Quick, here’s a distraction!
It’s strange, but over the weekend we’ve had several threads top out over the magical 666 comment mark that I use as a signal to kill threads. There’s the ever-expanding endless thread, of course, but also the Sins of omission thread, which is now being closed, and the These guys are dangerous nuts thread, which bloomed into chaos thanks to the wild and wacky Graeme Bird, who now, temporarily, has his own thread (I anticipate an imminent flameout and permanent eviction).
Is it possible that one thread no longer has the capacity to contain the raging ebullience of Pharyngulistas? You’re worrying me, people!
I thought *pill* was merely the short form of pillock. The long form is common in UK English, and I’ve heard the short form used sometimes. – Ring Tailed Lemurian
P.G. Wodehouse uses “pill” in one of the Jeeves and Wooster stories: Bertie Wooster describes Florence Cray as a pill; the context makes clear this means much what Sven meant by it.
yeah, but following 5 threads (I’ve closed down a bunch before they seemed to have maxed out) on Pharyngula is about all I’m good for with this wretched cold I’ve got. I’ve got the attention span of a gnat. When I can’t even follow Pharyngula threads, I know it’s time to give up and go to bed. (*cough* *sneeze*)
My productivity at work has diminished with my increased reading of Pharyngula.
davem @500 – note the date of the article. (oops, your :o) probably indicates you did note said date.)
I’m charmed by a WTF gene, though.
@My #503:
That was in response to the end of Pygmy Loris’s #499
neg (@498):
Surely there’s a joke in there somewhere, no?
Without meaning to put words in his mouth, I suspect this is what Walton was really getting at: Not that most aren’t theists in the strict sense of having some sort of god-belief (although, as the Ehrman and Avalos examples indicate, not all are even that), but that many who have been trained in the secular (or at least not explicitly religious) academy are not the sort of dogmatic fundmentalists we normally think of around here when we rail against those fucking theists.
Of course, whether that’s a useful distinction to make is a whole ‘nother kettle of horses of another color, innit?
Well, that was diappointing. I’d hoped to see Archaeopantheropteryx at least mentioned; better yet, some really good pics of the fossils themselves.
My eleven year old daughter wants to read a proper version of the bible rather than the versions which are sold for children. I’m considering the King James version as she has an advanced reading age. Does anyone have any other suggestions please?
I might start with NT before OT.
My favorite so far.
@Jessie (508)
New King James is what I read when I was a Christian. It’s got a few changes to translation and removes all the ‘thou’ and ‘thee’ and ‘-est’ language.
Jessie | April 1, 2010 1:01 PM:
A good companion book, or books, such as The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, for the NT, or Asimov’s Guide to the Bible.
Note – while KJV is far more entertaining to read, it is among the worst of the widely available translations.
Toothy goodness for Jadehawk!
Involving kittehs and still funny if you don’t understand the inside jokes;
involving vampires (from a sidebar ad, interestingly enough).
Haven’t caught up yet.
davem (@500) and SC (@509):
My inferior supra-credulous is lighting up like a Nevada brothel on payday! I have to go find a hammer to deactivate WTF1!
Arrrrrgh. I should have caught up before posting that first link. Sorry.
llewelly (@511):
Presuming Jessie has no interest in actually promoting Christian theology to her daughter (and if she had any such interest, why on earth would she ask for our guidance?), you’ve identified a Feature, Not a Bug™: Any lack of accuracy is inconsequential when you don’t care about the theology, and it is better poetry. Plus which, AFAIK it’s the KJV that’s the source of most of the biblical allusions and quotations that are sprinkled throughout the literature and culture of the English-speaking world.
Knockgoats No need for any interpretation by context with Wodehouse. This is from “Jeeves and The Unbidden Guest”
article link:
“Sarah Palin is refusing to be tied down by the Republican National Committee, days after the committee was found to have spent donors’ money at an erotic, bondage-themed club.”
Heh. I’m not surprised the RNC is into bondage.
“The KJV is the book for me.”
Most bible-thumpers are thumping on a KJV. So I read it to keep up with them–plus the crazy is stronger in it, so more fun can be had.
See if you can find a KJV with the letter to King James in the front. And keep in mind that the Puritan Pilgrims who allegedly founded this country and started Thankgiving Day were fleeing King James (their buddies who stayed in England beheaded his son) and hated Christmas. So reading a KJV on Thanksgiving is just warped.
Having ancestors from the Jamestown settlement makes this kind of funny. I mean, yeah, they were different because they didn’t oppose the king, but still. I always found the focus on the puritans in US history kind of funny. You’d think we *all* came from them. Then again Thanksgiving is all about the puritans and actually I think it’s one of the dumbest holidays we celebrate in the US.
Anyway back on subject I read the New Jerusalem version. The KJV is prettier and more fun, although harder to make sense of and I think it’s supposed to have some real faults. I like historic English language though.
I have no interest in promoting theology to my daughter but I don’t want to promote atheism either – she needs to make up her own mind. She is annoyed that she was made to sit through an unquestioning performance of the resurrection at school yesterday (we are in the UK) and wants to read the proper story.
@Ol’Greg (520)
Hey! Your ancestors and my ancestors were both very close to each other! Although my ancestors kinda tried to kill your ancestors.
What? Better not tell your daughter that dragons and other monsters of fantasy aren’t real then. Let her make up her own mind.
Well Kevin, I’m pretty sure my ancestors did more damage in the long run :/
Hmm… true. I mean, your ancestors forced my ancestors onto a plot of land that’s little more than a swamp, killing our agricultural heritage. My ancestors – for fear of being discriminated against – decided to emulate your ancestors, resulting in the near total loss of my ancestral culture (save pottery.)
However, my ancestors have been sticking it to the American people for centuries. They don’t pay any taxes, their treaty expressly states that we just have to present a deer and some jewelry every year :p
Jessie at #508 and #521 take a look at Biblegateway.com you can read from 22 English versions and cross reference them by passages and verses. There are many popular versions NIV and NASV come to mind. Maybe you can decide what version to get by looking around there.
@my 525:
We also still use old traditional methods of fishing.
And jewelry = Trinkets, pottery, and such.
Fair enough, Jessie. Let your daughter read the crucifixion and resurrection for herself. You might point out that there are four versions in the Bible, you know, just helpfully, so she doesn’t miss one. I like to watch for stuff that was just chucked in to fulfill prophesy, and for prophesies that were not fulfilled. My favorite, though, is the exact wording of the sign that was nailed to the top of the cross–there’s a document from the most important event ever, and there are conflicting accounts of what’s on it.
I only bring this up since I heard this morning of a girl who sneaks off from her atheist parents to pray. God knows if she is doing it right.
That is interesting. Are there restrictions though? Like can you run a business freely and whatnot without interference from the government?
aratina cage 523
That’s a good point as I did tell both my children that there were no monsters under the bed. However, I didn’t tell them that the Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny/Father Christmas were imaginary – they worked that out for themselves. I think the difference is whether the imaginary thing is scary or pleasant. I have already told my daughter that hell does not exist but that was because one of her friends was told by her parents that non-believers were punished there for all eternity. Her friend is really scared.
Isn’t Richard Dawkins researching and writing a book on the effect of telling myths and fairytales to children?
Jesse – NIV is easily readable. One way to compare before you buy is to go to biblegateway.com – they have the entire text in a whole bunch of translations, so you can compare a single passage across several for readability.
D’oh! Sorry, Louise! [/accidental plagiarism]
One of these days I WILL learn to read to the end before I post.
@Ol’Greg:
They don’t pay taxes as long as they’re living on the reservation. And they’re only exempt from state taxes.
We interrupt this thread for a moment of aw:
Awwwwwwwwwww
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
–o–
I was halfway through making guacamole when I discovered I’d taken a serving of soup from the freezer yesterday. Not a bad combination, as it turned out. The broccoli creaminess helped to take a bit of the edge off the chili – I need to learn how to dose that properly …
@Sili:
Aww, cute :3
I need to learn how to make guac. I like it a lot, but I’ve never really been a good chef when it comes to making emulsions.
Ah, this is lovely. The ex-mormons are still working on this new website, but what a good idea: http://exmormonscholarstestify.org/
The ex-mormons are making good fun of the website “MormonThink” and providing an excellent service at the same time. Gotta love the photo of ex-mormons on the home page. It riffs on the usual LDS penchant for providing a racially-diverse image to represent their not-so-racially diverse membership.
On the official Mormon Think website, their are 80 “scholars” represented and only 3 of them are women. They need to round up more female fake scholars.
Myths and fairy tales don’t always hurt. Shit– I was raised Catholic…9 years of Catholic school, communionized, confessed, and confirmed. I’m not really sure what in my background led to irreverence and skepticism, but it wasn’t anything my folks did on purpose.
Oh, yay! A cookbook is being built! Try this:
Yunomi’s Slaw of Death
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1 shredded carrot
half each sliced red and green bell pepper
juice of 1 lemmon or lime
1 tablespoon Louisiana hot sauce (I use Crystal)
1 tablespoon decent olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Toss and eat immediately. It gets soggy as it sits. You can add any veggies you like, and adjust liquids to taste.
So that you’ll recognize him when he rises from the dead on Easter Sunday: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282186.html
This is old — it’s a 2002 Cover Story from Popular Mechanics, but I hadn’t seen it before. It’s pretty funny when you think of the tall, blonde, muscle-beach dude from California that most Christians in the USA expect.
I oughta qualify that last one…
Nota bene: Myths and fairytales don’t always hurt…depends on the kid. Also, you sometimes have to help a kid grow out of these things. My brother thought he was an elf until he was 14…not a positive experience for him.
I have a three year old, and when she was a tiny baby, I told myself that there would be none of that…everything was going to be analytical and fact-y. That wasn’t any kind of plan. She has a very rich imagination, and I’m not going to stifle it. She loves story-telling and the more fantastic the better…it’s great for her speaking and artistic development. So we just go at it full tilt…talking dinosaurs, time travel, giant fruit, geological formations made entirely of snack food. I have never really had so much fun with fiction.
Jessie,
You’re right that the culturally accepted little white lies about the Tooth Fairy et al are probably something that children will come to realize are fake without the truth being promoted by a parent, whether because of peer pressure, personal investigation, or some other means. I guess what I’m getting at is the idea that you can’t promote atheism any more than you can promote what is real, and I’d surmise that it is even more important to educate children on the lack of evidence supporting all known claims about gods since you can’t count on society to help your child eke out the truth as you can with the Tooth Fairy et al, and indeed you can count on many modern societies to actually promote the god delusion.
Awww I loved myths and fairytales as a kid. They’re creative and fun, and you can make up your own. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fantasy when it’s presented as fantasy.
I’m afraid I disagree sharply with Dawkins on that one.
Hell, I made my own fantasy world, and wrote stories within it. Once you spend time making up a religion for some one else it’s pretty hard to accept religions some one else made up for you…
I agree that you shouldn’t push atheism. If a kid is just told there is no god, it’s not much different that telling him there is (except for sleeping in on Sundays and not getting molested). To me, a big part of atheism is having the skills to figure out that there are no gods.
A bit of help is not amiss, but watch out for indoctrination.
I’d suggest adding a liberal serving of Greek and Norse mythology, maybe, later, widening out to a larger buffet of world mythologies in general.
In my child-rearing experience, it is a lot quicker and easier to just invoke “God did it” or “God wants you to behave” that it is to get a subtle point across to the little brutes. Which leads to a world much like we see around us.
So be strong and clever, and thank God that you aren’t a child anymore.
Pardon me Menyambal, but I have to:
I don’t see how pointing out the blindingly obvious can be considered indoctrination or promotion. It is not our fault, as atheists, that there is cultural pressure to believe in ludicrous things.
@542: it’s the “presented as fantasy” part that matters; Dawkins is not campaigning against _fiction_. He’s complaining about the systematic presentation of fiction as fact. Kids can handle make-believe from a very early age. There is no point giving them the impression that Santa is really real.
Jessie,
The best translation of the Bible into English is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Get an annotated edition like the New Oxford Annotated Bible (2001 is the latest edition I think) or the Harper Study Bible. All the footnotes and commentary might be a little daunting for your daughter, but it’s one to grow on, and it will impart a sense of the difficulties and subtleties involved in the translation of ancient languages.
The NIV (New International Version) is atrocious. It’s one of these supposed “living” translations that renders obscure or opaque ancient idioms in modern paraphrases. Much easier to read, but it doesn’t convey the plain sense of what the texts say and it gives no indication as it veers from fairly literal rendering to wildly paraphrastic. Such evenness of tone gives no feeling for the diversity of voices and texts found in the Bible. The KJV and the NKJV are much the same in terms of accuracy (the NRSV and other modern versions are informed by centuries of critical scholarship and later manuscript discoveries), but the English itself sounds much more solemn and “Biblical” than the NIV and the like.
I’d just point her to http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ she can read whatever she wants. I’d also recommend The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb. Only one book, but it’s beautifully done, and the inconsistencies stand out.
While the KJV is a bad version of the bible, there’s a lot I would consider important info to be had along with it, rather than just buying a bible. The history of how it was cobbled together is important, along with the background of the different translations. Just handing a kid a bible isn’t giving them the full story.
Sorry, I once again type too much and say too little. I was actually thinking of some overgrown kids that I know who just scoff at the idea of God, but can’t give a damned reason other than that their daddy told them so.
Yes, speak up for atheism, but also explain it, and give the kids the reasons they need to justify it, and the skills to evaluate those reasons.
Otherwise you’ll someday see them on some blog saying, “I used to be an atheist, but . . .”.
Thank you.
I did not know this existed.
Ol’Greg, there was quite the fuss about it from the religious contingent. Crumb didn’t touch the text at all, it’s a straight up illustration job. Classic Crumb, it’s great. I read it in one sitting.
I’m really quite confused by those who say they do. I think it’s a good exercise in scepticism tbh, a means to distinguish between what’s real and what’s not. Nothing says “people make shit up” better than using obviously made up shit to tell a story.
I’m sure I’ve not done it right, then. I guess it more like just avocado mousse (mush …).
Meant to include a link: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Book-of-Genesis-Illustrated-by-R-Crumb/
*going to get more tea now*
First, catch your guac…
Listening to Scott Roeder’s allucution on CNN.
What a fucking nutjob.
I would suggest “Who Wrote the Bible?”, which summarizes the Documentary Hypothesis for laypersons.
I think that it’s more important to teach children basic epistemology and critical thinking.
Science always leads back to something based on and observed in the real world, and changes with new evidence found in the real world, and/or the application of new logic and math.
Logic and math are based on logical and mathematical laws and axioms, with new mathematical and logical truths being derived from the applications of those laws and axioms.
Religions lead back to some claimed personal revelation, often one that happened thousands of years ago, and which often is inconsistent with itself, or with the real world, or with a later revelation.
Hm.
The real world can be examined; logic and math can be checked for consistency of their application. Science can be corrected; logic and math can be checked for correctness.
How do you correct a revelation? How do you check a revelation for correctness? Why would you accept a revelation in the first place if it is internally inconsistent?
Is it more likely that a revelation is actually true, or that it was the result of some personal bias, reinforced by some psychological quirk in those that hold it?
And so on.
Allocution that is
Josh OSG – recipe alert
Spousal unit has spent last two days at Isle of Palms beach in SC with my eldest daughter and her two daughters (two of my grandlings). I am sitting and watching the rain pound the UK Midlands. So, in honour of where I want to be:
Crab Cakes (Low Country Style)
Measurements are mostly by eye
About one pound of lump crab meat, fresh is best, but not always available. Check very carefully for shell bits
One Egg, room temp
Bread Crumbs, Panko are good, but I use a homemade ones with a touch of Parmesan and oregano
2-3 garlic cloves squeezed out in a garlic press
One red pepper or green pepper – dice into very small bits
4-6 green onion shoots or scallions, sliced very thin
Crab cake dressing (see below)
Put crab meat in a bowl, try not to break up the lumps when picking out shell bits. Add the veggie things and gently toss or fold. Use about half a cup of the dressing, you just want to lightly coat the crab and veggie mixture and again gently fold in. Add egg and refold, add bread crumbs sparingly and toss gently. Just enough bread crumbs to coat the mixture – use a light touch.
Let it set for at least a half hour, closer to an hour if the kitchen is cool – do not put in the fridge. Before making the cakes, preheat oven to 400F/200C. Toss again gently and divide into 4 big or 6 smaller cakes. Work gently, patting the cakes into shape – you do not want to crush the crab lumps. Heat about an ounce of oil in a pan to just below smoke point and brown the cakes. Once the bottom is browned turn them over and put the pan and cakes into the pre heated oven on the middle shelf. It will only take 3-4 minutes to finish browning and heat through. Check after three minutes and again at 3 and 1/2, don’t want them to burn.
Serve immediately with a nice salad and dressing on the table.
I prefer the crab cake dressing recipe from Old Village Post House, slightly modified.
1 cup mayonnaise – home made the same day is best
Little over 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
Whole grain mustard and mustard powder – about a teaspoon of each or to taste
1 and 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning – OK, this is probably too much for most people
Tabasco – couple of dashes
Worcestershire – several dashes
Mix well and allow to set for the about 30 minutes, stir again before putting on table
Best eaten on the screen porch as the sun is setting. Basic martinis are good before and after.
Basic (Wet) Martini – I have found most people think they want a dry martini, they actually like a non-dry one better.
Gin and Vermouth should be chilled, all the time. Use good stuff, I prefer Bombay Sapphire and Noilly Pratt
Glasses should be chilled
Well crushed ice (like sno-cone ice) in shaker to chill it about 5 min before mixing
Empty shaker, add 3 and 1/2 jiggers of gin to shaker and 1 jigger of dry vermouth
Fill shaker with crushed ice and shake firmly, but smoothly
Strain into two large glasses, best if shaker holes allow some ice crystals to escape into the glass
Three large olives in each glass – I experiment with different fillings for olives, garlic goes great
Kick back
From what I see watching the Redead, chop tomato, onions, cilantro, and remove the fruit from one ripe (feels firm, but when pressed dent remains) avocado. Smush avocado with fork, add the tomato, onions, and cilantro mixing well. Season to taste with chili powder, salt, pepper. A little oil could be added.
Easy easy easy. You almost can’t mess it up. Just don’t try too hard. I like mine chunky with lots of junk in it.
Scoop the innards from avacado, add lime juice, salt, little garlic doesn’t hurt but isn’t absolutely needed, chopped up union, maybe some chopped up tomato if you like it. Don’t forget the lime juice! A little chopped up chili pepper is good I think, serrano but jalepeno is ok I guess. I like serrano better because it tastes less… um jalepeno-y. Cilantro chopped up.
Now put all that together and mush it with a fork or something until it looks good to eat. You can add some black pepper if you want I guess.
I think the most important things though are the avacado, onion, salt, and LIME JUICE. Did I stress that enough?
*Some people* add things like mayonnaise. I think *some people* are crazy.
Guac
Take 4 ripe avocados
1 lime
One handfull of cilantro
A pile of kosher salt
Black pepper
peel and smash the avocados with a fork or a “potato smasher”
Juice 1/2 to a whole lime to taste
Chop cilantro and add
now the most important part
Add a shitload of salt as it really highlights the smokey fatty flavor of the avocados. Don’t over salt but salt to taste and then let it sit for a while. If the flavor just isn’t coming out, add more.
Mix well
I never add tomatoes to my Guac, that’s what salsa is for
I sometimes add Chipotle pepper to add a touch a heat and more smokiness.
Well, I really can’t argue with #550, Menyambal. So there are really two things I am thinking:
Did I just say a chopped up “union” there!? Was that Freudian? lol
did you learn cooking from Margaret Thatcher? :-p
Oh no, deep rifts over crushed avocados. ;)
**BRIEF REMINDER FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE UPCOMING ROY/CHOMSKY LECTURE: “DEMOCRACY’S ENDGAME?”**
The lecture will be streamed then archived here starting tomorrow (April 2).
:-)
Who here likes Korean BBQ?
Bulgugi
1 lb of beef
3 green onion
4 button mushroom
1/2 onion
3/4 cup of soy sauce
1/3 cup of sugar*
4 tbs of sesame seed oil
4 tbs of paper
1-2 tbs of minced garlic
Slice the meat as thinly as possible
Slice all the vegatables
Add the ingredients in a bowl
Marinate the beef for 30 minutes at the least. Really you should try to marinate it overnight.
Grill it and serve with rice and kimchee.
* I hear that you could use Coca-Cola because it’s sweeter.
Ring Tailed Lemurian #402
I heard the word pronounced both boo-ee and boy. Personally I use boo-ee. dictionary.com recognizes both pronunciations.
As to why the word is pronounced boo-ee, it’s like how Brits pronounce schedule as shed-youl instead of the obviously correct sked-youl.
Love it! *drool*
Cut with scissors, and served with rock
lol. I meant to say pepper.
Two cultures seperated by a common language. There was a discussion elsewhere on the net about the difference between American and British English pronounciation. One explanation given was that British English “enforces” 3 letter syllables.
No union, sorry. They’re working pretty hard for me to get some lost holiday pay out of my former ’employer’.
I’m afraid I used lemon rather than lime. Just seasoned with salt, green pepper and two dried chilis. Very soft avocados, though. Hence why I couldn’t think of anything else to do with that. I’ve tried a recipe that called for cucumber, tomato and onion once, but that turned out a bit too chunky for me.
Gack, I did forget lemon or lime juice for the Guac.
*hangs head in shame*
You guys are making me verrrrry hungry!. I’m just beginning a 4-day weekend (we get Good Friday off from work, plus Monday is an unpaid furlough day owing to the current economy), and I’m determined to try several of Pharyngurecipes while I’m off. I think I’ll start with the mushroom risotto posted a while back (was that you, Caine?), for tomorrow’s dinner.
I’ll report back on results!
Mushroom Risotto wasn’t me, Bill. I haven’t so much as thought about food; I suppose I best scrounge up something. Been a couple of busy days shooting, Robins, Grackles and Mourning Doves have shown up. I love a good Grackle shot, but they are such a pain to shoot, they never stop moving. Now I have a thousand or so shots to go through.
Jessie #530
So you lied to your children about the monsters. If you come into their bedrooms one morning and the kiddies have disappeared, you’ll know who to blame about not preparing your children to battle the monsters.
So much for the winged cats – in better news, a new baby skeksis was born.
Food Network has a new show – “Mexican Made Easy.” One of the first things she made was guac:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/game-winning-guac-with-fresh-baked-tortilla-chips-recipe/index.html
Some of the early comments were bashing/making fun of it because it’s so basic, but my sister made it and said it was great, and it appears from the rating that others agree.
To all: recipes snagged for cookbook. SpokesGay unit engaged in important meatspace stuff. SpokesGay cranky about that, but resigned to it.
/end complaint subroutine
Catcher-upper, part 2:
That’s because he hasn’t even noticed they are scientific questions now.
Because of the world’s general ignorance at that time, they were philosophical questions when Aquinas lived, but they are not anymore, and haven’t been for a hundred fucking years. “Every effect has a cause” is empirically false, no matter how many philosophers make a headstand, no matter how hard Daniel Smith finds it to imagine, no matter even how often Einstein says he doesn’t want God to play dice. Reality is that which does not go away when you stop believing in it.
I agree, even though Sastra’s 18th-century use of commas means I need to read some of her sentences twice. :-)
Oh yeah. That was a guy who was too stupid to read the error message that said “do not repost, instead just refresh and look if your comment has gone through” (as it almost invariably had). He wrote nothing but that one repeated comment till he got banned.
Not necessarily. Usually it’s just stuff crystallizing out of solution in the hollow spaces of a bone or wood. The original bone material is usually left (though it can recrystallize, resulting in larger crystals than before), and when you put silicified wood into hydrofluoric acid, so that the silicate turns into water and the gas SiF4, you get the original cell walls consisting of the original cellulose and the original lignin as far as I know.
On the other hand, it does happen that the remains of a living being are completely dissolved and then replaced by a natural cast.
LOL!!!
In Austria, financial aid for students comes straight from the Republic and does not pass through the universities. I always got it in time till I became too old last summer.
Priceless.
Full of win.
Poe’s Law.
Using “be playing” instead of “play” would have been better.
‘TisHimself
So how do you pronounce buoyed (up), buoyancy and buoyant? (Boy, that word root looks sillier every time I type it.)
Ah, but Brits are increasingly changing to sked-youl, having seen the error of their ways. What’s your excuse for the continued use of the obviously incorrect boo-ee?* :)
Actually, I‘ve always pronounced it sked-youl. Which used to annoy my father no end. “Dad, if school is skool, and scheme is skeme, then schedule is skedule”. “OK son, you’re a skmuck*”.
He also got very annoyed when, sometime in the ’50s, (southern) English people switched from plaah-stick to plastic. They still say plaah-ster though.
There is a truly awful increasingly widespread inability in the UK to properly pronounce words beginning in str, such as street, straight etc. They now say sh-treet, sh-traight etc. It actually is an inability, not just a preference. I’ve tried to get people to say str, and they just can’t.
* I once nearly blew up my boat, and half of London, by almost crashing into the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery (OMG – there’s a photo of the buoy!) in a storm (about 100 ft visibility) because the American lookout started screaming something about a booee (WTF?) and I continued on a collision course for about another minute while we sorted out what the hell he was on about.
I see. Because you don’t know how to pronounce buoy you almost blew out every window in Sheerness.
The pronunciation of buoy is one of those little quirks of language. It’s like the difference between American aluminum and British aluminininininininium. Or how you folks insist on using “orientated” when the word is “oriented.”
I always thought buoy was a homophone for boy.
You guys have made me more aware.
OK, on the subject of cooking: A few months ago, I was making some Peruvian food and we were out of ground cumin. We had some cumin seeds, though, from an Indian cooking set we’d gotten awhile back. So I ground the cumin and some coriander seeds in mortar and pestle. Oh my god. There was so much more flavor! I hardly use powdered spices anymore. Everything gets ground fresh–either in a mortar and pestle or in a blender.
I don’t even make up Sri Lankan roasted curry powder anymore–everything gets roasted and ground up fresh. It takes maybe 5-10 additional minutes, but the flavor is worth it.
‘Tis:
As I mentioned somewhere up thread, I say buoy with a barely pronounced ‘u’, not a long drawn out one. It’s inbetween ‘boy’ and ‘booee’. Works just fine with buoyant and buoyancy too.
They aren’t humans either. I mean, if Homo erectus isn’t considered human, why should Homo lemurianus?
Sporfle, K. et. al. 1976. Oldest H. lemurianus fossil dates to 750 kya. Journal of Amazing Paleoanthropololgical Enquiry. 42. 445-450
Oh yes. I never use powdered cumin, it’s horrible. Fresh ground is the only way to go.
Yup :) That was just the start of the scariest 12 hours of my life. I, and everyone else on board, genuinely thought we were going to die at least three times.
The boat had had half the keel removed when it was used as a houseboat on the Thames, so it almost capsized twice in the storm. On one occassion we heeled over so far that we were at about 85 degrees from vertical. The fire extinguisher fell off the wall, went off and filled the wheelhouse with foam, making visibilty zero feet for a few minutes.
Then we almost got run down by a container ship.
As we passed a marker buoy rather closer than we should have it was struck by lightning.
The next morning, in Sheerness, we couldn’t raise the anchor. I, (being the best swimmer) spent ages diving down, in the pitch black water, following the anchor chain, to see what we were snagged on. It turned out to be the main electricty cable to North Kent. We hastily uncoupled the chain and threw the whole thing overboard.
Hmff! Element names end in *ium*. Calcum? Sodum? Magnesum? I think not.
Happy Birthday ‘Tis!
Owlmirror
To my eternal shame, I had no idea such a creature ever existed. I picked my netname because (as well as containing my initials) it has an (unmentionable on a public forum) connection to my Tamil ex (see the Wiki “Lemuria” entry for the Tamil/Lemuria connection), and – purely to see one of the largest banyan trees on earth
, I hasten to add – I’ve been to Madame Blavastsky’s onetime home (see same Wiki entry for Theosophy and Lemurians).
And, speaking of netnames, I presume you must have had a very busy April Fool’s day, Herr Till Eulenspiegel.
Happy Birthday ‘Tis, many happy returns!
Caine:
Turns out it was pixelfish, now that I look at my copy. So many of the recipes that have caught my eye have been yours, though, that it wasn’t a bad guess.
Making sausage this weekend.
Here’s the recipe.
Damn those photos suck. Might have to re do it this go around.
It’s ‘Tis’s (that was hard to type) birthday? (April 1st or 2nd?)
Happy Birthday!
I’ve given several talks on the subject of buoyancy regulation in freshwater turtles (they’re good at it), and I say ‘buoyancy’ and ‘buoyant’ somewhere in between ‘boy-‘ and ‘boo-ee-‘. Sort of, mmmm, ‘bwoyancy’.
*Drools at Rev. BDC’s sausage*
Dang, we went from early spring, just above freezing, to summer in 1 day. It’s 10 pm local time, and still 78 ℉ due to a southerly wind.
Are you coming on to me?
Big deal. I make sausage everyday.
Well. Metaphorically speaking.
zing
I don’t think so Rev. Your recipe did look interesting though. Sigh. Homemade sausage is one thing the Redhead doesn’t do. Lamb and Ham for easter dinner, with plenty of planovers.
How many Americans are called on to pronounce the word buoy more than like three times over the course of their lives? Most of the people who need to use this word often are also saying things like “arrrrr” and “There be monsters”.
I just say “you know, those floaty motherfuckers off-shore and shit”…this is part of my sausage recipe.
just kidding. The drooling over my sausage threw me off.
Easter Bunnies for my Easter dinner, as usual. I think I’ll pull out the pressure cooker this year. The older stewing rabbits are cheaper than the young fryers, and money is tight.
Another fabulous AE recipe…and this one is seasonal.
Have one of your friends bring one of those creme brulee torches to your house, under the complete misunderstanding of the kind of party they will be attending.
1 part bourbon, 1 part beer, multiplied by like a million parts.
You will need one cookie sheet of the type that can be used to cook tater tots and hot dogs.
Place the cookie on a semi-fireproof surface. Like the floor. Place one graham cracker on the sheet. Place one Hershey’s Krackel Miniature™ on top of this. The king of this delicious mountain is a marshmallow peep (I prefer the pink bunny, but whatever you have laying around will do). Demand information from the pink bunny. Cajole, plead, demand…he will not talk, so make him talk. Light the torch and demonstrate its power in lighting a candle or in making creme brulee (I don’t actually know what that is, but I hear it’s tasty). If the bunny doesn’t talk, you must burn him…unfortunately, the interrogation goes awry and a potential informant will become a small carmelized bonfire. Eat while still smoking hot so you burn the shit out of your mouth.
Bring in the next dissident & cetera.
Peeps are the creation of the debil
Well I seen your sister naked
Ain’t nothing I tried to see
I seen your sister by the pool there
Nothing I tried to see
Well I hope it’s not huntin’ day
Hope it’s not your daddy’s shootin’ day
Well, ribs and whiskey making my mind feel tight
Whiskey, making my mind feel hot
If you won’t be my love
I’m gonna find me a new place to spend my night
I will refrain from posting the image of Peepus Crucified yet again; instead, I give you the sequel: http://inlinethumb56.webshots.com/46199/2890719080075107219S600x600Q85.jpg
nice
very nice
I am so using that to offend a large number of people
Whiskey…
Whiskey Baked Beans
3, 15-oz. (425g) cans great northern beans
1 small onion; diced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard (Coleman’s preferably)
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup whiskey
8 slices uncooked bacon
Preheat oven to 300F. Spray 8×12″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine beans, onion, brown sugar, mustard, liquid smoke, garlic, salt, and whiskey. Pour mixture into the baking pan. Cover with bacon. Bake 4 hours.
Note: I add one small can of tomato paste, a healthy amount of home-made barbecue sauce along with a healthy amount of molasses. I also increase the garlic and the Coleman’s Mustard. I’m pretty liberal with the amount of Coleman’s, not everyone would like as much as I do, so everything in this should be done to taste.
Caine–Dinner and music?
Lovely.
AE, could very well be. ;D
Tonight I plan to eat meat, drink red wine and watch Life Of Brian. Easter is awesome!
I love baked beans. I love whiskey.
The trick is convincing someone to make this for me.
Boygenius, offtopic I know, but you said business is down because people aren’t renovating. Can you go after renovations that people are making because they’re not moving?
If you’re in a hurry, you can fry up the bacon first and cut down the baking time until everything’s hot.
And if you’re making it as a vegetarian dish, just the liquid smoke makes it an awesome dish. I put in sliced carrots for color.
AE:
Well, in case you aren’t successful in that regard, I’ll just say that putting it together is very quick, and you don’t need to check on it at all once it’s in the oven. Very tasty, easy to make and eminently tweakable to individual tastes. Besides, it has bacon! Now that I think on it, I remember upping the whiskey to 3/4 cup too. :D
Caine–nice. I’m in.
Jadehawk– Nobody beats the Riz.
Monado:
Uh, no. That would make it taste very different; it wouldn’t be at all the same. The slow cooked bacon is a crucial part of the taste.
monado,
I don’t recall saying that. (If I did, I misspoke.) My business has always been new construction. I rarely bid on remodel work in the past because;
1. I hate doing remodel work. The homeowners are usually still living in the house and getting in the way. Generally, you have to work around other subcontractors that are getting in each others collective way. Many other factors combine to make doing remodels a royal pain.
2. The bidding process is apples/oranges between new construction/remodel. If you don’t do remodeling day-in and day-out, it’s too easy to loose your ass on the job because you underbid.
That said, the only work I’ve had for 9 months has been remodel. Yes, many people are choosing to remodel existing homes rather than building new. The problem is that everyone and their brother is competing for remodel crumbs rather than new construction cake.
In order to wind down from a long day reading exacting descriptions of various statistical methods, I’m posting my chili recipe. The measurements are inexact because I never measure anything for this.
1 lb. ground beef (85% lean)
2 or 3 bell peppers, chopped (at least 1 green)
1 or 2 onions depending on size, chopped (and your tastes)
5 or 6 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 can tomato soup
4 cans beans* (combination of “chili beans” kidney beans, black beans)
2 cans tomatoes with green chilies
A squeeze of concentrated tomato paste
Fiesta chili powder
Cayenne pepper
1/4 cup sweet, honey bar-b-que sauce
Brown ground beef in a heavy bottomed stock pot. Add 1 chopped green pepper and half of chopped onion. Saute until tender crisp. (you should have just enough fat left from the ground beef to do this, if there’s fat left after sauteing the veggies, drain) In another skillet, saute the carrots, celery, and remaining bell pepper and onion until tender crisp**. Add veggies to stock pot. Add tomato soup, beans, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Dust chili powder over the surface of the chili until it’s about one third covered. Add one half teaspoon cayenne pepper. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes and taste. Add more chili powder as needed. Add more tomato paste if it seems too thin. Simmer for an hour or so. Add the bar-b-que sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, chopped green onion.
*You can use an equivalent amount of stored, cooked beans. I keep prepared beans in my freezer.
** I use a separate skillet because there’s not enough space at the bottom of my stockpot to cook all the veggies together.
A note on seasonality: during the summer I add fresh, chopped tomatoes and chilies from the garden. Purple Cherokee are nice
Freezes well, serves three people at least twice with some for lunch too.
My homebrew cider is really fizzy and doesn’t taste like anything. Gah! I’m just going to stick to beer from now on. (and ginger beer too)
Sorry, I mis-spoke. I meant to say your new home work was down. I completely agree that new-home work is simpler and cleaner. Good luck!
lol, bishops in Australia used Easter services to decry atheism. The GAC must have really hit a nerve!
rrrriiiiggghhht….must be that Easter spirit…
I got sent home from work 2 hours early, at 2 and a half time hourly rate it being good friday and all, very nice…:-)
Still haven’t heard about cancelling my planned schedule for Europe trip and deviating to Denmark, hope those tickets dont sell out too quickly !
I might go and watch Suicide Girls- Guide to Living
(NSFW)
Kel @ 627,
Atheists hit back
CJO | April 1, 2010 5:12 PM:
Does anyone else think “People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs” when they see NKJV?
“Atheist or religious person – we all need to be reconciled to God and give him our lives”
unclear on the concept, I see.
I noticed that when I briefly was in England in 1999; till then I had thought it was an American phenomenon.
In (non-northern) German, we stopped saying [st] and [sp] at the beginnings of words – no matter if there was a [r] behind it – at least 500 years ago.
:-)
:-S
<shudder>
Those of chimps are considerably smaller than…
Crème brulée isn’t just called “burnt”, it also tastes like it. A bit overcaramelized, and with no other taste whatsoever. I occasionally had to eat it when there was no other dessert (or soup) available in the cafeteria… meh.
Please don’t! I somehow missed it the first time.
No, no. Use rum, 80 % Stroh Inländer-Rum. Pour liberal amounts over the baked beans, and then set the whole abomination on fire. Cackle madly while watching it burn. Contemplate what a surprising amount of entertainment can be derived from baked beans even in the absence of expensive chlorine trifluoride!
<cry>
What a waste of baaaaaacooooooon!!!
well yes, you did miss it the first time; but you’ve seen it the second time I posted it, and I am now assuming that everybody is sick of me posting it whenever Easter and/or Peeps come up. but here it is again, to refresh your memory: http://inlinethumb36.webshots.com/2915/2585431020075107219S600x600Q85.jpg
So I was arguing with someone last night on another blog, and I wake to an accusation of sockpuppetry from another reader followed by this:
Whose sockpuppet am I, you ask?
…
truth machine’s.
Seriously.
Link or it didnt happen !!
ROTFL!
Oh, so that’s what Peeps are. I remember. Thanks!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHHHAAA!!!!
What Jadehawk said.
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/03/well_now_we_know_why.php#comment-2397208
(FTR, I really like the blog and its vibe and the vast majority of the commenters there, including the person who accused me of sockpuppetry. I’m not bashing them at all – just thought this was funny.)
oh, and David, could you do me a favor and just set up a paypal account for yourself? it would make my life so much easier…
I see the deltoid folks were not quite ready for the machine LOL, and is that stu the one who has posted here in the past? Hard to believe somewhat…
A funny exchange, that, ty for the link…:-)
Is anyone ever, really? ;)
No, it’s a different person. I knew the other Stu should’ve kept his last initial!
My life, you mean. :-) I’ll try.
To be honest, if there’s a discussion that involves logic and / or philosophy I always wait for Truth Machine to turn up and beat everyone into a logical stupor. It’s worth the risk of being torn to shreds just to see it happen to others.
I tried. PayPal tells me to wait up to 2 or 3 days for their deduction of 1,50 € to appear on my credit card statement. Not having such a thing associated with the bank account in question (it’s basically an ATM card), I hope the four-digit PayPal code will appear on the online list of transactions of my account… I’ll have a look while you’ll be sipping your “morning” tea, I suppose.
I must still be suffering oxygen deprivation from breathing into miniature dummies for four hours yesterday as, when I read this, my first thought was of a priest. Specifically, a Roman Catholic priest.
RECIPE ALERT!!11!!!!11!
And as for guacamole (from the Nahuatl guaca (avacado) and mole (concoction) (No reason to include this tidbit, I just love the word “concoction”)), I might as well add mine:
Guacamole a la (((Billy) The Atheist
2 ripe to the point of almost begining to be too soft avacados — a gentle finger poke should easily deform the rind without actually penetrating
1 ripe tomato — garden is best, or a Roma — roasted over a flame, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, toasted on a comal (or a heavy frying pan with no oil, finely diced or pressed.
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons of lime juice (fresh is best)
1 to 4 tablespoons of really good olive oil (depending on how dry the avacado is (some (even really ripe ones) can be dry))
1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 – 3 fresh ripe chili pepper (I think serrano peppers are best for this — they have a nice clean almost sharp bite) seeded, deveined and diced (leave in the veins and seeds for more zing)
a handful of fresh cilantro (leaf coriander)
2 tablespoons good tequila
1 shot of tequila
Put it all in a bowl (wait on the olive oil until you can see how much is needed) and mix together (I use a pastry cutter to mash the whole concoction together). Drink the extra shot of tequila. You earned it.
Do we now start an argument about which avacado concoction is ‘real’?
Is anyone else allergic to avocado? To me it tastes like itchy burning, and then the swelling starts. Strangely enough, I have no reaction to any other Lauraceous items with which I have come into contact…I know no one else who suffers this malady.
Antiochus:
I wouldn’t surprise me that there are many more. Name a food and someone is alergic. Some of (((Wife)))’s family are alergic to corn. In all forms. In even tiny amounts. Not life-threatening, but painful and annoying.
You are the first I’ve heard tell of who is alergic to avacado.
Can you at least drink the tequila?
Hmm, lots of recipes. I should add my own.
*ahem*
Jambalaya
1 lb Sausage, cubed or chopped (Andouille is best)
1 lb Chicken breast, cubed
1 lb Shrimpy Shrimp, or get larger shrimp and chop them up
A couple nice Tomatoes
A can of Tomato Sauce
A medium onion
A green pepper
A couple stalks of celery
Brown Rice
Chicken Stock
Spices (oh yes, spices)
Brown the sausage and chicken. De-vein and cook the shrimp (if you’re going to save the leftovers, don’t use the shrimp.)
Chop up all the vegetables, make sure you have equal parts of the onion, pepper, and celery. Put these into a nice heavy pot and cook til the pepper is soft.
Add the tomato, tomato sauce, spices, and meats to the pot. Cook on high until it starts to bubble a bit. Add a little water or white wine if its too thick.
Add the rice, and use the amount of chicken stock corresponding to how much water the rice needs to cook. (If it needs a cup of water, add a cup of stock.)
Cook according to the instructions on the rice.
When the rice is done, your jambalaya is done. It should be slightly stewish, not too dry, not too moist. The spiciness should pop, not burn.
On Buoy (boy/Boo-ey) distinction – most of the UK would pronounce it the same as boy, but this isn’t always the case – in Caithness (go north until civilization runs out, keep going and you’ll hit Caithness) I’m pretty sure boo-ey is the pronunciation you’ll hear, they manage to do some pretty messed up things to words there.
Dude, you posted a jambalaya recipe without the crucial link:
Yes.
*fists up
Actually I’m more of an avocado purist when I make guac. I like it to be about the avocado. That’s why I leave out tomato or chiles. However, I also almost 100% of the time make fresh salsa at the same time I make guac so that may be a part of it.
@Sven:
Ahh, knew I was forgetting something, thanks.
Kevin:
Are you going to tell us what spices are used for the Jambalaya? Cause I’m thinking ming, cinnamon, fennel and curry.
Rev. BDC:
I’ve also come across some really good recipes for ‘avacado salsas’ which are completelky different from guacs.
I also like to slice avacado, sprinkle on some lime juice and big salt (not a lot of salt, just big crystals) and slide it into a taco with shredded pork, cheese, and salsa.
I suspect that guac is similar to stew, chili, or spaghetti sauce — there are as many ways to do it as there are cooks (or more (I use four very different chili con carne recipes)).
I block your *fists up with a *+4 cloak of indifference and counterattack with a *+1 SIWOTI sword of TRUTH!
Rolls dice.
Damn. Missed. Fumbled. Cut off my own foot.
I clicked on Sven’s link from work. U-tube told me my browser was no longer supported. Would watching U-tube make the IT department (one person at our site) update our browsers? Not likely…
Here’s how they play that one in Bakersfield:
@iambilly:
I usually use cayenne, pepper, salt, paprika, garlic, parsley, bay leaf, and thyme. There’s a cajun seasoning mix that’s alright, but freshly ground seasonings are better.
For anyone who grinds their own spices, I have a couple of hints.
1. Try dry roasting them before grinding. Heat a heavy frying pan, and add the spices. Keep the moving around the pan until they start to release their smell. Allow to cool, and then grind. Note, do not try this with dried chilli.
2. If you grind a lot of spices invest in a coffee grinder. It will make quick work of grinding spices. Do not be tempted to use the same grinder for coffee beans though.
…and here’s how they play it out in Lodi:
…and here’s how they play it in…wtf?
…and here’s how they play it Heaven:
(only with more harps)
one, more, this one with the erotic Tambourine Dance of Passion:
Woke up to a severe thunderstorm. And no power. *Grumbles*
Correction: severe snowstorm. Not awake yet. Snow. Ugh.
Humm lets see. This will be long.
This isn’t the flashiest recipe but it’s well worth doing if you ever use chicken stock for anything.
It’s for those who want to invest a fair amount of time and have some freezer space.
Chicken Stock.
3-4 gallon ziplock bags full of chicken bones (thawed)
1-2 packs of chicken wings fresh
3 carrots halved and split
4 ribs of celery cut into 1-2 inch peices
2 yellow onions quartered with skins left on
1 handful of black pepercorns
1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley
4-5 springs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
I do not add salt but you can
When I buy chicken breasts I buy them on the bone and then clean them for the breast and tenders. I also buy whole chickens and save everything once you’ve broken them down. Necks and backs are especially good for stock. It’s cheaper and you get to save the bones for stock. So once I have three or four gallon sized ziplock bags full of chicken bones I usually take a Saturday or Sunday and make stock.
So
Take the chicken bones and use kitchen shears to cut into small pieces. The goal is to extract as much of the collagen from the bones and connective tissue as possible and cutting them into inch-ish sized pieces with help with that. Add to a tall large stock pot (mine is 12 qt. stainless All-clad and I love it).
I also typically buy a large pack of chicken wings that you would use to make buffalo wings and add them (cut into pieces as well) to the pot as well.
Cover with cold water to an inch over the bones. If your water tastes funny buy bottled water, it will make a difference.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Once you do this you’ll start to see some foam like what you see form on the beach will form on the top of the stock.
I use a fine wire meshed skimmer to remove this.
As I’m removing it I dip the skimmer into a bowl of cold water.
Do this for five mins and you should see the foam stop. If not continue until it does.
Once the foam stops drop the heat down so that you are on a very slow simmer. SO slow only a few bubbles appear at a time.
Simmer for 1 hour then add the vegetables, herbs and peppercorns. Press them down into the stock but try to not stir them in or be to aggressive with the stock. It is your baby. Be nice to it.
Simmer for another 6-8 hours uncovered. Keep an eye on the level of the liquid and replace with clean water to keep the level the same the whole time.
Once you can reach in with a pair of tongs and crush the chicken bones with little effort you are probably done.
Not the not fun part.
You want to strain that big as pot of scalding liquid quickly because it’s just waiting for fun bacteria and nasties to jump in and make a home.
What i do is use the tongs to carefully remove as much of the veggies and bones (throw them away) until I can easily handle pouring the reaming contents through a cheesecloth lines fine wire mesh strainer.
You’ll need a big pot to pour it into and a big strainer / colander.
Once your strained everything into another container you want to cool that down as fast as possible.
I do two things.
First I place the pot with the stock into a big sink. Fill the sink and load it (the sink, not he stock) with ice.
Second, I fill a clean gallon sized ziplock bag with ice and float it in the stock. Keep replacing the ice in the ziplock until the stock is cool enough to handle. Near room temp is good.
I freeze the stock in quart sized containers (I love my chest freezer).
Some people like Alton Brown freeze ice cube trays of stock so that they can add small amounts to sauces or whatever. I’ve done that in the past but I usually don’t because I’m usually making soups with the stock and need larger amounts.
Ta da! Home made chicken stock that will kick the overly salty and collagen lacking ass out of any store bought stock you can find.
I do not add salt because I like to salt whatever dish I am making at the time and don’t want to worry about the salt content of the stock.
I’ll post a recipe for the easiest and best Chicken noodle soup you’ve ever had because it will be made with your home made stock.
Please ignore all typos
@Rev. BDC:
My mother does exactly that, too. I don’t have a big enough pot or enough mouths to feed to make my own stock. (I’m a single guy.)
I can’t argue about the guac, I make it five or ten different ways depending. Also, I’m not *that* crazy about avacado so I prefer lots of other flavors in there. I usually make it with some salsa, so what I put in the guac depends also on what salsa is going with it, or what dish is going along. It’s a very YMMV dish. I really doubt there’s one true way. Except maybe not to have avacado in it. I’m pretty sure if it lacks avacado it’s no longer guac and just dip.
I do something a lot like that (except without the celery, of course)(ew) with the annual turkey carcass. I then get a big kick out of making way too much turkey-noodle soup in May or whenever from my home-made stock.
Fun fact: the protein collagen is a shared-derived trait of all animals. It’s the most abundant protein in your body (as the extracellular matrix of all connective tissue), and jellyfish and even sponges have the same shit.
Ok so if you suffered through that long ass stock recipe, here is one mode of payoff.
Chicken Noodle soup
2 boneless chicken breasts (or boned and save the bones for …STOCK) cut into bite sized pieces
2 quarts of your homemade Chicken Stock
8oz of wide egg noodles
1-2 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 carrots split and cut on bias into 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick slices
2 ribs of celery cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 small onion chooped
1 garlic clove smashed
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 tsp of fennel seeds
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 bunch chopped flatleaf parsley
Bring Stock to a boil for in a separate pot 4 mins (always do this when using homemade stock). Reduce to simmer
In a large 4 qt pot heat the olive oil over med heat and add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and fennel seeds and saute until veggies just starting to soften. Do not brown.
Add stock and chicken to the vegetables and and bring to a boil
After 2 min add noodles and cook until just tender (varies by package but somewhere around 7-8 mins)
Make sure chicken is cooked through (should be unless you cut it into huge pieces)
Add lemon juice and chopped parsley
Season with salt and pepper to taste
Serve mom style with saltines or with rounds of french bread toasted with melted gruyere or a milder cheese or little gruyere grilled cheese sandwiches.
If there are soup leftovers you’ll notice that it will gel up when left in the fridge overnight. That’s all that unctuous collagen you spent all day extracting from the chicken bones.
That’s what you want it to look like.
now I’m hungry.
Glad it’s lunch break, or I would be hungry for another few hours. Thanks for that recipe, Rev BDC, I’ll have to try it out.
MrFIre asked for Bhatura recipe a couple(?) eternal thread avatars ago.
Bhatura is a soft fluffy fried bread (North India/Pakistani origins) eaten traditionally with chole (The recipe results in one deliciously authentic dish – worth the effort).
All-purpose flour – 2 cups
Yogurt – 1/2 cup
Milk- 1 cup
Baking powder – 1/4tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
And Oil for frying
Method:
1) In a bowl mix flour, yogurt, baking powder and oil. Add milk slowly, knead to get a soft dough.
2) Cover with a moistened muslin cloth and keep it aside for 2-8 hrs. For the best results, keep for 8 hours, however in a pinch 2 hours yield good bhaturas too. (They just dont puff up as much).
3) Make small balls of the dough, roll them into thick rounds (size depends on how big your frying pan is).
4) Deep fry in hot oil until the bhaturas puff up and both sides are golden brown.
Traditionally served hot with the chole with a garnish of raw sliced onion sprinkled with salt and lemon wedges.
nice use of the word ‘unctuous’
Thanks
It ranks up there with Umami
Jellyfish n’ sponge stock would be teh AWESOME.
wait
whew
I think everyone in the office heard that one
Oh my goodness. Thank you.
*munch*
By the way, is it a regional thing about whether it’s called bhatura vs. puri, and for that matter chole vs. channa?
Filipinos nailed to the cross for Good Friday, Foreigners are banned from participating for making ‘a mockery’ of rites. “Bishop Rolando Tirona of the Prelature of Infanta said flagellation and cross nailings are expressions of superstitious beliefs…”
By the way Reverend: I am most impressed by your photography (as a layperson). I am also roughly equally impressed by your handlebar ‘tache (again as a layperson). The product of many careful years etc.?
Another easy and delicious recipe from the big box of recipes I inherited from my mothers kitchen. I apologize in advance for my lack of skill in formatting this post.While I can operate machinery with ease (F.B.M.nuclear subs,eighteen wheelers,D-8 caterpillars etc.)This computer shit just confuses my old ass. Anyway this recipe is a big hit at our house.Broccoli and cheese cornbread. 4 eggs well beaten,one box Jiffy brand corn muffin mix.(other brands will work ok but Jiffy is best.)One stick butter,melted,one medium white onion chopped fine,one cup grated cheese.(I prefer colby-jack but medium cheddar is good too.)One 10oz.box frozen chopped broccoli,thawed(or fresh is better) reserve one half of the cheese and mix remaining ingredients together.(the mixture will be thick)Pour into preheated,lightly oiled pan(I use a very old 10 inch square cast iron skillet)bake @350 deg.F for about 30-35 mins.Then remove from oven and put remaining cheese on top and bake another 5 mins or so until cheese melts. This dish is very rich and has a cake-like texture.Yum.
Why thank you.
Well I had a goatee for a long time and decided to make it a handlebar for Movember.
The wife liked it, so I kept it.
Plus people think I’m mean now.
Which I am, I just look more mean.
Actually I’m not mean, just grumpy.
@bull:
I love me some cornbread.
Oh
hell
yeah
International Pillow Fight Day
I am so there.
@Rev BDC:
I just look like I’m a teenager trying to look older with a scraggly little mustache and beard…
But I swear I’m 26!
(picture is on blog)
Arrgh. Work is keeping me away from Pharyngula more than I’d like. I see there are recipes galore. I missed the part where Josh, Official Spokesgay gave us a website to go to where these are all collected — at least, I think I missed that. Josh, can you post again the link to the collection?
Remember Rex Rammell, he of White Horse Prophecy infamy. (Link is to PZ’s post on December 22, 2009.) Rex is back in the news. “Idaho GOP Gov Hopeful: ‘I’m OK with militias showing a little force.'” Video and text at the link to the article. Excerpt:
re: “Hmff! Element names end in *ium*. Calcum? Sodum? Magnesum? I think not. “
so is it Tantalum or Tantalium? Molybdenum or Molybdenium? Lanthanum or Lanthanium?
Kevin, yeah I love me some cornbread.When we make regular cornbread we only use White Lilly brand cornbread mix.It has a taste and texture that is in my opinion better than other national brands.YMMV. But when making the broccoli and cheese cornbread dish it just doesn’t taste like what dear old Mom used to make unless I use Jiffy brand mix.
It’s “Good” Friday, I’m in the south working for very religious people and the rest of South Carolina is off today.
[belushi]
But noooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
[/belushi]
We’re here. I’m updating servers which is incredibly boring work.
And my motivation is low.
So.
Miles
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/Miles+Runs+The+Voodoo+Down/spyy8
@bullofthewoods:
Man… now I want cornbread. I don’t have a baking pan, though. The closest I have is a square Pyrex dish, but it’s not the same.
Cartoon contest winners are announced Loads o’ fun and blasphemous takes on religion. The first prize went to a cartoon blasting Catholics.
Oh man that first one is gold.
Anybody familiar with “baby sign” and want to share their opinion with me? Thanks.
@MrFire (675) – The difference is whether the dough is leavened or not.
Anything deep fried made out of unleavened dough is a poori. Usually pooris are made of wheat flour (though other flours like chickpea or rice can be mixed in).
Since bhatura uses a leavened all purpose flour dough – in a crunch, I use Pilsbury thin crust mix (or equivalent) – makes excellent bhaturas :)
As in baby sign language?
Fossil fleas
I first posted this recipe during Survivor! Pharyngula. I noticed there mention of a recipe thread. Here’s my repost:
Neapolitan Limoncello
You need:
2 liters of grain alcohol. The higher the proof, the better. If you can’t get straight grain alcohol, like most places in the U.S., then use the highest proof vodka you can find. Here in Italy, the stuff I use is over 190-proof.
About 10 -15 medium-large lemons. The thicker skinned, the better.
2 liters of water
1.5 kg of sugar
Scrub the lemons thoroughly with a brush and clear water, then use a vegetable peeler to remove the lemon’s zest, avoiding the white pith. You really, really want to avoid the pith, as it will make your limoncello bitter. Place the peels in a glass container that will hold more than 2 liters. I have a Mason-style jar that holds a gallon which I use for this process.
Add the alcohol to the peels, cover, and leave on the counter for a while (nice and precise). The length of time will vary depending on the potency of the alcohol. The higher the proof, the less time you need. You need to give the alcohol enough time to thoroughly extract all the lemon oil from the peels. Eventually, you will have a lovely golden liquid and bleached white peels.
Heat the water in a non-reactive pan (or stock pot) that will hold at least 5 liters. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. There is some debate whether or not to bring to a boil. I do, some purists say it isn’t necessary. What is vital is to be sure that the sugar syrup has cooled to room temperature before going to the next step.
When the sugar syrup has reached room temperature, pour the lemon extract into the pot. Cover and let sit overnight.
The next day, strain the contents of your pot into sealable glass containers. Mason jars work well for this. If I’m being particular, I’ll use coffee filters. This takes nearly forever. A wire sieve is good enough.
Store your jars in the freezer, and serve your elixir very cold. Enjoy!
Rev: Yep.
I don’t have kids but I know of two friends who use/used it with their kids.
Seems to really increase their language ability early on. All three of the kids have a pretty developed speaking skill and seem to be above the level that the other kids their age are at.
Now this is purely anecdotal and you were probably looking for something more than that, but that’s all I got.
Josh, OSG:
As I was looking for my original limoncello post, I came across a Pharyngula recipe thread:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/03/uh-oh.php#comment-1466136
What do expect from those frigging refractory metals? Stick in the muds. Resistant to change.
Lanthanum? Blame those damned Swedes. I detest Swedes*.
Btw (Wiki)
Hah! (Let’s not mention sulphur).
* And Turnips.
Anecdotes are appreciated as well. :-)
Getting ready to have a kid and thinking about maybe doing baby sign language. Not sure if it’s worth the effort, but since I enjoy learning languages anyway it wouldn’t exactly be a chore. My wife is a speech-language pathologist and has also heard anecdotal evidence that it improves a child’s language skills, and it made sense in the context of her education about the development of language skills in children. I’m looking for actual studies now to see if there is evidence about methods and effectiveness.
Re: signs for babies
It’s a good way to enable children to communicate before they can speak. My wife and I made a desultory effort to teach the boy a few signs when he was a baby. The two most used were “more” and “poop”. To this day (he’s eight) he still indicates his intention to, er, spend some time in the bathroom with the ASL sign for “poop”.
As to whether it enhances facility with actual language acquisition, I don’t know. (The boy was actually slow to start speaking, but he caught up fast and is now considerably advanced in reading ability and vocabulary.) But certainly babies can learn to use quite a few signs and thus communicate more effectively than they would do otherwise.
I can’t find out if I am :-)
There is such a thing as good andouille? That I want to see.
Well, no. As you quote: “Like water-fleas and shrimps, ostracods belong to the group of animals called Crustacea.”
There are fossil lice, though, and I think fleas, too.
And also like ants, regular fleas, and cockroaches!
Jesus fuckin’ carbonara!
DJ Grothe is a transhumanist! Bugger.
But Jennifer Michael Hecht is quite interesting.
@David Marjanovic:
Well, compared to the other types of commercial sausage at the grocery store, Andouille is the best kind of sausage to put in. Chorizo is too spicy, the Italian spices don’t really work with Cajun food, Sweet and Hot sausage are not even remotely close to what is needed.
If you make your own sausage, then you’re probably better equipped to make a decent decision on what is the best sausage.
Gumbo
Home made Tasso
@KOPD 42.7 FM,
We made up “baby sign” for our twins. Our son, who was rather impatient about mealtimes, caught on quickly – particularly in requests related to food. Our daughter wasn’t particularly interested.
We found that, for our son, his ability to express his basic desires reduced his frustration-related “episodes” – if you know what I mean.
To cooks:
Now, does daddy SpokesGay have to do everything for you children? Pay attention, because I’m not going to say this again while I’m hard at work in meatspace to bring home the bacon to you kids. Ichthyic has set up a site for us to deposit recipes if we want.
Those who are interested in the recipes (I know, Sven, I know:), however, pretty much agreed they’d like to see them first here in Teh Thread. I have been collecting them from Teh Thread, and I will organize and edit them on Ich’s site in due time. So, think of Ich’s site as more of a final version, not a spot to put recipes now (that is, until/unless The Cephalopod Overlord tells us to knock it off and take our culinary perversions elsewhere).
/back to meatspace
Still not there (and neither are the transactions I conducted yesterday), but check your e-mail soon.
#693 Lynna
A belated welcome back! I haven’t been able to give up much time recently.
This is the Herefordshire lagerstätten I talked about many incarnations of the thread ago.
Indeed. Everyone knows the best defence against monsters under the bed, in the cellar, behind the door/curtains/mommy, et al., is a poker. And it helps if you can do the voice.
David knows sausages the way central Europeans know sausages. Not the way us US supermarket shoppers know sausages.
@Rev BDC:
Oh my… those sound good.
@Sven DiMilo:
Ohh, so he knows sausage the way they’re supposed to be, not mass-produced, tasteless garbage.
Technically, neither is correct, but alumin-um was the one first applied out of the two.
The original name* used by its discoverer Humphrey Davy was apparently alumium. He then changed to alumin-um (and he was British!), before moving to alumin-ium, on the advice of those who thought it sounded better.
Remember also, metallic element names were often systematically extracted from the names of their oxides, which were typically known of long before the element itself. For example, the name magnesi-um was derived from its oxide, magnesi-a. Some felt that alumin-a (the oxide) should therefore yield alumin-um. To make things more complicated, sod-ium oxide has at times been labeled sod-a (though this also refers to both the carbonate salt and the hydroxide, too :-/).
However, I am sure this analysis is horribly simplistic to the linguists amongst us, whom I shall not dare to contradict if they feel like taking the issue further.
*Actually, I confess this is something of a stretch. It appears he had yet to fully characterize the element at the time of writing, and was referring to the hypothetical element.
@711
It’s really hard not to say “that’s what she said” when I read that.
Oops.
@KOPD:
Hard to not giggle at that statement, thank you.
—
In other news, I’m reading Kitzmiller v Dover. Been reading it a few weeks. The defense really sucked in that trial, didn’t they?
#625 Kel, OM
I hesitate to try to teach anyone to suck eggs but what variety of apple did you use? If you used eating or cooking apples then I would expect it to be bland. Ditto commercial apple juice.
In England there are many special varieties of cider apples which are generally small, hard, bitter and almost totally inedible (there are exceptions). Crush and press these to get pure juice but you’ll need a large amount of fruit.
I live close to Herefordshire, one of the great cider-producing counties of England (of the world?). Thinking about it, I have moved from one cider county to another:
Somerset
Kent
Herefordshire.
This could be my last move – my curve of contentment has overtaken my curve of ambition. Anyway, there’s lots of good rocks here (are there any “bad” rocks?).
(The Government has just hiked the tax on cider … DRAT!!)
Alan B @709
Hi, Alan B. [waves] Yes, I thought that was the same site you discussed earlier. I love it that they found the 425 million year old fossil flea there.
For those that want to relive the geological glory, here’s Alan B’s earlier post on the Herefordshire lagerstatten.
Alan, here is a link to my blog entry that has photos of Crack Canyon. There’s also a tidbit of geological info (helpfully corrected by David M.)
Interesting.
Could one of you cider drinkers suggest a good commercial bottled cider worth trying?
And it will have to be available in the states.
I’ve never gotten a taste for hard cider mainly because the first few brands available here were horrible.
The mormons have a launched an anti-porn website. Excerpt:
For crying out loud, no! :-) Sausage does come from the supermarket here in Austria, and it is mass-produced. It’s still much better than the andouille I had in the cafeteria in Paris – and that cafeteria is good; it’s in France, after all, and the French simply know how to eat.
Singular: Lagerstätte, plural: Lagerstätten. This is one of the twelve regular ways to form the plural in German (…OK, some of them aren’t applicable to a word that already has an ä in a strategic position, but still…).
Hey don’t knock making your own sausage.
It was hard to avoid making a knockwurst joke there
Some “elementary” facts …
Poland has an element named after it – Polonium discovered by the Curies.
France has 2 elements named after it – Gallium (after Gaul) and Francium. (There was a race between the British and the French to discover Francium – it had been predicted long before. The French won and got to choose the name. IIRC the work was done in a laboratory linked with Madame Curie.)
More Francium facts:
Only about 30g of Francium exists at any one time.
It is the second rarest element in the crust – after Astatine.
It was the last element (1939) found naturally in the Earth – all those found since have been synthesised.
The longest-lived isotope has a half life of about 22 minutes.
With a melting point of 27 deg C it would be liquid in a warm room (assuming you could get enough atoms together …)
David M. @720
Ah, I see. I should have caught that. Thanks for the correction. I don’t speak German, but at one time I had a fairly good reading-German capability. The plural formation makes sense now that you point it out. So, we must ask Alan B if there are multiple Lagerstätten in Herefordshire, or just one Lagerstätte. I don’t remember. Time to go back and read the earlier post.
David M:
Near as I can tell, andouille in the US is much more homogeneous in texture than it is in France, where I remember it being barely-chopped entrails with a little seasoning.
But I differ with you, and think it tastes great either way.
Guess what the Catholics are starting to compare the attention on rape scandal to…
Did you guess? The persecution of the Jews. What kind of person would persecute Jews? Oh, what’s that you say, Catholics?
Oh, to have all of that in one lump, and a pool of water nearby…
BOOM BABY
Whilst sausage is like bacon—it’s worth committing genocide to obtain (note to Sectioned readers, no rusty knives involved)—I wouldn’t think it’s that hard to find p0rn involving sausage-like things. Rather the opposite, in fact.
#723 Lynna, OM
There is one quarry where the rocks are found. So presumably “Lagerstätte” would be correct.
IIRC, the have looked elsewhere but not found anything else. Could be 2 reasons:
Other locations do not exist – this was just a special site or
There are other locations to be found but the right exposures don’t exist (remember the huge difference wrt desert or near desert conditions over much of the western USA). Herefordshire is almost entirely farmland – crops, animals, fruit (including cider apple orchards just waiting for Kel).
I promised at least another local Lagerstätte. I’ll try and pull something together for after the mad scramble of the next re-incarnation.
I have heard tell of the first Radium to arrive in Cambridge. I don’t recall which chemist received it, but Ramsay came into the room and was informed that this was a brand new element discovered by the Curies.
He then – as one does – proceeded to grab spatula, pick up some of the salt and held it into the flame of a Bunsen burner before anyone could stop him. He and the other few people present are supposedly the only to have seen the flame colour of Radium.
Of course, they had to seal the room off it could never be used for radioactive research again. I assume they’ve stuck an administrator in it by now.
Speaking of Ramsay: Does anyone here know the Darmstadts and Dubna groups? I really hope they’ll name Ununoctium Ramson or some such after him. Even if they do have use the -ium suffix – Ramsayium, but Ramson in common parlance, just like Copernicum. Also Ununseptium could well be Scheeline.
#718 Rev BDC
Hi Rev
I don’t know what is available in the US. I would guess it is mainly industrial cider. This bears as close a resemblance to real (craft) cider as rubbing alcohol does to a 25 year old single malt (I exagerate – but not by much).
There must be areas where good cider apples can be grown …
Josh, did you see the recipe for fruit topping (crisp topping) I posted? it’s not as exotic as so much else that ‘s been posted here, but it makes a nice desert – not too sweet, like too many crisp toppings are.
Well the craft beer shops here usually carry some cider, I’ll see what they have to offer.
Hey! Poopyhead! Close this subthread, or I shall taunt you again !!
My highschool chemistry teacher once explained how the alkali elements become more reactive with increasing mass: “If you throw lithium on water, it hisses. If you throw sodium on water, it hisses and churns. If you throw potassium on water, it hisses and churns and bangs […] Francium – you can’t throw francium on water. The moment you lift it, it’s gone. It’s radioactive.”
Teeny tiny traces of technetium, neptunium, plutonium, and even americium occur naturally in uranium ores, as has been discovered in the last 2 or 3 decades. I forgot if promethium does, but I think so.
In fact, technetium may have been discovered that way before it was synthesised and officially described. But the discoverer never got enough of it together to make a compelling case.
#731
I googled craft cider USA and the first link was to this newspaper story:
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/21/food/fo-cider21
This suggests craft cider making is well behind craft brewing. I might be wroth you having a google or looking further qith the search term I used. I don’t know where you live (not prying) but do you have a “real food” movement in your area? They might be able to point you.
It is very much a matter of taste but I strongly prefer dry or medium dry even in the craft ciders. Sweet cider just doesn’t do it for me.
Even over here it is difficult to get first rate cider without going out to local producers. Which I plan to do this year …
The farmer’s market in Scranton, PA, has a stand with excellent apple cider (as well as multiple types of apples, peaches etc). Usually available in August through October.
Not that it helps much, but . . . .
<taunt>
Why not just burn the water (and the rest of the pool) in nice, stable chlorine trifluoride? :-)
X-D
<headshake>
Did any of them tell what the colour is?
I’m in Charleston SC and we do have a “real food” and “slow food” and just all around anything food movement.
I don’t know of any local producers so I’ll have to poke around.
And I’m betting I’d be a dry cider person myself.
<taunt>
The cidre of Brittany and that of Normandy are famous. There are several kinds, like cidre brut, which my uncle likes very much.
On another note, I’ve seen potassium react with ice (they didn’t dare use liquid water), and glowing magnesium with dry ice. 2 Mg + CO2 → 2 MgO + C (plenty of soot).
General cider …
http://www.theolivers.org.uk/usa.html
(look also at their homepage)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8587040.stm
<taunt>
Oops. The comma is wrong.
ok damn it.
While I doubt I’ll find any local cider soon, I’m heading to the Craft beer store (who does a fantastic job with their beer selection) as soon as I leave work to see what they might have.
Cider?
As an ignorant American from a cider-making area, I was only slightly puzzled the first time I heard of “hard cider” with alcohol in it. It is so old-fashioned here that it is actually making a comeback as a totally new thing. But I was pretty much confused when I got to England and realized that “cider” there was assumed to have alcohol in it, and was pretty strong stuff. Cheap, too, I guess. The “winos” in America drink cheap, strong fortified wine–the “wino” I saw in a Cambridge park, happily sozzled at 8AM was drinking cider. Me, I thought, “Apple juice? What the hell?” Which is when I learned all of the above.
Dunno if that will help anybody’s comprehension of the “cider” talk above. It has alcohol in it, and may be of various quality.
#739
Brittany & Normandy
Totally agree with you, David, but the Rev was interested in the USA and that was where the rhetorical question was aimed.
Alkali metals and water (note: some of the Youtube stuff is faked – this is from the Open University)
http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/worldaroundus/akalimetals.html
I had the exactly opposite reaction, when I found out that Starbucks sells “cider”. I still automatically think of it as an alcoholic beverage, and have to remember that American cider is just unfiltered apple juice :-p
AlanB
Do you live anywhere near Richard’s Castle? There is (or used to be, haven’t been that way for a few years) a farm just to the south of it on the B4361 that makes wonderful ciders, and all sorts of fruit and vegetable wines. Forgotten the name.
You can wander around the barns and get legless just on free tastings. I looked at their order book, and Bob Geldorf was in it. (Not that that is necessarily a recommendation).
<taunt>
Hey cool. I had completely missed the paper – lack of access to Nature (and Science) is very, very annoying.
The stuff with alcohol is not cider — it’s applejack. Let a barrel of cider ferment, then leave it outside during the winter to freeze. Drill a whole from about three inches above the bottom of the barrel (don’t scrape the bottom of the barrel) at a 30-degree up angle into the unfrozen middle. Supposedly, the alcohol concentrates there since it doesn’t freeze.
Of course, the only guy I know who actually made applejack had a nice copper barrel through garden hose condensor, so . . . .
Mr Myers!
TearShut down thiswallsubthread!!!Oh. I had no idea.
Deliiiiightful. :-)
#743 Menyambal
Too darn right! Of course it has alcohol in it – we’re not talking about sparkling apple juice!!
For example, I have in front of me a 500ml bottle of Henry Westons Vintage 2008 cider** which has a strength of 8.2%. This is comparable with many German wines (or at least it was – many of them over here seem to be fortified to some extent.
5 or 6% alcohol by volume is common.
(For reference, recommended upper level in the UK is 14 units for women, 21 for men per week. Half a litre of my cider contains 0.5 * 8.2 units 4.1 UK units. 5 bottles would take me up to the recommnded upper level. This is one reason why the Government is cracking down on cider – it’s cheap and
people enjoy itcontains too much alcohol.)** Available
on Doctor’s prescriptionfrom the local supermarket.<taunt>
That’s also how to make beer with 45 and possibly 46 % alcohol. No, these are not typos.
Thought about it a little more. Damn.
Hard cider. Basically cider beer. I don’t know if anyone actually sells it commercially. Certainly not in Pennsylvania.
Cider, hard cider, applejack.
I really need to not post near the end of my office day.
Sorry.
Damn. Sorry. Cider. Hard cider. Applejack. I really need to do two things — first, think before I post. Second, don’t post at 4pm on a Friday (which is actually my Wednesday).
Sorry.
90 proof beer? Damn.
#746 Ring Tailed Lemurian
Richard’s Castle? I’ll have to look it up but not a million miles away IIRC. It’s going on my list!!
Only one question … Who is going to drive me home?
<taunt>
I finally watched the video at the top of this subthread. Now that is beautiful.
My brother makes his own sparkling hard cider, starting with the apples. And it’s damn tasty.
But I prefer his porter.
#750
The UK recommended alcohol consumption limits are, of course, totally without any scientific foundation … But then you could have guessed that from the choice of weekly numbers that are divisible by 7!
Wow. I did not realise until this subThread that “cider” in America meant apple juice, rather than the alcoholic beverage. Admittedly, it’s not a piece of knowledge that’s ever likely to affect my life, since I hate both cider and apple juice, along with apples themselves and most apple-based products in general.
Coincidentally, my dislike of products made from apple (the fruit) is matched by my dislike of products made by Apple (the computer company), tying this thread together with a heated current argument on another thread.
On a related note, I learnt when I first visited the US, a couple of summers back, that “lemonade” has a more restricted meaning in American than British English. In the UK, we would colloquially describe Sprite, 7Up, and similar lemon-flavoured soft drinks as “lemonade”. In the US, the term seems to refer only to products made mostly from actual lemon juice, sugar and water – what we would call “traditional lemonade” or “cloudy lemonade” – whereas many of the drinks that we would call “lemonade” are described instead as “soda”.
re 753:
90 proof beer? Damn.
Sam Adams makes a “beer liquor”, I think they call it “Utopia” (or something phonetically similar). They claim to be the only commercial producer, of a beer with alcohol content higher than possible by fermentation without distillation.
Man, I hope PZ leaves this thread open for another 100 posts or so. David Marjanović trolling/taunting to get the thread closed is quite the spectacle.
Probably the most widely distributed hard cider in the US is Woodchuck. If you go to that site (and if you’re over 21 of course!) you can find out where to buy ’em.
Walton,
Don’t call it apple juice, you’ll offend somebody. Cider is unsweetened and unfiltered. It’s a bit darker and has a stronger flavor than what we refer to here as apple juice. Why the hell we don’t call the one that practically comes straight from the apple “juice” and call the processed and sweetened thing something else, I have no clue. Instead we have juice, soft cider (not fermented) and hard cider (fermented).
This is frightening, disgusting. PZ Meyers, where is your fucking outcry?!! Why haven’t you been ranting continuously about the Texas Board of Education. I see posts on the motherfucking iPad, but i wanna see this instead:
No, U.S. “cider” is just apple juice of any of various sorts, hard or not.
Apple jack is specifically cider that has been jacked to remove some of the water and concentrate the everything else.
You can jack other things, too. A whole lot even, to get concentrations similar to the ones you get from distillation.
And some theories of abiogenesis and exobiology epend on that, IIRC.
(Turns out that jacking primordial stuff in ice gives you a lot of the same effects as zapping it with lightning… amino acids and other organic chem goo. Some people think life likely started in watery places that regularly froze, thawed, refroze, etc… and some think life is likely in considerably colder and darker places than Earth, like big snowballish moons warmed by tidal forces of big planets, not necessarily even anywhere near a star.)
I think it’s all cider, if that’s what you want to call it. It can be unfiltered or filtered, raw or pasteurized, etc.
I suspect that you can’t market hard cider as “apple juice” though.
It used to be the case in many parts of the US (depending on state law) that you couldn’t sell a traditional bock beer as “beer”—anything over a certain alcohol content (4.75 or 5.00 or thereabouts) is not legally beer but “malt liquor.”
That led to some absurdities like not being able to call a real (traditional) bock beer a bock beer, but being able to call something that isn’t actually “bock” (i.e. strong) a “bock beer.” (E.g. Shiner Bock in central Texas.)
I think that’s still true in some places in the US, but apparently not in Texas anymore—now you can buy “bock beer” that’s actually strong, as well as bock beer that isn’t actually strong, and isn’t actually even bock-style.
And then there’s the “pale bock” thing that started out as a Texas-specific marketing term for Pierre Celis’s Belgian-style ales, to sell it to the rubes who are accustomed to buying “bock beer” that isn’t, but went nationwide when “Celis Pale Bock” went national, and then Shiner started marketing its (non-)Bock nationally as though it was a craft beer rather than cheap, locally mass-brewed bockish lager with caramel coloring…
(I drink Shiner, and have for decades, but now only in bars where it’s cheaper than real craft brews; no way I’m going to pay craft brew prices for it at the supermarket. :-( It’s a little better than the usual American yellow lager, but not nearly that good.)
Harrumph. Harrumph, I say. Harrumph.
/crotchety
Walton
Do you just not like apples (the fruit) or are you slightly allergic to them? Do you ave any other strong dislikes? Celery? Plums?
Here’s a report about the (European) regional differences in food allergies, and the connections between certain food allergies.
He has. Maybe if you read enough posts to notice the spelling of his name you would have seen that.
Luckily he also knows to add text explanations to video links because he’s aware that some people will be reading his blog from places where youtube and the like can not be viewed.
It’s great. It’s like he really knows what he’s doing and talking about or something!!!! Can you imagine how that must feel?
:D:D:D
From somewhere up there:
I, for one. Every other sailor I know, for a bunch of others. Just because some Mormon living in the Utah desert doesn’t talk about buoys often doesn’t mean it’s not a topic of conversation amongst other people.
I love the use of technical terminology.
Rev BDC, the only easily available and drinkable hard cider I have found in the Charleston area is Woodchuck. A little sweet for my taste, but they make a dryer version which you can find with a little effort – do not remember the name variation, but it says dry on the bottle. Woodchuck is better when served ice cold. Best is Woodchuck on draft – available at Wild Wing and a few other restaurants/bars in the area. I usually get a draft when I can find it.
I will be very interested in what you find at the craft beer stores.
From the “Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom” Facebook group:
:-D
Walton I share your lack of enthusiasm for Apple products. I have the iPhone, bought it off a friend to try it out. It does good things but I hate Apple’s proprietary bull. I feel no guilt about hacking their phone so I can put what I want on and get what I want off of it. Pfffffft on them.
I also hate their image. They’re so image based, and their image is so insulting to the user. It appears they think we’re all stupid hipsters or something.
Well, it doesn’t matter. There was a post on Boingboing that summed up my thoughts pretty well today.
I’ve not even gone to the IPad thread. I can’t imagine why I would want or need a tablet. I have computers out the rear.
#764
/Quavery ? ?
/Sixteenth note-y
Speaking of hard cider I am heading off this eve to look for some. I don’t intend to drink it though. I’m certain I wouldn’t like it anyway. It’s just I am trying my hand at a rye bread recipe that calls for it.
Surely I can find some in Dallas.
<taunt>
Just for the record, it fits me – allergic to birch pollen as well as apples but not pasteurized apple juice.
I forget: are sixteenth notes semidemiquavers, or semidemihemiquavers?
#768
That worries me. What is so bad with the flavour that you have to anaesthetise your taste buds to be able to drink it? Sounds like industrial cider to me.
There are many (lager type) beers that I could only drink ice cold because they are so dreadful. The typical temperature to serve beer in the UK is “cellar temperature” (between 10–14 °C, 50–57 °F). We do not serve warm or chilled real beer (except in badly run pubs).
Nothing to do with cider but my wish for the Easter Bunny tomorrow
https://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/Bacon_and_Eggs/Easter_Eggs
I can’t talk about cider without thinking of this.
When I was in England I found something I liked even more than cider. Perry is like cider only made from pears.
‘Ol Greg #770:
I haven’t seen any posts on that in the past couple of weeks. I find his lack of attention on this matter as dangerous and somewhat irresponsible for someone with the media pull of his calibre.
Also, *facepalm* for not spelling correctly. I ought to know better. I typed hastily.
AronRa’s video on the subject only had about 35,000 views. I’m not sure about the TalkAthiesm broadcast which he was a part of but i think the total viewership should be 50-100 million people, if that is at all possible.
More could be done is entirely the point of my statement. We’re talking about the future of the education of the entire country. Being controlled by TEXAS for Dog’s sake!
I think PZ will close the thread as soon as he can get a secure connection for his laptop. I suspect either after the Zimmerman concert if the TW was there too, and they decide not to drive home, or when he gets home. Meanwhile, shoot for 1000.
#775 Sven DiMilo
http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01262/lessonrythmn.html
US System English System
4th or quarter note crochet (just the flagpole)
8th note quaver (1 flag)
16th note semiquaver (2 flags)
32nd note demisemiquaver (3 flags)
64th note hemidemisemiquaver (4 flags)
128th note You must be joking! (white flag!!)
Is is really a white flag? that would be cool to see. Let us verify…
Then you missed something, because this is not two weeks old.
#778 KOPD 42.7 FM
Interesting marketting ploy – and original (not). Another one that has to be served ice cold or no one would drink it?
#779 ‘Tis Himself, OM
Perry … Not to my taste. The only ones I’ve drunk have been overly sweet and rather bland. Again, probably industrial perry like industrial cider. Dry “craft” perry would be interesting.
Babycham (produced in England at Shepton Mallet) is a [grossly over-rated] sparkling alcoholic drink made from perry pears and is
revoltinglyover sweet (IMO).Too bad he uses the word “joke” instead of “plague.” Not the most impressive exposé
$785
Weird, huh? Who on earth would want a cold Dickens Cider?
All this talk of cider and no music? For shame.
I found that I rather liked Strongbow while in Bath. ‘Cider’ has become ‘in’ here in Denmark lately, but it’s some kinda horrible, sweet alcoholic stuff (strange in a way, since I gather Sweden has a long “siðer” tradition – of course, anything out of Sweden is baaaaaad …).
#787 KOPD
According to the picture you linked to, the makers!
Not necessarily. Lots of people make things they don’t want. Besides, I only said it for the lulz.
@Laughing Man:
I’m not sure if you’re aware of how you’re coming across, but it’s awfully presumptuous-sounding. If I were a blog author and someone made the comment you did, my first reaction would be to remind you that you are not the boss of me. Seriously, maybe you didn’t intend it, but go back and read what you wrote – it’s uppity as all get out.
#776 – Alan B – in the case of Woodchuck, being cold adds to the crispness of the taste. Nothing stays too cold for too long on a hot day in the deep south. Cider here in the UK does not need to be very cold (cannot stand Boddington’s with ice – heresy), different formulas made for different tastes. As in love, we are often surprised what attracts others. :)
#788 Sili
“Music”? When do the good times start …
Oh well, better than:
Alan B,
I’ve had two types of perry. One is pearade with extra sugar and alcohol added. The other is a dry, alcoholic beverage similar to the cider you’ve been talking about only tasting of pears rather than apples. The first type is disgusting, the second is eminently drinkable.
Yeah i’ve had the woodchuck, and it was too sweet for me as well.
Well the Craft Beer store (The Beer Exchange) which is normally on top of anything I want, wasn’t. They’re only stocking beer which i guess makes sense.
So i went by whole foods and there were two choices.
Samuel Smiths cider, which tempted me only because I’ve drank my fair share of their other brews and spent one very long day in London in one of their pubs but I chose one called J.K. Scrumpy Orchard’s Gate Farmhouse Hard Cider.
We’ll see.
But I just made some salsa with Serrano chiles and forgot to wash my hands well enough and then took care of some of nature’s business so I’m considering pouring it in my lap at the moment.
It was a concious decision to make the link no music.
I actually used a cider kit, so I assume that it used cider apples.
23:15 (BST) – need my beauty sleep.
[Ed. Oh boy, does Alan B need some beauty sleep – or something, anything!]
See you in the morning. New day, new incarnation of the thread.
(Hope you make 1000 tonight …)
TMI, Rev.
Woodchuck bottles a pear cider, too. I linked it up there someplace.
Sounds reminiscent of scumble. As Nanny Ogg explains “It’s made from apples. Well, mainly apples.”
Sorry, and thanks. I’ll check it out
Is that your video?
Are you Youtube whoring?
As the dear Samantha told of her new beau, saying he was gonna make a fortune from scrumpy: He was planning to get big in cider.
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayoooooo
rimshot
Rev BDC, thanks for the intel report. Sorry you got the chili revenge thing going – last time I did that I did my eyes, not sure which is worse. :)
Do try Woodchuck on draft if the find it, better than the bottled, seems less sweet. Goes good with wings and seems to compliment strong garlic flavors and hot sauce. Interested in your review of JK Scrumpy, have tried it before.
Damn, now I have the taste for Calvados, walnuts and cheese and nothing useful for those cravings is open at 1130 at night.
Forgot my signoff song
If we are going to degnerate then:
There once was a maiden from Ryde
Who ate too many apples and died
The apples fermented
Inside the lamented
And made cider inside her insides.
(with many minor alternatives)
(Ryde is a seaside town on the Isle of Wight)
Alan B,
You will be overjoyed to know Nerd of Redhead lives and works near Racine, Wisconsin. I suspect he even knows a limerick which mentions Racine.
Yeah, I saw him on The Colbert Report talking about this. It’s funny, because my first thought was that he was living The Life of Brian. From the article:
OOOOOH
Bad Limerick Time?
(What? What? Oh, ok nurse, I will take my meds now.)
Nite all
I’ve been to the art museum in Racine. It was founded by an offshoot of the SC Johnson family. I actually live a bit south of Racine. (OK, north of Chicago, south of Racine, and a mile from the lake. Triangulate from that. ;) )
I’ve voted for Obama twice, so I’m on the other side (barely, give or take) of the state line.
No, I don’t recall the Limerick.
except in those parts where it’s called “pop” and you’d either get a blank stare or an argument when calling it “soda” :-p
interesting. I’m to my knowledge not allergic to any food. The only things that have caused allergic reactions are mosquito bites (though that’s gotten a lot better since I was a child), and whatever Tide puts in their cold-wash detergent (and did I ever have a fun time figuring that one out :-/ )
yay!
The latest position from the Catholic Church:
Attacks on Pope over child abuse scandal are ‘akin to anti-Semitism’
Yeah, you read that right.
I’m not allergic to anything much, no foods at all… not even mangoes. I dislike peaches strongly, but that’s not the same. I think they taste terrible.
The Laughing Man, I do get your rage. Believe me, some of us down here in Texas are trying to change things and it’s a frustrating fight.
There is still innocence in the world.
You’ve been talking a lot about chlorine trifluoride recently. Should we be concerned? I recall your fascination with FOOF.
Diethylzinc flame (it only works at the very end, when they use it neat)
Flaming tert-butyllithium.
Well, blow me down.
F’ing A, Nerd. I got people in Kenosha too!
I go to Woodmans out by the highway for the good beer, as IL has some inane laws on importing out-of-state stuff. We’ve also been to Frank’s Diner, as featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We stopped there with the Redhead’s parents on our way to Milwaukee one time.
Rev., I feel for you. I had a similar experience–but it was my first with habaneros. This was long before you could find these evil beasties in the US. I was in the Peace Corps in Africa and went to the market. Now, I’d been to Thailand, so I could handle hot food, right? Right? So I asked the market lady, “Which peppers are hottest?” She pointed to a pile of shriveled, misshapen peppers and I bought something like a pound of them.
Well, I took them home and sliced them up. Gloves, you say? Who needs gloves?
So, nature calls, and I go out to heed, and on the way back inside, I notice my hands are burning and shortly after, a lot more than my hands are burning. Great balls o’ fire!
I love habaneros, but I do wear gloves, now.
The mention of limericks gives me the opportunity to pass on one I actually learned from Edward Teller .
There once was a young man from Trinity;
Who took the square root of infinity;
but it gave him the fidgets;
to count all the digits;
so he chucked math and took up divinity.
I’m sorry, but this is unacceptable.
***
On cider: One of the segments of The Botany of Desire was about apples, and told the story of apples in the US which were almost entirely cider apples until people began to protest alcohol. I thought it was the most interesting part of the program. Anyway, they featured this place:
http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/
I’ve been dying to try it. If it’s good, I’ll send you some, Rev. Or you could try to find out if they’ll ship it if you’re interested.
Oh, hey! From a link at their site:
http://oldtimecider.com/north-american-cider-map-project/
Did I miss something, SC?
a_ray: You met Teller? What was he like?
Clearly! I have learned to live, cringing, with the practice of substituting the smiley for the period. But I will not, not, stand idly by while these perverse hybrids proliferate. The functional dignity of the parenthesis must be respected.
Ratzinger And The Cases Of Father Teta And Father Trupia:http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/04/ratzinger-and-the-cases-of-father-teta-and-father-trupia.html
I posted something on my FB wall about that Dickens Cider now I’m having a conversation about it with a friend who apparently doesn’t get that it’s a pun. >;)
On this solemnest of days, I nowadays ponder:
Did Jesus fake his death just to avoid tax season?
Yes, ma’am! But however will I indicate when I’m being friendly, not snarky?
:))
:)
Ol’Greg #814:
The scary thing is that some others are wildly applauding the fascist brigade of creotards shitting into our education system- since textbooks are bought wholesale from texas by all the other states. I wish you had more support.
Josh #791
The sad thing is that’s just about the worst reaction PZ could have to this outrage is to tell the people who are rightfully pissed the fuck off that they should shut up and mind there own business. I guess you don’t care that our children could be “educated” (read “indoctrinated”) by a fucking creationist right-wing nutjob dentist in Texas. But your concern is noted.
I feel like I just dodged a bullet, somehow.
Hey! Go ahead and post recipes! Also rants! Starfarts! Notices of Concern! Vidz! Whatever you got! It’s teh Thread! We can handle it!
Look, I’m even posting The Monkees!
@The Laughing Man
What? That he posted about Texas recently as already mentioned earlier and you couldn’t be fucked to go back and read the post and comment there?
Maybe you need to sit down when you pee instead of pissing all over the floor here. I do only have socks on.
@ Laughing Man:
Cheese and crackers – I surely do care! It was your imperious way of writing that I was just trying to draw to your attention. I get that you’re pissed – most of us are here, too. But there are better ways to persuade a blog author to pay more attention to your topic, that’s all. But I’m not PZ, so it’s just a random observation.
I’m not your enemy, really. :)
Here’s a recipe:
Toasted Strawberry Poptarts (but not the frosted bulshit)
Get some strawberry Poptarts (but not the frosted bullshit). Blueberry will do in a pinch, but NO FROSTING.
Toast your Poptarts.
serves 1
You toast your Poptarts, pal. Nastiest damned excuse for “pastry” evah.
jeez do I have to drive this thing by myself?
Poptarts are not “excuses for pastry”.
They are what they are.
They are Poptarts.
Beacue no one’s posted it in a while and it’s the right time of year. Hours (well minutes anyhow) of endless fun.
http://www.jesusdressup.com/number2.html
Cooks: All real (cough. . Sven. . cough) recipes snagged.
/pause recipe-cataloging subroutine
They are offensive.
/Seven of Nine
Ha!
“Hang in there, baby!”
HAhahaha
Poptarts are not food. They’re processed cardboard with sugar, genuine artificial flavoring, and poly-unsaturated poly added.
Poptarts provided 1100% of the daily recommended allowance of crap.
Look!
The Meat Puppets!
But I like processed cardboard with sugar, genuine artificial flavoring, and poly-unsaturated poly added. They go well with my freeze-dried, granulated instant coffee with genyoowine artificial non-fat, no-calorie creamer substitute.
‘Tis, poptarts do one constructive thing. They help fund my mother’s pension from Kelloggs.
And hazelnut syrup.
Oh, sweet fuck, tell me that’s not true, cicely. That’s vile.
Mac ‘n’ cheese
Buy the box of Kraft Dinner.
Make it like it sez (if you have the milk and butter-like substance. Otherwise improvise and deal.)
serves 1
Optional variation: substitute the organic shit from Annie’s
Sven, #851:
For once (on food), you’re absolutely right. I feckin’ love Kraft mac and cheese. I eat it with lots of salt and Mrs. Dash. No, Annie’s is no substitute, it’s a travesty.
I could tell you it’s not true, but it would be a lie. All I require of it is that it contain sufficient caffeine to prevent me falling, facefirst into my keyboard at work, snoring loudly and drooling in a disgusting manner.
I have never in my life claimed to have good taste! ;)
Real mac ‘n cheese is easy to make:
8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp paprika
Cook macaroni until al dente, then drain. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.
In a saucepan, melt half the butter over medium heat. Stir in flour to make a roux. Add milk to roux slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in cheeses, and cook over low heat until cheese is melted and the sauce is a little thick. Put macaroni in large casserole and pour sauce over macaroni. Stir well.
Melt remaining butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and brown. Spread over the macaroni and cheese to cover. Sprinkle with paprika.
Bake at 350°F/175°C for 30 minutes.
Serves 4.
So caffeine allows you to drool in a genteel, ladylike manner?
Nice recipe, ‘Tis! I’d differ with you on a couple of things, though, and I only learned these from Cook’s Illustrated (the best magazine; you can trust every recipe will be brilliant if you follow the directions).
If you substitute a softer cheese such as Monterey Jack for half of the cheddar, you’ll get a much creamier cheese sauce that doesn’t so easily break or curdle. Also, baking the whole thing for a half hour makes it likely the mac and cheese will end up “curdy” rather than creamy. Instead, combine the sauce and macaroni, then put the buttered breadcrumbs on top, and briefly run it under the broiler until golden.
I’m tellin’ ya, it comes out perfect.
No, it allows me to maintain a fragile, tenuous grasp on consciousness while waiting for my brain to boot up, thereby avoiding the drooling altogether.
As for ‘genteel’ and ‘ladylike’…I can do polite and businesslike. I guess I could drool in a polite, businesslike manner.
Verdict on the Scrumpy’s cider
meh
Tastes too much like regular apple juice, which is not what I was expecting or wanting.
Need to find a drier cider with more bite.
Abuse hotline set up by Catholic Church in Germany melts down on first day as 4,000 people phone in
Josh,
While I see the point of running the mac ‘n cheese under the broiler instead of baking it, I have to strongly disagree with substituting monterey jack for part of the cheddar. Monterey jack is too bland for my taste (and let’s not discuss that abomination called “monterey jack with jalapeños”). If you must substitute cheeses, a longhorn colby would be a better choice.
I bastardize my mac n’ cheese with freshly ground pepper, little chunks of ham, cooked almost-done -and-then-sauteed carrots, and a side of black olives. Wine is also required.
I had a feeling you were going to say that. Yes, the less cheddar you use, the less piquant flavor you get. But if you use a really, really sharp cheddar (like the expensive Cabot stuff), that makes up for it. I’ve used the Colby, too, and you’re right, it is preferable to plain old Monterey Jack. For me, the creaminess and lack of curdling is as important as the cheesy flavor.
Wine is always required.
Comply.
/Locutus of Gay
Gruyere is the king of mac and cheese
No, it cannot be. Gruyere may be the shining prince or princess which adds zest to the mac and cheese, but its chemical/protein composition is unsuited to being the king. It must only play a supporting role, unless you wish your mac and cheese to be a grainy mess.
For all you Tea Bagging wannabe Pharyngulistas.
This is how you do it.
http://consumerist.com/2010/04/cook-bacon-in-a-machine-gun-1.html
Only ten minutes left, for dawg sake DON’T KILL ANYTHING TODAY !! The critter will come back to life on Sunday and grow back into that nasty slimey Alien thing and tell me I can’t have no Sigourney Weaver, which I already knew, so I wasn’t impressed.
Then move on to bother everybody else for eternity.
My freind is playing funny jesus music right now in observation of kill a Christ weekend.
streaming link http://www.kpft.org/streamkpft.m3u
he’s on for another hour and five.
And here’s the comprehensive lowdown on what the fck is up with the Texas State Baord of Educatoin with me and Dan Quinn from Texas Freedom Network.
http://acksisofevil.org/audio/inner264.mp3
Oh, yes, I could make fancy, home-baked mac and cheese. But not if I expected my 8-year-olds to eat it. Kraft is the ONLY mac and cheese as far as they are concerned. My son will ask for it by name in restaurants.
They are not generally finicky, as children go, but they are most particular about mac & cheese.
Wine is always required for Mom.
Katrina, try the Cook’s Illustrated version of mac and cheese. Your kids will scarf it. Srsly.
Wait Isn’t this the holiday that if Jesus sees his shadow he goes back in the cave for 6 more months and we all get cheese?
It’s a monster from the sea!
Leave out the Mac and just have a good old fashioned fondue.
Kaftan wearing and Nana Mouskouri music optional.
Lynna @ 862
Why am I not surprised ?
wow html fail
Ok not king, but a hell of a supporting cast.
But the flavor wants me to crown it everytime I use it.
And yes broiler.
Katrina you have twins? Ditto on trying to reason with kids about food. I made the mistake of making an awesome Macaroni and cheese with a bunch of gourmet cheese, my son said, ‘It’s got cheese in it, I hate cheese, I want Mac and Cheese.’
Whatever, child apologetics, they’re not as picky since their bodies have grown and they need more fuel.
Humm ok, I guess I need to bust out the truffled mac and cheese recipe.
Now to find it.
Dear SC OM,
I found your sweatshirt.
And goodbye to Good Friday. Any day that commemorates the killing of a god is good for me.
“Why did they crucify Jesus?”
“He was the only part of God they could get their hands on.”
Start them early…
bacon baby
Bacon Flavored Instant Baby Formula
http://failblog.org/2010/04/01/epic-fail-photos-bacon-fail-or-win/
test
pass
I tried a Poptart once.
I was very disappointed. I had been under the impression they were edible items.
Still around. Just have not felt like talking.
Whip The Blankets-Neko Case
@Matt Penfold
Oreo’s and Twinkies
and Reese’s
Utopias. I’ve never had (or seen) it, or the earlier Millennium, but I have tried the Triple Bock (the 1997 “vintage”), and still a few a few (four?) bottles of it.
I live in the UK, and have never tried Oreos, Twinkies or Reese’s.
I suspect I have not missed much.
The relevant news items about the german hotline, that Cantalamessa dude, the Irish situation, the pathetic attempts of the aussie bishops to blame life the universe and everything on atheism andsoforth have all been linked to already.
I heard Archbishop Williams quoted on BBC radio on the way home saying “it’s hard for clergy now to go out and speak in public” or something to that extent, and I made a fist and grinned, and thought to myself, this is just fucking awesome !
I was in a supermarket here the other day and saw Oreos. Weird. Perhaps a distrurbing new trend. Today Oreos, tomorrow Hershey’s.
I think Oreo’s are trying to take over the world and I, for one, won’t be having any part of it. I refuse to live in a world that is so resolutely black or white.
That poptarts recipe looks extremely complicated and fiddly. And doesn’t involve food. Do you have something with food that is simple and foolproof?
UK based longtime lurker, first time poster. My son is a cider afficionado (he says). Kopparberg pear cider from Sweden is apparently the bees’ knees.
Williams was giving the Catholic Church in Ireland a bit of a kicking, saying it had lost all credibility. I suspect he was probably quite annoyed with them since he did not waffle nearly as much as he normally does. It is probably payback for the offer by the Catholics a few months ago to take on the Anglican bigots who are opposed to female Bishops and the Anglican stance on homosexuality.
Deep Red Bells-Neko Case
Why would anyone eat Poptarts when there are Toaster Strudel to be had?
Macaroni and cheese comes in a box labled “Velveeta Shells & Cheese” (or “Great Value Shells & Cheese”).
The RCC sucks and needs to realize the pedophilia scandal isn’t going to be swept under the rug.
That’s about it. It took me all evening to catch up on this thread and the iPad thread. I gotta get some sleep.
He’s apparently also annoyed at his own sheeple, Archbishop of Canterbury rebukes clergy over ‘persecuted’ Christians:
Instant coffee is just not the same. I may not be much of a gourmet, but my quality of life would be vastly diminished without my coffee machine.
I always drink coffee black, without any milk, cream or sweetener. Coffee should taste of coffee, and nothing else.
=======
Re the question somewhere above about apples: no, I’m not allergic. I just don’t like them. There are lots of foods I find revolting – bananas, most fresh fruit in general, milk, soft sliced bread, mashed potato, and a whole range of other things. I’m the king of finicky.
I presume instant coffee is about the same as freeze-dried dog turds.
Instant coffee is fetid, I really don’t know how anyone drinks it.
At stores, I settle for a long black with 2 raw sugars, at home I make espresso with dark brown sugar melted through it. If it weren’t 7:38pm here right now I’d make myself another cup. But alas, the hour grows late. So I’ll have to settle for a glass of West Australian Verdelho and watching a movie with my OH.
Since no one has anything better to do than gorp at the screen for the next few hours, here is an excellent site but then I would say so wouldn’t I – I am a Chemist!
It is a site from Nottingham Uni, England, with videos about each of the 112 elements (unless someone has made another recently).
The main access is:
http://www.periodicvideos.com/index.htm
Click on the symbol of the element you want to learn about.
There are some extra videos and also a number of physics and astronomy videos (but I haven’t followed those up myself):
http://www.periodicvideos.com/extravideos.htm
And in the FAQs there is a way of avoiding Youtube if this is an issue for you:
http://www.periodicvideos.com/contact.htm
For info., the wonderful “mad-Chemistry-Professor” type” is Martyn Poliakoff, CBE**, a research professor at the University of Nottingham and a pioneer in the field of green chemistry.
Hint: Erbium Er is of interest to those who like to know how the Internet works at the nuts-and-bolts level.
** Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. I was guess for contributions to bad hair styles!
I am a Chemist!
Aren’t there clinics that specialise in curing this?
#904 blf
[Ed. I told him and I told him but, sadly, Alan B prevaricated and now it’s too late.]
#902 Kel, OM
??
Pray tell me what the melting point is for dark brown sugar?
/pedant
Pygmy Loris #898
The rumor that Velveeta™ is a byproduct of sewage treatment plants is incorrect. It’s an almost naturally occurring phenomenon, being strip-mined in Montana and processed in the Dark Satanic Chemical Mills of Secaucus, New Jersey.
We have heard a lot of good “stuff” about pronunciation from “Count” David Marjanović. In the interest of balance, should we not hear how the King does it?
Clever! He has the children cover most of his German singing!! So, how good is he really …?
Maybe his time in the Army in Germany was not totally wasted. Maybe …
Alan B #903
Thank you for the link to the Periodic Table of Videos. I watched several of the videos, they were quite interesting. I’ve bookmarked the site.
Professor Poliakoff does have magnificent hair. I assume he’s about our age, so if he’s still got a full head of hair (unlike me) then he might as well flaunt it.
#908
Or this one with pictures (Wow!)
:|
also, yo mamma
#894 blf
I am a gastronomic pigmy in a world of giants but how about a simplified version of spaghetti bolognese?
While the egg spaghetti is cooking, fry some good quality minced beef in a (frying!) pan. Strain off the fat when cooked. Add tomato ketchup to taste. Keep heating the meat/ketchup until it is hot enough.
Serve the egg spaghetti (i.e. pile it onto a plate), add the meat/sauce.
Eat.
Variations
Add onions and/or garlic if desired. My wife is allergic to / has a sensitivity to any of the aliums so we don’t.
Add fresh or dried herbs to taste at the end of cooking. Stir in. Mixed dried herbs / basil – whatever you want.
Conclusion
“Simple and foolproof” was the requirement. It is both.
My recipe for M&C. Remove package of Stouffers M&C from freezer. Nuke according to the instructions on outer container.
2 food items:
1) Seen on a food packet in the local supermarket – in BIG colour-contrasting letters:
MADE WITH REAL INGREDIENTS!
2) As a matter of curiosity, has anyone met crisps (maybe that’s chips in the US – very thin sliced potatoes, baked or deep fried) but made with other root vegetables e.g. parsnips, beetroot, carrot?
I can recommend them.
NO!
Ketchup for spaghetti sauce? The mind boggles! The stomach churns! The gag reflexes!
Here’s a quick and dirty spaghetti sauce that even a chemist could make:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
2 cups (475 ml) tomato sauce
1/2 cup (120 ml) dry red wine
2 tsp (10 ml) dried basil
2 tsp (10 ml) thyme
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and fry, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and translucent but not brown. Add the tomato sauce and wine, bring to a boil. Add the basil and thyme, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve over pasta with grated parmesan or romano cheese.
If you have a couple of Italian sausages then remove the meat from the skin and brown with the softened onion.
My Cheese Sauce recipe.
300Ml Milk.
1/2 Onion, Roughly Chopped.
1 Clove Garlic, Crushed.
1 Stick Celery, Roughly Chopped.
1 Carrot, Roughly Chopped.
1 or 2 Bayleaves.
6 Black Peppercorns.
20g Plain Flour
20g Butter.
75g Strong Cheddar Grated(or similar hard cheese).
25g Parmesan, Grated.
1. Place Onion, Carrot, Celery, Garlic, Bayleaf and Peppercorns in a pan and add milk. Heat until milk just comes to the simmer. Remove from heat and leave for at least an hour. Do not remove the flavouring ingredients.
2.
1 Stick Celery, Roughly Chopped.
1 Carrot, Roughly Chopped.
1 or 2 Bayleaves.
6 Black Peppercorns.
20g Plain Flour
20g Butter.
75g Strong Cheddar Grated(or similar hard cheese).
25g Parmesan, Grated.
1. Place Onion, Carrot, Celery, Garlic, Bayleaf and Peppercorns in a pan and add milk. Heat until milk just comes to the simmer. Remove from heat and leave for at least an hour.
2. Melt the butter in a pan, and add flour. Mix, and cook for five minutes. If the milk has cooled reheat. Slowly add milk to the roux a small amount at a time, mixing well each time.
3. Add the cheese to the sauce, and continue to cook until melted. Simmer for a further ten minutes.
Matt,
I recommend you remove the bay leaves before serving.
You should remove all the flavouring ingredients from the milk once they have done their job.
Do you have something with food that is simple and foolproof?
How about some roasted veggies. Here’s what I’ve been doing lately.
Veggies I’ve been using as of late:
baby potatoes
brussel sprouts
leeks
mushrooms
fennel
1. Clean the veggies.
2. Toss with a nice olive oil and sea salt.
3. Arrange in a roasting pan with an orange or lemon, and some rosemary.
4. Cover and roast at 350 until nice and tender.
5. Toss veggies in a mustard vinaigrette (fennel will need to be sliced first. Rest should be ok)
6. Arrange on a plate, and drizzle with cherry balsamic vinegar.
#912 Kel OM
Translation and context in English English, please.
Sven:
Get the chocolate fudgd pop tarts. Toast. Lay one on a plate and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Crumble the second one on atop. Add punished cream and a maraschino cherry. Viola! instant sundae absolutely no redeaming cultural or nutritional value.
But good.
(Learned that one last century in my college daze.)
There’s a brand new item from PZ on the home page. Our days/hours/minutes are numbered, friends.
Mouskouri is never optional.
<kw*k>A fellow student at uni’s gay cousin was a big Nanafan, apparently to the point of communicating with her privately and getting personal invitations to her farewell concerts.</kw*k>
Katrina,
Why get m’n’c when going out to eat? I thought the whole point of restaurants was to get stuff you can’t make yourself.
“Whom” is dead! Good riddance!
I too am a chemist, but a failed one, so I really should get to work on those applications for teaching positions …
Alan B
Echoing ‘Tis, thanks for the elements link, and bookmarked also. Watched one so far. Nice hair.
You must have see the reent BBC4 series Chemistry: A Volatile History, loved it.
I learnt almost noting about chemistry at school, 45 years since my last lesson, and our Physics & Chemistry teacher was a) useless, b) a sadist who caned us with a fibreglass fishing rod – “The Yellow Peril” – at every opportunity.
I did steal a Liebig Condenser from the school, which I used to turn my home-made mulberry wine into neat alcohol, though, so my time there wasn’t completely wasted.
Jeeze. Persnickety crowd (Alan B, NoR, and Sven excluded)…I love all garbage foods, and any other food that someone else prepares. I will happily eat disgusting things if someone else puts it on the plate. Instant coffee? Sure. Boxed M&C…gimmeee some. Poptarts…with or without frosting. Mince and ketchup on spaghetti? Sure, and I’ll call it whatever name you like.
Now, what goes into my ear and eyeholes is another story. I LOVE to bitch about bullshit literature and the sterile pap that passes for music. And here is where it gets egregious…I don’t really know anything about either literature or music, and I will bitch, bitch, bitch about it anyway.
You can imagine that dinner parties at my house are short and poorly attended.
So can I! Very yummy, and very easy to eat a whole (large) bag in one sitting.
All crisps are good! Speaking of beets, I have recently been eating pickled beets like they were diet pills. I didn’t even realize until this week that I love them.
AE Recipe Time!
Simple…take any hotdog that you are eating and top it with sliced pickled beats, chopped onions, and spicy mustard. This is great garnished with shoestring french fries, and more pickled beets.
The pickled beet is a culinary tool that is heavily underused.
I’m* pickling some hardboiled eggs with beets right now. This will be awesome.
*My wife is doing this really, but I am providing support and encouragement for the whole project.
Alan B, I loved the Periodic Table of Elements. Especially lovely is the element Mt, which features some good history on a neglected female scientist.
The molecular videos are also good.
http://www.periodicvideos.com/index.htm#
Repeating the link for the convenience of others.
Antiochus:
Allow me to fix that for you: “The pickled beet is a tool of culinary torture that is heavily overused.
(((Wife))) likes pickled beets. I would rather listen to Yoko Ono’s greatest hits while shoving habanero-soaked sandpaper (gritty side out) up an unfit orifice.
Nothing personal. Just happens to be on of maybe three foods that make me gag. Violently.
The others are blood sausage and any organ meat (I had a bad experience with Coconino Cojones while spending the weekend with a friend who worked on a ranch (I was ten)).
Poliakoff put it well: “Hahn may have got the Nobel Prize but Meitner got an element named after her.” Considering the other scientists with elements named in their honor, Meitner is in truly distinguished company.
Good point about Meitner, ‘Tis. Sorry she wasn’t recognized with a Nobel, but awesome that an element is named after her. During her lifetime, I think she would have liked to have the recognition and money that comes with a Nobel.
In other news, BYU students heading to General Conference in Salt Lake City are packing heat. Some of the comments from readers are great.
‘Tis Himself:
Don’t forget the densest element ever discovered. It was named after a politician: Bushium (periodic symbol Gw). Manages to be incredibly dense, non-reactive with most normal elements (but is explosively reactive with Conservitium) and highly energetic in damaging ways.
(Waiting for a slide scan (scanned at 9k dpi resolution) to finish a filter (I need the verdammkt thing to be large poster size (and I only need part of the image (aargh (my kingdom for a computer with adequate RAM for graphics!))))))
Sous-Vide on the cheap for a rack of lamb.
haven’t tried this myself – rack of lamb is too expensive to experiment with for me – but it sounds as if it should work.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I’m going to a giant pillow fight today.
Easy food?
Microwave “Baked” Potatoes
Use cheaper, smaller, thin-skinned potatoes such as are found in bags in supermarkets.
Wash potatoes.
Poke holes in potatoes with fork to prevent explosions(!).
Put on plate in microwave.
Nuke until softened (about 15 minutes for 4 medium potatoes).
Cut open with knife (hot, damned hot).
Top with everything.
Nuke some more if cheese needs melting.
Eat skin and all if you prefer.
Ooo, you missed some of the melted cheese, there.
Josh: I really like Cook’s version, and have tried it several times. I expect in another year or two, it will be a hit.
I might be able to sneak “real” mac & cheese by if I used that processed Velveeta stuff. But then, what would be the point? Might as well get the box.
scooterKPFT: Yes, I’ve survived eight years of twin-parenting so far. My favorite bumper sticker reads, “You can’t scare me, I have twins.”
Here’s a hilariously ironic headline
Anglican leader: Irish Catholic Church has lost ‘all credibility’
How to celebrate Easter properly:
Gather round to see if Jesus sees his shadow.
If Jesus sees his shadow in the morning, he’ll go back to the zombie party, and all will be well. (This is the most likely scenario, and should be celebrated by drinking almost anything but blood.)
If Jesus doesn’t see his shadow and it looks like we might be stuck with him, crucify an Easter Bunny — that’ll scare him … and he’ll return to the zombie party. Celebrate by peeling and then eating festively-colored eggs. Scatter the eggshells near the tomb to attract more bunnies and other vermin.
(Some splinter sects think Jesus is looking for a cage match with the Easter Bunny, but we all know that Zombie Jesus would be no match for the Easter Bunny. Yeah, like Jesus would not see his shadow and then be all like, “I’m gonna pound the Easter Bunny! I’m the Easter Bunny’s worst nightmare! Call me the Easter Bunny Tenderizer!” That is so unbelievable. And besides, the Easter Bunny would eat Jesus’s lunch.)
WTF! This thread is still open! <labiolingual trill> Maybe we can get it to 1000 !!
I just bought the laughably expensive ticket for Copenhagen :-)
Recipe later.
LOL!
Remarkably, the US system is the international one.
Yesssss!!! That’s how I sublimate “my male urge to fight and to kill” (Hot Shots II). <toothy grin> <mad gleam in eyes>
Doesn’t surprise me. I repeat the nitroglycerine anecdote: we made a drop of it in the Chemistry Olympics course, and the teacher whacked it with a hammer. Nothing happened, it wasn’t dry. Drying it is not an option, because you can’t take it out of the exsiccator – instead, the exsiccator (a few kg of glass) would take you out.
<sound of name dropping and impacting>
Day saved!
X-D
(Yes, I am laughing. That this situation is a sickeningly bad joke doesn’t mean it’s not a joke.
Horror.)
Too cool.
Lovely!
Good enough! :-) Basically, only his bl is English.
Spaghetti aglio e olio :-9
Herbs: always good.
While I am at it, frying noodles in it is one of the few culinary uses of olive oil. For most other things, its strong taste is a… distraction that doesn’t fit the taste of the rest of the dish.
Yes. Haven’t tried them, though.
:-D :-D :-D
:-)
Is someone compiling a cookbook?
Looks like I’m the only one who has not yet contributed a recipe. I’m not gourmet; I’m not microwave meal; I’m comfort food.
This is my tweak on an old family favorite:
Spiced Pot Roast
1 to 2 lb. ‘pot roast’ slab of beef
1 to 2 T oil
1/4 cup seasoned flour
2 onions, cut up
1 15 0z. can stewed or diced tomatoes
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 t ground cloves (or to taste)
pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
2-3 stalks celery, cut in chunks
3-4 carrots, peeled, cut in chunks
3-4 potatoes, peeled, cut in chunks
———————
Dredge beef in seasoned flour; brown in hot oil. Add onions. Combine tomatoes with vinegar, brown sugar, and spices in a bowl; pour over beef. Simmer 1 hour. Add vegetables. Simmer additional 1-2 hours. (can also eliminate cut-up potatoes, and make mashed.)
Smells very good while cooking.
Tis,
The evil from the Satanic Chemical Mills must be why it tastes so damn good. :)
All of the instant coffee talk reminded me, Backpacker gave Starbucks’ Via instant coffee the editor’s choice award in the gear guide this year. I have yet to try it, but I hear it’s quite good.
Looks like I’m the only one who has not yet contributed a recipe.
Sastra, you would be mistaken. I have not contributed one recipe. And frankly, I am getting just a little tired of scrolling past the recipes to get to the other comments. I guess I am asking that PZ sets up two threads; one for recipes and the other for everything else.
I guess I am not a very domesticated female type.
Grießkoch
Falls under categories such as porridge and kasza, but also comfort food.
Boil the milk. Yes, that’s milk, not water with milk in it. You need to stay at the stove the whole time and stir incessantly; it burns very easily.
When it boils, pour in large amounts of sugar and meal. The meal expands a lot, so be careful not to take too much – if it’s too much, the whole thing becomes elastic (a sight to behold, a wonder to stir).
Add lots of cinnamon; keep stirring. The browner, the better.
Add honey, butter and salt for taste. Chocolate is another possibility, I think.
Finally, be surprised by how little of it you can actually eat in one sitting (especially if you took too much meal). Then weep, because the taste is so delightful (if you found a good ratio of ingredients).
Ah, pot roast. That’s quintessential comfort food, Sastra! Here’s one you might like:
Homemade Shake ‘n Bake Chicken (and Spokesgay haaalped!)
1 and 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. sweet or hot paprika
plenty of salt and pepper
Mix dry ingredients, making sure to crush thyme in your fingers as you add it — that really makes a difference in the flavor — and use as below, or store in cupboard for later.
4 – 6 pieces chicken (thighs and drums work best. leave skin on for moistness and flavor)
1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (gives a moistness and tang; essential if you’re using skinless chicken breasts as these dry out and are bland without the buttermilk or yogurt)
Dip chicken in buttermilk, then press into coating firmly until they’re well-coated. You can even dip them again in the buttermilk and into the coating a second time for a really thick crust. Bake the chicken at 350 degrees, for about 45 minutes. They come out crispy, tender, and moist.
Did anyone here listen to this week’s Point of Inquiry (Thomas J.J. Altizer – The Death of God) – I listened to it twice, and couldn’t make any sense out of the argument. Something about having to be Christian to be an atheist? very strange.
Chicken? I give you my favourite chicken recipe — which (coincidentally) is supper tonight.
I like garlic. Hell, in our house, garlic is considered a vegetable. I’ve been known to go through as many as 10 bulbs of garlic in a month. Not cloves of garlic. Bulbs.
This recipe comes (in a roundabout way) from a garlic cookbook (a collection of recipes from the Gilroy Garlic Festival) in which it is listed as ‘Uncle Hugo’s Chicken.’ My name is not Hugo. I have no uncle, much less an uncle by the name of Hugo. I am an uncle, though, so to her I am Uncle Bill. Thus, my heavily altered version of the recipe is called:
Uncle Bill’s Chicken
2 bulbs (yes, bulbs) of garlic, peeled and finely diced
1 stick sweet (unsalted) butter
3 slices of good white bread
1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan Reggiano, Asiago, or other good strong butter Italian hard cheese
1/4 cup fresh parsley, stemmed and minced
1 pound of chicken cutlets (2 large chicken breasts sliced into thin cutlets)
Peel and finely dice the garlic. No, go smaller. Mince it. Use the freshest garlic you can find. Do not use dried, dehydrated or powdered garlic. It won’t work.
Melt the butter in a small pan (there should be about 1/2 inch of melted butter in the pan). Don’t let the butter foam. Dump in the garlic, stir, and allow to fry for about 5 to 10 minutes. Don’t let the garlic brown but make sure it really is cooked.
While you are doing that, use two forks to reduce three pieces of good white bread (homemade is best) into crumbs. Mix in the cheese and parsley. Place the bread crumbs in a large flat bowl.
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Allow the garlic and butter to cool. Don’t refrigerate it or it will solidify. Just be cool, not cold. When the garlic butter is cool, dip each chicken cutlet into the butter and then coat both sides with the bread crumbs. Place each cutlet onto a baking sheet (jelly roll pans work nicely as they won’t let the butter drip over the sides).
Once all the cutlets are coated, mix any leftover crumbs with the butter and make it into ‘crumbles.’ Sprinkle it over the cutlets.
Bake at 450 for about 15 to 20 minutes, just until the chicken is cooked. The coating should be crunchy but not burned.
Serve with a large salad and a side of cheese raviolis tossed with melted butter.
Don’t let the amount of garlic scare you away from this dish. The frying and then baking takes most of the ‘bite’ out of the garlic and gives it a mellow, almost nutty, taste.
@Rev. BigDumbChimp:
I found your FINISHED! DM gave it to someone else.
With the vigorous reaction my “recipe” and particularly against tomato ketchup I am wondering whether it is different in the USA. Just as a check, the ingredients are (in descending order by mass):
Concentrated tomato puree – 70%
Sugar
Spirit Vinegar
Salt
Spices
And nothing else. No added chemicals, no E-numbers, no preservatives, no colouring, no acidity regulators. How does this compare with your idea of tomato ketchup?
To compare the recipe with ‘Tis Himself, #916:
He has onions and garlic (an option in my suggestion and unsuitable for anyone with an allergy to alliums).
He has 2 cups of tomato sauce – I would use between half and a full 500 ml bottle of ketchup, depending on the amount of meat. This does not seem a million miles away depending on what you mean by “tomato sauce”.
Dried basil and thyme – in the ketchup or added extra as I mention just before serving.
Red wine – OK missing.
This really does not seem too far different in ingredients.
Mine fits easily with the requirement of being simple and foolproof. Others seem to involve more attention and more time:
Preheat pan and oil.
Prepare onion and garlic.
Brown same with frequent stirring and until a particular colour/texture for which attention is needed
Add tomato sauce and wine. Bring to the boil.
Then 20 minutes simmering.
Certainly a chemist can make it and I’ll probably have a try sometimes but that sounds to me over half an hour of real time with regular or on the spot attention for half of that.
Of course it’s not cordon blur cooking – it’s quick, simple, foolproof food – as requested.
Speaking of coffee, I switched to fresh roast from the speciality shop a while back, while trying to cut down on my intake at home. I like good, strong, black coffee and was recommended a Mount Kenya thingie which is quite nice.
Well, last Monday the grinder for those beans was out of commission and I asked what they’d recommend instead. I came home with a Tanzania coffee and it’s just so unbelievably smooooth! I didn’t realise good coffee could be that non-bitter.
Josh, you forgot the best part.
CARPET BOMBING… LAMB POWER!!!
Is LAMB POWER as bad as napalm?
It looks like people may have misinterpreted by intended-to-be-sarcastic/ironic comment about poptarts: Do you have something with food that is simple and foolproof? Or/And maybe I’ve since had too much vin at lunch and beer watching the rugby…
I like to cook, albeit I rarely follow recipes very precisely. Or even at all. (I can’t bake worth a damn, and my allergic reaction to following recipes is probably why.) I do use them for inspiration, and am a bit inspired right now by iambilly’s garlic chicken (@949), so if I never comment again, you know it was fatal. ;-)
Janine – LAMB POWER is the most awesome destructive force known to humankind. Makes Napalm look like scented bath moisturizer.
BLF: Hang on a mo’. Lemme check my insurance policy.
[pause]
Okay. Go ahead.
And I am glad I can inspire something.
Since nearly everyone else has posted a recipe, here’s mine.
Generic recipe:
1) put water in pot
2) put stuff-to-be-eaten in water in pot
3) put pot (+water+stuff-to-be-eaten) on burner on stove (pick one)
4) turn on burner on stove
5) pour glass of wine/mug of beer/other beverage as appropriate
6) drink some of whatever-it-is from step 5
7) check pot for signs of boiling water
8) repeat steps 6-7 (or 5-7) appropriate number of times until water is boiling
9) cover pot and let water boil for sufficient time (dependent on stuff-to-be-eaten)
10) turn burner off
11) remove pot from stove
12) drain water
13) put stuff-to-be-eaten on plate/in serving dish/whatever
Serves 1
#957 Works for me!
frozen midwest,
Excellent recipe, but I usually substitute a skillet and butter/olive oil for the pot and water.
#957, nuking it also works. Planovers. Ummmm.
Inspired by a mention of Spirited Away in an earlier incarnation of the Thread, I watched it again, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Question for anyone who knows anything about Japanese culture:
When Chihiro stepped on the evil slimy thing, she and Kamajii did this thing where she put her forefingers together, and he swiped his hand through them.
Is this something common to Japan, analogous to a “cootie shot”, or was it just made up for the film?
Owlmirror, according to one of the documentaries on my edition of Spirited Away, you are correct.
I am a simple man, and stick with simple flavors and techniques, but I cook more than most bachelors I know these days.
Four-Ingredients Seared Meat:
Unwrap meat, let warm up a bit, shape into patties if needed.
Sprinkle top surface with soy sauce, black pepper and garlic powder (and cayenne powder if you want kick). (Soy sauce goes on first so spices stick to it.)
Pre-heat dry skillet until water drops jump around. No oil is needed in nonstick.
Drop meat into hot skillet, spiced side down.
Sprinkle new top side with spices as above.
Flip and remove as needed for desired doneness.
Warning: This can really smoke up a kitchen.
I start most meat this way. Steaks get shoved around a bit and taken out rare but crusty. Hamburgers get turned down and cooked thoroughly. Chuck roast goes down to a simmer, with some water and a lid, and left for over four hours (adding water gets soupy meat and lots of juice, but it’s yummy to end with barely-moist meat in an almost-caramelized layer of goodness (which is easier in the oven) and carrots and potatoes and onions can be added during cooking).
Do not use a lid when frying, but a splatter shield may be a good thing.
Is the History Channel showing all of these ridiculous Xian based “documentaries” because tomorrow is Easter? There was just a show on about angels, and now a whole two hours devoted to the anti-christ.
Pygmy Loris, those christian “documentaries” has taken the place of all of the Nazi documentaries that the channel used to show. The only difference between this weekend and a normal one is that they are showing more of this dreck.
somebody needs to lubricate the damn portcullis
Ok, I’ve just stuck my inspired—and possibly fatal—variant of iambilly’s garlic chicken in the oven…
Main problem is it turned out all my garlic bulbs had rotted. ;-( So, after a moment’s thought, I decided to substitute the last of my habanero chilis, plus some leek (after detaching the Welshman by pointing out a nearby sheep).
Since I’m unkeen on coated chicken, and (amazingly, since this is France!) discovered I had no bread, I substituted a layer of sliced potatoes on the bottom (sprinkled with some commercial Ethiopian curry powder), a mix of other veggies on the top (sprinkled with soy sauce), with the chicken and habanero-leek-butter mixture in the middle, sprinkled with some ground almonds. I also used a bit less butter, and added some milk.
The chicken is some legs, whole, with skin. All ingredients organic. The vin is a Bordeaux rogue, which might work better with the garlic than the habaneros. The smells now coming from the oven are pretty good…
David tried, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. If the portcullis won’t come down, let’s hit 1000 post to tick off the poopyhead. +1
I’m eating gubmint bean soup.
recipe:
1)be poor enough to receive gubmint beans, or know someone who does….
:-p
(i accidentally posted this on the wrong thread first; stoopid tabs :-p)
I can assure you, I have never contributed a single recipe. On a good day, I can just about manage to make toast, or put a ready meal in the oven.
I imagine you meant a Bordeaux rouge. Though I have to wonder what a rogue wine would taste like.
(In accordance with the Bierce-Hartmann-McLean-Skitt Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation, there must be at least one typographical error in this post. I haven’t found it yet.)
neither have I, IIRC. There’s only two recipes that I can say are really mine (and really recipes, instead of kitchen improv), and I can’t remember posting either the pumpkin pie or the cranberry-apple pie recipe on here.
Jadehawk,
What kind of government beans? Last month commodities here loaded the poor up with great northern white beans. Why aren’t they giving away black beans and rice?
Uh, well, in my case it’s because it was, like, 1976 +2 or so. Back in the days before Toaster Strudels. Before dot-matrix printers, even!!
Morning swimming practice before school, and scarfing Poptarts while using the wall-mounted hairdryers in the girls’ locker room.
To this day, I like Poptarts (not the frosted sugarbombs), and I do not care what you say.
Would I serve them if the freakin Queen came for freakin Tea?
No.
That’s what Milanos are for.
Jadehawk, I’m sure I remember you posting something about key-lime pie at some point. (I don’t pay much attention to the recipes, admittedly, so this might be a figment of my imagination.)
Funny, the typo usually go the other way, resulting in fanfic full of cosmetics raping and pillaging.
As it happens I had chicken, too, tonight. Three thighs from the freezer, defrosted in the fridge. Rubbed with some olive oil, salt, pepper and merian. As it turns out my new, wee combioven has a roast “chicken setting”. 21 minutes for 500 g. Roast all the way through. Garnishes were leftover steamed/boiled spuds, carrots and turnips from a coupla days ago (made them to go with some herring) and beans and peas out of the freezer. Not bad.
Tomorrow calls for an old fashioned omelet with tomatoes, chives and fatty bacon. On my first ever homemade sourdough rye black bread. With an Easter beer to round it all off.
red kidney beans, from approximately half a decade ago, at least. My boyfriend’s mom used to get them, but they’re so vile that she’d rather plant them instead. The red kidney beans were all duds though, so they were lying around in her pantry unused.
I know she used to get pinto beans and great northern white ones, but those get planted. no black beans.
Yes, she wanted to make key lime pie that didn’t use condensed milk. I suggested using lime curd in the filling. Others came in with other ideas. +1
<graemebird>Liar!</graemebird>
Sven,
Ah, I see. I hardly ever eat toaster breakfasts in general. Milanos, OTOH, are delicious, so I pick them up whenever they’re on sale.
yeah, that would have been me asking for recipes, because I didn’t want to use condensed milk.
for the lulz: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/04/irony_perfected.php
Re: Government beans
When (((Wife))) and I were young, I got a job with the NPS as a GS-5 Park Ranger (my dream job). My salary was about $600 every two weeks (after taxes and other deductables). After rent and utilities, we were broke (as was our 10-year-old Subaru wagon (well, the U-joint was broke). Another ranger pointed us to WIC.
Women/Infant/Children is a fantastic food suplement program. Beans, selected cereals, milk, cheese, fresh veggies, vouchers for farm markets, and formula — all good food.
We subsisted — as a family — on beans, rice, cheese and veggies for a couple of years. Sometimes our meat for the week was a ham shank (which made great bean soup). It kept (((Wife))) and (((Boy))) (the one who is now drifting through college (third or fourth major now)) healthy.
It pisses me off no end to hear folk complain about those who get government handouts. I had a career conditional job, a VA pension, and still needed some help to keep my family healthy. I’m quite happy that it was available. One of the few things that burns my biscuits more is those who complain about the freeloaders while taking pensions themselves.
*graemebird**makes sign of crossed tentacles to ward off insanity*
*feels 2 IQ points lower in any case*
Key lime pie. Hope it isn’t the Dexter version. +1
One of the few things that burns my biscuits more is those who complain about the freeloaders while taking pensions themselves.
Should read:
One of the few other things that burns my biscuits more is those who complain about the freeloaders while taking pensions themselves.
ON TO THE MILLENIUM!!!!
Ok, I’ve just have my first serving of the modified “garlic” chicken and am pleased to report that I haven’t di
aaAAARRGGG
GGGHH
HHHH…
Look out, that chicken’s dynamite!
So you correctly remembered the pronunciation of cordon bleu. :-)
So true, so true… :-)
Steaks are just wrong. Beef must never be fried, it must be boiled. (Exactly the opposite of pork.)
(…With minced meat, the pork wins, though: it must be fried. By “minced meat” I mean a 50-50 mixture of minced beef and minced pork, not the tasteless, fatless pure minced beef sold in France.)
:-S :-S :-S
=8-)
<sing mode=”Don Giovanni”>mille tre, mille tre, mille tre!!!</sing>
Maybe the Redhead would be interested… +1
“Beef must never be fried, it must be boiled.”
Delicate shudder of disgust and dismay.
Nothing wrong with poptarts, those suckers will light a fire double quick, stick it in the kindling, touch a match to an edge, burns very well. Actually, I do like them, but seldom have them as I do not have a sweet tooth. Food snobs can sneer, but I look upon it as ethnic American food and sneering at ethnic is damn close to racism!
(tongue firmly in cheek)
Obligatory song – like Tom’s version better than Rascal Flatt’s. This song got me through a lot of bad times after my last wife’s death.
<*looks helplessly at exclusive-or question answered with “yes”*>
I hope you mean on the 2nd disc of the two disc set. I have yet to watch those.
Wow, the Endless Thread is going to hit 1000.
Must be an Easter miracle.
Owlmirror, it has been a couple of years. I forget if it was in one of the commentaries or documentaries but it was explained. Also, how Noface and many of the spirits in the bathhouse are familiar archetypes in Japanese lore.
I am now feeling the urge to watch the DVD again.
Must be an Easter miracle.
Reminds me. Have to watch Live Of Brian tomorrow. My one Easter tradition.
It’s already Sunday here. Got up at 5 am to put the eggs on the kids beds before they woke up, little buggers woke about 15 minutes later and by 7 had eaten their body weight in chocolate.
..I figure it’s one day of the year, let ’em gorge themselves. I’ll attempt to get some wholegrains of some sort into them later but I’m not hopeful.
.. for a person who doesn’t like chocolate, Easter has no meaning for me other than seeing the kid’s enjoy themselves.
Hum… Tomorrow is in about 30m. Wonders if he should start a similar tradition with the film Life of Brian…
*shudders*
Decent beef should either be grilled or roasted. Only cheap pieces should be subjected to liquids. And under no circumstances should beef ever be fried.
I wouldn’t fry pork either. Well, except for BACON, naturally.
I’m mildly addicted to ghost and demon stories from Japan.
There’s a fun site with a fairly nice list of characters:
http://www.obakemono.com/introduction.php
beef stir-fry is tasty though…
and yeah… only soup-bones should be boiled. boiling transfers the taste into the liquid, leaving no taste in the meat itself.
(((Billy)))
I am glad that WIC was there for your family when you needed it. People who sneer at those who receive government assistance piss me off to no end. There are all kinds of assistance and all kinds of people who receive assistance. We have plenty of food for everyone, so what’s the big deal to the haters? It’s not like they have to starve because someone else receives food stamps and WIC.
Interesting note on commodities. My grandmother used to receive almond butter (instead of peanut butter) in giant tubs marked USDA back in the 80s. Now it’s considered some sort of fancy thing and costs a fortune at the supermarket. It’s amazing what perceptions can do to for the price and desirability of something. :)
Jadehawk, you’re right. Stir-fry is a wonderful exception. I was remembering the trauma of having a deliciously tender steak pan-fried for me by a well meaning roommate in college. It tasted like pot roast. :-(