The Hobbit Hole IV – The Road Goes Ever On…

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

The Road Goes Ever On…

• First thread: New Zealander builds Hobbit hole
• Second thread: The New Hobbit Hole
• Third thread: The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads! (Congratulations, we filled it up!)

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

[2Jedismom]

Yep, it was gross. No, we didn't take it back...we'd moved clear 'cross Texas from where I bought it.

[Corin Stormhands]

Did you take it back?

Kinda hard to return something to the side of the road...at least without a receipt...

[2Jedismom]

We actually hauled it to the dump that was on the property where we lived (they had a burn spot). They eventually burned it with the rest of the trash.

Yuck-ola.

[RosieCotton]

Woo-hoo! Got the final OK, and I'm gonna go pick up Sam the Van sometime after work - depending on when my brother can go with me, so we have drivers for both vehicles.

And tonight Dad is making soup and bread and we're playing music. Life is good.

[2Jedismom]

Woohoo!

I'm off to get Joshua...see you later!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Rose couldn't find her recipe online so she asked me to post it...

Albondigas Soup

Prep time: ~20 minutes
Cook time: ~2 hours

A rich, filling version of Mexican meatball soup. I make the meatballs in advance and freeze them to use as needed.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 pound pork sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 6 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 (10 ounce) jar prepared green chile salsa
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon drieg oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup white rice

Directions

1. Mix together beef broth, salsa, 1 onion, tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. (If you use condensed beef broth [e.g. Campbell's], elliminate the salt in the meatballs and use 5 cans [10.5 ounces each] broth plus one quart water.) Bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes.

2. Combine ground beef, sausage, 1 onion, egg, salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, garlic powder, milk, fresh basil, and cornmeal, and mix well. Form into tiny, bite-size meatballs.

3. Add meatballs and rice to broth. Simmer, covered, very slowly for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Makes 8-10 servings

(all questions should go to Rose... hopefully I haven't made any transcription errors!)

[RosieCotton]

Is it kilt posting time yet?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Drowned in a bowl of soup.

[RosieCotton]

Sounds like mighty fine soup, though. I'm saving that recipe!

[Soaring Feather]

Was love a morning
moving a horizon
to cover a sea
silenced love
in cool soft stillness?

****************
bentfeather
a/k/a LHM
Copyright © 2003
All Rights Reserved

[msdrby]

Thanks much for the recipe! That looks absolutely delicious.

[SuziQ]

so now I get to think about babysitting duties on top of everything else.

Well, you WERE the one who encouraged your mom to get away, weren't you? ;o)

That is a great thing that you're doing for your parents, Jen. It is the BEST anniversary gift you can give them!

[SuziQ]

The field trip to Seabrook Nuke Plant this morning was great!! They have a wonderful Visitor Center with all kinds of exhibits for the kids to enjoy. Since they use water from the Atlantic Ocean to do their cooling, they don't need cooling towers. They are big on continually checking the waters around the inlet and outlet areas to make sure there's no radiation leaking from the plant. (which it shouldn't do anyway because that water never goes near the reactor vessel). But because they are so near the ocean, they have some saltwater aquariums in the building that are just so neat! They had a 'touch pool' that had crabs, starfish, minnows, mussels, conchs, sand dollars, etc that you could pick up and hold!! In one of the enclosed aquariums, they actually have two BLUE lobsters!! The one they've had the longest, they call Chilly Willy. They are just the coolest things! The kids enjoyed it and so did SSQ.

One interesting thing I found out was that Seabrook was actually supposed to be TWO power plants, and the infrastructure, etc was all built for it, but there were so many court challenges, and it took so long to get it on line because of them, that the company decided not to go ahead with the second unit. I can't help but wonder, in today's political climate, if they wouldn't be able to get that second one built in a much shorter period of time than the first. This one has been online for almost 14 years without any problems of which I'm aware. It supplies 7% of the electricity for New England. Just think how much oil we WOULDN'T have to buy from the Middle East if there were another plant providing that much electricity online there!

[SuziQ]

Corin is about to call the family together for a "Come to Mother Earth" meeting...

Hmmm. Sounds series!

[Rose in RoseBear]

Caution: you will burn down the house if you add a whole jar of that chile salsa!!! I usually use 2-3 heaping tablespoonsful.

Additionally: 30 minutes before it's done, add the rice! Makes for a nice thick stewlike slurry at the bottom of the bowl. Serve with cornbread ... yum!

[SuziQ]

/whine

Want some cheese with that?

[SuziQ]

Hey...you think chickens are cheep?

Shoot! For that price, they oughta sit up and cackle "Dixie"!

[SuziQ]

What the hell does THAT mean?? N+6(-6)?????

Maybe someone else has already answered your question, but to simplify the problem, you take an equal amount from each side, so if you take away 6 from each side you end up with N = 4.

[SuziQ]

Is there a logical explanation for putting it that way?

Sounds like the book is getting the kids ready for Algebra.

[Corin Stormhands]

Want some cheese with that?

Well, actually Jr's football game got cancelled because of the rain. So this evening got a little simpler. I'm just tired of everyone else adding stuff to my calendar.

I vey seriesly contemplated all of my commitments for the fall (with the exception of signing up for Nanowrimo in a fleeting moment of pawn shop enthusiasm). But no one else in the family thought things thru like that.

I've said too much...