Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

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

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

It’s a doggy dog world.

No Justins, No Peace

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Let’s finish the job.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

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

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "Stories from the Road" / Friday Night Open Thread

Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    Man, anchovies. I just can’t….

    But then some feel the same about pineapples on pizza.. which I love with jalapenos.

  2. 2.

    Melancholy Jaques

    The fact that the votes in the California senate races are so far apart for the same two candidates is a sign that many voters are not very bright.

  3. 3.

    Ohio Mom

    There’s nothing wrong with boring.

    Yes, boring may be boring but it’s also not high drama and chaos and angst and desperation and all the other things that come with big costs to make right.

    No need to apologize for enjoying a serene patch of life.

  5. 5.

    karen marie

    @cain:   At some point over this past year I started getting pineapple on my pizza.  It so fucking good.  OMG.  I only wish I’d started sooner

    PS I’d like to know where Mr. Cole got said pizza.  I’ve never been anywhere with pizza as bad as the pizza I’ve had here in Arizona.

  6. 6.

    danielx

    If my 25 year old self were to view my life as it is today, I’m sure the verdict would be “boring, man, from where you live to your life in general”.

    Probably right – no gunshots and very few sirens where I live, and home on Friday and Saturday nights. I like it like that. Count your blessings, Cole.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    @cain: ​

    I’ve never understood why pineapple on pizza arouses such scorn: it’s a perfectly good topping, though best paired with something that contrasts with/takes down the sweetness.

    And considering all the weird stuff people put on pizzas nowadays – taco pizzas! greek pizzas! chicken parmesan pizzas! – I just don’t get why pineapple gets singled out for derision.​

  10. 10.

    Chetan Murthy

    @cain: Mmmmm… pineapples, ham, jalapenos.  Yum!

    Though, balsamic onions, kalamata olives, and roasted cherry tomatoes on mozz+goat cheese, is delish also.

  11. 11.

    Chetan Murthy

    @cain: There’s these things called “boquerones”: they’re anchovies preserved in oil, and they’re not salty AF or anything.  Some salad places will put ’em on caesar salad, and they’re delish that way.  I wonder how they’d be on pizza …..

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    We’re at last crawling out of our weeks long cold & rainy period (thanks, weather gods, much appreciated) and the upsides are drying out and everything uber green with buds about to pop, but holy fucking hell the dusk mosquitoes are the size of first-baseman gloves.
    And there are a lot of first basemen this season.
    ETA who’s ready for spring forward then actual spring? [hand shoots up]​

  14. 14.

    Scout211

    @Melancholy Jaques: The fact that the votes in the California senate races are so far apart for the same two candidates is a sign that many voters are not very bright.

    That may be true, or at least uninformed.  But it’s only a few percentage points.  Maybe the two different votes for the same office was too confusing for some and they only voted once.  Or they split their vote.

    On the California SOS official site, both Barbara Lee’s and Katie Porter’s vote counts are a few percentage points higher for the two month term than for the full term. That would account for some of the difference in Schiff’s totals.  A few Democrats may have voted for Lee or Porter for the two month term and for Schiff for the full term.

    But Garvey’s vote count difference? I don’t know.

    The vote won’t be certified until next month.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    @Chetan Murthy: Patagonia tins Portuguese anchovies in several flavors and wow, are they great. Not those salty oily bastards, completely different experience.

  18. 18.

    eclare

    @trollhattan:

    I noticed huge skeeters here a few nights ago when I went out with the dog.  I came back in, started scratching, and took a Benadryl.  I think this is the earliest.

  19. 19.

    Chetan Murthy

    @trollhattan: Mine are from Wild Planet.  I don’t eat fish very often, so it’ll probably take a year to eat thru these cans.  When I do, maybe I’ll remember and order Patagonia, just to compare.

    They’re nothing like “anchovies”, are they?  They look like fish, have the same mouth feel as fish, and really taste like fish.

  20. 20.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I’m fine with pineapple on pizza, have been since the 1970s when I first discovered it.  Nowadays I also go for the cholesterol lover’s triple meat pizzas,usually ground beef, pepperoni, and Italian sausage.  On a tomato sauce and lotsa mozzarella base..  Whole wheat crusts are good.

  29. 29.

    Captain C

    @CaseyL:

    I’ve never understood why pineapple on pizza arouses such scorn: it’s a perfectly good topping, though best paired with something that contrasts with/takes down the sweetness.

    I like pineapple and jalapeño myself.  On our second date, my partner asked what my favorite pizza toppings were and I truthfully told her this combination.  She thought I was trolling her.  Now I do by referring to this as The Correct Pizza.

  31. 31.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Captain C: I’m with you on the pineapple, but I’m not a fan of jalapeños. Too bitter, especially considering they aren’t especially hot either.

  33. 33.

    Jackie

    @trollhattan:

    who’s ready for spring forward then actual spring?

    🙋🏼‍♀️ 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️

  36. 36.

    CaseyL

    @Jackie: ​

    Yes! I love the new combos.

    A few decades ago, Pizza Hut expanded globally, the first pizza chain to do so, and sometimes the first pizza joint ever in certain countries. At one point, they put out a list of the favored toppings in each country. Some were very strange to Western perspectives. One place (I can’t remember which) liked squid on their pizza.

  37. 37.

    karen marie

    @trollhattan:   Canned fish (other than tuna) kind of freaks me out but I’ve liked both sardines and anchovies when others have presented them to me on a plate in a dish they’ve prepared.  I’d like to step out of my fear of fish in cans.

    Patagonia apparently sells their canned fish at Sprouts Markets.  Is there a particular flavor anchovy (or sardine) that you recommend over others, and what do you do with them?  Slap them on a cracker and shove ’em in yer mouf, or in a recipe?

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    Chilled anchovy-stuffed green olives (look for the brands from Spain) are nibble crack.

  40. 40.

    rekoob

    One of the great stories our parents told to us children was riding the Seaboard Coast Line railroad (later absorbed into Amtrak and CSX) to an American Bar Association meeting in Miami. They were invited by a senior member of the firm for a “cocktail” that consisted of warm bourbon in Dixie cups and anchovy paste on Ritz crackers. How decadent!

  42. 42.

    Doc Sardonic

    @rekoob: Either the Silver Meteor or Silver Star, my dad worked both those trains before the Amtrak passenger service takeover.

  43. 43.

    StringOnAStick

    Drove through Boring, Oregon this morning, so that’s my tale of boring; looked nicely green though. Got back from Hawaii last night, met my husband at our hotel, then drove to Mt Hood and skinned to the top of Timberline’s highest lift today. Climbing nearly 3,000′ from 5,800′ after 2 weeks at sea level was a bit of a challenge but the ski down was nice.

    Swam with huge manta rays at night, and then saw a bottlenose dolphin hunting around our boat.  A foot long barricuda tried to escape the dolphin by jumping into our boat, smacking me broadside; we carefully tossed him back in.  It suits my sense of humour that I got whacked by a barricuda.  Next ocean expedition involved seeing spinner dolphins, pilot whales, a critically endangered white tip shark, scalloped hammerheads schooling and basking in the sun, and a mom and calf humpback whale with a male escort for the pair.  The on board naturalist, a shark specialist, was beside herself with joy at seeing those two very shy and rare shark species.  I feel exceptionally lucky!  So, not boring I guess.

  45. 45.

    Narya

    Sorry to bring down the thread, but the funeral home just left w my dad’s body a little while ago. Extremely glad I was able to get out here to be w my mom and brother. Also extremely grateful for hospice; they’re amazing.

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    Listening to Biden’s SOTU address.

    He is slapping Rethuglicans around left and right for their bullshit.  Go Joe!

  58. 58.

    Poe Larity

    I can’t take these wild swings between TLDR tomes and cryptic 128 character pizza references. anchovies in Arizona? Do they swim that far?

    I thought this was a full service blog.

  63. 63.

    SectionH

    @trollhattan: Hello from San Diego, it’s just cold here, even today. And I’ve lived in Minnesota and Yorkshire both. I guess, my blood’s srsly thinned now. It’s a known thing, but wow. But never mind,

    I am SO looking forward for sun going down later.

  65. 65.

    Roberto el oso

    @HumboldtBlue: oh, that’s harsh! (what you said about Britt and pineapples). I wouldn’t be surprised if Britt is wary of pizza as a little too ethnic.

  69. 69.

    Prescott Cactus

    Chicago: No pineapples on pizza & no ketchup on hot dogs. . . If only they didn’t have that winter thing.

    Unusually hot in Adelaide this holiday weekend. 101 today, 102 tomorrow and 100 on Adelaide Cup Day which is a state holiday for horse racing enthusiasts. Yeah, huh?

  73. 73.

    Prescott Cactus

    @NotMax: You said it, Frank sung it.

    Adelaide Fringe and Adelaide Fest are going on, so it’s a busy place now.

  74. 74.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Prescott Cactus:

    Chicago: No pineapples on pizza & no ketchup on hot dogs. . . If only they didn’t have that winter thing. 

    Haha!  We didn’t really have winter this year.  (Looking forward to a bone chilling March)

  76. 76.

    sab

    @Narya: I am so sorry for your loss. I am glad you brought hospice in and that they helped. Thank you for letting us know.

  78. 78.

    Prescott Cactus

    @mrmoshpotato:  I brought the bride to Chicago for a St Paddy’s Day years ago with a plan of going to the downtown parade. Snow and fine, face piercing sleet made for a nice time watching it on the tube. I try and come back pre or post Summer each year.

    @NotMax:  I’ll check out Dankpods. Thanks NotMax !

  79. 79.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Narya: My condolences.  May you, your mom, and brother enjoy each other’s company and enjoy good memories of your dad.

  80. 80.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Narya:  I hope you and your family are doing as best as you can. Take care of yourself with decent meals and rest. Your hospice may have grief counseling if you ever feel you need it.

    Cry when you have to, laugh when you can. Have peace and know each day gets a little easier. Hug.

  83. 83.

    opiejeanne

    @CaseyL: We were in Paris and wanted lunch, but it was about 2pm and most places were closed, but there was a Pizza Hut. In Paris. And French people were eating there.

    The pizza was good and there was a wine menu as well as a good selection of salads. It was a revelation how much better the food was in France, even when we got stuck a couple of times with no options but fast food from an American chain.

  84. 84.

    sab

    It’s early March in NE Ohio and most of my early Spring bulbs are already blooming. Snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, scilla. Even seeing tulips’ leaves. And the red maple has buds almost blooming.

    Reminds me of the year my mother died (2012). Everything was in bloom by the end of March: bulbs and also magnolia and forsythia. That year I was glad because she died March 30, so she did see a final Spring, and she loved Spring.

    At the same time Corbin Bernsen was trying to film a movie in a big house rented down the street. A movie made for dvd. It was supposed to be a family snowed in in a blizzard. Which is to be expected in NE Ohio in March. ( Not really, but at least expect filmable snow.)  Instead they got full flowering Springtime. The crew was being fed in tents in the yard. Apparently filming in the house was very very warm.

  85. 85.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Prescott Cactus:

    I brought the bride to Chicago for a St Paddy’s Day years ago with a plan of going to the downtown parade.

    Snow and fine, face piercing sleet made for a nice time watching it on the tube.

    A few years ago it was snowing in early April.  Baseball was postponed because of snow!

  86. 86.

    Prescott Cactus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    April ? Man. . .  It’s 25 degrees (F) above the average daily high today.

     

    @opiejeanne:

    The food in Australia is far superior to US food overall we’ve found. Chatted with a local who said their normal fruits and veggies are more “organic” than US ones sold under the organic umbrella.

  87. 87.

    sab

    I always expect snow on daffodils as the last gasp of winter.  We have daffodils out now and snow projected for tomorrow. So I guess that rodent early February was right. Early Spring.

  88. 88.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Scout211:

    A few Democrats may have voted for Lee or Porter for the two month term and for Schiff for the full term.

    I’m not able to understand why anyone would do a thing like that.

  90. 90.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Canadian bacon, pepperoni, black olive and pineapple pizza. My wife and I have been eating them for almost 40 years and I’ve been eating them for over 50 years. Back in the 80’s my wife worked at a place called Pizza Haven in Spokane. They had the best crust I have ever had and she uses that in her pizzas to this day. They mixed it up on site so she knew what went into it, she just had to scale it down to home batch size. Baked on stones so the crust is crispy and tender.

    If pineapple on pizza is a sin then we’re going to burn in Hell. It’s worth it.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @Odie Hugh Manatee

    Hands down most memorable (in the goodest way) pizza was one with clams and breaded and fried thin strips of eggplant from a hole-in-the-wall joint in Queens NY.

    Runner-up? Deep dish pizza at the Green Mill. in Minneapolis/St .Paul. Cousin to the original in Chi-town.

  94. 94.

    sab

    @Melancholy Jaques: Porter I don’t understand but Lee I do. Due to Feinstein hanging on beyond forever, Lee never got her chance and now she is too old for a six year term hoping for incumbancy afterwards. But she would hit the ground running in a short term.

    Porter was a first termer way over her skiis.

    We are in Ohio so who cares what we think, but my husband really admires (or admired) Porter and I thought she was too abrasive to be an effective legislator.

  96. 96.

    sab

    @Prescott Cactus: Or bad parents who would expose the kids. Dad is Aussie or NZ ( I forget which) but mom is an Ohioan and should know better. But peanut butter is probably exotic and expensive and rare down under.

    As I remember, marmite ( UK) is nearly as salty as caviar or bottled anchovies. Is vegemite the same?

  97. 97.

    sab

    @NotMax: Y’all eat weird stuff in Hawaii : poi and spam.

    I will keep quiet about favorites in Ohio, but Amy Klobuchar had some horrifying potluck things based on tater tots and enhancements.

  99. 99.

    Prescott Cactus

    @sab:

    We’ve gotten peanut butter and I don’t remember sticker shock. In truth everything has a bit of sticker shock until you do the conversion into USD $ by cutting everything by 1/3rd.

    The macadamia nuts here are fantastic. I’ve learned they originated here and seedlings sent to Hawaii. Not a lot of commercial / large scale Mac nut farms, but they are large and delicious.

  100. 100.

    NotMax

    @sab

    Hey, at least it doesn’t come with everything as in some regions.

    “Here’ your banana split, hon. With a side of grits.”

    Full disclosure: have still not ever had Spam. Fingers crossed that record continues indefinitely.

  103. 103.

    AlaskaReader

    Whale blubber steeped in seal oil is exquisite.

    …and, you’re just not gonna find it on any pizza.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @sab

    There was a big to-do years back about a macadamia nut farm planting in a fallow area on Maui.

    That is until the first windy day there blew all the trees down.

  105. 105.

    sab

    @NotMax: Wish you luck on spam avoidance.

    I grew up in Florida in a Midwestern household and I do not understand grits hate. Grits is a more palatable, stiffer cream of wheat. My mother loved oatmeal. I like grits.

    I used to eat my oatmeal unsweetened, maybe with a dab of butter, like grits.

    My junior year abroad in north of England I discovered Scots ate oatmeal just like I did grits, very different from Mom’s way with milk and sugar.

  106. 106.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @sab:

    Yoko Ono was last famous when I was in high school, and I just turned 70.

    What I wonder is what’s the year cutoff when people stop knowing who Elvis is.  We must have passed it by now.

  107. 107.

    Pete Downunder

    We have a macadamia tree at our country place. The problem is that the shells require tactical nukes to crack – so we leave them for the wild life and buy roasted ones at the bulk food place in town. The price is quite reasonable.

  108. 108.

    sab

    @Frankensteinbeck: Trying to be polite but I do not think Yoko had anywhere the impact on American music that Elvis had. We danced to his, we mocked hers when some nerd in the high school library had his headphone volume turned up too high,

  110. 110.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Narya:

    My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your father. I have a friend who works hospice and she’s an angel. It takes special people to handle the emotional load.

  112. 112.

    sab

    @Pete Downunder: Seriously, do you not have hammers downunder? I whack nuts all the time. Scares the cats, which slows their begging. They don’t even like nuts but they beg shamelessly.  And yes, we do feed them.

  113. 113.

    sab

    @The Thin Black Duke: I remember her shrieking a lot.

    I am not too plugged into Japanese music, but my nephews are a lot. Even their classical (their cultural history, not mine) is music as I could recognize. Didn’t always like it.  But did recognize it as music. Yoko’s wasn’t. It was a rejection of everything. Just angry wailing

    ETA John Lennon was just besotted.

  115. 115.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Frankensteinbeck: My 25 y/o detailer at work knows who Elvis was, but I had to explain why Elvis was such a big deal and why his dancing was scandalous. This conversation came about because we had a customer who was an Elvis impersonator who sang to me in our office.

    Detailer has no clue who the Rolling Stones are tho.

  118. 118.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @sab: As you said, Lennon was “besotted”. But it’s fair to say that Yoko kept John alive when he was trying his best to be another rock ‘n’ roll obituary. I still wish Lennon kept Yoko out of the studio when recording his last LP.

  120. 120.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I was just reading a flame war thread about proper sword fighting technique between a bunch of HEMA practitioners and some Conan the Barbarian fan bois and it was like reading one of the Culture War arguments like Anti-Vaxin; the fan bois where piss ignorant, proud of it,  and there was no amount real world experience that was going to budge them from their personal fantasy. This whole culture of Dumb and Proud of It is a lot deeper in our society than just Russian propaganda.

  121. 121.

    Geminid

    @HumboldtBlue: When the Alexandria arena was proposed late last year, Senator Lucas laid down her marker in a very Lucas way:

       Anyone who thinks I am going to approve an arena in Northern Virginia using state tax dollars before we deliver on toll relief and for public schools in Hampton must think I have dumbass written on my forehead.

    Narrator: Senator Lucas does not have dumbass written on her forehead.

  123. 123.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @sab:

    Trying to be polite but I do not think Yoko had anywhere the impact on American music that Elvis had.

    Exactly.  However, Elvis’s music didn’t last like the Beatles’ music has.  He’ll fade from memory a lot slower than Yoko Ono, but he’s not a name that comes up anymore.  So I wonder how long it takes for a name as big as his to disappear.

    The Beatles are going to be classics of rock as long as that genre survives, with whatever amount of public knowledge comes along with that status.

    EDIT – @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    How often did the sentence “Swords are stabbing weapons.” come up?

  124. 124.

    p.a.

    Big internet meme is vids of Italians going nuts about pineapple on pizza, but on the other hand hot dog/fries pizza is a real thing there.  Someone here notes that’s a German creation.  Tubemeat nation.  And I’m sure if Germans make hotdogs, the hot dogs are good.

    It’s only 2hr drive (at best: i95😯) but still haven’t done New Haven visit for pizza yet.  I’ll try the clam pizza, but GF is a hard no.

  126. 126.

    SectionH

    @NotMax: You want something important? – I SAW HOLKULEA sailing into San Diego bay. A few weeks ago, with the Cabrillo replicate escorting her.

    It was beyond wonderful. It was all the pacific islands, but from Alaska too,

  127. 127.

    LiminalOwl

    My favorite pizza (self-designed, when I lived somewhere where many and unusual toppings were an option): garlic cloves, Italian sausage, and artichokes.  If only I could have had basil pesto instead of icky red sauce …

     

    oh, and I loved anchovies as a kid, will have to try the recommended ones.

    Olives: agree on green, have never seen anchovy-stuffed but do love with either bleu cheese or garlic cloves.

  129. 129.

    lowtechcyclist

    @CaseyL: ​
     

    And considering all the weird stuff people put on pizzas nowadays – taco pizzas! greek pizzas! chicken parmesan pizzas!

    Nowadays? I had pizzas more interesting than that in 1995.

    The best pizza place I’ve ever been to, by far, was a place called Truby’s in Whitefish, MT. They had an Athenian pizza, a Jamaican jerk pizza, and several other interesting varieties, in addition to your standard Italian-style pizza. Their best one was a Thai pizza, and if I ever get hold of a time machine, I’m going back to when they were in business. They were still thriving when we were back there in 2007 – I think we ate there four times during our week and a half in Montana on that trip. But they called it quits about a decade ago, I think.

  130. 130.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Narya:

    Sorry to bring down the thread, but the funeral home just left w my dad’s body a little while ago. Extremely glad I was able to get out here to be w my mom and brother. Also extremely grateful for hospice; they’re amazing.

    Sorry to hear about your loss. That’s always a hard thing, to lose someone so close. My thoughts are with you.

  131. 131.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​
     

    What I wonder is what’s the year cutoff when people stop knowing who Elvis is. We must have passed it by now.

    Maybe his music doesn’t get played much anymore, but he still seems to live on as a cultural phenomenon. I still see the occasional picture of him, usually in that white outfit from his glory days, and people still make references like “Elvis has left the building.”

    But I’m with sab on this one: I wouldn’t expect anyone under 40 to know who Yoko Ono is, unless they’re really into the history of the Beatles as well as their music.

  133. 133.

    BretH

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: My daughter surprised us by joining a HEMA club at college in Richmond. She did pretty well but eventually came to realize that while she really liked the other members, she didn’t live and breathe sword fighting like they did. Still, it’s really cool and worth while to check out HEMA on YouTube.

  134. 134.

    mrmoshpotato

    @LiminalOwl:

    My favorite pizza (self-designed, when I lived somewhere where many and unusual toppings were an option): garlic cloves, Italian sausage, and artichokes. If only I could have had basil pesto instead of icky red sauce 

    That sounds delicious.  And you’re right on the pesto and basil.

  136. 136.

    Ironcity

    @Geminid: And there is the history over the last 50+ years of Northern Virginia being taxed for the benefit of other areas of the state.  Bet it happens in other states (I am sure of Pennsylvania) but it still grates.  Roads in N. VA are overloaded and there is no money to repair or improve them but there is $ for a 4 lane bypass around some broke down old town in southside or out west.  Fun fact is unless you are in a city, road “maintenance” in VA is a state responsibility and unless you get permission from the state your county or town government can’t spend their own money on making the roads decent and the state never has enough money, for anything.

    And  that idea of an arena at Potomac Yards is just dumber than dirt also.  Terrible location.  It’s called Potomac Yards because it used to be a railroad marshalling yard, CSX appears to do their thing other places these days.  Almost the only place you could get anything to eat after hours used to be Steve’s Railroad Cafe across U.S. 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway, I’m not kidding) open 24 x 7 for the train and yard crews because the RR runs 24 x 7.  Thats all been bulldozed and it has condos and big box stores and a oddly configured Metro station.  Some real estate developers were undoubtedly lined up to make a pile on the arena deal, and fuzzy vest probably has a piece of the action somehow.  The land was, maybe still is, owned by the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.  A major equity holder in the RF&P was the Virginia state employee retirement fund.

  137. 137.

    Joelle

    @karen marie: Venezias in Tempe.  It’s serviceable.  But yes there is a lot of lousy pizza in AZ.  You really have to go out of your way to score a decent slice.

  138. 138.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chetan Murthy: @trollhattan:

     

    OMG. I ate some of those “anchovies”. They’re just sardines! I almost spat them out again! Not that I don’t love sardines, but I wanted ANCHOVIES!

    Anchovies are little, hairy, SALTY fish! And they are *divine* on pizza. And anchovy paste is a wonderful secret ingredient for pasta sauce.

    And pineapple is also divine on pizza. Although I have never tried pineapple and anchovies together on a pizza. Hmmm…I got a frozen margarita pizza in the oven, perhaps it’s time for an experiment…

    @Captain C: Alas, can’t handle jalapenos anymore, they upset my stomach, although I used to love them. Ah, the joys of an aging digestive system…

  139. 139.

    Joelle

    @eclare: I opened the pizza box, was assaulted by a mushroom cloud of hot fish cat food smell and promptly shut the box and left the room to occasionally retch while contemplating a life with a man who makes such stanky food choices.

  140. 140.

    Geminid

    @Ironcity: My take on this arena proposition is that a better development scheme will come along before too long. Northern Virginia will keep growing no matter what. But I don’t think my state prospers in the long run without a financially healthy District of Columbia and poaching a couple professional sports teams hurts DC with no great benefit to Virginia.

    As for intrastate disparities between revenues and expenditures, Northern Virginia benefits from taxes gathered from 49 other states. People complaining about NoVa tax dollars going to the rest of Virginia take that for granted.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: Two major things bother me about this arena thing, even beyond the serious site traffic, and Fuzzy Vest refusing to negotiate with Democrats, and the Metro issues:

    • Ted should be paying much more and carry much more of the financial risk.  He’s the one who’s going to cash out for billions when he sells the teams.
    • What’s to keep him from skipping town to DC or National Harbor in MD in 20 years if VA doesn’t pay him then for some newer arena?

    It’s a bad deal for everyone except Fuzzy Vest, Ted, the banksters, and the property developers.  Good for Lucas and the other Democrats for saying No.

    The teams should stay in DC and Ted should pay more for the arena there to be renovated.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    Another Scott

    @karen marie: I think the worst pizza I’ve ever had was at a little restaurant in the ancient part of Erice, Sicily.  Wood fired, burnt, horrible.  :-(

    A friend told me that there was a little place in Cincinnati decades ago that had rattlesnake meat pizza occasionally.

    One never knows where one can find surprising, or surprisingly horrible, food!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  144. 144.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Narya: My condolences to you, and I look forward to the obituary.  Excellent and decent men are out there, still, but they don’t generate the clicks the media’s mercenary masters need to add to their already morbidly obese wealth.

  145. 145.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Pete Downunder: True story about how my siblings and I found out about macadamia nuts: they were mentioned on an episode of the Bob Newhart Show in which Emily was trying to get over her fear of flying, and kept hitting the steward/stewardess button, intending to get off the plane, and Bob shushed her and asked for macadamia nuts.  My brother was all “what are macadamia nuts?”  It became a Christmas tradition for him to get a small jar of them in his stocking.

  148. 148.

    Origuy

    I ate at 50 Kalò di Ciro Salve, one of the trendiest pizzarias in Rome and Naples. They didn’t have pepperoni, but they had zucchini flowers, broccoli, califlower, tuna, and other toppings that Americans would find weird.

    I also read in thelocal.it (paywall, sorry) that Gino Sorbillo, owner and chef of one of the top pizza chains in Italy, has added pineapple to one of his pizzas.

    Sorbillo’s latest creation – a pizza bianca (i.e. with no tomato layer) boasting no fewer than three types of cheese and a caramelised pineapple topping – was by the chef’s own admission an attempt at “combating food prejudice”.

  150. 150.

    emjayay

    @CaseyL: One place (I can’t remember which) liked squid on their pizza.

    Sounds like someplace like Greece. Also, no reason why not. And check out all the octopus decorated pottery from ancient Crete.

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