Rathbone: Eggs for Hatching, Eggs for Eating, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

[ORChick]

This is exactly why I am pretty much no longer using bleach for ANYTHING. I swear it doesn't matter what I do, my NICE towels get BLEACHED!!! It drives me batty! I really want to have nice towels so that when I have guests they are able to use nice things, and for whatever reason it just doesn't work. I've given up at this point, even when we don't use bleach, somehow things end up faded. I can't figure out what is going wrong! I've stopped using almost all chemicals in the house for cleaners and things for that very reason.
I'm so sorry about your clothes, that is not a good thing. Do you have a consignment shop near you? My consignment shop always has a LOT of jeans, and I get really good deals on them, usually $10.00 or less for name brand things (sometimes with the tags still on them!!). I almost don't shop for clothes anywhere else!

A little off topic here; I apologize. I tend to use towels until they are really only good for rags (great rags! ), and I know that, without some effort, the guest towels would end up just as faded as the rest. So I just bought a set of towels that are only used by guests (sheets too). They live in a drawer in the guest room dresser. I've had them more than 10 years (quite a bit more, I think), and they still are looking good. (Also, light colored towels don't fade )
As for bleach, I hate the stuff. The smell is horrible. I only use it when washing whites (leftover from my nursing days) and dishclothes; but, as I don't have that many whites anymore, it takes awhile to gather a loadfull. I do a bleach wash perhaps once a month.

 

[hqueen13]

A little off topic here; I apologize. I tend to use towels until they are really only good for rags (great rags! ), and I know that, without some effort, the guest towels would end up just as faded as the rest. So I just bought a set of towels that are only used by guests (sheets too). They live in a drawer in the guest room dresser. I've had them more than 10 years (quite a bit more, I think), and they still are looking good. (Also, light colored towels don't fade )
As for bleach, I hate the stuff. The smell is horrible. I only use it when washing whites (leftover from my nursing days) and dishclothes; but, as I don't have that many whites anymore, it takes awhile to gather a loadfull. I do a bleach wash perhaps once a month.

I try to do that, too, OR, and sometimes it just doens't seem to help any....
It must be something with towels, though, I swear, cause that is what seems to get bleached the most. And it is light colored towels as well as dark ones. Short of having white towels (which I don't care for) I don't know what to do! LOL

 

[rathbone]

Just something I found immensely interesting - a little library box in the yard that people can borrow from. Don't know that my link will work but here goes...

http://hipgirlshome.com/blog/2011/12/29/little-free-library.html

 

[Britesea]

Hey Britesea - what is the weather like there? Paint me a verbal picture.

I wish I could paint you a prettier picture. We've had nights in the 20's and days up in the 40's. No snow though we did have some rain last night; it's just bare and brown with the occasional spot of color from an overwintering bird. The clouds have moved in and so everything is gray and dreary. It perfectly matches my mood since I'm on my 7th day of a winter cold with no end in sight.

I am so sorry about the bleach! I know how hard it is for you to find extra money, and losing your good clothes to a bleach splash is horrible! Were you wearing your brand new apron? I know you can use fabric paints to color in a faded spot on jeans, but that's more money to buy the paint, it doesn't work that well on large spots, and it doesn't change the fact that bleach eats the fibers of the cloth and wears it out faster. Did you end up with some bleached spots on your hair as well? My DH has never dropped a bottle of bleach, but I've had more than one bottle of red wine to clean up in our life together; he has very dry hands because of being a mechanic and bottles will just slide right out of his fingers sometimes.

Your tamales look wonderful! I love tamales, I remember tasting something similar made by a Puerto Rican woman- she used plantains for the husks and would never tell me what the meat was (so I figure it was probably one of the less 'socially acceptable' meats)- they were really good too, different taste because of the plantains, but I ate till I nearly burst!

 

[rathbone]

Britesea - happy sigh...that was an excellent description. I can picture it, smell it, remember it well.
Winter colds - ugh. Enough said. When I feel cruddy - I like chicken broth with minced ginger and lots of garlic. The ginger seems to be a nice pick-me-up.
I wasn't wearing the apron, but it was hung right there so yes it got generously splashed. I told him this morning that maybe that was a good thing. That apron was too damn white and perfect. Every time I wore it I was occupied with not staining it so now I don't have to worry about that any more. Your idea about the paints is a good one - the place I see the biggest marks is on the black diamonds on the apron...maybe I can just use a sharpie and color them back in? Yes, I think I will definitely try that.
But the jeans were a big loss. I am a woman of ample BUTT and finding a pair of jeans that flatter always seems to cost me a ridiculous amount of money so I am definitely crying in my beer over the jeans.
I have never had the tamales wrapped in plantains but they are oh-so-beautiful! People here use different mediums to wrap the tamales but my hubby swears that they don't taste half as good without the corn husk. And I just like the rustic way they look.
Try the ginger - I hope you feel better soon.

 

[CheerioLounge]

I am soooooo hungry now! Those tamales look so good!

And Thanks!

 

[SSDreamin]

Thanks for the pictures Rathbone! Really makes me want to make up a big batch (I even have the husks, waiting for my courage!)

When I was young, 19 and an old married lady, I was invited to a tamale party. On the South side of San Antonio, these happen frequently around Christmas. I walked into the house and was hit with delicious aroma's coming from the kitchen. Upon entering said kitchen, I almost lost my lunch! There, in the biggest kettle I'd ever seen, on top of the stove, was what remained of a hog's head! Deciding that I was not going to be laughed at and called a silly Yankee, I did my best to ignore the contents of the giant kettle and joined in the assembly line of tamale makers. I had a great time and learned a lot. I also left there sick to my stomach, and not because I ate too much. I couldn't bring myself to sample my hard work, for which I ended up getting called a Yankee anyway I am ashamed to say that I cannot eat tamales of 'unknown origins' to this day. Shredded pork, shredded beef, chicken, or even turkey I can do. I have to know EXACTLY what went into them, so that's why I've gotten the bug to make them myself. FYI: If you are going to cook a hog's head, please don't leave the eyeballs laying on the counter next to the stove - it freaks out silly Yankee's like myself!

About the bleached jeans: Isn't that the style now? Frayed, bleached out, thread bare jeans people pay $180 a pair for?!

 

[rathbone]

SS - I just wanted you to know that even if you don't go the hog's head route - you still get to call them authentic.

 

[ORChick]

Rathbone, sort of on the subject of tamales (which look delicious, by the way ), have you ever made posole/masa with wood ash? Or know the process through someone else? This is something I really want to do, but the two times I have tried I haven't been terribly successful. Maybe I didn't use enough ash, because the hulls didn't come off the kernels easily; tasted good though .

Edited for spelling

 

[rathbone]

ORChick - No I have not tried it with the wood ash. .... Can you tell us how you did it? I can of course go google it but it would be more interesting if you tell us...