Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

We won’t go back.

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

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

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Please don’t feed the bears.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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Reader Interactions

219Comments

  1. 1.

    jl

    Dude, we are supposed to be all concerned and worried about the Crackers, not envious that they are partying down.

    And thanks for the epic Walter Dog cinema experience.

  4. 4.

    jl

    And speaking of foods, a certain major party candidate’s new Hispanic spoxnut is warning the US that unless we do something about a certain foreign menace, taco trucks will soon be on every corner.

    I’m ready to chow down.

  5. 5.

    debit

    I enjoyed my one visit to Florida, but I don’t think I could ever live there. I know, I know, Minnesota gets severe weather too, but a tornado seems less worrisome than a hurricane.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: That guy was nuts. Talk about despising oneself. Also, I’d kill for a taco truck to be parked on the corner of my street right now!

  8. 8.

    burnspbesq

    I’d like a Mexican – Korean fusion food truck to park in front of my office right about now. A kimchi quesadilla would really hit the spot.

  10. 10.

    seaboogie

    Thank you JohnG.

    @debit: Tornadoes can be pretty random, so it might skip over you – hurricanes and are a guaranteed body-slam.

    Thank you for our Daily Walter. This election season seems long, so whatever you do to keep the good feelings flowing is deeply appreciated. I never want to see John’s first pic of Walter again, and find great joy in your pics and vids of him these days.

  13. 13.

    MomSense

    I love Walter. Debit you and John are miracle workers. He seems so confident and happy, like his life has always been this way.

  16. 16.

    Mary G

    Thanks Debit and John! His coat looks shinier. It’s good to see him in such a lovely place.

    Now I want tacos.

  19. 19.

    raven

    I don’t know why I love you like I do
    All the troubles you put me through
    Sixteen candles there on my wall
    And here am I the biggest fool of them all

    I want to know that you’ll tell me
    I love to stay
    Take me to the river and drop me in the water
    Dip me in the river, drop me in the water
    Washing me down, washing me down.

  20. 20.

    Gelfling 545

    @jl: That would be really good news around here. You can’t get near the taco truck when it’s in the neighborhood. They have been known to run out before everybody gets served.

  22. 22.

    dmsilev

    @jl: Are we sure that wasn’t a Clinton mole? “Hillary: A chicken in every pot and a taco truck on every street corner!”

  28. 28.

    debit

    @redshirt: I honestly don’t know. I treat Ellie like the senior dog; she gets fed first, gets the leash on first, etc. Not to make Walter feel like he’s in second place, but to assure Ellie of her position. Walter does try to mount her, but also follows her lead and is a little uncertain of new things until she checks them out. I guess I dunno.

  29. 29.

    Kristine

    I think Walter would rather follow Ellie than swim. I wonder if he ever had a buddy, or if he was always by himself?

    Happy boy is happy.

  30. 30.

    seaboogie

    @Adam L Silverman: Land tornadoes, or waterspouts? If it’s a tornado, you just go down to the SE (?) corner of your basement…mmmm nevermind, it’s Florida, Jake.

    Best to you and Betty through the storm….

  32. 32.

    jl

    Ha ha ha for sad loser jealous commenters above. I live in Northern California, and we got taco trucks all over. So many, some of them are not even on corners, they’re in the middle of the block. Guac is free for ALL. Win!! Man, I win so much on the local taco trucks, I get tired of winning.

    Edit: Oh, yeah. We even have Korean taco trucks and Filipino taco trucks!

    Edit: and I ran into some weird Vietnamese-Thai taco thing. Not sure what it was, except it tasted great.

  35. 35.

    OldDave

    @debit:

    a tornado seems less worrisome than a hurricane

    Dunno. I grew up in ‘Tornado Alley’, and now live in the land of Hurricanes. Hurricanes are big, slow-moving disasters. You get a warning, even if it might not do any good (anything bigger than a Cat 2, I’m leaving town). With a tornado? Not so much warning. Minutes at best vs. days.

  36. 36.

    Felonius Monk

    @Mary G:

    Now I want tacos.

    I just put a nice chunk of brisket in the slow cooker with all the appropriate accouterments for making barbacoa. If all goes well, there will be barbacoa burritos tomorrow. Yum. Maybe even tacos. C’mon down, Mary G.

  37. 37.

    p.a.

    Walter’s gait reminds me a bit of those Permian reconstructions you see. Synapsids I think?

    My friend’s shih tzu has two torn acls, but has to lose at least 10 lbs before they are willing to operate. She’s on a diet, but needs exercise too. He bought the biggest storage container he could find, and supports/guides her while she swims in it.
    “The whole time she gives me that ‘why are you doing this to me?’ look.”

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    @jl:

    And speaking of foods, a certain major party candidate’s new Hispanic spoxnut is warning the US that unless we do something about a certain foreign menace, taco trucks will soon be on every corner.

    And this is bad … why, again? I mean, I know it’s bad for our waistlines and stuff, but …

    Come to California, we have cupcake trucks!

  40. 40.

    debit

    @amk: Just my iphone.

    @redshirt: Nope, Ellie is off leash. Until I trust he’ll reliably respond to a call he stays on the leash when we’re outside of our yard.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @p.a.: They are actually cranial cruciate ligaments but even some vets call them ACL’s. Lil Bit had hers done a year ago and she’s walking 2 miles very morning again.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    @seaboogie: Land tornadoes. I’m sure there will be/are water spouts too. Right now we’re overdue for the next big feeder band. It seems to just be sitting out over the gulf. And since we’re on the pick up and dump (downside) of the storm, the longer the band sits over the gulf, the more water it picks up.

  44. 44.

    OldDave

    @redshirt:

    Walter is off leash and Ellie is on leash, yes?

    Fairly certain the answer is ‘no’. Ellie is off leash and enjoying the water. Walter is on leash and doesn’t seem thrilled with the idea of getting wet. That’s my impression.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    Floridians, do I need to check in with my family in the Ft. Myers/Naples area? My Florida geography is not good.

    ETA: I do at least know they’re on the Gulf side, not the Atlantic side.

  48. 48.

    skyweaver

    Thanks for the video of Walter and Ellie, debit! And the pics above as well. I’m glad Walter is in a house where he has a sibling. Ellie also has such a sweet face.

  52. 52.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: After reading your comment in the last thread; I thought after all the GOLD and silver was gone, Norcal was a wasteland.

  55. 55.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Mnemosyne: I’m a purest, it must come from living with a Korean for 30 years.

    ETA: Though King Taco does sound appealing for dinner(they started out as a taco truck).

  56. 56.

    OldDave

    @Mnemosyne:

    Floridians, do I need to check in with my family in the Ft. Myers/Naples area?

    I wouldn’t think so – they are 160 miles or so south of Tampa, The forecast for the Naples area is 20% chance of rain, and their winds at the moment are a screaming 13 mph.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @raven:

    Thanks! My quasi-niece was asking me via text if we get tornadoes or earthquakes in California, so I wasn’t sure if she’d overheard her mom talking about the weather down there.

    (My quasi-niece is the daughter of my late brother’s girlfriend, as opposed to my nieces, who live with a crazy woman.)

  58. 58.

    CaseyL

    @OldDave: He walked/waded into a lake John took him to – but that was during the heat of a WV summer, and after he’d been imprisoned alone in a sealed house for who knows how long. Assuming it’s not nearly that hot in Minnesota… and he has no body fat to speak of… no wonder he wants to stay dry!

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: No, they’re much to far south for anything but rain and light wind. They’ll be fine. The heaviest action will be from Apilachicola south to, at the most, Sarasota. Naples/Ft. Myers is another 90 minutes or so south of Sarasota. So they should be fine.

  60. 60.

    Anne Laurie

    I’ve been to Florida twice — Miami in November, Orlando in January — and it’s not the disaster weather, it’s the godsawful humidity. I’m old & fat & descended from extremely northern tribes, I can’t cope at all when the whole neighborhood feels like a bathroom after someone’s taken a three-hour shower. (We’ve had Florida-style humidity up here this summer and it’s taken almost as much out of my mood as the Trump campaign.)

    Here’s my earnest thoughts & prayers that Betty, Adam, and all the rest of you Floridians come through the current Weather Incident with nothing worse than a few good stories to share!

  62. 62.

    kindness

    My big dog was really afraid of water when I first got him. He was 6 mo old then. It took about a year but with valley 100 degree days he learned the water is his friend. Now he loves it. He still prefers to keep his feet on the bottom but he will swim if he has to.

  63. 63.

    Riley's Enabler

    Love the Walter updates so much. Debit, thank you for sharing his progress with us. I’ve been telling Riley how wonderfully this all turned out. She approves!

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TaMara (HFG): My favorite Mexican food in Denver was the Blue Bonnet. Don’t know if its still there. For fast Mexican food it was, of course, El Tubby’s. Here’s some el Tubby’s trivia for you: the guy that owns them (or at least owned them when they opened) lived three houses down and across the street from me in Aurora during my senior year in high school.

  71. 71.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    We have a poutine truck.

    Y’know, it might be possible to get Americans to exercise if they had to chase the poutine / taco / cupcake truck for a couple blocks before they could sample its wares…

    ETA: As I recall, poutine is one of those foodstuffs that really needs to be eaten right after it’s prepared, so a poutine truck makes TOTAL sense.

    (Well, french fries in general. They aren’t good cold, and they don’t reheat well either. So if you can’t go to the fryer, make them bring the fryer to you.)

  73. 73.

    redshirt

    @raven: I know you hate baseball, but it has nonstop action. You may scoff, but baseball stuff is usually going on, rather than TV timeouts. It’s a big majority of TV time, especially in the early innings. Football cannot say anything close to the same. It’s constructed for TV time outs and advertisements.

  74. 74.

    hovercraft

    @Mnemosyne:
    It’s bad because the Spanish never conquered Mexico, and Mexico has changed it has become a more violent aggressive culture. So those taco trucks are simply the gateway, next thing you know you’ll be speaking Spanish and dancing to only “Mexican” music. They are coming here to take over our country and turn back into Mexico north. As Adam stated above the guy is self loathing, Joy Reid was left speechless. Watch.

  78. 78.

    raven

    @redshirt: What do you mean “you may scoff”? I’ve been watching baseball for 60 fucking years. You don’t think I know what’s going on?

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I was very disappointed when I took my nieces there and the camera that lets you watch your cupcake journey towards you was broken*. They enjoyed the cupcakes anyway.

    * Yes, I realize the little film showing your cupcake box traveling on a series of conveyor belts is almost certainly not real. I enjoy it anyway.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @hovercraft:

    Swear to God, if these people had their way, I wouldn’t be allowed to eat anything but mayonnaise sandwiches. No, not even that, because mayonnaise is too French!

    Screw them and their bizarre hatred of tasty food.

  92. 92.

    redshirt

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Look, redshirt knows that you hate baseball, who are you to argue?

    I know you’re just trying to stir up trouble, but I thought Raven did indeed hate baseball as a sport. I may have poor or wrong recollection. I didn’t mean to cause offense.

  95. 95.

    Anne Laurie

    @raven: I don’t need to; if the Spousal Unit wants to park at the far end of our gym’s lot (under what little shade there is, this summer), I make him drop me at the door.

    (In my defense, I’ve got a bad left knee & a bad right hip, which is why we’re paying to use the recumbent machines instead of walking on asphalt.)

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @seaboogie: Nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me here or perhaps anywhere. I can assure that I am two years and 264 days younger than POTUS, and I am NOT a Bears fan. We both like pie and tall women.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: I thought maybe you were making a joke about mole since we are talking about mexican food. (As in the sauce made with peppers and cocoa.)

  105. 105.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    She had a hell of a show tonight, her guests all seemed to be competing to see who could get her to say what the fuck on live TV. She lit up like a kid on christmas morning.

  110. 110.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: I would pay to see you have a meltdown and then say, “Fuck it! i’ll do it live!” like O’Reilly did.

    Or, you know, I could just find the youtube video of O’Reilly and laugh at hime again.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    Greg Greene
    ‏@ggreeneva Greg Greene Retweeted Robert Costa
    Bernie would end Citizens United.
    Hillary would end Citizens United.
    Trump has hired the founder of Citizens United.

  114. 114.

    Anne Laurie

    @Adam L Silverman: Velveeta (tm) on Wonder Bread(tm), Miracle Whip(tm) optional. Because major-label name brands are most True American.

    (To be fair, little cubes of Velveeta used as ‘training aids’ can get the attention of dogs who resist much more aristocratic treats. Even the most titled purebred dog, in my experience, has a neural link to their garbage-scavenger roots!)

  123. 123.

    debit

    @Anne Laurie: When Ellie had pneumonia and wouldn’t eat ANYTHING, in desperation I went to McDonalds and got a sack of plain cheeseburgers. She inhaled them.

  124. 124.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: I wouldn’t have a meltdown, but they wouldn’t be happy having me on. They don’t want people that can competently, politely, but firmly provide accurate information. They want pro wrestling: controversy creates cash. They want verbal equivalents of tables, ladders, and chairs. Of the heel hitting the face with verbal brass knuckles when the moderator isn’t paying attention.

  136. 136.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @hovercraft: Funny story: France had really horrible bread for a while in the ’50s because a Frenchman who had leaned British English requested corn during the Marshall Plan.

  138. 138.

    Mnemosyne

    I know I’ve pushed this show before, but the BBC did a fun series with Sue Perkins (of “The Great British Baking Show”) called “The Supersizers Go …” which has her and food critic Giles Coren dress in period costume and eat only food from that period for the whole week. If you’re a foodie and a history buff, you will basically be in heaven the whole time.

    You can’t watch it on that website right now, but we were watching it on either Hulu or Netflix, I can’t remember which.

  139. 139.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MomSense:

    I stopped being a vegetarian because I went to a conference banquet at a Hilton Hotel in Melbourne, Florida, and they brought me a huge white plate with three, and only three, things on it: mashed potatoes, egg noodles, and rice.

    Need I say more?

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MomSense: I have no idea to be honest. I don’t understand why the embedded link functions for some and not for others or functions for some at some times and not for the same people at other times.

  145. 145.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have never had Velveeta or Wonderbread. They are food like substances but are they really food?

    IIRC, they — like Fluffernutter — are legally food products, under the laws of Massachusetts where you & I currently reside.

    (For non-locals: Various Massachusetts cities/counties still have remnants of the old ‘blue laws’ which regulated which goods could be offered for sale on Sundays & holidays. Not gonna bother googling, but I remember both ‘processed cheese product’ and locally-sourced marshmellow whip being legally declared ‘food’ within the rules permitting their sale at all-night gas station adjuncts, even on Thanksgiving, which seems to be the last holiday still ‘sacred’ here.)

  147. 147.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TaMara (HFG): That’s two of us, but its almost 11 here and I’m not going out in the storm. May go to my neighborhood, and very good, Mexican restaurant tomorrow night as part of my solidarity with Latino and Hispanic Americans and immigrants.

  149. 149.

    JR in WV

    @debit:

    Clicking through your list of photos, pretty white cat, nice doggy pix. The brick fireplace with the gas fire, my Grandma had one of those in the living-room, and would light it on winter mornings while she went to the basement and shook down the clinkers in the coal furnace, and added a shovel of coal onto the burning coals left from the night before.

    It was gravity motion, the warm water rose to the radiators upstairs, and cooled. then the cooler water sank back down to the coal furnace. When the coal bin got low, she would order another truck load which they would dump down a door into the coal bin, which was a room in the basement, maybe 8×10 feet.

    Some years later they put a gas burner into the coal furnace, took the grates for burning coal, and she put them in the back corner of the coal bin, just in case. Still no pump, just heat applied to water down in the basement, rising through the house, sinking back down to the (now gas) furnace.

    It was cleaner to burn the gas, but more expensive, as the coal was mined about a mile away, and she was a widow of a man who worked at the mine until he died of black lung.

    Lovely what you and John have accomplished with Walt. He’s turning out to be a great dog. Enjoy!

  151. 151.

    jl

    If those WV coal workers want to get favorable treatment, they need to get them some food trucks out on every corner.

    Should be popular. The smell of roasting ramps (in bear grease?) wafting through the neighborhood will bring everyone running for a snack.

    Come for the ramps, stay for the ‘shine. So, you have a good slogan too.

  153. 153.

    MomSense

    @redshirt:

    I was in Bar Harbor yesterday. We are really spoiled by the natural beauty in our state. The view of the sun setting behind the Porcupine Islands was incredible.

  158. 158.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: Neeps and tatties are ground turnip and mashed potatoes. In Scotland real haggis, as opposed to the fried stuff from the chippy, are traditionally served with neeps and tatties on the side and a whiskey based sauce.

  161. 161.

    seaboogie

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, that really bites. Been in FL (Miami) in a hospital during a tropical storm w flooding that prevented my leaving – but we didn’t have to consider tornadoes. Just security guards rousting us because we were unable to leave, and also not permitted to sleep in the lobby. I got kicked out of a cubby in the chapel where I tried to sleep.

  164. 164.

    debit

    @JR in WV: Walter is a joy to have as part of my family. I feel like I’m the lucky one.

    The gas fire is a Humphry Radiant Fire, which, as I understand it, was very popular in the 1920’s and on. As it is currently non functional, I’ll probably Free Cycle it and just do some decorative logs.

  167. 167.

    jl

    @schrodinger’s cat: Trifles rule. How did English cuisine get a bad name with stuff around like trifles?

    I can make a mean berry and custard trifle. Lots of port and sherry. Makes your head spin.

    Edit: See, Trump is a shit politician. His spox should have promised trifle trucks on every corner to compensate for loss of tacos. DUIs would go through the roof, though.

  169. 169.

    burnspbesq

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    King Taco is awesome. First started eating them when they would bring the truck to Galaxy games at the Rose Bowl. Alas, they are not in OC. We have to make do with Wahoo’s, Taco Mesa, Rubio’s, and a host of questionable storefront places. We have two great ones in Orange, Carnitas Los Reyes and Tacos Jalisco, both on Tustin Ave.

  171. 171.

    Suzanne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My grandmother was the one that did all the cooking in my house when I was growing up. My mom got a recipe at a potluck for “Baked Ziti”, which is this low-effort Protestant lasagna made with Velveeta. I might have preferred eating spoiled food.

    After my grandmother died, I said, “Well, I never have to eat that shit again.” Still not sad about it.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suzanne:

    I can’t remember, did you grow up in AZ? Writer Laurie Notaro has a hilarious story about her Italian family moving from New York to Arizona and having a neighbor lady show up with a lasagna made with cottage cheese and Velveeta.

    She swears that her mother chased the moving truck down the street begging it to come back and take her back to New York.

  177. 177.

    JR in WV

    @hovercraft:

    Mexican music is great. Mrs J and I ate in a pretty authentico place in Tucson during the Rock and Gem show. They had a band, and we got seated right beside the stage. They were totally duded up like bullfighters!

    So one of the guys comes over and asks if we have any requests. Being from WV, I didn’t have any names on the tip of my tongue, so instead I asked “Do you know any sad slow border tunes? Lost love or something?”

    Well they conferenced for a minute or two, and the fiddle player tucked his fiddle under his arm, and they did a vocal number, slow love song, triple harmony, aimed right at Mrs J and me. It was so swell! She shined! Nothing like their regular mariachi music.

    The food was great, the margaritas were great, and I knew the drive back to the hotel cold. A great night out of the town. Years ago. The restaurant moved to Sierra Vista a couple of years ago, it was a favorite with mineral people during the rock show.

    About water spouts… when I was in the USN in Key West, we would get thunderstorms in the summer, and there would be two or three water spouts at a time west of the harbor. Sometimes one of them would run up onto the pier or mole, and would dump hundreds of gallons of sea water with fish, rays, etc onto the shore.

    They were beautiful, sparkling in the sun – unlike tornadoes, which are ugly with danger.

  181. 181.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: Turnips and rutabagas are not the same thing at all. Rutabagas have a spicier tasted than turnips. Best tested by trying each raw, fresh out of the garden, with a little salt. Swedes are rutabagas – they are Swedish turnips. Technically, a cross-breed of cabbage and turnip.

  189. 189.

    Felonius Monk

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Turnips, swede, and rutabagas are all the same thing

    Only in England & Scotland. In the U.S., turnip refers to the white turnip which is not the same as a rutabaga.

    I’m not an expert on turnips and rutabagas, but I did spend last night at a HolyDay Expression. I also refuse to eat either of these atrocities.

  191. 191.

    Lizzy L

    We’re talking about food…? Yum. I’m going to have calabacitas for dinner. It will be good tonight after I make it, and heavenly tomorrow. I leave out the spicy peppers because I rarely eat spicy food any more, and tonight it won’t have any cheese in it because I’m out of cheese, but a dollop of sour cream will substitute.

    OT, is it okay to celebrate that Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised $143 million dollars in August? ($40 of it was mine.) Also, f*** David Bossie.

  193. 193.

    JR in WV

    @MomSense:

    I think after you paste the link in, you need to type something to BE the link, and then hit the end link button to close that statement. Without the /link button being pressed, it won’t end until it sees the end on the reply statement.

    So you have to click that linky button twice.

  194. 194.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: It is weird that the Scots don’t have the palate to recognized the difference between the two because people are not surprised by their Scotch tasting ability and their historically decent taste in wine (historical connection with the Frogs).

    ETA: Maybe food is less important to them than other things?

  195. 195.

    jl

    @Ernest Pikeman: I’m need a recipe too. I thought whiskey was the sauce. I’m confused.

    I want a thin hard whiskey sauce that makes your head spin, and whiskey fumes. I don’t want none of that cake frosting whiskey sauce stuff.

  197. 197.

    Origuy

    @Mnemosyne: I think all of the Supersizers episodes are on YouTube. Many of the British documentaries are, especially the older ones. BBC have been fairly aggressive about taking down the newer ones.

    Haggis, FTW! And trifles are fine, but banoffee pie is the best.

    Pleasanton Highland Games are this weekend. A good place to stock up on British specialties. I’ll be dancing on the Scottish Heritage stage at noon Saturday.

  199. 199.

    JR in WV

    @debit:

    Maybe you could get it repaired by an old plumber. They really throw the heat when they’ve been on a little while. Grandma just needed it while we kids were waiting for the coal fire to heat up the water jacket in the coal furnace. 1880 technology.

    Way better than gas logs for radiant heat throwing out into the room!

  200. 200.

    seaboogie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Like insults? The Scots totally rock at that. My favorite was “Ludicrous Tangerine Ball-sack”. On par with that was “Spoon!”. I still do a “Ya Great Spoon!” in a Scottish accent, well – just about every other day.

  201. 201.

    SoupCatcher

    @Omnes Omnibus: I have fond memories of breakfast at Glasgow University when there for a conference many years ago. I think Full Scottish is just a dare to see how many different types of meat a cook could get on a plate.

  202. 202.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @seaboogie: I meant it in a more limited sense. Scots have a reputation for being great at Scotch tasting and no one is surprised when they do well at wine tasting. History comes in.

  203. 203.

    JR in WV

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I saw Don Ho play once, he owned a beach front motel at St Pete Beach, and played Hawai’ian music in his lounge. A little odd.

    We got to see Louis Armstrong that winter, too, at a huge old theater in St Pete, with Pearl Bailey and a big swing band, it was a fabulous show. Like time travel to 1941.

    I begged hard for tickets to that. We sat in like the forth balcony, with the mixed crowd. I was maybe 11 or 12.

  205. 205.

    SectionH

    For 20-some years, I made a trifle for our (winter) Solstice Dinners. Always a variation on The Dean’s Trifle. I found the recipe in English Provincial Cooking by Elisabeth Ayrton. After the first 2 or 3 years, I ditched the brandy and added more raspberries.

    It’s a fun and informative book, and unlike some historical cookbooks, (obvs.) has actual recipes worth trying.

  206. 206.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Origuy:

    banoffee pie is the best.

    All recipes should include phrases like this: fantastically tasty squidgy caramel.

    And “fantastically tasty squidgy caramel” would be a good name for a band. Well, maybe not.

  210. 210.

    jl

    @Omnes Omnibus: You live in Wisconsin, right? Brats beer and funky cheese spread, right?

    Edit: You folks eat white fish and garlic fries? In Cleveland you can go to a damn good fried white fish and garlic fries feed. With. Beer. Can I get even that in Wisconsin?

  215. 215.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: My dad, who is Italian, left when I was a kid, and I was raised by my mother and her parents, who are WASPy Protestants (though nowhere near wealthy or Brahmin types). My grandfather HATED Italians and especially hated my father. It is somewhat awkward, as I resemble my Italian family members far more than anything else.

    My grandmother was the worst cook on the face of the earth.

  216. 216.

    Anne Laurie

    @seaboogie:

    Maybe not turnips. But rutabagas? Boiled and mashed with butter and salt – you want to know about that.

    Depending on where you’re eating them, looks like rutabagas and turnips might be the same thing, or at least called by the same name, or by the name of what you’re used to considering a different root veggie entirely. (Like potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are not ‘real’ yams.)

    And according to Wikipedia, the Norwegians may confuse turnips/rutabagas/swedes with kohlrabi.

    Me, I’ll stick with parsnips, if I want another boiled mashed buttered side to go with my praties.

  219. 219.

    bluefish

    Thank you for Walter and Ellie video. Or is that Thurston? Great to see the two of them so at ease. Lovely locale too. Thank you again! Seeing these always cheers me up. Ready for my Walter and Ellie tee shirt! Do wild how those two were brought together.

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