۞Sweet Interruption۞ 41

I'm reading "Black Wind"... I think it's fairly new, Don's already read it.

LK, Yes... Don had to buy a new pump... the motor was burned up on the old one... but it gave him a chance to do some things like raise it up off the ground 6 more inches... and add a filter on (whatever) so it doesn't suck up so much of the silt off the bottom of the lake... that was what kept causing our sprinkler heads to clog up. AND he added the thingamajigger that causes it to not cut on when it rains. but, it's all fixed now.

Look... there really is a Bambi and Thumper !!!

More proof of the cute pair being buddies.

I'm a believer... I knew it was real.

Now, it took some real patience and stealth maneuvering to get those shots...

Soooo, how did ya do it???? They are soooo cute!

They were emailed to me from a friend... I guess the photographer was "Tanya Askam"... there's a signature on the bottom of the pic...
I just thought they were adorable.

Wish I could come up with pictures like that.......best I have with film is a 200mm.....I like my little Sanyo for most of the stuff I do......the digital I would really like is over $1000.....not in this budget!!!

Funny... I gave up photography after my 2nd husband died. After 3 years of photographic technology (didn't finish, only had 1 year to go)... and even had my own darkroom to play in... I put it all away to earn a living...
Commercial Photographers are a dime a dozen, and I just couldn't break into the field fast enough... the kids were getting really hungry... so, reality set in, and I had to get a desk job.
And now, I have all different interests... I wonder sometimes where that might have taken me... but I'm happy with all I have in my life now... so, my digital Pentax, point and shoot works just fine now.

Weather today was sunny, raining, warm, cold......take your pick...

I know, studied quite a bit in the photography area years ago......I just seem to always want either the super distance shots or the super macro shots....

I pick sunny and warm... but that picture doesn't reflect that... beautiful rainbow, though.

A little closer to sunny and warm....

Yea... Trisha... that's much better... love that.

Well, I'm going to go try to go to bed again...
think I'll get one of those clip on lights tomorrow so I can point it right at my book.
Maybe there's something boring on the history channel that will put me to sleep.

Night night again.

Well, his class is over so guess I have to go and load pallets.......if I don't catch ya later have a good night...

I found this in new threads! How’d I miss the move? What else am I missing?

Mom, just so you know Sean is adamant that no more money is getting spent on the car. Just so you’re forewarned. Not that I don’t agree with you, he can be a pig head sometimes.

Deborah, I refer to that as Zen cooking and most of what I cook is that type of cooking at some level.

BJ, lamb is a bit hit and miss. Most of what they sell here comes from New Zealand (but I see sheep around here, where is their meat going?) Lamb is also fairly expensive here, so if your stores can’t sell it, they might not stock it. For soups or recipes calling for ground lamb I would replace lamb with beef, for recipes calling for chops or roasts I’d go with pork.

I loved the UK because you could get lamb for about 2 pounds per kilo, about $0.80 per pound in spending power and about $1.60 per pond with the exchange rate. We actually had a funny experience in Cardiff. Most places still know pounds weight in the UK, most farmer’s markets we went to listed cost by pounds weight and kilos, but our hostel was in an immigrant neighborhood, right next to a butcher shop. The hostel had a kitchen and we decided we were tired of eating out so we went over and were debating how much to get, finally Shawn (my brother who I was traveling with) told the guy to just give us a pound. The guy looked at us weird but went and cut us some meat, we asked how much and he looked at us weird again and said “a pound isn’t that what you asked for?” and we felt stupid, but it was about the same thing in the end. It was also great lamb; I’d be really surprised if it hadn’t been running around that morning.

Now Barley, I’m a bit surprised you haven’t had barley, even if the only mainstream food I can think of that has barley in it is Campbell’s beef and barley soup, one of my favorites. But, you should try barley. I love the stuff, especially in soups. I make freezer soups a lot, or at least used to, and barley is great for that, because you can freeze the finished soup without anything going soggy and the barley takes the place of pasta; otherwise you have to cook the pasta before you have the soup. I actually had Cock-a-leeky soup the other night that I’d made up when I had too many vegetables and thrown in the freezer. Here’s a page of barley recipes I found, haven’t tried them, but some look good. http://www.barleyfoods.org/recipes.html

You have had lentils haven’t you?

Oh... I forgot

Cock-A-Leekie Soup

1 lg Onion, chopped
2 lg Stalks celery, chopped
6 Carrots, chopped
1 lg Roasting chicken
3/4 c Pearl barley
6 Peppercorns
4 Cloves
6 lg Leeks
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 c Fresh parsley, chopped
3 qt Water (approx.)

1. In a large kettle, place onion, celery, carrot, and spices.
2. Clean leeks thoroughly; chop coarsely, discarding any tough parts.
3. Rinse chicken and discard any excess fat.
4. Add to kettle with leeks and barley. Cover with 3 qts. of water (or however much it takes to cover chicken). Bring to a boil, skimming top.
5. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, partially covered for 1 hour. Remove chicken, bone and chop, then return to kettle. Add salt, pepper, parsley
6. Cook 15 minutes.

I use barley in most every homemade soup I make. It's really good and a good fiber product as well.

Thanks Laura for that recipe. I will have to try that, as we love anything that includes leeks or barley. As kids, whenever we had a cold, my mum will always make barley soup, though ours is more spicey.

Nice pictures there Trisha. Photography is indeed a very expensive hobby. I love the photos of the veges you posted on Deborah's prayer thread, Trisha.

So will any of our sistahs compete in the new DG photography competition?

Sistah Deborah, of course we will be civil till the game's over. Wish I could go down to La. for anything... not just the games :( When they played against the Gamecocks, Kel was so sad that we weren't able to watch them.

BJ, just to show you great minds think alike, Kel had picked these black and white fabric, and a fat quarter with a hint of red for my next quilt project! Haven't come up with a design, but at least I know I bought enough fabric to make a lap quilt.

Off to bed, night everyone!

This message was edited Oct 20, 2008 11:57 PM

If the car stops, you have a key and if he isn't home??? No offense intended, I love him to death, but I trust my mechanic more than his mechanic!!!!

Love Barley!!!!! The soup is reheating now.....and I got Baking Powder in the cornbread this time...LOL!!

Blessed be the Quilt Makers,
They keep us from going to pieces!!^_^

Dmail me a bowl, Trisha!
I'll be dreaming of soups now.......night Sistah.

Good night...its a bit late your time isn't it?.....That is why I don't talk to my sis very often....our time zones and sleep schedules are not very compatible!!

BJ, I've never eaten lamb, either, or any mutton. I wont touch goat, it stinks! But I'd like to try lanb, I'd probably ruin it though, wouldn't know how to cook it!

Audrey the trick is not to Over Cook it....

If any of you have been involved in Desert Lawn......Sarge is back!

I just read it! He sure can write!

Yes I thought it was really great!! Also glad to see that Captain Wil made it through missing only his flag.....was have been concerned for the little guy, I kinda miss him...

Jaye, I throw my spice cabinet at any dish Sage isn’t eating (and any spices I can get away with when she is), the cock-a-leeky I made had a bit of a kick; not quite spicy but had a good after burn. I can’t say what I put in it though. My favorite addition to my spice cabinet in the last couple years has been curry powder. I’m not fond of curries on their own, but I love a hint of curry in dishes.

For instance: I made a baked chicken last week. I make up a coating for my chicken. Flour, cornstarch, seasoning salt, curry powder, garlic powder, sage, Old Bay seasoning, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dill, celery salt, pretty much the whole spice cabinet in whatever portions seem appropriate. One batch generally does a couple chickens. I coat the chicken in it; sprinkle some on the vegetables, maybe use a bit of spray oil to keep it from flaking. So I did this, but then when I went to make gravy I had the epiphany of using the coating for the flour in the gravy. It was so good! The curry flavor was obvious but not overwhelming and it still had all the traits of milk gravy.

Curried Hash

Several potatoes, diced (the frozen diced potatoes with the diced peppers works great as they’re already cooked, but I can’t remember what they’re called)
Cooked meat, cubed or shredded (canned corned beef hash is acceptable as well)
Curry powder (1 t. spoon? Enough to cover potatoes in a decent sprinkling of powder) and other spices
Oil

1. If using fresh potatoes cook potatoes in small amount of water in Cast Iron Skillet or Wok till they start to be tender, drain any remaining water.
2. Add a fair amount of oil, meat and spices.
3. Cook till potatoes are browned.

This is so good and the smell is wonderful in my opinion.

I’m working on sorting out my picture for the contest.

mornin ladies

yep I am up as usual ...been up and down all night.
have to wait till 6am to call in to work as no one is in til then

as soon as I get a hold of them back to bed I go so everyone have a good day and I'll pop in again LOL

Morning-just checkin in real quick...

Love the purse BJ

Phyllis-sorry you aren't well:(

HAPPY BDAY WEEK KIM!!!

LK-THAT IS THE VIRUS I GOT A COUPLE MOS AGO-do ya'll remember me talking about it??

Jaye, Kel does a good job of choosing fabrics. Pretty combination! Love the purse BJ made for her sister, too.

Phyllis, sorry you are so sick. Hope you are tucked back in for the day.

DH ate a lot of mutton when he lived in Australia. I had never cared for it until he introduced me to lamp chops cooked on the grill. OMG! Now they are my favorite! We buy them at Sams (the Wal-Mart version of Costco) in large quantities and repackage them into groups of 5 or 6 chops. Perfect for nice grilled meal for DH and I.

Good Morning !!!
What DG Photo contest? You got me thinking now.

I guess I never cook with stuff like barley because my mom didn't. I just don't ever remember having eaten it... maybe I have, and didn't know it. I have had lentils, I think... but mom never cooked stuff like that either... Our family had a lot of really good cooks, but it's been mostly beef, chicken, pork, seafood. I'm not among those "really good cooks", but I do common meat and taters pretty good.

Jaye... Kel's got good taste when it comes to "black and white, with a hint of red"... I also like b & w with a hint of yellow, or pink, or aqua. I think my sister likes stuff like that too. She has b & w cowhide seat cushions on her bar stools in her kitchen, and a b & w cowhide rug in her breakfast area. It's really stunning.

Phyllis... hope you get to feeling better today... I know how miserable you must be. It's hard being sick, 'specially when you're so active and energetic like you are. Get well, sistah.

Ok, I'm sipping on my first cup of coffee... and Don's still asleep... that's strange, cause he's always beating me up in the morning.

Mornin' Debra.

Hi BJ. Careful, you might get a speeding ticket on that machine of yours. LOL! Lordy, you can really put out some pretty bags in no time flat!

But, they're so easy to make... it takes more time to cut them out, than it takes to actually put them together. Is that what you found too?

Don's daughter's b'day is in a couple weeks, and I think I'm going to make her a TOTE too, and maybe put a lap quilt inside... and maybe some winter PJ's and slippers... kind of like a little overnight bag, sort of thingie.

Morning Ladies, Debra, I have a SIL that lives in Floral, AR have you heard of that town? Is it close to you? Also a friend that lives in Marrilton, AR.

This is for all of you who haven't woke up yet.

And this is for all of you who are already having their coffee.

Oh no coffee for me this morning. Not traveling today after all--sick last night. Went for bar b que and I don't know if that did it or not but oh boy what a night!!! Horrible acid reflux so been up reading and lurking!

Phyllis I hope you recover very soon.

Morning Cindy, okay let us know what are the favorites so far with your scents. How is the rosemary combo? Might need a rosemary candle for birthday gift or Christmas.

Debra, off and running today? Ah, sorry but my pinky hit forward again. Are you still speaking to me?

Linda Kay send me you email address at dmail and I will send you some "wonderful" things also. Just don't blame me if you get into trouble.

BJ, I have a barley cassarole recipe with onions and mushrooms that is a really nice replacement for rice or potatoes. We love barley. I like lamp chops but DD won't eat them. Bummer

Hello Kathy, Joyce, Trisha, Laura, Audrey, Jaye. Time to check in today. NOT TO FORGET Judy, Bon, Deborah, Donna. Did I miss anyone? sorry!!

Say where Tia, Tina or whatever her name is posted today on the sewing/quilting thread. Hopefully she will be back with us soon.

http://davesgarden.com/contest/

Morning everyone. BJ, here is the link for the DG photo contest.
Marion, sorry to hear your not feeling well. Hope your better soon.

I need prayers for my dog, I woke up this morning to him crying, when I finally caught him, he had a bunch of 2 inch porcupine quills in his nose, so I am just getting back from dropping him off at the vets office. Hubby just went back to work. They are going to put him to sleep, and then remove the quills. He is my 9 year old baby boy, and this mama is not taking it very well... so I am sitting here waiting for about 4:30pm to get here, to go and pick him up. I know he will be fine, but geeeshhh, it is taking the toll on this old lady!!!

Anyone have some Bailey's???

Linda Kay