~~ The Drawing Room ~~

[jaymor8]

I thought about this yesterday when I was looking for Lisa. I was getting impatient wondering if anyone had seen her. I didn't want to post in another thread because it may have been mised, so I had to email her instead. (Which was no problem by the way)

Then I thought...maybe we could have a thread where we could come and ask about someone or just to say something that just doesn't pertain to anything in particular. It's always a bit weird going 'off subject' in someone else's thread.

So, this thread will be for EVERYone and it could be about ANYthing. You don't ever have to use it, but if you need to, great. Doesn't mean you can't make your own thread, it just mimics the ski chalet after a day of skiing. Say what you want - ask what you want - show your pictures - comment on the dot com threads (yuk yuk) A veritable freebie. I hope it will be useful but if it's not - then...$screw you guys - I'm going home! 🙂

Jackie...

[deltone]

OMG Jackie!! You lost your brother? I just can't imagine!! :o( I'm so sorry!! I apologize if you had mentioned it before and I'd forgotten (my memory sucks big time). I only have one brother and I just cannot imagine. Boy, you are sure have had your share of "stuff" haven't you. :o(

I totally understand all that you said. Death is a very hard thing to deal with. I see little things around the house that remind me of my dad and it sets me off. I suppose it will be like that for quite some time.

Malcolm, I agree with all that Jackie said. It has to be so hard dealing with what is going on with your mom. I have heard they are making great strides with dealing with Alzheimer. I hope they find a cure soon. It's such a cruel illness. :o(

[jaymor8]

Well Deb - on the bright side of things, spring has sprung. The trees are starting to sprout buds and leaves. The grass is green and the daffodils are out.

I plan on biking my heart out this summer. Every decent day, I will be out. I want to try to get up to 62KMs of distance this summer. That's my goal.

I plan on enjoying every single waking moment of this summer. It goes by so quickly and I want to live it. Smell the roses as it were!!! I hope you'll join me darlin!!!

Hugs,

Jackie...

[jaymor8]

Well kids, we just got back from Costco and we bought a huge seafood feast for Mother's day. We got some shrimp the size of a fist and lobster tails the size of a foot. They had lobsters up the ying yang but I had enough with what I had. But DH decided he wanted scallops too, so he bought a package of them and they were huge too. Tonight, we commit slow suicide with seafood and garlic butter and a honey mustard vinaigrette for the salad (home made of course). What the he11, we deserve it once a year, yeah??

Jackie...

[amberwoodottawa]

Jackie
Sounds yummy.

I'm doing leg of lamb (marinating in a greek wine marinade I made since yesterday) with lamb loin chops in garlic (all to be BBQ'd) and serving Smoked Salmon as a starter with New England Clam Chowder Soup.

I am also planning to BBQ sweet red peppers and serve them with Vidalia Onions, and mushrooms with a bit of vinegar and oil.

I have to bake an Orange cake tonight for my mother (her favorite).

PS Dont tell the guys on the Man's Thread that I am a gourmet cook and a BBQ Expert. They'll either laugh me out of there or have me making all their meals.

Malcolm

[muminlaw]

Malcolm - you can make mine anytime!!

We're barbecuing a sockeye salmon with a shrimp & scallop salad on the side - herb vinaigrette (also homemade) dressing. Dessert will be whatever DIL brings over - she knows my favourite is lemon meringue pie! I've never been able to convince John that bbqing is "man's work" so I have to be the gourmet cook both indoors & out!

Glenda

[amberwoodottawa]

Lets hear it for BBQ Season!!!

Oh what we are able to cook and give it such an incredibly different flavour on the BBQ.

Glenda, sometime try getting some mesquite wood chips, soak them for 10 minutes and place them in the BBQ just before cooking your salmon. They will smoke like crazy but the bit of an extra taste to the fish is incredible.

Another great way of cooking salmon on the BBQ is to put it on a thin cedar plank. The wood adds a slight new flavour to the salmon.

Malcolm

[zarzuella]

I want to go to Jackie's house ......

[jaymor8]

Ann, cutie pie....I wish you would come to visit me. You would be so very welcome.

Malcolm, you are a BBQ expert? Let me ask you this. We have always been a bit mystified about BBQing shell fish. Any hints on shrimp and lobster or lobster tails?

As an aside, there is NOTHING effeminate about being a cook cook. Most especially in the 'Gourmet' field. You should never feel that way!!

Jackie...

[muminlaw]

Malcolm, I tried the mesquite chips and didn't particularly care for the flavour they added, but I'm on my 3rd or 4th cedar plank! Love it but they do get pretty charred after 3 or 4 uses. By the way, they work not too bad in the oven as well.

Jacki, I've never tried bbqing lobster tails, but shrimp have got to be watched really closely cause they over-cook so quickly, and a shellfish grill is pretty much a necessity so they don't fall into the flames. A lemon/ginger/garlic marinade is nice on shrimp!

Happy Mother's Day to all us mothers!!!

Glenda

[muminlaw]

By the way, the salmon turned out perfect! The skin was quite charred but the flesh was still moist -- we ate the whole thing ...

G...

[jaymor8]

Do any of you like 'blackened' steak or chicken? I was just noticing yesterday that Tildy on the US board sells the special spice mix by the 1/4lb. If you have never tried that, it is to die for. If you HAVE tried that, then you know what I mean.

Malcolm, if you even have to go to Kingston for any reason, you have to go to a place called 'Hoppin Eddie's'. It's their specialty. You need a glass of ice water to get through it but it is amazing!!!

Jackie...

[amberwoodottawa]

Jackie
I lived in the South. If it wasnt smoked or battered then it was blackened. Even corn on the cob was basted in batter.

Word of caution about blackened foods, very dangerous if eaten frequently, not because of hot sauces or seasonings but the charcoal that you are ingesting is the worst part of BBQing, the most dangerous.

Shell fish should be BBQd in a separate basket and cooked, not over the open flame, just the heated area until it turns pink, usually less than 2-3 minutes. The baskets are sold in grocery stores for less than $10. They are great for doing vegetables as well as it keeps them all together and doesnt let anything fall into the BBQ itself. Also easy to season while cooking or adding some oil.

Same think with Lobster tail. Dont cook it over the flame, just the heat, a couple of minutes on each side, check as it starts turning colour. The nice thing about leaving the shells on is they help to keep the moiture inside the meat so that it comes out tender and juicy.

Glenda, you are right, that if you cook the salmon too long in the chip smoke, it can completely turn the taste. Its one of those last minute things (cook the salmon w/o the chips until the last minute so the flavour is on the outside of the meat and not all the way through it.

I discovered something ridiculously cheap in March. Preparing to go to Florida, I opted to buy a steak spice in a jar, non liquid, mostly salts and peppers. I bought it at one of the $1 stores. Well it did such an amazing job on the steaks, adding a realy incredible flavour that I have bought 3 more jars since I got back.

For $1 it has become one of my best BBQ friends.

When corn season starts, try BBQng corn inside of their husks.

Here is a cheater's way to BBQing that makes the food taste great and cuts down on your time at the BBQ. You can partially cook most foods, wrapped in aluminum foil in the oven and then refrigerate them until you are going to BBQ them.

Then take them out of your fridge, remove from the foil and cook on the BBQ. This is particularly good for poultry where it is very important to cook them throughout yet you want to capture the essence of the BBQ on the outside skin or meat.

I used to do this when I lived in Nevada and went camping in the Lake Tahoe area. I would cook all my chicken at home in foil (about 60% cooked) and then finish it over an open campfire. They were always cooked right through and unbelievably juicy and I didnt waste an hour over an open fire.

Malcolm

[jaymor8]

Malcolm...where the he11 are you? I can't believe you are missing the crap being spewed in the 'Bush' thread. I can't believe what Gunny said and that it wasn't yanked.

These people are flat out nuts, you guys. If it were up to them, we'd be engaged in a nuclear world war, winner takes all. The just don't care!

Hurry up Malcolm. And Dan?? Well I've just about given up on YOUR wisdoms. You never come around and put those durfwads back in their places 😞 You make me SO sad!

Jackie...

[muminlaw]

Jackie, Jackie, Jackie!!! Calm down ... there are still a few voices of reason, even on that thread, and at this point a Canadian going in there and telling them how they should think, or what the rest of the world thinks of them, is only going to inflame the hotheads even worse. I'm surprised they haven't given it to you with both barrels -- and you're not going to change anyone's mind -- they're beyond enlightenment. This is emotional stuff -- you know, religion and/or politics!!

Glenda

[amberwoodottawa]

Glenda,

You are 110% correct. I just emailed Jackie the same sort of position I took and why I am not there thoring in my 2 cents.

My feeling is that at this stage, they need to work out their own problems. They need for Americans to take back America.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

The Americans can't take back America, that is why Bush went to Iraq..... he had to do something to take the minds of the common folk off of the state of things in their own backyard....

Simplistic thinking on my part.... yes it is.....

Jeff

PS - I would love to see the thread you are talking about, can you post a link.

[amberwoodottawa]

Jeff
I dont think we are allowed to however it is on the US PS Board titled "Bush Apologizes, ...".

This is actually only one of 5 or 6 that had been started. I participated on one or two for a while until a couple of the "Southern Boys" started harrassing me and reporting some of my comments in threads to eBay and sending nasty emails.

You might feel compelled to give your "Canadian" point of view, but my opinion right now is they have to work things out for themselves. They honestly no longer care what we think and better to have Americans fighting amongst themeselves rather than we Canadians becoming some excuse for the way they are acting.

Malcolm

[muminlaw]

Jeff, I've seen other people post links, so I'm going to take a chance. This is the Bush thread (it might throw you into the end instead of the beginning, but I'm sure you can navigate your way through!) 🙂

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jsp?forum=76&thread=410128637&modified=1084420774087

Glenda

[amberwoodottawa]

Jeff
How about offering your comments now that you have had a chance to see comments that must make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Can you believe the hatred and bigotry of people that are supposed to be intelligent enough to run a business?

The deep south still lives, that is where 95% of those people supporting nuclear war live. Believe me, I lived there for 3 years and saw it first hand but it is really coming out on that thread.

I personally cannot believe that some of the postings havent been pulled by eBay yet due to the severe racial comments being made.

Jackie, did you have one of yours pulled? I didnt see it but I saw gunny's response to you regarding 'towels' and wondered if that got you a pink slap!

I fully understand your concern about comments he and others make that should be pulled. I wouldnt step into that arena at this time for all the money in Iraq.

I think the majority of Americans are doing a good job against the bigots on the thread, which are a select few but like the war in Iraq, there is no winning as you cant change the minds of those that are so full of generations of hate against anyone that isnt white and American.

Malcolm

[jaymor8]

Hi Everyone - I didn't know youse were looking for me 🙂 I know I get r4eally wound up but I have a large number of family members who are American and I worry for them.

I am an avide reader on the US board and when I saw Gunny's post about hate and twoel-heads and they deserve it....I lost it. Nobody else dared stand up to him. I responded to him and it was heartfelt and honest. I am not trying to change any American's mind, who the he11 cares. But when someone spews hate, then I care.

You know....if things get bad enough and they get nuked, we will suffer the fallout and also as a people who has some of their own over there fighting the war against Terrorism, I think we have a right to talk.

My post that got pulled was pulled because I was responding to Gunny saying that it was normal for prisoners to get tormented and tortured and getting naked was a small part of it. I responded with "I don't think it's a normal process to force a person to particpate in auto-erotic activity (of course I used the M word) in front of video cameras!" That was why it got pulled. I guess we must be in grade 5 now. Not quite adult yet 😞

Jackie...