smitty55

John I can pretty well guaranty you that you could make your own home made relish that will put that Bicks to shame, and I grew up on that stuff. Must be harvest season up there for you up there soon? I do have to keep in mind where you are lol. I did it with a green relish recipe I found and it totally blows bicks out of the kitchen. Pretty cheap to make in the fall, and I never run out. This recipe has made it to three farms down the road now, it's that good. Back to burgers, for me change is good in flavorings and additions the odd time. One thing I do now though a lot, is to mix in minced pork with my beef or game, This started after I followed a recipe I found that also call for bicks onion relish if you can believe it lol. Talk about a tender juicy burger. Hope it works out for you... Cheers

oops, didn't notice you post parnelly lol. Sorry for the repeat. Cheers

The stylus(needle) and cartridge are what convert the sound from the vinyl. You can buy a $10 cheap needle that will sound like junk and a cheap cartridge will also produce lousy sound. The quickest way to ruin an album is to use low end turntables with heavy tonearms and little adjustment capabilities. Pretty soon the grooves are worn and sound reproduction is crap. It's all about the minute vibrations sent from the surface of the album through the stylus and to the coils and magnet in the cartridge. That's why belt drive is better than direct drive. Far less vibrations transmitted to the tone arm. Here's a little primer...http://www.needledoctor.com/FAQs/Phono-Cartridge-Stylus-Related-FAQs I had a fire a few years back and somehow all my albums disappeared, several hundred. But I got to claim over five hundred of them, at a reduced price of course. But I still did OK. So I replaced 125 of them at a cost of around $3500. Just about all of them were half speed remastered 180 gram virgin vinyl audiophile quality albums. The most expensive was a 4 album remaster "The Complete Clapton" at $70 plus tax. The way I look at it, it's all about the source. A silk purse comes to mind. I'm by no means a true audiophile spending huge dollars on my sound system. I bought all decent equipment on my claim, but nowhere near high end. Speakers were a grand. Huge 15" Cerwin Vega speaker cabinets. Here's the turntable I bought. http://www.planetofsoundonline.com/products/pro-ject-debut-carbon-turntable. At $550 it compares very favorably to other brands in the $1000 range. I even met this guy at a chip wagon who first recommended it to me as we were chatting about home sound systems being not very prevalent anymore. Go figure I bought one a couple of months later. I see them now on amazon for cheaper but there's a lot to be said for dealing with a local audio shop. Plus they don't come setup online. Brian, it really boils down to what you want out of this whole opportunity. Assuming these albums are mostly in good to very good condition, then you have a chance here to enjoy some quality sound if that's your goal. It would be mine lol. If so, my suggestion would be to buy a preferably new good quality turntable first, then build on that, even if you go with some used components for a start. Guys like to upgrade right lol, so you can find good quality used equipment sometimes, for maybe half price that's only a few years old maybe. Maybe even a table. After all that hehe, if you only want to make digital mp3s, then at least buy a quality usb turntable. But even then... http://www.cnet.com/news/usb-turntables-worst-ever-audio-product/ Albums are making a big comeback now. The new trend. Zep just had their latest release, remastered by Jimmy Page. In the audio world analog is still king, and there's big money to be made too. Hope this helps. Cheers

OMG I just checked that link. For $129 you will be getting junk. Don't be fooled by the Sony name. Cheers

If you have a chance at a good collection of albums I wouldn't touch a usb turntable unless you really want to make some cd's for your car. You're far better off getting a quality belt drive turntable with a good stylus and cartridge and enjoying the analog sound IMO. If you are set on wanting digital copies make sure to get a quality usb turntable, because like many things you get what you pay for, and you can get a cheap ADC or a good quality one. But if you're only going to convert to mp3 instead of a lossless format then you may not notice the difference as much. Cheers

Good heads up there Sterling. A lot of folks don't realize this. Can you imagine having your back lake honey hole raped? There are several exif stripper programs out there. Here's one. http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/EXiFStripper.shtml Cheers

John, just left click in the img box and it will say copied. Then right click in your post and paste. No need for the image code. Make sure it's the whole pic and not a thumbnail. Cheers

John I'm a big believer in fall planting, but I never plant until at least mid November. Springtime bulbs would be far inferior for planting purposes I think. I want the roots to start developing but I don't want green shoots to start growing up towards the surface, which is what can happen if planted in Sept/Oct. I also make sure to mulch with a good 4"-6" of leaves, which slows down the freezing of the soil and also prevents any freeze/thaw cycle during winter warm spells, which you certainly don't have to worry about up there until spring gets closer.. I really don't know what the difference would be with your much colder winters. I mean, frozen is frozen right? We do get some pretty cold winters here, but I've never had winter kill,even with 3 ft. of frost in the ground. Russia is well known for their garlic, Siberian and Russian Red, and it's damn cold there as well. A quick google search showed folks fall planting in Alaska. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to try fall planting if I were up there. Make sure you have good drainage, preferably in raised beds, and mulch real heavy. I would even pile the snow real thick on top of that to further insulate. The other main most important thing would be to find the northern most supplier of quality garlic you can find, and plant northern type varieties like the Russians or Music, which grows real well around here. Plus it will give you good garlic for the winter eating. Don't plant store bought as it was probably grown in warm climates or even worse, China. One last thing you may already be aware of. Generally. the bigger the clove planted, the bigger the bulb will be, but it's actually the size of the base of the clove which is the determining factor. And don't plant damaged or inferior looking cloves, save them for eating first. Cheers

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well in this case it's all the same word, mmmmmm, a thousand times, every time I get to savour the wonderful taste of home grown garlic, and not that china crap from the grocers. For any of you who who don't grow your own, you really should try it. It's quite simple, and very rewarding. Cheers

I don't find them strong at all, but compared to the white ones they have much more flavour and a more dense, meatier texture. They are after all, just a larger, more mature cremini. Cheers

Guys, here's something to try with nice firm portebella caps on the Bar-B. Alternate pieces of cold butter and blue cheese around it. Fresh garlic is a bonus... Spice as desired and 15-20 minutes over indirect heat. So long as you like blue cheese these are great with a steak or seafood. Cheers

Tks for sharing. That's certainly not news to me. It's common knowledge in the small engine industry. Not so mainstream I guess. Funny how it took so long for CR to publish this, but at least they did. I own 3 outboards. A '71 1.5hp, a '72 6hp and a '80 20hp. So I've always had to stay clear of ethanol fuel. I've always used high test in them and I use premium in all my small engines. Plus I never buy more than I need. The best advice I can offer anyone is to use Sea Foam in all your small engine fuel. I swear by that stuff after using it for the last 7+ years. It really can be a tune up in a can, and is a great maintenance additive to keep your machine running clean. Great for all engines actually. Cheers

Hey, no problem John. Happy to help out. Our normal planting date here is May 24 so a lot of folks got nailed this year. Even some who covered their plants lost them as it hit -2° in some areas. I should have remembered about your long days as I worked for First Air for 13 years, so yea, you should be OK so long as the temps stay up enough, cause these Greeks sure do like the heat. Even here, the cooler Sept. temps slow them down enough. Cheers

I originally tried these tomatoes from an old Greek guy that was the night cleaner in our building back in the eighties. When I moved out to the country I wanted to grow my own and got some seedlings from his brother in law. Since then I have only used my own seeds. Then one year I decided to grow some Brandywine as well for a couple of years. That was a mistake. Though they still looked the same for the most part they seemed to have lost some of their best attributes, Not quite as sweet or tasty. John had since passed on, so I tried some that I bought at the Parkdale farmers market. Those didn't even come close, as I'm sure the genetics were quite diluted as farmers grow many types. Then in 2012 I found an address and phone number in an old wallet and a flag went up. It was the original family I had bought my seedlings from 15 years before. So I phoned up and explained who I was and they were happy to supply me with some seeds. Those seeds were from 2011 and still 22 of 24 germinated great this year. I will be saving lots of seeds this year as the blight seems to be holding off here for a change as I mulched my bed with red plastic after not growing any last year. John, I doubt you will have a long enough growing season in Yellowknife for these Greeks, but assuming things go well I could mail you some seeds over the winter if you'd like. You would have to start them indoors as early as you can and hope for a warm spring so you can plant early and hope for no frost. We had frost here in the Ottawa area on June 8 I believe and many folks lost all their plants and had to replant. If anyone else is interested we could probably work something out as well, but again, the one downside is that if you grow any other tomato you will dilute the strain for sure, not that they still won't be good for many years. Even with diluted genetics, these are still an excellent tomato for fresh eating or processing into salsa or sauce. Cheers

You got me going now lol. I exclusively grow a Greek potato leaf, indeterminate type tomato that is incredible. By far the best tomato I've ever eaten. No offense Brian, but these put beefsteak to shame IMO. Unfortunately they can be somewhat susceptible to blight. If I had a long enough growing season they would reach 15ft plus I'm sure. In the middle of August I top them at about 7 ft. As it is I use 8ft stakes with grooves cut into them or screws to hold the ties in place or they would slide down from the weight of the tomatoes. The largest one I know of was over 2lb. 1-1.5lb is common. These Greeks are huge, super sweet and tasty, all meat with few seeds. I refuse to grow any others so I can keep the genetics as pure as possible, although I would like to have some cherries. The salsa and sauce from these is to die for with the flavour. Every sucker gets removed so that the flowers are only on the main stem. Even the flower stems keep growing and produce suckers lol. I also prune the flower clusters, specially the first ones to about 4, otherwise the stems will break from too much weight. My understanding is that for indeterminates in general, pruning the first cluster to 4 or 5 flowers will provide more even sized fruits in the successive ones. I'm so spoiled with these. Nothing like homegrown off the vine. I can hardly take store bought anymore. They may look like a tomato, but that's where the resemblance ends. I can hardly wait, but I have to until at least the middle of August, as these Greeks are late to ripen. Cheers

Check out Cedar Cove resort. New owners did some good renos and spruced the place up a lot. Adam has also started a small guiding/outfitter business the last couple of years. They have all you want and are in a protected bay for those real windy days. Not too far to the deepest part of the lake. Plus a good restaurant. Like Mike said the lake is heavy with those clones but there are big bass there along with tons of pike and a decent Walleye population. Also known for having good sized Perch but mostly targeted in the winter. It's a nice lake. Cheers

FYI here is an interesting study done by Carleton University on soft plastic lures. http://www.fecpl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Raison-et-al-2014_Water-A-S-Poll.pdf Then I read this on page 9 from that CU report. "Interestingly,the Berkley Gulp! ALIVE! worm, which is advertised as a biodegradable bait (http://www.berkley-fishing.com/products/soft-bait/gulp), only reduced slightly in size during the experiments" I think the operative word there is advertised. Are they really as biodegradable as they say? I'm not sure of the time frame in the CU study, but some of them were two years long. Cheers

Great report. Very well done. Gotta love the gramps tour, and that small river is amazing looking. Tks for sharing that. Cheers

Good report. Nice pics too. That sure looks like one sweet spot. Gotta love it. Tks for sharing. I really like that bucktail. Were you tipping it? Cheers

I was in there this past season. By far the best pancakes (huge) and custom made sausages of any place. And lots of syrup on the tables. Best of all they're open all year long. I finally talked my whole family into visiting this year and everyone was impressed. The main lodge is impressive too. They rent it out for events as well. http://www.wheelersmaple.com/ Cheers

One last question lol. I'm not familiar with jalapeno garlic. An on line search comes up with sauces for the most part. Could you clarify that for me? Tks. Cheers

Tks manitoubass2. Do you have a favorite among those three. How hot are those recipes anyway? I don't have a problem with heat but don't want it to overpower the dish. I've also been googling marinated spiced olives. Lots of variations out there. Most of them call for refrigeration while marinating or at most a few days at room temp. I'm still a bit leery of using fresh garlic in oil at room temp for long periods but obviously you've done it before with no probs so I'll give it a shot. I'm really looking forward to trying these but I don't know how long I'll be able to wait lol. Tks again for the idea. Cheers

Welcome Jimmy. For some reason I don't think it will take very long to get your numbers up. Cheers

That whole idea sounds great. I'd like to try that. Image saved. Versatile too. So at what point do you refrigerate? 2 months? The only possible issue I can think of is fresh garlic in oil at room temps for long periods. I also tend to double or triple garlic in many recipes. All olives are not created equal. Does anyone have recommendations as to types and/or brands. I take it they don't need to be stuffed. Also, is sunflower oil the best, or are there alternatives? TIA Cheers