Subj : Mama Mia! To : Ruth Haffly From : Dave Drum Date : Sun Sep 28 2025 05:38:44 -=> Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=- RH> extremely high out there so I guess they're trying to establish a RH> secure financial foundation first. DD> If we waited for that very little would ever get done. Bv)= RH> I know, but from what Rachel said, it is much higher than you would RH> expect for the location. The state has more like LA or NYC or DC RH> prices for housing and such like. DD> Prices have gone completely bonkers over the past few years. My little DD> house on the prairie has quadrupled in value in the few short years DD> I've been here. Fortunately I have a property tax/assessment freeze as DD> well as a homestead exemption ot my taxes would have gone right up DD> with the "value" One of the (few) benefits of being and old guy. RH> At one point this place was valued at almost triple what we paid for it RH> but the market has shifted (again) and we're no longer valued so high. RH> We still get a lot of junk mail/calls "we want to buy your house" so RH> one time Steve told the caller that he'd sell--for half a million RH> dollars. Guy was somewhat taken aback, said he couldn't offer that RH> much, good bye. I don't get calls like that any longer. What I see now is "SPAM and BLOCKED!" on my screen. I used to have fun with some of those callers. Lead them right along and agree to all of their"suggestions' for add-on items to the point I could almost hear them salivating. And when it came time to give payment information the call would mysteriously get dropped. And since they were using a robo-caller there was no way they could call back. When I still had the land-line the teelemarketers were "spoofing" numbers. Once I looked at the caller ID and it said my phone number was calling my actual phone number. Bv)= Needless to say ........ DD> And rents? HAH! They're worse than ......... RH> When we bought this house, the payment schedule worked out that we'd RH> pay a bit less than our (at the time) rent. We've added a good bit to RH> the principle each month so now, after almost 11 years, we've over half RH> paid it off. I put 20% down and made the monthly strokes plus U$50. Then in 2016 after the ballots were counted I figured the stock market was in for a very rough ride. So I cashed out my stock portfolio and paid off the mortgage. I wasn't totally correct in my guess about the market but I've never regretted making that move. DD> I cleaned the 'fridge yesterday. Amazing how much space can be freed DD> up. And how many bowls and containers can be put back into service. RH> I know the feeling. (G) DD> I told Dennis that the clear-out was gong to be a regular thing. And DD> if he stashed something to eat it (or share it with the mutts) within DD> two weeks or - into the bin with it. We'll see how that plays out. RH> Containers labeled for contents and dated, I presume? I'm better about RH> that for the freezer than the fridge. DD> The ice box stuff is an see-thru containers and I've not dated and of DD> it. The stuff that gets sucky-bagged and frozen gets dated and DD> (usually) has a name or description on the package. RH> Unless it's something obvious, like the pizza Steve brought home from a RH> meeting last night. We repackaged it into 2 slices/bag vaccuum bags and RH> froze. It'll reheat quick on the convection cycle of the toaster oven RH> and a slice each, with a side of something else, will make an easy RH> lunch. I nuke frozen (leftover) pizza. Lots quicker. 8<----- SNIP ----->8 DD> You can use any Parmesan cheese you like. The stuff from DD> the pre-grated cans works here. You can also use DD> mixtures of Parmesan with other cheeses. I use a store DD> brand Parmesan, Romano and Asiago blend to good effect. RH> I don't buy the red and green cans ny more; after using fresh grated, RH> the cheese in them tastes more like sawdust. DD> I do both. Depends on the use. I do keep a wedge of Parmesan has the DD> little crank grater handy. Like many I had grown up with the shaker DD> cans and didn't know any better until I made this recipe - what an DD> eye-opener. Bv)= RH> Steve's mom bought the real thing from time to time at the little RH> Italian store in Rochester that we shop at from time to time. She also RH> used the green and red cans; I was raised on the green can. Once our RH> finances eased a bit (and getting into the echo), I started buying the RH> real thing and haven't looked back. I'm more like Steve's mom then. I do both - depending. Hy-Vee sells a shaker-can of grated Parm w/black pepper and garlic added. Very nice in some (many) applications. DD> Title: Dave's Fish Parmesan DD> Categories: Seafood, Cheese, Sauces, Mushrooms DD> Yield: 8 Servings RH> Sometimes it just takes something simple to open your eyes. Steve RH> doesn't like black olives so some years (decades) ago I bought some RH> kalamata olives. Big!!! hit, and they appear regularly in my cooking. I alsways like the ripe olives better than the green guys. Although I'll do the greenies as long as I can ditch the pimientos. Here's one I do that uses green olives: MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06 Title: Green Olive Pesto Categories: Five, Condiments, Sauces Yield: 2 1/2 cups 1 1/2 c Large or jumbo green olives; - such as ascolane, pitted 1/2 Red onion; fine chopped 1/4 c Pine nuts 1 cl Garlic; thin sliced 1/2 c Extra virgin olive oil; - give or take 1 ounce In a food processor, combine olives, onion, pine nuts and garlic and blend 1 minute. With the motor running, slowly pour in olive oil until a thick, smooth paste is formed. texturally resembling rough bechamel. Allow to stand 1/2 hour before using. Yield: 2 1/2 cups Recipe By: Molto Mario Show #MB5692 From: http://www.recipesource.com Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen MMMMM .... If you can't sleep at night it's because you're still awake. --- MultiMail/Win v0.52 * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105) .