Hello, kiddies.
Happy New Year! Yes, most of the last few days is a blur, thanks for asking.
As part of my new year resolution to write more, I have a post on the Utah marriage decision, but it’s gotten a bit enormous, so it’s not ready yet. In lieu of that for the moment, I give you a flower that has just come out in my little garden here in Sydney.
How are you all?
mb
Here that is called a Texas hibiscus. Great plant native to Tx.
J R in WV
Sarah, dahling, so wonderful to see you visit here again!
How about the Utah hunger strike? I hope he starves, like the Irish Republicans so many years ago in British prisons.
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV: I think newly married gay couples should offer him cake.
ETA: Hi, SP&T.
Yatsuno
@Omnes Omnibus: I said run funeral potatoes under his nose. He’ll cave fast.
Hello Sarah darlin’. I haz missed thee around here.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Hello Ms. Proud and Tall. I’d say “Hi Sarah,” but I was raised to await invitation to do, when the introduction is not verbal.
ruemara
Happy. Strangely, happy. Wish I was in Sydney, also, too. Resisting the urge to factslap some smug liberaltarians busy spewing bothsidesdoittoo and ObamaworsethanBushisms on a friend’s page, but I’m a respectful bitch. I don’t piss over my friends’ welcome mats. But the urges.…
Omnes Omnibus
@Yatsuno: What are funeral potatoes?
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I think, perhaps, that we all know her well enough that you might deign to be informal.
Omnes Omnibus
@ruemara: Think of it as an opportunity to educate other readers. The libertarians pissed first, right? Feel free to fight back.
Yatsuno
@Omnes Omnibus: This. I’ve never made them myself but they look not too horrible.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
You’re all so sweet.
@Yatsuno:
Hello darlin’… How’s your bionic bits?
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
But you simply must call me Sarah, my dear Ms hip hop artist…
Yatsuno
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: They’re not making the cool noise yet. That might not happen until the right one gets its bionic bits too. I can tell you that the pain that was in my hip is pretty much gone. Now I’m just hurting from the post-surgery stuff.
@Omnes Omnibus: More like a cheaper version of them. You could theoretically make them with all processed foods, which seems to be a preferred cooking method of Mormons.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yatsuno: Fancy scalloped potatoes then?
Amir Khalid
Madam Sarah! You iz back! I missed you!
In my neck of the woods, the hibiscus is called “bunga raya”, the public flower. (It got conscripted as the national flower of Malaysia, hence that awful government-issue name.)
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: “First, catch your Mormon…”
srv
Sarah, what’s with these rumors about you and Kim Jong Un’s uncle and Rodman?
Baud
OT: Can someone explain to me what the hell their doing with the Pro Bowl this year? From what little I caught during the game, they’re making it more of a clown show than it normally is.
Betty Cracker
@efgoldman: But bland no matter how much cayenne you use. It’s a waste of a bottle of Crystal, I always say.
Good to see you, Sarah!
jl
Happy New Year SPaT! Glad you’re having sunny and I would guess warn summer weather in Australia.
scav
@Yatsuno: Add Jell-O. Jell-O and Cream of Mushroom Soup are exactly the tools a demon going after an intermountain Saint Anthony would reach for. If brought by dancing boys with wedding rings, possibly even in those cute little dark missionary suits they adopt, all the better. Hot Dishes bearing Hotdish! Hi Sarah, could you help with these last? More an inquiry as to how many you could provide, rather than a mere if, bien sûr.
Hal
@ruemara:
Ha. I’ve done this several times in the past month. I find myself reaching for the key board and then just figure nah, not my fight. I had to say something when a friend posted something about Phil Robertson and why was everyone in a huff. Some friends of his replied with the typical bs claims about christian oppression and I just couldn’t resist. Otherwise I’ve stayed relatively quiet.
One thing I find funny about the Obama worse than Bush is that most conservatives never admitted how terrible Bush was when he was in office. Katrina wasn’t Bush’s. It was Ray Nagin’s Katrina, or poor black folks in New Orleans who were too stupid/poor to get out of the city. So now they’ve gone from Bush is wonderful to Obama is worse than that guy we think is great, but even we can’t say that with a straight face anymore, so NOBAMA!
burnspbesq
Why aren’t you at the SCG, drinking deeply from the cup of English despair?
I thought the “Jane McGrath Stand” sign was a perfect touch for Pink Day.
Ash Can
I’ve been laid low with some bronchial crud for the past couple of days, but seeing even a brief post from Miss Sarah makes me feel better.
jl
Not sure if Ms. SPaT is interested, but I saw a food feature on internet on gourmet haggis, and where you can get them in the UK. Just a heads up for next time she goes on an international high end restaurant tour and wants to put up some reviews on BJ.
Top 10 Places for Haggis in the U.K.
http://www.thedailymeal.com/top-10-places-haggis-uk/123113
I guess not much haggis in Australia, unless they’ve found a way to cook in on the barby.
With shrimp.
Edit: not sure whether it is a coincidence, but very few pics of the haggises themselves, mostly of the restaurants.
Edit2: Almost forgot. Been an invasion of cricket hooligans with all that ruffian cricket talk on BJ. What can be done about that?
Edit3: I think this is a specimen but not sure: @burnspbesq:
burnspbesq
Holy crap. Three more English wickets taken in the first ten balls after tea. This is really a pathetic performance by the Poms.
ETA: Make that four. Unbelievable.
Baud
@Baud:
I googled it. Nutty. Glad I never watch it.
Good night, all.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@mb:
@Amir Khalid:
This one appears to be a Water Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus), as it’s currently growing in my fishpond. It’s sending out a flower every two days or so, which only last until dusk.
Gravenstone
@Baud: As best I understand it, they will simply select a list of players. Then they have finagled Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders (granted, the latter was likely more a matter of simply promising him camera time) as team captains. The captains are supposed to draft their respective teams, like a pick up game. So yeah, even more of a who fucking cares clusterfuck than normal.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@jl:
I’m not a haggis fan, nor blood pudding. I do have a restaurant review on the boil – a nice American boy who has opened up a restaurant near me in Sydney.
Gravenstone
Space Dandy is indeed … odd. This could take some adjustment.
jl
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: OK, looking forward to it, as long as it is a review of the restaurant and not the nice American boy. You remember this is a family blog, right?
I mentioned the haggis because I did not know there could be such a thing as gourmet haggis, and thought the curiosity of it might interest you.
Yatsuno
@Gravenstone: Yeah. Saw the preview for that. Already knew it was not my cup of tea. But hey even good anime studios can’t bat a thousand.
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: Haggis is evil. I just can’t enjoy a food that is also meant to be a weapon.
I look forward to the restaurant review. And description of the American boy’s bum must be included of course.
FlyingToaster
@Yatsuno: Oh, yes, they look absolutely vile.
I suspect I could give this to HerrDoktor, who would then improve it to taste delicious and only look vaguely similar. There would be NO cans of soup, potato chips, corn flakes, or other store-bought condiments. The cream sauce would be a bechamel, and he’ll probably add Jalapeños or Sriracha or somesuch to make it inedible to WarriorGirl.
Of course, he has to stop running a 102° fever first.
He set up a birthday lunch for me tomorrow, which he will be unable to attend (see fever above); I’ve already got plans for sledding and family phone calls, and I’ve spent the past three days shoveling (I just calculated I’d shoveled about 500 cubic feet of snow, plus snowblowed another 400 cubic feet of driveway).
Whine, gripe, whinge. At least I’m still 15 years away from my hip replacement, right?
lamh36
alright, alright, alright…Saints win and Idris Elba broke twitter for while (long enough to help me get through this nervous breakdown inducing game today)
best.Saturday.night.ever.
Saints have had a hard time winning when not within the thunderous crowds and sounds of the Dome, so this own feels good, 1 point or not, a win is a win.
Hope everybody has a great night.
Yatsuno
@FlyingToaster:
I’m 41 and I just got one. But I have extenuating circumstances.
I could definitely do a much more healthy and edible remake of funeral potatoes. It’d have to start with some deconstruction of the original recipe (of which none really exists) and working backwards from there. I suppose finding the trashiest most unhealthy version is a good place to start there.
Hopefully HerrDoktor will kick his bug soon!
Violet
@burnspbesq: Where do you watch the Ashes? TV? Online?
Hi, SP&T! Good to see you. Since you’re talking about Utah and marriage equality, have you seen the website Mormon Boyz dot com? I’m not going to link because pr0n. Lots of magic underwear and what’s under it, though.
Suffern ACE
Yep. I’m turning 44 in a few hours. Last year in the 35-44 age band.
FlyingToaster
@Yatsuno: 41??? Yow. I turn 53 tomorrow and while some days my whole right leg shoots pain (sciatica, natch), the range of motion is JUST FINE.
Of course, I’m a weirdo. I was a 46-year-old primipara. I have an AARP card and a daughter in kindergarten. And a nine-week-old great-niece.
The flu thang: We all got our flu shots in September/October, and only my husband has it (he came home sick Thursday, just as I’d finished shovelling out the end of the driveway for the first time). If he’s the only one that gets it, we’ll attribute that to non-uptake by him; if we all end up with it, then it’s not one of the 3 strains in the vax. The local news is reporting that Massachusetts has been hit especially hard with the flu this year.
The food thang: My first brownie leader was Mormon; they had lots of weird food. I’d assume they use either thawed tatertots/hashbrowns or the box of scalloped potatoes mix, cans o soup, tinned fried onions, slightly hammered potato chips (with a mallet on the bag, seriously), a stick of salted butter, and velveeta.
Ours would be parboiled chunked Maine potatoes, bechamel, medium chopped onions sauteed to transparency, freshly grated black pepper, a stick of unsalted butter, and either gruyere or sharp cheddar, grated into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and then placed in the casserole and topped with panko. Plus whatever deviltry HerrDoktor comes up with.
FlyingToaster
@Suffern ACE: Happy shared Birthday!
burnspbesq
@Violet:
I have a subscription to a service called Willow TV. I get all sorts of cricket from all over the world for $14.95/month. It’s delivered via a YouTube channel, so it’s device-independent. I mostly watch on my iPad.
PIGL
@J R in WV: I remember Bobby Sands.
Yatsuno
@FlyingToaster:
This sounds rather close to my approach, although I might find an excuse to throw a green in there since it looks so appetizing next to something yellow or white. I’d also do shallots because their flavour pairs so beautifully with gruyère, Maybe a pinch of nutmeg cause I’m wild like that.
I’ve been relatively healthy for awhile now. It kind of helps that I got thrown on a prophylactic antibiotic before the surgery and had a few more while in hospital. The nice part is it kicked whatever long-term infection I had in my sinuses as well, so I’m happy with that. But I got both the flu and the pneumonia shot. So yay me!
I wouldn’t let the age concern you. Hip replacements aren’t a requirement unless an ortho deems it medically necessary. I had mine young because my body got flooded with steroids. It’s a long story, but it led to the blood supply getting cut off from my femoral heads. So chop chop!
Plantsmantx
@Sarah, Proud and Tall:
Hibiscus coccineus is known here as the “Texas Star” hibiscus, native to the SE U.S.
Suffern ACE
@FlyingToaster: great day to have one. The day is shared with Walter Mondale, Bradley Cooper, Jim Gantner and others. There’s kind of a steep drop off there.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Funeral potatoes are the quintessential Mormon food. Typically served with green Jello.
I just watched “Home Alone” with Mr. Suzanne and Spawn the Elder, who had never seen it before. Shrieking peals of laughter. The kind of laughs that I’m sure that I made when I saw it for the first time. Mr. Suzanne and I were remembering all the moral panic about violence in kids movies when that movie came out, and how we just absolutely LOVED IT. More more more violence, pleez! Of course, we are the people who sat down as a family on Christmas to watch “Die Hard”.
Yatsuno
@Suffern ACE: I get Grace Slick. That’s about it.
Suzanne
@Violet: okay, I could not resist. I totally just checked out that site. I LMAOed. I really would love to send that link to some of my LDS friends, but they can’t take a joke.
MattR
@Yatsuno: How can you forget Henry Winkler? I was checking out this site (link is to people who share your birthday) and one of the people I share with is Dick Morris. Under “known for” they have “Fox News lapdog”.
Gravenstone
@MattR: Huge holes in that database (granted, it is in beta). Most famous one I share with is Lauren Bacall, and she’s nowhere to be found on the list.
MattR
@Gravenstone: I see her for September 16. Is that not correct? It seems to have all the big names for my birthday. And a whole bunch of others that I wasn’t aware of. The descriptions are definitely amusing me. Anna Nicole Smith is listed as an “addled golddigger” or for Richard Marx “Songwriter, former mulleteer”
Gravenstone
Odd. When I tried it several times, I only got three hits.
ruemara
@Suffern ACE:
@FlyingToaster: hippy hoppy happy BIRTHDAY!!
I got nothing beyond that. Here’s a nice toast to you!
MattR
@Gravenstone: I have been getting the links by googling “born on January 5” and NNDB has always been one of the top three. I wasn’t able to figure out how to do it via the NNDB website directly
something fabulous
@Yatsuno: random coincidence, but I just ran across this term myself for the first time the other day! Do you read The Homesick Texan? Looks like she has an interesting answer for your need for green, too!
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@Violet:
I may already have sneaked a peek at that site. They definitely don’t have my credit card information, no, no indeed.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@Suffern ACE:
@FlyingToaster:
Happy birthday to you both…
jackie
Two recipes for funeral potatoes from Teresa Neilsen Hayden. (Scroll down a bit.) Authentic Morman.
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002685.html
Draylon Hogg
@efgoldman: Just marinate ’em in coke first like Nigella Lawson’s ham. Deliciously blasphemous. Yes, I do mean Coca Cola and not the marching powder featured in her recent court appearance.
Debbie(aussie)
Sarah, hope you are enjoying aus and all it has to offer bush fire one day ,extreme storms another, sweltering heat 41&43 in Brizzie & Ipswich, but with hope for’ perfect the next’
Glad your back. Debs
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Gravenstone:
Just use the Wikipedia entry for any date. Lots of births (and deaths) going back to Theodoric of York and before. September 16.
Elizabelle
Welcome Sarah P&T. Missed you.
Happy New Year, which you were celebrating earlier than most of us.
@jackie: thanks for the link to Mormon recipes. Interesting.
@Debbie(aussie): I so misread your first line to Sarah. Happy 2014 to you too, mate.