Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

In my day, never was longer.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The revolution will be supervised.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

So very ready.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

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What’s Cooking? (Open Thread)

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The pair of Limpkins below are preparing to chow down on bivalves of some kind. (Video taken last spring.)

We see them hauling mussels out of the river fairly often, but apple snails are their main target. Their forceps-like beaks evolved to efficiently remove apple snails from their shells, and we find big piles of empty shells on the shore in spring.

Last spring, they seemed to take more mussels than usual, and I wondered if the flooding we endured after the hurricanes the previous fall disrupted the snail population. I still don’t know.

***

I’ve often thought we’re pretty well situated to endure a zombie apocalypse or a major civic breakdown of some kind. I suppose we could figure out how to get water out of our well with a bucket if we had to, and if not, there are many freshwater springs nearby.

If the waterfowl can find mussels to eat, maybe we could too. There are fish. There are tons of turkeys in the woods. (I would never kill a turkey, but if Bill brought me a dead one, I’d cook it.)

Hopefully it will never come to that and we can keep right on purchasing food from grocery stores instead of hunting and gathering.

***

I’m making sauce for lasagna today and will put a tray together tomorrow for Christmas Eve dinner with my siblings and their families. Bill is making his famous garlic knots. Sibs are bringing charcuterie trays, wine and beer. I’ve acquired some cake pops for dessert.

The weather is supposed to be fine, so we’ll be dining al fresco. The Limpkins will scream and the Sandhill Cranes will fly overhead trumpeting, so we’ve got that going for us.

I was at a Christmas party this evening, and some Sandhills did a flyover. 🪶

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 8:08 PM

***

Is anyone else watching “Pluribus” on Apple TV? I’m low-key obsessed with that show, and the season finale drops tomorrow. So as soon as I chase my family out of the swamp, Bill and I will watch it.

I’m kind of wistful for the days of “appointment TV.” Now that everyone streams shows at their leisure, you can’t bring up plot twists or speculate wildly without folks hyperventilating about spoilers.

Even live sports gets that treatment in my family since some record games to watch later and will scream at you if you text complaints about a bad call or what-not. Another communal tie gone.

***

Day after tomorrow, we’ll break tradition and leave the swamp for Christmas dinner with the in-laws. We’ve always stayed home, but a bunch of the Buffalo diaspora are in Florida this year, so we’re going to a feast at an in-law’s winter residence.

I’ve been told my mother-in-law has made 78 meatballs for the sauce. I have no idea why that number, but her sauce and meatballs are the best, and it’s never a bad thing to have Italian food twice in a row.

The next day, I’ll go see my cracker relatives and get some leftover prime rib, which is what I usually cook on Christmas Day. Glad I don’t have to this year since Trump’s mismanagement of the economy sent the cost of prime rib through the roof. (I have no idea if it’s really his fault or not, but fuck it — anything bad that happens is on him.)

***

What’s cooking at your place this week?

Open thread.

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Nom-Nom-Nom (Open Thread)

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Stone crab season starts on 10/15 each year. I was a little over a week late acquiring the season’s first batch owing to existing engagements, but here’s a sample:

Three crab claws resting on a paprika colored plate.

Are stone crabs a thing outside of Florida? I honestly do not know. These are from the Gulf of Mexico.

Interesting fact about stone crabs: You don’t have to kill the crab to harvest its claw. I’m sure it’s a bummer for the crab to lose the claw — I don’t want to minimize that! — but it grows back.

Also, the reason it’s called a “stone crab” is that the shell is hard as a rock. Some people use those metal nutcracker thingies to crack the shells. Some use a hammer.

I find both of those methods inadequate because the force applied tends to drive shell fragments into the tender and sweet claw meat.

My method is to grip the claw firmly and use the bowl of a large spoon to strike the shell sharply. With the right touch, that cracks the shell so you can peel it without shattering it and driving it into the meat.

Some folks dip stone crab meat into butter, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I prefer to make a sauce with mayo, Dijon, Worcestershire and a few drops of hot sauce.

So, that’s dinner sorted. Poor ol’ Bill can’t eat shellfish due to a hereditary tendency to gout, so the claws are mine. Alllll mine!

Open thread!

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Mistakes Were Made!

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Cold and Wet and No Energy – It Must Be Fall.
This is a JeffreyW photo, so amazing that it is the banner for the Food & Recipes topic here on BJ.

I am using this photo in honor of our beloved JeffreyW, who we recently lost.

Since somebody nearly screwed up their recipe on the Great British Baking Show this week by forgetting to add the flour to their cake mix.  Then I shared my mishap of forgetting to add eggs to the pumpkin pie – I highly recommend that you do not try that at home!

So I thought we might have some fun with a Mistakes Were Made! post.

This can be recipes gone bad.  Or the thing you forgot, or the ingredient you used thinking it was something else.  Or some recipe that you made up that did not turn out as you hoped.  Or the time you made your beautiful [whatever] and you dropped it or the dog ate it or one of the guest was allergic to it.

You get the idea, right!  If mistakes were made and it was related to food, or it’s food adjacent – maybe you weren’t even cooking at all, just some disaster while you were eating somewhere –  this is the place for it.

 

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Open Thread: Where’s the Beef?

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Beef prices in the U.S. have climbed to record highs. Learn more on why, plus recipes to make the most out of the beef you've purchased.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) July 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM

… The average price of a pound of ground beef rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound…

But this is not a recent phenomenon. Beef prices have been steadily rising over the past 20 years because the supply of cattle remains tight while beef remains popular.

In fact, the U.S. cattle herd has been steadily shrinking for decades. As of Jan. 1, the U.S. had 86.7 million cattle and calves, down 8% from the most recent peak in 2019. That is the lowest number of cattle since 1951, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture…

… in 2020, a three-year drought began that dried out pastures and raised the cost of feed for cattle, according to the American Farm Bureau. Drought has continued to be a problem across the West since then, and the price of feed has put more pressure on ranchers who already operate on slim profit margins.

In response, many farmers slaughtered more female cattle than usual, which helped beef supplies in the short term but lowered the size of future herds. Lower cattle supplies has raised prices…

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have yet to have a major impact on beef prices but they could be another factor that drives prices higher because the U.S. imports more than 4 billion pounds of beef every year.

Much of what is imported is lean beef trimmings that meatpackers mix with fattier beef produced in the U.S. to produce the varieties of ground beef that domestic consumers want. Much of that lean beef comes from Australia and New Zealand that have only seen a 10% tariff, but some of it comes from Brazil where Trump has threatened tariffs as high as 50%.

If the tariffs remain in place long-term, meat processors will have to pay higher prices on imported lean beef. It wouldn’t be easy for U.S. producers to replace because the country’s system is geared toward producing fattier beef known for marbled steaks…

Nelson said that recently the drought has eased — allowing pasture conditions to improve — and grain prices are down thanks to the drop in export demand for corn because of the tariffs. Those factors, combined with the high cattle prices might persuade more ranchers to keep their cows and breed them to expand the size of their herds.

Even if ranchers decided to raise more cattle to help replace those imports, it would take at least two years to breed and raise them. And it wouldn’t be clear if that is happening until later this fall when ranchers typically make those decisions…

Trump take beef

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— mtsw (@mtsw.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 10:04 AM


===

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Years and Years (Open Thread)

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I’ve been dealing with a particularly persistent and annoying bout of insomnia (a lifelong problem). Sometimes I’ll reread favorite books and rewatch movies and TV series when sleep is hopelessly elusive.

Recently, I rewatched BBC/HBO’s six-part series “Years and Years,” which stars Emma Thompson, Rory Kinnear, Anne Reid and other notables. If I recall correctly, we discussed it here in comments several years back, when it was current in the U.S.?

I may even have shared a link to the clip below? I can’t remember and can’t be arsed to look it up.

Anyway, for those who haven’t seen it, “Years and Years” is a dystopian drama that follows an extended family through 15 years of political, social and economic turmoil. The action opens the year of the series’ real-life release, 2019.

I think I first saw it in 2020-2021 or thereabouts because I think I remember being smugly relieved that they got the 2020 U.S. election wrong (they had Trump winning reelection). In the series, Emma Thompson plays a corrupt, Trump-style clown who becomes the UK’s PM.

Each episode contains scenes that set the timeline, which extends to 2034. One shows the family matriarch (Reid) sadly watching TV coverage of the 2022 death of Queen Elizabeth II. Remember, the series was released in 2019, so the writers correctly predicted the year the Queen would die. Given QE2’s advanced years, I put that down to a lucky guess.

That said, having just watched it again, I’m impressed anew by how much they got right about the ensuing years. God help us, Trump is back. The world is going to shit in all kinds of ways, what with corrupt oligarchs consolidating power, climate change, conspiracy theory madness, technological advances that outstrip humanity’s ability to handle the fallout, social fragmentation, etc.

The following scene contains at least one major spoiler, but I include it because the family matriarch sums up her view of how we weaved the handbasket that’s currently conveying us all to hell.

She’s not wrong. Anyway, it sure as fuck didn’t help lull me to sleep, watching that damn show again.

So, I’m going to go make a giant tray of lasagna. It is my firm opinion that a dystopian timeline cries out for lasagna. I’ll share a pic later, if it’s a photogenic lasagna.

For now, here’s a photo of an extremely photogenic gopher tortoise I met on the trail earlier today. As you can see, it is not worried a bit about anything. I wished it a good day, and we went our separate ways.

Gopher tortoise on a dusty trail.

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Tuesday Afternoon Open Thread: Natural History

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The only reason you love chocolate is because of FUNGUS.
Cacao seeds contain high amounts of polyphenols, making them intensely bitter & unpleasant. There are two natural fungi that do the heavy lifting in turning them into chocolate.
Let's do a quick tour of the process of chocolate making.

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— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Seed pods grow directly on the trunk or main branches of the Theobroma cacao (unlike most fruit that grows on branch-ends).
Pods are broken open & pulp allowed to liquefy on grates ("sweating"). Then a fermentation in piles or tubs for 3-7 days.
The final step is sun-drying then shipment.

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— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

There are two fungi naturally found on seed pods:
1. Picha kudriavzevii (a unicellular yeast)
2. Geotrichum candidum (multicellular fungus)
Also present are lactic acid & acetic acid bacteria. Between them all they acidify & break down as much as 90% of the bitter polyphenols.

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— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Along the way, they kill the plant embryo, preventing germination. They also release peptides & amino acids from the seed, adding flavor elements.
The result of this fermentation is a smooth-tasting, high-fat seed that doesn't rot easily & won't germinate in transport.

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— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

After roasting, grinding, mixing with sugar, 'conching' (mixing & aeration), and tempering… we have the delicious taste & texture we love.
But we haven't explored the *dark side* of these lovable fungi yet!

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— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

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Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread)

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I met some family for lunch in Cedar Key, a remote coastal community that was devastated by a brush with Hurricane Helene last year while still recovering from the walloping it received the season before from Hurricane Idalia. The town is slowly recovering.

The storm surge washed out a bridge that leads to the main waterfront drag, Dock Street. Workers were paving the rebuilt bridge yesterday, so that’s progress.

Some buildings containing restaurants, shops, etc., on the Gulf (of MEXICO) side are still in shambles, but a few places have reopened.

Empty piers in the water where a wooden building once stood. Adjacent buildings have visible damage.

Dog help Cedar Key if it gets hit again this year. The malicious, corrupt idiot Trump put in charge of DHS immediately gutted FEMA, and the agency is wholly unprepared for hurricane season. It starts in two weeks.

***

On the way there, I listened to a This American Life episode that originally aired a few months ago called “Ten Things I Don’t Want to Hate About You.” It was about a son’s wager with his delusional Trumpist father.

In January 2024, the father bet the son $10K that 10 predictions the dad made would happen by December 31, 2024. The predictions were kooky stuff like Biden, Obama and the Clintons would be convicted of treason, martial law would be declared in the U.S., etc.

The son took the bet hoping that when the dad’s delusions were revealed as false, he would finally have an epiphany. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to reveal that the scales did not fall from the dad’s eyes.

He concluded his timing was just off, though, to his credit, he gamely paid up. Meanwhile, over the course of that year, the family basically fell apart due to the father’s pig-headed delusions.

It reminded me a little of a conversation in comments here recently. Those of us with MAGA family members know — there’s no changing their minds. The question is will you disown your relatives or not. Some do, some don’t. Same with the family in the podcast episode.

***

Speaking of family, my spouse and I have an anniversary coming up at the end of the month. It’s not a big-deal round number anniversary, but we are planning to throw a small party anyway, just a few friends and family members here at the swamp compound.

We have many talented cooks among the commentariat, so I thought I’d ask y’all for hors d’oeuvres suggestions. It will mostly be outdoors, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time fussing over things when guests are here, so I’m thinking room temperature things that can be made in advance would be ideal.

Thanks in advance!

Open thread.

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