Running Bear's December 2024 Coffee Shop

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Good morning all!

Currently 32 degrees and the weather app says the rain will stop shortly. Fumy, as I look outside I see we had any signs of precipitation. High is supposed to be around 35 or so. It looks like we will not have a white Christmas this year. I'm Ok with that.

Tonight is the big get together with my wife's side of the family. Looks to be around 35 or so this year. It will be down from close to 40+ that has been years past. Some chose not to travel this year. All I know is we are not hosting. so we show up with appetizers. Looks like it will be our turn next year. Were going to do a crock pot of meatballs, and bacon wrapped water chestnuts as we do every year, and its usually expected. Not a ton of prep time, just a lot of baking. We have the cookie trays already made up and the meatballs mixed and rolled ready to bake this afternoon.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas eve!
 
Good Morning All. Merry Christmas Eve. Spotty rain and 60°, the porch is wet. Thunderstorms are passing through and where it is raining is spotty at best. Thunder & lightning is evident somewhere nearby, but it's not currently raining here. Eventually we'll all get wet. Should end in early afternoon and warm up slightly.

Still doing "Christmasy" stuff around here, just at a slower pace. No plans to leave today, but this rain is supposed to clear off for tomorrow.

I did some further painting of the latest batch of figures yesterday, out in the train shed. But I left the damn camera ou there and I don't want to walk in the rain. Instead, I now have those pictures of my brother's outdoor layout loaded in the computer so here they are.
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The control panel is inside that building next to it.
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Those power poles actually carry power to the individual lighted structures/
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It's meant mostly for his grandkids and some of the other close-by grandkids of several of my siblings.


James - Have your usual fun at the Amherst Show.
Louis - Good to read that your DIL is helping. Your biggest problem is going to be keeping Angela from "jumping in".

And also for Louis who probably already knows this, today is singer/bassist (Motörhead), Lemmy Kilmister's birthday. He left us 9 years ago.

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas Eve today. Merry Christmas to everybody.
 
Good morning, al! We off to another warm day. The day has my dance card pretty full. We were just informed that d-i-l may have pneumonia. Son is torn between seeing family and staying with d-i-l. I going to get in the fray at Walmart for a doll my g-gdaughter wants. There are packages to wrap.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from the Texas Hobo and the Conductress. (Hughie & Dianne)

HAPPY SLEDDING
STAY SAFE
LATER
 


It
Has
Begun!

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Spiral sliced ham (already smoked by the grocery supplier), now on for a double smoke.

I wanted to add a pork rub (2pts Garlic Powder, 2pts onion powder, 2pts brown sugar and a dash of pepper) Unfortunately the onion powder I have is finely ground and it clumps badly. This time, I thought I'd mix it in the blade style coffee grinder. Even though it has a "lid" it's not good enough to contain the onion powder.

In addition to a mess on the counter, I now have sinuses full of onion powder.

Three more hours of cook then I start glazing.
 
Thank you Everybody for the kind words, well wishes, and encouragement regarding Angela's injury.

You guys are the best, truly capital people!

The Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage is simmering perfectly. Angela told me the name of the stuffed cabbage in Hungarian. I can't even say let alone spell it!

My Ham is in the oven, and all is well here in Southeast Baltimore.

Merry Christmas!
 
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troyphoto said:
Unfortunately the onion powder I have is finely ground and it clumps badly.
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It tends to do that when the humidity is up. Here in Baltimore high humidity is a frequent problem.

I make my own meat seasoning. I put everything in a large spice container, close the lid and shake it vigorously. When the humidity is too high, I like to mix it in a bowl and use a small fork to break up the clumps before putting it into the large spice container.
 
Afternoon all,

Headed to 4:00 mass shortly as the boy is playing Santa afterward for the KofC at church afterward.

Had to go to Sam's this morning to get my BP med and a couple of items for the now larger meal for tomorrow. All the local kids coming here as they had their in-law Christmas last night and the furthest Daughter is heading to her in-laws tomorrow. Least number of people I have ever seen at Sam's at that time. 20 miles one way to Sam's and I was there and back again in an hour.

Willie: No worries on the peach tree. It's actually above any graft. I say that because most are supposed to be dwarf or semi-dwarf. Mine have grown above 30 feet (sucks to pick peaches standing on the roof of the house). They have been cut back, one more extremely than the other...


If I don't get on tomorrow, everyone have a safe and Blessed Christmas!
 
Bruette said:
My Hungarian wife has always had the big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve.
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Our (Norwegian and some Swedish heritage) family always had the most special dinner and event on Christmas Eve. Traditionally its been fish (incuding Lutefisk for you Norwegians and Lutfisk for you Swedes) though most people don't eat that. They eat the salmon. Some risp bread, potatoes, carrots, butter, and usually some other vegetables round it out. Then we have "rice pudding" for desert, which in our case is whipping cream and cooked rice and sugar and almond flavoring...

Christmas Day my mom usually does a turkey dinner or similar -- Thanksgiving Redux -- as a way to bring the various families together of me and my siblings and her relatives and stuff. It's more low key and less formal than the Christmas Eve dinner.

We're going to my Aunt and Uncles (in law) house tonight for the Christmas Eve dinner.

Our furnace in our current house was out this morning. Some sort of air circulaton switched not closed according to the manual. Somethig like that -- don't have it in front of me. Property manager is sending an HVAC guy over.
 


D&J RailRoad said:
Just heard on the news, American Airlines has grounded all flights due to some kind of technical issue with the aircraft. Fine time to discover that. I'm more inclined to think it may be some kind of threat was delivered to the airlines by some unbalanced individual but the airlines doesn't want to panic their customers so they declare it as a technical issue. I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere.
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It wasn't a technical issue with the aircraft. It was a technical issue in the operations systems, or whatever systems runs the fleet from the ground, which is why their whole fleet was grounded. It was lifted after an hour or two.
 
Bruette said:
Thank you Everybody for the kind words, well wishes, and encouragement regarding Angela's injury.

You guys are the best, truly capital people!

The Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage is simmering perfectly. Angela told me the name of the stuffed cabbage in Hungarian. I can't even say let alone spell it!

My Ham is in the oven, and all is well here in Southeast Baltimore.

Merry Christmas!
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Is the stuffed cabbage with rice and ground meat? If so then in Poland we call it "gołąbki", which translated means "pigeons". Usually we have them with tomato sauce, but not like the Italian style, a little different.
 
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I loved hearing about your Norwegian and some Swedish traditions, thank you!

chadbag said:
Our furnace in our current house was out this morning. Some sort of air circulaton switched not closed according to the manual. Somethig like that -- don't have it in front of me. Property manager is sending an HVAC guy over.
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I didn't love this part. Things never happen at convenient times, but stuff can always happen.

KriegslokBR52 said:
Is the stuffed cabbage with rice and ground meat?
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Yes sir!
KriegslokBR52 said:
If so then in Poland we call it "gołąbki", which translated meas "pigeons".
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That is interesting. The Hungarian name is Töltött káposzta Some do cook it in a tomato sauce, but not my wife's family. They cooked in sauerkraut. It smells great cooking, but there is something in it that I don't like.
KriegslokBR52 said:
Usually we have them with tomato sauce, but not like the Italian style, a little different.
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Many years ago, my Mom had a polish boyfriend, great guy. His dad loved to feed me. I remember eating stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce and I loved it!

Merry Christmas Gentlemen!
 
When my grandson was little this would be about the time, I would read ’Twas the Night Before Christmas" The little ones listen better when their bellies are full.

Alas, they grow up. I still have the book and the memories.

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
 


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