☼ WE LOVE TO CHAT - 6/18 ☼

Good Wednesday Morning, Gang ~  It is rather mild outside right now, and the humidity is tolerable, but later today things will change, and we have a 50% chance of rain this afternoon.  There is a rough weather system down around Cuba (10% chance of developing into tropical storm) that may help give us some additional rain this week as it moves NW into the Gulf.

Sarah, poor dear, is in more pain now than she was when the tonsilectomy took place, which they say is typical and to be expected.  The scabs haven't come off yet, which they should any minute now, and once that happens then the healing process begins all over again.  She goes back to work on Monday, and of course, hopes it will be all better by then. 

I am still blowing and blowing - where does all this stuff come from?  You'd think I'd be all dried out by now...  not going to get my shampoo this morning, since I really don't want to be blowing myself silly with shampoo suds in my hair.  So, I will call and change the appointment to Friday. 

We had thin cut pork chops for dinner last night - I won't buy them again.  Even with my fool-proof method of making juicy pork,chops, they were dry and rather tasteless (well, that part may be my cold talking), but the gravy and potatoes were delightful.  I usually buy the less exprensive cut, which the butcher marks as "assorted"  and they always stay moist and flavorful. 

Birdy, we all seem to date ourselves around here...  yes, I do recall Dick Tracy very well, and wasn't he the one who proclaim that any nation that ruled the magnetic forces would rule the world?

Well, gotta run, get things organized around here, and as soon as Aune leaves I am heading back to bed.  I have got to get rid of this dumb cold.

Good morning everyone. Boy was it hot yesterday and suppose to be the same today, so much for getting any yard work done. DH going to see a eurologist this morning he has blood in his urine, sure hope everything is okay. Wanted to clean some of my jewellery yesterday but can't  find the cleaner, can't even remember where I bought it the last time.

Good morning from a hot and humid Ontario.  With the weather happening in other parts of the world, we shouldn't be complaining, should we, but we do anyway.

Hope you can get rid of your cold Beema.

We are having the yard sale at the curling club this Saturday and that 's what most of my time is going to this week so I won't be around too much.  When I am home, I'll be busy baking bread - we include a little coffee shop and include a bake sale. Almost a case of anything we can do to separate our customers from their hard earned money

Othar than that, not much happening around here - not much time left.  Good to see you pop in Lilly.  Enjoy yourself in NOLA.

Tasty

Good Morning All:

Temp is 69.6° at 7:20 a.m. EDT. Sun is about to come up over the trees. AND NO RAIN yet! I watered the garden again last night. Will probably skip a day and hope it rains. I forgot to water my 2 hanging plants - they are very wilted sure hope they will snap back with extra care.

Nothing on my agenda but to putter in the house. I cleaned my toaster oven yesterday with vinegar & water. It looks good.  I will not oven bake chicken in it again unless I cover chicken with foil - splatters everywhere. I guess the chicken thighs were more fatty then I usually buy. I usually buy boneless breasts but the thighs were on sale and I do like the dark meat. Thighs (or "thighs & legs") makes really good chicken and homemade noodles.

Here is a pdf for recipes for a Cuisinart Convection if anyone needs recipes for their Toaster Oven.  Most do not come with recipes.  http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/B1lFg9DcmPS.pdf

CUL

 

Good Afternoon, Ladies, and thanks for the good wishes; my cold is hanging on, and I guess what they say is true:  if you see the doctor the cold will last a week, if you don't it will be gone in seven days.

Mac, I just use ammonia on the silver and gold jewelry.  For the silver or platinum, diamonds, I just drop them in a small cup and let them soak in the ammonia, for the gold, I use a cotton swab dipped in the ammonia.  My watch band is a lattice work of sorts so I used a old toothbrush dipped in the ammonia for that.  Works great. 

Tasty, seems your community will have run out of money what with the Rally for Life just a while ago, and now the curling clubs yard sale....  do you all just sort of pay each other to swap your used goodies back and forth???  All for a good cause. 

Geema, hanging baskets are the most needy things...  they seem to dry out faster than other potting choices, but they do look pretty.  At the last house I had, I had about three dozen hanging baskets all around the edges of the outdoor kitchen and covered walkway going to the gazebo, and around the gazebo on two sides...  Used to take me almost an hour every three days or so to water them.  And, I sometimes found squirrels nesting in them, and the birds loved to steal the moss for their nests.  Now, I have only one hanging basket, on my front porch, and that's enough for me.  But, I have over 50 other plants in pots all around the yard....  if it rains they are fine, if not some of them are out of range for the sprinklers and I have to hand water them....  but it is easier than watering the baskets.

I'm debating about dinner tonight.  Need to use up a few leftovers.  There is some pork, and some Chinese rice, so that leads me to think about pork fried rice.  But, I am not sure I want that tonight.  With my cold, I think I need some soup, and I do have some cooked bits of chicken in the freezer that I could use, along with that same rice....  hmmmm...  we'll see.

Jen and her crew are staying over in the area around Eureka, Ca., to do more extensive visiting to the Redwoods...  On their way there yesterday, they took a little detour to see the Painted Dessert and the Petrified Forest, and Jen said the colors on that particular day were spectacular, so much so that it brought tears to her eyes...  she's one of those who cries easily, during some commercials even, so once again, she gave her family more fodder for teasing her about her ability to cry at the first sign of anything touching.   This fiesty, redheaded, outspoken dynamic lady becomes teary eyed at patriotic parades, her children's concerts, etc...  and now at the sights in the far western corners of our country.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and that you will tell us all about it .... 

Beema

Tasty, seems your community will have run out of money what with the Rally for Life just a while ago, and now the curling clubs yard sale....  do you all just sort of pay each other to swap your used goodies back and forth???  All for a good cause

I guess we do buy each others junk or castoffs as I came home with $60 cash today and some of that was for stuff the rest of us never even saw - it never made it to the club.  But these guys worked hard this morning so I wasn't going to say they couldn't spend their money.  Maybe I should have, but that's not my way, 'specially when they cannot be there for the sale day.

Tasty

Good evening. I'm really late checking in today. I had an early dental appointment--the edge of one of my front teeth has been rough and sharp for quite a while because I have an uneven bite. It started to irritate the inside of my mouth so he clad it and built it back up a bit. I haven't had even front teeth since the '80s so it's kind of a shock to see how good it looks. I did some quick shopping after my appointment and then came home to turn on the air conditioner. The heat index is around 100 in the valley and they have canceled some outside events for fear that people won't be able to handle it. The dewpoint is 71 right now. This is not something we see very often so they were wise to be cautious. Tomorrow is going to be almost as bad so I'm planning to stay in the house and veg out a bit!

Poor Beema--there really isn't much you can do about a cold except coddle yourself, is there? I'm sure you know enough to keep drinking lots of water. I sympathize with Jen--I cry at parades, too, and not just patriotic ones. Just give me a bunch of cute little scouts marching and I puddle up. I still can't watch Bambi without tissues on hand. It's sometimes a curse. 

Mac--I hope everything turns out well for your husband. Wicker--I bet you're glad that carpeting is gone. And as someone said, at least you don't have to carry those water jugs!

My smart phone lesson yesterday turned into private tutoring. No one else showed up so I sat down with the bright young woman who was teaching and we pretty much wandered through the material as I asked questions. I'd already figured out quite a bit since the operating system is similar to my tablet but there were lots of other things to clear up. We ended talking about local food since she's from outside the area and I ended up promising to email her some regional recipes. I found out that we not only covered the basics but what the advanced class offers so it was well worth the time. Nice for a free service--and I can come in for others as much as I want. She has a 97-year-old woman to takes the same class about every 4 months because she enjoys it and also forgets about 50% of it. 

Geema--I have a couple of toaster oven recipe books. I don't know what I'd do without my oven. It really is a power saver. I also have several recipes that I've found as I've wandered the web. I'll post a few.

Time to settle down to watch a little TV and then to bed. This heat makes me sleepy. Talk to you tomorrow.

Birdy: I have a nitty gritty book “The Toaster Oven Cookbook” and 125 best Toaster Oven recipes by Linda Stephen (which apparently is very popular) “plus” all I have found on the internet (and the pdf for Cruisinart INSTRUCTION AND RECIPE BOOKLET). I was interested in the pdf because Wanda (SIL) complained that “no recipes” came with her new toaster oven. The pdf might help her more than anything since it is her first toaster oven (it is very detailed). I am game for any good Toaster oven recipes.

Good Thursday Morning, Friends ~ I am holding my breath - so far this morning, no sneezing, no runny nose...  we'll see. 

The system churning south of us now has a 30% chance of becoming a tropical storm, producing heavy rains, etc., and as long as it continues moving in the same northwesterly direction, our coast will avoid an onslaught, and get mainly the outer feeder bands, but one never knows what these systems might do when they travel.  We have seen some to do loop-do-loops in midstream, even turn around and go right back to where they started.  We need the rain, but we don't need a tropical storm or hurricane.  Keep your fingers crossed.

My Happy Campers stayed around the Redwood park area yesterday, touring the various sites, giving them some down time from the road.  Today, they will begin the jaunt back east....  Baxter loves being here, but I am sure he misses his family, too.  He is a cuddler, a regular lover, and usually lets everyone have their turn...  so I am getting an overdose - but that's okay.  We all mellow out nicely when a dog sits on your lap.  (At least one this size - my old Teddy, the 80 lb. dobbie, wouldn't have been so welcome on anyone's lap !)

I made potato soup for dinner last night, and added tiny bits of the pork chops from the night before...  that was really quite good.  Enough leftover for my lunch today.  Have no clue what I will fix for dinner...

Still trying to figure out how I can get a new, larger toaster oven into my tiny kitchen.  I really don't have enough counter space, so I am trying to "think outside the box," on this one.  I already have a portable cart that holds some extras on three shelves, and there isn't enough floor space for even a tiny island...  I keep thinking about hanging stuff from the ceiling...  My daughter uses hers a lot, but the one thing she says it doesn't do very well at is making toast.  Go figure.  I could make it work if I could get rid of my toaster, but she says don't count on that being an option.  What do you think?

It's early still, but the coffee is ready, and my tummy is growling so, I am headed to the kitchen...  see you all later.  Hey, has anyone heard from Carole lately?   

 

Good morning. It was warm and muggy last night but at least I could open the windows and turn on the fan. I really prefer no air conditioner when I can and Sammy appreciates getting his open window back. He had a yowling encounter with a wandering cat from the neighborhood two evenings ago who sat under the window and dared him to come out and fight! I wish people wouldn't let their cats wander. It's dangerous for them and the wildlife. I hope it's been neutered. Sammy was a wanderer once and was picked on by more dominant males and he's never forgotten it. He'd like to go out but that's not going to happen while he lives with me. My vet agrees.

Beema--unfortunately, the toaster ovens that do the best at baking, broiling, etc. are usually not very good at toasting. Because of the distance from the elements, the bread often dries out quite a bit before browning and that can be uneven. I never use mine for that. I don't have any idea what to suggest on the space issue--even the best ones get hot enough that you have to leave some space around them. It isn't worth it getting a really small one unless all you want to do is melt cheese on top of sandwiches and the such. A combination microwave/convection oven might be an alternative but I don't know enough about them to make a recommendation.

For supper tonight, I'm planning on making the Helmann's Fiesta Turkey Salad that you posted, Beema. The turkey breast cooked in the crock pot is sooo moist. I don't do turkey as often as I do chicken, so it's a treat for me.

Geema--I have some of the Nitty Gritty cookbooks but I don't think I have the one for toaster ovens. I do have The Gourmet Toaster Oven which has some good-sounding recipes in it. I'll check it for something different.

Time for breakfast. Talk to you later.

Good morning all. Beema, so glad you are feeling a bit better today. Well, wanted to work outside but I think it is going to be another scorcher today, suppose to get some rain. Have been busy reading the last couple of weeks, can't seem to get much other than that done. DH went to his eurologist yesterday, has to go next week and have a camera up again for bladder, kidneys etc.

Good Morning All:

I feel like I have been running around Robin's Barn forever and "am all in" trying to get on here!  I don't know if it was TOH or my computer or internet connection.

No rain - sun behind trees - temp 69.8°

Beema: Go look at Oster Design for Life toaster oven ($79. at our Walmart) and see if it will fit in your kitchen. It is similiar to my "old" favorite toaster oven (Black and Decker Dining-In). My B & D made decent toast. SIL Wanda got the Oster but I don't know what all she has fixed in it.

CUL

 

Good morning gang.

I love my toaster oven Beema but it really takes forever to make toast.  Glad you're feeling better.

Mac, didn't your hubby just have these tests done before you went away?

Hot & humid again here this morning - already at 75.  Hot enough for me to decide not to golf  Hubby has gone ahead because he has a match booked for this morning.  Instead I'm doing laundry and baking bread.  Guess your weather must be pretty much the same as ours Birdy.  That lesson with your phone sounds wonderful.  I had to give in and buy a new one a few months ago and still don't know how to use it properly.  All I actually want it for is the odd phone call if I'm out or for emergencies.  I'm not interested in texting or taking photos with it but I know it will do all these wonderful things.

It will be back to the curling club later on to continue sorting ready for Saturday.  Got lots done yesterday but still a lot to do.

Have a lovely day,

Tasty

We have a T-Fal convection toaster oven and it does toast and other stuff great.  We did get rid of our toaster when we got it.

NYBirder--I agree that people should quit letting their cats outside.  I don't know what they're thinking.  How would they like if I brought my dog into their yard and let him poop in their garden or on their grass.  And cats kill so many birds and baby animals.  I remember one year there were about 4 baby rabbits with no heads in my garden and last week another bird with no head.  It's one thing when animals kill to eat and survive, but cats just kill.  I know it's instinct for them, but if people want cats for pets they need to keep them inside.  So there.

Thankfully today is the last day of 90's and high humidity .  We don't like to have the air on, either, but do when it's this hot.  The house is shut up all winter--well, not this past winter--so I like to have the windows and door open for fresh air and to hear the birds.

carole

Good morning! Today is the last day of vacation :(. It went sooooo fast! Beema, I think hanging some things from the ceiling is a cool idea. Birdy, our vet says that outdoor cats have shorter lives than indoor cats - for the sad but obvious reason.Geema - you are the Queen of Small Appliances! the weather here is marvelous - perfect temperature and moderate humidity. Taking the cooking class today - I wish it were easier to post pictures on here. Mine always come out tiny - does anyone know how to get them ginger? I use photobucket. Check back soon! Lilly