Freemotion's food journal: Expanding the gardens, pics p 53
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- Start date
miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
I was raised with family dinners, my folks both work the m-a-d shifts, but 5 o'clock was sacred time. Friends knew not to ring the bell or call till 6 pm.
Now, in my home, my dh works continental shifts but the rest of us sit down for breakfast and supper. When dh is home, he sits down too. These are important times in my home. We do have days where it FFy,but usually on the weekends when we are all doing different things.
I;ll never give up my family sit down dinners, and breakfasts are nice too.
Now, in my home, my dh works continental shifts but the rest of us sit down for breakfast and supper. When dh is home, he sits down too. These are important times in my home. We do have days where it FFy,but usually on the weekends when we are all doing different things.
I;ll never give up my family sit down dinners, and breakfasts are nice too.
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- #223
freemotion
Food Guru
I, too, grew up with family dinners. Manners....ok, mom tried hard, but she couldn't help but giggle at the fart jokes! Boy, we had some great meals at our poorest when we were the most ss. Glad I am coming back to that. DH is trying to get used to the pig-raising and killing discussions at dinner..... 
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- #224
freemotion
Food Guru
Hey! The mystery word changer edited my last post! I did NOT write "wind!!!" Wind is not funny! F^rt is! So there! 
So I am on the road again, this time we have a kitchen in our suite. The conference is over, and tomorrow we were planning on spending some time with a very dear, dear friend who got a terminal diagnosis recently.
She passed a couple hours ago.
We called the family, and they very much want us to descend upon them and create more chaos....they "just made us come." So we will still go and do whatever is needed....even if it is to cry and to laugh....these people ALWAYS laugh, and that is what our dear friend would want. The more inappropriate, the better. Hope I can find some in me.
Anyhoo....this is a food journal....so here is how life on the road was this week. The only grocery store nearby had a postage-stamp-sized produce department, and everything was ridiculously over-priced. This is in Miami, where stuff grows year-round! So we bought eggs and the dreaded ultra-pasteurized milk (UGH! It tastes so AWFUL to me now!), a pound of butter, deli ham and roast beef and cheese, more bricks of cheddar, tortilla chips, lots of carrots, cukes, a lemon, lots and lots of spring water, grapes and bananas, a jar of mustard.
We brought two loaves of bread from home, since we rarely find edible bread in the South. We brought lots of tea bags and stevia packets, and I made up three batches of chai mix and stapled it into coffee filters. Then I simmered it for an hour in a couple quarts of water, and stored it in the fridge in a glass pitcher provided in the room.
We had eggs for breakfast and hot chocolate, sandwiches and carrots, cukes, grapes and bananas for lunch with frozen water bottles to keep everything cold in the cooler in the trunk. I always pack a squishable cloth cooler in my suitcase. I also keep a kit packed with stuff like sandwich, snack, and quart zip bags, straws, plasticware, small paper plates, etc, just in case.
I could've brought milk....my clothes were very cold when I unpacked my suitcase. The milk would've survived....Oh well!
We went out with friends two nights and I had steak and veggies (asparagus, green beans, carrots, peppers cooked in butter) and a salad and dh had crab cakes and a huge salad. The second night we went to a Cuban grill with meat, meat, and more meat, and I ate meat, meat, and more meat! I had a tablespoon of baby greens and some black and green olives as my token veggies. I had plenty of veggies at lunch, knowing what was in store for supper.
Tonight we were all pooped, so we cleaned up leftovers in the room and dh wanted to order out, so I had him add some fried plantains for me (we are in Miami, after all!) and a single slice of pizza. What was I thinking? Pizza in the South????
I could only eat half. I had nachos with the cheddar and chips....yum!
I was determined to pick up a coconut, as they were all around us. DH found a sort of park that is a work in progress, and no one was in it....so we walked the perimeter until I found a likely coconut. It was big and intact and when I shook it, it was full of liquid. So I will bring it home and we will share the adventure with my folks, and open it with a hatchet and see what is inside.
I can't help but forage no matter where I am!
So I am on the road again, this time we have a kitchen in our suite. The conference is over, and tomorrow we were planning on spending some time with a very dear, dear friend who got a terminal diagnosis recently.
She passed a couple hours ago.
We called the family, and they very much want us to descend upon them and create more chaos....they "just made us come." So we will still go and do whatever is needed....even if it is to cry and to laugh....these people ALWAYS laugh, and that is what our dear friend would want. The more inappropriate, the better. Hope I can find some in me.
Anyhoo....this is a food journal....so here is how life on the road was this week. The only grocery store nearby had a postage-stamp-sized produce department, and everything was ridiculously over-priced. This is in Miami, where stuff grows year-round! So we bought eggs and the dreaded ultra-pasteurized milk (UGH! It tastes so AWFUL to me now!), a pound of butter, deli ham and roast beef and cheese, more bricks of cheddar, tortilla chips, lots of carrots, cukes, a lemon, lots and lots of spring water, grapes and bananas, a jar of mustard.
We brought two loaves of bread from home, since we rarely find edible bread in the South. We brought lots of tea bags and stevia packets, and I made up three batches of chai mix and stapled it into coffee filters. Then I simmered it for an hour in a couple quarts of water, and stored it in the fridge in a glass pitcher provided in the room.
We had eggs for breakfast and hot chocolate, sandwiches and carrots, cukes, grapes and bananas for lunch with frozen water bottles to keep everything cold in the cooler in the trunk. I always pack a squishable cloth cooler in my suitcase. I also keep a kit packed with stuff like sandwich, snack, and quart zip bags, straws, plasticware, small paper plates, etc, just in case.
I could've brought milk....my clothes were very cold when I unpacked my suitcase. The milk would've survived....Oh well!
We went out with friends two nights and I had steak and veggies (asparagus, green beans, carrots, peppers cooked in butter) and a salad and dh had crab cakes and a huge salad. The second night we went to a Cuban grill with meat, meat, and more meat, and I ate meat, meat, and more meat! I had a tablespoon of baby greens and some black and green olives as my token veggies. I had plenty of veggies at lunch, knowing what was in store for supper.
Tonight we were all pooped, so we cleaned up leftovers in the room and dh wanted to order out, so I had him add some fried plantains for me (we are in Miami, after all!) and a single slice of pizza. What was I thinking? Pizza in the South????
I could only eat half. I had nachos with the cheddar and chips....yum!I was determined to pick up a coconut, as they were all around us. DH found a sort of park that is a work in progress, and no one was in it....so we walked the perimeter until I found a likely coconut. It was big and intact and when I shook it, it was full of liquid. So I will bring it home and we will share the adventure with my folks, and open it with a hatchet and see what is inside.
I can't help but forage no matter where I am!
The Vail Benton's
Lovin' The Homestead
I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, Free 
- Thread starter
- #226
freemotion
Food Guru
Thanks, VB....
Off to bed now....gotta pack, too, heading up to see her family early tomorrow morning.
Off to bed now....gotta pack, too, heading up to see her family early tomorrow morning.
Dace
Revolution in Progress
I too am sorry about your friend
I love fresh coconut.....yummy
I love fresh coconut.....yummy
- Thread starter
- #228
freemotion
Food Guru
I forgot to post about opening the coconut....as my friend told me, it was a bit green. The shell was thin, the meat was thin and a bit soft, and the water and the meat had no flavor. It was fun, though, just to experience it with the snow and ice outside.
I ended up bringing it out to the chickens, who scarfed it up like crazy, while Mya the goat plowed into the meat that remainied in the shell. I was surprised that they all liked it so much. If I lived in the tropics, I'd provide it for my critters regularly.
I ended up bringing it out to the chickens, who scarfed it up like crazy, while Mya the goat plowed into the meat that remainied in the shell. I was surprised that they all liked it so much. If I lived in the tropics, I'd provide it for my critters regularly.
- Thread starter
- #229
freemotion
Food Guru
Sunday night my dad made big baked apples. He used walnuts and raisins, and since I am allergic to walnuts, he made one without. Since he forgot which one had no walnuts, he made one extra, for sure without walnuts. By then he'd run out of raisins, and I was teaching my teleconference class, so the family decided that dates would work.
I'm allergic to dates. Mildly, but the next day I will be sick and in the bathroom ALL day.
So I scarfed down the apple (delicious!) and I couldn't figure out why the texture was different. We were watching tv and talking and eating, so I wasn't really paying enough attention to ask. I kept getting these little bits that I decided were bits of core left behind, but it seemed like there were too many.
It was only later that someone said, "How'd you like the dates in your apple?"
Happy news......I had NO reaction whatsoever!!!! NONE!!!
All this food obsession for me has been mostly about my increasing allergies and sensitivities and decreasing number of fruits and vegetables that I can tolerate. After years of research and working on healing my digestive system, I am finally seeing real changes.
I am grateful for the date/raisin mix-up, because I never would've purposely eaten a handful of dates "just to see what would happen." Nor would I recommend it.
I also have been tolerating a little raw apple or pear that I eat peeled when cutting them up for pies and such. That used to be a big no-no.
I'm allergic to dates. Mildly, but the next day I will be sick and in the bathroom ALL day.
So I scarfed down the apple (delicious!) and I couldn't figure out why the texture was different. We were watching tv and talking and eating, so I wasn't really paying enough attention to ask. I kept getting these little bits that I decided were bits of core left behind, but it seemed like there were too many.
It was only later that someone said, "How'd you like the dates in your apple?"
Happy news......I had NO reaction whatsoever!!!! NONE!!!
All this food obsession for me has been mostly about my increasing allergies and sensitivities and decreasing number of fruits and vegetables that I can tolerate. After years of research and working on healing my digestive system, I am finally seeing real changes.I am grateful for the date/raisin mix-up, because I never would've purposely eaten a handful of dates "just to see what would happen." Nor would I recommend it.
I also have been tolerating a little raw apple or pear that I eat peeled when cutting them up for pies and such. That used to be a big no-no.
Dace
Revolution in Progress
Wow, that is amazing isn't it?
The apples sound yummy
The apples sound yummy
