As part of its Sunday “Food & Drink” issue, the NYTimes profiles cantankerous cook/editor Christopher Kimball:
… I was at the meeting for the unveiling of the Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg. It’s one of those recipes that isolate the weird, wayward essence of the Cook’s Illustrated project, a seemingly boner-proof preparation that, when fixed with Kimball’s unsparing eye, reveals itself to be fundamentally broken. And therein lies the narrative arc of the C.I. recipe — invariably it begins with the insuperable flaw, that through toil and experimentation is resolved in a sudden, improbable revelation that, in-house, is known as the aha moment… Kimball compares the arc to that of a Sherlock Holmes whodunit, and no recipe ratchets the stakes higher than the Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg, a single-ingredient obstacle course that turns entirely on technique.
The P.S.B.E. is slated for the January/February issue and falls to Andrea Geary, from the magazine’s stable of overeducated, underpaid editor/cooks who research, test and write the stories. While the 20ish editors around the table resemble bright children at a model U.N. convocation, Geary, a hale, wiry 46, is the one you want beside you aboard the helicopter when smoke begins to billow from the controls. Her mien expresses unfussy competence; before coming to the magazine, Geary cooked at an inn on the Scottish Highlands, roasting venison in a coal-burning stove for hunting parties of drunk Italians. Even among the high-strung editorial ranks at C.I., Geary is considered a little intense.
f you’re wondering what could be especially difficult about boiling an egg, you should have heard her. The Flaw — the unappetizing probability of either a chalky yolk or a runny white — occurs because the yolk gets cooked before the white, and the desired temperature window turns out to be harrowingly small, so the ideal preparation must set the white while leaving the yolk custardy, and not do it too rapidly. Oh, and tossing a fridge-temperature egg into boiling water will cause the air inside to expand and sometimes crack it, and apparently no two cooks can agree on exactly what simmering means, and third, the number of eggs must be compensated for by adjusting the amount of boiling water to keep cooking time constant. Geary recited further facts imperiling the P.S.B.E., and after a while the difficulty of boiling an egg at home with anything like success sounded to be on the order of a bone-marrow transplant. This appeared to please everyone, particularly Kimball, and the meeting moved on to Dressing Up Meatloaf.
“Most magazines don’t write about failure, but we do,” Kimball told me later. “Disaster in the kitchen puts the reader at ease, and that’s why we start our recipes with it.”…
Something about this guy seems vaguely familiar…
… Like most things about Kimball, the facts of his biography are more convoluted than those of the public persona. Just how much more is something I discovered while he talked about the summer after he graduated from high school, when he enlisted in an overland trek from London to Nairobi, traveling with fellow Phillips Exeter students in a caravan of Land Rovers. (One of their chaperones was an English teacher with a bent for Indian spirituality and encounter groups; that one of the country’s top prep academies countenanced a three-month trip across war-torn Africa can be construed only as a curiosity of the late-’60s.) Kimball concedes the trip was “totally ill advised,” particularly in light of the group’s nearly expiring of thirst after taking a detour through the Sahara — Kimball recalls passing dead camels — and being taken prisoner after speeding through a Congolese Army roadblock. “It was at night, and they had put us in a little hut,” Kimball recalls, “and the guy in charge wasn’t there, and the No. 2 guy wanted to kill us.” After the scare, the students needed to unwind. “There were Pygmies in this village,” Kimball recalled. “They were sitting on huge truck tires. I remember one night, we sat around a campfire and we got them high. We took out this huge joint, and everyone smoked dope and got high with a bunch of Pygmies in the Congo.”…
Speaking of which, what’s for dinner?
beltane
My kids love watching America’s Test Kitchen and they always talk about Christopher Kimball being thy typical Vermont-style geek. I can’t wait to share this story with them.
red dog
I’m having trouble picturing elfin pygmies on huge tires with a bunch of preppies until after I get high. Wonder who supplied the smokes? My guess is the prepsters ran out and were doing local shit.
Spaghetti Lee
Speaking of which, what’s for dinner?
Uh, frozen pizza, probably. (/shame)
Schlemizel
A beautifully boiled egg is a revelation. It is a food for the gods & it is frustratingly hard to achieve just the perfect boiled egg..Though close is still pretty good. Sadly, I mostly want to punch Chris K in the throat to get him to shut up on tv. ATK has a lot og good tips & techniques but he needs to shut up.
JGabriel
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Anne Laurie @ Top:
Here at Chez JGabriel, we are making Pygmy Exeter Cookies for dessert.
No, it does not feature the meat of Pygmies or Exeter students. It’s a special cookie recipe designed by Pygmies for cooking in a pit fire when one gets the munchies while smoking dope with American prep-school students. It features chocolate chips, elephant dung, and hallucinogenic flowers in a mixed sorghum/rice flour dough.
.
lamh35
New Obama Ad narrated by Morgan Freeman. There is just something about Morgan Freeman’s voice. It’s probably one of the main reasons I like this ad.
Challenges
Schlemizel
I am poaching some nice walleye fillets in a Prosecco and fresh mint. Making a bulgur wheat pilaf and roasted parsnips as sides. Kind of a romantic diner for two with the woman stupid enough to marry me
R-Jud
We had venison meatball stew (Italian-ish, with onions, peppers, and tomatoes) with polenta dumplings.
Schlemizel
Need recipe STAT!
Schlemizel
@lamh35: Very good ad – needs wide play!
Phylllis
Burgers on the grill and chili-cheese nachos. Love both Cook’s Country and ATV. And CK cracks me up. Especially when he gets his little backhanded digs in at Food Network.
Yutsano
@JGabriel: No tire rims and anthrax? Slacker!
jeffreyw
Did someone mention.. soft boiled eggs?
ThresherK
Major C.I. geek here. All I can say is that their stuff works.
And thanks to them I now always warm eggs to “room temp” before I (1) beat egg whites, (2) make omelets, or (3) add eggs to any fat in my mixer.
(Note: “Room temp” is 15F warmer than my home in October.)
Warren
Pork schnitzel, braised red cabbage with apples, spaetzle and peanut butter cookies.
aimai
I can’t stand cooks illustrated. One of their editors lives across the street from us–very nice woman–but she agreed with me when I put my finger on why they are impossible for real cooks to love: its always about some obscure point of texture or processing, never about the flavor. Its like cooking for anal compulsives with OCD. They will do a spreadsheet on everything relating to time, texture, appearance but nothing on flavor and they generally choose low flavor/low contrast foods. Its food as engineering process. They’d be just as happy extruding everything.
I am making “Ants Climb a Tree” in mammoth proportions for a potluck. Also dredging goat cheese in home made spice rub to be served as an appetizer.
aimai
jeffreyw
Beef braised in red wine and broth with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted veggies.
Dee Loralei
@aimai: Dare I ask what ants climb a tree is?
And where’s Mnemosyne, I wanted her recipe for 1,000 chocolate chip cake. Or whatever she was talking about Thursday night.
Nevermind, Aimai, google is my friend. That sounds nummy. which recipe do you use?
Randy P
I was watching the win probability at Nate Silver, but it has been continuing to plummet all week, at ridiculous rates. So he’s kind of keeping my hair on fire. What should I be reading to douse the flames?
(Actually, I just checked and there was finally an uptick today of about a percent, post Biden-Ryan. Finally. Still flames though.)
Fortunately, I have a trip planned for work and that’s going to keep me busy basically non-stop till next weekend, though I plan on watching the town hall debate from my hotel room.
Speaking of the trip, it’s to El Paso. Any particular suggestions for things to do in the evenings, nice places to walk, etc? I speak a little Gringo spanish and look Mexican to Mexicans (part of my ethnic background) so I’m happy to visit Mexican neighborhoods off the beaten trail, if that’s where the interesting part is.
M31
Cooks Illustrated has the most money-grubbing, annoying magazine subscription service. They are pretty famous for ignoring cancel requests and for billing credit cards without authorization.
I’ve always been wary of the ‘let’s make 50 versions of this dish and pick the best’ model because if you taste 50 versions in a row the one that’s the most fatty (or as aimai notes, the smoothest/most processed) will taste the best. I think they just dial up the butter/oil content until it’s gross, then back off a notch.
However, they have a microwave brownie recipe that is excellent. Because brownies are best when they are just short of being a melted butter/chocolate paste grotesquerie.
MikeJ
@aimai:
New England cooking. I actually use a lot of their recipes, but they’re often starting points. They do have good ideas about technique. They’re the ones that converted me to poaching the chicken for enchiladas in the sauce as you make it. Which sounds like a no brainer, but I hadn’t thought of it.
If you want ultra persnickity cookery, try Thomas Keller. I’ve made most of the stuff in the cookbooks of his that I have, and I pay attention when he says to use seventeen peppercorns.
realbtl
@Randy P:
Check out Su Casa on Yandell(?) for great eats.
If you want a little peace and quiet there is a very nice park out Alabama past Fort St. The name escapes me but it is up in a canyon in the mountains.
I’ve been visiting EP for 50+ years. It used to be fun going over to Juarez. Now it is just scary. EP is . . . interesting.
schrodinger's cat
I like their equipment and taste tests more than their recipes. This afternoon made grilled chicken thighs, marinaded in mint, cilantro and beer, grilled veggies and Afghan flat bread.
Yutsano
@Randy P: Do NOT walk across the Rio Grande, no matter how much fun the tour book says it is. Ciudad Juarez is a total fucking mess.
M. Bouffant
If there’s anything I hate more than food & the necessity to eat it’s people who go on about it so much. Cook’s Illustrated sounds extra-miserable & literally tasteless.
I’ve been awake for about four hrs., & have had a glazed doughnut & three or four cups of coffee. Lunch will probably be leftover Hormel® pot roast & Trader Joe® potatoes. Dinner is too far in the future to contemplate, & I may not even get around to it.
Schlemizel
@M31: I think you are smart to know what you like & it is always important to know what a critics prejudices are (food, music, theater or film) because sometime a bad review tells me I would enjoy the dish, show whatever.
With 60 years of kitchen time, and 300 cookbooks (between mine purchases & moms bequest) I pretty much know from reading what I am going to like but it is fun to read different opinions & I often learn new things. I have never subscribed to any of these. Mom used to get bon appetit back in the day it was probably the only source for high quality food. But mostly is food porn
Schlemizel
@M31: I think you are smart to know what you like & it is always important to know what a critics prejudices are (food, music, theater or film) because sometime a bad review tells me I would enjoy the dish, show whatever.
With 60 years of kitchen time, and 300 cookbooks (between mine purchases & moms bequest) I pretty much know from reading what I am going to like but it is fun to read different opinions & I often learn new things. I have never subscribed to any of these. Mom used to get bon appetit back in the day it was probably the only source for high quality food. But mostly is food porn
Gin & Tonic
@M31:
Have you ever seen how much butter is used in a high-end professional kitchen?
Gin & Tonic
@M31:
Have you ever seen how much butter is used in a high-end professional kitchen?
dp
@aimai: The reason I like CI is precisely their totally anal approach. By them telling me how to do it “perfectly” (and most importantly, by letting me know what they consider “perfect”), I can then pick and choose what parts are significant to me and what parts I’m comfortable changing, whether for flavor, texture or convenience.
Michael
I won’t be able to decide what to have for dinner until white Ohioan WalMart Moms weigh in and decide for me.
dp
@aimai: The reason I like CI is precisely their totally anal approach. By them telling me how to do it “perfectly” (and most importantly, by letting me know what they consider “perfect”), I can then pick and choose what parts are significant to me and what parts I’m comfortable changing, whether for flavor, texture or convenience.
Michael
@Randy P: Both 538 and Princeton Election Consortium show what looks like the start of the Romney bounce bottoming out. Breathe easy. And if you want to feel better, go to an Obama office and make some phone calls. Knowing you did something to help will make you feel better.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh35: Willard is gearing up for a massive ad buy. One pic on HuffPo shows Obama next to the words “abortion radical”. I’m kind of surprised, but I’m sure it’s been tested and targeted.
Obama raised what last month, 181 million?
Gin & Tonic
Are comments broken for everyone or just me?
MikeJ
@M. Bouffant:
That’s why you hate food.
Michael
@Randy P: Both 538 and Princeton Election Consortium show what looks like the start of the Romney bounce bottoming out. Breathe easy. And if you want to feel better, go to an Obama office and make some phone calls. Knowing you did something to help will make you feel better.
gelfling545
For dinner tonight? Probably nothing as I ate a restaurant lunch today (always too much food) but we were celebrating successfully finding a wedding dress my sister loves. Her first marriage was nothing to celebrate so I’m glad she is getting a chance to really enjoy the process. Her dress is perfect – Suitable for her age & taste without being matronly and, more importantly, she’s marrying a good man instead of a superannuated child this time.
Dinner tomorrow, though, will be andouille sausage soup with kale & white beans. I’m making it now because the flavor is better the second day.
Violet
Mackeral and shrimp. Not together. Separate meals for various people who won’t eat one or the other. Probably potatoes to go with, plus vegetables on the bbq. The latter is one of my favorite things.
I’m up to my ears in eggplant right now. I mostly cook them on the bbq grill, but last night made an eggplant parmesan, which was good, but I think I sweat the eggplant too long and the salt soaked into it, so it was a bit salty for my taste.
I’d welcome any eggplant ideas, especially if they’re not fried and are relatively low in fat.
Maude
@M. Bouffant:
I had two plain donuts today. They were on sale and I don’t usually have them on hand.
I’d go back to donuts for dinner to round it off, and more coffee.
MikeJ
@Gin & Tonic:
If anything, CI comes in at the low end. They aren’t perfect, but covering everything up with extra fat is *not* among their sins.
PsiFighter37
Going to this joint in NYC. Manhattan surprisingly doesn’t have a lot of good mid-scale seafood restaurants, but this is one of them. Been here several times, and each time it was great. Branching out the palate a little nowadays – hoping they have good raw oysters tonight!
On another note, Obama bounced a little in today’s forecast. I apologize for having a little bit of a drunken shitfit last night.
Juju
I am not a fan of “Cooks Illustrated” because they are geared for a skill level I am way beyond, they make increadibly simple tasks more difficult than than necessary, and they are money grubbers. I subscribed to their on line services four years ago for a New York crumb cake recipe. I still get email telling me my subscription has lapsed and I need to renew, and why don’t I buy an issue of Christopher Kimball’s anal retentive, OCD Vermont trip recipes. I think not. The crumb cake had the right ingredients, but the method to make it was unnecessarily convoluted, difficult and the crumb part was overwhelming. Who cuts cold hard butter into flour for a cake batter? I worked with the recipe and now it’s perfect, but I have never used a recipe from CI I didn’t have to tweak or rework. I do like the artwork the magazine uses, though.
Schlemizel
@Gin & Tonic:
BINGO!
Anytime someone says they tried to make a dish they had at some nice restaurant & its just not the same I tell them to double the amount of butter they are using – that usually gets them pretty close! Seriously folks, there is a reason eating out is fattening.
Princess
@aimai: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I always thought I was the only one who loathed CI/ATK. Maybe it is helpful if you’ve never cooked before, but if you have any facility with cooking, their suggestions always seem pointless. And my guess is that if they’re the ones who teach you to cook, you spend the rest of your life thinking cooking is about following pointless rules.
Schlemizel
@dp:
Don’t know how many of you have actually read Julia Child’s “The art of French Cooking” but that woman made a dish a hundred times in a row often modifying one ingredient or one step just a tiny bit until she knew exactly what it would do to the end product.
If you follow her directions you cannot fail. You can however experiment from there but you can’t go wrong doing what she told you to do.
Violet
@jeffreyw: Yum. What do you do to your brussels sprouts to roast them? Toss them in olive oil? Anything else? What temp do you roast them? use a baking sheet or higher side pan or does it matter?
I adore brussels sprouts. Just bought the first bag of them this season and am thinking of roasting some, but probably not until tomorrow when it’s a tad cooler. Hate heating up the house again tonight with the oven.
delosgatos
@MikeJ:
My dad’s like that. “I don’t live to eat, I eat to live.” But eating means donuts and coffee for breakfast, snacking on candy all day, and then “cooking” by combining a can of beef stew and a can of mixed vegetables for dinner.
Oh, and the coffee in the morning is the previous day’s coffee run through the coffee maker to warm it up.
If he had a chance to eat food that actually tasted good, he might enjoy eating more.
Violet
@Yutsano:
Agreed. It’s dangerous. Stay away from the border.
Schlemizel
@Violet:
I split them in half & use olive oil but butter tasted better ;-{D. 400 F oven make sure there is space around each sprout. I usually salt them at the end & use a course salt so they crunch.
and, yes, comments are hosed again
Yutsano
@Violet: This is insanely delicious. Also you could roasted baba gannouj.
Maude
@Schlemizel:
Except for putting vanilla in applesauce. It was awful.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Michael: I know I’m a terrible elitist, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for these people
Yeah, she’s really paying attention to that deficit. Someday she may even learn what the word means.
Svensker
@M. Bouffant: Well, aren’t you the fun dinner companion!
I have a love/hate relationship with C.I. It’s fun reading about different techniques, some of which are valuable. The equipment tests are helpful and sometimes the ingredient ones are, too — although when they tested peanut butter they didn’t even try to include p.b.s that aren’t full of added sugar which, grrr, I don’t care, that crap isn’t p.b., it’s peanut butter product. It is to p.b. as Velveeta is to cheese.
But, goddang, they act all sui generis with their recipes all the time. It’s like they don’t even acknowledge that some other folks might have been cooking some of the stuff for generations and might have some good ideas and insights about it. Hey, C.I., read an old cookbook every now and then, know what I’m saying? Drives me batty.
Schlemizel
@delosgatos:
Don’t count on that. Some people just don’t taste food. Not sure if it is mental or physical but they just don’t enjoy the subtle flavors and differences. Some folks never have the chance but many just don’t notice even when they do. I feel bad for them at times.
If there were not true McDonald’s would be broke
raven
Smoked chicken off the cajun cooker and sweet potato, chick pea curry.
Redshift
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And if she works hard, she may someday learn what the words “jobs are being taken away” means, too.
Violet
@Yutsano: That does look good. Thanks. I’ve thought about baba ganouj, but I always think of it as a dip and not a meal. Still, I’m sure I could make it and eat it up over a week for lunch or something.
I used to have an amazing eggplant dip and of course now I can’t find the recipe.
Svensker
@Violet:
Brush eggplant slices with olive oil and grill over flames, in a grill pan, or broil, until tender. Set aside to cool. Cut into chunks and toss with some salt, chopped garlic, chopped mint (or basil) and balsamic vinegar. Serve cool as a side dish/salad, or warm up slightly if you please.
Violet
@Schlemizel: I do about the same with the sprouts, but at 400 degrees, I find I have to watch them closely or they get too brown on one side. But lower they don’t seem to roast right.
Schlemizel
@Maude:
I guess I missed that one!
I think she was a bit compulsive about “real French” but given the state of American cooking at the time (start with 2 cups KRAFT brand salad dressing and add 1/2 cup Hinze catchup . . . ). I don’t like everything she did but you do get exactly what she promised.
Her recipe for French bread runs about a dozen pages or so in Vol II so it can be frustrating.
jeffreyw
@Violet: Olive oil and kosher salt/fresh ground black pepper in a baking tray at 350-400, just watch ’em, you want some color.
Juju
Black bean soup.
Schlemizel
@Violet:
Sorry should have noted that you want to flip them half way through. Depending on the oven 10-20 minutes. Burnt is no fun
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
To be fair, with a Republican president, she’ll never have to worry about paying attention to the deficit, because no one ever does.
Randy P
@Violet: I’m no cook but I love raosting veggies. My basic recipe is to sprinkle with olive oil and toss in a little garlic, oregano, basil and misc other herbs. I do it in a baking dish at 350 (probably could be hotter) for maybe 45 min to an hour.
Anything roastable goes in there. Brussels, fennel, potatoes, yams, onions, eggplant, carrots. The brussels are usually whole, the other stuff cut into largish chunks. I pull it out every 15 min or so and give it a stir to keep things even.
Re El Paso: I know about Juarez. I’ve been reading about “Las Desaparecidas” in the spanish press for years. Hundreds of young women raped and murdered. It’s the capital of the drug trade.
Schlemizel
@Violet:
Since I had to cut most meat from my menu I have fallen hard for this stuff. There is a very good Middle East place not far from us that does the best, they smoke the egg plant. I tried that this summer & it is a really nice addition.
They also have a fabulous eggplant salad (peppers onions tomatoes in a garlic dressing with the plant) I am begging for the recipe & will share if I can get it.
Maude
@Schlemizel:
I have an old cookbook with use pudding mix etc. I have read the Child cookbooks. That’s how I tried the applesauce.
What she did was make food and eating enjoyable.
She was magnificent.
Redshift
@Michael:
Definitely. I was feeling grumpy about things this morning, and I went and canvassed two walk packets, and I’m feeling much better. We have fairly mixed neighborhoods around here (one of the reasons why I live where I do), and meeting a bunch of very enthusiastic minorities and immigrants is great for campaign spirit. The white people who were home were mostly fine, though I did run into one who isn’t voting, one who isn’t voting for Obama (didn’t say whether she’s not voting or voting for Romney or Goode), and one who is actually undecided and looking forward to the rest of the debates to decide.
I refrained from calling any of them idiots, even the last one. I can’t deny I was thinking it.
(My list was people who were deemed to be good GOTV targets; I don’t assume that any random white person will be an Obama supporter. Even though they should.)
Schlemizel
@Randy P:
On roasted veggies: if you find truffle oil & it is reasonably priced (I’m lucky there is a great place for it near Minneapolis) sprinkle a little on roasted root veggies after they are done. That is so good & so simple.
Violet
@Svensker: Thanks, that sounds good. That’s pretty much what I’m doing now. I slice the eggplant lengthwise, brush with oil, then grill on the bbq. Once I’m done with that, I either combine with other vegetables I’ve bbq’d, like onion, peppers, asparagus, even broccoli, or if I’ve made too many, save them and use them cold on top of a salad the next day. But I like the suggestion of mint and making them into a salad. I’ll give that a try.
It’s just an amazing eggplant year for some reason. I bought one plant, but two came up from the compost and I transplanted them, since I’m a softie for any plant that tries that hard, and now I’ve got three eggplant plants, all producing at record levels. I’d give away eggplant if anyone I knew liked them. No one does, so I’m stuck with them. Not that I’m complaining, but it does mean I eat a lot of eggplant.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Schlemizel:
As I’m sure Joe Biden has said in his life, I literally LOL’ed. I have friends who still cook like that. I remember growing up, a whole shelf in the refrigerator door was devoted to Wishbone and Kraft salad dressings: Ranch, Russian, French, Thousand Island, Italian, Green Goddess knows what else. I think it was a sign of prosperity when we converted to blue cheese. On one episode of Chopped, the cooks were given a bottle of ranch dressing, and I don’t think any ingredient, including cotton candy, gummy worms and strawberry soda, has been greeted with such horrified contempt on that show.
I don’t know what the fuck a gastrique is, but I now know, thanks to Chopped, that if armed intruders ever force me to prepare a dish consisting of some expensive cut of meat and something sickeningly sweet, I will make a gastrique.
Violet
@jeffreyw: THanks, that’s pretty much what I do. I find at 400 they get a bit too brown unless I watch very closely. Usually I’m busy in the kitchen and watching that closely is a challenge so they end up a bit over brown.
raven
Prudhomme’s recipes are nuts but the food is great. Boned stuffed squabs with spiced fig gravy comes to mind.
Violet
@Schlemizel: Yeah, I always give the sprouts a toss or two while roasting. Usually I’m roasting other vegetables too, so I have to watch it all. Yum! I love roasted vegetables. I think I could make a whole meal of just that.
Kristine
@aimai: I lost respect for their taste tests when they dissed the hell out of natural and organic peanut butters and named either Jif or Skippy as the best-tasting. Then the article went on to describe the lengths they went to in order to “improve” the flavor of the natural peanut butter. I stopped reading when they added the sugar and hydrogenated shortening (Crisco).
I like their equipment corner. But their taste testers are the worst.
opie_jeanne
@M31: They also have an outstanding apple galette recipe as well as a couple of excellent versions of chicken enchiladas.
Apple galette:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=8641
Schlemizel
@Violet:
OH GAWD, how I wish I lived next to you! fresh egg plant! all most people want to give away are those damn zucchini!
raven
I used to get Cooks, CI, and Bon Appetite. Now I used the world wide internet.
Violet
@Schlemizel: If you get the recipe, let me know! I wish I could send you some of my eggplant. I probably have four or five I could pick today, but I’m trying to hold off so I don’t have too many picked at once.
pk
@Redshift:
I have had phone calls and people show up at my door for Obama 3 times despite being told we were firm Obama supporters. They had said they’d put us down for not a repeat visit, but apparently not. I just hope they are not being inefficient by coming to us so many times when they could be going elsewhere.
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I just don’t understand how people’s minds work. I can understand being worried about The Deficit and national debt. I can understand being worried about job losses. But the only motherfucking connection between the two is that doing something about one makes the other worse. The phrase “job-killing debt,” common to just about every Republican commercial, makes no fucking sense. I think the question all Republicans should be peppered with at all times is “How does government debt affect American jobs?”. Because, for fucking fuck’s sake, it requires a goddamn explanation, not a bunch of nodding like we all get it because it’s so obvious.
Jay S
@Violet:
Ratatouille.
Schlemizel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
As I wrote that I flashed back to the old “Kraft Theater” on tv in the 50s-60s. The used to do a drama & have few commercial breaks but they would last 10 minutes as they did a recipe the always included several Kraft Brand this-n-that. I can still hear Ed Hurlahee (spelling?) in my head as I type that!
Gotta run time to poach the fish
Violet
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s so sad it’s funny. Nevermind the wars we put on a credit card. Nevermind “deficits don’t matter” Cheney and the rest of the Bush administration spending us into oblivion. Nevermind the economy in a freefall at the end of 2008. Obama inherits a disaster, Fox tells people to pay attention the deficit, and suddenly, OMG! The Deficit! We’re DOOOOOOOOMED!
She’s a living embodiment of the dog in the movie Up!— “Squirrel!”
Violet
@Jay S: Thank you. I’d forgotten about that. Will hunt down a recipe.
Svensker
@Kristine:
Yes yes yes! I wrote them a really angry letter! Got no response, of course.
quannlace
Stopped by our great local Italian deli, so it’s sauteed broccoli rabe and fresh mozzerella on the menu tonight.
***********
Talking about egg cookery, in this case, hard boiled eggs. I’ve tried the Julia Child/Sarah Moulton method and it never works for me. Eggs in a pot of salted water; bring up to a boil, cover and turn off heat. Leave for 15 minutes. Perfect hard boiled eggs, Voila! Uh, no. Me, I always get a barely gelatinized gob of egg.
And let me add, I’ve never understood so many chef’s horror about the green ring around a hard boiled egg yolk. It doesn’t affect the flavor or the texture. And with deviled eggs and egg salad, you’ll never see it.
geg6
Going out to the local watering hole, which specializes in Greek food. Probably having their gyros and stuffed grape leaves. Tomorrow is roast chicken with root veggies (beets and carrots from the garden) and fresh PA-grown potatoes we got at the veggie stand near our cabin in Titusville.
Just got both my Food Network Magazine and Bon Appetit in the mail today, both filled with Thanksgiving recipes. After perusing them, John and I have decided to go with a full Ina Garten menu for the holiday, for which we’re hosting the family (10 to 12 people). Her turkey recipe sounds great and the sides are a mushroom and leek bread pudding, string beans with shallots, and Parmesan smashed potatoes. I’ll make my fresh cranberry sauce with Cointreau. My oldest sister always bakes the pumpkin pie, but I’m considering making a French apple tart, too.
We always celebrate my birthday on Thanksgiving (it’s 11/24, so always close) and it’s my absolute favorite holiday. Love, love, love Thanksgiving!
PurpleGirl
@Svensker & Kristine: That’s interesting. I read somewhere that Jif is made by the same company that makes Smucker’s and they use the lower grade peanuts that aren’t good enough for the Smucker’s Natural PB.
Lately Smucker’s hasn’t tasted as good and I’ve found a Trader Joe’s PB that I like a lot.
HRA
I made lasagna, the sauce, fried mushrooms and apple bourek for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will make broccoli and cheese soup (requested), pasta (not everyone like lasagna) and a chef salad. The dinner rolls will also be done tomorrow.
Tonight I has an open meatball sandwich.
My Dad who was a chef made the perfect soft boiled egg. I have never tried it.
I have a James Beard cookbook that I treasure.
opie_jeanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s a Big Scary Word. The Republicans say so.
Steeplejack
@Kristine, @Svensker:
So what natural or organic peanut butter do you guys like?
MikeJ
@opie_jeanne:
I have a bag of pears, out of which I’m making a galette tonight. A few weeks ago I made a nummy potato galette that I posted a picture of the other day. Then Jeffery posted his awesome looking food. So today I built a lightbox and I’ll be practising shooting better pics of my food.
schrodinger's cat
@Violet: Baingan Bharta
either with tomatoes or yogurt.
BGinCHI
This is just like Mitt’s mission to France, except no one got tragically converted to Mormonism.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Violet: with all the talk of debates, there was some discussion of the question that led up to Bubba’s “I feel your pain” moment. I despised Poppy Bush for his race-bating demagogic campaign (and Clarence Thomas, and the first Gulf war, and Panama and….), but I did almost feel sorry for him. The woman asked how the deficit was personally affecting his life. It was pretty clear, as Himself intuited and the moderator finally said, that she meant “shitty economy” . Both of which prove the one thing Charlie Pierce and Dick Cheney agree upon, nobody actually gives a fuck about the deficit– not that it isn’t a problem, but politically, people think it means “shitty economy”, and as Flip says above, the Republicans exploit that confusion whenever a Dem is in office.
Gravenstone
Chicken thighs braised with onion, garlic, pineapple, soy and a splash of mirin. Served with brown rice. Not bad for a cobbled together effort.
debbie
PurpleGirl:
Be careful. (Not sure this is the best link.)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57519688-10391704/peanut-butter-recall-over-salmonella-expands-to-76-products/
opie_jeanne
@Svensker: That issue really annoyed me too.
Geez, a jar of Laura Scudder’s natural peanut butter is just so darned good without all of that other junk they put in Jif and Skippy. Maybe they don’t like that it needs to have the oil stirred in; I’ve heard that complaint a couple of times, mostly from people who think Jif or Skippy is peanut butter.
Kristine
@PurpleGirl: I tried a boutique-brand natural peanut butter earlier this year, and swore they had added sugar. Turns out that some high-quality peanuts taste a little sweet when roasted.
Currently working through a jar of Teddie Peanut Butter, the crunchy variety. Good, but not as good as that boutique brand the name of which I can’t remember.
Lojasmo
spaghetti squash for sure. Probably sauteed chicken breasts, and leftover andouille from lunch, and salad.
also some fine, fine oregon green on a truck tire.
ETA: Surly Furious ale.
lojasmo + 1
Svensker
@Steeplejack:
On the east coast, I always got the Smuckers natural — with or without chunks as the mood hit. Quite tasty.
BUT, on the west coast Adams Natural is the best. It’s supposed to be linked to Smuckers, but I swear Adams is better. It also comes in HUGE tubs so yay.
PurpleGirl
@debbie: Thank you. I’ve already checked that — in fact when I first heard the story I did that and the one I buy isn’t the one on the list.
raven
@geg6: We’ll be at the beach. Greatest time of year on the Emerald Coast!
opie_jeanne
@MikeJ: Ha! JeffreyW’s food photos are pron, aren’t they?
Tonight supper will be chicken soup made with leftovers from the chicken I roasted a couple of days ago, herbs and vegetables from the garden and the store. I didn’t grow celery and my attempts at growing onions and garlic have been not too successful.
Today I made a second round of salsa verde from the tomatillos I grew; for some reason they produce fruit like mad here, just outside Seattle. I just licked my thumb and got a hot surprise. Yowie@! I must have missed a little jalapeno juice when I washed my hands. I have been blanching and freezing stuff from the garden for weeks now, starting in August with the last of the sugar snap peas (I thought that was the last, but they are still producing), green lake beans, and masses of assorted tomatoes. I made marinara from some of the tomatoes but it’s all gone now. If some more ripen I’ll make another round and freeze that, but I think we may have reached the end of summer this week.
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think you’re totally right that people tend to think “the deficit” is a savvy, well-informed person’s way of saying “bad economy.”. Like saying “the base” instead of “voters.”
I have a feeling that people think, less than fully consciously, that The Deficit means not “the amount by which the government is spending more than it’s taking in” but rather “the total amount of money people in the country owe to creditors.”. I think it’s possible to make a liberal case for debt reduction: Michael Capuano, among others, has said that payment for debt service can crowd out social-program spending, so address the debt and eliminate that argument. And it’s very easy to make a liberal case for going into debt to inject money into the economy and get businesses hiring and people spending, ergo Job Creation. You can make a case that tax cuts have a similarly beneficial effect. But there just is not a way to argue that debt reduction yields job creation. It makes no sense, and yet it has somehow acquired a ring of truth in the minds of people who aren’t really all that dumb on any other subject. It’s bizarre.
raven
Come on Irish, fuck this up!
Boo.
WereBear
Grilled chuck steak (with Montreal seasoning) and carmelized creamed spinach.
Today, I am a cook!
Redshift
@pk: Well, three “contacts” is, I believe, the standard minimum number to ensure that someone is a solid supporter. I know that we are reliable voters, but the fact is that lots of people will be on your side, but not actually come out and vote without further contact.
The other thing is that when you’re knocking on doors, you have a list of specific people in a household to talk to, and having another family member tell you that they’re a supporter or that they’re definitely going to vote isn’t good enough. The campaign will keep calling or knocking until someone has talked to that person. Canvassers can make a note, but they really have no control over whether the campaign sends someone again.
Lurker
I’m trying to shave calories, so I’ve switched to Bell Plantation’s PB2 for peanut butter. It’s not organic, but its only ingredients are peanuts, salt and sugar. Just mix two parts powder with one part water and you have a yummy peanut spread without the calories.
It makes a good PB&J sandwich.
raven
@Lurker: Um, sugar?
different-church-lady
OK. So I get soft boiled eggs just the way I like them by… doing it a few times and tinkering with the time and now I nail it every single time.
Now, the perfect omelet essay I read in one of the food porn mags a few years ago… that made me wonder if I ever had a good omelet in my life.
karen
I’ve started to eat more meat alternatives, I’ve learned that if it has a meatlike texture, I don’t taste the difference. So tonight I will take “beef” tips and sautee them with vidalia onions, sherry, baby bella mushrooms and have it over brown rice. Living alone I often end up cooking and having enough for two or three days. I hate washing the dishes afterwards though.
Kristine
@Steeplejack: Teddie’s is good. I wish I could recall the really good brand I found earlier this year.
MaraNatha isn’t bad.
different-church-lady
@Michael:
Fixed that for you.
This. A thousand times this. I’ve been so disgusted the past week watching the hyperventilation and screeching and demands that Obama do this or that or the other thing. Fucking sports fans attitudes. People are doing this because they feel powerless and yapping endlessly about their fears makes them (irrationally) feel less powerless. But it doesn’t change a damn thing about the situation. Stop talking about why Obama’s “losing” and start talking to other people about why they should be voting for him.
waratah
@Randy P: The last time my daughter was there for work meetings they ate at the Cattleman’s Steakhouse
at Indian Cliffs Ranch. She said the food was good and they were there at the right time to see the deer while they ate.
She was disappointed as the guys had promised to take her to some good places across the border but at that time they said it was not safe.
Yutsano
@Jay S: OH YES!! With bonus hot French chef!
Or something completely different!
Kristine
Dinner was link Italian sausage (chicken variety. I like it), steamed spinach, and scalloped tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes, homegrown. Ina Garten’s recipe. So. Good. I may never make marinara sauce again.
opie_jeanne
@Yutsano: Have you met Fabio?
http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/the-perfect-italian-meatballs-2606824.html
Redshift
@FlipYrWhig: I think the liberal case for debt reduction is that you should pay down the debt in boom times, and borrow in bad times to keep people afloat and stimulate the economy. The really screwed up thing with the modern GOP (well, one of them) is that they’ve run massive deficits when times are good, and screeched about cutting the debt when the economy is down, which both makes people suffer and makes deficits worse overall, because it hurts growth that would raise tax revenues.
(I was going to add some comments about how insane it is to believe that “the debt” has harmful effects on the economy and still vote Republican, but it’s all just too obvious.)
muddy
Moussaka doesn’t have to be too fatty, depending on how you do the bechamel. We used to call it Moose Caca when my son was young.
And speaking of moose, I just came home from a daytime wedding with a hunting theme. The hunting was in the vows even. “All 3 deer seasons, turkey season, and…” The bride was so happy and so beautiful, and the bridesmaids dresses were really nice, which is against the usual tradition I think. Fall colors and camo. And meat. A lot of meat. It was swell.
Violet
@schrodinger’s cat: Thank you. I’ve looked up a few recipes for it and it looks delicious.
opie_jeanne
@Kristine: Thank you so much! I have a pile of grape, cherry, and pear tomatoes that aren’t getting eaten fast enough and this might be a great way to use them tomorrow for supper, when the kids come over.
Michael
@pk: There are a lot of reasons the campaign sends people to your door, only 1 of which is to find out your preference. Two main reasons why the campaign goes back to firm supporters are (1) in the hopes of convincing you to volunteer, and (2) to ensure that things like the Romney bounce haven’t eaten into the core support. It helps refine their models etc to know who is and who isn’t rethinking their support, etc.
Kool Earl
Good news from Ohio…PPP just tweeted: Obama/Biden %51 – Romney/Ryan %46
Maude
@Redshift:
The Republicans are ignorant. They just want to erase the New Deal.
Sprucing up the economy by the Feds is the smartest thing to do, so the Republicans block it.
Clinton didn’t get rid of the debt, he helped the deficit. That was because the economy was good, no major wars and no tax cut for the rich.
Also, Clinton has a lot to answer for in the 2008 meltdown.
Hill Dweller
@Kool Earl: PPP also said(on twitter) Obama’s polling numbers were stronger Saturday than Friday, which is probably due to Biden’s smacking around Eddie Munster. If they would have waited a day later, I bet the lead would have been bigger than +5.
MikeJ
@Hill Dweller: The next debate is Tuesday. Wednesday half the people here will be moaning about how bad he lost and how he should have been tougher even if he slaps Mitt with a flounder every time he speaks.
different-church-lady
People on the brightly colored satan-nets are saying things about a poll that has the Kenyan Socialist Satan ahead a tick in Arizona.
Okay, I don’t really trust that, but on the heels of the Ohio poll mentioned above it triggered a spontaneous deep breath anyway.
Downpuppy
Salmon,salad,fries & cowboy movies!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Maude:
He does, but the repeal of Glass-Steagal (sp?) passed by something like 94-2, there’s plenty of blame to go around (Bless me, Broder, both sides did it!)
Fallows had an e-mail from an official undecided voter, I guess he’s been mocking them, I’m not a regular reader. The person claimed the socially-liberal-fiscal-conservative cloak that I suspect is the Very Serious Pose Of The Totebagger, the high information (and more self-serving) version of our friends who think “deficit” means bad economy. In any case s/he was roundly mocked for suggesting Romney is the answer to ‘fiscal conservatism’.
WereBear
If President Obama would use a sea bass, I’d give him the rent money.
Kool Earl
@Hill Dweller:
The automobile industry rescue is resonating in Ohio. Also, good#s on the Biden/Ryan debate. Playing with my map, if Ohio gets nailed down, Romney/Ryan would have to run the table with FL/VA/NH/NV/WI/IA/CO to win
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: TPM has a post on this, and it’s generally being dissed, but i suspect AZ is a lot closer than the Rs think it should be. Speculation here is an energized Latino community, and I suspect Carmona is a factor. He’s pretty impressive, from what I’ve seen, high school drop out, combat vet, RN, MD, former deputy sheriff and Surgeon General.
I kinda feel like a huge loser just typing all that.
gogol's wife
@MikeJ:
I went to YouTube to see if they had a great scene from the 1932 Spencer Tracy movie Me and My Gal in which tough cop Tracy is called to settle an altercation in Ed’s Chowder House. He finds a group of drunks, one of whom keeps hitting another one in the face with a very large fish. The other drunks are arguing about whether it’s a halibut, salmon, or shad. It’s hilarious! But unfortunately not on YouTube, or at least not that scene.
Kristine
@opie_jeanne: If the tomatoes are watery, add more bread–I think I used about 3 cups for today’s batch instead of two, and most of it was whole wheat, which absorbs more. Brown the cubes well.
Read the comments–I find them helpful. I love Ina, but she does tend to oversalt things. I used 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt instead of 2, but it’s a matter of what you like. And the variety of tomato.
Hill Dweller
I’m hoping the Sensata story gets more national coverage. Bain is shipping the jobs to China, and making the current employees train their Chinese replacements. The factory was also forced to take down the American flag.
Willard owns 51% of Bain’s stock…
JGabriel
__
__
MikeJ:
Well. That’s a new definition for floundering. I, personally, would love to see Mitt floundered that way.
I suspect the Fox Propaganda Channel would call it fishy and disrespectful.
.
goblue72
Having worked in a professional kitchen for several years in my 20s, there’s a truth to the sentiment of “cooking isn’t easy and it isn’t creative” – at least as far as professional cooking goes (or for that matter, getting to be a good home cook). Cooking is a craft, not an art. And like all crafts, its takes lots and lots of repetition to get any good. The difference between a good home cook and a good professional line cook, is the line cook can bang out the same quality flatiron steak for 30 orders a night, night after night. There’s nothing creative about julienning 20 pounds of carrots or deveining shrimp for an hour straight.
So, I guess I have some sympathy for Kimball’s point and the general ethos of CI of running every recipe through its paces, even if he’s a fop playing weekend yeoman.
Maude
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I should have said a pox on both their houses for 2008.
It is easy to be confused about who is what if someone only had MSM television.
Look at how stupid the coverage is.
What was said in the debates wasn’t reported.
I’m glad we have a president who is calm.
raven
@goblue72: I thought about going into cooking for a living in the 70’s but I thought it would kill the joy. I thinks I was right.
Lee
Perfect soft boiled eggs: take a pin and poke a hole in the fat bottom of the egg(s) to prevent cracking during cooking. Put eggs into pot of cold water. Bring to boil, then simmer for 2.5 minutes. Works for me.
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
…or Doug J, for that matter.
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hey, any reverse PsyOps that might be unfolding is just great by me.
goblue72
@raven: Contrary to the Food Network, there is no joy in cooking. There’s a reason all those pro chefs on shows like Top Chef seem so desperate to win – they ARE. Anything to get out the 16 hour day, 6 day a week grinds in a sweaty kitchen just to bring home peanuts.
There’s a reason Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential was such a hit amongst professional cooks – it was like reading a play-by-play of what anyone who’s worked in a restaurant kitchen has gone through. Right down to the drinking, drugs, long shitty hours, and waking up in the middle of the night wondering WTF kind of future you were going to have.
different-church-lady
@goblue72: Professionally, it’s not creative (unless you rise to a point where you get to design your own menus).
In the home it can be extremely creative. To the point of catastrophe.
Yutsano
@different-church-lady: The Mormon vote may not overwhelm the Hispanic vote at least in the down ticket races. And the Republicans really only got AZ last time because it was Grandpa Walnuts’ home state.
PurpleGirl
I have a friend who often talked about wanting to have his own restaurant. (He worked in operating systems research and then internet security.) He is a fantastic cook and he likes to cook. His father actually had a restaurant in Florida for a number of years and also worked as a chef in several hospitals preparing upscale menus for private patients. His father got my friend to promise he (the friend) would not start a restaurant until after the father died. He kept reminding my friend how hard it was to run a restaurant and be the chef. My friend became disabled and hasn’t tried to have a restaurant.
schrodinger's cat
@Violet: You are welcome!
General Stuck
Here we go again. Florida, the national laboratory for right wing whackjob experiments.
Or is this some kind of backdoor re segregation scheme?
karen marie
If number of comments in open threads is any indication, BJers are more interested in food than football. Ha!
IowaOldLady
OMG, Bruce Springsteen is going to be in Ames on Thursday.
Maybe it’s good to live in a swing state after all, even one with just 6 EVs.
raven
@karen marie: Maybe people are WATCHING. This 4hr+ thread ain’t exactly tearing it up.
? Martin
@General Stuck: Looks like what they call ‘forward planning’ in too many education circles. Take the number of Asians below grade level and cut it in half. Do the same for every other group. Pick a year. Write it down and run it through the large pedagogical word generator. Type ‘strategic plan’ at the top and head out with your fellow legislators for a night of congratulatory hookers and blow.
PurpleGirl
@PurpleGirl: Forgot to add that this friend also made a turducken for his own birthday dinner one year. He was intrigued by the idea and wanted to try it just to try it.
General Stuck
@? Martin:
LOL
? Martin
@goblue72: Like all activities, doing it as an amateur is great fun while doing it professionally will destroy your soul. The oldest profession established the rule from the outset.
Kool Earl
@Hill Dweller:
The Romney campaign has responded to it and is trying to pin it on the President:
piratedan
@different-church-lady:
here’s the linkage result from the GOS diary….
http://www.scribd.com/doc/109920743/RMP-2012-III-01
no idea on the outfit tho….
still..most of the trending shows that Latinos are much more engaged in this election than 2008. Perhaps SB1070 is the root cause or the initial gift that keeps on giving along with self deportation and the R’s shooting down the DREAM Act..
Joel
I think the NYT oversells Kimball’s seriousness here; anyone whose watched America’s Test Kitchen on PBS knows that the guy is basically a big dork. And I mean that in a good way. If you haven’t watched the show, do yourself a favor and catch it before president Romney kills it (only joking, kinda).
gelfling545
@Schlemizel: We like to add a pinch of brown sugar to the oil & then a light spray of balsamic vinegar.
amk
The fucking ‘pollsters’ beg to differ.
jwb
@MikeJ: My hope is that people learned their lesson observing our side’s reaction to Obama’s performance in debate 1 and the other side’s reaction to Ryan’s performance in debate 2. Watching the twitter feed the past two days has me encouraged, but we’ll see if that holds after the real event.
Patricia Kayden
@Hill Dweller: There Mitt goes again — creating jobs…
In China.
Hill Dweller
@Kool Earl: Morons. Willard’s company shipping jobs overseas is Obama’s fault? No one is buying that bullshit.
Baud
@Hill Dweller:
FTFY
gwangung
@piratedan:
Prop 187 redux?
AHH onna Droid
@M. Bouffant: yeah, can’t fathom what kind of life that is to fuss that much or spend that much on cooking. Another reminder that internet denizens skew ‘ comfortable’. A nice omelet constitutes complicated dinner to me. I’m happy because I found out instant mashed is tasty when you lemon it up.
I know how to make from scratch and will when somebody finds those mythical extra hours in the day or discovers the cure for sleep.
Hill Dweller
@Baud: Touché
Redshift
@Kool Earl: Wow. That amazing piece of BS is short enough that we shouldn’t make people go to a link to see it:
I think that spin should be the second definition of chutzpah, right below murdering your parents and then begging for mercy because you’re an orphan.
suzanne
The family and I just ate some grilled chicken (I ate a veggie masala burger), baked spicy sweet potato “French fries”, and a nuts-and-berries salad. My older daughter is currently sitting at the table crying about how much she hates the salad. I AM THE MEANEST MOM EVAR!!! Success.
karen marie
@M31: Microwave brownies, no matter the recipe, are, IMO, an abomination.
Brownies, cooked at 350 for 30 minutes, by my Nana
Melt 4 squares baking choc + one stick of butter, set aside
Beat 4 eggs with two cups sugar
Add melted choc/butter and 1-2 tspns vanilla (real vanilla, not that fake stuff and not the stuff that says it’s real but has sweetener in it)
Mix in 1 cup flour
Mix in 2 cups chopped walnuts
Bake in an 11×7 pan lined with wax paper. Cook approximately 30 minutes. Test with a toothpick at 25 minutes if your oven runs hot. When it comes out clean, they’re done.
Let them rest for a couple minutes before pulling from pan and cutting.
Fantastic frozen!
@MikeJ: That is a terrific suggestion which I hope I remember.
ThresherK
@Schlemizel: In the 70s, SCTV and (a fake) “Ed Herlihy” had some “magic hands” recipe, making a sandwich in front of a table full of ingredients.
By the time it got to “Top with raw duck fat and another slice of bread”, in that rich, inviting bariton, I was laughing myself sick.
gelfling545
@MikeJ: YOu may be right but I’d like to see the flounder slapping thing, though.
Batocchio
Sushi tonight, probably. Tomorrow I’ll be making baba ganoush and a carrot and ginger soup. (Sunday’s great for cooking lunch for the week… while watching football.)
Baud
@Redshift:
It would only be chutzpah if Romney weren’t 100% confident that the media won’t call him on it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Redshift:
So now they want Obama running GM? That was teh great wingnut terror, that he was trying to personally soshullize the auto industry?
I think it was Chaffetz, maybe it was Sweet Paulie Blue Eyez in the debate, made some reference to “President Obama’s contractors in Iraq” as if he’s some kind of Roman dictator running a personal war. These people have driven themselves into some kind of madness with their babbling. And I’m sure Tom Brokaw thinks these are very valid points.
General Stuck
One example of morons acting not in their self interest, feeding their hatred over feeding their families. Racism in this country underlies almost everything that happens, at some level. I would not have said that before Barack Obama became president.
And the only thing more powerful than tribal hate, is the denial of it.
And this was New Jersey.
piratedan
@gwangung: perhaps a good bit of that… while Nate doesn’t think much of the poll it is noted by the pollster that they conducted interviews in Spanish and actually polled Latinos but not in excess from what I can see.
When you stack up SB 1070, the Prez’s support of the Dream Act, Arpaio’s latest gaffe of ignoring 400 sexual assault complaints (primarily against latino teens) to pursue real estate fraud claims, Romney’s self deportation suggestion as his token response to immigration and Carmona being a latino running for Senate (he’s Puerto Rican)…
perhaps there’s a cumulative affect in play here that folks on the East Coast simply aren’t familiar with. the same may hold true for Colorado and Nevada and it’s been noted before that Latino’s are undercounted and that the GOTV has been targeting Latinos since 1070 was initiated by the Dems.
karen marie
@Violet: Restuffed. OMG!
Baud
@General Stuck:
Was it this guy?
General Stuck
@Baud:
Coulda been. They all look alike to me. :) Though some are dumber than others.
Hill Dweller
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:Does Sensata survive if Obama doesn’t save GM?
gwangung
@piratedan: Yeah, I think people from outside of the community aren’t really aware of all the stuff that stacks up. When you add it all up….I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to think the Republican Party is out to get them…
raven
@General Stuck: I look like that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Hill Dweller: I hadn’t thought of if that way.
My my my. THat sociamamalist thug Obama rescued Bain Capital through government activism!
General Stuck
@raven:
so do i
kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think “the government owning GM” is a mistake.
That might play well with the national political press but it won’t play well in this part of Ohio.
They’re proud and pleased about the auto industry comeback.
Not good for the “car Guy” to be denigrating that.
amk
For those, who give a shite about the real ‘polls’.
Early voting in Iowa:
206,363 votes cast.
53.3% Democrats.
27.8% Thugs
18.9% None/Others
pseudonymous in nc
@Redshift:
FTFY.
Pen
Diced Pan-seared chicken with olive oil and cracked black pepper, sliced Ella mushrooms and red bell peppers, and a simple garlic and hummus sauce over spaghetti pasta. The chicken and sauce takes the same amount of time to prep and cook as the noodles do to cook so it’s one of my go-to recipes when the munchkin won’t give me time to make something fancy. If he looks the same tomorrow me the extra chicken and chickpeas are getting thrown in a crock with some home canned tomatoes and tomatoe sauce. I’ll probably toss in a half bomber of the Oakes dry stout I bottled up last week so I have an excuse when the wife asks why I’m drinking the other half for breakfast ;-)
Joy
I’m such a nerd, I’m watching CSPAN where they are replaying the “town hall” debates. Right now it is a painful reminder of what a buffoon Bush was (vs. Gore). I have been curious about how the format will change the dynamics this Tuesday.
JPL
What’s for supper.. hmmm I had tenderloin with horseradish sauce, salmon with a mustard curry sauce, corn pudding and asparagus and hearts of palm salad. It’s nice when you are invited to a catered party. I’m stuffed.
In response to the perfect boiled egg, really who cares.
karen marie
@Svensker: If you live in New England, you can probably get Teddie Peanut Butter. It’s an old Massachusetts company, and makes the best “natural” peanut butter anywhere. The homogenized is great because you don’t get separation like you do with non-homogenized.
I’m now on the west coast and can’t afford to have a case of Teddie shipped to me, so I’ve been using Fry’s Kroger brand “all natural.” It’s pretty good, but I miss my Teddie.
Lyrebird
@General Stuck: but you are beautiful commenters for sure!
re: topic:
Cooking is very creative when it’s not put under restaurant-level pressure, especially making things like soup or chili where you can start with that leftover half an onion & just gradually work your way through the fridge.
Of course I got greedy at the farmstand this morning, so even tho I baked potatoes, simmered tofu w/arugula, and threw together some breakfast muffins, I have a ton of cooking left to do tomorrow.
Maybe that’s good, bc given how much grading catch-up I have to do, I probably won’t be up to much of anything by afternoon except chopping greens.
T-shirt I would like but few others would buy:
Kohlrabi is Beautiful!
Joey O’Biden is beautiful too, and Mr. Huckabee is NOT:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/12/huckabee-biden-was-like-an-obnoxious-drunk-at-debate/
Lyrebird
@karen marie: Teddie PB is the BEST BEST BEST!! Now that you’re on the west coast, tho., look for the raccoon brand, “Once Again” — thank you Google Images.
The Smuckers natural PB has nothing on Teddie’s, but I like it, and it was a life saver on job assignments in, say, eastern Kentucky.
Xecky Gilchrist
For dinner: chana masala! Simple but tasty. I’m not a very creative or talented cook but I can do a competent curry from scratch.
JPL
@Lyrebird: but Huck is a good christian, everybody knows that.
Joel
The Market Will Regulate Itself.
“Beach was one of 33 people killed by listeria that was later traced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state officials to contaminated cantaloupes from one Colorado farm. It was the deadliest outbreak of foodborne disease in the U.S. in almost 100 years.
“He died in terror and pain,” says his daughter Debbie Frederick.
About seven weeks after Beach started eating cantaloupes, a private, for-profit inspection company awarded a top safety rating to Jensen Farms, the Granada, Colorado, grower of his toxic fruit. The approval meant retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Wegmans Food Markets Inc. could sell Jensen melons.”
TexasMango
Nate Silver is confused because actual voting doesn’t look like the LV polls he is using in his model.
https://twitter.com/fivethirtyeight/status/257267147619840001
Nate Silver @fivethirtyeight
Having trouble reconciling polls claiming Obama doing well among actual early voters against those showing a huge likely voter gap.
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karen marie
@opie_jeanne: Smitten Kitchen’s Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes! Mind-bendingly good!
I’ve made them several times.
Svensker
@karen marie: In Toronto, so never seen Teddie — will look for it next time I’m down east! Look for Adams out where you are, it’s definitely good.
ETC spelling
karen marie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And Clinton came to Tempe this past week to speak at a rally to support Carmona. So there must be some hope.
karen marie
@TexasMango: Early voting where?
Lyrebird
@JPL: Insert Leonard Cohen “Everybody Knows” video here…
Bubblegum Tate
I’m an unabashed CI/ATK fan (subscribe to the former and DVR the latter, along with CC), though some of their recipes are unreasonably fussy. But still, I’ve always expanded my cooking repertoire by following a new recipe to the letter so that I understand how it’s supposed to go, then tinkering with it to make it more aligned with my preferences. CI/ATK recipes are terrific launching pads for that, and I do appreciate that they show you the various pitfalls and explain to you why you need to do certain things a certain way.
TexasMango
@karen marie: Iowa and Ohio. Democrats are blowing Rethugs out of the water.
This as you can imagine causes trouble when actual voting activity doesn’t look like the LV models.
TexasMango
@karen marie: Thanks for that link. I’ll be making a lot of her stuff. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls! YUM!
Thor Heyerdahl
Took some leftover pork shoulder that had been slow cooked Cuban style (orange juice with lots of spices), grabbed a can of tomato soup, some stock and added veggies from the fridge plus half a cup of rice…turned out to be a damn good soup!
As for the peanut butter separation issue with natural PB – a trick I found online and do myself is to turn the jar over each time you use it. So it rests on the bottom sometimes, but then on the top other times. The oil doesn’t separate out.
opie_jeanne
@karen marie: Oooh! Thank you!
Elizabelle
@Schlemizel:
I dunno. I made a pastry crust out of Julia Child’s cookbook that my dad had to cut with a steak knife. No one else would try.
But he did. I loved my dad. Lucked out in the dad department.
TerryC
Slow cooking a piece of filet mignon that I found for sale at a Sparkle market in Chester, WV, for only $6/pound. Will add a couple of eggs shortly.
dorothy nightshade
@aimai:
I bet this crew has zero understanding of (or interest in) the great art of re-purposing leftovers. In the end, play, creativity, actually matters because exactitude isn’t enough.
“The mystique is in the mistakes.” ~ Anonymous medieval alchemist.
Jay in Oregon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I forget which prominent Democrat said “Deficits don’t matter.” Can anyone help?
And I’m always surprised at how many “former Obama supporters” there are out there who just happen to mimic Republican talking points…
Joel
@dorothy nightshade: Quite wrong, in fact; a lot of Cook’s Illustrated recipes use leftovers. Such as the chicken rissoto (which I hated, reminds me of my MIL’s chicken casserole).