Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Republicans in disarray!

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Bark louder, little dog.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

White supremacy is terrorism.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu

Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu

by | 60 Comments

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From our faithful correspondent TaMara:

It’s been in the 90’s all week, but nights are cool enough for me to start thinking of fall menus. I’ve promised to fulfill some squash soups requests, which I’ll post over the next few weeks, but to get you started, there are a couple of Sweet Potato Soups here. If you have other fall menu requests, let me know. I’m happy to look for something new to try. One O/T note: Homer is now officially a member of the JeffW household. Yeah, I know, we’re all surprised by that now, aren’t we? Tonight’s menu is a diverse group of flavors with no discernible theme that I can see. Lots of light fall fruit notes, though, so it has that going for it.
__
On the board tonight:
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1) Roasted Salmon in Orange-Ginger Soy Sauce
2) Fresh Spinach Salad
3) Herbed Potatoes
4) Blueberry Crisp

As ever, recipes and shopping list at the link.

(In her email, Tamara added: “BJ people are so predictable – Homer has gotten a couple thousand hits since he became our mascot.” Lots more where that came from, over at her blog.)

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  4. 4.

    debit

    Homer!!

    The recipes all look so yummy. Pity I won’t have time to cook for the next couple of days. Will bookmark for later reference.

  7. 7.

    valdivia

    Homer!!

    But seriously people: just came back from the Obama event here in DC at Constitution Hall. Man was he on fire. And were the people there fired up with him. I am definitely phone banking and volunteering til election day.

  9. 9.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I’m having trouble with the innertubes tonight, so this will probably be my only post. I will stop by tomorrow and see if anyone has questions.

    P.s. I think DougJ should should provide wine choices for the Thursday Night Menus, don’t you?

  11. 11.

    Nick

    Tyler Clementi’s suicide is distressing me in a way no other news story did because it hits close to home.

    I cut my wrists when I was 20. I was suffering from extreme depression and felt I had no future, no friends, no place in the world. Five of my friends saved my life, and they’re still my friends.

    That felt kinda good. lol

  13. 13.

    NickM

    I am a confirmed Obot, but Dear Leader was on fire in a speech have gave tonight, in front of a very enthusiastic audience. Worth a watch, I think:

    http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/295745-2

    @ Nick – I too was especially saddened by the Clementi story. I was a student at Rutgers 20 odd years ago when a gay friend committed suicide in a very similar manner.

  17. 17.

    Nick

    @Linda Featheringill:

    How are you doing now?

    Oh I’m 30 now, and a hell of a lot stronger. Hell I’ve survived worse since.

    I’m always concerned I’ll fall apart again, and I’m still lonely fairly often, but, hey, I survived.

    I just wish I was on the George Washington when he jumped. I wish I had seen him and gotten the chance to say something. I suspect he felt like no one understood him. I do.

  19. 19.

    sfinny

    So earlier tonight I went out on my balcony for a smoke. We are expecting a big storm and the winds have been pretty wicked, but only sporadic rain so far. Then I hear a cry, from a cat obviously in distress. It is very hard to figure out where it is coming from. I look out from my patio, but can’t see anything.

    I’m not happy about the idea of bringing in a cat in distress as my cat is not fond of other animals. But I figure that if some animal is in trouble, the guest room offers a place that is separate. So I go in hunt for this plaintively crying cat. Walk around the building, closed pool area, neighboring yards, but hear nothing. Upstairs again, out on the patio again I hear meowing and looking down I see a tabby in the shadows.

    Run down to the yard of the apartment below me and call for the cat. Low and behold, it is my cat. How he got from my patio to the yard below, don’t know.

    So I’m freaked out that he might be injured, but he won’t come to me and runs into the trees. Finally get him to approach me and I grab him. Now this is a cat that does not like to be held. So I’m holding him, some neighbors are unloading their car as I approach the door with a vocal and very unhappy cat, and try to keep it calm, as if nothing is strange.

    I finally get me and the cat back to my apartment and notice that there is blood on my t-shirt. Soon, though, I realize that the blood is mine from sharp claws in getting Uncle Joe back inside. He is fine and is now lazing around the apartment like nothing ever happened.

    So I’m calling most annoying pet for the evening.

  21. 21.

    asiangrrlMN

    HOMER! I think he’s the mini-Tunch mascot of BJ, so it’s only fitting that he’s the mascot of What’s 4 Dinner. Such a cutie.

    @General Stuck: Your pictures are works of art, General. And Charlie is looking in fine fettle, too.

    @Nick: Thank you for sharing this. I am glad you are better now and that you had such fierce friends to save you. I, too, am having a really hard time with the Clementi suicide story for many reasons.

    @valdivia: Thanks for reporting in! Glad to hear it.

    sfinny, thank you for rescuing Uncle Joe and for taking the war wounds to prove what a big heart you have.

  26. 26.

    sfinny

    @asiangrrlMN: Uncle Joe is a joy, even though he is a bit odd. He was part of a feral colony, but during a trap/neuter/release program he indicated that he didn’t really want to remain with the cats. He kept trying to follow the foster person away from the other cats so an adoption group figured that he was at least somewhat domesticated.

    I went to a local adoption event to get a pair of kittens, but this guy looked like he was comotose and so sad. I just had to ask about him and it turned out that they were looking for someone who would take an older (est 3-4 year old) cat that would be alone. It’s been a slow progress, but this guy is so happy now, and has learned to purr. Nothing better than that.

  27. 27.

    asiangrrlMN

    @sfinny: That’s a beautiful story. Uncle Joe sounds like he was meant to be with you. I’m glad you got him back, too. I bet he scared the crap out of you when you realized it was him!

  28. 28.

    Steeplejack

    Late shift checking in. Just got home from work about 15 minutes ago. It is raining fairly hard in my corner of NoVa. Well, not hard, but long and steady. It is cool, temp in the upper 60s, but humidity about 110 percent. But I’ve got the windows open to let the fresh air and negative ions flow into the man-cave.

    Scored a couple of mini-sandwiches from Panera left over from a district managers’ meeting at the store today, so that will make a nice midnight snack.

  29. 29.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Steeplejack: Hi, Steepman! Good to hear from you. Oooh Panera makes good sammies. You did score big. Any champers tonight? I love rain, but I hate the humidity. What else you got on tap for tonight?

    @Apsalar: I really liked Jamie Oliver before he got all famous. He was a hottie.

  30. 30.

    Apsalar

    I really like Jamie Oliver’s sweet potato and chorizo soup. You chop everything up, put it in a pot, add water (or chicken stock, whatever), and then you blend it. And it’s delicious, healthy, and filling.

  31. 31.

    sfinny

    @asiangrrlMN: Honestly, I had to laugh even while I was worried, because as much as I was scared, I was amused that 1. the cat managed to get from a second floor apartment to the area below, 2. jerk wouldn’t come to me until I dragged myself through wet dirt/trees, to get a cat that wanted to be rescued but made that rescue very difficult.

    Uncle Joe is a different type of animal. But he is a joy.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Actually, I was thinking about getting champagne earlier, but when I stopped by the store on the way home I completely forgot about it. Just intent on getting a few things and getting home.

    Nothing much on tap. Probably will stay up late as the arcing and sparking in my brain dies down. Might watch The Mentalist, which the DVR snagged earlier. Might do some reading. Don’t have to go back to work until 3:30 tomorrow, so I’ve got the leisurely morning ahead of me. I like that.

  34. 34.

    Yutsano

    KITTEH!! And I now live where I can get some of the best salmon on the planet. Life occasionally doth not suck.

    @asiangrrlMN: I honestly love the way he writes recipes. He’s had a terrible influence on FH #1 in that regard. Of course I’m also easily amused.

  36. 36.

    That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)

    @sfinny: Most annoying pet. I claim the most mystifying. How do you turn a case of hayfever into needing two toes amputated?

  39. 39.

    asiangrrlMN

    @sfinny: He sounds like he’s often his own worst enemy–I can relate, sadly.

    @Steeplejack: I hear ya. Oh well. There will always be champers in your future. The Mentalist. You still convinced that’s a show worth watching?

    @Yutsano: Please explain. I just think he’s a hottie, so I have no idea how he writes his recipes or why you are amused.

  40. 40.

    Tattoosydney

    This weekend I am making a lime caramel tart. I have to use up some failed fudge – it tastes amazing but has a melting point slightly higher than that of water, so it’s useless as fudge, but might just work if encased in crunchy pastry goodness.

    I’ve also been asked to make nougat, which I have never made so I am a little scared.

    Long weekend!! Monday off for Labour Day.

  42. 42.

    sfinny

    @That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN): If you go by most appendages amputated then I obviously lose. But what are the international rules in place for ‘most annoying pet”.

    Amputations surely give you an advantage. My cat has not only non-amputated digits, he has claws that cause damage regularly. This is one of the problems, he will not allow me to cut his nails.

    So are lack of digits really a problem?

  45. 45.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Jamie Oliver goes off on interesting digressions right in the middle of his recipes. Hell I think he even does it mid-instruction sometimes. When FH #1 wrote his Portuguese chicken recipe for BHF right in the middle he throws in an instruction to go have a drink. I compared that to Mr. Oliver back then even.

    @Tattoosydney: Doesn’t look all that different from marshmallow construction. Although I suppose you could cheat and throw some pistachios into a marshmallow mix and see what the results are.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I’m going to pay for it later though. Good thing the Pacific is as wide as it is or he’d be beating down my door defending his honour.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I think it’s worth watching, but maybe it’s just a guilty pleasure. Certainly no worse than Chuck (although not similar to that at all).

    I just like the interplay of the characters, and the writing isn’t bad. And the “hook”–Thomas Jane as preternatural observer–is handled pretty well.

  51. 51.

    Elie

    @General Stuck:

    Oh — Wow, Stuck…

    thank you

    Our hummers (Rufous only), came later and stayed a shorter time and were less active generally.. We had a very late, wet spring and not that warm a summer with fewer gnats and bugs…

    This shot is amazing… sharing with my hummer admiring friends…

  53. 53.

    Elie

    One more thing — Tamara and all who read here:

    Please do not eat salmon not marked as “wild”. Farmed salmon is devastating wild populations and now with the permission to add genetically enhanced salmon to the farmed salmon population, this is even riskier and more destructive practice. If the salmon you want to buy is not marked wild or is Atlantic salmon or any salmon without that label — DO NOT BUY IT… yes its cheap, but its destroying what is left of the diminishing wild population and is less healthy for you and the environment…

    Please. Help stop this…

  54. 54.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I think I’m out. My late-night superpowers have been sapped by too many day shifts covering for the coworker who was out for three weeks. Circadian rhythms shot, etc.–even my reverse night-owl circadian rhythms. Mañana.

  57. 57.

    Tattoosydney

    @Yutsano:

    marshmallow construction

    It’s similar, but there’s a lot more boiling, and two stages (half the mix stops boiling at about 140 degrees while the other half goes up to 170). It should be ok…

    I’m getting the recipe from a book which I recommend thoroughly – Life is Sweet, by Hope and Greenwood, who run one of the best sweet stores in London.

  58. 58.

    Yutsano

    @Tattoosydney: I glanced at a couple of recipes for nougat, probably a bit out of my milieu although I’ve been known to give just about anything a go once. Good luck and please share how the final result goes.

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