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While I agree with Munky about your thoughtfulness, I also think you didn't get what you paid for. Btw, flowers.com uses local florists. They must have exacting standards because I've used them many times and afaik the flowers delivered always looked like the designs on the website - no assembly required.
 
While I agree with Munky about your thoughtfulness, I also think you didn't get what you paid for. Btw, flowers.com uses local florists. They must have exacting standards because I've used them many times and afaik the flowers delivered always looked like the designs on the website - no assembly required.

I agree, but I have no experience sending flowers with anyone.
 
...Because I had them sent from a good local florist, I naturally expected to pay more and I did, but I think I was ripped off for $70. What say you?
Kayelle, I would be on the phone with that floral shop raising Cain with them. I agree with your "ripped off" assessment. While florist shop blooms come with a premium price, those particular flowers aren't exactly upper-price varieties. While the lily is a choice bloom, the Gerbera daisies, mum, and alstroemeria are grocery store pickin's. In fact, Himself told me to pick up some flowers for myself for my birthday! :LOL: (He's mostly hiding in the house to wisely avoid germs...) Granted I did have to use my own vase, and I did have to arrange them myself...but they cost me only $4.99.

And it looks like your daughter-in-law are birthday twins...although I got a 19 year head start on her. ;) I hope she has a happy birthday.
 
Do you deliver? ;)

Ross
Depends. :mrgreen: When we were driving back from AZ one year we took a more northern route. Went straight through Independence, MO, after doing a drive-by tour of the Truman house. Found a regional ice cream stand that made up something called "Concrete". It was like a heavy-duty Dairy Queen Blizzard, only sturdier since it was made with real, really good ice cream. And loaded to the gills with the add-ins. We might be able to make a swap for a couple of Concretes in exchange for the floral arrangement.

Or not. :LOL:
 
It was 65 degrees F last evening so I put my cold smoker tray into my smoker
and smoked some cheese. (it's been on sale for $1.49 an 8 oz package).

My smoker is an old yard sale find, a Brinkmann, that's highly modified. It looks like R2D2 from Star Wars. It sits in a hot water tank tray that I use to catch anything that would drip.

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The smoker tray lit and running

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Cheese nearly smoked to my liking

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Vacuum sealing the finished cheese

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This will sit in the fridge for a month to reach it's peak flavor. I'm not that much of an Affineur but this serves my needs quite well. ;)
 
I smoked some extra sharp Cheddar, Swiss, Colby-Jack, and a piece of Parmesan
on the first go. I'm now smoking another Swiss, and a Pepper-Jack.

One of the Kroger stores here has a manager who is into exotic cheeses and often people don't know what they are. They get marked down to about half price. That's when I try to get new stuff to experiment with.

This Swiss and Pepper-Jack are from ALDI's. Once smoked they will age in the fridge for a month before I sample them.

And that stove top smoker CM, I've only seen a few examples of those. I guess good ventilation would be key to using one. : p Are you thinking of
acquiring other smoker to upgrade ?

My neighbor's cat had all but claimed my deck until I started cold smoking stuff awhile back. She must not like the smell.....and her raccoon buddies must concur as I don't hear them thrashing around out there late at night anymore. (I live right on the Ohio River so there's a robust community of varmints close by)
 
Sunday evening when I got home I started my computer to look the various message boards I participate on. I was asked to moderate on one of them
which deals with living full time in Vans (or trucks of some kind) converted to
RV's. I've moderated on message boards since the late 90's and for the past day or so have been learning the myBB software platform. I've set up a few of my own message boards in the past to learn to administrate them. So I'll be putting in a few hours a week with the Van Nomads. They do a lot of creative minimalist cooking.

Here is a site I created for anyone interested in setting up a Van, Trailer, or car
conversion for this kind of traveling life. (it's all free information)

index
 
Sunday evening when I got home I started my computer to look the various message boards I participate on. I was asked to moderate on one of them

which deals with living full time in Vans (or trucks of some kind) converted to

RV's. I've moderated on message boards since the late 90's and for the past day or so have been learning the myBB software platform. I've set up a few of my own message boards in the past to learn to administrate them. So I'll be putting in a few hours a week with the Van Nomads. They do a lot of creative minimalist cooking.



Here is a site I created for anyone interested in setting up a Van, Trailer, or car

conversion for this kind of traveling life. (it's all free information)



index



I subscribe to a few van dwelling You Tubers. I love some of their life styles and what they’ve done to their vans. I wouldn’t do it full time but wouldn’t mind getting a new Chevy Express cargo van and turning it in a simple part time camper with a decent sized power station, no solar.
 
Beautiful flower arrangements, but agree with most everyone's assessment on those delivered to Kayelle's DIL. The cobalt vase looks really pretty though. I have a ruby glass vase exactly like CG's, but have no talent in arranging flowers. I just stuff them in a glass with water and fluff them a bit like I know what I am doing hoping for the best.

The smoked cheeses look amazing.

I had a passel of bolting cilantro, so I clipped it to harvest the green seeds and made some pickled green coriander seeds out of them. Supposedly they go in marinades, sauces, and dressings. I can't wait to give them a try. I actually nibble them right off the plant at times.
 

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Yes Roadfix, there are many ways to go on the road full or part time. A lot of these converted Vans are set up so that thru the week they can be work Vans...and on the week end they can swap out the interiors to become a Camper/RV. Some people have a garage that they can stow their stuff in and others rent a simple locker size storage chamber at some Storage Unit Place to keep their stuff if they don't have a place at home or apartment.

When I worked in Central Ohio I had a Storage Chamber that was 5x8 ft and I could stow my Camping/RV interior to have an empty Van to use in my work thru the week. Back then I think it cost me something like $10 a month. Took me all of 20 minutes to install or remove the interior and stow it in my storage space. The girl I was dating then worked at a health food store and she liked the outdoors and we had great times together. We went on the road for a 12 days once taking a couple of personal days with a paid holiday falling on a Friday. We traveled all around Ohio seeing things we were interested in and living out of the Van, staying in campgrounds with bath houses & laundry facilities. But today it "has been" even easier.....until this corona virus set in.
 
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pickled green coriander seeds

I wouldn't mind to know more about the uses of it or some of the recipes. Pickled seeds
are a new item to me.

Glad you like the smoked cheese photos. There is a fellow who cold smokes cheese in this region and he sells it at Farmers Tail Gate Markets. He charges quite a price for it and still sells out every time. Everyone explains how good it is. I would imagine that if he had a Food Truck and made cheese plates to sell, that he could make even more money in his industry.
 
I've never used them or heard of them before recently. I was in the garden and found myself picking a green seed or two to eat while weeding, etc. I loved them. So I googled them and found this article. I'll be experimenting. I am thinking of a dressing where I crush a few and keep some whole...or in a curry instead of the regular coriander. It's got a flavor that is slightly citrusy and crosses between the taste of cilantro and dried coriander. I think it will do well with salsa too or a marinade for chicken or fish.
 
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At one time, I had to buy a cheap vehicle in a hurry. I found a used van. It was an old mail truck, of the type called a step van. It had been done up inside like people do up small boats. It had two padded benches that folded out into a double bed. It had a sink and a small fridge (that ran on A.C., D.C., or propane, depending on the setting), room for a dining table, as well as a small propane stove. I loved driving that thing, with its extra height (which gave a great view of traffic), truck mirrors, and great big steering wheel.
 
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Just came in from an hour in our pool. What a pleasure!

Mostly I've been spending time in the pool just before bedtime and it soooo relaxes me.

Didn't get a chance to do it last night because we had some really severe weather.
 
taxlady, you made a find. People hunt for those today....or even just a bare step van. Next to those a long wheel base extended Van with the high top. These are at a premium.

One of the fastest growing sectors in the Nomadic Van community are women in their later 50's and up. Next to that young graduates who travel and live cheap to find job opportunities and an area they would like to settle in. While doing this they can more quickly retire their student loans.

CBS Sunday Morning TV with Jane Pauley once showcased a husband & wife who traveled in their RV and worked as Chef's. I believe they worked resorts
that had on and off seasons traveling between those to work the on season.
They seemed to be quite happy with the life.
 
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taxlady, you made a find. People hunt for those today....or even just a bare step van. Next to those a long wheel base extended Van with the high top. These are at a premium.

One of the fastest growing sectors in the Nomadic Van community are women in their later 50's and up. Next to that young graduates who travel and live cheap to find job opportunities and an area they would like to settle in. While doing this they can more quickly retire their student loans.

CBS Sunday Morning TV with Jane Pauley once showcased a husband & wife who traveled in their RV and worked as Chef's. I believe they worked resorts
that had on and off seasons traveling between those to work the on season.
They seemed to be quite happy with the life.

Oh yeah, that was a find. It cost me $800 in 1980. It was a 1966 or 67 GMC something or other, maybe a 10, I can't remember. It also had one of the things I was looking for - standard transmission. Standard transmission was pretty hard to find in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, especially in an American made car. One other fun thing about that truck - truck drivers treated me, on the road, like I was driving a truck.
 
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