Ha! Nor your bagels for a crowd!

@Sir Ironwood!! Yippee!! So glad to see your smiling face back! You were missed!! That "bad 50" will be toast!! Only the "good 50" is allowed!! xoxo

@Mr Ironwood! There will be no 'bad 50'... it simply just won't be permitted! So happy to see you back, even for a check in... you've been missed and worried about! Get rest, do as you're told and kick this thing out for good! xoxo

@David of Ironwood.

Live life one hour at a time if you need to. Remember Who is in charge - and it isn't you. You are still here. There is a plan for you.

Remember that there are people all over the world who are acquainted with you and hope/wish/pray for your recovery.

"When you are walking through hell, keep on walking."

I have an oven of sorts Angela, but it only bakes - top shelf for edible, middle shelf for charcoal. Lucky I no longer cook for crowds. It was such a good oven with a lot of features. One feature I particularly like that modern ovens rarely have is a warming drawer - that still works too. Was always great for really heating plates to keep food warm or for keeping food hot if I didn't time the cooking of multiple dishes correctly.

Gosh, Ez, you have the most beautiful way with words. Do you ever write poetry?

I have never been good with the broiler. I decided this winter to try and broil a steak, what mistake. House filled up with smoke, smoke detector went off, opened all the windows on a -15 degree night. And what a mess in the broiler pan and oven.

Never. Again.

@kimdee! Yes!! Many times we have charbroiled something just horribly...all doors and windows opened!!

@Jayme -- yes, I have decided that if it's too cold out to BBQ, then I'll just have to pan fry a steak. Or go out for dinner. I guess I'm doing it wrong or something, IDK.

My oven had a very deep dish pretty much the width and depth of the oven with a removeable grill rack at the bottom of it and a shallower dish you put water in before sitting the deep dish into it. It totally stopped all splattering because of the depth but I often wondered if putting the water in the bottom dish stopped the smoke - I never had that problem at all.

I learned to let it warm up..give it a few minutes..make sure the rack isn't too high then it usually works out...Problem with broiler is..if u stick the food in before it's heated up, a miscalculation can easily take place! (The burning type)!

Don't wonder why I don't cook - well avoid it as much as possible.

Gals! Don't you ever use a timer? Broiling a MR steak at 550F is about three minutes a side. If I can't look at it the entire time I'm cooking it, I use a timer...even if I set it too short and need to give it a few more minutes...just reset the timer! I'm sure I've burned way more food in my restaurant days than you will in a lifetime, but its a real bummer to burn all the crouton you had for the dinner party....done that too! Bobbi, the tissue thing is my new white blood cells thinking my body is an enemy and trying to kill it.

Mr. Ironwood -- Maybe I'll try again... how far from the broiler should it be? (And... I am SO happy to see you posting! Just saying. Really glad!)

Oh... and how did your daughter's competition thing turn out?

Ha ha!! What's a timer? I have it figured out now...but garlic bread is still iffy!! Only because I get distracted and don't watch it!!

You can put it in the oven Roo, the jerk is really about the seasoning, you can even fry it if you want. It is just that the way they did it in Jamaica it taste more authentic on a grill/broil.
http://books.google.com/books?id=uT0cya1czkEC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=drum+pans+in+jamaica+for+jerk&source=bl&ots=O-5Y3eg8oQ&sig=hJStJEMJ1ey-3_X4dM8CnwUdZAY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iIijUermCIea9QTV8YGoAg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=drum%20pans%20in%20jamaica%20for%20jerk&f=false

They use to use steel drums back I the days in Jamaica because they did not have grill or even ovens.

One of the must on the island is how the vendors sell jerk chicken on the side of the road. If you go there it is a must. Jerk is a part of our culture.

@Angela...I am gonna try that Caribbean jerk sauce! But I have never heard of those peppers....My husband likes everything to the EXTREME in heat!! I have to make a milder version of things for myself or I would have no esophagus left!!

Well, I am hoping that it does not rain because it seems that every time that I try to barbeque it rains.

You should Jayme, I can send you a bottle because it is the scotch bonnet peppers that makes it so good.

You can also order the marinade/sauce/paste from Amazon also.

Hi Angela, I have been to Jamaica, and loved the Jerk Chicken! The chefs from the Hotel cooked it on an oil drum barbecue every day, on the beach. Delicious!

@Angela...I have never heard of scotch bonnet peppers...I wonder if we can get them up here? thx btw!!

Roo – A friend sent me an e-mail with a bunch of adorable animal photos, that made me smile, so I’ve been sharing them here & on AARP! They got a raccoon who looks stuck in a bird feeder. He looks like a marsupial, and something that hunts at night.

Bobbi – I know the Governor was at a ribbon-cutting the other day .. something like a 5-mile long ribbon .. to open that section of beach/boardwalk. I came home from shopping this morning, to find a phone message from the police, that President Obama will be touring the shore with the Governor tomorrow, and that some streets will be closed between 9 am & 3 pm, with some offices & stores “inaccessible temporarily” .. now isn’t THAT nice for the rest of us just trying to get around?!

I’ll be glad when the holiday weekend is over, and the President’s gone, and we’re back to “the regulars” parking & walking/biking by the boardwalks!!

I’ve never heard of leaving an oven door partially open, while it’s in use .. no matter what you’re doing .. unless you’re trying to heat up the kitchen as well!! :) I have a double oven, one of which is also convection. The previous owner didn’t leave any user manuals, and when I had a Thermador repairman over to look at something else, when I first moved in, he just said that most people don’t know how to use a convection oven .. so I shouldn’t bother trying! Helpful, right?! I use the broiler often for fish, and the oven for small stuff, so I really don’t need the lower convection oven.

Dave – I use a timer for everything!

Jayme-it is pretty much a Caribbean island product but living here in South Florida where there is a lot of islander you can get pretty much everything as if you are living in Jamaica. The first tree that I planted died because I think that I planted it then moved it to a different spot. I just got one and already getting peppers of the tree. It is one of the hottest pepper in the bunch.

Pick these from my garden.

Busylady-where did you stay when you were there. I went there this past January and stayed in Montego Bay..

@Angela..how do they compare to habaneros?

I'm not a hot pepper afficianado, but this article gives a comparison of pepper "heat", using the scoville unit. Ghost Chilis are in the same range as law enforcement pepper spray! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

@astraea..Thanks..that is interesting!! My husband would love the jerk sauce with those scotch peppers...he is nuts!

I would say hotter Jayme.

Jayme - Do you ever watch the program "Man vs Food" on Travel Channel? Adam Richman goes around the country taking up restaurants on their "challenges" .. sometimes eating a huge portion of food within a set period of time .. to get it free, other times to eat the most spicey food they have on the menu to be listed on a board. I frankly think a show like that encourages people to eat things that really aren't good for them, and certainly not in that quantity. Are they going to let viewers know that a couple years down the line, Adam has an ulcer .. or worse?!

@astraea..I believe I have seen that show!! Kinda gross to gorge like that! Chuck, my husband will eat food so spicy his eyes water, running nose, salivates, etc...not very attractive...I tell him he is ruining my dining experience when I have to look at that!!

I just don't get the concept of eating as a competitive sport, when there are people starving on this planet. I think shows like that should be ashamed of themselves!

it's the flavor of hot spicy food that is important. if there is no substance to it, there is no point in hot burning pepper. Thai peppers are probably among the hottest and they are used IN food :) to enhance flavors. I have a jar full that I use frequently.

Mousemaker - I can understand that, but you have to question whether it's safe eating foods, when the preparers have to wear face masks, goggles & rubber gloves to handle the food .. or when a diner looks like they're about to errupt like a volcano!

i am wondering why some of my plants are not blooming. i have an oak leaf hydrangea that appeared to be fine when i planted it last fall, but now it's just sad..one branch might be greenish :) the rest not so much. i ordered it because i couldn't find one locally. grrrrr I also have a new bush hydrangea that has green around the base but has not produced any leaves. i fertilized it and hovered over it and still nothing...grrrrr and several plants that are supposed to be no problem--tickseed and yarrow--both died!! but the crowning ARRGGHHH is that i planted 3 bulbs of lilium big brother (huge lily blossoms) and a squirrel must have dug up one of them because two have come up. I am so so so mad. You wait all winter and then this? oh yeah, and the rhododendron doesn't look too happy either. meanwhile, i have other plants that are very happy. what gives??

oh sure. and i agree Astraea. i do wear gloves for some peppers as t hey recommend though otherwise you can burn your fingers or face. they're fine when cooked however. it's the oils that get you :) i touched my face once after washing my hands and it wasn't enough!! holy cats!!!!!

@astraea...Did u have a bad winter? A late spring..both?

yes and yes. in fact it's still cold. i'm sleeping in fleece!!! because i won't turn the furnace back on :)

My plants have been affected by bad winters, late springs...late and early freezes.

i am so disappointed. i wanted some new stuff, you know? i have tons of hostas (lots of variety though) and i did have those new snowdrops come up (really nice!) so i was happy until now :)

Jayme – I remember shoveling snow, but I don’t think it was an exceptionally bad winter. I didn’t think we really had much of a spring, with mild weather, but others disagree with my definition of “mild” (LOL). One night last week there was a frost warning, and it was 49 deg. Saturday morning, but in the 70s today.

Eztia – Years ago, as the youngest one in the household, I was the one to grate the horseradish root for Passover!! I remember sitting there & the tears just running down my face .. who knew from “hazmat”! but it’s really not as hot or hot the same way as a pepper is .. I don’t think. Good for the sinuses!!

i covered my garden and put plants in the garage twice last week because it was dipping into the low 30's at night. you just never know what the weather really will be sometimes. down east in Vermont they had snow!!! plows were out!!!! so i shouldn't complain :)
i love horseradish. oh yum!! i wish i had been at your house Astraea!!

I have a Hibiscus my friend gave me last year..it was so beautiful, I brought it into the house last fall and it bloomed throughout the winter...my friend died in January. The plant continues to thrive and bloom. So happy I brought it in.

Morning all, slept in this morning while we were lost to the world under a blanket of fog and no planes to wake me. Sun is breaking through now.

Well, I don't have a problem coping with capsicums, chillies, horseradish or any other hot foods, they all make me sick so I can't touch them.

What do you call green onions by the way. We have brown, white and red but no green.

Astraea, you were asking me about the light show the other day - you might like to see these photos

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/05/26/16/05/vivid-turn-sydney-into-canvas-of-light

Jayme, i'm so sorry for your loss. It's wonderful you have the hibiscus to remember your friend. I have crocus my mother gave me and I remember her especially when they come up.

Roo .. just saw the photos now; it wasn't what I expected, but it's certainly colorful & different!

@mousemaker..thank you! :)