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.
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?
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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I’m so proud of you!
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Congratulations to your brother and his wife…that’s a long time!! I hope they’re both doing much better.
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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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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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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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61 years?
Good for them!
My wife and I are ready to kill each other most days and we’ve only been married for 24 years!
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You are young’uns!
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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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Pulled pork was delicious but I think the real secret was the extra long cooking. Usually I take out closer to 8 hours. The full 12 make it even more tender and flavorful.
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I still use a crock pot and try to remember not to call it a crack pot.
Congratulations on the 61st anniversary. Were at the wedding?
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I was at the wedding. I was very young but I was there. The crackpot is the cook! 🙂
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LOL! Yes! The crackpot is the cook! I can identify with that.
Maybe it was a little intrusive to ask if you were at their wedding, but I’m so glad to know you were.
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Not at all intrusive.
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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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I had a house with wood louvered doors and shutters. Never again. I didn’t put them in. They were already there. There is a reason people like contemporary furniture. Sleek lines and no fou-fou to dust.
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Never again for me either Kate – my parents put them in and I have a gizmo that looks like terrycloth covered fingers … sure it works fine and if you use Endust and slide them in each slat, it picks up all the dust in the front, but you can still see the dust in the back. And, they are stained a dark brown on top of it!
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Yikes! You could change them out!
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Yes, that is true … only me looks at them and I try to shut my eyes. My mom did not like that you could look into the kitchen from the living room and vice versa so she wanted a door and shutters to make it cozier in the kitchen. It is a country-style kitchen and Early American decor in the house, so hard to say what would work to fill up the hole if you removed the shutters.
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It’s one of the things. If you changed one thing, you may have to end up changing more things.
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Yes, that’s why I just live with it … I have no alternative ideas and likely they are all expensive. No one sees it but me.
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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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If only they would clean blinds!
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I am in love with my slow cooker. It’s not a Crockpot but super lovely.
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They all produce the same way. I love mine too. So easy peasy.
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Congratulations to you brother and SIL!! Your pulled pork recipe sounds interesting! Yes, those long-time things are problematic as far as scheduling them 🙂
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I don’t know how working folks manage those long lines. They have to get somewhere on time! At least I’m just going home.
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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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We have some cheap and some expensive ones and they both go wonky. The only difference is we can take the expensive ones to the store and they jiggle them somehow and it works. Crock pot works for me!
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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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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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I had a pressure cooker a long time ago. It wiggled and giggled and made me nervous. The new ones are much safer.
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Likewise with our old one, but we treated ourselves to anew one when we were on the boat and it’s great. Even I can use it with confidence!
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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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Yes you are worth it and by SB standards you are saving money! That overnight thing was wonderful. I had the dish finished by noon, sauce and all. Easy peasy.
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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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They do and they are annoying!
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It makes all the difference in the world. I don’t mind going out of my way for a caffeine break when there are friendly and engaging baristas rather than sour, self-entitled millennials behind the counter who seem put out waiting on most people.
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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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Gosh, I’m overwhelmed by your generosity! I have to find a suitable replacement.
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I didn’t realize “slow cooker” was the new term. I thought it was just a regional term or trying to get away from a trademarked name. Well, now i know!
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Don’t go by me! I’m not sure what the difference is but maybe brand name is it. The first ones were called crock pots and I believe that was the brand.
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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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I like pulled pork but you get SO MUCH from a shoulder which is the best cut for it. I have some frozen and gave some away!
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What? Crock pot is no longer acceptable? I protest.
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It is to us oldies!
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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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Most of my cleaning is done in my head too that’s why this was extraordinary. I’m thinking of replacing some with “solar” blinds which you can see through somewhat but block the sun without blocking light. I’ll try one room first.
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The Tiny Casa came with wood blinds, two inch slats… replacing them as soon as possible with cellular Honeycomb shades. They worked great in our two previous houses. You will love them!
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Are they easy to clean?That is the new criteria.
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Yes, in my opinion. I use the soft brush tool from the cordless vacuum. I have an extra soft brush tool just for the cellular shades. A good quality microfiber towel works too. I like that you can put them all the way up or any length you want. We had the ones that opened from the top too, I didn’t care for them at all.
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I’ve never had them but worth at look-see.
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We love cooking in the crock pot. Those new liners they have make clean-up so simple. Congratulations to your brother and SIL!
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Love those liners! Especially when I’m cleaning up after dinner (when I’m at my laziest!).
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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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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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Those pups have to be a 150 lbs. of trouble! 🙂 Gotta love them!
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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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My pork shoulder wasn’t far off from bacon but you are right about that. So there is a difference between the two. I don’t have a slow cooker. All of my “pots” have crocks (and so is the cook!).
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I have both, but I do agree that a slow cooker is a very different animal than a crockpot! Good call!
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I think they get hotter but maybe that was just my experience.
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