Random 5 for May 26 – Marriage, change, recipes, words, cleaning

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Happy 61st! – This week my brother and his wife celebrated 61 years of marriage. Woohoo! I can’t imagine! With the same person! Happy anniversary!

Changing times – Business at my local Starbucks has increased by almost 30% this year. Long lines and long waits. Not sure what’s going on. It’s not cheap and there are low cost alternatives within a block. I was using the drive-through line. I watched as people walked in and right out with their drinks. (I said bad things about those people and now I’m one of them!) I downloaded the app and order ahead. I miss the people interaction. Having a person take your order and give it to you adds a special touch. I won’t know the baristas’ names or their stories. I’ll just be one of many. I will miss the special people touch but I will regain a lot of “waiting” time to devote to solving world peace. Or a nap.

Source: Delish.com

Practice – I tried out a new recipe for pulled pork. It needed 12 hours in a slow cooker. If I put it on in the morning, it’s would be evening before it was ready to take out and then there were steps to complete. I’m not good at night (that really means I’m lazy after 7) so I put it on before I went to bed. On my overnight potty runs I kept smelling wonderful smells. I woke up to delicious odors that were definitely not breakfast. It’s not a bad idea although I may put the pot in the garage next time as it just seems wrong to smell a roast early in the morning. The recipe called for a honey glaze. It was good but I’ll go back to my simple rub and barbecue. I’ll definitely do 12 hours in my crock pot though.

Speaking of which – Do the words “crock pot” date me? Today they call them slow cookers. Whatever! You knew what I meant.

I hope this doesn’t happen often – This week I went on a cleaning tear. I scrubbed everything that was scrubbable including all the woodwork and the Venetian blinds. Those puppies are going. I’m not doing that again! There are easier window treatments that will solve the problem without cleaning slats. Oy vay! Another way of downsizing.

So how was your week?

 

 

72 thoughts on “Random 5 for May 26 – Marriage, change, recipes, words, cleaning”

  1. Now that I’m in the States, I’m beginning to understand your love for Starbucks. My sister and I often end up there after our long walks. She knows all the baristas by name and they know hers. The first time I ordered “a small coffee” and distinctly heard some sighs. I decided to get with the program and now order an “iced coffee mocha with two pumps and whipped cream”. I am very pleased with my own progress.

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  3. I have the Starbucks app, but only use it to pay and get my points. I haven’t tried the order ahead yet. I still go through the drive-through. Luckily, I live near one that is more for business people, and I only go on the weekends, so it’s not busy!

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  4. Congrats to your brother and sister-in-law. Sixty-one years is definitely a long time. I was thinking the other day about the partnerships long-married couples create. It seems to me that no matter how different the husband and wife are, when they’ve been married for a long time, in some ways they become one. They’ve grown and changed together. What they’ve become couldn’t have been without the other person.

    Your pulled pork looks yummy.

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    • They are so different in so many ways. She is a mega extrovert and he isn’t but has gotten more outgoing over the years. There are many other areas where they were very different but both moved closer to the other.

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  5. Meat smells in the morning – is appreciation of that an inherited gene from a farm? Dad always talked about having let over meat with eggs for breakfast as a child. On the farm you ate big breakfasts and lunch with small dinners at night – even cereal.
    We have those wide slat blinds here (which I am ignoring right now…but for how long?) They are great for blocking’s out some but not all the light. But the cleaning..Ugh – Swiffer wand works good enough for me, but not for Sr. Staff
    In another house we had those tiny mimi blind that I would take out, hang on the fence and hose down periodically. Worked fine. But these..ignoring a bit longer.
    A great anniversary wish to your brother and wife. Cool you were there at their wedding!

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    • I Swiffered my heart out but in the end I had to wash them with a wet cloth. Too many years of light cleaning takes it toll. They are sparkly now but I am going to replace some with solar shades. Eating bigger in the morning is probably better for you and I confess to eating some of the pork as I pulled it. Yum! Sorta like bacon, right?

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      • Sigh. I’m on borrowed time with the blinds. We have the whole window outside solar screens in several spots where summer sun is dreadful – I love those. Unfortunately while you can see outside and not inside during the day, at night the opposite is true, so those wide dust catcher blinds are still there. We put honeycomb pull down shade on one glass door – great for insulation and light when closed…but large dog paws do a number on them (and one cat who shall not be named chewed the end caps off the pull down bar. Why, we dare not ask…

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        • New cat Sasha gets kick of out chewing on the blind controls. Most have teeth marks and some are missing the plastic cap. Not sure where they went but best not to ask. We are trying solar shades on a room where privacy isn’t an issue. I want to see what it’s like and if we feel like sitting ducks.

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  7. Your brother and sister-in-law inspire such happy thoughts! After all they’ve been through this year I know their anniversary’s particularly celebratory. Yes, I still say crock pot, as well. I know the terms are interchangeable, but “slow cooker” just doesn’t sound right to me when I say it! Hope the pulled pork was delicious. 🙂

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  9. I have louvered doors and shutters, both wood, in my house … dusting them is painstaking and my mother liked Olde English furniture oil and putting it on furniture once a year. You have to go in/out of each of the slats – OMG. I no longer do that and hope people don’t look too closely at the slats of the door or shutters for dust. Congrats to your brother and sister — still going strong!

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  10. I have a Crockpot (brand) slow cooker that I don’t use as often as I should. It seems that everyone is talking about Instantpots now and loves their versatility (slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice maker, etc). I’m pretty sure it would become just another underused kitchen appliance in our house. Now, if they also did housework, I think I’d get one for sure.

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  13. I’m with you on the blinds. In addition to being challenging to clean, I’m tired of all the different ways they will break, bend, or otherwise fall off while opening and closing. Even the expensive ones still find a way after awhile to do something you don’t want them too.

    I still call it a crock pot, thank you very much. – Marty

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  14. Congratulations to your brother and his wife! Weren’t they in a car accident not too long ago?

    While I call them crock pots the newer models (slow cookers) are better than the older ones.

    I love my mini-blinds but date to clean them. Let us know what you find to replace yours.

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    • Yes they were in a bad accident in February which is why we celebrate any milestone! There are things I like about the blinds — you can get sun or not, pull all the way up or not, privacy or not. All in one. We’ll see what I find.

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  15. Happy Anniversary to your brother and SIL. Congratulations to them both.
    Used to have a casserole dish rather than a crock pot, but think it’s the same thing. No slow cooker for me though, I like the pressure cooker.

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  16. It’s still a crockpot at my house, Kate…and I have a couple of sizes of them. I’ve done the overnight roast thing too and woken up to delicious but not right for the time of day smells…hehehe!
    Don’t have a Starbucks near enough to me to tempt me into that habit, but I do own a Nespresso Latissima + machine, and those particular coffee pods are $0.75 a piece. I usually enjoy 2 lattes per day. Not quite Starbucks spendy, yet a significant amount to spend on a daily at-home coffee habit, I think. But, as the commercial goes, I”M WORTH IT. Have a great week,

    Deb

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  17. It’s still a crock pot to me (all hideous, avocado green 6 quarts of it, circa 1979) and a pox on anyone who tries to get me to sound more hip by calling it a slow cooker.

    I love coffee and can spend a fortune on it anywhere where NOT waiting is the norm. After years of working in a high rise with a Starbucks inside it, I almost never go to them anymore since leaving the firm. That place was a one-in-a-million with the best employees and managers who made the experience fun and they genuinely seemed to care about their patrons, knew what you drank as well as your name. Now days, most of the SB’s I’ve gone to have snooty baristas who could care less about you or your expensive habit. #sad

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    • My SB knows me and my drink. It’s unfortunate that as they leave and new people start, they won’t know me. Picking up a drink at the bar is not the same as active engagement at the window however short it is. I will miss that. The waits (if you didn’t order ahead) have been on the other side of 10 minutes and worse. You could get stuck in a drive-through behind an idiot who is catering his office and sit there while they make 6 specialty drinks. It got too frustrating. When I picked up this morning, they still called to me and said hi.

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      • My old SB knew all its customers and ordering at the bar was the way we all shared stuff (some days the line went out the door!). The last SB drive in window I barely got a ‘here ya go’ let alone any interaction, minimal or otherwise. And a thank you? Forget that.

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        • Our friendly (non-drive thru) SB moved 3 blocks away – across from the high school – added a great outdoor patio and lots and lots of kids. The drive thru is always jammed. We have local comfortable coffee houses over the past few years, but two of the close ones closed recently and the other is in the middle of a tourist area – great for rainy weather or winter, but no go zone until then. The people make such a difference

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  18. We got rid of some of our blinds too…so miserable to clean. And if you still need a cleaning fix, our house is just a short drive away. You can cuddle kittens on breaks.

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  20. Happy Anniversary to your brother and his wife! 61 years, so happy for them! I had to buy a new CROCK pot when we moved. Left the old orange one back in MO. I bought “the original slow cooker Crock Pot”… even they can’t keep from calling it a slow cooker. It will always be a crock pot to me. ShortsSandalsNoSocks was delighted this week to find Starbucks had his beloved decaf whole bean Dark Sumatra back in stock after customers rioted over them discontinuing it. I NEED that pulled pork!!!!

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  22. Congratulations on the cleaning spree. I go through those motions but only in my head. My son replaced Venetian blinds in one room with “blackout” shades so now it is too dark in there to see the dust.

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  24. Crock pots rock. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

    Except, my first effort as a newlywed meant we ordered in. I followed the instructions, too! But the roast was far from done and the spuds and carrots were rock hard.

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    • Especially with the old models where the temp was lower than today, it took the full 10 to 12 hours! I was amazed at how long it took potatoes in a slow cooker. Now I have a great recipe and it’s 3 hours on high.

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  25. Hi Kate! My good friend Pix said she thought I’d enjoy your blog and I am/do! I’ve seen your comments on other blogs so I kind of feel like I know you already. Crockpot? I’ve got TWO – a biggie and a small one that’s now 30 years old and still “crocking”. The BBQ pork is a favorite around here but every time I make it I do it differently – fun to experiment. That’s great about your brother and his wife celebrating 61 years! I thought “WOW” then I realized that if I’d stayed married to Hubby #1, it would be 62 years in June – EEEEK! Nice to meet you – I’ll be baaaack!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • I’ve seen you too. Maybe you follow Easy? I have 3 crockpots. Tiny for appys (used exactly once!). Then a small and large. My family reunion is here this year and I’ve been experimenting. I like pulled pork because it’s an easy do ahead kind of meal. We may have some barbecuing but I hate making my husband stand at a lot grill too long.

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      • Yes – very long time followers of Easy Weimaraner…..we love them. Easy was one of my Sammy’s besties and they went to the Bridge within days of each other. Now we’re up to our eyeballs following the Weim Twins Phenny and Nellie. Yep – HIP HIP HOORAY for those crockpots!!!! Enjoy your Memorial Day…………..

        Hugs, Pam and Teddy too

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  26. I never had a crock pot . . . but I’ve had a slow cooker (no crock, non-stick interior) for 30+ years. So I don’t think the name is age defining.

    The only meat worth smelling in the morning is Bacon. 😛

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