Hi Y'all! I tried to go back to sleep early this a.m. after being up for a couple of hours and it was hard to sleep because there was so much thunder and lightning. Then, when I was finally dozing off, the weather radio went off TWICE within about a 30-minute time frame. The first time was to tell me that G.M.'s county was under a Flash Flood Warning. The second time was to tell me that our county was under a flash flood warning. I did finally fall back asleep and get about 3 more hours of sleep. Randy, I remember thinking to myself in January or February that I hoped we'd have lots of thunderstorms this year because I love falling asleep or waking up to the sound of a good rainstorm, and I REALLY missed that during the drought. What a fool I was!!!! Today what I am really missing is heat and sunshine...and sleep! Go ahead and complain about the lack of sunshine and heat whenever you want. You're sure to get a lot of agreement from many of us that we want some heat and sunshine too. Courtney, Do you have a space heater? If you have one that blows warm air, you can speed up the drying of your concrete with it. That is, assuming the rain isn't pouring there like it has been here. Right now, I am on a new calendar and a new clock, different from the one we used for so many years. DH's hours have always been 'odd' because police work is not an 8 to 5 type thing, but the hours have been horrible since his most recent promotion. He's hardly had any days off, but it is finally beginning to settle down a little. However, between him getting up in the middle of the night to go to work, and our son working 24 hours on/48 hours off, our regular routine has disintegrated and no one around here is getting the right amount of sleep. Everyone is also on a different meal schedule. It has been crazy. AND, whenever we have a time when we are all three at home (4 counting son's girlfriend who is here at the house a lot) and we are about to eat a meal together, the fire pagers go off EVERY SINGLE TIME. It is uncanny. In between rain showers I run outside and pull weeds. At least the weeds come up out of the wet ground more easily than they otherwise would. Oh, Courtney, flip flop tan lines! I haven't had those in so long since our snakes and scorpions scare me too much for me to wear flip flops! Merryheart, My rain gauges do that too and I suspect it has something to do with the angle at which the rain falls or the angle at which one of the gauges is leaning. The rain gauge that is nailed to a fence post 3' above the ground always has a slightly higher reading than the one that is stuck into the ground. I think the one stuck in the ground tends to lean over a little now and then, maybe, and not catch quite as much rain. We are having 1.5" of rain a day.....1.5 inches on Thursday, 1.5 inches on Saturday (I emptied the gauge at bedtime) and 1.5 inches so far today. You have had so much more rain than us! It is coming in waves here as it rains a little, stops, rains some more, then stops again. I think it is going to be a very long and soggy day. I have been hearing the Carter County street maintenance guys on the scanner as well as some of the Carter County fire departments. It sounds like they had to close and barricade some roads in your county to keep people from driving through high water. I have also heard them discussing the removal of "sand bars" washed into some roads. It is pretty quiet here, except for one reported 'water leak' at an intersection in town. I find it hard to believe there is a water leak, but think that maybe there is a backed up storm gutter or something. Well, it is rainy and quiet here and that means it is a good time to clean the house this afternoon. Dawn

o RE: Cookalong #40 - Wine clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by walnutcreek (My Page) on Sun, Feb 12, 12 at 16:05 CHICKEN IN HEAVENLY WINE SAUCE 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon crushed dry oregano 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil 8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms 1 cup Marsala wine 1/2 cup sherry wine Clean and rinse chicken, place between sheets of plastic wrap and using the side of a square mallet pound chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness. In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and oregano. Coat chicken pieces with the flour mixture. In a large skillet, melt butter in the oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan and lightly brown, then turn over chicken pieces and add mushrooms and any remaining flour mixture. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover Skillet and bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer,and cook for 10 minutes, turning chicken once, cook until no longer pink. Serve over egg noodles or your favorite pasta, topped with the wine sauce. Serves 4 SPICY WINE MUSTARD 3/4 cup brown mustard seeds 3/4 cup yellow mustard seeds 1 cup white wine vinegar 1 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup EVOO 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons dry mustard (Coleman's) 1 tablespoon sea salt 1 - 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Put all ingredients into a deep, medium-sized bowl, stir well, cover and leave on countertop at room temperature, stirring once or twice, for 24 hours. Transfer bowl contents to a food processor puree until creamy. Transfer mustard to jars, seal tightly and refrigerate. Makes about 3 cups. APPLE, CHICKEN, AND WINE 1 whole fryer chicken 1 whole apple 1 cup apple juice or 1 cup white wine Salt and pepper Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the inside of the chicken. Put the whole apple inside the chicken cavity. Place chicken breast side down in a crock pot. Pour apple juice or wine around the chicken. Cook on low 4-6 hours. SHALLOT AND WINE BUTTER 1 shallot, finely chopped 3/4 cup dry red wine 4 oz butter cut into small pieces Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Bring the shallots and wine to a boil in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Boil until all the wine has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, salt, and pepper until the mixture is smooth except for the pieces of shallot. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. To serve with steak, top each steak with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the butter. BLACKBERRY WINE CAKE 1 Duncan Hines white cake mix 1 3-oz. box blackberry Jell-O 1/2 cup salad oil 4 eggs 1 cup blackberry wine 1/2 cup chopped pecans Preheat oven 325 degrees. Combine all ingredients except pecans. Mix on low speed until moistened then on high for 2 minutes. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle pecans on bottom and side of pan. Spoon batter to cover pecans. Bake 1 hour. GLAZE: 2/3 stick butter 1/2 c. blackberry wine 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar Combine butter, sugar, and wine, bring to boil. Punch holes in cake with ice pick and pour half of glaze over cake while in pan. Let stand 30 minutes. Turn out and pour glaze over cake. PARMESAN WINE RICE 1 tablespoon butter 1 medium onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 cup chicken broth 1 cup uncooked rice 1 cup dry white wine 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 8 minutes or until translucent. Stir in broth, rice and wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in grated Parmesan and serve warm. Serves 4 o RE: Cookalong #40 - Wine clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by wizardnm (My Page) on Mon, Feb 13, 12 at 10:28 A big Thank You to all that participated in this thread, there are some really good recipes here. I just pulled a name for the next Cookalong. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ bbstx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please choose the next focus ingredient. Try to pick something you have a special interest in. If it happens to be something that has been covered in the older Cookalongs, that's fine, especially if it is basic. All the older Cookalong threads are in the FAQ. Think about Seasonal, Fresh, Basic, and Readily available ingredients.... If you have questions, you can email me through GW. I will check back here and then set up the new Cookalong. Nancy o RE: Cookalong #40 - Wine clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by foodonastump (My Page) on Mon, Feb 13, 12 at 12:51 A little late, but I think worth mentioning here. I had been meaning to try this since I first chose wine for the cookalong. Recent conversations about mussels and fennel finally got me to do it today for lunch. I winged it but here's approximately what I did: Saute about 3/4 cup small-diced fennel and a minced shallot in butter with a pinch of salt. Add some thyme, a pinch of saffron, and 1.5 cups or so wine. (I used Gewuertztraminer, as recommended in Patricia Wells' "The Paris Cookbook" for its slightly sweet note.) Reduce wine by half and add scrubbed mussels. Steam for about 3 minutes or until they open. If some open earlier than others remove them so they don't overcook. Once all the mussels are done, remove them from the pan and add a dollop or two of creme fraiche to the broth. Adjust seasoning to taste. I think that's about all I did. I ended up eating the full 2.5 pound bag, plus half a baguette to sop up the sauce. It was awesome! o RE: Cookalong #40 - Wine clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by wizardnm (My Page) on Mon, Feb 13, 12 at 15:42 The next topic is #41 - Greens - Cooked and Raw Here is a link Here is a link that might be useful: Cookalong #41 Greens, Cooked and Raw o RE: Cookalong #40 - Wine clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by sally2 (My Page) on Sun, Feb 19, 12 at 8:19 I'm reporting back way late on my cooking with wine attempt. I made Ruthanna's French Bean Soup, and know it would have been wonderful if......I didn't burn it. Yes, I actually managed to burn soup. We were up in Oklahoma where I have a substandard set of pots and pans, basically camping gear, cause I don't want to spend a lot of money on another set of pots and pans. Anyway, the soup pot I used is very thin aluminum. It was already cooked earlier in the day, and tasting delicious. DH had to go on an errand, and while he was gone, I turned the soup back on to heat up for dinner, and sat down with my cross stitch. Big mistake. When DH got home, he headed for the kitchen,stirred the soup, and announced, "Did you know the soup is burning?" Aaahg! Oh, well, it was still edible, and I'll definitely make it again, but I was very disappointed that I did something so stupid. Ruthanna, I think I'm drawn to your recipes. I'm sure I've made more than one other of your recipes. If you had a cookbook, I'd probably buy it. I do have one question about the recipe. In the last part of the instructions you say to remove the cinnamon sticks, but there are no cinnamon sticks mentioned anywhere else in the recipe. I didn't have any, so I added a dash of cinnamon to the soup. Sally o RE: Cookalong #40 - Wine clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings Posted by lakeguy35 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 24, 12 at 0:53 I'm late checking back here too...I did make the dessert that Lindac posted. Oh man was it good!! My group loved it. Photobucket I have my eye on several recipes posted here that's for sure. Glad to see the cookalongs back in action. David

Worthy your comments are not worthy. That is not shoe molding it looks like window stop molding from HD. Looking at your door to floor gap I will assume they cut the door frame moldings and installed the base on top of the floor install? They probably were too lazy to scribe and plane their baseboards to your floor. They saw the dips and large gaps and grabbed some 1/4 round as it is easy to bend and conform to your floor. Hire a real carpenter and have new door casing and baseboards installed. In the end you won't send much more and you won't wind up with all those small returns of so called shoe molding. ANYTIME you use 1/4 round you are covering up a mess and making a larger mess. Shoe molding has a different profile and is not needed unless you are in the NE. If you do use it I agree to forget about all the returns and just cut back at an angle and be done.

Oh my, that is an intriguing an nice space there. Tool shed is set further back than I thought it would be. That carport roof looks like it wraps around the back of the house too? Delightful. Do you actually want to take that whole thing down? Or that would be the thing to open up into a whole big porch areas perhaps? In the air photos, there's a couple lines on the left side of the pic- are those fences or something that indicates your limits in that direction? Are you willing to remove trees, or are they staying? And what's the dirt movement plans, or does that depend on the plans in general?