LiberalLoner
LiberalLoner's JournalHappy Thanksgiving DU. I am grateful for all of you and for this site.
May all of you have things to be grateful for, always, even as we head into these dark times.
Thank you all for helping me these past few years.
I just found out today my father, decades ago, superglued a small Yorkshire Terrier's lips together as punishment
Because the dog was locked in a small room 24/7 by him with no human interaction, and the dog acted out his distress by chewing on the wallpaper.
He also took a pet kitten of my stepsister and threw it over the fence, causing the animal not only physical damage but the cat never came back.
He also (and this is something I already knew about) beat up 12 and 9 year old girls (my two stepsisters and their friend) and then denied it.
He also spent his life choking, smacking, hitting women and only stopped leaving bruises when he finally got arrested for it in 1987.
He has also held loaded guns to the heads of his wives (he’s had a lot of wives).
I won’t go into the stuff he did to me and my siblings.
I tried so hard to forgive him and get along with him in spite of how he always put me down every time I talked to him and in spite of all the abuse from my childhood, but somehow knowing about him super glueing the dog’s lips helped me understand, truly understand, the man who made my childhood hell on earth, is truly a monster.
I used to think maybe I was a bad kid and deserved the abuse.
But that dog did not deserve what he did to him.
My father is just a monster, that’s all.
And he is dying now.
May God, if He exists, show my father the same mercy he showed to that dog snd cat.
I thought this article about resources for moving to another country might interest some DUers.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2024/11/06/she-hits-refresh-supports-women-move-abroad-to-europe/76047963007/Made this recipe tonight, shaped like French bread. Looked ugly but tasted wonderful, perfect crust, light interior.
https://pinchofyum.com/no-knead-breadMe too. I always remember the horrifying story my mother told me,
About our neighbors in Montana. My mother was taking my older siblings to get the new polio vaccine that had just come out, and offered to our neighbor to drive her kids too to get the free vaccination.
Our neighbor laughed and said God would protect her children. (She was very religious, a Baptist although I don’t know what denomination of Baptist.)
Her oldest daughter ended up with a leg brace for life due to disabilities from Polio, after our neighbor refused the free vaccines.
Our neighbor did not blame herself for one second. Said it was God’s will.
I do not expect any self reflection from the Trump voters.
Hey everybody? If you seriously feel the need to leave the country (as I do) then
A suggestion.
It’s hard to get accepted to live in Europe, Canada, other places we might think of.
I’ve been looking at Egypt. Because I lived there for a year, 1990-1991, stationed there in the Army.
They are very tolerant of expats. Very friendly and helpful. Cost of living is 65% of US cost of living.
You can get a retirement visa with only this…show proof of ability to support yourself financially (maybe about 2,000 dollars a month), show no criminal record, show no serious communicable diseases like HIV etc.
I will post some videos about living in Egypt as an ex-Pat tomorrow.
It’s not as crazy an idea as it might seem.
I felt safer in Egypt than here in the U.S.
Cost of Living > Egypt
Cost of Living in Egypt
Select city in Egypt:
Summary of cost of living in Egypt:
A family of four estimated monthly costs are 1,172.1$ (57,682.0EG£) without rent.
A single person estimated monthly costs are 330.7$ (16,271.9EG£) without rent.
Cost of living in Egypt is, on average, 70.6% lower than in United States.
Rent in Egypt is, on average, 91.0% lower than in United States.
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https://www.expat.com/en/destination/africa/egypt/
P.S. I’m not saying move there without first doing a ton of research. Talk with expats on line, watch videos, spend dozens or hundreds of hours on research before deciding. And I’m not saying Egypt is right for anyone except me. Well, maybe I am because I am offering it up as a possibility people may not have considered. But for sure do tons of research, don’t just take my word for anything. I just felt the need to offer it up as an idea. And I am truly trying to talk my husband into moving us there, so you can tell I do have the courage of my convictions.
P.P.S. As far as the weather goes, not all that different from Southern California, actually.
A kind poster asked me to post my wave painting when I finished, so I'm posting it.
[url=https://postimg.cc/BL2xBCJD][img]
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Thank you for anyone who looks at this.
The painting didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped.
Soft pastel. 12x9 on UArt 500.
Pastel painting I finished today
[url=https://postimg.cc/67ZJMVdh][img]
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Trying to stay busy to manage election anxiety (although I am 99% sure we will win.)
Thank you very much to anyone who views this, offers helpful advice on what I could have done better, etc.
I'm sure I'm just going to embarrass myself badly in front of the gourmet cooks here, but...
I wanted to share a weird recipe I sort of made up decades ago after I had a delicious meal in a restaurant of lobster with a cream based tarragon sauce on top.
I didn’t have any cookbooks to help me and no internet. I knew a dinner like that was a once a year dinner at best. Didn’t have a whole lot of extra money back then, going to school.
But I loved how it tasted and I wished I could make something that tasted kind of like that, again.
No way I was buying lobster. But I could afford some chicken breasts, so that’s what I bought. And I knew I needed cream and a bottle of tarragon so I bought those things too.
I like white rice, especially the medium or short grain, the high carb rice I guess. So I used that as my base or carb.
I wanted to add veggies to make it kind of a meal in one pot (except for making the rice in a rice cooker.).
So I experimented with this and that and found I loved a good bit of fresh minced garlic, a couple of bunches of scallions chopped up, and an absolute ton of those fresh tiny tomatoes. If I wanted to be cheaper, I used a couple cans of diced tomatoes,
So I created a bastardized recipe of sorts I call my tarragon chicken stuff.
I know it sounds awful. And for sure it is a billion calories and pretty much everything bad for you.
But, when I got the recipe where I wanted it, I really liked the taste of it. And I served it to others and they really liked my tarragon chicken stuff.
I’m pretty sure the French would have me shot for perverting their cooking and making this recipe.
The basic recipe is, saute small chunks of chicken breast in butter or butter and some cooking oil. Add minced garlic, like a tablespoon of it, lots of flavor, and some salt. So you have chicken that tastes like garlic and butter and salt. Use a big saucepot because you are going to add stuff as you go. One pot.
Deglaze with 1/4 cup of cognac or brandy. You could use white wine instead or maybe even apple cider.
Add a quart of cream or half and half. (Yeah, I know.). Sometimes I made a blonde roux with flour to make that cream thicker.
I used to add a whole bottle of tarragon but found I could use less tarragon if I used some fennel seeds which have a similar flavor. Because a whole bottle of spice gets pricey.
Don’t boil, but sort of semi-simmer to reduce the cream a little, while you toss in a couple cups of chopped green onions and about four cups of grape tomatoes.
Heat it all through pretty good, try not to boil because the half and half will separate and it won’t be as good, but you want the green onions cooked a bit and the tomatoes nice and hot and ready to burst in your mouth.
Put a good ladleful or two on top of a bowl of white rice. Season to taste.
I know, it probably sounds weird and maybe not good. It doesn’t look good on the plate, just a weird creamy chicken stew. Although the green onions and tomatoes add some nice color.
I figure this basic recipe could be changed a bunch. Add different veggies, use tofu instead of chicken, maybe try fat free half and half, I never tried that so I don’t know if it would be good or not. I only make this recipe now once a year because of the calories. But my husband is always excited and happy when I do make it.
The main thing is the cream, garlic, tarragon and salt.
I used to cook this for myself when I was at QM OBC and living in the BOQ where all the other LTs taking the course was living.
People would knock on my door to ask me “what is that delicious smelling stuff?” And I never cook for one, always cook for like 8 people so I would say, hey come on it and have some. And no one ever didn’t love it and ask me for the recipe. And get kind of frustrated because I didn’t have things exactly measured.
But the months I was there in the BOQ, almost every day I would smell my recipe, it spread like wildfire to the hundred or so other officers. I joke with my husband, as those fellow officers moved all around the world, my tarragon chicken stuff is gonna be famous worldwide LOL.
I’ve been wanting to share my recipe here for awhile but I knew people would see it for exactly what it is, a weird bastardized recipe created by a kid who had no idea what she was doing and created a Frankenstein recipe.
But it tastes yummy, I swear it does. So that’s why I’m sharing it. And you can vary it a whole bunch of different ways.
My husband asked me to cook it for Thanksgiving as a turkey is too big for us and we aren’t big fans of turkey anyway. He really does like my weird chicken tarragon stuff.
Such an important message for all of us.
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Member since: Fri Nov 20, 2009, 01:17 PMNumber of posts: 10,189