My daughter dragged me to a hipster cafe in Tampa the other day. Tampa is becoming this improbable foodie Mecca. Anyhoo, I had a cocktail that was garnished with CANDIED BACON!
It was pretty tasty too — a fancy old fashioned. I considered having two since my chauffeur was on the scene, but they were $12 a pop, which I’m shocked — shocked! — flies in Tampa. This ain’t fucking New York City.
What are y’all up to this evening? I’m awaiting furry guests — my kiddo is watching a schoolmate’s bunnies over the holidays. BUNNIES! I’ll share pictures later.
cahuenga
Gotta watch the phrasing with the term “furry” these days.
David Koch
Rosalita
I am releasing three cats from the shelter where I volunteer to their new furrever homes tonight. After that, seeing what Netflix has to offer.
donnah
I’ve been cooking lasagna today. I make the sauce from scratch and it cooks for hours. I just assembled the noodles, sauce and cheese and it’s baking in the oven. But we don’t get to eat it til tomorrow, when the family comes from West Virginia to visit us for the holidays.
I’m tired of standing at the stove all day, but it will be worth it.
dmsilev
Annals of Bloody Useless Junk Email:
“Midnight Tonight is your LAST CHANCE to order Ready For Hillary champagne glasses and receive by New Year’s Eve”
I can see it now: “Let’s toast the New Year with HillaryPAC-branded glassware!”. Seriously? I know it costs nothing to send out these emails, but there must have some costs, like $5 in graphic artist time, to create them. And I can’t believe anyone would buy something like that.
p.a.
Local, gone now alas!, BBQ place used to serve a TrailerPark Mary: bourbon, bbq sauce, lime, glass rimmed with dry rub, and a Slim Jim stirrer.
PurpleGirl
@Rosalita: Yay! Good for you, the adoptive parents and the three kitties. I wish them love, care and long lives with their new parents.
David Koch
Mike in NC
We got a Christmas package in the mail yesterday. Inside were four different 1-pound packages of gourmet bacon from a company called “Bacon Freak”. Their motto is “Bacon is Meat Candy”.
Amir Khalid
Hmm. You speak of Tampa being a foodie Mecca. Then you gush over a cocktail, an alcoholic drink, which is garnished with candied bacon.
But seriously: There are meat-flavoured cold beverages? And people like them?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Amir Khalid: She’s being a drunken pig about it.
WereBear
@Rosalita: U R awesome!
We lost our nine month old kitten in the lobby, finally found him in the last place we looked. We have airlocks front & back, so we let our cats play on the stairs.
A neighbor must have spooked him. He’s a recovering feral and hides like a champ.
What was cute is how the other cats fussed at us to get him back.
jeffreyw
Mmm… candied bacon
beth
@Amir Khalid: At brunch last week I was going to order a Manhattan made with bacon bourbon but they were out of the bourbon. Never found out if they infuse the bourbon themselves or if it’s off the shelf but yeah, meat flavored booze is a thing.
WereBear
@Amir Khalid: Foodies get jiggy with the cocktails, too.
Just last week I had an omelette topped with candied bacon and a maple aioli. YUM!
feebog
Last time I had an old fashioned was in 1967. Seemed like an old folks drink then, still does now. I’m partial to rob roys made with dry rather than sweet vermouth. Think of it as a scotch martini.
Dee Loralei
@Amir Khalid: I;m hoping the word choice was a deliberate and ironic choice by Ms Cracker.
beth
@David Koch: I noticed that too. Was wondering if it was for a special reason like Helen Thomas’ birthday or some such occasion. Anyway I thought it was pretty cool that could happen and it would be no big deal. Like I said in the other thread, we’ve come a long way baby.
Mike J
I made chocolate-bacon cupcakes a few months ago for the end of the (nice weather)sailing season party. Well received by all but one person who complained about them being “too trendy” without eating one.
tybee
Bunnies!
Hasenpfeffer!
tybee
@jeffreyw:
you can’t do that without posting the recipe.
Amir Khalid
Another one of those responsible gun owners. This one was shot by his dog, and could now lose his arm. Luckily for the dog, the sheriff’s office reckons the shooting was accidental.
Mike J
@tybee: Sprinkle bacon with brown sugar, bake for 20 minutes.
Mike in NC
@dmsilev: Saw two — TWO! — “Ready for Hillary” bumper stickers in a parking lot today.
dmsilev
@Amir Khalid: Well, to be fair, if ‘man bites dog’ is a news story, ‘dog shoots man’ should be as well.
MattF
At least they refrained from offering a celery soda chaser.
Ken
If TaMara’s Friday recipe exchange starts with “I deleted the article I’d written to instead share these recipes for candied bacon,” I’m going to be so mad.
Shakezula
You do not want to know what I thought that was at first glance. Neither do I. [Memory wipe]
WereBear
I just trained my new Dragon.
Dragon Dictation, that is. Mr WereBear was quite prescient in getting me a nifty headset with microphone a while back. It seemed to work well with the program. Since all the words lit up green.
Shakezula
@Amir Khalid: I wonder if it was a Jack Russell.
Mike in NC
@MattF: Celebrity Delly (that’s how they spell it) in Falls Church, VA sells ‘Dr Brown Cel Ray’ soda. I had to try it and it was as awful as I expected it to be.
jl
That idea for a drink is ‘not my cup of tea’ (i.e., makes me wanna gag). But if BC liked it, why not spring for 2? Because… Holiday Season!
gogol's wife
@dmsilev:
Not good luck to celebrate before the election is over. Hillary should know that.
satby
Last Christmas shipment (so far) sent today: Thanks MazeDancer! Now deciding which old movie I want to settle in with for the evening. I’ve been missing TCM because I went Roku and Leaf Antenna only, but I discovered that Amazon Prime has lots of free ones if you figure out how to search for them.
gogol's wife
@Mike in NC:
I love Cel Ray soda. Has to be with a pastrami on rye.
Gin & Tonic
@beth: If you’re on Twitter, check out this guy. This is the sort of thing Twitter does best.
gogol's wife
@satby:
Remember the Night or Christmas in Connecticut. You can’t go wrong with Missy.
JPL
Is Marco Polo any good? My son told me it was pretty violent.
Gin & Tonic
@Mike in NC: It’s (relatively) popular in NY. Jewish Champagne.
Kathleen
A hipster cafe in Tampa? I’ve never experienced a hint of hipster, urban, or “cool” in Tampa. St. Pete or Sarasota, yes. Where is this mecca of which you speak?
Also, too, Betty – what is going on with the Rays? My daughter (Rays fan who lives in Tampa) has been posting these dystopian Facebook posts about the future of baseball in Tampa. What gives? thanks.
Litlebritdifrnt
@David Koch:
This evening on my drive home the worthless sack of shit Dan Gainor said that the only reason POTUS called on only women reporters was “because he didn’t want to answer any tough questions” he almost immediately realized that he had fucked up, and basically called all of his female colleagues lightweights and tried to dig himself out of the hole by saying that he knew that he wouldn’t get any questions about the “act of war” that was the Sony hacking. Personally I think that just dug the hole a little deeper.
satby
@gogol’s wife: I think that was what I was searching for: Remember the Night was Stanwyck and MacMurray, right? Came up in a thread a few days ago? And I have Christmas in Connecticut on the wishlist already.
Elizabelle
@David Koch:
That means that nice Jonathan Karl didn’t get to ask a question.
Christmas week comes early. Tired of that sucker and his ilk.
satby
@Litlebritdifrnt: And how much do you bet the WH was assuming one of the constantly critical assholes would do just that? And like the sun rising in the east some ass did.
gogol's wife
@satby:
Yes, Remember the Night is a great film with Stanwyck and MacMurray that has a terrible title that no one can remember. He’s a D.A. and she’s a shoplifter and he takes her home for Christmas in Indiana.
Baud
I hope Sony never releases The Interview. At this point, it’s far better as a myth than it could ever hope to be as a movie.
satby
@gogol’s wife: yeah, that’s the one! I have seen it, but when it came up a few nights ago I wanted to see it again. Thanks!
Tree With Water
Using half the flour (3/4 cup) coat the pieces of rabbit, shaking off any excess. Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, and brown the floured rabbit on all sides. Add the celery, carrots, onions, salt, pepper, bay leaves, 6 cups water and red wine, and stew for about 2 hours. Add the potatoes 45 minutes into the stewing process. Once the rabbit and all the vegetables are cooked, use some water to form a paste with the remaining 3/4 cup flour. Stir the flour mixture into the pot as a thickener. Add the already sauteed mushrooms to the stew and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings, if necessary, and serve.
Courtesy of Food Network.com.
Just One More Canuck
@Amir Khalid: yeah sure – an “accident”
Litlebritdifrnt
@satby: Precisely, I saw so many tweets today that POTUS was just trolling the RWNJ’s at this point. I think they are right.
Mike J
@Gin & Tonic:
Should somebody alert the NYT that NoKo may have hacked them too? Obviously somebody is using that man’s twitter account to make him look stupid.
Baud
@Just One More Canuck:
“Neuter this, asshole.”
jharp
So where is the Greek food in Tampa?
Just One More Canuck
@Baud: the dog was just standing his ground
gogol's wife
@Gin & Tonic:
The responses are great. (I’m not on Twitter, but I can read it anyway.)
LookingForACanadian
Betty, thanks for your input re: Orlando the other night! I’m all set. Go Gophers!
JPL
@Amir Khalid: A son just called with a minor disappointment and I shared
that story. He did mention though, the guy thought it was a good idea to keep a loaded rifle in the back seat.
Starfish
satby, that lady in Australia who killed like seven of her own children and one of someone else’s. She’s a family annihilator.
Pogonip
@Amir Khalid: “That bastard has locked me in a crate for the last time!”. *boom*
satby
@jharp: North, in Tarpon Springs
satby
@Starfish: You know, my dad was a homicide cop in Chicago. I know the dictionary definition. And I also told you my opinion.
JPL
@Amir Khalid: The NRA is going to have to change their mantra that guns don’t hurt people, people do. Beware of the dog with a gun.
EthylEster
BC wrote:
Well, I was there in August and have to say that Tampa is a foodie Mecca wannabe.
It’s tons better than when I was growing up there.
But it can’t compare with a REAL foodie Mecca like NOLA or NYC or even Seattle.
MomSense
Read the most depressing Guardian report today. The full redneck package with guns, bibles, abuse, and neglect. Went to the gym to channel some anger and was asked out by a trainer about 30 years younger than I. Christmas miracle or tacky cliche?
Unwinding tonight with a glass of red wine, a movie, and some Christmas decorating.
@Betty
I had a dish of maple gelato with bacon sprinkles a couple summers ago. I tried it on a whim but it was surprisingly tasty. I’ve gone veggie since then but I do miss bacon.
Mayur
@Amir Khalid: it’s been done for a while. My friend and fellow cocktail geek turned industry person don lee developed this guy:
http://punchdrink.com/recipes/bentons-old-fashioned/
There have been a LOT of spinoffs.
If you’re not inclined to swine, fat washing actually has a remarkable array of applications. A friend of mine runs fresh espresso shots into crisco and then washes booze with the infused fat to make a really remarkable coffee liqueur.
Violet
@Gin & Tonic: Those comments are excellent. I love seeing idiots like Roger Cohen put himself into a mess like that. We can expect tons more of this kind of thing if Hillary runs for president.
jharp
@satby:
Thank you kindly. You just sent them some business.
jl
@Baud:
‘ I hope Sony never releases The Interview. At this point, it’s far better as a myth than it could ever hope to be as a movie. ‘
Maybe it will become a cult classic.
I have mixed feelings about it. I heard a marketing prof talk about the flap on the TV. She gave some counterbalance to the free speech flap. She said, basically, this is about money as much as anything else. The decision to make the movie was about money, the decision to pull it was about money. The behavior of Sony is just as accountable to the shareholders, or more, than others, and that is about money more than anything else.
It’s a dumb comedy.
I remember there was a lot of news about a survivor of the North Korean concentration camps who was showing an exhibit of his sketches of what was going on there, with written narratives about the horrors. People tied up in torture positions, and beaten, until they dislocated their shoulders and hips. People kept suffering in near starvation until they died slowly and horribly from malnutrition, diarrhea and dehydration. People slowly killed from thirst.
Didn’t make much news because no money. North Korea didn’t seem to care. If North Korea comes after the next person who tells the world about its human right abuses, that will be free speech cause to really fight about.
This is too, but I have to admit I have mixed feelings about it. It’s a stupid comedy about the CIA offing some scumbag. Been done before too, without a fuss, but I guess the North Korean scumbag leader was not headlined in the plots or promotions, so they were not noticed.
Shana
@p.a.: That sounds horrible but you have to admire the commitment they brought to it.
WereBear
I have just finished my tutorial on Dragon Dictation for the Mac. So I am dictating this comment.
The next thing I’m going to do is go to Amazon and make a review that is positive. Because almost all the others are one long litany of complaints and whining. They seem to be under the misapprehension that they are buying the computer that runs the Starship Enterprise, and not speech to text software.
I thought I was getting speech to text software, and I’m very happy how well that function performs, especially since I basically obtained it as a rafting technique. When one is drafting writing, mistakes do not matter as much, because one is going back to edit, anyway. So I’m very pleased that this experiment, is going as well as it has been.
So let me go do that.
satby
@jharp: Technically way north of St Pete, but a great place to get a Greek fix. And natural sponges.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gin & Tonic: that just kind of makes me sad as far as Cohen is concerned. I’m not a huge fan but I thought he was better than. I’m sure Obama wasn’t even trying to troll anybody, at least no one at the NYT. You never know what’s gonna smoke out the Stupid.
eemom
@jl:
reposting the excellent piece I linked on the earlier thread, North Korea Is Not Funny.
beth
@Gin & Tonic: Ha, I’m thinking Obama did it just so assholes can let their chauvinist flags fly.
satby
@Gin & Tonic: Oh, so good I had to play too!
feebog
@WereBear:
Is this the Nuance product or someone else? I have been procrastinating forever about getting into voice to text software, but I’m going to have to pull the trigger soon. I keep getting what looks like good offers from Nuance, but just have not had time to do the research. Did you do a lot of research before purchasing?
Starfish
@satby: I am just shocked that this type of thing happened twice in one week.
jl
@eemom: Thanks. Interesting comparisons with The Great Dictator.
WereBear
@feebog: this is the nuance product.
I am using it to write this comments you can get an idea of what having the software for a few hours is like. I installed it on a Mac Air computer which is about a year and a half old. I went through the training, did the tutorial twice, and had a day and a half of experience with the Dragon Dictation app on my iPod touch. I seem to have an easy time of it getting my words right over 90% of the time, though I have been praised for my voice and I do a podcast, so perhaps i.e. none CA a little better than most.
That was supposed to be perhaps enunciate just space a little better than most.
Well, I left in the word space, because I’m afraid of it getting a little messed up. Like, I don’t know how to remove a word entirely, though I’m sure there was a way. But I am very very very thrilled with it. I have used it in my favorite word processor, Scribe and Are,.Scrivenir. like, I was able to spell out the name of that word processor, describe and err, because my attempts to pronounce it, and it is an old English word probably not in the dictionary, have been unsuccessful. But also perhaps useful.
One thing I can do, which is extremely useful, is select a misspelled or wrong word and substitute the proper word for it. I am doing this entirely with voice commands, trying to give you an honest look at what it all works like, but I am extremely pleased, and urge you to try out an Apple app called Dragon dictation for the iPod touch, the iPad, and the iPhone. There are also free speech apps to try, such as the website called dictation.I/O, run by Google, which you can try to see if it works for you.
I’m using the Mac version, and I understand the P C is even better, having been in production and development longer. I would urge you to run the computer version, if you are going to use it extensively, or really get into its higher features. But it was being impressed with the app a day and a half ago, and reading a lot on the web, that help me take the plunge.
And I don’t know why this V popped up out of nowhere v
MattF
@Gin & Tonic: If you’ve grown up with it, it’s pretty good. I have to admit, though, I drank some after a long time away from home– and my first thought was “This stuff tastes like celery.”
WereBear
To be clear, this is the free voice dictation site. (I’m typing now.)
dictation.io
Because I didn’t notice what the software had one until it was many lines away.
Also, I was getting it for writing first drafts, mainly, and this means I would be editing it anyway. This has worked really well, because the nature of first drafts are rough and out-of-the-id and so just dictating would be good enough.
However, the software is doing more than that, and it was quite easy. Many many people give it a bad review, but as I did deeper I think it might be because they think they are going to sit back and just have the computer work like it does on Star Trek.
Which it does not.
I got it in a download on Amazon and saved considerable bucks.
srv
@WereBear: John should just have a speech to text stream of conciousness blog.
Amir Khalid
@Mayur:
Come to think of it, I’m not really into booze either. Being who I am.
WereBear
@srv: I understand that is his Twitter account :)
satby
@Starfish: You shouldn’t be. The greatest danger to a child is from a member of his family, something all the hysteria about “stranger danger” misrepresents.
One case my dad solved, in the early 60s, was of two preteen boys who had set fire to a younger child. I don’t remember details because it was about 52 years ago. Horrible crimes have gone on as long as humans have existed. The difference is now we marinate in them for days thanks to our “news” channels.
Mayur
@Amir Khalid: Yeah I finished typing that comment and then it occurred to me *immediately.* My apologies.
Amir Khalid
@Mayur:
No offence was taken.
Mayur
Btw on a separate level an old-fashioned (or any similar drink) at the rather fashionable bar at which I used to work in Brooklyn costs $12 *and* we use a hand-carved ice cube that costs $0.65 per drink base plus the labor to carve it. Given Tampa rents, y’all are getting ripped off at $12 a cocktail unless they’re using fancy booze for that drink.
agorabum
@feebog: An ‘old fashioned’ was old fashioned in the 1870s – when they started putting more than just booze, sugar, bitters, and a small piece of fruit in a drink.
“Don’t give me any of these fancy cocktails (with curaco or absinthe) in them – just an old fashioned cocktail, if you please!”
EthylEster
@WereBear: just be careful that you don’t change your speaking manner to try to increase accuracy. I have a friend who damaged his voice that way. With dragon dictate about a decade ago…so maybe it has improved greatly.
WereBear
@EthylEster: Ow, thanks for the warning.
Though I do have a “Frasier Crane” voice from doing podcasts that seems to work well already.
Betty Cracker
@Kathleen: The place with the bacon-garnished cocktail is Datz in the Palma Ceia neighborhood (MacDill and Bay-to-Bay). But there is a burgeoning hipster foodie scene in Tampa. The Refinery in Seminole Heights (Florida Ave south of Hillsborough) is another place to try.
RE: the Rays — your daughter is right to despair. They just had a fire sale on their best talent. St. Pete won’t let them out of their shithole of a ballpark. I think the owners are going to shop them around. It’s a sad thing.
schrodinger's cat
I fail to see the allure of bacon, especially in a drink.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: BTW your dino cookies looked awesome. Did you a have a cookie cutter for them? Or did you pipe them out.
Mayur
@agorabum: Amen. It’s also how I – and everyone I know in the industry – makes an Old-Fashioned. Spirit, sugar, bitters; citrus twist garnish as appropriate.
I will make an OF with muddled fruit for a guest who specifically requests it, but that’s done under the aegis of customer satisfaction.
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: Thanks! We have a dino cookie cutter. Every year, we let the kids pick out a cookie cutter or two, so now we’ve got so many we don’t even get a chance to use them all each year.