Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[Calvada]

12 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Is that a brandy old fashioned sweet or sour?  Never been to Wisconsin, but I am curious to know how those taste especially with some of the garnishes I see people put in them like olives.  Olives belong in dirty martinis and bloody marys not old fashioneds.  Though I make my old fashioneds the way nature intended with a good bourbon.  

Most of my family likes a brandy old fashioned sweet with fruit garnish, not olives.  I prefer a bourbon old fashioned sour with olives.  We do old fashioneds at tailgates before Wisconsin football games and usually it's brandy then.  I've always preferred whiskey or a good bourbon more than brandy.  But Wisconsinites do love brandy!  I sometimes like a brandy & Coke.  

I have a basement and I'll head there if it seems I'm in the direct line of fire.  With all the equipment the weather people have now, they delight in zooming in to show us practically block by block where the brunt of the storm is and where it's heading.  One thing I always do when the sirens go off is put on socks and shoes. If a tornado damages my home, I don't want to be barefoot in the aftermath.  And when I head to the basement, I also make sure I have my wallet, cell phone, and charger with me.  Many years ago, I worked with a woman who lived in a neighborhood hit by a tornado.  She was barefoot and had time only to grab an extra diaper for her 9-month-old baby as they ran for the basement.  They were not hurt and fortunately her home only had minor damage, but hearing her talk about how she realized she might not even have had shoes freaked me out.   

[Browncoat]

46 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

My understanding is that if you live where the terrain is not so flat, you're somewhat protected, because the irregular terrain disrupts the circular motion of the wind necessary to form a tornado. I

100% not true.  We in the mountains might not get big tornadoes, but we do get up to F3 for sure -- there was one in 2011 that was an F3.  There was a really bad (in terms of deaths) F2 in 1929 deeper in the mountains than I am now.  Most of the ones we've had near me have been F0 or F1, though.  One of those hit about two miles from my house, and my dog warned me.  She looked out the window and I could see her eyes go wide as she backed away quickly and went to the basement.  I looked out the window, and followed her down the stairs.

[shapeshifter]

45 minutes ago, Anela said:

we had so many bad thunderstorms, and ended up in the basement with other residents of the too-small "apartments" built into the old house. We grabbed our cat, dog, and bird, and had them with us. 

In another house, we didn't have a basement, so we would be in the hallway, putting the cats and bird cage in the cupboards. We'd be surrounded by couch cushions and pillows. One time, I was alone for the weekend, and ended up having to do that by myself. Mum called a friend to come and check on me. 

My Dad went along with us going to the basement for tornado warnings, but when it came to thunder and lightning storms, if Mom was acting too paranoid, a couple of times he took me and my sister in the car for a ride, explaining that the rubber tires would ground the lightning and protect us. Of course, there was an episode of Lassie in which that wasn't quite the way it worked, LOL.
But what I gleaned from that experience was that it's better to not be afraid. 
However, I wound up being a little too fearless when it came to situations where I just didn't have any experience and so didn't know to be cautious. 

 

47 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

My dad worked in radio, and if the storms hit during a time when he was off work, he would often go in to report on the storms, and we would go to the station with him and just take shelter there, 'cause when I was a kid my family lived in a trailer park and, well...those are not the best places to be during a tornado. Better to be at the radio station, where things were more stable and sturdy. 

Definitely! Trailers are only okay in wind storms if the trailer is on wheels instead of blocks and moving rapidly away from the storm!

[Anela]

46 minutes ago, Calvada said:

Most of my family likes a brandy old fashioned sweet with fruit garnish, not olives.  I prefer a bourbon old fashioned sour with olives.  We do old fashioneds at tailgates before Wisconsin football games and usually it's brandy then.  I've always preferred whiskey or a good bourbon more than brandy.  But Wisconsinites do love brandy!  I sometimes like a brandy & Coke.  

I have a basement and I'll head there if it seems I'm in the direct line of fire.  With all the equipment the weather people have now, they delight in zooming in to show us practically block by block where the brunt of the storm is and where it's heading.  One thing I always do when the sirens go off is put on socks and shoes. If a tornado damages my home, I don't want to be barefoot in the aftermath.  And when I head to the basement, I also make sure I have my wallet, cell phone, and charger with me.  Many years ago, I worked with a woman who lived in a neighborhood hit by a tornado.  She was barefoot and had time only to grab an extra diaper for her 9-month-old baby as they ran for the basement.  They were not hurt and fortunately her home only had minor damage, but hearing her talk about how she realized she might not even have had shoes freaked me out.   

We don’t have sirens, because we aren’t in a town, so it scares me at night. At least my phone should go off, if we get a warning.  We had one on my birthday, or the day after, when we went to dinner in 2018. The whole place had phone alarms going off, and the servers were closing the blinds, because everyone was looking outside.  We had no instructions to move to the back of the building, or anything.  

19 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

My Dad went along with us going to the basement for tornado warnings, but when it came to thunder and lightning storms, if Mom was acting too paranoid, a couple of times he took me and my sister in the car for a ride, explaining that the rubber tires would ground the lightning and protect us. Of course, there was an episode of Lassie in which that wasn't quite the way it worked, LOL.
But what I gleaned from that experience was that it's better to not be afraid. 
However, I wound up being a little too fearless when it came to situations where I just didn't have any experience and so didn't know to be cautious. 

 

Definitely! Trailers are only okay in wind storms if the trailer is on wheels instead of blocks and moving rapidly away from the storm!

I’m not so afraid in daylight, if I can’t see anything forming.  My mum was once insisting that I get down there. Our first tornado warnings were in that house I mentioned, and one guy told us that a tornado was heading right for our town, but he might have been having “fun” scaring the British teenagers.  I remember being terrified, flying down the stairs. One of those “we didn’t have this shit in England” moments.  
 

I’ve grown used to not worrying so much, but I don’t want that to bite me if something changes, so I want to remember to keep a “go bag” like my backpack.  After the tornadoes hit in other parts of Ohio, people were talking about that on Reddit.  I had a friend whose town was hit badly in 2019. They’ve since moved to Florida (and I cried, because we still haven’t met in person, but she invited me down there, if I can ever make it).  They moved to something she loves: the beach. 
 

My dad will not go down there, if I want him to. If needed, in the middle of the night, I guess I’ll just make a lot of noise and insist he get down there for the dog. They are best friends.  

My English grandma had me scared of storms, as a kid.  She’d close the curtains, and unplug things like the TV. We once saw a lightning ball shoot down a neighbour’s chimney, across the road.  We went to make sure they were okay, and their living room was covered in dirt. It was a bit damaged.  

Edited May 21 by Anela

[shapeshifter]

11 minutes ago, Anela said:

My English grandma had me scared of storms, as a kid.  She’d close the curtains, and unplug things like the TV. We once saw a lightning ball shoot down a neighbour’s chimney, across the road.  We went to make sure they were okay, and their living room was covered in dirt. It was a bit damaged

Okay. I'll cut your grandma some slack for being scared of storms if you had literal "balls of fire"! 
My Mom would sometimes call me on the phone if she saw "severe weather" was expected in my area when I was alone after my youngest went away to college. She'd warn me against taking a shower, so, of course, as soon as we hung up, I'd go take a shower, LOL. 
But once or twice I went down to the basement with a "go bag" and a radio (my cell phone wasn't a smart phone back then). I told myself I was just "practicing," heh.

[annzeepark914]

All of you folks in areas where watches/warnings are in effect, I hope you'll be spared any dangerous weather. I'm sure I've already posted my experience with a very unexpected tornado in Raleigh in 1988. It hit at midnight, after I'd watched the 11 PM news during which nothing was mentioned about bad weather. I was very fortunate that my bldg didn't collapse. For several years, I'd panic whenever I heard the wind. My solution for staying as calm as possible during storms was/is to be dressed, complete with sneakers, and load my purse with eyeglasses, any meds I needed, and nowadays, my phone & charger. 

 

[Calvada]

Tornadoes at night also scare me.  I always think of the Barneveld tornado in Wisconsin in 1984, an F5, that pretty much leveled the small town when it hit.  Nine people were killed and 200 injured in a town of just under 600 people.  In the aftermath, weather alert radios became really popular in that pre-cell phone time, because the storm hit at 1:00 a.m.  Barneveld, like a lot of rural areas, didn't have a storm siren, and most people were in bed asleep when the tornado warning was issued.    

[Annber03]

I saw a video once of the tornado that hit Mayfield, Kentucky a few years ago. That was a nighttime tornado, too, and I remember seeing that video and thinking, "...that thing just looks...evil." Like, you almost expected some horror villain scary laugh or something accompanying it. I have been fortunate to not experience a nighttime tornado and I would like to keep it that way. There's an extra levil of creepiness with them.

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

My Dad went along with us going to the basement for tornado warnings, but when it came to thunder and lightning storms, if Mom was acting too paranoid, a couple of times he took me and my sister in the car for a ride, explaining that the rubber tires would ground the lightning and protect us. Of course, there was an episode of Lassie in which that wasn't quite the way it worked, LOL.
But what I gleaned from that experience was that it's better to not be afraid. 

My dad didn't do the car ride thing, but he did the same thing of showing me to not panic during these kinds of storms. I used to be absolutely TERRIFIED of thunderstorms as a kid, and I would get so scared during severe weather days to the point of making myself almost ill, I was so nervous. 

But I think that's one reason why I've had such a longtime fascination with severe thunderstorms/tornadoes - the more I learn about them, and how to prepare for them, the more I'm able to remain calm and focus. That's not to say I don't get nervous on days like this, I certainly do, and if we're under a tornado warning I'll have brief moments of, "...oh, shit...". But I've figured out how to handle that anxiety better. And if I can keep an eye on the radars and the sky and whatnot, that seems to help me as well, because I know what to expect and what I'm preparing for. 

Quote

Definitely! Trailers are only okay in wind storms if the trailer is on wheels instead of blocks and moving rapidly away from the storm!

Pretty much, yeah :D. But yes, you grow up in a place like Iowa, you become very adept at knowing how to respond and where to take shelter when need be, so I've got plenty of practice with that :D. 

1 hour ago, Anela said:

We don’t have sirens, because we aren’t in a town, so it scares me at night. At least my phone should go off, if we get a warning.  We had one on my birthday, or the day after, when we went to dinner in 2018. The whole place had phone alarms going off, and the servers were closing the blinds, because everyone was looking outside.  We had no instructions to move to the back of the building, or anything.  

Oh, that's not cool on so many levels. They should've had some idea of where to send everybody. Wise move on trying to keep people from looking out the window, though, 'cause yeah, that could be a bad time*.

But man, I can't imagine not having sirens available. We've got them in my town, and we can hear them VERY clearly from where I live. And they test them every month, so we know they're working. 

*I remember seeing a show once that talked about the tornado that hit the St. Louis airport - there was a video from the airport terminal showing a bunch of people standing at the window and watching the lightning and the rain...

...and then all of a sudden you see all of them absolutely booking it in one direction and hurrying away from the window as quickly as possible. That's when the tornado was hitting. Kudos to that airport, they were pretty effiticent in getting everyone there to safety, and everyone made it out okay, thankfully. 

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

All of you folks in areas where watches/warnings are in effect, I hope you'll be spared any dangerous weather. 

We just had our storms blow through here, and we got extremely lucky - we had a severe thunderstorm warning, but at most we just got a lot of rain and thunder and lightning. Maybe there was some small hail and a bit of wind, but that was about it, and it was over pretty quickly. 

Unfortunately it sounds like other parts of my state weren't so lucky - apparently a town in southwestern Iowa, Greenfield, just got hit by a tornado and from the footage they're showing of the damage...it's bad. 

[JustHereForFood]

1 hour ago, Anela said:

My English grandma had me scared of storms, as a kid.  She’d close the curtains, and unplug things like the TV. We once saw a lightning ball shoot down a neighbour’s chimney, across the road.  We went to make sure they were okay, and their living room was covered in dirt. It was a bit damaged.  

My grandparents who lived in the country used to do that too. Once when I was there for holidays as a kid and I was watching TV, my grandfather just came into the room and turned the TV off without any words. I was like, what is going on? Later, I learned that they did not have a lightning rod, because in their village, apparently only the church and the fire station got it. Since I have always been anxious and scared of everything possible even as a kid, I was always terrified when I was there and we had a storm, which happens a lot during summer, lol. I was certain that it would strike their house (it never did).

We also did not use to have tornadoes in Central Europe and a couple of years ago there was a big one. I hate climate change.

[oliviabenson]

My iPad wouldn’t connect to any wifi. Took me a while to fix that.

Unrelated to the iPad…

I had a crappy day and if I drank this is the day for alcohol…

Edited May 21 by oliviabenson

[Calvada]

As I predicted, no Will Trent.  Not one, but two weather people and in an ominous sign, the guy has rolled up his sleeves.  This is going to be a long night. (The woman, who is obviously thinking "Amateur," is wearing a dress with 3/4 sleeves.)  Clearly this is going to be hours of velocity tracker, debris tracker, and other graphics, as well as zooming in and out on the radar.  If the guy loosens his tie, I will assume I'm doomed.

Oh wow - they just talked about the importance of putting shoes on, in case you have damage at your home.  And something I've never heard them recommend before:  if you have a bicycle helmet, put it on.  

Sirens going off - heading to my basement!

[annzeepark914]

@Calvada:  Let us know how you're doing when you can. 🙏

[emma675]

35 minutes ago, Calvada said:

in an ominous sign, the guy has rolled up his sleeves. 

We have a weather forecaster in my city that does this. We know shit is going down when the sleeves go up and the tie comes off. 

[Yeah No]

9 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Central Ave in Hartsdale, NY. I used to live in an apt complex there, back when I worked for Union Carbide.  Re: Olive Garden? I always defend it (when Italian friends criticize it) because of two items:  zuppa toscana, and eggplant parmigiana (the coating of the eggplant is *crisp*, not bready). I need to go back and see if this is still true (haven't been in a while). We usually go to independent restaurants (stand-alone? non-chain?).

I go to Olive Garden when I want a "real eye-talian treat", LOL.  I'm half Italian so I grew up with great Italian food but I love Olive Garden as long as I don't expect it to be like grandma's cooking!  I often think of grandma when I go there.  I know it would have fascinated her no end.  She was always fascinated by "fake-talian" food like Chef Boyardee "spaghetti in a can".  But actually I've had some pretty good entrees at Olive Garden that I'm sure she would have respected.  Coincidentally my husband and I went there today.  We just happened to be in the area and I left it up to him to choose.  I had the lunch chicken parm. entree.  I'll have to go back and have the eggplant next time.

[Calvada]

Just now, annzeepark914 said:

@Calvada:  Let us know how you're doing when you can. 🙏

Thanks for the good thoughts.  Still in the basement; right now torrential rain, winds, some hail.  I remain under tornado and thunderstorm warnings.  They are now tracking a second line of storms coming into Wisconsin - c'mon Iowa and Minnesota!  You had one job.  

 

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, Calvada said:

Thanks for the good thoughts.  Still in the basement; right now torrential rain, winds, some hail.  I remain under tornado and thunderstorm warnings.  They are now tracking a second line of storms coming into Wisconsin - c'mon Iowa and Minnesota!  You had one job.  

Take care and stay safe. Luckily these storms are moving at a pretty good clip, so it should be over for you fairly soon. Hopefully the second round is weaker. 

45 minutes ago, Calvada said:

Oh wow - they just talked about the importance of putting shoes on, in case you have damage at your home.  And something I've never heard them recommend before:  if you have a bicycle helmet, put it on.  

Yeah, I've seen peiople mention the helmet thing, too. Good protective head gear. I don't have a helmet, but I should probably invest in one for situations like this. 

[Anela]

1 hour ago, Calvada said:

As I predicted, no Will Trent.  Not one, but two weather people and in an ominous sign, the guy has rolled up his sleeves.  This is going to be a long night. (The woman, who is obviously thinking "Amateur," is wearing a dress with 3/4 sleeves.)  Clearly this is going to be hours of velocity tracker, debris tracker, and other graphics, as well as zooming in and out on the radar.  If the guy loosens his tie, I will assume I'm doomed.

Oh wow - they just talked about the importance of putting shoes on, in case you have damage at your home.  And something I've never heard them recommend before:  if you have a bicycle helmet, put it on.  

Sirens going off - heading to my basement!

Wow, terrifying. 💙 

42 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Take care and stay safe. Luckily these storms are moving at a pretty good clip, so it should be over for you fairly soon. Hopefully the second round is weaker. 

Yeah, I've seen peiople mention the helmet thing, too. Good protective head gear. I don't have a helmet, but I should probably invest in one for situations like this. 

I was thinking about you when we went to get ice cream, because I was on twitter, and saw pictures and video of huge tornadoes in Iowa. Glad you're okay. 

[Browncoat]

3 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

All of you folks in areas where watches/warnings are in effect, I hope you'll be spared any dangerous weather. I'm sure I've already posted my experience with a very unexpected tornado in Raleigh in 1988. It hit at midnight, after I'd watched the 11 PM news during which nothing was mentioned about bad weather. I was very fortunate that my bldg didn't collapse. For several years, I'd panic whenever I heard the wind. My solution for staying as calm as possible during storms was/is to be dressed, complete with sneakers, and load my purse with eyeglasses, any meds I needed, and nowadays, my phone & charger. 

 

I was in Raleigh then, too!  I lived not too far from NCSU in a part of town that was spared the worst of the storm.  Still terrifying, though.

[Annber03]

17 minutes ago, Anela said:

I was thinking about you when we went to get ice cream, because I was on twitter, and saw pictures and video of huge tornadoes in Iowa. Glad you're okay. 

Aw, thank you, that's sweet of you to say :). Yeah, southwestern Iowa in particular has NOT had a good time of it for the past month or so in terms of severe storms and tornadoes, they need a break already. The middle of the country in general does, really, Mother Nature has been on a hell of a tear lately with this kind of thing. Granted, it's spring, so this kind of weather is rather common here, but still. 

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I go to Olive Garden when I want a "real eye-talian treat", LOL.  I'm half Italian so I grew up with great Italian food but I love Olive Garden as long as I don't expect it to be like grandma's cooking!  I often think of grandma when I go there.  I know it would have fascinated her no end.  She was always fascinated by "fake-talian" food like Chef Boyardee "spaghetti in a can".  But actually I've had some pretty good entrees at Olive Garden that I'm sure she would have respected.  Coincidentally my husband and I went there today.  We just happened to be in the area and I left it up to him to choose.  I had the lunch chicken parm. entree.  I'll have to go back and have the eggplant next time.

Chef Boyardee was authentic Italian American food at least when the company was first founded.  There really was a Chef Boyardee with a decent pedigree.  He was the head chef at the Plaza Hotel in NYC before moving to Cleveland and opening up his own restaurant.  My maternal grandparents are buried in the same cemetery as him (not a flex, the cemetery is huge and is the final resting place to the vast majority of Catholics living on the east side of Cleveland).

[Calvada]

Iowa has really been hit by tornadoes, reports of multiple people killed and injured in this latest series of storms.  Thus far the reports in Wisconsin are lots of trees down (some on houses, some across roads) and lots of power outages, but not the devastation Iowa has seen, and no reports of deaths or injuries.  We're expecting one more line of storms with 50 to 60 mph winds in the next hour or so, then clearing.  

[Annber03]

I'd heard one person had died in today's storms here, yeah, but god, one's bad enough on its own. Wouldn't surprise me, though, sadly, if the damage I've seen on TV and whatnot is anything to go by. 

I'm glad the people of Wisconsin are okay. 

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, Anela said:

I read that Red Lobster was bought by a company, who turned around and started charging them more for rent? It had nothing to do with their prices. 

Oh, no I wasn't saying their prices had anything to do with it.  I knew about the private equity buyout.  It gets me very upset knowing about that because it's a story repeated over and over again and why we've lost some of our great chain restaurants and retail stores over the past several years.

6 hours ago, Notabug said:

Red Lobster was bought out by a private equity outfit that tries to wring all the cash out of a business for its investors.  Prior to the purchase, the Red Lobster corporation owned its own restaurants and rented them to franchisees at minimal cost to them.  Once the new regime took over, they sold off all of the stores to finance the purchase which lead to huge rent increases for each store. The stores were sold to a single real estate entity which then locked them into leases where they have to pay above the market rate for rent.  The private equity guys didn't much care since it was the franchisees who were affected, but it caused huge financial problems for many of the stores.

The private equity folks, in one of several really bad decisions, decided to do the endless shrimp promotion and allowed one big seafood supplier, Thai Union to be their main provider.  As part of the deal, they allowed the Thai Union folks, not US based, to make a lot of financial decisions involving the management of the restaurants and they changed the menus and instituted cost-cutting measures that were really unpopular with employees and customers; mainly because they knew nothing about running a US restaurant chain.  This also helped fuel huge losses.

So, in addition to not updating its image and product to fit with modern US restaurant management; the private equity firm made decisions to profit their company which drove Red Lobster into a ditch.

Thanks for that history, I didn't know all those details but sadly it doesn't surprise me.  This similar scenario is why many other stores have gone under too.  Same story over and over again and the public seems not to know or care about it.  Those firms often don't buy the company intending to improve it and keep it afloat but to take it for all it's worth and let it go bankrupt.  This is why we've lost Payless Shoes, Christmas Tree Shops, Toys R Us and many other mall stores.  It's criminal and should be stopped.  People think we lost all these stores because of the internet or the pandemic but that's not really the truth in most cases.

[annzeepark914]

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

I was in Raleigh then, too!  I lived not too far from NCSU in a part of town that was spared the worst of the storm.  Still terrifying, though.

I was out by Rt 70, the first area hit. Sheraton let some of us stay there for free. That was a scary night. 

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Chef Boyardee was authentic Italian American food at least when the company was first founded.  There really was a Chef Boyardee with a decent pedigree.  He was the head chef at the Plaza Hotel in NYC before moving to Cleveland and opening up his own restaurant.  My maternal grandparents are buried in the same cemetery as him (not a flex, the cemetery is huge and is the final resting place to the vast majority of Catholics living on the east side of Cleveland).

Yes, I'm a foodie and read about his story years ago.  Too bad most people only know him from his face on a can of mediocre pasta.  I'm sure his restaurant food was nothing like that!  That said, I used to love the meat ravioli straight out of the can when I was a kid, LOL.  I would still eat it but I try to eat healthier foods these days.

[annzeepark914]

Ettore Boiardi was his real name. I remember eating that stuff as a kid. 

[Annber03]

I used to eat the Chef Boyardee with the alphabet letters when I was a kid :D. 

[athousandclowns]

We went to The Cheesecake Factory tonight because it was my 12 year old grandsons choice for his birthday. . I silently moaned when I was told as I’ve had nothing but terrible service there where I live now. I finally    realized it was a waiter/ waitress takes your order and disappears and another employee always brings your food. It was that way at least 5 times at this location. Place is always packed because it’s in a big mall.  The original server never is back till the end.  Plates of food just sitting under a light etc.  One trip my food never came at all but the family’s food staggered in.    I’ve had great food and service in southern CA locations though.  Well it turned around tonight and the waitress took our order, brought our food and checked to see if we needed refills. It was like night and day. 
I need to go back and read previous pages but thought since Cheesecake Factory came up I’d post. My husband made a mean cheese cake even though  I’ve not had it ,don’t care for it. 

[Love2dance]

@Calvada, please let us know when you are safe, and all the storms have passed you by.

[bluegirl147]

8 hours ago, Yeah No said:

This similar scenario is why many other stores have gone under too.  Same story over and over again and the public seems not to know or care about it.  Those firms often don't buy the company intending to improve it and keep it afloat but to take it for all it's worth and let it go bankrupt.  This is why we've lost Payless Shoes, Christmas Tree Shops, Toys R Us and many other mall stores.  It's criminal and should be stopped.  People think we lost all these stores because of the internet or the pandemic but that's not really the truth in most cases.

Remember back in the 80s and "greed was good"?  We looked at those guys as villains.  Nowadays some people look at them as heroes. 

Regarding tornadoes there is a theory that tornado alley is moving east. Recently Ohio had the most tornadoes so far this year.  I live in WV, not a state known for a lot of tornado activity and a couple weeks ago a neighboring county had an F2 at night.  That county had never had a tornado.  Never. One my company's customers said the tornado came right across the road from their house. They lost one solar panel and trees were uprooted but her neighbor, who thankfully went with his dog to another neighbor's house had his house leveled. 

I like Chef Boyardee mini ravioli.

[Dimity]

43 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

I like Chef Boyardee mini ravioli.

I just had that for dinner last night!  My husband and I had had a full day of doctor's appointments, physio and general running around and the last thing either of us wanted to do was cook a meal.  Chef Boyardee ravioli (to misquote John Belushi) has been on my dinner table since I was a kid!

[ECM1231]

9 hours ago, athousandclowns said:

My husband made a mean cheese cake even though  I’ve not had it ,don’t care for it. 

😲 Sacrilege!!!! 😂

[PRgal]

13 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I go to Olive Garden when I want a "real eye-talian treat", LOL.  I'm half Italian so I grew up with great Italian food but I love Olive Garden as long as I don't expect it to be like grandma's cooking!  I often think of grandma when I go there.  I know it would have fascinated her no end.  She was always fascinated by "fake-talian" food like Chef Boyardee "spaghetti in a can".  But actually I've had some pretty good entrees at Olive Garden that I'm sure she would have respected.  Coincidentally my husband and I went there today.  We just happened to be in the area and I left it up to him to choose.  I had the lunch chicken parm. entree.  I'll have to go back and have the eggplant next time.

Your grandmother's fascination with "fake Italian" sounds like my interest with North American Chinese food.  Growing up, I always wondered about chicken balls and what non-immigrant Chinese called "egg rolls."  To me, egg rolls were cookies that resembled super-skinny cannoli shells that my family got at the Chinese grocery store.  They came in tins.  And what non-Chinese North Americans called "egg rolls" were super-battered spring rolls that had more sprout filling.  I had only SEEN those and chicken balls until I was a teenager.  Chinese restaurants in Toronto, the ones we went to and still go to, anyway, don't have those items.  When we went out, which was at least twice a month for dinner, and near weekly for dim sum lunches, we ordered things like choy sum and beef (default is gai lan (Chinese broccoli) but I didn't like gai lan when I was little), roast chicken and steamed fish.  

[annzeepark914]

I can't think of any "fake Swedish" foods, other than some miserable meatballs at Swedish gatherings here in the states. They taste like meatloaf mix shaped into little meatballs 😖. My mom's and grandmother's meatballs were supposed to be more Norwegian-ish they said (my Mormor grew up near the Norwegian border), using ground ginger, allspice, nutmeg & white pepper in the meat mixture.  Zippy, w/o being "hot". Of course, there aren't any Swedish restaurants here so not much opportunity to do any damage to authentic Svenska dishes😁

[Calvada]

Thanks for everyone's concern!  Storm update - lots of damage in Wisconsin with many, many trees down and lots of power outages.  Two family members lost power, but one just texted that their power had been restored.  I saw one picture of a fallen oak tree in Madison, a tree that was estimated to be between 250 and 300 years old, considered to be one of Wisconsin's oldest trees.  We don't often get winds at tropical storm/hurricane level.  I had a couple large branches down but other than that all is o.k. at my place. I drove to the grocery store about 1 mile from my home this morning and saw multiple trees and large branches down.  Had to maneuver around 1 large branch but all the rest had been pulled to the side.  The complete trees that were down fell across lawns and not into the roads I was on.  However, the City of Madison posted a list of about 60 streets either partially or completely blocked by downed trees.  The sound of chain saws is in the air.  And of course, because people are idiots, with schools closed, there had to be reminders from public officials about not letting kids play outside near downed power lines.  

There was a tweet with a picture of a car in a driveway with a tree toppled over on it.  The visible license place:  AWWJEEZ

[Browncoat]

Glad to hear you're okay, @Calvada!

This:

8 minutes ago, Calvada said:

There was a tweet with a picture of a car in a driveway with a tree toppled over on it.  The visible license place:  AWWJEEZ

made me laugh.

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, athousandclowns said:

My husband made a mean cheese cake even though  I’ve not had it ,don’t care for it. 

2 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

😲 Sacrilege!!!! 😂

I seconded the "Sacrilege!!!!" about not caring for cheesecake, but then I recalled when I was a kid I wouldn't eat cheesecake because it always had those bright red-colored, canned cherries in syrup on top.
Left more for everyone else!

I also got a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli when it was beef Stroganoff night because I didn't like sour cream in my meat.
I don't know if Mom just didn't know that? It seems like it would've been easier to just dish mine out before she added the sour cream. 

I now love sour cream in anything, but still nope! to the canned cherries.

 

[Browncoat]

I like cheesecake, but I don't like graham crackers, so if the cheesecake has a graham cracker crust, I'll scrape the yummy goodness off the nasty crust, and get lots of strange looks while I'm doing it.

[Maisiesmom]

Hello all! This talk of tornados sparked me to tell a few stories. I have a phobia about them thanks to my dear late mother who was in 3 of those bad boys. The first one was when she was a kid about 11 I guess. She and her older brother were home alone while grandma was at work. They were living in a cottage on a small lake. Mom said the sky turned green and then the funnel came over a hill and my uncle had the foresight to take them both into the root cellar. Mom said the twister sucked up the lake in its funnel and  moved on .It put the water back before it left. Grandma came came barreling home and was relieved to find the kids OK. The second one was the F -5 that tore through the Beecher area in 1951 (I think). It was horrible. Hundreds of people died, some whole families were lost. If you want to read more about it, just Google  Beecher tornado, lots of photos and info on it. Mom wasn't in that one but did live close by. The third one was when I was a baby. Mom and I went down to the coal cellar while my Dad would'nt get up from his nap (lol). The storm missed them by just a few blocks, Scary stuff. I don't remember since I was just a baby but Mom told us these stories many times. Since then, any house I have lived in has always had a basement and I have provisions in place. Whenever I see a green sky or dark rolling clouds I head on down and stay there until the storm has passed.

P.S. Mom said you could hear them coming. She said it sounded like 100 frieght trains coming at you all at once.

[oliviabenson]

I love cheesecake and canoli. I can inhale a lot. Lol

[Anela]

22 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

I love cheesecake and canoli. I can inhale a lot. Lol

I've never had a cannoli, but I've wanted to try one. One of these days, I'll make it out when the bakeries are open.

I love cheesecake, too. I've never been to the Cheesecake factory, because it's at least an hour away - I wish I wasn't so scared of driving, or that I knew people around here, that I could get a ride with. 

We have a coldstone creamery in one town, that we keep driving past as we're focused on where we need to go. I want to get something from them. I'd also love to find real fresh cream doughnuts, like we had in England. I don't like that fake cream that's usually in them, so I get custard-filled instead. Or jam. 

Edited May 22 by Anela

[oliviabenson]

26 minutes ago, Anela said:

I've never had a cannoli, but I've wanted to try one. One of these days, I'll make it out when the bakeries are open.

I love cheesecake, too. I've never been to the Cheesecake factory, because it's at least an hour away - I wish I wasn't so scared of driving, or that I knew people around here, that I could get a ride with. 

We have a coldstone creamery in one town, that we keep driving past as we're focused on where we need to go. I want to get something from them. I'd also love to find real fresh cream doughnuts, like we had in England. I don't like that fake cream that's usually in them, so I get custard-filled instead. Or jam. 

I have never been to cheese cake factory. And last cannoli I ate came from target in the freezer section. 

Last cannoli I got from a bakery was terrible. 
 

Trader Joe’s used to sell cannoli as a seasonal item, I don’t know if they still do.

[Bastet]

I don't like cheesecake because I don't like cream cheese.  I've seen some recipes made with ricotta, which I like (so I like cannoli, which I've sometimes seen made with mascarpone instead, which I also like), but I've never had one.  I'm not much of a dessert person; I much prefer an appetizer if I'm going to extend my meal.

I have never had Chef Boyardee anything, but I saw the episode of The Food That Built America about him, which is when I learned there had been an actual chef beyond those cans.

Edited May 22 by Bastet

[oliviabenson]

I saw a canoli cake in shop rite $9. Didn’t buy it. Maybe next month idk. I love sweets and can inhale a lot of dessert! 

I rather have dessert than a meal.

[Anela]

I go through phases. I sometimes crave salad, or if I have no appetite, I'll go with smoothies, juice, or ensure plus (and dripdrop or Liquid IV, as well as ice water). 

Other times, I'll just want to eat an entire packet of fruit pastilles, or sour gummy sugary sweets. 

I forgot about my homemade kimchi, in the fridge, but when I'm going through a phase of being constantly hungry (for whatever reason), that can help to curb the hunger. 

Edited May 22 by Anela

[shapeshifter]

I am cannoli ignorant. 

But in an old Cagney & Lacy episode (6.16 "To Sir, with Love") Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless more or less re-enact the old candy factory scene from I Love Lucy, including food in the face etc., making cannolis.

Quote

"Cagney and Lacey get placed in charge of planning a banquet to award Lt. Samuels with the Distinguished Service Award" (imdb.com/title/tt0535196).

They learn that cannolis are the Lieutenant's favorite food. Apparently these confections can be very tedious and difficult to make if you are a perfectionist. 
But then at the banquet, it turns out that the kind of cannolis the Lieutenant likes are the pasta and pasta sauce variety, which would have been apparently much less difficult to prepare. 

Would anyone here care to explain more?

Especially: When is a cannoli not a cannoli? 
Or are they spelled or pronounced differently?

Edited May 22 by shapeshifter

[athousandclowns]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I seconded the "Sacrilege!!!!" about not caring for cheesecake, but then I recalled when I was a kid I wouldn't eat cheesecake because it always had those bright red-colored, canned cherries in syrup on top.
Left more for everyone else!

I also got a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli when it was beef Stroganoff night because I didn't like sour cream in my meat.
I don't know if Mom just didn't know that? It seems like it would've been easier to just dish mine out before she added the sour cream. 

I now love sour cream in anything, but still nope! to the canned cherries.

 

I believe it’s Cannelloni with the stuffed pasta not Cannoli 
I made a beef Stroganoff once trying to impress my then boyfriend ( later husband) and don’t  recall sour cream but I do remember dumping it down garbage disposal before he even came over after I tasted it. . I know I’m from outer  space because of the cheese cake since I usually say there’s not a cookie I have met that I don’t like and can’t think of another desert I don’t care for.   I used to make cream of tuna on toast and cream chipped beef in the beginning of my first marriage when I was 19-20. Didn’t use the can of cream soup for it either. My first in-laws were first generation Italians from Louisiana and I used to think it was odd they referred to sauce as gravy and often would sprinkle fine bread crumbs on top instead of cheese or have a boiled egg in it.  Made  their own sausage too. 
Now I can just tell my grandkids what a good cook I used to be. 

[Absolom]

Cannoli vs cannelloni?

ETA:  See above - faster typer.

Edited May 22 by Absolom

[Bastet]

[Mondrianyone]

That line ^ used to be my email alert.

I had a boyfriend in college who was of Italian descent. His mother and her sisters were all great cooks. We would go to dinner at her house on Sundays and eat till we exploded. Dessert was often homemade cannoli, with the shells formed on lengths of oiled broomstick. They were magnificent. He became an actor and at some point wrote at least one Italian cookbook. I should've married him.