Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Let there be snark.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“woke” is the new caravan.

In after Baud. Damn.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Crying and Lying

Crying and Lying

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I know we love to hate Slate, but I’ll be forever grateful for that time they blew the lid off the onion caramelization timeframe story:

Soft, dark brown onions in five minutes. That is a lie. Fully caramelized onions in five minutes more. Also a lie.

There is no other word for it. Onions do not caramelize in five or 10 minutes. They never have, they never will—yet recipe writers have never stopped pretending that they will.

image

Goddamn right. The onions pictured above were cooked low and slow for at least 35 minutes, as the laws of physics apparently demand.

What other bald-faced lies are we daily asked to pretend are true?

Reader Interactions

202Comments

  3. 3.

    The Other Chuck

    Well shit, that’s why I can never get my onions to caramelize. Low and slow is the way to go. Covered or no?

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    You will be rewarded for doing the right thing.

    Work hard and you’ll get ahead.

    Edit: Slow down. You are posting too fast. (wisdom from BJ error message.)

  9. 9.

    raven

    We’re about to head over to White Tiger for a very special V-Day Dinner. The princess is suppling the flower arrangements and some kind of vines she likes to use for decorations. I’ll take pics so it should be fun.

  16. 16.

    Matt

    Already posted this idea on a dead thread: The Democrat nominee should promise to nominate Obama for Supreme Court, should the seat still be vacant.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    @rumpole: I’ve distrusted pressure cookers since my old granny’s hand-me-down pot blew up in my kitchen in 1992 and distributed one field pea per square inch on every surface and embedded shrapnel in the drywall. But I’ve heard they’ve come a long way since then, though. Some day I’ll find the courage to give it another shot.

  24. 24.

    mikefromArlington

    This is the trick to getting sweetness to your pasta sauce without adding sugar as many do. Lightly caramelize, add garlic and salt, 5 min later pour in the puréed tomatoes. You can thank me later. :)

  27. 27.

    MattF

    @Betty Cracker: Reminds me of the time (in the grad school dorm I was living in at the time) someone tried a recipe that involved heating condensed milk. He put the can in a pot and turned up the heat. That brown spot on the dorm kitchen ceiling is probably still there. This happened, btw, at a university that is generally described as ‘elite’.

  28. 28.

    p.a.

    @Betty Cracker: I have a recent model but old-style wobble-weight without a trigger pressure release valve. That high pitched squeal when I rapid-release under cold water scares the shit out of me.

    I looked up a recipe online last week. One instruction was “set your cooker at 13psi”. I just laughed.

  31. 31.

    Roger Moore

    What other bald-faced lies are we daily asked to pretend are true?

    Market solutions are always better than government programs. Both sides do it. The Republicans have serious policy proposals. Evangelical Christians follow the word of Christ.

  35. 35.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’m surprised those onions didn’t slide out all over the stove and the floor with you holding the pan sideways like that.

  38. 38.

    Germy

    What other bald-faced lies are we daily asked to pretend are true?

    That cats are “standoffish” (Last week when the weather was mild I was standing in my driveway, and a neighborhood cat I always see walking around came up, flopped over, showed me her belly and let me pet her. And she didn’t know me from Adam)

    That Scalia possessed a “brilliant mind” (Scalia: “The body of scientific evidence supporting creation science is as strong as that supporting evolution. In fact, it may be stronger…. The evidence for evolution is far less compelling than we have been led to believe. Evolution is not a scientific “fact,” since it cannot actually be observed in a laboratory. Rather, evolution is merely a scientific theory or “guess.”… It is a very bad guess at that. The scientific problems with evolution are so serious that it could accurately be termed a “myth.”)

    That 58 is middle-aged ( I don’t expect to live to 116 )

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    With word of the failure of the Cardassians to secure Minos Korva, Madred attempts one last ploy to break Picard, by falsely claiming that Cardassia has taken the planet and the Enterprise was destroyed in the battle. He offers Picard a choice: to remain in captivity for the rest of his life or live in comfort on Cardassia by admitting he sees five lights. As Picard momentarily considers the offer, a Cardassian officer interrupts the process and informs Madred that Picard must be returned now. As Picard is freed from his bonds and about to be taken away, he turns to Madred and defiantly shouts, “There are four lights!” Picard is returned to the Federation and reinstated as Captain of the Enterprise. Picard admits privately to Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) that he was willing to say anything to make the torture stop and he ultimately did see five lights. Madred’s test using four lights is an homage to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which O’Brien tortures Winston Smith until Smith admits that he sees five fingers when O’Brien only holds up four.[1]

  42. 42.

    gene108

    @Matt:

    Already posted this idea on a dead thread: The Democrat nominee should promise to nominate Obama for Supreme Court, should the seat still be vacant.

    Michelle or Barack?

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @cleek: You haven’t abandoned us after all. Good to see you!

    Pro tip: Definitely don’t buy the pressure cooker on the same trip to the store as a bunch of small metal objects.

  46. 46.

    JPL

    This quote from Scalia proved to me that science wasn’t his forte. No wonder he put a hold on EPA changes.
    “And being a devout Catholic means you have children when God gives them to you, and you raise them.”

  50. 50.

    Bill Arnold

    @WaterGirl:
    There is at least one current infomercial selling a pressure cooker. (I didn’t realize that it is, at least in part, a government-run domestic anti terrorism intelligence operation. :-) )

  51. 51.

    p.a.

    I have a coverless 1950’s era pressure cooker pot; not exaggerating when I say it’s 1/2 inch thick aluminum. It’s the 2nd generation family polenta pot.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    @Mike E: My niece is the stain nazi. She can get a stain out of anything. Sadly, though, your beloved soft t-shirt will never be the same. The stain is gone, but it takes about 25 washings before it’s soft again, and it may never be the same size it was when you brought it to her. :: sniff ::

  57. 57.

    scav

    Mmmm. Haven’t multiple R-candidates (not just the tRumpeter) referred to audience members booing at them as “donors”? Are voters no longer a part of the R-woldspace, leaving only customers / donors, that is to say people buying representation? It’s also suggests that the tRump, by having no donors, that is to say other individuals he is to represent, is only accountable to, need only represent his personal interests. Which, may in fact, be the distilled essence of a free-market no socialism consideration for others contaminated democracy.

  58. 58.

    geg6

    Haven’t read the thread yet, so I’m sure it’s been said, but the entire Village tells us that the GOP is a serious and thoughtful political party when we can all see how advanced their prion disease is (h/t to Charlie Pierce).

  59. 59.

    Germy

    If I should write a book for you
    That brought me fame and fortune too
    That book would be like my heart and me
    Dedicated to you

    And if I should paint a picture too
    That showed the loveliness of you
    My art would be like my heart and me
    Dedicated to you

    To you because your love is
    The beacon that lights up my way
    To you because with you I know
    One lifetime could be just one heavenly day

    If I should find a twinkling star
    One half so wondrous as you are
    That star would be like my heart and me
    Dedicated to you

    To you because your love is
    A beacon that lights up my way
    To you because with you I know
    One lifetime could be just one heavenly place

    If I should find a twinkling star
    One half so wondrous as you are
    That star would be like my heart and me
    Dedicated to you

  65. 65.

    Magatha

    @WaterGirl: Totally true for me, too, but it sure is pretty to read, ain’t it?

    Also: s’mores are delicious and bring back wonderful memories.

  67. 67.

    p.a.

    @Germy: This is really quite a place; from dancing on a man’s grave one day to love poems the next. Admit I’m more comfortable with the former, but here goes:

    (the sublime:
    Without you Heaven would be too dull to bear,
    and Hell will not be Hell for me
    as long as you are there.
    (don’t remember the source)

    (the ridiculous:
    There’s nothing I wouldn’t do
    for you to be my POOSSL-Q

  68. 68.

    redshirt

    All recipe times are lies, aren’t they? “Easy 20 minute meal!” never counts the 30 minutes of prep time and never ever ever the 20 minutes clean up.

  73. 73.

    bystander

    This month’s Saveur features Mchael Solomonov’s recipe for Six-Hour Caramelized Onions. Six pounds of onions cook down to 2 1/2 cups over 6 hours on the stove. Good luck. And no, no sugar added. Just salt and olive oil.

  80. 80.

    Germy

    Just salt and olive oil.

    I’ve had several people tell me olive oil turns toxic if I cook with it. For years, I used it as a butter substitute, but now I keep hearing I shouldn’t cook with it. I’m told I can sprinkle unheated olive oil over my food, but not fry with it.

    Am I being misinformed?

  83. 83.

    The Other Chuck

    @Germy: Any oil will have nasty breakdown products if you scorch it. They taste worse than they are, it’s not Krokodil or anything. Don’t burn the oil and you’re fine. The nice thing about olive oil is if you keep it out of the light, it takes years to go rancid if ever.

  84. 84.

    p.a.

    @Germy: Well, if it did turn toxic I assume you wouldn’t be here to worry. I believe heat destroys its beneficial health properties.

    What is unhealthful is overheating teflon.

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    @Germy:

    Am I being misinformed?

    Yes. Extra virgin olive oil has problems with a low smoke point, but it isn’t dangerous to cook with. Purified olive oil won’t even have those problems.

  86. 86.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    What other bald-faced lies are we daily asked to pretend are true?

    “They all do that”
    “It’s probably a loose wire”
    “The fuse must be too small”
    “In this generation 911, Porsche did away with snap-oversteer”

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @Germy: Someone here went into the whole science of olive oil a few weeks/months back. I think you’re good, and I cook with olive oil all the time. But I’ll see if I can find the thread.

  89. 89.

    debbie

    @PurpleGirl:

    No matter if I’m chopping onions, leeks, shallots, or scallions, my eyes burn and tear, my nose gets sniffly. I usually just omit them from recipes.

  90. 90.

    Germy

    @WaterGirl: I love olive oil, but I found it weird so many people were telling me not to cook with it. I certainly see it being done on all the cooking shows on “CREATE-TV”

  91. 91.

    MattF

    @Germy: The google says yeah, you’re being misinformed. FWIW, I used to use olive oil for cooking, but have since switched to peanut oil– it gets hotter without smoking.

    ETA: And I won’t use canola oil because I have no idea what a ‘canola’ looks like.

  93. 93.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Germy: Yes, you’re being misinformed.

    Olive oil does break down some at higher temperatures, which is why you don’t use it for stir fry. Keep the burner at medium-to-low if you’re worried. My understanding is that the biggest worry is possibly changing the flavor.

    As a monosaturated fat, it’s really quite stable. The unsaturated fats, OTOH….

    Lots of links to poke around in at Serious Eats.

  94. 94.

    p.a.

    Also too, no matter what you pay you can never be sure of the olive oil. Consumer Rpts and other organizations have tested EVOOs and found some pure, some adulterated. Retesting 6 months later and the lists will be reversed.

    Best chances with Cali Olive Ranch & Trader Joe’s 100%. (not affiliated with etc etc)

  97. 97.

    Germy

    This is a point of serious contention between myself and my wife. I prefer to cook at low flame, with pot covered, for a long time.

    My wife is of the school of high flame, quick cook, pot uncovered.

    But my method is neat and no fuss. No spatter. When she cooks, the kitchen fills with smoke and cleaning the pots becomes a chore.

    Neither of us will budge on this issue. I’ve taken to insisting she use the range fan, something she dislikes because of the noise. I tell her I’d rather hear fan noise than the smoke alarms. Also, my eyes burn when she gets into her high flame zone.

    There has actually been a raising of voices in the past over this subject.

    I’m in the right, aren’t I?

  98. 98.

    Suzanne

    Eight hours of sleep is enough.

    Lies, lies, lies.
    If I could sleep twelve hours a day, I probably would.

  100. 100.

    Roger Moore

    @MattF:

    And I won’t use canola oil because I have no idea what a ‘canola’ looks like.

    Canola is a trade name for a low erucic acid rapeseed oil originally grown in Canada. So it comes from the seeds of plants in the same genus as cabbage.

  101. 101.

    pacem appellant

    Woot! I just got banned for a week from the GoS for wishing Scalia dead in a diary. It should be noted that one cannot wish death upon the dead. The diary in question has since been unpublished, and after re-reading it, I did wish that some SCJes would meet an early grave, but macabre doesn’t seem to be against the rules (and the note I received specifically said for wishing Scalia dead, oh if wishes were horses…). I’m taking this as a badge of honor. I do not think I can ever be convinced that dancing on the graves of our enemies is somehow unseemly.

  102. 102.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @MattF: It’s a marketing name. For some reason, people thought Americans wouldn’t take to a product called rape oil. (Made from rapeseed.)

    OK, a little more seriously: strictly speaking, canola oil is supposed to be from a specially bred variant of rapeseed.

  103. 103.

    Joel

    It struck me that Tony Scalia, despite his wife and 9 children, died alone. I wonder if he had the chance to realize that fact when his time came.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @Germy:
    And I like sesame oil. Which has, if I remember correctly, a lower smoking point than EVOO. But I’m not trying to fry food at high temp so any oil works for me. But as someone said I’ve never seen a canola and I like my peanuts as butter or in the solid.

  107. 107.

    The Other Chuck

    @Ruckus: Filtered sesame oil has a very very high smoke point. They do stir fry with it. Unfiltered sesame oil is somewhat cloudy, shouldn’t be used for cooking, and is very very yummy.

  110. 110.

    currants

    @Betty Cracker: Oh, you are speaking my language. They TERRIFY me, and everyone keeps saying “they aren’t like that now” but gathering the courage to take that chance–nope. (Well, I’d have to go buy one first, and THEN gather the courage, so I guess I’m a few steps out.)

  112. 112.

    scav

    Greatest side-benefit I know of from rapeseed/canola oil production are the fields of the plant. Those brighten the rainiest of days.

  113. 113.

    Anne Laurie

    @Joel:

    It struck me that Tony Scalia, despite his wife and 9 children, died alone. I wonder if he had the chance to realize that fact when his time came.

    It’s being reported that he wanted to be cremated — not the usual choice for an Opus Dei member, since the Catholic Church only gave permission to do so after Vatican II. There’s an obvious joke about doing to his carcase what would be done to his venal soul*, but I suspect he just wanted to cheat people of the chance to piss on his grave.

    *(Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, paraphrased: “I told the preacher, when my time came, I wanted to be cremated. He said chances were in my favor.”)

  116. 116.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:
    This.
    I’ve never understood why retired people still get up so early. I’m semi-retired and I sleep almost twice as long on my non work days as I do on those fewer (now) work days. It is a luxury that I can afford, one of the few and damn it all I’m going to. I have chores, of course I do but they are still there a 3 in the afternoon just like they were at 7 in the morning.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @The Other Chuck:
    I’ve been misinformed. Which hasn’t changed anything for me, I still cook at lower temps and yes it is tasty, much better than olive oil, in my opinion.

  120. 120.

    Germy

    @p.a.: “The operators are busy assisting other customers…” No they’re not, they’re in the break room; a meeting of the finer things club.

  121. 121.

    p.a.

    @Ruckus: First 6 months of retirement no alarm, rollovers whenever I wanted. Meh. Guess I need structure, and I feel more energetic throughout the day getting up at 6am- 7 on weekends.

  125. 125.

    MattF

    @Ruckus: I’ve been getting out of bed early all my life. Never use an alarm clock, except on the (rare) occasions I have to catch a flight. I don’t expect that to change when I retire.

  127. 127.

    gogol's wife

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Speaking of which —

    Does anyone know why a standby generator would go on for no reason, when there’s no power outage? We’ve had techs at the house three times, the electric company twice, and no one seems to be able to figure it out. We replaced the “board,” which was the doomsday solution, but when we got back from church today it was running — no outage.

  128. 128.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I set an alarm for 6:00 and usually shut it off while brushing my teeth. Haven’t always been this way though. Used to be a night owl but got used to early hours. Now I can’t stay in bed on days off. I get groggy and stay that way all day if I don’t get moving.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    @p.a.:
    Not me but then I’ve always been a night person who had to get up at the crack of dark to go to work. I’ve had two times I worked and didn’t have to get up early with an alarm. Worked 1:30pm to 10:30pm for a couple of years, with one other person. It was good, no alarm, bars were still open and settled in at the end of the day…… Other time was I owned a retail store that opened at 11am. That also was grand. 6 yrs of never having an alarm.
    I think I see a pattern here.

  130. 130.

    p.a.

    @Germy: Try this, no shit:
    1) don’t hit any buttons. after 2 or 3 prompts you’ll be redirected to a human; the machine will think you’re an old with a pulse phone.

    or you’ll get dumped

    2) push 2 for Spanish. much less wait time, and of course they habla murican. just play dumb “oh I’m sorry I must have mis-hit” “that’s ok I can help you.”

  131. 131.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @gogol’s wife:
    Well, it’s got a sensor system that’s supposed to be triggered by lack of network line voltage. Apparently the tech thought the controller was bad but that wasn’t it. The line voltage to the generator controller must be dropping out somehow.
    Intermittent problems are the trickiest to diagnose because they’re hard to duplicate.
    But it might be a ‘loose wire’ (this time).

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    @Germy: Sorry, Germy. Some foods need to be cooked at low heat, with pot covered, for a long time. Some foods need to be cooked with high heat, quickly, pot uncovered.

    On the positive side, you are both right at least some of the time!

  134. 134.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @debbie:
    2 things help a lot. A really sharp knife does less damage to cells so less juice is spilled. Then learn to do it fast. As a kid i often had to chop large batches and knowing the way to get it done fast is important. I had to do 20 pounds for one dinner you power through.

    Biggest lie? It’ll be OK.

  135. 135.

    grandpa john

    @Iowa Old Lady: Evidently some do. Went to visit my granddaughter and 3 month great granddaughter yesterday and she said that Erika was sleeping all night long .

  142. 142.

    ThresherK

    @p.a.: I resemble that remark!

    (Also a very small dash of baking soda speeds up the process, perhaps 1/8 teaspoon per pound of onions.)

    @mikefromArlington: Also, roasting the sauce works wonders for sweetness and depth.

    (All the above cheats I got from Lifehacker.)

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @gogol’s wife:
    The “kickover” voltage may be too high and your service may have dips. What that means is that while everything in your house may not care if the power sags a tiny bit, your generator might. Say it is set for normal voltage of 120 and your normal is 110. If your incoming voltage drops, even for a moment too low, the generator will start and probably run until you shut it off or the line voltage gets to 120 so it can shut itself off, which if your normal line voltage is 110 it never does.

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    @MattF: Hmm. Maybe that’s the answer to why I sometimes LOVE scrambled eggs and sometimes I take one bite and they are off-putting. I will have to do an experiment.

    P.S. But I’m almost always good with omelets. They are probably cooked more slowly?

  149. 149.

    redshirt

    @Ruckus: Probably correct.

    But also, I believe dedicated generators are programmed to run regularly just to ensure proper operation, regardless of your main power status.

  150. 150.

    p.a.

    here’s one: the part will be in this week.

    (O Brother Where Art Thou: this place is 2 weeks from everywhere!)

  151. 151.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Ruckus:
    This may be true. A line voltage monitor will tell you if the mains is varying, and how much.
    Putting a variac (variable transformer) on the feed from mains to controller will tell you at what voltage the generator starts.
    110VAC would be very low for line voltage. I used to work for the power company and going down to 116V was an emergency. 110V was an outage.

  153. 153.

    gogol's wife

    @redshirt:

    It has a weekly “exercise” at a particular time. This is happening all the time, middle of the night, middle of the day, etc.

    Anyway, thanks to all for the advice. What I’m hearing is just what I hear from the techs, but no one seems to know how to fix it. So in effect we don’t have a generator, because we can’t leave it on.

  161. 161.

    gogol's wife

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    It’s varying from 237 to 250, when according to the tech it should be 240 steady. The power company guys say the voltage fluctuation is normal according to their standards.

  164. 164.

    WaterGirl

    @p.a.: I have never measured, but I do use a little milk in scrambled eggs.

    @Josie: Never tried cream, I will try that next time I have cream in the house.

  165. 165.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @p.a.:
    I was the IT team lead on the system that tracked power outages. It was an amazing mainframe system with a million lines of code. It read lists of phone calls to an automated response system, mapped the customer locations from the phone numbers and predicted what failed network component would cause those people to call in in a 10 minute interval.
    Amazingly accurate, and the people who designed it were stone geniuses.

  166. 166.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @gogol’s wife:

    It’s varying from 237 to 250, when according to the tech it should be 240 steady. The power company guys say the voltage fluctuation is normal according to their standards.

    That’s -1% to +4%. That’s a really wide window for line voltage unless you’re at the end of the line with an aluminum smelter between you and the network. Pretty sloppy, but should be within the tolerance of your generator.

  167. 167.

    WaterGirl

    @gogol’s wife: Admittedly, I am not handy, but the generator must be plugged into power somewhere in order to know when the power goes out. Yes?

    Power Conditioners aka line conditioners can improve the quality of the power – they can have Automatic Voltage Regulation – which could solve your problem IF it’s the power that is not as steady as the power company says it is. Frankly, “it meets our standards” is not reassuring me at all!

  168. 168.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @WaterGirl:
    Never had a ceramic, i assume you like it. I have some old high wnd stuff the takes an edge really well but needs care.

  169. 169.

    Ruckus

    @gogol’s wife:
    The supplier is probably correct, the supplied voltage is within normal range. The generator tech is checking the machine, which is OK but the problem may be there is a slight difference between the what is supplied normal and what is the expected normal. That difference may be slight but enough to trigger the generator.
    Side note. In the navy we had backup generators for the navigation equipment as well as generators to change ships power to that which our equipment and that of the missile operators needed. All of which had to have regular checks to see the on (and off) trip points and the output voltages were correct.

  170. 170.

    p.a.

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Sounds cool. What area of the country? i.e. what main weather issues for the plant? Snow/ice? Salt air/hurricanes? Heat/sand/wind? Tornadoes? Earthquakes? Squirrels? (one grilled himself in the transformer on my pole last summer ;-)

  171. 171.

    Josie

    @WaterGirl: I used to use milk, but switched to cream after I started buying it to use in my coffee instead of powdered creamer. I really like it, and you use very little, so it’s not that sinful.

  172. 172.

    debbie

    @gogol’s wife:

    I think you need to try the power company again.

    About five years ago, my computer starting waking up all by itself whenever my neighbor’s a/c kicked on. After much back and forth (and monitoring), the power company decided that the neighborhood circuit (or whatever it’s called) couldn’t handle the increased capacity (a number of new plasma tvs and other electronics). They installed a larger one and I haven’t had a problem since.

  173. 173.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @WaterGirl:
    To me the trick is to not use high heat. Heat kills the eggs. You don’t want a lot of egg in the pan or they take too long to cook & that toughens them up also. Google julia childs her video shows how to make them perfectly.

  174. 174.

    MattF

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): Ceramic knives are a good thing. Use only for slicing stuff, and the brand to get is Kyocera. You can get a Kyocera ceramic knife sharpener from Amazon, or you can send a knife back to Kyocera and they will resharpen it to factory-fresh condition.

  175. 175.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @WaterGirl:

    I always use milk or cream if we have it. Our daughter is a professional chef and claims you should always use water as it makes lighter eggs. The French would die!

  176. 176.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @p.a.:
    Dertroit. I worked there 20 years ago. Ice storms, high winds, tornado. That kind of thing. I’ve lived in the same house for 15 years on this network and had one 4 day outage. Other than that 100% up-time. Difficult to accomplish in an area with severe winter weather.
    The utility had a meteorologist on staff. I visited him once and he had a Farmer’s Almanac attached to a filing cabinet handle with a dirty string.

  178. 178.

    Ruckus

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:
    Those numbers are true in some/most places. But I’ve seen 208 as normal in one of my shops, while 220 was normal in the other, both within 40 miles of each other. The 208 shop was where I had to boost voltage to get one machine to run.
    @Ultraviolet Thunder:
    The gist of my comments. That’s pretty sloppy numbers but the generator should handle it. And maybe it was, for 4 yrs. Or maybe it didn’t have to. I wonder who was added as a customer in her service area?

  179. 179.

    WaterGirl

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): *LOVE my ceramic knives. I got one as a gift and finally felt guilty because the person who gave it to me kept asking if I had tried it yet. So I tried it. I don’t believe I have used a regular knife for fruits or veggies since the first time i tried the ceramic knife.

    Kyocera ceramic knives. I have given so many as gifts since then, and often people say it’s the best gift they got that year.

    *Since this is valentine’s day, I got a special dispensation from the pope so I could use ALL CAPS.

  181. 181.

    gogol's wife

    Thanks for all the advice. The first power company guy who came said maybe the neighborhood needs a new transformer, but the second crew that came said nah.

    I’ve collected all the suggestions in a document that I will show the next round of experts.

  182. 182.

    Joel

    @Germy: you should always vent the stove; it’s the biggest source of carbon monoxide in the house. Way more than a water heater or furnace (both of which are vented). Also, if you have a recirculating vent it does nothing.

  183. 183.

    NotMax

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    You daughter is spot on, but only the scantiest amount of water (roughly, ½ tsp. max per 2 eggs, IMHO). Milk/cream essentially makes a loose pudding and cooks to a denser, chewier texture.

    Also too, whisking the raw eggs long enough to incorporate some air in the mixture.

  184. 184.

    p.a.

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I worked for New England Tel. NYNEX Bell Atlantic Verizon. We had to stop marking our aerial rural fiber with yellow warning markers (at throughbolts etc) because they kept getting shot. Changed to orange and that issue dropped 80%. crazy.

  188. 188.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @MattF:
    I keep hearing that they are a nice to have, maybe I’ll just have to break down & buy one. Thanks.

  189. 189.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @NotMax:
    Agree about the whisking but not so much on the water. But whatever works is Good By Me.

    Story from the bad old days – the real actual Cordon Bleu (the one in France not the franchise joints here in the US.) had a simple entrance exam. You had to boil a potato and cook an omelet, just the egg part nothing else. The master would test both with a fork, never tasted a one. If he dumped it into the trash you went home. I am not sure they really made better chefs but you learned that there was only one way to cook a dish correctly. Creativity was for others.

  191. 191.

    p.a.

    I used to hate the fact I have an electric range (my basement Italo/Portuguese 2nd kitchen has a gas range that needs a rebuild) as my main stove until I watched an old B&W Julia Child anD saw she was cooking electric. If she could do her wonderful thing on electric I decided to STFU and produce my barely digestible stuff on mine without whining.

  192. 192.

    Matt

    @Germy:
    McGee goes into this olive oil stuff. Basically, good oil becomes generic oil very quickly when heated. Here is my recipe for granola.

    To 900 grams oatmeal, add 70 grams honey, first mixed with 30 grams of water so it coats the oats better. Bake in shallow pans (1in deep or so) in a 330F oven for 25 minutes, stirring after 15.

    Let cool and then add whatever spices you like. Only then, add 50g (1/4c) olive oil. If you add the olive oil during the bake, the oil will become rancid.

    Same goes for pasta. Add the oil only after your tomatoes are boiled thick enough, after letting them cool a bit.

  194. 194.

    Betty Cracker

    @p.a.: Amen! I had a similar epiphany, also with a JC episode. In my perfect world, I’d have a Viking gas range, but by God, if Julia could perform miracles on her crappy Whirlpool electric, so can I!

  198. 198.

    WaterGirl

    @Bill Arnold: Yep. I only know about them from an IT perspective, but I don’t know why that wouldn’t work for the issue we’re discussing here. But, as I said, I am not handy, so someone like Ruckus would be the final authority.

  199. 199.

    redshirt

    @SFAW: I think it’s the most awarded episode of sci-fi ever, but maybe I’m wrong. I thought everyone knew it and loved it.

    When Picard breaks out the flute all by himself at the end and plays a few notes of that old song… tears. Who can resist?

  201. 201.

    Ruckus

    @Bill Arnold:
    Had a nice post written about this and just as I was about to hit post comment the power went out.
    Not writing it again.
    So, shorter, that one won’t work, wrong voltage and it really shouldn’t be necessary for a standby generator, which really should only care if the voltage drops too low. Especially one that has been working properly for 4 yrs. That’s why I suggested the too low voltage in the first place.

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