It was a good day! 1817 largie, 1827 1/2 Skilling, a beautiful spoon, and odds and ends. The wedge thing is solid copper. My friend thinks it’s native American.
This is a repost blog.
Original posts by u/kriticalj on subreddit r/metaldetecting on Reddit
(Click through for image of metal detecting score)
(Editor’s Note: A largie is a ‘large cent’, 11⁄8 inch, 28.57 mm, minted 1793 to 1857.
A ½ skilling coin is a Swedish or Norwegian coin. Skilling is cognate to British shilling)
Trashthegoondocks: What’s a kelt ax head? (Age, use, etc.)
Kriticalj: It’s a style of ax like this. Dates vary widely. Could be as old as a few thousand years from what I have learned. The native American peoples of Michigan and North Carolina mined native copper for weapons and trinkets, and traded to others as far south as Texas to as far east as New York and Pennsylvania.
World_Renowned_Guy: Most people don’t know that copper production was discovered in America long before the rest of the world. However, most tribes had lost the knowledge to smelt and ceased.
Kriticalj: It was over 10,000 years ago! I learned that the copper was so pure they could just hammer and heat it. One of the reasons I love this hobby…. I’m always learning something new!
Tunasquish: Such a find! Where was it discovered?
Kriticalj: Hudson valley NY
(Click through for screenshot of curator’s opinion)
Explosivemilk: Old Copper Complex The grooves in it is called worming and dates it to probably between 10-15,000 years old. I have an old knife from the Michigan’s upper peninsula.
[deleted]: Why not give it to the Native American people, if they still live there? If they were moved out to a reservation, maybe they aren’t. I imagine someone telling his kids that his people made axes from metal, and that being important for them to know. I don’t mean to be the asshat for suggesting it, and I’m sorry if it offends others or gets me banned. I am honestly wondering.
Kriticalj: No worries, I’m not offended. Believe it or not but I have native ancestors that were in my area so it’s worked it’s way full circle in a way. I’m about 25% native American, Cherokee and Algonquian.
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September 5, 2023 copper metal detecting native american archaology
Getting groceries today, doc said i need to bring my blood pressure down. Sadly I’m a terrible cook. Help?
This is a repost blog.
Original posts by u/MLuminos on subreddit r/ on Reddit
19 Mar 2017: Getting groceries today, doc said i need to bring my blood pressure down. Sadly I’m a terrible cook. Help?
So my blood pressure hit 178 over 140 (at 26 years old) and this is really the “get your life together” moment for me.
Diet is numero uno, exercise routines are in the making.
The thing is I am awful at making food, especially the healthy stuff. I like spinach and kale and leafy greens (lettuce is too bland though)
I need SIMPLE recipes. I dont have a crockpot but if there were a way to cook a weeks worth at a time I would welcome it.
I like the idea of things like overnight oatmeal but the oats I’ve tried give me terrible gut wrenching gas. Is there an alternative because I wouldn’t mind eating it multiple times per week.
Burrito bowls are cool too but I worry about fat content of even lean beef. Dietary knowledge is little.
Please, any recipes or advice would be a tremendous help.
19 April 2023: 30 days ago I posted asking for a grocery list of foods to help lower blood pressure. I was asked to give an update.
30 days ago today according to the remind me bot I started making an effort to be healthy in order to lower blood pressure. Since, I’ve learned a few things and perhaps others can learn from them too.
I’m not quite at the point where I’ve reliably reduced sodium to under 1500mg a day. It’s not an easy thing to do, even a lot of vegan foods are loaded up with salt. I do exercise when I have a lunch break lined up with a coworker but thats only a couple times per week.
What I have accomplished though I still feel is significant.
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Mindful eating: I check nutrition labels on everything now.
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More food prep and altering recipes: I made a really good low sodium curry and learned swiss is lower sodium than most vegan cheese substitutes. Made my first vegan pizza as well.
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Alter snacking habits: I went from chips and cheetos to these and dark chocolate which took getting used to but now I really prefer dark chocolate.
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Soylent has also made my life easier!
I have not gone vegetarian, or vegan. Nor have I totally dropped carbs from my diet. I received a lot of conflicting advice but I’m focused on what is healthy and best for me. I do splurge a couple times a week still, I am working on it. Often times pizza and donuts are brought into work for us but I am building my will power and hope coworkers will understand when I have to say no.
Am I healthier for my efforts? I am. My weight is in slow decline, my blood pressure is still high but not as bad. I have decided that I will seek medication and continue my efforts to be healthier and find a happy (healthy) medium between time, effort, and enjoyment. When it stops raining I’m going geocaching with a friend. The weather has been very wet lately but we are both excited for our new hobby (I already found my first one!)
Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment on my previous post. Even if I didn’t take your advice to heart all comments were read. This is an ongoing effort on my part, I have a long way to go but I haven’t fallen off the wagon completely yet!
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September 4, 2023 cooking frugality shopping health blood pressure
No-Buy Week (or two) for Groceries?
This is a repost blog.
Original posts by u/shushupbuttercup on subreddit r/EatCheapAndHealthy on Reddit.
27 Feb 2019: No-Buy Week (or two) for Groceries?
I realized recently that I spend WAY TOO MUCH on groceries for my little family of three. While I meal prep and cook most of our meals, I somehow manage to shell out between $7-800 per month. In order to get a fresh start, I’m imposing a 1-week no-buy challenge on myself for groceries. We’re just a few days into it, and I’m seeing just how much of a stockpile I have that I tend to neglect or forget about when I do my weekly shops. I’m hoping to get as close to cleared out as I can without resorting to a diet of ramen packets and outdated mush.
In the past, I’ve found that a clear-out week has upped my creativity in the kitchen and reminded me that our meals can be simple and still satisfy. The other night we had spaghetti with a mix of vegetables, and surprisingly the guys loved it. I’m kind of looking forward to getting into the nitty-gritty of my freezers and the back of the pantry.
Has anyone else done this? Have you come up with any awesome dishes because you were forced into just using what you had?
4 Mar 2019: No-Buy UPDATE: Found some powdered milk in the pantry and smoked salmon in the freezer
I thought I’d share a delicious recipe update from my no-buy cooking challenge that I posted earlier this week. I found a box of powdered milk in the back of my pantry (I have no idea why I bought it on sale months ago) and a package of smoked salmon from Costco in the freezer.
I made my FAVORITE comfort food that I used to eat every time it was on special at a restaurant I worked at in my twenties. Smoked salmon and cream pasta. OMG, my son was in heaven.
I used some flour and ghee to make a roux, added some powdered milk and water along with white pepper, oregano, and salt. Put that in a bowl and used the same pan to cook the smoked salmon (I know you don’t need to cook it, but in this recipe it’s good that way), and then added the cream concoction back in. When my spaghetti (fettuccini is awesome for this, but I’m using what I have) was done and drained, I added into the cream and salmon and dished up.
ohmaygawd. so good.
That does sound delish! Also I want to say how much I appreciate you posting about your no-buy challenge. I’m lucky enough to have a stocked pantry, but it is time to clear some of it out and start fresh!
Thanks! I’m glad I posted, too. It’s been great motivation! My boyfriend came home with some oranges and bananas the other day ’cause he just can’t wrap his head around maybe eating some of the frozen fruit I have stashed away instead of fresh, but otherwise we’re still eating very well. My pantry was too stocked. It’s a blessing to be saving money because I bought too much. I’ve definitely been in a position where getting creative was a necessity because I only had a few dollars to feed us, and this is much more fun. :)
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Looking for Pad Thai Tips
This is a repost blog.
Original posts by u/Threecheers4me on subreddit r/EatCheapandHealthy on Reddit
4 March 2017: Looking for Pad Thai Tips
When I was worse at cooking and less careful with my money I would get lots of take-out pad thai. Now I’m making it on my own and looking for a way to make it more flavorful. Ive tried the classic salt and acid tips already.
Here’s what I’m doing now:
The sauce is vinegar, fish sauce, simple syrup, salt, and ground up red peppers. I eyeball the ratios, but it’s about 1:4:5 for simple syrup, fish sauce, and vinegar. I garnish with crushed dry roasted peanuts and lots and lots of lime juice.
The contents are rice noodles, bean sprouts, eggs, and chicken. It’s a mix of light and dark meat because I cook whole chickens with lemon, salt, pepper and onion, shred all the meat, and add that to whatever dish I’m making. I’m using vegetable oil to fry in.
My ideas so far: Use rice vinegar, add white and green onions, soak the noodles in stock instead of water (will that even help with rice noodles?) maybe splurge on peanut oil to fry with
Thoughts on my ideas? More ideas? Secret tips to share?
4 May 2023: Pad Thai Tips: An Update After Two Months of Experimentation.
About two months ago I asked this sub for help with Pad Thai.
Since then i’ve made variations of the dish several times, and by several times I mean way too much. This is what i’ve found. Oh disclaimer: I wouldn’t call this authentic at all.
Tamarind is amazing. Only on my laziest of days will I omit it. The added sourness really helps balance out the flavors of the dish. Would recommend highly.
Brown sugar is the best sweetener. White sugar, simple syrup and coconut sugar do not hold up as well. I also add it at the end, but I don’t think it’s strictly necessary to do so.
My opinion on aromatics: Lots of fresh ginger. Lots of garlic. I usually have yellow onions on hand so I use those instead of green onions and I think it works just fine. The times i’ve tried using green onions I haven’t noticed a quality boon.
Vegetable oil is fine. I can’t taste the difference between vegetable oil and coconut oil in this dish specifically. It has enough complex flavors layered on top of it that I don’t notice the flavors of the coconut oil. I haven’t tried peanut oil, canola oil or shortening.
Chili paste is fine, fresh thai chilis are not necessary.
Vinegar is your friend. One of the commenters on the previous post said I wouldn’t need it if had tamarind. I respectfully disagree. I use cane vinegar. I suspect rice vinegar or white vinegar would be fine as well. Balsamic doesn’t really work. If it’s all you have on hand it’s better than nothing, but it adds a totally different flavor to the dish that doesn’t work as well as lighter vinegars.
Lime: If you add vinegar, the lime is not as necessary but still nice. If you really like the lime flavor, decrease the vinegar so it doesn’t get too acidic. Made that mistake and it was not fun. Adding a very very small bit of baking soda will help in that case.
Peanuts: Peanut butter will work at adding a nutty depth if you don’t have crushed peanuts on hand. If you roast your peanuts yourself, erre on the side of almost-burned. I’ve tried with over-roasted, under-roasted, and regular peanuts. I prefer over-roasted.
I did not notice whether soaking the noodles in salted water made a difference. I only tried this once though and it was in a batch where I changed lots of other things. I will investigate further in the future.
Vegetables: Bean sprouts are a necessity. Carrots are preferred. Bok choy is great. Peas, Green and red bell peppers are good. Spinach and celery work, but could go either way. Cabbage does not work well. Avoid.
Protein: Eggs are amazing and should be added every time. Marinated tofu works really well. White fish is meh. I don’t miss chicken. I just haven’t had it in the house since I started making this dish. I don’t think it would add anything over tofu and eggs, which are both cheaper anyway. Too poor to try shrimp, but I suspect it would go well.
Sauces: Fish sauce and soy sauce are recommended. Tahini makes for a tasty addition, but at that point the flavor profile changes enough that it’s not even close to pad thai anymore.
Anyway, those are my findings. If anyone else has tips or insights of their own feel free to share them.
Can you give your basic recipe? I’m interested in giving this a try.
It’s all by eye so these are approximate values. Also, I would look up other recipes and consider using those as a starting point since I’m less than a year into serious cooking.
Ingredients Dried tamarind, 1/6 block. Fish sauce, 2 tbsp Soy sauce, 1 tbsp Cane/rice/white vinegar, 2 tbsp Thai Chili paste, 3 tbsp, but this one is very much to taste based on how much spice you like Garlic, 4 cloves, minced Ginger, 2 inches, grated without skin. You can mince this too instead if you feel like it. Brown sugar 1 tbsp Bean Sprouts, 2-3 cups Carrots, julienned, 1/3-2/3 cup. I say julienned, but I usually just take a peeler to them and end up with long thin strips. Green Bell pepper, 1, chopped. Not strictly necessary but I can’t get enough bell peppers in my life. Rice noodles, medium width, 4 oz or so. They usually come in 12oz packs, and I base the amount of noodles I add on how many vegetables I add. I tend to not add too many noodles though. Yellow onion, 1 medium or large, depending on how much onion you like. Diced. Eggs, 3 large or 4 medium. Tofu, marinated how you like, 1/4 lb (this is a TOTAL guess at the quantity) Vegetable oil, a few tbsp I guess. Salt and Pepper Crushed Peanuts for garnish about 1 tbsp per bowl of pad thai you serve. Lime Juice for garnish
Instructions
I keep tofu marinating to use for stuff. Finding a good way to marinade that is a whole other ballgame, and a work-in progress for me. I marinate mine in vinegar and soy sauce. But anyway, marinade that at least overnight. Note that the quantities for marinating are not the quantities above.
Put the tamarind in a bowl and cover with boiling water. A channel on youtube called “hot thai kitchen” has the specifics of how to use tamarind. Great video, would link hit I’m on mobile. Do that whole schabang. Boiling water, mashing, straining.
Soak rice noodles in cold water for a half hour or so.
While they’re soaking, prep all the veggies. Add sprouts, Peppers, chili paste, Carrots, tofu to a bowl. Mix them up with the vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce and tamarind.
Heat some veg oil in a wok if you’re fancy or a pot if you are me and don’t have a wok or a big enough frying pan for all the vegetables. Fry up the garlic, ginger, and yellow onion for like 5 or so mins on med-high. It would probably be better if I fried them at a lower heat for a longer time but I’m lazy.
Scramble the eggs and add them. Cook until nearly firm. Add the noodles, vegetables and their liquids and crank the heat UP.
Keep moving them around and cook until the liquid is mostly gone and the veggies are to your desired firmness. The key should be that they stop giving off massive amounts of steam and only give off a little. Should be at least 5 mins, no more than 10 or something’s up. About a minute or two before you think you’ll be done, add the brown sugar.
Then garnish with crushed peanuts and a few squirts of lime juice.
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September 2, 2023 cooking frugality pad thai thai food recipes
I’m spending $500 a month on food and I have to stop
This is a repost blog.
Original posts by u/mits66 on r/EatCheapandHealthy and other subs on Reddit
20 Dec 2021: I’m spending $500 a month on food and I have to stop
I’m trying to join this subreddit for motivation and ideas on how to kick a fast food addiction. Thanks to a recent medical bill (my appendix is shit) I’m in debt with medical bills and $300-$400 in drive-thru food is a problem, let alone the change my doc wanted to my diet to combat the problem that caused my appendix to peace out. I’m committed to stop but I am realizing what kind of addictive behavior I’ve landed myself in. My favorite drive-thrus are all on my way from work and I’ve caught myself a few times auto-piloting in and not realizing until I’ve got the food in my car. Any ideas/encouragement is welcome as I try to get back into a good diet and pay down my bills.
Helpful comments:
Silly-Risk:
All of the other comments suggest ways to cook for yourself and they are all good to make the landing softer once you kick the fast food habit, but I think the fast food habit is your biggest hurdle.
I suggest dramatically changing your home from work routine. Depending on the distance, maybe you could bike to work or take public transit. If these are available, it would be healthier and short circuit the autopilot aspect of your habit. You could also consider taking some extra food to work with you to eat just before you leave. This might prevent the hunger craving before it starts. Even a small amount of calories can tell your brain that food isn’t needed. You could try something as simple as chewing gum while you drive. Having something in your mouth might subconsciously prevent you from getting food. Try to outsmart your brain to break your habit. Pair this with good recipes and you should be successful.
flyingfishbot:
Congrats! You’ve already succeeded in the first step which is finding out how much you are spending each month on fast food. That’s a great piece of data to have because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.
You can tackle changing the behavior from a few directions:
- change your current routine: can you take a different way home from
work? can you leave your money at home so you can’t buy fast food? put
notes in your car listing the reasons why you no longer want to get fast
food as much
- create a new routine: start cooking more at home, look for replacement
recipes of your favorite fast foods items, look at blogs like Budget
Bytes to find new recipes you might like, etc.
- feed your brain too: read about changing habits and find a system that
will work for you, try mindfulness or visualization, reduce any negative
self talk you have, find a way to remember that you’ve got one body to
get you through this life so treat it kindly
You have it within you to improve your life in any way you see fit and there are so many ways to make it happen. Try a few things and see what happens, if you don’t like the outcome, try a few other things. Imagine you’re a scientist experimenting to find the best way to change.
At the end of the day it’s about trying new things to make new habits while you make the old habits harder to do each day. Eventually you find yourself doing something new and healthy. Best of luck, let us know how it goes!
20 Nov 2022: It’s been a year since I realized I needed to change my eating habits, thought I might share an update
Hello all. A year ago, I posted on this sub that I was spending $500 a month on food (mostly fast food), and was looking for advice. I thought I might give an update on my (bit of) success.
My food bills are down to around $250 a month. I have taken a lot of recommendations from that post, and have reduced my fast food to twice a week (breakfast and dinner on Fridays). I know it’s not perfect, but believe me, it’s a huge improvement from where I was before.
I took a lot of your home-cooking suggestions, and now have actual fresh vegetables and a bit of meat in my fridge. I’m not making healthy meals every night, because if my brain had to decide between McDonalds, pizza rolls, and a healthy home cooked meal - it wants the McDonalds lol, but I have managed to instead go with pizza rolls on those days. I am slowly upping my skill with cooking to phase this out though.
I have started prepping breakfasts for the week on Sundays so I don’t grab breakfast on the way, and I now have a snack bag at work so I don’t get tempted by fast food on the way home. So I just need to work on prepping lunch and dinner more now (I have instant meals at work at the moment, but I’ve been experimenting with freezer prep).
I’d like to thank everyone who commented on my post a year ago, and I appreciate that it was all supportive and really trying to help me with this problem. I am still working to improve both my diet and my budget, but at least I can say that I’ve made progress.
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Parents, appearance, and opinions
This is a repost blog.
Original posts by Letter Writer #688 at Captain Awkward. Only the letter writer’s content is reproduced here; to read Captain Awkward’s advice, click through to original links.
13 Apr 2015: #688: Parents, appearance, and opinions
Hi Awkward team,
Last fall, I decided to get an undercut — long hair with a side
shave — and I love it! It looks super cute on me and it feels really
good to be able to signal my queerness in an additional way. When I went
home for Christmas, my mother was aghast. I said that it was my hair, I
liked it, and she was welcome to cut her hair in whatever way she chose.
She pouted and mumbled something about how at least it wasn’t a tattoo.
(To which I responded, I reserve the right to do that if I want to,
too.) I thought this would be the end of it, but almost every time I’ve
talked to her since, we have this “conversation”:
Mom: [out of nowhere] I just want you to know your hair will
grow back.
Me: …. I’m aware? But I like it this way, and I’m going to
keep it like this for a while.
And then she spends a while trying to convince me that I am
going to get tired of the maintenance or I’m going to find that’s it’s
not professional enough.
I don’t know exactly what her deal is, but it doesn’t matter, because I am super tired of talking about it. I’m 30! It’s my hair!
What’s a good script to squash this conversation the next time it comes up?
Sincerely,
At Least She’s Not Bugging Me About Grandkids This
Week
5 January 2017: UPDATE on an Open Thread
I’m LW 688 aka “My mom hates my haircut!”
I found everyone’s comments INCREDIBLY validating.
The next time I was on the phone with my mom, she brought up my hair again, and I said, “I don’t want to talk about my haircut.” She was stunned into silence, and then changed the subject. I was like, OH MY GOD, is it really that easy?????? (It was not). At the end of the conversation, she was like, “I just want to leave you with this wisdom: You’re gay, and that’s not going to change, but you can still be cute.”
And I was like, “…I AM cute, but the way that I look and feel cute as a gay woman is different than if I were a straight woman.”
And she said, “Well, when does it stop being different?”
I said, “Mom, it’s always going to be different.”
She had one more extinction burst via text message, which I did not respond to. But then she actually did stop bugging me about my hair! This root issue here — my mom wanting me to look more feminine / not gay / her definition of cute — has not been solved, and it has definitely popped up in other ways ( the latest being around clothing). It does kind of feel like whack-a-mole, though I feel like I’m getting better at whacking, and I think that’s a success!
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