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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Late Afternoon Open Thread

Late Afternoon Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  January 31, 20153:59 pm| 103 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Food, Open Threads

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Look at these beautiful carrots the mister grew:

(null)

The mister is still out futzing around in the garden, and I’m devoting myself to maximum indolence. I was thinking about making a quiche and salad for dinner, but we just gave a dozen eggs to my mother-in-law, and the hens are less productive than they once were, so I’d actually have to buy eggs to make a quiche today.

I think I’ll just wait a couple of days to amass the necessary eggs instead. Maybe a salad and roasted carrots for dinner.

What are you up to?

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Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    JMG

    January 31, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    Just finished buying the Super Bowl supplies. Black bean vegetarian chili for halftime. A three-layered cream cheese and garlic, pesto and sun-dried tomato dip for crackers. Chips for eating while trying to argue replay calls. Beer, wine, soda.

  2. 2.

    MattF

    January 31, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    Latest issue of Science arrived, so I’ll read that. Then, third part of Charlie Stross’ improved ‘Merchant Princes’ series arrived at the book store, so that goes into the bookpile. Then, decide what to do for dinner. I’m favoring something meaty.

  3. 3.

    Pogonip

    January 31, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    Wow. They’re so long. Around here you have to grow the short ball-shaped carrots.

    I am spending this fine afternoon blowing my nose. Earlier I wanted to scramble some eggs and decided against it what with honking nonstop. I’m slightly improved so will scramble tomorrow. Don’t plan to go out until Monday a.m. We are expecting about 4″ of snow so I want to move my car early so it doesn’t get plowed in. This plan may involve going to work, unfortunately.

    How are our flu patients doing? Any chance Cole will soon be sufficiently recovered to post a Pupdate?

  4. 4.

    ant

    January 31, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    are chickens good at hunting down mosquitoes?

  5. 5.

    Pogonip

    January 31, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    @ant: I don’t think so. Bats are the first line of anti-mosquito defense.

  6. 6.

    raven

    January 31, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    My man at White Tiger is doing a special French dinner tonight and my bride is doing the flowers. I’m watching the hoop.

  7. 7.

    Phylllis

    January 31, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    College hoops on the teevee; salmon and steamed veggies with a nice pinot noir for supper in about an hour.

  8. 8.

    raven

    January 31, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    Dinner poster.

  9. 9.

    scav

    January 31, 2015 at 4:14 pm

    Roasted veggies in general good, eggs often worth waiting for the good ones.

  10. 10.

    divF

    January 31, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    Over the last year, we discovered Nantes carrots. Sweet, flavorful, and no woody core – I like them raw, and I’ve never liked uncooked carrots prior to this. Highly recommended if you grow your own, or if anyone in your neighborhood sells them.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    January 31, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    I’ve seen all the worthwhile movies that are currently playing at the Petronas Towers cineplex. Well, maybe I still ought to go see Unbroken and find out if Angelina Jolie’s any good at directing movies.
    In the meantime, my self-education in Spanish continues. I’ll need a dictionary, a verb list, a grammar, and some workbooks. Also, I;d appreciate any recommendations the Juicitariat can offer for online resources. I guess I don’t mind mixing Castilian and Latin American Spanish.

  12. 12.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 4:18 pm

    We’re supposed to drive 90 miles to a birthday brunch tomorrow, but the snow forcast looks bad. The guy throwing the party is a fabulous cook, so I’d be sorry to miss it. It’s his wife’s 64th birthday, so the brunch is supposed to be Beatles themed, whatever that means.

  13. 13.

    WereBear

    January 31, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    Mr WereBear is tucked into bed already, fighting off the thing I fought off last week. So it’s yogurt and a gluten-free muffin for dinner for me, and some more episodes of Grimm on Amazon Prime.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    January 31, 2015 at 4:21 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    I’m sure you’ve heard of that jaunty little tune off the Sgt Pepper album, When I’m Sixty-Four.

  15. 15.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Yup, that’s the basis for the theme. The first time I heard that song, 64 seemed impossibly old.

  16. 16.

    vheidi

    January 31, 2015 at 4:26 pm

    @MattF: I liked those, but it’s been a while, will check it out, thanks

  17. 17.

    different-church-lady

    January 31, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    As a lifelong New Englander, I find talk of “growing things” in January to be utterly confounding!

  18. 18.

    Amir Khalid

    January 31, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    So how is the theme to be celebrated? Will there be regional favourites from Merseyside on the menu?

  19. 19.

    Phylllis

    January 31, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    @efgoldman: It’s mostly a placeholder for me until the universe rights itself on Opening Day; but the Gamecock women are making it a lot of fun this year. Gamecock men, not so much. Although they’ve got Georgia on their heels a bit here at the start.

  20. 20.

    Alex S.

    January 31, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    So when does Sully actually stop blogging? Looks pretty much like business as usual over there.

  21. 21.

    Comrade Luke

    January 31, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    I’m gradually getting into a state of insanity, as I wait for the Super Bowl. Please Hawks, just one more win.

  22. 22.

    scav

    January 31, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: I was rather enjoying thinking up the foodstuffs based on their oeuvre, not that there’s much to work with immediately. Lucy could provide some desserty stuff and tangerines, but bugs themselves are rather the most obvious. Hambergers as a starter with Onion Ringos? Party hats have to be old-style mops.

    eta Liverpudding definitely a step too far

  23. 23.

    Randy P

    January 31, 2015 at 4:32 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: I think to any boomer, 64 is The Big One, much more so than 60 or 65. Most significantly perhaps when Paul himself hit that mark. Wasn’t Paul the baby of the group?

    But yeah, I can’t imagine what “Beatles Themed” means unless it’s decorated with posters and album covers. No doubt an endless loop of Beatles music will be playing in the background.

  24. 24.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 4:32 pm

    @Amir Khalid: @scav: I don’t know, and if we get the snow they’re predicting, I’ll never find out. That would be terrible.

  25. 25.

    WereBear

    January 31, 2015 at 4:35 pm

    @Randy P: George was the baby. They were playing clubs with him when he couldn’t legally drink.

  26. 26.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 4:35 pm

    @Randy P: I’m not eating blackbird, I’ll tell you that right now.

    ETA: Or god help me, raccoon.

  27. 27.

    beth

    January 31, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @Alex S.: Have they resumed regular blogging? I went over yesterday and saw two days worth of “how great Andrew is, please don’t leave us” posts and quickly clicked away. Maybe all the fluffing will make him change his mind.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    January 31, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @Randy P:
    George was the youngest Beatle. Ringo was the oldest, but the newest member.

  29. 29.

    Randy P

    January 31, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    @different-church-lady: Hah. I got that culture shock when I moved from the snow belt of New York to Maryland, and started reading gardening columns that talked about putting your early peas in the ground in February. As a kid hearing about Groundhog Day, I couldn’t understand how anyone could even entertain the possibility of winter ending in February.

    Or March, for that matter.

    Since we are more or less on a food theme: Since it’s about 15 degrees and windy here in Philly, anyone got some quick & easy stick-to-your-ribs ideas for what to do with an andouille sausage the wife bought me? Something with a sauce in it perhaps, or an easy soup. I looked up etouffee (or maybe that was the gumbo recipe) and stopped when I got to the roux made from heating 3/4 cup of oil (yikes!) till it smokes (!!!) and then stirring in flour (!!!!!). Sounds not only dangerous but incredibly heavy.

    So how can I get nicely warmed up that isn’t 1000 calories? Can I get a New Orleans-ish flavor but keep it light?

  30. 30.

    scav

    January 31, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    One could work up a pretty good dessert out of Yellow Submarine (with same as front end, heavy on the cheddar? ). creme anglaise pool, topped with meringuey or whipped cream clouds. Add a whole banana sub, with cut-up banana slices dropped about and some blueberries for the meanies. Add a stawberry field to side?

  31. 31.

    WereBear

    January 31, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    @Randy P: It make for a great soup with kale and carrots instead of noodles.

  32. 32.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    @scav: Strawberries, yes!

  33. 33.

    Dee Loralei

    January 31, 2015 at 4:44 pm

    I think I’m gonna play a WSOP ladies event down in Tunica in the AM. So an easy evening for me tonight, with eggplant parmesagna for dinner. Don’t really care about the Super Bowl this year. So y’all wish me luck!

  34. 34.

    Hal

    January 31, 2015 at 4:44 pm

    Can someone collect Mary Cheney’s gay card?

    “

    “Why is it socially acceptable — as a form of entertainment — for men to put on dresses, make up and high heels and act out every offensive stereotype of women (bitchy, catty, dumb, slutty, etc.) — but it is not socially acceptable — as a form of entertainment — for a white person to put on blackface and act out offensive stereotypes of African Americans? Shouldn’t both be ok or neither?” she asked.

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/drag-queens-respond-to-mary-cheneys-question-of-why-drag-is-acceptable-if-blackface-isnt/

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    January 31, 2015 at 4:52 pm

    @Hal:

    I hate to say it, but she’s kind of got a point, at least when it comes to straight guys dressing up as women for “comedy.” To me, drag is a little different — it’s a specific form/genre of theater. You can certainly criticize bad drag performances as being sexist or even misogynist (and I have seen some) but I’m not sure one can argue that it’s inherently misogynist as a genre the way a minstrel show would be inherently racist as a genre.

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    January 31, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    @efgoldman:
    If I’m not mistaken, when Paul wrote the song, 64 was a few years past the retirement age in Britain.

  37. 37.

    Kathleen

    January 31, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    Ms. Cracker, the carrots are beautiful. Regarding evening meal, carryout is my best friend, though I’m sure that doesn’t apply to you – you’re probably a much better cook than I am, though, sadly, that bar is pretty low.

    We’re supposed to get either torrential rains or 6 inches of snow, depending on where the weather pattern goes. Weather bots were predicting mostly rain for Cincy metro area this morning, so we will see. All I know is I’m happy to be headed to Ms. Cracker’s neck of the woods on Tuesday.

    I’m recovering from 11 mile training run for half marathon in May. Did some pre departure cleaning but have lost steam. I’m having baked boneless, skinless chicken thighs, salad, and a “multigrain” side dish I’m trying for the first time. If the Time Warner TV Guide is correct, there is a Blue Bloods marathon on WGNA tonight, though TCM is showing “Twentieth Century”.

    Also, too, Go Seahawks!

  38. 38.

    Alex S.

    January 31, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    @beth:

    Yes, pretty much, “view from your window” contest, mental health break, links to religious topics.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    January 31, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    Also, too, it’s almost 2:00 and I’m still in my bathrobe, which is my preferred way of spending the weekend. I’ll probably get up and shower in a few minutes so I can go buy a new end table for the living room and run a few additional errands.

  40. 40.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 31, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    You would need to serve Scouse, a lamb stew

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouse_%28food%29

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    January 31, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): The difference which evades her is intent. When Richard Pryor dressed Gene Wilder as a black man to evade authorities in Silver Streak, it was humorous.

    Minstrel shows hark back to an oppressive practice.

    Likewise, a drag act celebrating some classic star is homage. Using women’s clothes or mannerisms to degrade is… you know… degrading.

  42. 42.

    scav

    January 31, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    @Hal: If she’s trying to up her Repub-cred (there are several ways to interpret it that way — spose she could just be running interference by playing crazy lieberal plaunt too) would she care to comment why it is socially acceptable here for the same people/groups to protest against “shariah! laweek!” but in favor of xian-control over education / laws / behaviors? Shouldn’t all religiously based laws be in or out? Deep internally coherent thinkers, that lot. They do rather go for the all-or-nothing context free line of attack. Her roots seem to be showing. Even if this isn’t her playing some sort of familial party game of mega/telephone.

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:04 pm

    Spawn the Elder is finally over the double whammy of strep and the flu, but now Spawn the Younger is getting sick AGAIN. She had an ear infection, now with extra added barf, and she got over that, but now she has epic quantities of snot pouring out of her nose and is complaining about her tummy hurting.

    Considering that almost a thousand people were exposed to measles at a clinic in our area, I am exceedingly watchful right now.

    Other than that, I am staying away from Super Bowl and Phoenix Open stuff. Downtown Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Glendale are crazy. Even going to Costco was insane today. Commuting to work this week has been awful. We’ll watch the game on TV in our PJs tomorrow. Hilariously enough, the weather sucks right now. It was 75 and beautiful earlier in the week, but since Thursday, we’ve been overcast and rainy.

    Can’t wait until this is over.

  44. 44.

    raven

    January 31, 2015 at 5:07 pm

    @Suzanne: My step-mother is one of those “Ambassadors” at Sky Harbor and lives up by Bell Road and they told her to leave 2 hours early.

  45. 45.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    January 31, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    @Randy P:

    Black beans and rice with the sausage.

  46. 46.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    Made the sauce and assembled the lasagna for tomorrow, made with homegrown tomatoes and homemade sausages (I removed them from the casings and sautéed them, then ground them up a little before adding them to the sauce). I’ll bake it this evening and then tomorrow it can get warmed up just before the party.

    The green salsa is finished and we have blue corn tortilla chips and both are about the right color. I’m going to cook the rest of the homemade sausage from that package and cut them into bites, and take them to the party. 28 guests and only one vegan, so the sausage should be appreciated.

    Trying not to pay much attention to the prognostications today because they just make me nervous, although Nate Silver did say he favored the Hawks, but only by about a point. Ugh! Most of the ESPN people seem to have picked the Pats, but only by a couple of points, and my baseball experience says that they don’t know what they’re talking about.

  47. 47.

    Tommy

    January 31, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    What are you going to do with those wonderful, just flat our wonderful looking carrots? I think I would eat a few raw and boil others, afterwards add a little butter and a touch of brown sugar, some rice, and whatever “meat” I might have in my fridge/freezer. But that is just me :).

  48. 48.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    @Pogonip: I’m glad you’re feeling a little better. It’s no fun being so sick that you can’t enjoy it, if you know what I mean.

  49. 49.

    J.

    January 31, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    A 15k blog post. :-)

  50. 50.

    sharl

    January 31, 2015 at 5:20 pm

    I don’t care what Steve Kroft (one of the 60 Minutes personalities) does in his personal life, but I have appreciated the snark that has resulted from the latest National Enquirer thing.

    John Cook ‏@johnjcook

    “the sexts of steve kroft” is the worst headline copy i have ever or will ever encounter

    Jeb Lund ‏@Mobute

    the sexts of andy rooney:
    • did you ever notice my penis?
    • here are some condoms i found in a drawer
    • a lot of people like oral these days

    And at the risk of putting people off their appetites – at least, any more than I already have – let’s just say that Mr. Kroft has the same relationship to pudding that Bill O’Reilly once had to falafel (though there was believed to have been confusion with loofah in Billo’s mind).

  51. 51.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    @efgoldman: I understand that horror. My mother would grimace and give me a dollar to buy eggs from the man across the street, when our hens were molting and not producing. Her attitude was that they shouldn’t have a week off to grow new feathers, they needed to get in those nests and get busy.

    Only one was a leghorn and that was the rooster, and we only had him because a friend who lived in an apartment was given him as a chick, for Easter. The others were something called a Cornish cross, and they were fairly good producers, but no other variety of hen has the work ethic of the leghorn. They were a lot less skittish and a lot more friendly than the leghorns are, but they were twice the size of that rooster and he was pretty mild-mannered and didn’t bother to boss them around.

  52. 52.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    @divF: We grow one of the Nantes varieties as well as a sweet small ball carrot called Parisian Market. Everything else takes so long to mature that they turn to wood here.

  53. 53.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    @Comrade Luke: Wouldn’t that be great?

  54. 54.

    Mike J

    January 31, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    @opiejeanne: Ladbrokes has the Seahawks at 1.5. Everybody seems to have it very close.

    I don’t think it’s going to be close, but I don’t know which way it will go.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    @Randy P:

    You can make jambalaya at a reasonable calorie count — here’s a recipe that Mark Bittman did for Cooking Light back before he was famous. The MyRecipes.com website has all of the Cooking Light recipes, along with some of the heavier ones (Southern Living) and lighter ones (Health).

  56. 56.

    Tommy

    January 31, 2015 at 5:28 pm

    I had one of the better meals, either home cooked or at a restaurant I’ve had in months. I’ve mentioned here I tried that meal uncooked deliver service Blue Apron. Impressed, but not for the price after the initial first 50% off offer. Found two others. Tried Plated, with had the same 50% off initial offer.

    The first meal was chicken, potatoes, onion in a Massaman Curry sauce. Could not have been easier to make. But of course the big call of Curry sauce they sent was key. And it was flat out fabulous. I don’t dislike Curry, but not always my first choice of a Thai cuisine.

    Well NO MORE. I have on my to-do list to find where I can order that paste, because there just isn’t a way to replicate that taste with a powder (I have tried).

    Also could/should be a dirt cheap dish, with tators, onions, chicken stock, boneless chicken tights, coconut milk, fish sauce, lime, and brown sugar pretty much all there is to it. Well outside that darn paste. Unless it cost like my “first born” I might have this dish or some variation of it weekly for the rest of my life.

    So I guess what I am saying, with at least two huge servings still left, life is freaking good today.

    Oh and also, rewatching the entire first season of Hannibal on Blu-ray. So I got that going for me, but I swear no humans were harmed nor cooked during the writing of this comment.

  57. 57.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    January 31, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    Those are lovely! I’ve got M. Q chopping half an onion (which he also went to the store to get!) so that I can start smoked sausage /lentil/black+pinto bean soup with diced tomatoes. The only dry legume is the 1 c lentils, but rinsed canned in a pinch isn’t a mortal culinary sin (I hope).

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    January 31, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @Tommy: Oh and also, rewatching the entire first season of Hannibal on Blu-ray. So I got that going for me, but I swear no humans were harmed nor cooked during the writing of this comment.

    That’s right, Tommy! It’s not a cooking show!

  59. 59.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @WereBear: That’s right, we bad!”

    And Richard Pryor’s character was embarrassed by Gene Wilder’s.

  60. 60.

    Librarian

    January 31, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @beth: the posts weren’t asking him to stay, they wanted the blog to continue after he left. I think his staff is quite capable of running the blog without him.

  61. 61.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    @Tommy: No fava beans? LOL!

    I think it was Buzzfeed that pointed out that the meal Hannibal described, liver/fava beans/red wine, meant that he was off his meds because he would have been risking death to eat those things while on that particular medicine. They all contain a substance, tyramine, and his meds were a monoamine oxidase inhibitor.

    Cheese was the only thing missing from that group of “death foods”.

  62. 62.

    sparrow

    January 31, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    @different-church-lady: Then you should check this guy out: http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Production-Greenhouses-ebook/dp/B005VSRFL8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422744190&sr=8-2&keywords=winter+gardening

    If I remember correctly, he was growing stuff in the winter in MAINE, of all places.

  63. 63.

    realbtl

    January 31, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    I’m sitting on a porch in Volcano HI in shorts and sandals looking at all of the lush plants. Tomorrow we head back to Kona (via convertible of course) for a week of sun and beach. By the time we get back Spring will at least be within shouting distance. Take that Montana, currently 26 and snowing.

  64. 64.

    Tommy

    January 31, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    @opiejeanne: I did not know that, but not sure that was said in the TV version. Sure the movie, most memorable/quoted line. But 99.99% it wasn’t said in Hannibal.

    I geek out on the most extreme and advanced cooking shows and I find it stunning the food on Hannibal looks better. Clearly I get that is because (1) doesn’t even have to be food,* (2) it doesn’t has to taste good, and (3) nobody has to eat it.

    *I worked at ad agencies. Most food you see in a commercial promoting food, isn’t in fact food! I only had one food client in my 15 years agency side and it was food in their print ads and brochures, but we sprayed it will paint like stuff and did nasty stuff to it. I know from talking to others that did a lot more work with food, you wouldn’t even want to know what you see on TV you think you want to buy. Industry secret, wet mash potatoes makes the best ice cream (not a close second — even to the ice cream itself I guess).

  65. 65.

    BGinCHI

    January 31, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    Foot of snow tomorrow.

    Get off of my frozen fucking lawn.

    Ps. Make it snappy.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    January 31, 2015 at 6:10 pm

    @different-church-lady: Living Cray State has its compensations.

    @Tommy: We’ll probably roast them. Do you ever roast veggies? I read something on Salon (I think) a several years back about roasting veggies at high heat — just tossed with olive oil with salt and pepper. It has become my go-to vegetable cooking method. It really brings out the sweetness.

  67. 67.

    Violet

    January 31, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    Been working in the garden today but it’s cool and windy and has just started misting. I came in for some coffee and chocolate.

    Going to a movie tonight! First time in at least a year. Fun night out. Probably a quick meal afterwards.

  68. 68.

    Tommy

    January 31, 2015 at 6:14 pm

    @Randy P: So many ways. The dish doesn’t have to have a lot of calories in it. You first have to understand what people in Louisiana call “The Holy Trinity.” It is this:

    The holy trinity, Cajun holy trinity, or holy trinity of Cajun cooking is the Cajun and Louisiana Creole variant of mirepoix: onions, bell peppers, and celery in roughly equal quantities. This mirepoix is the base for much of the cooking in the regional cuisines of Louisiana. Variants use garlic, parsley, or shallots for one of the three.

    The preparation of Cajun/Creole dishes such as étouffée, gumbo, and jambalaya all start from this base.

    Then it is what people put into it. Well you in most have a roux, but not required as in most instances.

    I won’t even get into the Cajun vs. Creole thing of LA cooking, but this is key. This was slave food. Poor people’s food. You had that Trinity you put in whatever you could. This food that seems “cool” (and it is so cool) and people today pay a ton for used to be cooked by those that didn’t have anything.

    You can make it the calorie intake you want ….

  69. 69.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    @sparrow: Wow! An unheated greenhouse in Maine. I can’t understand how that would work there, because I lose stuff in my unheated greenhouse in the winter here, just outside Seattle. And his greenhouse is made of plastic sheeting pulled over a metal form. We get a nasty windstorm 3 or 4 times a year here, and my little greenhouse is pretty beat up right now. We have had to retrieve panels from the neighbor’s yard, one storm was so bad. We had added a lot more clips to the panels, so instead of sailing away they just cracked and tore. Granted, it was a cheapie from Harbor Freight.

    There is a proper greenhouse store not too far away and we’ll head up there to replace the panels that got chewed up. They sell a heavier form of polycarbonate paneling so that might help. I laughed when I realized what had kept some of the roof panels on last time: bricks. My husband had placed a brick at the lower end of each roof panel on one side of the greenhouse, and none of those popped out.

  70. 70.

    p.a.

    January 31, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    @Mike J: ‘Hawks 31 Pats 17 (as I have a sad). Manning last year was better and had better weapons than Brady this year, and look what happened. Hit Tommy and he turtles. Wilson won’t have a game like his last.

  71. 71.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    @Tommy: Yeah, I knew that. I have read articles by photographers over the years about peas propped up with toothpicks in a stew, and that gravy wasn’t really gravy.

    I have been amazed and amused at times by the fake food on display in restaurants because some of them look so real.

  72. 72.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    January 31, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Roasted cauliflower and carrots cannot be made enough in this house. I sliver garlic also, and mix it all in a bowl with a little olive oil, coarse sea salt, ground pepper, titch of smoked paprika and rosemary combined a mortar and pestle. When there is fresh rosemary, I mince that and add it with the the m&p mix. In winter it’s at least weekly if not 2x.

  73. 73.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    @p.a.: Manning showed up last year, but we kind of thought his team didn’t. We thought that was the problem.

  74. 74.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): We roast Brussels sprouts that way when we have a big group coming for dinner. It seems to be popular.

  75. 75.

    mainmati

    January 31, 2015 at 6:21 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: You could always do the kind of food the Brits ate in the early 1960s, especially Liverpudlians. OTOH, British food from that time was pretty bad.

  76. 76.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    January 31, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    @mainmati: You mean it isn’t really bad now?

  77. 77.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    I meant to say, Betty, those carrots are beautiful.

    I need to get out my garden notes from last year and start planning this year’s garden. I started keeping a garden diary with sketches so I could figure out this climate. California was easy, maybe because I always lived there, but this area is startling. The hollyhocks never bloomed last summer, of all things, and it was warm and nice for most of the summer.
    We have lists now of what tomato plants work and which sweet corn will produce.

  78. 78.

    Helen

    January 31, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    Oh those carrots look like the ones I get at the Farmer’s Market on 14th Street in NYC. My only regret about living in the city is that I can’t have a garden. But I am a city girl, so unless I win Lotto and can afford a house with a rooftop garden, I will have to get my produce on 14th St.

    I grew up in the burbs and my Dad had a garden. We even had apple trees. Some of my best childhood memories include eating tomatoes right off the vine. And homemade apple pie. What I didn’t know then was that while we called ourselves “middle class” we were really working class, back when the working class could actually own a home. And my dad had his garden because it was cheaper than buying veggies at the store.

  79. 79.

    trollhattan

    January 31, 2015 at 6:33 pm

    It’s mid-70s and in celebration I have the windows and doors open and the whole-house fan ridding the joint of that three-month accumulation of wintertime cooped-up house funk. Glorious.

    Thus endeth the driest January on record, notching a whopping 0.01 inch of rain. Cherry trees are blossoming to reinforce the not-normal start to the year. At least I sure hope it’s not normal.

  80. 80.

    Violet

    January 31, 2015 at 6:33 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I love roasted vegetables. I cut up a big mess of them, throw them on a baking sheet and bake around 400 or maybe even 425. Depends what else is happening with the oven.

    I harvested a huge cauliflower yesterday. I cut up some and put on foil in the bbq grill but it didn’t work quite right. Will try oven roasting tomorrow.

    As for carrots, boiling/steaming and then sautee some ginger in butter and then give the carrots a quick toss in that. Yum. If you want them a little sweeter then add honey to the mix. Some carrots are sweet enough you don’t need to add the honey.

  81. 81.

    Violet

    January 31, 2015 at 6:42 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): No, it’s not. British food is pretty good these days. The national dish is curry. So many really great restaurants have opened in the last decade or so. And not just in London. I’m rarely in London when I go–always in the north of the country or Scotland. I’ve had some fantastic food in some of the gastropubs. And some amazing food in Scotland, shockingly.

    Sure, you can still get crappy food there. But you can get crappy food in the US and anywhere else. In general I find the basic ingredients on the whole to be better. Not sure if it’s because of EU rules or what, but the food itself tastes fresher and better than similar food in the US–except if you buy fancy organic stuff at the farmer’s market or grow it yourself.

  82. 82.

    opiejeanne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:45 pm

    @trollhattan: You’re in SoCal? We just tidied up a couple of garden beds because it’s only 40 out right now, but had to quite because out fingers were getting numb.

    I’m hoping that my optimistic cherry trees don’t decide it’s spring just yet, because February can be really very cold here, well below freezing last year for a week. I don’t want to lose them just as they are becoming productive.

  83. 83.

    Tommy

    January 31, 2015 at 6:46 pm

    Thought this pic might feed the squirrel, squirrel, thing. I was there, the squirrel was instigating. Sure my cats welcomes her for a cup of tea and this happened

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/webranding/3210786710/

  84. 84.

    Meepers

    January 31, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    @Tommy: Amazon sells canned curry pastes, Mae Ploy is a good brand. Blend with yogurt or rich coconut milk. Alternatively if you have time and inclination, toast and blend your own spices.

  85. 85.

    ranchandsyrup

    January 31, 2015 at 6:49 pm

    Grilled lemon, honey and Rosemary chicken with grilled asparagus/feta salad.
    Argh I forgot to buy wings for tomorrow.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 31, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    For reasons I don’t yet understand, I didn’t get to sleep last night until 5:30 a.m., and had to be up by 10:00 (and in fact, out of panic and insecurity, woke up at 8:30) to ensure arriving in time for the Met Opera Live in HD screening of “Les Contes d’Hoffmann.” The opera was terrific, and I am loving the volunteer job of being “Met Ambassador,” but since I’m operating on 3 hours’ sleep I am feeling plenty fatigued by now. I’m setting no alarms for tomorrow morning, and plan to sleep until I wake up. Which I hope will be close to noon.

  87. 87.

    donnah

    January 31, 2015 at 7:08 pm

    Yummy-looking carrots, Betty!

    I love snow, so I’m bitterly disappointed that the eight inches of snow we were supposed to get will now go north of us, leaving us with some rain and sleet, maybe. Bleah.

  88. 88.

    Randy P

    January 31, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    @Helen: There’s a community garden in the West Village I walk past all the time when I’m in that area. On Bleecker Street, I think, right next to a grocery store IIRC. And I’m sure that’s not the only one in New York.

  89. 89.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 31, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    @Pogonip:

    Yay bats!

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 31, 2015 at 7:18 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Last year, a friend of mine turned 64, and I wrote a poem (okay, a series of couplets) for him. Except for the last couplet, which incorporates his name, you are welcome to use, swipe, modify, add, delete or ignore:

    Today you are the cube of four,
    The square of eight, and so much more!

    Power six of number two,
    With black and white, a chessboard, you.

    The cube of four, the square of eight,
    A number fit to celebrate!

    Perfect cube and perfect square:
    Such perfection’s rather rare.

    A million, you, in binary;
    In Roman terms, LXIV.

    Are you feeling rather keen?
    Quadruple, then, the sweet sixteen.

    In 64 A.D., I learned,
    Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

    North latitude of 64°
    Knocks upon your Arctic door.

    McCartney (music), Lennon (sage)
    Wrote famously about your age.

    Play sixty-four fast notes as favours:
    Hemidemisemiquavers.

    The 64th is very manly.
    Best wishes, Mr. Wentworth-Stanley!

  91. 91.

    Helen

    January 31, 2015 at 7:18 pm

    @Randy P: Yeah I should look for one of them. Once or twice a year NY has a parks day. The neighborhood I live in has lots of parks, so we all pick a park and clean and plant and rake. Great days.

  92. 92.

    Tree With Water

    January 31, 2015 at 7:22 pm

    Those carrots would make a good centerpiece. Or, better yet, a hat for a rube.

  93. 93.

    Bob In Portland

    January 31, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    First of a series, apparently, about Uncle Ruslan, the USAID, bank fraud, his terrorist nephews and the man who thought it was a neat idea to send SAMs to Khomeni.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    January 31, 2015 at 7:39 pm

    @opiejeanne:
    Northern. We’re dry as a dry thing–last rain was mid-December, Sigh.

  95. 95.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 7:42 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oh wow. I can get my engineer husband to read that out loud! Thank you.

  96. 96.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 31, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    @mainmati: We’ll see what our friend comes up with. If we get there, that is. They’re predicting 5-8 inches of snow.

  97. 97.

    Pogonip

    January 31, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: That’s really cute!

    Wentworth-Stanley? Is your friend a British nobleman?

  98. 98.

    Origuy

    January 31, 2015 at 8:11 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    You mean it isn’t really bad now?

    The food I got in Britain was generally pretty good. Scottish salmon, mussels, peri-peri chicken. That was only a few years ago. When I was there in the early 80s, though, you still had to go to Indian restaurants for good food.

  99. 99.

    Bob In Portland

    January 31, 2015 at 8:15 pm

    Listen.

    Polit­i­cal come­dian Mort Sahl (one of New Orleans DA Jim Garrison’s inves­ti­ga­tors into the JFK assas­si­na­tion) asked in his auto­bi­og­ra­phy “Heart­land”; “How many lies can you allow your­self to believe before you belong to the lie?” In the gath­er­ing storm in Ukraine, decades of insti­tu­tional lying from the Sec­ond World War, through the Cold War and into the present appears to have gained own­er­ship over con­tem­po­rary Amer­ica. Hav­ing taken in the intel­li­gence and polit­i­cal residua of the Third Reich and its Cen­tral and East­ern Euro­pean allies, Amer­ica res­ur­rected and per­pet­u­ated the polit­i­cal and ide­o­log­i­cal ban­ner of fas­cism. Adher­ing to grossly and delib­er­ately dis­torted intel­li­gence dur­ing the Cold War, the polit­i­cal land­scape evolv­ing from that dis­tor­tion is gov­ern­ing con­tem­po­rary per­cep­tions and actions. This pro­gram updates the actions of the OUN/B heirs in Ukraine and their polit­i­cal and ide­o­log­i­cal allies else­where in the for­mer War­saw Pact coun­tries. At the core of this analy­sis is the nur­tur­ing of the Hitler-conceived Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations within West­ern intel­li­gence and the GOP, its pro­jec­tion into East­ern Europe and the for­mer U.S.S.R. dur­ing the final stages of the Cold War and and how we are now dom­i­nated by the polit­i­cal Frankenstein’s mon­ster we cre­ated in that part of the world.

  100. 100.

    Tree With Water

    January 31, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    @Bob In Portland: Werner Von Braun wrote a book called I Aim For The Stars, to which Stahl added the subtitle, But Sometimes I Hit London.

  101. 101.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 31, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    @Pogonip:

    Aristocracy, not nobility. And he chucked it all years ago to become a Canadian citizen (although he retains the hyphen).

  102. 102.

    HRA

    January 31, 2015 at 8:47 pm

    At game time tomorrow, it will be Tiki the pooch who thinks he is human and me. The man will be home after work. I will be making chicken wings and pizza. What else would I make from the Buffalo, NY burb?
    Go Seahawks!

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    January 31, 2015 at 9:50 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Outstanding!

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