Rather than think about the fact that our President is a god damned lunatic and national embarrassment who just disgraced us all with a bellicose stream of bullshit at the UN, I’d like to follow Betty’s lead and offer my hot take on peas.
I like them. A good bit. I really like them fresh when you just crack open the pod and shuck them into your mouth. The people who want to put them in guacamole can fuck right off, but peas are good. I like them in a vegetable or chicken/turkey soup, I like them steamed with a little butter.
I don’t like canned peas other than those really expensive ones from Le Sueur. But over all, I am going to have to give a thumbs up to peas. They always come in one of my favorite chinese dishes, too.
You know what I really don’t care for? Asparagus. I can only eat the tips of those- the rest of it is just bitter and has a gross stringy mouth feel. Plus it makes my urine stink. You know what else makes my urine stink? Coffee. My first bathroom break after a cup of coffee smells like coffee. It’s really weird.
And now this thread has come full circle, as we started with talking about a piece of shit and ended talking about piss.
Ruviana
I love asparagus. Cut or break off the bottom ends so most of what you’re eating are the tips. They’re delicious. I grew up on canned asparagus and it was a grey sludgy clump of something that looked like you took it out of the shower drain. Fresh asparagus is a revelation. Can’t help with the pee smell though.
chopper
clearly this pea bullshit is a ‘both sides’ issue.
Yutsano
Frozen peas are not only delicious, they’re quite useful for bumps and bruises.
Rosalita
Peas are an excellent finishing touch in beef stew. Toss in the frozen ones and let the stew heat them up. They stay green and crispy.
NoraLenderbee
Fresh, raw green peas are like candy.
Wapiti
When I make spaghetti carbonara, I throw some frozen peas in with the pasta for the last minute it cooks. Drain the pasta and peas together; every thing is hot and cooked.
MJS
After I’ve eaten cheap soup, like Campbell’s, my urine smells exactly like the soup I’ve just eaten. Could be all the salt. Anyway, I thought everyone might like to know that.
Major Major Major Major
*clears throat*
Well, you know what the difference is between chick peas and garbanzo beans…
Eric NNY
Just signing in here to register as pro-pea, haters be damned. Especially edible pod peas.
Barbara
If you remove the fibrous stalks of asparagus, cut it on the diagonal and saute it in butter and/or olive oil with salt until just tender, and hopefully a little charred around some of the edges, it doesn’t taste anything like boiled asparagus. I like boiled asparagus too, but you only need to cook it for a couple of minutes, and then serve immediately. The only vegetable I really don’t like at all is okra. Some greens are really bitter as well, so I don’t tend to eat those. Anything else I am okay with, even though I rejected a lot of veggies as a kid.
JPL
Pea lovers unite!
Comrade Scrutinizer
Loved to shell peas, when I was a kid.
Brussel sprouts, now. That shit is evil.
Ian G.
I’m ok with peas. I love asparagus. I hate my wife trying to put spinach in every fucking meal she makes.
Ladyraxterinok
OT : very weird. Just recently the Evangelicals’ hero Jonathan Cahn, author of their ‘new bible’ The Harbinger, was on Jim Bakker’s show (he’s a regular on the show). He showed photos of his 2 young sons in their first day of school outfits. Part of those were long bright red ties; Cahn called them ‘Trump ties’!! Everyone on the platform and in the audience ooed and awwed.
Spanky
I love asparagus. And fuck peas.
However, this bit of news might be welcomed by everyone here:
JPL
@Comrade Scrutinizer: I was never a fan of sprouts until I started roasting them.
sharl
The only relevance of this tweet to the O.P. is the “pea soup” description – BUT it comes with an adorable video of ducks grazing on floating green stuff*
*I tried but failed to learn exactly what the green stuff is, but the most likely suggestion I could find is floating duckweed seeds.
SiubhanDuinne
Several years ago, for reasons I no longer remember, I took a daily chlorophyll supplement. It was bright green and came in those clear gelatin capsules. My first post-pill pee was always a startling Kelly green. As the day wore on, it diminished to a tasteful shade of chartreuse.
Also, here to put in another good word for asparagus. And artichoke, although I’m willing to admit that my fondness for it is that the leaves are an excellent delivery mechanism for melted butter.
bemused
Clearly, I and millions of others are freaking out today, everyone in this country but for fucking GOP and brain dead Republican voters.
Anyone else read that Committee to Investigate Russia, investigaterussia.org, is launching today? Interesting committee mix, Rob Reiner, David Frum, James Clapper, Charlie Sykes, Max Boot and Norm Ornstein. Morgan Freeman contributes video, We Are at War.
I feel as awful as the day after the election. Can’t take much more of this so I’m going to watch Diagnosis Murder and take a mental health break nap.
Cermet
What is it about Le Sueur brand pea’s that make them better? I also only eat those – not that I haven’t tried others but really didn’t like those ‘off brands’. Do they add a super secret chemical that makes these taste better to the brain (crack? Meth? Coke (maybe like the cocaine additive from the plant that is used in coke, the soft drink)?
bemused
@Ladyraxterinok:
I hate these people. Those poor kids.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ladyraxterinok:
Were they held together with strips of scotch tape?
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
Lightly roasted asparagus, yum.
Nancy
@Ladyraxterinok:
Those poor kids. Do they have any chance at all? Trump ties on toddlers–at the very least it is child maltreatment.
scav
I’ll take the fresh peas and dump the avocados if i had to go either / or and globally — although, to be utterly truthful, the only way I enjoy avocados is in a fine guac (so I might hesitate if immediately adjacent to fresh tortilla chips). But against fresh English peas or snap peas? Done. (There are some sneaky semi-tedious ways to deal with woody asparagus stems similar to the ways to milk the flavor out of shucked pea pods. Must be fanatic with food mill, but then fun with tools.)
JPL
Is there such a thing as a tbogg unit for pea lovers?
Major Major Major Major
@Spanky: Maybe next they can add a feature to Chrome where it doesn’t use up half my RAM and make me switch to Safari.
Amir Khalid
@Barbara:
The sliminess of ladies’ fingers has never bothered me. But I avoid bean sprouts unless they’re well-cooked and limp; otherwise I find their texture most unappealing.
BruceFromOhio
This post and associated comment thread are why I read this site. every. single. day.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ian G.:
Classic New Yorker cartoon from the ’20s:
Mother: “It’s broccoli, darling.”
Young child: “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it!”
cleek
@MJS:
onion (and garlic, too)
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
It is called a pbogg unit.
cleek
peas rock. probably my favorite vegetable.
when i can get fresh English peas, i use them to make a vibrantly-green green pea risotto.
Death Panel Truck
I use petite peas when I make fried rice; other than that, I have no use for them.
Asparagus is yummy. I could eat it all day. Fresh, frozen, pickled, but not canned.
bemused
@Ladyraxterinok:
Randi Rhodes showed a clip of Bakker’s show awhile back of Bakker hawking huge canisters of prepper food and how you can group those canisters to make a table, throw a tablecloth over them. I can’t quite remember what the food was, Mexican, maybe. The whole thing was incredibly bizarre.
TenguPhule
Fuck asparagus. And fuck peas.
People who cook with them are obviously insane.
No Drought No More
Peas and asparagus? If it wasn’t for the coffee stenched piss shout out, I’d say you were beginning to sound a lot like Andy Rooney.
Spanky
@Major Major Major Major: Sorry, if you want that they’ll probably ask you for $$$$.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Peas suck. They’re incredibly gagworthy.
Once, when I was a kid, as I was coming into the house and smelled the combination of peas cooking in their snotlike grossness AND smelled liver frying.
I retched on the bushes even before coming in the house. Dad was not amused.
TenguPhule
@bemused:
Come sit by me so I can borrow your shoulder to cry on.
schrodingers_cat
Katy fucking Tur on that garbage fire UN speech
Why exactly am I supposed to feel bad for this woman, now?
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Now you’re asking for the impossible.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Higher moral standards.
zhena gogolia
Look, when you’re spending time in the Nutmeg State next spring, take a jaunt up to the Pioneer Valley and get some fresh asparagus in Amherst. Steam it till al dente, give it a little olive oil or butter, salt & pepper. Then let’s talk.
Amir Khalid
@Ladyraxterinok:
And this deeply misguided man no doubt wears Trump’s golfing outfit on his days off.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: It didn’t used to have that problem!
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Hadley, actually. Amherst’s neighboring town. They have a Asparagus festival on the Village green in June.
zhena gogolia
@cleek:
Mmmm, I’m coming over there.
Nicole
Peas are the reason I can’t get too mad at my 7-year-old for being a picky eater. I have a visceral reaction to them. Like, I’m a middle-aged lady and I have to psych myself up to eat one, even a tiny little innocuous one mixed in with some otherwise perfectly good fried rice. So if I get on him for complaining about the texture of something, I’m just a hypocrite. I remember. I REMEMBER.
I dearly loved my elders, but for the most part, they were all terrible cooks, and, as my paternal grandmother and my mother both grew up dirt poor, vegetables were always bought canned, then dumped into a pot and heated. Oh god, the smell. Ugh. My cousin would kindly take both my and his peas and drop them into his milk glass so he could get out of consuming both peas and milk.
I like snap peas, though. Preferably raw.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
I was going to say Holyoke then realized I didn’t remember which town it was so said Amherst. Close enough. Ask someone on the street in Amherst and they’ll tell you.
schrodingers_cat
In that stupid golfing gif that T retweeted, all I could see was his enormous butt. Yes those pants make your butt look big, huge, bigly huge. One glimpse and I needed brain bleach.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Hadley is where Amherst goes to shop.
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
Have you ever had peas freshly shucked right out of the pod? Preferably from your own garden? So delicious.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: Don’t worry my standards are pretty low, I comment here after all.
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
Yeah, I grew up with both peas and asparagus in the gluey canned form. But I was able to be re-educated.
Amir Khalid
@TenguPhule:
I can’t ever see myself despising people for their taste in vegetables.
schrodingers_cat
More on topic comment. I make a veggie biryani with green peas and it ar awesome.
bemused
@TenguPhule:
We’d probably both be soaked with tears and hoarse from sobbing.
I’m not leaving home today. I don’t trust myself out among people. I’d probably throttle any Republican I encountered.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
Mmmm, coming over there too.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Canned asparagus? That is heresy.
Do come, you are always welcome here. You can even stay in the Red Sox room of doom when you are here.
schrodingers_cat
@Ladyraxterinok: Why are you subjecting yourself to torture?
bemused
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Oh gawd, liver. Some old folks still seem to like liver but it’s rare I hear of anyone still cooking that. I wouldn’t touch it as a kid. GAG
sherparick
I love peas. I must admit I still love mixing peas into mash potatoes. Also, try white asparagus if you get a chance. Much sweeter then green, although only in season in May and early June. Last paragraph was to much information. Also, today was another reminder that my realization late on 8 November 2016 is still true: We are so fucked. Also, the Republican Party exists to fuck over 99% and the 60% of white people who vote Republican are fine with being fucked, so long as Black and Brown people are fucked more.
rikyrah
Cole, you are hilarious :)
TenguPhule
@Amir Khalid:
These days sanity is apparently highly overrated.
/I kid. I just have issues with certain foods.
Architeuthis
Canned asparagus? Ouch. That sounds loathsome. No, fresh, and yeah, cut off the ends, saute in oil (I prefer something with an herb and garlic blend), lemon juice, and minced garlic. Peas are fine, too. It appears some persons are unaware of quality vegetables.
Dawn Nickerson
@NoraLenderbee:
Indeed, when my mother took me to the market in town as a child, she would give me the choice of a bag of pick ‘n’ mix candy or a pound of peas. I would choose the peas every time.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
That’s because the prior versions didn’t have all of these apps and addons and a ton of other crap we didn’t really need and don’t use.
Betty Cracker
Don’t even get me started on okra. It works in gumbo, where it can blend in with other items and pretend to be normal food. And my stepmother can fry it up in such a way as to make it palatable, but then again, she could fry up cat turds, and they’d be delicious — the woman can FRY. But in any incarnation other than the aforementioned, okra is the mucus of the chlorophyll set, and fuck a bunch of okra.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: Roasted stuffed okra, crispy crunchy and not slimy in the least.
TenguPhule
@bemused:
Delicious.
The key is to slice it thin when frying it with bacon.
rikyrah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
All the Elders in my family loved liver. Liver is one food in which the presentation was just deceptive. I was given liver, smothered in gravy, bacon and onions, with mashed potatoes and freshly cooked green peas/pearl onions.
The presentation made my mouth water.
Took one bite and spit it out.
Never had another bite since.
I was 4 years old.
Yutsano
@bemused: Do people know what the liver does in the body? It’s the garbage dump for just about every toxin that enters. This is true for any animal that possesses one. I can’t even do paté because of this. Yes I know that makes my Gallic/Jewish ancestors scream.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Okra is tiny…how do you stuff it? And stuff it with what?
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: Yum!
@TenguPhule: Not really, those are all added on by the end user. The core of Chrome is garbage now on Mac.
@Yutsano: Oh but it’s not a banh mi without it.
Shell
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, threatening to destroy an entire country certainly aint nuanced.
bemused
@TenguPhule:
No, stop, don’t say anymore. It took months for my stomach to stop burning after election. Today I’m feeling the burn again and you’re NOT HELPING. : /
The Pale Scot
News has come that Russian missile defense officer Stanislav Petrov passed away in May. In 1983 he discounted the veracity of a new satellite missile launch detection system’s warning of a launch from the US. I think a lot of officers in his place would have choose differently at that time and place.
We’re luckier than we deserve.
And there is an autoplay ad on the right side, Everglades Equipment Group. selling John Deere, then an ad for a bar called Twin Peaks?
The frame address is;
s0.2mdn.net/ads/richmedia/studio/pv2/60307904/20170907073508683/index.html?e=69&renderingType=2…
different-church-lady
Rotating tag line, please.
Mike in DC
Sweet peas are delicious. Now, beans, i bet we could hit a tbogg unit debating which beans are the best.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah. Okra is a no-go for me.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: It’s true that determined people can make the presentation of liver appealing by disguising it with actual foods, but good lord, that awful smell! I’m with Le Comte — I’d hurl in the bushes and then go take up residence in the woods until the horrible odor dissipated.
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major:
I KNOW…
But my constitution just will not allow me to eat another animal’s garbage scow.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Architeuthis:
I roast asparagus with minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil.
That works for Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, too.
bemused
@Yutsano:
Of course. All I have to do is look at it, fresh or cooked and think, this can’t be good for human consumption. Thank goodness, I haven’t seen an actual liver in decades.
rikyrah
Listen when @sarahkliff says this: Cassidy-Graham “is, in my view, the most radical Republican health plan to date” t.co/3tsj1auEJR
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) September 19, 2017
bemused
@rikyrah:
GOP is evil, evil, evil. Oozing, reeking pox on them all.
rikyrah
This goes far beyond the BCRA, McConnell’s bill that failed. It is the complete wiping out of protections for pre-existing conditions. t.co/6q2WLUu6XS
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) September 15, 2017
rikyrah
The GOP has 11 days to ram Graham-Cassidy through the Senate. Here’s what you can do, from red & blue states alike: t.co/sJ1dLwz2eS pic.twitter.com/SXgHcDVbIT
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) September 19, 2017
rikyrah
What’s going on here is clear: Republicans are sabotaging the bipartisan deal to push Graham-Cassidy. t.co/b7m2fQnr0P pic.twitter.com/M8LRsynoPw
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) September 19, 2017
different-church-lady
@rikyrah:
Peas, obviously.
joel hanes
@Cermet:
What is it about Le Sueur brand peas that make them better?
Not overcooked.
Emma
@Yutsano: Agreed. Liver, kidneys…. ugh.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
Fresh, soaked a little in milk or water before cooking, sliced thin, chicken fry coating, cook with bacon.
Delicious.
jeffreyw
There was a BBQ joint in the next town over that offered battered and fried chicken livers with their signature BBQ sauce – they were delicious! Sadly, the shop closed down years age when the proprietor died. He died, they say, of a liver problem. Some say there was a woman to blame…
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@schrodingers_cat: Tur was a guest on Fresh Air a week or so back. She said she doesn’t believe she should vote because that would make her biased.
Geeno
I have always been picky about veggies
Green vegetable hierarchy:
1. Spinach (cooked, fresh, whatevs)
2. Broccoli
3. Peas
Others are acceptable to the extent they are overwhelmed by whatever they are in (stews, etc.)
TenguPhule
@Mike in DC:
Soybeans.
NotMax
All we are saying, is give peas a chance.
Felonius Monk
@Mike in DC:
And that thread debating beans would soon turn musical.
rikyrah
Cole,
What the phuck is wrong with Manchin?
How can he not be an obvious NO for Trumpcare, the latest version?
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Thread won.
Just One More Canuck
@SiubhanDuinne: I was at Disney World a few years back – the dining room at the hotel we stayed at (on site) served blue velvet cake – I had a disturbing surprise later on
debit
I can’t believe I read this thread while eating my lunch. Roasted cabbage with sausages, thank you very much.
jl
Speech was standard Trumpist garbage until he got to North Korea and Iran.
Then it became alarming and dangerous.
Trump is a potentially catastrophic idiot, backed by a catastrophically toxic and idiotic rump racist stump of a degraded and disgraceful cabal of thugs disguising itself as a political party.
wonder if the corporate media will blabber about how murderous and very counterproductive sabre ratting made Trump presidential today.
Trump and the cynical murderous numbskulls in the GOP seem to want to start two, count ’em, two, catastrophic wars.
Nigntmarish.
Or someone in the Trump camp understands this is a nice distraction to help the GOP Congress push through catastrophic health and tax legislation.
joel hanes
I know liver is bad for one and should be eaten seldom if at all.
But I grew up in a town with Greek restauranteurs, and learned to love poultry livers.
Take the liver from the Thanksgiving turkey, put it in a ramekin with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, salt, black pepper, and a couple pinches of oregano, and put it in the oven with the turkey for the first hour. Set aside, let cool; mashed on toast makes a fine sandwich. Maybe some onion or capers for acid to balance the richness.
SiubhanDuinne
@Just One More Canuck:
That would be startling.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Peas and hominy.
Mike in NC
I’ll eat virtually anything except peas. I even will pick them out of a chicken pot pie.
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Moronica doesn’t get an iota of sympathy from me.
debit
For everyone whining about the smell of liver, hah. My mom used to eat kipper snacks on crackers all the fucking time. That oily, fishy smell permeated the entire house. It got into furniture, the drapes, it got into my hair. And people wonder why I gag at the smell of fish.
jl
@joel hanes: Liver can be good, but it does not agree with me. Unpleasnt gastric results occur, almost immediately. My body seems to want to expel it immediately
I remember eating some delicious pate snacks, and suddenly my body told me the meat was liver. And in a few minutes I was in a restroom gagging.
I can’t figure it out and have sworn off the stuff.
Edit: people should stick with freshly shelled peas, then, they are delicious. Stuff from the can is inedible. Frozen, in somewhere in between, but the variation is too wide for culinary comfort.
Just One More Canuck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Just to class up the thread a bit more, one of my teachers in high school told us a story about when he was over at a friends place and was invited to stay for dinner. They served liver and after one bite, he threw up on his plate
trollhattan
I like asparagus only in winter-early spring when its local and that tradition is under threat of a labor shortage. By the time the Mexican stuff hits the stores it’s way, way too old. The other odd duck vegetable I love when in peak season is artichokes–yet another food item I never had until adulthood because the parents only viewed them in the store with deep suspicion. They’re rarely cooked correctly, though, so primarily a DIY dish (with aioli on the side, please).
TenguPhule
@debit:
Oh those things are so good too!
The Moar You Know
@Cermet: I don’t know. They make me vomit.
Growing up, they were the only kind of peas allowed in the house (my dad loved them) and we had them all the time. After my dad got out of the Air Force and we quit moving every six months, my mom set up a vegetable garden in our back yard and grew some peas. Which I ate raw. Couldn’t believe they were the same food as that shit in the cans. Delicious.
Never ate canned peas again.
SiubhanDuinne
@Emma:
…tripe, brains, sweetbreads of any description…
jl
Pick them young enough, freshly shelled raw peas are delicious.. Especially in Pacific NW and Alaska.
trollhattan
@debit: Dad liked pickled herring. There was usually a jar in the fridge and after pondering them for years and years I finally tried it, to my horror. Scarred me for years.
SiubhanDuinne
@debit:
Hah! My uncle and I used to eat kipper snacks straight from the can. We were always banished to the basement.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Oh. I wasn’t aware she was a moron.
debit
@Just One More Canuck: So glad I finished my lunch.
I had liver once at a tepanyaki grill and it was amazing. Tasted like steak. I figured nothing could ever beat that so I haven’t bothered to seek it out. Let it live in my tummy’s memory.
NotMax
Have a modernized version of a recipe* from the Renaissance for a luscious pea soup. Made it once many years ago while aunt from Brazil was visiting and she insisted on my sending her the recipe so the government there could serve it at a dinner they held for the Pope while he was there. Have a framed copy of the menu in the kitchen, wherein (in Portuguese) it is listed as “Pea Soup a la [my real first name].”
*Somewhat long and complicated, incorporating heads of braised butter lettuce in the soup.
@TenguPhule
Calf’s liver preferable when you can find it.. Soaked overnight in milk in the fridge. Makes it super tender and draws out any unmentionable stuff remaining within the organ. Light dusting of flour. With you all the way except for the bacon – you’re welcome to my portion of that.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: I remember to this day the sweetbreads I had at the long-closed Peristyle restaurant in New Orleans, probably more than 15 years ago. They were that good.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
My fondest desire is for Trump to be sentenced to a life of eating nothing but boiled tripe.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: there’s a store near me that has great pickled herring, wonderful with a little cheese on a fresh baguette.
Humboldtblue
Peas are nasty, asparagus is nasty and lime beans are nasty. I’ll fight anyone who disagrees.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Not a bacon fan?
It adds a smoky flavor to the fried liver, better then pan frying it with regular canola oil.
TenguPhule
@Humboldtblue:
Obviously Frankenfoods have gone too far.
dww44
I have to disagree about okra. I go to my local farmer’s market most weeks for the better part of the summer to buy fresh okra. There’s a great and simple recipe for roasting and/or grilling. If it’s tender don’t even remove the tough end; just sprinkle and stir a small amount of olive oil and sea salt and in about 15 to 20 minutes, you’ve got an incredibly tasty veggie side.
At the farmer’s market I also buy a particular kind of Southern pea known as “pink-eyes”. While there are also a couple of other types, like white acre peas, that can be found, everyone in this part of the country agrees that pink eyes are the best. Probably called that because when they are cooked, with the requisite small piece of pork streak-a-lean, They darken with a somewhat pinkish brown hue to the pot liquor. Eat with freshly sliced summer tomatoes and they become a meal in themselves. They are even better than our “butter beans”.
Major Major Major Major
Hmm, apparently Bernie will be visiting SF to talk about how awesome single payer is on Friday. Can’t help but think he might have better things to do this week.
Just One More Canuck
@debit: there are people who say that if it’s cooked properly, liver is really delicious. I take their word for it, because there’s no way I’m ever finding out for myself
How is Ellie?
Yutsano
@NotMax:
Probably French, as there are modern French pea dishes that call for cooked butter lettuce like that. But that would take more culinary anthropology than I can do at work.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ladyraxterinok: Those poor kids. I pity them like I pity Barron. Stuck with such odious examples of humanity as parents.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Humboldtblue:
I LOVE lima beans. Sadly, they don’t love me – they cut up my gut something awful for about 36 hours.
trollhattan
Donny’s an international hit!
NotMax
@TengulePhule
Won’t turn up my nose at it – mostly “meh” about it – and personally find it adds nothing particularly appealing to most dishes (and can easily overwhelm them) of the non-hors d’oeuvre variety.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
OT – having my afternoon cappuccino across the street from my office.
I’m swooning over a woman I’m deeming perfect 2nd wife material. She’s gorgeous, early 40s, got a great voice.
Nicole
@zhena gogolia: I confess, I read your comment and tried to imagine eating freshly shucked peas, and no joke, I started to get a little anxious. Some food aversions just linger.
I like asparagus a lot (fresh, not canned, of course). I made a crustless asparagus quiche yesterday- the better half and I are doing low-carb, for the umpteenth time. When you do it vegetarian style it’s actually a pretty healthy way to eat. I wish I could sustain it for more than a couple of months, because I do such a good job cooking at home and eating lots of vegetables and feel so proud of myself, but sugar and convenience, they are seductive mistresses, to be sure.
MattF
@Death Panel Truck: When I eat peas, I eat only petite peas. Why anyone would eat any other kind of peas is a mystery to me.
ETA: On the other hand, it’s fair to note that I eat a lot of petite peas.
JCJ
@MJS:
Yes. My day would not have been complete without that information about your urine. Thank you!
The Golux
@zhena gogolia:
When we bought our first house, it came with an asparagus bed. The output was dwindling (I don’t think the bed had been prepared very well), but the few shoots we got were a revelation – easily the equal of peas from a freshly picked pod or strawberries warmed by the sun.
TenguPhule
Got to be fucking kidding me.
90 seconds.
Villago Delenda Est
@Major Major Major Major: Like, oh, I don’t know, tell Cassidy and Graham to shove their bill up their asses?
Kathleen
@Eric NNY: New Sci Fi genre, Return of The Frozen Pod Peaple. You’re. welcome.
Corner Stone
Holy crikey. MSNBC just ran a pro-Qatar commercial. That’s the first time I’ve seen something like that, IIRC.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Don’t know the pedigree. May well have originated in France but suspect it migrated to Britain as the original recipe is named for Lord Lumley.
Felanius Kootea
I need a pie-filter for this presidency.
Amaranthine RBG
I can’t believe asparagus lost the election to Donald Trump. Asparagus is possibly the worst vegetable of all time.
If only democrats had nominated the bowl of mushed up canned peas.
SiubhanDuinne
@Felanius Kootea:
You’re in luck! Today is “Talk Like A Pie-rate” Day!
MattF
@Amaranthine RBG: So, you mistreat your asparagus.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@schrodingers_cat: @Gin & Tonic: I was shocked. Frankly, I think of voting as a duty for people who have the right to choose their own government. In the history of the world, it’s a rare privilege.
Mel
@TenguPhule: I’m with both of you. I need a break from the stress. For a lot of reasons, today is a shitshow of a day. I had a doctor appt. yesterday to go over the info on the chemo med that I need but can’t afford. Each treatment is nearly 1,500 dollars. And that’s “just” my copay portion. Without insurance, it would be over $6,000 per infusion. Still can’t afford it either way. Definitely not a pleasant way to start off the week.
And then this week the Graham-Cassidy nightmare gains speed. And nuclear tensions build. And my friends are afraid to let their kiddos drive to school functions for fear that they might encounter a simple traffic violation stop and never come home again. And I have immigrant neighbors who are afraid as they arrive at work each day, afraid to put their baby in the stroller and take a walk to the corner store, afraid to go sign in and get a flu shot because they know that any day might be “the day” when their lives get turned upside down.
Who would have guessed that there were so damned many monsters in this country, hiding in plain sight? Everyone expects a certain percentage of any population to consist of negative, obstructive, or downright destructive individuals. But I truly never imagined the sheer volume of people who would purposefully, happily inflict economic, social, and health related pain and injury on both total strangers and on people that they know and claim to care about.
Today I feel absolutely sick at heart as well as ill. I just feel like I’m all out of fight, and I feel deeply, exhaustingly sad because as crappy as things are for me right now, it’s even worse for so many good people out there.
So, yes. A good cry, more calls and emails to my senator who only believes in dodging and voicemail, and then maybe something on Netflix to distract me a little while I wrestle with insurance paperwork. Any viewing suggestions would be appreciated.
@rikyrah: My grandmother used to cook liver and serve it in a similar way. That plate of food looked so good, with caramelized onions, creamy mashed potatoes and that rich, luscious gravy and a big side of cinnamon stewed apples! Same here – one bite of that liver, huge gag, never-never-never-EVER again!!!
trollhattan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Have just the song for your magic moment.
SiubhanDuinne
Entirely O/T, but it is an open thread:
Has anyone read the new book by E. J. Dionne, Norm Ornstein & Thomas Mann, One Nation After Trump? I’m listening to Dionne and Ornstein on Fresh Air right now, and it sounds interesting. Just wondered if any of you has had a look, and what you think.
eclare
@TenguPhule: Bacon wrapped goose livers are quite tasty.
debit
@Just One More Canuck: She’s good! Moving a little slower, sleeping a little longer and a little harder of hearing, but otherwise she’s still trucking on.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: “Strength without nuance”, wow! (Just saw this walking the thread backwards from @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)‘s comment)
It’s one thing for a journalist to say they won’t tell you their political preference because they have some screwy desire to maintain a veneer of impartiality, but it’s a special kind of dumbass journalist who doesn’t vote.
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
I cannot conceivably eat so much pie and say that as one quite fond of nice pie.
Humboldtblue
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Cucumbers for me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mel:
I am so sorry. What a shitshow of a fucked-up nightmare.
All I can do from here is cry and rage with you, and offer you an infinity of {{{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}. I hope — and I absolutely have to believe — that things will get much better for you and for all of us. May it be sooner rather than later.
Villago Delenda Est
@trollhattan: These reactions by furriners only further delight Donald’s deplorable base. He’s giving them exactly what their ignorant asses want.
Fuck these people. Strip them of their citizenship and deport them to the land of their dreams…Mother Russia.
Nicole
@SiubhanDuinne: I have not read it, but a very belated thanks to whomever it was on BJ (I’m pretty sure it was one of you jackals) who recommended American War. I really enjoyed it, and I’m not a huge fiction reader.
trollhattan
@Mel:
Horrible. What are your options? I can’t stand that the “World’s greatest medical system” effectively rations medical care.
Jeffro
Whirled peas? Whirled peas? Imma whirl a whole, sealed can of peas at that jackass for embarrassing our country like this.
Cermet
@Mel: Damn; so very sorry to hear that. Hang in there and I do hope you find a way to afford the chemo – that is essentrial health care and to have such a high co-pay is criminal in this country
trollhattan
@Cermet:
-“Rich people, we’re here for you 24/7.”
-“Middle class, we’re here for you 24/7 until such time as you go bankrupt.”
-“Poor people, you should work your way out of poverty.”
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
They’ve been quite busy buying online ads at all the major papers ever since the crisis.
NotMax
Used to be a local fast food place near Goshen, NY specializing in fried chicken which always had both fried breaded chicken livers and also fried breaded chicken gizzards on the menu. After I-84 was opened, passing by there was a regular occurrence on the new travel route from NYC to the Poconos.. Made a point of stopping by, then munching on an order of the livers during the rest of the drive.
@eclare
Easy to prepare, tasty and impressive on a platter are bacon wrapped water chestnuts.
The Dangerman
What kind of a sick, demented fuck would put peas in Guacamole? This is even more inconceivable than what kind of a sick, demented fuck would vote for Trump? At least the latter can be explained by tribalism, greed, or brain damage. Peas in guacamole … ok, maybe brain damage fits. I’d rather listen to a Trump campaign rally on endless loop than peas in guacamole.
TenguPhule
@eclare:
Indeed. Bacon wrapped around almost anything improves it.
TenguPhule
@NotMax: Fried Chicken Gizzards are good. But so few places serve them here.
Felanius Kootea
@SiubhanDuinne: LOL!
@Comrade Scrutinizer: I also used to hate brussels sprouts until I learned to roast them after adding a light coating of olive oil and tossing with rosemary and a little bit of salt. Oh my God it is deelish! Still can’t stand boiled brussels sprouts though.
TenguPhule
@Mel: I hope things turn around for you.
germy
Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump Jr. dropped their Secret Service detail. They say it’s for privacy reasons?
Can someone here explain the real reason, or is that the real reason? I don’t understand this and I don’t recall it ever happening in any other administration.
Corner Stone
The GOP Senators are holding a live Q&A informing us all exactly how they plan to kill us.
A Ghost To Most
@TenguPhule: eat the bacon; toss the liver.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
It may be a silly one, but it’s a longstanding tradition (and was expected as a condition of continued employment for many decades) that news reporters (as opposed to feature or sports, etc. scribes) refrain from voting.
Corner Stone
@germy: DT Jr I can see as being a threat assessment to nat’l security. I mean his being kidnapped, not his treasonous actions.
But the worst thing KAC can look forward to is a cream pie in the face.
A Ghost To Most
@Felanius Kootea: Try splashing some balsamic vinegar on the roasted brussel sprouts.
trollhattan
@The Dangerman:
It’s probably on accounta this.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Healthcare or Warfare?
Another Scott
@germy: Maybe related, maybe not – Trump’s drained the Secret Service budget with all his trips, etc. (from August 21):
TANSTAAFL.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
@Corner Stone: You’re right.
so why would Junior not want protection? It doesn’t make sense to me. Do they think the guys with the black suits, sunglasses and earphones are giving away their secrets?
Corner Stone
My mom and dad both loved liver and onions from Luby’s. I caution my son to try new food items at least once before deciding they are not for him. I can tell him I will never eat liver ever again because I tried it once. Once.
germy
@Another Scott: Thanks for that link; I wasn’t aware of all the details.
NotMax
@germy
It was unusual for them, as adults, having the Secret Service cohort to begin with and there’s certainly speculation that the dropping of same is due to the fact – and the precedent – of Secret Service agents being called to testify in court cases involving those to whom they were assigned.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: I think it’s more accurate to say that it was a tradition. Anybody who continues it to this day is a special kind of stupid.
ETA I’d say it’s the hack gap striking again but it’s far too idiotic a thing to do
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Graham – Cassidy “Health” plan.
germy
@NotMax: Least transparent admin ever. They don’t even trust their security detail.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne: I haven’t read it (or ordered it) just yet, but it’s on my Amazon wish list. The review in the WaPo was pretty good but noted it seemed to be lacking in the “how”, as in, “how do we get from here to a better place given the current climate and political actors?”
WaterGirl
@Spanky:
There really is a god.
Gin & Tonic
Just got reports from friends of my son of an earthquake in Mexico City.
Jeffro
Btw (since this is an OT): everyone in my office loves the pimiento cheese I whipped up last night and brought in today, but I’m getting dinged by a few for not using Duke’s mayonnaise. Purists!!
sherparick
@schrodingers_cat: Not afraid to sound like Hitler in front of the whole world.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
/Deep Breath
How bad is the Q&A?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@trollhattan:
Nice. ??
My motto in these fantasy things is simple:
She was talking to another woman, also attractive, 30s. While imagining the impossible, I upped it to threesome. Sure, if actually attempted, 99 times in 100 you get slapped and tracked down on social media so that your spouse, children, mother, pastor and business associates can be told about what a motherfucking sick perverted bastard you are, but what if it pans out that one time? Is that not worth it?
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, being reported as a 7.1, with a couple of sources saying 7.4. Yikes. It’s centered in Puebla, just a bit SE of Mexico City. No reports of damage/casualties yet.
rikyrah
The purpose of the Republican health care plan remains elusive
09/19/17 02:11 PM
By Steve Benen
When Democrats originally tackled health care reform in 2009, there was no great mystery surrounding their motivations. As we discussed several months ago, Dems in Congress and the White House identified some key systemic problems – too many Americans lacked basic health coverage, and even those with insurance faced costly risks – and then worked on a solution.
Maybe you liked what they came up, maybe you didn’t, but either way, there’s no question as to why Democrats created the Affordable Care Act. They had specific goals, and by and large, they’ve achieved them.
Eight years later, Republicans are obviously determined to overhaul the nation’s health care system, but the purpose of their crusade is far less clear.
At the surface, we know GOP lawmakers are scrambling to pass their latest proposal because they hate “Obamacare,” and because they made a public commitment to destroy it. But putting aside displays of raw partisan power, we can circle back to a point Peter Suderman raised in March and ask a more fundamental question: what is the substantive purpose of this endeavor? What is the policy problem Republicans are attempting to solve?
It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with their criticisms of “Obamacare.” Going into the debate, the ACA’s Republican critics said the current system didn’t cover enough people and imposed costs on consumers that were too high. Their “solution,” such as it is, will cover far fewer people and likely force premiums higher.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl:
“Yer not gonna shave your head are ya?”
lurker dean
@Mel: all the best to you, mel, you have a lot on your plate. if you like the twilight zone, black mirror on netflix is like a modern version. sense8 is a very diverse show with a lot of bad guys getting their due (always fun to see), though for me it’s getting a bit stale in season 2 – imo they’re not doing enough with the interesting connections they’ve set up. we enjoyed the “OA” on netflix as well, fairly interesting story, good escapism. all that said, i have pretty low expectations for tv, i’m satisfied if it’s good enough to keep my attention for a little while and not too insulting to my intelligence, lol. oh, and stranger things was okay too on netflix…
rikyrah
Just called Lisa Murkowski’s office & was told they WELCOME calls from those outside the state.
Please call! 202.224.6665 #GrahamCassidy
— ❄️Mama Snowflake❄️️ (@northeast_mama) September 18, 2017
Felanius Kootea
@Betty Cracker: Okra soup is my favorite Nigerian soup. I like it nice and slimy with habanero peppers and pounded yam. When I make it, my husband gets ready to curl into a fetal ball. He is not Nigerian but will eat any Nigerian food except for that. I don’t make it often any more but I do love it. He does love sauted okra though, so I put that in groundnut (peanut) soup and he wolfs that down (because the okra doesn’t come out slimy).
rikyrah
?A university president held a dinner for black students — and set the table with cotton stalks and collard greens t.co/hC77x0Qm2o
— Donna NoShock (@NoShock) September 19, 2017
sheila in nc
@dww44: It’s true that almost anything is better when it’s fresh. We started getting okra in our farm box (I would never have voluntarily purchased it) so I had to research some way to make it palatable (and non slimy) besides gumbo. The key is dry cooking: roasting or sauteing. No moist cooking methods. You can cap them, split, mix with sliced onions and toss in olive oil, then roast for 15 min or so. Really quite good and a whole lot easier than frying.
Mel
@rikyrah: Thank you for this! Calling right now!
Corner Stone
@lurker dean: The first season of Sense8 ended so weirdly that I have been hesitant to try season 2. I liked pretty much all the episodes until about the last 3. It’s like they weren’t sure they were getting renewed for S2 so they had to drag the Big Bad into view much quicker than they should have.
SFBayAreaGal
@TenguPhule: My grandmother and mom would fix us fried chicken gizzards and liver. She and my grandfather used to own a chicken farm. They cooked and ate most parts of the chicken
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
Thanks for the link to the review. The reviewer had me deciding to order the book when she wrote:
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Beat me to it.
Everyone talking about veggies and legumes,
and Bird’s Eye and Pop Eye, and bye bye and bye bye…
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
Repatriated
Usually posts about peas are buried pretty far down, but not here — there’s one on the front page!
Peas, Unearthed! Good!
Well, two, man.
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Ben quite a passel o’ years since did so but used to make regular monthly visits to the local IHOP solely because they always had liver and onions on the menu.
Aleta
@bemused: Roasted asparagus intoxicated me the first time.
Pasta, garlic and fine chopped fresh parsley cooked in olive oil goes great with a side of plain green peas.
A curse on every variety of war profiteer.
Mel
@trollhattan: Not many, unfortunately. We have one more remotely possible avenue to try and reduce the copay portion amount, but I’m not counting on it.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: The purpose of the Republican health care plan is to deny health care to millions so the obscenely wealthy can become even more obscene.
SFBayAreaGal
@Humboldtblue: A person after my own heart
sheila in nc
@The Moar You Know: FYI, the third ingredient in Le Sueur peas is sugar… just sayin’.
Shana
@MJS: Thank you for sharing.
Phylllis
@Jeffro: Heh. One day not long after then-boyfriend, now-husband moved in with me several years ago, he was digging around in the fridge and finally asked “where’s the Hellman’s?”. I responded “whazzat?” then changed his life by introducing him to Dukes.
MomSense
Roast your asparagus with olive oil, s&p. You won’t have the stringy problem. You also have to break off the woody bottom part of the stem.
trollhattan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Trying is the only inoculation against a later infestation of coulda-woulda-shoulda and besides, what’s not memorable about a spirited public slap? Telling the story correctly will get you a lot of free drinks from approving dudes.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
The philosophical issue is to get the federal government out of the social insurance and health care business and to let private markets control healthcare. So states will get money that they can use for minimal, not even safety net level medical life support, but Medicaid will be cut big time, and anything approaching universal health coverage will be killed, totally nipped in the bud. This will also allow for massive tax cuts for the rich.
Note that people like Rand Paul is still not happy with this, since he is holding out for libertarian fantasy land, and the idea that health care Nirvana will unfold when individuals fight like dogs in the free market arena to survive.
Oh, yeah, the GOP will take care of poor and middle class women by killing Planned Parenthood.
Your government, saving you from yourselves.
It’s enough to almost make you wish for the warm embrace of nuclear destruction.
..
The Lodger
@Corner Stone: I’m calling it healthcare repeal.
TenguPhule
@SFBayAreaGal:
Sounds like you had a lucky childhood. :)
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: I love that movie.
Ladyraxterinok
@bemused: He’s really big on selling those buckets and does it frequently. According to his crew, there will soon be major unrest and only those with his food will survive. If there’s an attempt to impeach Trump, real patriots (those who believe he is annointed by God) will take to the streets.
There are many videos of his shows on youtube. I watch him, John Hagee, Perry Stone, Jonathan Cahn, Jack van Impe, Hal Lindsey, and others in order to know what many Evangelicals are ‘learning’ in church and from watching CBN (Pat Robertson’s network) and TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network).
Probably most of the people here have never watched any of these people. But million do and THEY VOTE!! 80% of white E vangelicals and 60% of white Catholics voted for Trump. Their votes put him in office. We ignore such programs and the real danger they pose to our country at our peril.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: I just got a picture of what looks to me to be about a four-foot-wide gap in the pavement at the entrance to the airport, and a video of dust rising from collapsed buildings in the city.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Or set Rand Paul on Fire.
NotMax
@MomSense
Nice thing is that the asparagus itself takes the guesswork out. It naturally breaks at the right spot.
Shana
@Betty Cracker: There’s an indian okra dish that one of our local places makes that’s fabulous. I found a similar recipe in Lord Krishna’s Cuisine that I make from time to time now that I’ve discovered an indian grocery nearby where they ALWAYS have okra. It’s dry fried so not at all slimy and so good.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I grill asparagus sometimes, which is sublime, but sometimes I brown the asparagus in a skillet on the stove with olive oil and pepper. Instead of salt, I sometimes grate a bit of fresh parmesan cheese on top instead.
Never actually thought of roasting asparagus in the oven. Not covered, I assume. What temp? I sometimes roast potatoes, onions, zucchini and peppers on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees.
sheila in nc
@Phylllis: Yeah, we’re transplanted Yankees (only been here 20 years, not nearly long enough) but discovering Duke’s was one of the enjoyable things about relocating to NC.
ETA besides knowing that my vote counts more than it did in Maryland.
rikyrah
@Mel:
Sending you positive thoughts and prayers.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne: Yup. Mann and Ornstein have been on the money about this for a while now…I think they wrote “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks” and then updated it as “It’s Even Worse Than It Was”, which ran on a bit but made the same point. Wish the general public and the Villagers shared their view that one side truly has caused 98% of the insanity.
Ladyraxterinok
@schrodingers_cat: Similar to driving slowly by a car wreck. Sort of hideous facination. Plus I want to know what the people who elected Trump are ‘learning.’
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: spices and dried mango powder (amchoor)
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Roast asparagus are tasty.
Roast green beans are a revelation.
Jeffro
@Phylllis: Thanks for the tip! I’ll make the switch as soon as Current Mayo Jar runs out.
karen marie
@Ruviana: Someone else may have mentioned this but I ain’t got time to read 200+ comments. Your pee will stink less if you don’t overcook the asparagus. If you eat it raw, it doesn’t stink at all. I like my asparagus basically just blanched, and I never have stinky pee after eating it.
lurker dean
@Corner Stone: yeah, that last episode was a doozy, seemed a bit self-indulgent. one of the reasons for cancellation is one of the big reasons i like it, all of the interesting location shoots around the world, which costs a lot of money. i’ve only been paying half-attention in season 2 and slow-watching it, i can’t even really remember what’s going on.
catclub
@Another Scott:
This always reminds me of TAFFOARD – Take a Flying Fuck On A Rolling Doughnut
p.a.
Peas finish off a non-seafood risotto nicely.
~ The Nads
RobNYNY
@Ruviana:
When I was a wee farmboy, asparagus grew wild along the roadsides for a few weeks in early summer. We picked it because we were poor, but it was one of those luxury items that paradoxically we had because we were poor. Morell mushrooms, pheasant, stone fruit from the orchard, homemade butter.
Another Scott
@Mel: :-(
If you haven’t seen it, Amélie is a wonderful film and might be a useful distraction.
Hang in there, and keep fighting.
Best wishes,
Scott.
trollhattan
@RobNYNY:
My folks did the same in Iowa, collecting it from country roadside ditches. This was way before every square inch of Iowa farmland was drenched in pesticides and fertilizer and would be ill-advised now.
HeleninEire
@debit: I love kipper snacks.
RobNYNY
@rikyrah:
Liver has to be one of the few foods where the goal of almost every form of preparation is to conceal its appearance, texture, and taste. Okra ranks up there, too.
RobNYNY
@trollhattan: @trollhattan:
We probably consumed a lot of lead from gasoline fumes.
catclub
@Humboldtblue:
How about just letting anyone who disagrees have your share?
Aleta
@HeleninEire: I love kippers for breakfast, with eggs or a grilled fresh tomato … Smoked mackerel works too.
NotMax
@RobNYNY
And, if in a rural area, from the oil that used to be sprayed along the shoulders for dust abatement/mosquito control.
RobNYNY
@NotMax:
Ah, roasted string beans. Butter, garlic, lemon, and maybe if you have the eye of an eagle, under the broiler instead. (Of course, eye of the eagle makes it non-vegetarian.)
One of my guilty pleasures is stopping at the local Chinese place for sauteed green beans, stopping at the Japanese place for teriyaki chicken, stopping at the Korean place for kimchi, and making an abomination of an Asian stir fry out of it. Like lutefisk with camembert and worcestershire sauce.
Mel
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: @NotMax:
Lima beans in Brunswick Stew: delicious!!
That is, as long as the Stew is made with chicken!
A very elderly relative had a “cooking receipts book” from the early and mid 1800s. It came into her possession when her Great Aunt passed away.
One of the hand-written recipes was for a version of Brunswick Stew, and it stated that “a goode pound the more or less of Squirrel or any other of various meats to hand will suffice.”
Obviously, the icky wording was the result of both bad pronoun choice and quirks of archaic usage, but my relative said she just couldn’t stop thinking about that awful turn of phrase. Pretty soon, the whole family had that line stuck in our heads, and everybody was imagining new and more repellant possible “various meats to hand” combinations. (“From squirrel to mouse to hand of spouse – it’s anything goes in “Brunswick Stew, Donner Party Variation!”, etc. )
It took a couple of years after that for me to decide to whip up a pot of Brunswick Stew again…
WaterGirl
@karen marie: @Ruviana: When you eat asparagus, eat a little pineapple along with it or drink a bit of pineapple juice – pee problem solved!
RobNYNY
@Mel:
As a wee farmboy, we had dead cow of one sort or another at every damned meal. Squirrel was our first choice of variety meat. Friendly little things, they come right up to you.
RobNYNY
@NotMax:
We lived in pretty hilly terrain where there was no standing water, so mosquitoes were not enough of a problem to require chemical control. A few nights a year of slapping your forearms and cheeks.
The Lodger
@Mel: My cat’s name is Brunswick. It’s never inspired me to eat Brunswick Stew, no matter what kind of ingredients you put in it.
Corner Stone
@RobNYNY: Your family ate your stock? Or someone else’s? And a person will waste more energy clubbing and preparing squirrels than they will receive back when eating them.
Corner Stone
@karen marie:
You probably do, but most likely don’t have the genes that enable you to smell the difference.
RobNYNY
@Corner Stone:
No, the bull calves are useless on a dairy farm, so they were either sold, or weaned and fattened a bit and served overcooked, like everything else. An old dairy cow who could no longer freshen could be made into all manner of sausage. “Head” and “cheese” should never be combined into one word.
We shot all small game (squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, partridge), with .22 caliber rifles. We mocked our neighbors who used shotguns and had to pick BBs out of their teeth. There was venison, too, sometimes identified as beef pot roast at inconvenient times of the year.
I think I could still dress a squirrel in the dark. It’s easier than it looks. A lot easier than eating artichokes, in fact.
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Takes little energy to pepare and place signs with arrows on them and the legend “SQUIRREL FUD.”
;)
RobNYNY
@NotMax:
We had such an abundance of hickory nuts and butternuts that we were more endangered by squirrels seeking dietary variety than they were by us.
NotMax
@RobNYNY
Do have a vague long ago memory of eating boiled acorns.
Which required boiling for something on the order of a fortnight. :)
TenguPhule
@RobNYNY: You are a remarkably enjoyable commentor to read.
Alain the site fixer
@Shana: I make that. I am not at home so no recipe, but I use a bunch of spices and besan chickpea four and it is to die for! Okra is just amazing if you can cook well with it, and so healthy too.
RobNYNY
@NotMax:
Acorns are extremely unpalatable, unless they are treated in some way to reduce the tannic acid, the same feature of oak that makes it suitable for tanning leather.
RobNYNY
@TenguPhule:
You know, the advantage of growing up poor* with one Irish grandmother and one Italian grandmother is that they know all of the secrets of how to make something out of nothing, how to preserve food, what foods don’t rot in the cellar, when you should save dinner’s grease for breakfast, when watering the soup will get the kids through the night, when pasta with butter and black pepper is a perfect meal for Lent.
*Poor meaning (i) for the Irish grandmother, working as a farm wife with no cash, but a five-acre garden and a small forest abundant with wild products like berries, game, nuts, and mushrooms, and (ii) for the Italian grandmother, working as a laundress, but going to the market at the end of the day when she could buy one really good ingredient that would have been thrown away if it didn’t sell, getting it cheap, and then stretching it with pasta and garlic. Like shrimp with pasta and garlic.
NotMax
@RobNYNY
Which IIRC is why they needed an extended boil, with frequent changes of water.
Do recall being sent out to gather them but have no specific recollection as to the taste.
Probably more common was to also cook the ever loving hell out of them then grind them after drying into flour.
RobNYNY
@NotMax:
Here it is.
wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=2947
The internet knows all, tells all.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
Soybeans? To eat? For Humans?
Are you mad, man? They’re terrible tasting even with all the garlic you can impose on them.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV: Edamame.
NotMax
@TenguPhule
Still unpalatable. Not as disgusting as natto, though, I’ll give you that.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
This is so wrong, I am angered by the promulgation of this falsehood. I don’t know where it came from. I will confess I have met some few reporters who “don’t vote” to remain “pure and unbiased.”
However, all it does is demonstrate the idiocy of those few reporters. If a reporter can’t dig up enough facts about two candidates to pick the winner, they aren’t a real reporter at all, but a publisher of press releases instead.
My family’s business for several generations was publishing newspapers. My wife was a correspondent for The AP for decades, and I worked at the family business as well, before veering of to a career developing software. Everyone we knew and worked with voted, and most had strong political opinions.
But they didn’t allow those opinions to affect their news judgement, they had an editorial page for their opinions. Attempting to appear unbiased by NOT VOTING is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of. It doesn’t make one appear unbiased, it makes one look either very stupid or biased as hell and trying to divert attention from that bias.
ETA: No offense intended, NotMax. Just a pet peeve of mine.
PIGL
@Just One More Canuck: sewer rat might taste like fried chicken, but I’ll never know.
RobNYNY
This is a list that a relative of mine and I compiled of our childhoods foods on the farm. (We shared the Irish grandmother, not the Italian one.) She remembers parsnips and beets, I don’t. I remember beef and venison sausage, she remembers pork sausage, but I don’t. We were poor, but a kind of poor that is hard to distinguish from … something like not being not poor. We both remember the small forest, about a quarter the size of Central Park, that was our shared back yard.
I first heard of “cow tipping” when I went off to college on the East Coast, and my reaction was: “Cows will kick the shit out of you if you try to harm them. They are big and gentle, but they will kick the shit out of you.”
Cultivated
Strawberries
Corn — Sweet
Cucumbers – Pickling
Cucumbers – Salad
Beans – String
Beans – Wax
Beans – Butter
Pumpkins
Squash – Various
Apples – Various
Cabbage
Cherries
Plums
Tomatoes
Potatoes – Various
Milk
Beef
Pork
Lamb
Veal
Onions – Various
Leeks
Scallions
Dill
Eggs
Chicken
Duck
Goose
Grapes — Concord
Butter
Bread
Jams and Jellies
Lard
Pears
Boston baked beans.
Wild
Nuts – Butternuts
Nuts – Hickory
Berries – Raspberries
Berries – Blackberries
Berries – Blueberries
Berries – Black Caps
Asparagus
Rhubarb
Game – Venison
Game – Squirrel
Game – Rabbit
Game – Quail
Pheasant
Fish – Carp
Fish – Trout
Fish – Bullheads
Fish – Bluegills
Fish – Crappies
Fish – Panfish
Fish – Sunfish
Fish – Muskie, pike
Mushrooms-Morells
Made
Bread
Boston Black Bread.
Cake—Various
Frosting
Molasses cookies
Sugar cookies
Mincemeat cookies
Brownies
Hamburger buns
Sausage – various
Frosting – various
Cattle Feed
Corn –Field
Oats
Hay – Alfalfa
Hay – Clover
Hay – Timothy
Hay – Grass
Corn – Silage
Coffee cake
Cinnamon rolls
Gingerbread
Nut bread
Purchased
Honey
Flour
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Chocolate
Yeast
Butter
Cheese
Gelatin
Spices
Coffee
Ice Cream
Vanilla
Bread
Marshmallows
Pudding
Coffee
Tea
Lard
Cheese
Bananas
Molasses
Things we didn’t eat
Mayapples
Other mushrooms
Acorns
Lima Beans
Red, black, pink, navy beans. We just didn’t eat beans that needed long cooking other than Boston Baked Beans.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
True, as a snack, so ya got me.
But those are immature baby beans, not really ripe yet. A ripe soybean is inedible in any way. Can’t be done. Cows and other livestock can barely get nutrition from un-processed soybeans.
NotMax
@J R in WV
Perhaps not universal, but had it on good authority from this gentleman.
Of course, colleagues when he was coming up the ladder had made their name during the 10s, 20s and 30s, when the ‘tradition’ was likely more prevalent.
PIGL
Singing:
I eat my peas with honey;
I’ve done it all my life;
It makes the peas taste funny;
But it keeps them on my knife.
Just One More Canuck
@PIGL: I’d rather eat sewer rat than liver – there’s a chance that it might taste okay, but there’s no way liver will
John Revolta
I like pickled onions
I like piccalilli
Pickled cabbage is all right
With a bit of corned beef on a Sunday night
I can go termatoes
But what I do prefer
Is a little bit of cucum
I come, you come
A little bit of cucumber!
TenguPhule
@J R in WV:
Miso.
/Yes, I know its a product of processing.
Bonnie
Peas are really great in spaghetti carbonara. Delicious!
tybee
@PIGL: damn. been near 50 years since i’ve heard that “jingle”.
tybee
@Major Major Major Major: there’s a difference between jam and jelly, too.
Mel
@RobNYNY: That list looks so familiar!! Take away the Boston baked beans, squirrel, and black cap berries, add some sunchokes, catfish, cornbread, grits, and soup beans, and you’re smack in the middle of the menus of my childhood.
We had woods on about 12 acres of our farm, meadow areas on about 3 acres, and a large creek running across the back of the acreage, so lots of berries, cress, and wild greens for forage.
The river was about a 10 minute ride away on horseback, so summertime fishing was a frequent event.
RobNYNY
@Mel:
And yet this is the paradox: I had that childhood because we were poor. To give a child that experience today would take great wealth. It would be easier to give a child a personal helicopter than 12 acres with berries and cress.
It was cheaper to own a horse than a car. Horses live on grass, cars need gasoline.
laoshilaine
Asparagus is fabulous, if you know how to separate the over ripe part of the stalk from the tender tip. It is delicious fresh picked, about 8″ out of the ground, or with butter or lemon or savoury flavoured Italian cheese, in a casserole, or in a salad. It is best picked when the tips are still tight against the stalk, before it becomes at all ferny. Gentle hold the base in one hand, and grasp the top of the stalk about 2″ below the tip. Bend the stalk until it breaks. Chuck the bottom to the birds or omnivorous animals about the place, and gobble up the tips yourself. Your pee might be bit smelly, but just try to avoid sticking your head in the toilet.
Duane
Peas on earth,good with my ham.