Hey Eric,
My news feed has been spammed this morning. Have you been to the Waikiki Spam festival in your state?
I’ve put it back in the shopping list!
it was brought to my attention that I might have a spice addiction. Wife took this picture while I was refilling spice bottles that I keep in the cupboard above the stove. Entire table full plus all the tote boxes on the right. And that is just spices. Doesn’t count the totes, tubs, buckets, pantry, and cupboards that also store my baking supplies and other bulk foods.
So my last post on this thread was my obsession with spices. We started a new family challenge. This year we are doing the “Spice of the month” which will be a single spice or a combination.
January is what I call the Simon and Garfunkel spices melody. . . Basically the mainstay poultry seasoning.
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. First up will be a basic stuffing made with homemade bread dried and then fresh spices to stuff a small chicken for two. Then I’m going to make a cured smoked chicken and Swiss sausage using those spices to make a chicken and pepper smokie.
1 Like
My new favorite movie is “the menu”. I want to recreate the meal without the pain, torture, and murder. Lol
Who thought you could make a psychological thriller around cooking. Lol
1 Like
So my extended family is starting a cooking challenge and I invite the cooks on here to join. Its the “spice of the month club”. Each month in 2026 we will have a spice or spice blend to work with.
January is the Simon and Garfunkel blend or the Scarborough Fair blend. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Its the traditional poultry blend.
I have two things in the works. A stuffed chicken using a homemade bread stuffing using those spices stuffed into a chicken and then a butter roll using those spices placed under the skin to baste the chicken as it cooks.
The other us to make a smoked chicken and Swiss sausage using those spices in the cure blend.
Devon, you ARE an influencer.
Herself rolled her eyes when I picked this can of Jalapeno Spam up at Costco today and told her I might just earn a participation award on the “cult”.
Ahhh…Spam musubi…addictive!
2 Likes
My wife didn’t understand why spam started showing up at the house. It is addictive and so easy to make. I even use the spam can to form the rice lol.
Devon,
You now have an excuse to buy more filament for your 3D printer to make a musubi rice mould! Win! Win!
Yes, Cliff.
Yes it is. Sigh….
According to Herself and a friend, we (the cult) also have a secret handshake that simulates a drive rod on a locomotive accompanied by whispering Choo-choo-choo while looking around.
It’s become quite embarrassing. When catching up with friends, I can no longer shake hands. Even complete strangers appear to have been briefed on the alleged Secret Handshake of the Society of LargeScale Centralia. I recently found a set of instructions under a placemat at a party.
The LargeScale Centralian Secret Handshake
1. The Coupling
- Face your counterpart square-on, feet planted as if on the footplate.
- Grasp right hands firmly—this is not a limp-wristed affair.
Elbows remain slightly bent. You are now “pinned at the crank.”
2. The Main Crank Rotation
-
Keeping hands clasped, begin a smooth forward-and-down arc, followed immediately by a back-and-up return.
-
The motion should be elliptical, not circular—think main crank at quarter gear, not stirring soup.
-
Repeat this motion twice, maintaining steady cadence. No jerking. No racing. Steam likes rhythm.
3. The Exhaust Release
- Finish with a gentle downward squeeze, release hands cleanly, and step half a pace back.
- Optionally exhale sharply through the nose—
chuff—but only among trusted company.
Notes for Authenticity
- Tempo should feel like a freight engine starting a heavy train: deliberate, confident, unstoppable.
- If performed correctly, bystanders will sense purpose without understanding why.
- If both parties smile at the same moment during Step 3, you’ve found your people.
Cliff, I’m not a hugging sort of person, but it’s now my default greeting purely to avoid the handshake.
But you know the funny thing is… I can easily picture In my mind, Hollywood, Sean, and Lou arguing about how the handshake should be done, while Bruce & Todd just shake their heads and mutter GHA amateurs 
.
Just for that you are not getting the password.And no, it’s not PASSWORD.
Or maybe it is.
That’s hilarious, Bill!
For training purposes, maybe an you get Herself to video you performing it with someone?
No way Cliff… not until Lou can convince Hollywood & Sean that the hand shake they are using is the secret handshake of the Hungarian ModellVasútFórum. I can only imagine, Lou will point out that saluting before the (GHS) handshake does not work well when a beverage is held in the left hand.
Look Cliff, of course as this “cult” only appears to be a figment of some misguided South Australian imaginations, I suspect we would have to see if Sean & Hollywood can agree on whether:
- the salute comes first,
- the left hand must be empty, and
- scale is declared silently at the end,
so there’s simply no point in attempting to show it.
Anyway there are those (I’m talking to you Bruce & Todd) who believe GHA should be semi-mysterious and that includes the GHS. And that gets me off the hook entirely.
Bill,so I am always looking for an excuse to cook. What would it take plan an aussie vacation where I can cook road kill Roo?
I want an aussie vacation but I want to cook roo
There’s a line about halfway between Broken Hill and Adelaide where the response to telling someone you’ve hit a roo changes from “How’s the roo?” to “How’s your car?”
Driving at night in rural or remote Australia would certainly increase your chances of collecting a fresh one — though I can say from experience that “Herself” and I have had far too many encounters already.
If you are out-bush, you might even be invited to join a cull. Now that I’m living in the city I’m not entirely sure how that would be arranged, but I can ask around.
That said, a few butchers in the larger cities do carry native meats, so sourcing fresh kangaroo, crocodile, emu, camel, and other game isn’t impossible.
Nothing fancy. Just some breakfast favorites proving it is the most important meal of the day. 
Grilled pork chop with biscuits and poached eggs
Scrambled eggs with sausage, biscuits and gravy
Homemade buttermilk pancakes
Now that is good eat’n.
1 Like
Just to set the mood with July 4th on the horizon…
Glazed pork ribs run through the smoker and then finished in the Instapot.
Spatch-cocked chicken and pork shoulder.
Of course brisket.
All I need is the baked beans, coleslaw and potato salad. 
I wonder if anybody makes Johnny cakes anymore. They are a sort of cornmeal batter pancake that was popular during colonial times and into the 19th century. May have to try them sometime.
Best, David Meashey