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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Night Open Thread

Monday Night Open Thread

by | 63 Comments

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I’ve tried to post like three times today, but all these fucking MLK hot takes are just making me want to puke. Getting very tired of random idiots and political telling me what he meant, which is invariably whatever advances their agenda.

That and the loss of Betty’s beloved Patsy really sent me for a loop- the suddenness of it gave me Tunch flashbacks, so I have been kind of avoiding the site today. I just feel so bad for Betty and her husband.

In other news, I went to make ice cream tonight, and realized halfway through I didn’t have enough sugar, so I substituted brown sugar. Realizing that was going to significantly change the taste, I decided to use a little butter rum extract along with vanilla, add a couple egg yolks, and then added some golden raisins to make a rum raisin. I’m using the gelato setting, and it should be done in about ten minutes, so I will update with a picture when I am done.

How about you all? And I am going to get these damned calendars done tomorrow.

*** Update ***

One thing that has become clear to me is that store bought ice cream uses WAY more sugar than what I use and far LESS cream.

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  4. 4.

    schrodingers_cat

    I too tried making ice cream today. My ice cream maker has stopped churning. Now I has a sad. I was trying to make blackberry icecream. Is it to be junked or can anything be done about it. Its a Cuisinart model.

  7. 7.

    DocSardonic

    @schrodingers_cat: Might not hurt to check with Cuisinart support, there may be a simple fix or part that could be consumer replaced. I have had success with that approach before on some small appliances.

  9. 9.

    Schlemazel

    That was a genius fix JC! If you think about it almost any kitchen disaster can be fixed with a little ingenuity.

    @schrodingers_cat:
    My guess is that it is the motor that went out. You could probably replace it but it would cost as much as a new one. But don’t take my word for it I am just guessing

  11. 11.

    jl

    I think it’s been more than 15 minutes. Cole mistake rum for rum flavor extract? Or did it not work. Or was it so good he is still eating his way through the whole thing?

    Edit: OK, it hasn’t been more than 15 minutes. I added the time zone difference wrong. Because why? Because Cole is getting rum raisin ice cream and I ain’t, so I am jealous. I am a bad person. Who can’t add.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    I bought a new computer because this one is 10 years old. has been rebuilt twice and has now taken to shutting itself down whenever it’s most inconvenient. I decided I have to clean up all the piles on my desk before installing the new one. I backed up everything important on two external hard drives and have gone through enough paper that the shredder is half full again and have a kitchen trash bag about 3/4 full.

    But the pile I have left is still huge.

  17. 17.

    japa21

    Hey, Cole’s ice cream actually looks pretty good. Miracles do happen. Any injuries to report, John?

  18. 18.

    Gravenstone

    @schrodingers_cat: You should be able to thaw the base then store it in the fridge for a couple of days (likely no longer) if you are looking to replace the ice cream maker quickly. Otherwise, maybe try pouring it into a large pan, sticking it in the freezer, then scraping it down with a fork as it freezes to make a pseudo-granita?

  22. 22.

    jl

    @Schlemazel: been 15 minutes now. Aaaannnd…. a pic is up.
    Damn, I can’t gripe about it. The fun is ruined and I am taking all my toys and going home.

    Looks good, Cole.

  24. 24.

    Schlemazel

    One thing that has become clear to me is that store bought ice cream uses WAY more sugar than what I use and far LESS cream.

    They also use a lot of stabilizers to slow down the melt which is faster when you don’t use enough cream. Pick up a quart of one brand & then of a different one, Feel the heft of each. the better one is heavier because of the cream while the crappy ones are lighter because they use cheap ingredients and a lot of stabilizers. If it does not melt in your bowl it is the worst of the worst.

  25. 25.

    Kristine

    I have to get a gelato/ice cream maker. I have a KitchenAide mixer–has anyone used the ice cream maker attachment? Do you like it?

    I’m not a rum raisin fan in particular, but damn that stuff looks good, Cole.

  29. 29.

    japa21

    @Kristine: We bought one this summer and never got around to trying it. That tends to be a habit with us. According to America’s Test Kitchen it’s okay, but the blade tends to get clogged.

  34. 34.

    Pogonip

    No Gahanna, Ohio cat updates yet, but Cole may be flattered to know that when you google “Gahanna Ohio cat hoarder,” several Balloon Juice posts come up.

    Cole, did you keep the white dog (I forgot her name)? She sounded like one who could easily become the Canine Love of MY Life, and probably yours. If I remember right, even the resident female dogs liked her.

  35. 35.

    donnah

    My outrage meter is as broken as S-cat’s ice cream maker. I emailed Senator Dick Durbin’s office today to offer my support and gratitude, even though I’m from Ohio. It seems like the Republicans will willingly, even gleefully drag the good names of people like Durbin and Martin Luther King, Jr through their muddy shithole. They have no souls. They never give up.

    It’s exhausting.

  37. 37.

    Schlemazel

    @schrodingers_cat:
    It might be as simple as tightening a set screw on a drive gear. If you can hear it turning but the shaft isn’t that seems like the most obvious cause. If the gears are plastic I suppose one of them might be broken. But whatever it is you probably have to open the case to see what it is.

    Just had a thought. Was it working hard before it stopped? Sometimes there is a protection circuit so it won’t overheat, I have never had an electric ice cream maker. Thats good for 2 reasons, I don’t make ice cream as often as I would like & the hand cranks are pretty simple/

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    New article on that WH meeting on immigration. It all unfolded as we’ve been thinking– trump was ready to deal and Durbin-Graham got sandbagged by Cotton-Goodlatte– except Kelly played a much bigger role than I’ve seen suggested before now

    In the late morning, before Durbin and Graham arrived, Kelly — who had already been briefed on the deal — talked to Trump to tell him that the proposal would probably not be good for his agenda, White House officials said. Kelly, a former secretary of homeland security, has taken an increasingly aggressive and influential role in the immigration negotiations, calling lawmakers and meeting with White House aides daily — more than he has on other topics. He has “very strong feelings,” in the words of one official.

  39. 39.

    Yutsano

    @Pogonip:

    but Cole may be flattered to know that when you google “Gahanna Ohio cat hoarder,” several Balloon Juice posts come up.

    As long as we’re still number one on skull fucking kittens I’m good.

  41. 41.

    dnfree

    @Mary G: Our bank has a shredding day annually, where you can take in two boxes per customer. (We define “box” liberally.) I still have a shredder for day-to-day stuff, but when I’m doing a big cleanup I just box it up and save to take to the bank. You might check with your bank and see if they do this.

  45. 45.

    Mary G

    @dnfree: The city I live in does free shredding of any amount twice a year, but I find it easier to just keep up with it at home. There isn’t much shredding in my current piles, it’s more research and make boring decisions, fill out forms, which I hate doing by hand, and filing, filing, filing. I hate filing.

    Do I need to know what the Aziz Ansari #MeToo thing is about or can I safely keep ignoring it?

  47. 47.

    B.B.A.

    @Mary G: I’m applying the Leonard Lopate rule. If off-color comments about the etymology of “avocado” are a career-ending offense, Ansari is certainly a goner.

  49. 49.

    dnfree

    @Mary G: Also, I agree on the filing and sorting. I have tons of genealogy stuff that my dad had collected over the years. As he developed dementia, he started making duplicate copies and starting new files (probably couldn’t find the old files). I have consolidated the files mostly but still need to go through and remove duplicates. And I don’t even care that much about genealogy–I just feel obligated to keep it in case some future generation does.

  50. 50.

    Yarrow

    @Another Scott: I used to love B&J’s Heath Bar ice cream, and also Coffee Heath Bar. Then for some reason they stopped using actual Heath Bars and started using some toffee bar they made up. Theirs is far sweeter than a Heath Bar and I hate it. Ruined the whole thing.

    They also use some stabilizer or something in their ice cream and I can’t eat much of it. Makes me sick. I can eat a bit, but if I have it several days in a row, even just small amounts, I’ll get ill.

  51. 51.

    danielx

    Ha…..caught me eating Homemade brand black raspberry chip.

    It does look good, that concoction up there, but I still get a little frisson at the thought of Cole using a powered kitchen appliance.

  53. 53.

    Greg Ferguson

    @Omnes Omnibus: LOL….headgear apart, I think it looks absolutely amazing. Sounds like you’re figuring out the ideal sugar/cream ratios. Doubt the brown sugar was a problem with the rum flavoring.
    Future possibilities: peach or apricot with a little almond extract thrown in?

  55. 55.

    joel hanes

    @satby:

    I used to make ice cream with my Kitchen Aid a lot.

    There’s a big Kitchen Aid about 30 feet from me.
    Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
    Freeze the bowl, you say. Do you also do the ice/salt bath while mixing ?

    If you’re ever in Mason City Iowa, go to Birdsall’s on Federal Ave. at the north end of the loop.
    For about seventy five years, they’ve hand-made their ice cream from cream, milk, sugar, and fruit,
    and sold it across an old-fashioned red-and-white counter.
    A hand-packed quart of their cherry nut is something to write home about.
    The strawberry is amazing.
    Butterscotch and root beer have cult followings.
    Malts have malt; shakes don’t; both are hand-mixed.
    Locals will tell you to order the hot fudge sundae, with salty chopped pecans.

    Heaven on a hot day.

  56. 56.

    SectionH

    @Mary G: I discovered the delight of taking quantities of papers to Kinkos when I had to deal with my aunt’s stuff. Academic, published, file cabinets of paper. It was cheaper the, only 4 years ago. I took a relatively small (wastebasket-worth) of our own stuff to be shredded to a Kinks a few weeks ago, and it was WATF expensive. I have a cheap crap shredder I hate to drag out to use, but guess I’m gonna need to make a place so it can be handy and I can do some catch-up/keep up.

  57. 57.

    Bess

    @dnfree:

    Digitize and store on Google Documents for free. Share the files with relatives.

    My sister and I have done that with family photos that go back into the 1800s. I figure Google will outlast our stuff when someone cleans up after we’re gone.

  59. 59.

    J R in WV

    Don’t scrimp on a shredder because the cheap motor will burn out rendering it less useful (haha).

    Wife was investigative reporter, shreds everything eventually, went through a cheap one, then got a top end one which has lasted… um, 15 or 20 years. Still grinds well, makes a terrible noise, but seems to be par for the course. Sounds like it is eating itself, but not. Will chop DVDs or CDs too, probably would do circuit boards no problem. Horse! Could supply brand, but think any top of the line will do, just not $59 cheapest one.

  60. 60.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @dnfree: Contact an appropriate local genealogical society. They’ll know the best archive to donate the boxes to.

    If you’re willing to put in the work of copying them, also donate a copy to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

    I’m currently considering where to leave my research to, besides the FHL. TSLA and NCGA, most likely. May include a couple of universities that have collections for my areas as well.

  63. 63.

    karen marie

    @joel hanes: If you’re in or around Tiverton, Rhode Island (right on the Mass. border), I recommend Gray’s Ice Cream. They have ginger as one of their standard flavors. Crazy good stuff.

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