Thursday, January 13, 2011

Yup - good day.

Ironically so, because it's a beautiful afternoon. Temps almost in the fifties, clear skies. A bit too much mud because all yesterday's snow melted in a hurry, but you can't have everything. Ironic because I spent the bulk of that beautiful day inside a well-heated house I sure could have used a week ago. But even so I made sixty bux, on top of the forty+ I made yesterday. So my pockets are rustling again, I've got some propane and gasoline and the prospect of more. Gotta go back tomorrow to finish the job, then I'm off to shit-shoveling. In the mud. :^(

I even scored a whole package of onion bagels the guy wanted to get rid of just because the "use by" date had come and gone. I told him I don't look at the date, I just want to know how stale and green they are. I loves me some bagels.

Now I've got to let the boys out of Gitmo and convince them to forgive me for all the fun they haven't been having the past couple of days.

4 comments:

CorbinKale said...

When I saw the title of this thread, I had to perform an emergency override on my brain to keep from picturing you standing naked in the desert. You do this shit on purpose, don't you?

MamaLiberty said...

Bagels are practically immortal... Especially in the freezer.

They don't get stale and green, unless you let them sit wet in plastic where it is warm, of course.

Put them in a paper bag and let them dry out a little. Then, when you want one, set it on a damp paper towel, cover and put it in the oven on low heat for a bit.

The bagel will soon be darn near perfect. :)

suek said...

I get bugged by the "use by" dates. First, you have the "sell by" date - reasonable with fresh meats and produce, but honestly - you can't tell for yourself when meat is "off" or fruit and/or veggies are wilted/rotting?

And just suppose your meat _is_ a bit past prime...there are several steps you can take to "save" it - first,if it gets a bit slimey on the outside, "scrub" it with salt. Use really hot water to rinse it off. Second, cook it. Thoroughly. You'll know if it's inedible - you won't want to eat it unless you're desperate. And if you're desperate, just make certain it's _thoroughly_ cooked... _Kill_ those germs!!

Some meats are more sensitive than others - chicken and hamburger, for example. Both get nasty pretty quickly. Roasts, however, tend to get kind of off on the outside while the inside is still ok. It's pretty much a matter of your nose knows, and how desperate you are...and when in doubt, _cook_ thoroughly!

And then there are the canned and prepared foods...what does "Best used by..." mean? Does it mean that the food is inedible? canned food pretty much keeps indefinitely, if it's properly canned. Will it lose its fresh color? Maybe lose good flavor? Entirely possible - but if it's got germs after 5 years, (number pulled out of the air), it had germs after 5 months. Canning should kill the germs as well as preserving the freshness of the food.

There are always two considerations - safety and desirability of food. You don't mess with safety. Desirability is a different issue. I suspect that the "use by" dates on purchased foods are somewhat exaggerated. The "Best by" means _Best_ by...it doesn't mean "Don't eat after...".

Joel said...

You do this shit on purpose, don't you?

Yes. Yes, I do.

But if you want to see me naked in the desert - and I'm not suggesting that as a good thing to do - you're gonna have to come back in a few months.