March, 2019 ~ What's Cooking in the Kitchen???

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:While I'm thinking, uhh! Anybody hear from Crybaby, or Imelda?? Haven't heard from them in days / weeks ..!!!

Hi Jimmy! Just came in to see how much I could read and saw your query. Thanks for thinking of me! I've stopped in quickly about once a month or so but we have had a lot going on and sometimes I'm just lazy, too. Brian has been ill lately and is taking new cancer meds which have been bothering his stomach a bit. Once they found the lung cancer, they switched him to another medicine for his prostate cancer. The old meds came in the mail from a specialty pharmacy and though he canceled right away, the idiots kept sending it THREE more times until we screamed Uncle loud enough. It's not cheap either ($2300/month copay alone -- I'm thinking of Lore's sister's cancer treatment right now for which she pays only for parking)!

The problem is most pharmacies refuse to take back anything. My own specialty pharmacy would sometimes send me the wrong supplies, some tubing to run between my I.V. in my arm to the computer pump that controls the amount of meds I get, that was the wrong size. When I called them, the woman said they probably sent it because they were out of the right size. What sense does that make if I can't use it (too thin and the same amount of meds wouldn't go through to my heart; keep in mind that my meds are life sustaining and it ticks you off). I told the lady not only did THAT not make sense but why on earth would they send me a dozen packs of the stuff that they knew they wouldn't take back?!!

But I told Brian that I had a funny feeling that his team of doctors at Tulane Cancer Center would indeed be glad to get three months of that costly medicine and to call them to see if they would take it. They were over the moon with joy that he offered it to them! Not only is it too pricey for many but having three months worth right there means the doc can put someone on the medication IMMEDIATELY, which is pretty important when you're fighting to stay alive. We were thrilled, too, about it and felt really good that it happened. Plus one of his doctors sought him out the last time he was there to thank him for bringing in three months worth of that medication. He's so lucky as they're so nice over there and it's obvious they love Brian, too.

With him not feeling well lately means I've been doing more than I normally do around here 'cause Brian does A LOT around the house and I've been tired. My PH makes you tired sometimes for no reason as well, even if you've not done much of anything. So the combo sometimes turns me into a sloth.

But I did think of you guys yesterday which I will get to before leaving the site tonight. Thanks for thinking of me. I know everyone has to be missing Imelda and her scrumptious looking food, too.

bethk wrote:Jimmy, they just stopped to check what's been posted.  They didn't make a post themselves....

so you didn't miss them.  I just check when they last logged in to the forum.

He did too miss us, Beth! Just kidding but laughed when Jimmy said it.

Bugster2 wrote:I ordered a cookbook from Tommy Bahama, got it, looked at it and decided it has to go back. 99% of the recipes have heat of some kind or have an ingredient that we don't like or are allergic to. I wish they could have had a look-see on their site and I could have seen that the book was not for our family. I could make the recipes without the heat but I think they are an integral part and really can't be eliminated.

Check out the ones you're thinking of on Amazon even if you buy them elsewhere, Debbie. You can usually "open the book and see what's inside" -- usually the Table of Contents and a couple of recipes. Sometimes the index is viewable, too. Plus they always have so many reviews and the reviewers actually explain why they like it or why they don't or how many recipes were useful to them or not.

I didn't even know Tommy Bahama cooked!

bethk wrote:I can't believe I'm posting this pic.....MY FOOD IS TOUCHING !!!!  

OMG, things have REALLY changed around here!

bethk wrote:I've been exhausted all day.....long story. Didn't get to bed until 4:30 a.m. and was only able to stay asleep until 9 a.m. ~ but I know I'll hit the hay tonight and not wake up after a couple hours...

bethk wrote:...So, that's been my day. How's yours?

I haven't been to sleep since Friday night so we're on the same page I think. My eyes are so red from lack of sleep that I look like I've been crying my eyes out. I've never been a good sleeper but just couldn't sleep last night at all. Brian kept waking up and just shaking his head but I'll definitely conk out in a bit.

Brian had to have emergency surgery in Acapulco when we were on vacation about 30 years ago. I was flipping out. He had a problem that recurred while we were there (even though he went to the doctor right before we left to ensure things were okay). But the good thing is that they found out what the problem had been all along, something the doctors here had not done. When I came home and told my R.N. mom what they said it was, she immediately said, "They're right!" I let them do the necessary surgery but told the doctor we'd wait to have the problem corrected here, as I was nervous our insurance wouldn't cover it if it seemed at all elective. I shouldn't have worried. The hospital smelled like pinesol and was spotless (it was a private hospital) and they were nicer than nice. Brian is pretty fluent in Spanish but all I know is, "Tu avista me pollo?!" and "mas hielo, por favor." When they wheeled him into surgery, I started to cry. When it took much longer than the translator had told me to expect, the tears turned to shoulder-shaking sobs. I kept hearing his mom screaming at me if he died, "Why did you let them operate on him i Mexico?" Every time I looked up, every single person in the waiting room was looking at me with such pity and sad eyes that I just sobbed some more. Finally they moved me to the room he'd be in when out of recovery as the interpreter (who finally made an appearance!) told me I was upsetting the other people in the waiting room.

Other than my 6'4" husband being about a foot too long for the hospital bed, it was a pleasant experience. I paid the bill in cash after getting a cab back to the hotel the next day to shower, change clothes and hit the black market to cash in all our traveler's checks -- remember those? -- to get the best exchange rate I could. When I got back, I saw the big Visa sign and had to laugh. I had more than enough cash as it was a tad over $300 and that included the doctor! But it was scary and when they called a cab from our swanky hotel's doctor's office, we went out to wait for the cab which was winding through the elaborate grounds of the hotel to get to us. Brian meanwhile was collapsing on top of me as he was passing out. I heard a blood curdling scream while he was in the doctor's office before we left for the hospital and just then a man was coming into the office with a little girl about 7. I jumped up and told him not to come in right now and then he heard Brian moaning, thanked me and they left! I'd seen the doctor head into the room with a needle that you'd use to give a cow an injection and I thought, Uh oh! Then the TWO doctors came out with sweat running down their faces and told me he needed to go to the hospital.

I hope Lyn's husband is doing better now, Beth, and will say a prayer for him before I crash tonight...

Admin wrote:After spending 11 hours in the ER and multiple tests they sent him home and said to go to his doc on Monday.  Geese!

That's what the V.A. Hospital told my father (a WWII and Korea vet who served for 13 years) in 1979 (he was 61 had Parkinson's Disease and Chronic Leukemia and had a fever of 103) at 1 a.m. after he'd been in the E.R. since about 5 p.m. My mom was with him, I left a photo shoot to rush to the hospital as she had to call an ambulance because he was too much for her to help him get to the car (she was 5'1" if she stood on her tippy toes and he was kind of hefty and frozen and/or shaking badly with Parkinson's. She told me he had pneumonia and you could hear the rattle in his chest. PD patients get pneumonia quite often too. The doctor who refused the ER doc's and the nurses request to admit him didn't even see him as he told them to send him home via phone. Since my mom was an RN, the nurses asked her to speak to the doctor on the phone. He said, "Mrs. Bass, I told you four years ago that there's nothing more we can do for your husband." She replied (she was 1000 more polite than I ever was), "Yes, I remember. But since he didn't quit working until two years ago, I didn't put much stock in your statement." He told her to bring him back on Monday at 9 a.m. and they would be happy to treat him as an outpatient. The problem was he died at 4 a.m. Monday morning of pneumonia just as my mom kept telling them. We had an autopsy done and that was the cause of death.

The coroner didn't want to do an autopsy because my father hadn't been healthy but when my mom, who served in the Army Nurse Corps in WWII in North Africa and Italy, told him what had happened at the V.A. Hospital, he agreed right away to do it, bless his heart. We had to sue in order to get the V.A. to let my mom see the x-rays but that's how you had to go about it. Lord knows we had to BEG her to do it but she just had to see the x-rays. To their good, the pneumonia had not shown up on the x-rays they did so my mom felt a bit better. The amazing thing was how healthy he'd actually been per the autopsy. They go thru each organ one by one in the autopsy report. Despite being an alcoholic most of my life except for the two years before he died and smoking Picayune cigs since the age of 11, almost every organ was "pink and normal" or "better than normal" for a person of 61. Of course, he looked a lot older due to the Parkinson's and I'm sure the drinking contributed to it. But it was shocking to see how healthy he'd still been at the time of his death. But he died at my sister's house (ambulance took him there as my mom's central AC stopped working which is why she decided to call the ambulance; two gay friends of ours had an extra window unit so they came by, got my mom's keys at the hospital, went to her house and installed the window unit in her bedroom only to find out it no longer worked!) after a bit more than 24 hours of all of us waiting on him hand and foot and catering to his every request ("I want some coffee ice cream!"). He hated hospitals and was scared of every needle including a sewing needle so I guess he went out okay (choking, though). Brian and I lived about 10 blocks from my sister's house and when we got there my mom had him on the floor and was giving him mouth-to-mouth -- pre CPR days -- until I knew she had tried long enough. I had never seen anyone die and it wasn't pretty. My mom was old school and always treated a dead patient with respect like they were still alive. The coroner's office ambulance attendants were tossing him around like we weren't even there and my mom asked them to please carry him out head up on the stretcher instead of head down like they were doing as they headed to the ultra skinny brick-covered alley outside my sister's house they had to traverse to get to the front of her house. I was just watching until one ass told my mother, "Lady, it's going to be hard enough if not impossible to get him down the alley any old way." It was then that I exploded with a stream of cuss words about how we'd gotten him down that f'ing alley when he was alive at 2 a.m. in the pitch black (her lights were all burnt out in the alley, natch) and how they'd better show my mom and my GD father who was lying there dead some f'ing respect (after more than 13 minutes of my poor mom giving him MTM until some cops showed up til we noted the time said it was too late and they needed to stop.) I nastily threatened them in a scary too calm voice too and I think I scared the daylights out of them. But it was WAY WAY WAY less polite and chock full of cursing. You could've heard a pin drop when I finished but everything immediately changed for the better and they even apologized to her and to the rest of us while I stood there red-faced and fuming with my arms folded. When they were gone, Mama looked at me smiling sadly with stuff all over her clothes and said though she didn't approve of my method or the language I had used, she thanked me for what I did. My sister immediately got the giggles, said she'd loved every word I'd said and then attempted to do an instant replay for my benefit. We ended up laughing until we cried some more.

I'll bet you guys are so happy I stopped by with my cheery self. All that just came out before I stopped to think. I'm so sorry.

bethk wrote:...yes, there is still someone in this world who uses an electric knife!

I still have my mom's in the back of a cabinet and we've pulled it out a few times when nothing would work as good, too, Beth!

Laughed as your corned beef slices look like you did them on a mandoline!!!


I really hope Bill is okay. I hope I didn't scare you. I don't know where all that came from and I'm really sorry if I upset you or anyone else...

Thanks for answering Michelle. I understand the situation.
I had been spot posting, and Tina and I are trying to shed this Bronchial infection.
I have been so weak, I had to increase my oxygen to 4 ltr. per minute, just to maintain a 91% SpO2 on my little finger clip / sensor.
Tina went to the Dr twice. I don't run to Drs for a sore throat, but it blew into a nasty bronchial infection.
We are unwinding now, and still coughing a little, but tired as ole heck.
You take care and hear our prayers . We are praying for you and Brian, and Bill and Lynn; along with everybody. God Bless!

Norm, your meal looked fantastic.

Beth, I thought your cherry pie (my all-time favorite!) was indeed pretty!

But cherry pie on your new stove! The horror! The crime! Well, it had to happened and now that it has been "christened," you won't let THAT happen again.

Jimmy, I laughed at the pineapple juice Beth and Debbie recommended for Tina's cough because we still have a jar of pickle juice (pickles are long gone) in Brian's little second-floor refrigerator for when he gets Charley horses. Works so well and so QUICKLY that it still blows both of us away every single time.

Bugster2 wrote:

NormM wrote:PS I have a heck of a time getting Soda Bread to cook all the way through. The recipe I used today, cooked it in 8 separated slices and still took 5 minutes longer than the recipe said.   I think this year's menu was the best so far.

I have tried making soda bread. It turned out like a brick.

Soda bread has never been a favorite of mine. I don't mind though as it's one of the few carbs I don't care for!

Speaking of carbs, I didn't eat much last week as Brian wasn't feeling well and eating light when I could get him to have a bit of chicken soup. I try to use the stairs instead of riding the stairlift notwithstanding my back pain and made a lot more trips up and down those steep steps last week taking care of Brian and doing more than I normally do. It's not pleasant but exercise is really important when you have PH. When I got on the scale today, I'd dropped 5 lbs. I was glad but I told Brian it made me feel tired (grin) thinking of all those trips up and down the stairs!

I can't cook, can't eat and can't sleep. Last evening Joe was having a stiff ginand tonic out by the pool along with two of the cats. I believe he forgot to bring one in and now our Noogie is missing. He was caught on a neighbor's ring camera at 3:45am. I am sure he was eaten by a coyote. Joe just told me that Noogie was seen on our next door neighbors ring at 4:30am, so he was still alive then. I pray he is just hiding and will come out later. We have left a crack open on the garage door, the side gate is cracked open and the back door is cracked open. I hope, if he is still alive, that he comes back home. I am just to the point where I am going to have to take a tranquilizer I am so upset. The not knowing is what is killing me. If I knew that coyotes had gotten him I could put closure to the mess.

There was a lady I knew whose husband had a bad cough. They took him to the ER and xrays showed lung cancer. They sent him home and the second he sat down on the bed, the cancer blew through an artery, blood flowed like a river and he was dead before he hit the floor. I always say" Just because a doctor managed to get through medical school is no guarantee that he is any good at what he does."
I firmly believe that the very first class a med school student has to take is EGO 101. The $hits. I have 5 doctors in the family and I still think that. They are all arrogant jerks.

Bugster2 wrote:With everybody eating corned beef, it makes me want to cook one but Joe complained so much about the stink last time I am hesitant about doing it again. I wouldn't mind trying to corn my own beef but brisket is so expensive now, I just can't do it. Last time I looked it was $8.99 - $12.00 per pound. Pretty expensive for what used to be a bargain basement cut of beef.

The only way we ever have corned beef is grilled on the Weber. Brian cooks it nice and slow and then moves it over to the hot side of the grill and chars it up a bit. It's sooooo good. I make a sauce with brown sugar and butter to serve with it and Brian, who'd never had corned beef grilled before I made it for him many moons ago (I used to do the grilling when we were first together), says he likes corned beef even more with the brown sugar/butter sauce. He didn't eat sauerkraut when I met him but now loves it. But I make it a bit different than most. I drain it, rinse it and then smother it with onions and garlic until it cooks down a good bit. It's really good that way and it's more mellow that way. He'll eat sauerkraut on a Reuben but doesn't like eat it heated unless I've made it the way he likes. He's much less of a picky eater now than he was 40 years ago, thank goodness. He's sweet about it though as he gives me the credit for being a good cook.

Bugster2 wrote:

NormM wrote:Debbie, I get brisket at Costco for the last few years.  The one I got was a USDA Prime and cost under $40.00.  I think it was $36.00 and it was about 8 pounds.

That is a good price. I will check it out next time I go there. Thanks. I have always wanted to try one on the smoker. My sister has but she says hers always turns out too dry.

It's delicious smoked, Debbie. But if there's any fat left on it at all, it has a terrible texture. We both really like grilled fat but not smoked fat and decided we actually preferred it grilled over smoked. But it does indeed taste good if it's done right. You've just got to do it very low and slow and really past when it first gets tender as that's when it's really melt in your mouth good. Just like when smoking a beef brisket. You can pull the brisket off when it's just tender and about 160F and wrap it up for a while to finish cooking and resting. But boy if you go past that to about 200F or 205F and maintain the smoker temp about 225F, it's so tender it just pulls apart and is even better.

Norm, do you ever smoke a corned beef brisket?

Crybaby wrote:

Bugster2 wrote:

NormM wrote:Debbie, I get brisket at Costco for the last few years.  The one I got was a USDA Prime and cost under $40.00.  I think it was $36.00 and it was about 8 pounds.

That is a good price. I will check it out next time I go there. Thanks. I have always wanted to try one on the smoker. My sister has but she says hers always turns out too dry.

It's delicious smoked, Debbie. But if there's any fat left on it at all, it has a terrible texture. We both really like grilled fat but not smoked fat and decided we actually preferred it grilled over smoked. But it does indeed taste good if it's done right. You've just got to do it very low and slow and really past when it first gets tender as that's when it's really melt in your mouth good. Just like when smoking a beef brisket. You can pull the brisket off when it's just tender and about 160F and wrap it up for a while to finish cooking and resting. But boy if you go past that to about 200F or 205F and maintain the smoker temp about 225F, it's so tender it just pulls apart and is even better.

Norm, do you ever smoke a corned beef brisket?

I love the corned beef fat..... I like crispy fat in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mU6USTBRE&list=RDt2mU6USTBRE&start_radio=1&t=41

NormM wrote:Debbie, doing brisket in the smoker is the most challenging meat there is.  I don't think that is just my opinion either.  It was just a couple of years ago that I was able to get really good results in my smoker with brisket and I am not sure anyone could get as good results in a pellet smoker. In any case it usually takes around 12 hours to do it right.  Some recipes I have seen say to cook it to 190 but that is not going to give really good results.  If you take it out too soon, it can be dry and tough but if you leave it in on low for enough time for it to get up to 210 or so, the collagen will melt and it will be soo tender and juicy.

Truer words were never spoken! That's why I got Brian a Smoke by Thermoworks for our 40th anniversary in late April as a surprise so he can cook a brisket on a long cook. It's that melt in your mouth brisket that is in a league all its own. You are so right about it not being an easy cook, Norm.

NormM wrote:I don't usually have enough corned beef left over by now to make hash but I used a whole brisket this year. 

Ooh, I love chunky hash, Norm. And your poached egg is gorgeous, too. There's a restaurant in N.O. called Atchafalaya that we go to for brunch every once in a while that makes a wonderful duck hash that your plate puts me in mind of. I always tell myself I'm going to order something else but never can pass up that hash. They serve it with fresh cubed potatoes that they do some magic with too. And they have some dynamite cream cheese grits that melt in your mouth.

Your poached egg put it right over the top for me!

bethk wrote:Still no definitive answer. He has more doctor appointments scheduled. The tests he had at the hospital showed no infection or reason for his problems. His prostate was enlarged but there's no mass or indication of why. So he's just resting a lot and Lyn is waiting on him hand and foot.

I feel for Lyn too!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Reese's Peanut butter eggs for me! Cadbury's for DD and Tina

We have Elmer's Gold Brick Eggs down here which are to die for. I got Brian a bunch of Easter candy he sailed through early: a solid dark chocolate bunny, a hollow milk chocolate bunny stuff with Reese's Peanut Butter eggs, some Dove eggs and some Heavenly Hash eggs. There was another he was gaga over that I can't remember. He's so thin that he can use the calories. Not me!

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Thanks for answering Michelle. I understand the situation.
I had been spot posting, and Tina and I are trying to shed this Bronchial infection.
I have been so weak, I had to increase my oxygen to 4 ltr. per minute, just to maintain a 91% SpO2 on my little finger clip / sensor.
Tina went to the Dr twice. I don't run to Drs for a sore throat, but it blew into a nasty bronchial infection.
We are unwinding now, and still coughing a little, but tired as ole heck.
You take care and hear our prayers . We are praying for you and Brian, and Bill and Lynn; along with everybody. God Bless!

Thanks for your kind words, jimmy, not to mention the prayers. Keep them coming please!

Bugster2 wrote:I can't cook, can't eat and can't sleep. Last evening Joe was having a stiff ginand tonic out by the pool along with two of the cats. I believe he forgot to bring one in and now our Noogie is missing. He was caught on a neighbor's ring camera at 3:45am. I am sure he was eaten by a coyote. Joe just told me that Noogie was seen on our next door neighbors ring at 4:30am, so he was still alive then. I pray he is just hiding and will come out later. We have left a crack open on the garage door, the side gate is cracked open and the back door is cracked open. I hope, if he is still alive, that he comes back home. I am just to the point where I am going to have to take a tranquilizer I am so upset. The not knowing is what is killing me. If I knew that coyotes had gotten him I could put closure to the mess.

I'll add Noogie to my prayers tonight too, Debbie. I hope he comes home soon.

I was reading the other day and saw a new method of making Avgolemono, which is Greek Lemon Chicken Soup to anyone who may not be familiar with it. When it's good, it's to die for and we both love it. What I saw was a unique way this woman dealt with the eggs that are in it. After separating the eggs, she whisked the egg whites to soft peaks. Then she mixed a cup of lemon juice in the yolks and whisked those until well mixed, and then folded the yolks into the whites. I didn't like the rest of her recipe so I decided to devise my own recipe but handle the eggs as she did. I swear my mouth was watering by the time I settled on what I wanted to do and typed it up.

I often write down what I'm going to do so number one, I can remember what the heck I did as I often forget what I decided to actually add or withhold once I'm cooking. Also sometimes I like to jot down ideas that I might like to try if I have an ingredient on hand that was still good, like fresh dill that I was thinking of. I usually print out what I've typed up before heading to the kitchen. So I perused tons of Avgolemono recipes online and also checked out a few of my cookbooks. I worked on that for hours as Brian was ill and I was upstairs propped on pillows because my back was making me crazy.

Once he was better I was going to make it as I had purchased a big family pack of boneless chicken breasts which he bagged up in twos in the FoodSaver a week or so ago and froze for me. I was all set Friday to make it but then my pain pills just didn't seem to be working so I had to wait until yesterday to make it. And guess what?! I finally took the camera I bought over a year ago out of the box and figured out how to use its basics. So I not only made it -- it turned out to be the best either of us had ever had and Brian raved about it --but I remembered to take a picture of it! I'm going to post my first picture here of food i made like the rest of you do all the time. Can I have a drum roll please!!! (I didn't realize I used the wrong setting to take the picture but i can do better next time.) Ta Da!!!

Sorry if I drove all of you crazy with all my long messages. I still can't sleep so I just kept talking and talking and typing and typing....  

We searched the 'hood all day long and every 30 minutes when it was dark. My husband set up a beach chair by the front door and just watched. Lo and behold, Noogie came around the corner of the garage at 1am. A quick grab and he was safe. He is cold, hungry and thirsty but he is safe. The coyotes didn't get him.

Thank you Michelle for your nice comments. As for smoking corned beef, I have, but as pastrami which is corned beef with added seasonings.  When smoking brisket or pastrami, I trim some of the fat and leave about an inch all over the top, then trim it all off after it comes out of the smoker and has set a while.  I think the soda bread we had this year was really good.  I don't know that it qualifies to a purist as Irish but it was really good.  I used craisins instead or raisins. 

Debbie, glad to hear your pet is safe at home.

I realize that this is a cooking group, but it seems that health and the cost of it sneaks in often. I think that is in part because there's a fair amount of grey in our hair! LOL. It amazes me all the time to hear/read the astounding amounts of money that some of you have to spend on medications and hospital care. Without getting into the politics of it, all I will say is that my daughter and son-in-law lived in a very, very nice house in Huntington Beach CA., and did a lot of first class travel. Cindy was first a student, then a starting freelance photographer, Bruce worked for Pfizer Pharma.