There are bunches more, and once we’re done with the construction, I’m going to clean all the carpets. Eventually. Some day.
We’re in the chill mode for the rest of the evening. Not that we could do anything with our guts full of good Messican food. No room for ice cream even! Can you imagine?? :eek:
swampy, if you don’t like sloppy joes, it’s just because you’ve never had *my * sloppy joes! They are well and truly yummerrific! I don’t use any mix - they’re home made all the way. In fact, I have 2 bags of it in the freezer - I’m thinking that’ll be supper tomorrow. Oh yeah…
I understand the words individually, but together…something does not compute.
NOT’s in the toaster oven. Herbs in sour cream. Gotta go make sallit.
And decide what kind of ice cream to have for din-din.
ETA: sloppy joe recipe, FCM?
GT
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Smarty}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
One of my other online buddies lost a dog this week as well (chocolate poisoning). Dogs need to officially stop dying.
I am very tired after running to and fro today. But my tuition is paid.
**gt ** - I’ll try to figger out my recipe - it’s one of them tossed together types… I know what I use and I know how it’s supposed to look and smell, I just don’t know amounts.
OK, here’s my best guess. Note my last comment. 
Sloppy Joes
2# ground beef
1 large onion, chopped and divided
1 rib celery, cut into chunks
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large can tomato paste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons vinegar
Brown and drain the beef. Add about 2/3 of the onion and cook.
Meanwhile, put about the rest of the onion and all of the celery and about ½ cup of crushed tomatoes in blender and process till smooth. Dump into pan, along with the rest of the crushed tomatoes, and the tomato paste and seasonings. Mix well.
Add brown sugar and vinegar and mix well.
You may want to add some tomato sauce, depending upon the consistency. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 30 minutes, till it’s nice and thick. Much much better the next day.
Serve on crusty rolls. You could also add chopped green pepper if you desire. I never have, but it couldn’t hurt.
I think those are the right amounts. If you really want to know, you have to come over and watch me make it.
Leave out the vinegar and brown sugar and it almost sounds like a quickie type spaghetti sauce. I used the Manwich stuff tonight. Again, glad I only bought one can. I put a slice of pepper jack cheese on my sloppy joe tonight. That made it better but still, meh. Guess I ain’t a sloppy joe fan. Let’s just hope I remember this in a couple of years when I think… hmmm… haven’t made sloppy joes in forever like I did today.
I bought some Italian sausages with onions and bell peppers at the sto’ yesterday. Ima grill 'em up tomorrow. They sound nummy!
Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice out. I should do sump’n like mow bein’ as we had a bunch of rain and the yard could stand it. However, if I wait a few days it won’t be awful cause the yard doesn’t look bad yet. So, I have a feelin’ it’ll be a lounge around the pool day. We haven’t spent anytime together this week to speak of so I say that’s more important.
Thanks for the hugs, y’all, it’s much appreciated even if it’s too damned hot to touch another human today. Forecast says high today of 101[sup]o[/sup]+, currently about 99[sup]o[/sup] and I have this house scientifically locked down to maximize coolness and keep the heat OUT. Multiple layers of towels and sheets over every western window (which is like 80% of one of the long sides of the house–of course it’s the side that DOESN’T have trees shading it!) swamp cooler going to beat the band loaded to the gills with ice and water, fans in place to move any cooler air around, spray bottles deployed strategically, blue ice packs in freezer waiting to go onto necks and other pulse points as needed, etc. Temp indoors is holding steady at 90[sup]o[/sup] and there’s just 3.5 hours until sundown, whereupon all windows get opened and fans get turned around to bring in the cooler air. Scientific, I tells ya!
I made a big old NOT sallit yesterday to take us through today without having to cook, and it is GOOOOOOOD! Homemade hyper spicy pickles and Trader Joe’s pecorino romano cheese are the only exotic-ish ingredients in it, but it tastes all gourmet and shit.
Himself has pointed out that Pratchett has been exhibiting some odd behavior–this morning he was standing completely still for about five minutes, staring fixedly into the back compound where Space usually slept and hung out when it’s hot. He paid no attention to Himself clucking at him or to Stiggs hopping over the fence, just stayed there staring, then turned and followed Stiggs in through the back door. Usually he has to be ordered, chased or carried into the house but today he just walked straight in without a fuss. Then a little while ago he was stretched out on the living room floor where Space’s bed had been–which is probably one of the hottest spots in the house right now, and definitely not a favorite lounging spot of his. We’re wondering if maybe SpaceDawg isn’t hanging around for a while to say goodbye to her best buddy… Animals are weird. So are humans, too, looking for comfort in the unlikeliest places. :smack:
Call me a weirdo if you like, but I like to think there’s some sort of remnant of dearly departed loved ones that hangs around for a bit, just to say good-bye.
I know that when I lost my dog many years ago, I felt like he was still around for just a bit, then one day, poof, I couldn’t feel him around anymore.
Lawd it’s hot out. We just got done rehanging our gate. It got blown down in a windstorm and Mr. Taters decided it was time to fix it. Thank goodness because it’s been a major pain in the ass for last two years.
I’m a little peeved at our HOA right now. They had a meeting a few nights ago and decided to take action on a few things. Going after those who haven’t paid their dues is alright with me. Believe it or not, some folks haven’t paid since they moved in. This kind of irks me because I make an honest attempt to make sure I pay my dues. They are due right now, but since we have new officers, I don’t know who to pay now.
However, a neighbor a few doors down tore out his front lawn, and put in some retaining walls. He’s slowly, but surely adding shrubbery and plants and has it barked. It looks much better than when he had a lawn there. Apparently, according to our covenants, the front is supposed to have lawn. This is news to me. I thought I had read them and had them pretty much memorized.
I’m sorry, (no on second thought, I’m not), but if these folks came to me and said I’d have to put grass in after going to all the trouble expense these folks did, I’d tell them where to shove it. That shit just pisses me off.
Telling people to keep their yards tidy, not park on sidewalks, not paint their houses some atrocious hot pink color, I can understand and condone. But, not what these folks are going to do. I’m full of grrrr and already told some of the people that attended the meeting to leave those folks the hell alone. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.
I wish we could just disband the HOA, but unfortunately, our street is considered private, so we’re responsible for maintaining it and the retention ponds. We also have street lights that we’re responsible for. This requires dues.
That’s not weird, Taters, many people believe some version of that.
eta - first? color me shocked!
Y’all wanna see some pictures of children’s furniture?
All I can say is :eek:
Good God. I may need some brain bleach. That last one is the ugliest chair I’ve ever seen for a child.
And the vibrating hand is just too creepy…
Off to do something, not sure what. I’m BORED.
I dunno. The mitt chair kinda intrigues me…
SmartiePants you are hereby commanded to give up the recipe for homemade hyper spicy pickles. Even though I have no idea how to make ‘em, I’m droolin’ over 'em!
Taters there was an attempt to start a HOA here. Technically we have Neighborhood Covenants but pretty much everybody gave the finger/raspberry to those who wanted to do all the work to make it all official. 
Besides, the original developers (who, btw, didn’t build my house) pulled up stakes and left town. I like the sound of what the neighbors you mentioned are doin’. The “officers” of the HOA might want to rethink their position. Often times if they get too pissy about stuff HOAs tend to get shot down in court. At least that’s been what I’ve observed.
Heh. The county charges us three dollars per month to maintain the streetlights. One of those streetlights is on my property. Whenever it goes out, I start callin’ and complainin’. I’ve trained surroundin’ neighbors with streetlights on their properties to do the same. Know what’s amazin’? All those streetlights get replaced ASAP. Who says bitchin’ don’t work!
ETA: Spaz have you checked out today’s Dear Abby column. It sooooo made me think of you!
I have two things to share:
-
I am kinda sorta looking for a new cookie jar. Guess what? The stuff online hits new lows in ugly*, tacky and expensive. Yuck.
*Ugly as in several degrees of magnitude ugly. Butt ugly a mother would feed it to the wolves ugly. And weird–seriously weird. I feel kinda dirty now, having perused several cookie jar sites and see their er, wares. -
We need a new mailbox. I want a “cool” one–like a European style one or something. It’s not that I can’t find nice (but non-EU) ones online, it’s that they’re freaking expensive! We’re talking non-locking, wall mount here, folks, not on the street and needs to be built like a Hummer to survive. The meh ones START at $109.
:eek:
The British ones I thought were so cute (but completely unfeasible)? Try 465 POUNDS STERLING. I think I just had a heart attack. :eek: :eek: and :eek:
So, the old cookie jar will do for now. And the rusty looks like shit mailbox stays.
Hubby took me out to see Dark Knight, which I’ve wanted to see for awhile now.
It was most excellent! Dark, intense, creepy… very, very good.
Okay, the hyper spicy pickles happened during a long and busy day when I taught my daughter how to make pickled beans, dill pickles and razzberry/blackberry jam all in one day. Things got slightly delirious after a while!
As I recall, we mishmoshed the dilled bean and kosher short brine pickle recipes from Joy of Cooking (pg 845 & 848 of my edition) together a bit, so the brine ended up with like 3 cups white vinegar to 3 cups water with 1/2 cup pickling salt, brought to a boil.
We put washed, halved pickling cucumbers into pint jars and added about 1-2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper, a tablespoon or two of dill seed, 2-4 cloves of garlic and some chunks of onion per jar. Now, Joy of Cooking is inconsistent, in that when it tells you how to make dilled pickled beans it says it’s okay to leave in the garlic cloves and onions, but in the pickle recipe it says to boil them in the brine and then take them out. We figured that if it’s good for one it’s good for the other, because the salt levels were the same for both, beans are no more acidic than cucumbers and besides, I LIKE pickled garlic cloves with my dills, dammit, so we left the garlic cloves IN. Some of the jars received even MORE crushed red pepper than referenced above, and probably more dill seed as well since we were punchy from boiling stuff all day. Hence the “hyper spicy” result.
Anyway, fill the jars to 1/2 inch of the top, put the lids and rings on nice and tight and water bath process for 15 minutes. Then leave 'em on a shelf for at least six weeks to pickle properly. After you open the jars, keep them in the fridge.
I tell ya what, when we popped these jars open and tried them our eyes watered just a bit, but DAMN are they good! The dilled beans were made pretty much the same way, but we also used slices of red bell pepper in there, and we used wax beans instead of green beans because the texture is better and also because that’s what had exploded in the garden that week. The hyper spicy pickled beans are fucking STELLAR in spicy bloody mary’s, I can tell you THAT for free!
So that is how we ended up with hyper spicy homemade pickles–we’re all just suckers for over-spiced, assaultively flavored food, I guess… At any rate, those pickles get into a NOT sallit and bounce around like nobody’s bidness. For those who want to recreate the sallit, I used russet NOT’s, olive oiled and garlic salted and roasted and chilled, I used one hard boiled egg for every 2 NOT’s, the same number of scallions as eggs, and one pickle half for every 2 eggs. Chunked, dumped in a bigass bowl, then dressed with about half and half mayonnaise and ranch dressing, seasoned with more garlic salt, dill weed and black pepper to taste, then a cup or so of fine shredded pecorino romano cheese mixed in and left to chill for a couple hours. Nom at will!
Home. I’m training an assistant manager for another DM. He got to see some of my night customers(The freaks do come out at night.) His comment, “What have I gotten my self into?”.
{{{{{SmartAleq}}}}}. I’m glad you got to say goodbye, though.
FCM, my sloppy joe recipe is very similar to my chili recipe.
swampy, you…put…a…beerverage…back?!? I think I have the vapors :faints:
Congrats on your chugging ability, Haze. Is the supermarket kimchee in a jar worth trying? I have a hankering for some.
Taz must die. He peed on the comforter - on my shoulder!!! **FCD ** woke up about 5, needing to use the facilities, and when he came back to bed, the idiot feline was pacing all over the place. Then all of a sudden, he was scratching on my pillows. I got up and immediately started feeling for a wet spot, and I found it after I lay back down and pulled the comforter up. So Taz must die.
Needless to say, sleep was over. I hauled the comforter down and stuffed it in the washer, fed the dogs, and brushed my teeth. **FCD ** wanted me to come back to bed, but I’m so aggravated, there’s no way I’d do anything but toss around. So much for sleeping in… 
Add that to the compressor coming on about 3:30 (someone else is on the list for that one) and my melatonin was pretty much wasted last night. so grrrrrrr
Then again, the day can only get better, right?
Oh, my, that’s icky, FCM.
I’m up and ready to attack my bedroom. It starts with caulking, then there’s painting the trim and baseboards and then the floor.
I’ve looked at mailboxes, too, rigs. I painted mine because I wasn’t willing to spend that much money. It’s going to get painted again this time around.
GT