@anne_boyer @PhillipsPasha Power of brand. Kale = upscale granola crunchers. Collards = gap toothed hillbillies.
— billmon (@billmon1) January 1, 2014
Going out to remove the first six inches, of a projected ten to fifteen, from the front steps & walkway. Yes, I know I’m lucky in comparison to many of you Midwesterners…
Along with complaining about the weather, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
aimai
Well, I love both Kale and Collard Greens and cook them both regularly. Most people who eat them in high class restaurants wouldn’t know the difference and probably eat both quite happilly. They are different to cook, though and there are many varieties of Kale while around here I only see one variety of Collard.
Hal
Wait, is kale more popular than collards? As a “health food” I think kale has a better reputation given the way collards are traditionally prepared, but I wouldn’t be surprised if collards are consumed in much greater numbers, especially in the south.
ant
growing up, we used to grow collard greens in the back yard.
My mom would make them in a pressure cooker, with some fatty-smoked-cheep pork thrown in.
Nobody I know now would eat such food, and I miss it.
ranchandsyrup
Still not feeling great after NYE celebrations. One more night of good sleep and I should be back. Made a poor decision after midnight to let Captain Morgan be my guide for the rest of the night.
Wrote a shuffle post about The National and how I used transferrence to avoid liking them.
kdaug
Dog as my witness, I first thought you were talking about weeds, and 6″ off the first 10-15″ had me, well, wondering why you couldn’t just mow the whole damned thing at once.
Y’all can point and laugh at our sweltering asses when it’s 120 in July, but now it’s our turn.
Cermet
This weather has my daughter stuck in Chicago (all flights cancelled into Boston.) She plans on staying at the airport and then catch a flight tomorrow for Boston … hopefully, seats will be available … .
the Conster
According to NewsMax Glenn Beck is with the gays against Russia? I thought Putin was the new wingnut BFF. Wingnuts are all such a bunch of gullible dumb fucks.
gogol's wife
Wow, Boston must be getting it worse than we are (at least so far). We only have about 2 inches so far, and I think the total will be 10. We got my 1000-page Barbara Stanwyck bio (vol. 1) today, so I’m well set to weather the storm, God willing.
jeffreyw
Draw me like one of your French girls.
gogol's wife
@the Conster:
Hilarious! I love puzzling over the NewsMax headlines. But I would never click on one. It’s more fun to invent the accompanying stories.
ruemara
You can make kale with bacon and collards with smoked turkey thighs. Win/win. Not seeing the issue.
Geeno
@gogol’s wife: Why not? Isn’t that what they do?
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: I was almost afraid to look! Very sweet, and artistically done.
kc
I LOVE collards, being a gap-toothed hillbilly, but kale greens are easier to clean and cook.
Mnemosyne
You can eat kale raw if you want to — don’t think you can do the same with collards. Then again, I’m a Midwesterner living in California, so my main exposure to collards was when my sister-in-law insisted that we eat at Cracker Barrel one time.
Mnemosyne
@jeffreyw:
That is a belly that DEMANDS snorgeling.
Violet
@aimai: I’ve got three varieties of collards growing in my garden right now. I love collards.
Geeno
As edit failed me, let me add:
Webster, NY – not sure what the official tally is so far, but out at Xerox with its nice wide open parking lots, the snow had drifted up over my hood (Olds Alero – for perspective)
woodyNYC
@Mnemosyne: Yes, kale is sweeter, IMHO. Plus this year bugs chewed up all my collards….
Geeno
I have nothing to add to the Kale/Collards controversy – I find both to be decidedly “meh”.
Omnes Omnibus
I am not a fan of either type of greens. I like my greens in a salad.
aimai
@ant: Come to Hungry Mother, their collard greens are to die for.
aimai
@Geeno: Try with more garlic, red pepper flakes, and in some cases a little anchovy.
I also make Punjabi style mixed greens (Kale, Mustard Greens, Spinach). Grind to a paste one Jalapeño and some ginger and garlic. Toss it into hot oil. Add cumin seed (whole) until it pops. Sautee the greens with a little water until they are cooked down. Salt to taste. Add Punjabi Masala and heavy cream. Its really, really, really, not meh. If the jalapeño is hot enough, or you use a hotter pepper, it will take the top of your head off and clear your sinuses.
Aji
Jeesh. Everybody who doesn’t want it is getting it, and those of us who need it can’t get jack.
Sock it to me, baby.
Snow. Get your minds outta the gutter.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Can’t complain about the weather — just light snow. But you want complaints? I can give you complaints. All’s I wanna do is hook up the DVD player to the internet so we can watch Netflix. So I buy a plug-in wireless adapter and it doesn’t work. Dunno why, it works with my laptop, so back it goes to Best Buy.
Next, there’s an ethernet port on the cable box and one on the DVD player. I plug ’em both in and nothing happens. Since we get our internet from cable, why wouldn’t Comcast make it easy-peasy to connect your TV/DVD to the internet via the cable box? Dunno, but it didn’t work.
So it’s back to BestBuy to buy some sorta Roku device that plugs straight into the TV I guess. Anybody have a better solution? Other than running 100 ft of ethernet cable out of the 2nd floor office, into a closet, down through a wall to the basement, out through the crawlspace under the family room (that’s too small to crawl through) and fished up through a new hole in the floor I’ll have to drill in some discreet place.
Ugh.
/End Airing of Grievances/
Jay C
Yeah, even in the extraordinarily-urban environment of The Big Apple, we’ve gotten embroiled in the kale/collards wars: here though, it’s a relatively simple formulation: kale is Downtown, collards are Uptown. Though if they’re the same weed, I wouldn’t be surprised….
Weather is still sucky here (Berkshires) – no dire blizzard (yet) but 15.6F and steadily, if lightly, snowing. Artichokes and baked potatoes in the dinner menu tonight: simple, easy, and the cook (me) gets to stay in a comfy-warm kitchen. Win-win….
HeartlandLiberal
Kale is frilly. What more can I say?
But, all humor aside, collards have a stronger, earthier taste, I think.
I always grow classic Georgia collards variety. For kale, in addition to the most common curly dwarf blue Siberian kale, which produces the tightest bunched and curled leaf edges, I now grow dinosaur kale, also. Long, dark green leaves, without teeth along the edges, pretty much flat. Look it up. Absolutely the most delicious kale variety I have ever eaten.
Also, since we are originally from Alabama, I can testify to the stereotyping of us ignorant, bare foot, collard eatin’ hicks. Yep.
But you really have not lived until you have had collards slow cooked with some ham hocks, or some other piece of the noble and generous pig, served with genuine southern white meal cornbread with NO SUGAR, thank y’all very much. I always eat mine with a big dollop of ketchup on the plate to dip my cornbread in.
Aji
@aimai: I don’t think the anchovy would work for me, but along with the garlic and red pepper flakes, I’d say sea salt, black pepper, parsley, and plenty of dry mustard, all tossed with a little oil.
Then again, that’s also my go-to marinade for pretty much everything.
The Punjabi Masala with heavy cream sounds to die for, but alas, no more cream for me, heavy or otherwise.
DZ
Personally, I prefer 1/2 collards and 1/2 mustards when preparing greens. Smoked ham hock, garlic and red pepper flakes complete the cooking. Then, pepper sauce.
Ash Can
The sun finally came out about an hour ago, and now it’s already down, and it’s getting dark out. Thanks, Obama.
Suffern ACE
When I eat kale, I get a headache. Happened a few times so I gave up healthy eating from that cooked green source. I’m probably not preparing them properly. Screw inconvenient vegetables. I’ll stick with spinach.
And the hell with arugula, too, while we’re at it. Give me escarole instead.
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
As long as you have an HDMI and WiFi, all the Roku devices should work with minimal configuration. A couple also have Ethernet, and some lower-end models also will connect via Composite.
Roku is what I recommend to just about anyone wanting streaming video on nearly any TV. It’s the simplest of the devices out there, today, but loaded with just enough features to make it kick all kinds of arse. I’d prefer it over even many built-in Smart TV/DVD/Blu-Ray solutions.
David Hunt
When I read this, I became immediately worried until I checked to make sure that it wasn’t Cole writing it. I’m rather glad as I didn’t want to explain to the 911 operator in Cole’s town why a guy in Texas was calling to report a horrible accident in West Virginia without getting an explicit call for help.
Ferd of the Nort
Warmed up to -23C. Enjoying the warm with a walk tonight at the City Hall to see the Christmas lights. Last night was about 3 inches of new snow. So much better than the -43 temps last week. With windchill to -53, that is even too cold for my 3 dogs.
Greens – I get what is available. Can’t grow it worth a dang, what with the dogs in the back yard. Flying it in special is not in the budget. Have had a nice kale mixed slaw, with brussels sprouts, red cabbage, cranberries and poppy seed dressing recently. Kale woks for that nicely.
Dutch dish wife taught me: Mashed potato, with bacon chunks and Kale. Good food.
ruemara
Been printing the same damned card for nearly 2 hours. fuck you, wireless. and the random pc weirdness. fuck you, the fact that I can’t spell weird without the red squiggly thing.
Geeno
@aimai: I actually do make a similar side dish for myself at times. I’m the only one in the house who likes spinach, so I often get some for myself and saute in butter, garlic, and red pepper flakes. And then toss in other things as available – never tried jalapenos in it though. I love them in other settings, so I definitely have to try that now. I’ll pick up some kale or collards as a trial to mix in next time.
I’ve only ever been served kale or collards plain with oil or margarine and minimal spicing, so – meh, and I really couldn’t tell you if I tasted much of a difference. Meh memories don’t stand out.
Patricia Kayden
@Ash Can: That will never get old. Even when President Obama is out of office.
Don’t really like either kale or collards but love callaloo.
aimai
@Suffern ACE: I love escarole. Oh, here’s a new recipe which is really good: grilled/sauteed raddichio.
Take a couple of heads of Radicchio or Treviso and grill or fry them in a pan with butter and slivered garlic. Serve with garlic/tahini sauce and crisp fried shallots, pignole nuts, and pomegranate seeds.
Raven
Apple TV.
JPL
Collard greens can be stir fried quickly in a little oil. I remove the stems and do add a tad of sugar and a tad of vinegar. The winds are howling here and tomorrows high is suppose to be 37. ugh. I’ll probably pick the rest of the collards and kale before the temps fall into the twenties next week.
MikeJ
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Tried Google’s $35 box?
Anne Laurie
@Ferd of the Nort: Colcannon! A personal fave, although I prefer green onions & cabbage to kale (or collards, I guess)…
shelly
Yeah , I think Boston is one of this storm’s targets to spank. Along with Long Island. Poor Long Island is every storm’s bitch. Read that PSE&G has taken over as the power authority. LIPO has been a joke for the past decade. After Hurricane Sandy, there were LI folk that were without power for six weeks.
Elizabelle
@David Hunt:
That’s funny. I was worried about Cole and pets too, and wondering how WV was getting all that snow.
And they’re calling this Winter Storm Hercules?
Must these all be Weather Events (TM)?
Mnemosyne
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
I’m assuming you don’t have a Wii video game system — if you do, it can be hooked up to Netflix.
JPL
@Elizabelle: Maybe it’s easier to hashtag. ha
Mnemosyne
Also, too, kale is super-yummy in soup — it’s tough enough that it doesn’t break down like spinach can.
WereBear
@gogol’s wife: PLEASE tell me what that Barbara Stanwyk bio is called! I have been waiting for a good one for AGES.
lamh36
oh well, no cable, but my Amazon Prime subscription means I can rewatch ALL 5 SEASONS of Fringe back to Back!!!!!
Litlebritdiftrnt
I love collard greens (back in the UK we call them Spring Cabbage) but I hate putting a forkful in my mouth and chomping down on a lump of pork fat. When I cook them I just slice them or tear them apart (as opposed to chopping the way the Southerners do) and then boil them for a few minutes, (not four hours) and then toss them in butter, white pepper and salt. I love all of the brassicas, including Brussel Sprouts. Unfortunately my DH hates them unless they are raw in a salad so I have to make a special effort to make them just for myself. Same with Cole Slaw, home made slaw is to die for (as opposed to the chopped to nothing store bought stuff), and I make it for myself when I can. As for Spinach there is nothing better than Spanish Spinach Pie. When I was a vegetarian it was my favorite thing in the world.
jeffreyw
Mmm… kale with butterbeans and smoked ham hocks
OzarkHillbilly
My wife wouldn’t go near a plate of greens to save her life. Which sucks for me cause I loves me a mess of fresh spring greens. I have a nice patch of poke weed growing out back and I think I’m gonna make some just for me this year. What’s she gonna have for dinner? I’da know, her problem.
WereBear
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Chromecast is cheaper, and works with Netflix. But you already have the Roku box!
Now, ANYTHING is based on wireless. Perhaps Apple TV does not, but everything else, does.
Violet
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
That’s interesting. My UK family (from the north, like you) had never heard of collard greens and one of them went to several supermarkets trying to find them after having them here. I’ve not seen them in supermarkets in the UK. Are they only available in the spring?
Edit: Forgot to mention I usually cook collards like you mention. Slice, boil/steam for a few minutes then serve up. Adding butter and salt and anything else I usually do at the table. My favorite way to eat them. I usually am eating my own home grown collards, so they don’t take long to cook and I’ve picked them right before cooking.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@MikeJ:
@Mnemosyne:
@WereBear:
This is the first thing I’ve tried. I’ll look into Google and Roku (don’t have it yet, just tried a WiFi adapter).
As far as the video consoles, my sons hooked one of their xBoxes up to the TV and ran the 100 ft cable down the stairs and across the floor for a week last summer so they could watch Netflix. Not a long-term solution, but it worked.
I’m not a gamer and have no use for a console in our TV room.
/old guy/
ETA: reply to WereBear
different-church-lady
And that concludes today’s episode of “What Billmon Tweeted”. Next up: today’s episode of “What Ted Rall drew”
Hal
@Ash Can:
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/489/972/480.gif
scav
Kale, Mustard Geens, Beet Tops, Collards, What are those ones with all the great stems? Chard . . . silly binary thinking. I think my block has finally bust out of the lake effect stuff, which was determined stuff forr once. Thin sliver moon and Hollow Crown late-breaking BDay gift. I think it’s an evening.
Elizabelle
@jeffreyw:
Send me a plate of that. Right now. Looks scrumptious.
Litlebritdiftrnt
@Violet:
I believe so, they are called such because they tend to be grown over the Winter like they are here and are harvested in the Spring. My Dad used to grow brilliant Spring Cabbage. ETA I believe that they are also known as Spring Greens. Perhaps they could look for that.
Elizabelle
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
What is Spanish Spinach Pie? Sounds delish.
Violet
@different-church-lady: I prefer both of those series to “Blank Page Because No Front-Pager Meets Commenters’ Stringent Requirements.” That one’s a complete bore.
Elizabelle
@Violet:
And I’m NSA’d out!
WereBear
Ah: it is Steel-True. Running to get Part I.
tybee
we grow mustard, collards, turnips and several varieties of cabbage during the winter.
cooking the mustard is a form of chemical warfare. :)
to get rid of the bitter taste of collards and turnips, put in some cabbage. works like a charm. and you can skip the sugar.
i like all 4 varieties of greens cooked together. some red pepper flakes or vinegar pepper sauce at serving time goes well…
greens and cornbread do go together well.
different-church-lady
Supposedly this is going to turn into a major “nor’easter”, but I’m still trying to figure out if it’s actually going to bring in snow from over the Atlantic or if all the storm-pRon reporters are using nor’easter as slang for “really big snowstorm in New England”.
That being said, apparently the temperature is a lovely 6.1 degrees in my fair city as of the moment, with tomorrow high predicted for 14 and the low for -6, with wind gusts up to 45 mph. Finally, some decent character-building weather.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne: I read this and thought, What strange things could possibly happen to Mnemosyne’s spinach can? Then I realized that it was a verb, not a noun.
Violet
@Litlebritdiftrnt: I just googled Spring Cabbage but didn’t see anything that looked like collards. Maybe it’s ultra-regional? I’ll ask one of my English relatives who is a big gardener. Maybe she’d know.
Okay, just googled “spring greens” and that sounds closer. Apparently it’s thought to be closer to wild cabbage.
Has anyone ever eaten the leaves from broocoli, cauliflower and/or brussels sprouts plants? Apparently they can be eaten like collards.
jeffreyw
@Elizabelle: With habanero infused vinegar.
gogol's wife
@Ash Can:
You sound like the New York Times. Yesterday’s paper was incredible. There was Cornel West calling Obama a milquetoast (as noted here yesterday), some guy in the letters referring to a glitch in the withdrawal from Iraq as his “biggest foreign policy blunder” (there’ve been so many of them, of course), and on the op-ed page Michael Moore complaining that he didn’t go for single-payer even though he knew in his heart it was the right way to go. I couldn’t stand to read it, but I assume he answered the question of how that was supposed to get through Congress.
Jim, Foolish LIteralist
@FlipYrWhig: it smashes in her hand when she needs an instant boost of strength
argh-argh-argh…
if you’re old enough to remember Popeye cartoons. I am. Sigh.
Steeplejack
Collards? Hmmph. Let’s talk Polk salad (a.k.a. pokeweed). Just be sure to cook it three times.
Polk. Salad.
Litlebritdiftrnt
@Elizabelle:
Was trying to find the recipe and all I got was Greek Spinach Pie which actually sounds a lot like what I ate in Gibraltar (my favorite)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanakopita
different-church-lady
@Violet: You completely misunderstand me: I am just trying to encourage other threads to live longer so that the usual suspects can engage in the usual “entertainment” by the time the threads hit 6 dTBu.
Why? Because I’m perverse that way…
gogol's wife
@WereBear:
It’s so fabulous! Victoria Wilson, A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True (1907-1940), Simon and Schuster. I’ve just read the first chapter, and it is so fascinating, with TONS of pictures you’ve never seen before. She goes into the whole family history.
tybee
@Steeplejack:
ahem. poke sallet.
Jane2
@kdaug: And I do, after I take you all off the Winter Ignore list.
danielx
Heh….I am told this weekend is when the weather will go completely to shite. Eight inches of snow today, predicting a foot on Sunday and a high of -5 on Monday, which is pretty horrible for central Indiana.
Now there was a commentator earlier who said they’re expecting temps of -30 in Minnesota….
GregB
Have Governor Christie ordered snowplows in Democratic strongholds off the streets yet?
Jane2
@ruemara: Exactly! I don’t eat collards because they don’t sell them in the Frozen North…probably has something to do with perishability and definitely has something to do with culture. And kale just isn’t all that.
Ferd of the Nort
@Anne Laurie: I got a Dutch version from a Dutch lady. I am calling it Dutch, since I married her and it is “She Who Must Be Obeyed”.
Ferd of the Nort
@Anne Laurie: I got a Dutch version from a Dutch lady. I am calling it Dutch, since I married her and it is “She Who Must Be Obeyed”.
GregB
@Steeplejack:
Great tune.
Raven
Just had my White Tiger chicken soup with collards, blackeyed peas and a grilled pimento Sammy. Another joint in town makes a pimento Sam with grilled collars.
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: Lows of around -25-30 in northern WI predicted for Sunday/Monday. That’s not counting wind chill.
rikyrah
@ant:
I just fixed Collards with a hamhock last week.
LOL
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I was told over the weekend by a certain Minnesota resident that wind chill doesn’t count. ;-)
It would have been a less annoying argument if G hadn’t been in a cranky mood and decided to back JMN up.
Steeplejack
@tybee:
Poke . . . sallet.
Yam
I grew all manner of greens (turnip, 2 types of kale, collards) in my yard this year. Happily spent the early summer harvesting, blanching, chopping, vacuum packing and freezing the bounty so when the weather sucks (as it will here very, very soon) here in Minneapolis, I can haz greens and dream healthy thoughts of spring and planting again. I love ’em all though the Mrs. isn’t a huge fan. I usually have to add ’em to a hot dish or eggs or something to get her to eat them.
Mnemosyne
@danielx:
Here in Los Angeles, it’s 82 (above zero ;-) and sunny. Tomorrow, it will be 75 and, you guessed it, sunny.
And people ask me why I left Chicago …
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Shit, anyone can get below zero when you factor in wind chill. Of course it doesn’t count. When you are comparing cold temps, you need a standard and actual temperature is what counts. Not some silliness which allows you to say it is 20 degrees warmer on the lee side of a tree.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Annie was the original totebagger?
Andrew Abshier
70 in Sarasota with thunderstorms. Lalalalala……..
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
When the wind chill is 70 below, standing on the lee side of the tree isn’t going to do you much good.
Notice that 9
10of the 15 coldest days on record took place between 1982 and 1985. I moved the hell away in 1988. Can you blame me?(Edited because I misread 1994 as 1984 in one of the dates.)
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
LOL. Gotta say you were inching into the mclaren zone on that one. A graceful “I misremembered” would have been the way to go.
I was thinking about you earlier because TCM has been running movies directed by Charles Brabin all day, and I happened to catch The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933) a while ago. Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes. I can’t think of a ’30s movie I have seen that is a worse combination of cheesy and creepy/icky. Dunne is a showgirl who marries useless playboy Atwill, his father objects, a baby is born, complications ensue. It’s women’s-picture-weepy turned up to 11, of course, but there are some places where it gets turned up to 12, and I don’t know how they even did that. I was wondering if you have seen it. Would possibly like to discuss (gingerly).
WaterGirl
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: I will second Raven on Apple TV.
Another suggestion is to post the same thing at night when Steeplejack is most likely to be around. He is ever so helpful with stuff like this.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Totesacker. (That sounds kind of obscene.)
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: When the wind chill is 70 below, standing on the lee side of the tree isn’t going to do you much good.
That is because the air temperature – one everyone said counts – was -27. That’s cold. Still, per wind chill calculations, getting out of the wind supposedly raises the perceived temp by 43 degrees in your scenario. That’s not a decent standard for comparison. Air temp is where it’s at.
I lived a couple of hundred miles north of you at that time. Think it was warmer where I was? I’ve gone away, but I always come back.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
Be sure to bring a sweater.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
I forgot to give G my list of TCM movies to Tivo, so I missed that one. :-( I have to get back in gear.
And I was not “wrong,” JMN was being pedantic. When you turn on the weather report in Chicago, they always tell you the temperature with the wind chill. Nobody looks out the window at the blowing snow and says, Well, the thermometer says it’s only 20 below, so I don’t need a scarf. Wind chill is the difference between frostbite and no frostbite.
Anne Laurie
@Ferd of the Nort: Yeah, I suspect it’s universal (northern) Poor People Food — how to feed a big hungry family on a small hunk of preserved pork, plus a cache of potatoes and whatever greens you can scavenge!
In Ireland, according to my grandparents, it got a reputation as an early-spring special, because getting to add those first tender greens & fresh milk to your dinner after three months of plain potatoes with bacon was a genuine TREAT!
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I dunno, I’m the only one who’s provided records. ;-)
I’m no longer allowed to visit Chicago in the winter. Seriously, my husband has banned me from doing so. I’m so miserable in the cold that I make everyone else around me miserable, and I went fully prepared with down jackets and long underwear.
Violet
@Mnemosyne: Here in the hot lands we get the “heat index” in the summer. That’s the temperature plus the relative humidity for the miserable “feels like” number. There’s a big difference between 90 and 40% humidity and 90 and 70% humidity. The second one feels like misery.
WaterGirl
@FlipYrWhig: Ha! Yesterday I was trying to figure out who commenter Yanno was, who she seemed to be replying to. Took me a minute to figure out that it was the written slang for “you know”.
Joel
Like ’em both.
Kale is the easiest brassica to grow, which probably explains a degree of its popularity. That said, collards are probably the second easiest brassicas to grow. Cauliflower, on the other hand, is just a clubroot incubator as far as I’m concerned.
One thing is that collards require longer cooking times than kale and have a stronger flavor. But then again, chard has milder/sweeter flavor than both and cooks much faster.
Steeplejack
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Short answer: Google Chromecast. If your TV has an (open) HDMI port and you have a wireless router, you’re home free for $35.
Violet
@Steeplejack: The last time I looked at TVs, which was about two years ago, it seemed they put all the HDMI ports on the back and the kind of middle of the road Samsung model I was looking at only had two. Has that sort of thing changed? Seems like an HDMI port in the front or on the side would be really convenient, especially if your TV is hung on the wall.
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish LIteralist: I remember that it dawned on me in my youth that the whole character and franchise might as well be a clunky ad campaign to encourage children to eat spinach.
Violet
@Steeplejack: The link for the Chromecast says it doesn’t work with Amazon Prime and Instant Video. What does work with Amazon?
Raven
@Violet: I bought a hub that takes three HDMI ports.
Josie
@rikyrah: I fixed black eyed peas with ham hocks and collard greens in the crock pot for New Year’s Day – peas for luck and greens for money. It was soooo good. Hopefully, it was also lucky.
bemused
Trying to stay warm. It was -34 this morning at our home and a lot of MN folks had it even colder.
FlipYrWhig
@Steeplejack: ah — so all you need is the HDTV, making the TV manufacturer’s on-board “smart” features unnecessary?
PS I ask because I’m still using a big heavy-ass TV from 1992 and delaying upgrading until I can sort out this kind of stuff.
gogol's wife
@Omnes Omnibus:
I agree. I hate the wussy concept of “wind chill.” Four years in Wisconsin will do that.
Although I am a lot more wussy now than I was then.
Mnemosyne
@FlipYrWhig:
@WaterGirl:
I guess I need to stop making up my own words and grammar. ;-)
(Have you seen the previews for Saving Mr. Banks? At one point, PL Travers (Emma Thompson) demands that they “un-make-up!” a nonsense word in the script, and Dick Sherman (Jason Schwartzman) carefully slides the sheet music for “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” behind the rest of the music on the stand.)
Josie
@Violet: My little Macbook Air works with Amazon Prime, so I would guess that Apple TV would also.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack:
I was going to watch that, but your description confirms what I was afraid of. I didn’t need anything depressive today. I hope they show it on some warm, sunny day so I can see it.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Mclaren alert! You said the temp was –70°, then moved the goalposts to “wind chill” when JMN refudiated.
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: But she’s not the diamond — the Couer de la Mer.
WaterGirl
@Violet:Tivo will do amazon, but only if you want to pay for stuff. It doesn’t do amazon prime, either.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
A lot of them do have a side (or side-accessible) HDMI port now. My big-ass TV (Samsung) dates from around 2009 and has a little grove of side-accessible ports on one side of the back.
Violet
@Raven: Yeah, I’ve got one like that for ethernet cables I used with an old computer. Figure it’s a similar sort of thing. Still seems kind of a miss not to have more ports.
@FlipYrWhig:
Me too, although mine’s newer than 1992 because the 1992 one died.
@Josie: I can watch Amazon Prime videos on my computer. I pulled the big TV out, unplugged stuff, plugged an HDMI cable into both computer and TV and it did work, although not great. It’s the “casting”–the sending via wifi or whatever–that I’m interested in. Here’s what I want to do. Pull up the Amazon Prime video on my laptop or phone or tablet or whatever and watch it on my TV without having to plug/unplug anything. Just click something on the phone/tablet/laptop like they do on the TV commercials for Chromecast.
Elizabelle
How fun. Headed downstairs to make a cocktail (it is cocktail hour); looked across street and — it’s white out there! Hadn’t realized Northern Virginia was expecting snow.
Beautiful atmospheric dusting of maybe a quarter inch. Big flakes sailing down.
Going to have scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for dinner. No ambition. No kale or collards in the house either.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Don’t stop on my account! :-)
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
I will make you the same invitation I made to JMN — go stand outside without a coat when the wind chill is “only” 82 below and see how long you last. :-p
I was mixing up my weather data — the day of the coldest temperature on record had a wind chill of 70 below (see link above for Omnes) but another day
that same weektwo years earlier had the coldest wind chill on record but a temperature of “only” 23 below. Though apparently new ways of calculating wind chill mean that day would be upgraded to a mere 57 degrees below zero.You guys realize that you’re only making me more convinced I should never move away from California, right?
(ETA: I really shouldn’t work with facts and figures on only six hours of sleep.)
The Other Chuck
@different-church-lady: Don’t forget “what Charlie Pierce wrote”.
Meh. So it’s not original writing. It’s good filler anyway.
Violet
@Steeplejack: It’s funny you mention that because when looking at TVs around 2009, it seemed like a lot of side ports were available. Then when looking again around 2011, the side ports didn’t seem as popular. I expected it would go in the other direction–more side ports. I haven’t looked at TVs in two years so don’t know what’s going on now.
A new TV was supposed to be last year’s Christmas present. Didn’t happen. Supposed to be this year’s now. We’ll see.
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
That’s what we have our Apple TV for, but it probably works best if all of your other computer stuff is Apple as well. If you have Windows, Chromecast might work better.
Josie
@Violet: Ahhh, there you have me. I haven’t gotten that far yet. I want to get a good sized television and do that same thing, but I haven’t saved up enough to afford it. I will be interested to see how you manage it.
Violet
@Mnemosyne: Chromecast apparently doesn’t work with Amazon Prime. From the link for a Chromecast on sale on Amazon that Steeplejack linked:
What apps can I cast from on my smartphone or tablet?
and
So is there some other plugin besides Silverlight for streaming that would make it work? That’s starting to sound really complicated.
Mnemosyne
@Mnemosyne:
Also, too, IIRC that week with the 82 below windchill was the one where they canceled school because it was too cold for us to be allowed outside. And that was high school, which is really, really hard to get canceled because they don’t let you outside for recess anyway.
WaterGirl
Are any of you apple users still around? I’ve had something going on for a couple of weeks that is making me crazy. One day, out of the blue, everything seemed to work differently on my macbook air.
Stuff that usually takes a “click” to open suddenly opens when I just hover over it.
Stuff that usually takes a “double click” now opens with a single click.
Was that part of some recent upgrade, or did some setting get changed?
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
Amazon Prime works with Apple TV but, again, I don’t know the ins and outs of making it work with a Windows computer. It’s supposed to, but I know that iTunes for Windows can be a little .. sketchy.
Raven
@WaterGirl: Go to your system preferences and look at the settings for your keyboard and trackpad.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4418018
Hungry Joe
I’m late to the party here, but my collard, kale, chard, and lettuce were all looking a little wilty this afternoon — it got up to 76 in my back yard.
[exits quietly]
Violet
@Mnemosyne: Yeah, I think the Apple stuff works best if you’re in the Apple environment. Maybe a Roku box would do the trick?
Raven
@Mnemosyne: If by “works” you mean you can use their app on your IOS device and use Airplay.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
I read about an extremely awkward, Rube Goldberg method that sort of got Chromecast to work with Amazon Prime, but it was more of an oddity than something I actually needed. I have a semi-smart TV and a really smart DVD player, so that’s how I hook up to the streaming services (through the DVD player). My experience with Chromecast was buying it for some friends whose TV setup doesn’t have a smart TV or a smart DVD player. It works great for them.
In general (extreme oversimplification ahead), the “smart” TVs and DVD players have chips in them containing an app for each streaming service—Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, “generic from the Internet,” whatever. Or you use a smart box (TiVo, Roku, a computer) to handle that and just shovel it to the TV.
I suggested Chromecast to Brother Shotgun because he sounded like a low-tech guy, e.g., just because your cable box and your TV both have Ethernet ports doesn’t mean you can just run a cable between them and voilà! You need some software in there telling them what to do. I can’t even touch the “So I buy a plug-in wireless adapter and it doesn’t work” thing.
Useful Amazon FAQ here.
different-church-lady
@Steeplejack: C’mon, you can’t emulate Mclaren if it doesn’t take at least three page-downs to read the entire thing.
The Other Chuck
Roku is really nice for netflix and amazon, but the browsing and searching interface on the Roku is sub-par, so I tend to watch it on the Xbox. Plus, it’s the one place I really make use of the kinect voice commands. The roku remote is super-nice tho, blows away the Apple TV remote as usability goes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne:
Try standing outside without a coat when the air temperature is -25 degrees.
different-church-lady
@The Other Chuck:
Agreed. I mean, it’s just an open thread, after all. I just think she ought to diversify a bit.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ll take that bet — if there’s no wind, you’ll get frostbite faster in the wind chill than from the thermometer temperature.
WaterGirl
@Raven: Yeah, I looked at those settings earlier this week and didn’t see anything interesting. Tap to click is not checked.
It’s making me nuts. All sorts of crazy things are happening in outlook, too. Restarting didn’t help. I am at a loss.
Violet
@different-church-lady: At least she’s posting. Where’s everyone else?
Steeplejack
@FlipYrWhig:
Yes, but I think you would be hard pressed to buy a new TV now that doesn’t have some set of “smart” features.
tesslibrarian
@tybee: Also good served over parmesan cheese grits (stone ground, preferably). Takes almost no time to make, and is a cozy delight on a cold night.
Violet
@Steeplejack: So if I get a new TV that’s “smart” it should have app an for Amazon in it? So I could just get to Amazon Prime that way, assuming it’s hooked up to the wifi?
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
Here’s a list on Amazon’s website of devices that work with Amazon Prime. Roku yes, Chromecast no.
ETA: And, yes, some TVs do have Amazon support built in. Our new TV has a big red “Netflix” button at the bottom of the remote.
Raven
@WaterGirl: It’s a shot in the dark but you might go to your disk utility and repair permissions.
Steeplejack
@Mclarensyne:
I have no pooch in the wind chill hunt. Wind chill is chilly.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
I got nothing. I don’t really follow this stuff as slavishly as, say, a high-end audio nut. I just figure out some (hopefully relevant) subset of information when I need something or when a friend asks me about something.
ETA: I’m not a high-end audio nut either. Just referring to certain behavior patterns.
Steeplejack
@different-church-lady:
Touché.
Violet
@Mnemosyne: Thanks. I didn’t know that. Just haven’t looked for TVs at all recently.@Steeplejack: Thanks for the help.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
Not automatically. You have to check each TV model to see what it includes. It varies by manufacturer and also by model. And some models have the ability to get firmware upgrades adding new streaming services.
Violet
@Steeplejack: My current TV is so old it’s basically just a fancy screen. None of that interactive stuff. I will check that out when shopping for a TV. Thanks for the heads up!
WaterGirl
@Raven: It may come to that, but I will need to back up first. :-) Can you think of any key that might be stuck that would make it appear to do this?
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Steeplejack: Been catching up on the streaming video comments. Very useful, thanks everybody.
I’m an engineer (civil) but a bit of a Luddite in that I don’t want to have to fire up a computer, tablet, or phone to watch TV. So in that respect, the Roku looks like it might do the trick. One box, with all the content channels (including access to Amazon Prime) included. Downside: another remote to get lost in the sofa cushions.
If it doesn’t work that easily, then it’ll get returned too.
Yeah, I know everything needs software, but I figured what the hell, I might as well run the ethernet cable from the box to the DVD player. Who knows, it coulda worked! And I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try it.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
If you are basically satisfied with the picture quality on your current TV, and it has an HDMI port, the better strategy might be to get a smart DVD player and let that handle all the streaming stuff and feed it to the dumb TV. DVD players are, in general, cheaper than TV sets, so that could be a relatively inexpensive upgrade.
WaterGirl
@Raven: I did some googling. Apparently I am not alone! Looks like you replace the trackpad and all is good with the world again.
I should still be under warranty. Will call tomorrow. Thanks!
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Steeplejack: I’d add to make sure the smart DVD player that Violet is buying has a built-in WiFi receiver. Mine is only semi-smart: has access to a couple of streaming services* but no connection to the internet. Hence my complaint that started this whole conversation.
*including Blockbuster!
Violet
@Steeplejack: No, it’s an old tube TV–big, fat and heavy. It’s actually got a great picture but we need a thin one for the space in the room. This thing sticks out two feet or more from the wall. Plus, I think the HDMI port on it is a bit wonky. Not sure, but that’s my impression.
Steeplejack
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Didn’t mean to denigrate your techno cred. Just responded to the “aggrieved” tone with an easy solution.
I had an experience sort of in this zone that actually worked out great. My Cox Cable box (made by Scientific Atlanta) has an eSATA port on it, and on some incredibly geeky Web site I read that allegedly you could hook up an external eSATA hard disk to it and increase the size of your cable box’s DVR. I bought a 500GB drive, hooked it up, followed the slightly painstaking instructions (somewhere between “Don’t cross the streams!” and “Don’t cut the yellow wire!”) and voilà! The Cox box formatted the external drive and absorbed it seamlessly in Borg-like fashion. My DVR capacity went from about 30–40 hours (mix of HD and regular stuff) to almost 300 hours. Mama likes!
Lately I have been wondering whether I could tempt fate by upgrading to a 1TB hard disk and using drive-replication software to copy the 500GB drive onto it and have it still be recognized as part of the virtual DVR. The alternative would be to actually watch some of the stuff on the DVR and erase it to free up space. But that’s crazy talk.
Violet
@Steeplejack: Oh, another question. Are DVD players still region-specific? Being that we’ve got UK and US family, we’ve got DVDs from UK, Europe and USA in the house. Maybe some Australia too. We don’t watch much in the ways of DVDs but when we bought a DVD player (years ago now) we bought a region-free one. It was sold by some company that did something to tinker with the region identification function on the DVD player so we could play DVDs from everywhere.
Is that still an issue? It made getting a DVD player more expensive and we had to order it but it has worked okay. It’s just old and certainly nothing fancy like Blu Ray or whatever.
Steeplejack
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
I don’t have a problem with a wired connection from the router to the DVD player. They’re all pretty close on one side of the room, and wired is always going to be faster than wireless. So wireless on the DVD player wouldn’t be a requirement for me. YMMV, as always.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
No! You must state an opinion! YOU MUST!
Damn, I need some sleep. G got up at 4 am and I was never able to fall back asleep after that.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Steeplejack:
Unpossible. I have no techno cred. Mrs. Shotgun bought the HDTV, surround sound, and whatnot. I just stood around, watched the installer, and filed away the owner’s manuals.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
Again, Steep Labs is not tracking this in a comprehensive fashion, but most DVD players have a double-secret code you can find on the Interwebs to make them region-free. I think it may be slightly harder to do in regard to Blu-ray disks, but I haven’t had occasion to check this out.
My advice is to worry about this when you get down to looking at two or three specific candidate DVD players. Then it’s easy to get on the Google and see what the deal is for those specific models. You don’t need to know the state of the art for the whole industry.
/Steep Labs: “Solving one-off problems the stupidest way possible.”
different-church-lady
@Violet: I think they’re bored with us. And frankly, I can’t blame them.
Violet
@Steeplejack: That sounds like a good plan. I think I remember reading about that region-jacking code.
danielx
@Omnes Omnibus:
You win the bad weather prize….although I am not certain that ‘win’ is the correct word. But wind is a factor – I was wearing a shell parka over cotton sweater today and had to go home to put on another layer. Was a lazy wind – too lazy to go around you, so it goes right through you.
@Mnemosyne:
A friend of mine left LA (Venice actually) after earthquakes, fires and the Rodney King riots and went totally in the opposite direction. Vermont, with the closest ‘city’ (Middlebury, 6000 people!) thirty miles away. First time he got his furnace oil tank filled, he thought it was going to last all winter and got pissy with the HVAC guy when his heat shut off. However….I confess to a certain amount of envy. Cold weather sucks.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
It’s a different code for each model. I meant to add that you enter it with the DVD player’s remote: go to some specified setup screen, check for NSA monitoring, enter the code, voilà! Region-free bliss.
I did a little research, and apparently region-free is harder to do with Blu-ray. It seems that as the Blu-ray format started becoming popular the powers that be cracked down on the DVD player manufacturers and threatened them with loss of licensing rights. So the hacks are harder to find, and some involve hardware modifications.
(Voilà! is my secret word for the day.)
Aimai
@Violet: yes. Delicious
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Steeplejack:
Mclaren resurfaced in the thread below. You only have yourself to blame for speaking the incantation. ?
Note to self: if the cover says “Necronomicon,” FOR GOD’S SAKE DON’T READ IT OUT LOUD!