Corner Stone - July 22, 2010 | 8:56 pm · Link

Ok, I actually made this last night but it was so good I wanted to mention it again.
4 center cut boneless pork chops
hammered to about 1/4 thick
rub some sea salt and ground pepper into the chops
dip in milk and egg mixture
bread with bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, black pepper
chill in fridge for about 15 minutes to set up
heat olive oil in large skillet on high and also preheat oven to 325
sear each side for 3 minutes
spritz a little more olive oil onto top of chops
put in oven for 25 minutes

jeffreyw - July 22, 2010 | 9:00 pm · Link

@General Stuck: Ah, you get all the pretty ones.

debit - July 22, 2010 | 9:26 pm · Link

It’s not just you, TaMara. I bought some orange marmalade for a glaze that sadly just didn’t work out. Too much sugar in the marmalade. I’ll give the chicken a shot this weekend.

That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN) - July 22, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link

I asked this last night, but so late in the thread (as I usually do), that TaMara was the only respondent. I may be moving to Boston in a couple of months. Does anyone have advice on how to transport cats? Assuming I’m driving, I can’t do it in one stretch. I’ll have to spend the night at a motel somewhere, probably in Ohio. If I let Eddie out of his box while we’re there, he’ll be under the bed and there won’t be any way for me to get him out the next morning. I’m thinking of getting one of those big dog crates and letting Eddie and Dirk, who like each other, be together. (I am not stupid enough to lock Monster in a box with someone else, no matter how large.)

Is that a good idea in the car, or would it be best to keep them separate until we arrive at our overnight destination?

Also, it would probably be a good idea to give them a sedative. They’ve never been in the car to go anywhere except to the vet, or about ten minutes to a place they hate. I expect it to be a noisy car ride. I’m going to ask the vet about this, but I’m also soliciting advice. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sedate Eddie, as I’m not sure I can grapple with him long enough to both pill him and get him in the box.

Corner Stone - July 22, 2010 | 9:30 pm · Link

@jeffreyw: Nice. That’s about the size skillet I use. A couple years ago I bought two aluminum restaurant style skillets that are great to go right from stove top into oven to finish. Love those things.
I like my fajitas very simple. But the spread you have there looks like it would make some hellaciously good tostadas.
Whatever feeds the bulldog as my daddy always says.

Corner Stone - July 22, 2010 | 9:35 pm · Link

I made an excellent Asian style orange chicken not too long ago.
Fresh squeezed juice from half an orange mixed with a little corn starch then mixed in a stir fry pan with thinly sliced chicken and onion.
There were other spices involved, and over basmati rice.
Delicious.

debit - July 22, 2010 | 9:37 pm · Link

@SiubhanDuinne: Yes! It was thing of beauty! Paraphrasing: “I don’t care if my only viewers are my mom, my girlfriend, and whoever forgot to turn the channel after Keith’s show ended, I’m still right and you’re still wrong.”

Corner Stone - July 22, 2010 | 9:41 pm · Link

@SiubhanDuinne:

Got scotch?

{quietly adding this to the many reasons I like SD}

Corner Stone - July 22, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link

From Atrios:

As we knew last time we dealt with this crap, once you concede something has to be done you ensure some sort of horrible “compromise” will happen

And this is exactly what I’ve been saying during this whole damn Catfood Commission bullshit.
Obama’s put SocSec on the table and now we’re going to see the compromise because “something must be done”.
This was always the danger of this commission, not that they would put forth some coherent, albeit outrageous, blueprint.

SiubhanDuinne - July 22, 2010 | 9:54 pm · Link

w00t and again I say, w00t!!

Rachel. Haz. Ballz.

She just ran the Luke Russert / Charlie Rangel interview. On her show. Which is on MSNBC.

Now, Our Meritocracy At Work wasn’t her ostensive (?) reason for airing the clip. But she had to know . . . .

O/T what the FUCK is with these terrible little bugs that want to feast on my sweat? Which is attached to my body. They’re not mosquitos, they’re not flies, they’re . . . I don’t know what they are but they’re tiny and fuck.king.annoying.

Anne Laurie - July 22, 2010 | 10:02 pm · Link

@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN): First, best wishes on the job front—I’m keeping you in my positive thoughts.

As for the cats: Yeah, start by talking to your vet, because any pharmaceutical assistance s/he thinks is safe will make everybody’s trip that much easier. Once you’re sure it’s a done deal, acquire the carriers, and start feeding the cats in them. Don’t try closing the doors, or forcing the cats into the crates, just arrange things so that they expect to be fed at a certain time each day, and for their filled food bowls to be in those crates. If your guys don’t usually wear harnesses, it might be a good idea to put harnesses on them now, so they can wear ID tags w/your cellphone number. (You might even want to talk to your vet about microchipping, once you’ve got an income again.)

We’ve made a number of trips from New England to Michigan and back with our dogs, and it hasn’t been hard to find motels just off the interstate (Red Roof Inns, Comfort/Days Inn) that are ‘pet friendly’. But I would definitely make reservations in advance, and be up front about the fact that you’ll have cats with you, because it’s better to pay a ‘pet deposit’ than to end up driving around in a strange city in the wee hours because you’ve just been kicked out.

And this may not be under your control, but if you can, try and travel when the weather isn’t so warm or so cold that you can’t leave the cats in their crates in the car for an hour or so while you have a proper sit-down meal.

debit - July 22, 2010 | 10:08 pm · Link

Also, @ open thread: I will admit that at the dog park Chloe can be a pest. If she sees dogs chasing each other, or wrestling, she’ll run toward them and bark. Loudly. She doesn’t engage, or get close enough to touch, but she does sound like a pissy little dog bitching out the others.

So this other dog shows up; larger, I’m guessing a golden mixed with something heavy. Its hackles are raised in a solid ridge all the way to the tail. It plays rough with the other dogs; plows into them and knocks them down, pins and holds them until they cry. But whatever, the dogs are all about the same size, no one says anything to the owner. I start to walk away, Chloe, who had been bitching, now heeling. The golden chases after us and tries to bowl her over. She gives a warning growl and evades. The golden then dashes around her in circles, trying to get between us and starts nipping at her tail. At this point I call to the owner, “Your dog is being too aggressive with my dog.” She responds with, “My dog is playing at the dog park.” I point out that her dog is nipping mine, she shouts back that her dog has NEVER nipped, but still grabs its collar and holds it just long enough for it to focus on another dog.

I dunno. I don’t want to be crazy overreaction lady who can’t bear to let another dog touch her little woogums, but on the other hand, it seemed clear to ME that her dog wasn’t being playful but aggressive and hostile. I hate confrontations, so we just left.

I don’t know. I like taking Chloe to the dog park since she seems to be gaining some confidence; doesn’t have hysterics like she used to on the leash when encountering another dog, is slowly (I think) figuring out how to positively interact with other dogs. But I dislike doubting my own ability to judge when a dog is being inappropriately aggressive.

SiubhanDuinne - July 22, 2010 | 10:14 pm · Link

@TMOATYP (JMN) #8:

It’s been a long time since I travelled with a cat, but I moved with two moggies from Michigan to Georgia 25 years ago, and with one from NYC to Florida in 1969. With the single cat, we gave her small doses of vet-RXd phenobarb, just enough to chill ever so slightly. I didn’t narcotize my two on the MI-GA trip and they carried on for a few hours and then sighed deeply and were mellow the rest of the way.

Do check with your vet, and really research motels that accept cats. I don’t know, but there may be some chains that anticipate the hiding-under-the-bed thing and possibly have furniture that doesn’t permit that. I would ask around and maybe check out ePinions or similar (Angie’s List??)

Good luck. You know how they love to guilt you, so don’t buy into that manipulation.

w3ski - July 22, 2010 | 10:18 pm · Link

Orange Smoothie? I loved the original “Orange Julius” as a kid.

Try mixing frozen OJ, and milk (soy milk is still cool) with powdered sugar, add blender and Ice is optional.
w3ski

SiubhanDuinne - July 22, 2010 | 10:36 pm · Link

@Corner Stone #23:

You understand. Yes.

These days I rarely drink scotch. It’s not my default tipple the way it was 30-35 years ago. But you are absolutely right, there are moments when it is The Only Thing. Mercifully, those moments have been relatively rare for me, but because I am a realist and know that the shit will become The Shit when I’m not paying attention, I do keep a stash around.

Nectar of the fvckin gods, it is, and should not be partaken of with less than full attentiveness.

General Stuck - July 22, 2010 | 10:50 pm · Link

@Corner Stone: Then why aren’t you over at Eschaton giving Atrios a personal reach around? A couple of big brains like yooze two ought to come up with some way to foil the evil corporatist sellout Obama from sending granny down the river in a straw canoe.

Christ you are dumb.

Morbo - July 22, 2010 | 11:03 pm · Link

Teabag self-parody watch, pt. 1,389

Jim, Foolish Literalist - July 22, 2010 | 11:13 pm · Link

Oh, fuck me. Rachel Maddow just said that Obama threw Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod “under the bus”

General Stuck - July 22, 2010 | 11:24 pm · Link

@Corner Stone: It is political theater big brain. Because, you know what? Obama is a politician and that’s what they do. Democrats are not going to gut SS, no matter how many commissions and how many wingnuts are on them. Not going to happen, though there will at some point be a fix, that could include small benefit cuts, but more tax hikes. This is a democracy, and some compromise has to happen. But SS and medicare is the democrats golden goose, and they are not going to let it get privatized, nor gutted. Period. Find another Obama fail wanking stick, this one is silly.

That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN) - July 22, 2010 | 11:42 pm · Link

@Yutsano: Let’s get together over Chirstmas and gang audit somebody.

Yutsano - July 22, 2010 | 11:54 pm · Link

@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN): I’m thinking Breitbart might be a blast. Best part is he’s in my zone. I’m doing collections representative for the Pacific zone. I’m already in love with my office plus I may have already found the perfect place, twenty minute drive even on the worst traffic day in the nicer part of Seattle (Queen Anne hill for those of you in the know) for $1200 a month for a two bedroom. I should be a G-8 in two years assuming I don’t get promoted before that, which may happen as I’m already past the education and experience requirements for my current position. I’m taking it and running though.

EDIT: you realize of course this can’t happen unless burnspbesq gets to play too, amirite?

That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN) - July 23, 2010 | 12:09 am · Link

@Yutsano: Oooh, I think with three of us, we can put it in the kinkier Group Audit section.

I’m hoping to be a revenue agent, either GS-5 or GS-7 to start. I would much rather have gotten the job with the OCC, and I think I would have been better at it, but you take what you can get. I hope you like this job more than the last one.

That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN) - July 23, 2010 | 12:55 am · Link

@Yutsano: Heh. We’ll have to see if I’m that lucky. I think the chances of my finding a decent 2 bedroom in the Boston area is indistinguishable from zero. I was expecting to suffer sticker shock switching from Minneapolis rent prices (that I’m collecting) to Boston rent prices (which I’d be paying), and I’m still suffering sticker shock.

That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN) - July 23, 2010 | 1:17 am · Link

@Yutsano: I’ve been advised to use an agency/broker. I’m going to wait until I get an offer before contacting one. I wonder if that’s a mistake.

burnspbesq - July 23, 2010 | 1:57 am · Link

@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN):

because they would send me for training for a month in some place like Cincinnati

Oh, your poor fuck. Are you in the training center in downtown, or across the river at the service center campus? The training center is officially the armpit of the universe. And if they still put people up at the dump of a hotel that they used in the mid-1990s, I hope for your sake that you have a Slingbox.

I got a slot in a training in Cincy in June 1994, that came up at the last minute. Not only did I have to give up my ticket for the US-Colombia World Cup match at the Rose Bowl, I couldn’t get any bar in Cincy to put the game on because it was at the same time as Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

meander - July 23, 2010 | 2:18 am · Link

If you ever want to use the whole orange in a dessert, give the Middle Eastern orange cake recipe from Claudia Roden a try (posted at Kuidaore, a Singapore-based food blog). It consists of poached whole oranges, almonds, sugar, eggs, and a little baking powder. It’s very moist with bright orange flavors.