Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

This really is a full service blog.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

Not all heroes wear capes.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Respite Thread – Look What I Found In The Freezer!

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  2. 2.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    My wife (who lived in Taos when she was younger) introduced me to Hatch green chiles a few years ago and I have absolutely fallen in love. We keep several lbs in our freezer at all times so we can always whip up some hues rancheros or stew. Love them on burgers too (this is our staple dinner when we go camping). Last October I finally got to visit Taos and eat tons of New Mexican cuisine for about a week in the midst of the fall colors. It was wonderful. Can’t wait to get back there.

  3. 3.

    low-tech cyclist

    Here in the DC area, the last few days have truly been spring. The trees finally have their leaves, but here in southern Maryland, they’re still that wonderful light green color they have when they’re still new. When I’ve gotten off work, the late afternoons have been perfect for sitting out on the deck with a drink and a book or my laptop. It’s going to be a bit cooler and cloudier today, but that’s OK. Winter’s gone for real.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    After a brief false start in March spring is really here–mid-80s today and I’m not at work. Yee-haw!

    Here comes the pollen.

  5. 5.

    I'll be Frank

    It’s almost time to go pick some blueberries. The supply in the freezer is getting short. Soon enough will be peach picking time. Those get put up, and the kitchen will be a hot sugar water peachy mess for a week-end. Together with some of those blueberries they help keep spring in mind all year.

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    Ooh, Acrobat just scrolled past a cite “Call records of Erik Prince”

    Erm, wrong thread. :-(

  8. 8.

    James E Powell

    I got a bunch of really good tasting strawberries, first of the season, and I’m trying to come up with something other than the usual shortcake or strawberry bread. Any suggestions?

  10. 10.

    Nicole

    That looks delicious.

    Me, I bought a small head of broccoli at the grocery store this morning to pan fry up with my lunch. Rinsed the head, cut off the florets, gathered them up in my hands, dropped them into the fry pan (already heated with oil), and then watched a frantic worm scramble to wriggle out of one of the florets before succumbing to a hot oily death.

    AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

  15. 15.

    Kelly

    We were awakened at dawn by the geese that appear to be nesting at the edge of the cliff on adjacent state park woods overlooking the river. We’ll know if that’s where they’re raising a family in a week or so.

  17. 17.

    lamh36

    Ok…so after my doctor’s appt today, I headed over to the local office to finish my TSA enrollment for pre-check.
    I figured since I fly so much, and don’t plan to stop that I should go on ahead and enroll in pre-check (next up will be global entry, since I also plan to fly internationally at least once a year if I’m able)

    Then I get home and see this on my news timeline.

    Flight attendant in coma after contracting measles https://www.cbsnews.com/news/measles-outbreak-flight-attendant-in-coma-after-contracting-measles/ via @CBSHealth

    VACCINATE YOUR FUQ’N KIDS PEOPLE…I travel alot at this point the airline should ask folks who bring kids on planes if they have been vaccinated…or I’m be like the do in Asia…I’m be wearing a mask everytime I fly!

  18. 18.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Nicole: Think of it as a little extra protein. ;)

    daryljfontaine at #15 got there ahead of me. Great minds etc.

  24. 24.

    Barbara

    @James E Powell: I could eat a pint of strawberries every day, preferably sliced, with sugar and whipped cream. The great thing about strawberries is that you don’t need to do anything. However, here is an approximation of a dessert that I had at a local restaurant that was just fabulous: http://www.foodthinkers.com/greek-yogurt-panna-cotta-with-strawberry-rhubarb-sauce/ Normally I share dessert with my husband, but in this case, we each got our own and probably would have gotten two apiece if we had less shame.

  25. 25.

    lamh36

    @lamh36:

    Majority of adults do have an MMR, many of them have to for work…but in some may need a booster, still the biggest vector is the non-vaccinated kids, who then spread it to the others and then next the adults.

    Vaccination doesn’t mean you won’t get the disease, it just lowers your chances if you come in contact with someone who has it or has been exposed…and by other being vaccinated that means the exposure to the disease is less so.

    Thank for coming to my Microbiology TED TALK

    Signed…Certified, Licensed Microbiologist!

  28. 28.

    Jager

    I have pneumonia, feel like shit. Couldn’t eat last night, woke myself up coughing a couple of times and thought, “why try to sleep?” I was up from 2 to 5:30, then slept until 8:30. Of course I was starving. I had a coffee and a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies, still hungry. I found some left over Chinese food in the fridge, sesame chicken and hot and sour soup hit the spot. BTW, if you want to scare yourself to death, read the “adverse effects” notifications on the antibiotics they give you for pneumonia.

  29. 29.

    Mary G

    It’s not respite, but I need to whine. After an almost 4-year remission, my rheumatoid arthritis has come roaring back. I left a full glass of water by the bed so I could take pills before getting up and the cats knocked it over. I have to wait until Monday to have the first Rituxin infusion due to the new oncologist’s need to piss around so I have to go through four more days of every joint in my body being swollen and red like I managed to sprain them all at once.

    OK off the pity pot. I will survive and once again be grateful for having the ability to pay for great insurance so I only have to wait 10 days instead of the months it takes somebody on Medi-Cal, or never for the poor people who have a $2,500 co-pay and no money. I am truly privileged and need to shut up.

  33. 33.

    Jager

    @Jager:

    One of the “Adverse effects” is “confusion in older adults” that’s kicked in as you can see by my misspellings and using a slash for a question mark. That and I couldn’t edit.

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    @lamh36:
    Selfish people are in fact and in deed reintroducing vanquished diseases back into the general population. There otta be a law.

  37. 37.

    ljt

    @James E Powell: If you want something savory, this is a great salad dressing. I serve it on a simple salad of baby spinach, sliced strawberries and pistachios. You could easily add a protein (like grilled chicken) to make it a meal.
    Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
    – 1 cup strawberries
    – ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
    – ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
    – 1 tblsp Dijon mustard
    – 1 clove garlic, minced
    – ¼ tsp salt
    – ¼ tsp pepper
    1. Preheat oven to 425
    2. Rinse the strawberries and remove the stems. Line a baking sheet with foil, folding the edges up so that you create a small wall on all sides to prevent any juices from running out. Place in the oven and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until caramelized.
    3. Once the strawberries have cooked, add all the ingredients to a blender. Be sure to include the juices that came out of the berries while roasting. Purée the mixture until smooth and consistent. Serve cold and keep refrigerated.

  38. 38.

    trollhattan

    What fresh hell is this?

    Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her school in Bangladesh. Less than two weeks earlier, she had filed a sexual harassment complaint against her headmaster.

    Her courage in speaking out against sexual assault, her death five days after being set alight and everything that happened in-between has gripped Bangladesh and brought attention to the vulnerability of sexual harassment victims in this conservative South Asian country.

    Nusrat, who was 19, was from Feni, a small town 100 miles (160km) south of Dhaka. She was studying at a madrassa, or Islamic school. On 27 March, she said the headmaster called her into his office and repeatedly touched her in an inappropriate manner. Before things could go any further she ran out.

    At the local police station she gave a statement. She should have been provided with a safe environment to recall her traumatic experiences. Instead she was filmed by the officer in charge on his phone as she described the ordeal.

    In the video Nusrat is visibly distressed and tries to hide her face with her hands. The policeman is heard calling the complaint “no big deal” and telling her to move her hands from her face. The video was later leaked to local media.

    On 27 March, after she went to the police, they arrested the headmaster. Things then got worse for Nusrat. A group of people gathered in the streets demanding his release. The protest had been arranged by two male students and local politicians were allegedly in attendance. People began to blame Nusrat. Her family say they started to worry about her safety.

    …Police Bureau of Investigation chief Banaj Kumar Majumder said the killers wanted “to make it look like a suicide”. Their plan failed when Nusrat was rescued after they fled the scene. She was able to give a statement before she died.

    “One of the killers was holding her head down with his hands, so kerosene wasn’t poured there and that’s why her head wasn’t burned,” Mr Majumder told BBC Bengali.

    But when Nusrat was taken to a local hospital, doctors found burns covering 80% of her body. Unable to treat the burns, they sent her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. In the ambulance, fearing she might not survive, she recorded a statement on her brother’s mobile phone.

    “The teacher touched me, I will fight this crime till my last breath,” you can hear her say. She also identified some of her attackers as students at the madrassa.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    @Mary G: This is BJ and you are suppose to share with us. I’m sorry that you have to wait until Monday before you will be able to get some relief.

  40. 40.

    KrakenJack

    @James E Powell: You can’t go wrong with just a spritz of good quality balsamic vinegar on your strawberries. We got some strawberry balsamic vinegar in Napa that ups the intensity even more.

  42. 42.

    Matthew Coleman

    @TaMara (HFG): Oh… OH! OH BOY OH BOY OBOYOBOYBOYOBOY TAGALONGS!!!

    Thank you for reminding me, had totally forgotten about the THREE BOXES OF TAGALONGS I stashed after the Girls Scouts descended on the local grocery store.

    happy dance

  44. 44.

    cope

    @James E Powell: I like to dip fresh strawberries in raw honey and gobble them down. If the honey is local, I have been told that the local pollen in the honey will help your body steel itself against pollen allergies. At least, that’s what the honey vendor at the farmer’s market told me (as if I need extra incentive to buy fresh, local honey).

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:

    I am truly privileged and need to shut up.

    You have a right to complain about your problems even if others have it even worse. First world problems are still problems.

  49. 49.

    germy

    Woman lived to be 99 despite organs on wrong side of body

    She had a 5 percent to 13 percent chance of living past age 5, but she didn’t know that. Rose Marie Bentley lived longer than most, making it to age 99.

    Why such low odds for the beginning of her life? Bentley was born with a condition called situs inversus with levocardia, an abnormality where her liver, stomach and other abdominal organs were on the right side of her body instead of the left.

    Her heart, however, remained in the normal position, on the left side of her body.

    Despite Bentley having three organs removed during her life, she and her family had no idea the Oregon woman had the condition. Only the doctor who removed Bentley’s appendix noted its unusual location in her body.

    The discovery was made by medical students in a gross anatomy class at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Bentley donated her body to the school.

    https://dailygazette.com/article/2019/04/15/woman-lived-to-be-99-despite-organs-on-wrong-side-of-body

  50. 50.

    Kristine

    I love finding pleasant surprises in the deep freeze. Butternut squash soup from the fall. That last container of marinara.

    I learned about pickled grapes this past month, and made a small batch. I used red grapes instead of green. Great with sandwiches, baked fish, cheeses.

  52. 52.

    Leto

    Excellent weather today. Mid 70s and it just feels wonderful. Took the dog for a nice long walk. She’s been sleeping ever since we got back so I know it was good. Also our new bed was delivered today (the old one was… old). I’m going to sleep in our bed for the first time in six months. Continual forward progress ?

  53. 53.

    The Moar You Know

    I travel alot at this point the airline should ask folks who bring kids on planes if they have been vaccinated

    @lamh36: It’s not kids that are usually the vectors on a plane, it’s adults.

    And because I’m in a “suspect” group of people born between 1963-1967 (the vaccine they used in those years was not the best), I’m in conversation with my doc about getting another dose of MMR myself.

  55. 55.

    Tenar Arha

    @Mary G: I’m very glad you have available treatment. Also too, please don’t feel you need to “shut up,” unless that’s a usual part of your process, for any of us, okay?

  57. 57.

    different-church-lady

    Sharing for no particular reason…

    After a few days of having the “black dog” biting me hard, this afternoon I’ve been trying to sort out my thoughts and emotions (unrelated to politics). And I don’t know why exactly, but I’m sitting here a bit awed by how, so much more clearly than ever before, I can see just how badly depression takes over and warps my powers of logic and reason.
    When i am depressed, the despair “adds up” logically — everything is hopeless becomes the outcome of all equations, and it doesn’t for a moment strike me that the math might be off.

    It’s a weird revelation — all the answers, internally, can be completely different one day to the next? I’d like to think that emotion and reason are at least somewhat compartmentalized, but I now understand that even in someone who places an extremely high value on reason, things can go haywire on a temporary basis. Every once in a while emotion just grabs the wheel and the bus starts going in bad directions, and everyone else on board falls into a coma.

  59. 59.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    Judging from the picture, accompanied by a tequila grande.

    Surely a Tequila Vente is required in these troubled times.

  60. 60.

    raven

    @different-church-lady: Have you read Darkness Visible by William Styron?

    “A work of great personal courage and a literary tour de force, this bestseller is Styron’s true account of his descent into a crippling and almost suicidal depression. Styron is perhaps the first writer to convey the full terror of depression’s psychic landscape, as well as the illuminating path to recovery.”

  61. 61.

    TenguPhule

    @Nicole:

    and then watched a frantic worm scramble to wriggle out of one of the florets before succumbing to a hot oily death.

    At least you know no pesticides were used!

  62. 62.

    Leto

    @Mary G: I’m sorry you’re feeling like shit and have to wait so long for help. Your pain is your pain and you have every right to express it.

    @Jager: I hope you feel better soon. Take your meds!

  63. 63.

    different-church-lady

    @raven: I haven’t. Looking at the Wiki page on it right now, and will definitely check it out. Thanks!

  64. 64.

    raven

    @Leto: I’m still waiting to talk to my next door neighbor after his Friday night episode being naked and screaming on his porch until the wee hours. The cops said they couldn’t do anything while he was in his house and he’d dash in whenever they showed up. I’m uncertain if this happens because he takes drugs or because he doesn’t but I’m going to find out this time.

  65. 65.

    raven

    @different-church-lady: His daughter wrote a book after he died and talked about how many people accosted him on the street and thanked him for saving their lives with the book. It may not do that for everyone but it’s worth a look. It helped me understand what my ex was going through.

  69. 69.

    chopper

    late tonight i put the lamb leg in the water bath. giving it about 12 hours, then i bring it over to a cousin’s tomorrow afternoon to finish up for seder. speaking of which, i need to go get some coriander for the ras el hanout.

  71. 71.

    spudgun

    @different-church-lady: I hear ya – I also suffer from depression and coincidentally I’ve been feeling the same way this week. I was raised in a family that didn’t believe in depression, so in addition to the despair I’m also feeling guilty about it and kicking myself, saying “put your big girl pants on and get over it!” Hard habit to break…

    I hope you emerge very soon – be kind to yourself (I know, another really hard thing to do!). And always remember: DEPRESSION LIES.

  74. 74.

    Leto

    @raven: make sure to bring a taser and banana peel. And for the love of goodness, don’t record it! You’re not in Florida after all…

    Side note, book recommendation: Turtles All the Way Down, by John Green. It’s probably the most honest depiction of OCD I’ve ever read/seen. It’s not cute like, “Oh I just like a tidy house”, or depicted like the tv show Monk, but an honest description of the lack of control a person has and how it affects their life, as well as the people around them. (H/t Avalune)

  80. 80.

    JPL

    @Baud: Just remember there are other and safer ways to express ones frustration, especially on the campaign trail.

  84. 84.

    Leto

    @raven: oh man, you have a “special” neighbor. Uhm, shoot’em with the water hose when comes outside and say, “Bad dog! Bad dog!”? Get a cheap paint ball gun, freeze the paint balls, and then ding him while he’s out in his bathrobe?

  85. 85.

    raven

    @Leto: Some 20 years ago he got stupid with me when he was drunk and waited til he was sober and made it clear that shit was never happening again. This is different, he’s sick and needs help but he also is scaring people with kids in the area and we have to figure out what the deal is. Either it is drug induced or a result of not taking his meds,. The fact that his wife was absent leads me to believe they know it’s coming. I’ve talked to the cops and will not hesitate to call them immediately.

  86. 86.

    Leto

    @raven: I know I’m making light of what’s a bad situation. Stay safe in all of this. Hopefully the guy gets the help he needs.

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