Text 6042, 297 rader
Skriven 2008-04-25 14:16:24 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
   Kommentar till text 6015 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
Ärende: picnic                                                   [1]
====================================================================
Hi Ruth!

>> > She's been active ever since, plus the 18 months or so before.
>> Must be in her blood :) Kinda makes sense? :)

> Well, my dad was in the Navy during WWII & Steve's dad in the Army

Hehe.. Same with our families.. My dad in the Navy, a Medic, Ron's dad in the
Army.. :) My daughter was in jr. ROTC for years in high school and loved it..
she made it to Texas A&M but while her food allergies and asthma were pretty
much gone, she started getting incredible migraines in Texas ... probably from
the 'new' allergies there.. it was so sad.

> shortly after the war. So yes, I guess her blood is sorta military
> (army) green. (G) Steve went in just before she turned 3 so she
> basically grew up as an Army brat.

That would do it (grin) That's neat :)

>> That is some schedule.. must be hard sometimes I would guess... but
>> I'm sure she's used to it.  I can almost imagine how my daughter would
>> have done it if her allergies hadn't caused her such horrid problems..
>> oh well, what can you do..;)

> I know, and, it may have been that she wouldn't care for the military.

Oh no, she loved it.. it fit right in with her super organized brain (laugh)..
It was a medical thing that caused all the problems :( She's got this gene or
trait or whatever (grin) that is in Ron's family that we all joke about.. Ron
doesn't have it.. well, not so much at least.. his cousin does.. and my
daughter does.. it -very- obvious haha.. anyway, she wanted 'in' very very
badly, and had intended to make it to West Point... that was her dream :(

>> > I think I solved the weeping problem with my pasta sauce. I made a
>> > before adding them to the onions and peppers. I added 6oz of tomato
>> > paste about an hour into the cooking.  The fresh tomatotes, after
>> You seeded and skinned the tomatoes when you used fresh before, right?
> I'd usually skin but not seed. The job took a while because I had a
> quart of cherry tomatoes, plus a couple of romas and a couple of
> "regular" tomatoes.

Well, the seeding probably does help some because it gets rid of some of the
extra moisure leaving more of the tomato pulp.. the seeds when left in, leave
more water in the mix..  I always seed my tomatoes before cooking them down..
just a habit because really, I hate the seeds in my sauce. :)  That's probably
why I don't notice the extra water in my sauce as well (grin).

>> it was probably the paste and the cooking beforehand that did it...
>> that's usually what I do with fresh tomatoes... Making sauce with
>> fresh tomatoes is a completely different operation than canned (grin).


> Yes, and I'll probably use the fresh more whenever I have the chance.

I do as well, but like I said, I seed them, and skin them as well.. even if I
just put them on the gas burner of the stove for a few minutes to burn the skin
to make it start to split, then peel it off.. though usually I do it in boiling
water for about 2 minutes..

>> >  Steve is after me also, now to do bracciole with

>> Ooof.. want my opinion? No? you're getting it anyway LOL... :) :)

>> Normally, a pot of sauce is made in the morning for the day's meal...
>> so there's no reason the same can't be true here :)  The meatballs
>> will not take that long.. you should buy the hamburger here or wait
>> til you get here and just use the grassfed-stuff I've got (oh I can

> I usually do a 50/50 with 92% lean beef and 85% lean ground turkey.  I'm

I got lots of ground turkey.. grass-fed too :) It comes in 1lb packages :)
Right now I have 2lbs in my freezer, it's nothing to pick up some more (grin)

Ok, so you want 1lb turkey and 2lb beef.. or something like that I guess or a
straight 50/50 mix.. either is fine.. I can do that easy.. I always have that
in my freezer.

> guessing for this crowd, about 3 pounds of meat, total. Then there's
> about 3 cups (+/-) of home made whole wheat bread crumbs, about 3/4c of

That's a lot of bread crumbs :)  but if you don't use any bread slices, ok,
that makes sense (see below note about bread)... and not a problem.. I make
that in my bread machine in an hour, then we can grind it up and toast it, or
whatever.. how do you normally make them? Do you season them?  I usually season
them with garlic salt, oregano, basil, parsley, italian cheese, and garlic
chunks while the bread crumbs are warm.. then toast them to make them crunchy..

> grated peccorino romano cheese,

Yep, lots.. (grin)

>olive oil

I don't put any olive oil in my meat balls.. but whatever I always have tons
here..:)

>, eggs, spices (parsley, basil,
> oregano, black pepper, garlic--fresh or powder) and a bit of water.

Yep, no problem.. I have tons of fresh garlic always on hand.. and fresh
parsley as well.. I have tons of basil.  I don't put oregano in meatballs  it's
a bit bitter.. I don't put 'water' in exactly either.. but what I do put in
mine, is a chunk of bread (usually Italian bread) soaked in water and squeezed
a bit.. so it crumbles in the mix.. hard to describe (g).. this is in addition
to the bread crumbs.. Again, up to you of course.. it's your recipe, so you an
make it anyway  you like :) I'm just mentioning it so you know the different
ideas involved..

>> spare a couple pounds of hamburger, you know ...  How many meatballs
>> are you planning on making?  I get lazy and usually make nice fat guys
> With the above amount of meat, I get somewhere around 50-60 met balls
> but could make them bigger.

Sounds just right :)  Depends on how you want to do it.. you can make them big
and fat or little, either way will be fine, I'm sure.  Bigger is quicker
(grin).

>> like my Dad's step-mom, Grandma Roamey used to make (now I know why
>> haha .. but we loved those big meatballs :)

> My mom never made meat balls; she claimed it was because we kids would
> fight over who's was the biggest. We never had any fights like that; I
> suspect her real reason was that she didn't have a good recipe and it
> was easier to just brown the ground beef. Her sauce was more like beef a
> roni sauce.

That's what Ron's mom used to do :) :)

>> The frying will take maybe 5-10 minutes to just brown them.... the

> I usually bake them when doing a large quantity; I used to fry them but
> that was when I made up about a pound of meat at a time.

You can do it either way, but frying is nice because you can see just how brown
they are getting.. you don't need to brown them too long.. just a few minutes
in Olive oil.. then drain them on paper towels.. then put them in the sauce to
simmer over very low heat.

>> sauce you can simmer to your hearts content before you come... but if
>> I were you, I'd do it all Saturday morning... I can help.. it's not a
>> big job.. :) The simmering  can just go on and on for as long as we

> Saturday morning sounds like a great time to do it all.  That way Carol
> will get a good lesson in Italian cooking. (G)

Hehe... sure :)

>> like (grin). The bracciole will take 20 minutes in the sauce to cook..
>> that's it :) it's nothing :) You really wouldn't want the bacciole to
>> cook all day... it would reduce to nothing... like stew meat slivers
>> :(  But you HAVE to make sure you get the right cut of meat for it...
>> I've bought it in Binghamton before but around the holidays.. It won't

> OK, then we'll look for the meat around here and pop it in the freezer

Sounds good.. Hope you can find it :)  Ask your butcher at the grocery store if
you don't see it on the shelves, that may help.

> to bring with the lasagne. The various recipies we found say to cook it
> from 2-3 hours.

That seems kind of long.. We can watch it and see how it does as it's cooking.
I would guess maybe 1 or 1 and 1/2 hours at about 350.. Otherwise it would just
be about 45 minutes to an hour.. depending on how many layers, how many lbs.,
etc..  Are you using regular lasagne noodles (not no-cook noodles)? I've never
used those no-cook guys (grin).

Hmm... lemme think about this...When I make Lasagne fresh (not frozen, in other
words) I do it like this: I cover the lasagne with aluminum foil and bake it
covered for 35 minutes in a preheated 350F oven, then I remove the aluminum
foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes uncovered.. I insert a knife to see
if it's really runny at this point.. if so, I let it go maybe another 5-10
minutes... I let the lasagne to sit for 15 minutes to let the cheeses set
 before cutting. So it's in the oven for about 50 minutes total, and sits for
about 15..

Are you cooking it before you freeze it, or are you freezing it uncooked? that
could make a difference in the cooking time... and could make a difference in
the texture as well.. If I was going to freeze it, I'd probably freeze it
before I cooked it (so it's only getting cooked once?)... then bake it at 350
for an 1 hour - 1hour and 1/2.. keeping my eye on it.. So maybe preheat it to
400F, put the lasagne in covered with tin foil for 15 minutes, then turn the
oven down to 350.. So it didn't stay at 400 that long.. Just thinking to myself
:) What temp did they talk about?

>> killer for them :( Once the sauce is done you can just shut the stove
>> off and refrigerate it and not worry about it.. :)

> I think Saturday would be a much better time to do it; I wasn't looking
> forward to doing it before we left here.  Besides, I'll have more sous
> chefs to help in Windsor. (G)

Hehe.. this is true :)  We should have a plethora (grin)

> my mom, only slightly so.  The travel involved for them, even that
> relatively short distance, is more of a hassle than worth while.  Steve
> said that they probably won't want to be even in the same county as a
> durian; he isn't sure if he wants to be. (G)

Yes, same as my Mom I'm afraid.. I'm still hoping she'll come for the summer..
that was her plan this year, but we're not sure she'll be up to it.. my
daughter and her boys were really hoping she'd make it.. We'll see.

>> >  Do I hear an
>> > offer for garlic bread, salad, & cannoli to go with it? (G)

>> Well the garlic bread is easy enough and we'll sure wolf that down
>> (smile)... it's great stuff on homemade italian bread.. if I can do it
>> (make the bread.. should be no trouble), it would be neat.. or I'll
>> just grab a loaf of Italian bread from the local market and make
>> garlic bread.. Ron says I make deadly garlic bread (grin). The problem

> I'm sure someone else might want to make it part of their contribution
> also.  I just suggested it because the typical Italian meal in the
> States seems to be pasta, salad, garlic bread and dessert.

It's funny, we rarely had garlic bread with our dinners.. lots of fresh Italian
bread and antipasto though..which is why I suggested the antipasto (smile)... I
may do both. We do love garlic bread. :)

>> with cannoli is the time of year..  I guess I could do it at night
>> when it's cooler..Well, I'll think about it. No promises. I may make a
>> cake to knock your socks off instead.. depends on my mood (grin).... I

> The cake would be a lot easier, I'm sure.  Your main job for this event
> is have as much fun as everybody else, not knock yourself out cooking.

It really depends on the weather.. cannolis can be tempermental, at least
around here it seems.. but they're fun to make and aren't really hard to do :)
They aren't of the 'knock you out' type foods really.. If I can find good
Ricotta or can find the time to make my own, that will make a big difference..
:) That's what I'd like to do for them.

>> may make some home made ravioli and sauce as well, haven't decided
>> yet.. Squid sauce was also on my mind, but I was trying to think of
>> something very Italian that even would be interesting and possibly
>> very different to me to make (grin)..

>> Then I thought, geez, maybe I'll do something korean.. I love that
>> cuisine as well  :)  Or sushi... hard to find sushi quality fish
>> around here though :(... shrimp is ok though for sushi.. inside-out
>> sushi is one of my favorites (grin)

> Whatever you want to do, just don't over do.  I'd be happy to have you

Nah,  I always overcook.. you know how the military is in your blood? well, I
guess overcooking is in mine (laugh) :)

> help me but if you need to slow down and rest, Steve can help also. He
> probably will be, anyways, unless he falls into the black hole of your
> computer room. (G)

He's welcome to play with my Linux box or my Windows laptop.. I do want to
install Linux on that laptop.. I've got the partition set up on it, just
haven't had the time :(  My Linux box is my main Fidonet system though... Since
I'm Z1C, if he toasts Zone 1, I will hear about it though, hahahaha :) :) (just
kidding) :)

>> in Warwick's drug store.. her son went to my high school.. she worked
>> later at the drug store.. her daughter who looked exactly like her,
>> then worked at the drug store, and still does today (grin). Too funny

> Feel like you're in a time warp whenever you go in? There's a family

Yeah, like TwilightZone :)  You know that Rod Serling was from Binghamton,
right? I thought it was really neat that Ithaca College and Binghamton
University both have courses, etc. regarding some of the neat things he did..
he was quite progressive regarding civil rights early on in his television
work.

> owned drug store (and a chain one) in town; the son took over from the
> dad years ago. My folks still get the same service, even delivery at no
> charge after hours if needed.

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I mean.. It really made me laugh to see this
kind of thing.. like deja vu :)

>> family was here in the 1700's but they're not of that type .. wonder
>> what's what's wrong with that picture (grin) guess it's the $$ (grin)

> The ones that got all the land from service to one side or other during
> the Revolutionary War.  Those were the landowners that got knocked on
> their bottoms in the Anti Rent Wars of the 1840s & 50s in NYS. Ron's
> family was probably tenant farmers who may/may not have been "Indians"
> as well in the wars. (Yes, I've done some research on the subject.[G])

They were Dutchmen in Sullivan/Dutchess Cty I think, farmers..good people,
probably too honest is all :) They did have some indians in the family though
:)  Ron had a great-great-great grandmother they called 'little granny' where
some place we have a picture of her, in her indian dress with a corncob pipe :)
Incredible picture.. I think his brother has it down south though :(

Take care,
Janis

--- BBBS/LiI v4.01 Flag
 * Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)