Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Stamps, Printer, Polar Vortex

Sorry about the lack of blog yesterday. I will try not to let it happen again.

I mentioned, over the Christmas period, that I had bought a book of stamps $1.10, which were mispriStampsnted and if lifted off the sheet, would only say ANADA. I took them into a philately shop yesterday and he advised me to send a picture to a place in Montreal. I did this and they offered me $40 for them. If they had been much more misaligned they would have been worth more. However, I can’t complain, I only paid $6.60 plus tax for them. Would be nice to find something like that worth a lot of money though wouldn’t it? I’m not that lucky.

I had a bad day on Saturday, my printer decided to pack up on me, it first made a lot of noise, then started flashing its warning light and nothing I could do would Printermake it work.  Then the rest of the day was a lot of small things going wrong which put me in a bad temper. Poor Matt. In fact my computer guy has taken my printer and is going to have a look at it and see if it can be fixed and if it’s worth fixing. I do have a second printer which I bought because it was the only flatbed scanner I could find, my previous one having gone kaput some years ago. I very rarely use this second printer so, needless to say, the ink was somewhat dry. Googled and found that if I soaked the cartridge ink head in hot water it might work, guess what, it  actually did. I had three new cartridges on hand for the broken printer and Staples agreed to exchange them for cartridges for my second printer.

That polar vortex has come back with a vengeance in Eastern Canada, we are definitely getting some effects from it. Went to get my hair cut today and even though I wasn’t outside for more than a minute or so, I can assure you, I froze.

Grits are not something I eat a lot, but I have learned to like shrimp and grits which has become very popular in North Carolina and when I came across this recipe I thought it might be worth a try. Of course I will have to find some grits first.

Goat Cheese Grits With Fresh Corn

Goat Cheese Grits With Fresh Corn
WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

Take grits upscale by adding fresh corn, goat cheese and chives.

Ingredients
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup quick grits, (not instant)
1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 1 large ear), or frozen
3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (3 ounces), divided
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh chives, or scallion greens

Instructions
  1. Bring water, salt and pepper to a boil in a large saucepan. Slowly pour in grits, stirring constantly. Stir in corn; return to a simmer. 
  2. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring once or twice, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove from the heat, stir in half the goat cheese and let stand for 5 minutes. 
  4. Stir in chives (or scallions). Serve each portion sprinkled with some of the remaining cheese.
Have a great day
Jo (2)





12 comments:

  1. At least you made a profit on the stamps, Jo.

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  2. Hi Jo, I would say that those stamps will increase in value over the years. Keep them. Sorry to hear about your printer. Hope it's sorted now. I'm having some trouble with my Outlook Express. Somehow it has compacted my emails and they are gone, gone, gone and I cannot even do a system restore. I had folders which contained my passwords to some important accounts in there also. On top of that, I have a stinking cold, hence me being up at this time, LOL Just got a new pic of my grandbabies down there in Kitchener and it's making me want to go on a trip....soon, when the snow goes. It's too cold at the moment. Have a great week. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/

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    1. They might Chris, but I would have to keep them a pretty long time and at my age it's not worth it.

      Sounds like you're having a fun time with everything. Thank goodness we never get colds. As for passwords, I use Last Pass which is free and works pretty well password saving.

      Yes do wait for the snow to clear, we have plenty of the stuff down here.

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  3. You made almost $35 on those stamps - well done!

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  4. That so funny that folks get excited over misprinted stamps. Good for you. And printers are fickle things, I've been known to just but a new one when I've run out of ink before because if you get the right deal, it can be cheaper than getting new ink cartridges.

    I do like grits. Yum.

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    1. I wish they had been more misprinted or shifted, they would have been more valuable. Actually I can't really complain I have had both these printers for a while now. HP cartridges are very expensive. I used to have Kodak printers they had much cheaper cartridges.

      Forgot to look, don't know if I can find them here.

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  5. Hi Jo .. computer bits and bobs are always stress making - what a pity about the stamps not being worth more. I'm taking my lot and some from my mother to the Hospice tomorrow - they should make a reasonable sum from them ...

    It's getting a little colder here - but we've yet more rain ... I just hope the train lines aren't flooded at the weekend!! I love goats cheese, corn et al - so this would suit me down to the ground ...

    Cheers Hilary

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    1. Aren't they? Still it was a good return wasn't it?

      It's colder here today than yesterday. Seem to be having such a lot of flooding in the UK lately. I love goat cheese too. Can you get grits in the UK?

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  6. Great return on the stamps. Sorry about the printer, my computer is giving me headaches, and I just told my husband I was going to throw it across the room! LOL
    Cold here too, shivering! Brrrrr....

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    1. I once heard someone, CEO of a car company or similar, saying if cars had the same problems computers have, they would never hear the end of it.
      c
      It got warmer here this aft, -14°C. I was ready to go swimming.

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