I bought two cannoli yesterday, and basically I used them as a test of willpower all day long. I managed to wait until about ten minutes ago, and I think waiting made them taste better
That’s it. That is literally all I’ve got.
Open Thread
by John Cole| 84 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
randy khan
I would be unable to use cannoli as a test of willpower. You are a better man – or at least more stubborn than I.
zhena gogolia
Didn’t they get soggy?
dmsilev
I had heard good things about this pizza recipe so decided to give it a try for dinner tonight. Needs some preplanning (overnight rise of the dough), but the results are excellent.
Major Major Major Major
Apparently we’ve got somewhere around ten inches of snow incoming. We already went to the store to stock up. Got a big london broil, potatoes and onions, stuff for this chinese cumin beef recipe we like, big thing of ice cream, pasta etc. I kind of like being, not technically snowed in, but you know what I mean. So hopefully this is nice!
Yutsano
*sigh*
Dammit Cole. Cannoli are to be eaten as soon as they hit your hot little hands. Get some ice cream if you want to test your willpower.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
I guess I’m used to an overnight rise for my pizza dough. I use the same sourdough as I use for my bread- I split a batch of dough to make one loaf of bread and one pizza- and you’re always supposed to let it retard overnight. I have to start feeding my starter on Friday to have pizza on Sunday, but now that I’m used to the pattern it’s no big deal.
Redshift
I have been stretching out my Christmas chocolate much longer this year than I usually manage. Though maybe that’s more because I asked to be given less of it, and not so much increased willpower.
HumboldtBlue
I watched The Dig last night, enjoyed it very much. There’s a lot more to that story and if they had made it a series I’d watch.
Liverpool were very good today beating West Ham 3-1 and looking like the Reds we’ve grown accustomed to.
The 76ers came back from 20 down to beat the Pacers on the road so there’s that.
I salvaged an attempt at Irish Guinness Stew (which ended up very average soupy-soup cuz I was paying attention to other things, like sports) with two cups of pintos, two bunches of collard greens and then cooking it down.
I mashed 10 potatoes and then created a cheater’s shepherd pie by layering potatoes — stew mix — potatoes — stew mix — potatoes topped with Tillamook extra sharp yellow cheddar and then baked for 35 minutes. It was fucking good, and I froze two portions for later.
And the visual comment box is still not working properly.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major: I know what you mean. I wouldn’t want to not be able to leave the house, but not having to leave the house when the roads are shitty is a good feeling.
But that ice wouldn’t last in my freezer.
also
dww44
Personally I think you deserved those cannoli. I’m sitting here debating if I should treat myself to a Hershey’s dark chocolate nugget with almond . While writing this I got this news alert from CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/31/world/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-detained-intl/index.html
Eerily similar to our own experience since November. Only difference is that our military announced ahead of time it was going to honor our democratic and constitutional norms. I plan on sharing this with some Trumpies in my extended family. They know better and I’m not giving up now.
piratedan
and as we find out more about the events of January 6th and just who organized it, paid for it, incited the anticipated assault and who helped coordinate those attacking with who should be attacked, I think the GOP should be much more concerned about who the fuck in their caucus will be going to jail rather than pissing about getting the same treatment they doled out for the last four years… but based on their modus operandi over the last few decades, maybe the GOP is right and they really can thumb their noses at the press, the public and the supposed laws of our nation.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I bake sourdough bread on a regular basis, so it’s no big deal for me either, but just thought the time was worth mentioning. This recipe is more like the original no-knead bread; high hydration, small amount of yeast, and then a slow rise in the fridge (it does need folding at the beginning, so not quite no-knead).
Feathers
@dmsilev: I’ve been wanting to try that. My cast iron skillet is 12”. Do you think a stainless would work, that’s what I have in that size range.
I like the Smitten Kitchen Lazy Pizza with the no-knead dough. She gives three variations for different rise times, overnight, morning, and lunchtime to eat for dinner.
dww44
@piratedan:
I’m doing my part to make sure that those responsible are held accountable. To keep my focus I frequently reread Timothy Snyder’s Jan 9 American Abyss essay in the NYTimes magazine.
CaseyL
I’ve been reading some tweets about the coup in Myanmar, and many of the tweets still refer to the country as Burma – and many of the tweeters are activists who live in the country. I knew many people had been holding out on the change from Burma to Myanmar, but I thought they’d given up when the rest of the world switched over.
I’m also a bit puzzled at the strong support activists appear to be giving Suu Kyi. Her heroic, pro-democracy aura was considerably tarnished recently when she refused to condemn the genocidal policies aimed at the Royhinga.
I guess, like with Benazir Bhutto, you go with the pro-democracy heroes you have, not the ones you wish you had.
(And, yes, I am also having mild flashbacks to January 6, thinking about what would have happened if the US military had decided to throw in with T*’s coup attempt.)
guachi
I had some beef ramen after a 3 hour bike ride. Ramen tastes so good after a long ride.
Gary K
I was served cannoli in a restaurant without utensils, and the waitress seemed surprised when I asked for a fork. What’s the accepted method?
NotMax
Pan with eight pounds of pork loin slid into the oven a few minutes ago. Simple prep this time. Laid on a bed of sliced onions, sprinkled with black pepper, brushed with a combo of ground sage/minced garlic/teriyaki sauce. Din-din for the week.
Side note: Kudos is due for whoever came up with silicone roasting pans. No difference when it comes to the cooking process other than being too flexy to use solo on the oven rack so must be put on a cookie sheet; ten thousand percent easier to clean after roasting is done.
jl
” That is literally all I’ve got. ”
So, zero cannoli in stock right now, huh?
When I get stuff like that, I’m more eat a little bit at a time. Except that doesn’t work for cannoli because they’ll get soggy.
It seems like Cole ate both of them after torturing himself for a day. I’d eat them right away, and then savor the memory. That works if where you get them is far enough away that you won’t go buy them every day.
West of the Rockies
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Weird, it’s almost like Trump is a cheapskate cheater.
CaseyL
I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, which is fortunate as I’m a Type II diabetic – I’ve simply cut down on what was never an abiding passion.
But I do like very dark chocolate on occasion – and I may be developing an allergy to it. The last few times I’ve had some bittersweet, I’ve gotten all sneezy and sniffly. This does not please me. OTOH, it’s a minor reaction I can live with.
maeve
i watched The Dig – my reaction – it was a boringly pace move with strange cuts but there was such a good performance by Ralph Fiennes you don’t notice all that.
And I’m into the archeology – streaming Time Team from Amazon Prime – they make it much more exciting to faint streaks in the earth and a few pieces of pottery than all the gold that turned up in Sutton Hoo.
jl
@West of the Rockies: From the latest Trumplinology I’ve read, he might be planning to go walk down through the Senate chamber in person, represent himself, and argue that the election really was stolen, very bigly, by Biden. I’m not sure what his defense is exactly.
The election was stolen.
?????
I’m innocent.
Is that it? What is in the ‘?????’ ? That because I think, based on zero evidence, that election was stolen, it’s legal for me, while the sitting president, to plot an insurrection against the federal government?
If that’s it, OK, fine, Mr. Trump, proceed. Will be fun watching the Senate GOPers explain why they voted to acquit.
NotMax
Expect nearly all of y’all are not up for attending a theater, so store in the back of the brainbox for when it eventually streams. Looks good: The Courier, with Benedict C.
West of the Rockies
@jl:
Sounds like it’s gonna be a shitshow. I dont expect a guilty verdict unless they can re-enact that scene from A Few Good Men:
“Did you order the code red?”
“You’re goddamned right I did!”
West of the Rockies
@NotMax:
That sounds like an excellent pork roast.
Also, if you’re making mashed potatoes with tap water, stop. Use a bit of water and then chicken broth. Supposed to be amaze-balls.
HumboldtBlue
@maeve:
I went down a Time Team rabbit hole early last year, and it was all available for free on YouTube.
And yes, the pacing of The Dig was a bit stiff and I second my thoughts on it would have made for a good series.
Roger Moore
@CaseyL:
This isn’t necessarily an allergic reaction. I get the sneezes from anything really bitter. I first noticed it with the stem ends of cucumbers and thought it might be some weird allergy, but now I get it with anything really bitter.
Hungry Joe
So Cole took the cannoli. I hope he left the gun.
Punchy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I guess I just dont understand why he needs lawyers, when a vast majority of the GOP Senators have already declared their intent to acquit before the trial even starts. Why cant he just boycott the whole thing…it aint gunna affect the outcome in any way. Seriously, if he’ll be acquitted no matter what, why hire a legal team?
Hungry Joe
@maeve: Re “The Dig”: They put glasses on Lily James to make her look plain. It didn’t work.
CaseyL
@Roger Moore: I have similar strange responses to foods (hiccups whenever I eat HB eggs), but this is something new. I mean, I’ve been eating chocolate my whole life and never had this reaction before.
@Punchy: I think he believes, really and truly believes, that if he makes his case enough times, in front of just the right audience, he’ll be awarded the Presidency. And the GOP would love to fulfill that fantasy, if only they had even a semi-legitimate mechanism to do so. The GOP is watching events in Myanmar with bitter envy.
BigJimSlade
@comrade-john-cole, did you have espresso, or at least some good coffee with them? I hope so, in any case.
jl
@Punchy: Whether Trump goes in person to make a huge mess of everything may depend on whether it is televised live. If it is, they’ll have to put him in a straitjacket to keep him away. That should happen anyway, since the guy IMHO, is insane as well as malicious. A threat to himself and others.
jl
@CaseyL: Some self-appointed constitutional scholar from the Federalist Society will spin out a textualist and original intent explanation why any fool can see that that an impeachment hearing can result in re-appointment of an impeached president, if there is enough yelling and outrage.
dmsilev
@Feathers: There’s a note in the recipe which says that in a pinch, any over-safe pan or even a cake pan of the right size can work, it’s just that cast iron will help give a nice brown crispy finish to the bottom of the crust.
Suzanne
@Gary K: Pick up the damn cannoli and eat it.
jl
@Suzanne: The cannoli of the damned!
HumboldtBlue
@Hungry Joe:
No, no it did not and if that was their intent it failed badly. I sense that wasn’t their intent.
Suzanne
I was just noting at dinner that I haven’t had any cannoli in a long time. Maybe since the beginning of the pandemic. They are my favorite.
I booked my vaccine appointment. Excited. Also sad. This is a heavier load some days.
Suzanne
@jl: I don’t understand the question…. how to eat a cannoli? With your mouth.
CaseyL
@Suzanne:
@Gary K:
I don’t see how you can eat cannoli with cutlery, since they’re baked and the outer crust is hard. Messy to eat with your hands, but messier to try eating with a fork, I would think. (Not a big fan, myself.) (I don’t like tiramisu, either, JFTR.)
Benw
@dmsilev: glad you liked it! I’ve been hyping it here a couple of times. It’s a fav
Roger Moore
@CaseyL:
I think he’s really convinced himself that the election was stolen and anything he does to undo the steal is legitimate. He lies to himself more than anyone, and he also surrounds himself with yes-men who tell him what he wants to hear. As president, even the news- or the parts of the news he listens to- repeated his lies back to him. It’s an environment tailor made to make a narcissist like Trump to completely divorce himself from reality.
ETA: And we all know how much Trump likes getting divorces…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I agree. He’s a liar, but he’s also a fucking loon.
NotMax
The cannoli is too close to the mouth.
:)
lurker
A few thoughts …
one – that is not all you have, you have animals
two – hoping that you taking the cannoli means you left the gun
…
three – considering the first thought further, perhaps the animals have you, and in that case, this post may really be all you have, but you are well loved, or at least tolerated in return for food, laps and scritches
JCJ
@jl: I sort of understand it from Dump’s perspective. In 2016 he had over 3,000,000 fewer votes but became president for four years. This time he received over 7,000,000 fewer votes, so simple math would mean that he should be president for eight years!
Kent
Try storing the cannoli on the floor. Your problem might solve itself. It would in my house.
lurker
@CaseyL:
@Gary K:
have tried eating cannoli with a fork. When you do that, you also need a spoon and a bowl. The bowl contains all the stuff that comes apart when you try to use the fork and the spoon allows you to scoop it up. Eating it by hand over a bowl works, as you just sacrifice the idea of clean hands in advance, and the bowl captures what drops when you take a bite. Fastidious eaters are going to have a tough time with cannoli. They should still leave the gun though.
Kent
Trump has lived this way for 70 years in every single aspect of his life. No one has ever really told him no until last November. That was the very first HARD NO he has ever gotten. I don’t think he actually believes he really won the election. I just think he believes he can bluster through it like he always has his entire life. Because that has always worked. I don’t think he even gives a shit about democracy or actually winning. His taped conversation with the GA SOS belies that. It was all about fraudulently finding just enough votes to declare victory, not try to right some actual wrong.
I understand Trump. He is easy enough to understand. What I don’t comprehend is 70 million other Americans having lived through 2020 saying “Yes, THIS is the man we want to lead us for the next four years” We want for more years of THIS. That’s what I can’t understand.
lurker
@Hungry Joe:
@lurker:
I see Hungry Joe got there first…
lurker
@HumboldtBlue:
Big cheers for Tillamook cheese.
Went to the creamery on a road trip along the west coast as a kid. Not too long after Mt. St. Helens self-reduced its mass. Ice cream was amazing. Maybe ten years later before I realized how good the cheese really was. Much more recently, took the kids to the creamery on a similar road trip. They got to see how the cheese is produced (from a bit of a distance) and got the same amazing ice cream. Great place and memories. Still get their cheese for anything where it is not melted when I can.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Hungry Joe: you win the thread.
no discussion of all the white stuff that’s suddenly all over the place? It’s on the news BTW
Yutsano
@Suzanne: THANK YOU. I was about to get slightly shouty for no real good reason.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Nota bene: Do not attempt with similar looking manicotti.
:)
CaseyL
@Kent:
The Crazification Factor (h/t John Rogers) states that 27% of the population is just plain nuts – in that they can’t or won’t distinguish fact from fantasy, or are incapable/unwilling to think things through clearly, or… well, you’ve seen and heard T*’s fervent fans. They’re not sane, not colloquially or (probably) clinically.
The US population is 330 million. 25% of 330 million is about 82 million. That means 82 million people who are, in scientific terms, bugfuck insane. So, if only 72 million voted for T*, we can tell ourselves we’re ahead of the game!
HumboldtBlue
@lurker:
They don’t do anything amazing, but Tillamook sharp cheddar and extra sharp cheddar are delicious.
You can use any of the milder stuff for tuna casserole (the single most disgusting meal behind creamed tuna and peas on toast from my dad’s service days in the ancient 50s) or, like me, on locally produced black bean burritos or the odd grilled cheese sammich.
But extra sharp and extra sharp white are good for crackers and salami and olives and hummus.
Mallard Filmore
@jl:
… prod an unruly and undisciplined mob to capture and kill as many Congress critters as they can lay their hands on.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
This stuff (found at Costco) is the berries.
Kent
It is still literally the largest tourist attraction on the entire Oregon Coast. Bigger than the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.
We still keep it on hand, even though trying to use less cheese in the diet. They seem to have really nailed the mid-range Cheddar in a way that no one else quite matches. If you let it warm to room temp and slice it for crackers it is hard to beat. I personally prefer Queso Mantecoso which is sort of the national cheese from Chile and you just cannot find anywhere in the US. It is closest to a slightly harder Havarti. My wife always brings lots back when she flies down to Chile and my relatives down there know to never show up here without some in the bag. I’m happy to go for months in Chile with nothing but crusty bread (Pan Marraqueta), red wine, Queso Mantecoso and hard salami.
westyny
@Kent: Their economic anxiety has made them desperate.
/s
HumboldtBlue
@Kent:
I eat finger-full after finger-full when I shred it for use, and it sits for 20 minutes while all else cooks and I always cut a piece out for me when slicing for other uses.
Ruckus
@Kent:
It’s simple. They got their racism. For the most part before this the GOP wouldn’t say it out loud. He said it out loud and proud. He was a bit mellower at the very first but they really, really want the racism and he gave it to them. The second side of this was the GOP. They saw he was popular, he “won”. It wasn’t that the GOP was against racism, only against saying it out loud. He gave them racism loud and proud. His “rallies” were really KKK meetings, with out the burning crosses. They figured they could do what was necessary to keep the country running as long as he stood up and kept the racism coming. And as he’s a stone racist, that was easy. The political side of the GOP wasn’t for the most part against the racism, once they saw it could work for them. And it did, until the rest of his personality defects got in the way of staying alive, with Covid. Racism is as much of a thing, maybe even more than before the civil war. Look how many could easily be talked into an insurrection. Look how many voted for his dumb ass.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
I’ve had it many times.
Closer to home, I’ve found the Co-op makes a wonderful Wisconsin cheddar and it, as it is locally sourced, produced and distributed, has taken the place of any other brand multi-use cheddar.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Heh. I do the same with (yum!) Jarlrsberg.
Extra-special treat when budget permits is (forget what the brand is) a brie with mushrooms in it.
Ruckus
@lurker:
Made that stop on a family trip to Canada when I was 4. That was 67 yrs ago. I’ve seen pics of it since and it has changed quite a bit but I still remember it and was amazed at the entire process. Also it’s just as good today as it was then.
NotMax
@NotMax
Typo. Jarlsberg (obviously).
Kent
@HumboldtBlue: Tillamook County is actually the poorest county on the Oregon Coast per-capita. None of the coast is wealthy, But Tillamook is really poor, mainly because it is mostly on a bay back from the actual beaches so doesn’t get any of the regular beach tourism and vacation rental stuff. Lots of families with kids living out of cars and in campgrounds around there. Without the Tillamook Creamery, which provides good stable jobs, that county would be a complete basket case. So it is a good operation despite being annoying from a tourism point of view. I’m sick of taking visitors there.
According to Wikipedia:
The county went for Trump over Biden by 49.5% to 48.0% so actually pretty purple. It’s not deep MAGA country.
Major Major Major Major
@HumboldtBlue: Tillamook cheddar is one of the finest “buy a giant block” cheeses in the world IMO
Origuy
@maeve: I mentioned a few days ago that some of the Time Team principals have a Patreon and they are trying to create new programs. They have 3200 or so patrons and think they have enough for at least one episode. They also have been making short commentaries on YouTube.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Have had some superior Irish cheddars. But one practically has to take out a second mortgage to purchase them here.
;)
Never asked if since relocated to the Big Apple you’ve made the pilgrimage to Zabar’s (Broadway & 80th).
Kent
There was a bar in downtown Anchorage Alaska that would always have a giant 100+ lb block of Tillamook Cheese on the bar standing there with little knives and you just came cut your self off what you wanted. I don’t know if it is still there. I used to go to week-long NOAA fisheries council meetings at the Anchorage Hilton 4 or 5 times a year from about 1994 to 2003 and it was right around the corner. When you wanted to save on your per diem you could always go there, buy beer, and literally fill up on a cheese and cracker dinner
Edit. Yep, still there. Called the F Street Station. Apparently they have a sign up for the health inspector now that the cheese is for display only, not for eating. But I think everyone still does the self serve thing: https://foursquare.com/v/f-st-station/4a66c2c4f964a520d4c81fe3
mrmoshpotato
These donut stick thingies I have need to be fried, so instead naan naan naan naan naan naan naan naan hey hey hey in my belly!
I make no apologies.
mrmoshpotato
@randy khan: I would be thinking about the cannoli in my sleep.
Danielx
@CaseyL:
barbarian.
NotMax
Hm. Second night in a row of getting a 522 error message for the site.
Major Major Major Major
@Kent: wow!!
@NotMax: oh, I went there years ago, it was fine? Maybe it’s not for me.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
The site has been wonky for a day or two, WG on it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kent: I’ve been to the F-Street Station, I remember the big block of cheese. They had good fish and chips too.
Happy to hear your surgery was a sucess, sounds like you’re well on the mend.
Chris T.
@Kent: Yes, when we were picking retirement option places we found that housing was pretty cheap near TIllamook. But it was also obvious why…
Uncle Cosmo
You know why? The classic method of testing a cannoli for substantiality is to jab one’s fork straight down into the middle of the tube and then withdraw it. If there’s filling on the tines, it’s good to go; if not – worse yet, if the pastry collapses into a vacuum – one calls the server over & sends it back with instructions to
She probably didn’t want you to notice it was only half-filled before you’d bit into it.
(Visual field still borked.)
RSA
So you’ve run a trial of the Stanford marshmallow experiment! High hopes for your future as a grown-up. :-)
zhena gogolia
@Hungry Joe:
We just watched her first Downton episode last night. She is so charming.