I’m tired and I have one of those headaches in my eye- you know what I mean.
Watching a show on Netflix called Pine Gap. I’m on episode three but I don’t know how I feel about it, but at this point I suppose I am all in because i have to know how it ends.
I may take my melatonin early.
This blog used to be a raging party site, now it sounds like someone left the microphone on at the retirement home.
Lapassionara
I resemble that remark.
schrodingers_cat
I cooked till I dropped. But now I have food for almost two weeks. Yay me.
Ruckus
You are welcome.
Nicole
Oh yeah? Well I just came back from attending a radio play production of “Miracle on 34th Street” and I… oh. I see what you mean. I’m off to bed, too. I mean, it’s after ten.
MagdaInBlack
My big decision was make skillet double chocolate brownie or skillet choc chip cookie thingy.
I chose B.
I chose well ✨
Ohio Mom
An optical migraine, with swirly lights? I had one of those once. It was an interesting experience.
Mike in NC
We just binge watched “Narcos Mexico” and now are having withdrawal symptoms while waiting for Season 2. Also, “Little Drummer Girl” was whacked.
RedDirtGirl
I just watched a bit of that show today as well. But didn’t get that far. Switched over to “The Durrells in Corfu” on Amazon Prime. I love Keeley Hawes.
Roger Moore
I’m going to go out and see the fancy Christmas decorations in my neighborhood. What really sets the neighborhood apart is that it’s coordinated. The neighborhood association gets together and chooses a theme for each block, and then each house on that block has a standard decoration. They’re allowed to have extra decorations beyond the standard, any many of them go crazy, but the coordinated theme is really great.
PST
I put up the Christmas tree. That’s enough excitement for one day.
Fair Economist
@MagdaInBlack: No wrong choices there.
mrmoshpotato
Is this thing on?
TOUCHDOWN BEARS! 15-6 in third! Let’s make the Rams 11-2.
MagdaInBlack
@Fair Economist:
We’ll do the other next week ☺️
eemom
Eh? Speak up sonny, I just turned the microphone off.
lahke
Yeah, but you can’t have a cat in your lap until you sit down, so whaddya gonna do? Those party people are all animal-haters.
schrodingers_cat
@Mike in NC: Isn’t that a John Le Carre’ novel?
Ohio Mom
Apropos of nothing, my 86 year old friend gave me her weighted blanket. She liked sleeping under it well enough but it was too heavy for her to lift. I see what she means.
It’s a bear to do anything resembling straightening it out. Moving it aside to make the bed, then folding it up on top is an upper body work out. I’m not sure I’m going to keep it either.
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat:
What’s on the menu for the next couple weeks? I’m working through slow-cooked Polish sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes myself.
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom: It might be too heavy for you (and her). You’re supposed to get a blanket that’s something like 10% (or is it 15%?) of your body weight. I’d guess an older person would go on the lighter side because they are heavy to move.
CaseyL
@Ohio Mom: What’s it weighted with, lead? Why is it weighted?
I went to two social outings last week that involved music, booze and dancing. So there. (Yes, I was home and asleep before midnight both times, why do you ask?)
Mike in NC
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, and a remake of the 1984 movie starring Diane Keaton.
schrodingers_cat
@mrmoshpotato: I made 3 types of chicken (butter chicken, chipotle chicken, ginger-soy chicken), spinach and fenugreek greens, dal (moong and red lentils), chole’ (chick peas) and there is beef (chuck roast) with red peppers, tomatillos and onions cooking in the slow cooker right now.
Boussinesque
My wild and crazy night consists of tutoring until 10pm, then going home and playing video games until I pass out. I’m not sure I’ve ever qualified as a party animal, and I’m only in my 30s…
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat:
I’ve seen a few butter chicken recipes on the Youtube cooking channels that I watch to clear the mind. Gonna have to look into that.
opiejeanne
@schrodingers_cat: I made enchiladas out of some leftover chicken breasts. Didn’t care for the roast chicken they came from: rosemary lemon chicken from Trader Joe’s. It seemed too sweet. I managed to take them to savory using tomatillo salsa, and they were delicious. Dinner for two more nights, so yay me.
This afternoon I cut out a shirt for my son for Christmas. Got some navy fabric with white line-drawings of Star Wars vehicles, similar to fabric from my childhood with white line-drawings of sailboats, almost like blueprints but white lines on red. Tomorrow I’ll sew it together but I was surprised that how quickly my back and shoulders became fatigued. Maybe I am getting a little bit old.
Mr opiejeanne kindly took over wrapping packages this afternoon so everything is wrapped or stuffed into a stocking.
I think.
Barbara
@mrmoshpotato: I am working on how to make a good vegan puff pastry. It’s not easy, but the vegan recipes don’t seem to use the same technique as the recipes that use butter, so that might be the main issue.
satby
Well, I was partying with the rescue group at a really good Mexican restaurant, and even had a giant pomegranate margarita with my carnitas. But we broke it up before it got dark.
And then I had to come home and take a nap.
Ok, I guess I concede your point John.
TaMara (HFG)
@MagdaInBlack: Ummm…what is this skillet cookie thing you speak of?
opiejeanne
@Nicole: The 50th HS reunion I attended this summer, a bunch of the guys we were visiting with just went off to bed at 9pm. 9pm!
They’re my age but I’m not that old yet.
Major Major Major Major
I’ve been doing all sorts of things! Which is why I’m never around.
Barbara
@opiejeanne: You are already wrapping presents?
mrmoshpotato
@Barbara:
Picked up some frozen puff pastry a couple days ago. One Pot Chef on Youtube uses puff pastry pretty regularly, so I’ll find something interesting to do with it.
How’s vegan puff pastry different from non-vegan? Vegan butter?
Mary G
We are all getting older and more sober and the definition of raging party keeps getting lower and lower. I am exhausted from watching the housemates put up and decorate the Christmas tree and decorations. Pizza has been ordered and then I am going to bed at 8:30. Wild and crazy times.
Susan
My sister made butter chicken in the slow cooker while the snow storm raged in Greensboro NC. So I was inspired to make a slow cooker chicken with a Tikka Masala spice recipe with added Piri Pepper spices. It came out great, with Jasmine rice and roasted beets. Now I am wandering the room looking for the clear nail polish that I know I have. Just can’t find.
opiejeanne
@Mike in NC: Does “whack” mean good? I never saw the original Little Drummer Girl but I like his books.
satby
MazeDancer just sent an email out for new Postcards for Friends, and now I know what holiday cards I want to send. Yay!
Barbara
@mrmoshpotato: Right. Not all vegan butters work well, but I would not have been embarrassed to serve my first effort, and all I did was use Earth Balance. One thing I did with puff pastry (store bought) was make a caramelized onion plus fig plus goat cheese squares as appetizers. They were addictive.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eemom: That wasn’t the microphone switch, it was your hearing aid. Kids these days…
MagdaInBlack
@TaMara (HFG):
It’s Martha (sowwy)
https://www.marthastewart.com/355774/skillet-baked-chocolate-chip-cookie
I haven’t found one I’m entirely happy with but experimenting isn’t a waste ?
I have a thing for cooking in cast iron. I have a bunch of old skillets that were my grandmothers ?
ETA: its what I learned to cook in. Pancakes…over a campstove.
Mai Naem mobile
I did a little Xmas shopping. I went to Marshall’s. Marshall’s doesn’t allow you to take their cart out of the store. Wtfuckity fuck? You have to carry your stuff to the car no matter how much you’ve bought there because they’re too cheap to have their employees go out and get the carts from the parking lot. Okay, does that sound enough like a rant from an old fart?
Mnemosyne
I’m getting excited because I’m going to take a mid-week vacation day in a couple of weeks so we can go to Harry Potter Land — okay, it’s Universal Studios Hollywood, but mostly I want to see Harry Potter Land now that the first frenzy has died down. G is mostly excited that it’s only 2 miles away, so we don’t have to drive for an hour plus to get there like we would for Disneyland.
And, yes, I’m totally buying one of the interactive wands that lets you do tricks with the various windows. I never claimed to be mature.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
Did you manage to avoid bringing up serial killers?
dmsilev
@TaMara (HFG): You make a cookie dough, spread it across a cast iron skillet, and bake. You end up with a 12-inch diameter chocolate chip cookie, which is not a bad thing.
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
I likey.
50th this summer as well.
I’m trying to believe that I’m not that old either. It would actually be working out if it wasn’t for this health thing. So maybe I’m not old, it just feels like it.
Mary G
@mrmoshpotato: I am going to make a lemon pound cake this week and the recipe called for butter flavored shortening. I got some made by Crisco and it says it’s 100% vegetable derived. I am a bit skeptical, but we’ll see.
Yarrow
@TaMara (HFG): At Costco today I saw a pack of four mini cast iron skillets, each with a Nestle chocolate chip cookie mix. They were individually wrapped so you could give them as gifts. I guess skillet cookies are a thing right now.
Ohio Mom
@CaseyL: It’s a quilted blanket filled with not just fiberfill but also lots of very tiny glass beads (I’m told). Feels like sand.
Weighted vests and blankets provide deep pressure, which many find calming. It’s something of a fad at the moment.
@Yarrow: Yeah, I keep planning on weighing it. I’m guessing it’s around ten or twelve pounds, it’s the fact that it is so floppy and the weight is spread out over a relatively large area that makes it unwieldy.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: yes and I narrowly avoided mentioning Aleister Crowley!
JR
We just need a bowl of Grady’s Oats.
HumboldtBlue
Had my dozen over on the stoop for the Trucker’s Parade.
Christmas in Hollis and Fairytale of New York have been passed on to another generation.
debit
Would you loofah my stretch marks? /Caddyshack
I made some corn salad with lime vinaigrette for lunch and for dinner made a vegetable and orzo tian. Turkey day killed my desire for meat for a while.
Mike in NC
@opiejeanne: Hard to tell the good people from the bad. Very confusing and unsatisfying.
opiejeanne
@Barbara: We’re really early this year. Not spending a ton on anyone because everyone has a bunch of stuff already. Just books and consumables, gift cards for movies and restaurants, cute socks from the $1 pile at Target, a small jar of preserved lemons, etc. We’re giving a chunk to several charities out of our Social Security this week: Planned Parenthood, The Clinton Foundation, K.I.N.D. will get a desk, and the local shelter: Homeward Pet. If I have enough left over it will go to SPLC.
The various political entities have been pestering us, asking for money when I make the mistake of answering a call from them (doesn’t happen too often). I tell them we give directly to candidates but it doesn’t stop their roll so I’ve taken to just hanging up on them. One of them actually challenged me to name a recipient and I reeled off the list, starting with Manka Dhingra. That slowed the last one down quite a bit, because Dhingra is our state senator, and not well-known outside of Washington.
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom: They’re so much of a fad I saw one in a recent Bed Bath & Beyond ad mailing! It’s not a bad idea to weigh it. You might find a lighter weight one works better for you. They are heavy and kind of unwieldy.
ljt
@MagdaInBlack: This is a great recipe for Chocolate Fudge Skillet Cake that is easy and delicious. It’s even a little healthier (no processed sugar and can even be made dairy-free if you use coconut oil instead of butter)–which my chocoholic husband doesn’t need to know, and has never noticed.
NotMax
Could always skip ahead to the final episode.
One wild and crazy guy.
;)
MagdaInBlack
@ljt:
Thank you ?
Yarrow
@opiejeanne: Wow, they challenged you to name a recipient? That’s nosy. I’d tell them the recipient was None of Your Business and hang up.
opiejeanne
@Mnemosyne: Interactive wands!? That sounds like a fun day.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G:
Any poppy seeds going into the batter?
opiejeanne
@Ruckus: These old farts were some of the guys from marching band and they’re pretty healthy, but they went to bed early because they had to catch a train at 9am the next day.
We looked around and most of the people I had wanted to see had slipped away then too, or were too drunk* to be any fun.
* OMG CINDY! DID YOU REALLY THINK I WAS GOING TO TAKE MY HS BF BEHIND THE WINERY AND FUCK HIS BRAINS OUT??? That conversation was amusing for about five minutes until I realized what she was talking about.
HumboldtBlue
I love theater, song, drama, performance, but sweet Jesus beating a Disney cartoonist with a whip, I absolutely howled at this version of Fairytale of New York.
I think that guy has Philadelphia roots.
Ohio Mom
@Yarrow: As an autism mom, I first heard of weighted blankets and vests years ago — occupational therapists have long recommended them for people with disabilities who have sensory integration issues. That they have gone mainstream is amusing to me.
opiejeanne
@Ruckus: The health thing sucks. In 2005-2006 I was treated for Hepatitis C and was falling asleep at my older daughter’s wedding, almost nodded off into the cake plate in front of me. But I wouldn’t let the younger one take me home early. My hair looked like shit, all dead from the meds, Interferon is a beast even in very tiny doses.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: Nice! I can’t wait for that movie.
Major Major Major Major
@opiejeanne: movie?
Another Scott
@opiejeanne: My dad always went to bed at 8:30, even when he was in his 30s. He was one of those weird morning people…
Cheers,
Scott.
(weird morning-people not weird-morning people)
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom: Yeah, they’re selling them as comforting, like being wrapped up in a hug. They claim to increase serotonin or oxytocin or something. Not sure if that’s actually been studied.
Seems like they might operate in a similar way to how thunder shirts work for dogs.
opiejeanne
@Mike in NC: That’s too bad. Was the earlier movie better?
I’ve gotten bad about keeping actors straight, good guys from bad if they look too much alike and I’m unfamiliar with any of them. It really helps if the villains are either really ugly or extremely handsome, especially when the good guys are blandly good-looking and nondescript, and all of them have dark hair.
Shana
@Mnemosyne: LOL. We just got back to the hotel after seeing both parts of Cursed Child. Lots of fun.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
I share your consternation. I just hope it’s not Colin Firth playing him. He’s already sunk too low.
zhena gogolia
@opiejeanne:
I have to confess that all my attempts to read John LeCarré have failed miserably. The Russia House was ridiculous (although I didn’t mind the movie too much), and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy kept putting me to sleep and I couldn’t tell any of the characters apart, they were all so colorless.
opiejeanne
@Yarrow: I hung up while they were grasping for a response, something about Senator Maria Cantwell. I did give them that name because I was challenging them right back and they pissed me off with the assumption that I couldn’t name anyone. Asshole.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Eric Ambler is infinitely superior.
Steeplejack
Got in from dinner at Sighthound Hall a little while ago, and I’m beat. Bro’ Man made some peanut butter cookies from a recipe in the Post today that were the best I’ve ever had. Chewy but good crunch, not too sweet, basic but perfect. I’ve got to look up the recipe; it’s a keeper.
@opiejeanne:
Boy, you took me back to my own childhood in the ’60s. Every summer my mom would make bathing suits (long “jams” style) for my two brothers and me, and she always picked out really cool fabric patterns. (Another one of those things you just accept as a kid and don’t appreciate until much later.) She wasn’t afraid to go edgy, and there were some really “trippy” patterns back then. One I remember in particular was sort of similar to an abstract painting, something like this one by Joaquín Torres-García. Of course they all faded away from the chlorine in the rec-center pool.
Mnemosyne
@opiejeanne:
Yep. This blog post explains a little bit about them:
https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/choosing-wand-wizarding-world-hollywood/
The conversation between G and myself went kind of like this:
G: We can go to Harry Potter Land, but I’m not buying a wand.
Me: I am 100 percent buying a wand. You can borrow it when I’m done.
I’m guessing that Disney Imagineers have reverse-engineered it and will have similar stuff in the new Star Wars lands.
They also have Simpsons and Despicable Me lands, so it should be fun. The holiday light show is supposed to be spectacular.
satby
@Mary G: my grandmother always used 1/2 butter and 1/2 Crisco in her chocolate chip cookies so they wouldn’t flatten out and run like all butter ones do.
I like that kind of Crisco to make carrot soap with. Extra vitamin A. But I’ve been making less soap with soy lately, so haven’t made it in a while.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: Oops! I confused Aleister Crowley with Anthony Crowley, who will be played by David Tennant in Good Omens. mostly just called Crowley (or sometimes Crawley)
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
I have a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies that is just peanut butter, sugar, and an egg. They turn out really nicely — the peanut butter and egg hold everything together without needing any kind of flour.
Barbara
@zhena gogolia: The best book by Le Carre is A Perfect Spy, probably because much of it is autobiographical, but my personal favorite is TTSS. It is too complicated for movies to do it justice.
opiejeanne
@Barbara: I thought the recent TTSS with Gary Oldman was really good, except for the business with the tape recorder in the safe house, which was explained a lot better in the book, but was still a bit hard for me to visualize at first reading. The movie just sort of skidded around it without explaining what was going on.
CaseyL
I am no kind of cook, unless it’s for company and then I use a recipe and follow it faithfully. For myself it’s mostly skillet cooking, and I get excited when I make something with more than three main ingredients, or more exotic seasonings than salt/onion/garlic/ginger.
Major Major Major Major
@opiejeanne: Ahha, well that’s probably where they got the name.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: I wouldn’t put it past either Sir Terry or Neil Himself.
Yarrow
@satby:
I read that as you were making carrot soup with Crisco. Did not sound appetizing!
FlyingToaster
We had our last-night-of-Hanukkah fried dinner (latkes and fried chicken, plus salad), and then watched the season finale of Doctor Who. We ignored the idiot phone call during the show (I removed the phone from the basement so that we could watch tv in peace), and the loser failed to leave a message. Heh.
Despite WarriorGirl’s predictions, the full bank of candles did not set off the fire alarm.
We started getting messages from our local cohort about XMas season plans, so once the next week-n-a-half of school is over, we have two weeks of nerd partying* to look forward to.
* Cookie baking &/or decorating, tromping around the woods, sledding if there’s snow, and videogames. Heh.
M. Bouffant
I hit official retirement age a few months ago (been actually “retired” for a decade+) & haven’t had a drink since Thanksgiving 2015, but I still stay up until three or four in the a.m. & make it a point of pride not to get up before noon.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Huh, that sounds weird but interesting.
Steeplejack
Since I got home late, I had to park in the little lot behind the building down the street and walk a little farther than usual to my place. I was startled to see one car covered with snow out of the whole line parallel-parked on the street. Incongruous! It has been cold here, but no snow. Then I realized they must have driven up this evening from southern Virginia or North Carolina, which have been pounded with snow. But it was jarring.
Matt McIrvin
@Mnemosyne: Disney World has some things that are similar in spirit, if not identical–alternate-reality games that involve interacting with hidden animatronics and window displays. There’s a “Phineas and Ferb”-themed secret agent game at Epcot that you play with your smartphone (they used to give you an old flip phone, but now you use your own); finding clues in the World Showcase lands makes stuff pop out and move around in the landscape. There’s also an elaborate game called “Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom” that is sort of Magic: The Gathering crossed with a scavenger hunt… you collect cards that represent various spells that you can cast at interactive window displays to fight various Disney villains. I think there’s a pirate-themed one too, but I haven’t seen it directly.
My daughter is fascinated by these games, and it’s a bit unfortunate for me because they take up huge amounts of time–she really would rather spend the whole day playing them than go on rides.
Matt McIrvin
@Mnemosyne: …as for Universal, the Florida version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter impressed the hell out of me. For sheer immersion it still beats anything Disney currently has. You’ll have a lot of fun.
The big centerpiece ride, “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey”, is mind-blowing, though if you’re very prone to motion sickness it might be a bit of a trigger.
Mnemosyne
@Matt McIrvin:
We’re going to the Hollywood one, which is much less immersive, but the ride is still a hell of a lot of fun, apparently. Our tickets should allow us to ride it first thing in the morning before the crowd builds up too much.
frosty
@opiejeanne: @Barbara:
You’ve already bought the presents? (We just got Younger Spawn’s list today)
Wapiti
@satby: I used the half-butter, half-Crisco mix making snickerdoodle cookie last week. Melt in your mouth; it really helps.
For chocolate chip cookie I use just butter, but I kept the dough in the refrigerator between loading cookie sheets, and they didn’t flatten out too much.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Here’s the recipe for peanut butter cookies that my brother got from the Washington Post today. Excellent!
frosty
@zhena gogolia: And Alan Furst. And Philip Kerr. for pre-and during WW II espionage.
different-church-lady
Wait, when was this?
Suzanne
God, I am so ready to retire. I’m gonna make a great retiree.
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
Wow. Hep C. That’s some not so nice stuff. My friend that passed away last year had that. But that was about the least of her worries. I’d type out the list but just don’t have the fingers for it. Best was that she was a very early pacemaker patient, 1972, because they didn’t think she would live long anyway, sickle cell. She fooled them.
And I’ve had a few things that seem to be just ducky. So far have kicked cancer’s ass. That was fun. Been seeing neuro regularly for over 3 yrs.
Hey also I said my 50th HS reunion was this year in a different post. Time flies when you’re having fun, it actually was in 2017. Maybe I actually am getting old.
Ruckus
@Yarrow:
I wonder if they work to help with cramps. I was getting terrible leg cramps till I started folding up a blanket into quarters and putting it on my feet. No feet movement, no leg cramps.
RAM
Well, look at the bright side: At least you didn’t fall out of a barber chair and break your neck, so you’ve got that going for you.