USMB Coffee Shop IV

[peach174]

I loved the song Radar Love

 

[gallantwarrior]

I'm still alive and well! Dropping in to catch everybody up on all the news. For starters, hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year to everybody. Yes, 007, that Canon EOS 7D you purchased is a great camera. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I have mostly Nikon cameras but I do happen to have a Canon 6D and I like it a lot. That 7D will get you some great photos so enjoy! Now, to catch everybody up on all the news. Hunting season here was really good this year. I got a nice 8 pointer and a medium sized 6 pointer. My buddy, the vet, now that's a different story! With his bow he got one of the biggest deer I have ever seen on the farm. He got a very large rack 10 pointer (and I mean very large) that weighed between 275 and 300 pounds. It was truly a nice deer. I will not post a picture because of the big shit storm last year when I posted a picture of a deer I had bagged so just take my word for it. This was a massive deer! Now, being around him is a challenge because he won't shut up about getting this deer! Don't blame him. It's truly one to brag about. Corn crop was good and the harvest went off with no problems. Christmas was nice. I suppose the only problem was that Mrs. BBD over-cooked the prime rib. Santa was good to me and even nicer to Mrs. BBD. Now we're both just sitting around waiting for 2016 to begin. My oldest grandson is in his first year of college at VMI and looks very handsome in his uniform. His goal is to finish up there and go into the Air Force as a pilot. I didn't know that outside of the Air Force Academy, VMI produces the second largest number of Air Force pilots. Taco is still being his old self. Likes me if Mrs. BBD isn't around but if she is he won't give me the time of day. He doesn't know that if it wasn't for me, Santa Paws would not have made a stop at our house last night. Mrs. BBD has been getting by with only cortisone shots in her knee but they are not lasting very long any more so she will have that knee replacement in the early spring up at the Mayo Clinic (Methodist Hospital) in Rochester, MN. Aside from the knee troubles, she is doing just fine. I'll be heading up to Monroe Truck Equipment in Monroe, WI pretty soon to have them put a tonneau cover on the back of my new truck. I've been waiting until after Christmas to get it done. I know we aren't supposed to talk politics here, but in a general sort of way I will say that I'm getting tired of the political crap on tv. Some of the politicians need to be put in jail and some of them need to simply shut up. Will be glad when it's all over with. I know that officially, winter has only been here for a few days but I'm already looking forward to spring. Myself, I am doing just fine. Just had all of my routine check-ups with the doctors last week and they said if I didn't get hit by a truck I should do pretty well for a long time to come yet. With that said, I will say "Good night" and wish good things for everybody and if you're in the area, stop by and help me eat up all of these left over Christmas cookies. Mrs. BBD over did it again this year. She always does. I'll be eating cookies until the middle of next month!

Glad to see you again, BBD! You buddy's deer reads like a hunting magazine story. I wouldn't try to shut up, either, if I had bagged such a monster! How was the meat, though? Sometimes those bigger deer aren't the best table fare.
Prime rib is over-cooked if it's much above room temperature, IMHO. Unfortunately, I was not invited anywhere where prime rib was served, but the company during the holidays certainly made up for that failure.
VMI? I think there's more to be proud of than just how the young man looks in his uniform. I wish him luck and hope he achieves his goals.
Good to know that both you and Mrs BBD are doing well. I hope any surgery she undergoes this coming year is successful.
Wishing you a great New Year and much happiness in 2016 (and all subsequent years).
Lee

 

[gallantwarrior]

Maybe not from this storm Montro. . . .it's really turning ugly several places:

View attachment 57939

Yup, we have a 70% chance of snow starting now......... That's right folks, 1 - 4 inches expected overnight and considering it's El Paso with all the experience these people have driving in it I'll be staying home and hoping no one a half a mile away on Rte 54 comes through the house..............

Snow in El Paso is a fairly rare event, I think. Based on the number of ditch divers and other morons who manage to show up on the roads here when it snows, your choice to sit tight is probably not a bad choice at all. Good luck that no one manages to drive through your place.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Just saw this and filed it under the category of why spelling is so hard for so many of us:

The formula is I before E except after C or when pronounced like A as in anchor or way.

But all those words don't fit the formula do they.

Our language can be so nonsensical! I see it all the time watching the little one learning to read and learning the rules of spelling. Why do we even have a letter c? The sounds it makes are already made by s and k. Ch could be its own letter if necessary. So pointless.

Having studied multiple other languages, English, especially as spoken by 'Murkins, is a real be-atch! Most languages have pretty strict rules of pronunciation for any particular letter, or they add some demarcation to indicate a variation in pronunciation.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Luckily this ain't here.......

That used to be here, but not the last couple of years. Right now, it's thawing again, the temperatures running at about 36F. Roads are icy and crappy as hell. I'm sure glad I have the next couple of days off so I don't have to drive anywhere.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Morning All !

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and weekend.
Today I am making ham and bean soup in the crockpot.
I give some to my single neighbor guys and they love it. Then I freeze the rest and use it through the rest of the winter.
It has been really cold here at night, in the teens, so ham and bean soup will be really good on a cold winter's day.

No better use for leftover ham+bone than either pea soup of navy bean soup. I usually make up a crock pot full and take it to work. While not all of them are single, they all devour the proffered fare most enthusiastically.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Well congratulations. I think I posted here. . .or maybe it was just on Facebook. . .that I found an old hot roll mix in the pantry and decided to make some hot rolls for dinner that night. But they came out much more biscuit like. Hombre liked them though and I fessed up that they weren't really good biscuits but rather were really crappy rolls. Well tonight I found a tube of refrigerated crescent rolls in the back of the fridge and, thought hey were 45 days out of date-thought I would risk it. And yep. They tasted just like biscuits. But they tasted pretty good.

I enjoy making quick breads, too (biscuits, cornbread) - and mr. boe loves to eat them!

But slow food yeast bread is my favorite. The gluten develops more structure and the flavor is better, imo. Now that we're organized again, I'm going to revive my sourdough starter again. I need to test the oven with Real Bread.

I love to bake bread from scratch too and I hand knead it though that has been difficult to do with my ailing shoulder. But as that gets better I'll return to making bread from scratch. By no additives in the flour, does that mean barley free flour? Does that affect the texture? I've been told it does though I haven't done any experiments to test it.

I mean preservatives and boosters. My preferred flour maker is Bob's Red Mill. The unbleached Artisan Bread flour is quite good. I use that and their whole wheat flour for my basic flours.

I've been using their spelt flour

I like that, too!

I've been working with "ancient grains" types of flours and have found them to be satisfactory. I like the flavor and texture better, and research indicates that are much healthier than modern wheat species, 'specially since wheat has been going GMO!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Belated Merry Christmas, everyone! The best part of Christmas me was being able to Skype my daughter and her family. My oldest granddaughter played her new flute for me, and the younger danced to the music.
I spent lots of time with old friends, exchanging gifts and chowing down. I have been officially adopted as a family member in one old friend's family.

 

[TemplarKormac]

The season isn't quite over yet, but when you say "ahh, I need to lose a few pounds, all that holiday food put on the weight" please

And I speak from experience!

This has been a PSA from your friendly neighborhood Templar. Happy New Year!

 

[ChrisL]

Just saw this and filed it under the category of why spelling is so hard for so many of us:

The formula is I before E except after C or when pronounced like A as in anchor or way.

But all those words don't fit the formula do they.

Our language can be so nonsensical! I see it all the time watching the little one learning to read and learning the rules of spelling. Why do we even have a letter c? The sounds it makes are already made by s and k. Ch could be its own letter if necessary. So pointless.

Having studied multiple other languages, English, especially as spoken by 'Murkins, is a real be-atch! Most languages have pretty strict rules of pronunciation for any particular letter, or they add some demarcation to indicate a variation in pronunciation.

I've heard that English was one of the most difficult languages to learn because of our synonyms and homonyms and other things like that. I mentioned that on another forum though and got an earful.

 

[ChrisL]

That last band came through and the temp dropped 12 degrees in an hour.

It got really cold here yesterday too. It snowed a tiny bit last night and now it's sleeting. That nice 60 and 70-degree weather we were having here in the northeast was just too good to be true!

 

[ChrisL]

Happy Tuesday!

 

[Foxfyre]

Just saw this and filed it under the category of why spelling is so hard for so many of us:

The formula is I before E except after C or when pronounced like A as in anchor or way.

But all those words don't fit the formula do they.

Our language can be so nonsensical! I see it all the time watching the little one learning to read and learning the rules of spelling. Why do we even have a letter c? The sounds it makes are already made by s and k. Ch could be its own letter if necessary. So pointless.

Having studied multiple other languages, English, especially as spoken by 'Murkins, is a real be-atch! Most languages have pretty strict rules of pronunciation for any particular letter, or they add some demarcation to indicate a variation in pronunciation.

I've heard that English was one of the most difficult languages to learn because of our synonyms and homonyms and other things like that. I mentioned that on another forum though and got an earful.

Well whoever gave you an earful about that was nowhere near as smart as you are. English is much more difficult to learn than most commonly spoken languages. Here's just a few reasons:

1. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
2. We must polish the Polish furniture.
3. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
4. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
5. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
6. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
7. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
8. I did not object to the object.
9. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
10. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
11. They were too close to the door to close it.
12. The buck does funny things when does are present.
13. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
14. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
15. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
16. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
17. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
18. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
19. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
20. The accountant at the music store records records of the records.
21. The bandage was wound around the wound.
22. The farm was used to produce produce.

And we say thing backwards from most other common languages. The embarrassing thing is that a lot more people from other countries are far more likely to be fluent in more than one language than we Americans are and more people from other countries learn to speak English than we learn to speak their languages. And our concept of singular and plural is mystifying and follows no rules.

Such as this:
Now if mouse in the plural should be, and is, mice,
Then house in the plural, of course, should be hice,
And grouse should be grice and spouse should be spice
And by the same token should blouse become blice.

And consider the goose with its plural of geese;
Then a double caboose should be called a cabeese,
And noose should be neese and moose should be meese
And if mama’s papoose should be twins, it’s papeese.

Then if one thing is that, while some more is called those,
Then more than one hat, I assume, would be hose,
And gnat would be gnose and pat would be pose,
And likewise the plural of rat would be rose.

Or this:
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and showed you my feet,
When I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular is this, and the plural is these,
Why shouldn’t the plural of kiss be kese?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
So plurals in English, I think you’ll agree,
Are indeed very tricky, singularly

 

[Foxfyre]

And good morning everybody. It is snowing again in Albuquerque which is just wonderful as the AWANA kids at our church are treating us old folks to a luncheon today, and I have visions of all those canes and walkers sliding across a slick driveway and walks to get into the church. Not.

 

[Ringel05]

Had to take the wife to the Orthopod today for a follow up then went to Wally World. On the way back to pick her up it started snowing again.

 

[peach174]

Morning !

 

[boedicca]

I enjoy making quick breads, too (biscuits, cornbread) - and mr. boe loves to eat them!

But slow food yeast bread is my favorite. The gluten develops more structure and the flavor is better, imo. Now that we're organized again, I'm going to revive my sourdough starter again. I need to test the oven with Real Bread.

I love to bake bread from scratch too and I hand knead it though that has been difficult to do with my ailing shoulder. But as that gets better I'll return to making bread from scratch. By no additives in the flour, does that mean barley free flour? Does that affect the texture? I've been told it does though I haven't done any experiments to test it.

I mean preservatives and boosters. My preferred flour maker is Bob's Red Mill. The unbleached Artisan Bread flour is quite good. I use that and their whole wheat flour for my basic flours.

I've been using their spelt flour

I like that, too!

I've been working with "ancient grains" types of flours and have found them to be satisfactory. I like the flavor and texture better, and research indicates that are much healthier than modern wheat species, 'specially since wheat has been going GMO!

I'm not giving up on wheat flour because it has the best gluten for dough structure. I do buy organic flour - but am frankly not that worried about GMO.

 

[saveliberty]

As a cat, I am more concerned with whether you use butter or margarine on the bread.

 

[Foxfyre]

This is an outstanding display. But practically speaking, if the goal is to encourage sale of whatever is in those cans--I couldn't make it out--would you be the first one to pull a can out of that display? Especially if you are an aficionado of disaster movies or have some engineering apptitude?

 

[Foxfyre]

I love to bake bread from scratch too and I hand knead it though that has been difficult to do with my ailing shoulder. But as that gets better I'll return to making bread from scratch. By no additives in the flour, does that mean barley free flour? Does that affect the texture? I've been told it does though I haven't done any experiments to test it.

I mean preservatives and boosters. My preferred flour maker is Bob's Red Mill. The unbleached Artisan Bread flour is quite good. I use that and their whole wheat flour for my basic flours.

I've been using their spelt flour

I like that, too!

I've been working with "ancient grains" types of flours and have found them to be satisfactory. I like the flavor and texture better, and research indicates that are much healthier than modern wheat species, 'specially since wheat has been going GMO!

I'm not giving up on wheat flour because it has the best gluten for dough structure. I do buy organic flour - but am frankly not that worried about GMO.

That's me. These days I figure if GMO's were going to kill me or if there was substantial difference in the nutrition of organic vs non-organic meats, fruit, and vegetables, I would be long gone by now. I have no problem with GMO free or organic stuff at all, but just don't make it all that much of a priority. I do think labeling should require specifying the country/region of origin, however, and should specify whether GMO free or not and I do wish we were more interested in growing nutritious uncontaminated food than we are in genetically altering our food or growing it for non food purposes..

But I agree wheat flour is the easiest and cheapest to make really good breads and other baked goods.