Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Please don’t feed the bears.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Food / Tasty Things (Open Thread)

Reader Interactions

336Comments

  3. 3.

    the Conster

    Ur doin’ it rong. Nice sweet scallops like that should be with tartar sauce, cole slaw and onion rings, with a tall cool pilsner.

  4. 4.

    Randy P

    Just rewatched “My Cousin Vinny”, which we hadn’t seen since it first came out.

    As you may recall, grits feature rather prominently in the plot.

    I’ve never developed any fondness for grits myself, in any form.

  6. 6.

    Mustang Bobby

    @schrodinger’s cat: Grits — to me — taste like Cream of Wheat even though they’re made from corn.

    It’s about as hot here, too, and it’s 9:30 p.m.

    I had some leftover rice from a car club meeting dinner I hosted, so I dumped in a can of Progresso Hearty Tomato soup, some salsa and Tabasco, and nuked it. It came out like my mom’s Spanish rice dish.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have never had grits, they look like baby food in this photo. How do they taste?

    It seriously depends on the cook/chef. If you’re having cheese grits or savory grits or bacon and grits.
    They can either be downright bleh, and nothing more than a way to fill an empty belly, or they can be revelatory and delightful.

  9. 9.

    Pogonip

    I am reading Future Crimes, by Marc Goodman. I know many computer mavens read this site. Do you feel that Goodman overstates the situation, understates it, or has it about right? And how do you think the average citizen can best protect himself?

  11. 11.

    divF

    @efgoldman:

    Fries are fine, too; except legend has it that places with good fried seafood often don’t have good fries (requires oil at different temperatures.)

    I’m not from New England, but I would think you’d want separate deep-fat fryers for the seafood and the potatoes, since you don’t want the potatoes to taste fishy.

    ETA:Drat, Conster beat me by one. I need to learn to type faster.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    @efgoldman:

    but how many more FL State players have to be arrested before the school president and trustees speak sternly to Jimbo?

    Roughly about the same time The Program starts losing money.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    @Corner Stone:

    I have never had grits, they look like baby food in this photo. How do they taste?

    I don’t know how to describe them, but well done grits – not too lumpy, or too watery, salted, and buttered, served with scrambled eggs and any breakfast meat…

    sigh…

    what a meal.

    I could eat grits pretty much everyday for breakfast.

    sigh….

    love them.

  16. 16.

    schrodinger's cat

    @divF: Really fresh fish should not taste or smell fishy. Two fryers sounds like a good idea though, because I would not want my fries to taste like fish.
    The best coating for fried seafood in my opinion is two parts rice flour + one part cornmeal. I season it with cayenne, turmeric and kosher salt.

  21. 21.

    Culture of Truth

    This movie on the Catholic channel called “The War of the Vendee” has rather decent production values but literally the worst acting I have ever seen. Like an elementary school play. Like they’re reading of cue cards. Oh, and the writing is terrible too.

  23. 23.

    joel hanes

    Moving day today, tomorrow, and Monday, after 23 years in one place.

    It will be gratifying to have sorted through every last thing, and to have gotten rid of a quarter of it.

    But oh my feet are tired right now

  24. 24.

    Culture of Truth

    Actually that’s not quite true. I bought grits this past winter and experimented with them. I found more time than advised helped.

  26. 26.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    Grits. Ughhh. Yeah, too much like flavorless Cream of Wheat. I keep trying them, but just not working. And what am I doing? Reading BJ, obviously. And trying to figure out if I can afford to pay for my granddaughter’s education at FSU – still a lot less expensive than schools here in Iowa, but a lot for our budget. And our weather here is amazingly humid, not so warm (72 degrees), but supposed to hit high nineties on Monday.

  28. 28.

    joel hanes

    @Culture of Truth:

    I had never actually seen grits served until I was drafted — the mess hall provided them every morning, along with hamburger/white sauce gravy — as well as oatmeal, cold cereal, stewed prunes or some kind of canned fruit, and the eggs/pork/bread thing more familiar to northerners. No chorizo or linuica, though, although we had plenty of guys to whom that would have been familiar.

    When you’re young and working hard and ravenous, buttered grits with salt and pepper, or with pancake syrup, seem like a very good thing indeed.

  30. 30.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I just saw a report that John Lewis is at ComiCon! Holy cow. I have friends there. I’ll have to ask if they saw him.

  31. 31.

    RandomMonster

    Now you’ve gone and put me in the mood for scallops.

    The wife is away this week so eating smoked trout for dinner, with some white wine and a shot of aquavit, and watching Leone westerns: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Once Upon a Time in the West.

  32. 32.

    BruceFromOhio

    Nice plate!

    Dinner here is poblano chicken & rice, with Corner Creek bourbon as the appetizer. The fire is already crackling in the back yard.

  33. 33.

    Gin & Tonic

    @schrodinger’s cat: Today was very hot indeed. My wife thought today would be a good day for me to scrub and power-wash the deck. It was very hot.

    I need to rethink my life choices. Just saying.

  35. 35.

    RandomMonster

    @divF:

    There isn’t much (other than dessert) to which I won’t consider adding those seasonings. Also cumin.

    I once had a chocolate cake with habanero that was off the hook!

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    @RandomMonster:

    The wife is away this week so eating smoked trout for dinner, with some white wine and a shot of aquavit, and watching Leone westerns: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Once Upon a Time in the West.

    Do you have a newsletter to which one may subscribe?

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @efgoldman:

    You order that combination on Cape Cod or Gloucester or RI or any other place in Ne w England where the scallop boats come in, and (1) they wouldn’t have it. I mean grits?

    Call it polenta, and you’ll be fine (at least in Gloucester). Whether one should put cheese in one’s polenta is a different culinary argument, of course. But lots of clam shacks serve corn-on-the-cob with their fried seafood, so it’s not like the combination is beyond imagination.

    ETA: Commentor P.A. beat me to it!

  41. 41.

    Sandia Blanca

    This California girl married a Southerner, and so grits became part of my repertoire. The best ones are the stone-ground kind, cooked for at least half an hour, and served with plenty of real butter. Great with eggs for a homey breakfast.

  44. 44.

    Felonius Monk

    @Betty Cracker

    I came across this earlier today and when I saw the hedgehog, I thought of your little fella. Maybe you’ve seen this before, but if not enjoy.

  50. 50.

    Anne Laurie

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: One of our key house-hunting questions has always been “Is this place in a good pizza reception zone?”

    I grew up in the Bronx; Spousal Unit grew up in the Michigan boonies. Sharing various rentals in a Michigan college town confirmed our prejudices — neither of us wants to live where we can’t have the pizza come to us. Establishing this — or, rather, what this says about our mindsets — is one of the basic reasons we’ve been together 37 years & counting.

  51. 51.

    divF

    @RandomMonster:

    I once had a chocolate cake with habanero that was off the hook!

    That makes sense to me, as does red wine with chocolate, mole sauce, …

    I still don’t get the chocolate with salt, though. Same goes for chocolate-covered potato chips, pretzels, etc.

  53. 53.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic: No. I guess you did not say you had tasted it. Only that grits reminded you of wallpaper paste.
    So I guess your commentary regarding grits v paste is useful in some visual aspect way, as opposed to…anything else.
    Thanks. I guess.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    well done grits – not too lumpy, or too watery, salted, and buttered, served with scrambled eggs

    Sacré Bleu!

    Over easy or sunnyside up.

    Occasionally make grits cooked in chicken broth, with great gobs of cheddar, parmesan and garlic stirred in once they’re made, as a dinner side dish.

  55. 55.

    RandomMonster

    @divF:

    I still don’t get the chocolate with salt, though. Same goes for chocolate-covered potato chips, pretzels, etc.

    Or the chocolate with bacon thing. Yuck.

  56. 56.

    Corner Stone

    @divF:

    I still don’t get the chocolate with salt, though. Same goes for chocolate-covered potato chips, pretzels, etc.

    For years every time I went to Vegas I always stopped and bought a chocolate covered pretzel before I went to the airport headed home.
    There’s just something about a little salt with chocolate that is yoogely tasteful, and classy.

  57. 57.

    RandomMonster

    @Corner Stone:

    Do you have a newsletter to which one may subscribe?

    Too pretentious? It’s just stuff I like :) And I have 5 pets that are all demanding attention with just one person in the house, so I might as well indulge…

  59. 59.

    yodecat

    Ms.Cracker,

    I moved to the SW most city in Oregon, Brookings. We live outside the city proper in a fir forest. Believe me, it’s a fine place to live.

    That said the food I miss acutely is okra. Fried okra with cornbread crumb and a bit of cumin, sorta East Indian style. Gods above! We’ve two good sushi restaurants, a good steak hose, several good burger joints and some not-too-bad ‘Merican food, what passes for decent Tex-mex as well, but you can’t get okra here in any shape but frozen, which though good (with care) aren’t the same as when we could get fresh in Texas.

    But we’ll never move back.

    jw

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    @Corner Stone

    No, I can’t say I have any idea what wallpaper paste actually tastes like.

    Dead giveaway that you’ve never hung wallpaper.

    Because intentionally or not, anyone doing that is going to end up tasting some paste.

    (If I never have to put up flocked wallpaper again, it’ll be too soon. Special circle of hell for the inventor of the ragga-fraaga stuff.)

  62. 62.

    Corner Stone

    Why do people keep quoting shit in this thread and ascribing it to me when it’s shit I have quoted from someone else?

  63. 63.

    Mike in NC

    Never heard of scallops and grits, but shrimp and grits are yoooouge around here, and very classy.

    Local supermarkets also sell frozen stuffed clams (quohogs) and sea scallops. Not as good as living in New England, but we have to settle for what we can get.

  65. 65.

    lamh36

    So I spent the majority of the daylight hours away from home, I missed alot of stuff today.

    Firstly I missed Serena’s Wimbledon match

    But I’m loving JK Rowling taking it to one of the usual trolls that always come out whenever Serena wins another tennis tourni.

    .@diegtristan8 “she is built like a man”. Yeah, my husband looks just like this in a dress. You’re an idiot.

    https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/619886370081869824

    (FYI: One of my fav pics of Serena is attached to JK Rowling’s tweet)

    Jezebel has an article here…

    http://jezebel.com/j-k-rowling-defends-serena-williams-from-twitter-troll-1717229415

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    @yodecat:

    what passes for decent Tex-mex as well,

    Bull. Fucking. Shit.
    Don’t you try that bullshit on me. Don’t even try it.

  67. 67.

    Linnaeus

    @Anne Laurie:

    neither of us wants to live where we can’t have the pizza come to us.

    I lived in a very similar college town as you did – maybe even the same one – and I had plenty of pizza come to me. I suspect things have changed quite a bit since your day.

    As for grits? I can take them or leave them.

  69. 69.

    RSA

    Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson.

    Those were great. Of course Sherlock Holmes should fight the Nazis! Have you caught Sheldon Reynolds’s 1954 TV series? About the same level of faithfulness, lower production values, but still entertaining.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    @Corner Stone

    Well, duh.

    The point was that you said you’ve never tasted it. Ipso facto you’ve never hung it, as even the most fastidious cannot accomplish the first without at least a smidgen of the second.

  72. 72.

    Corner Stone

    @Suzanne: Ha ha. Sorry that your exposure to Trump left you with a residue of yooge and classy type sayings.
    Hopefully you’ll recover shortly.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    @CornerStone

    There’s a cartoon hiding in there.

    Marie Antoinette visiting a kindergarten, upon being discreetly informed that they’re short of milk and cookies for the kids.

    “Let them eat paste!”

  74. 74.

    opiejeanne

    @Pogonip: It’s 68 in Seattle. The heat finally broke and we got a few drops of rain, if you want to call it that. But the heat broke, that’s the best part of the story.

  76. 76.

    lamh36

    Another thing I missed today…the first full trailer for BvS.

    Full Batman vs Superman trailer

    So what do we think of the trailer?

    I’ll be honest and say I’m in it for Wonder Woman. I understand the role was supposed to be more of a cameo, but it looks to be a bit more. I’d bet, they realized after hiring the lady cast, that they needed to give WW fans something to hold on to. Especially, since there is still conflict about her casting. If they can pull it off where she damn near steals the movie (ala Quicksilver in X-Mens: DOFP), then it’ll go a long way to staving off some of that critic.

  78. 78.

    jl

    Spent most of the day at farmers market buying produce and eating like a starved pig.

    For some reason, good fruit in supermarkets in SF is unbelievably expensive this year, so even the Ferry Building farmers market a better deal.

    To try to keep things healthy, I walk all the way across town to get there, down California Street. Then I figure i can eat what I want since I am walking back. Started with the Mexican food stand today, mole tamale plate for breakfast. Bought produce and grazed on free samples until lunch time. Things got hazy after that, due to walking food coma probably.

  79. 79.

    Linnaeus

    Ballard Seafood Festival tomorrow!

    Well, it was today, too. But I’m going tomorrow.

  80. 80.

    jl

    @Corner Stone:

    ” Why do people keep quoting shit in this thread and ascribing it to me when it’s shit I have quoted from someone else? ”

    You are ‘it’ today.

    It’s what you get for trying to tell Lady Cracker how to eat her damn scallops, and dissing Tex-Mex, and my arbitrary attribution to to you of any and all comments on this thread that have pissed me off.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @lamh36

    Holy fanboys! Nearly 4½ million views on YouTube already.

    Can forgive a lot (like the fish scale costume), but there’s a place where one must draw the line. Sorry, but no spit curl? Then it ain’t Superman.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @NotMax:

    The point was that you said you’ve never tasted it. Ipso facto you’ve never hung it

    Why the fuck would I have hung it? Am I a porn star from the ’70s? Some gaffer on the set of Three’s Company? Some other person doing construction on The Vanilla Ice Project?
    No. I admit it here to all and sundry. I have never hung wallpaper, anywhere. I apologize to you all and beg forgiveness for not…doing…hanging…scraping…ummm…shit, something about wallpaper. Fuck, I forgot what I am supposed to be saying I haven’t tasted because I never did some sort of remodeling that someone else did that one time on HGTV.

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    @Corner Stone

    An edible (using that term in its loosest sense) which has never once passed my lips in any form.

    For the record, do like poi, though

  86. 86.

    Suzanne

    @Corner Stone: The Mex is fine. It’s the Tex that’s repulsive. Sonoran and Baja cuisine is mindblowingly delicious.

    Having said that, I need to lay off Mexican food for a few days, as I ate shrimp tacos for five days straight in Rocky Point.

  87. 87.

    Cervantes

    @efgoldman:

    Scallops, cheesy grits and beans!

    Damn, Betty. You order that combination on Cape Cod or Gloucester or RI or any other place in New England where the scallop boats come in, and (1) they wouldn’t have it. I mean grits? Really?

    Just the other day I paid about $30 for shrimp and (cheesy) grits at the Wild Goose in Chatham.

    OK, so the grits were organic and beans were not included — so maybe you have a point!

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack

    @Anne Laurie:

    One of our key house-hunting questions has always been “Is this place in a good pizza reception zone?”

    I can relate. When I moved three years ago, I realized with a little embarrassment that one of my serious house-hunting criteria was whether the cable provider was Cox or whether I would have to go to the dark side with Comcast. I had Cox at the previous place and had a souped-up DVR with 300 hours of stuff on it that I didn’t want to lose. I found this place, just on the good side of the Cox-Comcast divide, and was able to plug and play the DVR from the old place.

    This place is really nice for a number of other reasons, too, but cable provider was a concern. So I can appreciate that pizza reception is a thing. And I found a good non-chain pizza place that delivers here—Brick’s (h/t to fellow commenter Redshift).

    ETA: Also, I knew from being at friends’ houses that the Cox on-screen interface is miles ahead of Comcast’s. Didn’t want to lose that.

  98. 98.

    redshirt

    Here’s the leaked plot from Batman V Superman:

    They fight (with one winning – Batman), then fight again(then the other – Superman), then come to an understanding about a common foe, and then fight him, together. At the end of the film they are solid allies.

  99. 99.

    catclub

    @lamh36:

    I’ll be honest and say I’m in it for Wonder Woman.

    I did not hear the whole Terry Gross interview on the backstory of Wonder Woman, but what I heard was pretty interesting.

  100. 100.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack:

    I had Cox at the previous place and had a souped-up DVR with 300 hours of stuff on it that I didn’t want to lose.

    Holy crap.

  101. 101.

    jl

    @lamh36: Thanks for minion pic. I will have to check out the move. Obviously there are things about it that I do not comprehend.

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack

    @yodecat:

    Okra is the one place where I depart from my crackro-American heritage. Don’t absolutely hate it, just don’t like it much and can’t remember the last time I had it. My brother does like it a lot and occasionally stir-fries a batch.

    P.S. Okra is hard to do well.

  103. 103.

    Mike in NC

    @p.a.: Close enough. Living in Newport, RI for a few years I developed quite a taste for Portuegese food.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @Suzanne: Tex-Mex is brilliant, beautiful and classy. It can not be repeated well outside a certain yooge demographic area.
    It’s the best and the envy of everything you have ever attempted to eat.

  108. 108.

    seaboogie

    @divF: chocolate with salt and or chiles sparks more parts of your palate and when in good balance is more entertaining and therefore satisfying.

    Although typically a dark chocolate gal, I once sampled a white chocolate bar that was super buttery and creamy (not overly sweet) with bitter orange peel and a chile hit that tickles the back of the throat – so many sensations with a long finish – it was an amazing tasting experience!

  110. 110.

    Cervantes

    @yodecat:

    If you’re willing to drive the … what is it, five hours or so? … to Bend, there’s a Whole Foods there that sells fresh okra from time to time.

    Hope this helps.

  116. 116.

    Steeplejack

    @Suzanne:

    Oh, hell, no! Good Tex-Mex—like Ground Zero San Antonio Tex-Mex—is awesome.

    I will grant that a lot of Tex-Mex and “Mexican” restaurants are crap. But they’re doing it wrong.

  117. 117.

    Punchy

    Just finished packing for tomorrow’s triathlon. A hilly sumbitch in wicked warm weather. No me gusta…

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @yodecat: Okra? I understand that gumbo requires it, but you have to understand that my bowl will be empty but for the slimy okra.

  120. 120.

    Suzanne

    @Steeplejack: I have tried my fair share of Tex-Mex and it always makes me want to hurl. Too much cheese, too much oil, not enough vegetables. It’s all the excesses of the South without any of the goodness.

  121. 121.

    divF

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Gumbo does not require okra. Okra is one of three traditional choices for thickening gumbo, the others being file powder and roux (a dark roux the color of dark chocolate is what I use).

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @divF: I have been told otherwise, but I am perfectly willing to accept your answer. A dark roux works for me.

  126. 126.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36:

    If they can pull it off where she damn near steals the movie (ala Quicksilver in X-Mens: DOFP), then it’ll go a long way to staving off some of that critic.

    I was saying something similar earlier today. We saw Superman in the last movie, and much of what we think about Batman is still based on the Dark Knight films; but Wonder Woman is a new character in this version of the DC universe, and if she is compelling, even in cameo scenes, she might be a breath of fresh air.

    Apart from this, the trailer was too operatic and lumbering foe me. I don’t know that I want to see an overly brooding Batman, and a mopey Superman who is hated by the public and who doesn’t know whether he wants to be bothered being a hero. I see now that some of this was actually set up well in the earlier Superman film, but at some point they need to pivot from the gloom and give us a soaring Man of Steel.

    Bottom line, I liked the trailer and it makes me curious, but not quite exited to see the film. However, it may be stronger than most of the Marvel films, but everything may be swept aside by the upcoming Star Wars film, which looks much more interesting than all of them.

  133. 133.

    Corner Stone

    @Suzanne:

    I have tried my fair share of Tex-Mex and it always makes me want to hurl. Too much cheese, too much oil, not enough vegetables. It’s all the excesses of the South without any of the goodness.

    Where?
    It doesn’t really matter, I guess.

  134. 134.

    Botsplainer

    Lost my 16 year old tuxedo cat tonight. He’d been really sick, some bladder blockage. We’d brought him to the vet yesterday, not much chance.

    I took the youngest to see him this morning. He tried opening his eyes a little and I scratched his 2nd favorite spot, but no real chance was in the cards.

    Mrs Botsplainer is taking it inexplicably hard, wishes she’d paid him more attention and been nicer.

    He was always happy to see me come home – even up to the last couple of weeks, 2-3 months after it was clear that dementia wa setting in. He’d come out to the car to greet me and wait patiently at the dog pen for the daily retrieval. He’d also follow our walks, yowling.

  137. 137.

    Corner Stone

    @lamh36:

    A good gumbo won’t have “slimy” okra. You would barely taste them in a good one.

    Okra can’t be anything but slimy on it’s own. It’s either fried, or it’s slimy.

  138. 138.

    Felonius Monk

    Tex-Mex is nothing compared to the stuff that was served in the Chinese-Mexican restaurant that existed here locally for many years.

  139. 139.

    Steeplejack

    @Botsplainer:

    My thoughts are with you. My last two went 18 and 20 years, respectively, and I still miss them 12-14 years later. The current housecat is 15 (although I’ve had her for only three years), and I dread the day when she is gone. She is dozing at her workstation beside me now, with her tail flicking unhelpfully across the keyboard.

  141. 141.

    Bobby D

    Grew up in Jawja. Granny made fried okra all the time. I don’t really miss it, but had never even seen it boiled until I left the southeast. Nasty, slimy, uggg.

    If you’re looking for okra and live outside the south, try to find an african food market (not african-american, african). They seem to have it on the regular.

  145. 145.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Botsplainer: My condolences, I’m still dealing with a sick Cocker Spaniel. The wife thinks something may have bit the pooch, her right back leg seems to be a bit swollen. I’ve been staying home with the girl, and not going on my planned hike to Amir’s garden.

    ETA: Tex-Mex sucks, too much Tex and not enough Mex.

  146. 146.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    Just back from a pool party. The upside down pineapple chhesecake was very well received. It is going in my permanent list-a place of high honor for hard workin’ recipes.

  147. 147.

    mclaren

    My new discovery is Welcome To Nightvale, a podcast that depicts a community radio announcer in a small desert town where “all conspiracy theories are true.”

    The program is about half an hour each, 29 episodes so far. And it’s hilarious.

    In the first episode the community radio announcer describes the weird goings-on in Nightvale, including gems like “The city council has announced a new dog park. Dogs are not allowed in the new dog park. People are not allowed in the new dog park. If you see hooded figures in the new dog park at night, DO NOT LOOK AT THEM DIRECTLY.”

    In the second episode, the community radio announcer describes a strange glow cloud that has appeared over Nightvale. It’s dropping small dead animals. As the program goes on, the announcer breaks in to tell us that “The weekly football game between Nightvale and Desert Bluffs will continue as scheduled despite the increase in the size of the glow cloud, but new awnings will be used because of the increase in the size of the dead animals dropping from the sky. Winner’s Tasty-Freeze on Mulberry Drive is offering a cone to anyone who can tell them how to get the dead lion off their roof.”

    In the third episode, the announcer describes the Station Management, explaining “We have not actually seen station management. They communicate with us by sliding notes under the door of their office, although we do see moving shapes through the frosted glass of their office door and the whipping of what appear to be tendrils. We communicate with station management by shouting at them behind their closed door…assuming they have ears to hear us with.” By the end of the program, Station Management becomes irate that they are being described and the announcer huddles under his desk, reporting that “For the first time, Station Management has come out of their office. We have not seen them as yet, but we do hear ominous clicking noises and a continuous hissing sound. We did send an intern to check on Station Management, but we have not heard from him for several hours and fear the worst. Let it be known that this intern gave his life for community radio…”

    The fourth episode starts with a description of a PTA meeting that “ended in bloodshed because of the pteranodons that emerged from a space-time vortex during the discussion of the school lunch prices.”

    And it just goes on like that.

    You can find all the episodes on SoundCloud at NightVale Radio.

  149. 149.

    cckids

    @Anne Laurie:

    Call it polenta, and you’ll be fine (at least in Gloucester). Whether one should put cheese in one’s polenta is a different culinary argument, of course

    Grits/polenta are yummy, and incredibly versatile. You can add most anything to them.

    Those of you who say they are bland? You’re doing it wrong.

  150. 150.

    Steeplejack

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Tex-Mex sucks, too much Tex and not enough Mex.

    You are dead to me.

    Also, this (and Suzanne’s comments) adds to my theory that the problem is California and adjacent areas, i.e., what you’re getting there is not true Tex-Mex.

  153. 153.

    mclaren

    @Corner Stone:

    Why do people keep quoting shit in this thread and ascribing it to me when it’s shit I have quoted from someone else?

    Because that’s the old Ann Coulter trick. Always ascribe to an opponent the slimy stuff the debater does hi/rself:

    Liberals are people who tell savagely cruel lies for sport. — Ann Coulter.

    No, Ann Coulter is people who tell savagely cruel lies for sport. This kind of verbal ju-jitsu is supposed to confuse the victim and throw hi/r off guard…but it doesn’t work if people recognize it as a tactic and point out it’s happening.

  154. 154.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Steeplejack: I’ve spent a good amount of time in Texas, the kid lived in Texas(San Antonio) for 4 years: we both agree, it sucks and they should drop the Mex part. We have Mexican food out in these parts.

  156. 156.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steeplejack:
    She’s around eleven. She was a stray kitten I’d seen around the neighbourhood. One day early in Ramadhan 2004, about a week after my mother had passed away, she just decided to follow me home. And she’s been here ever since.

  157. 157.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    I was looking for some hiking in LA’s west side and came across this one, Murphy Ranch. It was supposed to be Hitler’s American west coast retreat after the Germans won the war. I didn’t know about this one, but the Bund was pretty popular in North Glendale.

  158. 158.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    P.S. Okra is hard to do well.

    Yep. I used to say that okra is so nasty, it’s the only vegetable that comes with its own spit.

    There are just some foods I don’t have a taste for. Even when others are reasonably saying that an okra dish has been done well, I still have to give it a pass.

  159. 159.

    Steeplejack

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Well, San Antonio is Ground Zero for Tex-Mex, so if you can’t find any you like there you probably won’t find it anywhere. De gustibus non est disputandum. Your taste buds have probably been damaged by too much kimchi.

  160. 160.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Steeplejack: MMMMM, kimchi. Though I cooked tonight, spaghetti with sauce made with kielbasa, minced garlic and fresh onions, a slice of garlic toast and a side salad.

  162. 162.

    Cacti

    Just cracked open a jar of homemade spicy pickles that I’ve been lacto-fermenting for the past week or so.

    Tasty.

  164. 164.

    Suzanne

    I am just ruminating on some of the dumb chumps I saw at the Trump rally today, and how much I want to drink their sweet, sweet tears during a HRC or Sanders administration. GOD. I am such a dick.

  165. 165.

    Cacti

    @Steeplejack:

    I suppose so. Lacto-Fermentation is just the name for pickling vegetables the traditional way vs. heat pasteurization, which murders the flavor.

    ETA: Sorry misread your question. The fermentation process produces lactic acids, which gives the stuff its pickled taste, but no, no dairy products involved.

  166. 166.

    Corner Stone

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I’ve spent a good amount of time in Texas, the kid lived in Texas(San Antonio) for 4 years: we both agree, it sucks and they should drop the Mex part. We have Mexican food out in these parts

    Let’s hear what you mean by Mexican food.

  168. 168.

    J R in WV

    @Suzanne:

    It isn’t the best, which is in New Mexico, and southern Arizona. Green chile gravy with crispy fried taters. MMMMM

    Today, here in WV, neighbors brought down 8 ears of the best fresh corn from their garden, which is what we had for dinner. Just corn, with butter. Boiled for 2:35 and warfed down, Best meal in a week. They also gave us a bunch of wild mushrooms, chicken of the woods, which we’ll have tomorrow, with a couple ears of corn. That won’t be as good as it was today, but still better than any you can buy, eve at the farmer’s market.

    Terry also graded out the gullies and ruts from the flood worthy rain we’ve had lately. Then we (I helped a little with my one good arm) mounted the back-hoe on the tractor, to clean out some of the culverts, which were clogged with sticks and leaves and sand eroded by the storms. The driveway up ere near the house was a lake once the three culverts clogged, and the roadbed is scoured down to the riprap the culverts (all side by side) are buried in.

    I’m exhausted, and would be asleep, but the puters needed an update downloaded and installed, which is happening while I watch B-J flower with all you wonderful people talking about important stuff, like grits. Good grits are good, and bad grits are terrible. Steamtable grits are the pits, wherever you are. south or north. Fresh grits made with some fluid other than water are best. I use chicken broth with just a little cheese of almost any kind.

    G’night all

  170. 170.

    Amir Khalid

    I like dates. But they’re only a seasonal item here. I wish supermarkets here sold them year-round, instead of just bringing them in for Ramadhan.

  174. 174.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steeplejack:
    Muslims like to buy them for breaking the fast with. I guess that’s the main market in Malaysia. But dates keep for a long time and are available year-round.

  183. 183.

    cckids

    @Steeplejack:

    Robb Walsh’s The Tex-Mex Cookbook (2004) is pretty good, with some interesting pictures and history included.

    I own that one; it is good. I love cookbooks that are also good reads; I keep them even if I don’t often cook from them.

    This one, from Maya Angelou, is fun. Good recipes, each with a funny or touching memory that sparks the recipe.

  193. 193.

    srv

    Ah, reunion conundrums. Two generations of cousins want to play poker but the intoxicated hordes of the family are occupying all three of the compound bar rooms.

    There must be a German word for this.

  218. 218.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: I remember that song. Spindoctors, right? I was tempted to suggest it for a tap solo for my youngest. She would not have forgiven me for a long time.

  228. 228.

    ruemara

    Ok. I had the wonderful grace to listen to Representative John Lewis’ talk at Comic-Con today. He presented a wonderful case for the need for inspiring current generations to “get in good trouble”. With the graphic novel, March, which tells the story of Lewis’ life and involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, he certainly has found a way to reach out and inspire this new generation. The wiki link tells you about the books and his aid, Andrew Aydin, who co-wrote the story with him. May I just say that Mr. Aydin is passionate, dedicated and progressive? If he were running, I’d vote for him. If the discussion winds up on youtube, I highly recommend it. It was fantastic.

    For the closer, Rep. Lewis led us all in a march downstairs to the exhibit floor to the book signing table. He was just an amazing, blessed presence.

    Unfortunately, after that and struggling to find the XBox lounge, having gone the wrong way a bit, I lost that nice glow of love and peace and decided I’d push the whole lot off a cliff to have some goddamn walking room. In my defense, I’ve been going for days on mostly protein bars, water, coffee and baggies of spring mix or seaweed. My lovely hosts get their living room back tomorrow, once i leave for the airport. But that will be another story.

  229. 229.

    Little Boots

    John Lewis was at ComicCon? wow. that is, as they say, worth the price of admission.

  230. 230.

    Steeplejack

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    And George also played on the original release, as “L’Angelo Misterioso.” I heard that he played the lead, but Wikipedia now says rhythm guitar.

    ETA: I loved “Badge” when it first came out and couldn’t hear it enough on the radio (where it didn’t go very far). Had to wait to buy the LP.

  233. 233.

    Little Boots

    I just love that john lewis was there. yes, ruemara, way to reach out to a new generation.

  234. 234.

    Suzanne

    @ruemara: That sounds amazing and I am so glad you got to be there. I would love to have seen Rep. Lewis. I shall buy his graphic novel for my kids.

  237. 237.

    Little Boots

    I can’t help it. I love that John Lewis is at ComicCon. I just love that.

  239. 239.

    seaboogie

    @Botsplainer: I am so sorry to learn that you lost your Tuxedo kitty. Interesting to hear that Mrs. B didn’t love the kitty so much, and then went all in for treatment. Cats are sometimes difficult companions, but they do – ultimately – command and demand our respect for them, if not always earning our affection.

    I have a 19 (20 in August) year old Tuxedo who is arthritic, deaf, and therefore VERY yowley…her vocal stylings are occasionally operatic, and sometimes surprisingly nuanced. She’s had a bout of kidney issues (no suprise), and basically lives on my tall bed, reclining on the pee-pads that I’ve arranged for intentional or unintentional discharge. She’s pretty much figured it out. Every once in a while she misses, and I then tell her that “everything she does is just perfect”.

    She’s not even a great cat, it’s just that I’ve lived with her longer than any other soul in my life – human or animal – so there is a mutal understanding and respect there that is kind of like an enduring, but not especially happy marriage – but it’s something, as we go through this life with our companions and the “knowingness” that we share.

    Losing my dog of 14 years was heartbreaking, and still makes me weepy sometimes; when the kitty passes, it will be the end of an era. She’s kind of like an imperious maiden aunt (because I had her spayed). Not much fun, but deserving of respect. And I also remember her youthful days of rug-rides, roof-sitting, and her doing wheelies to catch my attention. Is why she is still always perfect.

  246. 246.

    Little Boots

    @seaboogie:

    pets are the best. so sorry, honey. I remember a friend of mind saying, she felt bad because she didn’t feel all that bad when her sister died, but when here cat died it was awful. but the truth was, she spend a lot more time with her cat than her sister so, I totally got what she was saying.

    anyway, it sucks when a pet dies, and I get it.

  255. 255.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: She could have and it would have worked, but it’s a bit of an insulting thing to use. We were a little sick of all the swing music she had been using, so we used Vicky and Mr Valves, from For the Boys. It’s an instrumental, still swing but no one else was using it except this one girl who had a bad teacher and no one remembered it because of her.

    We used this, jazz solo en pointe: https://youtu.be/xQCK_a6pN20

    The judges were flabbergasted, a bit stodgy and not expecting anything but ballet in the pointe category. She won the division at State.

  258. 258.

    opiejeanne

    @ruemara: My son and his buddies were there today. I wonder who and what they saw, and I hope Rep. Lewis was one of the wonders.

    My son is flying up here tomorrow; I’ll be interested to hear all about it.

  261. 261.

    mclaren

    @redshirt:

    Here’s the leaked plot from Batman V Superman:

    How can you possibly leak anything? You died on the last landing party.

    But seriously, the whole thing is obvious from the second trailer, isn’t it? The villain is a young Lex Luthor. Lex gets them to fight one another, then they get wise and team up against him. He dives down to get a meteorite made of kryptonite, which is probably how he gets away when they finally corner him.

    The only interesting part is the popular worship — that giant statue of Superman with YOU ARE NOT OUR GOD spray-painted on it. That looks kind of interesting.

    But basically, Zack Snyder’s paranoid post-9/11 take on Superman is a huge downer. What next, in the third film Superman helps out the NSA by using his X-ray vision to spy on everyone in America?

  264. 264.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    I am Yoko-phobic, but yet I love this live “Cold Turkey.” Just wish they could perfect the Yokodrop filter and bring up Clapton’s solo.

  265. 265.

    opiejeanne

    @Amir Khalid: I thought that was an awesome song. I can’t remember if I had to explain it to my kids or not. I’m sure they wondered what I was laughing at when I first heard it.

    My favorite memory involving music not from my generation was sitting at a red light in the slow lane, and the car next to me had two young men about 19 in it. The passenger rolls down his window, looks over at me singing along with my radio, and asks, ” Pardon me, but isn’t that Violent Femmes?” and I paused and said, “Why, I do believe it is.” He thanked me and rolled his window back up. After which we all cracked up. Here I am in a red Mustang convertible, a 40 yo woman with gray hair, a woman who looks like everyone’s mom, Mrs PTA, singing this song.

    https://youtu.be/rswiq4Hi-tc

    I have no idea why there are clips of Grosse Point Blank or what Socks the cat is doing in this.

  268. 268.

    Steeplejack

    @opiejeanne:

    I think “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” would have been a great tap-dancing song. When I said I didn’t know, I just meant technically, not as some sort of aesthetic judgment. I’m all for flabbergasting the judges.

  276. 276.

    Little Boots

    I think I broke a rib.

    I’m not saying it’s this place’s fault.

    but I broke a damn rib.

  283. 283.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    Tape yourself as in a corset and don’t cough, laugh or sneeze for a while. That’s about all you can do. Former broken-rib patient here.

  290. 290.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: They were so stodgy at that one competition, California State, a huge event back then More than 7000 kids did their stuff in everything from musical solos, both vocal and instrumental to all forms of dance, and all of it divided into age categories so you didn’t have a 12 yo against a 16 yo.

    She did a jazz solo when she was 14 or 15, Take Another Little Piece of my Heart. Blew everyone away, some of the other kids were crying before they went on, and their parents were cornering her to find out who her teacher was. She finished dead last, and the field was fairly weak that one time. They couldn’t stand the idea of Janis Joplin, apparently. It was State.

    I absolutely adore both versions of this song, but she used this one, with a chair: https://youtu.be/JPZUzOM04s0

  294. 294.

    Anne Laurie

    @divF:

    Same goes for chocolate-covered potato chips, pretzels, etc.

    Dark chocolate and good potato chips are two of my most favorite foods, just not together. On the other hand, there’s a confectionery up on the North Shore that makes chocolate-covered pilot crackers, and they’re delicious. Just enough salt to spark the taste buds properly, and the cracker adds crunch without competing with the flavor of the chocolate (which nuts & similar add-ins tend to do).

    I’ve only ever seen chocolate-covered crackers in the Catskills part of upstate New York. It may be a local specialty.

  296. 296.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: I love Smashmouth’s Walking on the Sun.

    I should watch Grosse Point Blank again. Haven’t seen it since it came out, and loved it.

  303. 303.

    Anne Laurie

    @ruemara: That is extremely cool — I haven’t previously felt jealous that I wasn’t at ComicCon, but you’re getting me close!

  305. 305.

    Steeplejack

    @opiejeanne:

    It’s tough to be a trailblazer.

    That Bernadette Peters song has as good tapdancing beat (as far as I can tell).

  314. 314.

    Steeplejack

    @Anne Laurie:

    There used to be a company out of Memphis that made Milk-O-Grahams—chocolate-covered Graham crackers. Inexplicably good, and they went great with iced tea. Disappeared years ago. When I was in Cape May last month I found some dark-chocolate covered Graham crackers in a little sweet shop. Awesome.

  321. 321.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: She didn’t tap to that one. It was jazz, and it was sassy. She was 15, it was a chair dance, and oh, what you can do with a chair.

    The last tap dance she did was to Sweet Georgia Brown, but it was a version that started out very slow and then suddenly shifted to double the speed she started at.

    This is a photo of her performing at one of the shows on the USS Hornet in Alameda. The photo is from an article in the Oakland Tribune.

    https://flic.kr/p/GqsyN

  326. 326.

    Steeplejack

    @Little Boots:

    I tend to like their earlier stuff, when it was a little bit more rough around the edges.

    I keep listening to that Sandra King song tonight. If only she had had Berry Gordy promoting and abusing her.

  332. 332.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: She retired at age 30. She was still dancing professionally until then.

    For some reason, the judges at state loved that dance even though it was a bit naughty, like the the jazz pointe number to Knock Me a Kiss, and not the Janis Joplin number. We always tried to use music no one else was using, partly because sitting through an entire category with six entries of Cold Hearted Snake was enough to turn our brains to jelly, and partly because we wanted the judges to look up, to catch their attention. The judges get bored. They’ve heard Sing, Sing, Sing a billion times, every recording of it, including the odd echoes of it in the background of a piece that I can’t think of the name of because it’s so late. The thing sounds like a lot of loud noise, rhythmic, but nothing like a tune until you start picking up that other sound in the background. Dammit, can’t think of the name. Something negative like Rejected or Dejected, which is shouted at intervals throughout. Gah!

    anyway, good night.

  333. 333.

    NotMax

    @ruemara

    Scores of tasty eateries in the gaslight district. Some of the best memories of Comic Cons was getting out of the convention center (attended some in both the current (new) one and the old one) and doing some walking. My understanding is that the waterfront area is no longer made up of either dive bars or seedy tattoo parlors.

    Read somewhere that good guy Scott Shaw! is laid up with a busted ankle, so his son Kirby is manning his table. Last time I saw Kirby he was maybe 7 years old, and seriously into cranking out drawing of monkeys. :) *sigh* Tempus sure does fugit. Had the pleasure of taking the Shaw!’s out to dinner several times when they visited Maui. (Yes, the exclamation point is legally a part of the surname.)

  334. 334.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, I’m appalled to see that it’s getting on for four o’clock. I have to get up early and watch Wimbledon and the Tour de France. Guess I’m out, and I think I’m going out with the Doobs, “South City Midnight Lady.” Harking back to the early ’70s thing we had going way back around #200 or so.

    Peace to all. Steep out.

Comments are closed.