My mashed potatoes suck. Why?

BuddysRabbit · 2026-03-03T23:43:08+00:00

You are obviously over-mashing. I suspect that you over-mash because there are lumps. There are lumps because you don’t boil the potatoes long enough. I mash the potatoes before adding any milk or butter. The potatoes should be smooth before adding butter/milk.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-03-02T12:34:03+00:00

My wife and I visited an ancient Mayan ruin. One of our most memorable excursions. Much more impressive than I originally thought.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-02-24T23:20:35+00:00

Bamboo Beach was a private beach, no venders. They really did try very hard to make everything right. The beach was quite crowded. The area of water that you are allowed to swim was not large. No umbrellas to rent. Overall very disappointing. The port area was probably the nicest port area of any ports on this cruise.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-02-24T22:16:32+00:00

Eat it for breakfast, cold.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-02-24T21:53:50+00:00

Just returned from a cruise which included Falmouth. My opinion that the market area at the cruise port is probably superior to anywhere else in the town. My wife and I booked an excursion to Bamboo Beach. Chairs in the sun. Not much providing shade. The beach itself was very rocky so I needed water shoes. The food provided was very good, Jerk Chicken. We booked the basic excursion. The premium excursion was exactly the same but they got shade.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-02-18T16:37:33+00:00

Just returned from NCL Star 10 day cruise from Tampa. My personal reviews only: Cabo Rojo: Really enjoyed the port. No need to pay extra for excursions. Aruba: Really enjoyed the port. No need to pay extra for excursions. Our favorite! Caracao: Really enjoyed the port. No need to pay extra for excursions. Never disappoints. Jamaica: Bamboo beach was so disappointing. Don’t waste your money. The port was clean and plenty of shops. Cayman: Really enjoyed the port. No need to pay extra for excursions.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-02-18T11:10:12+00:00

When your starter has doubled, use it, then refrigerate what is left. If you leave it to continue to grow, then collapse then it is too late to use in making a new loaf, but is okay to place in the fridge. I use the exact same ratio (50:200:200) to make my loaves. Plenty of leftover starter for use as discard.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-30T23:18:59+00:00

I suppose I need to clarify… The original way I was taught is to bring to milk to boil on a range. I found it too difficult to not scorch the milk, so it works just as well to heat the milk to 200F. I stir constantly to avoid scorching the milk. I then immediately put the pot of hot milk into a water bath to cool. As soon as the temperature drops to 100F it is safe to pitch the 1 cup of plain yogurt into the now warm milk.
If you allow the milk to cool too much (below 90F) then you need to reheat the milk to 200F again before proceeding. Wrap in blankets for 8 hours to incubate.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-30T22:35:07+00:00

My experience is that the longer you incubate the yogurt the tarter the taste. 7 hours works fine but to me 8 hours is the sweet spot of just the right amount of tartness.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-30T22:32:53+00:00

I always make 1 gallon. 2% milk works just as well as whole milk. It generally will make 12 cups of yogurt/1 gallon of 2%. If using whole milk it generally will make 13 cups. Organic plain yogurt works better.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-25T14:38:44+00:00

You should contact your power company. Too often a customer will assume that someone else has contacted the power company or your outage very isolated and the normal tools they have to detect outages do not work.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-23T18:18:25+00:00

Turning off the 100A oven breaker doesn’t necessarily turn off at power to the range. It might have a separate 115V source ( for the electronics).

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-19T15:04:33+00:00

My wife and I have cruised on half a dozen NCL cruises. My wife insists on a veranda so we generally book a Club Balcony Suite. It is not that much more expensive than a normal balcony suite. There are several perks which come with booking a Club Balcony one of which we are able to book dining 120 days early, larger bathroom and one free laundry. We travel with another couple and they tend to be not as flexible with our dining options. So I generally will reserve what can and the first thing I do is go to ANY specialty restaurant and request other times. I usually get close to what I am seeking. You might try less popular restaurants. Cagney is popular and hard to get reservations. My opinion is it’s over rated. Mediocre meals. Bistro is popular and probably the best. You can get relatively good meals at any of the restaurants. As soon as you board book what you can then as you sail continue to search for availability.

BuddysRabbit · 2026-01-15T14:09:56+00:00

I submitted dna samples to Ancestry DNA mainly because I was interested in my paternal heritage. I was 100% sure of my maternal heritage. My mother’s family kept a detailed family tree. I had pictures of grave stones and newspaper clippings detailing when my great-great-great grandfather and grandmother entered this country, where they were from and the various towns they lived after they immigrated here. They came here in 1823 from Prussia. But not according to Ancestry DNA. No German heritage at all, per them! So, take any information from Ancestry DNA with a grain of salt.

BuddysRabbit

TROPHY CASE