I am still taking a break from recipes for a bit longer, but had some fun in the kitchen yesterday and wanted to share. The eggs above were not boiled, but instead baked. The steps (and video) for these perfectly cooked eggs are here. Also at that link are recipe, photos and video for Pancake Dippers that I am planning on trying the next time I pick up bacon. And then I’ll share them in a proper recipe thread.
I retreated to the kitchen yesterday because things were very…weird…this last week. I dropped my phone one too many times and the screen went black on a long drive home from visiting family. I knew being without a phone would make work difficult, so when I stopped for lunch I ordered a new, cheap phone to be overnighted. Once home, before heading out to see my clients the next day, I dropped my broken phone off at Batteries+ Bulbs. They fixed my phone in a couple of hours. My overnight phone was inexplicably delayed, but I thought I was in the clear. Though many dollars expended.
Twas not to be. My fixed phone died a couple of hours later. Died as in became a brick. Still no FEDEX. And the rain is pouring…and then it turned to snow…and it snowed…and it snowed…and it snowed. Feet of it. Now it’s Thursday, four days without a phone (and no landline because the wiring is so old that the phone had a constant hum and static, so we got rid of it years ago). Meanwhile, friends and family are without electricity from downed power lines – we’re all in the stone ages. But roads are clear, so I take my phone back, but not before FEDEX finally arrives. Yay a phone. Good thing, because today they broke the news that my phone was dead, deceased, never to be revived. Leaving me with just a battery and SD card to take home in a little bag. Its personal effects, so to speak. And a cheap replacement phone I knew I couldn’t live with for long.
THAT is why I ended up in the kitchen, because my brain/nerves/patience were as fried as my phone. And cooking brings me back to center. Well that and walking the dog.
The best part of this story – the guys at Batteries+ were awesome. I mean above and beyond. Not only did they refund my money for the original repair but my tech said he saw my phone on sale at WalMart and thought of me (my Galaxy was out of stock online and Radio Shack went tits up – that’s where I got my original phone). How sweet was that? And the Virgin Mobile techs were so nice. And the kid at WalMart was just amazing. Because of course if you buy your phone from a different retailer you have to get a different plan because, I have no fucking idea why. So the kid, the techs and I had to spend an hour transferring my phone number.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes this whole thing sucked and cost me a pretty penny, and I was a frayed nerve, but the people around me made it all so much easier. Just when I was convinced people suck (present company excluded). It was nice to be surprised. And now I have a spare phone tucked away in case this ever happens again. Take that, gods of chaos.
Had a good visit with family (i.e. no political fights), too. Bixby had a great time, you can click here for a cute picture of him with his newest crush, my niece’s 6 lb, five month old puppy, Gracie. She ruled him all weekend.
I needed to tell this story because I could not believe that despite my best efforts, I COULD NOT MANGE TO ACQUIRE A PHONE. I was starting to feel like John and the car in the field. (If you’ve forgotten, HERE and HERE)
Consider this an open thread to talk about whatever frustrated or surprised you this week.
Baud
On TV, they make it seem so easy to get a burner phone.
WereBear
It is easy to get a burner phone. Transferring numbers & data is a different story.
TaMara (BHF)
@Baud: RIGHT?! I mean, seriously, this was like trying to acquire nuclear codes.
bystander
The thread about Templeton made me realize that from now on, when Ted Cruz speaks, I’m going to listen as if Paul Lynde were speaking. I can’t think of any other way to listen to the creep.
Yutsano
Ugh. All I’ve had to deal with this week is annoying taxpayers. I hope things get better.
Betty Cracker
Nice turn of phrase!
Baud
My mood has been fluctuating wildly the last few weeks. I wonder if it’s the change in seasons.
schrodinger's cat
Did anyone see known bigot, Charles Murray being interviewed for Snooze Hour’s Making Sense by doofus Paul Solman? as an economic expert to explain the rise of TrumpismI can has real liberal media?
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: Is it that time of the month?
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat: Maybe it’s the Change?
Ken
@Baud: As a candidate, your mood fluctuates with the polls. It’s perfectly natural – although if your mood improves when your numbers go down, you may have some subconscious doubts. This will put you at a disadvantage versus those candidates who have no doubts, or who do not separate their conscious and subconscious minds.
PurpleGirl
Awwww, that’s a sweet picture of Bixby, Gracie and your niece.
I’ll look at the stuff about baking eggs later, now I need to go do some food shopping.
Baud
@Ken: Seriously, I sometimes do think I got to emotionally involved in my campaign.
Intellectually, I always knew it was a long shot, but still…
Poopyman
The good news: the lesion they found on my kidney turned out to be a benign cyst. Been a trying couple of weeks, mostly because imaging doctors don’t think they need to follow the directions of attending MDs.
The bad news: my spring allergies seem to have turned into a cold, or maybe it’s a cold on top of allergies. Anyway, it’s been settling in my chest, and I haven’t got any energy to get shit done. And my diaphragm hurts from the coughing.
(/whine)
Ken
@Baud: I assume you’re going to Cleveland anyway, in the hope of being drafted as the “Please God, anyone else” compromise?
Big Ol Hound
Being an old retired fart, I have no phone issues with a landline plus a burner ($100 per year) in the car for emergencies. I enjoy the lack of intrusion plus I get seated at restaurants very quickly because they can’t call me so I become a pain in the ass.
Baud
@Ken: I have no intention of saving the GOP. They deserve their fate.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Sorry to hear that. Maybe the upcoming holiday without your mom? :-(
Never forget that we love the baud here at BJ.
WaterGirl
@Poopyman: that is such awesome news, Poipyman!
Edit: not the allergy part, obviously!
Another Holocene Human
@schrodinger’s cat: No I didn’t, but that’s sick.
Guess I’m vindicated in leaving the radio on classical when that shitshow comes on.
Another Holocene Human
@Baud: The problem with cognitive behavior therapy techniques is that sometimes the shit that gets us down is true. As Baud2016! is clearly superior to all the other candidates (no contest, really, although I’m sure you’d kill for Hillary’s rolodex, just like she killed Vince Foster) it is with fear, loathing, and dismay that we must view America2016!’s electorate.
jeffreyw
My last two attempts to comment failed. Firefox.
Switching to Chrome for this try.
I kept my last phone as a spare for a while but sold it last week to a needy friend.
jeffreyw
Firefox is turning into a punk-ass nanny with their new security bullshit.
TaMara (BHF)
Reading Adam’s cupcake thread and I’m drooling. If Chopper shows up, send me photo of the birthday cake (and happy birthday to you and little chopper) and I’ll post it.
I have a rib roast in the oven. Monday I’ll start a two week detox to try and head off my allergies. Basically avoid anything that causes inflammation (breads, tomatoes, potatoes, sugar…well most everything good) and go with fresh, fresh, fresh. And local honey.
It’s not a complete solution, but I feel better and the stuffiness is minimal.
Major Major Major Major
This week I was frustrated and surprised by the Baud! campaign’s insistence on not taking contributions from small donors, large donors, and SuperPACs; this all-busking crowdsourcing campaign, while novel, just isn’t going to edge out the advantage enjoyed by big-name candidates in this post-Citizens United landscape.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Apparently I missed some news. Which American cities (plural!) were destroyed?
Baud
@WaterGirl: Thanks. We don’t celebrate Easter so it’s not the holiday.
Sorry to hear about your back. You must have been in pain if kept you from commenting.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Amazon overnight delivery.
I’ve generally been pleased with Prime two-day, though I always cringe when the email says it’s shipped by Smart Post. (FedEx has been known to deliver SP packages to the wrong city and leave the PO to get the package the rest of the way.)
A cat managed to break my S-Pen. I figured I could live with overnighting it to my package pick-up box and pick it up no later than the following morning.
My box is in a UPS store in one of the three major malls in Raleigh.
I got an email at 9pm that a carrier I had never heard of was “unable to get access to your front door to deliver the package. This sometimes occurs when carriers do not have an access code for a gated community or secure building.”
So I contact Amazon. Explain the situation. They put in a redelivery request.
Around noon the next day I get a phone call from the driver. She can’t find the storefront. At least she found the mall.
I assume that the newly-unveiled-here Prime Now service will use the same courier (Dynamex), so that’s a nope on that service. Or on ever ordering next day from them again.
pamelabrown53
This past week for me has been bizarre, frustrating and scary. My brother, who is a paranoid schizophrenic, lives in Ohio. (I live in FL.) Wasn’t able to reach him. Finally learned he went off his meds and ended up on his son’s doorstep in Berlin with no medication and few clothes. He was hospitalized, stabilized and released. My nephew put him in a hotel room and purchased a return ticket to Ohio. Well, my brother didn’t want to return so he packed his stuff and decided to see the countryside by rail. No one knows where he is and except for some anti-anxiety medication, he has refused to take the anti-psychotic (because of the side effects).
So, he’s somewhere in the EU with nothing but some anti- anxiety med; nothing to control his paranoid schizo symptoms. My nephew contacted the American embassy but there’s nothing else to be done other than to wait for him to surface.
If there were any way to find him, I’d have booked a flight. My poor mother is so distraught she can barely function. Sorry to unload but I just needed the outlet.
Baud
@Another Holocene Human: I had thought Democrats were more forward thinking.
Roger Moore
Shouldn’t you get the SIM card, too? If you have the kind of phone that uses a removable SIM card, you can change phones just by moving the SIM from one to the other. And if it’s a smart phone and you use the branded cloud service, all your apps and contacts will get downloaded automagically when you connect the new phone to your account. At least that’s how it worked the last time I changed phones.
TaMara (BHF)
@pamelabrown53: Oh my gosh, how scary. This is definitely the place to talk about it though…lots of emotional support here.
TaMara (BHF)
@Roger Moore: No sim card. And yes, I should back up to the cloud, but I just don’t trust that shit with my personal stuff. I do back up contacts and photos to my backup hard drive, so it wasn’t difficult to restore almost all my data. And my photos and apps were on my SD card.
debbie
@Baud:
Wait, did I miss the announcement you weren’t continuing your campaign?
Calouste
@pamelabrown53: Can’t your nephew contact the police and file a missing person report?
ruemara
@pamelabrown53: I’m so sorry. I hope they find him soon.
I’m frustrated with the short, the next episode, the budget, my paying job & I’ve found my roommate is a full blown, right down to the biowaste problems, hoarder. I’m gonna go make bacon.
Baud
@debbie: I’ll go out into the woods and see if any birds fly up to me. Then I’ll make my decision.
WaterGirl
@pamelabrown53: So sorry to hear that. Yikes, that’s scary.
I have had a friend staying with me for the past 10 days because she was having panic attacks and didn’t want to be alone. They took her off the drug that was more addictive and put her on Valium, which didn’t work for her. So after 7 hellish days, they put her back on the first drug. I guess the long term drug that will help takes 3-4 weeks to kick in. This stuff is complicated! I seriously don’t know what she would have done without someone to take care of her. When to take the pills, getting her to eat, keeping her from changing the dose – at least once a day she would think maybe she should take more, or take less. It was s tough 10 days for me and I wasn’t the one having the problems. I would have been in a total panic if she had left and I had no idea whether she was ok. I hope you know something soon.
Ben Cisco
@Poopyman: Been there, done that. It’s worse than you think. It’s a particularly bad cold bug {I call it Coldmageddon), and I coughed so long and hard I bruised myself. Had to get an inhaler to help heal. Get your primary care doc on this, STAT.
Mike J
@Baud: Guam is May 7. I think that’s your firewall.
WaterGirl
@Baud: yeah, it has not been fun. Horizontal is my best position at this point. Not s great time to be taking a train and having to be upright fit 3 days. Crossing my fingers!!
Trying not to take too much Advil. I even filled a small water bottle with wine to drink on the train if my back gets really mad!
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: I hope you feel better soon.
laura
I’m surfing the webs before the all day house cleaning and Easter prepping and can report a joyful tally:
Dad’s recent melanoma diagnosis confirmed to be limited to surface with no signs of invasivness;
Cousin Tom’s been in Cuba for 3 weeks as the Stones concert videographer -and should report out on all things presidential visit and rock and roll;
Dear friends on vacation in Portland were sending updates from the massively attended Bernie rally;
I’ve got 3 whole vacation days off this coming week and plan on a trip to visit Mom in hospice in Petaluma, then on to Dillon Beach for walking off the sadness in sand and surf, followed by AiWeiWei and Andy Warhol at the Crocker Museum.
I’ll be lighting a candle for Pamelabrown53 for the safe return and family reunification.
Now, about that laundry and cat box…..
MomSense
Bixby’s squad is the cutest.
I’m enjoying a much needed lazy day and thinking about sipping wine and cooking later. Not sure what I’ll make yet but I do have some really good stock and soup always makes life happier.
MomSense
@pamelabrown53:
I’m so sorry. I hope your brother is found safe and is able to accept the help he needs.
Another Holocene Human
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: FUCK Pat Toomey.
debbie
@Baud:
Chin up. Politics is hard, particularly when you have to deal with politicians. Don’t let the bastards get to you.
Another Holocene Human
@ruemara: Oh god, sorry about the roommate issues.
Another Holocene Human
@Calouste: You mean German police don’t send plainsclothes agents to tail suspicious people like in the movies? Wim Wenders lied to me!
PurpleGirl
@pamelabrown53: I hope that things turn out well for your family. Don’t give it thought about unloading your worries on BJ — we’re a community and here to help however we can, especially by listening.
Another Holocene Human
@pamelabrown53: Gosh, I thought you meant a Berlin in the Rust Belt. I had a close friend who pulled one of these (not paranoid schizophrenic but definitely psychotic). We didn’t know where he was but then the police in NYC picked him up. (He lived in Dracut, MA and had gotten as far as Kansas.) He could have been so badly hurt. Heart wrenching and exasperating. His excuse for the whole thing: “I thought I would only have happy dreams.”
jeffreyw
Brought out the herbs that have been overwintering under a grow light in the basement. A bunch of scraggly specimens that look much the worse for the experience. Probably due more to intermittent watering than any other factor. The rosemary looks fine and smells great.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
The campaign is wearing you down. Stay the course!
CaseyL
@pamelabrown53: That’s awful! I hope he turns up safe and sound. I’ve known a few people – mostly with bipolar syndrome – who also refused to take their meds. I can kind of understand bipolar people feeling that way, because they say the manic phase is too good to give up (let me emphasize that’s what they tell me, not that I think it’s a good idea). Can’t understand why someone with schizophrenia would, though.
Today… ah, today I am trying to get motivated enough to clean the hell out of my house. Got too much stuff, most of which I don’t use, will never use, and need to get rid of. I’m not a hoarder by any means, but have lived in this house for nearly 20 years (by far the longest I’ve ever lived in one place), and it’s kind of awe-inspiring how much random stuff one can accumulate in that time.
trollhattan
@bystander:
Don’t know how representative my kid is of the youngs, but there’s a Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer meme floating amongst her cohort. I can only approve.
trollhattan
@pamelabrown53:
Wow, what a profound mess. I hope your family can sort things out and get your bro the help he so badly needs.
pamelabrown53
@Calouste: No. To the police. He’s 61 years old and hasn’t broken any laws.
@Another Holocene Human: It is a horrifying disease. Sooner or later they always go off their meds because the side effects are so enormous. It’s been well over a decade so he was due. Anyway, all we can do is hope when he surfaces that he isn’t subsequently traumatized. Actually, I’d worry more if he was wandering around Mississippi than Germany. He may be trying to make is way to Sweden. Always thought that would be the best country to live.
pamelabrown53
@MomSense: Thank you and others for your much needed support. I’m so grateful.
Linnaeus
@pamelabrown53:
I hope your brother is safe and is found soon. That’s really scary.
Elizabelle
@pamelabrown53: Keep us posted, Pamela. You and your family are in our thoughts. I hope your brother is safer in Europe than he would be here. Hoping a kind soul helps get him home to you all.
@CaseyL: I really like the Marie Kondo book. (Japanese Way of Decluttering; whatever.) I have not followed her method to a T, and definitely place more value on books than she does, but she is inspiring and I think she’s right about the “spark joy” and about thanking your no longer useful belongings and releasing them to someone else (or recycling/trash). Gifts that you might feel guilty about discarding; they served their purpose when the gift was given.
We all pick up way too much detritus along the way.
Here’s the Amazon link to the first book.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I was wondering/hoping that German police/authorities might be more sympathetic to someone with mental health issues than most in the U.S. Fingers crossed for you and your family.
Shell
Making some hot cross buns. I know Good Friday is the traditional day to bake and share. But its still Easter weekend, so no complaining!
Shell
@Ben Cisco: Yikes, do you think it could be Whooping Cough? There ws a mini epidemic of it in some parts of the country earlier this year.
Elizabelle
Link to photos from Dock Dogs competition yesterday. The Jacksonville.com photog had about a footlong lens and got some great shots. (I got a lot of splash photos, but some blurry dogs in midair too.)
Dogs will be competing through tomorrow. No surfing dogs yesterday; alas. Rip tides.
Fernandina Beach. On Amelia Island. Love it there.
pamelabrown53
@CaseyL:
One can accumulate a lot of stuff in 20 years, even if not a packrat. It will feel so cleansing to rid yourself of the decades of detritus. Happy cleaning and organizing!
The Lodger
@jeffreyw: Speaking from personal experience, it’s really really hard to kill rosemary.
pamelabrown53
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Thanks so much. When he was being stabilized in a Berlin hospital, they released him without payment. Told my nephew they’d send the bill to Ohio. That just amazed me.
Aleta
@pamelabrown53: Sorry your family is in that terribly rough situation. I know the feeling. May he turn up safe. In the case of my relative, each very bad time eventually contributed to his better ability to submit to help, in spite of how very frightening that was for him to do. I’ve seen that there are many random kind people out there who can recognize and assist a person to safety.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: @Elizabelle: I started that book last fall. I only made it about a third of the way through before I had to take a quick pass through a log of stuff because a close friend’s patents lost dcerythubg when their house burned to the ground.
I ended up following some of her basic principles but I never did finish the book. Still, I would recommend it. And she was totally right- once you deck utter and have a place for everything, it’s easy to keep the house neat and decluttered. Before and after is like night and day.
D58826
OT but this isn’t going to end well –
trollhattan
@The Lodger:
True, at least in California where it’s an ornamental shrub. Blooms in winter, which is welcome garden color. Toss green sprigs on the BBQ when grilling lamb or turkey.
trollhattan
@D58826:
On the contrary, it might end well,indeed.
Amir Khalid
@D58826:
it would seem that some of those who signed that petition intended to see Republicans get what they wanted, and get it good and hard.
D58826
@trollhattan: shoot out at the ok corral:-)
trollhattan
@D58826:
Shootout at the OKKK corral? :-P
trollhattan
Speaking of gun love.
Hard to believe they’d arrest a Patriot merely finding another beneficial use for his Precious.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: when all you have is a hammer…
Mary G
@pamelabrown53: I am hoping for a fast and positive resolution. The waiting must be agonizing for your family.
Big Ol Hound
@pamelabrown53: They don’t want to keep him any more than our hospitals do. When my eldest child was born they wanted payment for his release so Mom and I said “fine, you keep him but it’s now your nickle”. He was released within the hour and they sent a bill.
TaMara (BHF)
@jeffreyw: Sure…herbs…right. I’m from Colorado, you don’t fool me. ;-)
Technocrat
@pamelabrown53:
Holy shit…Ohio to Germany??
My father is manic depressive and my step-daughter is bipolar, so I have some idea how confusing and frustrating that behavior can be. She just lost her…third?…job in a year, and he’s in his “I want to move home” phase (he lives in Paris).
Last time he went through this my brother flew over to bring him home, only to have my father take all his Euros and disappear for a week. MH issues are a bitch.
pamelabrown53
I just want to thank all the BJ’ers for your heartfelt support. There’s a reason Balloon Juice is #1 on my most visited list. Awesome community.
BruceFromOhio
Then your phone would have to arrive sometime in April. See? Better already.
Nice eggs!
trollhattan
@BruceFromOhio:
In a lovely mustard color.
Uncle Cosmo
@srv: Got a link? I’d like to see what they’re testing for. I’m guessing whatever they think the blahs use (weed, opiates) & only that. They sure as shit don’t wanna test for hillbilly-H & meth as well–they’re a-scairt it might turn out that 99% of the ni-clangs in need are clean while >50% of the destitute rural rednecks are a-usin’. Destroy the narrative & all that.
Ben Cisco
@Shell: My experience wouldn’t point to that, no.
Kathleen
@pamelabrown53: I so sorry you and your family are going through this. {{{{PamelaBrown]]]]]
Kathleen
@Baud: If you have bird poop on your windshield there may be a hidden message. Or the face of a Trumpian diety.
NotMax
This week?
Stopped counting after the eighth time of the phone ringing (landline, at varying hours). Pick up, silence on the other end, then a recording announcing “We’re sorry for this inconvenience” and the *click* sound of hanging up.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@pamelabrown53: Please vent all you want. This sounds like a horrifying time for your family. You are all in my thoughts.
Shana
Regarding your landline problems that caused you to ditch the landline: we’ve had problems for several years with our landline, which we don’t want to get rid of because we lose power fairly frequently and phone service through our cable provider doesn’t last as long without power as they tell you it will, as our neighbors discovered a few years ago in the midst of a days long power outage. Anyway, we’ve had Verizon out several times, they check the line, tell us everything’s fine and leave. Finally, someone suggested it might be interference with our wireless router and try getting a DSL line filter. You plug it in to the wall connection and then plug your phone cord into the filter. I bought a pack of 5 with one wall mount filter and the phone’s been fine ever since.
You may not want to go back to a landline, but you could try that if you do.
satby
Way late everyone but:
@Baud: Hope you feel better soon
@Poopyman: Hooray! But careful,there’s a bad virus going around
@pamelabrown53: keeping your brother and family in my thoughts. Hope he surfaces soon.
chopper
@TaMara (BHF):
will do! the cake is mostly done. needs a little more oomph.
opiejeanne
Nice reference to “Chocolat” and Easter.
Bonnie
The telephone business seems to have always been and always will be nothing but a scheme to take all of everybody’s money and give everybody nothing.
Fr33d0m
While it won’t solve the power/weather problems–or work if the power/internet is out, there are several low-cost VOIP solutions that would have given you some ability to reach out. I have Ooma and love it, but there are cheaper solutions–some credible $15 dollar solutions if memory serves.