USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Ringel05]

Good morning, hope everyone is well. Went yard saleing again Saturday and Sunday, ended up in Moriarty and found a newly opened antique shop. One guy has a huge selection of cast iron, a 12 inch that I bought for $23 is on the stove seasoning right now.......

 

[Ringel05]

Supposedly the guy has about a hundred different sized cast iron skillets and pots at very reasonable prices, they're older cast iron which he most likely restores or has kept in unrusted condition for quite some time.

 

[Foxfyre]

Supposedly the guy has about a hundred different sized cast iron skillets and pots at very reasonable prices, they're older cast iron which he most likely restores or has kept in unrusted condition for quite some time.

There is no beating cast iron for certain tasks, but with modern day cookware being so user friendly and competent and so much lighter in weight than cast iron, there is less call for cast iron than there used to be. I have three iron skillets in graduated sizes in the warming drawer in our ceramic top range and every now and then I do use them and so far those three sizes have met the needs we have for them But I do use them with extreme caution on that ceramic top.

I do feel like an authentic cook when I use one of them though.

 

[Ringel05]

Supposedly the guy has about a hundred different sized cast iron skillets and pots at very reasonable prices, they're older cast iron which he most likely restores or has kept in unrusted condition for quite some time.

There is no beating cast iron for certain tasks, but with modern day cookware being so user friendly and competent and so much lighter in weight than cast iron, there is less call for cast iron than there used to be. I have three iron skillets in graduated sizes in the warming drawer in our ceramic top range and every now and then I do use them and so far those three sizes have met the needs we have for them But I do use them with extreme caution on that ceramic top.

I do feel like an authentic cook when I use one of them though.

We have a gas range/oven in this house and I've used all kinds of different pans throughout my life, I prefer cast iron over all the others for skillet use. Heck, a properly seasoned cast iron skillet is just as non-stick as the non-stick pans on the market without having to worry about destroying a non-stick coating rendering the modern pan useless.
If cast iron is too heavy for you then and equally excellent material is stamped carbon steel skillets, many chefs claim it's even better than cast iron and it's the standard skillet used in French kitchens. It also has to be seasoned just like cast iron and forms a truly non-stick surface.

 

[gallantwarrior]

) Why not? A had a bottle of anis-flavored vodka about half of year in my case, but during the NY walking it reduced to half, step by step.. I think, I'll make a effort at this weekend to finish it ) But if it happen occasionally - it would be double good

Why not what? Memory wanes as oldth waxes - but something about Deep Eddy Lemon Vodka, Licor 43, ice, lemonade, cream and the whirring sound of a blender rings a bell.

Interesting how we sometimes associate types of alcohol to regions - beer makes me think of folks in Lederhosen...Scotch brings to mind kilts and moors...Irish Whiskey, well leprechauns and blarney...rum, the drink of sword wielding pirates plundering the turquoise seas and fragrant, velvety soft tropical nights of the Caribbean, and vodka? - fur clad Cossack's with icy beards rampaging through the deep snow of the cold, dark North.

In other time and place whose drink might have appealed?...William Wallace or Cu Chalainn?...Captain Jack Sparrow or Dr. Zhivago?

Rum wins. *sigh* what lady could resist a rum swilling, sword wielding bad boy in dreads? *sigh*

Are you a fan of Jimmy Buffett? One of my favorite songs...

A Pirate Looks at 40.

Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
Cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder,
I'm an over forty victim of fate...

I'm very much like Elizabeth Swan and/or Anouk (in Chocolat) in my fascination with the romance and mystique of pirates. But the swashbuckling kind and not the "Captain Phillips'" kind of pirates.

And rum and coke was always my drink of choice when available even though rum gave me a frightful headache. I suppose I was allergic to it, but I toughed it out.

My daughter's favorite mixed drink is Capt Morgan Spiced Rum with White Rockstar (vanilla flavor). Me: yuk! I'm a single malt scotch drinker or beer, thanks.

 

[gallantwarrior]

) Why not? A had a bottle of anis-flavored vodka about half of year in my case, but during the NY walking it reduced to half, step by step.. I think, I'll make a effort at this weekend to finish it ) But if it happen occasionally - it would be double good

Why not what? Memory wanes as oldth waxes - but something about Deep Eddy Lemon Vodka, Licor 43, ice, lemonade, cream and the whirring sound of a blender rings a bell.

Interesting how we sometimes associate types of alcohol to regions - beer makes me think of folks in Lederhosen...Scotch brings to mind kilts and moors...Irish Whiskey, well leprechauns and blarney...rum, the drink of sword wielding pirates plundering the turquoise seas and fragrant, velvety soft tropical nights of the Caribbean, and vodka? - fur clad Cossack's with icy beards rampaging through the deep snow of the cold, dark North.

In other time and place whose drink might have appealed?...William Wallace or Cu Chalainn?...Captain Jack Sparrow or Dr. Zhivago?

Rum wins. *sigh* what lady could resist a rum swilling, sword wielding bad boy in dreads? *sigh*

Are you a fan of Jimmy Buffett? One of my favorite songs...

A Pirate Looks at 40.

Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
Cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder,
I'm an over forty victim of fate...

Yeah, I understand.... And also Porter or Absinth like a drink of poets and poor but creative men... Red sweet strong wine - malaga - like a drink at Spanish galleon, hunting pirates on holed, rum-smelled troughs... Don't know, what I could remember for red dry - but I like it

I suppose, William Wallase drunk a whiskey, and Dr. Zhivago, being a doctor - a dissolved spirit, drink of soviet medicians, engineers and naval specialists )

Rum is a good drink, but how about Champagne? Hussars and Champagne for ladies, I think, more romantic

A mere 39, wait till you get to forty, your eyes will probably start going. I am 71 and I have been told I have gum disease and may loose all my teeth. I am just trying not to think about what having all my teeth out will be like, and what its like to eat with false teeth.

See if your health plan will pay for the kind of dentures that hook onto posts implanted in the bone. Here our health insurance policies and most dental plans will not and the process costs about $30k in American dollars which prices it out of range for all but the young with very good jobs and/or the wealthy. But maybe it would be more affordable for you? The results are good looking dentures that are as close to your own teeth as possible and without all the bulky framework that are the downside of full dentures. Or if they can save just a few of your real teeth, those can anchor dentures too.

I have not been blessed with good teeth myself. And I look at my 91 year old aunt who still has ALL her teeth in excellent condition and think it just isn't fair.

If seriously, a lot of Russians, migrated to US and Canada usually periodically go back to Russia to visit dentists... Here is still cheaper than in most places in world

True! A former friend of mine has a son who is a dentist in Moscow. She offered to send me to him for dental work. Too bad I didn't need work then. She's moved on since then, somewhere in the Lower 48, where she has a daughter.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I'm very much like Elizabeth Swan and/or Anouk (in Chocolat) in my fascination with the romance and mystique of pirates. But the swashbuckling kind and not the "Captain Phillips'" kind of pirates.

And rum and coke was always my drink of choice when available even though rum gave me a frightful headache. I suppose I was allergic to it, but I toughed it out.

My aunt did one of those genealogy things and told me that we had an ancestor who was hung in New York for piracy.

Arrrrr! Shiver me timbers!

My birthday falls on Talk Like a Pirate Day so maybe that has something to do with it? "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of my favorite movies just to put on and relax and enjoy the fun and sheer genius of it.

What about "Island of Treasure" by Stevenson? AN awesome book for several generations in Russia. Have you seen Russian animated movie on this book?

No I haven't. I read the book as a youth--did a book report on it once--but so long ago I probably should read it again.

But on your other mention, we have "Doctor Zhivago" in our home movie collection and watched it again recently. An absolutely beautiful and well done movie but also disturbing and depressing. It isn't a movie I would watch when I want to lift my spirits.

It's a famous book and Pasternak, previously, a talented poet

But. There are a lot of books, films, opinions and so on about "Russia, which we lost", means before-revolution Russia. Both Pasternak and his hero, Dr. Zhivago - from "Intelligentsia", quite rich and educated people with a "free" profession... like Ayn Rand and so on... Offcourse, they had reason to be in depression, because Soviet Authorities made their life more poor, for make better life of another 200 million people in former Russian Empire... But as for me, I share the point of view of another Russian poet Nickolay Gumilev: "Me? I'm not intelligentsia! I have a profession!" So, I prefer positive mood to work and build own life, than depressive "searches of soul" of "intelligentsia" ) Now they usually call men like me a "cotton jacket" ))

Ayn Rand is one of my literary heroes! I actually buy her books and give them away to people who might be interested in her writing. I've read most of her writings, but especially value "Atlas Shrugged" and " The Fountainhead". Both are so appropriate to even this time.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I have to go enjoy my cats playing. A kitten does liven things up!

Mine is again plopped in front of the monitor. Sigh. I have to stretch to look around her because if I try to move her out of the way...all hell breaks loose. At least she no longer attacks my hands as I type on the keyboard. It's a start.

You have a kitten!

She really isn't ours. She belongs to the neighbors but she decided she likes us better, lol. I feed her, spoil her and am trying to tame her. She is kinda wild.

I'm sure you will bond with the creature. It's kind of your thing: bonding with creatures who need love and caring. Glad your mam went well.

 

[Gracie]

She is in heat.
I asked the neighbor is she was spayed and she said no. Ittybit is wandering the yard howling for a man.
Well, when she has the babies..I will put them in a box and take them over there to grandma, lol. She asked me if I wanted ittybit and I said I would rather just feed her cuz I can't afford vet bills. I bet she has not even had a rabies shot.

 

[Gracie]

I plan to go over to Suzanne's tomorrow (the neighbor) and tell her she does not have to worry about money to buy cat food..I am doing that. But...she is going to have to do the vet visits (which she won't do. They are as poor as we are). However, I will tell her I will help with the spaying the best I can, financially. I'd rather us just share the cat since IttyBit goes back and forth between both houses.

I asked her how she got the kitty to begin with and she said someone tossed her as a kitten outside a moving car on the highway. Her kids were behind the people that did it, stopped, got the kitten and brought it home for her to take care of. IttyBit is about 3 years old and if she finds a man, this will be her 2nd litter. I said she needs to be spayed, but not if she has kittens in her.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I'll agree with Mr. SG, daily milking makes travel difficult. That really doesn't bother me much, though, since I don't travel much anymore. Finding someone to feed the goats isn't that difficult, but milking them seems to be a mystery beyond most people's ability. The chickens will be "free range", but I'll be using a chicken tractor to move them around. We tend to have loads of predators here and even the lesser weasels (ermine) enjoy a good chicken dinner, not to mention the eagles and other birds of prey.
I've been making cheese for years. Everyone who's ever tried the stuff likes it a lot. But the move last fall prompted me to dry off the does and to decrease my cheese supplies. I also make goat milk soap using vegetable oils (mostly) and various essential oils. Cattle come later, I'm contemplating Highland cattle because they are very hardy. Grass-fed beef is very popular here and I can take pre-orders before I buy my stock or breed for calves.

I truly enjoy reading your posts about the life you are leading!

The only cheese I've made is paneer - an East Indian type of cheese made from cow's milk (doesn't have to be un- homogenized) It's tasty cubed, coated with chick pea flour and deep fried!

We used to get raw milk from a neighbor - a milk cow produces an amazing quantity of milk daily. Though I would use the cream to make butter, never occurred to me to try cheese making. Wish I had.

We have a great quantity of predators in rural Florida. Besides birds of prey, raccoons and opossum are the worst on chickens - snakes and coyotes as well. Last year a neighbor lost 14 young hogs to a bear. The bear didn't even consume them, just scattered the carcasses about. Unfortunately our sometime winter visitors and transplants don't realize the dangers of feeding any wildlife, especially predators and opportunistic feeders (like gators and bears), large birds (like pelicans and cranes/herons) and deer, which mitigates their natural fear of humans as well as interfering with their natural feeding habits. Though well intentioned, I call it 'loving the animals to death'. It puts the animals themselves at risk as well as domestic animals, small children and sometimes grown adults.

Sorry about the rant.

I've made paneer. It's quite tasty...and versatile! A good milk cow produces 4 to 5 gallons daily. I'm pleased if my goats produce a half gallon each! I currently have limited ability to produce cheese, a pound of cheese is roughly equivalent to five gallons of milk, depending on the type of cheese I make.
Feeding wildlife here is legally prohibited, but there are the usual idiots who think that without their help, the animals will perish. It's always amusing when some 'tard decides a moose is better off fed kitchen scraps finds out that a 1200 lb "deer" can demand pretty much anything it wants. Bears are more a concern here, and feral dogs. Wolves do run here, but much further up the valley, and they tend to avoid humans more than bears. My biggest concern with young goats are eagles.

 

[gallantwarrior]

That wasn't a rant dear. That was interesting, entertaining, informative. I have a hard time wrapping my head around a concept of gators and bears in the same location though I know it is a fact. Bears to me are mountain/forest creatures with huge areas to range in.

North Central and North Florida have a lot of unpopulated or sparsely settled land for bears. Piney words, oak hammocks, swamps, lakes...and three National Forests. Bears adjust really well to human habitation (as do gators) though - our garbage makes easy pickings, and most wild animals will go for the easy pickings...( then there are those folks who think it's cool to feed them.)

Another neighbor (anyone within 5 miles is a neighbor) recently had an up close and personal run in with a bear in a shed behind his house.. The bear broke into the shed in the dark of night, opened a freezer, ate some packaged meat, rearranged things a bit - and when the neighbor confronted him (thinking it might be a person) the bear shoved him out of the way in his haste to escape. The neighbor bears (no pun intended) the scars of claw marks on his forearm to illustrate his story.

I would never have imagined Floridians having the same problems with bears that we do in Alaska! DANG!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Supposedly the guy has about a hundred different sized cast iron skillets and pots at very reasonable prices, they're older cast iron which he most likely restores or has kept in unrusted condition for quite some time.

Best thing about cast iron, it lasts forever if kept well. I love my cast iron cookware and use it all the time. It's the best cookware when using a wood-powered cook stove. Nothing else can compare...

 

[gallantwarrior]

I plan to go over to Suzanne's tomorrow (the neighbor) and tell her she does not have to worry about money to buy cat food..I am doing that. But...she is going to have to do the vet visits (which she won't do. They are as poor as we are). However, I will tell her I will help with the spaying the best I can, financially. I'd rather us just share the cat since IttyBit goes back and forth between both houses.

I asked her how she got the kitty to begin with and she said someone tossed her as a kitten outside a moving car on the highway. Her kids were behind the people that did it, stopped, got the kitten and brought it home for her to take care of. IttyBit is about 3 years old and if she finds a man, this will be her 2nd litter. I said she needs to be spayed, but not if she has kittens in her.

Call me!

 

[Gracie]

calling!

 

[Nosmo King]

It's cold and flu season here at the Luxurious Pimplebutt Estate. I have had a cold roaming between my nose and chest since Saturday evening. It snowed seven inches Friday night and into Saturday morning. So I was out shoveling,or as men my age think of it, a suicide attempt Saturday afternoon. By early Saturday evening I could taste a cold coming on. Sunday was the Steelers playoff game and I could not stay awake through it. Not because the game was such a disaster for my beloved Steelers, but because several million little cold viruses had taken up residence in your humble corespondent.

I got out to the grocery store this afternoon I stocked up on those big navel oranges, bananas, some sliced deli roast beef and yogurt. I'm down with a cold, but I'm eating well. Daisy the Mutt is duly frustrated by my condition and the cold temperatures. She and I want to go for a walk real soon.

I'll get plenty of rest and fluids. I'm fortified by Alka Seltzer plus cold capsules. It's the middle of January and I live on the 40th parallel. We get what we get.

 

[Kat]

It's cold and flu season here at the Luxurious Pimplebutt Estate. I have had a cold roaming between my nose and chest since Saturday evening. It snowed seven inches Friday night and into Saturday morning. So I was out shoveling,or as men my age think of it, a suicide attempt Saturday afternoon. By early Saturday evening I could taste a cold coming on. Sunday was the Steelers playoff game and I could not stay awake through it. Not because the game was such a disaster for my beloved Steelers, but because several million little cold viruses had taken up residence in your humble corespondent.

I got out to the grocery store this afternoon I stocked up on those big navel oranges, bananas, some sliced deli roast beef and yogurt. I'm down with a cold, but I'm eating well. Daisy the Mutt is duly frustrated by my condition and the cold temperatures. She and I want to go for a walk real soon.

I'll get plenty of rest and fluids. I'm fortified by Alka Seltzer plus cold capsules. It's the middle of January and I live on the 40th parallel. We get what we get.

Take care!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Here I am again! The generator is running, so I have some time to visit. It's unseasonably warm outside, which is welcome (except my ice cream is, well, not icy enough). Glad that Mr. P is well, and Gracie! I wish things were better here. My partner is a

calling!

Gotcha! Thanks.

 

[Sbiker]

My aunt did one of those genealogy things and told me that we had an ancestor who was hung in New York for piracy.

Arrrrr! Shiver me timbers!

My birthday falls on Talk Like a Pirate Day so maybe that has something to do with it? "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of my favorite movies just to put on and relax and enjoy the fun and sheer genius of it.

What about "Island of Treasure" by Stevenson? AN awesome book for several generations in Russia. Have you seen Russian animated movie on this book?

No I haven't. I read the book as a youth--did a book report on it once--but so long ago I probably should read it again.

But on your other mention, we have "Doctor Zhivago" in our home movie collection and watched it again recently. An absolutely beautiful and well done movie but also disturbing and depressing. It isn't a movie I would watch when I want to lift my spirits.

It's a famous book and Pasternak, previously, a talented poet

But. There are a lot of books, films, opinions and so on about "Russia, which we lost", means before-revolution Russia. Both Pasternak and his hero, Dr. Zhivago - from "Intelligentsia", quite rich and educated people with a "free" profession... like Ayn Rand and so on... Offcourse, they had reason to be in depression, because Soviet Authorities made their life more poor, for make better life of another 200 million people in former Russian Empire... But as for me, I share the point of view of another Russian poet Nickolay Gumilev: "Me? I'm not intelligentsia! I have a profession!" So, I prefer positive mood to work and build own life, than depressive "searches of soul" of "intelligentsia" ) Now they usually call men like me a "cotton jacket" ))

Ayn Rand is one of my literary heroes! I actually buy her books and give them away to people who might be interested in her writing. I've read most of her writings, but especially value "Atlas Shrugged" and " The Fountainhead". Both are so appropriate to even this time.

She's a talented writer, asking many true questions, but I don't agree with her answers She propagated individualism - it's good, but her individualism based on default non-equality of people... I consider, non-equality between people might be only in target reaching process, not by rights of the birth or who are your friends or someone else. I agree with ideas of Fountainhead only because they building houses for people - and there are no meanings what they have in their heads, only result... But if heroes of Fountainhead weren't built houses, but were gathering postage-stamps or something else - it would be different situation. But how do you think - would it seriously change Ayn Rand ideas?

 

[gallantwarrior]

My birthday falls on Talk Like a Pirate Day so maybe that has something to do with it? "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of my favorite movies just to put on and relax and enjoy the fun and sheer genius of it.

What about "Island of Treasure" by Stevenson? AN awesome book for several generations in Russia. Have you seen Russian animated movie on this book?

No I haven't. I read the book as a youth--did a book report on it once--but so long ago I probably should read it again.

But on your other mention, we have "Doctor Zhivago" in our home movie collection and watched it again recently. An absolutely beautiful and well done movie but also disturbing and depressing. It isn't a movie I would watch when I want to lift my spirits.

It's a famous book and Pasternak, previously, a talented poet

But. There are a lot of books, films, opinions and so on about "Russia, which we lost", means before-revolution Russia. Both Pasternak and his hero, Dr. Zhivago - from "Intelligentsia", quite rich and educated people with a "free" profession... like Ayn Rand and so on... Offcourse, they had reason to be in depression, because Soviet Authorities made their life more poor, for make better life of another 200 million people in former Russian Empire... But as for me, I share the point of view of another Russian poet Nickolay Gumilev: "Me? I'm not intelligentsia! I have a profession!" So, I prefer positive mood to work and build own life, than depressive "searches of soul" of "intelligentsia" ) Now they usually call men like me a "cotton jacket" ))

Ayn Rand is one of my literary heroes! I actually buy her books and give them away to people who might be interested in her writing. I've read most of her writings, but especially value "Atlas Shrugged" and " The Fountainhead". Both are so appropriate to even this time.

She's a talented writer, asking many true questions, but I don't agree with her answers She propagated individualism - it's good, but her individualism based on default non-equality of people... I consider, non-equality between people might be only in target reaching process, not by rights of the birth or who are your friends or someone else. I agree with ideas of Fountainhead only because they building houses for people - and there are no meanings what they have in their heads, only result... But if heroes of Fountainhead weren't built houses, but were gathering postage-stamps or something else - it would be different situation. But how do you think - would it seriously change Ayn Rand ideas?

Ayn Rand saw that government control of ideas and creativity results in destruction of innovation. Why would anyone want to create new things if only government profited from their work?