What are you cooking?

gimme30 · Mar 13, 2026

@Fishmanic I love the diner phone! (Spent the majority of my working life at the phone company so I have an affinity for all things telecom. Except cell phones) Things like that have become collectible-Princess phones go for crazy prices these days. I showed an old basic black rotary phone to my granddaughter and she asked "How do you check your Facebook on that?"

Kids these days...

Back to the topic....I managed to botch a meatloaf last night. I'd forgotten I was out of bread so I used canned breadcrumbs that had been stashed in the pantry for who knows how long. Blech! It was like eating meat flavored cotton balls. No amount of pineapple could save it.
On the bright side, corned beef is on sale this time of year so I stocked up. Tonight will be corned beef, cabbage, and little red taters.

Fishmanic · Mar 13, 2026

@gimme30
Here are some closeups of the diner phone. The detail of the interior is incredible. You can even see the menu and knives and forks. Zoom in on the photos for the fine details. Instead of the usual phone ring sound, it plays “rock around the clock.”

Fishmanic · Mar 13, 2026

You can still find this phone used for about $70 and higher on ebay.

Fishmanic · Mar 13, 2026

Here is a replica of an early 1900s telephone. This replica is filled with whisky and was sold in the 1980s

And here is a working 1950s phone.

fishorama · Mar 13, 2026

I like the diner phone too, love the details! Is that a round thermometer by the old phones? We still have the cheap phones from the late 70s when you could buy off brand 1s under $10 (why?). 1 you could hear well on, but speaker was more muted, the other was the other way around. We tended to talk loud on 1 since we couldn't hear well, possibly from the "olden days". I remember party lines & loud talking on very short time long distance calls. It depended on who was paying, lol. When 1st married, our campus family housing came with all utilities except long distance phone calls. We never almost called our parents, it wasn't in our limited budget.

Back to peanut butter for a minute. I asked my husband to buy it & he came home with 2 18oz jars that lasted ~3 or 4 weeks of PB bingeing. So next time he bought a 4lb jar!! I feel like I'm getting exercise just carrying it to the table. I did consider putting it in the fridge so it doesn't get stale, but I prefer my PB room temp.

We're having hot dogs & baked beans. The celery was way too limp for potato salad

It's been pretty warm here, so we think of summer foods

It's tax season so I cook less often even if I don't actually do much on them every day. Just thinking about it & organizing counts!

jaylach · Mar 13, 2026

I love peanut butter! PB&J, PB&mayo and even PB&cheese. Oddly I can't stand peanut butter cookies or Reese's Cups. I also keep peanut butter at room temperature. It stays good for months.

I also like hotdogs and baked beans but am a bit odd about it. I like to put beans right on the hotdog. Basically beans and weenies on a bun without the dog being sliced.

I also love grilled cheese with a bowl of tomato basil bisque. Campbell's actually puts out a pretty good bisque. Added a couple of containers of bisque, American Cheese and bread to my current grocery list. Probably been a year and a half since I've had a loaf of bread in the house as I just don't eat it enough to not end up throwing half away. Ya, I know that I can freeze the bread but it changes the texture but is still fine for a grilled cheese or things like French Toast.

What is tax season?

I haven't filed a return in many, many years. Due to my military disability I'm exempt from Federal Income Tax.

fishorama · Mar 13, 2026

to you Jay (the most polite I can be, lol) for both taxes & PB cookies & Reese's. You're missing some seasonal events

good & bad. None of your PB options sound good to me, to each their own. Did you ever try grilled PB sandwiches? Not as good as PB on toast or grilled cheese on rye but different. We have a friend that does PB on rye toast sometimes with jelly when he visits, no!!

jaylach · Mar 13, 2026

Never tried a grilled peanut butter sandwich but DO like to make toast with butter and peanut butter. Put butter and peanut butter on toast and finish under the broiler. Tastes great but will totally burn the roof of your mouth.

As to grilled cheese I often like to add thin sliced ham and red onion between layers of the cheese.

Fishmanic · Mar 14, 2026

Here’s a 10 cup coffee server made by corningware. It is a desirable piece sought by corningware aficionados. It was made in the 1970s and sells for about $100 now. It matches my other vintage corningware pieces I own.

Fishmanic · Mar 14, 2026

I found out online that this coffee server is actually a stovetop percolator. I searched the cupboard and found the parts for the innards so I plan on brewing a cup of 1970s style coffee. I am looking forward and excited to brew some coffee.

jaylach · Mar 14, 2026

Fishmanic said:
I found out online that this coffee server is actually a stovetop percolator. I searched the cupboard and found the parts for the innards so I plan on brewing a cup of 1970s style coffee. I am looking forward and excited to brew some coffee. View attachment 378418

I LOVE the pot. I remember my grandma having a stove top percolator but it was all metal in and out. Do you still have the top cover? I remember my grandma throwing out a pot of coffee because she forgot to put on the lid. She said that without the lid the steam could not penetrate the ground beans and just wasn't right. LOL! She was the same grandma that used to make me deviled eggs with little squares of colored paper on toothpicks to make the deviled eggs little sail boats.

Tonight I'm having a bit of comfort food. Ground beef patties browned and then simmered in brown gravy with some spices on the meat patties. As a side it will be egg noodles with most of the cooked down gravy and peas. The meat isn't really Salisbury Steak but close enough.

Fishmanic · Mar 14, 2026

@jaylach
Yes I still have the top cover. All needed parts are there.

@gimme30
While we’re on the subject of phones, I owned a cellphone in the late 1980s.
It weighed about 4 lbs and had a corded receiver. It cost about 50 cents a minute to make a call.
I still have the phone after all these years.

Fishmanic · Mar 14, 2026

I also have a circa 1970 electric percolator. I will dust it off and try a cup of coffee from it.

Fishmanic · Mar 15, 2026

Well I made a pot of coffee using the GE metal percolator above. It only took about 3 minutes to make the coffee. Taste is a bit strong but tastes ok. That coffeemaker hasn't been used in 52 years. My mother used to use it daily back in the early 1970s.

Fishmanic · Mar 15, 2026

As promised, I’m cooking up some chili.
Browning up diced onion, ground beef, diced jalapeno pepper, with chili powder.

Drained fat and then added the rest of the ingredients per recipe.
Now I’m simmering the chili for one hour to reduce it to proper consistency. The hard part is salivating until it is finished. I’m getting hungry.