First, at the request of several of our beloved commenters, a Mom update: “We were eating English muffins, but then the power came back. Arlene and I went down to Publix, but they were out of roasted chicken. Can you imagine? Well, they’ll have more this afternoon, that’s what they told me. And it’s sunny and beautiful here, I don’t know what all this fuss is about. No, I haven’t seen any alligators coming out of the pond, I don’t know why you keep asking me about that.”
OK, now to the Jewsday. In this week’s Torah stories, Moses is still rattling on, but we’re getting close to the part where, mercifully, he dies. So instead of the Torah crap, I want to talk a bit about culture and food. I’ve made no secret about my utter contempt for those who fret about “cultural appropriation.” I had always attributed my attitude to being American, and having been raised in an immigrant household where assimilation was considered a virtue. But perhaps it runs deeper in my DNA than that. Maybe that’s why yesterday I was delighted to see my next-door neighbor (an immigrant from Honduras) working with an immigrant from Bulgaria to crush and destem a few hundred pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from California to make a Bordeaux-style wine…
Anyway, here’s how all of this line of thought started: I wanted to post a recipe for one of my favorite Jewish dishes, shakshuka, which is part of the Holy Trinity of Israeli cuisine (I covered falafel, another of the trio, a few weeks ago). In researching the variations of this wonderful dish, I stumbled upon a trove of controversy, which led me to research some of my family background as well. So, let me start there, and no more Publix roast chicken references in this post.
The (((world))) is often thought of as comprising two sorts of us, Ashkenazim (generally, descendants of people who hailed from Europe, with “ashkenaz” associated with an area in the Holy Roman Empire ) and Sephardim (generally descendants of people who came from Spain, “sephard” in Hebrew). But as with everything else, it’s not that simple. Although we all originated from the Middle East, our exit paths when we were expelled by colonizers took multiple directions and timing. So despite the fact that Jews who escaped to (for example) Morocco never saw the Iberian shores, they are lumped in as Sephardim.
My own family went eastward and north, eventually settling in Trebizond, a Turkish port on the Black Sea, planted on the trade route between the Middle East (especially Persia) and Europe. Because of the influences of Persians, Turks, Arabs, Italians, and actual Caucasians, the mixing of language, culture, and cuisine was extreme. For some reason, people of that era and place weren’t terribly woke, so no-one seemed offended by the mingling of ideas, literature, food, and music. No-one whined that something was “stolen” from their heritage. Because of these circumstances, my family was Sephardic even though they never got within a thousand miles of Spain.
As if this weren’t enough to rev my family’s appreciation of cultural intermingling, in the mid-19th century, most of the Jews of that area were expelled by the always-tolerant Muslims. My family escaped by skirting along the Black Sea and ended up in a Jewish refuge in Ukraine or Russia or Poland, depending on the month, called Kupel (or variously Kupil, Kipl, or Kippel). Things have to be pretty bad when Czarist Russia is an improvement. But not much of one. Frankly, even the local Jews, who were Ashkenazim, looked down on us, and renamed us with a Yiddish term that roughly translates as “Your shit’s all retarded and you talk like a fag,” likely because we weren’t Yiddish speakers and they figured we wouldn’t know better. Anyway, shortly after my family arriving in Kupel, my great grandfather was born. Forty years later, my grandfather was also born there, and at that point, the family had enough of the Czars and the asshole Ashkenazim who tagged them with a funny name, so they packed up my grandpa and did the Ellis Island thing in 1900. I’m not sure what possessed them to hie south and end up in Baltimore, but let’s just say we didn’t have a great track record of picking places to live. So that is how I became one of the rare Sephardim to have ended up in the US of A. (Trivia: one other escapee from Kupel was a fellow named Chomsky, whose son you may have heard of…)
What is not well-appreciated by Americans is the predominance of the Sephardim (especially the so-called Mizrahi) in Israel, mostly because the vast majority of American Jews are Ashkenazi. What most Americans think of as stereotypical Jewish food (knishes, bagels, brisket, chicken noodle soup, kreplach, cholent, kishke…) are adaptations of Eastern European peasant food, and hence remarkably dreary. Despite the leftist sneers about European colonialists in Israel (ignoring that the Ashkenazim were also Middle Eastern in origin, they just went right instead of left), the majority of the Israeli population was Sephardi until just a few years ago. Israeli Hebrew is Sephardic, not Ashkenazi. And so is Israeli food, thankfully- Sephardic food is vibrant, flavorful, and spicy, reflecting the tastes of the region whence it was influenced. Real Jewish food, with flavors and ingredients from our homeland, not the crappy pseudo-Polish stuffed cabbage shit that those fucking Ashkenazis call food.
OK, all that past us, let’s return to shakshuka, a great Sephardic dish which is basically eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Like so many great Jewish foods, there’s no lack of controversy about its origins. The name is claimed to derive from the Hebrew term for “shaken up,” but is also claimed to be Arabic for “mixed together.” And as with falafel, politics intrudes, and there’s no shortage of controversy. The Moroccans say that they invented it and that the Jews stole it. The Tunisians claim that they invented it and that the Jews stole it. The Turks say they invented it (“menemen”) and that everyone stole it. And almost the same dish is found in Italy (“uova in purgatorio”), so I’ll say that (((we))) invented it and the dirty wops stole it.
Of course, two of the main ingredients, tomatoes and peppers, originate from the New World, so any claims to antiquity are automatic bullshit. Shakshuka is inherently appropriation, and that’s a great thing, but it does tangle up the origins. Without going into the details of the research I did, it appears most likely that it was originated by Mizrahi Jews in Tunisia, who brought it to Israel after they fled Muslim persecution in the late 1940s. As with many dishes from the region, the Sephardic Israelis adopted it with gusto. And also as with many dishes from the region, everybody has a different version, and everyone claims theirs is the Real Deal. Of course, everyone is wrong- MINE is the one and true correct way to do things. And I’ve done a few different versions recently just to convince myself that mine really is the best. And it is. I have eschewed the commonly-used onions to let the flavors focus on the tomatoes and peppers. And no way I’m going to tart this up with eggplant, olives, crumbled cheese, or other horrors to which I have seen this dish subjected. The flavors here should be direct, strong, and focused, not a mish-mash.
Fair warning: don’t even think about using shitty grocery store tomatoes, use late summer fresh-from-the-farmstand tomatoes. If you absolutely can’t find those, you could substitute Muir Glen whole peeled fire-roasted tomatoes, poured into a bowl and broken up with your fingers. Avoid the pre-diced canned tomatoes or you’ll get a shitty texture.
Old Man With Candy’s Only True Shakshuka
4-5 cloves of garlic, minimum (more is better) thinly sliced (not chopped)
more olive oil than you think is healthy
1 red bell or red ancient pepper, diced (I also will add some hot chiles like fresh arbol, but admittedly, I have an asbestos anus)
1 tsp freshly ground cumin
2 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp smoked paprika or pimenton
2-3 tbs harissa
4-5 fresh ripe tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper
6 eggs
1 tbs chopped parsley
Heat the olive oil on low. When it’s up to temp, stir in the sliced garlic- the oil should be hot enough to see some mild bubbles but not to sizzle the garlic too quickly. We’re trying to extract and mellow the garlic, not really fry it (if you’ve made aglio e olio properly, that’s the idea). Let the garlic cook for 10 minutes or so, giving it a stir now and then, until it’s soft and aromatic and oh-so-slightly golden. Then increase the heat to medium, add the cumin, paprika, and pimenton, and cook for a minute or so. Then add the harissa, cook for half a minute, and add the diced bell pepper. Cook while stirring until the pepper has softened a bit, then dump in the tomatoes. Salt generously, increase the heat to medium-high, and stir. Continue stirring from time to time to prevent burning and cook until the tomatoes are falling apart and the sauce has thickened a bit. Check for salt and seasoning- feel free to add some hot chile powder at this point if the harissa didn’t raise the heat level to where you want it.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, then using a large spoon, make a dent in the top of the sauce and crack in an egg. Repeat for the other five eggs, then cover the pan and cook until the whites are set, the top of the yolks has filmed over, but the yolks are still runny. Remove the pan from the stove, sprinkle the chopped parsley on top, then serve from the pan, sopping things up with nice crusty bread.
My great grandpa Itzhak would approve.
That sounds really good. I double-taked (took?) the pic – it is a dead ringer for a dish Mrs. Dean makes that involves hash browns, chorizo, and red chili sauce with the eggs finished in the pan. I mean, that’s exactly what it looks like.
It also looks a bit like my huevos rancheros, and notice I did lift a Mexican ingredient or two… With dishes like this, there’s no such thing as purity, so it’s a matter of spirit, technique, and style.
My style, of course, being the right one.
The name is claimed to derive from the Hebrew term for “shaken up,”
I’m not so sure of that.
Thank goodness. I thought maybe you were heading for Taylor Swift.
Also, why is Ric Ocasek wearing sunglasses at night and so bad at lip synching his own song?
Ozzmosis in your avatar?
Yes it is.
There are some good songs on that album.
Hugely underrated album IMO.
I have about 4 lbs of obscenely ripe San Marzano tomatoes. Tired of all my dirty wop recipes, gonna have to give this a try.
This entire article was meshugge. The definition of Judaism is a corned beef and tongue sandwich on rye with a half-sour pickle on the side and Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda.
This was a commandment that was on the 3rd Tablet Moses broke when he saw the Golden Calf.
This is totally untrue. Corned beef on rye and a Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda is also allowed.
This is why every synagogue eventually schisms.
Probably right. You lost me with the Cel-Ray but I would happily join for the Cream Soda.
You forgot to put Swiss cheese and bacon on it. :-p
Also, habanero Cheeto crumbs and malted milk balls.
would this be the time to start the Half-Sours vs. Imitation Pickle War?
Cultural appropriation and intersectionality suffer from a similar problem: selection bias. Proponents believe, like pr0n, that they know it when they see it and will stomp out the oppression by all means necessary. Mind reading assholes that don’t recognize how inconsistent the theories are despite being shown the inconsistencies repeatedly.
Counterpoint: rye bread.
Not Jew, of course. And it’s perfectly fine, but it’s hard to make a meal out of that.
It’s interesting how many really shitty cuisines (British, German, Dutch, Scandinavian) have excellent bread and often fine cheese.
Weißwurst and Knödel are great!
Lebkuchen, however is evil.
Halt’ deinen Mund!
sauerkraut and dumplings mmmm.
Sauerbraten is amazeballs. The Germans are a meat & potatoes people which is right up my alley. The food is great as long as you’re not expecting fru-fru French-type shit.
Schnitzel with some spaetzle on the side is awesome. Pair it with a nice Bavarian hefeweizen…divine.
…and knoephla soup is the ultimate comfort food.
Weißwurst and Knödel are great!
Damn straight!
Himmel und Äd, from the Cologne area, is pretty darned good too.
Grilled Bratwurst on brötchen with a good brown mustard – to die for.
Always liked beef rouladen, too.
The one German specialty I’ll pass on.
Pet food?
I generally like German food, but as a kid living in Germany, leberwurst grossed me out. The landlord’s kid (who was about the same age as us) loved the stuff on bread, but it would make my brother and I gag. He thought that was hilarious.
I find it depends on the leberwurst. I recommend this.
*gags*
I like Leberwurst. Didn’t mind Leberkäs either.
“It’s interesting how many really shitty cuisines (British, German, Dutch, Scandinavian) have excellent bread and often fine cheese.”
Why bother inventing recipes when you have plenty of tasty, easy to prep, alternatives. Bread, cheese and brined veg: slice, slice, pile, enjoy.
And also good beer. Except the Scandinavians.
I get more than a little excited for bread with seeds in them. I don’t know why I love it so much, but I do.
Like, sexually? Because I’m decent with a sourdough starter and an ad hoc cloche.
Warty had me try out struan and I’ve done a few variants and all have gone over really well. I included amaranth as part of one of the soaks and it’s become a staple inclusion now.
Like, sexually
If that’s what it takes to get my paws on bread with a seeds, sure.
Duly noted.
*feeds starter, mills fresh rye flour*
It’s Florida man Jesse. You’re either in for a meth feud bangfest or your face being eaten.
You rolls your dice and you wins your prize.
*fueled, not feud
So, just another Tuesday in Glibertarians.com then!
and an ad hoc cloche.
I’m trying to imagine Jesse in a cloche.
I like rye
Bulliet’s is a good Rye.
It is quite good. My favorite is High West Rendezvous Rye.
That’s a good one.
Since this is my first chance to post today, life is finally (mostly) back to normal. Power came back this evening. Still under a boil water order, but we’ve finally got power, cable, and internet.
May finally get to relax for the first time in two weeks tonight.
Mazeltov! You should have gone to my mom’s, she had power and would have fed you Publix roast chicken and tell you all about your shortcomings.
I was at my mom’s for part of it. We had no Publix roast chicken, but she spent plenty of time talking about my shortcomings.
So Publix is open again?
*wipes brow* Whew.
she spent plenty of time talking about my shortcomingsGetting an early start on Festivus, JB?
Stupid formatting buttons. Meant to em that one, not strike it.
You made it through. Good. Bumped up your appreciation of little conveniences I bet.
Having a one year old at my house since Thursday made me appreciate not having kids.
Florida man is Nikki?
I’m very open about my self centered-ness. Also I’m not an anti-Natalia, just an anti-me-natalist.
The guys who fix the power are the real unsung heroes.
Trust me, if I could’ve found the line guys that got our power back up I’d have bought them all beers as thanks.
My father-in-law worked on the telephone wires for decades until he retired. Know what he’d go through after storms.
Glad you’re on the down slope, bro. Take a day or two before tackling the rest.
Love to, but have to be at work tomorrow, which means the cleanup’s scheduled for Saturday.
I’d come help, i really would, but it’s easy to say that when you’re so far away.
I went past 20 or so bucket trucks in 2 miles this afternoon from NY heading south on I81. No question where they are headed.
The northeast and southwest parts of the state (not to mention the Keys) got it a lot worse than we did. That’s where the help’s going at this point.
Just saw on CNN that 90 percent of the homes in the keys were damaged or destroyed. I don’t believe that number, but time will tell.
The keys are small islands drifting off to the south. I believe it.
Once upon a time, way back in maybe? the seventies or eighties, the Key’s succeeded. The feds yawned, said ok, closed the magnificent highway, and cut off funding.
Maybe. I’ma Google to see if I’m remembering right.
Yeah, the Conch Republic or something like that?
In a rare twist, I’m wrong. Huh. Link
Mike S nails it
Yes! In your face robot!
The feds were putting up roadblocks on the only road out of there ( a lot of foreign pot was smuggled in through the keys) and causing a hassle for the locals so Monroe county officially succeeded. Of course both sides were just LARPing it. They still have some kind of celebration about it every year.
Which reminds me…I have only ever been through one border patrol checkpoint.
Thug with badge – “Sir, are you a US citizen”
Dumbass me – “Noooo. I got this akseyent growin’ up in Skandanavya.”
Thug with badge – *snorts* “Get out of here” *waves me through*
“Skandanavya”
I’ve having trouble coming up with a country that wouldve sounded funnier, maybe we could have a regular feature of Suthen Reads Off A Globe.
My neighbor just went down to help with the power.
Phrasing?
I’m not sure how that helps with the power, but it would take your mind off it, at least.
Hehehehehe!!
*rimshot* He-yo!
+1 Unagi Power
The progress is good news.
I’d been wanting to try this forever and the first night at the hostel in Tel Aviv was shakshuka (which saved us from having to find a place to eat after all the flying). Added bonus one of the guys at the hostel was a phenomenal cook.
I love Shakshuka. Local Mediterranean place has it for Sunday brunch. I made it last year and it turned out quite tasty. Can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks!
Do you make your own harissa? If not, is there a store brand you like? I used store bought for mine and it was good. Don’t remember the brand but I’m guessing it’s the only one Kroger’s carry’s:) We do have some Mediterranean grocers I could try as well.
I have made harissa, but what a pain in the ass. I go to a “Middle Eastern” grocery and buy whatever the ladies with the biggest noses are buying.
Good tip. Thanks:)
((( ))) are oven mitts?
These euphemisms
I think I’ve told you before, OMWC, but I really enjoy Jewsday Tuesday.
Somebody gave me a puny little tomato plant that hasn’t had any sun around, I don’t know- middle of July? So I put it in the eye of Helios and have been watering it like crazy. I have a lot of tomatoes on it, but none are even thinking about turning color.
Is it too late? Will I get ripe tomatoes?
I think you can grow tomatoes year round if you’re indoors with decent light/water/humidity.
…and if you keep your equipment out of the purview of the cops, who’ll use it as an excuse to raid your house (and possibly get a bit of asset forfeiture too) on the pretense that you’re really growing pot.
Legal here, bro 😉
Will I get ripe tomatoes?
My horticulturist wife says “probably.” It depends on if it’s a “determinate” or “indeterminate” variety. Indeterminate is what you want, and most varieties are indeterminate. So the odds are in your favor.
Thanks! I think it helps that Denver gets lots and lots of sun.
So funny story; my wife doesn’t know a whole lot about this place. But I ask her your tomato question. I said you’d had it indoors under light, etc. She assumes you are talking about weed and starts giving me instructions for growing that. I said no, in this place if he meant pot, he’d say pot. She looks suspiciously at me and then starts giving me the tomato spiel. Hours of daily sunlight comes up and I say you live in Denver. Now she’s sure you really want help growing pot. Ha-ha
That’s funny. I mean, i could see trying to grow my perfect strand, etc. But I can just go buy it soooo good and soooo cheap. Of course, I can buy tomatoes, too. There is something primal about growing your own crops. But, no really, somebody gave me a tomato plant in mid July that had struggled to survive for 6 weeks in shade.
There is something primal about growing your own crops
Absolutely. And tomatoes are one of the easiest. If you have a spot for a medium size pot (pun intended) on your patio or deck, you can grow your own tomatoes. They like full sun.
Tomatoes grow like a weed here. I get fruit from them year round and if you know where to look you’ll find them growing feral along several trails. Yum, until I harvest 30 cherry tomatoes in two days- then it is time for garlic soup!
Damn bananas have given me another two stalks this week. Now I have upwards of 400 apple bananas hanging on my plants.
back when I grew a garden the damn rabbits and deer would eat the tomatoes down to the stalk; after some water they’d be bearing fruit again in a week. A hearty plant.
Yes, you can get ripe tomatoes. Even green tomatoes picked and put in paper bags with a ripe apple will indeed get ripe.
What witchcraft is this?
Science, bro.
Ethylene gas, to be more specific. Ripening fruits emit it, others in their immediate vicinity will have ripening triggered. Works a treat.
I have three tomato plants in pots on my balcony, I grew them from seed and they were doing well, but so far I have a grand total of one tomato. It’s very sad. This is why my family were dairy farmers in the old days I guess, lol
I have an incredible amount for how small the plant is. The person who gave it to me got it from someone else, and thought it was Cherry tomatoes. But they’re too big for that. Small, though. Really nice looking, too. Just not turning color.
Of course, a couple months ago i stopped a day labor guy from digging up the roots of a well established Hibiscus, and it came back and looks like it will bloom the end of this week.
This reminds me of the cracked eggs in mashed potatoes thing that was mentioned the other day. I tried it– and wound up with a film of whites covering the dish instead of the neat self-contained eggs I was aiming for. I can’t picture me getting eggs to settle in sauce.
It actually works. The trick is to get the sauce thickened a bit, then work fast after you make the hollows. If you’re unsure of your skills, crack each egg into a ramekin or small bowl, then use that to drop into the hollows.
Good idea. I’ll try that next time I need to pour an egg into a depression.
The food related euphemisms are the most confusing to me…
pour an egg into a depression
I think there are pills that help with that.
You want to have a firm yolk.
LOL – I had a Jewish-from-Israel friend long ago who took us to an Israeli restaurant and promised great food and I was suspicious until I got there and saw it wasn’t crappy pseudo-Polish stuffed cabbage shit.
That was tonight’s dinner.
Kiełbasa Krajana and horseradish on rye, then brisket and non-crappy, authenic Polish yenta-made stuffed cabbage.
Watching this debate between Buckley and Baldwin. Interesting.
But I like knishes and bagels and brisket and stuffed cabbages.
Me too!
Actually I do too.
What the hell is that thing? Is it the notorious deep dish pizza I keep hearing about?
Somebody on deviant art went a made up a Steve Smith pulp comic cover.
I’ll be in my bunk
Great cover art.
Aw, crap. Now I’m hungry again.
*mutters to self as I trudge up the stairs to go to the kitchen*
Good to hear your Mom is OK.
She said the same thing about you, coincidentally.
Better than the alternative I suppose.
Wouldn’t you rather be better than just OK?
I’ve been a shitty mood lately. The Maß only sort of helped. My immediate thought was, “She could have said I was shitty.”
Thinking about this a bit more, I realize lots of folks have it worse than me. I’ve been a bit pissed off about some stuff at work lately. It’s getting to the point where it has clouded my thinking a bit.
Come over, I’ll make you a nice shakshuka. You’ll feel better.
Thanks! At some point I’ll have to visit Chicago.
“my next-door neighbor (an immigrant from Honduras) working with an immigrant from Bulgaria to crush and destem a few hundred pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from California to make a Bordeaux-style wine…”
Nobody/Nothing from Asia, -5pts
Also, roast chicken.
As a glibertarian in good standing (never been cat-butted), and of Polish ancestory, I’m pretty sure I’m offended, othered, and triggered.
Fucking polacks
Q: What happened to the Polish hockey team?
A: They all drowned in spring training.
Q: What’s the difference between a smart Polack and a unicorn?
A: Nothing, they’re both fictional characters
Few years back some friends and I were at a bar and we were telling each other Polack jokes like:
Q: How do you get a 1 armed Polack out of a tree?
A: Wave at him.
Unbeknownst to us there was a Polack at the table next to us. And after we had been going a while he interrupts us, telling us how offended he is. We try to apologize and offer to buy him a beer, but he’s angry and leaves.
Little while later we head out ourselves and are walking to our car and the guy comes around a corner headed right for us, hollering and waving a razor at us.
Thank god he didn’t have anywhere to plug it in.
(rimshot)
Pirogies are good.
My Romanian/Hungarian/Polish/Lithuanian forebears agree. Me, too.
And what did I make for dinner last night? HUH?
Hawaiian pizza.
Duh.
No, we are still married, so it wasn’t that.
I cook most nights for my elderly aunt and uncle. And today she was saying she saw this add for pineapples and it had this recipe for pizza, and maybe I should cook it one night.
Hey, OMWC and I are going to be in Green Bay for a couple weekend days in November. Would love to get together if you are around. Give me a shout at sp at this domain if you are inclined.
Unfortunately, weekends are my work days during football season. That, and I’m usually broke. Are you coming up for the Ravens game?
Damn straight. It’s going to be ugly. I’m a Packers fan, and OMWC, well, you know how he is.
Sorry to miss you, though.
Well, the game is at noon, means I’ll be done about 6 at work, the Badgers game the day before still doesn’t have a scheduled time. Maybe it’ll work out.
A family friend has Packers season tickets on the south (I believe) 45, row 16 behind the visitor bench. Good times.
We are in town from Saturday afternoon to Monday check
-out time.
Because I’m a wonderful wife, we are row <15 center field behind the visitors' bench. I can't remember what section at the moment, but like 119-121 someplace.
Just checked an old stub. Our tickets are row 15 section 121 seats 11 and 12.
Pretty darn close. We will have to look them up and say hey!
He sold or gave away all the season tickets this year, his health isn’t the best these days. I don’t know who got his tickets for that game.
My ancestors are German, Welsh, English, and Irish. I’m all drunk.
Speaking of which, I had a Maß of Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfestbier tonight. It was really good.
H-P is my favorite.
My German from Russia forebears (and me) agree.
My promiscuous mutt forebears enable me to eat anything. Pierogis in Pittsburgh are the best though.
Bullshit. The best this mutt ever had was from a restaurant in suburban Minneapolis.
With fly lice?
With beer. Like God intended.
Sorry, Yahweh.
There’s a polish deli in Minneapolis or St. Paul that has delicious perogies. And some great authentic meats, as well. Can’t remember the name. It ends in “ski” if I remember right. (Surprise)
Tundra, help me out here?
Ukrainian, not Polish.
But, yeah.
Dammit, yeah Ukrainian. Thanks, that’s the place. I’m hopping to get there when I’m in town.
Bar La Grassa. That’s the only place anyone needs to know in MPLS.
Less than 30 minutes from where you are staying!
Bar La Grassa. That’s the only place anyone needs to know in MPLS.
Well, it’s Italian but yes, it’s a nice place as well.
Bar la Grassa looks nice, but Kramarczuk’s is more my speed.
If you ever travel through central Wisconsin, Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon is amazing. Their other meats are good as well.
I was up in N Central WI this past week. Didn’t run across any bacon, though. Damn.
My daughter will be in Madison for the next 4 years, so I should have plenty of opportunities to get there. I’ll add it to my “must do” list for Wisconsin. Thanks CPRM!
My grandparents were butchers, and (they retired before I was born) I’ve been told their farmer’s sausage was the best. The local guy who I was told made the closest thing closed his shop this last year and started working at Nueske’s. Maybe someday they’ll use his recipe?
That would be very, very cool if they did! Do you have your grandparent’s recipe?
Somewhere…I actually live in their house, got records of who owed them going back to like 39 scattered around.
I love family history. And recipes.
Nueske’s is delicious. I’ve never been to the farm, but one of my favorite local spots uses it in many dishes. https://yelp.to/qTKq/ojHCHxsFoG
Mike, if you’re ever in Madison in mid May or mid to late October you should check out the Arboretum in Madison. It has or had the largest selection of crabapple trees in the world, along with a large lilac selection. Great fall colors also. Spent a lot of time there in college as a soils / horticulture major.
Pud; thanks a bunch for that tip. We would (will) enjoy that very much. Mrs. MikeS loves anything plant related and crabapples and lilacs are two of my favorite tree/shrubs.
You know, lived most of my life in Wisconsin, never been to Madison. And I even ran for state assembly.
MikeS: crabapples are what they make cider from. Just sayin’.
Sure thing Mike. Another cool one is Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison. It’s also really nice walking around Bascom Hill and the older parts of campus around the Agriculture School. Lots of cool old trees and some nice views.
Mike, if you like pizza, REAL pizza, Pizza Brutta justifies Madison’s existence.
Thanks for that too, Pud. And thanks for the Pizza recommendation, OMWC. Both have been added to the to-do list.
The only worthwhile thing about my trips to my in-laws in Erie is going to an excellent Polish butcher and deli, Urbaniak Brothers. Best jerky I’ve ever had.
Polish butcher and deli, Urbaniak Brothers. Best jerky I’ve ever had.
How good is their English?
A friend of mine uses the standard of, “The less English they speak, the better the jerky” when looking for places to buy jerky.
I didnt know your grandparents were extras on Boardwalk Empire!
Also, why did people always look so grim in old pictures?
Hey, if your teeth were rotting, you had a pain in your abdomen that wouldn’t go away, your eight children were all ungrateful brats (and the daughters were so ugly they’d never get husbands), and you’d just finished twelve hours in the matchstick factory, would YOU be happy? Everthing was in black-and-white, after all, what was there to be happy about?
lol, no really, the answer I’ve heard is that since early photography was a slow process, everyone was told to hold still for quite awhile. If you’ve ever tried to hold a smile for thirty seconds, it turns demented-looking, so subjects were told not to smile. It was easier to hold very still. Presumably then it became a style and people kept doing it even after it wasn’t necessary. I should dig up my great-grandfather’s photograph – you can’t find a more stereotypical “grim mennonite patriarch”.
I have a great photo of my great-grandfather, his brother, and a bunch of other south-central KY hoodlums posing with the keg of bootleg whiskey they were splitting up. Jars of booze in one hand and firearm (pistol, rifle etc) in the other for everyone in the group.
Film or glass plates were very slow. They had to hold a pose for an extended period of time. It is impossible to freeze a smile for that long so they would relax and hold as still as they could for the 5-30 seconds necessary to expose the silver halide on whatever medium it was on.
Also the good ol’ days weren’t that good so they didn’t smile that much anyway. The local blacksmith doubled as a dentist. Corn shucks or cobs doubled as toilet paper. No flush toilets. Good times.
Also getting pictures done was expensive and so was considered serious business. Kinda like how when a cross country flight cost a months pay for an average person people dressed in their finest if they flew
Just here for OMWC’s mom.
Same here. The more I hear about her the more I like her.
Publix *is* pretty damn awesome.
She is seriously the best mom-in-law I’ve ever had. And I’ve had more than…. a couple. AND she likes me better than she likes OMWC. I’m the RIGHT kind of doctor.
A Love Doctor?
Was not expecting that. What the hell is going on in Minnesoda with the obscure reggae tunes?
I wad expecting this: https://youtu.be/WsGDvMqcP94
Cultural appreciation, brother!
Now I’m just riffing on reggae and doctors… uh… Night Nurse https://youtu.be/ec9KwGWvSpM
Do they have Tinder in China?
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2110442/first-diploma-then-date-how-chinas-educated-elites-find-love?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=ENG_cchina_society_us&utm_campaign=GME-I-Alwayson-Sep17&cx_source=fb&cx_campaign=GME-I
https://amp.reddit.com/r/China/comments/10bywd/connecting_in_china_how_do_you_hook_up_on/
“Be white.” SMDH
That’s funny. I perused those once and laughed my ass off the whole time. All of the women go on and on about how they love cooking and doing laundry and dishes, how they love keeping a clean house.
I figured they could all just say “Get me the fuck out of this shithole and I will be your slave for life”
A heterosexual male Chinese-American friend of mine was livid at this shit. He wound up marrying a Spanish chick he met in Singapore, which made me happy because she was probably more, uh, easy-going than most of the women in his circle.
Wait a minute. Aren’t there about a hundred sites selling chinese mail order brides?
“selling Chinese green card gold-diggers”
FIFY.
How can you slander those sweet, naive young beauties like that? You monster.
Remember Suthen, this is the guy who posts galleries of scantily clad young ladies for all the perverts here to drool over.
And we love him because of it!
We all have our strengths.
Hear Hear! Keep posting those galleries!
This cracked me up. Not sure why.
SCIENCE!
That describes a lot of women here too. Their standards drop dramatically after 45. I cant tell you how many 50 yo Phds I have seen dragging some ape around on a chain and introducing them as their husbands.
Poor ape.
It’s funny because I usually end up liking the women though it isnt difficult to see why they cant find a decent man. The apes…not so much. They are smelly, uneducated and boorish as hell. The marriages dont last long.
It cracked me up too. I know a few women that that blurb describes.
After rendering “racist” meaningless, the left is now working overtime to make “white supremacist” similarly watered down.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/09/12/espn-jemele-hill-calls-donald-trump-white-supremacist-kid-rock-pandering-racists
This country has lost its fucking mind.
In the last week I have heard on television that Donald Trump is:
Literally Hitler
Worse than Hitler because he has nukes
As bad as the holocaust
A racist
A white supremacist
A rapist
A murderer
on and on, you get the idea. They truly are unhinged. Let ’em keep it up. This is a self-correcting problem.
I forgot the best one – He is going to cause the human race to go extinct.
After WWII the few hardcore Nazi supporters did not publicly advertise their leanings. They would meetings in secret in back-alley dives or remote rural areas. They were similarly unhinged over Germany’s defeat as the progs are today over Hillary’s.
The progs are working hard at becoming that lunatic fringe that has to crawl back under their rock. They have co-opted all kinds of businesses and academia and their poison touch is beginning to bring those down. ESPN, NFL, Comics, Newspapers, Radio and Television news, academia…all of them are starting on their downhill run. Most of them will snap out of it at some point even though they will have life-long brain damage from it but they will return to some degree of normalcy. The hardcore, not so much. They will spend their lives in a state of delusion, yammering their gibberish and meeting in back alley dives while no one listens to them.
Y’all may remember I have said many times: my grandmother told me after the progs had their run last time anyone who admitted in public that they were a progressive would be lynched in the street.
It cant happen fast enough for me.
Also, the red/blue map gets redder every time there is an election. It is to the point of ridiculous now.
I’ve been telling the anti-Trump folks when they go on an unhinged rant, “Do you want Trump? This is how you get Trump.” None of them get it.
For God’s sake stop telling that. I tell them “You are probably right. It’ll catch on, you’ll see. You just haven’t sold your message yet. Keep fighting the good fight.”
“No, no – telling the world that you think thrift, prudence, hard work, courtesy, charity and loving stable families are all values only held by evil white supremacists is absolutely the right thing to do. It’s very courageous, in fact.”
I could probably tell them the Sun rises in the East and it wouldn’t matter.
Hell, even ESPN was like “um, this isn’t *us* saying this crazy shit.” Which is the point at which a person with any shred of sanity remaining would stop and reconsider their life choices. I am unconvinced that she qualifies, however.
OMWC thank you.
Wife has FOX on. I am cracking up. Their resident priest is on there now trying to defend the commiepope. He is nearly hysterical. Poor bastard. I think he is a pretty decent guy from what little I have seen in the past but now he finds himself having to defend a guy who is commie first and pope second.
This is part of that self correcting problem. I think under the surface, at least for american catholics, there is a lot of discomfort and resentment over this pope. I wonder how much of the coin going into the coffers of the church comes from american catholics.
I dont think we will have another commiepope.
I kept trying to write an interesting and reasoned reply. But the bourbon and Coke just made me post the Damned; “Antipope”. https://youtu.be/s1G1y7_r8bE
You chose well.
Thank you,
Hey man, I wanna thank you.
https://youtu.be/YeT7sqdmLh4
https://youtu.be/x8K4hjaB6Ok
Dents. My faves. ???
Saw The Damned in London on their Tiki Nightmare tour in ’03. I even have a DVD of the show! (I’m not in it).
Also saw the Dead Kennedy’s during the trip.
Holiday in CambodiaTheir best song, Imo.
DK are a surf rock metal band with an anarchist singer/lyricist. Remember when Jello was anti government? And anti corporation?
Now he is pro government (Democrat), and is head of a collection of corporations.
Great band. But he changed man. Things are all fucked now.
https://youtu.be/8iYMtyy8kEo
Is Jello in the band anymore? I don’t think he is. He sure wasn’t 15 years ago (Jesus!) when I saw them. (Mutiny on the bay tour) There were a bunch of proto-antifa/pro-Jello types throwing shit at the remaining members. I thought about punching one, but 1) I’m not big, 2) I was by myself and 3) foreign country.
I really enjoyed the show, probably because they didn’t have Jello. Instead of 15 minute long rants, they just played songs. Pretty much everything off of Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. along with Police Truck, and a couple of their better EP’s. Great show. Would recommend to anyone who likes the 1st album.
Sorry – the antifa types were throwing shit because Jello wasn’t in the band anymore. They had Brendon Cruz as lead singer. Like I said, plus for me, I only came for the songs.
Still have the shirt.
I don’t know about his status with DK. I’m just being drunk and complainy.
Yeah Brandon Cruz sang with them. Also, maybe Mike Patton?
Maybe Michael Franti?
I just see DK shirts, stickers, patches and shit at Tilly’s and on Vans shoes etc. and think how much Jello hated corporations. Yet he is personally benefiting from corporate structure and capitalism.
Don’t be a hypocrite. Live your lyrics.
And I threw in some Catholic Discipline as well. https://youtu.be/wPJfxF2zlJM
This guy needs to get the job next …..
Father Sarducci is a graduate of Handsome Boy Modeling School https://youtu.be/9RCE0Pb2_-I
Based on demographics, you’re more likely to get an Afropope.
If you look at the College of Cardinals, the smart money is on an Italian, or at least a European if you go strictly by numbers.
Allegedly, it’s even more stacked in the Italians’ favor if you look at the internal politics of the Holy See.
I meant more in the sense of the specific brand of Liberation theology-esque South American socialist idiocy Francis represents.
Well, I know that it *looks* like the next Pope ought to be an acolyte of Bob Mugabe (or even Mugabe himself) , but I don’t think the Vatican’s gonna go there … yet
Come on guys, get some Congolese dude in there, send the Pope train on a tour around the world, every continent.
(Though not China because god knows what a CCP-approved Pope would be like)
HAHA, only here can the same person who just hours earlier talked about working in the porn industry come back and make salient points on modern religious politics. We’re the worst (or best).
Ah, I’m a devout athiest.
It just makes sense for me to keep up with this shit because the rest of the family are irredeemable Papists.
Yeah, but atheists on other sites would just start screeching like well this. But here, actual thought.
Hey, say what you want about the Papists, all the money they, ahm, ‘acquired’ from the Germans and various other Europeans went into some damn fine and profound art and architecture.
+1 Improbable pornstache.
(Don’t tell Just Say’n I was saying nice things about Papists)
Rand being Rand.
One guy says fighting 7 wars is bullshit.
One.
Having principle is a lonely business and usually not very lucrative.
He’s just a cuck! (am I Alt-Righting correctly?)
My favorite book, and my favorite film are both Fight Club. One thing I’ve noticed in every assessment of ‘what does it mean?’ is that they forget, Tyler is the villain. Tyler was wrong. The things the story says about the world are not what Tyler says, it is the opposite.
Ah, the ‘Starship Trooper’ problem (movie, not book).
Never read ‘Starship Troopers’ just watched Paul Verhoeven work his magic with the film.
The former is totally different than the latter.
Chalk and cheese.
Let’s just leave it at that.
Wait, is chalk supposed to be worse than cheese? (boo on you for othering autistics) And if so, which is chalk and which is cheese?
‘Starship Troopers the book’ is about how we should all become Switzerland in order to ensure that we never have to have a draft and that military service under civilian leadership installs positive values.
‘Starship Troopers the movie’ is all about how fascism manipulates populations into kowtowing to their will and ensuring their use as cannon fodder.
They’re direct contrasts. The soldiers of the book land in badass, state-of-the-art mech suits and clean house, those of the movie are used horribly.
On a meta-level, the book is pretty much what you would expect from Heinlein if you knew when it was written (1959) and is pretty much a canonical representation of his work as he transitioned from his Youth Novels to his “Future History” period.
In contrast, the movie is pretty much what you would expect from a scriptwriter who had been told what Heinlein would have written in 1959 in that transitional phase between jackbooted Nazi worshipper and his “Bayonetting-Brown-babies as a shill for fascism” period, and ran his MS up while coked out of his head.
That or they decided the title sounded cool and Denise Richards’ tits were magnificent.
OK.
For John.
This is you/your band, right? Pretty good. Funny lyrics.
No; I can’t read nor right music. I’ve been told I write good lyrics though. Usually by drunk people.
Gell-Mann on the Blue phone!
Layers and layers of idiocy here. The original article said “pounds” and not “ounces”. But they don’t edit the body of the article. Maybe Ms. Witt was trying to tone up her pelvic floor.
So the Daily Fail does some really detailed research and still gets it wrong, confusing a $130 “Saturday Night Special” with a $1000 “Vanity Gun” (Disclaimer, I’m not a full-size, or scaled-down 1911 fan, so I consider the Kimber Micros in that manner).
This article is a perfect example of why one should never confuse reading newspapers with becoming informed.
I’ve archived it for posterity when I want to make a point.
Gelman? I spend too much time with old people.
Gelman? Hang with the Breadman https://youtu.be/J-Ps7y40gDo
I’m too young for old school punk. I was a (nu) (((nu)))? metal guy. But I did dig some pop punk.
Wow, it’s like Green Day, but with even more suck. This is how you do pop-punk.
I don’t hear much ‘pop’ there. On a side note, Butch Walker.
Yeah, you’re right. In substitute, I offer pretty much the whole Ramones catalog. Such as this.
The SLF song is still a great song – the lyrics are basically a libertarian version of The Who’s Don’t Get Fooled Again.
Synthesizer
https://youtu.be/MkivGULndck
Warning: Do Not Smoke Weed And Listen To This Song!!
Well, I’m sorry Miss Jackson, I listened.
Sorry, Johnny’s got a problem. See, it’s funny, it ties together several of my links together, and my name is Jon and I’m drunk! Hope I didn’t DOXX myself. Oh well.
I’ll see both your Synthesizer songs and see you with this.
That guy on the beach looked like Peter Weller. Very cool.
Butch Walker is interesting. Thanks for posting.
CPRM – the DI link is decent pop(-ish) punk. Hope the lyrics don;t tie in too close to your life, though.
Butch Walker started in a Hair Band and is today a solo artist and producer.
@ Beep that Electric Six was stupid and cool. Thanks man!
Nah, strictly a beer drinker. Never late for work kind of guy,
Oh, and since the Outkast has been posted twice here, I would recommend that Glibs follow @BigBoi on Twitter.
One more Butch Walker and I swear I’m off to bed. I SWEAR!
Ok. Cool Butch Walker. Gotta listen to more. Nice power pop, and that last song was about my old neighborhood in Venice. Thanks for the tunes. Night y’all!
Reminds me. I was learning that on guitar. Gotta go back to that and lock it in. More SLF abd Green Day inspiration. Gotta Get Away https://youtu.be/KUHsgXFLk08
Love that song. The lyrics are completely libertarian, whether they knew (or cared) or not.
Sorry, thread fail. I meant SLF. IIRC, Gotta Get Away is an okay song.
Oh, and when mentioning Butch Walker, Marvelous 3 was his band late 90s early 2000s
Or maybe Marginal Man? https://youtu.be/gIzX5oKCEVY
Related to the Linebacker son above (a guy from this band formed a rap/punk band with that guy in the late 90s)