Cool-ish. It was still very comfortable after midnight so I think it might be a bit warmer this morning. And since it was well into the 90sF yesterday afternoon, a little bit of summer is still holding on. Unless we get rain and a front moving through, I expect today to get hot and muggy too.
I did auction stuff in the morning, and then met a young man to sell my buddy’s item. He had Radio Operator plates on his vehicle, so that was pretty cool. He said he got licensed so he could do more drone stuff, rather than from any love of ham radio though. Some of the video from the bigger more pro level drones uses part of the ham spectrum. He’s got a drone operator’s license too. I’ll have to meet with him again on Friday because I forgot some of the paperwork he needs.
That took about an hour and a half to do, with a bit of chatting, and then it was home to do kid taxi stuff, after a local pickup.
Since I was home I cooked some pork tenderloin for dinner. Oven roasted potatoes, and baked apple slices with cinnamon and honey in bacon fat rounded out the meal. It was pretty good. I am wondering when the girls will get a bit more interested in cooking. I don’t think that they really consider it a skill, since it’s always just happened. Baking, that they were interested in, but mostly learned on their own. Dinner hasn’t caught their interest.
We all need to eat and being able to cook with whatever resources you have is a pretty big plus in my book. It’s funny, because my dad cooked all the big meals at our house, and we (me and my sibs) considered my mom’s cooking to be … workmanlike is probably the best description. We’d joke that she could burn water, but she pointed out that we didn’t starve while she did most of the weekday cooking.
I didn’t really learn cooking from either of them. I did basics when I was in school and afterwards, with some time working in a restaurant kitchen that helped me get the mechanics of it down. I’m no chef, can’t make hollandaise or a souffle’, but I can follow recipes and can even get a good idea what a basic recipe will taste like from reading it, and what can be altered or improvised.
I use some of my dad’s recipes and do my own versions of a couple of his signatures, which were pretty variable anyway. I’ve mentioned and recommended several books before, including
-
The Simple Fools Handbook to Cooking
(very helpful when I went away to school and needed simple meals), a pre-1975* version of
-
The Joy of Cooking
, and for apocalypse cooking using all those stored can goods
-
A Man, A Can, and A Plan
. There are others to fill in the gaps and I love the ‘church lady’ recipe books, but Joy of Cooking will teach you everything you need to know, and it’s filled with humor too. If I could only have one book, my go to is Joy of Cooking.
Those other gaps are filled with
-
Two Burners and an Ice Chest
(focused on cooking on a boat),
-
America’s Favorite Brand Name Recipes
(all the best recipes from the back of cans and boxes), and a couple of books on wild game cooking.
Someone here recommended a good cast iron book or D/L but I never got to actually try it out.
I’m a firm believer that in addition to everyday feeding the family, everyone should have at least one meal that they can make for guests that, with a little attention to presentation, is restaurant quality at home.
Like any knowledge based skill with a large practical component, the only really good way to learn cooking is with practice. And by eating all the things…
——
Today I’ve got some pickups. Yeah, I’m cutting back, but there was a thing for my non-prepping hobby, and some things for vehicles and the BOL that I just couldn’t pass up. I am buying a lot less, and I do have more time since I’m doing fewer pickups.
Then I’ll try to get some more work in here at the house, and maybe at the shop. Some of it is actually synergistic as I can move stuff from here to there and kill two birds with one rock.
And some of it is managing the stacks. More breakage means more replacement… so stack it up.
nick
*versions after the mid 1970s (of all cookbooks, not just Joy) start to harp on salt, fat, cream, etc with some very sketchy “science” and I prefer to not have my recipes constantly nagging me.
I always recommend “Cookwise” by Shirley Corriher As a companion volume to the cookbook shelf. She explains the reasons for the instructions and gets into the chemistry without requiring a degree. A lot of good information.
Pelosi had a nearly incoherent interview with CNN. People have been describing her as slowing down a step. C’mon! A step? She is whole flights behind.
73F, so not warmer. The downward trend continues.
Kids are up. W is not, but has been woken.
Lunch is packed. Instead of waiting for the bus, we wait for D1 to get her stuff together. No matter what, there is a wait.
n
I am grateful my wife likes to cook, and is really good at it too. I can cook if I have to, but I rarely do. If it’s just me for dinner, something with ground beef is my goto.
I’ll often ask my wife what’s for dinner. Half the time the answer is just chicken. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s pointless asking what kind, as it’s even money if she is preparing something from a recipe or making it up as she goes.
I will say, in almost 25 years of marriage, there have been only a couple of truly inedible dishes. My failure rate would have been significantly higher.
My mom was a good cook, as is dad. After dad retired, he did more of the cooking.
Mom had 50? cookbooks I had to go through. I didn’t grab many of them. Most were notebooks with clipped recipes. How many did she actually use? I have no idea. I did take the 70’s era Betty Crocker cookbook and a couple cookbooks with hand written recipes in them. The next time I’m off low carb, I’m making her zucchini bread and cranberry bread. Oh, and chocolate chip cookies. I might also make my grandmother’s molasses cookies. I think I gained 5 pounds just typing that.
My MIL is an obsessive recipe clipper. I don’t believe she’s ever made one that she clipped. She has a lot of food related mental issues.
n
Just set up on the sidewalk outside the Soylent Green plant.
Can’t be any worse than a sorta-potty service job, provided the body is removed within a couple of days.
Or just make a unit that has a combustion chamber. Move the body into the chamber after an hour to make certain the body is really dead. Or have automated temperature measurement and when the forehead temperature falls below 80f, the door opens, the body slides in (or down), and the torches run for an hour. Ash removal would be much easier than a whole body.
Don’t forget the bone grinder! Like the device at the grocery store where you grind you own coffee beans right into a bag. Use it for a concrete additive.
But would this be carbon neutral?
Mr. Denis, check you email for the LSSL link.
Cremating the remains seems like a waste. We have what we are told is a persistent and severe shortage of blood and organs. As soon as the person is dead, the body should be refrigerated and then the suicide booth, which is also a self-driving car, books it to the hospital for the body to be broken down for spare parts.
See also: My plan for dealing with illegal aliens and Democrats.
Here’s my list of cookbooks. At least the ones I can remember. My cookbook shelf isn’t nearby.
Great Classic Cookbooks:
American Cookery by James Beard
Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
Mrs. Beeton: How to Cook by Isabella Beeton
Great Modern Cookbooks:
Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Rick Bayless
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji López-Alt
An Unapologetic Cookbook by Joshua Weissman
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat
Mom had 50? cookbooks I had to go through. I didn’t grab many of them. Most were notebooks with clipped recipes. How many did she actually use? I have no idea. I did take the 70’s era Betty Crocker cookbook and a couple cookbooks with hand written recipes in them. The next time I’m off low carb, I’m making her zucchini bread and cranberry bread. Oh, and chocolate chip cookies. I might also make my grandmother’s molasses cookies. I think I gained 5 pounds just typing that.
Mom has 300+ cookbooks.
Can’t be any worse than a sorta-potty service job, provided the body is removed within a couple of days.
Or just make a unit that has a combustion chamber. Move the body into the chamber after an hour to make certain the body is really dead. Or have automated temperature measurement and when the forehead temperature falls below 80f, the door opens, the body slides in (or down), and the torches run for an hour. Ash removal would be much easier than a whole body.
The Union Of Crematoriums would have a big problem with this.
FAFO Mix:
Yusuf Islam/ Cat Stevens – On The Road To Find Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OLV279utl0
Trump Directs Cabinet to Designate Antifa As a Foreign Terrorist Organization
https://redstate.com/streiff/2025/10/08/trump-directs-cabinet-to-designate-antifa-as-a-foreign-terrorist-organization-n2194888
The Guess Who – One Way Road To Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EElH_Tl78Dg&list=RDEElH_Tl78Dg&start_radio=1
Now we just need Wanted: Dead or Alive posters
So you just call it a combusting toilet.
Breaking: Letitia James Has Been Indicted
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/10/09/breaking-letitia-james-is-indicted-n2194916
One count suggests that it covers only one of the three frauds that have been uncovered. Note that the other two were in other jurisdictions, raising the possibility that 1) more are coming; 2) the other jurisdictions are not as blue as VA; and 3) we get to see if she enjoys defending herself from three suits at once.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2025/10/09/new-york-attorney-general-leticia-jones-has-been-indicted-on-mortgage-fraud-n2664742
Note that unlike the phony case she brought against Trump, the banks writing her mortgage paper were deceived and lost money, raising the prospect if not the fiduciary duty to file civil suits and seek redress.
an interesting article that contains a gem applicable to other cases in the news:
Is Krazee-Eyez Killa immune?
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/10/is-krazee-eyez-killa-immune.php
Would this be applicable to a certain mortgage fact challenged AG from New York who sought office on the “Get Trump” platform? Stay tuned.
Don’t put money into the pockets of the transplant harvesting ghouls.
We’re gonna git all them devils, starting with the Orange one.
for Pete’s sake!
https://x.com/Reform_West/status/1976093414702842142
Well, our lawsuit against Houston Methodist will reach the US Supreme Court next week.
There’s a last minute fundraiser push. The GiveSendGo site covers all 18 lawsuits nationwide, so the goal is high, but they’re looking for a $3500 sprint into the weekend.
It’s remarkable how expensive this is, even with a lot of pro bono lawyer support. Just the printing and copying costs alone are crazy.
If you’ve got an X account, Brian Ward is the guy to follow on this.
Well, that was a lot of traffic. Roads were busy today.
Home now though, and thinking about dinner.
Hmm. Dinner.
n
About 330pm my phone said “GPS signal lost”. That was a bit concerning, because I think that will be the first indication that the big bois have engaged…
and I was near Ellington Airport.
It might have been related to that. It’s been a LONG time since I heard that announcement, and never in open air driving around.
n
I told you and told you to get a tank. Did you listen? No, you didn’t. So you got stuck in traffic and couldn’t move because of the other cars. You got what you deserve.
Is it too early to get a Superbowl Halftime shirt that says:
“Bad Bunny Can Suck-O the Carrot-O”?
You don’t know that. Maybe he got a tank and everyone else got a tank too, eh?
There is a lot of Bruen fallout these days.
My Killdozer days are ahead of me, maybe. No tank yet.
n
I just got a piece of returned mail. Posted Dec. 2023. Christmas card. It’s been in the system for 20+ months, almost 2 years.
n
Something similar happened to me once. I got a returned piece of mail that was 6 months old. It was creased, discolored, and there was an obvious boot print on it. I wonder which machine they found it under.
I had a piece of lab glass listed on Amazon. Brand new in the box. Made by Corning out of Pyrex. Discontinued. Amazon pulled it for “trademark infingement”. Appeal fell on deaf ears somewhere in the subcontinent.
I listed it on eBay. Sold it. Printed the postage and made the mistake of leaving it on the package counter at USPS. It was never scanned in, didn’t show up in the system, and a trace didn’t find it. I refunded and was out a hundred bucks.
Two months later it was scanned in California and delivered to the customer, who didn’t open the box because he could hear the broken glass. Window for claiming USPS insurance was closed.
I sent him a new label, he shipped it back, and I filed insurance on the new shipment. Got reimbursed, but lost the initial shipping cost.
Have you read Pratchett’s “Going Postal”? They got nothin’ on USPS.
My favorite USPS and UPS is the tire marks I get on some packages.
I suspect it is the tires on the package handling equipment. Surely it is not vehicle tires.
My brother was upset that a birthday party card he sent me a few weeks ago took over a week to go 400 miles.
Heh, not even in the running compared to these stories.
My day started with two voice mails from mom telling me to get her out of the hospital. She said that they were mistreating her.
Then I get a phone call from one of the staff stating that mom was calling 911 and telling Margaret the dispatcher that they had kidnapped her.
I left mom on Tuesday afternoon, she was fine. Tuesday night she was having back pain so they gave her a muscle relaxant. Oh boy, was that a mistake. That sent mom into loopyland.
So I get here tonight and mom is telling me they took her in the basement and experimented on her. I immediately suspected pain killers which mom is allergic to. Yup.
Sigh. I may die first.
Hey, Arnold says that his M47 tank is a very relaxing drive. There is quite a bit of video of him driving it around his ranch in California in the Netflix documentary.
I once wasted a weekend working as a cleaner in a mail sorting plant. I swept around the same envelope twice a day, two days in a row, because I had been warned that touching mail was a firing offence since I was not in the postal workers’ Union. And they were not kidding.
Not my weirdest post office tale, btw.
I’ve been reading for a couple hours and suddenly it’s late. Time for me to get to bed.
n
Is the post office the longest running bureaucracy? 200+ years of rules and regulations, and all the kruft and special cases that come with something that big…
I can’t imagine working there.
The railroads are probably a close second (and I’ve seen some of the RR nonsense).
n
This. I find cooking an unpleasant necessity, whereas my wife enjoys it. Lucky me!
Also maybe of interest, for those who like curries and such: my wife has a subscription to “The Spicery”. They send recipes and the spices required to make them. Most of the recipes are really good, and you discover some cuisines you might otherwise never have tried.
Unions were once – many decades ago – a good thing. They got carried away. In the weapons plants I used to work with back in my USAF days, there were yellow lines painted around workstations: only union members were allowed to cross them. And many other rules, to avoid the wrath of the union.
And I’m sure I’ve told my story of connecting a computer system in the Minneapolis sewage plant: We were checking that the wires had been laid correctly, by having one guy at the computer end, and one at the sensor/controller end. I was at the sensor/controller end. So was the guy who knew the sewage plant layout. That’s all we needed, right? Wrong! Neither of us was allowed to actually *do* anything. There was the guy who opened the boxes. There was the guy who attached the meter to the wire. There was the guy who read the meter. And there was the union rep who made sure that we followed these rules. So six people where two were needed. Nuts.
My dad was a welder. During WWII he worked for the Navy. After WWII he worked for Kaiser building electrical plants and others companies in the San Francisco bay area. He was a strong union guy and had joined the Boiler Makers union before being hired by the Navy. He didn’t let his membership lapse.
At one job he needed to move his welder and did so . The electrician’s union filed a grievance against him. They wouldn’t talk to him, refused to hear his explanation. At the hearing the next afternoon, when it was his turn to talk he didn’t say a word, just laid his electricians union card that he had for years in front to the man hearing the complaint.
The hearing resulted in him getting a full apology and a pay raise. He went back to working for the government as soon as he could. He helped build every nuclear sub built in California.
When he retired, he got a small pension from both unions.