You really don't need to do anything to Bobby Flay. The man's a butchering supervillain.
That's so strange about Giardia! I don't think I've ever called her anything else.
Also, I am so fucking proud of Calvin right now. That kid knows what's up.
Also, when considering the question "should Rachel Ray have quit doing meth?" I must say I have no strong opinion.
I was just looking at the Food Network's site in pursuit of chef names to mock or mangle (see, I don't even have a TV) and may I say: what the fuck?
I suppose "celebrity chef" can mean celebrity-turned-chef as much as it can mean chef-turned-celebrity.
I believe my inner Tourette's has led me previously and variously to the Bareback Contessa or Fatfuck Contessa, neither of which is at all fair since I've never seen the woman's show. There's got to be some "Ina Garten of Forking Crap" joke in there too but I don't think I have it.
To be fair, if you search on the string:
Giardia de Laurentiis
you get a ton of results that I didn't really want to sift through that mostly display her real name, including many that presumably don't also include "giardia" at all (e.g., her official site). So it could well be that she's been referred to merely as "Giardia" quite often. But when you search on the string:
"Giardia de Laurentiis"
you get only five hits total and three of them seem to be mistakes.
This appears to be a mistake.
This is tantalizing evidence that things maybe converging from the other direction as well.
"may be"
neb, I'm so terribly sorry.
This answers the central question of the thread. To wit: Nutella Lawson.
I quote more from that link:
KIRK DOUGLAS PUT YR PANTS ON YARRGH
Bison Dele
Tyson Gay
Rachel Ray
Vachel Lindsay
Alfred Kinsey
I'm really glad to learn that the genus name "Cryptococcus" is not composed of elements "crypt-" and something having to do with the coccyx (or the demesnes that there adjacent lie), which I at first thought because of the reference in the link to goose guano, because if it were, that would immediately raise the terrible possibility of non-cryptic dwellers near the cocctyx.
Streptococcus
Staphylococcus
Cryptococcus
Macrococcus (ATM)
Pneumococcus (not actually a genus)
coccus, seed or grain
coccyx, cuckoo('s bill)
Don't forget Martha Stewart was born Martha Kostyra. Somehow I don't think she would become the arbiter of all things had she kept her Eastern European maiden name.
Martha Stewart is the arbiter of all things?
She arbits my thing. Who does yours?
Judge not my thing lest ye's thing be judged
All things domestic, Sifu. There is not one thing her tentacles do not touch.
Googling "martha stewart tentacle porn fanfic" is inconclusive.
Unfortunate side effect of an experimental calimari recipe.
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There are entirely too many people on this schedule.
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So, a person I've never heard of is named after an intestinal parasite? Maybe I should read the thread.
23: Holy cow, Ted Leo, Todd Barry, Eugene Mirman and the Wrens?! You're right, though, that's an awfully large number of acts.
Yeah, I was tempted, for a moment, to go when I first read about it. But it looks like it will involve as much time herding people on and off the stage as actual acts. And getting to Brooklyn is a pain.
5: I haven't watched it in a while, but I used to like Ina's show. Every time she baked something, she dumped a pound or two of butter into the blender, which seems like a good start.
I love Ina.
(a) She's like the less-anxious upper-class version of my mom.
(b) She always sounds like she's bribing the recipient of her cooking into some unspeakably filthy orgy.
(c) Her recipes are pretty solid.
According to Wikipedia, Ina Garten was a nuclear policy analyst in the Ford and Carter administrations.
Should I just assume everybody has seen this site. (Specific link selected in keeping with the original post.)
Whenever I read her name I think "Ina Garten of Eatin', Baby".
"Giardia de Laurentiis"
I feel as if Emeril Lagasse is ripe with potential.
Those Italians sure have funny names, ha ha!
Never mind. Emeril just looks Italian.
I dunno, man, when I've happened to catch the Food Network in the past year or so, it's always that show about how junk food is made, or the one about the great diners of the US, or something along those lines. God knows when the actual cooking shows are on any more.
Jamie "Naked Chef" what's-his-name was enjoyable, as was the red-headed Italian guy. (Yes, this is how familiar I am with Food Network personalities.) Once or twice I've seen Rachel Ray or Nigella Lawson. Neither's cooking is up my alley. Emeril was fairly interesting by comparison.
I lifted a copy of a Food Network cooking magazine from a waiting room a few months back: awful.
Oliver. Jamie Oliver. Still drawing a blank on the red-headed guy.
I'm really tired. Sorry.
Are you attempting to insinuate something untoward, SB?
Why isn't there some sort of pro health care bill rally going on? I have better things to do, but presumably there are some folks out there who are caught up on Mad Men and would like to trot around D.C. with signs and whatnot. Then we can grossly exaggerate how many people were there. Don't we have any crazy people? Is there no posterboard for liberals?
Is there no posterboard for liberals?
Craft supply stores are primarily concentrated in exurban strip malls.
Look, poop on Obama and all that, but Republicans are willing to do some fairly embarassing things to ruin the country. Isn't there someone with time and inclination to drive around the big pinko party bus, load it up in, I don't know, Austin, get with the arts and crafts, and call up Keith Olbermann? George Soros?
We need (1) dirty rich people and (2) crazy people with time. Otherwise we can't expect to get anything done. The TV likes the crazies.
One of you people is surely George Soros/George Soros' mistress. Get on this. Obama needs the good old fashioned left wing type marching. Didn't we invent the marching? Where did all the labor organizers go?
As long as there's no puppets, I'm down with 42. Fucking puppets.
42.2: What about crazy people without time? Because that seems easier to find. Between the job, the family, and the 65 hand-washings a day, it gets busy.
Isn't this what Markos Moulitsas is for? One of you surely can text him. I'm thinking there are people on our side who can also yell things that don't make sense.
text, LB is the leader of the vast left-wing conspiracy, as we established recently. You're better off waiting until she's around.
Have you been talking to my guidance counselor?
The headline on this story is odd.
Cops stop cyclist with butcher knife-pool cue axe
I need neb to tell me where the hyphens belong.
48: Yes and I agree with her that the skin flute is not a musical instrument and an improper subject for your college essays.
47: Ok then, someone throw up the LB signal. Commissioner Gordon is about to say some crazy shit on TV.
On rereading it, I think that maybe it means the cops used this foul weapon to make the cyclist stop. Why do people hate cyclists?
text has a point. In 38, and 42. Except, of course, that the left is rather divided on the question of whether to pass the Senate bill (with/without reconciliation). What does MoveOn have to say?
FDL keeps calling for a reconciliation bill that tacks on a public option (when they're not calling for rejecting the Senate bill altogether); I've been stunned enough by things that I haven't looked to see whether they're claiming that that's actually possible. I thought reconciliation was for budgetary tweaks only, not for structural ones.
43.last: to sleep with the fishes?
54: To bed with that nice lady from Walmart's central office?
It has been conclusively established that I'm not likely to lead anything. Um, people around DC could go stand outside the white house with signs? In 23 hours of lead time I can't see what else is likely to happen.
Bob- you know any productive burning-shit-down venues?
56: It doesn't really matter if it happens before the speech. Look, this isn't a "hey kids let's put on a show" routine: I know you lazy asses aren't going to do anything, and neither am I. But someone needs to do this shit if healthcare or anything cool is going to happen.
Um, apparently there were emergency rallies across the country today, per MoveOn.
Imagine you are Rahm Emanuel. First, punch yourself hard in the stomach. Next, consider the tea-baggers.
Tea-baggers demonstrate that the Republicans are willing to make asses of themselves, while the progressives are not. Which base would he think is more likely to vote in the next elections?
And it doesn't matter at all that the whole thing was a sham. Organizing a sham takes money and people.
David Plouffe sent me an email saying "We must regroup, refocus, and re-engage on the vital work ahead. So let's watch it together at a State of the Union Watch Party in your neighborhood."
Way to get some solidarity and action going: let's all sit in our living rooms!
Um, apparently there were emergency rallies across the country today, per MoveOn.
Then why am I not hearing about them? Did they march? Did they threaten crazy things? What name do they call themselves?
Something needs to be done all in one place and with lots of signs and self-congratulation. When this happens, I will take credit.
I think there's hay to be made over the Republicans being the "Do Nothing" party. That's their current MO.
From the NYT: With no clear path on major health legislation, Democratic leaders in Congress signaled slower going on the president's top domestic priority.
Boy that's a relief from the headlong pace of hcr legislation over the past year. We certainly need to slow down and take a breather. I really do hate America.
This was supposed to be the shiny thing thread! Shiny!
Sorry. I think I need my meds adjusted. I'll just stay in bed tomorrow. Maybe the world will look better on Thursday. It is, after all, the day the garbage truck comes by. That's always something to look forward to.
Then why am I not hearing about them?
I asked myself the same thing. Rather, why didn't I hear about it beforehand? Well, because I dropped my old email address(es) and I'm not on their mailing list any more. It wouldn't hurt to rectify that.
As for what they call themselves, it would probably make sense to visit the website, for a start.
I used to be a shitload of mailing lists; then I transitioned to just reading the same old, same old blogs. Ever notice that Yglesias, Drum, Benen, ObWi, LGM et al. are not an activist crowd?
Way to get some solidarity and action going: let's all sit in our living rooms!
I've been playing Wii Swordplay, which is more active and less solidarity-enabling.
Bob- you know any productive burning-shit-down venues?
No. I really need to study contemporary theories of direct action.
1st thing that came to mind was the autonomists. Do they recommend workplace sabotage? Burn your desk or cubicle. This would post that a return to the anarchists ca 1900 makes more sense in our similarly atomized and dis-associated conditions than the mass organizations of the Fordist era.
But the autonomists are thirty years gone now.
After reading Naomi Klein, I consider Poland/Eastern Europe and South Africa abject failures. Of course, Yeltsin's Russia turned into a horror.
I need to get to work.
67 is funny.
So, does anyone have a good recipe for key lime pie?
I've actually been working up to replacing my front door/frame unit. That's more active, and is the sort of thing white people like to do, but is only tenuously political. It helps burnish my white folks cred, which I do need, but it doesn't help much with health care reform.
Apparently the door frame was put in in 1946, judging by the piece of newspaper used to fill the space between the door frame and the cinder block. The louan mahagony veneer smooth hollow interior style door is, I suspect, from the 1960ish renovation. I bought a solid core, metal covered, pre-hung unit with leaded glass window at the flea market a few years ago. Winter seemed like a good time to remove the old door.
Don't know yet how far down we are going to go.
Brave New World or The Road
If the latter, the local self-sustaining communities make sense. If the former, those anarchist projects will get stomped like ants.
I don't know how to resist BNW. Maybe the Situationists had an idea.
I am at best a Beta, after all.
71: sorry. My cooking knowledge is limited to "first, shoot a key lime", which isn't even particularly funny.
Ever notice that Yglesias, Drum, Benen, ObWi, LGM et al. are not an activist crowd?
Right, that didn't actually escape me, but they can at least talk about activism, and then you have Markos to organize the Bee Taggers or whomever.
71: Nope. It has been years since I made any pie except pumpkin pie. The recipe for that is on the back of the can.
Winter seemed like a good time to remove the old door.
Yeah? Not before winter?
A friend of mine decided to do some kind of work on his heating system starting in mid-December. He's been without heat since -- just space heaters in the two rooms he's now inhabiting -- and frets about about his perpetual sniffles and sinus problems. He winds up casually phoning to see if dinner and a movie, over here in this house (heated), sounds like a nice idea tonight. We could have popcorn! He'll bring the movie too! I mentioned once, in a questioning manner, his decision to dismantle the heat, and never again. You've never seen such a glare.
Can we keep the political threads as the only political threads?
Anyway, you'll know this country has changed when the food network starts running shows on how a particular food is made by investigating labor conditions.
He'll bring the movie too!
Big spender. That must have set him back at least a buck.
78.1: Does burning things down count as politics or entertainment? I could go either way.
Yeah? Not before winter?
Yes, well, I am wondering if this is another indicator of diminished mental capacity. But there are so many other plesant things to do in summer. So tomorrow looks like the day to pull the old door and put in the new. I think I've got the cinder block and the poured concrete header trimmed back far enough, and most of the old threshold and part of the floor trimmed back, so I hope it's ready to fly. Snow is predicted for the day after tomorrow.
79: Dude. He doesn't want to talk about it. It's casual, see, a passing thought.
I've always wondered when it was appropriate to burn things down, and when it's better to burn things up. Is this one of those cases like "the bottle is half full/half empty of gasoline"?
I hate to talk about my home improvement projects when they've gone agley, too. I tend to say things like "yes, I thought that having the cabinets on the floor instead of the wall might be an interesting change". Now I'm practicing saying "oh, you expected that a front door should open and close? How quaint. This is more like a comment on the whole notion of an installation, by being not really installed at all"
Home improvement talk reminds me that I'm thinking of getting one of those tub-shower insert things. The top rim of our tub is really battered because it used to have one of those sliding glass doors. And the tile is kind of ugly.
She always sounds like she's bribing the recipient of her cooking into some unspeakably filthy orgy.
Sometimes I wish I could see with your eyes, AWB (or, whatever, hear with your ears).
If it isn't, stop at a Redbox before you start calling people to stay warm.
Michael, you should start a home improvement blog. Or just live-blog your projects here. Either way, I'll be transfixed.
There was an interesting article in the paper the other day about this guy's who's written a biography about Bill Waterson who, of course, is about as accessible as JD Salinger. In the end, the guy never meets him, but he compiles some interesting stuff, such as it is.
Hard to believe it was just a 10 year run.
Either way, I'll be transfixed.
I knew of a guy who did that with a nail gun once. Apparently, the head of the nail can go so deep as to get embedded in the bone. Then you go to the ER with a piece of wood stuck to your foot.
unspeakably filthy orgy
Here I am, over 40, and I've never participated in any sort of group sexual encounter. It's probably too late now, right? Just as well, I suppose, as I can't imagine that I could keep myself from laughing at all the flailing about.
"Transfixed" doesn't mean a sex change operation, MH.
Thank you. I figure that any project from which I walk away still having all ten fingers and thumbs is a success.
94: Thanks. The e-mail about the use of the office bulletin board makes more sense now.
I've always wondered when it was appropriate to burn things down, and when it's better to burn things up
Burning down emphasizes the prospective ashes, burning up the current flames. Do you want to excite with spectacle, or depress with ruins?
If you want to depress with runes, you could translate Hemingway into Old Norse.
down with ruins!
So, does anyone have a good recipe for key lime pie?
Oh, hell yeah.
Crust:
5 TB melted butter
3 TB sugar
1 package graham crackers, pulverized in food processor or otherwise (a box of Honey Grahams or whatever has 3 packages in it; use that many, more or less).
Mix these things, press into pie plate, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 325. Or use a pre-made shell; I think they're basically fine.
Filling:
1/2 C. lime juice (don't dick around with key limes; they're tiny and they're nothing special, flavor-wise)
1 can condensed milk (11 oz.? something like that)
4 egg yolks.
Beat yolks lightly, add milk, mix thoroughly, add juice, mix again. Let sit 10-20 minutes; it will become semi-solid. The classic recipe is done at this point (it was a no-bake thing), but you get much better results if you bake the pie (pour filling into crust after it sits) for 12-15 minutes at 325. Allow to cool, of course.
Silly people make meringue from the egg whites, but wise people use whipped cream. I assure you that this is the right way to make key lime pie.*
* I've read where you zest the limes and add it to the yolks, which gets you more green color and I guess a bit more lime flavor, but the pie without it is easy and 98% perfect; that extra step adds a lot of effort and gains you only a tiny bit of perfection.
Zesting limes isn't that hard if you have a microplane grater, which should be included with your swipple kit.
1 package graham crackers, pulverized in food processor or otherwise (a box of Honey Grahams or whatever has 3 packages in it; use that many, more or less).
"that many" seems redundant given that you've already said "1 package", unless you're trying to confuse people into using three packages.
102: No, but it's still approximately as much effort as the entire rest of the recipe, and it doesn't exactly double the goodness of it.
103: Yes, poorly put, I now see. Since this is from memory, I recall neither the cracker count, nor the weight, nor the (pulverized) volume. But I wanted to clarify that I meant 1/3 of a box, not an entire box (boxes are sometimes called "packages").
Oh, and fair warning: the all-natural, molasses-sweetened graham crackers from Whole Foods are shit. They don't ruin the crust, but they're awful to eat on their own.
OT: My new job calling for donations for the University affords me unique and interesting experiences. To wit: tonight I called a recent graduate and acquaintance (however, she is in Germany), a woman I'm nearly sure was Nosflow's mother (don't worry neb, she didn't give out your new digits), and UofC alum Tucker Max, whose phone was disconnected, fortunately.
I know next to nothing about food though, so, carry on or |>.
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One song, desert island: "Forming", "Sex Boy", or "Lexicon Devil"?
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78 gets it right. Also all you assholes who tried to make this thread about politics are dead. Or maybe that's redundant?
Michael has found a door that doesn't hate a wall!
Also, I'm going to bed.
All hate. All.
My mother didn't attend that school.
She could still give them money if she wanted to.
One song, desert island: "Forming", "Sex Boy", or "Lexicon Devil"?
Ones song: Desert Island, Desert Island, or Desert Island?
111: From the comments on the last one: "The pizza guy that sings sucks ass."
107
78 gets it right. Also all you assholes who tried to make this thread about politics are dead. Or maybe that's redundant?
I blame Ben.
In a celebrated Calvin and Hobbes strip, Calvin announces to Hobbes his plan not to think about unpleasant things, and then, when Hobbes asks him whether that isn't a rather self-deceptive way to go through life, announces further that he isn't going to think about that.
I don't watch the Food Network, but experimenting with vegetarianism has broadened my palate a bit. I'm still not cooking any more than usual, but I never knew eggplant could taste so good if it's just prepared right (however the local pizza place does it), and I don't think I had even had portobello mushrooms before.
Question for the DC crowd: has anyone been to Local 16 before? I'm meeting a group there tonight for the SoTU, and purely out of curiosity I'm looking up reviews, and the place seems horrifying. I don't pay enough attention to online reviews of places to have a strong sense of when to take them seriously, but damn.
71, Kobe:
JRoth's recipe is right in it's outlines but wrong on the details. Key limes, while indeed a pain in the ass, are something special and the lime zest more than repays its use. Key limes have a much fuller fruity flavor. Their zest is more subtle that larger limes, but less of a game changer than the juice. If you want to save time on the zesting get one regular sized lime for that. Use about 1.5 T zest for the recipe above. The thing with key limes is to remember that they're ripe when the turn partly yellow. They are hard to juice, but if you have one of those swing-arm citrus presses they make pretty short work of them. The resulting pie is quite sharp and zesty, so the whipped cream is really not optional. Also, delicious.
Thank you, JRoth! That looks great. And I really like the idea that I can just use the regular ones and not have to worry about finding key limes.
I am saddened that nobody picked up 93. Don't worry Mr. Noriega, 40 is the new 12! There is plenty of time for awkward flailing! When you are a bit older and more mature, that is.
Speaking of shiny things, is there going to be a live stream of Steve Jobs's State of the Union product launch today?
Here I am, over 40, and I've never participated in any sort of group sexual encounter. It's probably too late now, right? Just as well, I suppose, as I can't imagine that I could keep myself from laughing at all the flailing about.
Group sexual encounters are deadly serious. Deadly.
The thing with key limes is to remember that they're ripe when the turn partly yellow
This is true of regular limes as well.
No offense, Pongo, but as Cooks Illustrated has noted, if you look into the key lime literature, you'll see contradictory claims for their flavor: one source says more tart, another says less tart, and so on. The reality is that the difference, such as it may be, is minor (I have used them, just as I have zested; we take key lime pies very seriously around here). I suspect that, in a non-side-by-side tasting, almost no one could identify a difference.
122: Bake two pies and bring them to Oakland. I'll be a neutral judge.
None taken. Much as I enjoy reading Cooks when i get a free copy, I often don't buy their blind tasting claims. I'll just say that I personally have noticed a difference between pies made with key limes versus regualr ones(tartness isn't where I taste the difference, it's a different kind of fruitiness), and I prefer the key lime Key lime pies. Of course, as with everything, the quality of the particular fruit is probably a bigger factor. I wouldn't say only make the pie with key limes, or that one with regular limes wouldn't be crazy tasty, just that key limes do make a difference and, all things being equal, it's a difference worth trying.
Still the point is that Mary Catherine should make a pie and some whipped cream and then maybe share it with those she deems worthy.
I watched a Food Network show about Thanksgiving cooking that had GdL in it. She cooked this crazy-ass mashed potatoes thing that had a bunch of cheese and cream and bread crumbs and was exactly the kind of thing that I can't look at without gaining two pounds, and yet she was tiny. I have rarely hated someone so much over something so stupid.
I do like Mario, though, and I like the guy from North Carolina whose name I can never remember. (He was in the same show and made a ridiculously fattening stuffing that went over well at Thanksgiving.) I'm trying to learn to like Alton Brown but honestly he makes me want to put a brick through the television, as does basically everyone else on every single one of their original shows, and yet I love the idea of the channel.
Cyrus, to hear that you've never had a portabella makes me a little sad. I'm still very much a carnivore but I'm trying to find ways to expand my palate and modify my diet to cut back on calories and fats, so I've picked up a couple of vegan cookbooks lately that I want to work with this weekend. I'm not interested in becoming vegan, but I'd like to lose some weight and apparently the gym 2 or 3 times a week just isn't going to cut it. I'd also like to avoid my father's heart disease and my mother's diabetes, so, y'know, best to put in some effort now.
I'm trying to learn to like Alton Brown
I like to watch his show, but it does get a bit much at times. For example, the salmon smoker you were to make from a cardboard box, the shelf from the oven, a fan and a hotplate.
125
to hear that you've never had a portabella makes me a little sad.
Well, I said "I don't think". I wouldn't commit to either way; it's entirely possible that I have had them as a topping on a hamburger or raw in a salad and they never stood out in my memory until I had them as the main ingredient in something. However, I have avoided them when I saw them on a menu as an actual substitute for a hamburger patty. I've tried half a dozen kinds of soy-related meat substitutes at one time or another and never liked any so I assumed, incorrectly as I now find, that portabella would be more of the same.
I have no interest in going vegan myself, just vegetarian. And a vague hope of losing weight is my main reason as well, although I'm seeing little sign of it so far. Pity. Oh well; if I were really serious about losing weight I realize that the real problem is probably fried foods, cookies and beer.
127: It's still just a regular mushroom. It just got bigger and developed a richer flavor. Button, crimini, and portobello are all the same thing, biology-wise.
to hear that you've never had a portabella makes me a little sad.
Don't be such an elitist prick.
nosflow, if I do things like allow for others' difference of experience and spell "portobello" correctly then I lose my y'all license. I'm just doing ignorance maintenance over here.
Bruce Bartlett Is Convincing Me That We Need a VAT
Me = Brad DeLong
Bartlett is simply appalled by the Oregon vote.
The readers are appalled at BdL, and ask if he is joking.
I think not. I think Obama is strongly opposed to any new progressive taxes, and BdL (and Matt Y for instance if you closely read his posts) understand this.
Let me proselytize! If you are actually wanting to lose weight, veganism is the way to go, not vegetarianism. (Or possibly just adding more vegan rather than vegetarian dishes to the roster.) I'm your classic junk food vegan (and have been known to break down and eat pizza on occasion) and I lost twenty pounds through a combination of a little light bicycling and veganism. I'd need to bike more and knock it off with the vegan cake to actually thin down, but I went from being puffily fat to being merely stout.
Another advantage to veganism--since you're not using cheese or butter and don't have to worry about their calories, you can pretty much use all the olive oil you like. Thus no inadequate sautes or dried out roast vegetables. In fact, I pan fry with abandon!
MY's constant refrain of "You lower inequality with services for the poor not taxes on the rich." is, I think, deliberately dodgy. If you ask him how we pay for those increased services, sometimes he does say taxes on the rich. He also separately talks about the superiority of the VAT, and talks about stuff like tax avoidance.
There is apparently a very long wonky story here with European studies.
I personally believe, as I have often said, that inequality is a problem in itself, that the rich are problems in themselves, in that the rich tend toward speculative investing and destabilize finance.
In fact, I pan fry with abandon!
I've never tried Abandon, but I don't like those cooking sprays.
132: More seriously, I know a guy who gained weight by going vegetarian. On the other hand, he blamed the gain on peanut butter sandwiches, which were basically vegan.
134: Actually, I pan fry with a mixture of olive oil and Earth Balance Buttery Spread, a staple of vegan/punk rock houses across the land. "Buttery spread" also comes in "buttery sticks". I'm more appalled by the name than the product, which is really just jumped-up margarine.
Serious vegans use coconut oil, because Earth Balance contains palm oil and thus contributes to the extinction of pygmy elephants. I just talk about how I probably should switch to coconut oil, thus getting serious-leftist-considering-the-issues cred while still having something to put on toast.
Another advantage to veganism--since you're not using cheese or butter and don't have to worry about their calories, you can pretty much use all the olive oil you like.
Oh, but I can anyway!
136: I use butter. I could give-up meat far more easily than I could give-up dairy and eggs. My meatless Fridays are going fairly well. (I'd rather follow the advice of a long-dead prelate than a living Beatle, so I picked Friday over Monday.)
I have, in addition to the Friday thing, probably cut my meat-eating by about 50% over the last years. Stupid LDL fucking lipid shit.
135: My aunt did the same thing. In her case, she was a pretty meat and potatoes cook before she gave up meat, and I think she just didn't have the hang of eating enough food in the absence of meat. So she was starving all the time, and made it up in sweets.
Five years or so later she'd settled back down to normal.
Whereas I gave my red lentil mush an appealingly rich flavor by adding a spoonful of lovingly hand-rendered chicken fat!
Did you know that lots of stores simply throw away the chicken skin they remove to create their skinless thighs and breasts? Shocking! But if you ask, they might just put it in a bag for you and give it to you free without charge. Not-so-instant schmaltz can be yours!
141: What do you do? Just boil the skins and skim the fat?
I often find that I've gone 36 or 48 hours without meat without really thinking about it (halfway through my lunch of a turkey and swiss sandwich I realized I hadn't eaten meat since Monday night). I could never give up cheese or butter or eggs, though. I might not quite be able to bring myself to punch a chicken or a cow, but I'll sure as hell eat their products.
I know some people who've gained weight after going vegetarian, some who've lost weight and some whose skin simply looked remarkably healthier. I think it probably depends on how much of it boils down to a person replacing all the meat with cheese. I would be one of those vegetarians, in part because I would be so unhappy from missing meat so much.
Mainly I want to add healthier entries to my repertoire of food options rather than restrict them.
All of which is to say that learning more vegan recipes is of greater interest to me than vegetarian ones because I'm pretty sure I can combine vegan and non- cooking so that I get my animal abuse fix in my main dishes and still have healthier foods to eat with them or on their own at other times.
141: What do you do? Just boil the skins and skim the fat?
You don't really need to add any water; the skins have plenty. Cut them up into strips (or better little squares), put them in a heavy pan, mediumish heat, let 'er rip. Bonus: gribenes.
131: Bob, there's nothing for you to worry about here. Bartlett mis-characterizes the Oregon measures as "a large tax increase on corporations and the wealthy," says that it's evidence of populist anger and even implies that it's confiscatory—and then links to a typically ill-informed and ideologically driven post by McArdle, who seems to know or care as little about the specifics of Oregon's tax policy as he does. It's bullshit. Here, read this if you really want to know something about it.
After reading Naomi Klein, I consider Poland/Eastern Europe and South Africa abject failures
At the risk of annoying Ben on a dead thread, Poland is about as good as it gets for neoliberalism (sort of). Living standards have skyrocketed for the majority of the population. The exception are small peasants far from cities (i.e. the majority of the peasant population) and folks who were retirees or fairly close to it at the time. Workers in major urban areas have done very, very well. Even in rural areas things are looking up courtesy of the EU (subsidies, UK, remittances). The knock against shock therapy is that it caused a lot more pain in the nineties than was necessary, not that things haven't gotten much better.
But only sort of a success for neoliberalism. Poland retains very strict labour laws and an extensive welfare state.
146:Bob, there's nothing for you to worry about here.
The above needs explanation.
I am not worried about Oregon.
I am worried about a National VAT. I am worried because BdL and MY, who have close contacts to the Obama administration, seem to be doing some subtle advocacy for a VAT.
I don't measure the well being of a country only with its median prosperity, but also by the distribution or real political power. That is partly measurable in wealth and income inequality, mobility, media monopolies, etc.
Without the political power, all the other stuff can be taken away at will.
I am worried because BdL and MY, who have close contacts to the Obama administration, seem to be doing some subtle advocacy for a VAT.
Truly, we were all Bob McManus then.
In other cheery political news, Chris Bowers today with his number crunching for the first time calculated that Republicans would take control of the House after the midterms.
Bob, Chris Bowers really, really, really thought there was going to be a brokered Democratic convention. He's not so good with the new math, that one.
I'd take James. Generic corporate run right wing authoritarian regime beats a messianic radical left one any day. This is especially true if you're an overeducated progressive like myself. On the other hand the nightlife would start out great under Bob.
I don't think we'll lose the majority. But I found it inconceivable a few weeks before the 1994 elections when a Republican at the 'centrist' foreign policy think tank where I worked predicted it. Centrist as in DLC to hard right. I was to the right of what I am now and everyone saw me as some radical leftie. Then I went to grad school and it was the reverse.
Better movies in McManustan. More challenging puzzles in Shearerstan. Free weed and sleazy funk in Apostroland.
132: Let me proselytize! If you are actually wanting to lose weight, veganism is the way to go, not vegetarianism.
I will proselytize back! Exercise is the way to go. Though cutting portions in half can be helpful (your stomach will just shrink after not very long, and you'll feel fuller/satisfied with less).
My problem these days is carbohydrates. Man, too much bread in various forms. I'm upping the beans in an attempt to get rid of the carb craving.
155: You can be Dictator of Circuses and LB can be Dictator of Bread. KR can consult, but only if he discounts his hourly rates.
155: Yes, but who can bring more schmaltz.