report

Hi,

I attached the project status report in order to update you about the last meeting

 

Best regards,
Marci Santana

25FEDBA23507

Final version of the report

Dear wendyatlarge.foodie,

Floyd Pierce asked me to send you the attached Word document, which contains the final version of the report.
Please let me know if you have any trouble with the file, and please let Floyd know if you have any questions about the contents of the report.


Kind regards

Leona Vincent
Executive Director Marketing PPS

Payment

Dear wendyatlarge.foodie,

Our records show that we have not yet received payment for the previous order #A-261421
Could you please send payment as soon as possible?

Please find attached file for details.


Yours sincerely
Will Chen
Regional Sales Director

Corresponding Invoice

Dear wendyatlarge.foodie:

Thank you for your email regarding your order of 21 June, and sorry for the delay in replying. I am
writing to confirm receipt of your order, and to inform you that the item you requested will be delivered
by 25 June at the latest. If you require more information regarding this order, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Also, our records show that we have not yet received payment for the previous order of 11 June,
so I would be grateful if you could send payment as soon as possible. Please find attached the
corresponding invoice.

If there is anything else you require, our company would be pleased to help. Looking forward to
hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely
Rosalinda Callahan
Financial Director - Multinational Group

Re:

Dear wendyatlarge.foodie:

Please find attached our invoice for services rendered and additional disbursements in the above-
mentioned matter.

Hoping the above to your satisfaction, we remain.

Sincerely,
Sol Ford
Technical Manager - General Insurance

RE:

http://nyntozyku.uadiving.com/Wendy_Wilkins_V

Wendy Wilkins V

New Invoice

Dear wendyatlarge.foodie,

I appreciate your speaking with me today. Per our conversation, please find attached invoice.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. Thank you for your time and consideration.


Sincerely,
Jillian Castro

Westpac Banking Corporation
Tel.: +1 (155) 514-85-73

Re:

Hi wendyatlarge.foodie,

Please find attached the file we spoke about yesterday.

Thank you,
Manual Jennings
Symantec Corporation

Re:

Hi wendyatlarge.foodie,


I wanted to follow up with you about your refund.
Please find the attached document


Regards,
Sandra Moss
Sanofi

Re:

Hey wendyatlarge.foodie,


I hope you're doing well. I've attached the latest draft of my proposal.
I hope it proves helpful!

Regards,

Therese Cross

Re:

Hi, wendyatlarge.foodie

Please find attached document you requested. The attached file is your account balance and transactions history.

Regards,
Lizzie Ball

FINAL NOTICE - OUTSTANDING ACCOUNT

Dear Client, We are writing concerning the amount of $8112.83 which was due to be paid on 01.05.2016 and, despite numerous requests for payment, remains outstanding. Details attached to this email. We demand that payment of the full amount be paid to us on or before 10.05.2016. If this account is not resolved by the specified date we reserve the right to commence legal proceedings to recover the debt without further notice to you, and you may be responsible for any associated legal fees or collection costs. If you wish to prevent this, please contact the undersigned as a matter of urgency and settle your account before the above date. Regards, Leona Casey Divisional Finance Director

Attached Doc

Second Reminder - Unpaid Invoice

We wrote to you recently reminding you of the outstanding amount of $8194.26 for Invoice number #B97CBC, but it appears to remain unpaid.
For details please check invoice attached to this mail

Regards,

Louisa Byrd
Regional Sales Director

RE: Outstanding Account

This is a reminder that your account balance of $8322.53 was overdue as of 24 April 2016.
Enclosed is a statement of account for your reference.

Please arrange payment of this account today or, if you cannot make full payment at this time, please contact us to make a payment arrangement that is mutually acceptable.

Regards,

Beau Valentine
Director Audit Services

Have a nice day

Document022

 

FW: Invoice

Please find attached invoice #283946


Have a nice day


Ila Carney
Deputy Director of Finance

Price list

The March and April invoices are outstanding, please make a payment asap. Thank you.





Shawn Reynolds

Head of Corporate Relations

Your Amazon.com order has dispatched (#551-1530664-3375968)

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RE:

http://supersuperstore.com/means.php

Wendy Wilkins V

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I posted earlier about having made apple cinnamon pancakes and coffee. What I didn't tell in that post was what happened to the coffee.

The coffee got done just as I had finished my pancakes, so I went out and poured myself a travel mug full and brought it back into the living room to finish watching the television show I'd turned on. Then, I got up to take my dish back into the kitchen planning to come back upstairs to do more work on the computer. I set the mug on top of the radio that has been sitting on top of the stair newel for almost a year now. In the very same spot I've been setting it at other times as well (I have ADD, so in order for me to remember to take things with me, I have to make sure they're sitting where I'll see them.)

Anyway, I hadn't walked more than five feet when I heard a loud crash! I turned and saw that the radio was on the floor, the lid had popped off the coffee mug and ALL of my coffee was now quickly soaking into the carpet. UGH!!! (and loads of curse words)

So, I picked up the radio, plugged the power cord back into it (thank god it was one that could be plugged back in) and then picked up my mug and its lid, now in two pieces. I grabbed a dish towel and the dish cloth and folded them, laying them on top of the spilled coffee, set my shoes on top and stepped down on them in order to soak up as much of the coffee as possible. I then went back to the kitchen to see if my lid was actually broken or it is was just components that had been forcibly separated. Thankfully, it was the latter of those two possibilities. I managed to get the lid back together and poured myself a second cup of coffee and came upstairs.

The next time I went downstairs, I picked up the towels and replaced them with paper towels to absorb some more and went to the basement to throw the dirty washable towels in with the load of wash I was going to wash. Now I have to find another rewashable cloth to take down with me so I can spray the very large stain with some cleaner solution and scrub at it to try to remove as much staining as I can. I'll take a picture of the spot before I start cleaning and post it with this post.

But, all I got was a tentative sip from that first cup of coffee. I'm glad I always make enough to have a second mug full. But, that truly annoyed me. Have you had something like that happen?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

photo taken by me after I wrote this.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes

When I saw a fellow Bubbler's post about having pancakes and coffee for breakfast two days ago, I immediately knew what I wanted for breakfast. So, I went right downstairs and, after feeding the ever hungry cats their breakfast, I made a batch of quicky Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal pancakes The flavoring aspect was inspired by a recipe I saw on the San Luis Obispo blogs found on TheTribuneNews.com. Dang, they looked good!!

Anyway, I didn't have any apples on hand and I HATE making pancakes using a recipe, so I used my "complete" just-add-water pancake mix and added a package of instant apple and cinnamon oatmeal. Then I added water and pulsed it all together in my mini-processor before heating the pan to cook them. 

While the pan was heating, I got the coffee pot ready and lit a low fire under it so it wouldn't boil over. I enjoyed those pancakes, believe me!! By the time I got done eating them, the coffee was ready. Perfect timing!

I love simple and easy ways to accomplish a tasty treat, although I admit that finely diced apples would probably have put the pancakes over the top. Still, they were very good and a nice change from plain old pancakes.


Photo credit - the San Luis Obispo blog at sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/andallthetrimmings/apple-cinnamon-oatmeal-pancakes/comment-page-1/#comment-37395. Feel free to check out their page if you want to make yours from scratch. They look fantastic!!

Sausage Gravy Wanted!

I've been craving breakfast sausage lately. Not the kind in links and not the patties, but the loose sausage that you can turn into sausage gravy. I had bought some of the brand Gwaltney, but was so disgusted by what it was that I didn't want to chance buying anything like it again. 

Sausage is a pork product, right? (Usually.) So, since pork is pink, sausage is also pink (maybe darker because of spices). The Gwaltney was pasty and....GRAY! And, it smelled like death. Seriously - it was plain nasty. And, it was FRESH!!! (Meaning - it wasn't even close to its "use by" date.) I know that Jimmy Dean and other national brands have good reputations, but I just didn't want to find out the hard way that I shouldn't have tried them. So, I went looking for some decent "loose" sausage I could use for breakfast.

I thought I'd found some. A pack of ground seasoned pork calling itself "sweet" sausage. It didn't say it was Italian sweet sausage. I know what that is. But, I got it out to make some sausage gravy tonight that I could keep in the fridge to enjoy for a couple of days. I checked the label for what spices were in the sausage, but all it said was "spice blend". Lovely. Time to flip a coin.

So, I opened it and discovered by fragrance and the accompanying recipe UNDER the label that this sausage was Italian seasoned. I'm sure the external labeling was not intentional. Someone just forgot to add "Italian" to the print line.

::disappointment::

Now this was why I made pasta meat sauce. But, I would love to be able to find some breakfast sausage that wasn't in link form that I could brown up as easily as I would ground beef. I know I can get it at the Amish market, but that's way out of my way. Why can't I get it in a regular grocery?? Apparently, in some groceries in this country, you can buy it. I wish I could here.

UPDATE - I did find an easy make at home breakfast sausage recipe that I think I'm going to try. I have all the spices it calls for here, so I just need to buy some ground pork. We shall see!!

photo credit (sausage) - Some rights reserved by Brood_wich (www.flickr.com/photos/brood_wich/)

Sausage gravy over biscuits

photo credit (gravy) - Some rights reserved by @joefoodie (www.flickr.com/photos/montage_man/)

Pasta Sauce in the Slow Cooker

I'm headed to bed with a pot of pasta sauce slowly cooking in the kitchen. I had bought some "loose" sausage at the store the other day hoping I could use it for breakfast and maybe some sausage gravy. Unfortunately, the seasoning turned out to be for Italian recipes (they never list the actual spices - why is that?), so I browned in my slow cooker pan and added a can of peeled plum tomatos, a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of "Progresso Recipe Starter" Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce plus some Italian spice blend and some Adobo seasoning (basically, garlic powder).

Tomorrow I'll decide whether or not I want to make a baked pasta dish with ricotta and mozzarella cheeses or cook the pasta separately with the sauce for topping. In the meantime, the flavors will blend perfectly during the night.

Again, I don't have a photo of what I'm making because I didn't think of it while I was downstairs, but the one I chose is a close resemblence.


photo credit - Some rights reserved by Monica Arellano-Ongpin (www.flickr.com/photos/maong/) (It even has the chunky plum tomatoes like mine that I mashed with my potato masher - hope mine tastes as good as this looks.)

Cinnamon Buns or Sticky Buns?

When I was growing up, cinnamon buns were what you see in this photo. They were the only kind of cinnamon buns you could find anywhere. The other kind, the ones that are like what Cinnabon sells, were called cinnamon ROLLS. Now, it seems that these are called "sticky" buns. Yet, these are far more cinnamon-y than the ones sold by Cinnabon or anyone else.

My favorite ones are the ones that only have raisins. My dad was the same way. We didn't like the ones with nuts. I still don't. We never ate the kind they sell now with icing until Cinnabon came along. We still went back to these.

They get stale pretty quickly, but Mom would then take them, slice them, butter both sides of them and pan fry them until they were soft and gooey and just plain wonderful!!! Better than they were fresh as far as I was concerned.

So, what do you call these? Have you always called them that or has that changed over time?


photo credit - Some rights reserved by arthritic_old_man (www.flickr.com/photos/51379696@N00/)

Homemade Breakfast Bowl

I made my first ever breakfast bowl yesterday morning. I've never had one anywhere, but I know you can buy them in the grocery stores in the frozen food section (usually Jimmy Dean brand). I wasn't actually planning on having a "breakfast bowl" for breakfast, but that's how it turned out. And, I enjoyed it!

First, I took a handful of fresh ground beef that I had bought at our small grocer in town (with a real butcher!) and browned that while adding salt and pepper. There was very little grease, so when I took the meat out, I added some olive oil to the pan and put in some diced potato hash browns to cook up. When they were done, I added the meat back to the pan intending to make sure it was still hot. Meanwhile, I had scrambled a couple eggs in preparation of cooking them separately.

While the meat and potatoes were reheating in the pan, I decided that I would just pour the eggs over them and cook everything together. That's what I did. I then put everything into a bowl I had waiting and sprinkled the top with a handful of shredded cheddar while, at the same time, heated up a couple of tortillas over the open flame on the stove. I set the tortillas on top of the bowl and got the salsa out. When I took off the tortillas, the cheese had melted from the heat of the tortillas and the potato/meat/egg mixture. I then put some salsa on top of all of it and enjoyed my breakfast!


Photo credit - Some rights reserved by theimpulsivebuy (www.flickr.com/photos/theimpulsivebuy/) An amazingly raunchy and negative review of the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl linked on this photo. But, I didn't think to write about my bowl until after I'd eaten it. So, this particular photo does closely resemble my breakfast except I had ground beef instead of bacon and my potatoes were more finely diced.

A Surprise in my Freezer

I was getting really hungry. I hadn't eaten since between 7:30 and 9:00 this morning, so my blood sugar was dropping and I could feel it. I decided to see what I could quickly throw together without dirtying too many pans. I opened the freezer and began looking around and found a plastic container containing a nice-sized square of the lasagna that I had made I think in November. I don't even remember saving any of it!

Wow, did I enjoy that! It was good when I first made it and it was equally so now.

I can give you a quick rundown on how I made it if you'd like to try it. I had bought mild Italian sausages from one of our local groceries because I was in the mood for a good sausage sandwich. Unfortunately, these particular sausages had more fennel in them than I like, so I just kept them in the slow cooker until the next day when they literally fell apart if I tried to take one out. I then got my potato masher (the kind with the s-turn bars, not the kind with the square holes) and mashed all of the sausages into small pieces. The casings by this time were pretty much cooked away, so I ended up with a really nice bolognese.

Then I got some ricotta (you could use small curd and dry cottage cheese) and mixed it with an egg and shredded mozzarella. I got the lasagna noodles out and began the layering process. First some sauce on the bottom (not too much meat) topped with DRY lasagna noodles. I topped the noodles with the ricotta mixture followed by the meatsauce. I then repeated the pattern until I reached the top where I spread the remaining sauce adding shredded mozzarella on top of that. I covered it all with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and baked at 350 for an hour. It probably could have used another 15 minutes because some of the noodles were al dente, but it was still edible and as I reheated it, the noodles finished cooking. The plastic wrap kept the tomato sauce from eating through the aluminum while it cooked, which was great because I hate it when it does that. I don't like the idea that I'm eating even a minuscule piece of aluminum.

But, I surely don't remember putting any in a container and freezing it. Nicely done, Wendy. Great little surprise to find on this cold day in January!

Have you ever forgotten you had something edible put away and been very happy when you found it?

Photo credit - this was taken when I took the lasagna out of the oven. It is my photo, my copyright.

Easy Beef Tips

I have this specific recipe in my slow cooker right now. I'm waiting for my daughter to let me know if she wants mashed potatoes or egg noodles so I can have it ready when she gets home. I'll be going out to dinner with a friend. I want to taste this before I go. I've been wanting to make it for a long while.

The recipe calls for 2-2.5 pounds of beef, but I had only bought 1 pound from our tiny full-service grocery. I like them because they have a real butcher. Everything is cut fresh and this meat had been run through a grinder with very large holes, so it was perfect for beef tips. It was like thick strips of meat, but they were round because of the grinder. Because I didn't have the ingredients to make it right away (I was actually thinking of making pepper steak when I first bought the meat), I had triple wrapped it and put it in the freezer. I took it out yesterday and thawed it and today I put it together in the cooker.

The slow cooker I am using has a removable pot, so I was able to brown the meat right in the same pot it would be cooked in, so no need to dirty a bunch of pans. The small bowl and container I used to make the gravy and flour the meat are easy to clean, so I'm not too worried about those.

So, if you made this, what would you eat it with? Mashed potatoes? Egg noodles? Or rice (which my daughter won't touch, so I didn't ask her about that)?

Here is the link to the recipe: recipesthatcrock.com/slow-cooker-beef-tips-gravy/

Credit for photo belongs to the website where I got the recipe: www.recipesthatcrock.com.

Ham Salad Spread

I made some ham salad spread recently for the first time ever. Now, I have never eaten ham salad spread to know what it should taste like, but I think I did OK.

I am posting a link to a recipe that is almost identical to how I made mine, other than celery, which I didn't have, but I didn't have as much ham as the recipe calls for, so I didn't use as much of the other ingredients as they call for either.

Mine is obviously not as "pretty" as the other one, but I wasn't making it to share. It matters more that I get the mix right - then I can worry about aesthetics.

I did make one mistake, though. I added salt and pepper like I would have done in my tuna fish salad, forgetting that ham tends to be salty. I had to figure out a way to fix it, so I added a couple Sweet n Low packets to the salad and it brought it back up to where it had been before I put the salt in. I'm sure it will taste better the next time when I remember to NOT put salt in it, but it worked out.

I only used one hard boiled egg and some sweet pickle relish along with the chopped up ham and the mayonnaise. I did add a little mustard, but I think I might leave that out as well the next time. I can eat the salad with it, but there is a distinct bite that I'm not overly fond of. I also added a bit of onion powder. Some recipes called for diced onions and I can't stand raw onions, but onion powder isn't so bad. I also might leave that out next time, but the mustard whad more of a yuck factor for me than the onion powder did.

Anyway, here is the link to the almost identical recipe: allrecipes.com/recipe/ham-salad-spread-2/.

Photo credits - the first one is from the recipe and was posted to the recipe by SugarPlum♥ of Acworth, Georgia. (http://allrecipes.com/Cook/SugarPlum9829/Profile.aspx)

The second photo is one I just took of MY ham salad. I don't think they look all that much different, do you? Other than the lighting is obviously different.

Chili Mac - yeah, it's for dinner.

Been craving chili mac for a while now. I have no idea why since it's not something I've ever made and I don't remember ever eating it before. But, I love chili and I love macaroni/pasta, and somehow the combination just struck me as the perfect meal.

I finally thawed out some ground beef yesterday, but went to dinner with a friend, so I made this today. I basically made it like I do my regular chili and added the pasta. It's not like "Hamburger Helper" where it can be put on a plate with other sides. This still needs a bowl and a spoon. But, I am very happy with how it turned out.

I had a pound of ground beef that I browned. I added a can of Progresso Fire-roasted Tomato Meal Starter sauce, two cans of beans (your choice, but I used red beans and pintos), a can of tomatoes with mild green chilis and a can of stewed tomatoes. I also added about a cup of diced green peppers, another cup of diced onions and maybe 3/4 cup of diced celery. Once it was all hot and boiling and the 8 oz. of pasta was nearly cooked, I added between 2 and 3 teaspoons of chili powder (I don't like too much because it can be very bitter and you can't undo that) and then I added several shakes of Tabasco sauce. The one thing I forgot to add was salt. But, that's ok since all of the canned products I used have salt. And, I can add it in my dish if I want to.

Now I've eaten chili over rice before, a trick I used when we'd have a surprise guest for dinner on chili night. But, this is the first time I've had pasta with my chili. I like it. And, it makes the regular amount of chili go twice as far because it adds bulk.

Have you ever made chili mac and what did you do different to yours?

Photo is mine while the chili mac was still boiling on low on the stove.

Grocery Shopping

This is not one of our local stores.

I was reading a fellow Bubbler's post the other day about some tasty manager markdowns at his local grocer the other day wishing I could find bargains equally good. I ended up being taken to the grocery on Tuesday by my friend and found some lovely items, even though I hadn't planned to go shopping there. There was a manager's markdown on chicken thighs, though I don't normally buy them, but these were priced well under $1/lb, so into my cart they went. And, a nice package of pork chops on sale plus some sweet Italian sausage to make some pasta sauce with.

Now I get to decide what to make with one of them. And, thanks to reading yet another Bubbler's post, I came up with one idea for the pork chops. I will be making pork chops with country gravy, stuffing and green beans. The rest of the chops and the chicken will be frozen.

I also stocked up on more canned goods since our grocery decided to add a week to their semi-annual "Can Can" sale. Great markdowns on canned goods! Including 9Lives cat food. I don't think the cats will run out of food any time soon!!

Photo credit - Some rights reserved by taberandrew (www.flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/) Wish my chicken thighs had been this cheap!!

Dinner in Maple Shade, New Jersey

I went out to dinner one recent Friday night with a friend and used the last portion of my Charlie Brown's Steakhouse birthday gift card towards the meal. I wasn't even thinking that it was a Friday night. I wish I had. The place was almost standing room only!

I'm not a small person. I couldn't fit between the seats around the tables to get to the table the waitress took us to. I looked around and found a wider path and took that. It was embarrassing, especially when some ignorant guy in line for the salad bar laughed when he saw my predicament.

However, the meal was more than delicious!! It's been a while since I've had a really good meal from Charlie Brown's. I don't know if it was because they were busy or if it was because we were at a different location than we normally go. But, the steaks and shrimp were cooked to perfection. The broccoli had been cut into florets instead of long branches with tough stems and cooked until tender, yet not overcooked.

Because of the narrowness of the pathways, my dining partner brought me my salad so I didn't have to embarrass myself going up and back, but I thoroughly enjoyed not one, but two, servings of salad. I don't usually do that. And, as always, their raisin nut bread was fabulous!

After dinner, we went to Starbucks in Cherry Hill where the French vanilla coffee I got was perfectly brewed. I usually opt for iced coffee, but got hot coffee this time. A couple cubes of ice and some milk and the temperature was ideal. I really enjoyed that cup of coffee, finishing it after I got home.

Photo credit - a photo of the side of the restaurant looking towards the front on Main Street. We parked at the curb right in front of this entryway. Photo is from CharlieBrowns.com.

The walls of all the Charlie Browns restaurants are covered with antiques and/or reproduction photos, often of local areas if they could find any. This one was no different.

This photo is of a basket that was on the wall next to our table. I was seated at the table when I took the photo. This basket fascinates me because of how large it is and because I have no idea what it would have been used for when it was new. Does anyone out there know?

Photo credit - this is my photo taken last night while seated at the table in the restaurant.

Who knew the plastic would melt?? (Obviously not me.)

A few days ago, I was cleaning out the cat litter box and, if you've done that yourself, you know that the process sets loose a variety of lovely fragrances wafting through the house. I decided it called for some incense and candles when I was done, just to freshen things up to match the newly freshened box.

So, I lit a candle in the living room and another in the dining room and grabbed a cone incense for the kitchen where the litter box is. I decided I didn't want it setting on the counter, so I set it on top of my jar of peanut butter to keep it above other things sitting there and to provide for a place the ashes could fall.

Off I went about my day with no further thought on the matter.

Later, I went to the kitchen for something - I can't remember what - and I found what you see in the first photo. At first, I thought it was the base of the cone incense because the lid was still on the jar at the time and just looked like a dark circle - a PERFECT circle. But, when I picked up the jar so that I could flick the cone's remains into the trash, I realized it was a hole. WTF!??!??!!

When I opened the jar up, this is what I saw!!!

All I could do was laugh at how naïve I was. It just never occurred to me that the base of the cone would become SO hot that it would melt through the plastic lid of the peanut butter jar!!! All I knew was that the cone never burned all the way down, so I didn't even think twice about putting it on top of the jar.

Guess who's not going to be doing that any more??

What's the silliest thing you've ever done that would have been a lot more embarrassing if YOU hadn't been the first to notice it?

Both photos were taken by me. My copyright. Jan 2014.

Chicken Soup (Making Silk Out of the Proverbial Sow's Ear) - Dinner Disasters and Redemption

I had made breaded pork chops with gravy and fried potatoes. Unfortunately, the potatoes were a complete disaster because they were dehydrated and I had REhydrated them before frying. Now, in my defense, I have done this with shredded potatoes, but I'd never tried it with sliced potatoes. I learned my lesson.

Because of the potato disaster, I decided to throw together a quick mix of pasta and tomatoes, which we've had before and enjoyed for years. But, the only pasta I had on hand was whole wheat bowties and it just didn't turn out right. The texture of the pasta just didn't fit with the concept we'd grown accustomed to, so the next night I added a can of spaghetti sauce to the mix hoping that something tolerable would result. (The pantry was needing to be restocked, so I was struggling to save this from the garbage.)

While the pasta WAS a tad more acceptable, there were still only two of us who ate it. I was still left with over a quart of pasta with tomatoes and sauce. What to do?

Well, I decided that chicken soup was the way to go (I hoped). I had leftover corn from disaster dinner night and I had carrot coins in the freezer along with some lima beans. I had plenty of chicken, so I decided to make broth and then add the pasta, corn and carrots for a (hopefully) hearty (and tastier) soup than the original meal turned out. [To be fair, the pork chops were excellent. Far more tender and moist than pork chops usually are. I'll do them again for sure.]

After making something else for a couple of days, I decided enough was enough. MAKE THE SOUP ALREADY!!!! So, I did.

It turned out terrific!! Of course, I seemed to be the only one who thought so since my son and his girlfriend wouldn't even try it. My granddaughter had a small amount, but refused to eat the vegetables. I wasn't too worried about that since, other than fiber, all their goodness was contained in the broth.

Here's what I did. I had a partial chicken breast leftover from some chicken and rice I had made. I put it in the pot with two cups of chicken broth and three cups of water plus chicken bouillon cubes and leftover corn from the pork chop fiasco. After that had all cooked for a while, I added frozen sliced carrots, frozen green beans and frozen baby lima beans. When that all cooked for a while longer, I added a pint of the disastrous bowtie pasta mix (with tomatoes and sauce). After tasting, I added two teaspoons of dehydrated minced onions, a teaspoon and a half of salt and another bouillon cube. I also took the chicken breast out and pulled all the meat off the bones, shredded it and reintroduced it to the pot.

I was amazed at how good it tasted! I should have waited longer to eat some since the vegetables were still a little on the crunchy side (not bad, but not how I like them), but the flavor was perfect and I was hungry !

So, it looks like my first effort at making chicken soup was successful. And, yes, it really DID take me this long to make chicken soup. I've made vegetable soup many times, but I have never ever tried to make chicken soup.

What was wrong with me???

Previously published on Yahoo! Contributor Network.
Photo credit - I, BrokenSphere [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Ahhhhhhhhh.....Comfort Food!!!

How many of us still enjoy the deliciousness that is Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup?? All that melted cheese inside that buttery toasted bread just inviting you to dunk it into that bowl of creamy tomato soup sitting nearby! Doesn't it make your mouth drool? Or at least generate a bit of a tummy growl?

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. I prefer white American, but I'd eat this in a heartbeat!!

Were you aware that there is a Mexican cousin to this wonderful comfort cuisine? Heck yeah! It is called a Quesadilla and usually uses Mexican cheeses (or cheddar and Monterey Jack) inside one or two tortillas. It is often served with salsa and sour cream. Sometimes it even has spicy grilled meats and veggies inside with the cheese for an even finer dining experience.

So, one day I really wanted something cheesy (to match my personality, naturally), but didn't have any more bread or tomato soup. What to do, what to do?!? AHA! Tortillas in the fridge! An already opened package of Monterey Jack!! And plenty of salsa and sour cream just BEGGING to be consumed!! Foodie Utopia!! (Or would that be FOODTOPIA???)

Quesadilla photo credit - By Elisa Arteaga from Caracas, Venezuela (Quesadillas tradicionales) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

My Muslim Neighbors Gave Me Dinner

I had met my Muslim neighbors earlier this year when the husband/father came over to comment on my tomato plants. He invited me over to see the garden he had planted out back and challenged me to guess what he had planted. I was able to guess everything. When he learned that I am a fan of the kind of food they eat (very similar to Indian cuisine since they're from Pakistan), he said that he would bring me some biryani some time when his wife made it. I thought, OK, that'll be cool, but really didn't expect it.

I know that they have just come out of the end of Ramadan, so I know they are cooking more since they aren't fasting during the day now. My doorbell rang and I was surprised to see the husband at my door. He asked me where my tomato plants were and asked if I remembered that they were going to make me some biryani, that his wife had made some if I still wanted some.

Then I went over to see his garden and saw that he is growing okra in the front flower bed. His tomato plants, which were much smaller than mine were, are HUGE! Meanwhile, mine are dying out back. He had told me he was a farmer in the mountains. I obviously am NOT a farmer, even if my mother was. I decided to ask him if he can rescue my plants.

Back to the food, though. I was given a platter full of some of the best biryani I have ever had - I just LOVE Basmati rice. This had potatoes and chicken in it and a Tandoori chicken leg on top. They also gave me some mint chutney that she'd made. I did eat some with the rice and meat in a tortilla (I didn't have any naan), but I'm not really a fan of mint chutney. Still, the rice was delicious!! I finished what I couldn't eat for dinner at breakfast the next morning.

But, now I have a question. I know there are Muslim Bubblers out there, so this is a question more for you. I would love to do something for them as a thank you for being so nice to me and sharing their meal. I was thinking of making a uniquely American dessert to share with them. I would never consider offering a pork product, but I don't want to offend them accidentally, either. What I was thinking of making is a pan of apple dumplings the way my mother used to make them. I've included a photo here. It is just apples, cinnamon, sugar and pie crust (like might be wrapped around a samosa). No pork fat at all. I just want to know if there is any reason something like that might be the wrong thing to offer. I'd like them to know that I appreciated the meal they shared with me.

So, what do you think? Would apple dumplings be OK or should I consider something else instead?

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The Chicken Biryani photo is from Wikimedia Commons and looks very much like what I given. Even the piece of chicken was the same color. But, no bay leaves.

The Apple Dumpling photo came from a website with the accompanying recipe and looks identical to what Mom used to make. She'd put eight dumplings in her pan and then pour the cinnamon-nutmeg-sugar syrup over it before putting it in the oven. What came out was a gorgeous and fragrant dessert surrounded by a thick, caramel-ly cinnamon sauce. 

A Pot of Chili on the Stove - or There Will Be

There are three quick meals I can make with the pound and a half of ground beef I just started browning. One is chili, one is green beans and meat and the other is meat sauce for spaghetti. I love all three of them, but don't feel like getting a second pan out to cook potatoes (green beans) or pasta (meat sauce), so it looks like chili will be the recipe du jour.

I like that I can make a huge pot of chili full of beans and meat (I know - no real Texan would call that chili, which is good since I'm a Jersey Girl) with loads of onions and peppers and tomatoes. So much goodness to be had in a single pot.

Sure, I could make biscuits to go with it - or have it over pasta similar to Cincinnati - but, I do enjoy it as it is from the pan in a bowl with some buttered bread and some cheddar cheese - maybe even a little sour cream if it's got some kick. I'm debating the "kick" as I write.

OK, debate is done and so is the chili. I used white kidney beans and black beans along with diced onions and diced bell peppers, a small can of Rotel tomatoes (mild), a large can of crushed tomatoes, a large can of diced tomatoes, three tablespoons of chili powder and a half a packet of red pepper flakes that Dominos gives when you ask for them. I only used half because they were so darned hot when I put them on the pizza!! I figured half would let me know they were there and still let me enjoy the flavor. I was right!

So, I'm now noshing on a bowl of red gold with buttered whole grain bread and a cup of coffee. Comfort food to the max!!

Originally published on Bubblews.com yesterday.

A Question About Goat Meat

I have a question that I've asked once before (I don't think it was here, though), but I don't think my question was understood well. Maybe it was poorly asked. I want to try again.

I enjoy Indian cuisine. I love curries, whether they are Makhani or Masala or Navratan. I might like them milder than many do, but I do like them very much. I've had chicken (my favorite), lamb and goat. I like all three meats. But, only the goat is cut up with the bones still in the meat. Often, I find that what I thought was a piece of meat is actually a very small piece of meat with a large piece of bone attached. I have to admit, it takes some of the pleasure out of eating that particular curry for me.

All meats can be cooked with bone in or boneless, or I have always assumed. I know that when stewing, the bones provide added flavor. But, goat is the only one I've never found boneless in these kinds of meals. Can someone explain to me why the bones are left in when it is cut up into small pieces when the bones are not left in chicken or lamb, both smaller animals? Except for Tandoori chicken, that is. I'd really like to understand the reasoning.

Image from Wikimedia Commons. Previously posted to Bubblews.com.

More Rain Than Superstorm Sandy - 7 inches in Three Hours!!

July 29th was unbelievable!! I was given some cat scratching posts through FreeCycle and knew we were expecting rain, but when 1 PM came and went without much darkening of the skies, I thought it would be safe to go pick them up. I easily found the address and loaded them into the car and decided to treat myself to some breakfast.

I stopped at the Westmont Diner and found that they served breakfast all day, so I ordered my favorite, creamed chipped beef over potatoes with wheat toast and two scrambled eggs. While I was enjoying my meal, the man who was in the booth next to mine had his cell phone go off with one of those emergency tones like the Emergency Broadcast System does on television. He said that the storm was coming and it was a weather warning. OK. It still didn't look too bad outside, but I guess the rain was coming after all. Within five minutes, his cell phone went off again. It was a severe storm warning indicating flash flooding expected.

Well, they've said that before and the flash flooding I'm used to seeing is the kind they have out west where the water comes rushing out of the mountains or across the hot dry desert and into the ravines taking everything in its path with it. I'd never seen anything like that here in South Jersey where we have no mountains and we're maybe 50 feet at most above sea level. I knew the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River had mountain streams and running water, but our side was mostly flat and tidal. The what flooding we get is almost always because of too much pavement and poor drainage. High tides sometimes contribute if timed with the rainfall.

But, when it started getting much darker and I began to hear thunder, I decided to cut my meal short and head on home. I didn't even get out of the restaurant when the rain began. I started driving down Kings Highway which actually runs downhill about half of the way home and the water I was seeing rushing down the road and covering it from curb to curb was incredible. It was raining so hard, I was having a hard time seeing. Cars coming towards me would hit the water and blow it across my windshield completely blocking my view. I was only going 20 mph, it was that bad.


I got to Market Street and turned right to go home. That leads right into town after crossing Route 130, a major divided highway in the southern part of the state. When I got to the light, I noticed that cars weren't continuing through the light. I then noticed that cars were coming the WRONG WAY towards the cars that weren't continuing on. I suddenly realized that the road must be flooded so badly no one could get through. While all these cars were coming back towards us, they were turning into the motel that is right there to get off the highway. Suddenly, one guy in a white truck decides he's not going to turn around, so he just zips on past all the cars turning around and heads into the underpass. I have a gut feeling that the truck you'll see in the photos in this link are him. If so, then GOOD!! If that's what it takes to teach him to not be an idiot, then so be it. Here's that link.

Two of the pictures I have posted are of flooding near where I live that happened before yesterday. The one with the Metro Diner sign is looking west from Brooklawn Circle East to Brooklawn Circle West which, as you can see, is under water, as are a couple of cars stupid enough to drive through it. That was from a storm this past December that didn't

Brooklawn Circle West

dump NEARLY the same amount of rain as we had yesterday. It's because we have so much blacktop and concrete covering all open ground and the drainage is so poor, the water has nowhere to go. At the time of this event, it had the misfortune of being timed with a high tide and a full moon.

The next image where you can see a detour sign and several row homes is two blocks from my house. It is the intersection of Market Street and Broad. That photo was taken in 2009 - again, the rain fall was considerably less than we had yesterday. Honestly, this is what I saw when I came home that day. I'd never seen it before where the water was so high it covered all the sidewalks at that intersection. I usually go home by driving past these houses and

Gloucester City, Broad & Market

turning left two blocks later. I wasn't able to do that. Too much water and a car stalled out in the middle of it. Holy cow!! So, I had to turn left on Broad and then turn on to my street that way.

Finally, there is a picture of a section of town where you can see banners for Max's Seafood Cafe. That is the intersection of Hudson and Burlington. Max's is on one corner and the parking lot with these banners is on the opposite corner. Seeing that photo blew my mind. That WAS taken that day and I never thought that part of town would flood like that!!! I can't imagine what

Gloucester City, Burlington at Hudson

those houses' basements looked like after this was all done. 

So, that's how it was on July 29th. I was soaked to the skin by the time I got from the car to the house. I really didn't have a clue that we were getting as much water as we got, but I knew it was coming down like crazy. I told someone that instead of it raining cats and dogs, it was raining dinosaurs and mastodons!!

This event was originally published at Bubblews.com.

Images are from local news reports published in our city's small-town paper. Gloucester City News

Blueberry Jam

I am about to embark on a culinary adventure. I have about 4 cups of blueberries on the stove cooking down with a teaspoon of lemon juice and about a half cup of sugar and between a quarter and half teaspoon of cinnamon (no cinnamon sticks). I have no pectin. I have no jars for canning. I do, however, have blueberries I'm going to lose if I don't do something soon.

I was hoping to go sugar-free, but apparently sugar is considered something of a preservative. But, the quantities of sugar most recipes were calling for was mind-boggling. As much or more than the amount of berries!! Some recipes called for lemon juice (probably another preservative) and others called for a cinnamon stick (that one said it helps preserve - but it also helps control insulin, so I'm in). I don't have cinnamon sticks and blueberries are dark in color, so ground cinnamon isn't going to be visible. I went with the approximate equivalent. 

Now, I have no idea how this will turn out. It will require tasting, I know. Some of it will go in the fridge and some of it into the freezer. Hopefully, I won't have to add too much more sugar (if the berries are sweet). But, I'm determined to do it and not lose these berries. I also eat plenty of PBJ sandwiches, and I like jam on toast, so this will work out. If it turns out well, I will plan ahead for the next time and have jars and lids on hand so I can make more and keep it longer.

I'm far from a culinary queen. I'm more like the kitchen jester. My mother was the cooking expert with regards to preserving and "putting away". She'd can, she'd freeze and she'd "make do". We had a large chest freezer in the basement dedicated to her garden produce and sales on meats and baked goods. Steel shelves were lined with the products she'd can - in fact, her canning kitchen was in the basement. A little four-burner gas stove from the 30s hooked up to a small propane tank and an old kitchen sink with drainboard hanging on the cinderblock basement wall. It was also her summer kitchen when it was too hot in the upstairs kitchen to cook what she wanted (before we had central air).

That's not me. I'm a hit or miss kind of cook. I can do it, but I tend to be lackadaisical about it. I like slow cookers because I can ignore them. For me, spending hours in a kitchen putting together a meal is shear torture. Yet, I like having home canned foods on hand. I miss that. I remember once I made 12 quarts of stewed tomatoes. I was so proud of those tomatoes. Actually, it was more than that, but I remember the 12 because my neighbor, who was helping me clean house, claimed she threw them out thinking they were trash. Yeah - the entire case of home canned stewed tomatoes. Personally, I think she took them because they were nowhere to be found at the apartment dumpster where she said she threw them. I never had her help me again. It wasn't worth it. (Some lessons are hard learned.) But, the ones I got to use were just fine. And, I even used iodized salt which it says not to do. I'm sure there's a reason, but I did it anyway.

I also made several jars of green tomato relish once. Why? Because my tomatoes refused to ripen! They were big, robust beauties, but they stubbornly refused to blush even when set on the window sill in a paper bag. And, I don't do fried green tomatoes, so I made relish. I don't do that, either, but I was able to give it away. At least I didn't lose those tomatoes. 

Anyway, the blueberries are on the stove on a very low flame cooking down. I need to mash them and stir them and make sure they're gently boiling because that is what brings out the natural pectins. I also need to taste them to see if I need more sugar. 

Wish me luck! So far, they taste pretty good with minimal sugar. I'm hoping.

Photo is mine. Previously published on Bubblews.com.