Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
Hang man is fun. Like that there are many categories to choose from to switch gears. My husband likes to play solitaire on the computer. I like Sudoko on the computer cause you can check to see if your choices are correct. In a way feels like I'm cheating but still a beginner and need assistance. Could be a long time before I try the next level - hurts my head!!
Going to try a game of hangman in a minute. Thanks, Joy.
Anyone remember cooking with a pressure cooker? Seems to me it was common in the 60s, but I don't recall many using one after that. What happened? Did you use one & why did you stop?I got us a crock pot/pressure cooker for Xmas.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
It's programmable & does both, so I figured it would be useful & it was only $56. Not the end of the world if we don't use it often. I like that it can be programmed to delay starting to cook, then will keep things warm for up to 4 hours once its done. With the animals, dinner being delayed by an hour or so isn't unusual.
We plan to cook the corn beef dinner in it for Xmas. They have 2 recipes; one for high pressure & one for low. We'll use the high pressure one to make it in just 1.5 hours with all the ingredients dumped in at once. Marg says she normally cooks it for 4 hours & adds the potatoes & cabbage later on. The low pressure recipe said 8 hours, I think. Should be quite a time saver.
We had a pressure cooker when I was a teenager during WWII. I think my mother used it often and was very pleased to have it. This would have been around 3942 when she worked at the war plant swing shift so she would use it when she came home and we'd have some beef or stew or whatever for supper. I don't recall it having a LOW heat. Only HIGH. I used it a bit in the fifties but somehow was nervous that I'd do something wrong so gave it up. I have really liked my Crock Pot and it makes the best chili ever. I love putting food in the early morning and have it five or six hours later. I think you will really enjoy your appliance.
That's what I remember of pressure cookers too, Nina. Only high & there were a few cases of people getting scalded badly by them when they failed. They went out & crock pots became the thing to use. We've had several over the years, but the last 2 weren't much good & we haven't used one in almost a decade.I think this will be useful. I like the ability to do both jobs. One of the big problems with neat kitchen gadgets is finding room for them. If they get stored away too much, they get forgotten or become too much of a hassle to pull out. This has a removable pot inside, so it should be quick & easy to clean, too. Well, we'll see.
Marg bought a 2lb pork shoulder at the store, so I used the pot to sear the meat. It did a good job, heated up as fast as a frying pan & since there wasn't much fat, I just left it there. I dumped in some potatoes, sauerkraut & a little water over top with a little salt. I locked it up & hit the 'meat' button. It was only going to cook for 35 minutes, so I bumped it up to 45. Should have left it at 35. The potatoes were overdone, but it all tasted good. Took me about 15 minutes of prep, so an hour all told & I didn't have to watch it. Mom told me that she still has a pressure cooker, but rarely uses it since she has to watch it closely or it can blow up. Not a problem with this one. Another plus is that when it was done cooking, it automatically switched to "Keep Warm" & started counting up. It will do that for 4 hours.
Clean up was very fast since I just scooped what was left into a Corningware dish for another meal, wiped down the top & cleaned out the removable pot which is Teflon, so nothing stuck. Took about 5 minutes. Easy, good cooking, just what I like.
Never had a pressure cooker. Sounds great. Pork with potatoes and sauerkraut - brings back memories of Mom's cooking. Enjoy your new kitchen toy!
Jim wrote: "Merry Xmas! "
An adorable picture!
Merry Christmas, Joy, Jim and Nina and Mary and everyone!
Jim wrote: "Merry Xmas!"I love the picture of the animals!
That photo should be on a Christmas card.
Pressure cooker sounds much improved so you don't have to worry about the pressure going haywire. Enjoy.
We had a good Xmas, although dinner got late due to me learning the quirks of our new slow/pressure cooker. Meant to eat around 6pm, didn't eat until almost 7:30, though. I had to cook the corned beef an extra 30 minutes & cycling the pressure took longer than I counted on. It all came out good, though.While both recipes I got for corned beef said cook for 90 minutes, I also read that meat should be cooked for 25 minutes per inch of thickness. (Interesting that it's by thickness, not by weight.) Our corned beef was under 2", so I opted to cook for an hour. Not long enough! It expanded to over 3", so I had to cook it another 30 minutes, but I dumped in the potatoes. They & the corned beef both came out perfect then. The potatoes were fully cooked, but not mushy.
I need to plan on 30 minutes or more to cycle pressure. Even after waiting 10 minutes, I had to put a dish towel over the pressure relief valve, it got soaked, & took a good 5 minutes to wind down. Then it took another 15 minutes to get back to full cooking pressure again.
I cooked the cabbage for only 10 minutes at high pressure & it was perfect, too. 1 head chopped up filled the 6 quart cooker, though. Don't know why I made so so much. No one but me eats much of it, Josh doesn't eat it at all. I only like it with vinegar & the beef warm, so most of it will probably go to waste. If I'd left 1/2 of it uncooked, I'd make up some coleslaw.
Maybe you can freeze it all but the potatoes and have it for St. Patrick's day.
Christmas day had a smattering of snow so maybe you could call it a White Christmas and now it is going into a cold cold winter season; way below normal. Today is supposed to get up to thirty one so we're off to do any shopping and grocery stores and of course, Costco and Trader Joe's. The latter one of my very favorite stores. They serve small treats and good coffee at our local one. Christmas dinner at our daughter's was very good and we also celebrated our little great granddaughter's third birthday as it is the day after Christmas. She so loved blowing out the candles. Christmas Eve was busy at my son in law's sister's home as she had a buffet for around fifty people and not it's time to relook at my Christmas cards. Happy New Year everyone and stay warm.
Thanks for the bday wishes for my husband, Fred. He had a good bday and Christmas!
Golden Globes tonight on NBC at 7 PM.Red Carpet on E! Channel at 6 PM.
Didn't watch the Golden Globes. Watched some of Red Carpet on E. Much ado on the News the next day.
I enjoyed watching the Golden Globes award show.
Our second plumber just left. It seems that one of our pipes got clogged and then froze; so far bill is two thousand dollars and they are coming back in two days to knock down part of the wall in the basement bedroom so they can get at the damaged pipe to fix it. we then have to get someone in to do sheetrock. Latest news.
Ouch! Well, at least they figured out the issue. No kitchen sink yet? At least 2 more days?
What a problem! Sorry you have to go through that, Nina.
No kitchen sink yet; otherwise water will go down the wall into the basement bedroom but finally our Christmas decorations are packed up and in the part of the basement where it is dry. Life goes on at the Peck's.
Belated Holiday wishes to all of you my friends.!!
All of Omaha is awaiting- another big storm. We are in the high 40's now. Rain starts this switching to snow overnight. Rapid temperature drop and a projected 4 inch snowfall.. Winter has started very harsh. this year.
Greetings to you too, Mary. We're having a rough winter here too.Is it too early to think spring?
Good to see you back, Mary. I think the mess you have is heading our way. We went over 60 today. It's a sloppy mess out in the fields, even on the gravel lane. It's been damp, light rains & everything is thawing. At least we got a good breeze today to start drying things up. More snow tomorrow night, though. Sounds like the commute in on Friday morning might be iffy.
As I am writing the wall is being taken down. Hopefully the broken pipe will be replaced and hours later when they are finished we can again use our kitchen sink. Just finished "The All Girls Last Filling Station Reunion," by Fannie Flagg and that book was the perfect anecdote as I have not felt like laughing since the New Year started but after reading even a few paragraphs I had to laugh out loud. She is a genius at comic sentences. However, there was a glaring mistake on one of the pages. Isn't there an editor around anymore or just because an author is very popular do they just never bother looking at the material? Just wondering.
This morning it rained then temp dropped drastically at rush hour so ice coated streets, school cancelations and then snow showers expected later then very cold weekend like close to zero. Not good weather but yesterday was fifty four..Crazy..
Nina, glad to know you will soon have the use of your kitchen sink!
Nina, I often wonder how so many errors get past the editors, too. It's ruined some books for me. Marg complains since I sometimes underline inconsistencies if I feel there is a question & that means she notices them when she reads the book. Otherwise, she doesn't.It's nice when a book hits the funny bone right. It's a tough match. Glad there's something to make this mess easier & hope it gets cleaned up soon!
They've already cancelled schools for tomorrow here. It's supposed to start raining in the wee hours & then freeze starting about noon. I think I'm going to take the day off.
Snowing now. What am I doing today? Heading out to work soon. Snow started earlier south of my home direction I am headed. Birds in my yard have been very happy. We must have 20 or more dark juncos feeding all at once. Yesterday we had a large grouping of juncos and finches along with the more common birds (titmouse, chickadees, nuthatches along with the hairy, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers). Enjoyable to watch.
Lucky you to have that many birds at your beck and call. Just one inch snow here. One degree this morning.
Lily woke me up at 3am. I thought she wanted to go out, but she just wanted to get into bed & cuddle. This is the second night in a row. Tiring since I usually wake up at 4:30. She's never done this before since there are 2 dog beds, the couch, & chairs all available for her sleeping comfort. She occasionally would start out the night sleeping with me, but never decided to start in the middle of the night. Bad dreams or what? Weird dog.
Maybe she likes the warmth.
Nina, did you ever get your sewer problems fixed? How is it going?
Sort of. Thanks to our first plumber who cleaned out the clogged sewer and the second group of plumbers who cut holes in the kitchen wall and bedroom basement wall(about four feet across in basement from floor to ceiling) and installed a new pipe after removing the old one, we can now use our kitchen sink. So far the cost is over two thousand dollars and my husband is trying to repair the damage caused to fix the problem. Yesterday he put insulation around all the pipes upstairs and downstairs but also today he was carrying supplies to try and rebuild the downstairs wall and he stumbled on the stairs and when grabbing the railing he tore the skin from his hand. Now it is bandaged and he is working a puzzle. He is determined to do this work himself.
Now at least you can use the sink. Hope your husband will be careful.
Good for him! Glad you can use your sink. Sorry it cost so much & he hurt his hand, though.
Thanks everyone for your kind concerns. I am hoping the skin on my husband's hand/it is the top of the hand/will adhere. He tried to put it back. Otherwise he might have to go to a plastic surgeon. I pray not.
Hi NinaLet's hope your husband's hand heals on its own and avoid having to see a plastic surgeon.
Glad you have your sink to use.
Not sure what we will do today. Nothing planned, nothing scheduled. Sometimes these are the best days - can be spontaneous - or not!!
Fifty nine degrees and feels like spring and the robins gathered on our front lawn must think it is already.
A smattering of snow so far. Sixty degrees yesterday.
34.2 F here. Sixty sounds grand!
Today a joyous dentist trip! Ha ha. My bridge needs replacement. Today is the removal, check it out, replace then make a new bridge. Dentist suggested implants which is double the price and more dentist visits. Since this bridge has been in my mouth for many a year I've opted this route. New bridges generally have a life of 5 years. I'll take my chances.
Good luck with that, Linda. The dentist is never fun.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
Books mentioned in this topic
Educated (other topics)Pride and Prejudice (other topics)
Moby-Dick or, The Whale (other topics)
The Count of Monte Cristo (other topics)
War and Peace (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Tara Westover (other topics)Ann Howard Creel (other topics)
Ann Howard Creel (other topics)
C.W. Gortner (other topics)
C.W. Gortner (other topics)
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http://www.playhangman.com/PH.asp?g=u...
Lots of categories to choose from, once you get started.