Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The lights are all blinking red.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

People are weird.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / I’ll be the Count of Monte Cristo you’ll be the Countess May

I’ll be the Count of Monte Cristo you’ll be the Countess May

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Thanks a lot to everyone who gave to Four Directions. I just upped the goal.

Goal Thermometer

With all the Republican insanity insanity going on in Maricopa County, now’s a great time to give to the Maricopa County Democratic party too.

Goal Thermometer

Now, for something really important: my grill just gave out and I can’t decide whether to get a gas grill or a pellet grill. There’s a couple recipes I love that call for a little smoke (jerk chicken is the main one but I think all chicken tastes better with a little smoke), but I also like to cook steak. Will a pellet get hot enough to cook steak properly?

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  2. 2.

    Kirk Spencer

    Most of them will.

    Huh. Must be a slow day.

     

    Anyway, the pallets I’ve used have tended to be able to get hotter than the gas I’ve used. Not charcoal in tambouri hot, but hotter than propane.

  3. 3.

    Dr. Daniel Price

    The Traeger grill here handles everything well.  We have found the company’s online instructions for various grilling tasks to be entirely accurate.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    This is probably a good place to point out that you can see all the 2021 BJ thermometers at any time.

    Click on All 2021 Fundraising and you’ll see all of our 2021 thermometers.

    On computers and tablets, you will see that in the blue box that is just below the Balloon Juice banner – the balloon man is standing on it!

    On mobile, All 2021 Fundraising is the first item in the hamburger menu.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    One of the participants in the Four Directions zoom suggested that we put the thermometer in a prominent spot on the front page.  We are doing that though 5/31, which is when the match period ends.

    But I’d like to get some input on that going forward.  Do you love that?  Hate it?  Couldn’t care less?

    A thermometer would only be up there, I think, when we are promoting just one particular group, as we did for Four Directions, and as we will do going forward as we bring various groups to come talk to us on Balloon Juice.

  8. 8.

    narya

    if I just donate to them w/o going through ActBlue, will it still count toward their match thing?

  10. 10.

    TomatoQueen

    @Steve from Mendocino: ​ You and my Dad, since a zillion years ago. Dad is a native Angeleno, but as a Connecticut Yankee transplant in 1962, learned to get results from the hickory trees that grew a little too close to the house. The black Weber occupied a permanent placement near the kitchen door, and I think Mom got a pic of Daddy grilling in a snowstorm.​

  12. 12.

    raven

    I bought a really expensive Q  gas weber grill when we had no kitchen for 6 months. I’ve replaced the cast iron grills once and, other than that, it’s is awesome. I’m sure some purist will jump in with what a gas grill can’t do but I can kill it with my cast iron chip container. I also have a bullet smoker and I did a couple of big chunks of amberjack on it yesterday.

  13. 13.

    Pragmatic Idealist

    I used a Traeger for years. My only complaint is the all the pellets are oak, with a little bit of whatever wood is on the bag. Easiest smoker to use ever but I wouldn’t get another as I want to control the flavor of the smoke.

  14. 14.

    Spanky

    OT, but Captain Stubing has passed over the bar.

    Gavin MacLeod was 90 years old.

  17. 17.

    Auntie Anne

    @raven: I have one of those too and really love it.  I’ve got the chip container as well – works like a charm.  My Weber is 15 years old this year – I’ve replaced the grills twice and am ready to do so again.

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Spanky:

    Never paid much attention to The Love Boat, but was addicted to the Mary Tyler Moore show and all its great characters.

    R.I.P., Murray Slaughter.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Cameron: intrigued… newsletter, et cetera. Do you use one?

    @Spanky: seems a strange thing to say, but Ed Asner does nice obituary tweets

    Ed Asner @TheOnlyEdAsner 40m
    My heart is broken. Gavin was my brother, my partner in crime (and food) and my comic conspirator. I will see you in a bit Gavin. Tell the gang I will see them in a bit. Betty! It’s just you and me now.

  25. 25.

    Mr. McG

    We have had a Camp Chef pellet grill with a sear box mounted on the side for 5 years.  Reliable and excellent.  For steaks and chicken, try reverse searing — smoking until the meat is about 20 degrees under the doneness you want, then sear until done.

  29. 29.

    The Thin Black Duke

    And let’s not forget Gavin as a villainous creep in Hawaii Five-O. His role as “Big Chicken” was genuinely frightening.

  31. 31.

    Steve in the ATL

    @DougJ: charcoal tastes great but gives too little control over temperatures. Ok for grilling burgers or something but useless for salmon or leg of lamb.

  33. 33.

    Cameron

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think there are several varieties.  I keep getting ads from GoSun, which don’t do me any good because the development I live in doesn’t allow any kind of outdoor grilling.  I’m assuming they figure us Olds will get lost in our underwear and burn the joint down.

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    @The Thin Black Duke: IIRC he even did time on McHale’s Navy and a significant supporting gig in Kelly’s Heroes, safe to say, he had a great run as a character/ensemble actor.

  35. 35.

    Kent

    Never tried a Traeger.  My current grill is a Weber Genesis E-310 which is the basic gas grill without the cooking burners on the side.  It is on the deck right outside my kitchen so I don’t need the extra burners for pots.  Very little I can’t do on this grill and I like the quick light up of gas.  I also have various other propane fixtures in the yard (fire ring, heaters, etc.) so I always have lots of propane cylinders and can use up the nearly empty ones that way.

    If I were to supplement it, I’d get one of the Kamado grills like the Big Green Egg or copies for slow smoking on charcoal.  But I haven’t felt the need.

  36. 36.

    HinTN

    @Steve in the ATL:

    useless for salmon or leg of lamb

    Not so, sir. I can smoke salmon and have it essentially raw at the same time with my Bar-b-kettle. Charcoal, burned down to the right state and then smothered with wood chips. Salmon on the opposite side and slam on the top

    ETA – Don’t have to use the wood chips but I prefer the heavily smoked exterior.

  37. 37.

    blackmtn

    I have a Weber gas grill that I like a lot. I like it a whole lot more since I added A grillgrate to it. Check it out at

    grillgrate.com

  39. 39.

    Steve in the ATL

    @HinTN: yes, but…

    On the traeger, I just set the temperature, then put the salmon on, then take it off 13 minutes later. None of that other hassle.

  40. 40.

    PST

    @blackmtn: I’m thinking of doing that, so it’s nice to hear a recommendation from a juicer. I grill on a balcony, so I have to use gas. Wind up here has a huge effect on cooking times, which shouldn’t happen with the grill grates if I understand their function correctly.

  45. 45.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steve in the ATL:

    But Ed Asner and Betty White weren’t, and my comment referred specifically … ah, fuck it, there’s no point in arguing with a lawyer.

  46. 46.

    Suzanne

    @Kent: Mr. Suzanne’s birthday was last month, and I got him one of the Big Green Eggs. He already had a gas grill and he wanted a charcoal. He’s been experimenting with the Egg, learning how to control the temperature exactly the way he wants. So far, everything he’s made has been incredible. I want to try making pizza with it this summer.

  47. 47.

    prostratedragon

    @The Thin Black Duke: Earlier on he played a lot of smooth-voiced bad guys, including in the first Peter Gunn episode. He was very, very good at that, to the point where he became a good red herring in other mysteries, but I’ll enjoy remembering Murray Slaughter and that crowd.

  51. 51.

    Mary G

    The people who own the house behind my garage on the next street over are having a huge laughing party outside. In the past they pissed me off so much, because they own a $1 million+ McMansion with probably amazing ocean views on the second floor and they use it exactly twice a year on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends! The rest of the year it sits empty and I rage about what an asshole move that is. Today though I love hearing it. It’s been so quiet for more than a year. And someone yelled “Mask on in the house” so they aren’t superspreaders.

  55. 55.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Gin & Tonic: indeed we do (disclaimer: may not apply to Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and Orly Taitz), but we also know how to twist words into things that were never meant!

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    @piratedan:

    “I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said.

    Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!'”

    “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.

    “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

    “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

    “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

    Muahahah!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @Steve in the ATL:

    It is a fact provocative of mirth yet more sour that the execution of these prohibitions was put into the hands of courts, which is to say, into the hands of lawyers, which is to say, into the hands of men specifically educated to discover legal excuses for dishonest, dishonorable and anti-social acts.

    — H. L. Mencken, Prejudices, Fourth Series, pp. 226-227

    (Which by an amusing coincidence I am proofreading for Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders.)

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Somebody call the self-awareness police

    “We learned a lesson,” said Susan Kang, an active member of Democratic Socialists of America who previously was supportive of Morales. “You don’t go with an unvetted first-time candidate who tries to claim the progressive mantle when you have never seen them before.” […]

    Insert all the Hillary Clinton reaction gifs here

    But many progressive activists fear that the kind of purity tests that have come to be required of left-wing candidates may stand in the way of actual progress.

  62. 62.

    Kelly

    I just had a thought on the absurdity of the US Senate. The Constitution gives each state two Senators. This cannot be changed by Constitutional amendment. However just as the filibuster requiring 60 votes is a Senate rule that can be changed by 51 votes the value of each Senators vote is a Senate rule not a Constitutional requirement. I think the Democrats should change the value of each senators vote to be equal to the population of the state they represent. Kinda like voting corporation shares. Total possible votes on any bill would be 2x the US population as of the last census. Each Wyoming Senator’s vote would be worth 576,861, each California Senator’s vote would be worth 39,538,223. The fun part is once the rule was changed to reflect population it could not be changed back unless Senators representing over half the population agreed.

  63. 63.

    Juliec

    Consider a Rec Teq Bullseye. Pellet grill, can grill hot and fast or slow for smoking

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: they’ve probably learned that they should go to Cleveland and campaign for Bowl Of Shit Turner

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    @Kelly:

    The Constitution gives each state two Senators. This cannot be changed [except] by Constitutional amendment.

    FIFY?

    I can’t see any way that the “small states” would ever agree to your proposed change. The whole point of the Senate was to give them some power in exchange for joining the Union.

    It’s plain that the balance is all out of whack now, but the way to fix it is to probably do a few other things:

    1) Get rid of the filibuster. Majority rule needs to happen in the Senate.

    2) Expand the House. If there were, say, 835 instead of 435 House members, then it would be (seemingly) more difficult for for trickery in a few states to change the outcome from what the majority wants in presidential elections.

    3) Pass the various federal election and voting rights rules working through Congress.

    4) Admit DC and PR as states.

    5) Neuter some of the Senate’s power to obstruct by not doing anything. Nominations have to be voted by the full body on within 90 days – if they don’t, the nomination defaults to approved. No more of this business of a single Senator objecting (sometimes in the background and in secret) and refusing to let things happen.

    There are probably a few more things that should happen as well (reforming the federal courts, etc.), also too.

    I’d like a 1969 Firebird TransAm convertible, too, please. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    HinTN

    @Steve in the ATL: I had that experience when I sent an “Instruction” to our local JA and the stickee (Major in lieu of the LtCol boss) parsed the words (syllable by syllable, it seemed) to tell me, no, the clear intent of the instruction  could be interpreted to support an interpretation that was the exact opposite of what it was intended to be. Good Lord, he had me dead to rights in the minutia and he was dead wrong, as the bird colonels later clearly asserted.

  68. 68.

    Central Planning

    @Kent: we have a 300 series too, but ours is natural gas. It’s fantastic, especially not having to deal with propane tanks.

  69. 69.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kent:

    Got two charcoal burners. One is a Weber kettle, good for most quick heats and a planned bit of rib smoking, and the other a bullet for pure smoking. Need no others…

  70. 70.

    kokanee

    Before you buy I would recommend checking out The Pit Barrel Cooker web site. Twice a year Home Depot has a sale on Charcoal, Memorial Day and Labor Day 40 lbs. of Kingsford for around $20.00. The pit barrel is a convection cooker that can cook up to eight racks of ribs at a time by hanging the meat.

  71. 71.

    Torrey

    @WaterGirl:  As the person who proposed front-paging the thermometer in this particular case, I was thinking only in terms of the time-limited nature of the challenge grant.

  72. 72.

    Timill

    I like my Char-Griller Duo grill – gas grill one side (for the women to cook Actual Food) and charcoal the other (for the men to go all caveman over).

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