Random Thread ~Usagi-Chan ☮ Tūsurī~

[erilaz]

I was lucky that my parents never smoked, but my aunt who babysat me when I was in first grade smoked like a chimney. Ugh.

I always hated cigarette and cigar smoke, but the smoke from good pipe tobacco never bothered me. In fact, the smell of it brings back fond memories of being with my favorite uncle and his stamp collection.

[TotallyUncool]

I never really smoked (did it for a little while in high school, then quit after I tried to distill some nicotine out of my father's pipe tobacco and kind of overdosed on the fumes), but at one point in the early 80s, I bought a pack of ginseng cigarettes (don't ask me why, because there was no good reason) and lit one up in the smoking section of a coffee shop. It smelled just like a brush fire - and it set off the smoke alarm just like a brush fire. And of course, everyone in the coffee shop got to smell it as well, which only made things worse.

[Shoujo Q]

When I was 5-7 I went to Catholic school and I vividly remember that one of the priests smoked a pipe. It was a rather pleasant smell compared to your typical cigarette smoke.

[Moh]

Merry Christmas, Jplop. Hope everyone had a great day, even if you might not celebrate!

Some Jewish friends of ours in Boca sent us some goodies for the holiday. They even sent us a tree that I feel is extremely appropriate given the kind of year it's been.


No white Christmas for us, but we barely made it past freezing today. I think it was 19F for the low this morning. We've had a fire going all day, lol.

Dinner will be smoked Italian chicken sausage, roasted with mini sweet peppers, sweet onions, garlic, and cherry tomatoes. The vegetables get tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and brown sugar. Dessert is chess pie. Unconventional for Christmas, but our kitchen is still not 100% usable. It's getting there, though!

[Stereo]

Wow, that's a beautiful house you have. You are lucky with that fireplace ! It's so nice to look at and warm !
It was fun to discover your card written in French !

[Zunu]

That dinner sounds delicious, Moh. Hope you enjoyed.

We had jalapeño chicken with corn and zucchini. I can't take credit for any of the cooking.



Happy holidays, all!

[erilaz]

That's a perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree, Moh!

I had a solo Christmas dinner at home (steak with grilled peppers and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, spicy peach ginger glazed carrots, and cherry pie), but I spent over two hours with relatives on FaceTime and Zoom. My nephew was with his relatives on the other side of the family yesterday, so we're going to have another session for opening presents today.

[Moh]

^
The spicy peach ginger glazed carrots sound very interesting.

Wow, that's a beautiful house you have. You are lucky with that fireplace ! It's so nice to look at and warm !
It was fun to discover your card written in French !

I've never had a fireplace before, but now I don't think I could ever do without one again. I'm glad your card arrived safely!

Zunu: It was a very good meal; even saved the rest of the peppers for soup later next week. Everything on that plate looks delicious!

[erilaz]

The spicy peach ginger glazed carrots sound very interesting.

Basically, it's a generic recipe for glazed carrots that I found online (1 lb. baby carrots, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons butter), supplemented with additional stuff that I thought would work well with it. The "peach ginger" part is a few heaping tablespoons of my sister's homemade peach ginger jam (or, if I don't have any on hand, store-bought peach jam and slivers of fresh ginger). The "spicy" part is a few dashes of some sort of red pepper sauce: Sriracha, Tabasco, Tapatio, whatever. Since I was making it all for myself this time, I went heavier on the hot sauce and even threw in a minced habanero pepper. Just mix all the ingredients together, bring them to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium and continue boiling uncovered for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated. I love things that are both sweet and spicy, so it works for me.

[Moh]

I'm gonna have to try that out one day! I think my dad specifically would enjoy it; he pretty much liked all things peach. I usually do my carrots with ground allspice, brown sugar (or honey) and crushed red pepper.

So the Xmas present my parents got for me came in today... I'm excited!!


It's also my mom's birthday today, so that's fun.