This is the kind of shit that makes me happy:
He’s such a personality.
by John Cole| 46 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging
This is the kind of shit that makes me happy:
He’s such a personality.
by John Cole| 35 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads
I think my favorite things in life all revolve around my pets. Every night, Lily sleeps with her but in my armpit so I can scritch her ears as she lies in between my arm and torso, and Rosie sleeps up against my hip. When I wake up in the morning when the sun comes in, and I know I don’t have to be up yet, just lying their with the critters next to me while being all comfortable and cool in bed, just basically meditating for an hour or so before the day starts. Man, that is awesome.
Another favorite is just sitting out on the back porch at night watching the stars and listening to the infrequent sounds around town, watching the bats and the fireflies, and my buddy always comes up and sits next to me on his chair. We can spend a half hour just sitting in our chairs, with me petting him and and giving him underchins:
And for those of you who like to call Steve fat, that is the arm of a man who is 6’1″ and whose weight is somewhere near Div. I nosetackle. In about two weeks it will be the one year anniversary of Tunch’s death, and I do not want to phrase this wrong, because I miss him, but Steve is such a character that it was super easy to go through the grieving process.
I’m telling you. If you need a starter cat, get a Maine Coon. They’re just the fucking best.
This post is in: Open Threads
One of the dick things that the local college where my fraternity boys go does every summer is that if you are staying at the college working for them (buildings and grounds, internships, etc.), they make you move out of your frat/sorority/housing and everyone has to move to Harlan Hall and they all live there. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal and it does make it easier to keep and eye on all of them, other than it is the only residence hall on campus with no AC. They do that, because they rent out the rest of the air conditioned residences to the various camps who come here (religious groups, band camps, soccer camps, etc.). Fuck the students, there is money to be made, basically.
Summer nights here can be absolutely miserable. This part of West Virginia is basically a tropical rain forest from May-July, and then it is just a miserable humid mess all through August and September. So basically, they are living in a brick building with no central air and university windows that won’t support an air conditioner. I regularly have one or two of the kids sleeping on the couches during the hotter months. So I saw this online, and Shawn and I are building a couple of them for Christion and Carlo.
Cost about 25 bucks for each one, and I have a big freezer in the basement, so basically all they have to do is come down and throw warm jugs of water in and take out frozen ones, and they will be able to sleep in peace at night. I honestly don’t know how they do it- I sweat in a meat locker and my ac is on 74 at night and I have a standing fan blasting on me and a ceiling fan on high.
At any rate, what are you all up to?
This post is in: Open Threads, Religion, Sports
.
As I understand it, Ramadan starts (started) at sunset (or moonrise) on the 28th, which means some of our global commentors are already observing it:
…During the month, Muslims will fast and practice abstinence from sunrise until sunset, to celebrate the event that marks the anniversary of the Quran being revealed to the Prophet Muhammad…
The word “Ramadan” is derived from an Arabic word for intense heat, scorched ground and shortness of food and drink.
During this time, Muslims focus on their purpose in life and reflect on their choices, priorities and plans.
It is also used as a time to study the Quran, as well as a month of generosity and charity. Time is also of consideration, as the major acts of worship in Islam – fasting, breaking and praying – occur as specific times, such as fasting, breaking [the fast] and praying…
There has been some discussion about Muslim players’ performance in the World Cup games, but it seems that if an observant Muslim feels his work performance would be negatively affected, he is religously permitted to “time shift” and make up missed fasts at a later time.
So, Ramadan Kareem!
by Randinho| 101 Comments
This post is in: Sports
Will the northernmost country in South America or the only country in South America completely outside of the tropics move on?
I lived in Jackson Heights, NY for 13 years before I moved to Brazil and ate several times at one of the many Colombian restaurants in the neighborhood. If I was really really hungry, I would order the Bandeja Paisa:
To make a traditional Bandeja Paisa, you need a portion of each of the following:
Red beans, white rice, fried mince, fried egg, chorizo fried, fried pork (meat or skin), sliced avocado, fried banana, arepa (flat bread made from cornmeal).
Put all of the ingredients on an oval plate or tray and serve.
Feeling a bit full after the Bandeja Paisa? Have a Chivito, Uruguay’s national sandwich:
1good soft white sandwich bun (ciabatta)
*Salsa golf (a mixture of tomato sauce and mayonnaise)
*lettuce
1/2red bell pepper, sliced
*Thinly sliced onions
3stripspancetta
1thinly sliced filet steak
4slicessmoked ham
*slicebacon
*Tomato slices
1hard-cooked egg, halved
*mozzarella cheese
Colombia v Uruguay Round of 16 Open ThreadPost + Comments (101)
This post is in: Election 2014, Clown Shoes, Teabagger Stupidity
I love stuff like this when it happens to Republicans:
The Tea Party-backed candidate who has refused to concede defeat to Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran in Mississippi’s primary runoff said his campaign has found more than 1,000 instances of ballots cast by people who were ineligible to vote.
Chris McDaniel said his supporters continue to look for evidence of voters who participated in the state’s Democratic primary on June 3 and then voted in the Republican runoff primary on Tuesday, which would not be permitted by Mississippi law.
“We’ve already found more than 1,000 examples of that in one county alone,” McDaniel said in an interview Thursday night on Fox News’ Hannity show. “We’re talking about widespread irregularities, ineligible voters that should not have been there in the first place.”
In a bitterly fought contest, Cochran edged McDaniel by fewer than 7,000 votes out of more than 370,000 cast – a dramatic increase over the 313,000 votes cast in the earlier primary election.
McDaniel has not announced an official challenge to the results. His spokesman, Noel Fritsch, said on Friday that about half of the state’s circuit clerks had not supplied the election data requested by the campaign.
“Despite this lack of cooperation, our preliminary findings certainly indicate that a thorough examination is warranted, after which we will make a determination about legal recourse,” Fritsch said in an email.
I’m starting to think the more extreme of the teahdists actually hate Republicans more than they hate liberals.
by Randinho| 225 Comments
This post is in: Sports
Who wins this battle of the Southern Cone?
I promised to include some recipes for popular dishes for each country in the round of 16 games. Here’s one of my favorite dishes in Brazil: Tutu a Mineira:
Making Tutu à Mineira
* 1 and 1/2 lb. black beans, already cooked
* 1 Linguiça Calabresa, brazilian smoked sausage
* lamb chops (optional)
* 4 hard boiled eggs
* bacon
* dried meat
* garlic
* olive oil
* manioc (cassava) flour
method of preparation
Procedure:
1) Let’s start by cooking your black beans the way you like, but with these differences in that this dish requires the beans to be seasoned with some salt, and the beans must cook with the smoked sausage. to serve 4 people 1/2k use black beans that has been properly cooked with a piece of smoked sausage, a small piece of bacon and other dried meat – at your discretion.
2) Now that the beans are baked and tender, we add plenty of garlic and a little olive oil; take the pot away from the stove and coarsely mash them into a thick broth with a bean masher or fork, leaving about one quarter of the beans unmashed. Return this broth to the pan, off the stove, and add gradually cassava flour until the desired thickness is reached, traditionally the Tutu is relatively thick; keep warm.
3) In a different pan, cook the rest of the bacon; slice the bacon to small bits and add to the black beans. Now fry the lamb chops, and slice the hard boiled eggs in slices;
Prepare each individual plates, with some Tutu bean sauce, sausages, lamb chops and arranging in an elegant way the slices of hard boiled eggs.
As for Chile, I had this dish at a now closed Chilean restaurant called Pomaire in New York: Pastel de Choclo:
Pastel de Choclo (Chilean Corn Pie)
Makes 12 servings
*Recipe Notes: Be sure to watch the pastel de choclo closely while broiling in the final step, as it goes from golden brown to burned quickly! This makes a fantastic freezer meal! Follow steps 1 through 4, then tightly cover the baking dish and freeze. When you are ready to cook the pastel de choclo, remove the dish from the freezer and let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then cook as directed in step 5.
For the beef and onion filling:
1 pound ground beef
2 large onions, chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon beef bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
For the corn topping:
40 ounces corn kernels (thawed, if frozen)
1 (14.75 ounce) can creamed corn
3/4 teaspoon dried basil
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons beef bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 tablespoons raisins, soaked in warm water
2 large hardboiled eggs, cut into thin slices
3 ounces black olives, sliced
Granulated sugar, to lightly sprinkle over the top
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 13×9-inch baking dish.
2. Make the beef and onion filling: Saute the ground beef and chopped onions in the 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. When the beef has all browned, add the garlic, 1 tablespoon beef bouillon powder, garlic salt, paprika, ground cumin, and oregano. Continue to cook until the meat is cooked through, then taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary. Then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the onions are very soft, and no crunch remains, then remove the pan from the heat.
3. Make the corn topping: Put the corn kernels, creamed corn, and dried basil in a blender in batches and pulse until the corn is pureed, but not completely smooth. Pour the corn puree into a large pot and add the shortening, 1 1/2 teaspoons beef bouillon powder, and fine grain sea salt. Cook the corn mixture over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, continue letting it cook for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly to prevent it from burning. After the five minutes, remove the pot from the heat.
4. Assemble the pastel de choclo: Cover the bottom of the greased baking dish with a thin layer of the corn topping. Spread all of the beef filling over the corn layer. Drain the raisins soaking in the warm water. Scatter the sliced hardboiled eggs, olives, and drained raisins over the meat filling. Finish by topping everything with the remaining corn topping. Use the tines of a fork to make grooves in the top of the corn topping, then sprinkle a light layer of granulated sugar over the top.
5. Bake the pastel de choclo: Bake the pastel de choclo in the preheated oven for 30 minutes to heat through (bubbles should be breaking the surface on the sides of the baking dish). Then change the oven to broil (high broil) and cook until the top of the pastel de choclo is golden brown. Remove the baking dish from the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.