are we getting ready

o.k. here is the recipe

boil the califlower until it is very soft. drain the water then mash it up with either a fork or a potato masher. add salt and pepper and plenty of grated cheese and shredded mozzerella. put in preheated 350 degree oven until the cheese starts to bubble and it gets SLIGHTLY browned.

that sure is a beautiful house.thanks for sharing it with us.

did i give my wife breakfast in bed. actually today was a regular work day for me but last night we found out late that she had to get a few test done because she is having her rotator cuff surgery on tuesday of next week and the hospital would not allow it until these tests were done so i called in sick and i woke her up at 7 a.m. when you wake debbie up at that time you have to stay out of the room and just call her name otherwise she will come at you like a bear defending her cubs. LOL

Smart man! LOL Never never never mess with a lady that early in the a.m. ;)

i always tell her that she gets up at the break of noon.

There's nothing wrong with needing one's beauty sleep.......

Thanks for the recipe! Sorry to be such a bother, but where it says add grated cheese and mozerella, what type of grated cheese does Debbie use? Or, is that where the heavy cream comes in?

Good luck to her with the surgery. Don't know what the recovery time is for rotator cuff surgery, but must be a little while.

Herbie I will pray for a swift recovery for Debbie.
So tell me is it hard to make your own mozerella? I ask because there are only one or two good Italian deli's here in the desert and it is a long drive to get some good mozerella. I only make lasagna maybe twice a year because no one carries the brand of ricotta I like to use except the one deli. Hmm I think I will go off and research it a little.

i was wrong about the heavy cream. there is none is this recipe. the grated cheese she uses is romano grated cheese.

she had her other rotator cuff surgery done two years ago. it didn't take too long for her to recover. she has them planned so that there are no big holidays coming.

marieortiz -
making home made mozzerella is pretty simply once you get to know what you are doing. first you have to buy the milk curd. we buy it in two bags of 20 pounds each. it cost about one hundred eight dollars. when we get it come i cut the curd into one pound pieces. if we are going to make a roll out of it and stuff it with either pesto or wsun dried tomatoes then i make a three pound piece. now for the delicate part. you have to put 5 ounces of regular salt not kosher salt. the water must be heat3ed to just about 107 degrees. if its to hot the curd will melt and if it is to cool it won't melt right. when you get the right temperature simply put the piece of curd into the water and let it sit for a few minutes. then take a wooden spoon and place it under the curd and lift up until it is out of the water. this will begin the stretching of the cheese. place back in the water and continue doing the same thing. soon you will see that the cheese begins to stretch more and more. as you lift it up and you see little bumps in the cheese just press them with your fingers. once ou see that the cheese is smooth and it starts to shine its ready to be removed. have a piece of plastic wrap available, enough to wrap around the cheese. with the cold water running remove the cheese from the pot and immediately place it under the cold water and at the same time form it into a round ball. take from under the water and wrap the plastic wrap around it and put in fridge.

sometimes after it comes out of the pot we make it into little balls about the size of a cherry and add some crushed garlic to it.

the best way i think is just to cut into slices and add them to a plate of sliced tomatoes and onion.

if you do ever get a chance to make this try having a slice while it is still warm. you really get to taste the wsalt while it is still warm.

so who is volunteering to take over and do new years?? i am going to my cousins house like i said but i will take a few picturews of his place cause its beautiful but someone else should be doing the whole things along with the food and stuff.

lets get a volunteer here

No food around here (except left-overs). Who will it be????

We are having a goat for New Year's If there is anything worth taking pictures of I will let you know but it will be nothing fancy like you all have. Just our big old family eating chivo, rice and beans!!

Gee Dan when my DH grows up he want to be a Rock Musician!!! Now that he is learning to love cooking and wants to emulate Frank maybe I will be spared all that awful noise in the garage.
D

Marie,

Yes, yes, please share photos of the goat. To you cook it over a pit? We always like to see families around the dinner table. Debra

marie - it looks like its your turn. have never eaten goat before. i've had sheeps head but not goat.

Not sure if we will actually get to see the goat. I can ask my DH to take a picture if he does get to see it. Usually they buy it and pay the guy that kills it to gut and clean it and then they come home with the meat. (at least I think that is how it is done. I usually show up at my SIL's when it is all done) They will cook it in some kind of salsa I am sure since the whole family is from Mexico. It will be hot and spicy for sure.

If your SIL doesn't mind her table being on the world wide web.......please take some photos of it. Would like to see the authentic dishes. Making me hungry already!

They do not set up any fancy table usually just a bunch of tables set up outside and the men are usually outside and the women inside :o) I can tell you her food is awesome. I think they are coming over to our house to cook the Chivo. Most of the family has moved into those new subdivision with beautiful houses and postage stamp sized yards. We are on an acre and neighbors are not too close :o)

I didn't mean her "table" literally! LOL! Guess I should have done a better job of explaining.....we would love to see any of the dishes prepared for the meal. Or in the process of being prepared. Whatever you/SIL are willing to share. :)

I haven't been to Dave's for awhile so didn't get a chance to see the rest of this thread until today. WOW Herbie! That was some dinner! Can I come next year? lol!

Yes - we want to see! ¡Féliz Año Nuevo!
-Kim

karrie - and why haven't you been to daves garden in awhile???
kim - i would love to have you all here but next year should be by my SIL and she doesn't cook worth a darn. LOL

happy new years everyone

Herbie you are always so gracious in sharing recipes, pictures and wonderful advise. May the New Year be everything that you want and best wishes to your DW with her surgery. Happy New Year to everyone in the forum. Kamikid

Happy New Year Frank and Debbie ... and to everyone here at DG!

heres a couple of pictures of where we spen new years eve

this is the front of the house

this is the tree in the living room. note the villages on both side ofthe tree

here isthe back yard pool with the waterfall. this iss thebest shot i could get

here are the nieces, nephews, and cousins with the spouses, boyfriends/girlfriends

this is deb with what we hope are our two DIL'S LOL

this is me, deb, the boys and their girlfriends

oh, and this is the little yellow truck my cousin uses. its made to look like an old ford truck
its a little blurry but you can see what i mean

thats it for the new years eve party. got back at 4 a.m. last night now up and ready to go to church then driving back down to brooklyn tovisit with my family.

its been a great 2006 and looking forwrd to 2007

Wow, herbie! What a beautiful holiday picture album! Looks like you and your DW had a wonderful Christmas week with family and friends! Thanks for sharing!

And, fleur-- your Southwestern style Christmas looks lovely! I may show up on your doorstep next month for some Arizona sunshine (and red wine!).

Herbie - I'm on dial-up and my computer is slugggggggggging. Plus my anti-virus makes it even slower to get online, so I just don't bother doing it as I used to. Sorry!

Frank,

That's got to be the largest Christmas village collection I've ever seen! It's displayed very nicely. You are blessed with a beautiful family. It looks as though you have a lot of fun together! Thank you for sharing. Happy 2007!

Debra

Frank,

What a beautiful, handsome/pretty, rich (NOT $$$ here!) extended family you have! It is nice to be able to share the Holidays, or any other special occasion with so many loved ones. And--I bet you are the "Favorite Uncle" to all of them.
Geez! Even I would adopt you! Hmmmm---Maybe I have already........

You know this, it takes effort to drive all over the place when you are tired and busy anyways, BUT--that is what keeps the family together and all the kids and grandkids grow up knowing who you are. That is also why I make the trip to NJ every year. I could never keep up with YOU though!

Gita

debra - and i could not get it all in the viewfinder at the same time.
gita - and yesterday when i went to have new years day dinner with my brother whose 4 children have produced 13 children it was quite a day.

who is going to take up the challenge for the next big holiday?? i think this could be a nice new addition to our threads. we need one volenteer to start with. are there any takers????

I will post pictures of our New Year's eve tonight when I get home (cannot find the camera or would of posted sooner) I was not able to get any goat pictures though. My goofy family changed plans at least 5 times before New Year's eve and I could not cooridnate the picture op with them. We did have lots of good mexican food though.

Big Brother!!!

All of the pictures are SO beautiful! It's so nice to see all of the people that you tell me about all of the time. I need to get some recipes from Debbie for dinner ideas.

Glad you had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year! I pray that God provides you all of your heart's desires in 2007!

Hugs,

Audra

Looking forward to those pics, Marie!

marie - i'm also waiting for the pictures.



lil sis - let me know what you want

frank

I will post in a couple of hours when I get home from work. Probably will be around 9 your time :o)

working until 9 p.m. what a go getter. plain to see you don't work for the post office like yours truly. LOL

No definetly not working until nine. There is a two hour time difference and I figured by the time I got home and settled it would be 9 your time. But I actually got home early. Pictures to start in a moment.