First, gingerbread and pumpkin pies are also made with molasses and both are delicious. Molasses even makes an interesting (if flavorful in its own way) sweetener for coffee!
I don't get opera. Due to some of the circles I move in, I have peripheral contact with a number of singers who do opera, love opera, live and breathe opera. While I love beautiful singing and do choral singing myself, the experience of opera itself has always kind of baffled me. I've only sat through a couple.
As for molasses bars and sweets in general: I have for some reason in the last month or so become obsessed with the idea of making mousse "bombs" (hemispheres or full spheres). Probably after having a couple at one of my favorite cafes. So that means investigating mousse recipes. When it's a fruit mousse, apparently it's mostly just fruit-flavored whipped cream (with gelatin to make it wiggly).
I tried one recipe without any gelatin. It was edible, but I have to admit that eating a dish of pure whipped cream gave me a little pause. Gelatin is the next phase in the experiment.
Innocent people died in the Johnstown Floods of 1889, 1936, and 1977. You can guess the common threads – the greedy callousness of the rich and the endless hubris of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"the endless hubris of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."
Thank you for explaining what happened with their obeying the Idiot Orange for opening those gates AFTER THE FIRES WERE OUT so there would be a drought this summer.
I'm a Red Ball Express granddaughter. I was like "Babies, soldiers, what are you doing?"
It's so hard to tell from news stories about agencies and departments doing Trump's bidding now. Is the spokesperson quoted in the press (sometimes unidentified) someone fighting to save their institution, or some snake in the grass that's just been waiting for this day, or a Trumper who's been there for all of 36 hours?
I didn't mean to dump entirely on the U.S Army Corps of Engineers; the 1950s and 1960s were a heady time for engineers in America, and some institutions never got over that. My father served all of WWII and another 15 years in the reserves with them, and spent much of 1944-45 building bridges in France and Italy.
NECCO made for many years little molasses and peanut butter bars called Mary Janes, which were amazing effective at removing the fillings from your teeth. For a number of reasons, they were always a top choice for Worst Candy in Your Trick or Treat Bag.
As we do about once every couple of weeks, we went down to the Syrian place around the corner for lunch, and as happens nearly every time, the owner said he had something for us. The something has ranged from some baklava to fruits from his garden to Arabic coffee, but this time he set two containers on the table, handed us a bunch of pita bread, and told us to have some then take the rest home to enjoy. One container was homemade tahini. The other was homemade date molasses. I'd never heard of the latter, but now I need it like an addict needs their heroin.
I prefer to look on the bright side of things — a molasses flood would mean an excuse to make lots of molasses cookies. What? Quit staring at me like that!
reminds me of the PBS childrens show "Between the Lions" in which the lion children were excitedly awaiting the meteor shower which they misread as a "meat shower" and were singing about it. (I watched it a lot when my kids were little.)
Was looking at this Atlantic article about how Trump is shitting on the arts and I read the blurb below. July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. How ironic and depressing. el Fucko del Trumpo will probably pull some stunt like getting his "Sharpie" out, crossing out all the names on the Declaration and then "resigning" it live on Fox.
"Trump also moved quickly to impose his vision on plans for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—July 4, 2026, also known as the Semiquincentennial. He created a new advisory panel, called Task Force 250, that he will chair to support a congressionally funded organization that has already begun planning events."
First, gingerbread and pumpkin pies are also made with molasses and both are delicious. Molasses even makes an interesting (if flavorful in its own way) sweetener for coffee!
But all that aside. Not living near a molasses tank is a good suggestion, but what about if a utility company decides to store a bunch of natural gas in tanks just down the street? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_East_Ohio_Gas_explosion
I never knew about this despite growing up in and around Cleveland until I read The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.
267,361 Cubic Feet of Molasses is a lot!
That's 23,774,650 Pounds!
I believe that to be a lot.
I don't get opera. Due to some of the circles I move in, I have peripheral contact with a number of singers who do opera, love opera, live and breathe opera. While I love beautiful singing and do choral singing myself, the experience of opera itself has always kind of baffled me. I've only sat through a couple.
As for molasses bars and sweets in general: I have for some reason in the last month or so become obsessed with the idea of making mousse "bombs" (hemispheres or full spheres). Probably after having a couple at one of my favorite cafes. So that means investigating mousse recipes. When it's a fruit mousse, apparently it's mostly just fruit-flavored whipped cream (with gelatin to make it wiggly).
I tried one recipe without any gelatin. It was edible, but I have to admit that eating a dish of pure whipped cream gave me a little pause. Gelatin is the next phase in the experiment.
Never “got” opera. It’s just weird
Drowning in 2 million gallons of molasses?
Talk about the sweet release of death!
(Apologies in general, but also for laziness because I am certain someone already made this joke. I am simply too indolent to scroll down.)
If you think this is a sickening example of rich people killing poor people, try the Johnstown Flood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood
Innocent people died in the Johnstown Floods of 1889, 1936, and 1977. You can guess the common threads – the greedy callousness of the rich and the endless hubris of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"the endless hubris of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."
Thank you for explaining what happened with their obeying the Idiot Orange for opening those gates AFTER THE FIRES WERE OUT so there would be a drought this summer.
I'm a Red Ball Express granddaughter. I was like "Babies, soldiers, what are you doing?"
It's so hard to tell from news stories about agencies and departments doing Trump's bidding now. Is the spokesperson quoted in the press (sometimes unidentified) someone fighting to save their institution, or some snake in the grass that's just been waiting for this day, or a Trumper who's been there for all of 36 hours?
I did not know about the the Red Ball Express, and I just read https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/red-ball-express. What an amazing story, the courage those men had!
I didn't mean to dump entirely on the U.S Army Corps of Engineers; the 1950s and 1960s were a heady time for engineers in America, and some institutions never got over that. My father served all of WWII and another 15 years in the reserves with them, and spent much of 1944-45 building bridges in France and Italy.
Tasting History on The Great Molasses Flood -- plus Boston Brown Bread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMWrk_94L8Y
Love this channel.
Not a big fan of mole asses, gotta say.
But when it comes to mo' lasses, you may have a different opinion.
One would do, thanks!
NECCO made for many years little molasses and peanut butter bars called Mary Janes, which were amazing effective at removing the fillings from your teeth. For a number of reasons, they were always a top choice for Worst Candy in Your Trick or Treat Bag.
On the other hand, NECCO and others made chocolate-covered molasses honeycombs, which were heavenly. See's still has a version. https://www.sees.com/milk-chocolate/molasses-chips/500412.html
I'm hooked on genuine licorice (the black rods from Australia) which stick to my teeth like epoxy glue. But my my teeth are strong! So far.
As we do about once every couple of weeks, we went down to the Syrian place around the corner for lunch, and as happens nearly every time, the owner said he had something for us. The something has ranged from some baklava to fruits from his garden to Arabic coffee, but this time he set two containers on the table, handed us a bunch of pita bread, and told us to have some then take the rest home to enjoy. One container was homemade tahini. The other was homemade date molasses. I'd never heard of the latter, but now I need it like an addict needs their heroin.
A molasses bar sounds like something you would spend hours scraping off your teeth.
Why did molasses wrestling not become an Olympic sport?
I prefer to look on the bright side of things — a molasses flood would mean an excuse to make lots of molasses cookies. What? Quit staring at me like that!
reminds me of the PBS childrens show "Between the Lions" in which the lion children were excitedly awaiting the meteor shower which they misread as a "meat shower" and were singing about it. (I watched it a lot when my kids were little.)
First, remove your horses ...
Drink it down with a Sarsparilla soda and spiced gumdrops
I grew up in Boston . . . and the Great Molasses Flood? . . . it's just too painful to talk about. 😀
( We never even heard of it . . . Fun Fact: it spared Paul Revere's house, also in the North End)
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Was looking at this Atlantic article about how Trump is shitting on the arts and I read the blurb below. July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. How ironic and depressing. el Fucko del Trumpo will probably pull some stunt like getting his "Sharpie" out, crossing out all the names on the Declaration and then "resigning" it live on Fox.
"Would make great TV!"
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"Trump also moved quickly to impose his vision on plans for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—July 4, 2026, also known as the Semiquincentennial. He created a new advisory panel, called Task Force 250, that he will chair to support a congressionally funded organization that has already begun planning events."
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02/trump-kennedy-center-arts/681613/
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I keep thinking of Mussolini’s declaration: “We have buried at last the foul corpse of Liberty!”
He seems nice. Maybe that lamp post wasn't too extreme.
Gas station.
You are right. Will I ever learn to not trust my memory?
Bodega cats for Caturday.
https://bsky.app/profile/bodegacatsofny.bsky.social/post/3lhiuevojdh2v