What's under your lip/in your nose right now? - Part 2

[The Rebel]

All in all it was a nice weekend even with the weekend fireworks experts going wild. But it wasn't without some misfortunes. Seems my dryer that I bought in January has lost it's heating element. Good thing it's under warranty, bad thing is laundry is going to pile up. Add that to the list of things around the house to take a crap lately and it's been a interesting month and we're only two weeks into it. My steering parts for the lawn mower should arrive today so I can get that up and running. And my new sensors for the garage door to replace the one my wife tore off should be here by the end of the week. If bad things come in threes I should be good for the rest of the year and most of next year.

 

[hittman]

That is a pretty good string of bad luck. I'm hoping the stuff doesn't come in threes. The motor on my dishwasher is making a funny noise. It's 8-9 years old so I took my wife Sunday to look at new ones. There's a super quiet Bosch that I liked but she thought it was too much money. I get military discount a few times a year at Lowes so thought maybe we could take advantage of that. Nope. She said that we can just wait until it breaks completely. I won't be able to get the discount again until November so I hope it lasts that long even though I know it probably won't.

 

[The Rebel]

Well today actually marks our 11th year in our house. I expected a few thing would need to be fixed or replaced, just hate when they all come at one time. Keeping my fingers crossed that the fridge, dish washer, and stove hold it together for a few more years. I really need to replace our bed but they are expensive. So I'll add it to the list...

 

[hittman]

We got a new bed last year and a new fridge I think three or four ago. I really want a new range with a double oven but they are pretty expensive too.

 

[rothenbj]

Hitt, how do they handle the discounts at Lowes? You can only use them at times and do you need anything other that your DD214. I understand you can get veteran indicated on your driver's license, at least here in PA.

 

[hittman]

A DD214 is all you need and maybe a picture ID. I still have an old military ID from when I was on inactive status. You can get the 10% discount on memorial day, veterans day, and 4th of July weekends. If you are active, retired, or disabled then you can get the discount all the time.

 

[rothenbj]

Hitt, I remember you writing about getting discounts from HD, but I didn't realize Lowe's also did it. My uncle could have gotten a discount when his refrig. went bad last year, not that it matters anymore. I just sent off to get a copy of my DD after I discovered I must have thrown it out somewhere on cleaning out my records. I was going to join the Legion close to where my uncle is living so I looked for it and realized it was gone.

I think I've finally gotten his three pensions to a point that I can get his mailing address changed from the house we sold to mine. What a project. Nobody accepts power of attorney anymore and everyone has a different process.

 

[hittman]

Lucky for me that my wife is very organized where I am not. My DD214 is in a file in our cabinet thanks to her. Like I said, I kept my old inactive ID for some reason. I think I just left it in my wallet and never took it out. It has a red background instead of the green that was used for active duty. HD and lowes used to let me get a discount all the time and I didn't know I was doing anything wrong until a manager at Lowes let me know what the policy was. Only active, retired, and disabled are supposed to get it all the time. I saved a lot of money at those stores until they put a stop to it. I thought about joining the VFW but never followed through.

 

[rothenbj]

I had mine all these years through six moves. A couple years ago I went through my files and threw out a lot of stuff and I seem to remember seeing it and making sure I kept it. However, I had to move an elevating bed into my office that I got for my uncle and he decided he didn't need it after I found and bought it. I disassembled my old computer area and removed the filing cabinets and did another purge and my DD wasn't there. Hopefully, at some point, he'll change his mind. If not, I'll either sell it or need it myself. lol

 

[hittman]

We had some fairly bad thunderstorms overnight that woke me up early this morning. It seems like it always has to storm at night or early morning. I'm so sick of being woken up early. Either it's the storm or the dog afraid of the storm. It makes for a long day at work.

 

[Waho]

I hear ya there. I swear my dog can hear a crack of thunder or a firework boom from 2 states over.

Back to real life after a week off. Feels like I need a few days to recover from any vacation that's longer than 3 days since I end up doing more work at home.

Scored a FoodSaver FM2000 vacuum sealer a few days ago, the little cheap one from Walmart. We've been buying a few things in bulk and using freezer bags, but having the dinner plan dictated by whats almost freezer burnt and losing a few things prompted buying the sealer. Not the most feature packed unit, but it works. Sealed up some smoked cheese I made a few weeks ago that I thought I ruined (smelled/tasted like a house fire), but it just needs some time to mellow out.

 

[hittman]

How do you make smoked cheese? sounds really good.

 

[The Rebel]

Cold smoke Hitt. The cheese is submitted to the smoke but not the heat. Most of the time you need a separate smoking element to pull it off but there are ways around it. I've cold smoked cheese, salmon, butter, salt, bacon. It adds the smoky flavor without cooking.

 

[Waho]

Most of the time you need a separate smoking element to pull it off but there are ways around it.

Speaking of ways around it....

I light a pellet tray (A-maze-n pellet smoker) in the mailbox, the smoke cools by the time it gets to the smoker box and I'll put a few aluminum pans of ice in the smoker to keep the cheese cool.

 

[rothenbj]

Darn, you can learn a whole bunch of stuff acros the tracks.

 

[hittman]

I've never heard of anyone doing that.

 

[The Rebel]

I use the a-maze-n pellet tray as well for my cold smoking although I don't use the mailbox method. I bought a small barrel grille and pipe in the smoke through some left over stove pipe I had from a project. Similar concept as Waho's. I'll post a picture next time I have it set up. You use the top vent on the smoker to adjust how much smoke gets to cheese. The good ole interweb has a ton of information on it Hitt. It can be fun to see all the different things you can add smoke flavor to. The butter was a challenge but it is fantastic tasting on potatoes, corn, etc. I even add some herbs to it and use it on steak or to saute mushrooms. Damn fine dining right there.

 

[hittman]

Well look at you gourmet chefs! I've just been eating regular cheese and butter all this time.

 

[Waho]

I've never tried smoking butter, I'll have to give that a shot sometime, sounds amazing!

I've got 15 lbs of turkey breast thawing currently, getting ready to make mesquite smoked jerky. Also got 2 lbs each of almonds, cashews and pecans to cold smoke (thinking of using apple/sugar maple combo) and drop in my mom's famous cinnamon/honey/molasses "caramel corn" glaze.

I've also cold smoked bratwurst, hard boiled egg yolks (those deviled eggs were a hit), and fresh veggies.

I've heard of people cold smoking inside of cardboard boxes with an oven grate over an ice pan and piping smoke in.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[rothenbj]

I used to love smoked meats. In fact I've got a Big Green Egg that I bought back in the 70s that is starting to disintegrate on my back deck that I've had since the 70s. I think it could be brought back to life, I did it once before as it developed crack and needed some TLC. I repaired the cracks and gave it a new paint job and it was as good as new. Then that woman that lives in my house showed up and grilling and smoking eventually was given up.

I loved smoked turkey at Thanksgiving and beef ribsany time I could find them. I noticed some smoked horseradish cheese the last time I stopped at the farmer's mart a couple weeks ago and bought a chunk. That was gone in two days. It will be on my order next time I go there.