Lady says, "Hats are not the fashion for canines such as me; nevertheless, noblesse oblige!"
Sir Buxley Smithers-Greene also deigned to pose in a holiday costume.
A noble hound indeed!
Category: Lifestyle
My views on politics, religion, health, intimacy, and more
-
My first breakfast casserole
Breakfast Casserole I made this last weekend for the first time. Andy had made his breakfast casserole a month before, and I’d been disappointed in the soggy bread, so I had to try doing it differently and seeing if it came out better. I’m glad to report that it did! Following some advice I got from a fellow Flickrite, as well as some tips I picked up from Google searches of “Breakfast Casserole”, I cooked it for 45 minutes instead of 30, and I think that made all the difference. However, I started cooking it at 425º for the first 10 minutes or so until I read in some recipes that it should only be baked at 350º for 45 minutes to an hour. I wish I had done that, because the cheese melted a bit too fast and was a bit overcooked by the time I took the casserole out of the oven.
Here’s the basic recipe:
- Lay bread in a single layer at the bottom of a greased baking dish.
- Pour a mixture of eggs and half & half (1 part half & half to 2 parts eggs; e.g., I used a cup of eggs (4 or 5 eggs) and ½ cup of half & half) over the bread.
- Sprinkle with sautéed bulk sausage, caramelized onions, uncooked chopped tomatoes, uncooked chopped red & green bell peppers, or whatever else you think would taste good.
- Top with grated cheese. I used sharp cheddar and Monterey jack.
- Let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
- Bake at 350° for 45–60 minutes.
Some recipe notes:
Some recipes I found said to cut the crusts off the bread. Another said to butter the bread. Yet another said to toast the bread. Still another said to break the bread into pieces. One or two of the recipes I found said to pour the egg batter over everything, including the cheese. Personally, I like the melted cheese on the top.
P.S. It’s probably fattening. I usually like to start the morning with a fruit smoothie or a bowl of cereal, but a hot, heavy breakfast like this is great on a weekend or special occasion. Enjoy in moderation. =)
-
First night at sea, can’t sleep…
Woke up at 2 this morning after going to sleep at 9. Lay in bed wishing I could get up, get a bowl of cereal, and get on the Internet. Tried to devise a plan to write this geomoblog without consuming too many of my paid connection minutes. Left the room at 3 and went looking for a midnight snack. Was told that I could order from the Blue Lagoon 24 hours a day. First went outside to get my geoposition. Couldn’t get it on the Promenade Deck even after standing out there for 5 minutes, so I walked up to the pool, sat down with no walls around me, got my coordinates, and took this photo of the pool at night.
Why would I go to so much trouble to find my location? Well, I’m geeky that way, and I consider it a challenge to create a geotagged mobile log (geomoblog) of our travels so that friends and family can follow our progress and see where we are in the world. The reason I’m taking and posting these photos to smithersgreene.net is via Flickr is so that you can click on each photo to see it on Flickr and click the map link to the right of the photo on the Flickr photo page. You are also welcome to leave comments either on Flickr or on smithersgreene.net, although I regret I won’t have the time to read your comments much less reply to them until I get free Wi-Fi again. And even if and when I get free connectivity, it is bad for my hands to write much on this little keyboard, and besides, I’m on vacation! 😛 (more…)
-
Andy’s Breakfast Casserole
Andy told me he would be making his breakfast casserole this morning. He had never made this signature dish in our five years together, so hm… but here’s his recipe:
Lay bread slices in one layer on bottom of greased baking dish, pour over the bread a mixture of eggs and half & half. Cover with crumbled breakfast sausage (bulk sausage, the kind that you buy in a crimped tube), and sautéed onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Top with shredded cheese.
Andy let it soak in the refrigerator overnight. Then he baked it for about a half an hour the next morning. The flavors were good, but the bread was soggy. If we were to do it again, I would say don’t leave it in the fridge overnight; just make it in the morning, and cook it in a hot oven (400°) for at least 45 minutes. I would like to try it again, but I’d want to make sure the soaked bread got fully cooked, like French toast.
-
My Favorite Shaving Cream – Discontinued!
Edge ActiveCare Shave Cream has been discontinued. I am sad and frustrated because it was the best shaving cream I’ve used in over a quarter of a century. It is rich and creamy, helps the razor glide across my face and slice through my beard, rinses clean, and leaves my face feeling calm and moisturized! It’s not drying or sticky the way so many other shaving creams are. And now it’s gone! My husband loves it too, and this is our last tube of it. I looked online, and you can’t even get this stuff on EBay anymore. (Someone was selling it for $10 a tube, but they ran out. Someone else was selling it on Amazon for $14 a tube, and only had 5 left as of last night.)
But there is a sliver of good news. I called S.C. Johnson & Son just now to verify that the product had been discontinued and to request that they start making it again. They told me that the product was, indeed, discontinued in March, but they also told me something great. When they discontinued it, they bought it back from retailers so they could sell it by mail order to customers who loved it enough to call and ask about it. And they’re not selling it for $10 or $14 a tube– they’re selling it for $4 a tube plus shipping and handling. I just bought four cases, six tubes per case! The shelf life is two years, so that should last me and my husband for the next couple of years or so.
Sure, I could buy a bunch of cases and sell it on EBay for a profit, but I’m going to do loyal Edge ActiveCare customers a favor: just call S.C. Johnson & Son at 800-558-5252, tell them you wish they would put Edge ActiveCare Shave Cream back on the market, and order a case of six for yourself while supplies last. No, I am not employed by S.C. Johnson & Son. I just love this product and want to get it back on the market. Selling it on EBay for a profit is not going to accomplish that. Sharing this information with fellow customers and asking them to call, voice their demand for the product, and order it from the manufacturer at an affordable price just might do the trick! (And it couldn’t hurt my karma, either.)
Daniel Greene 