With my oven set way dow to 170 degrees and the brine cured pastrami in there for over 5 hours and not getting past 110 inside, I pushed up the temp to 180, then 190, then 200 then 220, and after 11 hours I finally got the internal temp to reach 140 while the oven temp was at 250 degrees. I must say these two beef chunks took quite a lot longer to cook compared to the previous ones. Maybe because they were bigger in diameter. If anyone wants some of my left over dry spice rub, let me know and I'll send it out. It contains, allspice, clove, cinnamon, garlic, onion, bay leaf, mustard seed, celery seed, red pepper, black pepper, coriander, dill seed, ginger, and even some ground juniper berries. Needless to say its a really tasty spice blend and sticks to the outside of the beef once its been cooked. They now get refrigerated for at least 24 hours prior to slicing thin. I estimate I have about 8-9 pounds of pastrami, of which I will probably freeze some after its been sliced. Maybe in FS bags as individual servings that get vac sealed and then when I want a serving, I just put it in the microwave or drop into boiling water a couple of minutes, then open the bag and serve.. It should be good with the sourdough french bread I will also be making tomorrow, along with some spicy brown mustard I also made using some Grey Poupon, mixed with some finely ground brown mustard seeds and wine vinegar. The mustard needed a few weeks to 'mellow out' to a decent flavor. If it were served right after grinding amd mixing it tastes terrible. The same holds true for the chinese hot mustard powder when you mix it with water to make some hot mustard. It needs to 'bloom' a few hours before its served, also the same for Wasabi.

i had a great birthday. my family was here and i have great friends. also i recieved blocks from virginia, cindy, and andrea. that was all my blocks. now will start making this one next. just have to figure sashing. great job everyone thanks. now to mail my sept. ones. today will work on 2 quilts ready to bind. everyone have a great day and glad everyone on east coast is ok.

I had some left over salmon from the freshly caught stuff from my neignbor, a handful of Swiss chard from the garden just picked and some left over spaghetti pasta.....I sauteed the chard with onions and garlic, added the spaghetti and just heated the salmon to the perfect temperature. Then I squeezed some freshly picked lemon on top and loved every single bite.

murraysmom, the salary v/s cost of living is actually what is tempting me out of this state LOL. for example a job in Huntsville AL is offering almost double the pay of a similiar job in orlando and w/in 1 yr the AL job goes up 10% to 6 figures. i am already planning on spending a bit under $500K on my next house here but for half that i can buy a similiar place in Huntsville AL and get a few acreas, not 1/2 acre lol. it makes it very difficult to not say to my DH just go to Huntsville for 2 yrs yourself...i'll stay here and work part-time and still afford everything here, as i wouldn't have his expenses then :-) i've looked at several other cities where he's been requested for interviews and every one of them stacks up the same way. only problem is that i would be miserable and could probably only put up w/ it for a couple of yrs, even if it was a million $$ a yr. i have been looking for months at housing & taxes from So Cal to boston and for what i will sell my house for i can buy the next house w/ acreage and pool completely outright in most major markets (Dallas, St Louis, Nashville are a few options). housing in orlando in the upper middle class is still amoung the most expensive in this country because there has been very little drop off in demand. that probably is a contributing factor in why i absolutley LOVE FL! i just hope we find a suitable job here...i just hate thinking about how much more pay is out there thou if we leave LOL ~ liz