Rainy Days and Collard Greens and cop cars

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It is raining today and it is going to rain for the next 3 days. Yuck. I am going to cook today. Collard greens, baked mac and cheese and deli hot dogs on buns. Fred said, *what about fried chicken?* eh..just not in the mood for that. The greens will be enough work.
  That new/old laptop is already giving me fucking trouble. I think the internet card INSIDE the computer must have died or wiggled loose (like when someone would just toss the computer on the bed..not naming names). It worked fine and then i passed it off to Natalie and it would not or could not pick up any wifi signal from anywhere.  I will have the dude that messed with it before take a look. Hopefully it wont cost alot. I am very very disappointed. I was all high on the fact that I had that second computer and now it is just sitting there. Damn.
 Chelsea is getting depressed. She has no job and she has anxiety about calling Unemployment. (she did most of the info on the computer but they need additional stuff over the phone).  She is tired and she did not feel good at all yesterday. But I refuse to do her shit for her. I think that is a little bit of the reason why she is being all crybaby like. She is pissed that I wont do it. She is 22yr old. She can do it. How am I any different? I never filed for unemployment or food stamps so I have no clue what is involved either. Yeah, she is going to file for food stamps too. They will be for her and it will help out with the groceries.
I am staying strong people! I have put my foot down!

So I am going to cook today and clean the kitchen top to bottom like I did the two bathrooms yesterday. I do not know where this nesting crap is coming from.
Oh, I had to go to the gym today and pay my yearly maintenance fee. I forgot they take it out in June so the payment bounced when they went to take it. I had to money today to pay for it. That is why I was not going to the gym. Now we can step it up. Natalie is ready! LOL
I seem to just be blabbing away at nothing. I think it is the rain and the excitement of yesterday.
First off, the people behind us were having an all day party yesterday. I think it was for graduation. They BLASTED music all day from 10am-7pm. And the shit was pointed at our house!  Then at 10pm I got a text from my neighbor. *Do you see the police cars?* So my nosy ass had to go downstairs to investigate. Three police cars and one undercover car. They arrested the Son at the shit house across the street. He is already on probation. He was popped for obstructing justice, assault of a police officer, and drug paraphernalia...Enjoy your summer vacation in prison..biotch!
Then all of us neighbors stood around and gossiped for another half hour. I love it!

Okay, must go and wash up some dishes and get the pot of ham shanks brewing on the stove.

Christmas cooking

The beginnings of Collard Greens

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Yesterday afternoon and into last night I was making food for Christmas...sort of. Fred has to work (2nd shift) on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after that. Sucks, huh? It is okay. He had Un-Turkey day off and he will have New Years off. So I decided instead of him eating his special dinner re-heated at work..I would cook now. He had yesterday off so we had carne asada tacos (like on TD), chicken enchiladas, pico de gallo, and home made corn chips. It was good.
Yesterday I made the collard greens and potato salad. We are having BBQ pork ribs on the charcoal grill outside and they will be slathered in Arthur Bryant`s BBQ sauce. Kansas City Baby!
 I am also going to make cookies for a party for Natalie. She told me that she needed them for today..YESTERDAY! Grrr.
 As for Christmas dinner and Eve..Chelsea is cooking a Vegan feast for us on Christmas. She was going to make something with Lima beans but I nixed that shit right away. I HATE LIMA BEANS. Always have, always will. She was gonna make a stew and it was going to have 2 pounds of them in it. Ugh. Nope. So she is going to make something else. I will let you all know about it when it happens. I think I will make Christmas eve easy. I have some shrimp in the freezer that I bought in beginning of December. Make a shrimp cocktail. I have a brie wheel. I can make some artichoke and spinach dip. Maybe order a pizza. I need to call them today to find out when they close on Friday.
 So that is basically it...This month and year are almost over. And my lust for cooking will never end, just the volume will be turned down a bit..LOL

I am NOT going to the grocery store.

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I binged a bit yesterday. Fred brought home chocolate cause we were all upset. We do not do drugs, drink, or smoke anymore. What is left? Chocolate. See, I said I was going to be honest about it. No biggie..I will move on.

 Today is the day before Un-Thanksgiving. Just another Thursday in our household. Yup. Paychecks come early this week so I will be off to the bank to do my do in an hour or two. I know I could do all my banking online, and I have a credit union so using the debit card will not cost me anything to purchase or get cash but I like the people. One of them has been hurt very badly in a car accident. Fred just found this out yesterday. I am going to go get her information so that I can send her a card or some flowers. I hope she will get well really quickly. I have a relationship with the tellers in my credit union...and I like that.
 Yesterday I peeled, chopped, washed, and dried a massive amount of collard greens. They filled my water bath canner. Those pots are huge! But greens are like spinach...they shrink down. I have Fred, me, A (her family), and D (and her family) to feed these to. I enjoy it. Next time, if they ask, I am gonna charge. It is not the supplies that cost so much, it is the labor. Now I know why you only got to eat this lovely and fattening vegetable a couple times a year.
   I am also planning on doing some baking today. I have phyllo dough, pie crusts, apples, and canned cherry pie filling. I am going to make a cherry pie (yummy!) and apple turnovers. I do not really like apple turnovers but I thought the family would. They do not want pumpkin pie, or pumpkin cheesecake at all. Nada! So I am just doing this on the fly a bit. I like doing that. You can do anything in baking as long as you follow certain rules. It is science. Certain components have to be specific like flour to baking soda to baking powder to salt ratios. Everything else you can kind of tinker with. I will have fun tinkering with the phylo dough today.
 I am thinking that since it is 8am, I have had my meds and coffee..I am going to get dressed, dress the dogs (LOL they need sweaters in the cold), and take them for a walk around the block. That will give me some exercise and also give them a longer route to enjoy. Natalie is sick so we are not going to the gym. Sore throat and headache. It is going around. Better stay the hell away from me! ROFL
If you are going to the grocery store today, God Bless and Safe travels!

I got a mess a greens to clean!

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This post is going to be short today because I have a bunch of work to do. I am doing better since yesterday and the whole thing with Monster. I do not want to talk about him because I start to cry every time I do and I do not have time for that. I am sitting here waiting for the Advil to kick in (my foot). I know it is Un-Thanksgiving in my house on Thursday but I had made a promise a couple months back that I intend to keep. I have found a great recipe for collard greens and I am actually good at it. Fred loves them. I had served them to my friend A once and she loved them. Then another friend J..and now my friend D. wanted some because I gave them to J. ROFL She got all perturbed that I did not think of her. So I am making some and bringing her a batch to her job on Thanksgiving morning (she has to work). Then A found out via Facebook and she told me that she wanted some too. LOL So this morning I went to the grocery store and picked up three more bushels. All the greens are selling for only 69c a lb right now. So I even bought some Kale. Chelsea makes a really nice crunchy kale that she sprinkles on top of some meals. Yummy! I thought I would share the recipe for the collard greens that I am using. It is no big secret anyway. I found it on Allrecipes.com

Big B`s Collard Greens

Ingredients

• 1 quart chicken stock (I use 2 quarts)
• 3 small SMOKED ham hocks (i use 6 because they do not yield alot of meat)
• 1 large onion, chopped (2 onions)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• water
• 1 bunch collard greens - rinsed, trimmed and chopped (Lord..I have 6 bunches)
• salt to taste
• hot pepper sauce to taste (no hot sauce, that is for the eater to add themselves)

Directions

1. Pour chicken stock into a large pot, and add ham hocks onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, black pepper, and enough water to cover ham hocks. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 1 to 2 hours to create the broth.
2. Remove ham hocks from broth. Pull meat from hocks. Add meat and collard greens to the broth. Simmer for 1 to 5 hours, depending on the texture you prefer. Salt to taste, and serve with hot sauce.

Now this recipe does not tell you how to prepare the collard greens. You have to pull the leaves for the center spine on each leaf (discard spines), then you want to grab like 6 leaves, roll like a cigar, and chop small..it is called chiffonade.
*Chiffonade is a cooking technique in which herbs or leafy green vegetables (such as spinach and basil) are cut into long, thin strips. This is generally accomplished by stacking leaves, rolling them tightly, then cutting across the rolled leaves with a sharp knife, producing fine ribbons.*
   Then you want to fill a sink with cool water. You are going to put some of your greens in there and give them a bath. You want to wash all the sand out. Empty sink, and then fill it up again. With 6 bunches of greens, I can do this two times in the sink. I would usually then time this event at the same time that that hocks and broth are ready. Then I would just pop into a large pot, put a lid on, and cook on low for at LEAST 3 hours.  You can go in there a stir a little bit every once in awhile but as long as the heat is low, it will be fine.  I am going to be cutting and cleaning ahead of time, so after I wash them, I am going to put them into the salad spinner, bag them, and put them in the crisper until tomorrow afternoon. If you do not like ham hocks or cannot get them, you can use smoked turkey leg. It is the smoked part of the meat that is really what you are after. I guess you could use liquid smoke but I never think of that. I like having the little bits of meat in the greens. Mmm! I think I may make some deviled eggs also.
After you are done, you will have a nice steamy pot of collard greens to share or keep all to your self.

I am sharing. A promise is a promise.