Rather than leftovers day, I'm calling this catch-up cooking day. So far I've done sausage rolls with homemade puff pastry with some of the left over cabbage roll stuffing. I froze these for future "I don't feel like cooking" days; made Hoop's Autumn Sangria, yall this is really really delicious highly recommend; gonna do a hash with the unsuccessful focaccia and the rest of the cabbage roll stuffing for dinner.
That /still/ leaves me with leftover cabbage rolls for the rest of the week (these can't be frozen bc it ruins the cabbage)
Tomorrow: pumpkin pie with one of the garden pumpkins
For those who like this sort of thing, here's this week's essay on the weekly portion, with some thoughts about refugees and a bit of discourse about dreams
Our pre-made Thanksgiving dinner purchased from the frou-frou local market was pretty good (I opted out of the usual crazed cooking and invariable disappointment and stress that comes from trying to have 2 people in a small kitchen re-create the bounty I remember from my childhood, and plus my fucking dad died this year, so I didn't have the energy to engage in this given everything else I've gone through this year).
It had a pretty good turkey (though it looked like a chicken to me compared to the minimum of 16 pound birds my family always made--and that I continue to buy and make; this was a 7 lb turkey which looked more like a Cornish game hen to me 😆🤣😂😆🤣😂)
It had mashed potatoes and gravy (which we doctored up a bit), a sweet potato and yam dish that included roasted red peppers and caramelized onions (my partner didn't like it but my daughter and I really did), sausage cornbread dressing, and "green beans almandine" (which was the only thing I was really disappointed with, since it seemed to consist of just steamed fresh green beans with some slivered almonds we were supposed to throw on there, which is not what I understand true green beans almandine to be; oh well. It was still tasty).
We also had cherry pie and apple pie and a panne forte thing that my partner picked up (and then didn't like, so I ate most of it, LMAO!).
I also kept my time crying in the bathroom to a minimum (very sad since this is the first Thanksgiving w/o my dad, and he was one of the primary cooks on this day and loved it).
We watched "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and "The Great Outdoors."
I hope everyone else had a great day yesterday in whatever form you celebrated it (and also to those who don't celebrate).
More things I've learned listening to my stepdad talking to his kids:
The reason anyone is blaming Israel for what's going on right now is because of "asshole professors in colleges who are more than liberal, they're beyond liberal."
"A few years ago, I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where large wild birds roamed the streets. Around the same height as my daughter, they feared no man, nonchalantly wandering through heavy traffic, into people's gardens, and across the campus of Harvard University.
It's the same story elsewhere. A friend of mine – the journalist Bethany Brookshire – lives in Washington DC, and wrote last year about how the birds had been terrorising citizens there: some people had even been hospitalised. Another friend, who lives in Des Moines, told me the creatures had blocked traffic in front of a local school recently."
Let me try a different hed: "Dinosaur breeding program endangers human life on entire planet"
She and I are having an ongoing conversation about this. One of the reasons, perhaps the primary reason that she and her sister are such remarkable cats, is that they were well and carefully brought up by the pre-existing cat of the household. As she grows into her remarkableness, I see her testing the waters with pre-existing cat. And I tell her that she is a better cat than that.
Wild turkeys are showing up at our ferry landing (I live on an island). So now we have seagull, kittiwake, crow, raven, AND turkey moochers to deal with. Cuz people feed them.
We have these all over our NoCal uni town. We have many flocks that are upwards of like 15 birds. I see them almost every day around town, and they are frequently on my front lawn by the dozens.
They were terrorizing people in the downtown area last year for some reason hanging around the bank entrance and going after people who tried to enter, LMAO!
I rode through a flock of them on my bike on the bike path several years ago and have a phone video of it somewhere.
I'm ascairt of them! If they're on my lawn, I honk until they leave. Those big males can do some damage.
I'm sitting in the living room listening to my stepdad and his son the electrician. A year ago they were talking about how lazy and terrible union electricians were. Now he has quit his old job and working somewhere where he had to join the union, and all he's talking about are all the benefits he's getting from the union. There is no acknowledgment of their previous positions.
So far, my experience (admittedly limited, see below) demonstrates all of the electricians I have dealt with or attempted to deal with to be lazy or have poor business sense.
I can't get an electrician out to my house to save my fucking life. We have several things that need to be done, and I've contacted 4-5 of them around here and get bupkiss.
One of the fine fellows has told me twice that he "is currently up on a ladder" and couldn't schedule a time then and there. He told me to text him with a photo of our issue/s, which I did, and he never got back to me.
I have no fucking idea what is going on with them. There are many complaints on Nextdoor about several electricians in the area exhibiting the same behavior (not calling back, not showing up when appointments are made, etc.).
I have no fucking idea where to go from here. Guess I'll have to call a shit ton more and go outside of my town/county to find one.
And 2 of the ones I've contacted are among the ones I see people just gushing over on Nextdoor.
I hate being a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if some "shitlib" bullshit is behind this (b/c I am in a notorious "shitlib" town around here the name of which is often preceded by "The People's Republic of" and most of the electricians are from the more rural/conservative areas around here).
We got some quotes for work in September (not electrical) and our first-choice bidder I spent two weeks asking them to call me back to schedule. I gave up on them and then spent another two weeks contacting our second choice, who also never felt motivated to schedule. Had a third company out to bid, and they were working by the end of the week.
I have no idea. It's really frustrating, though, b/c I live in fear that my fucking house will burn down. :(
And my stuff is small shit that I don't think requires a "bid" (rewiring or installing a new ceiling fan to replace one that isn't working; replacing a bathroom light fixture; checking a light switch that doesn't work anymore more than likely due to the house fucking shifting and the wires disconnecting inside there or something). I'm willing to just pay whatever to the first reliable, bonded company that has some decent reviews that I am able to get.
In my area, it's impossible to get *any* contractors. Well, not impossible if you're rich. There's a wealthy ski town nearby with 2nd and 3rd homeowners wanting to gut and remodel their newest acquisition, so the builders down here in the valley are all up there getting used to the big bucks. Sucks to be us.
I've been setting aside a couple hundred bucks a month toward an eventual bathroom remodel, but every month I fall even farther behind due to cost increases of both material and labor. I'm glad workers are getting their due, but I can't afford the new price set. Same with every other aspect of life. My pension is based on what I was earning in 2007, and it hasn't kept up.
I'm about to make my third turkey leftover sandwich. I only eat these after Thanksgiving, and I love them. Sourdough, lashes of mayo, bread stuffing, cranberry jelly, and turkey. I'm kind of weird about this. It would be strange to eat this any other time. Hand me this sandwich in April and I would recoil.
Many years ago, I was invited to a family's Thanksgiving in Queens. I brought my own food with plenty to share (only vegan), and everyone else invited brought something, too. Bruce, of blessed and cursed memory, brought a bottle of vodka. Elizabeth brought homemade chocolate bread. I brought (among other things), homemade cranberry sauce with oranges and hazelnuts. Around midnight, Bruce wanted leftovers but had no idea what to put together. I offered to make him something. I made for him a turkey sandwich on the chocolate bread, spread gravy (also mine) on one slice and cranberry sauce on the other, and he declared it the best turkey sandwich in the world. Others in the home followed suit until all the chocolate bread was gone.
We were watching this Thanksgiving food porn show last night with Carla (from Top Chef) and she was visiting some restaurants that serve outlandish "Thanksgiving" themed items, such as HUGE pumpkin spice pancakes (topped off by a whole slice of pumpkin pie), sammies with stuffing *and* mashed potatoes on them (which I could maybe manage a bite of, but the thought of carbs on carbs on carbs on a sandwich is not one I would entertain for more than about five minutes), and a doughnut thing that had doughnut-glazed turkey served on 2 giant doughnuts that were dipped in cranberry glaze that also included dressing, mashed potatoes, and I can't remember what all.
I can't believe no one has made this for every pet store in the country. Ready?
CAT SCRATCH FIRST AID KIT.
There'll be a cute feline face on the cover, with its best "who, me"? look on it. Probably a Cat the Ripper face.
Below that, the kit's motto: "It was only a love bite".
Inside, about 40 Band-Aids in various configurations, with an extra-long bandage part, as well as 10 large pads for more extensive damage. Bacitracin gel and an instruction book, along with a booklet of cat jokes so you can laugh through the tears.
Green may not make an Irish person, but good Irish stew, champ, and lots of Guinness certainly make up at least 50% of one.
Been sober for 12 years. But no nod to Bushmill’s? The oldest distillery in the world. On St. Columb’s Rill?
Had many a good night on the stuff.
May I point out that Irish whiskys are now being bastardized in various disgusting flavors...
Keep serving your cat well and with alacrity, humor and good tuna. Perhaps they will remember you when the Thumb Comes.
Woe is me. An Irishman who doesn't like coffee.
Still, the mention of Writer's Tears looks interesting.
Jameson is awesome. Also, Jack Daniel's is awful.
I used to drink Jim Beam. Then I drank a lot of good whiskies. Then I drank Jim Beam. Bad mistake.
Rather than leftovers day, I'm calling this catch-up cooking day. So far I've done sausage rolls with homemade puff pastry with some of the left over cabbage roll stuffing. I froze these for future "I don't feel like cooking" days; made Hoop's Autumn Sangria, yall this is really really delicious highly recommend; gonna do a hash with the unsuccessful focaccia and the rest of the cabbage roll stuffing for dinner.
That /still/ leaves me with leftover cabbage rolls for the rest of the week (these can't be frozen bc it ruins the cabbage)
Tomorrow: pumpkin pie with one of the garden pumpkins
Plus figure skating!
It's a good day.
For those who like this sort of thing, here's this week's essay on the weekly portion, with some thoughts about refugees and a bit of discourse about dreams
https://open.substack.com/pub/mavenmaven/p/dreams-of-a-refugee?r=2lkmfa&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Our pre-made Thanksgiving dinner purchased from the frou-frou local market was pretty good (I opted out of the usual crazed cooking and invariable disappointment and stress that comes from trying to have 2 people in a small kitchen re-create the bounty I remember from my childhood, and plus my fucking dad died this year, so I didn't have the energy to engage in this given everything else I've gone through this year).
It had a pretty good turkey (though it looked like a chicken to me compared to the minimum of 16 pound birds my family always made--and that I continue to buy and make; this was a 7 lb turkey which looked more like a Cornish game hen to me 😆🤣😂😆🤣😂)
It had mashed potatoes and gravy (which we doctored up a bit), a sweet potato and yam dish that included roasted red peppers and caramelized onions (my partner didn't like it but my daughter and I really did), sausage cornbread dressing, and "green beans almandine" (which was the only thing I was really disappointed with, since it seemed to consist of just steamed fresh green beans with some slivered almonds we were supposed to throw on there, which is not what I understand true green beans almandine to be; oh well. It was still tasty).
We also had cherry pie and apple pie and a panne forte thing that my partner picked up (and then didn't like, so I ate most of it, LMAO!).
I also kept my time crying in the bathroom to a minimum (very sad since this is the first Thanksgiving w/o my dad, and he was one of the primary cooks on this day and loved it).
We watched "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and "The Great Outdoors."
I hope everyone else had a great day yesterday in whatever form you celebrated it (and also to those who don't celebrate).
MST3K Turkey Day Marathon Telethon and duck.
Why a duck? Because you have to go over the river before you can go through the woods.
So sorry about your dad. The first holidays after life transitions are so difficult. May his memory be a blessing.
I'll come over for some of that pie (just to help you cope you know)
May your dad's memory always be a blessing.
Thank you so much, Zyxomma. <3 <3 <3
This is also delicious with a nice reposado and a hint of cinnamon.
That's beautiful and flavorful... and so much work for something I'd have consumed in about a minute.
More things I've learned listening to my stepdad talking to his kids:
The reason anyone is blaming Israel for what's going on right now is because of "asshole professors in colleges who are more than liberal, they're beyond liberal."
Old man mad at college professors? What a total shock 🤣
Honestly I was expecting it to be Biden's fault. Liberal college professors brainwashing kids was a throwback.
Ask him about aliyahs and tell him upfront it's not the r&b singer.
That was a new term to me. I learned a thing today.
Here’s some merry news about beer:
https://www.threads.net/@trailerdrake/post/C0CQnZfL9-D/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
So basically we can run a scheme where we get MAGA types to freak out about some major brand, but the dip and make reliable returns?
It's not criminal if you do it out in the open...
'Fearless wild turkeys are roaming US cities – and it's a rare conservation success'
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231123-fearless-wild-turkeys-are-back-in-us-cities-and-its-a-rare-conservation-success
"A few years ago, I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where large wild birds roamed the streets. Around the same height as my daughter, they feared no man, nonchalantly wandering through heavy traffic, into people's gardens, and across the campus of Harvard University.
It's the same story elsewhere. A friend of mine – the journalist Bethany Brookshire – lives in Washington DC, and wrote last year about how the birds had been terrorising citizens there: some people had even been hospitalised. Another friend, who lives in Des Moines, told me the creatures had blocked traffic in front of a local school recently."
Let me try a different hed: "Dinosaur breeding program endangers human life on entire planet"
And you thought cats were going to be a problem when they got opposable thumbs?
Cats are not the problem. Cats are the solution.
Keep serving your cat well and with alacrity, humor and good tuna. Perhaps they will remember you when the Thumb Comes.
Máebh: These thumbs? https://substack.com/profile/1687878-1d57a1d5931d/note/c-41649068?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=106di
Or did you mean, these thumbs? https://substack.com/profile/1687878-1d57a1d5931d/note/c-40539941?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=106di
She has more toes and fingers than I do.
Those thumbs, yes. Teeth are a reminder: Kindness! and servility. Cats are not humble.
She and I are having an ongoing conversation about this. One of the reasons, perhaps the primary reason that she and her sister are such remarkable cats, is that they were well and carefully brought up by the pre-existing cat of the household. As she grows into her remarkableness, I see her testing the waters with pre-existing cat. And I tell her that she is a better cat than that.
https://substack.com/@clairence/note/c-44207445?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2kpb0h
The coyotes keep the population down out here.
Wild turkeys are showing up at our ferry landing (I live on an island). So now we have seagull, kittiwake, crow, raven, AND turkey moochers to deal with. Cuz people feed them.
We have these all over our NoCal uni town. We have many flocks that are upwards of like 15 birds. I see them almost every day around town, and they are frequently on my front lawn by the dozens.
They were terrorizing people in the downtown area last year for some reason hanging around the bank entrance and going after people who tried to enter, LMAO!
I rode through a flock of them on my bike on the bike path several years ago and have a phone video of it somewhere.
I'm ascairt of them! If they're on my lawn, I honk until they leave. Those big males can do some damage.
Ummm . . . you all have heard of freezers, have you not?
...couldn't drag me awaaaaaay
can we eat them some day?/sn
"It's almost as if they were - organized!!"
- - Les Nesman
"Trump breeding program endangers all life on entire planet"
I'm sitting in the living room listening to my stepdad and his son the electrician. A year ago they were talking about how lazy and terrible union electricians were. Now he has quit his old job and working somewhere where he had to join the union, and all he's talking about are all the benefits he's getting from the union. There is no acknowledgment of their previous positions.
Like Joe the Plumber, who, instead of becoming a plumber, got a job on the assembly line at the Toledo Jeep Plant and immediately joined the UAW.
If it was me, I'd bring it up and ask them to consider their prior positions.
They could ask him if he was now a lazy and terrible electrician since he's now a union electrician.
I have an almost pathological fear of conflict, so I talk back in my head but not out loud.
So far, my experience (admittedly limited, see below) demonstrates all of the electricians I have dealt with or attempted to deal with to be lazy or have poor business sense.
I can't get an electrician out to my house to save my fucking life. We have several things that need to be done, and I've contacted 4-5 of them around here and get bupkiss.
One of the fine fellows has told me twice that he "is currently up on a ladder" and couldn't schedule a time then and there. He told me to text him with a photo of our issue/s, which I did, and he never got back to me.
I have no fucking idea what is going on with them. There are many complaints on Nextdoor about several electricians in the area exhibiting the same behavior (not calling back, not showing up when appointments are made, etc.).
I have no fucking idea where to go from here. Guess I'll have to call a shit ton more and go outside of my town/county to find one.
And 2 of the ones I've contacted are among the ones I see people just gushing over on Nextdoor.
I hate being a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if some "shitlib" bullshit is behind this (b/c I am in a notorious "shitlib" town around here the name of which is often preceded by "The People's Republic of" and most of the electricians are from the more rural/conservative areas around here).
Oakland or Beserkley?
Start at the top. Invite the Local union head or one of the upper guys to lunch, pick up the tab ans casually mention you need some work done.
Could it be they're just over-busy?
We got some quotes for work in September (not electrical) and our first-choice bidder I spent two weeks asking them to call me back to schedule. I gave up on them and then spent another two weeks contacting our second choice, who also never felt motivated to schedule. Had a third company out to bid, and they were working by the end of the week.
tldr: contractors are weird.
I have no idea. It's really frustrating, though, b/c I live in fear that my fucking house will burn down. :(
And my stuff is small shit that I don't think requires a "bid" (rewiring or installing a new ceiling fan to replace one that isn't working; replacing a bathroom light fixture; checking a light switch that doesn't work anymore more than likely due to the house fucking shifting and the wires disconnecting inside there or something). I'm willing to just pay whatever to the first reliable, bonded company that has some decent reviews that I am able to get.
OMG I wish I were near you. It sounds like you really just need a handyman.
(made me remember a James Taylor song but with innuendo)
Ha! I didn't realize how dirty my comment was when I wrote it.
In my area, it's impossible to get *any* contractors. Well, not impossible if you're rich. There's a wealthy ski town nearby with 2nd and 3rd homeowners wanting to gut and remodel their newest acquisition, so the builders down here in the valley are all up there getting used to the big bucks. Sucks to be us.
Jesus, that sucks. :(
I've been setting aside a couple hundred bucks a month toward an eventual bathroom remodel, but every month I fall even farther behind due to cost increases of both material and labor. I'm glad workers are getting their due, but I can't afford the new price set. Same with every other aspect of life. My pension is based on what I was earning in 2007, and it hasn't kept up.
I'm so sorry. :( :( I hope that gets better at some point (prices for building materials, etc.).
I'm not optimistic. At some point it will probably make more sense to just sell this place and rent something somewhere else.
I'm about to make my third turkey leftover sandwich. I only eat these after Thanksgiving, and I love them. Sourdough, lashes of mayo, bread stuffing, cranberry jelly, and turkey. I'm kind of weird about this. It would be strange to eat this any other time. Hand me this sandwich in April and I would recoil.
Many years ago, I was invited to a family's Thanksgiving in Queens. I brought my own food with plenty to share (only vegan), and everyone else invited brought something, too. Bruce, of blessed and cursed memory, brought a bottle of vodka. Elizabeth brought homemade chocolate bread. I brought (among other things), homemade cranberry sauce with oranges and hazelnuts. Around midnight, Bruce wanted leftovers but had no idea what to put together. I offered to make him something. I made for him a turkey sandwich on the chocolate bread, spread gravy (also mine) on one slice and cranberry sauce on the other, and he declared it the best turkey sandwich in the world. Others in the home followed suit until all the chocolate bread was gone.
I'm confused about the part about recoiling when someone hands me a sandwich.
I would recoil at being handed a vegemite sandwich.
Mrs LS has hers with stuffing, I'm purist ... just mayo, cranberry, turkey, and salt. One of the few things I actually salt.
These are different than hot turkey sammiches which have gravy and stuffing, and HOT.
I do find it strange that I love this sandwich. Bread stuffing in a sandwich is....a lot of bread.
OMG, right?
We were watching this Thanksgiving food porn show last night with Carla (from Top Chef) and she was visiting some restaurants that serve outlandish "Thanksgiving" themed items, such as HUGE pumpkin spice pancakes (topped off by a whole slice of pumpkin pie), sammies with stuffing *and* mashed potatoes on them (which I could maybe manage a bite of, but the thought of carbs on carbs on carbs on a sandwich is not one I would entertain for more than about five minutes), and a doughnut thing that had doughnut-glazed turkey served on 2 giant doughnuts that were dipped in cranberry glaze that also included dressing, mashed potatoes, and I can't remember what all.
I am not aware of a cheese steak shop anywhere in my time zone. But I shall take your word on it.
I can't believe no one has made this for every pet store in the country. Ready?
CAT SCRATCH FIRST AID KIT.
There'll be a cute feline face on the cover, with its best "who, me"? look on it. Probably a Cat the Ripper face.
Below that, the kit's motto: "It was only a love bite".
Inside, about 40 Band-Aids in various configurations, with an extra-long bandage part, as well as 10 large pads for more extensive damage. Bacitracin gel and an instruction book, along with a booklet of cat jokes so you can laugh through the tears.
I'm tellin' ya, Bert, it's a million-dollar idea!
some people are allergic to bacitracin but I see potential. Both Ripper's and baby Axl on the axle's faces would do