Small Talk: Only 2 Ounces Of Commenting Allowed

[Twopper]

12 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

My mom for years mixed up powdered milk,  probably a holdover from her Depression childhood, although we were solidly middle-class.  We kids HATED that stuff, Dad didn't drink milk and was noncommittal.

I am grateful that my dad liked whole milk as did my mom.  She did use the powdered stuff  and condensed milk in cooking.   There is a story in my husband's family how one branch was so poor during the depression that they ate cornflakes with water for breakfast.

[Twopper]

Yikes,  I thought this was in small talk.   Oops, my bad,   Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. 

[Carboncat]

6 minutes ago, Twopper said:

Yikes,  I thought this was in small talk.   Oops, my bad,   Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. 

Ooops!  Me too.  Confession for next week..

[Carboncat]

Taking my 1960's powdered milk riff to appropriate place...… insult to injury with that stuff was it was non-fat!  tasteless white lumpy punishment for cereal.  I do love sharing some of these memories with you guys... 

My ginger Poppy, as a kitten, was failing.  The vet recommended Campbell's cheddar cheese soup with a beaten egg.  Poppy lived 18 meowriffic years!

[Hellga]

I only buy whole milk, but at work and in other public locations I am often stuck putting 2% or 1% milk in my tea since that's all they have available.  I absolutely refuse to recognize fat-free milk as "milk".  All biological arguments aside, I will never forget going to the local cheese factory in my Grandma's village to buy what was essentially skim milk (a by-product of cheese-making process) for the piglets, so skim milk is forever a piglet food in my mind (well, they weren't fed skim milk, it was merely used to cook their feed instead of water while they were young but not suckling young).   Besides, I grew up drinking goat milk, and it has about double the fat content of cow's milk, so even whole cow's milk (even real, unprocessed from family cows) tasted watery to me until I stopped drinking goat milk on a regular basis. 

[JunkFoodTV]

I was raised on a farm in central Texas. There was always an abundance of milk, cream, butter, eggs.... I thought we were "poor" because we never had store bought butter (margarine). 

[fonfereksglen]

37 minutes ago, JunkFoodTV said:

I was raised on a farm in central Texas. There was always an abundance of milk, cream, butter, eggs.... I thought we were "poor" because we never had store bought butter (margarine). 

It was illegal to sell yellow margarine in stores when I a kid.   

[Hellga]

I don't recall ever seeing margarine on the farm (in the city we did use it but only for baking), but I was an adult when I learned that oil can be used for cooking, not just for salads - growing up, we used butter and lard as the cooking fats...  I haven't used lard in forever, but some things do taste better with it.  Wild mushrooms and potato hash, for example. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by Hellga

[Carboncat]

1 hour ago, JunkFoodTV said:

I was raised on a farm in central Texas. There was always an abundance of milk, cream, butter, eggs.... I thought we were "poor" because we never had store bought butter (margarine). 

My dad used to tell me about "oleo" (margarine) in the 30's that came with a yellow coloring packet to mix in by hand (yuck!) to make it look like butter.

[SunnyBeBe]

My dad was raised on a farm (REAL farm, meaning they grew most everything they ate, including meat, eggs, veggies, fruits, etc.) .  They drank milk from their cows and his mom churned their butter with a butter churn!  I buy real butter, but, try to limit it and use olive oil most of the time.  AND, I now only buy Unsweetened Almond Milk.  I really like it and it's so much more calorie and carb friendly.  

Just what I DIDN'T NEED!!!!! 

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[Carboncat]

4 hours ago, Hellga said:

I don't recall ever seeing margarine on the farm (in the city we did use it but only for ba king), but I was an adult when I learned that oil can be used for cooking, not just for salads - growing up, we used butter and lard as the cooking fats...  I haven't used lard in forever, but some things do taste better with it.  Wild mushrooms and potato hash, for example. 

All of that has it's place.  I'll butter my toast with real butter,not oleomargarine. Even lard has i's place refried pinto beans aren't the same without it.  Not to mention hocks and meat skins in beans and greens.  I love the name of central valley town here in CA which unfortunately has become a 3 1/2 hour commute hub due to skyrocketing property values (diminishes the snark value here)

Anyway; it's Manteca!  Not the ubiquitous loudmouth commercial about R.V.'s in Mannn-teeee-ca!  It's Manteca,,  you know what;  I'm not Spanish heritage, but I get the joke! (Manteca is Spanish for "lard")

[JunkFoodTV]

Does anyone remember June? I know who Chad is. And who could forget Pauline. But June just slipped my mind. 

[fonfereksglen]

9 minutes ago, JunkFoodTV said:

Does anyone remember June? I know who Chad is. And who could forget Pauline. But June just slipped my mind. 

June had a girlfriend/partner who drove several different vehicles and seemed way over the relationship.  I do not remember her weight loss journey.

Added - I think there was something with balloons at the end, but that may have been a different episode.

Edited July 2, 2019 by fonfereksglen

[ProTourist]

29 minutes ago, JunkFoodTV said:

Does anyone remember June? I know who Chad is. And who could forget Pauline. But June just slipped my mind. 

June has had two episodes so far, her original and one update. This will be her second update. Here's a clip from her original episode:

And this clip is from her first update:

25 minutes ago, fonfereksglen said:

June had a girlfriend/partner who drove several different vehicles and seemed way over the relationship.  I do not remember her weight loss journey.

Added - I think there was something with balloons at the end, but that may have been a different episode.

The balloons at the end of the episode sounds like Maja, from earlier this season.

[JunkFoodTV]

@fonfereksglen and @ProTourist thanks so much! I remember her girlfriend. Didn't they end up breaking up? I'm not certain I saw the follow up. Or I didn't pay much attention to it. I'm not great at actually watching anything. 😳

[fonfereksglen]

4 minutes ago, JunkFoodTV said:

@fonfereksglen and @ProTourist thanks so much! I remember her girlfriend. Didn't they end up breaking up? I'm not certain I saw the follow up. Or I didn't pay much attention to it. I'm not great at actually watching anything. 😳

I just scanned through the WATN thread for June.  I was babbling a lot (as usual 😬) and then apparently left to watch something else so it must have been dull.  I think the balloon ceremony in the original episode was because June had lost several family members.  It does appear June was doing well at the end of the WATN.

[Carboncat]

On ‎7‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:17 AM, fonfereksglen said:

It was illegal to sell yellow margarine in stores when I a kid.   

I think that had something to do with trying to fake butter, hence the yellow do-it-yourself coloring packet. 

[fonfereksglen]

1 hour ago, Carboncat said:

I think that had something to do with trying to fake butter, hence the yellow do-it-yourself coloring packet. 

It was a Wisconsin law protecting the dairy industry. My grandfather would drive up to the UP and bring back contraband cases of oleo, which tasted awful. I'm not sure when the law changed, since I took a nearly 30 year WI hiatus and lived in quite a few different states.

[nokat]

The powdered milk. I remember that. My mom would make the powdered milk, then blend it with real milk to stretch it. Also ground meat (mince) also would have lots of added crumbled crackers or bread crumbs to stretch it. We were not poor (and probably not that big of a family, comparatively), but I think that generation and the one before knew so much what it was like to do without, that they cooked how they learned to cook from their parents. I feel so wasteful these days.

Remember the oleo too. Bleh. The lard makes a good pie crust though. :)
 

[Carboncat]

1 hour ago, nokat said:

The powdered milk. I remember that. My mom would make the powdered milk, then blend it with real milk to stretch it. Also ground meat (mince) also would have lots of added crumbled crackers or bread crumbs to stretch it. We were not poor (and probably not that big of a family, comparatively), but I think that generation and the one before knew so much what it was like to do without, that they cooked how they learned to cook from their parents. I feel so wasteful these days.

Remember the oleo too. Bleh. The lard makes a good pie crust though. :)
 

Meatloaf isn't meatloaf without cracker crumbs!

[nokat]

7 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

Meatloaf isn't meatloaf without cracker crumbs!

Hamburgers, too. Meatloaf of course can be mostly cracker crumbs or cubed leftover stale bread.

In defense, lots of shredded veggies mixed in with the stale bread or crumbs, can make for a light loaf.

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by nokat

[Carboncat]

23 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

Meatloaf isn't meatloaf without cracker crumbs!

Thriftiness was a way of life, then.  I don't miss the bacon-drippings coffee can.  (We don't eat bacon anymore).

[Hellga]

29 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

Meatloaf isn't meatloaf without cracker crumbs!

Bread (cracker) crumbs soak up the meat juices that would otherwise cook out.  That's why you want to use stale/dry bread because it can suck up more moisture.  Breadcrumbs make meatloaf better in terms of both taste and texture.  It's not just thriftiness, it's good cooking. 🙂  

The horror of my childhood were dozens of big glass jars of pickled summer squash.  I don't know why we canned them other than "there were too many to eat fresh and we can't let good food go to waste" as none of us really liked it pickled.  The small pattypan squashes were OK, but big yellow summer squash - bleh.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Hellga

[Twopper]

1 hour ago, nokat said:

The powdered milk. I remember that. My mom would make the powdered milk, then blend it with real milk to stretch it. Also ground meat (mince) also would have lots of added crumbled crackers or bread crumbs to stretch it. We were not poor (and probably not that big of a family, comparatively), but I think that generation and the one before knew so much what it was like to do without, that they cooked how they learned to cook from their parents. I feel so wasteful these days.

Remember the oleo too. Bleh. The lard makes a good pie crust though. 🙂
 

I think maybe the lard makes good biscuits as well.  My grandmother's cook made great biscuits and gave my mom her recipe, but my mother's never tasted the same.  The only other difference I can figure out is that we had an electric oven and my grandmother's stove was gas.    Every now and again, I consider buying lard and making  biscuits with it to see.   Mother's biscuits were always a little bigger as well. 

4 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

Thriftiness was a way of life, then.  I don't miss the bacon-drippings coffee can.  (We don't eat bacon anymore). 

I am not the least bit thrifty, but I do have a can made for bacon grease;  it has a strainer in it.  I almost never use it,  although I love pancakes cooked in it (which I never do)

[Hellga]

I read that the biscuits really depend on the flour - whether it is made from softer or harder varieties of wheat, and "proper" biscuit flour is not sold outside the South.  I have seen recipes where cooks have worked with the mix of cake flour and all-purpose (or was it bread?) flour to try and get at the same texture...   I have never attempted biscuits at home.  Only the Pillsbury canned ones a couple times, but that really doesn't count.  That's anti-cooking, in a way, "make something quickly because I don't feel like cooking".

Edited July 3, 2019 by Hellga

[Twopper]

41 minutes ago, Hellga said:

I read that the biscuits really depend on the flour - whether it is made from softer or harder varieties of wheat, and "proper" biscuit flour is not sold outside the South.  I have seen recipes where cooks have worked with the mix of cake flour and all-purpose (or was it bread?) flour to try and get at the same texture...   I have never attempted biscuits at home.  Only the Pillsbury canned ones a couple times, but that really doesn't count.  That's anti-cooking, in a way, "make something quickly because I don't feel like cooking".

never thought about the flour.   I do canned Pillsbury biscuits for breakfast and sometimes put either bacon or sausage in them.  I am mostly a yeast rolls type of gal, but I don't make those either.

[nokat]

1 hour ago, Twopper said:

I think maybe the lard makes good biscuits as well.  My grandmother's cook made great biscuits and gave my mom her recipe, but my mother's never tasted the same.  The only other difference I can figure out is that we had an electric oven and my grandmother's stove was gas.    Every now and again, I consider buying lard and making  biscuits with it to see.   Mother's biscuits were always a little bigger as well.

I am not the least bit thrifty, but I do have a can made for bacon grease;  it has a strainer in it.  I almost never use it,  although I love pancakes cooked in it (which I never do)

Twopper, what can be said about bacon grease cans, bowls, jars, etc. Bottles of olive oil, canola oil, corn oil weren't as prevalent then? It made good pancakes along with the maple syrup made by tapping trees and boiling on the back yard wood stove.
 

[crazycatlady58]

6 minutes ago, nokat said:

Twopper, what can be said about bacon grease cans, bowls, jars, etc. Bottles of olive oil, canola oil, corn oil weren't as prevalent then? It made good pancakes along with the maple syrup made by tapping trees and boiling on the back yard wood stove.
 

I use bacon grease to pop popcorn.

[Carboncat]

2 hours ago, Hellga said:

Bread (cracker) crumbs soak up the meat juices that would otherwise cook out.  That's why you want to use stale/dry bread because it can suck up more moisture.  Breadcrumbs make meatloaf better in terms of both taste and texture.  It's not just thriftiness, it's good cooking. 🙂  

The horror of my childhood were dozens of big glass jars of pickled summer squash.  I don't know why we canned them other than "there were too many to eat fresh and we can't let good food go to waste" as none of us really liked it pickled.  The small pattypan squashes were OK, but big yellow summer squash - bleh.

Or the football-sized zucchini neighbors would bring over because they "had too much".  Thanks, but no thanks!

[nokat]

2 hours ago, crazycatlady58 said:

I use bacon grease to pop popcorn.

Has never had bacon grease popcorn.  My mind is blown. Other oils, why not bacon grease. Has anyone tested crazycatlady58 for evil (the cat said it all)? I won't try that, I won't.
 

[nokat]

1 hour ago, Carboncat said:

Or the football-sized zucchini neighbors would bring over because they "had too much".  Thanks, but no thanks!

Football sized tomatoes, yaaaas, zucchini, noooo.
 

[Carboncat]

3 hours ago, Hellga said:

I read that the biscuits really depend on the flour - whether it is made from softer or harder varieties of wheat, and "proper" biscuit flour is not sold outside the South.  I have seen recipes where cooks have worked with the mix of cake flour and all-purpose (or was it bread?) flour to try and get at the same texture...   I have never attempted biscuits at home.  Only the Pillsbury canned ones a couple times, but that really doesn't count.  That's anti-cooking, in a way, "make something quickly because I don't feel like cooking".

I've heard that about the "soft" wheat Southern flour being better for biscuits. I think it's called "cake flour" here.

[Carboncat]

43 minutes ago, nokat said:

Has never had bacon grease popcorn.  My mind is blown. Other oils, why not bacon grease. Has anyone tested crazycatlady58 for evil (the cat said it all)? I won't try that, I won't.
 

Wow!  you still actually pop popcorn..  Good for you!

[nokat]

37 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

Wow!  you still actually pop popcorn..  Good for you!

What else do you do with popcorn, other than pop it? Gives carboncat the side eye. 
 

[nokat]

1 hour ago, Carboncat said:

I've heard that about the "soft" wheat Southern flour being better for biscuits. I think it's called "cake flour" here.

I use 'bread' flour for bread (high in gluten), all purpose for general baking. I bow to any true southern cooking, as I'm on the west coast.
 

[DC Gal in VA]

6 hours ago, Twopper said:

I think maybe the lard makes good biscuits as well.  My grandmother's cook made great biscuits and gave my mom her recipe, but my mother's never tasted the same.  The only other difference I can figure out is that we had an electric oven and my grandmother's stove was gas.    Every now and again, I consider buying lard and making  biscuits with it to see.   Mother's biscuits were always a little bigger as well. 

I am not the least bit thrifty, but I do have a can made for bacon grease;  it has a strainer in it.  I almost never use it,  although I love pancakes cooked in it (which I never do)

Hey Twopper are you my sistah from another mistah? I grew up with one of those bacon grease cans. It kinda looked like this one:

We used that lovely bacon fat, especially good for making home fries and, I know this may sound strange to some, but we would add a couple of tablespoons of that melted fat to pancake batter which makes them extra moist and tender after they're done. That's some deep South cookin'. 😊

[DC Gal in VA]

More food talk. There was discussion about making pie crust from scratch during the Live Chat and I am determined to make one using a recipe I saw years ago on a show called Cooking Live on the Food Network hosted by Sara Moulton. Her guest made a pie crust using both butter AND lard. She said that the butter gives the crust wonderful flavor and the lard makes it flaky and browns nicely. It sure looked good and I remember Sara raved about it.

[nokat]

1 hour ago, DC Gal in VA said:

More food talk. There was discussion about making pie crust from scratch during the Live Chat and I am determined to make one using a recipe I saw years ago on a show called Cooking Live on the Food Network hosted by Sara Moulton. Her guest made a pie crust using both butter AND lard. She said that the butter gives the crust wonderful flavor and the lard makes it flaky and browns nicely. It sure looked good and I remember Sara raved about it.

I want to know how it turns out if you do it. Yes to both the butter flavor and the lard texture.  Wants a proper savory pie with that crust.
 

[Carboncat]

6 hours ago, nokat said:

What else do you do with popcorn, other than pop it? Gives carboncat the side eye. 
 

Sorry, I meant not resorting to the microwaved stuff.

[Carboncat]

5 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Hey Twopper are you my sistah from another mistah? I grew up with one of those bacon grease cans. It kinda looked like this one:

We used that lovely bacon fat, especially good for making home fries and, I know this may sound strange to some, but we would add a couple of tablespoons of that melted fat to pancake batter which makes them extra moist and tender after they're done. That's some deep South cookin'. 😊

That can is cute!  Mine read "Folger's".  I stand corrected about my snarky line about bacon drippings, after all I used to use them, especially for home fries and pork chops.  Maybe I'm realizing that at an older age we just don't eat breakfast anymore,  just coffee :(.

[Caoimhe]

48 minutes ago, Carboncat said:

Maybe I'm realizing that at an older age we just don't eat breakfast anymore,  just coffee :(.

When I do eat breakfast I know my eating habit is getting BAD!  The later I have my first meal the better I keep my eating under control, and black coffee helps.  Cold brew this morning!

[Twopper]

8 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Hey Twopper are you my sistah from another mistah? I grew up with one of those bacon grease cans. It kinda looked like this one:

I like this design better than mine.  Mine has a handle and the lid tends to get loose.   My mom used to cook bacon on Saturday morning, and my dad would cook pancakes in the grease.  My mother hated them, so she made her pancakes separately;  I guess she used butter.  I preferred my dad's pancakes with their crispy edges.   Just writing about this makes me want to try to make some pancakes a la dad. 

[CatherineM]

My mom’s bacon grease tin had a little strainer in the top to catch the burnt bits. In Oklahoma, bacon grease is a food group. When I went off to college and went vegetarian, I developed gall stones and had to have it yanked out. 

[ProTourist]

1 hour ago, Twopper said:

My mom used to cook bacon on Saturday morning, and my dad would cook pancakes in the grease.  My mother hated them, so she made her pancakes separately;  I guess she used butter.

When I was a kid my mother would make bacon and eggs for weekend breakfasts. She would fry the bacon first, then cook the scrambled eggs in the bacon fat. Blech. Although I liked bacon, I never liked the way those eggs tasted; I preferred them cooked in butter or margarine. But as I recall, that was the only time she fried anything in animal fat; usually she used liquid vegetable oils such as Wesson.

My grandmother used lard once in a great while; I could probably count the times on one hand, and then it was probably for economy (meaning that she had already had it on hand from something she had cooked). She usually used vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, such as when making french fries or pie crust.

The last time I visited Spain was in the late nineties, on the southern Atlantic coast. I was on a day trip with a small group from school (a language immersion program). We had to start very early so we stopped for breakfast on the road. We were all americans except for the group's leader from the school who was a spaniard from Sevilla. The waiter brought to our table a bowl of some solid orange substance, which our guide spread on his bread. We tried to find out from him what it was, but at first he would just say that we would not like it. Finally he admitted it was pig fat. Blech. He was right.

[DC Gal in VA]

1 hour ago, CatherineM said:

My mom’s bacon grease tin had a little strainer in the top to catch the burnt bits. In Oklahoma, bacon grease is a food group. When I went off to college and went vegetarian, I developed gall stones and had to have it yanked out. 

Yes that's the same as the one I posted. You can see the strainer when you take off the lid. Food group? I love it!

Sorry about your gall bladder issues. Was there a correlation between going vegetarian and having it removed? Did your gall bladder go into shock with the sudden withdrawal of bacon fat? ***Just kidding***

[DC Gal in VA]

I will absolutely miss you all and your hilarious snark as well as insights about these individuals. Will definitely be posting under this topic whenever one of the more "memorable" poundticipants' episodes repeats.

I also post under topics for other shows but, heh heh, I have rather an eclectic list of shows that I watch on a regular basis:

• Anything paranormal, especially The Dead Files, my favorite, but also Ghost Adventures, among others
• I am a total ID/Investigation Discovery Channel addict and don't get me started on how much I watch Snapped on Oxygen
• Love cooking shows especially those shown on Saturdays on public television but will watch a bit of Food Network
• Truly hope Leah Remini's show about Scientology returns

There are many others; not trying to get off topic, just saying that I hope to see my Pounder Pals elsewhere in PTV.😊

Edited to add: Definitely a fan of Intervention, Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive too. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by DC Gal in VA
Typo and additional comments.

[Caoimhe]

Love Leah Remini’s show, what these people have survived is just shocking to me. 

I have been sucked in to 90 Day Fiancé : The Other Way lately.  Saw an ad for it during 600 pound life and as someone who married a foreigner I couldn’t believe how clueless and unprepared these people are!

[DC Gal in VA]

12 minutes ago, ThereButFor said:

Love Leah Remini’s show, what these people have survived is just shocking to me. 

I have been sucked in to 90 Day Fiancé : The Other Way lately.  Saw an ad for it during 600 pound life and as someone who married a foreigner I couldn’t believe how clueless and unprepared these people are!

I have seen so many ads for 90 Day Fiance (my tablet doesn't give me the option of putting an accent mark over the "e") that I feel like I've already been watching it, LOL.

There's just something about it that's off-putting and sad to me. Are these stories real or just TLC manufactured B.S.? I really find previews about an average or not so good looking American falling in love with a hottie from another country to be especially sad. Seems so obvious that the hottie is using them to get to and stay in the United States.

[CatherineM]

2 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Yes that's the same as the one I posted. You can see the strainer when you take off the lid. Food group? I love it!

Sorry about your gall bladder issues. Was there a correlation between going vegetarian and having it removed? Did your gall bladder go into shock with the sudden withdrawal of bacon fat? ***Just kidding***

It’s very common for people to have gallbladder issues when they lose weight rapidly. It messes up the chemistry in liver and digestive system leading to the formation of gallstones. Mine was full of birdshot sized pebbles. 

[DC Gal in VA]

Woohoo, and now the Fourth of July festivities begin in Washington, D.C.!

Happy Fourth of July everyone wherever you are!💖

Edited July 4, 2019 by DC Gal in VA
To add an image.