Last time I visited the south, there wasn't anything "new" about it... being from the north, I was mortified at the way some things are still done.

That's another problem with the gun culture... alcohol, and the imbibing thereof, does not go well with guns... just another showing of irresponsibility.

Ammo is very reasonably priced at WallyWorld. K-Mart doesn't have much of anything anymore... it's hard to believe Sears is part of it all.

Thanks Carolyn. That was soooo nice of you. I also sent you a little gift. I wasn't going to tell you what, but what the heck. It's a subscription to "Catasetum & Carnage". Hope you like it.

K

jodik wrote,

"Last time I visited the south, there wasn't anything "new" about it... being from the north, I was mortified at the way some things are still done."

Perhaps, you can expand on that sentence?

Good grief. That is beyond hysterical.

*wanders off to peruse the latest issue of "Paphs and Petards"*

"Catasetum & Carnage" and "Paphs and Petards"...

You're making me hot. I want them on my coffee table!

You're making me fall outta my chair!!

I dare not expound, Stitz, lest this turn into a racial war... let's just say that some folks still seem to be a little miffed that the Confederacy didn't win the war, and leave it at that.

I'm still waiting for my first issue of "Ammies & Ammo"!

Funny stuff...

jodik you need to hang with a better crowd the next time you venture south of the Mason-Dixon line :>)

Brooke

Fortunately, when I drive into Pennsylvania next wk, I won't encounter "hostile" people. It's amazing how tolerant people are. Even people around Gettysburg got over the "War"! :-)

I don't think it was the crowd I was with, Brooke, they're all great people... I think it was the mixed races within that crowd that did us in...

We were at a dog show about an hour outside of Chattanooga, and we all went for breakfast at a Denny's... there were six of us in the group... one was a lovely woman of Asian descent, and another was our dear friend, Willy, an African American, and a phenominal breeder of AB's. The host and waitress at that Denny's seated and took orders, brought food and gave guest checks, to about half a dozen other tables before they ever came to take our order or bring coffee! We were completely ignored, and it seemed like a chore for the waitress to even come over and do her job!

I could not believe my eyes! I've never been so insulted in my entire life! I was so angry... I really wanted to "have a word" with the host, but everyone told me that it's just how things are done, and I should just grin and bear it, and not make a fuss.

That was about 8 years ago... and it still makes me mad when I think about it! What made our group any less important than anyone else who paid to eat breakfast at that Denny's?

So, there it is... I found quite a few people from the south to be more prejudiced than anyone I've ever encountered. I know that people everywhere are prejudiced, but most keep it to themselves, and it's not a public display!

Just to be fair... the trip we took to New Orleans about 12 years ago was wonderful... the people were great, the food was fantastic, the music was awesome... no problems with anyone. All around, a great vacation!

So, what's with the people around the Chattanooga area? I suppose if I had slipped to the waitress that I, myself, was of mixed blood, all h*ll would have broken loose!

It's too bad you are letting one bizarre incident color your view of the south and it's residents. Having adopted the south as my home, I find everyone to be gracious and very giving, even in Chattanooga.

Brooke

Another thread taking a different turn.

Anyone read 'Guns & Gongoras'? I only read it for the articles ;)

Carolyn

I think that other "turn of conversation" should cease. Remember the last time we did that and all the nastiness that ensued? Not doing that again. Nope. Don't like warning messages from GW.

Back to reading my 'Pleuros & Paranoia'. For some reason I feel like I shouldn't even try to grow these.

Oh, no no, Brooke... don't get me wrong... I'm not letting one incident color (interesting choice of words) my entire view of the south... as I mentioned, other trips have been wonderful... that one incident certainly does stand out, though, and I can't help but wonder how many southerners still feel that way about things...

Don't worry, folks... the last thing I want is another flame war!

I was just speaking with someone yesterday, as a matter of fact, about how so many typed things on the internet get misinterpreted, and how so many dry jokes are mistaken for meanness... and how so many people go beyond what's typed and inject meaning where there is none. It's a shame we can't see or hear the expressions and intonations of others when they type... I'd bet that more than half of the arguments wouldn't even start.

I wonder what our forefathers would think if they could see our society now? We've become afraid to express ourselves honestly for fear of stepping on toes, or saying something that might be a tad politically incorrect. We're so worried about what the next guy thinks, that we forget it's what we think that's important, when it comes to our own values and ethics, that is.

I know I come off as abrasive... I'm more open and forward and opinionated than a lot of females. I'm sorry if it offends anyone... it's not my intention, at all. My humor is a bit dry, perhaps twisted, even... but it's in good fun. I never write with hidden meanings... what you see is what you get.

Back to my current issue of "Garden & Grenade"...

jodik wrote,

"It's a shame we can't see or hear the expressions and intonations of others when they type..." [on the internet]

It is what it is. The same can be said about speech--it is what it is. Loose lips sink ships.

the best of all time!
ORCHIDS & ORDNANCE

OK, putting aside the latest issue of "Cypripediums and Cyanide" with it's fascinating analysis of at least two meanings of the word "capsule" I just have to add...

...OK, I have nothing to add that won't make things worse. And really I just wanted to say "Cypripediums and Cyanide."

Off to start a new thread we'll ALL enjoy. Even the Southerners ;)

Does that mean you too think southerners are special?

Brooke

Born Californian, raised Ohioan, past life Confederate, I won't mention the BAD Chicago incident, DAMN YANKEES !!!

Can't you people be quiet while I'm reading my "Cannons & Catasetums" ???

Chryss

Personally, I think everyone is special... until they prove me wrong.

I think that opinions should be able to be expressed... without having to add a disclaimer to every post, indicating how it should be taken.

But anyway... I'm out of magazines to read... guess I'll go check on my orchids... see if I left my .380 next to the Epidendrums.

I want that mini 14 Catt. that just came on the market , also who swiped my Phrags. & Prey magazine ?

I just really looked at the articles listed on the cover. What's the oyster one about? I love oysters!

It's odd. Just kind of a fashion spread. No recipes, no nothin'.

(Note the American flag. Think that's just an accident?)
{{gwi:134869}}

The Oyster Roast
There's no better way to celebrate fall than with a load of oysters and a bunch of friends. And nobody does it in better style than jewelry designer Jane Pope and her fiance, Tyler Cooper.

Vest by Filson $108; hoddie by Splendid Mills, $239, shirt by Eddie Bauer $39.50; pants by Ermenegildo Zega $295

Quite frankly, I think she could have done better. I certainly wouldn't want to shuck any oysters with him. Bet he has a big bank account.

Forgot to say:

$681.50 to look like you just finished your shopping trip to Target.

$681 to look daggy? Do not forget that wonderful word.

Strine is one of my foreign languages, easier to read than to speak. Bring it ON, mate!

Who the heck spends that much on an outfit to shuck oysters in? I've never even spent that much to dress fancy for a big occasion! I guess some of us are smarter shoppers!

My next purchase will be a Lady Smith .357 revolver... nice weight and balance in the smaller female hand, but still with decent stopping power!

Jodi,
Word of advice, .357 in a short barrel is EXTREMELY hard to handle !! Use .38 specials in it and you'll be MUCH more confident and ACCURATE as a result !! A main advantage of the .357 is the use of .38's in it also. .38 special wadcutters are famous for their inherent accuracy ! If you can't read my scrawling on the pix = that's 12 .38 wadcutters from my Colt Python offhand at 25 feet !!! One chamber turned out to be a tad off center !

{{gwi:134870}}

Chryss

It's been a while since I've handled handguns... I liked the Lady Smith last time I handled one, though... it was a lot more accurate and easier to handle than the models made for a man's hand. It's either the Lady's model, or I rather like the Walther line of handguns. My last handgun, a Colt Mustang, had the annoying habit of jamming every few shots... but, they're known for that, I found out. I sold it. It'll be a while before I actually purchase another handgun... I'm saving for a few orchids right now!

I spent a lot of time handling guns when I was younger... target shooting and hunting... and, I've shot quite a few different models of weaponry in my lifetime, including black powder pistols, which I don't really care for... my favorite .22 rifle is a Marlin lever action... talk about dead on! Favorite .12 gauge shotgun? Toss up between an Ithaca and the Remington 870... the husband would choose the Ithaca, I'm sure.

I really should have the husband take me shooting again sometime... it's been way too long. We used to have so much fun! The last time he took me hunting with him, I tripped going through a barbed wire fence and landed on my butt in the mud! We were out coon hunting at night... great memories...

Me too ! You couldn't see the date on the pix but it was '92 ! I used to compete in NRA Handgun Silhouette competitions and was in the top 10% in the three states around here = MD, VA, NC ! Was a blast but then the more I wanted to get better the MORE time it was consuming ! I'd come home after work and load competition bullets every night for at least 2 hours. Weekends went like this = Sat-practice, Sun-compete or practice, practice or compete, compete !!! Saw more of all my guns than my live in significant other !!! Dropped it all but .22 competition when what it took to go pro became evident ! OF COURSE, you know that I was ALWAYS going hunting in between all the competition !!!

Great times !!! Let me tell you about us competitors sitting around the campfire in NC (was a two day event) and finding out that most of the locals (when the conversation went that way) were KKK !!!! The hair on the back of my neck felt like porcupine quills !! Interesting how my mixed race buddy and I (being his buddy) weren't messed with AT ALL !! You suppose it was because EVERYONE there KNEW that EVERYONE there had GUNS and was VERY GOOD with them ???? Gee, can you tell how sarcastic I'm being without hearing the tone of my voice ?? THAT WAS a VERY enlightening evening !!

C-

All three of my children have been shooting and hunting since they were very young... heck, I raised them on venison! I've never shot competition, but I have been out in the blind before sunrise many times, and have had more wild game butchered in my kitchen than I'd care to remember cleaning up after!

When I was very young, we'd reload our own cases of cheap Federal shotgun shells, so there were plenty for weekend target shooting... we'd load a few boxes with one or two pellets only, and the rest cream of wheat... especially for those who came to participate, but never brought their own shells! LOL! It was a riot watching them try to hit the clay pigeons, missing them all pretty much, and wondering why! Target practice can get expensive!

Now that the kids are grown, the guns sit in their cases gathering dust... we pull them out every so often to rid the area of a destructive wild animal, or to thin out the coydog population... I'd like to go hunting more often than we do now, but life has changed a lot since the kids were young. Who knows? Maybe the grandkids will grow up and want Grandpa and Grandma to take them hunting and fishing. That would be great! I'd really enjoy teaching them!

What a great Gramma and Grampa to have !! Mine were but I'm the only one in my family to be involved with guns. My sister married an outdoorsman and my nephew was raised with hunting and guns. I gave him a Ruger Single Six .22/.22Magnum revolver for his 10th birthday under his dad's supervision of course. He's now living in Colorado, just got married, has his own daughter (that means I'm a Great Uncle, but I ALREADY WAS !) and fills his spare time hunting elk, and mule deer and I don't even know what else up there !! Haven't visited him since he moved but I will !!!

Ahhhhhhh, VENISON !!!! My sister and brother-in-law's family lived on it for a while !!! Got me hooked on it for sure ! Last time I visited them we took a short trip to Cabela's HQ somewhere in Michigan, I think it was ! FANTASTIC place !! I've been buying out of their catalog for about 30 years now !!! They had a restaurant in their incredible building and I had an elk sandwich for lunch !!! They also had a floor to ceiling HU-U-U-U-GE aquarium with the BIGGEST TROUT I've EVER SEEN !!!! These were the kind of trout to die for !!!! AMAZING !!!! Get a chance, check it out for yourself !! You won't be sorry !!!

Chryss

We regularly get Cabela's catalog... the newest edition is in the bathroom library, I believe! Our favorite place to shop was always Gander Mountain in lower Wisconsin... I'm not even sure if the store is there anymore... it's been a very long time since we bought hunting supplies!

I could fish before I could walk! My Dad was a huge fisherman! He took us kids camping and fishing every opportunity he got, and he took a two week portaging trip to Canada every year with three of his buddies. In fact, their last trip up was to spread the ashes of one of the group who passed away, on an island up where they usually went, in the middle of nowhere, on a river... they'd get flown in by pontoon plane. What a trip, I imagine... 4 guys, 2 canoes loaded with supplies, for 2 weeks. I never got to go... no girls allowed! They'd come back all scruffy and smelly, with coolers full of fish on dry ice!

My Dad passed away many years ago, but he left me with wonderful memories of many trips fishing and camping all over the US! My husband has always been an avid hunter, and we've taken the kids fishing a lot, too. My boys both have nice guns and bows... they've been hunting with their Dad quite a bit. Even my daughter has been hunting with Dad and the boys!

As for venison... there's a huge difference in the flavor of the meat, depending on where you hunt. Around us, it's all corn fed... the meat is like tender beef! You go up north farther, where the deer are eating acorns and stuff, and the meat tastes bitter and nasty. Good venison doesn't need to be cooked with onions or garlic to hide the taste! LOL! And the wild turkey around here is really good, too... I've eaten a lot of game in my day... pigeon, dove, squirrel, pheasant, duck, goose, etc... ever had barbequed whistlepig? Not bad, really... for a large rodent! LOL! My husband says crow actually tastes really good, although, I've never tried it.

When I lived in PA, I spent one entire summer doing not much else but fishing the old mine lakes... ate a lot of catfish that summer! We'd spend the day bass fishing, and when the sun went down, we'd set out catfish lines. Good eatin'!

I hope the Grandkids develop a love for the outdoors, and for hunting and fishing... with my kids as parents, they probably will!

Well, I just received the September issue of Firing at Phals. Those who know me, know that I only get this one for the pictures!

I have yet to receive Kev's Catasetum & Carnage and the newest Tolumnia as Targets. So I eagerly check the mailbox every day.

(OK, I once had Bambi chili - tasted like...um, well, chili.)

Carolyn

Finally, someone who admits they get Firing at Phals for the pics and not the articles.

I'm waiting for some reviews on Tolumnia as Targets before a spend the money on it. Times are tough so need to hear it is worth the money before I get another magazine.

Thankfully Bambi doesn't taste like chicken - I get enough chicken taste through frog legs.

Brooke

Frog legs... something I never could develop a taste for, right along with octopus and squid.

Chicken tastes like chicken... nothing else I've ever eaten has, though... what am I missing?

Venison chili is good, but there's nothing like a tender venison steak, served with a fresh salad and a side of my Dad's special "potatoes n' onions"!

Forget the magazines... I'm gettin' hungry!

I've been dying to try venison...I want to know what 'gamey' tastes like. I've had duck, and someone's described that as being gamey...and I love that duck taste! I also like that taste that's very unique to lamb and mutton..and someone else told me that was gamey.

Tried bison once and it tasted like juicy beef! Yum.

LOVE squid, and octopus...I love eating and trying everything...the only meat that I've had that kinda grosses me out is chicken hearts

Gamey is a hard one to describe. I guess the only way I could take a stab at it would be to say "very full flavored". I'm not sure if I would call the flavor strong, but it's very pronounced.

Chicken hearts! I love those little things. When my Mom would fry up a mess of chicken, she would also fry the gizzards, liver and heart. We always fought over the heart. I liked to examine it after I bit into it. You could see the little chambers and aorta and cool things like that. Gizzards were kind of good too - nice and chewy. You always hoped that it was cleaned very thoroughly before hand. Biting into sand and gravel wasn't all that fun.

I would have to say that good venison isn't "gamey" at all, and tastes like really good, rich beef... full-flavored, if you will.

If a meat tastes "gamey", it's usually because the animal has not been on a very decent diet. I find venison from northern Wisconsin to be quite nasty and gamey, and has an odor when cooked, but the local venison is all corn and grain fed, eating from farm fields, so the meat is excellently flavored.

The best duck is domestic Muscovy, which lacks that grease common to wild hunted duck. Domestic rabbit is also much better than wild rabbit, and healthier.

I love the hearts, gizzards and livers of chicken, and turkey, for that matter! My husband refuses to eat the "organs that filter the body" as he put it. He says it would be like eating the oil filter from a car, figuratively speaking. I don't care... more for me!

While I love most seafood, raw oysters on the half shell included, I just can't stomach squid or octopus. The local Chinese buffet has these dishes that include tiny little octopus and squid, some whole and some cut into pieces, depending on the dish. They just don't look appetizing in the least! My husband swears that calamari is excellent... if cooked properly. He also says that not many places in the Midwest do it justice! That, I can believe!

Speaking of biting into sand and gravel in a gizzard... it reminds me of biting into pheasant and getting that one piece of buckshot that was missed in the cleaning process! Talk about making your teeth hurt!

I'm hungry again!

I'm surprised I've been subscribing to Catts & Carbines since i got out of the army (those who know me know the truth on that matter)and interestingly while i was in the south for almost four years i never had a problem with the race thing, heck....

..Unfortunately thanks to those Damn liberals in northern cali my friend in Nevada is holding on to my baby

Why is it that when the word traditional is used in those areas, it usually accompanies dilapidated appliances and black mold?

Gaston

Well Gaston, please tell us more about your baby! How big and what does it eat?

Oh the lies I was told by 1 authority about taking my 'baby' on a road trip within the state! I knew what the laws were, but I asked because DH and had been treated very differently, so I was curious about how the law would be interpreted for me. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk! I guess that man didn't think us girls should travel that way.

Carolyn

"He says it would be like eating the oil filter from a car" ! Had me rolling on the floor, Jodi !!! Haven't stopped chuckling yet !! Myself, I LOVE everything but the gizzards !! Chicken hearts used to be packaged up by the pound and I'd buy 4 or 5 and freeze the rest !! With scrambled eggs for breakfast it doesn't get any better ! Wel-l-l-l, maybe chicken livers and eggs !!!

Every now and then I do sushi and the only ones (tried them all) I like and get constantly is octopus and smoked eel (which, technically, isn't sushi). The octopus is sliced very thin which makes it chewy but tender, similar to hearts.

Gamey, to me, is like mutton versus lamb. Mutton is like spoiled lamb. My die hard outdoorsman BIL says that if the venison is "gamey" it wasn't cleaned properly. When you gut a deer you can spoil the meat by improper or ignorant technique. If you touch the glands on the legs and touch the meat it taints it. That's a "gamey" taste you DON'T want to try !!!

Chryss

Since I'm usually the one who cleans up the mess AFTER dressing and butchering takes place, I forgot all about the gland issue! Other items you don't really want to puncture while cleaning are the bladder and intestines... gross!

Sushi is not for me, thanks... I once researched and wrote an article on canine worms, and I found out some interesting facts about raw fish and worm eggs. I'll stick to cooked foods! Makes me feel better to know that pretty much everything has been killed by the high temperature of the cooking process!

Mutton, I don't like... leg of lamb is not bad, roasted with garlic and rosemary, and served with raw onion rings.

My husband won't eat tomatoes, either... I can't really tell you why... let's just say that he has a vivid imagination, and somehow his brain correlates tomatoes and women. Enough said on that subject!

I'm not so sure I'd like chicken parts with eggs... but I have developed a taste for scrambled eggs slathered in ketchup... go figure! I recall when KFC carried fried chicken livers and gizzards... haven't seen them offered for a very long time. I just throw the items in the roasting pan along with the chicken, and since no one else cares for them, they're mine! I have to sneak them in, though... the husband doesn't even like to see them in the same pan with the bird! God forbid if I ever try to cook calves liver in the house! And I happen to like liver and onions!

He's weird about several food items... and I have no idea where it comes from... we were both raised on Bohemian cooking. For a guy that will kill and dress almost any animal, he sure is a wimp about eating certain foods!

whats the thing with liver and onions, I likd meats but an organ used to filter blood? i think it's digusting, some of my friends like it, I'll eat calve brains though but my friends won't go near them, it's interesting to see how tastes differ from one person to another, and sushi, don't get me started, I can't stand the taste of most cooked fish

Gaston, I'm with your friends...I eat liver, stomach, tripe and tongue, but the thought of eating brains grosses me out the extent that I don't think I could ever touch it. Theoretically it's all just protein, although doesn't brain stuff like prions, which can screw you over?

Once I had worm, when I was traveling in South Africa. It was being cooked in a vat of bubbling sauce, and the worms really looked like they were alive, flopping around on the buffet table. Tasted decent, kinda like rolled up chicken skin...but then just seeing that half eaten worm on my plate made me gag.

By the way, has anyone paused to reflect on the fact that crabs, shrimp and lobsters are just huge ocean bugs? When I had that revelation it nearly turned me off seafood, but I got over myself.

My husband never fails to mention the fact that shrimp and other seafood are nothing but bottom feeders, eating things we don't want to think about! He always lets me know that if the shrimp isn't deveined, I'm eating its poop. As long as it's cooked, I enjoy most fish and seafood... although, mercury levels keep me from eating too much these days. The fish oil caplets I take are purified to remove mercury and other chemicals.

Every once in a while, I get an odd craving for liver and onions... liver and bacon is good, too... I believe it's my body letting me know that I need more iron. Most food cravings can be traced to the body's need for whatever vitamin or mineral that food contains.

That's exactly how my husband describes liver... it filters the blood and is not unlike a car's filter system... but we wouldn't eat that!

Brains, I've never tried... tripe, I don't like... tongue, it's ok but I've never had a decently cooked piece! And, I'm not sure I could eat worms or some of the other things considered regular fare or delicacies in other countries.

When I lived on the dairy farm as a youth, we bought around 6 feeder pigs every year. Those pigs would eat up all the leftover and spoiled grains, the leftover milk from the pipeline, the pitched produce from the local grocery... we fed them out and had them butchered for Christmas gifts each year. We had a neighbor that would come by and beg for the heads of those pigs... to make head cheese with! I found that to be most disturbing at the time, and still find the thought of head cheese to be rather disgusting!

Seeing and learning first hand where some of our foods come from is rather eye-opening... but eating it fresh is so much better than buying it and eating it after it has been processed and preserved and pumped full of water and chemicals and dyes!

It's interesting to find out what others prefer or dislike in the "strange foods" department! I'll try almost anything once... but if it's not cooked well, it sort of turns me off to eating it a second time.

I think I would probably eat just about anything as long it was in small pieces, was not easily recognizable as to what it was or where it came from and I didn't have to prepare it.

I know I've had sweetbreads (thymus gland) at some upscale event and it didn't bother me. I'm not sure if I've tried brains. Maybe.

My parents often made tongue when I was growing up. I would never try it because I saw the whole, ugly thing sitting there before they cooked it. Just couldn't get that image out of my mind. Now if I were served small pieces of tongue at someones home, I'm sure I would eat them just because of the pressure not to be rude or labeled a fussy eater. I hate, hate, hate fussy eaters!!

In reality, raw chicken really grosses me out. I just hate handling it too much, but I still love eating it. Bloody, raw meat doesn't bother me at all.

Another "food" item I've never tried, and probably never will, are "Rocky Mountain Oysters". I refuse to eat the reproductive parts of any animal!

Handling and preparing foods doesn't bother me... the part that bothers me is putting some things in my mouth, chewing them, and then getting the pieces down my throat!

I don't like fussy eaters, either... my kids rarely complained about what was served, but if they did, I'd say, "We don't have a drive-up window on the side of the house. This is what we're having... join us or be hungry." They were good little eaters. They still are!

I know several people that will prepare separate things for each kid or family member, asking each what they want for dinner... and the worst part is, the meals are never nutritionally balanced. At our house, you ate what I put on the table, or you went hungry... simple as that. My kids were normal weight, active, and healthy... and actually spent a lot of time outdoors playing, as opposed to laying around playing video games! They never even picked things out of their food, like green peppers or onions... they tried new things without a problem, and if they really didn't like something, I wouldn't make it again.

I always vowed not to be like my Mom... but I admit... I raised my kids very close to how she raised me! I'm not a fussy eater, at all!

ugh...My parents were even more strict when it came to the dinner table. If I didn't eat what was on my plate at dinner time I didn't eat anything else until it was finished. It would get fed to me cold for breakfast or lunch the next day if I continued to be stubborn. Needless to say, I'm not a picky eater now. I love cooking and I hate it when others refuse to at least try what I make. That being said, I still avoid organ meats when I can...

Tyler

Mmmm,
Tripe & Tolumnia?
Gizzards & Gonora?
Sweet breads & Stanhopea?
Tongue & Triglottis?
Liver & Lockhartia?

I can only drool over these since I've already 'blown' my magazine budget!

Carolyn

I clearly recall being very well-behaved at the dinner table, waiting to eat until my Dad came home and sat down, using proper table manners, and having to eat what was placed before me. When finished, a polite "may I be excused" was expected before leaving the table... we ate with the utensils in our right hands, didn't pick through our food, didn't sing or goof around at the table... and were reminded quite often of all the starving children in other less fortunate countries that would certainly appreciate a meal as good as the one in front of us!

In order to get out of eating something especially vile, one needed to be on the verge of choking to death! Lima beans were feared as the most awful of things to swallow, and some meals took a long time to finish! I survived, though, and went on to become a mediocre cook... and my children survived their childhood dinners, as well!

These days, it's just myself and the husband... meals are whenever we want, whatever we want, and usually in front of the computer or television. Having the health that I do, I try to keep chemicals and preservatives out of my system, but I was cursed with the need to feed on chocolate and sugared baked goods! I'll be really good for several months, keeping strict healthy eating habits, and then I fall off the wagon and no Entenmann's cinnamon rolls or Little Debbie Swiss Rolls in the tri- county area are safe!

My husband is a fabulous cook... way better than I am... his cheesecake is revered by all who know us! He does amazing things with food, and although it means I get stuck with clean-up, I'd much rather give the kitchen over to him on Holidays, or whenever we gather as a family to eat! You can be assured that his meals never include organ meats, or body filters, as he calls them! If I must have liver and onions, it needs to be ordered at a restaurant, and I'm not allowed a doggie bag! LOL!

"Orchids & Organs" - "A complete guide to field dressing and re-potting."