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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Lunch Menu: Sloppy Dons (Open Thread)

Lunch Menu: Sloppy Dons (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  August 16, 20251:28 pm| 106 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

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This won’t be the worst thing to come out of Trump’s disastrous meeting with Putin in Alaska yesterday, but it confirms that the administration is staffed with careless, unprofessional people from top to bottom: (NPR)

Papers with U.S. State Department markings, found Friday morning in the business center of an Alaskan hotel, revealed previously undisclosed and potentially sensitive details about the Aug. 15 meetings between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Anchorage.

Eight pages, that appear to have been produced by U.S. staff and left behind accidentally, shared precise locations and meeting times of the summit and phone numbers of U.S. government employees.

At around 9 a.m. on Friday, three guests at Hotel Captain Cook, a four-star hotel located 20 minutes from the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage where leaders from the U.S. and Russia convened, found the documents left behind in one of the hotel’s public printers. NPR reviewed photos of the documents taken by one of the guests, who NPR agreed not to identify because the guest said they feared retaliation.

The documents included the lunch menu:

Lunch Menu: Sloppy Dons (Open Thread)

From what I understand, lunch plans were abandoned, along with the plan to take questions from the press, after Putin got the PR victory from his weak, flailing vassal Trump. Another document stated that Trump was to present Putin with an “American Bald Eagle Desk Statue.”

Pages 2 through 5 listed the names and phone numbers of three U.S. staff members as well as the names of 13 U.S. and Russian state leaders. The list provided phonetic pronouncers for all the Russian men expected at the summit, including “Mr. President POO-tihn.”

Pages 6 and 7 in the packet described how lunch at the summit would be served, and for whom. A menu included in the documents indicated that the luncheon was to be held “in honor of his excellency Vladimir Putin.”

A seating chart shows that Putin and Trump were supposed to sit across from each other during the luncheon. Trump would be flanked by six officials: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to his right, and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff to his left. Putin would be seated immediately next to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and his Aide to the President for Foreign Policy, Yuri Ushakov.

I assume Putin canceled lunch since it’s impossible to imagine Trump voluntarily relinquishing an opportunity to dine with his idol. As for staffers losing the documents, it doesn’t sound like a big deal by itself — except it fits a pattern:

Jon Michaels, a professor of law at UCLA who lectures about national security, said that the documents found in the printer of the Alaskan hotel reveal a lapse in professional judgement in preparation for a high-stakes meeting.

“It strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration,” said Michaels. “You just don’t leave things in printers. It’s that simple.”

The printed papers are the latest example of a series of security breaches by officials of the Trump administration. Earlier this week, members of a law enforcement group chat that included members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) added a random person to a conversation about an ongoing search for a convicted attempted murderer. In March, U.S. national security leaders accidentally included a journalist in a group chat about impending military strikes in Yemen.

Would anyone be surprised if Kegsbreath or one of the other morons accidentally gave the Russians call-in instructions for the post-“summit” phone call with Zelensky and European officials? Nope.

Top. Men.

***

Hey, speaking of food, I spent most of the morning shopping for ingredients, prepping and putting together a gigantic pot of red sauce that is currently simmering with homemade meatballs and (store bought) Italian sausage. It contains lots of garlic and a splash of chianti and all the good things.

So, that’s dinner tonight sorted and several future meals started since we will divide most of the sauce into gallon bags and freeze it. Does anything else freeze as well as tomato-based Italian food like spaghetti sauce, lasagna, etc.?

If so, I don’t know about it. If you do, spill, please and thank you. We’re still on the empty nester learning curve and trying to scale familiar recipes down for two or make things that freeze well for later.

Open thread.

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    106Comments

    1. 1.

      Baud

      August 16, 2025 at 1:31 pm

      The sloppiness would merit a week’s worth of NYT articles in a Dem administration.

      Reply
    2. 2.

      different-church-lady

      August 16, 2025 at 1:31 pm

      We’re lucky Putin didn’t take Alaska with him.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      different-church-lady

      August 16, 2025 at 1:32 pm

      @Baud: A week? We’d be hearing about it beyond the end of the term.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      Baud

      August 16, 2025 at 1:33 pm

      @different-church-lady:

      My assumption is that an untied shoelace or an in-app clothing color would drive the story from the front pages.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      espierce

      August 16, 2025 at 1:34 pm

      Putin ate Donnie’s lunch and took his milk money too.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      Victor Matheson

      August 16, 2025 at 1:37 pm

      I think chili (especially like a good Chile Colorado style) freezes great. Quite honestly, I basically think anything “soup-like” including spaghetti sauce, is a perfect frozen food because reheating in a microwave or on the stovetop is all that has to be done to get it back.

      Reply
    7. 7.

      bbleh

      August 16, 2025 at 1:38 pm

      Apparently Putin immediately got in Trump’s limo (“the Beast”) at the airfield and rode with him, which gave him several minutes of unmonitored conversation time (Putin speaks reasonably good English), and one commenter (I don’t remember where) speculated that this was probably the most important part of the whole meeting for him.  It was also noted that the Russians said they thought the meeting would go for 7 hours — including lunch — and that after it ended (after only 3 hours and no lunch), Little Lord Fartleroy was visibly exhausted.

      Sigh.  What an ongoing embrarrassment of a catastrophe of a clown show (no offense to actual clowns).

      As to freezing, I’ve found some casseroles also freeze well, eg my standard chicken-veggies-hashbrown, and a big tray of that can be several meals, although of course any crispy / flakiness on top doesn’t survive very well.  And soups / stews / chili usually do ok.

      Reply
    8. 8.

      Jackie

      August 16, 2025 at 1:38 pm

      I mentioned on the probably dead thread that I hope there are security cameras in that OPEN, PUBLIC area where the printer is…

      Reply
    9. 9.

      Martin

      August 16, 2025 at 1:42 pm

      “It strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration,” said Michaels. “You just don’t leave things in printers. It’s that simple.”

      When I was running an office where photocopying student records wasn’t uncommon, leaving a copy of student information in the printer was going to get a closed door meeting with me.

      That said, it was also notable that we were better at redacting documents we would send to our accreditors than most courts and government agencies given the frequency that reporters would just strip that layer off the PDF.

      We are a nation that is infatuated with efficiency, not competency.

      Reply
    10. 10.

      p.a.

      August 16, 2025 at 1:43 pm

      … currently simmering with homemade meatballs and (store bought) Italian sausage.

       

       

      In a nonna pot?

      Reply
    11. 11.

      Suzanne

      August 16, 2025 at 1:43 pm

      Another document stated that Trump was to present Putin with an “American Bald Eagle Desk Statue.”

      I’m sure this is Hobby Lobby’s finest.

      They just print the lunch menu on a laser printer?! No engraved collateral?! This is some suburban-Kinko’s-esque tackiness.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Scout211

      August 16, 2025 at 1:43 pm

      I just put a loaf of zucchini bread in the freezer but that’s not a main dish.  Or is it?

      Since we moved out to the boonies and had a long commute for a few years before we retired, we started just making a couple of main dishes on the weekends and then had those dishes as leftovers for the work week, alternating between the two each night.  Since we retired, we have continued that even though we have more time now. It’s so easy and so simple. But we also now add a fresh salad or side dish to the leftovers. It works well for us because we don’t mind eating leftovers.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      Nukular Biskits

      August 16, 2025 at 1:45 pm

      This is OT for an Open Thread but a little bragging, if I may:

      Nukular Biskits on Bluesky: Small Protest in Biloxi, MS

      Reply
    14. 14.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 1:46 pm

      Imagining Monte Burns finger tent, saying “Exxxxcelency.”

      Reply
    15. 15.

      different-church-lady

      August 16, 2025 at 1:46 pm

      @bbleh: ​

      t was also noted that the Russians said they thought the meeting would go for 7 hours — including lunch — and that after it ended (after only 3 hours and no lunch)

      PUTIN: “Who knew a card table was that easy to fold?”

      Reply
    16. 16.

      gratuitous

      August 16, 2025 at 1:51 pm

      The political media will shrug off the hotel printer breach, just like they did with the unsecure public messaging platforms that included reporters or internet randos.

      I agree about Putin’s commandeering the felon’s ride being perhaps the most significant development. Bugs were almost guaranteed to have been planted in the vehicle, and the low-energy felon is too out of it to notice much less care about it.

      The second most significant development had to be the closed meeting featuring the bilingual Russian delegation facing off with the barely literate American group. It looks like Helsinki all over again.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      Mr. Bemused Senior

      August 16, 2025 at 1:52 pm

      Trump and his courtiers are not just ignorant about security, they are openly contemptuous of it.  In this administration competence is a justification for being fired.  It reminds me of a line in Tinker Tailor.  George Smiley says to Peter Guillam, “I’m surprised they didn’t throw you out with the rest of us.  You had all the qualifications: good at your work, loyal, discreet.”

      Reply
    18. 18.

      Betty Cracker

      August 16, 2025 at 1:56 pm

      @Victor Matheson: & @bbleh: Chili/soups/stews — y’all are right; all of those freeze well. Also red beans!

      @p.a.: It’s a big heavy Dutch oven, so maybe more of a grootmoeder pot? ;-)

      Reply
    19. 19.

      Betty Cracker

      August 16, 2025 at 1:58 pm

      @Nukular Biskits: Thank you for showing up!

      Reply
    20. 20.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 1:58 pm

      Betty, when you say gigantic, and you mention multiple gallon bags for freezing, i have to ask.

      HOW BIG IS YOUR POT?

      Reply
    21. 21.

      Betty Cracker

      August 16, 2025 at 2:01 pm

      @WaterGirl: I think it’s seven quarts? I’m not sure, but it’s so huge and heavy that lifting it down from a high shelf is a concussion hazard.

      Reply
    22. 22.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 2:02 pm

      @Nukular Biskits: Do you have an image of your sign?

      I liked the mockup in last night’s post.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 2:02 pm

      @bbleh: ​
       
      Hope the CIA sweeps the upholstery for dozens of tiny spy bugs.

      Reply
    24. 24.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 2:02 pm

      @Betty Cracker: Hmm.  7 quarts is less than 2 gallons.

      Not sure that squares with the amount of sauce you freeze?

      Reply
    25. 25.

      Nukular Biskits

      August 16, 2025 at 2:03 pm

      @Betty Cracker:

      I almost didn’t. Stupid truck initially didn’t want to start. Again.

      And it was hot AF today.

      Of course, the idiot saying that is the same idiot who is about to got cut the grass in the back yard in a few minutes.

      Reply
    26. 26.

      Nukular Biskits

      August 16, 2025 at 2:04 pm

      @WaterGirl:

      It’s the one on the far left in the group photo at the end of the thread, but I’ll take a close-up and post it as an addendum.

      Gimme a sec.

      Reply
    27. 27.

      Professor Bigfoot

      August 16, 2025 at 2:05 pm

      @Martin: Efficiency without competence  yields neither.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Scout211

      August 16, 2025 at 2:06 pm

      @WaterGirl: The Revere Ware pot I use to make marinara sauce is 8 quarts.  It’s a beast and I love it. I freeze the sauce in those ziplock 4-cup containers.  I can usually get 4 containers with 3 1/2 cups of sauce per pot full. I’ve got 7 of those containers in my freezer right now.  It’s been an abundant tomato season.

      Reply
    29. 29.

      hueyplong

      August 16, 2025 at 2:06 pm

      Putin:  Fuck non-gold American eagle.

      [pause]

      Putin:  I said, FUCK EAGLE.

      Trump [fumbling inside his diaper in search of the mushroom]:  Yes, sir, right away sir.

      Putin:  I don’t want to watch, embecile.  Give me your vehicle.

      [Trump, scrambling now in his search, seems not to hear]

      Rubio [sweating, turning to Putin but maintaining eyes on the floor]: It’s on the way, sir.

      Reply
    30. 30.

      Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

      August 16, 2025 at 2:07 pm

      @Baud: It’s as if Rethugs are expected to be lax about security. Aren’t the GOP supposed to be the strong-on-defense crew?

      Alternatively, could this all be groundwork to disguise the actual espionage, so that when some serious spying is discovered it can be dismissed as just more maladministration ineptitude?

      Reply
    31. 31.

      Martin

      August 16, 2025 at 2:07 pm

      @WaterGirl: Well, you shouldn’t put a gallon of anything into a gallon bag when freezing to start – but in my experience people only put about a quart into one so it’ll lay relatively flat.

      Reply
    32. 32.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 2:08 pm

      Dream bigly.

      A driver who had stolen an Amazon truck trailer full of packages on Friday was stopped by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, authorities said.

      Deputies were alerted to the stolen trailer near Watt and Edison avenues in Sacramento County’s Arden Arcade area, according to a post on X by the Sheriff’s Office.

      They later stopped the driver near Eureka Road while they were traveling eastbound on I-80 near Antelope, the post said. Deputies detained the driver, and California Highway Patrol officials responded to the scene to take over the investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

      Guessing a proposed Butch-Sundance caper conversation went about like this:

      “I’ve got an idea.”
      “Shut up!”

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Whomever

      August 16, 2025 at 2:09 pm

      Looking at the menu I am thinking “What is Trump going to eat?” and then realizing “OMG he’s going to ask for Ketchup with the Filet Mignon, then have them cook it well done, isn’t he.”

      (Insert sound of every competent chef saying “I don’t want to live on this planet any more”)

      Even without Trump it’s a very boring menu.  As a foodie I’ve occasionally glanced at White House menus out of curiosity and they usually try and have highlight US ingredients and also ones from whichever leader they are hosting, plus wines from both countries.  Even W for all his faults did that.
      georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/firstlady/arts-menu-archive.html for examples of how they hosted world leaders not so long ago.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      JoyceH

      August 16, 2025 at 2:11 pm

      I want to know the ultimate fate of the American bald eagle desk statue. Did Trump succeed in giving it to Putin or was that supposed to happen later, at the lunch or press conference? And isn’t it interesting that Trump, the world champion receiver of gifts, was intending to be a giver of a gift. People who give Trump gifts want something from him. What did Trump want from Putin. Not a peace deal or the bribe would be bigger. Something to do with files?

      And I still want to know who ate the lunch.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Scout211

      August 16, 2025 at 2:11 pm

      Re: the menu for the luncheon that never was:

      Does Putin even eat food prepared by others?

      Reply
    36. 36.

      Nukular Biskits

      August 16, 2025 at 2:11 pm

      @Nukular Biskits: @WaterGirl:

      Done. Added at the end of the thread.

      Too bad I don’t have a color printer or, even better, a large plotter.

      Reply
    37. 37.

      Randal Sexton

      August 16, 2025 at 2:12 pm

      We stock our freezer with quiches, lasagnas, vichyssoise.  Those work ok.  Also Dungeness crab cakes which do ok but not as good as fresh.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

      August 16, 2025 at 2:12 pm

      @Suzanne: Predictable tastelessness from the Tango Tackarama Teen Diddler.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

      August 16, 2025 at 2:13 pm

      @Scout211: Wasn’t that what Lavrov was along for – as official taster?

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Nukular Biskits

      August 16, 2025 at 2:17 pm

      Okay. Out to do yard work I go.

      If I don’t show up later, I either won the lottery or suffered heat stroke.

      Reply
    41. 41.

      Barney

      August 16, 2025 at 2:17 pm

      @hueyplong: There’s one moment with a bald eagle, a desk and Trump that Putin would love to be commemorated:

      Raw: Bald Eagle Attacks Trump During Photoshoot

      Reply
    42. 42.

      RaflW

      August 16, 2025 at 2:19 pm

      @Scout211: Indeed, that was my thought. Maybe if forced to, he swaps plates at the last second with Ushakov? Aide to the President and imperial food taster.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

      August 16, 2025 at 2:19 pm

      @JoyceH:

      And I still want to know who ate the lunch.

      Knowing Reichwingnuts, they probably trashed the entire menu rather than risk any of Those Other People* getting a free meal.

      Reply
    44. 44.

      HinTN

      August 16, 2025 at 2:19 pm

      @Scout211:

      Does Putin even eat food prepared by others?

      I think not.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      Whomever

      August 16, 2025 at 2:21 pm

      @JoyceH: Somehow when I read about the statue I can’t help but think of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
      I’m sure Trump wouldn’t have the NSA put something in that statue, but in the old days if I was Putin I’d definitely not leave it anywhere near where I might be discussing stuff.

      Reply
    46. 46.

      Shalimar

      August 16, 2025 at 2:23 pm

      @bbleh:  It was also noted that the Russians said they thought the meeting would go for 7 hours — including lunch — and that after it ended (after only 3 hours and no lunch), Little Lord Fartleroy was visibly exhausted.

      Hour 6 was presumably when Putin would have asked Trump for a 99-year lease on Alaska, so they are understandably angry that Trump’s aides got him out of there before the inevitable could happen.

      Reply
    47. 47.

      p.a.

      August 16, 2025 at 2:24 pm

      I use the 1qt plastic containers from Chinese takeout.  Recent ones unfortunately  sometimes have a pinhole in the cover that requires scotch tape.  In the before time 1qt ricotta, cottage cheese containers worked, but now the walls are so thin a minor ding when frozen cracks them.  Have some 1pt also.  They all fit in my 11 cu ft upright freezer door, otherwise I’d use ziplocks.

      Reply
    48. 48.

      JaySinWa

      August 16, 2025 at 2:28 pm

      @Martin: We are a nation that is infatuated with efficiency, not competency.

      That explains the fervor for AI slop as well as anything.

      Reply
    49. 49.

      Quaker in a Basement

      August 16, 2025 at 2:30 pm

      @Whomever: It’s the same menu he fed the crypto donors, isn’t it?

      Reply
    50. 50.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 2:31 pm

      @Martin: Ah. Makes sense.

      Reply
    51. 51.

      Mai Naem mobile

      August 16, 2025 at 2:31 pm

      The eagle probably has a secret compartment to stuff a memory stick in. I cannot believe the secret service didn’t nix the idea of Putin riding in the Beast.  I hate this guy. He’s just so stupid.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      JaySinWa

      August 16, 2025 at 2:31 pm

      @Scout211: i bake, cool, slice, and freeze a loaf of bread and take out a few slices as needed.

      Reply
    53. 53.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 2:33 pm

      @HinTN:

      “Is first rule things we be do-ink, ourselves. Bring-ink now Lunchables”

      Reply
    54. 54.

      WTFGhost

      August 16, 2025 at 2:33 pm

      Good Italian cooking has most of the water cooked out, replaced with olive oil and rendered fats from the meat. There is little water to crystalize. If you fill your containers to the top, you avoid the oxidation risk, which is often the case with Italian pasta sauces – you fill your leftover container to the top, and decide what to do with the bit that’s left.

      Those same principles will apply to other food types – low oxygen access, low water content, good fats that will soften back to tastiness.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 2:34 pm

      @Mai Naem mobile:

      You can’t be too safe. Replace Beast with gift Bentley from Qatar.

      Reply
    56. 56.

      stinger

      August 16, 2025 at 2:36 pm

      @Whomever: ​
       Thanks for the link! I notice the menus for Denmark and Germany were pretty much identical. (Haven’t skimmed them all yet.) Lots of lamb and grits.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      Kristine

      August 16, 2025 at 2:37 pm

      I joined Rancho Gordo’s Bean Club last year and have been struggling to keep up—the bean backlog is significant. I’ve found that plain ol’ pot beans—any variety cooked with onion, garlic, a few herbs, maybe tomatoes—freeze well and make a great side dish or a full meal with a hunk of bread. A little less work than a soup or stew and pretty damn nutritious.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      Jay

      August 16, 2025 at 2:39 pm

      ‪Darth Putin‬
      ‪@darthputinkgb.bsky.social‬
      · 1d
      Me arriving in Alaska:
      Customs: Name?
      Me: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
      Customs: Occupation?
      Me: No, just here to give Donald his evaluation.

      22

      Reply
    59. 59.

      WTFGhost

      August 16, 2025 at 2:43 pm

      @HinTN: I’ve seen what Trump calls a filet mignon – I wouldn’t sit at his table, even if I was sure no one would dare risk harming Trump’s favorite top.

      Gad, I remember when Colbert said Trump’s mouth was Putin’s cock-holster, and then made a fine apology, saying (in my memory) “there’s nothing wrong with sucking dick; what’s wrong is that it’s *Putin’s* cock.”

      That joke, and the explanation, seem to encapsulate the entire Trump presidency. “What he is doing wouldn’t be stupid if things were completely different, but they’re not!”

      Reply
    60. 60.

      gene108

      August 16, 2025 at 2:43 pm

      Jon Michaels, a professor of law at UCLA who lectures about national security, said that the documents found in the printer of the Alaskan hotel reveal a lapse in professional judgement in preparation for a high-stakes meeting.

      There are no policy professionals left in the Republican party.

      Professionals in any industry can tell the boss no. They may not prevail in convincing the boss to follow what they want to do, but they have the training and experience to form their own opinions based on available information. If the boss becomes insufferable or destructive, they have the qualifications to quit.

      Whatever professionals existed did not want to be involved with Trump 1.0. This is how Rex Tillerson became Secretary of State. No one else wanted the job.

      Trump 1.0 drove the well intentioned conservatives, who tried to step up, out of the party.

      Trump 2.0 is stacked with yes men and conspiracy theorists.

      There are no professionals left. It doesn’t matter which Republican is president. There’s no secret stash of policy professionals for future Republican administrations to draw from.

      This is something the media refuses to acknowledge.

      Reply
    61. 61.

      Dangerman

      August 16, 2025 at 2:43 pm

      Desk Statue? Shit. I had my money on a Hummer.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      JaySinWa

      August 16, 2025 at 2:45 pm

      @Dangerman: Does Donny give hummers? We know he receives them.

      ETA from @WTFGhost: Apparently Colbert thinks he does.

      Reply
    63. 63.

      Another Scott

      August 16, 2025 at 2:47 pm

      @bbleh:

      Little Lord Fartleroy was visibly exhausted.

      47 has lacked stamina for years. He threw a fit in 2015 that the primary debates were too long and demanded that they be two hours in total instead.

      AFAIK, nobody has ever asked Omarosa’s example question about 47’s stent(s).

      Low energy. Sad.

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    64. 64.

      Another Scott

      August 16, 2025 at 2:51 pm

      @Nukular Biskits: 👍

      Thanks for the report.  And thanks even more for showing up.  It’s important!

      Best wishes,
      Scott.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      RevRick

      August 16, 2025 at 2:56 pm

      @Victor Matheson: @p.a.: @Betty Cracker:

      What is this thing called freezing food? Leftovers have a life expectancy of one day and become either next day lunch or dinner, depending upon the quantity.

      Reply
    66. 66.

      AndyG

      August 16, 2025 at 2:58 pm

      I’ve been using your Sunday gravy recipe for over 10 years and it never disappoints…..

      Reply
    67. 67.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 3:05 pm

      Meanwhile, revving up Hurricanes 2025, brought to you by UFC, Sharpie™ and Carl’s Junior. Ask for them by name. First up, E-rin. (Whatever became of Andrea and Chantal? Also, Barry and Dexter, two serial killer storms?)

      Hurricane Erin has rapidly intensified into a rare category five hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 160mph (260km/h), and expected to gain even more strength.
      National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan told a briefing that the “extremely powerful” storm had “explosively deepened and intensified” overnight after growing from tropical storm strength on Friday.
      Erin is in the Caribbean, expected to pass north of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend, bringing up to 6in (15cm) of rain, with potential for flash flooding and mudslides.
      The first hurricane the 2025 Atlantic season, it is not currently forecast to make landfall on the mainland US.

      Hurricane Erin underwent rapid intensification, in which a storm strengthens by at least least 34mph in a 24-hour period.
      Erin’s winds had intensified from 100mph early in the hours of Saturday morning to 160mph, Mr Brennan said.
      Next week, Hurricane Erin is forecast to move gradually northward, past the east of the Bahamas and up towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

      Please note: next year will feature Bertha and Dolly, excellent news for Deadheads and Dolly worshipers. Also Omar, with the obvious and necessary “Omar Comin'” headlines.

      Reply
    68. 68.

      kmax

      August 16, 2025 at 3:06 pm

      So my big question on this is they decided to use the hotel’s business center to print docs?  don’t they have printers on AF One?
      Personally I avoid the business center equipment like the plague.

      Reply
    69. 69.

      raven

      August 16, 2025 at 3:07 pm

      @trollhattan: My in-laws are headed to Topsail Beach, NC this week.

      Reply
    70. 70.

      sab

      August 16, 2025 at 3:08 pm

      @raven: Glad to see your nym.

      Reply
    71. 71.

      sab

      August 16, 2025 at 3:16 pm

      @RevRick: You are obviously better on quantity management than me. After cooking for a spousE and three stepkids for years, I am fi ding it impossivle to downsize to two old people on diets. Husband does not want to eat the same thing for tjree days, or alternate between the same teo things all week.

      In summer I take off prep of night meal and he has cereal or toast and whatever.

      I would love to learn cooking for two, but so far that means I need to learn intelligent freezing.

      Reply
    72. 72.

      Jay

      August 16, 2025 at 3:18 pm

      @RevRick:

      I make 2 “Deep Dish” lasagna’s at a time, using bread loaf pans.

      A 1 1/2″ slice, along with a green salad and cheesy garlic toast, (baguette) makes a dinner for 1, so there are 3 dinners for 2 per pan.

      So one “bake” makes 6 meals, but T tells me that I can’t eat lasagna for dinner every day. So, one goes in the fridge, the other, the freezer. As we both work, one other “batch” meal means we only have to cook from “scratch” on weekends, weekday suppers are just “leftovers”.

      FTI, I am working a new job, and there was a bit of a ops breach on Friday. Somebody printed out “The Payroll” to a common printer, and left it there in the printed tray for several hours.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      ascap_scab

      August 16, 2025 at 3:26 pm

      I wouldn’t want Trump’s Surf n Turf special either.

      Reply
    74. 74.

      Geminid

      August 16, 2025 at 3:26 pm

      I think this comment made last night by Turkish security analyst Levent Kemal bears repeating:

         The world’s most inconclusive press conference. Trump and Putin met and parted like two street bosses huddling with their crews, hammering out a tentative agreement neither side fully committed to.

      Levant Kemal’s area of expertise is Middle East and African insurgent groups. They all have elements of organized crime gangs, and I think Kemal used the term “street bosses” advisedy.

      Kemal also is of Circassian ancestry. Knowing the history of Russia and the Circassians, I assume he has plenty of animus towards Russia. And Kemal being a hardbitten, veteran security analyst, I expect he has nothing but contempt for Donald Trump.

      Reply
    75. 75.

      Ramalama

      August 16, 2025 at 3:26 pm

      I make big batches of sofritos…sofrito? Various bell peppers about to go bad, onions chopped up, zucchini if we’ve got em. Ten cloves of garlic, hoarded of cilantro, fresh lime and lemon, red pepper or hot sauce, cumin, oregano.

      I put batches in small cottage cheese plastic containers. Ready for plopping into a big pile of beans.

      I also freeze pesto all the time in small glass jars. Pesto is a staple of mine for oatmeal.

      Reply
    76. 76.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 3:31 pm

      @Ramalama: Do you cook that?  Do you freeze it?

      Reply
    77. 77.

      trollhattan

      August 16, 2025 at 3:31 pm

      @raven:

      They’re probably fine but an eye on the forecast is always warranted.

      Helene missed Runner Girl by all of hundred miles as it was obliterating Asheville. “It sprinkled.”

      Reply
    78. 78.

      kindness

      August 16, 2025 at 3:37 pm

      I’m a bit miffed that no truly patriotic meteor offered up it’s very existence to drop in on the Trump/Putin meeting.  Such a chance doesn’t come around very often.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      Doc Sardonic

      August 16, 2025 at 3:39 pm

      Sofrito is the Spanish mirepoix, you cook it down and then put it in the blender and make a paste, or use as is. You make it in large batches and it goes in most Latin dishes. Can be frozen

      Reply
    80. 80.

      Matt McIrvin

      August 16, 2025 at 3:40 pm

      @sab: I’m going to have to recalibrate again next week once my child of hearty appetite is off to college again.

      On the one hand, it does mean we can cook stuff like fish that she doesn’t eat. On the other hand, she is also the most ambitious and creative cook in the household. I try…

      Reply
    81. 81.

      Deputinize America

      August 16, 2025 at 3:41 pm

      Bought some busiate pasta and am going to attempt pesto alla trapanese tomorrow. Haven’t decided on protein yet – I’m thinking meatballs.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      Geminid

      August 16, 2025 at 3:44 pm

      @kindness: You are not the boss of us.

      Reply
    83. 83.

      David Collier-Brown

      August 16, 2025 at 3:44 pm

      Changing the subject, I just read a note about nationalist Christians …

      Qasim Rashid, Esq.@[email protected]

      Someone said to call them Nationalist Christians, or Nat-Cs for short, and I can’t unsee it.

      MAGAs are Nat-Cs. Period.

      Reply
    84. 84.

      Tehanu

      August 16, 2025 at 3:47 pm

      Split pea soup, made with carrots, onions, garlic, and a little smoked ham. Freezes great, tastes the same when defrosted.

      Reply
    85. 85.

      Martin

      August 16, 2025 at 3:52 pm

      @JaySinWa: I put AI more in the category of the larger belief that we can build sufficient analytical simulacrums of the economy, of culture, etc. Self-driving cars fall in this category as well, as does crypto in the sense that it was originally seen as a perfect simulation of a market for a scarce resource that isn’t polluted by these political or whatever interventions.

      So while the current state of AI is efficiency over competency, their vision is that it will exceed humanity in both, and my guess is they will increasingly make excuses for why AI fails on the competency side, same as we do for autonomous cars, etc.

      My aha moment was realizing that neoliberal economics is just this phenomenon applied to market capitalism – that markets are these self-correcting, equilibrium seeking perfect efficiency machines that will execute more competently than the state, and well, they aren’t, and we make bigger and bigger excuses for why they don’t work, when the foundational assumption is the thing that’s wrong.

      Reply
    86. 86.

      David Collier-Brown

      August 16, 2025 at 3:54 pm

      @JaySinWa:

      @Martin: We are a nation that is infatuated with efficiency, not competency.

      In economics, efficiency is defined as revenue per employee.  Once something is running, you raise efficiency by firing as many people as you can before revenue drops off.  Especially you fire people like designer or programmers.

      Reply
    87. 87.

      Chetan Murthy

      August 16, 2025 at 3:58 pm

      @kmax: they decided to use the hotel’s business center to print docs?  don’t they have printers on AF One?

      I’m so old (sooo olllld) I remember when the articles came out about how most printers have storage onboard where they keep copies of everything they print, and (haha) law enforcement (or spies!) can later download all that yummy yummy absolutely-not-encrypted data.

      What a buncha maroons.  Then again, for these jamokes to know that, they’d have had to stay away thru their mandatory-not-mandatory-for-us-do-you-know-who-we-are-henghhhh!!! course in cyber security from their local NSA attache’.

      Shorter: Professionalism, wazzat?

      Reply
    88. 88.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 4:00 pm

      @Chetan Murthy: James doesn’t get used often enough, in my opinion.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      Cheryl from Maryland

      August 16, 2025 at 4:01 pm

      @Whomever: Agree, that menu is crap country club/hotel food.

      Reply
    90. 90.

      Jay

      August 16, 2025 at 4:02 pm

      @Chetan Murthy:

      Trump took CyberSecurity.

      Reply
    91. 91.

      zhena gogolia

      August 16, 2025 at 4:04 pm

      The whole thing is so fucking embarrassing.

      Yes, I know “embarrassing” doesn’t begin to encompass the disaster. But it’s my primary and foremost emotion. There’s no arguing with emotions.

      Reply
    92. 92.

      Chetan Murthy

      August 16, 2025 at 4:06 pm

      @Jay: wait wait I thought he’d delegated that to Baron, b/c he’s so good with the cyber ?

      Reply
    93. 93.

      Baud

      August 16, 2025 at 4:07 pm

      I hate to link to the NYT, but credit where it’s due.

      Draft of White House Report Suggests Kennedy Won’t Push Strict Pesticide Regulations

      The report is not final, but indicates good news for the food and agriculture industries.

      Anyway, folks here can pat themselves on the back for seeing through this fraud (as well as the others).

      Reply
    94. 94.

      different-church-lady

      August 16, 2025 at 4:09 pm

      @Geminid: Would it kill ya to work a little with us?

      Reply
    95. 95.

      Baud

      August 16, 2025 at 4:09 pm

      HAPPENING NOW: Thousands of protesters chant “Fuck Donald Trump!” as they march through the streets of DC (Video: DRM News)[image or embed]— Marco Foster (@marcofoster.bsky.social) Aug 16, 2025 at 3:52 PM

      Reply
    96. 96.

      zhena gogolia

      August 16, 2025 at 4:21 pm

      @Baud: Love it!

      Anchorage and DC have done themselves proud.

      Reply
    97. 97.

      grammypat

      August 16, 2025 at 5:12 pm

      Homemade salsa verde (in glass jars, not plastic) freezes beautifully.  Also, homemade yogurt, IF canned and sealed properly, will keep in the refrigerator for months.

      When I make either of them, it’s usually +/- 5qts of each  …  which will then last me for months.

      They are often eaten together since I make my yogurt strong enough to also serve as sour cream.

      Reply
    98. 98.

      Ramalama

      August 16, 2025 at 5:37 pm

      @WaterGirl: cook it up first. I usually trawl through the fridge for any of those vegs on the edge, chop them up, and add obligatory cilantro, cumin, citrus. Also tomatoes if I feel like it.

      then I wait for the mosh to cool down completely.

      and then in it goes into plastic and the freezer.

      i use olive oil sometimes to cook up into a wok.

      other times I use another oil.

      almost always use a wok.

      Reply
    99. 99.

      MisterForkbeard

      August 16, 2025 at 5:44 pm

      @Baud: This kind of document is literally the sort of thing that was marked as “classified” in Hillary Clinton’s email server.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      Ramalama

      August 16, 2025 at 5:51 pm

      @Ramalama: almost forgot. Fresh parsley in equal measure to cilantro when I’ve got it.

      Reply
    101. 101.

      sab

      August 16, 2025 at 6:13 pm

      @different-church-lady: Seriously, you are stomping on our voice of fact?

      He annoys me a lot when he challenges my opinion with facts he has read, but that is what he does. Reads prodigiously and marshals his facts. He isn’t oppo research. He just takes the time and effort to learn stuff and then lets us know what he has learned.

      Reply
    102. 102.

      sab

      August 16, 2025 at 6:13 pm

      Duplicate. ?.?. Feels like 2am.

      Reply
    103. 103.

      Deputinize America

      August 16, 2025 at 6:17 pm

      @Geminid:

      Speaking of security, it looks like police in Henderson NV committed an antisemitism:

      theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/16/nevada-arrest-israeli-official

      An Israeli government cybersecurity official was reportedly arrested recently by Las Vegas police and other authorities in Nevada who were conducting an undercover investigation aimed at online users seeking to sexually prey on children.

      Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38, faces felony charges of luring a child with a computer for a sex act, alongside several other suspects who were apprehended during the two-week sting operation, the Las Vegas metropolitan police department said in a statement published on Friday. He has since evidently been released from custody and returned to Israel.

      …

      “Israeli officials downplayed the incident, saying it carried ‘no political implications’ and was resolved quickly,” Ynet reported, without naming Alexandrovich or mentioning he had been arrested in connection with a felony charge leveled against him by Nevada law enforcement officials. “The reasons for the questioning remain unclear but may relate to the employee’s conduct.”

      Mediaite reported that Netanyahu’s office issued a statement denying that the employee in question had even been arrested.

      “A state employee who traveled to the US for professional matters was questioned by American authorities during his stay,” the prime minister’s office said. “The employee, who does not hold a diplomatic visa, was not arrested and returned to Israel as scheduled.”

      Reply
    104. 104.

      Ramalama

      August 16, 2025 at 6:34 pm

      @Doc Sardonic: I don’t put my sofrito in a blender. So it’s a completely bastardized version of it.

      Reply
    105. 105.

      mrmoshpotato

      August 16, 2025 at 6:38 pm

      The list provided phonetic pronouncers for all the Russian men expected at the summit, including “Mr. President POO-tihn.”

      Is Putin’s orange bitch really this stupid?  Dump has been Putin’s bitch since 1999.  You would figure the traitorous, Kremlin-humper would know how say his Daddy Vladdy’s name.

      Reply
    106. 106.

      WaterGirl

      August 16, 2025 at 7:54 pm

      @David Collier-Brown: You may want to post that again in another thread.  It was in moderation until nearly 8 pm so no one will have seen it.

      Reply

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