I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Riley .. thanks for the news about Hadley.  Bless her heart, she has really been through the wringer.  I'm keeping her in my thoughts.  I'm so glad you were able to  meet with her and meet her family as well.  There is something so special about meeting our BCO sisters in person!

hugs,

Bren

EDITED:  Otter .. I am so glad you got some software that will cure my MTF syndrome!  I'd take a pill for it, but I don't know which one to take!

Wabbit .. I was crazy to be working in this heat.  I just got so frustrated being cooped up inside for so long.  I promise only to work on my new project early in the morning!

PICKLED BEETS AND EGGS!!! MY ETHNIC FOOD!!! I love pickled beets and eggs! DH doesn't even like to look at them. He wants me to eat them on the deck so he doesn't have to smell then. Mr. Libby has a sensitive nose. When I lived in the tropics, we used to have to get creative with salads because we couldn't get lettuce -- it was too hot. So we had a lovely beet salad with feta cheese and onion, sprinkled with vinegar to tang up the beets. Yum, yum!



Hmmmmm... I wonder if the gnomes are what is wrong with my 'puter that has the intractable virus. They seem to be pretty intractable here, like the virus ... Otter, please let us test the beta version of your Microsoft gnome-free software. I think it needs to be serial, too ... They seem to come in waves. Ignore works beautifully (I have used it for a long time) but there seems to still be a residue.



CT went fine...now waiting to see if I have enough veins for DIEP.



Riley, I am so relieved to hear the update on Hadley. Scary, scary stuff... I am sending benign thoughts west to her.



Anne, still thinking about Murphy and hoping he is just mooching off a neighbor.



Off to look for something that passes for healthy for dinner. The cookies stopped jumping in my mouth last night, but I hear them rattling around in the cupboard now.



L

I've never had pickled eggs. I see them in the store but was a pit afraid to try them. So what do they taste like?

They absorb the flavor of the pickled beets and the whites are sort of maroon. YUM!!

Fingers crossed that you can have the DIEP, HL.

I like beets and I like greens. Now, if they could just cut, clean and arrange themselves in a salad bowl and magically serve themselves on my plate with a self-preparing vinaigrette sauce, I would choose them more often.

Otter, your anti-headache software sounds wonderful. 

Tired, tired, tired - I have taken loads of naproxem sodium to ease period pains and battled insomnia because of it....but I shouldn't complain. At least I was fit enough to do what felt like the power yoga class of the century this morning.

3monstmama-I found the recipe. I would never have you on ignore. You're too civil and make too much sense.

Mary 

i do like beet greens.. yum.

Funny vegetable story about my mom. She was raised in the Midwest -- during a time when you cooked everything until it was good and dead. Beef was well done. So was pork, because you didn't want to get trichinosis. Chicken was well done because you didn't want salmonella. And fish came in nice, tidy green and white boxes in the freezer and was called Mrs. Paul's.



In due course, I went away to college. A whole world of culinary delights opened up for me. Shrimp in the dining hall. Yogurt. And steamed green beans. Not cooked in the pressure cooker. Steamed! Crunchy!



So I fixed her some of the new, spiffily prepared green beans. She took a bite, chewed consideringly, swallowed and said, "Ugh. If I wanted to eat grass, I would go out in the yard." *sigh*. She did eventually learn to like spinach salad.

Speaking of lovely Macs -- I have to laugh whenever I get an email about itunes or other wonderful Apple features that I should buy.  My Mac warns me that it could be junk mail!

I love beets -- every which way.  DH doesn't; he prefers beet tops steamed, then sauteed in garlic and oil.  Me, not so much.  However, the entire beets are consumed.  We have golden beets growing in the garden.  I love them too, they're milder than the red beets -- and they don't provide any gasps in the bathroom!

Hoping for B9 for Hadley but so glad they found the source of her pain; it could have been so tragic to be paralyzed.

Dinner tonight is curried cauliflower soup, and salad.  And more fresh raspberries for dessert! 

Put me on the side of the beets!

And the brussel sprouts, for that matter.

Mary 

Chaplain .. I'm with you on the beets. 

hugs buddy,

Bren

Bren,

I knew I could depend on you, girlfriend.

I adore beets of all kinds, and loved pickled eggs, just haven't had them in a while as my husband dislikes most every kind of pickled anything.

The computer software sounds like a grand idea, you need to patent it asap!

Hoping for DIEP friendly veins for Libby, Murphy returning home for Anne, and that everyone else feels better soon from whatever ails them.

Rosemary, oh to be young again and be able to debate Frost with you!  Grew up in Vermont, and many of my English teachers would beg to differ with you!  Good fences are nothing about fearing your neighbors.  They are a sign of respect, and a means of maintaining good communication.  Every farmer loves a good fence.  Keeps the cows, horses, sheep, dogs, and other critters from invading your space, ruining your garden, and requiring a knock on the neighbor's door demanding that they come get their animals out of your field, garden, whatever!  Instead, you see each other, chit chat about the kids over the fence and a cup of coffee, and enjoy the great outdoors and the sense of community in maintaining the fence.  Many people interpet Frost in many different ways, and some of my favorite memories are of evenings at Breadloaf with my sister, debating this very topic.  I do not fear anyone here, but my use of the ignore button allows me to be respectful.

Making fajitas with leftover grilled steak, grilled stuffed banana peppers, and a salad.

Bartender, I'd like to try the Pinot Noir.

Thanks revkat!

My grandmother---who cooked beef until it would not return at the second coming--somehow had a light hand on the veggies.  She always had a huge veg garden with tons of beans.  In the summer they were lightly cooked with a bit of crunch to them.  But when bean season was over, the frozen beans or the canned beans were more cooked.

Not sure how it happened but my mother was into rare meat.  And my grandmother wasn't.  They would visit us and my mother would do the traditional 60s-70s roast beast.  She would cook it her way---rare---and then cut end slices for my grandparents which she would then place under the broiler to continue cooking. . . .grandmother was always thrilled to have her meat the way she liked it.

If grandmother were to see OldestMonster today she would faint (okay lets be honest, she'd probably faint for A LOT of reasons if she saw my monsters....no sign of the Irish/scots irish gene pool in them).  His #1 to do list for Paris next month is to go back to the place where he had the steak tartare. . . heck clearly if I really loved him, I'd have bought a hunk of steak like I said I would in France and made it for him . . .hmmmm maybe on Saturday post sailing. . . .. .