The Coffee House

[jeffashman11 2]

I love it!

What a gorgeous kitty!

A free gift from heaven... my wife brought a stray home and it downloaded four little ones within a month. We have two of them and my youngest son has the mama and the other two kittens. The little boy Atticus (pictured above) loves to climb on my shoulders while I'm working or in a meeting.

 

[jeffashman11 2]

In other news, made a fresh batch of biscuits in my new cast iron pan. Altered my recipe just a tad, DW claimed they were the best ones to date!!! Making progress.

I love cast iron! We have the standard 12" fry pan and a humongous 17" pan that I use in the oven. I'm hoping to get a nice 5 or 6 quart Dutch Oven in the not too far future for things like cobbler or chicken with lemons and orzo.

 

[smoke665]

I love cast iron! We have the standard 12" fry pan and a humongous 17" pan that I use in the oven. I'm hoping to get a nice 5 or 6 quart Dutch Oven in the not too far future for things like cobbler or chicken with lemons and orzo.

We have a little bit of everything cast iron. At one time we were big into camp fire cooking, Dutch ovens, skillets, griddles. I fabricated our fire irons/hangers/grill, etc from scrap iron around the shop. We could do a complete meal including bread and dessert over a campfire. Even have a set of 8 small single serve skillets for Timballo and other similar recipes, plus a couple large enameled cast iron Dutch ovens (DW won't let me touch those) Maybe its my imagination, but I swear everything cooked in cast iron tastes better.

 

[snowbear116 47]

I have had artificial Christmas trees for 60 years. We tried a real tree about 30 years ago and it went completely dry before Christmas, and I itched like crazy every time I touched it. It came down and the artificial went up on Christmas Eve.

Well, I guess Maine is changing me: I brought a real spruce home yesterday. MLSIL, and to a lesser extent MLW were asking for one and I have a hard time resisting my ladies. We still have the artificial "pencil" tree up so the spruce will go between it and the "fireplace." MLSIL can water it daily.

 

[jeffashman11 2]

I have had artificial Christmas trees for 60 years. We tried a real tree about 30 years ago and it went completely dry before Christmas, snd I itched like crazy every time I touched it. It came down and the artificial went up on Christmas Eve.

Well, I guess Maine is changing me: I brought a real spruce home yesterday. MLSIL, and to a lesser extent MLW were asking for one and I have a hard time resisting my ladies. We still have the artificial "pencil" tree up so the spruce will go between it and the "fireplace." MLSIL can water it daily.

Back when we did the tree thing, we would get a small live tree and after the holidays we would donate it to a group that would than plant it.

 

[cgw117 142]

A free gift from heaven... my wife brought a stray home and it downloaded four little ones within a month. We have two of them and my youngest son has the mama and the other two kittens. The little boy Atticus (pictured above) loves to climb on my shoulders while I'm working or in a meeting.
View attachment 292490

That growth on your shoulders and neck! Hoping you've gotten some consults on surgical removal. Scarring should be minor. That fur, though...

 

[cgw117 142]

I love cast iron! We have the standard 12" fry pan and a humongous 17" pan that I use in the oven. I'm hoping to get a nice 5 or 6 quart Dutch Oven in the not too far future for things like cobbler or chicken with lemons and orzo.

Have a big Lodge skillet I use carefully on a new glass top electric range. Most used hunk of iron is a flat top insert for my little Weber gas grill. Perfect for small orders of kebobs, shrimp, squid and anything else skewered. Total sucker for Creuset enameled cast iron. Pricey, heavy but so good for braises, stews, and whole chickens in their big-a$$ 6.7 l Dutch oven. Make sourdough cornbread in the big Lodge. Perfect!

 

[terri35 7]

A free gift from heaven... my wife brought a stray home and it downloaded four little ones within a month. We have two of them and my youngest son has the mama and the other two kittens. The little boy Atticus (pictured above) loves to climb on my shoulders while I'm working or in a meeting.
View attachment 292490

You have been chosen!

Friends for life. I really love this light coat of his. He's an understated beauty.

How cute it must be to have him accompanying you during meetings.

 

[CherylL1]

Two photo sessions done and edited. One more session tomorrow. Hats off to people that do this for a living. On one of the FB photographer groups they were telling their horror stories of kids trashing the displays or tearing down the backdrops. A few people told how their lighting equipment was knocked over and broken. Glad the few family/friends I take photos have respectful children. Some photographers have in their contracts that they will stop a session with unruly children and parents are liable for any damages. Guess you have to cover everything in the contract. The only thing that happened when I had the 5 grands was my flooring got bunched up. Easy fix to re-tape.

 

[cgw117 142]

You have been chosen!

Friends for life. I really love this light coat of his. He's an understated beauty.

How cute it must be to have him accompanying you during meetings.

Two photo sessions done and edited. One more session tomorrow. Hats off to people that do this for a living. On one of the FB photographer groups they were telling their horror stories of kids trashing the displays or tearing down the backdrops. A few people told how their lighting equipment was knocked over and broken. Glad the few family/friends I take photos have respectful children. Some photographers have in their contracts that they will stop a session with unruly children and parents are liable for any damages. Guess you have to cover everything in the contract. The only thing that happened when I had the 5 grands was my flooring got bunched up. Easy fix to re-tape.

Thought there was a contract provision that kids had to be properly sedated before the shoot?

 

[smoke665]

My very limited and probably last run of Jalepeno Fig wine is in the bottle. A few months aging are in order

 

[cgw117 142]

My very limited and probably last run of Jalepeno Fig wine is in the bottle. A few months aging are in orderView attachment 292566

Doesn't this stuff cause neurological damage? If not, I'm not interested! Channeling Hunter S. Thompson tonite...

 

[SquarePeg37 8]

I have had artificial Christmas trees for 60 years. We tried a real tree about 30 years ago and it went completely dry before Christmas, snd I itched like crazy every time I touched it. It came down and the artificial went up on Christmas Eve.

Well, I guess Maine is changing me: I brought a real spruce home yesterday. MLSIL, and to a lesser extent MLW were asking for one and I have a hard time resisting my ladies. We still have the artificial "pencil" tree up so the spruce will go between it and the "fireplace." MLSIL can water it daily.

Haven’t had a live tree since the sappy pine needles attack of 2002. I love our fake tree. It twinkles so prettily and I can leave it up as long as I want. Although, typically I take it all \down on New Year’s Day - I like to start the year with a fresh and uncluttered house.

 

[cgw117 142]

Haven’t had a live tree since the sappy pine needles attack of 2002. I love our fake tree. It twinkles so prettily and I can leave it up as long as I want. Although, typically I take it all \down on New Year’s Day - I like to start the year with a fresh and uncluttered house.

I finally succumbed to a fake tree Christmas 2020 when the pandemic upended almost everything.
What came in a big Amazon box ended the headache of finding a real tree. Since then, the usual tonnage of ornaments, lights and favorite kitsch totally camouflages the not bad facsimile. Substitute enough conifer biomass around the place to cover the absence of the real thing.

 

[smoke665]

Doesn't this stuff cause neurological damage? If not, I'm not interested! Channeling Hunter S. Thompson tonite...

No neurologist issues but been a few morning headaches I've made about 25 gallons this year. I'll be starting another 5 gallons this week.