ORVG Coffee House #180: Roasting in August!

I guess I just don't understand the 'older members' reference.
Many former active posters certainly don't anymore.
But if they chose not to post here or to lurk that is certainly their prerogative.

All attempts were made to include everyone both last year and this one.
Sorry if it seemed that wasn't the case. It certainly wasn't intentional

If someone wants to start a Spring RU 2011 debate then a separate Thread is all it will take to get it thrashed out.
Maybe w/ a year's debate something can be worked out.
Usually it's comes down to the wire.

I thought I was giving feedback Ric... Sorry if it wasn't in the time frame you would have liked.

I didn't think what I said would upset anyone... I just threw out what we were talking about, and if you'll read my post again, I said if Joyce still planned on having something, that was fine, we'd do our thing, and maybe as Bonnie said, a north/south might be better for some.

Wasn't it you, who a few years ago said the spring round up was "always" on the river because this was the 'Ohio River Valley' Gardening Group? For what it's worth, probably not much, I'm sure, the reason Michele and I picked the Chilo park in the first place is because it was almost exactly the same distance for Lou as it was for Esther and Bob... it is almost the same distance from Franklin as it is from Pleasure Valley KY, and actually, until year before last, I don't think there was an issue with that park.

As I said above, Michele and I are talking about hosting a get together in September at the park on the River... whether another get together or round up held is up to the other people who want to hold one, there might be 4 or 5 other people who want to have something, I don't know, but I don't think you have to sanction it to allow it to happen do you?

I wasn't aware anyone was upset about your initial Fall Gathering statement.
Certainly not me. Can't speak for anyone else.

double post

This message was edited Aug 7, 2010 1:48 AM

geesh, I didn't hit send that many times!

This message was edited Aug 7, 2010 1:48 AM

The tone of your post suggested you were Ric.... that's what I was going by.

You said,

its to early in the morning for this !
i will be back later

Obviously, there's some backstory that I don't get, being a newbie. I've been grateful for the work of those who set up the RU's, wherever they were held.

I think that this forum feels really small and cliquish and a lot of people no longer feel comfortable or welcome. It's like walking into a room where a few people are standing and talking and they stop, look up, wait for you to say something, then just turn around and start talking again.

I hope I don't make anyone feel that way...

Celene....have we made you feel that way on this thread?

Not unless Ric has some latent resentment for lack of caramel corn :)

Now that IS an issue Celene....lol!
Though Robyn does have a stash of Cookie's Caramels.

Seriously, no one set out to exclude anyone that I know of.
Again I can, and only will, speak for me.
Some of us get together outside of DG.
There are many reasons but it has nothing to do w/ excluding anyone.
In fact when applicable we try our best to include everyone.
Pond and Garden tours are always open invites.

Everyone who attended the Spring RU had a great time.
Or at least that's the feedback I got.
Can we improve on the RU development?
Definitely.
Can we please everyone?
Definitely not.
But constructive feedback is a must.

Well, I certainly don't mean to leave anyone out of anything...if it's me, then please accept my apology.

I hope that my saying that going to the Spring RU, driving through that horrible rain, and being tired, being late, and then turning around and driving home again didn't discourage anybody. It was a long drive for me, and I would love to see everybody again, but if there is one where there will be members closer to me, it would be easier to do that.

Joyce, I appreciate your invitation to spend the night, but I have sort of a phobia about putting someone out. If it is at Chilo, my twin sister "maggie" lives close to there, and I could spend the night there, and have a very short drive the next morning. I am like Cinderella, and cannot stay out late (even sunset) because of not being able to
drive at night. So I always allow myself plenty of time (even adding in time in case of traffic problems) to make sure that I am not caught out after the sun sets. Dusk is a very bad time for me to see.

So, it sounds like there may be a possibility of the northern RU and a more Southern RU, and if that is the case, I would chose the one closest to me, just for the reasons that I have stated above.

I hope I have not made anyone uncomfortable or feel unwelcome. I am mainly just like Rodney King, I just want to get along.

I decided not to go to that yard sale today. DH and a friend went, and I stayed home and had the most laid back day of the summer. I went out and cleaned the pool of the leaves that landed there during a storm on Thusday, folded a load of laundry, and then just sat and read, napped, and read some more. I grilled burgers for supper tonight, with corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes, so even cooking wasn't a big deal. I think I need to plan to do that more often. It felt sinfully wonderful!

I think I forgot to post some zucchini recipes that I promised...both of these freeze well, but I freeze the shredded zucchini and bake the bread fresh, usually.


Lemon Zucchini Bread
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a bowl, beat together the zucchini, sugar, egg, and oil. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder; stir in the cinnamon and lemon zest. Stir the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture just until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from heat, and cool about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

This makes great cupcakes, too.

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/4 cup margarine - softened
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1 3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 cups zucchini -- grated with fine grater
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup sour cream

Pre-heat oven to 325 F. Cream margarine, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream & vanilla. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Add zucchini and chocolate chips. Bake in 9 x 13-inch baking pan for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Note: I like it better in a bundt pan, 60 to 70 minutes.

Not zucchini bread, but really good.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Zucchini 'Crab' Cakes

Often as not, I'll add some hot pepper, chili powder or curry powder, cumin and cilantro. Mmmmmm I don't know if it tastes like crab, I don't know that I've ever had it, but they're a good side for grilled meat, and cook up nicely with thawed shredded zucchini. Serve with salsa or green chili chutney.

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup finely grated carrot
2 cups grated zucchini
1 egg -- beaten
2 tablespoons butter -- melted
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced onion
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs (for breading)
1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying

1. In a large bowl, combine carrot, zucchini, egg, and butter or margarine. Stir in seasoned crumbs, minced onion, and seasoning. Mix well.
2. Shape mixture into patties. Dredge in flour.
3. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Fry patties in oil until golden brown on both sides.

Thanks Celene!
I'll pass on the 'Crab' Cakes as I hate Old Bay but the others sound GREAT!

I hope everyone is getting these cool mornings!
Our window AC automatically switches to Fan only when the outside temp gets below in indoor temp.
It switched at about 1AM and never looked back.

Lowe's in Alexandria had a KILLER plant sale going on.
75% off.
We got a seriously nice in bloom Red Sun Parasole Manndevilla.
A 12" decorative pot full of Calla Lilies and they were full of seeds.
A pot w/ 8 peach colored Gerbera Daisies.
and 9 Caladiums in 6" pots.
All for 20 Bucks!

We also picked up Stonecrop Sedum 'Autumn Charm'.
A really nice variegated White edged/Green w/ a cream/pink flower coming from pure white buds.

Mucked out the pond filters yesterday.
Got two 11 quart buckets of muck for the flower beds.
Man that's a messy job! lol!

Isn't that the truth...yuk...a messy job...

As long as we're sharing zucchini recipes...here's one of my favs...

Spiced Zucchini Bread (from Today's Farmer Magazine)

3 c. flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4/ c. chopped walnuts
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. coarsely shredded zucchini (drained)
1 c. pineapple

Combine flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and chopped nuts. Set aside. Beat eggs, lightly in a mixing bowl; add sugar, oil and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Stir in zucchini and pineapple. Add dry ingredients stirring only until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter into well greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans.

Bake @350* for 1 hour until done. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans; turn out on rack and cool completely.

Makes 2 loaves

(Just a note...I always use sugar to dust my pans instead of flour. Makes a nice crunch outside that my family and I love!)

Edited cause I don't pay attention to those red underlined words enough....

This message was edited Aug 8, 2010 10:08 AM

Joyce we have a present for you and Bertie.
12 Shubunkin Babies!
We dropped them off last night....LOL!

I will beat you senseless....

The Superverm has been ordered and shipped....this time it BETTER work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a yard sale yesterday and made $54.00...Big woop...well I guess every little bit counts. I'm so mad though..it would have been $74.00, but I was stupid enough to accept a counterfeit $20.00....the guy hadn't even left yet by the time I realized it. It wasn't even a GOOD counterfeit! I should have suspected something when he parked far enough away in the field that I couldn't see his license plate. Plenty of places closer he could have parked...had a teenage boy with him that kept asking me questions...think he was trying to keep my mind occupied on stuff besides the bill...well, it worked...dang....

Police came when we called and took the bill. Said they'd been getting a lot of them and that's their method now. Buy something small and give a large bill...get real money in change. He bought two craft pens for a total of $1.50. :o(

Has anyone tried growing the flower of the day here in Ohio? Tower of Jewels? I've never seen it before and OMG it is so pretty! It's a zone 9/10, but wonder if you could do it as an annual and save seeds every year?

I hate flea markets, antique shows & rummage sales. No matter how low you price something they always want to pay less. I have all my antiques packed up, (nearly $10,000 worth), & it will stay there until times change or I leave this world. Then wife & kids can have an auction.

Hardly anybody hassles about the price of the veggies. Some of the ethnic people, because that's the way it's done in their home countries. I get firm & they pay the regular price. If they don't haggle on price I may just throw in an extra item. Makes for very loyal customers.

Ric, just leave out the Old Bay and use whatever seasoning blend you like.

I'm so sick of packing kitchen stuff, good grief. I keep telling myself, it'll be great when it's done. I donated a boatload of food and dishes and stuff to Amvets, too. My thought is that if I haven't used it in a year, I don't need it.

Joyce, that's something that I worry about at market. We regularly get 20's, 50's and 100's and I suspect sooner or later there's going to be a counterfeit bill show up. We've got a couple of those markers but sometimes it gets so busy we don't get a chance to check them.

Still scalding tomatoes and freezing them along with green peppers for salsa later in the year. Got started on some of the jellies. If I do a batch each afternoon that should help free up some freezer space. Course yesterday one of the orchard vendors asked me if I wanted a box of bruised peaches for $12. They were ripe and barely bruised. I'm not sure how many I processed cause we were eating them at the same time. Absolutely wonderful. I probably should have taken the other box but I was scalding peaches at 9:30 last night and was bone tired. Having another box to do would have been painful.

I'm going to look at granite tomorrow for cabinet tops. That and faucets, etc. Anybody know anything about granite?

Janet

One quick easy trick I learned, is to look for the tiny colored fibers in the paper. That isn't easy too duplicate in counterfeit money or so I was told.

Janet, the only thing I know about granite is that is it usually expensive.

Wow, on the peaches, good deal. I would have been tempted to take the others and try to put them in the fridge overnight.

I have peppers to chop and freeze. Plus a few onions. These will be used in cooking.

I still have tomatoes, and DH has about 2 five gallon buckets and wanted to know if I wanted them. Still deciding on that one. Maybe make some more tomato sauce or maybe try some ketchup. Don't know. Decisions, decisions.

There is a product out there called Cambria. It is a quartz product. About same price as granite, but much better. Granite isn't allowed in certified kitchens & this is. It is because it isn't porous like granite. Never needs sealing like granite.
Of course the company is only 50 miles from here.

You only have to hold a bill up to the light & you can see the colored line.

Hotter than blazes here this week. 92º yesterday with 75º dew point. Only 88º today.

Bernie

good evening everyone.
Did i mention i got 2nd place with my black raspberry jam at fair . ?
my applesauce did not place. Mine is chunky applesauce and i guess they like smooth. :(
texture is everything.

Colored fibers is correct Chele and now the hologram they put on them.
W/ today's printers.......

Well I guess my Chunky Monkey Ice Cream wouldn't go over then ;-)

Why Ric, does it have chunks of monkies in it?????? Ohhhhh YUK!!!
Congrats Sue!
Bernie...good information! I didn't know that!
Ok folks, gonna do a picture show for you all. Dave took these tonight with my camera. Will do about 4-5 and then stop...lol.

First one is this hydrangea in my front garden. It is enormous this year! I think...not sure..it's a Pee Gee. It has one right beside it, that never gets that big?? It is a small leaved hydrangea.

I pity the people who are in business and taking cash. We are seeing more of the couterfit bills here than ever before. I guess the economy.

Sue, that is great on the raspberry jam. I like chunky applesauce, so who cares if the judges don't. I think you did well. Did you ever get the story about why the kids things weren't in the fair? I hope it worked out, because that is so important to children.

Bernie, you have destroyed my images of MN, I thought it was fairly cool most of the time!! I don't think anybody is exempt this year from the heat.

DH put up hay all day, and when he came in, he jumped in the pool, hay chaff and all. I couldn't blame him, as it was bound to be hot out there in the hayfield.

I made tomato preserves for DH today. I don't care for them, but his DM always made them, and since we had the yellow pear tomoatoes, I thought I would do a batch.

Janet, I hope that you are all settled in the house before winter. Is the kitchen the only thing that needs to be done? You ought to make a deal with Bernie to come put in the cabinets and counters, that is his business, well that and the market. He is coming down in September for the Ky RU and maybe if you talk real sweet, you could get him to spend the next week at your place!!

Ric, I have never had Chunky Monkey Ice Cream. I bought some of that Blue Bunny, Banana Split, and Oh, man it is good.

No 2.
This is supposed to be a shorter variety of Joe Pye Weed. Seems to be almost as large as the big one in my other garden!

No 3
Large pink hardy hibiscus

No. 4
Tardiva Hydrangea...also really big this year! I love all hydrangeas, but especially this one. The blooms dry so nice, and the color holds all winter in a vase. I usually have dried hydrangeas all over the house in the winter...lol!

No. 5
Limelight hydrangea. Not as big as others...yet! And yes..those are snaps growing in the cracks in my driveway...lol. I just let them do their thing...don't have the heart to pull them up. They come up volunteer every year!

No. 6
I can't remember if I showed you all my bottle tree or not???? Anyway...here it is..in the new flowerbed that doesn't look like much yet.

Marcy Your flowers are beautiful.

Bonnie Would you care to tell me how you make your tomato preserves?
~~~~~~~~ to everyone else...
Edited to say I Love your bottle tree too.
Pauletta

This message was edited Aug 9, 2010 9:00 PM

This message was edited Aug 9, 2010 9:17 PM

Beautiful flowers and bottle tree Marcy. I put out a new hydrangea this year, can't remember it's name right now though.

Paulette, I will send you a Dmail about the preseves. Anybody else want the recipe, just dmail me. Don't want to clutter up the thread with something maybe no one else is interested in.