goldie
All Star Member
Posts: 20,212
|
Post by goldie on Jul 26, 2018 0:55:08 GMT -5
Red, thanks for the offer. I've thought about trying both, ebooks and audio, but haven't yet except for one ebook that I read on my computer (not an e-reader) several years ago. I'm soooo behind the times.
A local grocery store chain, Lunds & Byerlys, had all ice cream (excluding novelties) on BOGO this past week (sales go Thursday through Wednesday). Yes, Red, that included Graeter's! I was very tempted to buy some but decided to try the new Breyer's low calorie pints instead. Probably a good thing, since a serving is supposed to be something like 1/4 pint, and I ate about 2/3 at one time. The whole pint has fewer calories than 1 serving of G's. I just got vanilla bean. It was pretty good. Of course I didn't expect it to taste like G's. Better than Halo Top, but I think Halo Top has better ingredients, if I recall. Believe it or not I still have one of those pints of Graeter's I bought back when you first told me about it, and then the next day Cub miraculously had it for that ridiculous low price. The cashier said it had probably come by mistake.
There are new kinds of kombucha coming into the stores all the time now. Yesterday I saw a new one called Buchi Kombucha, and it was on sale. They have some very interesting looking flavors, and I bought two different ones to try. I just drank the one called "Water", and besides natural starter, tea (black and an exotic kind I've never heard of), and sugar, it has coconut water, elderberry, watermelon, blueberry and shizandra juices. At first I thought it tasted too yeasty and I wasn't going to like it, but that seemed to off-gas or something, and I liked it better and better as it went on and I drank the whole 12 oz bottle. Was intending to just drink 1/2 now and 1/2 another time. Also, as it sat open, it got less fizzy, which I like better.
|
|
|
Post by dirtgirl (TwinCities,MN) on Jul 26, 2018 11:27:19 GMT -5
goldie, I know Cub has recently had Graeters on sale...I don't think that the location by me carries it. I usually get Breyers Natural Vanilla as I think it's the best. I think it comes in pints also and better ingredients than the lite version fwiw.
|
|
Red
Full Member
*** On An Indefinite Trip **
Posts: 162
|
Post by Red on Jul 26, 2018 12:53:38 GMT -5
The longest lunar eclipse of this century will be here after midnight tomorrow. The entire path will last 6 hours, with 103 minutes in total eclipse. Will post pix on the blog if I manage to capture any part of the phenomenon.
|
|
Red
Full Member
*** On An Indefinite Trip **
Posts: 162
|
Post by Red on Jul 27, 2018 1:46:15 GMT -5
Mars will be at its biggest and brightest ever in the sky because it's directly opposite the sun with the Earth in between. It's also travelling side by side with the moon for the entire night (3 finger width between the two as the news reports), an occurrence that only happened every 25,000 years.
The apartment building has a rooftop terrace with table and chairs so we'll be comfortable viewing all night if we wish. The sky, however, probably will prevent us to see anything, what with cloudy sky, rain or thunderstorm almost every day, as it is right now.
|
|
|
Post by dirtgirl (TwinCities,MN) on Jul 27, 2018 22:37:05 GMT -5
Red, Hopefully you will have a good view from the rooftop terrace. Unfortunately the eclipse won't be visible in north america. They did mention that mars would be visible.
Our weather has been very cool for the last few days. Yesterdays high temp was only about 70. Tomorrow (Sunday) we start headed back up to the low 80's.
|
|
Red
Full Member
*** On An Indefinite Trip **
Posts: 162
|
Post by Red on Jul 28, 2018 2:57:06 GMT -5
We're lucky, the sky was clear enough for a good viewing. We're up on the terrace from 0:30 to 3:30 then came down when the moon was still in total eclipse. Too sleepy. I managed to take some passable photos, two of them with both the moon and Mars. Will post them on the blog later today or tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by dirtgirl (TwinCities,MN) on Jul 28, 2018 20:33:35 GMT -5
Glad you were able to see it.
|
|
goldie
All Star Member
Posts: 20,212
|
Post by goldie on Jul 29, 2018 22:35:16 GMT -5
DG, I used to buy that Breyer's natural vanilla (Vanilla Bean, I think) back when I ate more ice cream. I agree it's good quality, and bought some earlier this year on a special deal. I used it for my annual root beer floats. But now I usually buy a pint of something special, like Talenti or those special pints of Graeter's or ?? I don't eat it as much ice cream now. The little pint I bought last week isn't the former kind of lite, it's something new. It wasn't great, but I don't know how much of the issue was b/c I didn't get it put in the freezer right away. I'd buy that 1.5 qt. (that used to be a half gallon) Breyer's natural vanilla again. Part of the issue is having enough room in the freezer. It's easier to fit the pints into small spaces.
It was kind of fun hearing Iron Chef Michael Symon on The Chew brag about how good Graeter's is b/c he's from Cleveland, and it's from Cincinnati. Doubt I'll buy more of it, but who knows? Never say never.
I saw Mars last week and it was HUGE. I thought it had to be an airplane or something, but it didn't move and had that reddish/yellow cast. The full moon this weekend was gorgeous and huge, too.
|
|
|
Post by dirtgirl (TwinCities,MN) on Jul 30, 2018 19:08:58 GMT -5
I forgot to watch for Mars. I've never had Graeters. I've had Talenti but remember I didn't care for the one I had. I currently have a 1/2 gallon of Byers in my freezer...I kind of go in spurts as far as eating ice cream. I've tried it in rootbeer or coke floats and it's not the same as the cheaper ice cream. For those items I like the cheaper ice cream better. I do like Kemps rainbow sherbert but there isn't room in the freezer for both of them so the ice cream wins out. lol
|
|
Red
Full Member
*** On An Indefinite Trip **
Posts: 162
|
Post by Red on Aug 1, 2018 1:58:31 GMT -5
I've posted a few photos from the Moon and Mars on the blog, one of them includes Saturn even though no one would be able to tell. It's just a white dot in the dark sky.
Goldie -- I was thinking about what you said, that you're behind on reading the blog, and I just realised that there's no such thing as behind or all-catched-up with reading a blog. Blogs are not books with chronological chapters, there's no reason to read everything. You can read the beginning, ignore all the middle, jump onto today's conversation, skip tomorrow, come back in two weeks, all without missing a beat.
I don't even post in chronological order. I have 3 posts already written, just needed a bit of editing and should've been posted a long while ago -- one last year, another 6 months ago, and the third a few weeks back. I'll find a way to post them one of these days. They'll be very, very, very late posts, but I don't think my family and friends would care one way or another. It's not as if the posts have to be timely like the news.
|
|
|
Post by dirtgirl (TwinCities,MN) on Aug 1, 2018 11:31:51 GMT -5
Red, I try to read the posts in the order that you posted them but really I just enjoy reading what you are doing over there and seeing the photos. I will probably never get to Vietnam so it's all interesting.
|
|
goldie
All Star Member
Posts: 20,212
|
Post by goldie on Aug 2, 2018 19:36:41 GMT -5
There is a recall re possible parasite contamination of salads and wraps from Trader Joe's, Walgreen's, Krogers and a some other stores.
"The parasite in question, Cyclospora Cayetanenis, can cause stomach cramps, nausea, fatigue, body aches, and diarrhea. Its incubation period ranges from two to 14 days. Symptoms usually present themselves around one week after consuming the tainted food."
That time frame surprises me. I thought that if a person was going to get sick from food it would happen within three days. Fourteen days makes it really hard to remember what was eaten.
Trader Joe's finally has spaghetti made from lentils! They've had another form of pasta made from lentils and black bean rotini, and I was waiting for spaghetti. But in the meantime I've bought some that I haven't used yet from other stores. As usual, TJ's is more cost effective. Earlier today I made one of my one-skillet meals using TJ's lentil sedanini, which is like macaroni but thinner and straight. And red.
Instead of boiling the pasta separately, I made it right in with the rest of the ingredients, with about 2 1/2 c. liquid (2 c. veggie broth and 1/2 c. water), and stirring often to get as much of the pasta submerged as possible. I like how it turned out. It made its own sauce, w/o having to mix in flour or cream soup or anything like that. And it was easy, IMO.
|
|
|
Post by dirtgirl (TwinCities,MN) on Aug 3, 2018 12:03:56 GMT -5
The lentil pasta is interesting.
|
|
goldie
All Star Member
Posts: 20,212
|
Post by goldie on Aug 4, 2018 7:24:03 GMT -5
Just to clarify, the instructions on the lentil pasta package said to boil, the same as with wheat pasta. But I don't like boiling separately any more, if I can help it, so am trying it right in with the other ingredients when possible. I looked it up once on the internet to get ideas of how to do it. I think that's where I got the 2 1/2 c. of liquid, but not sure since it was from memory.
The lentil pasta is more like "regular" pasta than is TJ's black bean rotini pasta. I haven't made wheat pasta in a very long time. Was using TJ's rice pasta, which I think was like wheat, as far as I could tell or remember. The lentil pasta is pretty similar, but not quite. I like it.
I'd much rather add fiber and protein, and esp. have it already in the pasta, than give it up.
|
|
Red
Full Member
*** On An Indefinite Trip **
Posts: 162
|
Post by Red on Aug 18, 2018 0:44:14 GMT -5
We've had a credit on one of the credit cards (with zero balance) for a few months now but haven't touched it because we earmarked it for Australia. Yesterday, a check was sent to daughter for the amount of credit. Evidently, credit card companies have a rule that a negative balance can't stay negative too long, so as we didn't use the card, they sent us a check instead.
Daughter deposited the check to our account around 8PM on Fri, CA time, using mobile deposit app. She took photos of the front and back of the check, sent the photos to the bank via the app, and that's it, the money is in the account almost immediately. She then destroyed the check afterwards.
I've known of this practice for almost a decade but for some reason, never used it (we didn't even use ATM for deposit) in part because we rarely had a physical check. It's good to know that it has become more popular now, and people who can't stop by the bank during business hours, or are physically unable to leave the house, or need to deposit a check in the wee hours, can deposit funds in their accounts at anytime and from anywhere. Eventually, standing in line at the bank, or hurrying to get to the bank before it closes, or waiting until Monday to deposit a check, all of them will be things of the past.
|
|