The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[donaldtoo]

I felt bad on Wednesday because I was at the book store and almost bought a book for my daughter, but I wanted to see what the reviews were so I looked it up on Amazon. The price was half as much as in the store so I ordered it from Amazon while standing inside their competitor with the book in my hand

Ya' gotta' do what ya' gotta' do...!

 

[donaldtoo]

That's not sarcasm my friend......I'm being sincere.
Signing off for the night.

Thank you!!!
Yes, this can be a very difficult form of communication, so I indeed use them often, maybe even too often, sometimes... I want all here to know that I'm just being silly and never malicious. We've had our differences, but, when I'm posting smilies, you can always count on me just being silly. Life's, mostly , too short to be otherwise...and, there are some awesome people here...!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

OK gang, I'm a goner...!
Y'all be cool, and sweet Disney dreams to all...!!!
See y'alllllllllll...!!!!!

 

[Cesar R M]

It takes about a second to take a pic...you don't hafta' set up a tripod or anything. Most of the rest of us seem to be able to do it as you request...!

When you're a photographer.. setting up is a requirement

 

[Gabe1]

Yes, my mom has always made perfect gravy...absolutely silky-smooth deliciousness...I bathed my plate after I took the pic...!!!!!

Gravy is an art-form that I've come very close to perfecting after decades. Some gravies are beyond delicious others You can tell by just the picture your Mom knows what she is doing. Kudos to her.

 

[Gabe1]

Nope, never managed to get there. My grandma is still here though, so...

My one uncle if I ever start dating will be worse than my father, I think. I'm dreading it.

I admire you. Your life. Your terms.

 

[Gabe1]

That rib Eye looks insanely good!

It was insanely great steak. Aged steak is just a different dish and when at a great steakhouse you know it is never hit or miss like places like LeCellier, at fine steakhouses it is spot on always.

Plus it is the progression of the meal. Drink menu, drinks served. Appetizers ordered and delivered, main course ordered, subsequently delivered. There isn't that 45 minute turn of a table when you are just starting your salad and dinner arrives and I'll just leave the check. While I enjoy Disney World so much, their fine dining skills are gone in most venues despite the prices. They were once there and I do miss that.

 

[Gabe1]

So far so good. No peeing in the house or on my dog...yet. The youngest of my sister's dogs still likes to "play" with Kapono by chewing on her legs, ears, and neck. So if that is the worst they do that will be fine.

Sure hope they Pups continue to behave. Poor Kapono though, patience of a saint.

My gravy always turns out terrible. I don't know why. Not to blow my own horn but I am a terrific cook and baker but for some reason my gravy is always junk. Ironically my sister is not a very good cook or baker but when she has made gravy for Thanksgiving it turns out great.

So what goes wrong with the gravy, taste, texture, thickness or.....???? I've mastered beef gravy. I've yet to find one that rivals as better. Coming closer with Chicken/Turkey.

As kids we were only allowed to have soda on Sundays, a special occasion, on vacation, or if we went out to eat (which was rare). Sunday nights were usually our popcorn night or my dad would make homemade pizza so that is usually when we had soda. We had a lot of juice or Kool-aid though. And Minnie, my parents had their liquor in a spot that we could easily access too but I never did, I don't remember my parents saying we couldn't drink it but I never wanted it.

We didn't go out to eat often either, it came with families younger than ours as the norm. Growing up there was always Pepsi and Mt Dew available, my Sis love'd her 'lapa dew' even as a preschooler though the volume was age appropriate. I always remember candy and cookies in the house but I believe because it wasn't a 'special' thing we never gave any of that any special consideration over any other type of food or drink. Growing up we were never a family that ate volumes even in growth years, neither were my kids.

My folks actually had a bar in the finished basement, a thing back then. My folks were not big drinkers, there was sooo much liquior behind that bar but we never touched it, guess our minds never went there. My clients through the years gave me many bottles and it too sat in the basement. As my son hit his high school years I had a reality check, I didn't know what was all down there. I'd never know if bottles disappeared. We were never going to drink all that stuff nor our guests. I kept a bottle each of the 'basics' and poured all the rest down the drain and half filled a recycling bin wondering what the garbage man was going to think of me.

 

[Gabe1]

Rib-eye...good choice. That is my favorite cut and your pic shows it just the way I like it.

The ribeye was so yummy. I love our families version Thanksgiving!!! Oddly my kids never have had a Thanksgiving at Home. Mind you I do create a dinner (today) the day after Thanksgiving for just 'us' with all the trimmings and very low key. So they are not deprived. It happens buffet style as we decorate for Christmas.

 

[Gabe1]

@Gabe1 That feast looked so good! Makes me wish I celebrate Thanksgiving.
@MySmallWorldof4 I still love Lego but never buy any. No room in my tiny apartment to put it.
@Mr Ferret 88 I always wonder how much of a discount you actually get with the Black Friday deals. Luckily my family doesn't do presents at Christmas so no shopping for me.

\\\

I do love my families version of Thanksgiving. My Mom was a teacher. As she was aging and we were grown and out of the house it became harder on her as they worked Wednesday and Thanksgiving was Thursday. So much work to to cook all that and my Dad was zero help. She deemed when I was pregnant with my first that she was DONE. We have been going out to dinner ever since and everyone is on board. A nice tradition with awesome food.

Wow! That must make your Christmas like our Thanksgiving. Just a special family time without the financial commitment to presents.

 

[Gabe1]

That all looks delicious!

Got one Black Friday deal this morning. $50 off a $160 Lego. Yep, apparently not done with Lego in my house. Not a bad deal on that though, and I did get a free Lego Nutcracker set. Now if anyone knows where I can score a Nintendo SNES classic. Never should have given away my old, barely used one. Apparently old is new again for double the price on Ebay.

I'll ask my son. He is going to sell many of hit sets with games on ebay. Have about 20 years of old systems with games that just sit there.
It is nuts oh what he has but hung onto.

 

[Gabe1]

I'm also a pick your battles mom, but we're having problems in the last few weeks that he's trying to tell us he ONLY likes cola and he doesn't want to drink anything else. He says he's SOOOOO thirsty, but we offer him water, juice, milk and he says no, he doesn't like anything but cola. Well, that's just not going to fly. He's a very picky eater and I always make sure there's SOMETHING he likes...he doesn't ever HAVE to eat anything he doesn't like. And MOST of the time, if he asks for something, we say yes. But cola before bedtime just isn't good for him and drinking nothing but cola isn't healthy. And he LOVED milk up until about a week ago...and then he says he only likes milk at Oma and Opa's house. Yeah...they have the same brand of milk we do. It's not that he doesn't like it, he just wanted cola and thought he could trick us into giving it to him. I wasn't born yesterday.

Oy. I've seen that age. It was just never about food and beverage at our house.

 

[Gabe1]

This reminds me of the basement cabinet my parents used for storing liquor (they had parties every few months with their friends). My father also had a bar set up in the (finished) basement. Anyway, it was never locked. . Guess what? My siblings and I left it alone; it wasn't forbidden, so no temptation there.

The only time it was invaded was when the parents went on a cruise, and one of my brothers invited his pals over. One of them "discovered" the closet, and "helped" himself . . . . got drunk as a skunk. When my parents returned a few days later, my brother had some explaining to do . . . Yet aside of that one incident (and it was his friend, not him), we could have cared less.

Yeah, never even went down that road. Thinking back I think we had a respect for our folks 'stuff.' Mess with anything that wasn't ours and we knew we'd get knocked upside the head in general.

 

[Gabe1]

Another TREASURE---Barney Miller was another excellent ensemble cast show that really hit the mark.

True story: Back in the 70s, Hal Linden (who played Barney's role), was pulled over by a N.Y. cop for some sort of traffic violation (something minor). When the cop approached the car, Hal handed him his license and registration. The cop took one look at it and realized who he was---cop immediately let him go. According to the article that I read, the backstory to that was the image portrayed by the Barney Miller captain in the show (intelligent, fair, compassionate) scored huge marks with the PD. Up until that point on TV, nothing much had really portrayed them in a positive light.

And that worked. Interestingly Barney Miller had a very diverse staffing at the Precinct. All races, all ages, personalities along with a common bond.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Sorry it's not happening this year.

I was out voted on the turkey this year, there will be 12 of us for Christmas dinner and we are out most day so we will do raclette in the evening. It is easy and we can have lots of different food to suit everyone's tastes. Still going to miss my turkey thou...

Wow! That must make your Christmas like our Thanksgiving. Just a special family time without the financial commitment to presents.

Yes, traditionally the Dutch don't do presents at Christmas. Our present day is 5 December, the birthday of Sinterklaas. However since none of the adults ever need more stuff we usually just agree to do something nice together, like dinner in a fancy restaurant or a day out instead of wasting money on presents no one wants. It also cuts down on the stress of thinking of something to buy

 

[Figgy1]

Yep, I’m only about 300 pages behind...

Welcome back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Figgy1]

It takes about a second to take a pic...you don't hafta' set up a tripod or anything. Most of the rest of us seem to be able to do it as you request...!

My New Year's resolutions this year will be
1 take pics without thumb and blur
2 remember to have memory in my camera, that will take some doing because my dh either borrows my memory or my camera
when he uses his for work
3 Learn to take pics from the camera and transfer them to the computer
4 Eat healthier
Sadly they all have about the same odds

 

[Figgy1]

I was out voted on the turkey this year, there will be 12 of us for Christmas dinner and we are out most day so we will do raclette in the evening. It is easy and we can have lots of different food to suit everyone's tastes. Still going to miss my turkey thou...


Yes, traditionally the Dutch don't do presents at Christmas. Our present day is 5 December, the birthday of Sinterklaas. However since none of the adults ever need more stuff we usually just agree to do something nice together, like dinner in a fancy restaurant or a day out instead of wasting money on presents no one wants. It also cuts down on the stress of thinking of something to buy

Our big present day is Christmas and the boys get something small for Hanukkah

 

[Figgy1]

Happy small business Saturday. Remember bakeries and delis count

 

[MinnieM123]

So hubs loves to put up Christmas lights and decorations outside but can't this year because of his ankle but he asked a church member to put of the nativity and the new Christmas schnauzer he bought a couple months ago. The schnauzer is cute so when Kapono and I finished our walk today in the sunny 57 degree weather I took a picture of her and the decoration. She wasn't too thrilled with it.
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LOVE this!!