Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Celebrate the fucking wins.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

This blog will pay for itself.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Special Day at the Orchard

Special Day at the Orchard

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Today was the sale of the annual once a year pressing of cider made from Golden Delicious apples, so I had to hustle up to the orchard. Got a gallon and some apples for the folks at the office, a bunch for other people, and some for myself. Prolly a hundred pounds of apples again.

They had a little farmer’s market thing going on there, so I picked up some eggs and splurged and bought some short ribs. The price of everything is through the roof, so I have been very selective about meat purchases. But I had never made short ribs for Joelle and she will be here in a couple weeks, so I picked them up.

Anyhoo, I just finished watching Rome on Max, so now am in between shows and on the hunt for a new one. Wild Saturday night.

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62Comments

  2. 2.

    Trivia Man

    I don’t know if anyone likes podcasts or if it is a more visual crowd. I loved The Jistory of Rome and am now working through The History of Byzantium. Great story telling, great pacing, fascinating content. Enormous amount of content.

  4. 4.

    Craig

    30 Coins on MAX is good. Creepy religious magic series about a small Spanish town where strange stuff is happening and a new priest comes to town. In Spanish. From master of this genre Alex De La Iglesia whose Day of the Beast should be required viewing

  5. 5.

    Keith P.

    Anyhoo, I just finished watching Rome on Max, so now am in between shows and on the hunt for a new one.

    If you’re going through HBO’s old catalog and haven’t seen it, binge all of “Deadwood”

  7. 7.

    Betsy

    OMG.  Golden Delicious, a favorite variety of mine.

    Don’t forget to make Aunt Betsy’s “Lazy Gal” cider (the fizzy kind).  Should be really good with Golden Delicious juice.

    Betty C has the recipe in an old post somewhere where I commented.

  8. 8.

    Betsy

    OMG.  Golden Delicious, a favorite variety of mine.

    Don’t forget to make Aunt Betsy’s “Lazy Gal” cider (the fizzy kind).  Should be really good with Golden Delicious juice.

    Betty C has the recipe in an old post of hers somewhere where I commented years ago.

  10. 10.

    Suzanne

    @Trivia Man: I love podcasts. I seldom get to control the TV, but I can listen to podcasts in the car or while drawing. I’ve been listening to a fantastic one by David Runciman called “Past Present Future”. He did a previous series called “History of Ideas” that was equally great.

  11. 11.

    BethanyAnne

    I just got back from the store, and picked up a sweet potato pie. My pinto beans are done brining, so it’s about time to start those. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve just been craving pinto beans this past week. And I got an extra package of eggs. I’m going to try Kenji Lopez-Alt’s method of making poached eggs for use later. Hoping to put 8 or so poached eggs in the fridge for use this week. I am also angling to be the one to bring deviled eggs for Thanksgiving this year.

  12. 12.

    Narya

    Take some cider and reduce it—boiled cider is AWESOME. It’s great for marinades (esp. w salmon and, I suspect, pork) but also for any apple dessert. Did I mention it’s awesome?

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    We just watched McDonald and Dodds. Enjoyable mystery set in Bath. Jason Watkins is a great actor.

    ETA: He played Harold Wilson on The Crown.

  16. 16.

    Gemina13

    Haven’t checked out Max for a while, but the suggestions here are pretty spot-on.  If you haven’t caught up on the recent seasons of “Doctor Who,” I recommend doing so.

    Here in WA, Honeycrisp cider hit the stores about 2 weeks ago.  Oh, is it good.  I used half of mine for baked apples and Johnny-Jump-Ups.  The rest will get mulled with clove oranges, assorted spices, and rum.

  20. 20.

    Yarrow

    The price of everything is through the roof,

    It is but for reasons I don’t really want to go into I was looking through recent grocery store receipts today. I saw an item I purchased twice in the past month at the same store. It was $10.48 the first time and $9.68 the second time. It wasn’t on sale so maybe some prices are dropping.

  21. 21.

    oldster

    Just finished watching “Blinded,” a Swedish thriller about corruption in banking. (aka “Fartblinda”).

    Pretty good. The heroine is a financial reporter.

  22. 22.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @BethanyAnne: Kenji Lopez-Alt’s method of soaking any pasta you’d like to use prior to baking it has enabled me to take almost any vegetable in the CSA farmshare and turn it into a baked pasta dish; I love his website.  Here it is: https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-no-boil-baked-ziti-recipe

    The Instapot is awesome for short ribs or any tough meat that needs to be bone-tender.  There are a bazillion recipes, here’s one: https://essentialomnivore.com/instant-pot-pomegranate-short-ribs/

  23. 23.

    thruppence

    If you have Netflix, the limited series “Bodies” is pretty interesting. Four London detectives in four different time periods investigating the same murder which is contemporary for each of them.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    Anyhoo, I just finished watching Rome on Max, so now am in between shows and on the hunt for a new one. Wild Saturday night.

    I really enjoyed Slow Horses on Apple TV+. Follows a group of MI5 agents, who are the agency’s fuck-ups and burn-outs and drunkards and so forth. Gary Oldman plays the lead, basically his rendition of George Smiley passed through several layers of burnout, a lot of profanity, and a lot of booze. Great stuff.
    First two seasons are out now, third one airs starting in a few weeks.

  25. 25.

    AlisonAF

    Reservation Dogs.  Starts out focusing on kids and expands out, all kindsa funny and perfect and profound. Half hour. Try it and you will never regret.

  27. 27.

    Regine Touchon

    I enjoyed “Lupin” on Netflix. What’s not to like about a handsome gentleman thief who is so complicated? Great acting. It’s in French so subtitles which I always use anyway. Old!

  31. 31.

    Redshift

    @Betsy:

    Whups, not sure how that ^^^ happened.

    Happened to me earlier today. I think something’s up with the site; I definitely didn’t do anything different from usual.

  32. 32.

    Redshift

    Malcolm Gladwell has a podcast, Revisionist History, that I’m going to check out after hearing an interview with him about it. This season has a six-part series everything America gets wrong about guns (not policy-wrong so much as just factually wrong in the basis of their arguments.)

  33. 33.

    Lyrebird

    @AlisonAF: Thanks, I am thinking of doing the shortest possible Hulu sub (we already have two services!) just so I can watch Reservation Dogs.  Saw some articles about the actors, looks like a fantastically talented young cast.

  36. 36.

    BethanyAnne

    15 minutes of prep after soaking, 15 minutes of pressure time on the instant pot, and I have beans. The 15 minutes of Instant Pot also means 10 minutes or so of warm up, and 20 minutes or so of cool down. Still – an hour later, and I’m munching beans. Not bad at all.

  37. 37.

    Craig

    @dmsilev: mick jagger theme song is excellent. Great show. It sent me off to the books which, surprise, have way more depth. Oldman’s portrayal is absolutely grand. He really gets the character and has fun having the fun his character has in fucking with the system he’s enmeshed in. High quality.

  41. 41.

    MaryLou

    Also, Deadloch on Prime. Not for those who are humor-challenged, unusual combo of gruesome and hilarious.

  43. 43.

    Anne Laurie

    Brokenwood Mysteries. It’s set in New Zealand, so the backgrounds are always beautiful and different. And I suspect you will enjoy Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd’s grouchy, rumpled, empathetic performances… not to mention Kristin Sims as his smart, sarcastic underling, Sam Breen as the hapless perpetual chewtoy, Gina Kolodny as an emigrant Russian pathologist with a unique approach to social interations, and a rich rotating cast of local characters (including many Maori). Low gore level (not that you care, Cole, but some of us prefer less nightmare fuel before bed), and the milieu is both ‘familiar’, and different enough to keep your attention.

    Four, later six, hour-and-a-half episodes in each of the nine seasons to date; the (very good!) head writer / showrunner said it was ‘like doing several mini-movies every year’. It’s on Acorn TV, available through Amazon Prime, and probably a bunch of other places.

    Lots of reviewers compare it to Midsomer Murders, which I haven’t yet watched, but the series it reminds me of is Grimm — no supernatural elements, but the same sarcastic, yet community-oriented, overall vibe.

  44. 44.

    Sally

    @coin operated: Loving Gary Oldman as George Smiley, and having read the books, I couldn’t imagine him being able to pull off Jackson Lamb.  But he does the character to perfection.  He plays both characters to perfection.

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    Suggestions for Cole-o-vision.

    Mentioned before, Patriot on Prime. Helluva fun, intriguing ride. First episode packs so much in as to be overly frenetic. Get over that hump and it’s smooth sailing for two seasons.

    On Max, might check out Banshee, four seasons.

    Should you have AMC+, all three seasons of Hap & Leonard. First season only currently on Prime.

    If have MGM+, sole season of Perpetual Grace LTD. Ben Kingsley as a profane schmuck is a revelation.

  46. 46.

    LiminalOwl

    We are currently enjoying Lessons in Chemistry on Apple+ and Pachinko (Netflix, I think). Amd for silly laughs, the live-action anime One Piece.

  48. 48.

    opiejeanne

    @MaryLou: We didn’t like Deadloch, so we must be humor-challenged, and I’ll admit freely that some humor is either too dark or too obnoxious for my taste. Couldn’t stand Dalziel and Pascoe.

    We did love McDonald and Dobbs as well as The Detectorists.

  49. 49.

    sab

    @Narya: I need to buy more. I just got two quarts, one to reduce for flavoring ( your suggestion), the other to reduce to make apple cider caramels (Kay’s suggestion.)

    I love the flavor of apple cider but I just cannot drink it straight. Too sweet or something. My mother used to buy gallons in the Fall and freeze them, to have apple cider at breakfast all winter.

    Your reduction idea really appeals to me. On salmon!

  50. 50.

    VeniceRiley

    If you want to stay with the Roman subject matter, I recommend finding Domina. 2 seasons. Great show! It airs on Sky over here.

  51. 51.

    Steeplejack

    @MaryLou:

    I thought Deadloch was great! I mentioned it here a month or two ago, and it didn’t get much response. I told myself that all the lurkers are watching it.

    I’m currently watching (among other things) Cardinal on Hulu. Police detectives in snowy Canada (snowy at least in the first season).

  55. 55.

    Anyway

    @eclare:

    Yes to Brokenwood Mysteries. I started off with the free week for subbing to Acorn TV and extended for the month to watch it all. Kiwi accents are an added plus!

    Another rec for the Mick Herron books on which Slow Horses is based …

  60. 60.

    Miss Bianca

    Way late to the thread, but how is Rome, anyway? I hear it’s really good, I’m just kind of squeamish about TV violence – and I would imagine there is some in this one!

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