One of the problems of putting in leadership some chucklegantry who has seldom left Bumblefuck County in the state of Oh Brother Where Art Thou https://t.co/AjOybYaN6x
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 30, 2023
Chucklegantry is a new one for me, but I think I can work it into my vocabulary.
And a Halloween culinary experiment (trigger warning)…
Here is my review of the Taiwan Pizza Hut Halloween pizza:
Honestly, pretty tasty! All the components on their own are good (the chicken feet are de-boned – I know you all were curious) but it certainly is more than the sum of its parts! Spicy, chewy, and cheesy! Very fun! https://t.co/1yM039zX6Y pic.twitter.com/JDqBtslBqN
— Lev Nachman (@lnachman32) October 25, 2023
(Well, it’s Pizza Hut. Points for local content?)
Alison Rose
That pizza is a felony.
Alison Rose
This is a reality show I’d tune in for
Suzanne
Chucklegantry is the social better of chucklefuck, I suppose.
Steve in the ATL
@Alison Rose: attack Publix and Safeway?
Shalimar
I am in favor of a tax on billionaires that we use to provide people with food stamps they can use at Kroger. That is on the table too, right?
Shalimar
@Alison Rose: It sounds good to me except I really want it without the pizza crust. Why does it have to be a pizza?
caphilldcne
I love chicken feet! Check them out at your local dim sum place.
WaterGirl
I had to blur my eyes so I didn’t see the details on the pizza. chicken feet. shudder.
No One of Consequence
Taiwan, represent!
Taiwan has an interesting take on pizza, at least the ones I tried. Some of them don’t sound like they would be at all appealing, but some are actually quite good (for Pizza Hut / Mega pizza chains).
I wouldn’t be brave enough for this, but ymmv.
Peace,
-NOoC
Dan B
I love chicken feet but my partner is horrified by them. He’s got more food phobias but has gotten in trouble ordering from the steam table at the local Phillipino grocery. The servers have alerted him, “So you like Phillipino food…” I believe he was ordering the food with black (blood) sauce.
Another Scott
@caphilldcne: There was a story a year or few ago with some bigwig at Tyson. He said he hoped that someone could develop chickens with more than 2 feet. Because their big export to China was chicken feet and they couldn’t meet the demand.
I can’t find that story, but I did find this:
People are weird.
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
JAFD
Note to comrade scotts agenda of rage and to Subsole: For the Balloon Juice At Fall In* Unofficial Meetup, drop by the Strasburg Room between 1 and 6 Saturday afternoon. There’ll also be a Close Action game going on there – Napoleonic-era sailing ships – the Fast and Furious Frigate Fracas
Hope to see you there. BYOG (Bring Your Own Grog)
*The autumn gathering of grown-ups who still play with toy soldiers. In Lancaster, Pa. this coming weekend
Dan B
@WaterGirl: Warning: Don’t order MacDonalds burgers. They found out that people much preferred the burgers with brain because they were more tender and moist.
divF
I once had a fun local branding experience in Taiwan. A while back, I spent a couple of weeks visiting the National Taiwan University. I would go to the local Starbucks every morning, and drink two quad-shot expressos and work on my laptop before going into the office. The morning before I left, I did the same thing, except I told the barista that I was leaving that afternoon, and thanked her for her hospitality. Just after I walked out the door, the barista and her shift manager (another young woman) ran to catch up to me. They wanted to give me an insulated souvenir cup with a pretty floral pattern on it, that “was only available in Taiwan”, as a memento of my stay.
One of my life goals has been to spend enough time in cafes to be viewed as a colorful character. I think it was the four-shot expressos that did the trick there.
Kay
Next group:
Dangerman
Can we have a moment of silence for Chuckles the Clown?
No? Dammit, Mary Tyler Moore.
wmd
lol. I’ve been doing quite a bit of travel this year and I came up with a plan to try pizza in different cities, take a picture and notes and assemble an album.
Rome
Mactan Island, Philippines
Seoul
so far.
Will be adding Bangkok, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur next month.
Half a boiled egg on the pizza in Rome was surprising.
mrmoshpotato
@Alison Rose: Fuck up Walmart. Really really fuck up Walmart.
jonas
Since when do Republicans give a shit about people struggling to afford food? They’re always trying to cut food stamps and other aid. Funny how there’s never an anecdote like this about a guy criticizing the advisability of more tax cuts for billionaires…
mrmoshpotato
@Dan B:
Everyone knows McTrashass’s doesn’t use actual meat.
No One of Consequence
@divF:
Absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing. I have found Taiwanese to be some of (if not the) most accommodating and kind people I’ve yet come across.
JaySinWA
@Dan B: Brainless burgers are the smart choice?
jonas
@caphilldcne: I’m a pretty adventurous eater and I tried chicken feet at a dim sum place one time at the behest of some friends we were with.
The sauce was pretty good, but it was the first and last time ordering the chicken feet.
Ohio Mom
Now I’m wondering how you get the bones out of chicken feet. Sounds very labor-intensive because I’m assuming it must be done by hand.
Nope, google tells me there is such a thing as a chicken feet deboning machine.
Cameron
@JaySinWA: They’re called ‘Trump patties.’
Glidwrith
@Dan B: Ewww! Ewwww! Ewwww!
I’m also scared-I can’t SEE the chicken feet!
JaySinWA
@Cameron: Zombie food. Well washed brains.
Anyway
@divF:
Love this story! I’m also a quad-shot orderer ( when I frequent SB…)
Old Man Shadow
That pizza will haunt my nightmares until I die.
dmsilev
@Alison Rose: Look, when someone cuts you off at the deli counter or tried to put 12 items on the 10-or-less belt, it is entirely reasonable and appropriate to call down a precision rocket strike on their coordinates.
JimBob
@Ohio Mo
mostly cartilage? Nuts now I have to look up chicken feet deboner.
Dan B
@Glidwrith: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy will do that for you.
Mousebumples
@Kay: #LetsGoBrandon!
In all seriousness, I no longer have any college debt, but I’m so happy for everyone who gets out from under their debt.
If Justice Thomas can get his debt forgiven, why can’t everyone else?
WaterGirl
@Dan B: Ugh.
TeezySkeezy
@Dan B: Not sure if you telling this one as a joke or not, but it isn’t true. I’m sure it would be gross to know everything in those mass produced beef patties, but brains is a big no no for the USDA and FDA because of prion diseases.
Steve in the ATL
@dmsilev: the store has earned a missile strike by posting “x items or less” rather than “or fewer”. No quarter!
Trivia Man
The pizza toppings I remember from Taiwan – potato soup or cuttlefish and corn. I tried neither.
Ladyraxterinok
@jonas:
My mom (1913-2005), grew up in a suburb of St Louis. Once in a while she’d get pickled pig’s feet and try to convince us kids to try it.
Cameron
@Mousebumples: Yeah, throw in a customized RV while they’re at it.
Another Scott
@Dan B: Made me look… PubMed (from 2008):
(Emphasis added – Hehe)
CDC.gov:
Make sure your burgers are well cooked!!
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
When I was doing a volunteer stint in the orphanage being built in Bolivia, there was a big celebratory dinner at which I and the other sole volunteer there were the honored guests. And as a special honor, my bowl of soup had chicken feet in it. Since we were passing food family style and the little girl next to me was so thrilled at the sight of them, I just passed my bowl to her and took the next one.
The other volunteer had to explain in Spanish that I wasn’t aware of my faux pas because I didn’t know the feet were a special treat. I did, but I was willing to act dumb to avoid eating them.
Anotherlurker
@Alison Rose: Agreed! That “pizza” is a Shonda!
Burnspbesq
House Republicans aren’t serious about helping Israel. Johnson’s proposal is built around a ridiculous poison pill: provide $14.3 billion of aid to Israel by taking it out of the IRS budget.
Alison Rose
Bye, bitch!
And what “truth” is that, you pig? Is he gonna try to claim the woman begged him for a kiss or something? Go away, you sleazebag.
dmsilev
@Steve in the ATL: Would you prefer a grocer’s apostrophe?
Burnspbesq
@Alison Rose:
Sexism in Spanish football is deeply rooted and will be difficult to eradicate.
dmsilev
@Burnspbesq: Look, the GOP only has a very very few actual policy preferences, and “cut taxes on rich people” is high on that list, so they have no choice really.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@WaterGirl: The time Foghorn Leghorn went into a KFC (video)
wjca
Being more tender and moist than straight cardboard doesn’t seem like that much of an aaccomplishment.
Dan B
@Another Scott: Well fine. Eat at MacDonalds!
The last time I ate there, a basic burger and fries, I had cramps for hours. It’s thr closest food place to our house. Fortunately there’s a great Dim Sum place and place with great made to order Banh Mi.
WaterGirl
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Should I be afraid to click on that? If it’s gross food, I’ll pass.
MagdaInBlack
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Oh dear lord !! 🤗
I love Family Guy.
laura
Somebody brought a big bowl of chicken feet to a festivus party a handful of years ago and it was A Thing and generated a lot of conversation. Also, did not eat.
NutmegAgain
@Dan B: Once you think of them as anus-burgers, they lose all appeal! Brains would be a step up, but I still won’t touch one.
Central Planning
@Steve in the ATL:
If the sign uses less does that mean you can use the checkout with any number of items?
NutmegAgain
@Burnspbesq:
“Sexism in
Spanish footballFIFA (or even, ah, life) is deeply rooted and will be difficult to eradicate.” there you go!Alison Rose
@Burnspbesq: Sure, no one’s saying this is going to end sexism in sports forever. But it’s an important step on that journey, to say to a powerful man that he can’t get away with this kind of bullshit. Maybe another dude might think twice before doing something similar.
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@JAFD: Where in Lancaster? I’m only about 20 min. away. It might be a nice visit.
trollhattan
@Steve in the ATL:
Very precisely. “I hate those deli fucks but have friends in the bakery.”
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@WaterGirl:
Not gross. Just satire.
Dan B
@NutmegAgain: I have thought that. They’re very rubbery to me. We had lunch at a brew pub yesterday. Their burgers are thick and tender. I got their take on a Bahn Mi and it was okay. It had crispy pork belly so it was too salty.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Dangerman:
A little song
A little dance
A little selzer
Down your pants
Jackie
@Ladyraxterinok:
My dad – same generation – loved them. They came in a huge glass jar that he kept on the kitchen table, where my sisters and I ate our meals. Nothing wets the appetite like being stuck looking at slimy pickled pigs feet floating in a jar! 🤢🤮
Brachiator
Just got my Covid booster. Since it’s Halloween season, I asked if they also had the Vampire and Werewolf vaccines.
Super Dave
Do people really not understand that most of the money “sent to Israel and Ukraine” is directly injected into the US economy through the jobs in the military/industrial complex? The weapons and ammo go overseas, most of money never leaves our shores.
K-Mo
@jonas: (touches nose)
Brachiator
@Steve in the ATL:
When my supermarket remodeled, the Express aisle sign said “fewer.” I was so proud.
coin operated
@Super Dave: Or, that a lot of stuff is weapons/ammo systems we’re trying to decommission? Cheaper to send ATACMS to Ukraine for rapid disassembly than doing DOD disposal.
Eolirin
@Super Dave: They really don’t.
The easier to understand thing is that the same person saying we can’t afford to send money to Ukraine because people can’t afford to buy food wants to eliminate food stamps. We should hammer that. They don’t care about you. They want Russia, our enemy, to win. They want to take away your healthcare. They want to take away your food stamps and your social security. They only care about making themselves rich. That’s an easy simple message.
Explaining wages and supply chains is too complicated for too many people.
Prometheus Shrugged
@wmd: If you make it Sri Lanka, the Pizza Hut in Colombo puts out the “Mutton Lovers” pizza. That name conjures up a different image than the actual pizza…
sab
@Brachiator: I am now concerned about dental growth in your teeth.
My very friendly always cheerful new black cat has no visible face except for her huge eyes, until she yawns. Then her fangish teeth are huge.
She is a pretty little thing, but you cannot see her nose or her facial structure or her chin without trying, because all so very black.
Teethwise, what are cats’ fangs? Canine teeth seems inapproriate,but fangs seems pejorative.
Alison Rose
@Super Dave: McConnell pointed this out and idiot GOP voters won’t even listen to him.
brendancalling
Domino’s Pizza in Japan is equally enthusiastic about Halloween.
Kay
@Super Dave:
Mitch McConnell says this.
Alison Rose
Protect and serve by doing neither:
Yeah maybe do that. “Well, we went by once and knocked and heard someone inside but the door didn’t open so we went to lunch.” Nice policing.
WaterGirl
@JAFD: Would you like me to put up a post for the meetup? Sounds like others might live in the area, also. If so, send me email, please.
Kay
JCJ
@Alison Rose: I sent those tweets to my colleague who was born in Singapore. He is all ready to fly to Taipei!
Cameron
@WaterGirl: Lancaster is a lot of fun. People think PA, they think Philly and Pittsburgh, but you can find plenty to do in some of the smaller cities like Lancaster and Carlisle.
Eolirin
@Kay: I’m going to paraphrase what I said on another thread earlier, wtf is with this timeline where we’re on the same side of something as McConnell and it’s a good thing?
caphilldcne
@Another Scott: wow. That’s pretty wild. I do love ‘em. But in the right place and time
Dangerman
I don’t get it; instead of buying politicians (or Judges with, say, Winnebagos), just PAY YOUR FUCKING TAXES. Think of the IRS as your Parents telling you to eat those brussels sprouts or no dessert for you. They know what is good for you. I know the IRS will then turn around and potentially spend money on “those people” (which, asshole, is good for you, too), but fuck all, if you are going to say you live your life following the Bible, perhaps act like you’ve fucking read the entire fucking thing (OK, I’ll give you a pass on Revelations, since it’s just unreadable).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Eolirin: Makes you feel dirty, doesn’t it?
Eolirin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It does!
Martin
Careful mate, that foreigner wants your cookie.
Eolirin
@Dangerman: It’s about control. Taxes are something being taken away, but buying politicians is a choice. So even if they spend more money than they save on taxes, that’s frequently preferable.
caphilldcne
@jonas: you do have to get used to chewing around and spitting out the bones. Also tendons are a bit chewy.
Martin
@Dangerman: I don’t think you grasp just how much money these donors are stealing from the American public. For some of these guys, a hundred million dollar donation to get the IRS off of them saves them money. And yeah, if you’re some poor GOP voter that doesn’t help you, but a LOT of the rank and file GOP voters are small business owners, and they rob the treasury blind all the time.
Alison Rose
@Eolirin: It feels icky, doesn’t it? Stopped clock, though. I doubt any of us would agree with him on literally anything else.
C Stars
Tom FriedmanTom Nichols can be annoying, but the article quoted here (above) is a pretty good one. It was published in the Atlantic, which is apparently trying out a gift article feature, so I’m gifting the article here:Stop Asking Americans in Diners About Foreign Aid
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/10/the-diner-trap/675841/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Eolirin
@Alison Rose: I’m more confused and horrified that he agrees with us, and it seems to be a genuinely good thing that he does, than that we agree with him.
It makes me start questioning if there’s something I’m missing about how the aid is secretly awful!
Brachiator
@sab:
Fangs they are, I guess. It’s funny that many mammals have them, but they appear to be named in honor of dogs.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Add me to the “tried chicken feet at dim sum” caucus. They were OK, but they really don’t have much meat on them.
But I guess as far as that goes, doing a lot of work for not very much meat is not much different from the steamed crab experience. Which we enjoy doing from time to time.
NotMax
No one has yet pointed out it’s a strained construction melding chucklef*ck with Elmer Gantry?
Ksmiami
@Dan B: the best thing at McDonalds and the only thing I’ll order is a medium Diet Coke w ice
JAFD
@Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): The Wyndham – formerly the Lancaster Host – 2300 Lincoln Hwy East – across from Dutch Wonderland
NotMax
@Dan B
You can stop right there. No elaboration necessary.
(Spelling fixed in pull quote.)
JAFD
@WaterGirl: Certainly – please mention it to the folk mentioned therein
JCJ
One time visiting family in Bangkok we went to a Chinese restaurant. My mother-in-law ordered goose feet and duck tongues. The duck tongues were pretty good, but I was curious how I tasted to the duck.
Kay
@Eolirin:
I just think it’s amusing that none of these “interviews in diners” reporters made the connection between the money and what the money is buying.
People would answer the Ukraine aid question differently if they were told most of it is spent in the US, so why not tell them that? This is exactly what blue collar Right leaning voters are supposed to want – public money spent in the US for goods and equipment.
wjca
But a bit tough if you’re the guy here with the sweetheart deal to do the disposal at inflated prices.
NotMax
FYI.
Someone’s a-gonna be put away for a lo-o-o-ong time.
sab
@Brachiator: Feline big teeth? Feline flesh tearing teeth. Feline pointy teeth. Canine/feline fangs.
My german shepherd was proud of her fangs.
Kay
@Eolirin:
Supposedly Right leaning blue collar voters are uncomfortable with “transfer” programs (so food stamps and Medicaid and housing assistance) and instead want economic policy like Made in America guarantees and wage guarantees and labor protections – Ukraine aid should be right up their alley.
Glidwrith
@Alison Rose: I watched the video. He literally grabbed her in a full body hold, legs off the ground, forcing her to bear all of his weight while kissing her.
NotMax
A billion here, a billion three. Pretty soon you’re losing real money.
Alison Rose
@sab: THEY ARE TEEFS. The correct term. TEEFS.
wjca
It’s just that we’re on a timeline where the crazies have gotten so far out as to make us relative neighbors. Says a lot about the crazies; very little about McConnell or about us.
Alison Rose
@Glidwrith: Yep. To anyone who isn’t a sexist asshole, it was obviously unwanted and obviously an assault. Sadly, too many people think women’s main point on Earth is to serve as entertainment machines for men.
Eolirin
@Kay: Yeah but what they actually seem to want is to be able to kick black and gay people in the face and put women back in the kitchen.
JAFD
@JAFD: What I’ll do Friday or Saturday morning is to try to clear this with the convention HQ desk, beforehand.
So, go to the con HQ desk and say “I’m with the Balloon Juice meetup, which ‘JAFD’ told me about. Could you, please, give me a guest pass. Thanks, very much!”
You may want to get in touch with Ms WaterGirl beforehand, who’ll tell you My Real Name, which may help you get thru the ‘guards’
Hope to see you there!
sab
Very Off Topic.
Did Democratic sample ballot distribution today. Including more actual candidates participating. I was Democratic Sample Ballot person. Early Republican sample ballot person was quite sweet and polite and mild-mannered. She had only a two hour shift. The next guy was aggressive. Stood at the front pf the line a stuffed his stuff into windows. Many voters crumpled them and threw them back at him.
I changed my tactics and stood meekly at the other end of the line, not blocking traffic. A lot of voters, swamped by pamphlets, appeared to be relieved to see my Democratic Party printout listing our candidates by city, on a normal sized piece of paper, listed by city.
They had wanted the sample ballot, but couldn’t find it in the scrimmage. Then there I was, calm, at the end of the line. Crazy way too run an election.
LaRose said we cannot even be in the parking lot near the parking places. So there we all are, right in the driveway, or on the no longer grassy verge, holding up traffic. It is unseemly and also very dangerous, and well beyond the limitations the law demands.
Alison Rose
@JAFD: I would love to see the facial response to “Hi, I’m here for the Balloon Juice meet-up, have the other jackals arrived yet?” if they had no heads-up beforehand.
Brachiator
Who the GOP is protecting. From CBS News stories.
Life is actually good for a lot of Americans.
Putting it into perspective
Martin
I don’t think the argument of Ukrainian aid being good for US jobs is a particularly good one. It’s not entirely wrong, but it really only applies to assets that we’ve discounted – so the $100B in aid isn’t really $100B, because *we* don’t think that shit is worth $100B any longer. And so we’re just replacing a depreciating asset and while we normally do that with no geopolitical benefit, this time we are getting a geopolitical benefit.
I think the better argument is that the US has spent on the order of $40T over the last half century building weapons in the US and NATO to ensure that the USSR/Russian military capability didn’t present an existential threat, and Ukraine is offering to bring that chapter to a close for pennies on the dollar. Actually less than a penny on the dollar. We’d be fucking idiots to not take them up on the offer.
It’d be nice if success in Ukraine could bring about a reduction in defense spending – because it should.
sab
@Alison Rose: ?? Small cat, big teeth. Why are they TEEFs?
Alison Rose
@sab: Teefs is the proper medical terminology in my version of the universe. All animal teeth are teefs.
Eyeroller
@sab: Canines is the correct terminology. Humans, like most mammals, also have canines. They are so named because they are especially prominent in dogs.
Martin
@Another Scott: the chicken part exchange with Asia is fascinating. We export legs and import breasts. Let’s not consider the climate change implications of trading container ships full of unpopular chicken parts.
Eyeroller
@Martin:
I fear most Americans are too stupid and/or uninformed to understand that argument, even though I am sure it is the correct framing.
Kay
@sab:
We’re handing out Issue 1 signs at the law office (if you come in and ask for one). I had a guy last week tell me he heard we had signs and I was halfway to the utility room to get him one before I realized he had asked for Issue 2.
I don’t have the pot smoker signs, I told him. He laughed :)
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
RE: In 2022, frozen chicken feet accounted for more than 85% of all U.S. poultry exported to China.
Just variations in preferences. Years ago when I was young and had simpler food tastes, a coworker took the group to a noted restaurant in Chinatown. She suggested different dishes, most of which were fabulous. But most people passed on the chicken feet.
Another coworker bought cow tongue from the Grand Central Market. I noted that I didn’t want to eat anything that had been in a cow’s mouth.
Matt McIrvin
Like I said: as much good as the COVID relief bills did, that first one helped Trump politically quite a bit because his signature was on the checks and many Americans believed he was paying the money out of his own pocket.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: I had them once. My main complaint about chicken feet is that there’s just not a lot of meat on them. They’re like wings but even more so–a lot of effort for little payoff and you’re mostly eating fried breading.
Alison Rose
@Matt McIrvin:
It ought to be physically painful to be this stupid.
Scout211
This one made me laugh. (Apologies if it has already been posted and discussed).
Judge shuts down Fox bid to look for links between George Soros and Smartmatic
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
Yeah. No one tried them, but it didn’t look like a lot of meat.
I kept wondering, do chicken have toenails?
My sister cannot eat duck at Chinese restaurants because she can’t get cute little duckies out of her head.
like a metaphor
@Alison Rose: it’s teef, if there are two of them, but toof, if there is one
Another Scott
@Brachiator: My mom said that when I was a toddler the extended family was having a big dinner together that included rabbit. I apparently looked at it and said “kitty??”
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Mel
@WaterGirl: I am right there with you with a “not for me, thanks” re: the chicken feet pizza.
And I thought the “Peanut Butter, Prawn, and Grape Jelly Gourmet Pizza” that was on the menu at an Italian restaurant in the Orkney Islands was a sketchy flavor combo…
(Also on the menu: “Fettucine with Haggis Neeps and Tuna.”)
Of course, I grew up eating goetta, which I’m pretty sure would gross out about 80% of the world’s population.
Princess
@Brachiator: so how do you feel about eggs?
Central Planning
@Mel: When I was in Beijing, a cow-orker and I were out and about and walked into a restaurant that had no english writing on the menu. We picked 3 things from different areas of the menu. All of them were delicious. I will never know what they were.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Princess:
Frances’s song from Bread and Jam for Frances
strange visitor (from another planet)
@Alison Rose: teefs. definitely teefs.
NotMax
@Martin
That’s not our only, um, unusual animal part export.
;)
wjca
The labels say “boneless”. Making me wonder what a “bone in” one would be.**
** Tasteless jokes about gay pigs not appresiated.
Manyakitty
@Kay: late to the thread, but YAY!!! THIS could be the one that finally helps me. (To be clear, I am thrilled for everyone else, but come ON, man!)
Mark von Wisco
That pizza is a crime. No thank you. Do not want.