Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu
By Anne Laurie April 1st, 2010
Take it away, Bad Horse’s Filly:
I hadn’t made the poppy seed cake in a while and since I love poppy seed cake and raspberries, I thought I’d go ahead and recipe test it once again before tonight’s menu went up. I know, I know, the things I do for you guys. Decided to take most of it into work today and since there is none left, I’m going to declare this one a success.
On the board tonight:1. Lemon-Nut Pork Chops
2. Baked Potatoes
3. Steamed Asparagus
4. Raspberry Poppy Seed Cake
Recipes and shopping list at the link, as always.
Posted in Cooking, Food, Open Thread
That cake looks damn good.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Today, while in line at Panera, I overheard one young woman tell another, “I just graduated from Northwestern*, and I got a job doing the accounting for an architecture firm. It’s okay, but I really don’t like numbers.”
I managed to avoid strangling her.
*By which she meant Northwestern Bible College in Roseville, not Northwestern University in Evanston.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:40 pm
@J. Michael Neal: This probably isn’t any consolation, but if she’s working for an architectural firm in the twin cities, she probably isn’t getting shit for wages and she’ll hate all her bosses within half a year.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:50 pm
I bought a tall asparagus steamer pot. I use it approx 8x/yr for asparagus, broccoli, shrimp, lobster, and other shellfish and I absolutely love it. It does a great job of steaming veggies and seafood.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:50 pm
McClatchy does a pretty damn good article about how the right wing is trying to re-write history (i.e., Teddy Roosevelt was a soshullist, so were the Jamestown colonists), and as a counter-weight ‘the left does it too’, meaning, Ward Fucking Churchill, whom of course we all followed and repeated his words in our classrooms.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:00 pm
@debit: That cake looks damn good.
Second that. I love raspberries and poppy seeds!
April 1st, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Raspberry Poppy Seed Cake looks and sounds great. Really.
However, you obviously weren’t paying attention in the Let Love Rule thread, you’d know, from the Balloon-Juice Corporate Anthem that you’re supposed to be posting a recipe for fudge.
Disappointed cat is very disappointed.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:09 pm
@El Cid:
The Jamestown settlers were fucking sockalists? Are they fucking kidding. Even Disney’s version of Pocahontas did a better job on history the Virginia Company than that.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:13 pm
@gbear: I’ve done the accounting for an architecture firm in the Twin Cities. Granted, it was so tiny that most of my time was taken up doing the accounting for the parking ramps owned by its parent company, but I actually have some experience.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:13 pm
I don’t know, the Thursday Night Menu thread seems anti-climatic after the “Let’s Get John Laid” thread which proceeded it. I might have to come up with a special menu for that.
Good night all, got a big day tomorrow.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:16 pm
@soonergrunt:
I was mostly lurking on that thread because the last two days at work have been sheer hell on earth, but that little anthem and some of their offshoots had me gut-laughing at my workstation.
Also, your chorus is inextricably linked to this song’s chorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVwDfyHFzrU
April 1st, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Just got back from my first participation in the altar-stripping for Maundy Thursday.
Do not want. I like being a pew warmer and running to my truck to cry until I can drive without killing people. It’s cathartic.
But I also found out I’m not assisting for Easter, which is a good thing. The choreography required for me to sing and assist would have been maddening. And we have no assistant tenors this year.
I realize this post is more appropriate for Ship of Fools, but there you have it.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Anyone watching the Daily Show? Stewart’s going pretend right winger on a clip of Sarkozy because in said clip he had the tumerity to basically say welcome to the civilized world where people are ensured access to healthcare.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:24 pm
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Been making at least ONE, mostly TWO of these menus a week for the past 2 months.
LOVE YOU GUYS!!
I always follow the recipes perfectly and they are awesome. About to start adapting some to my own tastes now that I’ve gotten used to how things work together.
Anne Laurie: Keep posting links!
April 1st, 2010 at 11:25 pm
@hamletta:
13 years of Catholic School, 4 as an altar server (not abused), and I had to look up that word.
Considering changing handle to “freelancer, the most high maundy”
April 1st, 2010 at 11:28 pm
@J. Michael Neal:
I’ll start asking around and let you know if I hear of anything. I’m still in architecture although I work for government now.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:47 pm
@freelancer:
I’d think twice about putting those two words in such close proximity.
(edit: Oops. linked to the wrong comment. should be Hamletta)
April 1st, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Stupid question: are the poppyseeds optional? I have a tendency to react badly to them. I’m not allergic, I loves me a good morphine drip, but somehow they just don’t sit right with me.
April 1st, 2010 at 11:56 pm
@Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist: I’ll make it a third! Yum, yum, yum – though I’ll leave out the poppy seeds, I don’t want to test positive for drugs…. BTW what’s “deglaze” that the pork chop recipe calls for when the lemon juice is added to the drippings?
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:32 am
I hates me some Jason Zengerle.
http://www.tnr.com/article/pol.....huggy-bear
If John Calipari didn’t exist, Bob Huggins would be the personification of everything that is bad about big-time college sports.
And since you asked, yes, I am still bitter about the flagrant foul by Brittney Griner that went uncalled on Monday night.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:35 am
That cake looks so good. I’m consumed with envy because I want some right now and it’s way too late to go shopping and baking.
@Yutsano:
It will taste a bit different without them. There are all sorts of yummy foods I can’t eat anymore because they’re migraine triggers for me. You could try putting some almond flavoring into this if you’re looking to make a substitution.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:38 am
@burnspbesq: Bob Huggins is worse than Bush.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:38 am
Congratulations to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels on their runner-up finish in the National Invitational Tournament.
Bwahahahahahaha.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:38 am
@Glidwrith: “Deglaze” means to use a liquid, usually broth,wine, milk or etc to help loosen those yummy brown bits on the bottom of the pan-the term of art for those bits is “fond”. Be sure the pan is hot, and use a cold liquid, as it boils the bits come off-helped by scraping with a wooden utensil. Those browned bits really add the flavor to a sauce.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:43 am
@Delia: How much almond flavoring?
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:44 am
@Delia: Maybe hazelnuts, since that looks close to an Italian style of torta. I think I’d just get them as finely ground as I could.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:45 am
Rachel Maddow uses the L-word.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:45 am
@PeakVT: This honestly breaks my heart, if only because I think she would be the awesomest first lesbyterian in the Senate.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:49 am
@PeakVT:
Rachel, dear, that jacket is appalling. Why are you borrowing clothes from college basketball coaches?
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:55 am
@burnspbesq: You’re trying to lure me into saying a Pat Summit Joke. Not gonna do it. I know how tricksy you can be.
@ellaesther: Shlomeh Pesach. :)
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:57 am
@PeakVT: I watched that yesterday and it was all kinds of awesome.
Though I have to say my favorite part was probably the bit where she sounded juuuust a little Olbermann-esque: “You don’t rate, sir.”
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:57 am
@Glidwrith:
I’d add about a 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of pure almond extract for 2 cups of raspberries. You could also throw in some sliced almonds, about 1/2 cup in the batter and then a generous sprinkle of them on the top if you like the almond option.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:59 am
@IndyLib: Ooooo, a rasberry almond cake! Mmm, if the kids don’t like it, I’m hogging it all to myself. Thanks for the tips!
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:09 am
@Glidwrith: Especially with the nice hint of lemon in the background. Plus the raspberry-lemon filling, ooh baby, that is seriously one of my favorite flavor combinations period.
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:20 am
Came for the freaks, stayed for the food. Thanks, maybe in a couple of years I can try one of these nice recipes.
But I’m busy. Can I just tell somebody? Barack says yes I can, so well fine then: it’s tough shopping for a house, studying for the hardest IT exam I’ve ever taken and getting ready to start school full-time after over ten years away. I feel excited about it all, and glad especially for the house (even though in this market I should probably be getting a slightly better deal, but we probably aren’t overextending as long as school leads me to the AMERICAN DREAM and I don’t die for the next 30 years.) But it’s still hard to wrap my mind around. Can I imagine how it’s going to be in a month, when all of this stuff actually happens, and I’m still working 45 hours a week? No I cannot, kind ladies of the gentry, but I tell you this: I hope I’m not just bullshitting myself that school is going to be fun. I like to think it is, and I like to read and to write and to be a nerd in all its awkward glory, but I’m not 22 anymore, with all the free time I could ever want. I am tired, though, of thinking of school as this huge wall that I have to climb over. Can’t learning be fun? It needs to be, because otherwise it’s going to be a really lame 25 hours added to my week.
OK, ceasing brain-melt; onward and upward, don’t stop this train til it gets to Bootyville, we gon’ fake it til we make it, etc etc etc, etc etc, etc.
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:26 am
@Glidwrith:
Cherry also goes yummy with the almond, and make sure to use a real nutmeg nut, not that crap already ground in the bottle. The ground stuff in the bottle makes everything it touches taste like eggnog to me.
@Yutsano:
Lemon curd filling with almond or the poppy seeds would also be to die for.
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:45 am
@Jason Bylinowski: Breathe good sir. It may seem like a lot of stress now, but it will definitely pay great dividends for your future.
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:45 am
@Jason Bylinowski: I don’t know how long you’ve been away from school, but in my case I left in ‘72 and went back in ‘79. It was a treat to be back, ‘cause I was so much smarter about study habits the second time around.
‘Course, there was that stats class where the instructor and I would go downstairs to the bar and shoot the breeze while I did the homework for the next session, which was kind of emblematic of the whole second time around.
April 2nd, 2010 at 2:56 am
@Jason Bylinowski: @Linkmeister: Also FWIW I finally graduated college when I was 32. Took a ton and a half of fits and starts and I got some decent work experience in the off periods. It’s not a race, and there really is no timeline for college.
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:11 am
@gbear: My first thought, too, honestly.
That cake looks teh awesome, but what’s this about getting John laid? #Scampers off to check previous thread#
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:23 am
@Jason Bylinowski: School WILL be fun! I have always loved the learning aspect of school. Enjoy it.
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:39 am
@Michael D.: OMG, that made my morning. Thank you.
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:15 am
@Yutsano: If you come back and look, I say use crushed hazelnuts. They’ll add a nice flavor and a bit of crunch.
Oh, and I see Yutsano has the same suggestion. Good.
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 am