(no subject)

(DW: sorry for repost; I'm trying to get it crossposted on LJ and it won't let you keep a backdate when you do that.)

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2011/10/02/get-stuffed/



Yes, for real: http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17249, specifically http://gov.ca.gov/docs/SB_769_Signing_Message.pdf.

I kinda love Jerry Brown right now.

(no subject)

(again, DW, sorry for the repeat. gah come the fuck on... crosspost... this is like try number four now.. *annoyed*)

(possible trigger warning: I'm going to talk about the blog post and not the comic, but the comic seen by following the link may be triggering for suicide content, particularly a specific method I won't mention here. I certainly found the last panel more personally disturbing than funny, even granted it is black humor.)


From http://hijinksensue.com/2011/12/05/comfortably-numb/

When you see a commercial that starts with “Doing [insert extremely easy, every day task] is hard! Don’t you wish there was a better way?” DO NOT BUY THAT THING! No one wants it. No one needs it. Stop buying stuff for people just because you think you have to. Make something. Frame a photo of the best day you ever had with that person. Take them on an adventure. Knit a freakin’ scarf. Give them something that doesn’t have a direct monetary value and isn’t available at Best Buy. Otherwise you might as well just write how much cash you were intending to spend on a piece of paper, give it to the other person, take their slip of paper and work out the change owed.

Damn right. I have been trying to edge my family this way for a while. There's hardly anything any of us need anymore and hardly any place to put anything we merely want. I like the aesthetic appeal of gifts under a tree, but a couple per person is surely enough? I am not so great about this kind of restraint when it comes to enotsola to whom I sometimes wish to GIVE ALL THE THINGS, but when my mother asks what I want for Christmas or birthdays I always tell her there's really nothing anymore, and yet she comes up with things anyway. They're not "bullshit" gifts like mentioned in the post - she does actually know what kinds of things I like - but as I said, we're just plum out of room by now. The "bullshit" gifts have tended to come from enotsola's family. I'm glad I am not going there for Christmas anymore because I sometimes got some doozies from his step-dad's family who had seen me, what, twice in their lives? yet apparently still felt obligated to buy me things. His mother has been kind of hit or miss too. I would rather just get a card, honestly, than a t-shirt neither of us can wear or a tchotchke we wouldn't have chosen for ourselves. (The coasters with dragons and Jack Skellington on them have been very useful and appreciated, however.)

Also:

ALTERNATELY: What’s your favorite “As Seen On TV” product to hate? Mine is the “Make a giant cupcake” pan whose commercial starts out with “Regular cake is boring…” NO IT IS NOT. FUCK YOU. CAKE IS AWESOME.

om nom nom.

This is the thing we just nommed for dinner. Nommity nom. I got the idea from seeing parsnip fritters mentioned somewhere (part of a historical Thanksgiving dinner, that the poster said "um, we wouldn't eat this"?).

Allergy/diet info: As is, contains egg, wheat, and dairy. Could probably be modified with egg substitute, soy/oat/nut milk, flour other than wheat, etc. as appropriate, but I haven't tested that.

the following four all shredded fine:

2 small parsnips
1 medium carrot
1 medium potato
um... half each of a medium rutabaga and turnip?

about 1/4 c sliced green onions

enough whole wheat flour to coat all that well and make it seem kinda dry - maybe 3/4 c?
about 1/2-3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t each dried marjoram, savory
generous 1/4 t garlic powder
2 eggs, so it starts getting goopy again (if not, you may not have as much shredded vegetable as I used)
3/4 cup buttermilk

peanut or other suitable oil for shallow frying (Peanut has a high smoke temperature, and I'm paranoid. Feel free to use something else if allergic.)
seasoned salt (optional)

Shred vegetables and add green onions. Press out moisture between paper towels. Toss with flour (two forks works well). Add seasonings. Stir in eggs and buttermilk. You may need to adjust the consistency with more flour or buttermilk: you want it to be a very thick batter, such that it's wet but you can scoop it with a spoon, press it down and it holds its shape, etc. Basically you are gluing the vegetable shreds together. (About drop biscuit/cookie consistency, maybe a little wetter.)

Pour enough oil into a skillet for shallow frying, about 1/4 inch deep or maybe a bit less. Heat over medium heat until you see some rippling movements. I can't give you a number, but test temperature by dropping in a blob of batter. You want it to bubble immediately but not spit, and cook quickly on the bottom rather than sticking.

When oil is hot, drop in spoonfuls and flatten with the back of the spoon. (It's easier to turn them if you let them be long shapes rather than rounds, but it depends on your tools.) Turn when brown/firm enough on the bottom that you can turn them without them flopping about, and let cook on other side until brown.

Remove and drain on brown paper. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and try to let cool for a few minutes rather than burn yourself by eating bits of hot oil that may still be clinging to the delicious fritters.