Post a good thing that happened in your life today

[Betty LaRue]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

I successfully clipped two of my cat's claws. Progress. I think I now only have one really sharp one to deal with. It's tricky to do it without making a big scene. She is my first long-haired cat and the long fur between her toes makes it hard to see the claw. 

 

Paulette

I clip Echo’s nails, too. And wings. I don’t think I’d enjoy doing a cat for fear it would use those claws on me. Kudos to you.

[Steve Hyde]

8 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

No, you don’t have to remove pecan skins. And whenever I’ve used English walnuts in cookies, I’ve never removed the skins & never thought, “oh, those are bitter.” I’ve often grabbed a bag of them out of my freezer, scooped out a handful, and munched on them for a snack. I can’t imagine anyone over 1 in a thousand people thinking they needed to remove skins for any reason. That time-eating step would cause me to never use English walnuts.

I think it’s wonderful that you bake. I would have loved having a husband like you obviously are. I hope you are appreciated.

I also use pecans in my candy. Chocolate fudge & divinity. Although I do love chopped black walnuts in my divinity. Many people don’t like them because they are somewhat bitter, but I love them. They have a stronger flavor. Whenever I get a shake or malt, I order a black walnut one. Cuts the sweetness a bit. I buy black walnut ice cream also.

And then…there’s pecan pie…. I just might make the same pie & substitute black walnuts instead of pecans. Yum. 😋 They are more expensive than pecans, though & seem to only be sold in small packages.

Thank you for the advice Betty. Pecans and walnuts with their skins on will be going into my next batch of cookies. I’ll let you know how I get on👍
 

I’d never heard of Black Walnuts. I’ve had a quick look on Google and they don’t appear to be readily available over here.

[Betty LaRue]

5 hours ago, Steve Hyde said:

Thank you for the advice Betty. Pecans and walnuts with their skins on will be going into my next batch of cookies. I’ll let you know how I get on👍
 

I’d never heard of Black Walnuts. I’ve had a quick look on Google and they don’t appear to be readily available over here.

Black walnuts, hmm, might only be grown here. They are a very hard nut to get the meat out of. I remember gathering them by the river as a child & using a brick to crack them! Then I used a hairpin to dig out the meat. My fingers would be stained black & the stain to be worn off over several days. One had to be very patient & a lover of the flavor to bother with them.

[Michael Ventura]

3 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Black walnuts, hmm, might only be grown here. They are a very hard nut to get the meat out of. I remember gathering them by the river as a child & using a brick to crack them! Then I used a hairpin to dig out the meat. My fingers would be stained black & the stain to be worn off over several days. One had to be very patient & a lover of the flavor to bother with them.

 

We had a black walnut tree in the backyard of my childhood home and hated the mess they made.  Especially when I got old enough to mow the grass.  When the outer green casing started to rot and turn into black mush, they were awful to step on or hit with the mower. Nearly twisted my ankle a few times when I stepped on one without seeing it.  Never did eat them, from the yard, but do like walnuts and pecans in baked goods!!

[Rebecca Ore]

2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

We had a black walnut tree in the backyard of my childhood home and hated the mess they made.  Especially when I got old enough to mow the grass.  When the outer green casing started to rot and turn into black mush, they were awful to step on or hit with the mower. Nearly twisted my ankle a few times when I stepped on one without seeing it.  Never did eat them, from the yard, but do like walnuts and pecans in baked goods!!

 

An Amish vendor in East Falls (truck driven by "English" person) had them once.  Love the flavor and used them in pancakes. 

 

The most expensive nut I've come across are cashews -- and Nicaraguans grow and process them, and sell them in bags from a quarter pound to a pound, often along roadsides or around construction sites that slow down traffic.   They're expensive because one cashew apple produces one cashew seed surrounded by a toxic skin.  Processing them is labor-intensive.   Raw cashews are somewhat toxic so they have to be roasted.   I bought a pound or half pound of cashews once for $16 US several years ago.   Having seen cashew apples and read about the processing, I don't begrudge anyone the price.

 

Peanuts are the cheap nut here, but I have seen pound bags of English walnuts for sale in the chain grocery stores.   Haven't seen hazelnuts, which can be turned to meal and mixed with regular flour in cake recipes (reduce the oil by the same proportion to recipe fats or oils as you use hazelnut meal in proportion to all purpose flour).   A third hazelnut flour is about right.

 

I make my own peanut butter from oven roasted peanuts without added sugar.   Any peanut butter or fruit juice here is oversweetened since sugar is a major crop here, and honey is also locally produced.

 

No oven so all my breads are flat breads.  Peanut butter can also go into sauces for chicken.

Edited August 24, 2023 by Rebecca Ore
plural people

[Allan Bell]

39 minutes ago, Rebecca Ore said:

Raw cashews are somewhat toxic so they have to be roasted.

 

I eat raw cashews and do not seem to be suffering from toxic poisoning.  Probably been steamed to get rid of the toxins.

BTW Cashews are not a true nut they are classified as drupes along with some other "nuts" like almond and pistachio.

 

Allan

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Allan Bell

[Betty LaRue]

Cashews are delicious but very rich, or I guess high in oil.  A few of them go along way. I like them mixed with other nuts. When I was growing up, the five & dime stores used to display different nuts under heating lights in glass cases & one could buy the different nuts by the pound or fraction of a pound. Also different candies were in cases, but not heated. I loved the candy called Bridge Mix. The smell of the warm nuts instantly made one hungry.

[Michael Ventura]

3 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Cashews are delicious but very rich, or I guess high in oil.  A few of them go along way. I like them mixed with other nuts. When I was growing up, the five & dime stores used to display different nuts under heating lights in glass cases & one could buy the different nuts by the pound or fraction of a pound. Also different candies were in cases, but not heated. I loved the candy called Bridge Mix. The smell of the warm nuts instantly made one hungry.

All this talk of various nuts had me picking up a pint of praline ice cream this evening.  Betty, we had a Woolworths five and dime in my home town and I remember those red heating lamps over the nuts.  Just loved that store, fun place for a kid.

[Betty LaRue]

12 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

All this talk of various nuts had me picking up a pint of praline ice cream this evening.  Betty, we had a Woolworths five and dime in my home town and I remember those red heating lamps over the nuts.  Just loved that store, fun place for a kid.

I figured I was the only dinosaur left alive who remembered those. I miss those types of stores. Ours was called Kress’s. They carried some great small children’s clothing, cloth by the yard, a bin of loose buttons of all sizes, kitchenware, garden & so much other stuff.

I need to open that new jar of dry-roasted peanuts.

A funny thing happened there. Not funny at the time. I had a dark gold car coat with a one-button closure. It was a large button. It fell off & was lost. The chances of finding one that large, a replacement, was slim.

Soon as I went to Kress’s, I headed for the loose button bin & found one! I clasped it in my hand because it would have fallen through my basket. It cost a nickel.

I shopped & browsed for another half-hour loading my basket with several things, then paid at the register. When I got to my car, I realized the 5 cent button was still clasped in my sweaty hand. I thought, “oh, well, it’s just a nickel.” But I couldn’t make myself start the car. Went back in & shame-facedly paid for the button.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[Rebecca Ore]

21 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I eat raw cashews and do not seem to be suffering from toxic poisoning.  Probably been steamed to get rid of the toxins.

BTW Cashews are not a true nut they are classified as drupes along with some other "nuts" like almond and pistachio.

 

Allan

 

 

They're not raw if they're steamed.  They're a weird drupe as the fruit is a pseudo fruit and the drupe/seed develops below that.   The apple is edible.   The apples are sort of mheh.  I read about processing and didn't process these three seeds.  One local way involves risking getting your hands burned.  Wikipedia is informative.  You'd know if you ate truly raw ones.  Nicaragua apparently consumes most of the cashews grown here.  The toxins are mainly skin irritants similar to poison ivy.  I bought these from a street vendor.

 

[Allan Bell]

2 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

They're not raw if they're steamed.  They're a weird drupe as the fruit is a pseudo fruit and the drupe/seed develops below that.   The apple is edible.   The apples are sort of mheh.  I read about processing and didn't process these three seeds.  One local way involves risking getting your hands burned.  Wikipedia is informative.  You'd know if you ate truly raw ones.  Nicaragua apparently consumes most of the cashews grown here.  The toxins are mainly skin irritants similar to poison ivy.  I bought these from a street vendor.

 

 

Appologies - Not raw, but not roasted is what I meant.

 

Allan

 

[Cecile Marion]

A good thing that happened to me today was when I found my (red) car door all scratched up with white paint like it had been seriously dinged by someone in the parking lot. There were two deep gouges into the paint, but other areas looked like they could be buffed out. Then I realized my car was parked three spaces away. 🙃

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, Cecile Marion said:

A good thing that happened to me today was when I found my (red) car door all scratched up with white paint like it had been seriously dinged by someone in the parking lot. There were two deep gouges into the paint, but other areas looked like they could be buffed out. Then I realized my car was parked three spaces away. 🙃

Well….at least you didn’t do what I did once. Get in the car with a stranger behind the wheel instead of your husband. Then practically tearing the door off getting out. It was like 2 ETs staring at each other. Briefly. Very briefly. In the dark.

[Cecile Marion]

That definitely would have been a shock, Betty.

[gvallee]

Update on our latest adventure. We completed our 7 day trip in very remote areas of the Australian Outback. It was incredible. We didn't see a soul for days and got a shock when we met our first car. We camped in the remotest most stunning wilderness I have ever been so far anywhere in the world. I cannot begin to describe the emotions.

Today, on the spur of the moment, we decided to tick another dream: drive part of the Canning Stock Route. This is an old track through the desert used to walk the cattle to markets in bygone days.

Tonight we've reached a beautiful lagoon on Aboriginal land. To start with, we weren't totally relaxed. Did we have the right to be here? Permits info were a minefield impossible to decipher. Then there were Aboriginals hunting close by. They do so by starting a bushfire to get the animals to get out of hiding. Then two massive bulls walked towards us grunting, upset that we were right in the way of their path to drink.

We relaxed when a few other 4x4 vehicles arrived. We just had a Happy Hour with them around a campfire by near full moon over the lagoon. Sometimes I think I'm dreaming.

 

 

[NYCat]

It's wonderful to be able to share it. Thank you.

 

Paulette

[Rebecca Ore]

I asked Luis to buy me two shade plants when he walked Lola this morning, and he came back with a mint (something I'd thought about adding to the basil collection as another culinary herb) and something with red blooms that looks vaguely euphorbian, but with four petals on flowers in clusters and round red berries.    This now fills up my earthen ware pots.   I have two tree fern slabs, but will probably use those when I divide some of the orchids.  Some space left on a wall for hanging plastic pots.  The earthenware ones look better.  

 

After going through social media, I went to my landlord's family coffee shop for a double espresso (roughly $3/ C$100).   It's two doors away and the coffee comes from my landlord's finca at over 1000 meters.   He gotten into the finalists for the Nicaraguan Cup of Excellence with his coffee, and the espresso is quite nice.  The only other espresso as good was grown on Omatepe Island and served up at a now closed hotel's restaurant in Moyogalpa.   I'm going to see if anyone has reviewed it on Google or Trip Adviser, and add a review.   It's what a coffee shop in Granada with more than 90% tourists pretends to be -- Nicaraguan coffee culture with mostly a Nicaraguan clientele.  They also serve sandwiches and desserts and have nacatamales on Sundays for breakfast.   Very easy to get to for me.    My house, the son's dentist office, then the coffee shop.    I'll be taking photos some sunnier day and will bring the little flash and reflectors.  I've now been there four times, so I should have qualified as a customer for the taking of photos.

[NYCat]

Yesterday I went to the photo event at the Javits Center sponsored by B&H. The first time we've had one since before Covid and the first time since then that I've been in crowds of photographers. We are a varied lot. I only briefly walked around the sales floor. A madhouse but smaller than in the old days. It was fortunate I remembered to bring a lunch. Instead of lousy food there was no food. The presentations were on another, quieter, floor and that was rather nice once I got my bearings. I saw Art Wolfe, Ami Vitale, Andy Mann and Brian Skerry. Very inspirational.

 

Paulette

[Michael Ventura]

1 minute ago, NYCat said:

Yesterday I went to the photo event at the Javits Center sponsored by B&H. The first time we've had one since before Covid and the first time since then that I've been in crowds of photographers. We are a varied lot. I only briefly walked around the sales floor. A madhouse but smaller than in the old days. It was fortunate I remembered to bring a lunch. Instead of lousy food there was no food. The presentations were on another, quieter, floor and that was rather nice once I got my bearings. I saw Art Wolfe, Ami Vitale, Andy Mann and Brian Skerry. Very inspirational.

 

Paulette

 

I used to go to those years ago, they can be very overwhelming.  I am envious!

[gvallee]

28 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Yesterday I went to the photo event at the Javits Center sponsored by B&H. The first time we've had one since before Covid and the first time since then that I've been in crowds of photographers. We are a varied lot. I only briefly walked around the sales floor. A madhouse but smaller than in the old days. It was fortunate I remembered to bring a lunch. Instead of lousy food there was no food. The presentations were on another, quieter, floor and that was rather nice once I got my bearings. I saw Art Wolfe, Ami Vitale, Andy Mann and Brian Skerry. Very inspirational.

 

Paulette

 

I love this kind of event. I used to go to the BBC Wildlife Photographer's of the year results in London. 3 days of awe, meeting Frans Lanting, Tim Laman, Gordon Buchanan and many others. It would inspire me no ends. I used to dream about being one of them for days on end afterwards. 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by gvallee

[NYCat]

Before I did any wildlife trips I would dream over the catalog for Joe Van Os photo safaris. After I had cancer I knew I had to do it and I managed to get together the money. My first trip was one of the least expensive to Brooks Falls. Then what I thought would be my one trip to Africa. I somehow kept going and a friend of mine pointed out that I was doing my trip of a lifetime every year. Such wonderful memories. And we photographers always have the pictures too. Grateful. 

 

Paulette 

[Cecile Marion]

When my youngest lived in the Alexandria, VA area, and worked in DC, I visited a lot and really got to know the area somewhat. She moved on to NYC and it’s been almost ten years since I’ve visited Va/DC. It’s time to go back, so I’ve just booked a few days for later this fall. I’m very excited. Am hoping for some fall color, looking forward to visiting my favorite museums, and also finding a few photo opportunities along the way. 

[Betty LaRue]

We’ve had a turn in the weather here, finally. No more 100 plus days. A cool front came in yesterday evening. 70 degrees F for an high today and an inch & a half of rain so far…it’s still sprinkling a bit.

I felt chilled this morning & put on a sweatshirt.  Lovin’ it.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Sounds like Liverpool weather. 

[Allan Bell]

7 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Sounds like Liverpool weather. 

 

And Lincoln weather.

 

Allan