Posted on 07/01/2025 5:32:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Yes, I LOVE smoked meats/seafood/veggies. I think it’s almost an addiction for us. Of course, we do take breaks, but somehow we manage to sneak the smoked foods in pretty frequently for our meal plans. Plus, I think it gives my husband some fulfillment. He can carry his own in the kitchen, or the outdoor kitchen. I don’t do any of the outdoor cooking, mostly because he’s so good at it. I round out the meals with the sides when he does the meat on the grill, though. Everyone gets to take a turn in our kitchen. Prepping, cooking, and cleaning!
About the best meat smoking resource out there — https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forums/
and the worst thing is when people leave a 2-3 star review and go on to list how they changed the recipe a lot.
I like mine with hard boiled eggs too, but mr mm is NOT a big hard boiled egg fan.
I understand. My hubby doesn’t like olives, so I work around that when it comes up in a recipe. He asks for olives on the side whenever possible and gives them all to me. It’s about the only thing he’s a stickler over. I view it as a win-win. He doesn’t have to eat them, and I get all I want.
He tries everything I make. He’s very kind when he doesn’t like something. He’ll say that it “isn’t his favorite” dish I’ve made. That’s my signal to let a newly tried recipe go by the wayside. That doesn’t happen very often.
I can only wish that I could grow some someday! Those are beautiful!
It took over 10 years before I got any fruit.
Those are jumbos! Did you plant grafted trees or are they from wild seed? How old are the trees?
Did you have to hand pollinate them?
Very classy of him.
You are fortunate.
Mr mm is similar about trying new stuff when I’m checking out a recipe, which I always clear with him to try first.
He’ll try it and usually finish it and say something like *You don’t need to make that again* or *THAT’S a keeper!*
I have long described my husband as the most tactful person I know. He just has a way about him. I’m not sure if being the only boy with four older sisters had anything to do with that, but probably some. He’s very calm and even-tempered. Once I found him, I held on for dear life, knowing I’d never find another like him. We did have some rocky times, but mostly things that were beyond our control. We have weathered the storms of life pretty well together.
Of course, when he tells me, “that’s a keeper!” I make sure to put in back on the menu within a few weeks. We rarely get bored with food choices in our house, at least for dinner.
Looks good - will have to check it out. I have a lot of pork I could smoke - still working on the half hog I bought from my niece. If I can ever get through it, I’ll buy a half cow next .... my cousin has cows & the next door neighbor wasted no time offering to sell me one, too.
You are a wise woman.
Every marriage has it’s rough spots. Even the ones I thought were the best did.
I just had to put shallow bowls under some of my eggplants’ pots (said plants are in shade!) because it’s either that or water them every 4 hours because their big leaves (biggest I’ve ever seen on Ichiban Eggplants) are “evapotranspiring” so much this afternoon! I guess they got used to all that rain the last couple months, and not many really hot days.
Bigger pots, or modified 5 gallon buckets instead of roughly 2 gallon pots would likely help, but I’ve way more than blown my budget for soil to fill them with, already...
Transplanting in hot weather doesn’t seem too wise, either.
Some years back, Diana in Wisconsin informed me the reason I was getting super growth out of my tomato plants, but few fruits, was because the chicken guano I was fertilizing the plants with was “all nitrogen”.
Well, of course it’s not ALL nitrogen, but, the nitrogen really predominates, and does strongly promote “green growth”. I’ve since backed off some on the guano, and add a little Bloom Booster or Super Phosphate. Diluted 2% milk (1:4) as fertilizer can help too, it seems.
Probably 15 years since seedlings planted. I never had any luck sprouting seed.
I did that for several years maybe 5. The issue was birds eating the tiny fruit, they are like grains of rice. So I tried bagging them with gauze hairnets after fruit emerged. Finally settled on reflective streamers. Mason bees are great pollinators, I have 3 houses on the side of the barn near the trees. One year I got a big bag of pig poop as flies are great pollinators of pawpaws. I saw no big difference. The mason bees get the job done. In the spring I hammer in Jobes fruit tree spikes.
I neglected to include in my “Report” that on the last day of our camping trip we “fled” to Glen O. Jones Lake - a spot we know well, and we can usually depend on it to catch a few edible size fish. The hope was to get south of the t-storms and my daughter wanted to pick up a cute shirt at a place near there and “Garden of the Gods” called “The Outpost”. After driving through a QUITE impressive t-storm (in terms of rain and lightning) we arrived into calm conditions with the rains having moved off. After getting our teeth rattled by taking the brand new killer speed bumps in the park as gently as possible (nastiest speed bumps ever!), we decided to go hit The Outpost first (they have great if slightly pricey ice cream concoctions too!), then go back and fish @ Glen O. Jones lake until dusk, then head home (still a 1-1/2 hour drive).
Naturally, as soon as we got back to the lake, another thunderstorm hit - really more of a t-shower for us, but, it took about an hour to move off. THEN, finally we got some productive fishing in, from about 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm, thereafter heading home. My wife picked the spot to fish, as it usually produces nice bluegill, which she likes. THIS time, it coughed up mostly bluegill and green sunfish, 6 barely big enough to keep, but, to my delight we also caught 5 channel cats in the 17” range (great eating size even tho’ these were much more slender than the same length CC’s @ Dolan Lake) AND I caught an almost 19” Black Bullhead. I’ve never seen one that big. But, out of good water (MUCH nicer than Dolan) it’ll taste good too. All are cleaned & frozen: We’ll eat the bullhead, the one CC from Dolan, and a couple CC’s from Glen O. The other 3 CC’s will go to a family friend who can’t get out to fish in any but ~70 degree “nice” weather any more due to advanced COPD, but, he loves fish, esp. good water catfish.
Glen O. Jones Lake Profile: https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00240
And on the way home? No T’storms!!! That made wifey really happy - cars plus bad weather is NOT her thing — even as a passenger she freaks out.
Our place got over an inch of rain while we were gone, so, my worries about parched garden plants were needless, but neither did they drown. :-)
There is a blooming bush around here that I like and I have been wracking my brain for the name & it finally came to me: Rose of Sharon. Quite a few folks on the road have them and they are in full bloom ... lots of colors like pink, white, purples. I looked them up & they are deer resistant (yay!). I want one ... or two. I’m taking down some redbuds along the driveway which will leave space for something else & I don’t want more trees. Rose of Sharon bushes would be pretty .... will have to consult with the homeowner (mom!) and see what she thinks.
“We have weathered the storms of life pretty well together.”
Butting in, as usual! I had to wait until I was 50 to find a decent man. We just had a lovely conversation the other night that while we’re 15 years into this, and we’re both kind of falling apart in places, we are both so GRATEFUL that we’ll have one another in our Golden Years to rely upon.
Always thought I would be 100% on my own when I divorced after a way-too-long marriage to a bad man. NEVER thought I would finally find happiness, peace, peace of mind, stability, etc. later in life.
So, don’t give up, Ladies! That guy that has always been on the periphery of your life as, ‘just a friend’ should garner a second look! :)
God works in mysterious and amazing ways! Loved your line about, ‘I held on to him for Dear Life!’ *HEART*
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