I’m a bit frayed around the ends, but I thought I would pop in and say hello. Things are just fabulous.
Last night before bed, I went to brush my teeth and wash my face, as I always do. There was a stinkbug on my toothbrush fibers, because it still has not been cold enough to kill off all the damned bugs or reset the stone fruit trees. Took my glasses off to wash my face, got a good lather going, and then rinsed three to four times and every time I looked in the mirror, it still looked like I had soap on my face. I rinsed a couple more times before I realized it was not soap, just my beard is THAT FUCKING WHITE that with my glasses off it looks like soap.
Moving along. Yesterday I went out for milk and bananas and the grocery has smoked salmon in those little packets that normally sell for like 9 bucks marked down to 2.79 a packet, so I did what every 51 going on 95 year old who spiritually lived through the depression and shops like it would do, which is to look around and see if anyone is watching and then throw all of them in my cart. Picked up some bagels in the bakery section, and went to get some cream cheese and discovered they only had flavored cream cheese in those little tubs. No regular philadelphia or store brand in sight. Whatever, I grabbed one of the flavored ones and decided I would just soldier on.
Got home, and curious why there was no cheese, I googled cream cheese and lo and behold it appears there is a national cream cheese shortage:
Zabar’s is running low. Tompkins Square Bagels is down to sticks. Pick-a-Bagel has only a few days’ supply left.
All over New York City, bagel makers say, a schmear shortage is threatening one of the most treasured local delicacies: a fresh bagel with cream cheese.
“This is bad. This is very bad,” said Pedro Aguilar, a manager at the Pick-a-Bagel chain, which has several Manhattan locations. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Aguilar said he had only enough cream cheese to last until Monday.
Nick Patta, who has worked at Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side for 11 years, said his usual supplier in Queens had run out of the shop’s go-to cream cheese brand for the first time that he could remember.
“We went this week and the shelves were empty,” he said.
Supply chain issues have plagued the United States for months, causing scarcities of everything from cars to running shoes. In Alaska, residents are struggling to acquire winter coats.
Now, New York’s bagel purveyors are starting to feel the effects in a sudden and surprising development that has left them scrambling to find and hoard as much cream cheese as they can.
Scott Goldshine, the general manager at Zabar’s, estimated on Friday that he had enough to last 10 days.
This apparently caused hell for the holiday cheesecake makers, and CNN pins it on a cyber attack. I’m starting to think putting the production and distribution of everything in the hands of just a few companies so a handful of people can get super rich might be a bad idea. So that’s that.
Went to make my bagel this morning with subpar flavored cream cheese, and discovered that I could not find my jar of capers. And we are not talking about one of those dainty little tings the circumference of your thumb. We’re talking about one of those 16oz massive jars of capers you get at your italian deli. Gone. And it is not near the mustard and I immediately regret telling you this because as I wrote this I realized I will be hearing about the Caper caper of 2022 for the rest of my life.
In other local news, Jim Justice, who on a good day is a very NOT HEALTHY person, has tested positive for Covid and apparently feels like hammered shit:
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced late Tuesday that he is “extremely unwell” after testing positive for the coronavirus, forcing him to postpone his State of the State address.
Justice, who is vaccinated and boosted, said in a news release that although he was “surprised” he tested positive, he was “thankful to the Lord above that I’ve been vaccinated, I’ve been boosted, and that I have an incredible support system, especially my loving family.”
“That being said, I feel extremely unwell at this point, and I have no choice but to postpone my State of the State address to the Legislature,” he said. He added that his wife, first lady Cathy Justice, tested negative.
The governor is experiencing moderate symptoms, such as congestion, coughing, a headache and a fever, and is isolating at home, his office said. The 65-year-old is being given a monoclonal antibody treatment prescribed by his physicians.
He had to cancel the State of the State address, which, if you have ever had to listen to him speak, is a blessing, but the body politic is being threatened with a makeup address at a later date, so it appears no reprieve, just a delay. These events did not, however, deter the WV Republicans from rushing through a billion dollars of tax cuts to “create”… 200 jobs.
So that is the news here on the Cole homefront. Happy Tuesday.
James E Powell
I can only speak for my own patch of paradise in Riverside County, California, but over the holidays I made several recipes using cream cheese – Philadelphia of course – and also had plenty for bagels and I never noticed any shortage or even a low supply at the local grocery stores.
The Moar You Know
Which doesn’t work on Omicron. At all. He needs a better doctor.
CaseyL
As a woman of a certain age, I can report that my eyebrow hairs have gotten so light I have to pencil them in, while at the same time the fine hairs on my face have gotten darker. Good times!
I have a slight sweet spot for Gov. Justice simply because at one point he told West Virginians to “get the fucking vaccine.” (Other than that, I realize he’s bog standard GOP.) So for that reason, and the fact that any replacement is probably going to be worse, I wish him a full recovery.
Jerzy Russian
I have heard about shortages of cat food. The large bag of kibble is half full, but perhaps I should see if I can get more, just in case.
I have not noticed any shortages of people food, but I am not in the stores all that often these days.
Jerzy Russian
@The Moar You Know: I did not read the whole story, but do they know which variant it is? The odds might favor omicron, but it could be delta.
Butch
I started making cheese as a hobby several years ago and this week made my first batch ever of cream cheese – mesophilic starter and rennet with cream and milk allowed to sit for 24 hours and then drained in a butter muslin bag for 12 hours; it’s delicious and really low effort.
trollhattan
My ophthalmologist caught the ‘rona late December and was lucky enough to bounce back after a few miserable days, after getting a monoclonal infusion. Said the turnaround after that was rapid.
Hit home, since his office takes exceptional care in protecting staff and patients alike and yet…. Also, he lost his receptionist last year after her husband died of covid and she was forced to move in with family in another city, along with their two kids.
The pee-drinking advocates can just go die in a fire.
Betty Cracker
Okay, this explains why I was also unable to buy unflavored cream cheese last week. I thought some local had hogged it all because most of the shelves are full. (Random items have been in short supply though.)
Gov. Justice is a Republican and therefore a scumbag, but at least he’s not politicizing vaccines like my shitty governor. Plus, Justice has a bulldog that he calls “Baby Dog,” and apparently the dog predicts football game outcomes, so there’s that.
My sister, who is a nurse anesthetist, triple vaxxed and careful about masking, is sick. It’s probably COVID, but there aren’t enough tests for her confirm that because some sweaty, bloated Trump wannabe sat on the state’s huge stockpile and let them expire and didn’t bother to acquire more because the dumb fuck doesn’t want to face the actual numbers.
Old School
Which just goes to show that even if vaccines help prevent hospitalizations, you can still feel awful even if you don’t reach that level. Thus, there is still the need for masks, social distancing, etc.
Just One More Canuck
Tuesday?
Van Buren
This AM I went for what I thought was a routine checkup with a urologist, and now I am scheduled for a CT scan of my kidneys the day before my cardiac ablation.
My organs are having a contest to see who can kill me first.
WaterGirl
@James E Powell: Here in Illinois there is most definitely a cream cheese shortage which sadly did interfere with the holiday cheesecake plans.
dww44
@Jerzy Russian: that’s the thing in these parts, it seems no one knows what variant they have. I’m wondering if they’re even testing here for that. Probably not. Republicans run everything at the state level.
and thanks @jc for the detailed post. I’ve got several packs of regular cream cheese, both Kraft and Kroger store brand. I absolutely endorse your statement that it is NOT good that competition in our capitalist economy seems to be going the way of the dodo bird. Not good for the plebes.
Saw on my iPhone this morning that Tim Cook made 98 million at Apple in 2021 and while I like him fine, it’s unseemly for anyone to make that much money. He needs to go fund vaccinations for a few third world countries. More importantly, capitalism does NOT need to be unfettered to the degree that it currently is.
Meyerman
First mustard. Now capers. Someone on the other side of the tear in the space-time continuum has a good start on a delicious sandwich. You may want to count those salmon packets carefully.
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: I thought they had determined that only one out of the three (?) versions of the monoclonal antibody treatments actually does work with Omicron.
dww44
@Van Buren:
Pulling for you. Maybe the CT scan will find NOTHING. Keep us updated.
Kent
So my oldest daughter is out working in Jackson WY this winter to continue her objective of getting paid to snowboard and surf until the economy sorts itself out and the more professional tourism PR and marketing jobs she really wants start to emerge again.
As it turns out, Teton County, which is Jackson is currently the #1 county in the entire country when it comes to Covid rates with a number in the mid-600s. Miami Dade is second . And, of course my daughter got sick the week she arrived and quarantined for 4 days while awaiting her test results. Which turned out negative, but she still got paid for all those days of quarantine which is not bad for a seasonal gig that she only started the week before.
On the plus side, Jackson has seen no deaths and few hospitalizations and the vaccination rate is at 89% so it is kind of a weird case. But my daughter says no one masks at all, even though it is only one of two blue dots in what is a sea of red in Wyoming (the other blue dot is the Wind River reservation).
Anway, our extended family of 12 which is spread across four states and two continents is still 0-12 in terms of getting Covid. We are all vaxed and boosted and most of us work in high risk jobs or are students in school. So there’s that. Not EVERYONE is catching Covid. We shall see if we can keep it up through Omicron. My wife has her doubts.
Nicole
Oh, thank you for this post. It reminded me I meant to wax my upper lip. Gonna do that now.
@CaseyL: I empathize with the eyebrow hairs. Occasionally I get a crazy long Grandpa one now, too. Man, it’s the tiny humiliations of aging that can really get my goat.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: huh, somehow you and I have arrived at the exact same conclusion. One must equal the other. What are the odds?
Yarrow
The monoclonal antibodies are not supposed to work very well or at all against Omicron. The FDA paused distribution of Rengeron, although it’s started back up again now. There is one monoclonal antibody treatment that works better than the others, from what I’ve read.
Kent
@Betty Cracker: The infuriating thing (among many infuriating things in FL) is that home rapid test results don’t generally go into the state’s positive data results anyway, just the institutionally-administered PCR tests.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Ugh, hope your sister is okay.
Infection rates of unvaccinated and fully vaccinated here have both skyrocketed, lending credence to the notion omicron is the honey badger edition of covid that doesn’t give a shit whether you’ve been jabbed. Only the outcomes differ.
To wit, in November the infection rate among fully vaccinated was around 6/100k. Latest data show 87/100k (126 for unvaccinated). Eye-popping jump.
Kent
@Yarrow: Exactly. Although Pfizer’s new drug is supposed to work well as it attacks a part of the virus that wasn’t mutated in the Omicron.
trollhattan
@Yarrow: Mentioned one thread down my ophthalmologist received the infusion late December and had a rapid turnaround in what had been a pretty rough case. Unknowable is whether it was coincidental, but he’s pretty convinced it helped. He had another week of quarantine but was able to function normally.
CaseyL
@Nicole: Oh, yeah; those, too.
I’m not the most vain person in the world, and refuse to indulge in expensive, elaborate “beauty treatments,” but I gave serious thought to getting my eyebrows tattooed in. Decided against it because apparently the tattoos spread over time (!). Also, it’s expensive, and I can find much better uses for that kind of money.
retiredeng
Oh yeah. Cream cheese was a struggle just before New Years here. In my absent mindedness I decided to make a cheese cake for the party the kids were throwing. No problem getting exactly what I needed while doing regular shopping the week before. I made the crust and batter and popped it in the oven, As I turned away from the oven I realized that I had left out the sugar! I let it bake thinking how bad can it be? Can I make up for it with added sugar in the topping? Well, after it was baked and cool enough to taste the answer was a resounding NO! The taste was like sour wallpaper paste.
So, out I go and managed to find all the ingredients (sour cream and Ricotta cheese) but no cream cheese until the third super market had some off brand “blend” tucked in a corner. The second cake (with sugar) turned out just fine. Seems I got lucky. Unlike poor John.
Chief Oshkosh
I love how you try to inoculate yourself by mentioning the mustard. Nah gah happen, Cole.
Scout211
@Nicole:
Okay, I laughed out loud at this, Nicole.
I discovered that wearing masks every day, everywhere just encourages me to ignore the “lady stache.” It’s actually been awesome.
But last month, when I was on the way out the door to see an oral surgeon (who would actually need me to remove the mask), I checked the mirror and immediately ran to the bathroom for some much-needed grooming. ?
Chief Oshkosh
@Just One More Canuck:
Just go with it.
Nicole
@CaseyL: Sometimes I see photos of myself from the 1980s, and I immediately flash forward to a night in my dorm room in the 1990s, plucking my eyebrows into a thin, Beverly Hills 90210 arch, and I want a time machine so I can go back to that young woman and scream STOP YOU’LL REGRET THIS. MAYBE NOT TODAY, MAYBE NOT TOMORROW, BUT SOMEDAY AND FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
different-church-lady
Monocultures are bad for the physical environment and their conceptual equivalents are bad for the economy. But nobody will do a thing about either one, even after the cream cheese riots begin.
In one tiny bit of good news, what I’ve nicknamed Boston’s Poop Index is indicating a hopeful sign.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: Thanks. I’m worried about her, of course, but she’s pretty fit and healthy, so she should be okay. She’s not experiencing breathing problems. She says it feels like a really nasty flu.
At a congressional hearing yesterday, in between righteously bludgeoning two Republican morons, Dr. Fauci said it looks like omicron is coming for damn near everyone, so yeah, the honey badger.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: Does he know if he had Delta or Omicron? The monoclonal antibodies work well against Delta. Seems to be iffy against Omicron.
Mai Naem mobile
You may want to try goat cheese if you’re using it for a bagel.Not exactly the same but close enough. As far as your white beard didn’t there use to be a product that was advertised for coloring beards? Just Not Grey os something? It would be worth it just to read your subsequent beard coloring disaster post.
mrmoshpotato
And just how is strawberry cream cheese with smoked salmon?
SandyZ
There is no shortage of stinkbugs. It has been plenty cold enough to kill them here, but I found two last week. We find dead ones in the Spring wedged between the locked windows and the casement. There was a hellacious wind before the sightings. Could they have somehow blown inside?
Gross nonetheless.
LiminalOwl
@Kent: And this morning Boston news is reporting tha people have been told explicitly, including at a presser (yesterday?), NOT to submit in-home results. The problem with the in-home tests is false negatives, of course, and meanwhile the recording at my doc’s office says no testing available for asymptomatic folks, 3-day wait for testing (and another for results) if symptomatic.
jonas
Yeah, I like my schmear as much as the next guy and started noticing the empty cream cheese shelves in the grocery store a little before Christmas. For a few weeks, all they had was this horrible vegan “cheez” product. Now there are a few bricks of the store’s generic brand available now, but no Philly anywhere to be seen. And this is upstate NY: Kraft cream cheese is made in Lowville, NY, which has been hit by the usual staffing and supply-chain issues, but no cyber attacks, afaik.
Other MJS
Impeach Biden!
MisterDancer
Weirdly, I got a rare accidental grocery delivery, and a block cheese cream was included — which was neat, because the store I normally shop at was out.
Very strange, and a lovely coincidence — at least for me.
Geoduck
I don’t know about cream cheese, but my local supermarket here in WA state currently has a lot of gaps on the shelves. I’m a hermit, so I don’t know how widespread the problem is in the area.
Yarrow
The cream cheese thing is regional, I think. It’s worse on the east coast than elsewhere. The cream cheese shortage was all over the news in December. I use it in some holiday recipes so when I saw it I stocked up. Never once went to the supermarket in December and even this week where there hasn’t been tons of cream cheese. No shortage that I can tell.
catclub
When John Bel Edwards gave his briefing on Louisiana rates, he knew that omicron was at 95%
Omnes Omnibus
Just shave the damned beard if it bothers you. Also, thank you for naming the Caper caper of 2022 for us. Talk about a full service blog.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
So far as I know the tests did not specify but omicron seems likely, both because his infection being part of our omicron wave and the symptoms being upper respiratory and nasal–no cough or lung congestion.
Did say it was the worst sore throat he’d ever had.
trollhattan
@MisterDancer: A visit from the Cheese Fairy? Who knew such a thing was possible?
catclub
peanut butter and jelly is great with bacon or ham.
catclub
@Omnes Omnibus: That or put your glasses back on.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
My memory said he had been a Democrat before he was a Republican but I wasn’t sure so I looked it up, and turns out he was a Republican before he was a Democrat before he was a Republican.
mrmoshpotato
@Just One More Canuck: Yup. I want Cole to buy me a MegaMillions ticket. I can pick my own numbers.
Omnes Omnibus
@Other MJS:
And yet Hugh Hewitt walks the streets unharmed.
Poe Larity
Look, it’s hard living in your attic, it gets pretty cold up here. And your fridge is always filled with this frou-frou stuff that can be very enticing. You didn’t even leave any cookies out for Santa this year, so the capers just got to me.
BTW, I’m outta mustard.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: Sounds like Omicron. The FDA now says the data on the monoclonal antibodies is more mixed. I have a friend who was trying to get them and two doctors told her they don’t work on Omicron, but that was in late December. Maybe new data has been updated.
mrmoshpotato
@dww44:
But we can’t afford universal healthcare. ?
kindness
Last week I had to go to a couple markets to find cream cheese but I found it. The bagels I just bought are jalapino cheese and those I toast and eat with butter.
mrmoshpotato
@Van Buren: Hopefully they find nothing unusual.
“Ummm….this is strange. You have no organs.”
JoyceH
I got a grocery pick-up earlier in the week, and there were a lot more refunds and substitutions than usual. What surprised me was that they refunded the canned cat food rather than substituting – I wonder if it was all out? I’ve put in an order with Amazon, but the cats are going to have to eat baby food for a few days while we’re waiting.
In other news, I saw this ad last night, featuring a “Kayak denier”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LZ9q2NDMJc
Is it a hopeful sign that the ad agencies have determined that denialism is an appropriate subject for ridicule?
Roger Moore
On the cream cheese front, you might want to learn to make it yourself. It’s not difficult provided you can get the ingredients: half-and-half and some kind of starter culture. I have tended to use a fancy starter from a cheese company, but you can also use a little bit of cultured buttermilk. You add the starter to the half-and-half, let it incubate at room temperature overnight, and drain it through fine cheesecloth. Add salt to taste, and it’s finished.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: This won’t end well.
zzyzx
@Geoduck: All of the passes being closed last week could not have helped.
But yeah, some staples of my rather boring diet aren’t available right now…
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus:
:: takes notes for the 25h anniversary ::
Citizen Alan
@retiredeng: There was plenty of cream cheese to be had back in Mississippi during the Christmas break, but there was not a single frozen pie crust anywhere in 3 counties.
Mart
Took a look at the Cole link to WV stimulus money. Lucky for WV they have tons of millions to throw at Nucor Steel for 800 jobs that competing states don’t, because their Reps are stealing it from the Federal Covid relief for little people and businesses:
‘“That money was meant to help us recover from a pandemic, to help those who were struggling, to help the businesses in the state that were impacted by the pandemic, to help the people in the state who were impacted by the pandemic, and to help close some of the disparities the pandemic help uncovered the racial health disparities,” he said “We’re not doing any of that, we’re giving this money to a company that has $20 billion in annual revenue.”
Citizen Alan
@Mai Naem mobile: Just For Men. I used it was I was in private practice, but now that I’m back in college, I can’t be bothered.
NotMax
Capers look too much like rabbit droppings to be appetizing. Hard pass on them. YMMV.
Thin-sliced onion between the cream cheese and the salmon? Now you’re playing my song. Barely a sprinkle of dill on top? Even better.
;)
Citizen Alan
@mrmoshpotato: You laugh, but I bet the Chives and Onion kind would go quite well.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
In fairness to the Great Caper Caper of 2022 (it’s great now), we’ll have to celebrate its anniversary next year as a solo event as well.
dww44
@catclub:
Yeahm he’s a nice Dem and believes in transparency. Doesn’t work that way here. Mindset is Don’t do anything about the pandemic except loosen accountability along with gun restrictions. all to get re-elected. They will kiss us all off.
Citizen Alan
@Omnes Omnibus: I shaved the goatee down to a moustache because “Southern Fat Guy with a Goatee” is the description of 75% of Herman Cain awardees.
Roger Moore
@Omnes Omnibus:
Cole is actually a pretty good cook and has some experience with home fermentation, so I think homemade cream cheese is within his capabilities. If he can ferment sauerkraut, he should be able to manage homemade cream cheese. If he can’t the worst he’s done is to waste some half-and-half.
scav
@JoyceH: If so, note also RyanAir not being kind to BoJo — among others circling in.
mrmoshpotato
@Citizen Alan:
This is no laughing matter. Chives and onion cream cheese with smoked salmon would probably be good.
NotMax
Oh, in a pinch you could use Boursin as an ‘in case of emergency break glass’ substitute in place of cream cheese
geg6
@Jerzy Russian:
I can vouch for the cat food shortages. But I have not noticed a problem with the kibble. It’s the wet food that is a problem. My Cleo is a picky eater and only wants certain flavors (seafood only…no nasty poultry or beef for her!) of the Sheba minis. I looked at every store within a ten mile radius of my home and could not get any. Finally got some from Chewy, which must have just gotten a shipment. Same with her snack food, Fancy Feast Broths. Usually, I get two boxes in the Chewy autoship I get every two weeks, but no broths for at least the last two autoships. But I am having no trouble getting her kibble, I and Love and You.
My dogs are also very spoiled. They like this raw, freeze-dried dust, Stella and Chewy’s Magical Dinner Dust (Duck, Duck Goose flavor only, thank you very much), sprinkled on their kibble (Taste of the Wild High Prairie only, human). I have only been able to get it every other autoship. I ran out about four days ago and the pups have been looking at me very suspiciously. I’m a little afraid of going to sleep.
Just One More Canuck
@Other MJS: I blame Obama
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: On your head be it then.
jeffreyw
Diet Dew in 2 liter bottles is hard to find, last time we were shopping yellow onions were not on offer anywhere we looked. Had to make gumbo with sweet onions.
Kelly
Beard has been mostly gray for a while. After my hair began to thin and the new gray hair developed a lot of weird swirls I started cutting hair and beard to a 1/2 inch with crew cut clippers. Very convenient, easy and fast drying. A couple of our friends with luxuriant white hair and beards grow it out long and are Santas every Christmas. Mrs. Kelly thinks they look wonderful and asked me to let it grow out again. Head hair is about 2 inches now. Looks like hell. The crown of my head is like a merganser’s crest. The things I do for love. At least it’s hat season.
JoyceH
Since one of the themes of this thread appears to be ‘we OLD!’, gotta share – I got a letter from United States District Court commanding me to go online and fill out a form to determine my jury eligibility. Man, twenty years ago I would have been thrilled to have jury duty, but these days… There was a block at the end for comments, and having no pride, I commented:
“Not disabled but age and health conditions put me at high risk during pandemic – heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and arthritis. Joints stiffen with prolonged sitting and need frequent bathroom breaks.”
sdhays
@scav: Wow. It’s hard to imagine a well-known corporation like that in the US being so overtly political.
Suzanne
The cream cheese thing has been an issue for weeks now. I was going to make a cheesecake for Christmas but then I couldn’t find enough, so I bought a Costco cheesecake. Which was good. But it had frosting.
Ricotta cheesecake is good. Ricotta anything is good.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Citizen Alan: Chive and onions is my favorite
geg6
@Citizen Alan:
That was my thought, too. Definitely the chives cream cheese.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Your take sounds right. They’re trying to figure out omicron while sprinting alongside it; which has to be the tallest possible order for an epidemiologist.
Based on that conversation alone, should I catch the damn thing and be offered the infusion, I’d take them up on it. Like I’d have anything better to do.
trollhattan
Science fact. And don’t get me started on lasagna.
There go two miscreants
Another reasonable substitute might be whole-milk plain Greek yogurt if that’s available. The Chobani brand has a good texture, softer than cream cheese but still in the spreadably-stiff range. A bit more sour than cream cheese but milder than regular yogurt. Of course tastes vary; I like sour, but I know many do not.
dearmaizie
@JohnCole:
1. Did you ever find your mustard? I have worried about this.
2. It would be the Copped Caper Caper of Covid ’22.
3. Did you check the date on that salmon? THERE IS A REASON it’s on sale.
Kelly
My favorite use for smoked salmon is to fry up potatoes and mushrooms. When spuds are about done add big chucks of garlic and caramelized onions, kalamata olives and smoked salmon. Cook just long enough to bring the second set of ingredients up to temp.
Anyway
@geg6:
scallion cream cheese
gvg
There were a lot more refunds than usual in this weekends grocery pickup. I have been having cat food trouble for a couple of weeks. Checking constantly online Grocery, Walmart, Amazon, Chewy, Target and Petsmart. All have been out of old kitties acceptable favorite, Fancy Feast Cheddar. Also the squeezable stuff has been out. Even common Friskies gravy has been hard to find, but the former ferals don’t like the really cheap brands. Skinny old cat is having to settle for 2nd choices. She has not been eating well for several years now and it worries me.
Betty Cracker
Any of y’all having trouble acquiring unshredded mozzarella cheese? First our favorite brand (Polly-O) disappeared, and now the other brands are scarce too. Fresh mozzarella is still available in abundance, and you can usually get shredded, thank dog, but for certain types of pizza and other baked Italian dishes, we prefer the solid block.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kelly: FWIW, in the Bond novels, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and champagne was a thing.
Ohio Mom
@dearmaizie: not to worry, if the lox can’t all be eaten by the sell-by date, it can be frozen.
Kelly
@Omnes Omnibus: Yumm!
Scout211
@Betty Cracker:
Not here in California, home of Devin Nunes’ cow. ?
It must be a supply chain issue because I haven’t seen any shortages here, but dairy farms are plentiful in California.
Miss Bianca
@Chief Oshkosh: I have been reading old threads that WaterGirl posted in honor of the 20th anniversary, and rediscovered the mustard post.
So now my burning question is…DID John ever find the mustard? Or did the Far Side’s car key gnomes whisk it away to another dimension permanently?
Suzanne
The thing that has been difficult to find for us has been the Spicy Cheetos. Mr. Suzanne has been having a hard time since the break-in on Saturday and he has been trying to eat his feelings, and everywhere we have looked is out.
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: Glad it’s not a nationwide shortage! It’s weird because there’s a huge variety of cheeses available here, including fresh and shredded mozzarella. Just the block kind is MIA.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
Not here on the left coast. I just picked up a couple of pounds on Sunday.
StringOnAStick
I went to the fancy bird seed store yesterday: no shelled sunflower seeds for the ground feeders or Niger thistle for my finch sock. She told me that part of an order from December has still not arrived, in top of several weekly orders since then. The passes to central Oregon were closed for a day over a week ago from heavy snow, so that’s part of it.
My visit to the small organic grocery chain around that time revealed no chicken, ground Turkey or deli meats of any kind; probably all come from the same supplier.
Urza
For $2.7 billion, can’t they just buy a steel company? Or start one from scratch? That is one of the worst investments possible for how few jobs it creates.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Open bag.
Sprinkle in cayenne pepper.
Close bag and shake vigorously.
;)
Cermet
@Van Buren: Know exactly what you are feeling! Been there and experienced that race to see who gets to finish me – a new one got into the race during covid and nearly won.
Sorry about W.V. Gov Justice getting covid – he really has tried to get people vaccinated and for that, he doesn’t deserve to get nailed by covid – even if he is a thug.
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: It sounds like it’s not even beginning well.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
This is the kind of thing you’d expect when the problem is supply chain snafus. Things are generally good, but there’s a weird lack or sudden surplus of some particular thing. I think this was something people a generation or two ago just kind of expected and took in stride. If there was a shortage of something, you’d figure out other plans. If there was a glut, the store would put it on sale and you’d have a bunch. We’re just so used to always being able to get what we want at the grocery store that it’s noteworthy when we can’t.
Ohio Mom
The grocery item I can’t find is canned whole cranberries. The completely jellied stuff is on the shelves but that won’t do.
There have been a couple of other things I couldn’t find for a couple of weeks here and there — sliced mozerella was one — and then they reappeared.
Definitely gives me the feeling that what was once dependable is no longer to be counted on, everything is very fragile, that the ground could give way. Or maybe that comes from consuming too much news.
Betty
@The Moar You Know: I believe he is a former Democrat. Does that make him worse?
different-church-lady
You know what’s really hard to find? COVID test kits.
gene108
The cause of all the empty store shelves photos, GenX’ers acting like their grandparents!
Should make a great GEICO add.
different-church-lady
@gene108: Progressive, but let’s not quibble.
Betty Cracker
@Roger Moore: Yep. It’s the “just in time” strategy come home to roost.
laura
The cats are furious and demand to talk to the manager all day every day because the canned food they “like” has been out for weeks. Spouse is bearing the brunt of the displeasure but what can be done? I, too, worry about the skinny old cat, which at our house is the runty tiny cry baby cat. Big Spotty is handling this better but would be thrilled to see some tasty treasures in the dish.
tybee
saltine crackers haven’t been available here for weeks.
Edmund Dantes
Regardless of the state’s history, Abraham said he has confidence the company would fulfill its end of the bargain.
“You’re dealing with a Fortune 150 company, they’ve got deep pockets,” he said.
^^^ such a great line that is completely off from John’s article about the tax break. They have deep pockets so then can weasel out of any commitment and is what normally happens.
geg6
@Ohio Mom:
I have several cans in my pantry, if you want to drive east and get them. My John bought them a while ago for no apparent reason (he often does things like this) and I will probably never use them. Normally, I would donate these odd buys of his to the student free pantry on campus, but I don’t think they will want the cranberries like they will the canned veggies, soups and fruits he gets.
Ken
Remember that monoclonal antibodies are produced by extracting the blood of
small childrenpeople who have had COVID and separating the antibodies. Maybe after a few weeks of a new variant, there are more antibodies for the variant.biff murphy
John Cole,
look for this,
Neufchatel Cheese.
One third less calories and you wont tell them apart
Ksmiami
@CaseyL: to be honest he may deliver more for WV than Manchin…
Ken
@Urza: For $2.7 billion, they could pay 400 people $135,000 a year for 50 years. I wonder if the steel plant will still be in operation in 50 years…
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Yarrow: Yeah, here in N CA it is cream cheese as usual. Although, to be fair, I don’t think we eat as many bagels as NYC and elsewhere East Coast, so maybe the demand is not as high. I used a package last week when making a green sauce Mexican pork casserole (using up leftover roast port shoulder). Next need for it will be for Super Bowl Sunday, where it is an integral part of Hot Crab Dip.
JPL
@tybee: I blame Lidia, because one of her recipes calls for crushed saltines instead of breading for fish. Not sure of the shelf life, but I do have some.
Suzanne
@NotMax: I am convinced there is some unearthly substance in Spicy Cheetos to get people hooked on them. I find them horrifying but my husband and kids think they are amazing.
:::hurl:::
Ksmiami
Pps creme fraiche is superior to creme cheese and can be made at home w buttermilk, salt and cream.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ksmiami: It isn’t right for bagels though.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Hahaha I’m sure that will please Cole to no end. //
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Crunching food from bags can be very therapeutic.
LongHairedWeirdo
You know, there’s been an essay running in my head, and I’m just going to dump it here. Words don’t feel alive until they’re shared, and at the moment, this is the only place I could find to share, where I think people might be interested.
There’s a word for people who decide that risks of illness, and death, are acceptable, even if millions will suffer, and thousands will die.
It’s a nasty word, like “murderer” or “rapist”, but face it – it’s not the words that are nasty – it’s what they are describing that’s nasty. Use this word, and you’re saying those people are really, really bad.
Good people don’t worry so much about descriptions or insults – strong people especially can let an insult float by – but they do worry about being good. And that means they’d exhaust all reasonable methods to protect people.
Now, some methods aren’t reasonable. Randall Munroe once had an explainer that said, if we kept everyone far away from everyone, for about a month, we might kill off the common cold virus. That’s unreasonable. Yeah, I know, it’s ridiculously, obviously, unreasonable, but it establishes there clearly *is* a limit. So if someone says that good people will go too, too far with their goody-goody intentions, we can now say “no, there’s a limit. The attitude of good people is, we want you to tell us why our actions are unreasonable – maybe you have an idea I haven’t thought of, or see a flaw I didn’t notice.”
Still: notice I said *tell* us why they are *unreasonable*. See? Don’t tell us you don’t like it; don’t tell us FREEDOM!!! Don’t tell us Covid-19 doesn’t cause a lot of harm – it has killed millions. And, just in case you’re extra gullible, notice that the entire world is treating Covid-19 as a serious public health emergency – if you’re smarter than the rest of the world, prove it… just remember, good people aren’t journalists. They won’t just write down a juicy quote.
We want to *protect* people, see? So if you say your opinion is better than many clearly established medical facts, you have to show us why it’s so much better. You have to show us it will reduce suffering and save lives.
Any good person, or even someone who wants to appear to be a good, moral person, will have a plan, based on facts, and the advice of experts. They will keep watching what happens, and adjusting what they do, over and over again, to find the best way to both reduce suffering and deaths, with minimal pain. Pain, of course, includes economic pain. But a good person – especially a Christian! – would never just declare any economic pain is unacceptable.
Jesus taught his followers that doing right – following God – is more important than wealth. “You can’t worship both God, and mammon” is the quote, and mammon… well, call it “greed”. You can’t always do right, without some cost. If you’re selfish enough, you’ll do wrong to protect wealth over people.
So, anyway: a good person, who must determine how to protect people, would show their work. If they said we can’t afford this particular bit of economic pain, they’ll explain why. There will be a reason, but if you show them a new idea, they’ll listen. (Not just complaints, though – you need to bring ideas to the table if you want to help. Because whiny complaints hurt everyone, and whining doesn’t help. Real, and reasonable, ideas may help, and therefore should be listened to and explored.)
See what I’m saying here? Good people want good things to happen, and to prevent bad things from happening. They’d never just wave the white flag of surrender.
Good people would never say “It’s not my problem if millions suffer, and thousands die; I think doing nothing works better for me.”
Who says it’s okay – nothing to worry about! – if millions are suffering and thousands dying?
I can’t think of a better word than “monster”. Can you?
Now, hold on – don’t complain! I already told you I’ll listen to ideas, not whining. Just tell me – what word better describes someone who just doesn’t care that millions suffering, and thousands dying every day, with hundreds of thousands already dead? Who doesn’t constantly search for ways – how can I protect people, while minimizing the pain? – when in a situation like that?
Who whines and complains because they have an opinion that runs counter to every prudent expert, and demands that an entire society should bend to their will so they don’t have to be inconvenienced?
Monster. Think about it. And remember, people can change. They can realize they’re thinking like a monster, or worse, acting like one. People can take harsh criticism, digest it, and realize they’d rather be on the side of life, and prevention of massive amounts of suffering. Perhaps we’ll get all “goody goody” and suggest they’re even on the side of love, and happiness, when they work to reduce suffering and avoid pointless deaths. You see what I’m saying?
No one has to be a monster. It’s a choice. Please, choose differently.
ETA: I hope it’s okay to post this – it wasn’t an *explicit* open thread.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: My snack food of choice is those pretzel cracker things to shovel the hummus into my mouth. I totally get it.
Also those Flipsides crackers that are like half Ritz cracker, half pretzel. They’re some Devil’s Chimera of Carbs.
Enzymer
@Mai Naem mobile: Nah, if John, or any man, is going to color his hair or beard, he should go to a professional. Seen too many disasters among the vain & in denial.
Enzymer
@NotMax: think of them as tiny baby artichokes.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@geg6: I can vouch for shortages of canned cat food also. Our cats got hooked on Creamy Delights, which I originally picked up at a local grocery store to try. They LOVED it, but then it became iffy if it was on the grocery shelves, so I started ordering it from Chewy. Never had a problem until this year, when Chewy was out! So now I stockpile the cat food like toilet paper. If Chewy has it, I get twice what I would usually order
Odd side note: My Chewy orders used to come through overnight like magic. Then they must have had to switch distribution centers on me, because this last year it started being about a week for the order to arrive (coming from the East Coast). And then the last order came through overnight again. Sounds like supply chain fun.
Ramalama
@dearmaizie:
Solving the cat food crisis right there.
Not sure if the cream cheese problem is the same up North. We buy when it’s on sale and freeze it. But we did pick up a bag of Montreal bagels for the unfuckingbelievably low price of 2.95 – when regularly priced at 8.something something.
The bagels come to one of our grocery stores from Montreal still warm.
Also – isn’t it a rare thing for a politician of any stripe to talk realistically about illness? The governor saying he had it bad is cause for alarm, right?
different-church-lady
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Someone please promote this to the front page, so we can have the kind of discussion it deserves!
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@geg6: Canned cranberries?!? I’ve never used anything except fresh, in the bag, in the produce department. Cranberry sauce is EASY to make (one cup of sugar, one cup of water, one bag of cranberries, simmer and stir until cooked to your preference), and any extra bags freeze beautifully.
I do understand the way some people feel about canned cranberry sauce (with the ridges from the can), but that’s different. Unless I’ve completely misunderstood and you all mean cranberry sauce when you say “canned cranberries”.
Ksmiami
@LongHairedWeirdo: you should do a Twitter thread. This is why I get so heated on BJ. Republicans aren’t a normal political party whereby we disagree at the margins on policies. They are monsters and that requires an entirely different approach from politics as usual.
Ksmiami
@Omnes Omnibus: we used it in a pinch on our 18.00 bagel brunch dish… mixed w sea salt and fines herbs… and of course topped w smoked salmon and a cute mini tray of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and capers…
gvg
supply chain in this context is sick people. It isn’t just people working from home and needing more charmin. It is meat packing companies having too many workers out sick to slaughter as many animals and process the parts to make cat food, can companies having workers out sick as well as supplies being hard to get (sometimes that is people sick). Then after the cat food gets made, it has to be packed up for orders (and some are sick), then shipped somewhere (and truckers, postpeople, pilots, train engineers and all kinds of transport are out sick) etc. Every layer of our getting stuff has a % of people out sick that the system doesn’t deal with well. Most things actually have multiple inputs to produce an output. Cat food, has meat, vegetables, preservatives etc, plus metal or plastic containers and paper labels. Cardboard boxes to ship in. After it gets “made” it goes to places that sell like grocery stores, and then to you. A small % are out sick at non pandemic times but this is many more and the system isn’t doing well.
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
There’s nothing wrong with JIT inventory. We’re in a once in a hundred years (hopefully) pandemic. Supply-chain issues happened. All warehousing would do is delay when supply-chain issues become noticeable. The disruptions in replacing inventory would still exist.
Second, I’m don’t think it’s possible to warehouse perishable food items like dairy products, like you can ball bearings, electronic components, etc.
Tasha
So if the governor dies, does senator Mankin get to appoint a replacement?
different-church-lady
@gene108: There’s a lot that’s wrong with JIT inventory when taken to extremes, but you’re right: milk and dairy is pretty much JIT by definition and always has been.
I was working on a team that used high definition video clip servers back in the days when nobody could shoot 4K on a phone. These were very esoteric devices at the time, costing 20 or 30 grand a pop. We’d call the manufacturer to buy 10 or 15 and they’d say, “It’ll take us 3 weeks.” We couldn’t understand why. Then we started having problems with software updates — some of our install base would work, and others wouldn’t, and tech support would constantly be asking us to get serial numbers from individual boards inside individual machines out in the field. (Keep in mind these were marketed as turn-key devices — the interface was nicknamed “Popcorn Boy” because they thought it was so easy to operate that you wouldn’t have theater projectionists anymore, the guy operating the concession stand could do it all. So nobody in the field could dig deep into the machines to find serial numbers on individual boards.)
Eventually we figured out that both problems were because they literally didn’t have any already built machines in inventory. There was no manufacturing run. When you called them up to buy 10 machines, only then would they purchase the components they needed to build those 10 machines. The result was that every time we ordered a batch they had slightly different innards from the last batch, because their suppliers were constantly rev’ing their boards and firmware. It was a nightmare.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
It’s not just-in-time, or at least not only just-in-time. It’s also people’s expectations have changed. It used to be expected that, for example, you wouldn’t be able to get every kind of fruit and vegetable year round. If your local supermarket didn’t have fresh tomatoes, you just didn’t plan your meals that week around them. Now people just expect to be able to find fresh tomatoes at any time of year, and they get thrown for a loop when they can’t get them.
I guess you could say that some of it is that just-in-time logistics have extended their reach into ordinary families. Plenty of people have lost the habit of stocking up on non-perishable food and supplies. They expect to be able to find everything all the time, so they don’t keep a stockpile at home and refill it well before it runs out.
Sebastian
Maybe one of those idiots in New York will figure out how their grandmothers made cream cheese and how easy it is.
The complaining is especially pathetic and grating when you know that cream cheese is just milk and lemon juice and then a pinch of salt.
The Pale Scot
@retiredeng:
There’s an industry dedicated to replicating baked goodies without sugar. Sugar is an integral part of baking chemistry, without it, most recipes don’t work as desired. It’s the cooking triangle thing, fats, salts, acids. Apple sauce etc can duplicate the texture sometimes. But there is no sugarless 7 layer chocolate cake worth sticking a fork into
Sebastian
@Butch:
Exactly, cream cheese, buratta, and mozzarella are ridiculously simple to make.
geg6
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Nope, my John picked up canned whole cranberries. I have no idea why. If I make cranberry sauce, I use fresh. If I’m baking my favorite muffins or oatmeal cookies, I use craisins (dried cranberries). I didn’t even know there were canned whole cranberries until I saw the cans in our pantry and asked him about them.
He is always making these crazy impulsive food purchases that make no sense to me.
The Pale Scot
@Mai Naem mobile:
It works if you are OK with lathering you face with heavy metals, Cadmium, Nickel etc.
Roger Moore
@Ken:
This is wrong. The antibodies you get from recovered patients are polyclonal, i.e. they are a mix of different antibodies that react to various parts of the virus and whatever else the patient has been exposed to. Monoclonal antibodies come from cell lines that produce a single type of antibody that reacts to one very specific part of the virus.
Monoclonal antibodies have the advantage of being a better controlled product. One batch will be identical to the next, with a well known purity and potency. The FDA likes that, so nearly all antibody drugs these days are monoclonal. The big drawback is that because they respond to something very specific, if the part of the virus they recognize mutates, they will lose their effectiveness.
Jeffery
Philadelphia had plenty of cream cheese through the fall and holidays. What there wasn’t any of was heavy cream. I was going to do a trifle. It called for layers that had whipped heavy cream. The trifle didn’t happen. Heavy cream has now reappeared on the shelf.
schrodingers_cat
Yogurt cheese makes a good healthy substitute for cream cheese.
Line a sieve with coffee filters or a thick paper towel or a cheesecloth
Set it on top of a container slightly bigger than the sieve
Drain the yogurt (Fattier the yogurt, creamier the resulting cheese)
Put some weight on the top (glass jars, cans etc.)
You will have yogurt cheese after about an hour or so.
dnfree
@geg6: there is such a thing as whole-berry cranberry sauce. It’s the canned stuff but with some of the berries left whole. I actually have a couple of recipes (coffee cake, for instance) that call for this. I never heard of just plain canned cranberries, but if what you have is whole-berry cranberry sauce, look up recipes specifically for that.
Kristine
Just home from the local Aldi here in NE Illinois. Plenty of cream cheese and my preferred Neufchatel. But no black grapes for a while now, and today, no red ones. Not sure if that’s a seasonal thing or a supply chain thing.
debbie
@Nicole:
If you can wax your own lip, you are indeed impressive. I tried that once and couldn’t bring myself to actually rip off the cloth.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: I am always grateful for your knowledge here!
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Betty Cracker:
There’s a word for that: Cowardice.
Maybe that’s a word Democrats should start using more when we talk about DeSantis.
Lacuna Synecdoche
@trollhattan:
Jeepers. That’s a drop down to 18.3% efficacy against infection.
Get your boosters, people.
Try to get a Moderna booster if you can. Whether you got J&J, Pfizer, or Moderna originally, the Moderna booster seems to be your uh … well, your best shot.¹ According to studies, the Moderna booster has been strongly more effective than a J&J booster, and the efficacy of the Moderna booster drops off more slowly than Pfizer.
—–
¹Sorry. The pun wasn’t so much unintended as it was unavoidable.
glc
@Poe Larity:
How can you be sure?
I keep hearing about a cream cheese shortage and the one store I actually know anything about has it all the time (NJ).
Marcus Malik
@JoyceH: It’s an encouraging sign that people who follow the zeitgeist for a living think that mocking covidiots is good business (sure, it offends the covidiots, but the increased appeal to people who are sick and tired of their nonsense, and the increased attention in general, are more than worth it).