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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Open Thread : Thursday Night Menu

Open Thread : Thursday Night Menu

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Take it away, Bad Horse’s Filly…

I mentioned earlier that I have the winter doldrums. I await spring and the fresh foods it brings and the grilling. Lots and lots of grilling. So, tonight’s menu reflects a bit of that desire, even though for many of us, we’ll have to be satisfied cooking it in a cast iron skillet (did you hear? I got a new one!) or broiling in the oven.
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On the board tonight:
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1. Steak with Coffee Rub
2. Green Beans w/Bacon & Onion
3. Baked Potatoes
4. Blueberry Coffee Cake

For full recipes and shopping list (not to mention JeffreyW’s kitty pics), click on the link.

P.S. Word Press’s line spacing issues are getting even more bizarre. Even using the double-underscore text break doesn’t work consistently for me now. Suggestions appreciated, but no guarantees.

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    Xboxershorts

    I gotta travel to the DC area for work for a week. I found 2 really nice porterhouse steaks to have a nice sit down dinner with the wife before I hit the road on Sunday..(hope the roads are clear by then), Thank you filly for the recipes, I like the coffee rub, that sounds great!

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    I forgot to mention that I made the Baked Gnocchi from a couple of weeks ago and it was yummers even though I was lazy and used packaged gnocchi.

  8. 8.

    SIA

    Very interesting re the coffee rub. I use strong coffee when cooking a roast sometimes – gives it a nutty rich flavor.

    @Martin: Shit like this keeps happening and they seem to get away with it. Makes me want to scream. Did the labor guy get in after Franken’s involvement?

  9. 9.

    Dave C

    This “holds” thing needs its own thread. Holy shit. It’s going to be interesting to see tomorrow which villagers will talk about this and which won’t. More importantly, it will be interesting to see who comes up with the lamest excuses for why placing a simultaneous hold on all of the President’s nominees just because you want some more pork for your state is not the epitome of egregious obstructionism.

  11. 11.

    Rhoda

    Wow.

    I can’t believe Shelby did this.

    If the Democrats don’t take this opportunity to tell the story of the Republicans shutting down the government and contrast the senate to the house where shit got done; they deserve to lose control in 2010. This is Newt Gingrich shutting down the government because Bill Clinton hurt his feelings stupid-good for the party; this is the stupid shit that saves politicos that should be toast if not for the grace of their opponents blind stupidity.

    Between this and Ryan’s budget in the House the Democrats ought to get to work making hay.

  12. 12.

    El Cid

    @Martin: According to TPM, Shelby’s fiscal conservatism forced him to put a hold on 70 nominees so he can get more of them big gubmit federal dollars for Alabammy:

    According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. CongressDaily laid out the programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:
    …
    – A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From the report: “Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.”
    …
    – An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: “[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won’t build” the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based “at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.”

    I is a fiskal conservtiv! Gimme mah fedrul munee! Stop da spendin’! Ah hate the fedrul gubmit! Gimme mah munee!

  15. 15.

    mr. whipple

    According to TPM, Shelby’s fiscal conservatism forced him to put a hold on 70 nominees so he can get more of them big gubmit federal dollars for Alabammy:

    This Senate is totally out of control.

  16. 16.

    Martin

    @SIA: No. He’s still on hold. Depending on what SCOTUS says about decisions coming down from a 2 member board, the GOP may have just effectively eliminated the NLRB.

  17. 17.

    Max

    Project Runway related – I fucking hate when the “designers” act like the world is ending because they have to design for a non-model size person.

    Fucking spoiled brats.

    Anthony rocks!

  18. 18.

    robertdsc

    @Mario Piperni:
    Neat!

    I do hope that the nuclear option is implemented first thing tomorrow morning. No debate, no accommodation, just obliteration of the roadblocks and serious legislation begins to move without delay. This is intolerable.

  19. 19.

    eastriver

    @Martin:

    This is a blindingly-retarded tactical mistake. The GOP are going to get ass-hammered over this. It’s pure political obstructionism with no ideology attached. And the timing couldn’t be worse. They pulled the emergency cord when there’s not an emergency. Even the Villagers will chuff over this.

  20. 20.

    J.W. Hamner

    I made Coq au Vin tonight for the first time and was very pleased. I dig me some classical French cooking. I’ll put up a blog post about, while fleshing out the picture descriptions, tomorrow sometime… but at the moment I’m mainly happy with the meal and my pictures.

  22. 22.

    El Cid

    @eastriver:

    This is a blindingly-retarded tactical mistake. The GOP are going to get ass-hammered over this.

    I’d hope so, but it’s equally likely that it will be treated very gently as a measure of bipartisanship.

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    @General Winfield Stuck: Duuuh… sorry! Yes, I did get the pics, yesterday in fact, and I meant to email you but got distracted.

    To whom it may concern: GWS’s photos are even prettier on paper than on Flicker!

  24. 24.

    beltane

    @Martin: Unless Shelby is made an example of, this country will rapidly pass the even horizon into a banana republic. I wish there were still some old time Chigaco pols that could make this asshat an offer he couldn’t refuse.

  25. 25.

    eastriver

    @El Cid:

    I can’t see the bipartisanship angle. It’s partisan, whichever angle you hold it to the light. It’s just a question of how it will be perceived.

    As a brave and daring stand on principal.

    A fucktarded act of ass-cappery.

    Or a shuddering yawn.

  26. 26.

    MagicPanda

    @Martin: what I don’t get is that the whole concept of a hold appears to be more of a senate custom than a rule. This headline reads to me like “republicans demand lunch money; democrats powerless to stop them”

  27. 27.

    Martin

    @eastriver: Well, they SHOULD bet ass-hammered. I’m not sure they will, though.

    What’s 9 degrees of awesome is that he’s shutting down part of the executive branch over a $40B earmark. Further, it’s a contract currently in bidding that was so poorly handled 2 years ago that Gates shut it down and told them to start over and they’re right back into it again. From the sounds of it, he’s trying to bypass the bidding process.

    This is the case that GAO shut down because of a deal between Boeing and an air force official that ultimately went to prison. Shelby has been pushing hard for this for years. It’s just absurdly transparent.

  28. 28.

    El Cid

    @eastriver: I’m just telling you that a number of Democratic leaders manage to find bipartisan angles in any available dumpster. I’m not saying it’s justified. We’ll see which way they go.

  30. 30.

    El Cid

    @Martin: Good point. I assume we’ll soon hear John McCain’s outrage on Shelby’s move, given how angry he was about earmarks all throughout the Presidential campaign. Amirite?

  31. 31.

    Chris

    Here is an example of red state reaction to a “census bus” (something to promote/explain the census I assume) stopping through our little town. During which, a young lady was explaining to one of our residents what this census deal is all about..

    “EXPLAIN? Explain what?? If you can’t read you shouldn’t be counted. As a matter of fact, if you can’t read you shouldn’r be allowed to vote either. And further more if I lived in pembroke, this bus would have offended me. What is the town of pembroke saying about its citizens? Having to be taught to check little boxes on on a Government form. Remember people when you get to the box that asks for your race, don’t forget to wright in AMERICAN. What would Jesus do????”

    I probably wouldnt want alot of brown people counted either..if I was a winger….

  33. 33.

    Joel

    Scrounged some stuff together from around the house:

    1. Cook’s Illustrated recipe for creamy polenta
    2. Fresh cannelini beans cooked in the pressure cooker
    3. Homemade sundried tomato pesto

    mix 2 and 3 and use to top on 1.

    Should be good.

  35. 35.

    eastriver

    @El Cid:

    No, I get and appreciate your point. I just don’t see how it’s possible to paint this as anything other than what it is.

    Who knows?

  36. 36.

    El Cid

    @Chris:
    What would Jesus do about the Census? I don’t know, but we know what his, um, step-dad? half-dad? did:

    In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. (Luke 2:1-7—NRSV)

    Of course, this isn’t the ConservaBible in which Joseph and Mary came out with double-barreled shotguns and waved them in the face of the census-taker and told him they didn’t want no damn fedrul gubmit parasite puttin’ little checky marks down on no papyrus or clay tablet about them no damn way.

  37. 37.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    @AnneLaurie:

    (not to mention JeffreyW’s kitty pics)

    In case I haven’t mentioned it, JeffreyW rocks and I’m so glad he agreed to post on my blog. He’s posted some great stuff.

  38. 38.

    beltane

    @El Cid: Alabama needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps and stop driving Cadillacs and buying T-bone steaks on the taxpayers’ dime.

  39. 39.

    Martin

    @El Cid: Adding to the fun, this week Northrop threatened to pull their bid because they thought the Pentagon was favoring Boeing who had a lower bid. So much for the free market, I guess.

  41. 41.

    Xenos

    @J.W. Hamner: The best thing about a good coq au vin recipe is that it also makes a superb lagos stefatho, a/k/a Greek style stewed rabbit. Just throw some extra onions in the pot, and, of course, some nice cute bunnies.

    If you want to be authentic you can use wild hares, but they are as hard to come by in the supermarket as the tough old cocks that the French recipe calls for.

  44. 44.

    Anne Laurie

    @Max:

    I fucking hate when the “designers” act like the world is ending because they have to design for a non-model size person.

    Speaking of media bubbles, the fashion industry haz dem one. Jezebel had a story recently about a magazine shooting 8 different nekkid models:

    “[W]e took eight women who are generally acknowledged as the most beautiful in the world, got them to show off their bodies — widely regarded as the most perfect in the world — and photographed them all in exactly the same position for the cover. We did this to show how much they differed physically from one another… ” The ridiculousness of this move hardly merits mention, except perhaps to point out that models by definition have standardized measurements. These particular women range in measurements from 32.5″-34.5″ in the bust, from 23″-25″ in the waist, and from 34″-35″ in the hips. Allow Grand to explain again: “The point is that ‘perfection’ is not fixed, timeless or transcendent. It varies, as the measurements of our cover girls show.” Yes. Beauty varies. Apparently by a whole inch or two.

    One of the Jez commentors photoshopped the models’ pictures on top of each other, and the result looks more like a shot of one woman who moved as the shutter dilated than like multiple individuals. Which would be a ‘no duh’, except that the designers & the people writing about the designers forget that the rest of us ‘fixed, timeless, transcedent’ women — the people who are supposed to be buying and wearing their fashions — vary a heckofalot more than their models!

  46. 46.

    mr. whipple

    @Max:

    “I’ve even used very strong instant coffee.”

    I’ve used powdered espresso in a lot of things, but never saw a rub like this. Gonna give this a try.

  48. 48.

    Max

    @Anne Laurie: Jesus. As a plus-size person, it makes me physically ill the way that women with curves and a few extra inches are treated.

    Fat is the one form of discrimination that is still a-okay in our society.

    Can’t say retard, but fat jokes are always in vogue.

  50. 50.

    morzer

    Isn’t it time that Shelby had himself a new nickname? How about Porkissimus? The Porkinator? Prince Chitterling? Or, if you want an anime allusion: Porco Rosso.

  51. 51.

    MikeJ

    Interesting the way the Shelby story refers to Northrup/EADS and doesn’t use the more common name for EADS, Airbus. Frenchity French French Airbus. Republicans love the French and want to have their babies. Cheese eating republi-monkeys.

  53. 53.

    J.W. Hamner

    @Xenos:

    I’ve never had rabbit… though I admit to being slightly skittish because I had pet rabbits as a kid… that seems worth trying to at least say I did, and I’m pretty sure I could get some at my local fancy-pants butcher (Savenor’s for Boston area people).

  54. 54.

    El Cid

    @MikeJ: Exactly. Great point.

    Why in the hell is Richard Shelby trying to make our nation UnSafe by blocking Our Nominees just to give Our Fedrul Taxdollars to the damn French? Huh?

  57. 57.

    MikeJ

    Why in the hell is Richard Shelby trying to make our nation UnSafe by blocking Our Nominees just to give Our Fedrul Taxdollars to the damn French? Huh?

    To clarify, I happen to think Airbus makes great airplanes, but I live in Seattle and we will rip the fucking spleen out of anybody who doesn’t buy our stuff.

    OT, but here’s a neat video I shot in a Boeing hangar:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHhviD9gDSI

  63. 63.

    binzinerator

    @Bad Horse’s Filly

    I await spring and the fresh foods it brings and the grilling. Lots and lots of grilling.

    What keeps you from grilling in the winter???

    I grill all the time in winter here in Badgerland. I just tramp down a path through the snow to the grill, shovel the snow off the grill, light the tiki torches on either side of the grill (not for ambiance but for light to work by — gets dark before 5 here in the winter) and go at it.

    Snow doesn’t matter a whit. Low temperatures do affect cooking times, more so if it’s windy too. But I judge doneness by mostly by feel and experience since even with the tiki torches going there’s not a lot of light.

    Grilling in the winter can be very peaceful, especially on a cold clear night. Moonlight on the snow, lots of stars, the heat of the grill helps keep me warm. A glass of red completes it.

    Pro tip 1: Be sure the wineglass stem is long enough to get your gloved hand around it. Test this before you even go out by having a glass of wine in the house while wearing your mittens. I usually have another one without gloves just to be certain the glass operates in all conditions.

    Also, in case you’re wondering, I’ve never frozen my lip to a glass in winter and I don’t think you can, but keeping it parked close to the grill on those built-in side tables won’t hurt either.

    Pro tip 2: Also, make the holes in the ground for the tiki torches by November, in other words, like, before the ground freezes, eh?

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