-=> JIM WELLER wrote to DAVE DRUM <=-

 DD>      Title: Bacon ’n’ Creme Haystacks

 JW> What is ’n’?

Duuuuhhhh. Denis? Abbreviation of "and". Personally I'd just use "&" to
save the keystrokes and the silly questions. 
 
 JW>   Subj: Chowhound Closes

 DD> When they went all corp-rat I switched to Simply Recipes (Elise
 DD> Bauer's blog). Never regretted the move.

 JW> It was about that time I discovered Serious Eats. I still read there.
 
I have a feed from Elise on my browser's home page. You may have noticed
that many of the recipes I post with an "Uncle Drity Dave's Kitchen"
tearline indicating that I've made that recipe have come from there 


 JW>   Subj: Gas

 DD> the gas station owner gets vilified - and he's (if an
 DD> independent) only averaging 4c to 6c/gallon gross profit.

 JW> That should read 4% to 6% which is not too shabby.

 JW> "40 - 55 per cent is crude oil costs 25 - 35 per cent is federal,
 JW> provincial and municipal taxes and the GST 10 - 25 per cent is the
 JW> refiner's margin 4 - 6 per cent is the marketing (or retail) margin"
 JW> - Shell Canada

 JW> "The gross margin (or markup) on gasoline in 2021 was 30.9 cents per
 JW> gallon, or 10.2% of the average price of $3.03 for the year. Over
 JW> the past five years, retailer gross margins have averaged 27.2 cents
 JW> per gallon, or 10.7% of the overall price." - convenience.org
 JW> NACS The Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing

 JW> The stations in Yellowknife earn 11 cents per litre (I've seen their
 JW> books) so $0.42 per US gallon.

 JW> They also face an 11 cent per litre transportation cost which will
 JW> only get worse in the days to come.

 JW> The average service station in Canada sells 43M litres a year, most
 JW> years. (But just 37M liters in 2020/2021 thanks to Covid) - Stats
 JW> Canada
 
I did not chase the "back story" - simplt took the word(s) of gad station
owners of my acquaintance.

 >     Title: Wes 'n' Kathy's Authentic Original Lima Bean Soup
 >     1    Chili pequin; crushed

 JW> I love lima beans and that's how I make my ham and bean soups too,
 JW> except for the choice of chilies. I never see Pequin peppers in my
 JW> stores.

Peqiun are AKA "bird chilies" and are very hot. You can substitute chile
de arbol (not as smoky) or cayenne. Some pequins run 100K scovilles 
whilst cayennes run in the 50K range and de arbol averages 25K.
 
 JW>   Subj: Lunch Meat

 DD> Armour Star Sliced Dried Beef

 JW> They don't sell that here. I've never come across it. I found
 JW> Armour's website and I note that their dried beef contains salt,
 JW> sugar and sorbitol unlike what the hunters do here.

I got off of them because of the "chopped and formed" notation on the
label. If I'm going to do that I might as well do Buddig - which could
gag a skunk off a gut wagon. Armour dried beef used to be the "real 
deal" and I remember it fondly. But, apparently, the bean counters won
out - which might be good for their bottom line but is horrid for my
palate.

 DD> I've switched to Knaus (brand) which is still cured sliced *real*
 DD> beef. https://knaussfoods.com/

 JW> I see they cure theirs with salt and sugar too. Which is fine by me.

 JW> Where I live, the Dene people dry meat without brine or seasonings,
 JW> not even salt just wind and sun and perhaps a little smoke. (I
 JW> prefer jerky

 JW> We're heading into a high alcohol long weekend: St. Patrick's Day on
 JW> Thursday and then Holi on Friday.

You do realise that St. Pat's celebration/PARADE is a mostly American 
holiday THING, do you not? In Ireland it's a bank holday and gummint
offices close but other than that it's not celebrated any more than any 
other saint's name day.  https://tinyurl.com/SHAM-ROCK-PAT
 
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
 
      Title: Egg Drop Soup
 Categories: Oriental, Poultry, Mushrooms, Eggs
      Yield: 4 Servings
 
      3    Eggs; lightly beaten
      4 c  Chicken stock *
      1 tb Corn flour or arrowroot
    1/2 ts Grated ginger
      1 tb Soy sauce *
      3    Green onions; chopped
    1/4 ts White pepper
    3/4 c  Straw, enoki, or sliced
           - shitaki mushrooms
 
  * If cooking gluten-free, use gluten-free stock and
  gluten-free soy sauce.
  
  Homemade chicken stock is the best for this. Also, if
  you can't locate any of the mushroom types indicated
  in the recipe, crimini (aka: baby bellas) will do just
  fine. Or, you can just leave them out all together.
  
  Reserve 1/2 cup of the stock and mix with the corn
  starch/ arrowroot until dissolved.
  
  Place the chicken stock, ginger, soy sauce, green
  onions, mushrooms and white pepper in a pot and bring
  to a boil.
  
  Add the cornstarch/arrowroot and stock mixture and
  stir. Reduce heat to a simmer.
  
  Slowly pour in the beaten eggs while stirring the soup.
  The egg will spread out into ribbons. Turn off the heat
  and garnish with a few more chopped green onions.
  
  Serve immediately.
  
  Serves 4.
  
  http://simplyrecipes.com
  
  Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen
 
MMMMM

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