Mom’s Sweet and Sour Pork

Ingredients:
3 cups cubed peeled potatoes (Idaho or Yukon gold)
1 cup chopped onion
3 pound pork roast, trimmed
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar (more if you want it sweeter)
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt

Instructions:
Arrange potatoes and onion in bottom of slow cooker. Place pork on top of potatoes and onion. Spread garlic all over pork.

In a medium bowl, whisk together water, ketchup, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, mustard, black pepper and salt. Pour mixture over pork.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Slice pork crosswise into thin slices and serve 12 ounces for this meal. Serve with all of potatoes, onions, and sauce.

Corn Bread Stuffing

Corn Bread 2 cups cornmeal, preferably stone-ground 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp. baking powder 2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste 1 large egg, lightly beaten 2 cups skim or low-fat milk 2 Tbsp. canola oil Stuffing 2 cups chopped onions (2 medium) 2 cups chopped celery (4 large stalks) 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 2 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth  freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil an 8-inch square baking dish or spray it with nonstick cooking spray. Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and 2 tsp. salt in a large bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk and 1 1/2 Tbsp. of the oil; add to the dry ingredients and stir just until evenly moistened. Turn the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack. Cut into 1-inch cubes.

2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and celery and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and add the cubed corn bread and parsley; toss to mix. Slowly add chicken stock, tossing until the corn bread is well moistened. Season with salt and pepper.

Makes about 12 cups, serves 10.
Per serving: 244 calories; 7 g protein, 5 g fat, 44 g carbohydrate; 58 mg sodium; 22 mg cholesterol.

Toffee Crunch Cookies

 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 (10-ounce) bag toffee candy bits

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup sweetened flake coconut

1 cup chopped whole, skinned almonds

 

Instructions:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat the eggs slightly; then add to the butter mixture and mix well.  Sift flour, salt and baking soda; then add slowly to the moist ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Mix in the toffee bits, oatmeal, coconut and nuts.

 

Drop dough by the teaspoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Pumpkin Squares

 

 

 

*Grease the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish/pan.  Preheat oven to 350*.

 

Crust 

1 box of yellow cake mix (minus 1 cup – set aside for topping)

½ cup melted butter

1 egg

 

In a medium size bowl combine ingredients  for the crust and press into pan.  Crust should go up the edges of the pan slightly.

 

Filling

1 large can of pumpkin pie MIX 2 eggs

2 tbs vanilla 2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

 

In a large size bowl combine all ingredients together and pour over crust.

 

Topping

1 cup of yellow cake mix ¼ cup brown sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon) ¼ cup butter softened

 

In a small size bowl cut all ingredients together with a fork until crumbly .  Sprinkle over top.  Bake for 50-60 minutes.  Let cool, cut into squares, and serve.  Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

 

 

 

Maple-Roasted Turkey with Sage, Smoked Bacon, and Cornbread Stuffing

Recipe Summary Prep Time: 20 minutes  Inactive Prep Time: 20 minutes  Cook Time: 3 hours 25 minutes  Yield: 12 servings

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature  1/2 bunch fresh sage, leaves finely chopped  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper  2 large onions, finely chopped  1 loaf cornbread, cubed (about 6 cups)  1 large egg, lightly beaten  1/2 cup heavy cream  3 cups chicken stock  1 (12 to 14 pound) fresh turkey  1 cup pure maple syrup  1/4 cup hot water  8 strips smoked bacon  1/4 cup all-purpose flour  1/2 lemon, juiced    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and remove the top rack.Combine the butter and sage in a mixing bowl, mash with a fork or spoon until the sage is well incorporated and the butter has flecks of green in it; season with salt and pepper. In a saute pan, melt 4 tablespoons of the sage butter, add the onions, cook and stir for 15 minutes until soft and golden. Remove from heat. Put the cornbread in a large mixing bowl and scrape the sauteed onion mixture on top. Add the egg, heavy cream, and just enough chicken stock to moisten the stuffing without making it soggy (about 1/2 cup.) Toss well to combine, season with salt and pepper. Remove the neck and gizzards from the inside of the turkey and discard. Rinse the bird thoroughly inside and out with cold water, pat dry. Sprinkle the cavity and skin liberally with salt and pepper. Using your fingers, gently lift the skin from the breast and legs, and slip pieces of the sage butter underneath; massaging it in as you go. Fill the bird with the cornbread stuffing without packing too tightly; cook the remaining stuffing separately in a buttered baking dish. Truss the turkey; place it on a rack in a large roasting pan, and put into the oven. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, whisk together the maple syrup and hot water to thin the glaze out a bit; use this to baste the turkey every 30 minutes. The turkey should take about 3 hours to cook (i.e. 15 to 20 minutes per pound.) If the legs or breast brown too quickly, cover with foil. About 2 hours into cooking, shingle the strips of bacon oven the turkey breast to cover; continue to roast and baste for another hour or so. The turkey is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meatiest part of the thigh registers 170 degrees F (the thigh juices will also run clear when pricked with a knife.) Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and let rest for 20 minutes before carving, so the juices can settle back into the meat. Skim off the excess fat from the pan drippings with a spoon and place the roasting pan over 2 burners set on medium-high heat. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up brown bits stuck to bottom of pan. Whisk the flour into the drippings, stirring as it thickens to prevent lumps. Add the remaining chicken stock and bring to a simmer; season with salt and pepper and hit it with a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten the flavor. Simmer for 5 minutes and then strain to remove any particles. Serve the gravy with the maple-roasted turkey and cornbread stuffing.

Understanding Digital and High Definition Effects

Effects and explanations  concerning digital/highdef televisions.

Silk Screen Effect, SSE

The Silk Screen Effect, often referred to as simply SSE, applies only to rear projection televisions such as DLP, LCD and LCoS. Some times, when viewing white or other very bright colored objects, you see what appears to be the texture of the screen itself in front of the image. This gives the appearance that you’re watching the content through a silk screen. Some also describe it as an unnatural shimmering or sparkling on those bright areas. It can be greatly reduced with proper calibration. Typically reducing brightness and contrast, and to some extend adjusting picture control, can nearly eliminate the issue.

 

 

Screen Door Effect, SDE

The next acronym on the list is SDE or Screen Door Effect. This applies to all digital, or fixed pixel, televisions including rear-projection, plasma and flat panel LCD. If you own one, feel free to investigate this for yourself. When you get close enough to the screen you can actually see gaps between the pixels, producing what appears to be a grid on the screen. From that vantage point, it appears as though you’re watching TV though a window screen or screen door. All digital televisions have this issue, but the larger the pixels the more pronounced the effect. For example the old EDTV (480p) plasmas were infamous for screen door effect, whereas you can only see it on newer 1080p units when you’re incredibly (uncomfortably) close to the screen. The only way to eliminate SDE is to move further away from the screen.

 

 

Rainbow Effect

Rainbows are a DLP only phenomenon, specifically single-chip DLP. They have mostly been eradicated in the newer models, especially the LED based units. Traditional, bulb-based DLP televisions use a rapidly spinning color wheel to put color on the screen. The traditional color wheel has red, blue and green segments, and the bulb illuminates the screen in color by shining enough light through each segment that it blends together to form the color you want to see on screen. As a result only one color is actually on the screen at any given time. It is possible for some people to see this formation occurring and perceive it as a rainbow of the three distinct colors. It usually happens when a bright image appears on a very dark background, and for some only happens when they pan their eyes across the screen. There is no way to reduce the effect in an existing television set. Manufacturers have eliminated it by using faster color wheels with more color segments. LED based DLP televisions refresh fast enough that the effect is all but eliminated.

 

 

Refresh Rate

A television’s refresh rate describes how often a new image can be displayed on screen. Unlike prior analog technologies (CRT) where the entire screen was redrawn periodically, the new digital TVs only need to update the pixels that have changed since the last time an image was displayed. So the refresh rate essentially describes how often the display will check to see if any pixels need to be updated. All HDTV technologies have a refresh rate that should match or exceed the maximum number of video frames that can be shown per second. As the name implies, it is a rate, witch mathematically is the inverse of time, so the larger number the better. A refresh rate of 120Hz is better than a refresh rate of 60Hz.

 

 

Frame Rate or Frames per Second, FPS

It is important to note the distinction between frame rate and refresh rate. Frame rate typically describes the video content a television will display. Again, the higher number the better because the more video frames you get per second, the smoother the motion appears on the display. So 60 fps is usually considered better than 30 fps, although film is typically shot in 24 fps, so preserving that original rate is often desirable. A screen must have a refresh rate that equals or exceeds the minimum fps you want to watch. Obviously if you’re trying to view 60 frames per second, but only refreshing the screen 30 times per second, you’ll only see every other frame. Similarly, if the refresh rate of the screen is not a even multiple of the frame rate, the display will need to do some complex math to determine how to show what frames and for how long. Otherwise some frames will appear for multiple refreshes and others will appear for only one. This causes really choppy motion on screen.

 

 

Response Time

Often confused with refresh rate, response time measures how quickly a display can update an individual pixel. As a measure of time in this case, the smaller number the better. We’d like for the response time to be instantaneous, or nearly 0. Technically, response time is how long it takes for an individual pixel to go from black to white and back to black again. LCD is the only technology that has ever really suffered from slow response times; Plasma has almost instant response and DLP is very fast as well. With slow response times it’s possible for images, or “shadows” of images to appear on screen longer than they should. This is often referred to as ghosting or smearing. In the early days of LCD TV, a 16 ms response time was deemed adequate for home video, but 12 was necessary for gaming. Most modern LCD TVs have a response time of 8ms or less, making it almost impossible for most people to see any ghosting.

 

 

In-Plane Switching, IPS

Along with slow response times, another known on early LCD televisions was their very narrow viewing angle. Off angle viewing was, let’s just say, less than ideal. The advent of in-plane switching solved that problem. The technology itself gets a little too involved to discuss on the show, but it’s important to know the LCD TVs with IPS have a practical viewing angle that rivals plasma. Early versions of IPS caused significant slowdown in response times, as high as 50ms. A newer version of IPS, called Super In-Plane Switching (S-IPS) offers all the benefit of IPS at the faster response times required by modern HDTV viewers.

Courtney-Ireland

 

 

 

Directly translated the name means ”descendant of Curnán” an ancient Irish personal name, the same as Cuirnín. It is a Kerry surname. It is a varient of the Breifney surname Ó Curnín and there is reason for believing that the families are the same.

 

This surname was brought from England to Ireland by settlers from Devonshire who were among the principal adventurers who acquired parts of the sequestrated Desmond estates in County Limerick and County Kerry at the end of the 16th century. Tralee is the chief town of the county and was a borough, the only other market towns were Dingle, Cahirciveen and Killarney. Before the Anglo-Invasion of Ireland the principal families in County Kerry were the O’Connors, O’Sullivan, O’Moriartys, O’Mahonys and O’Donoghues. Soon after the invasion, as the newcommers pushed into western Munster, the McCarthy’s retreated into Kerry. The Geraldine FitzMaurices and FitzGeralds gained a foothold in the county by the 13th century and eventually extended their power there at the expense of the earlier overlords.

 

The majority of families of the name in Ireland today, however, descend from the O Curnain family of County Kerry, their progenitors having adopted the name Courtney in lieu of Cournane. As recently as the early years of the present century there is record of families in County Kerry who used the two surnames interchangeably. The tradition of surnames in Ireland developed spontaneously, as the population increased and the former practice, first of single names and then of ephemeral patronymics or agnomina of the nickname type proved insufficiently definitive. At first the surname was formed by prefixing ‘Mac’ to the father’s Christian name or ‘O ‘to that of a grandfather or earlier ancestor. 

Hollis-England

 

 

 Hollis. From a surname which was derived from a place name, which was itself derived from Old English holen, “holly”.

First found in Nottinghamshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

To escape oppression and starvation at that time, many English families left for the “open frontiers” of the New World with all its perceived opportunities. In droves people migrated to the many British colonies, those in North America in particular, paying high rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Although many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, those who did see the shores of North America perceived great opportunities before them. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. 

O’Kelley-Ireland

The surname O’Ceallach, O’Cealaigh, or Ó Ceallaiġ pronounced as O’Kelly is believed to be associated with the Irish meaning, “grandson of Caellach”.  Reported to be descendants from Milesius, King of the Celts, the Kelly name and many variations is one of the most popular names in all of Ireland.  The O’Kellys were treasurers of Connaught. They had castles in both Galway and Roscommon.

From all reports it does appear O’Kelly is a old and honorable name in Irish History dating back to 874 AD, many O’Kellys gave their lives in the many battles over the soil of Ireland.

 

The Coat of Arms is different for many branches of the family, and the animal standing on the two sides of the tower was added in 1014 AD after the battle of Clontarf when it was reported the animal rose from the sea saving the life of a fallen comrade.

The animal is described in the Burke’s General Armory as “the head of a fox, the chest of an elephant, the mane of a horse, the forelegs of an eagle, the body and hind legs of a greyhound, and the tail of a lion”.

 

The ancient Kelly burial ground are located in Clonmacnois and Kilconell.

The O’Kelley spelling of the name only seems to appear in America. No evidence to date has been uncovered to indicate why the name is spelled in this manner in America but one can only speculate this occurred as a result of a name translation or to indicate a split in a family. Several publications do report that the many variations of the name is common within the same family even today.  As listed at the top of this page, the Gaelic spelling which would have been more common when my ancestry came to America is spelled much differently but to an English speaking ship master, it is very likely the name O’Ceallaigh would be spelled in English as O’Kelley or O’Kelly or Kelly and that is more likely how my family name came to be spelled with the second “e”.

 

Pint

Pint

Originally uploaded by phroto

United Kingdom law requires certain steps be taken to ensure that a pint of beer is indeed a pint. Though this can be achieved using so-called “metered dispense” (calibrated pumps), the more common solution is to use certified one-pint glasses. Until recently these had a crown stamp and number etched upon them, however EU directives have stated that the glasses instead now, must have PINT with the letters CE etched on them, for synchronisation in the European Union (although the Conservatives have campaigned to have dual markings of crown and CE). The number relates to the authority certifying the capacity of the glass. Selling beer in unmeasured glasses without using some other form of calibrated measure is illegal. Half-pint and one-third pint glasses are also available, and are subject to the same laws. UK law currently prescribes that a pint serving of beer must be at least 95% liquid.
Despite this emphasis on accurately measured glasses, it is common for drinkers to be served less than a full pint of liquid – either because too much of the glass is taken up by a foamy “head”, or simply because the customer has been sold a short measure. This allows publicans (who are often under pressure from a management company) to “sell” more beer than is actually in the cask or keg and hence save money. At present, those selling “pints” up to ten percent short will not be prosecuted in the UK.
For those wishing to avoid this practice while still serving beer with a large head, “lined” or “oversized” glasses are available. These have a line near the top (usually labelled “pint to line”) to which the beer should be poured, with the head forming above it. In the past a number of breweries supplied these glasses to their pubs; this is now rarely the case and lined glasses are found mostly at enthusiasts’ events such as beer festivals, serious cask ale pubs, and breweries’ own bars. The use of lined pint glasses in pubs is advocated by the Campaign for Real Ale.

The number refers to the Weights & Measures Authority in the area where the glass was stamped/manufactured.

6 Birmingham
76 Manchester
116 Buckinghamshire
234 Lancashire
236 Gwent
303 West Yorkshire
366 Hereford & Worcestershire
371 Sandwell
414 Derbyshire
478 St Helens
562 Bury
883 West Sussex
1110 Kingston-on-Thames
1207 Sheffield
1535 Waltham Forest
1545 Warwickshire
2037 and 2043 are in a series allocated to “trusted” glass suppliers who are given their own numbers