Mike Nolan
Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
I used to be an auction hound, not quite to the point where they kept a pre-assigned number for me. I'd buy the odd boxes of kitchen stuff. That's one of the reasons why we have lots of measuring cups.
I picked up a number of good items at bakery and restaurant auctions, but there hasn't been a good one of those in a while. The last one I went to, a deli/caterer that closed, had people from 4 states at it and most of the prices were a lot higher than I felt like paying. There could be a number of restaurant auctions over the next few months, depending on what rules they're enforcing for them. Might be online-only, I suppose. Boring.
Standing around at an auction for 3-8 hours isn't something my legs will put up with much these days.
Estate sales seem like they're hit-and-miss around here, same with garage sales, though they're both still pretty much shut down. My wife generally does a garage sale over Memorial Day weekend as a fundraiser for local charities, but that was off this year, though our garage is quite full of donations. She's thinking maybe Labor Day weekend, though we found out late last week that UNL will be open (complete with on-campus classes) on Labor Day this year, it's what they call a 'working holiday' for staff, you work that day but it becomes part of the paid time off at Christmas, like Columbus Day or Arbor Day.
Had gyros from the farmer's market for lunch, with some left over for supper, my wife has lasagna left over from last night, so the meatloaf is now in tomorrow's plans.
I'm hoping to get some tomatoes in the ground this evening. It rained a little again on Saturday but it is sunny and nice today, so the ground should be reasonably dry by evening.
I've cut my wife's hair a couple of times, the ear grew back 🙂
If you don't dissolve the baking soda in the hot water, do you add 2 teaspoons of cold water? Otherwise, your moisture level would probably be off.
As I recall, baking soda doesn't dissolve as well in cold water.
My daily schedule hasn't really changed much due to the lockdown. I don't make as many trips to stores, we wait until we have a list long enough to justify a trip. My online shopping has gone up a little, more because of things I can't get locally than because of the lockdown.
I officially retired from the US Chess Federation in late 2016, but I still do some consulting for them, recently I've probably been doing 10-25 hours a month for them, because they're in the process of doing a major technology upgrade and I'm walking the group that's doing the work through the complexities of a system that has been built up, largely by me, over the last 15 years. I'm guessing this will probably continue until late 2022.
This site keeps me busy for a few hours every day. My various baking and cooking projects take up another hour or two most days. During the summer months, the garden takes a little time.
And when I'm not doing the above, I've got some writing projects I work on. One of these days, I might even finish one.
In the evening, I like to do some reading.
We made 3 batches of Cardinal preserves today. We did it using our standalone induction burner rather than the gas range, which kept the kitchen a lot cooler.
I think this may be the way we make jams, jellies and preserves from now on. (We tried 3 different sized induction-capable pans, I think the 6 quart pot worked best.)
We wound up having take-out pizza tonight, as we're still working on making strawberry preserves.
We're making Cardinal Preserves with some strawberries that were on sale, and I'm planning to make a black bean/mushroom meat loaf for supper.
A local store had an 8 pound flat of strawberries for $8 today, so we're making Cardinal Preserves, and that means making the Austrian Malt Bread to go with it.
We use a recipe out of the Better Homes & Gardens Barbecue Book (Warren's BBQ sauce), though I've tinkered with it a little over the years, including cooking it several hours longer. It's a Carolina sauce (vinegar-based).
I've also taken some of it, added some honey, and cooked it down to a thick sauce for steak.
We made candied nuts in chocolate school, we boiled them in simple syrup for several minutes then dried them out in the oven. They aren't sticky and they last a long time. I've done it with almond slices and with pecans, I haven't tried it with (English) walnuts yet.
In the military they often call it SOS, and it is usually made with dried beef and powdered milk, both of which are easy to transport in the field. It is also fairly easy to make in large quantities quickly.
I've only visited the King Arthur store once, nearly 10 years ago, but it was a great visit and I wish we lived closer to it.
In case you haven't heard, Tuesday Morning filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week and is planning to close a number of stores, but currently not all of them. At this point, the one in Lincoln, which we visit only infrequently because it is on the other side of town, is not scheduled to close.
I used to order from King Arthur a lot, because they were a gadget-lover's paradise, but they seem to be focusing on selling mixes these days.
I still get a few things from them, like pastry flour and the baker's special dry milk, but I think I've only ordered once in the past year.
-
AuthorPosts
